88% of UK shoppers say they sometimes or always consult reviews when making a purchase

"Reevoo, the social commerce solutions provider, has today released research which reveals that consumers find social content, such as friends’ recommendations and consumer reviews, twice as important as traditional information sources such as recommendations from sales assistants or advertising when making a purchase. Reevoo surveyed 1,000 UK consumers on shopping habits, and the results show that a cumulative 52 per cent of those surveyed rate friends’ recommendations as influential and 48 per cent are influenced by consumer reviews online. Conversely only 24 per cent and 22 per cent respectively rated advertising and recommendations from sales assistants as significant.
A massive 88 per cent of those surveyed said they sometimes or always consult reviews when making a purchase, and 60 per cent said they were more likely to purchase from a site that has customer reviews on. Travel and automotive are the sectors that rely on user reviews the most heavily, with almost a third always reading reviews when booking travel and nearly 30 per cent always reading reviews when choosing a car. Financial services is another area where reviews are becoming increasingly important, with nearly 20 per cent saying they always read online reviews when buying insurance and more than one in seven consumers stating they always read reviews before choosing a bank, mortgage or loan provider."
Source:  Press release from Reevoo, 22nd May 2012

Methodology:  Reevoo surveyed 1,000 nationally representative UK consumers on shopping habits. The data was collected by GMI Research.