SAN DIEGO — Millions of people rely on Amazon reviews when making purchases. But the world's largest retailer is now experimenting with an idea that would eliminate that feedback on search results.
CBS 8 spoke to a marketing professor from the University of San Diego, about what this could mean for consumers.
"I'm excited to see where this goes, if it works - or if nothing comes of it and it fizzles," Dr. Justine Farrell said.
People rely on one another to test stuff out and write reviews.
"Consumers tend to use how many reviews there are, over what the review says," Dr. Farrell added.
Reviews and ratings guide sales, but Amazon is now testing out how impactful they really are.
Dr. Farrell says real estate is one reason.
"I think they're doing this to change the user interface of the platform, because having those reviews and the stars takes up space," she said. "So if you remove the stars, you're able to get more product options, on the viewing page," she said.
For example, searching up dog leashes on a computer only yielded five options right away, with even fewer on a cell phone.
"I'm only getting two suggested products here, maybe they want you to see ten. The less time it takes a consumer to find what they're looking for and move on, the better. If you're requiring people to scroll through their screen, it's just a little more effort. So if you're able to put two or three more products on that screen, shoppers are able to see what they like," Dr. Farrell said.
By eliminating the reviews on the search page, there's more space for what they're selling. We're told reviews will still exist once you click on a specific product.
"They may go from the exploration phase to purchase phase a bit quicker because they're using less data to make their decision," Dr. Farrell said.
Even with Amazon's rules against creating, editing and removing reviews in exchange for compensation, our expert says another reason for the change may be because reviews come with skepticism.
"You don't know if it's a measure of value or if it's because a popular influencer is pushing it at that time," the USD Professor said.
So rather than a rating, Amazon may instead show you how many were actually sold in the last month. "They're always staying one step ahead of us, and it's always for a good user experience because without us, they would be nothing," Dr. Farrell added.
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