Honest recommendations are difficult to come by, with hijacked reviews found
on Amazon and fake reviews found on Facebook. On Wednesday, Bazaarvoice
announced the acquisition of Influenster, a product discovery and reviews platform with nearly six million community members worldwide.
While the companies did not disclose the financial
details of the acquisition, they did discuss the reasons for the acquisition. Influenster’s “product obsessed” community attracted Bazaarvoice. Its six million community members
share their experiences with products and brands -- generating more than 38 million product reviews, growing by one million reviews each month.
Bazaarvoice previously partnered with
Influenster, and has accepted content from its community since 2016. A growth investment fund made possible by Marlin Equity Partners enabled Bazaarvoice to acquire Influenster. The company’s
product sampling and review generation offerings further strengthen Bazaarvoice’s core product reviews and user-generated content solutions.
Influenster's strong community combined with
its recent investments in digital activations, gamification, and organic review generation solutions will allow it to better support our clients more efficiently, according to Loran Gutt,
VP of corporate development at Bazaarvoice.
The Bazaarvoice network includes more than 6,000 brand and retailer websites. "Influenster works with brands such as Coty, and Procter &
Gamble to run product sampling campaigns, generate and license organic review and social content, and build brand awareness," Gutt wrote in an email to Search Marketing Daily,
Influenster’s clients include hundreds of large enterprise brands and retailers.
Its 75 employees will be offered jobs to remain, adding to Bazaarvoice’s more than 750
full-time employees across North America, Europe, and Australia. With the acquisition, more than 800 full-time employees will support clients.
Now Bazaarvoice clients can source
authentic reviews and other user-generated content from the global Influenster community. Brands can then display this content on their own site and across the more than 1,900 global retailer
sites in the Bazaarvoice Network.
Influenster co-founders Aydin Acar and Elizabeth Scherle will remain with the company.
Integrated offerings become available in North America
immediately and in Europe in the fall of 2019, before expanding to other regions in 2020.