Britons accessed more than 24 million online customer reviews in a single day while doing their Christmas shopping on the web during Cyber Monday, according to research issued today. This represents a growth of 128 per cent on the same day last year.
Internet shoppers also posed, read or answered in excess of five million questions about products in the run-up to Cyber Monday according to the figures from social commerce pioneers, Bazaarvoice.
Bazaarvoice served over 827 million pieces of user-generated content in the UK, such as customer reviews, answers, and stories, in the month of November, leading up to Cyber Monday. This highlights the significant time consumers now spend researching products online before making a purchase.
Online UK retailers have so far recorded pre-Christmas sales of £534m million, a 16% increase on last year according to IMRG.
650 brands worldwide
Bazaarvoice provides social commerce applications to over 650 brands worldwide allowing them to feature reviews and inviting customers to ask and answer questions on products or services. Of the top 50 UK online retailers according to the IMRG and web measurement firm Hitwise’s latest statistics, 34 have reviews 19 of which are Bazaarvoice clients.
“We are in the last days of the year for online Christmas shopping, and it is exciting to see how many shoppers are referencing the opinions of other customers when finding the perfect gift,” said Andy Leaver, VP of International at Bazaarvoice. “Customer-generated content is becoming more and more ubiquitous throughout the UK, and these figures highlight the growing trust shoppers now place in the opinion of peers.”
About Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice (www.bazaarvoice.co.uk) is a social commerce technology company. Its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) solutions have served more than 80 billion pieces of customer-generated content helping over 650 brands globally to harness and amplify customer online word of mouth. In the UK, clients include Argos, Boots, Halfords, Wickes, Thomas Cook, QVC and Boden.
