November 19 2007

Honesty in reviews?

Clothing E-Tailer koodos has decided to put unedited customer reviews of its clothes on its website. Are they mad?

Fashion buyers are being urged by a fashion e-tailer koodos to give their critical appraisal of the designer clothes on its website koodos.com, and are asking its customers to review the clothing - and the more candid the reviews, the better.

koodos.com, which sells discounted goods by designers including Gucci, Chloe, and Diesel, has joined forces with independent customer review service Reevoo to collect comments from shoppers who have already bought high-fashion goods from their website.

koodos CEO Miriam Lahage said: "We've decided that there is no place for the digital equivalent of flattering mirrors, cosmetic lighting or indiscriminate sales staff on our site.  We want our customers to tell each other what they really think of our fashions so they can be confident they're making an informed choice."

The reviews on the site are mixed, with plenty of reviewers satisfied with their buys and a few unhappy one handbag buyers says: "It gives me a migraine carrying it!" while another laments: "It's so heavy I can only carry it for a few hours."

Reevoo CEO Richard Anson said: "Online reviews are the word of mouth recommendations of the 21st century and everyone loves commenting on fashion. Whether someone feels like a million dollars or a bit less flush after buying those must-have jeans or shirt, they can now let others know.  What we know is that customers appreciate the frankness and are more likely to shop at a store that allows customers to tell it as it is."

Encouraging customers to be honest about the products they buy and to review them honestly on the same website they bought them from is a brave move, and we can see that it’s also potentially a great way to get more traffic, we spent ages on there just reading the comments. However we can see some potential difficulties, has anyone asked the clothes designers? And will the designers take the criticism the same way? We can’t imagine too many designers would be pleased to have their handbags described as “migraine inducing”

by Marcus Austin (Web Editor)