“A STUDY ON IMPACT OF ONLINE PRODUCT REVIEWS

ON CONSUMER BUYING DECISION”

Submitting in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the Award of the Degree
of

BACHELOR OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION

By

Raghavendra M

18MG1K2164

Under the Guidance of

Prof. Vinod Joseph

George

KRISTU JAYANTI COLLEGE

(AUTONOMOUS) K.NARAYANAPURA,
KOTHANUR POST BANGALORE-560077
2020-2021

I
 CERTIFICATE FROM GUIDE

This is to certify that this project work titled “A Study on Impact of Online
Product Reviews on Consumer Buying Decision” is based on an original
project study conducted by Raghavendra M (18MG1K2164) of 6th semester BBA
under my guidance.

This project work has not formed the basis for the award of any degree/ diploma
by Bangalore University or any other university.

Place: Bangalore
Date: Prof. Vinod Joseph George

II
 KRISTU JAYANTI COLLEGE (AUTONOMOUS)
CERTIFICATE FROM COLLEGE

This is to certify that this project work titled “A Study on Impact of Online
Product Reviews on Consumer Buying Decision” is based on an original
project study conducted by Raghavendra M (18MG1K2164) of 6th semester BBA
under the guidance of Prof. Vinod Joseph.

This project work is based on the original and has not formed the basis for the
award of any degree/diploma by Bangalore University or any other University.

HoD Principal

Place: Bangalore Place: Bangalore

Date: Date:

III
 DECLARATION

I, Raghavendra M, hereby declare that this project work titled “A Study on Impact of
Online Product Reviews on Consumer Buying Decision” is based on the original project
conducted by me under the guidance of Prof.Vinod Joseph George.

This has not been submitted earlier for the award of any other degree/diploma from
Bangalore University or any other University.

Place: Bangalore
Date: Raghavendra M.
Reg.No: 18MG1K2164

IV
 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am indebted to Kristu Jayanti College Autonomous, Bangalore and Department of Business

Administration, which has accepted me for the BBA program and provided me with an excellent
opportunity to carry out the present project.

Firstly, a big thanks to The Principal, Rev. Fr. Dr. Augustine George, the Financial Administrator
& Head Department of Computer Science Rev.Fr. Lijo P Thomas, The Director, Library &
Information Technology and Infrastructure Development, Rev. Fr. Som Zacharia and The Director,
Kristu Jayanti College of Law, Jayantian Extension services and Jayantian Alumni Association
Rev. Fr Emmanuel P J for providing the necessary facilities.

I extend my deep sense of gratitude to Prof. Surendranath Reddy, Head of Department BBA for
guiding us to do this work for our academic growth and development. He has been very kind and
warm as a person. My refreshing encounters and experience with him are noteworthy. His wisdom,
knowledge and commitment to the highest standards inspired, motivated and encouraged me to
accomplish this study.

I extend my deep sense of gratitude to Prof. Vinod Joseph George, Project Guide for guiding me to
do this work for our academic growth and development. And to successfully complete my Project.

I thank my parents for giving me Education and supporting me in all my endeavors.

Finally, I am sincerely obliged to all those who have helped me directly and indirectly in the
completion of this study. Above all I am thankful to almighty God whose Grace and Blessing made
everything possible.

Raghavendra M
18MG1K2164

V
 TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER PARTICULARS PAGE

NUMBER NUMBER
1 Introduction Page 01 - 02

2 Subject Definitions Page 03 - 06

3 Industry Profile Page 07 - 11

4 Research Design Page 12 - 13

5 Data Analysis and Page 14 - 33

Interpretation
6 Findings and Page 34 - 35
Recommendations
7 Conclusion Page 36

Appendices

Bibliography

VI
 LIST OF TABLES

Table Title of the Table Page

No. No.
5.1 Which social media platforms do you use? 14

5.2 Have you ever checked online customer reviews/ 16

opinions before purchasing a product?
5.3 How often are you checking online customer 18
reviews before a product purchase?
5.4 When looking for product reviews what platforms 20
do you mostly choose?
5.5 Ignoring the content of the texts/video: Please 22
choose the review below which you would choose
a basis for your product buying decision.
5.6 Which review of the ones above seems most 24
credible to you?
5.7 Which review of the ones above seems most user- 26
friendly to you?
5.8 What kind of online reviews do you use as a basis 28
for your buying decision?
5.9 Reviewing platforms mostly offer sorting or 30
filtering options. Do you choose to use
those options?
5.10 Does review appear more credible to you when a 32
detailed profile/ identity of the user, who has
created the review is visible?

VII
 LIST OF GRAPHS

Graph Title of the Graph Page No.

