influence of user-generated product reviews highly choices. This is the latest realization of Fitton and Maass :
The desire of German Internet users on online shopping is continuing apace. However, not only with the purchase process, the importance of the Internet: Over 40% of users rely in preparing their purchasing decisions on the opinions and reviews of other users - Web 2.0 makes it possible. IniBusiness is also an article on this study published [ via ]:
The Internet influenced buying decisions, and more so than traditional media. heise.de writes about a recent study by LeMonde :User-generated content plays in Internet an increasingly important role, meanwhile, the importance increases in e-commerce. For a representative study of Fitton and Maass Consulting GmbH shows that potential customers have great confidence in reviews of other Internet users. The importance of the Internet for purchase decisions is thus further substantiated.
trust, according to the study, each with 40 percent of Internet users, user-created reviews of products hotels or shops. Solo Wikipedia entries achieve an even higher 58 percent value in terms of credibility. Under the experienced online shoppers, even every second is of the opinion that reviews of other users are credible. Less active and older online shoppers are more cautious, however: the casual shoppers and the silver surfers (over 50) only one in three people familiar with the product information. Among users under 20 years, 60 percent rely on user-generated ratings.
Almost one in two online shoppers are buying used to prepare sources such as consumer portals and user-purchase list at online stores. Here, too, shows that rely primarily young and shopping-experienced user groups to user-generated reviews and recommendations.
The study also shows that online shoppers do not trust the user-generated reviews blind. According to assumptions 45 percent of respondents said that user-generated online content sometimes deliberately manipulated. Almost two-thirds complain that the truth of this content is difficult to confirm. On the other hand is one-third positive statements about the quality of user-generated content from: to believe that such information was often more detailed and more diverse - and that the quality is better even than that of website content.
Another study by Harris Interactive confirms the previous results. This study also concludes that in the case of the purchase decision, the recommendations of other Internet users most. Followed by search engines, product and price comparison sites and company Web sites. According to this study, the Internet is the strongest medium for European consumers. It has an approximately twice as large impact as the second most important medium - television. Compared to traditional print media such as newspapers and magazines and the radio is the difference is even greater.
The Internet is the medium with the greatest impact on consumers be , "far in front of TV, radio and press products. This was discovered according to the French daily Le Monde a multi-country study conducted in Germany, France and England.
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In Travel planning, such as when buying train or air tickets and hotel bookings, this influence was "very important" . But the purchase of books, CDs, DVDs, and technical devices such as digital cameras and MP3 players, the Internet play an important role in the decision. Less influence on the decisions have the Internet in political elections and the purchase of health products.