In this growing era of digital marketing and online purchasing, reviews play a very important role in purchase decisions. It is seen that consumers mostly buy articles after reading the reviews given below the article description. These reviews are correct or not is a matter of concern. It is often complained by consumers that the product did not match with its specifications. In fact various cases are filed in Courts on online shopping matter such as Snapdeal Vs. D.K. Dubey & Anr, Amazon Seller Services Pvt. Ltd. Vs. Modicare Ltd. In few decided cases, it is even noticed that sellers buy consumer reviews so not all reviews may be true.
Considering the increasing risk of these kind of incidents, Department of Consumer Affairs has organized meeting on ways to protect consumers against fake reviews.
As per a data, number of grievances logged on National Consumer Helpline (NCH) has increased from 95,270 in 2018 to 4, 44,034 in 2023.
The Department has made this requirement for organizations to have system of collection and publication of online consumer reviews as per ISO Standards 19000:2022. They would even publish Draft Quality Control Order soon for public review and consultation.
A big number of online consumer purchase comes from youngsters who fall within the age group of 16 years to 25 years. They can be easily tricked by the fake reviews. Sometimes these reviews include both photos and videos of the article leading to a lot of confusion. It becomes herculean task for anyone (including any other seller) to check whether it is actually true or false. The era of online purchasing would only keep expanding considering the fact that one can get variety of options sitting at the comfort of his own home. In such situations, this step is the need of the hour.
