Impact of Online Customer Reviews and Incentives on the Product Sales at the Online Retail Store: An Empirical Study on Video Game Titles at Amazon.com

摘要

This study investigates the impact of the customer reviews and the incentives on the product sales at the online retail store. Two customer review factors (i.e. average review ratings and the number of reviews) and two customer incentives factors (i.e. price discounts and special shipping offers) are used for the regression analysis. With the sales ranking data collected from the video game titles at Amazon.com, this study analyzes both the direct effects of the four factors and the interaction effects between the customer review factors and the incentives factors towards the product sales. The analysis result reveals the relationships mostly exist as hypothesized. The findings support both the direct and interaction effects of the customer reviews and the incentive factors on the product sales. Based upon the findings, discussions are provided with regard to the academic and practical contributions.