Online consumer reviews

Sophisticated rating systems have proliferated on the Web in recent years. They allow any Internet user to guide other consumers’ choices, based on their own experience. This way of evaluating products brings out a central and relatively standardized tool: the “online consumer review” (OCR), consisting of a rating associated with a written review. How does the OCR participate in reducing uncertainty on the quality of products? Does it modify consumers’ perception of goods? How does it compete or articulate with the “traditional” valuation and judgment devices available in markets? How does this kind of device reconfigure markets?
In this paper we build on empirical material from several sources: observation of OCR websites; statistical analysis of OCR websites; and a qualitative survey based on interviews with professionals in the tourism industry. The paper first describes the main characteristics of the OCR system. Then, starting from this general characterization, it identifies the special features available on different platforms. These features are related to types of goods that consumers try to valuate. Finally, we present a typology of OCR valuation devices.