The Tamesis
Platforms built around peer engagement are embedding this logic directly into their ecosystems. “Platforms like Depop demonstrate how fashion discovery now flows through peer taste and seller reputation, while Strava turns workouts, routes and recommendations into shared community signals,” said Botsman. “For the person making the recommendation, sharing what they like is also a way to express taste and identity.”
At the same time, artificial intelligence is becoming an inevitable aspect of the discovery process. While some consumers are willing to ask tools like ChatGPT for product recommendations, this shift has not diminished the importance of reviews. If anything, it amplifies it: LLM taps into aggregated online sentiment when showcasing products, meaning the reviews a consumer leaves today may influence not just other shoppers but the algorithms that guide them.
Communities, not events
Trust used to be built through top-down authoritative verticals: advertising, celebrity endorsements, expert endorsements and carefully managed images. Today it is constructed horizontally through peer networks and the circulation of lived experiences
For brands, all of this signals a deeper tectonic shift than the usual advice toward user-generated content (UGC). “The most valuable brand asset today is not influence but recommendations,” Botzman said. In her view, the brands that earn the most trust are those that know how to show up consistently in communities and conversations, not just through marketing campaigns.
This means treating reviews not as something to be managed on the fringe, but as part of the product experience itself. Alo Yoga, for example, adds reviews directly into its e-commerce interface: Product pages prominently display star ratings and written feedback from customers, while a bestseller filter and “Most Liked” label on the homepage guide shoppers to products that have received strong peer validation.
“Customer reviews are important to Alo’s growth because they build trust at scale, especially as we continue to expand globally,” said Summer Nacewicz, Alo’s executive vice president of marketing and creative. “We incorporate what we learn from customer reviews into a feedback loop that we closely monitor throughout the design, merchandising and buying processes. Recurring themes around fit, build and performance inform future developments – for example, consistent requests for additional inseam length resulted in an expanded selection of key pant styles.”
Other brands are experimenting with similar mechanisms in more public ways. For example, much of Glossier’s early growth revolved around user feedback loops, encouraging customers to review products and shaping product launches around community input. London-based brand Peachy Den takes a similar approach through its “Close Friends” community, inviting some of its most loyal customers to review upcoming products and help improve them before launch.
However, as more and more influencers are paid to promote or review products online, the issue of authenticity becomes harder to ignore, making the operational details of trust even more important. For beauty marketplace Lookfantastic, transparency in its review system is key. Chief merchandising officer Billie Faricy-Hyett said the retailer has “partnered with Bazaar Voice to enhance our service offering by adding clarity to verified shopper reviews, incentivized reviews, syndicated reviews from other sites, and unverified reviews. This increased clarity of review sources gives our customers greater confidence in the quality and trustworthiness of reviews on our site.”
