"Online reviews have changed everything. It sounds so perfect. Anyone and everyone can share their experience with a product or service. It is as if all online shoppers have an instant community of friends, recommending the good and warning about the bad,” said Michal Ann Strahilevitz, a marketing professor at Golden Gate University in San Francisco. “Generally, the greater the number of reviews, the more likely the average is to be accurate. Comments also help. If extensive comments are made, and the writing style varies, that is a good sign."

Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos explained to BusinessWeek, "When we first did it, we got letters from publishers saying, ’Maybe you don’t understand your business. You make money when you sell things.’ Our point of view is, no, we make money when we help customers make purchase decisions."
To read more, check out the full article “More online shoppers take the word of anonymous product reviewers” here.