Consumer Product Reviews--Impactful and Mobile

A Cisco study called “Catch and Keep Mobile Shoppers” (infographic) highlights changes having a major effect on retailing. The key take-aways:

• 71% of shoppers interviewed want access to digital content in stores, either on their own devices or via touchscreens
• Online resources like ratings and reviews on retail websites have strong influence in shoppers' buying decisions
• Overall, they want  mobile, self-service access to information and personalized services.

The study adds that 1 in 3 are using mobile searched to guide purchases. That’s up 20% from the previous holiday shopping season.

http://bit.ly/WinEnG

Taking a broader view a study by Baynote found consumer product reviews among the most influential purchase decision factors (infographic). Reviews ran a close fourth behind price, free shipping and merchant reputation.







Adding to the chorus is a study of consumer electronics purchasers just released by Weber Shankwick and KRC Research. It caught my eye because it focused on the consumer electronic category and found that consumer reviews have become more important than expert reviews. That’s saying something in that category! This report also has takeaways about what marketers should be doing:

• Include reviews on the website. That means being open and transparent by including negative reviews. The report notes that 31% of the reviews have to be negative to cause consumers to doubt product quality.
• Product pages should read more like reviews. Avoid product speak and marketing speak!
• Encourage reviews on the retailer’s own site and on others, including social networks. Making optimal use of social networks require a community manager to encourage reviews and ensure they receive a customer service response if necessary.
• Marketer’s can’t directly influence reviews, but they should carefully curate the external ones that are posted to their own site. The report also suggests care in disseminating information to professional experts so their reviews are more likely to focus on issues of importance to consumers.
• Buyers consult reviews at various stages in the purchase process, so provide content that is relevant to each stage.

This report doesn’t specifically address mobile, but it’s obvious that the type of content they recommend can—and should—be mobile as well as available on a traditional website. The content should also include a healthy component of consumer-generated product reviews!

Holiday Shopping is Apps Enabled!

Originally published Nov. 16, 2012.
Web sites and email notifications are now a staple of hoilday shopping. Specialized mobile apps aren’t new, but they become more sophisticated each year. This year is no exception.

There are a couple of basic kinds of apps for holiday shopping. There are the aggregator sites like Black Friday.com (specializes in ads) or Coupon Deals (specializes in coupons and offers) and about a zillion others. There are also the apps from individual retailers like Macy’s.

The new Macy’s app for iPhone and Android has gotten a lot of buzz. You can download it from a link on the Macy’s site by texting to their short code number. I tried it and it worked like a charm, much easier than having to locate it on iTunes. I was also able to sign up for updates at the same time. Warning; it only works on the iPhone5 or equivalent operating system. I tried it out, and it does everything advertised (pun intended; it is full of promotions!).

As you can see from the menu, the Macy’s app will do pretty much anything the shopper needs, either while planning a shopping trip or while in the store. I think the coolest thing is the instore navigation map, now only available for the Herald Square store. It will not only tell you where you are and the location of items you are looking for, it has the capability of offering or highlighting specials. The software site gives examples for not only retail, but also other large and often confusing venues like hospitals and airports. The Museum of Natural History has had its app since 2010 and its usefulness is obvious.


I like the idea that retailers are trying to improve the shopping experience. Any improvement is welcome. The importance to retailers is made obvious by WSJ data. It shows that over $100 of the per customer $400 spent during the Black Friday weekend was spent online. That means almost $300 was still spent in stores. I can’t tell whether “weekend” includes Cyber Monday or not. However, it’s clear that the apps are set up to guide shoppers through the holidays and the instore navigation systems have a potential far beyond that.


On the questionnable gift front, at least to me, is the sweater Macy's is offering that has a personal video viewer on the sleeve.

According to Recom Group, the developer of the technology, The fashion video tag slides into a pocket on the sleeve, which makes it waterproof, and comes with software that allows users to convert any YouTube or personal video. It holds up to two hours of content. The organic LED plays continuous video nonstop for 8 to 10 hours from a single charge.

Oh, well. At least it's a conversation piece. Happy shopping!