Social Media Sentiment Analysis: Online versus ‘Brick and Mortar’ Retailers in South Africa

ABSTRACT

This study provides an analysis of consumers sentiment regarding online and ‘brick and mortar’ retailers in South Africa. The research provides insight into consumer online conversation by examining views as expressed about retailers from 15417 mentions on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. The results indicate that customer service, shopping portals, vouchers/coupons, stock availability, deliveries, and jobs were the top issues discussed about online retailers. Brick and mortar retailers, however, showed conversational the themes of store cards, vouchers, customer service, jobs/staff, stock availability, and in-store experience. As eRetailing grows in momentum in Africa, this study provides a foundation for understanding consumer sentiment and comparing the different retail formats.

KEYWORDS:

• Sentiment analysis
• retailing
• online retailers
• social media
• South Africa

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Cape Town’s Research Committee [URC]; national research foundation of South Africa [120619].