The rate of fake reviews on US e-commerce platforms exceeds 30%? Walmart has the highest rate!

A recent report from artificial intelligence technology developer Fakespot shows that in the past year, fake reviews on major US e-commerce websites accounted for more than 30% of all reviews.

The e-commerce websites surveyed in this report include Amazon, Walmart, Best Buy, eBay, Sephora, and more than 2 million active e-commerce websites built on Shopify, and analyzed billions of reviews and data from millions of sellers. The report divides all user reviews into five ratings: "A", "B", "C", "D", and "F". Among them, "A", "B", and "C" are considered relatively reliable reviews, and "D" and "F" are considered unreliable or false reviews.

According to the report data, from 2018 to 2020, the proportion of false reviews on e-commerce websites has been on the rise: 21.6% in 2018, 32.5% in 2019, and 30.9% in 2020. From 2018 to 2021, among the major e-commerce websites in the United States, Walmart had the highest proportion of false reviews, reaching 37.6%, followed by Amazon at 27.3%, and the lowest was Best Buy at only 8.1%.

On Amazon, the product categories with the highest rates of fake reviews are women's clothing, health and personal care, cosmetics, pet supplies, and wireless earbuds.

In addition, Fakespot found that the proportion of "C", "D" and "F" reviews on major e-commerce sites doubled during the Black Friday to Cyber ​​Monday period in 2020 compared to the overall data for the year .

“ Breached e-commerce activity continues to increase, impacting more online shoppers every day, ” said Saoud Khalifah , founder and CEO of Fakespot. “We expect the percentage of fake reviews and fraudulent sellers to reach an all-time high during the upcoming Black Friday to Cyber ​​Monday shopping rush . ”

With fake reviews so rampant, it is no wonder that Amazon has taken strong measures to crack down on illegal behaviors of sellers on its platform. This year, after Amazon's rectification, the number of fake reviews on the Amazon platform has been greatly reduced. In addition, the US government is also putting pressure on e-commerce platforms to crack down on fake reviews, so for sellers, operating in compliance is the right way.

E-commerce

Walmart

Amazon