55 percent of German Online Shoppers Base Purchase Decision on Reviews

Many factors influence the decisions of online shoppers when making a purchase. Shoppers tend to think more about the decision-making process than smaller purchases regarding online purchases. Online shoppers often base their purchase decisions on what others say about a product or service. In Germany, at least 55% of online shoppers consider reviews of a webshop or product significant when purchasing. Fake reviews, however, are a typical issue in e-commerce. Because of this, 74% of Germans want reviews to have an authenticity badge.

Reviews can increase online shoppers’ trust while making a purchase. A frequent issue in e-commerce is fake reviews. German e-commerce was examined in a European Trustmark Trusted Shops poll. It demonstrates that 75% of Germans value review authenticity highly.

Recognizing fake reviews

According to the Trustmark poll, shops or products that have only received positive reviews are suspicious. It is unlikely that all shoppers will feel the same way about a product, brand, or webshop. Furthermore, a review that uses poor grammar or unusual expressions may have been authored using an artificial translator, suggesting that an agency created a fake review.

There is a good possibility that an online webshop is fake if it never replies to a review. If the number of reviews rapidly increases, this may signal that they are generated automatically. Finally, an unidentified author indicates that a review is fake as well.