Product Reviews

Ratings and Reviews and the Psychology of Popularity
October 5, 2017 at 5:40 pm

The Association for Psychological Science recently published an interesting study on consumer shopping behavior, showing that when two comparable products have similar average ratings, shoppers are significantly more likely to choose the product with the larger number of ratings. This finding won’t surprise e-commerce retailers, but in the psychology world, it’s an illustration of herd…

5 Ways to Optimize Your E-Commerce Business With UGC
August 7, 2017 at 10:43 am

Today’s consumers have nearly endless choices when it comes to shopping. In order to compete — and win — in this increasingly competitive marketplace, it’s critical for brands and retailers to provide consumers with the information they’re looking for when researching and purchasing products, including reviews, photos and videos submitted by others like them. There…

Retailers Invest in Reviews, Shipping Upgrades to Better Compete With Amazon
August 3, 2017 at 12:09 pm

As retailers know, much of Amazon’s success can be credited to its many innovations, from supply chain to customer experience to merchandising and more. To keep pace with the e-commerce leader and its many technology innovations, retailers have started to implement new technology capabilities of their own. In the chart below, taken from Total Retail's…

Rate, Review and Wrap it Up: How UGC Should Factor Into Your Holiday Planning
July 21, 2017 at 9:22 am

Temps are rising. Beverages are chilling. The beach is calling. It must be time to start your holiday planning! Whether the idea of holiday planning makes you feel festive or freaked out, you can’t ignore the flurry of potential revenue waiting to be unwrapped during the final months of the year. You may think you…

Customer Reviews Informing Carhartt's Merchandising Decisions
July 17, 2017 at 12:33 pm

In episode 101 of Total Retail Talks, Anna Cole, director of e-commerce operations, user experience and merchandising at Carhartt, a workwear manufacturer and retailer, details how the company is leveraging customers’ ratings and reviews to make more informed business decisions, particularly around merchandising its website.

6 Tips to Take on Amazon
June 16, 2017 at 9:29 am

When it comes to e-commerce, it seems to be Amazon.com vs. everyone else. Amazon’s dominance is well documented; it has more than 300 million active users who rely on the site for everything from everyday essentials to TVs. In addition to changing the shopping experience, Amazon has changed shopper expectations. Amazon’s customers have come to…

3 Tactics for Understanding the Modern Consumer
May 15, 2017 at 8:34 am

"Mad Men’s" Don Draper reminds us just how much the advertising and retailing worlds once ran on hubris (“What you call love was invented by me to sell nylons”). And how assured these executives were of their ability to control the message (“If you don’t like what’s being said, change the conversation”). While the now…

How Online Reviews Are Transforming Marketing
March 6, 2017 at 9:17 am

Nowhere is change more persistent than in modern marketing organizations. However, change is happening at a much faster pace than ever before in the way businesses communicate with customers. The balance of power in branding has shifted — the customer is now in charge. Gone are the “mad men” days of the 1950s, characterized by…