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Christmas shoppers scour the web for consumer-generated content to help make purchase decisions

UK - December 14, 2009

Britons accessed more than 24 million online customer reviews in a single day while doing their Christmas shopping on the web during Cyber Monday, according to research issued today. This represents a growth of 128 per cent on the same day last year.

Internet shoppers also posed, read or answered in excess of five million questions about products in the run-up to Cyber Monday according to the figures from social commerce pioneers, Bazaarvoice.

Bazaarvoice served over 827 million pieces of user-generated content in the UK, such as customer reviews, answers, and stories, in the month of November, leading up to Cyber Monday. This highlights the significant time consumers now spend researching products online before making a purchase.

Online UK retailers have so far recorded pre-Christmas sales of £534m million, a 16% increase on last year according to IMRG.

Bazaarvoice provides social commerce applications to over 650 brands worldwide allowing them to feature reviews and inviting customers to ask and answer questions on products or services. Of the top 50 UK online retailers according to the IMRG and web measurement firm Hitwise’s latest statistics, 34 have reviews 19 of which are Bazaarvoice clients.

Executive quote

“We are in the last days of the year for online Christmas shopping, and it is exciting to see how many shoppers are referencing the opinions of other customers when finding the perfect gift,” said Andy Leaver, VP of International at Bazaarvoice. “Customer-generated content is becoming more and more ubiquitous throughout the UK, and these figures highlight the growing trust shoppers now place in the opinion of peers.”

About the company

About Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice (www.bazaarvoice.co.uk) is a social commerce technology company. Its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions have served more than 80 billion pieces of customer-generated content helping over 650 brands globally to harness and amplify customer online word of mouth. In the UK, clients include Argos, Boots, Halfords, Wickes, Thomas Cook, QVC and Boden.

Bazaarvoice’s products - Ratings & Reviews™, Ask & Answer™ and Stories™ - are social commerce applications that drive sales. They enable customers to review products, ask and answer questions and share stories online; enhancing the online shopping experience and allowing them to make more informed and rewarding purchase decisions. Benefits for the retailer include content ownership, seamless customisation, increased search engine optimisation impact, advanced analytics and syndication across the web. Retailers can also leverage the content generated across on and offline marketing channels.

Founded in 2005, Bazaarvoice has offices in the UK, US, France and Singapore. The company was named in 2007’s Red Herring Global 100 and received the Technology Vendor of the Year award from Retail Systems in 2009.

For more information and access to client success stories, visit http://www.bazaarvoice.com, read the blog at http://www.bazaarblog.com/ , and follow on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/bazaarvoice.

Contact details

For further press information and photography please contact:
Patrick Hussey at LEWIS, the PR agency
Tel: +44 (0) 161 457 2056
Fax: +44 (0) 161 601 7741
Email: bazaarvoiceUK@lewispr.com
Website: www.lewispr.com

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Christmas shoppers scour the web for consumer-generated content to help make purchase decisions

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