Does the distribution of ratings affect online grocery sales? Evidence from Amazon. Issue 4 (8th July 2020)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Etumnu, Chinonso E.; Foster, Kenneth; Widmar, Nicole O.; Lusk, Jayson L.; Ortega, David L.
• Is Part Of: Agribusiness. Volume 36:Issue 4(2020)
• Page Start: 501
• Page End: 521
• Publication Date: 2020-07-08
• Subjects: average rating -- distribution of ratings -- e‐commerce -- ground coffee -- number of ratings -- online consumer ratings -- skewness of ratings -- variance of ratings -- web scraping; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Finance -- Periodicals; Agricultural industries -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- Economic aspects -- United States -- Periodicals; Agriculture -- United States -- Finance -- Periodicals; Agricultural industries -- United States -- Periodicals; 338.1
• DOI: 10.1002/agr.21653
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0742-4477

Abstract

Abstract: Understanding the distribution of online consumer ratings for food products can provide insights that aid supply chain decisions. Using a researcher‐collected web‐scraped panel data set from Amazon, this article quantifies the effect of number of ratings, average rating, variance of ratings, and skewness of the rating distribution. Results show that the number of ratings and each of these moments of the distribution of online consumer ratings affect ground coffee sales ranking. The size of the effect of the distribution of ratings was found to vary with respect to the sales level of the coffee products. The results suggest that the distribution of online ratings plays an important informational role in e‐commerce platforms. As online grocery shopping continues to increase in popularity, a greater understanding of how online ratings and reviews may impact sales or products are needed by those in the agricultural and food supply chain. In particular, these results provide retail managers with an array of online consumer rating attributes to use in their demand forecasts. [EconLit citations: D12, D83, L81, M31, Q11].