Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the National Standard Body of India, has published an Indian Standard, IS 19000:2022, ‘Online Consumer Reviews - Principles and Requirements for their Collection, Moderation and Publication’.

This standard provides requirements and recommendations for the principles and methods for review administrators to apply in their collection, moderation and publication of online consumer reviews. The standard prescribes specific responsibilities for the review author and the review administrator.

This standard is applicable to any organization that publishes consumer reviews online, including suppliers/sellers of products and services that collect reviews from their own customers, a third-party contracted by the suppliers/sellers or an independent third party.

It lays down the process which demonstrates the commitment of consumer review sites that they value their customers and provide reviews that can be trusted. It would help building confidence among consumers to purchase goods online and help them take better purchase decisions. The standard is expected to benefit all stakeholders in the e-commerce ecosystem, i.e. consumers, e-commerce platforms, sellers etc.

Over the last few years, there has been a steady rise in e-commerce transactions across the country. Reviews posted online play a significant role in making purchase decisions and consumers exceedingly rely on reviews posted on e-commerce platforms to see the opinion and experience of users who have already purchased the goods or services

As online reviews are increasingly influential to consumers’ purchasing decisions, it is important to both consumers and suppliers/sellers that the same are managed effectively to build confidence in the quality, integrity, accuracy and transparency of reviews.

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