The impact of online reviews on e-commerce sales in India: a case study.

Customers can choose to buy products online without certain sensory experiences, such as touching, smelling or tasting. Consequently, product reviews are extremely important to implement online marketing strategies. While reviews can influence customers' purchase decisions, how they affect the decisions of potential consumers in the case of a growing emerging economy such as India has hitherto not been studied. Positive and negative reviews affect the way customers understand and interpret product information. This study provides multiple methods to identify the relationship between reviews and customer decisions in the case of tier 1, tier 2 and tier 3 Indian cities. The outcomes in tier 1 cities (n = 1200) reveal that reviews have a positive effect on buying decisions. Our empirical findings suggest that online reviews affect consumer attitudes and can significantly influence e-commerce sales in India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]