(Source: Business Wire)Bazaarvoice, the market and technology leader in hosted social commerce applications that drive sales, today launched BrandAnswers to directly connect manufacturers with shoppers in the retail channel and fill the information gaps that create unnecessary barriers to purchase. With BrandAnswers, manufacturers can now find and answer shoppers' questions on the world's largest retail sites where consumers go to research and buy products. Answers are badged with the manufacturer's name and logo and immediately appear on the retailer's site, where they are available to millions of other shoppers who may have the same questions. By engaging consumers around the information they need, manufacturers are able to build brand equity and significantly increase retail sales, as well as reduce returns, decrease support costs, and gain real-time insights into consumer sentiment and behavior.

"The Web has changed the way that we shop: surveys predict that 85% of Americans will research or purchase a product online this upcoming holiday season," said Brett Hurt, founder and CEO of Bazaarvoice. "BrandAnswers taps the social nature of the web, and the social nature of shopping, to transform the relationship between a manufacturer, retailer, and consumer. For the first time, manufacturers can directly reach out and engage potential customers on the retail sites where their products are sold -- giving them a critical edge in a highly competitive market. Manufacturers do not have enough employees to help consumers shopping across all physical stores where their products are sold, but now with BrandAnswers they have that ability online and it will dramatically increase their impact in the channel forever - and this impact will be carried into the physical via mobile."

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Research has shown that three out of four shoppers have walked away from a purchase due to a lack of available product information online. Resources to help consumers research and purchase online are especially critical right now, as every $1 spent online influences $5.77 spent in the store in the following two weeks.

BrandAnswers is a natural extension of Ask & Answer, a product introduced by Bazaarvoice two years ago. Bazaarvoice pioneered Ask & Answer to tap the power of online communities to address the unanswered questions that can stop a purchase and send a visitor to a competing site.