No.
5.1 Which social media platforms do you use? 15

5.2 Have you ever checked online customer reviews/ 17

opinions before purchasing a product?
5.3 How often are you checking online customer 19
reviews before a product purchase?
5.4 When looking for product reviews what platforms 21
do you mostly choose?
5.5 IGNORING THE CONTENT OF THE 23
TEXTS/VIDEO: Please choose the review below
which you would choose a basis for your product
buying decision.
5.6 Which review of the ones above seems most 25
credible to you?
5.7 Which review of the ones above seems most user- 27
friendly to you?
5.8 What kind of online reviews do you use as a basis 29
for your buying decision?
5.9 Reviewing platforms mostly offer sorting or 31
filtering options. Do you choose to use
those options?
5.10 Does review appear more credible to you when 33
a detailed profile/ identity of the user, who has
created the review is visible?

VI
 CHAPTER 1
INTRODUCTION

Abstract of the study

Online consumer reviews, product and services recommendations and peer opinions play an
increasingly growing role in the customer’s decision-making process. The various online product
review and recommendation platforms differ in their objectives, function and characteristics. The
literature has so far paid little attention to function characteristics of these platforms as an element
of customer adoption and preference. Given the importance of this form of customer generated
content on business sales and profitability the monitoring and often responding to customer
reviews by business organizations has become a major managerial challenge and an important
reputation management issue. This study identifies four main types of online review platforms:
retail websites, independent reviewing platforms, video-sharing platforms and personal blogs.
These platforms present product reviews in different formats with accent on various review
function characteristics. An online survey analysed consumer opinion about the various platforms
and review mechanisms and the impact of those on consumer buying behaviour.

A new generation of online tools, applications and approaches, such as blogs, social networking
sites, online communities and customer review sites, commonly referred to as Web 2.0 have
transformed the internet from a “broadcasting” medium to an interactive one allowing the wide
technology-mediated social participation. The internet has become a platform facilitating the
“social” customer electronic word of mouth (eWOM) and a major source of customer information
and empowerment. A fundamental element of the social eWOM is the Customer Generated
Content or CGC. Through CGC individuals share opinions and experiences on companies, brands,
products or services and create large-scale word of mouth networks.

This way consumer can make their personal opinions easily accessible to global communities or
individual peers who use the information as an extra factor supporting their purchasing decisions.
Free and easy access to such information has weakened the power of marketing communication;
Information provided by online peer’s influences customer perceptions, preferences and decisions
much more than information provided by companies.

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 The interactive Web has made it possible to easily compare market offerings or to search for
purchasing related advice given by other consumers in the form of a product review. Online
consumer reviews are subjective opinions and summarize experiences, attitudes, and opinions,
expressed by consumers. Personal opinions and experiences for products and services in the form
of online reviews have become one of the most valuable sources of information assisting users
when making purchasing decisions.

The predominant audience on review platforms is consumers seeking product information about a
prospective purchase and those writing the reviews. The acceptance of these platforms is
substantial, and their influence on purchasing decisions and communication behaviour is
increasing. A consumer survey is conducted in order to analyse the influence of review function
characteristics on consumer purchasing decisions. The research problem in this study is “What
characteristics of review functions in online review platforms have the most influence on consumer
purchasing decision”.

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 CHAPTER 2
SUBJECT DEFINITIONS

2.1 : Consumer Motives for Reading Online Reviews:

Information seeking, Risk reduction, Quality seeking and Social Information search, which can be
defined as the phase of the decision-making process wherein consumers actively collect and
integrate information from numerous sources, can be identified as one of the motives. Online
consumer reviews are considered as a low-cost approach for making more informed purchasing
decisions. Further, consumers show uncertainty about their purchasing decision. Next to perceived
brand image or purchase experiences, customers can seek information from other consumers in
order to reduce the risk of their purchase. Consumers perceive the source of consumer opinion
reviews as trustworthy and less risky than marketer information.

Zhu and Zhang (2010) claim that consumers are seeking to discover product quality by consulting
customer reviews. Consumer review platforms can serve to maximize rationally the ratio of the
perceived products’ benefits and quality to its costs Finally belonging to a virtual community and
bonding with this community is of interest and importance to certain consumers as enabler of
social belonging

2.2 : Online Review Platform Types:

2.2.1 : Online Retail Websites

E-Shops and other forms of online retail sites are mainly focused on sales of goods and services
but often offer customers the possibility to write comments or product reviews helping other
customers to decide about buying the product (Fan and Gordon, 2014). Amazon.com is the one of
the first online businesses that initiated this practice but this approach is adopted by more online
retailers. The content of reviews on retail websites can be in the form of aggregated, numerical star
ratings and open-ended customer-authored comments about the product in the format of a written
text. A product review function includes a scoring system which allows votes on review
helpfulness and places the most voted conspicuously.

