Abstract:
Online customer review contains positive or negative suggestions related to seller, and its products
and services. It is one of the important e-word of mouth marketing activities. Nowadays, particularly
young consumers have been interested in searching information online and reading comments online
about the products and services that they plan to buy. In this study, the role of online customer
reviews in buying process of young college-aged consumers was examined. The aim of the study
was to identify whether positive or negative online customer reviews have any impacts on buying
decision. A qualitative study was formed, and two focus group studies were conducted with seven
participants in two different cities of Turkey, which take part in different regions and also have
different subcultural characteristics. Focus group construct was formed by three parts as
demographic questions, the questions related to online customer reviews, and the ranking questions
about online customer reviews. Data was transcribed from the recorders and analyzed by two
researchers separately. Findings were interpreted and shown in tables in order to give a clear
explanation. As a result of the study, it was obtained that young college-aged consumers have been
affected by online customer reviews of previous customers. There were some limitations in the
study. The limitations and future research suggestions were shown lastly.
