Although probably best known as the world’s favorite camera store, specialist retailer Adorama also sells a wide assortment of products, including professional video and audio gear, consumer electronics, home office equipment, and mobile computing products.

Adorama’s customer base consists of professional photographers and videographers, but also includes some pretty serious amateur ones as well. These shoppers spend hours closely researching the technical specifications of the types of products in Adorama’s catalog.

Adorama understands the meaning of customer-centric. Their NYC store, for example, has developed a reputation for providing one-on-one customer service from a staff of highly knowledgeable—but still friendly and approachable—experts.

“Shoppers looking for photography equipment and other consumer electronics have a slew of options to choose from. Part of how Adorama puts itself ahead of the competition is by giving customers easy access to expertise about our products through our sales associates.”—Heather Nichols, Digital Merchandiser

The Challenge

Naturally, the company wanted to replicate its superb in-store customer experience on its website.

Nichols said a key element of that strategy was to increase the number of reviews available to shoppers on its site. That way its customers could tap into the collective wisdom of one of the most trusted sources of information available—other shoppers.

"Our customers tend to do a lot of research because they want to make sure an item fits their specific needs. especially because a lot of our products are so technical," said Nichols. "A lot of people use reviews to make a final decision on their purchase." 

That's where Pixlee TurnTo came in.

The Solution - Syndicated Reviews

Through its Open Review Syndication service, Pixlee TurnTo quickly increased the number of product reviews on Adorama’s site. While some Customer-Generated Content vendors charge steep fees for syndication, Pixlee TurnTo’s Syndication service is offered at no additional charge for either retailers or brands, ensuring that the maximum number of brands participate.

With Pixlee TurnTo Syndication, reviews collected by some of the biggest brands in the consumer electronics vertical—likeSony, HP, Canon, and Nikon—also displayed on Adorama’s online storefront. As a result, Adorama saw a 294% spike in the number of reviews displayed on its site.

Getting more reviews has a direct, positive impact on conversion rates. Research from Northwestern University’s Spiegel Center shows that a product with just five reviews was 270%more likely to be purchased than a product with no reviews.

Pixlee TurnTo Syndication also improved Adorama’s coverage rate—the percentage of products in the company’s catalog that have at least one review.

For example, the coverage rate for HP products on Adorama’s site more than doubled once syndicated reviews were included.

In addition, the average number of ratings per HP product also saw a boost with Pixlee TurnTo Syndication, increasing by more than 12x. That was especially helpful for Adorama, since more reviews provide social proof for a purchase, helping to convert shoppers to buyers.

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Free Syndication for Brands

Adorama’s brand partners were able to participate in Pixlee TurnTo’s Open Review Syndication at no cost, even if they used another platform to collect and manage Customer-Generated Content on their own site. The brands only needed to give Pixlee TurnTo permission to syndicate their reviews to the retailers in the Pixlee TurnTo network.

The brands that syndicated their content through Pixlee TurnTo also received a number of benefits, including a better digital presence, improved sell-through value, and search engine optimization (SEO) credit.

The Bottom Line

Adorama wanted to bulk up the Customer-Generated Content featured on its online store to help its customers get the information they were looking for when researching products. With Pixlee TurnTo Review Syndication, Adorama quickly increased the number of product reviews on its site by nearly 300%

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