Consumer reviews important for over half of online shoppers in UK, finds new research

Study reveals that 53% of internet shoppers have more trust for brands that allow customer product reviews on their sites, yet low number of UK online brands provide customer review facilities

London, England – July 3, 2007 –Over half of online shoppers in the UK and US feel that customer reviews are a key part of purchasing products and services on the web, but low provision of review facilities from brands and retailers in the UK is stifling growth of the customer voice, according to new research from social commerce company Bazaarvoice.

54% of UK and 76% of US consumers surveyed said that it was ‘extremely important’ or ‘very important’ to read customer reviews before making a purchase.

Despite the significance placed on ratings and reviews by UK online shoppers, only a fifth (18%) claimed they were the most useful feature when buying from a web site - against 44% of US consumers. Furthermore, Bazaarvoice found that 28% of UK consumers do not use reviews, compared with 9% of US consumers.

These findings reflect the low number of UK sites offering a ratings and reviews facility compared to those in the US. According to research from American online retail trade body Shop.org and best-practice publisher MarketingSherpa, usage of ratings and reviews has nearly doubled in the US over the last year, where nearly 50% of online retailers offer customers the chance to read and contribute to ratings and reviews.

“Our research shows that UK consumers actively seek out reviews before buying online, but a disproportionate percentage of online brands in the UK are not giving them the content they need to make an informed purchase,” said Sam Decker, Chief Marketing Officer at Bazaarvoice. “As we’ve seen with over 100 clients in the US, the opportunity for impact is as evident for UK retailers.”

When questioned on the issue of trust, most UK and US consumers said they trusted and had more respect for brands that allowed customer product reviews on their sites - 53% and 78% respectively. Around a fifth (22%) of those questioned in the UK and 8% in the US disagreed.

Bazaarvoice’s survey revealed that the majority of online shoppers in both countries preferred to read peer reviews than a brand’s own description of a product. 45% in the UK and 73% in the US agreed.

Bazaarvoice, which provides ratings and reviews technology and services to online brands, surveyed 245 online shoppers of all ages in the US and UK during May.

About Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice (www.bazaarvoice.co.uk) is an online ratings and reviews provider. It offers outsourced technology, hosting services, analytics and expertise to help brands enhance the online shopping experience with social commerce applications that drive sales. Launched by web analytics pioneer and Coremetrics founder Brett Hurt in the US in 2005, Bazaarvoice’s stable of clients include Hewlett Packard, Dell, Early Learning Centre and figleaves.com. Bazaarvoice Ratings & Reviews and Ask & Answer products help brands to maximize the impact of user-generated review content through customisation, deep integration, community management, advanced analytics, search engine optimisation and syndication across the Web. Bazaarvoice’s services empower consumers to share honest opinions and influence each other to make more informed and rewarding purchase decisions. Bazaarvoice was named Marketing Innovation of the Year in the 2006 US ClickZ Marketing Excellence Awards and received a “Red Herring 100 North America” award from Red Herring magazine.

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