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2.2.2 : Independent Consumer Review Platforms

Independent consumer review platforms display customer reviews without having a direct or
indirect interest in businesses or products; the intention is often to facilitate product comparisons.
Epinions.com, yelp.com, ciao.co.uk or tripadvisor.com are examples of independent review
platforms. The reviews can take the form of aggregated, numerical star ratings and open-ended
customer-authored comments about the product in the format of a written text. Some platforms
offer consumers an additional function to upload photos for supporting the consumer’s review and
sorting options are often offered. Profiles of review authors are often included and reviews in
independent sites have often greater depth of writer information.

2.2.3 : Personal Blogs

Reviews by bloggers are quite popular among online (and offline) shoppers. The intention of
private blogs is therefore to share purchasing experiences about certain product categories and give
recommendations to others. Often review blogs are specialized in a product or category. Since
bloggers recommendation posts are seen as a useful marketing communication tool and a vital
reference in consumer purchase decision making (Lu et al., 2014), many bloggers have become
opinion leaders. The profile of the blogger is mostly very detailed and communication exchanges
with the blogger are often possible.

2.2.4 : Video-sharing Platforms

Video-sharing platforms like YouTube or Vimeo enable the posting of product reviews in videos
uploaded by consumers and found that many potential buyers of iPhone search in YouTube
specifically for reviews of this product. The advantage of YouTube is that users who find a product
review on a video can see the popularity of the review in number of downloads, read comments of
others about the review and of course actually see the product in use. Next to the chosen video,
other videos with a similar content are displayed also. Profiles of the video review authors are
visible and show links to other videos posted by the user, statistical information like number of
subscribers and sometimes a personal description. In general, literature about diverse online
consumer platforms reveals that online reviews in general affect consumer product choice.
However, online reviews influence consumer purchasing decisions only when consumers’ reliance
on online reviews is sufficiently high when they make purchase decisions.

4
2.3 : Overview of marketing concepts:

In this study it is essential to describe the marketing concept that states, “organizations need to
anticipate and satisfy consumer needs if they are to remain on top in terms of making profits”
Marketing has a significant role in the case where some key elements are identifying the needs of
the customer and then meeting those needs. It is the way the company communicates with the
customer.

2.3.1 : Marketing:

Prior to World War II, companies were not worried about the consumers’ needs but only about the
technical problems like the financing and the manufacture of the products. These products
responded largely to the basic need, and they were sold easily due to the excess demand referring
to the supply. Then, competition had increased and firms had begun to be interested in the needed
products by paying attention to the customer satisfaction. After World War II, with better means of
production, there appeared an increase in the variety of products that involved a higher supply than
demand. With this variety of products that was offered to the consumer, this one was able to
choose which product would satisfy its needs. In response to this, firms began to use the marketing
concept, which involves focusing on consumer needs before developing the product and meeting
them in order to realize a profit by satisfying those consumers’ needs (www.media3.bmth.ac.uk).

There are several definitions of marketing. Kotler, Armstrong, et al., defined the concept of
marketing as “a social and managerial process by which individuals and groups obtain what they
need and want through creating and exchanging products and value with others” (Kotler,
Armstrong, Wong, Saunders, 2008, 7). The concept of marketing is thus a way of managing the
exchanges that are established between the company and its market by seeking the satisfaction of
the customer and the one of the companies created by the product. In the study of consumerism,
marketers view and analyse everything from a consumer’s perspective.

That means they take a look at the firm and its products and think ahead about the consumer’s
needs and interests. In the consumer’s behaviour field, the role of marketing is to stimulate the
problem recognition by product information, as well as to provide sources of information in order
to help people formulate alternatives and to influence the evaluation process of consumers.

5
2.3.2 : Marketing-mix, the four Ps:

A lot of companies had a product-oriented view, which firstly focused on the product’s
characteristics. The products developed by the engineers, seem to them to be the best that can be
produced in terms of price and satisfaction for the consumer. But that does not have any interest
for this last since a consumer rather will buy a product, which meets its needs. The four Ps is a
marketing strategy that makes marketers wonder about some question referring to the consumer’s
needs in order to better satisfy them and take a consumer-oriented view: price, product, place and
promotion. “The right price is always the price that consumers see as good value for money, the
place where the product is purchased is also part of the bundle of benefits making up the product,
promotion must be geared to the consumer’s aspirations, personality and needs, and products are
only of interest to consumers for the benefits, both physical and psychological.” (Blythe, 1997,
191). The strategic choices in terms of these four Ps characterized the product and state the
characteristics that will attract the consumer.

