Organisation, Classification and Analysis of Online Reviews Directed to Retail in the Municipality of Porto

Abstract

AbstractWeb 2.0 has allowed collaboration, interaction and sharing of information online, such as online review platforms. Consequently, these short and straightforward opinions have increasingly proved to be essential sources of information not only for consumers but also for companies, as they represent the consumer's sincere evaluation, free from any kind of bias. In this sense, there should be an interest in the analysis and monitoring of online reviews by companies, as the result of these actions may provide guidelines to readjust their strategy, support decision-making and ensure the satisfaction of their consumers. To generate useful information to assist decision-making and strategies’ implementation by retailers in the Municipality of Porto, online reviews from the GoogleMyBusiness platform were organised, classified, and analysed. 9945 online reviews were extracted, directed to 246 retail adaptations of the Municipality of Porto, from 2017 to 2020, which were later classified by the polarity of sentiment (positive, negative, neutral, or mixed). Sentiment analysis was conducted, combined with statistical tests and frequency distribution tables to discover relevant information for retailers. With sentiment analysis, retailers can understand their consumers and their behaviour to adapt their strategies and make the right decisions to ensure their customers’ satisfaction. With the results obtained, this study proves that it is possible to extract useful information from online reviews and reveals that it is still an area of little interest for retailers in the Municipality of Porto.KeywordsMunicipality of PortoSentiment analysisOnline reviewsRetailStore imageConsumer satisfactionGoogleMyBusiness