Holiday Shoppers Turning To Online Reviews
Posted on December 5th, 2008 by Mike Sachoff in the Articles section
Online holiday shoppers are increasingly using reviews to help with their purchasing decisions, according to a new report from hosted social commerce applications firm Bazaarvoice.
Bazaarvoice said it served more than 1.2 billion user-generated product reviews over the course of Thanksgiving Week as consumers researched their holiday purchases. Review usage peaked at 9:45 pm EST on Thanksgiving Day, November 27, an indication that reviews again played a key role in purchasing decisions.
Review usage spiked again on Cyber Monday, December 1, when Bazaarvoice served more than 165 million reviews to shoppers around the globe. Total review impressions were up 132 percent from the 71 million reviews served on Cyber Monday last year and up 768 percent from the 19 million served on cyber Monday 2006. At the peak on Cyber Monday, Bazaarvoice was serving over 4,500 impressions per second, another record for the company.
“Research released by Forrester in October showed that the number of US adults who read product reviews has nearly doubled in the past year,” said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice.
“People have learned how to shop by reviews - and in a season where people are carefully considering each purchase, reviews are at the forefront of the online and offline shopping experience.”
“On Cyber Monday last year, we served 71 million review impressions,” said Sam Decker, CMO of Bazaarvoice. “This year, we served more than 165 million reviews, which means that online shoppers are benefiting from a 132% increase in readership of reviews.”
Nearly three-quarters (72%) of consumers are planning to research products online prior to purchasing (e-tailing group, October 2008). For every $1 spent in online sales, the Internet influences $3.45 of store sales according to eMarketer.
Tags: Holiday Shopping, Online Reviews |