• The Journal of Information Systems
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.159-177
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• 2022

Purpose Online reviews are critical for sales of online shopping platforms because they provide useful information to consumers. As the eCommerce market grows rapidly, the role of online reviews is becoming more important. The purpose of this study is to analyze how online reviews written by domestic consumers affect product sales by classifying the types of products. Design/methodology/approach This study analyzed how the effects of review characteristics(reviewer reputation, reviewer exposure, review length, time, rating, image, and emotional score) on the usefulness of online reviews differ depending on the product types. Subsequently, how the impact of review attributes (review usefulness, number of reviews, ratings, and emotional scores) on product sales differs according to each product type was compared. Based on the FCB Grid model, the product type was classified into high involvement-rational, high involvement-emotional, low involvement -rational, and low involvement-emotional product types. Findings According to the analysis result, the characteristics of reviews useful to consumers were different for each product type, and the review attributes affecting product sales were also different for each product type. This study confirmed that it revealed that product characteristics are major consideration in evaluating the review usefulness and the factors affecting product sales.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.17 no.5
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• pp.85-94
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• 2019

Purpose - The purpose of this study is to analyze the impact of customer's communication on sales performance in the online market. Research design, data, and methodology - This study uses linear regression analysis to examine the effects of product review characteristics which are the result of customer's communication, on sales performance by using product reviews of online marketplace Amazon. Result - The increase in the number of product reviews positively affected sales performance. An increase in extreme opinions in the product review has a positive effect on sales performance. The product review length has a negative effect on sales performance. Conclusions - This study has shown the online marketplace customers' communication can influence sales performance using product review big data. This study contributed to the theoretical completeness by analyzing all the products of the book category in Amazon online market. This research will complement the theories regard to the customer behavior affecting sales performance. We expect the empirical analysis result will provide empirical help to sellers, online marketplace operators, and customers. In particular, the number of letters in the product may negatively affect sales performance, so sellers need to consider this effect carefully when exposing product reviews.

• Journal of Technology Innovation
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• v.24 no.1
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• pp.85-111
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• 2016

This paper examines the effects of prior industry experience, new product attributes and online customer review on new product sales. Different from prior researches on the volume and valence of customer review on online shopping, this paper investigated multiple factors on new product sales in online shopping mall. Based on 407 TV new products in China online shopping mall, we investigated the relationships of kew factors with new products sales. New products of Incumbent TV manufacturers outsell those of new entrants in TV market. Low initial price and low level of discount rate have positive relationships with new product sales. Technological superiority has positive effect on new product sales but the adoptions of new technological functions show different effects on sales. The volume of online consumer review also has positive relationship with new product sales. This paper suggest some theoretical and practical implications and future research directions.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.26 no.3
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• pp.449-476
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• 2016

This study examines how an initially perceived product value affects consumer's purchase intention after reading online reviews with various tones. The study proposes that associations among initially perceived overall product value, degree of confirmation resulting from reading the reviews, and final purchase intention differ across review tones such that 1) when the tone is favorable, the effect of an initially perceived product value is stronger than when the tone is critical, and 2) when the tone is extreme, the effect of confirmation is stronger than when the tone is moderate. The survey was conducted with 276 online shopping mall users in Korea, and most of the hypotheses were supported. This study asserts that the effects of online reviews should be considered together with customer's level of expectation formed prior to reading online reviews, which resulted from extensive search and screening processes that the customer went through before reading online reviews.

• Journal of Fashion Business
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• v.14 no.2
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• pp.81-94
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• 2010

The online shopping environment has radically changed consumer shopping behavior. Without the actual physical shopping experience in a brick-and-mortar store, consumers make purchasing decisions over the Internet. They make an effort to obtain product information not only from online merchants, but also from previous purchasers in order to make an informed decision. Accordingly, customer comments are expected to have a significant impact on decisions to purchase goods and services online. This paper focuses on one type of electronic word-of-mouth, the online consumer review. It derives several motivations why customers post product reviews on shopping mall sites. Customer motives were identified through an in depth one-on-one interview with twenty female respondents conducted twice from June $17^{th}$ to September $11^{th}$, 2009. The interviews lasted between 40 and 60 minutes. The results showed that consumers write product reviews based on six motivations: to receive a reward or remuneration for writing a product review, to share information with other customers, to improve the quality of goods and services, to reduce customer dissatisfaction, to recommend products and services, and to derive pleasure.

• Journal of the Korean Society of Clothing and Textiles
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• v.35 no.9
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• pp.1099-1111
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• 2011

This study identified the types of consumer review information about apparel products based on consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction with the availability/non-availability of consumer review information for online stores. Data were collected from 318 females aged 20s' to 30s', who had significant experience in reading consumer reviews posted on online stores. Consumer satisfaction/dissatisfaction with availability or non-availability of review information on online stores is different for information in regards to apparel product attributes, product benefits, and store attributes. According to the concept of quality elements suggested by the Kano model, two types of consumer review information were determined: Must-have information (product attribute information about size, fabric, color and design of the apparel product; benefit information about washing & care and comport of the apparel product; store attribute information about responsiveness, disclosure, delivery and after service of the store) and attracting information (attribute information about price comparison; benefit information about coordination with other items, fashionability, price discounts, value for price, reaction from others, emotion experienced during transaction, symbolic features for status, health functionality, and eco-friendly feature; store attribute information about return/refund, damage compensation and reputation/credibility of online store and interactive and dynamic nature of reviews among customers). There were significant differences between the high and low involvement groups in their perceptions of consumer review information.

