Bravo to the etailers with customer reviews on their websites. It counters one of the biggest obstacles to online shopping - the inability to touch, feel, and try on the products. In fact it offers something more, because sometimes people leave their comments after they've worn or used the items a few times, you may also get information on things like comfort and durability.
The first purchase I made that was partially encouraged by positive customer reviews was some Camelbak water bottles from Wiggle. The pros definitely outweigh the cons.
Reviews are especially useful for items like shoes where fit is important. Endless captures detailed fit information from its customers.
When you click on size, width and arch support, you can see the split of the votes (66% felt fit was true to size, 18% felt sizing ran 1/2 size small etc).
There are also detailed reviews.
Dorothy Perkins is another etailer with a good customer review platform.
I like that it gathers ratings by fit, appearance, quality and value. On my first order with Dorothy Perkins, one of the dresses runs large according to several reviewers so I bought one size smaller and it was the right call.
Sometimes I think etailers are brave to show customer reviews as inevitably some products will rate lowly. I guess the benefits they gain from building up confidence of prospective buyers outweigh potential reduction in sales of lowly rated items.
As a shopper I definitely like to hear others' opinion of the items I'm interested in, although I may put too much weight on negative reviews. Sometimes I'd decide against a product because of one poor review, even if the rest are positive. I need to remember that some people are impossible to please!
Do you like reading customer reviews? Are you more likely to shop from etailers that offer them? And do you give back to the system, i.e. write reviews?
Below is my contribution - for the Juicy Couture princess studs I bought recently.
P.S. I made an impulse midnight purchase last night! Will blog about them when I receive the parcel ;-)