Impact of online consumer reviews on sales and price strategies: a review and directions for future research

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide a broad overview of the growing literature on the relationship between online consumer reviews and sales, with implications on firm actions such as pricing. Design/methodology/approach – This paper takes the form of a literature review. Findings – Interesting results from the literature are organized into six categories: sales and related dependent variables, review dimensions, reviewer characteristics, reader characteristics, product category, and product. Research limitations/implications – The broad overview of the literature provides insights into potential areas for further research. Several suggestions towards this are provided in the paper. The focus is substantive rather than methodological. Practical implications – More detailed understanding of the relevant concepts and phenomena will hopefully lead to improved decision making. Originality/value – While the literature on online reviews is relatively recent, it has expanded quickly during the past five years and this paper fills a need for a broad‐based overview of the field.