Social commerce leader serves 1.9 billion pieces of user-generated content during Thanksgiving Week 2009; increase in consumer questions & answers outpaces increase in review usage

Austin, Texas – December 4, 2009 – Bazaarvoice,  the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today announced that shoppers are increasingly relying on user-generated content to guide their holiday gift purchases this season. Bazaarvoice served more than 1.9 billion reviews, answers, and stories over the course of Thanksgiving Week 2009, up 58% from 1.2 billion in 2008. Usage peaked at 11:00 pm CST on Thanksgiving Day, November 26, 2009 as shoppers researched Black Friday deals and purchases. While Thanksgiving Day visitors turned to reviews to guide buying decisions in far greater numbers than in previous weeks, customer questions and answers showed the largest spike, with increases of 122% and 124% respectively, demonstrating the evolving adoption of social commerce.

More company records fell on Cyber Monday, November 30, 2009, with Bazaarvoice serving more than 28,000 reviews, answers, and stories per second during peak usage at 11:05 am CST. Over the course of the frenetic online shopping day, Bazaarvoice served 61% more pieces of user-generated content than it did last year. This content included a total of 275 million reviews served as compared to 165 million reviews served on Cyber Monday 2008. Bazaarvoice served 71 million reviews on Cyber Monday 2007 and 19 million on Cyber Monday 2006, and this year’s dramatic increase spotlights both the company’s exceptional growth and the radical transformation of consumer shopping behavior.

“Over the past four years, Bazaarvoice has seen ratings and reviews become tremendously important to shoppers: most recently, an eHoliday survey by Shop.org and BIGresearch found that consumers are uniformly picking out ratings and reviews as one of the most important features on a retail site and a primary tool for researching holiday gifts,” said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. “What is particularly interesting to us at Bazaarvoice is that the kind of content that consumers are using is growing well beyond ratings and reviews. The natural course of word of mouth is to share recommendations, ask a question, tell a story – and this is increasingly reflected in the way that consumers are researching and shopping.”

“In only four Cyber Mondays, Bazaarvoice has jumped from 19 million to 275 million pieces of UGC served,” said Sam Decker, CMO of Bazaarvoice. “That’s 256 million more voices, experiences, and opinions shared with consumers in the context of a commerce experience. This number speaks volumes both about the dramatic shift in the way that people research and make purchases, as well as the success of Bazaarvoice and our clients in continuing to offer new ways for consumers to participate and engage in the brand experience.”

The holiday data was collected across the Bazaarvoice network of more than 650 brand web sites. A comprehensive client list can be found here and client case studies and success stories are available on the Bazaarvoice site and blog.

About Bazaarvoice
Bazaarvoice’s Software as a Service (SaaS) solutions have served more than 85 billion pieces of customer-generated content on more than 650 brand web sites like Best Buy, Costco, Dell, Macy’s, Overstock, P&G, Panasonic, QVC, and USAA in 36 countries. The company connects organizations to their influencers through a unique network that reaches hundreds of millions of consumers around the globe, enabling authentic customer-powered marketing. Through syndication, analytics, partnerships, and consulting, Bazaarvoice brings the voice of the customer to the center of their clients’ business strategy, proving “social” can drive measured revenue growth and cost savings for manufacturing, retail, travel, and financial services companies. Headquartered in Austin, the company has offices in London, Paris, and Singapore. For more information and access to client success stories, visit www.bazaarvoice.com, read the blog at www.bazaarblog.com, and follow on Twitter at www.twitter.com/bazaarvoice.