6
 CHAPTER 3
INDUSTRY
PROFILE.

3.1 : Introduction

These days, the lifestyle of the people has changed. People feel uncomfortable and time consuming
going to crowded markets. So, E-Shopping is a boon as it saves a lot of time. Online shopping is a
process whereby consumers directly buy goods, services etc. from a seller without an intermediary
service over the Internet. Shoppers can visit web stores from the comfort of their house and shop as
by sitting in front of the computer. Online stores are usually available 24 hours a day and many
consumers have internet access both at work and at home. So it is very convenient for them to shop
Online. One of the most enticing factors about online shopping, particularly during the holiday
season is, it alleviates the need to wait in long lines or search from a store for a particular item.
Varieties of goods are available online. Online shopping is becoming increasingly popular for a
variety of reasons.

Consumers can get full information about the product with its reviews being passed by the existing
users. If one wants to buy a product, he/she is no longer limited to asking their friends and families
because there are many product reviews on the web which give opinions of the existing users of
the product. Online shopping sites contain a wide variety of goods both high quality and mild
quality keeping in mind the level of people.

In a world where over 170 million people use social media on a regular basis, every working
professional is expected to be familiar with at least the core tenets of Digital Marketing. In simple
terms, Digital Marketing is the promotion of products over the internet or any form of electronic
media. According to the Digital Marketing Institute, "Digital Marketing is the use of digital
channels to promote or market products and services to targeted consumers and businesses."

People are consuming digital content on a daily basis. Very soon, traditional marketing platforms
will disappear, and the digital market will completely take over. There are a number of advantages
in Digital Marketing. Unlike traditional marketing, digital marketing is more affordable.

7
3.2 : History of Online Reviews

3.2.1 : The First Online Reviews

The first online reviews began to make an appearance in 1999. At first, they were largely contained
to specific seller websites like eBay, but soon there were three main contenders: Epinions,
RateItAll, and Deja. They generated a combined 1,146,201 online reviews of various products and
entertainment industries. However, they were each eventually taken over or bought out by larger
corporations.
In 2001, the Yellow Pages and City Search added an online review feature to their business
directories, allowing users to see ratings before becoming patrons of local businesses. At this time,
few could have anticipated the massive growth in available consumer insight that was just around
the corner or the amount with which we would all become involved in generating, and dependent
on consuming this information in our daily lives. In 2002, Google bought the Usenet search
technology from Deja, which essentially gave them ownership over all of Usenet’s online
discussion groups. This forum contained a search engine, which allowed users to find relevant
information by searching a specific topic or location of interest and viewing archived discussion
groups.
In the past, these groups had been private and were mainly used to discuss businesses, but in 1999
it transformed into a place for shoppers to compare companies and products. Consumers could now
gather information about a company before buying from them, as well as leave comments of their
own. When Google took possession of this technology, it was renamed to groups.google.com and
the original Deja site was shut down.
Google saw a rise in relevance. As a popular search engine, it became a logical place to find online
reviews. Now, every time you search business, you are presented with reviews and ratings, as well
as the option to leave a new review.

Google is also integrated neatly into Android smartphone use and has the capability to send
messages directly to your phone asking for a review after you visit a business. It also facilitates the
viewing of Google My Business, making reviews hard to miss. Amazon is currently the world’s
largest e-commerce marketplace, as well as the internet company with the largest total revenue,
and the second-largest revenue in technology.

8
Amazon’s approach to online reviews was vastly different than many other online review sites at
the time. Their process confirms that the reviewer is legitimate based on a credit card transaction
that proves they have purchased the product in question. The Amazon platform allows all reviews,
good and bad, to be shared directly beneath the product they are in reference to. This way, a
consumer won’t need to search for relevant reviews and will save time deciding whether to
purchase the product.

Amazon has become such an important player in online shopping that many other large e-
commerce companies have been known to sell their products through the Amazon website.

3.2.2 : Growth of Online Reviews

The Digital Marketing industry in India is spread to almost all the business sectors. Some of the
applications of E-Marketing are shopping and order tracking, online banking, payment systems and
content management.

The power of digital marketing allows geophysical barriers to disappear making all consumers and
businesses on earth potential customers and suppliers. It is known for its ability to allow business
to communicate and form a transaction anywhere and anytime.

