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Who do consumers trust? Increasingly, each other.

April 16, 2008 | Internet Marketing

Social shopping sites attempt to replicate the emotional and social aspects of real-world shopping - such as strolling through mall stores with friends or swapping product stories at the office with colleagues.

According the Edelman “Trust Barometer,” consumers feel the most credible source for information about a company - and by inference, products - is a “person like themselves.”

Now with social shopping sites, product blogs and online ratings and reviews, consumers have the means to communicate their opinions about products and companies to tens of thousands of other consumers “like themselves” at a critical point in the sales cycle—the beginning.

“While blogs and customer ratings and reviews have long been a familiar part of the Internet commercial landscape,” says Jeff Grau, eMarketer Senior Analyst and author of the new report, Consumer Interactions: Social Shopping, Blogs and Reviews, “over the past two years social shopping sites have emerged as another way for customers to share product experiences and opinions.”

Get the full story at eMarketer

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