1. HBR Article Analysis
Submitted by:
Himanshu Upadhyay
What Marketers Misunderstand About Online Reviews. HBR.
Simonson, I. & Rosen, E. (2013)

2. PART 1
REVIEW & SUMMARY
What Marketers Misunderstand About Online Reviews. HBR.
Simonson, I. & Rosen, E. (2013)

3. Communication: Uni-lateral to Multi-Lateral
• The way of communication is changing with the emergence of multiple information
platforms.
• What used to be a unilateral communication from an organisation to consumers has
changed to a multi-lateral communication.
Organisation/Product
Consumer
Product Information
Earlier
Organisation/Product
Consumer
Product Information
Now
Consumer ConsumerConsumer

4. Factors Affecting Customer Purchase Decision
The purchase decision to buy a particular product/service is influenced by three
things:
• Prior preference, beliefs & experiences - P
• Information from Marketers – M
• Input from other information sources - O
Prior
Preference
Marketing
Information
Other
Sources
P
M
O
Influence Mix

5. How Influence Mix Works ?
Purchase Decision = P x M x O
• The multiplication of P, M & O is constant and is proportional to purchase decision.
• If “O” Increases the influence of “P” & “M” decreases and vice versa
• Previously the value of “O” i.e. the information from other sources/people/consumers use to
be low, but with the emergence of web 2.0 & social media, the value of “O” is increased.

6. O - Continuum
To what extent consumers depend on “O” when making decision about their
products?
• Consumer’s dependency of “O” for a product is a factors of:
• Whether the product is a Need or Luxury?
• Whether the product is a high involvement or low involvement?
Also, both the factors vary with consumer segments, location & culture..

7. Various Tactics for Organisation in O Dependent Market
• Competitive Position:
• Organisations present in “O” – dependent markets can easily diversity such as
Samsung, LG etc
• Communication:
• More focussed on user ratings
• Using user generated content for communication in different mediums
• Motivating users to generate more position content on various media platforms
•Market Research:
• It should focus on what user generated content on social media and other sites to come
up with product insights.
•Product Segmentation:
• Analyse Marketing Segments & then do Communication – P + M + O

8. PART 2
APPLICATION TO INDIAN MARKET
What Marketers Misunderstand About Online Reviews. HBR.
Simonson, I. & Rosen, E. (2013)

9. Indian Internet Market Analysis | “O” Dependency
• Digital Trends in India:
• Third Largest Internet Base
• Third Largest FB Market
• Second Largest Video Consumption Market
• Shipments of Tablets overtaking Notebooks
• Mobile Data Consumption bypassing PC
• India’s Population: 1.2 Billion
• Internet Connectivity: 160-200 Million
• Total Internet Connected Population= 12-15%
• Total daily active population = 1-2%
• Huge “Future” Opportunity
• Current Opportunity is also huge.
• India – Price Sensitive Market
• Huge Population
• Lower Average Age
• Rising Middle Class
• Spending – Online + Offline – Go High
• Rise of Competition will give rise to
“trust” issues among Consumers.
•Online Reviews – will be the way
forward.

10. Online Reviews – Sectors | Examples
Few Sectors which will have a significant presence in online reviews:
• Consumer Durables – Especially Electronic
• Mobile Phones – At present (in my opinion based on research) is the most
searched product among Indian middle class.
• Auto:
• Bikes & Cars: Zigwheels etc
• Food & Resturant:
• Zomato, FoodPanda
• Travel/Hotels:
• TripAdvisor, Ixigo

11. Power of Online Review | Examples
• Junglee was launched in India before Amazon to understand user preference through online
reviews.
• Zomato took the first move advantage of being the first – review + menu – website in India
and went on to become big in India.

12. References
• Google
• Comscore Data
• Wikipedia
• Slideshare

13. Thank You