The Digital Marketing industry in India is a booming career today. In a country with a rapid
growth economy, it is expected to have a very high significant growth in Digital marketing career.
The growth in the digital marketing trends is making a very substantial impact on marketing and
advertising. The big picture of Digital Marketing industry in India cannot be complete if short
preview of the past digital marketing statistics is not made

3.2.3 : Scope on Digital marketing

Digital marketing is the strategy and processes that connect UI/UX advertisers with their audiences
across digital channels. An advertisement itself is a piece of creative shared via digital inventory -
the space a publisher makes available for advertisements on its platform.

9
Digital refers to a number of different channels, all used to uniquely engage audiences and tackle
various goals of the conversion funnel. The digital channels include display, search, mobile, social,
and video. Referred to as "Inbound Marketing" digital allows you to interact with advertisements
and communicate back to advertisers.

Thanks to digital's vast amounts of targeting technology and capturing of personal data, marketers
are able to reach both large audiences and more granular segments without compromising scale.
This includes being able to target by specific attribute including demographic, behavioural,
psychographic, and more. Not only can marketers target groups of people, they can also target
specific devices and even individual users regardless of what device they may be using.

Additionally, digital marketers are especially determined to measure success of campaigns. A

number of user engagements can be tracked such as impressions, clicks, website hits, leads, and
actual purchases. Digital makes it easier than traditional media to track Return on Investment
(ROI), helping marketers to see the efficacy of their campaigns and make better decisions for
optimization and the future.

3.3 : Understanding consumer behaviour

Consumer behaviour is a discipline that encompasses all processes involved in when the
individuals or groups select, acquire, purchase, use and dispose of products, services and ideas to
satisfy their needs or desires. It includes search for information related to the products and services
as well. Consumer behaviour differs while dealing with products and dealing with services. The
risk associated with the purchase of a service is higher than product.

A poor or defective product can be replaced or returned but the poor service or any deficiency
cannot be returned. Hence the consumers need to be more conscious and have to search for more
information about a service. It has been found that consumer behaviour in traditional shopping and
online shopping are mostly the same.

1
Customers usually don’t use complete information that they have about a product or available to
them while shopping. Buying decisions are sometimes automatic or habitual and sometimes it is
influenced by behaviour or emotions of others towards that product. It has been found that
consumers read information about products and services only when they perceive any benefit from
it. Their behaviour is also influenced by the way information is presented and the situation in
which the choice is being made. Consumers use these shortcuts to shorten the process and their
decision-making time.

3.3.1 : Purchase behaviour of consumers

Purchase behaviour of consumers can be better explained with the help of consumer decision
making process. This process of purchasing decisions consists of five steps, which includes
recognition, search for information, evaluation of alternatives, purchase decision and post purchase
evaluation.

1
Sampling:
Convenience sampling
Sample Size - 108 Respondents

Methodology:
The Questionnaire research design is used for analyzing and studying the process of business
development. It is very simple & more specific than explanatory study.

Limitations of the study:

1. Sample size is limited to 100 due to time restriction and cost.

2. There is the likely threat of the validity and accuracy of feedback being subject to bias due
to respondents’ wish to be viewed in a particular light, which may influence them to reflect
desired characteristics relating to online shopping versus their actual characteristics.
3. The assumption is that the respondents’ answers are precise, truthful and accurate to their
real-life situations. There is pronounced awareness that the analysis and interpretation may
be imperiled to predetermined outcomes.

1
 CHAPTER 5
DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION

Table No 5.1:

Which social media platforms do you use?

Platforms Number of customers Percentage

Facebook 39 36.11%
Twitter 32 29.62%
LinkedIn 47 43.51%
Instagram 86 79.62%
YouTube 67 62.03%
(others) 3 2.77%

Analysis:

The above table shows the data of people who use different kinds of social media. Out of
respondents 36.1% of them use Facebook, 29.6% of them use Twitter, 43.5% of them use
LinkedIn, 79.26% of them use Instagram, 62% of them use You Tube and 2.77% of them use other
platforms.

1
Graph No 5.1:

Which social media platforms do you use?

Inference:

The above graph shows the data of people who use different kinds of social media. We can
understand that Instagram has the highest usage than any other social media as 86 of respondents
use Instagram. Following YouTube has the 2nd highest view in case of product reviews where 67%
of respondents use it. And LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook are also preferred by other respondents.

1
Table No 5.2:

Have you ever checked online customer reviews/ opinions before purchasing a
product?

Online Review Number of customers Percentage

Yes 87 80.5%
No 11 10.1%
Maybe 10 9.25%

Analysis:

From the table it is understood that 80.5% of customers see Online Reviews for purchasing a
product and followed by 10.1% of customers don’t see Online Reviews for purchasing a product,
9.25% of customers may sometimes see Online Reviews for purchasing a product/Service.

