Do online reviews influence women's shopping decisions?

The gender associated highly with shopping is the female gender. While buying may or may not be completely driven by any one of the genders, women tend to influence the purchase decisions not only for themselves but also the opposite sex, even if they are not the ones having purchasing powers. It is true in most of the households that women are the ones buying for the kids and the elderly, apart from themselves, and completely influence their buying trends. Since women tend to be the most powerful consumers across the world, we are going to centralize this article solely on buying patterns and preferences of women. We will be focusing on the ways a woman’s buying patterns change based on the online reviews updated by other consumers.

Informed decisions to ensure family’s health

In most of the households, women are the ones who supervise the household chores like cooking, cleaning etc., even though the one actually performing those tasks are someone else (maids in most cases) when the woman is a working professional. It is also an established fact that more and more working professionals are buying groceries and household materials online due to lack of time. When it comes to groceries and household items, women get heavily affected by the reviews online, as she cannot compromise with her family's health and well-being.

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‍International sales

‍Some E-commerce sites enable buying of products from international markets. Most of the time people prefer buying certain foreign brands from their respective markets, such as; a brand based out of USA, some women might want to shop from the USA. Also, there is a niche market for certain brands in the international markets and they sell directly to consumers through digital means rather than going through a distributor in each market. For such purchases, women rely on reviews big time, because these might be big ticket items and also chances are that return and exchange from international market may not be a seamless process.

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‍Home decor and aesthetics

‍Most of the households sport their home decor and interior aesthetics while welcoming guests. Mostly this part of the household management is also considered by women. Online reviews are an important source of information for women about the product and its details. It is observed that what is shown in the image does not exactly match what is delivered, and for home decor material it is good to be informed about its original color, size, pattern etc. if not the complete look and feel of the product. To gain insights on how the product actually is a firsthand experience of consumers who have already bought the product is extremely helpful.

According to a recent study conducted by a product reviews company influence, asking 11,255 women of all ages on “what influenced their shopping decisions’ and what topped the list of answers was ‘product reviews’, with 68% women agreeing to the fact. What follows is a list of products that came up when these women were asked, for which products they relied heavily on reviews. The products mentioned were: Beauty and Wellness, Electronics, Clothing and Shoes, Home Appliances, Entertainment, Home Decor and Furniture, Bags and Purses, Home Care and Cleaning, Books, Recreational Equipment, Game Consoles, Athletic Wear, and Groceries.

67% of the women admitted that the quality of the review mattered the most to them. 57% admitted that they look out for the star rating of the product. 47% said that they check if the review is relevant to them.  When asked which device they used the most to refer to reviews, 59% said the cell phone, 33% said desktop or laptop and 8% said tablet.

A case study on the Old Spice Campaign – ‘The Man Your Man Could Smell Like”

Old Spice spoke to the person who actually buys the product - In the men’s grooming category, 60% of the time the product is actually purchased by a lady - a wife, a mother, a girlfriend, etc. Old news in the consumer insights field, generally speaking, but many marketers don’t take this fact into consideration. So while Axe and Dove are talking to men and teenage boys, hoping the rogues will care enough to put in a request to the one doing the shopping, Old Spice opens with "Hello, ladies."

‍Source: http://bostinno.streetwise.co