- Product review and user-generated content provider Bazaarvoice recently announced it is acquiring Influenster. These are the details about the deal.
Bazaarvoice — a leading provider of product reviews and user-generated content (UGC) — recently announced it acquired Influenster. Influenster is a product discovery and reviews platform that has nearly 6 million community members worldwide. This acquisition brings together Influenster’s community of everyday consumers with Bazaarvoice’s industry-leading software and network of over 6,000 global brand and retailer websites.
The combined solutions of Bazaarvoice and Influenster will enable the brands to have a single partner to help them build relationships with new and existing customers, create comprehensive product reviews and UGC strategy, and power word-of-mouth marketing at scale.
“The decision to join forces with Influenster underscores Bazaarvoice’s commitment to connecting brands with consumers and consumers with one another through user-generated content,” said Bazaarvoice CEO Joe Davis. “Influenster’s product sampling and review generation offerings further strengthen our core product ratings and reviews solutions, and their hyper-targeting and gamification capabilities will allow us to better support our customers’ broader marketing initiatives. We’re excited to partner with a company that shares our belief in the power of the everyday consumer.”
Consumers rely on honest recommendations from peers and other shoppers when discovering and buying products. And brands and retailers that facilitate this peer-to-peer conversation by generating and showcasing UGC boost online and offline sales and foster brand loyalty.
The company’s recent Shopper Experience Index found that best-in-class companies who make UGC available to shoppers drove an average 137% conversion increase and a 157% lift in revenue-per-visitor. And through its platform, Influenster has built a product-obsessed community whose members have written over 38 million product reviews and who continue to create more than 50,000 pieces of content every day including photos, videos, and Q&A.
Some of the brands that work with Influenster include Coty and Procter & Gamble. These brands run product sampling campaigns, generate and license organic review and social content, and build brand awareness.
“Our vision has always been to empower today’s consumers to be the trusted voice when it comes to product experiences and recommendations. Bazaarvoice shares a similar mission, making them an ideal partner,” added Influenster president and co-founder Elizabeth Scherle. “Since launching Influenster nine years ago, we’ve innovated to meet the changing needs of shoppers as the retail, e-commerce, and social media landscapes evolve. Through this acquisition, we’re excited to continue our growth by developing new capabilities and connecting our highly-motivated community with thousands of brands and more than a billion shoppers in the Bazaarvoice Network.”
Scherle along with Influenster co-founder Aydin Acar are going to retain responsibility for key functions at Influenster. According to Bazaarvoice’s communications leaders Kerry Brunelle and Lauren Venticinque, the integrated offerings will be available in North America immediately and in Europe in the fall of 2019 before expanding to other regions in 2020.
