I love shopping, and even what I buy on impulse or spare of the moment can be conveniently researched within seconds to help me make my mind up… I’m buying it!
Today’s blog is going to be looking at how online communities help consumers make choices when buying online, and which unofficial online community is changing the way we shop forever.
With the introduction of online shopping, we no longer have to go to a retail outlet in person to purchase the things we want or need. We no longer have to go with the sales pitch we are delivered or the trust we might have in a brand. When it comes to buying a new watch for example, we often feel the need to read product reviews. Who writes these reviews though, and why should we trust the opinion of the author? Well, they are in most cases the opinions of you and me. We make up these online communities, hosted by marketplaces such as Amazon and Ebay.
We trust reviews and star ratings more and more these days. No buyer is forced to write a review, it is however the community’s intrinsic sense of social reward that help builds the endless lists of product reviews. There’s something extremely honest about that and it certainly encourages me to purchase an item when it has a 5 star rating and positive reviews.
Below is an Amazon screen caption demonstrating watches and their star rating. Highlighted is the Sekonda WR 3882 and its 4.5 star rating. We can see that 338 of 507 consumers have chosen to rate this watch at 5 stars, that’s 66.66%. 2.95% rated this watch 1 star. This indicates a high level of satisfaction.
Source: http://www.amazon.co.uk/
However, before I do purchase I’ll take a moment to read the last personalised opinion of a Sekonda WR 3882 owner:
Source: http://www.amazon.co.uk/
I’m satisfied with this product, at the price and accompanied by the ratings and reviews. I’m placing an order! Furthermore, I’m going to indicate that this review was helpful and, once I’ve received my watch in the post, I will wear it, build my opinion and review it myself. Hence, demonstrating my direct involvement in this particular e-commerce review community, hosted by Amazon. – It’s changed the way I shop forever!
Ebay’s community on the other hand focuses on rating the experience more so than the product itself. Trust building feedback outlining seller response time, shipping and product authenticity. This very much layering the foundation of a buyer/seller relationship within this particular online community. Their landing page dedicated to the ‘Ebay Community’ clearly inviting members to interact and cross communicate. Thus, encouraging the e-commerce market to expand and all by making people feel more comfortable and confident purchasing online.
Image Source: http://community.ebay.co.uk/
There are a number of review sites available to us when wanting to draw inspiration on deciding to purchase a product. Some of these websites boast tens of thousands of reviews, but who writes them all?
‘Reevoo’ (2015) pledges the following:
“Who writes Reevoo reviews?
Every single review on Reevoo is written by shoppers just like you, who actually own that product.
We don’t pay for reviews, we don’t let manufacturers or shops write or edit reviews, and we don’t let anybody write a review unless we can prove they own that product.”
To conclude, I think we all find comfort in reading other consumers experiences before purchasing a product. The fact that we are aware of this and that we appreciate an online community we all unofficially find ourselves attached to, leads me to believe that sooner rather than later we’ll all be contributing reviews.
References:
http://www.amazon.co.uk/
http://community.ebay.co.uk/
Reevoo. (2015). Who writes Reevoo reviews?. Available: http://www.reevoo.com/pages/review_collection. Last accessed 13th May 2015.