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How online review richness impacts sales: An attribute substitution perspective

Author

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  • Hang Yin
  • Shuang Zheng
  • William Yeoh
  • Jie Ren

Abstract

Richer forms of online reviews such as videos or follow‐on reviews convey ‘additional information and can attract consumers’ attention. However, prior studies focused mostly on the relationship between aggregated online reviews and sales. This paper investigates the impact of online review richness (i.e., reviews containing videos or follow‐on reviews) on sales. Leveraging attribute substitution theory, we conjecture that online review richness can provide heuristic cues in the online shopping environment to help consumers make better purchase decisions. Using data from JD.com, we found that reviews containing either videos or follow‐on reviews positively affect sales. In addition, different product types can also serve as heuristic cues to replace target cues, which can further affect how different forms of online review richness affect sales. We found that the impact of online review richness on sales is stronger for utilitarian products than for hedonic products, and stronger for negatively commented products than for positively commented products. Moreover, we conducted two online experiments and confirmed that the causal relationship is from online review richness to sales. The research findings offer practical implications for online retailers and constitute one of the first steps toward a better understanding of the relationship between online review richness and sales.

Suggested Citation

  • Hang Yin & Shuang Zheng & William Yeoh & Jie Ren, 2021. "How online review richness impacts sales: An attribute substitution perspective," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 72(7), pages 901-917, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:jinfst:v:72:y:2021:i:7:p:901-917
    DOI: 10.1002/asi.24457
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    Cited by:

    1. Park, Jeongeun & Yang, Donguk & Kim, Ha Young, 2023. "Text mining-based four-step framework for smart speaker product improvement and sales planning," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Xiaoxiao Liu & Mingye Hu & Bo Sophia Xiao & Jingbo Shao, 2022. "Is my doctor around me? Investigating the impact of doctors’ presence on patients’ review behaviors on an online health platform," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 73(9), pages 1279-1296, September.
    3. Philip Fei Wu, 2023. "Veni, vidi, vici? On the rise of scrape‐and‐report scholarship in online reviews research," Journal of the Association for Information Science & Technology, Association for Information Science & Technology, vol. 74(2), pages 145-149, February.

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