GENEVA — Buyer reviews are seen by online shoppers as an absolute necessity, and ranked even more important than price especially when buying from a new fashion retailer, an e-commerce report said.
“Shoppers rely on the opinions of past buyers to ensure they’re making the right choices,” said the report by Yotpo, a reviews and marketing-solutions company for online businesses.
The report said a survey of 500 shoppers found that “reviews are even more important than price” when it comes to buying from a new online fashion store.
Lack of reviews was the reason given by 41.5 percent of the shoppers polled for not making a purchase from a new online fashion store, far greater than 31 percent who singled out price, and 27.5 percent who held back because of lack of trust concerns.
“To earn new customers, it’s vital to have reviews,” it said.
You May Also Like
Overall, the report, which draws on 2016 data from 3,000 online fashion stores in 185 countries, that included 12.4 million purchases worth $838.1 million, and 1.3 million reviews, also found online fashion stores tend to get more reviews than the average for e-commerce.
Similarly, the research found when online fashion stores e-mail shoppers for reviews, 43 percent open the review request e-mails, and 10.8 percent write reviews, higher than the overall e-commerce average of around 6 to 8 percent.
The study also reveals the average order value across online fashion stores of all sizes was $97, and the average cart size was 1.74 products per order.
The report found the majority of traffic for online fashion stores is coming from mobile devices, with an average of 60 percent, substantially greater than the average of 48 percent for e-commerce as a whole.