• Journal of Information Technology Applications and Management
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.53-72
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• 2018

This empirical study explored characteristics that affect the usefulness of online reviews, in the China e-commerce platform, and implemented multiple regressions to find factors that significantly influence on product sales, ultimately. Till now, prior studies have continuously revealed what factor affects usefulness of online review or product sales, only in respective terms. The point of our study is that we built two-level regression models, thereby being able to comprehensively analyze these two different targets. Before plunging into running regressions, we carefully collected 192,764 online review data for 200 products extracted from the Jingdong, the second biggest e-commerce platform in China. Also, we gathered "review sentimental scores" variable from each review and used that one as a core variable in our regression model, thus we were able to implement both quantitative and qualitative research. The evidences from the two-level regression models showed that the extent to which a product is experience good positively affects both usefulness of a review and product sales, again the usefulness of a review contributes to product sales in sequence. Also, the property of experience good has interaction effect on both for two-level regression models. Our main findings highlight the importance of role of online review to business performance of e-commerce firms.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.763-783
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• 2015

Online customer reviews (i.e., electronic word-of-mouth) has gained considerable interest over the past years. However, a knowledge gap exists in explaining the mechanisms among the factors that determine the product sales in online retailing environment. To fill the gap, this study adopts a principal-agent perspective to investigate the effect of customer reviews and customer incentives on product sales in online retail stores. Two customer review factors (i.e., average review ratings and the number of reviews) and two customer incentive factors (i.e., price discounts and special shipping offers) are used to predict product sales in regression analysis. The sales ranking data collected from the video game titles at Amazon.com are used to analyze the direct effects of the four factors and the interaction effects between customer review and customer incentive factors to product sales. Result reveals that most relationships exist as hypothesized. The findings support both the direct and interaction effects of customer reviews and incentive factors on product sales. Based on the findings, discussions are provided with regard to the academic and practical contributions.

• Journal of Distribution Science
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• v.15 no.10
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• pp.41-50
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• 2017

Purpose - Online product review has become a crucial part of the online retailer's market performance for a wide range of products. This research aims to investigate how an individual reviewer's review frequency and timing affect her/his average attitude toward products. Research design, data, and methodology - To conduct reviewer-level analysis, this study uses 42,172 posted online review messages generated by 6,941 identified reviewers for 59 movies released in the South Korea from July 2015 to December 2015. This study adopts Tobit model specification to take into account the censored nature and the selection bias arising from the nature of J-shaped distribution of movie rating. Results - Our estimation results support that the negative impact of review frequency and timing on valence. Furthermore, review timing has an inverted-U relationship with the user's average valence and enhance the negative effect of review frequency. Conclusions - This study contributes to the growing literature on the understanding how eWOM is generated at the individual consumer level. On the basis of the main empirical findings, this study provides insights into building a recommendation system in online retail store based on the consumer's review history data - frequency, timing, and valence.

• Asia pacific journal of information systems
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• v.18 no.3
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• pp.67-90
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• 2008

Prior to making choices among online products and services, consumers often search online product reviews written by other consumers. Online product reviews have great influences on consumer behavior because they are believed to be more reliable than information provided by sellers. However, ever-increasing lists of product reviews make it difficult for consumers to find the right information efficiently. A customized search mechanism is a method to provide personalized information which fits the user's requirements. This study examines effects of a customized search mechanism and perceived similarity between consumers and product reviewers on consumer behaviors. More specifically, we address the following research questions: (1) Can a customized search mechanism increase perceived similarity between product review authors and readers? (2) Are product reviews perceived as more credible when product reviews were written by the authors perceived similar to them? (3) Does credibility of product reviews have a positive impact on acceptance of product reviews? (4) Does acceptance of product reviews have an influence on purchase intention of the readers? To examine these research questions, a lab experiment with a between-subject factor (whether a customized search mechanism is provided or not) design was employed. In order to enhance mundane realism and increase generalizability of the findings, the experiment sites were built based on a real online store, cherrya.com (http://www.cherrya.com/). Sixty participants were drawn from a pool that consisted of undergraduate and graduate students in a large university. Participation was voluntary; all the participants received 5,000 won to encourage their motivation and involvement in the experiment tasks. In addition, 15 participants, who selected by a random draw, received 30,000 won to actually purchase the product that he or she decided to buy during the experiment. Of the 60 participants, 25 were male and 35 were female. In examining the homogeneity between the two groups, the results of t-tests revealed no significant difference in gender, age, academic years, online shopping experience, and Internet usage. To test our research model, we completed tests of the measurement models and the structural models using PLS Graph version 3.00. The analysis confirmed individual item reliability, internal consistency, and discriminant validity of measurements. The results show that participants feel more credible when product reviews were written by the authors perceived similar to them, credibility of product reviews have a positive impact on acceptance of product reviews, and acceptance of product reviews have an influence on purchase intention of the readers. However, a customized search mechanism did not increase perceived similarity between product review authors and readers. The results imply that there is an urgent need to develop a better customized search tool in order to increase perceived similarity between product review authors and readers.