Online shoppers increasingly swayed by customer reviews

More than 24 million online customers' reviews were accessed by consumers in the UK on so-called "Cyber Monday", November 30, the unofficial start of the online Christmas shopping season.

Internet shoppers also posed, read or answered more than five million questions about products in the run-up to Cyber Monday, according to the figures from social commerce business, Bazaarvoice, which served more than 827 million pieces of user-generated content in the UK in November.

Bazaarvoice provides social media applications to more than 650 brands worldwide, allowing them to feature reviews and inviting customers to ask and answer questions on products or services.

Online UK retailers have so far recorded pre-Christmas sales of £534m, a 16% increase on last year, according to consultants IMRG.

This article was first published on mediaweek.co.uk