I wish everyone used DDG for the sake of privacy, but I cannot. It just doesn't give me answers that I am expecting. It reads my mind less than Google and that's a problem.
I may be the only one, but I do think most companies don't use my data for evil purposes. For example, if a search engine can track me on the web, they can deduce which web page answered my query. Then they put that page near the top of the list the next time anyone runs the same query.
Furthermore: if a retailer can use my location data to predict demand, they can optimize their logistics and save fuel.
I’m no fan of privacy violations, but if everyone uses a little less fuel there are huge gains for our future, regardless of whether the cost savings trickle down to me personally.
Cheaper prices will always matter and will never cease to be one of the primary competitive angles.
Most of retail is notoriously competitive. The savings are likely to be passed down at some point. In general retail if you can persistently charge 5% less than the competition across the board, you're the next Walmart.
To offer an alternate experience, I use DDG for nearly everything and have for many months. I have very few issues with it. For the more esoteric searches, I do find Google to be slightly better, but for 99% of my everyday browsing, I have zero issues with DDG.
I have recently found myself forgetting that I’m even using DDG. The odd time it doesn’t return what I’m looking for I can try !g but it’s so few and far between that I almost forget that’s an option.
Same for me. DDG is my preferred search engine but it just don't give me such good results as google so I often searching a second time with google and directly getting much better/expected results...
If they need money, they can always have "premium" version with some non critical feature. Its privacy alone is worth paying for but as OP says, its accuracy isn't good enough for me to waste time everyday.
