Product variety discounts influencer advice

We often hear the term “influencers” used in the media. Influencers are individuals who have the power to affect purchase decisions of others because of their (real or perceived) authority, knowledge, position, or relationship.

A new study has shown that when a product variety increases, consumers are likely to discount positive recommendations and ignore experts and influencers.

This new research has been published in the INFORMS journal Marketing Science and picks apart how recommendations for product quality affect the consumer. According to research, nearly 50% of consumers rely on digital influencers for product recommendations, and furthermore 40% of those consumers make purchases based on their recommendations.

The research also seems to indicate that when product variety is increased consumers are less certain that the quality of the products is good based solely on the prevailing expert opinion.

The study was conducted by Dmitri Kuksov of the University of Texas at Dallas and Chenxi Liao of The Chinese University of Hong Kong and they both urge that research firms should adjust their marketing accordingly to better sales.

Read more at: bit.ly/DiscountInfluencers