1
Graph No 5.2:

Have you ever checked online customer reviews/ opinions before purchasing a
product?

Inference:

From the graph it is understood that 87 of customers see Online Reviews for purchasing a product
and followed by 11 of customers don’t see Online Reviews for purchasing a product, 10 of
customers may sometimes see Online Reviews for purchasing a product/Service. From this it is
understood that many of the customers prefer seeing the product reviews before making a buying
decision and some of them would not see the reviews followed by some responders may view
reviews sometimes.

1
Table No 5.3:

How often are you checking online customer reviews before a product purchase?

Check Reviews Number of customers Percentage

Always 41 37.9%
Often 32 29.6%
Sometimes 26 24%
Rarely 8 7.40%
Never 1 0.92%

Analysis:

From the table it is understood that 37.9% of customers Always see Online Reviews for purchasing
a product, 29.6% of customers Often see Online Reviews for purchasing a product, 24% of
customers Sometimes see Online Reviews for purchasing a product/Service, followed by 7.40% of
customers Rarely see reviews for purchasing and 0.92% of them never see the same.

1
Graph No 5.3:

How often are you checking online customer reviews before a product purchase?

Inference:

From the graph it is understood that most of the respondents always see the product reviews
followed by some of the respondents about 32 of them often see the product reviews and other
respondents like 26 of them see the reviews sometimes , 11 of them see the reviews rarely and 1
respondent never see any reviews for making a buying decision.

1
Table No 5.4:

When looking for product reviews what platforms do you mostly choose?

Number of
Platforms Percentage
customers
Retailing Website
77 71.3%
(e.g., Amazon)
Independent reviewing
platforms (e.g., 41 38%
TripAdvisor.com, revoo.com)
Video platforms
42 38.9%
(e.g., YouTube)
Personal Blogs 23 21.3%

Analysis:

From the table it is understood that 71.3% of customers see Reviews from Retailing Website, 38%
of customers see Reviews from Independent reviewing platforms for purchasing a product, 38.9%
of customers see Video Reviews for purchasing a product/Service, followed by 21.23% of
customers see Personal Blog reviews for purchasing.

1
Graph No 5.4:

When looking for product reviews what platforms do you mostly choose?

Inference:

From the graph it is understood that most of the respondents (77 of them) use Retailing websites
such as Amazon, Flipkart for seeing the Product reviews. And many of the other respondents (42
of them) use video platforms such as YouTube and Other respondents use Independent Platforms
(41 of them) and personal blogs (23 of them) for seeing the reviews.

By this we can understand that Retailing Websites, Video platforms and Independent Platforms
play a major role in giving accurate product reviews .

2
Table No 5.5:

IGNORING THE CONTENT OF THE TEXTS/VIDEO: Please choose the review

below which you would choose a basis for your product buying decision (Example
purchase: iPhone)

Basis for Review Number of customers Percentage

Image: Amazon (1) 48 44.44%
Image: YouTube (2) 43 39.81%
Image: Blog (3) 17 15.74%

Analysis:

From the table it is understood that 44.44% of customers use Amazon as the base to see Reviews
of the products, 39.81% of customers use Youtube as the base to see Reviews of the products and
15.74% of customers use Blog as the base to see Reviews of the products.

2
Graph No 5.5:

IGNORING THE CONTENT OF THE TEXTS/VIDEO: Please choose the review

below which you would choose a basis for your product buying decision (Example
purchase: iPhone)

Inference:

From the graph it is understood that 48 of customers use Amazon as the base to see Reviews of the
products, 43 of customers use Youtube as the base to see Reviews of the products and 17 of
customers use Blog as the base to see Reviews of the products.

From this we can tell that Amazon has the most viewers of the reviews as many of the respondents
choose reviews from the Amazon website followed by Other respondents see reviews from
YouTube and blog.

2
Table No 5.6:

Which review of the ones above seems most credible to you?

Basis for Review Number of customers Percentage

Image: Amazon (1) 42 38.9%
Image: YouTube (2) 48 44.4%
Image: Blog (3) 28 25.9%

Analysis:

From the table it is understood that 38.9% of customers feel Amazon as most credible base to see
Reviews of the products, 44.4% of customers feel You Tube as most credible base to see Reviews
of the products and 25.9% of customers feel Blog as most credible base to see Reviews of the
products.

2
Graph No 5.6:

Which review of the ones above seems most credible to you?

Inference:

From the graph it is understood that 48 of customers feel Amazon is the most credible base to see
Reviews of the products, 42 of customers feel YouTube is the most credible base to see Reviews of
the products and 28 of customers feel Blog as the most credible base to see Reviews of the
products.

