Bazaarvoice Serves More Than 50 Billion User-Generated Answers, Stories, Ratings & Reviews

AUSTIN, Texas--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Bazaarvoice, the leader in social commerce applications that drive sales, today announced that it has served over 50 billion user-generated product Answers, Stories, and Ratings & Reviews to consumers around the globe through its Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform. The company passed the 10 billion milestone a year ago and now serves nearly 4 billion pieces of user-generated content each month. This rapid acceleration validates digital word of mouth as the most influential form of advertising with Nielsen Online citing that more than 80% of consumers are heading to the Web to read customer reviews before shopping online or in the store. Today, 525 leading brands in 15 industries and 21 languages use Bazaarvoice to deliver the best shopping experience across all channels and bring the authentic voice of the customer into their organizations to create better products, services, and business processes.

“Customers want to hear from other customers, especially in times of economic anxiety”

“The most radical transformation in the history of shopping is being driven by Bazaarvoice and our clients,” said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. “Three years ago, it was rare to find user-generated product reviews outside of Amazon. Today, consumers expect to see user-generated content when shopping online. The content offers unprecedented transparency for consumers, and an extraordinary opportunity for retailers to use this information to improve customer interactions, drive channel sales, and build better products. We are both proud and humbled to be leading this sea change for 525 of the world’s best brands.”

Bazaarvoice, which launched with Ratings & Reviews in February 2006, provides an integrated suite of social commerce products and services that allow businesses to drive measurable and predictable business growth by increasing sales, decreasing returns, and building engagement. The company’s growth has been marked by several groundbreaking innovations, including the November 2008 introduction of BrandVoice to allow manufacturers to push user-generated product Reviews, Stories, and Answers to their retail channel partners. Bazaarvoice also launched MobileVoice in January 2009 to help businesses improve the in-store shopping experience by making reviews easily accessible via a mobile phone or handheld device.

“With the widespread use of mobile Web access, online and offline shopping patterns are blurring and user-generated content is becoming as influential offline as it is online today,” continued Hurt. “Forrester Research just cited that for every dollar of sales made online, another eight dollars of sales are made offline as shoppers research online and then buy offline. We are helping to drive this transformation by giving shoppers access to a digital archive of word of mouth – across the Internet and in the stores where they shop.”

Bazaarvoice also offers an expert services team and deep library of proven best practices to help its clients achieve immediate and measurable results from integrating product-related UGC into their day-to-day marketing and business strategies. These benefits include: improvement in site conversion; reduction in product returns; increased email clickthrough and conversion rates; enhanced natural search traffic, and increased customer loyalty.

“Customers want to hear from other customers, especially in times of economic anxiety,” said Sam Decker, CMO of Bazaarvoice. “User-generated Answers, Stories and Reviews are the single most important thing that a company can do in this economy make their business more successful. The right social commerce strategy makes drastic improvements across the entire enterprise – from reducing customer service calls and product returns, to changing the way products are manufactured. We are excited to be at the forefront of this customer-driven revolution and look forward to helping companies make better products and services based on direct, authentic feedback from customers.”

About Bazaarvoice

Bazaarvoice’s Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions have served more than 50 billion pieces of customer-generated content on more than 525 brand web sites like Best Buy, Costco, Dell, Macy’s, Overstock, P&G, Panasonic, and QVC in 36 countries. The company connects organizations to their influencers through a unique network that reaches hundreds of millions of consumers around the globe, enabling authentic customer-powered marketing. Through syndication, analytics, partnerships, and consulting, Bazaarvoice brings the voice of the customer to the center of their clients’ business strategy, proving “social” can drive measured revenue growth and cost savings for manufacturing, retail, travel, and financial services companies. Headquartered in Austin, the company has offices in London, Paris, and Singapore. For more information and access to client success stories, visit www.bazaarvoice.com, read the blog at www.bazaarblog.com, and follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bazaarvoice.