Will video be the next generation of e-commerce product reviews? Presentation format and the role of product type

a r t i c l e i n f o Researchers have systematically investigated the influence of online reviews on consumer perceptions and decisions to purchase products, but hitherto have not attended to the presentation format. Increasingly, video reviews are making their way into various websites, and their impact on consumer perceptions is not yet known. While prior research has investigated the impact of video presentation of vendor supplied product information, the effects of video presentation formats of online reviews posted by consumers, in relation to other commonly used formats such as text, are not known. The conditions of effectiveness of these presentation formats should also to be investigated so that guidelines for appropriate use can be developed. Hence, in this study, using theoretical foundations anchored on elaboration likelihood model and cognitive fit theory, we conducted a laboratory experiment comparing the impact of online reviews displayed in three presentation formats—text, image, and video—on three products—a digital camera, backpack, and videogame. We find that the presentation format of online reviews has a substantive and nuanced impact on consumer perceptions. Product type significantly moderates the effect of presentation format on consumer perceptions. Highlighting the role of presentation format and product type, our findings indicate that more research on presentation format is warranted, and vendors should make efforts to manage the presentation of online reviews. We discuss these findings, and theoretical and practical implications of the study. Video reviews are making their presence on vendor websites such as Amazon.com and BestBuy.com, independent sites such as CNET and DpReview, and social media such as Twitter and Facebook. Merchants across the globe are starting to encourage customers to upload online reviews in video formats. Recently, Proctor and Gamble, invited users to post video product reviews for a new product, Tide Pods, launched in 2012. Much to their surprise, this received hundreds of responses from consumers even though creating a video review requires more effort and technical support than posting a text review [94]. These events motivate researchers to ask important questions as to whether video reviews will become the next generation of e-commerce product reviews, and if so, what are the products and conditions when they will be most effective? Answers to these questions will help researchers focus on the value of an Information Technology (IT) artifact in e-commerce and also help develop guidelines for practitioners on how to best design their websites. As …