From this we can understand that Amazon is the most credible base to see and the most trusted
platform followed by some of the respondents who feel YouTube and blog are also the trusted and
credible source for reviews.

2
Table No 5.7:

Which review of the ones above seems most user-friendly to you?

Review base Number of customers Percentage

1 (Amazon) 53 49.07%
2 (You Tube) 35 32.40%
3 (Blog) 20 18.51%

Analysis:

From the table it is understood that 49.07% of customers feel Amazon as most user-friendly base
to see Reviews of the products, 32.40% of customers feel You Tube as most user-friendly base to
see Reviews of the products and 18.51% of customers feel Blog as most user friendly as base to
see Reviews of the products.

2
Graph No 5.7:

Which review of the ones above seems most user-friendly to you?

Inference:

From the graph it is understood that 53 of customers feel Amazon as most user-friendly base to see
Reviews of the products, 35 of customers feel You Tube as most user-friendly base to see Reviews
of the products and 20 of customers feel Blog as most user friendly as base to see Reviews of the
products.

From this we can tell that Amazon reviews are the most user-friendly base for viewing reviews
and followed by YouTube and Blogs are also similarly user-friendly for seeing the reviews.

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Table No 5.8:

What kind of online reviews do you use as a basis for your buying decision?

Bases for Review Number of customers Percentage

Qualitative
(written description or video) 78 72.2%
(1)
Quantitative
54 50%
(a scale/ star rating) (2)

Analysis:

The table shows that 72.2% of respondents use Qualitative types of reviews, that is reviews that
are given in the form of written description or in the form of video or a picture and the other
respondents that is 50% of them use Quantitative types of reviews that is a star rating or scale
rating etc.

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Graph No 5.8:

What kind of online reviews do you use as a basis for your buying decision?

Inference:

The graph shows that 78 of respondents use Qualitative types of reviews, that is reviews that are
given in the form of written description or in the form of video or a picture and the other
respondents that is 54 of them use Quantitative types of reviews that are a star rating or scale rating
etc.

From this we can understand that most of the customers use Qualitative reviews such as written
description or the video reviews followed by other respondents and they use Quantitative methods
for reviews such as scale, rating and stars.

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Table No 5.9:

Reviewing platforms mostly offer sorting or filtering options. Do you choose to use
those options?

Use Filter Option Number of clients Percentage

Yes 82 75.92%
No 26 24.07%

Analysis:

From the table it is understood that 75.92% of them use the Filter or the sorting options that is
given by the different Reviewing platforms and followed by this 24.07% of them do not use this
feature of filter or sorting that is provided by the Reviewing platforms.

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Graph No 5.9:

Reviewing platforms mostly offer sorting or filtering options. Do you choose to use
those options?

Inference:

From the graph it is understood that 82 of them use the Filter or the sorting options that is given by
the different Reviewing platforms and followed by this 26 of them do not use this feature of filter
or sorting that is provided by the Reviewing platforms.

From this we can understand that most of the customers use the filter or the sorting option that is
provided in various online platforms before making a buying decision, whereas very few of them
do not use these features.

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Table No 5.10:

Does review appear more credible to you when a detailed profile/ identity of the
user, who has created the review is visible?

Credible of Number of customers Percentage

Review
Yes 56 51.85%
No 41 37.96%
May Be 11 10.18%

Analysis:

From the graph it is understood that 51.85% of customers feel Review will be right If the detailed
Profile of the reviewer is given followed by that 37.96% of them will still not trust the reviews
given and 10.18% of them may believe the reviews given if the detailed profile of the reviewer is
given.

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Graph No 5.10:

Does review appear more credible to you when a detailed profile/ identity of the
user, who has created the review is visible?

Inference:

From the graph it is understood that 56 of customers feel Review will be right If the detailed
Profile of the reviewer is given followed by that 41 of them will still not trust the reviews given
and 11 of them may believe the reviews given if the detailed profile of the reviewer is given.

From this we can understand that most of the respondents feel the reviews will be accurate and
trustable when the profile or the details of the reviewer is given in the platforms and very few of
them are ok with not revealing the details of the reviewer.

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 CHAPTER 6

FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS

FINDINGS:

The main findings of the research are that all the customers were already aware of Importance of
product reviews and most of them were using the same for making their purchase decisions. Many
of the customers were aware of the websites and importance of the same. This research has found
the following findings about customers Acceptance product reviews while buying any product.

