Product ratings, reviews on e-commerce sites biased: Survey

Chennai: With large variety in product categories and prices, reviews and ratings by past buyers often come in handy while buying online, but consumers continue to remain wary of such them.
The veracity of reviews and ratings posted on products are sometimes questionable and are impacted by huge positive bias, consumers said in a survey of over 33,000 participants by community platform LocalCircles.62% of consumers said product ratings carry a positive bias (overestimate the good) on most products, while 57% said the reviews posted for items are often too positive. Around one-fifth felt product ratings on e-commerce platforms are often too harsh, and carry a negative bias. Further, over 60% of consumers faced a scenario where a product with a high rating on the site did not meet the expectations of buyers.
“Because the consumer is unable to physically experience a product while shopping on e-commerce, reviews and ratings become all the more important as it helps them see the product feedback from other consumers who have already purchased and used that product,” LocalCircles said in its study.
Consumers also felt that e-commerce sites do not publish their low or negative review for a product, even in case of verified purchases. 47% of those surveyed said their negative reviews were declined to be published by the sites. Such consumers received communication stating that their review did not meet the review guidelines. Only 27% consumers said that their negative reviews or ratings on ecommerce sites were published as is. Offering best practises to shop online, LocalCircles urges users to review the number of ratings a product has received, and not just decide based a 5-star rated product, which has just been rated by two or three users.
“Many times, paid ratings happen within a short time frame like a week or month when the seller may have hired paid marketing services rather than over a longer period of time,” LocalCircles said. The upcoming e-commerce guidelines cite reviews and ratings as a key tool for consumers to make purchase decisions, and also prohibit e-retailers from misrepresenting to customers or posting false reviews on their behalf. LocalCircles’ survey received around 57,000 votes from over 33,000 unique participants across 220 districts in India.