More often than not, if you want to find a good restaurant, you’re going to Yelp it. While this is certainly true if you live in the USA, now that Yelp has opened its doors in Australia it will become increasingly the case.
Founded in San Francisco in 2004, Yelp’s stated purpose is “To connect people with great local businesses” such as restaurants, cafe’s, dentists, hair stylists and mechanics, and the website now boasts an average of 61 million unique monthly visitors over the last quarter with over 22 million reviews written.
Recent research has found the following:
1. A one-star increase in Yelp rating leads to a 5-9 percent increase in revenue.
2. This effect is driven by independent restaurants; ratings do not affect restaurants with chain affiliation.
3. Chain restaurants have declined in market share as Yelp penetration has increased.
Yelp can be a boon to businesses that provide a great service and/or value by providing a free platform for word of mouth recommendations of such businesses. The good news for local Australian businesses is that 80% of ratings on Yelp are three stars or above. Also, Yelp filters through reviews and comments and only publishes top quality consumer feedback. You cannot post anonymously.
While the individual reviewers may not be the most charming, in aggregate, they’re changing the restaurant market, creating new business for well-reviewed companies and cutting into the market share of chains.