1. Most of the customers were aware of the review platforms.

2. Most customers use reviews as their base of buying decision.
3. Most of the customers say that reviews are the best method to know about any product.
4. Most of the People say that they are very much satisfied with the use of this method.
5. Most of the customers choose online reviews rather than offline ones.
6. Most of the customers choose a Qualitative method that is they choose Sentence written
review.
7. Some of the customers choose the star rating or the scale rating review.

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RECOMMENDATIONS:

So, after completing all the study and analysis, the researchers have come up with certain
suggestions and ideas with helping out the customers in buying decisions.

1. Marketers are urged to use the information generated by consumers on different

social networks and other web sites to address customer concerns and take the
appropriate remedial actions

2. Should increase the customer care service and give the best after sales services.

3. Giving best quality services and products , which increases the positive reviews of the same.

4. Using Qualitative reviews more than Quantitative reviews.

5. Regular analysis of the reviews has to be done and necessary actions should be taken.

6. Motivating the customers to give positive reviews on the website.

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 CHAPTER 7

CONCLUSION

The study confirms that reviews are highly popular among consumers considering a purchase: 98
% of the sample population check reviews and 60% do this often or quite often. However, online
reviews influence consumer purchasing decisions only when consumers’ reliance on online
reviews is sufficiently high when they make purchase decisions. Consumers’ reliance on reviews is
dependent on and influenced by the format characteristics of the review and the online review
system design. To increase consumers’ reliance on reviews, the objectives of the different
platforms should be to build trust for the consumer, promote website and service quality, facilitate
member matching and offer consumers sufficient information as well as a user-friendly design.
Hence, online review platform design moderates’ reviews and the consumer’s reliance and
purchasing decisions.
Firstly, consumer’s motives to search for reviews were identified in the literature as personal and
social motives, more precisely as Informational behaviour, Risk reduction, Quality seeking and
Social belonging. The platform choices thereby differ, as well as the platform’s review function
characteristics. The survey results confirm the presence of various review function characteristics
and their influence on consumers. The platform categories found in the literature could be
confirmed through the respondents in the survey as the online consumer review platforms that
consumers use in practice; retail websites are the most used review platforms for checking online
reviews
The study indicates that credibility and usability are important characteristics for online platforms
and the consumer’s reliance in reviews displayed on these. Qualitative reviews are more likely
preferred by consumers than qualitative ones. The former are chosen due to its credibility while the
later are chosen due to its usability. Conclusively, credibility is the determining characteristic for
reliability in reviews, while usability should not be ignored since it can also be regarded as
important for platform and review choice. A platform with all influencing function characteristics
combined would entail usability and credibility characteristics whereby special attention should be
paid to the presence of credibility ones.

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 APPENDICES

1. Questionnaire

Hi, I am a student of Kristu Jayanti College final year. The Department of Management is
doing a study on "customer buying decision based on product reviews" This study would not
take more than 2 mins, I would appreciate it if you would kindly fill in the form. The results
and data of your response will be kept confidential and your name will be kept confidential
and your name will not be disclosed with any result of this study.

1. Full name *

2. Age *

3. Current occupation *

● Student

● Self-Employed

● Employed

● Unemployed

4. Which social media platforms do you use? *

● Facebook

● Twitter

● LinkedIn

● Instagram

● YouTube

5. Have you ever checked online customer reviews/ opinions before purchasing
a product? *

● Yes

● No

● Maybe

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6. How often are you checking online customer reviews before a product purchase?*

● Always

● Often

● Sometimes

● Rarely

● Never
7. When looking for product reviews what platforms do you mostly
choose? (multiple answers are possible) *

● Retailing Website (e.g., Amazon)

● Independent reviewing platforms (e.g., TripAdvisor.com, revoo.com)

● Video platforms (e.g., YouTube)

● Personal Blogs
8. IGNORING THE CONTENT OF THE TEXTS/VIDEO: Please choose the review
below which you would choose a basis for your product buying decision (Example
purchase: iPhone) *

● Image: Amazon (1)

● Image: YouTube (2)

● Image: Blog (3)

9. Which review of the ones above seems most credible to you? *

● 1

● 2

● 3

10. Which review of the ones above seems most user-friendly to you? *

● 1

● 2

● 3

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11. What kind of online reviews do you use as a basis for your buying decision? *

● Qualitative (written description or video) (1)

● Quantitative (a scale/ star rating) (2)

12. Reviewing platforms mostly offer sorting or filtering options. Do you choose
to use those options? *

● Yes

● No
13. Does review appear more credible to you when a detailed profile/ identity of
the user, who has created the review is visible? *

● Yes

● No

● Maybe

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 BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. https://www.researchgate.net/

2. www.google.com

3. https://5stars.shopperapproved.com/the-history-and-evolution-of-online-reviews/

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Customer_review