Impact of multiple word-of-mouth sources on retail sales

Jaehong Park, Bin Gu, Prabhudev Konana

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contribution

11 Scopus citations

Abstract

Consumer opinions, experiences, and product recommendations posted on online WOM sites have become a major information source in consumer purchase decisions. However, prior research has largely focused on the influence of a single source of WOM-particularly retailer-hosted WOM. This study investigates the relative impact of multiple WOM information on retail sales. We collected a panel of sales data of 148 camera products from Amazon and WOM data from both Amazon and well-known third-party websites for four months. Our analysis reveals that thirdparty hosted WOM has a significant impact on retail sales while retailer-hosted WOM has much less influence on its own sales. Our finding suggests that third-party hosted WOM is an important source of information for online retail customers. We raise questions about the value and influence of retailer-hosted WOM in the presence of reputable third-party hosted WOM sources.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Title of host publicationICIS 2009 Proceedings - Thirtieth International Conference on Information Systems
StatePublished - 2009
Externally publishedYes
Event30th International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2009 - Phoenix, AZ, United States
Duration: Dec 15 2009Dec 18 2009

Other

Other30th International Conference on Information Systems, ICIS 2009
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityPhoenix, AZ
Period12/15/0912/18/09

Keywords

  • Electronic commerce
  • Experience goods
  • Online word-of-mouth

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Information Systems

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