Consulting at eye level: The role of customer opinions in online shopping

With digitalisation, consumer behaviour has also changed radically. In the past, the specialist consultant in the stationary business was the first point of contact for questions before the purchase, but now many consumers use the Internet for this purpose. The numerous online evaluation portals and customer reviews in online shops are making it particularly easy for consumers to obtain information independently. Especially the young, smartphone-affine consumer generation (Smart Natives) is already placing more trust in online evaluations than in consultants in the stationary business.