Amazon Enlists Moms to Rate Toys to Woo Holiday Shoppers

Amazon.com Inc.’s Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos has a knack for harnessing product reviews to get customers to buy online. His latest move: Web-savvy moms whose opinions are coveted by peers who want to know what’s hot this holiday season.

Lisa Diaz unknowingly became part of that marketing push last month after posting a comment on how much her son would like a train set shown on an Amazon social-media page. The company took her feedback -- along with that from 400,000 other moms who post on one of the company’s Facebook Inc. pages -- and distilled it into a “Mom Picks 2014” list of 50 top toys and games for the end-of-year period. Amazon is now prominently displaying the list, which features a web-slinging Spider-Man and a “Frozen” ice-skating Elsa doll, on the toy guide section of its website.