ONLINE CUSTOMER REVIEWS AS SOURCES OF INFORMATION
ONLINE CUSTOMER REVIEWS AS SOURCES OF INFORMATION

Summary/Abstract: Word of mouth communication (WOM) is a marketing tool with a primary purpose forcommunication and socialization, as well as promotion and sale of products, that takes placeface to face, between sellers and buyers. With the advent of the Internet, WOM has transformedinto eWOM, that is electronic word of mouth communication, which takes place betweenonline sellers and online buyers through social networks and online store websites.Consumers can exchange online messages, experiences, comments and leave ratedreviews for products that they have already purchased online. This new way of eWOMcommunication has a great potential to influence online shopping intentions. In this context,the purpose of this paper is to analyse and explore the impact of eWOM communication ononline purchase intentions. The quality and the credibility of messages, the consumers`needsand attitudes towards messages, the usefulness and the acceptance of messages by onlineconsumers that can be transmitted through social networks and websites of online stores areanalysed as determinants of on-line purchases. In this paper, the determinants of onlinemessages are derived from the Information Acceptance Model based on Consumers` Needs andAttitudes (IACM). IACM is the research model of this paper, based on which the impact of onlinemessages on consumers` purchase intentions, is analysed. Finally, an analysis of the two onlineplatforms of eWOM communication was performed, by using adequate statistical methods, inorder to determine, whether the messages transmitted through the Facebook pages of theonline stores have greater impact on the online consumers` purchase intentions than themessages that are transmitted through the online websites` communication tools or vice versa.The results of the research give useful conclusions for marketers, in order to adapt their onlinemarketing strategies for successful Facebook and web site online promotions and sales.

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