Consumers value community recommendations, e-commerce survey finds

Thursday, May 24, 2012 - 09:26 by Mike Price

A study, published by Reevoo this month, found that more and more people who participate in safe shopping online are swayed in their decision making by things like user reviews and the recommendations of their mates.

Eighty eight per cent of those questioned in the survey said that they consulted some kind of review before buying a product, with 48 per cent saying that user reviews on sites like Amazon were particularly influential.

Sixty per cent of respondents said that a site which carries some kind of review system would be desirable over a site which does not. People who are going to spend large amounts of money via safe shopping online, for example on a car or holiday package, are even more likely to seek out second opinions through this type of content.

Fifty two per cent of people said that they would listen to their friends when indulging in a bit of online retail therapy, which is where things like social networking come into the equation.

In the last 12 months, the proportion of people who look up product information and reviews from a smartphone prior to purchase, has risen to 46 per cent, which is up eight per cent compared with a similar study in 2011.

Social networking giant, Facebook, is cited by many as being one of the tools they use to do some pre-purchase research, which is news that will doubtlessly be seen as positive after the site had a shaky start on the stock markets this month.

Reevoo spokesperson, Richard Anson, said that people in the UK were turning to a variety of platforms in order to make purchases in the modern world, which in turn, has lead to an increased sophistication of consumer shopping habits and higher expectations about the tools that are available.