IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/elcore/v25y2025i3d10.1007_s10660-024-09857-y.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

What drives customer loyalty in a pandemic? Semantic analysis of grocery retailers

Author

Listed:
  • Anna Kuikka

    (University of Eastern Finland)

  • Heli Hallikainen

    (University of Eastern Finland)

  • Sasu Tuominen

    (University of Eastern Finland)

  • Tommi Laukkanen

    (University of Eastern Finland)

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic accelerated online grocery shopping and disrupted customer loyalty. This study analyzes 45,603 Trustpilot reviews of grocery retailers across three eras: pre-pandemic, pandemic, and the “new normal”. We employ Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count to categorize loyalty drivers into three dimensions—cognitive, affective, and social experiences–and we test their relationship with customer loyalty. Whereas cognitive and affective drivers were dominant before the pandemic, social drivers gained prominence during and after the pandemic, reflecting a desire for social interactions amid social distancing. We demonstrate that the influence of the drivers on customer loyalty remains consistent, except for the post-pandemic period, where the cognitive driver lost influence. Consequently, we conclude that consumer behavior in online grocery retailing has changed profoundly. We further suggest that online reviews provide attractive opportunities for retailers to analyze, build, and sustain customer loyalty.

Suggested Citation

  • Anna Kuikka & Heli Hallikainen & Sasu Tuominen & Tommi Laukkanen, 2025. "What drives customer loyalty in a pandemic? Semantic analysis of grocery retailers," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 2205-2240, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:spr:elcore:v:25:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10660-024-09857-y
    DOI: 10.1007/s10660-024-09857-y
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10660-024-09857-y
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10660-024-09857-y?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Chelsea Galoni & Gregory S Carpenter & Hayagreeva Rao & J Jeffrey Inman & JoAndrea Hoegg, 2020. "Disgusted and Afraid: Consumer Choices under the Threat of Contagious Disease," Journal of Consumer Research, Journal of Consumer Research Inc., vol. 47(3), pages 373-392.
    2. Artem Timoshenko & John R. Hauser, 2019. "Identifying Customer Needs from User-Generated Content," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 38(1), pages 1-20, January.
    3. Hansen, Torben & Møller Jensen, Jan & Stubbe Solgaard, Hans, 2004. "Predicting online grocery buying intention: a comparison of the theory of reasoned action and the theory of planned behavior," International Journal of Information Management, Elsevier, vol. 24(6), pages 539-550.
    4. John Hulland & Mark Houston, 2021. "The importance of behavioral outcomes," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 49(3), pages 437-440, May.
    5. Taewon Suh & Sang Bong Lee, 2023. "Configuring managerial factors to enhance omnichannel experience and customer engagement behaviors for a solid loyalty loop," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1591-1619, September.
    6. Sheth, Jagdish, 2020. "Impact of Covid-19 on consumer behavior: Will the old habits return or die?," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 280-283.
    7. He, Hongwei & Harris, Lloyd, 2020. "The impact of Covid-19 pandemic on corporate social responsibility and marketing philosophy," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 176-182.
    8. Sharma, Amalesh & Adhikary, Anirban & Borah, Sourav Bikash, 2020. "Covid-19′s impact on supply chain decisions: Strategic insights from NASDAQ 100 firms using Twitter data," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 443-449.
    9. Atulkar, Sunil & Kesari, Bikrant, 2017. "Satisfaction, loyalty and repatronage intentions: Role of hedonic shopping values," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 39(C), pages 23-34.
    10. Liu-Thompkins, Yuping & Khoshghadam, Leila & Attar Shoushtari, Arjang & Zal, Saeed, 2022. "What drives retailer loyalty? A meta-analysis of the role of cognitive, affective, and social factors across five decades," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(1), pages 92-110.
    11. Kobuszewski Volles, Barbara & Van Kerckhove, Anneleen & Geuens, Maggie, 2023. "Triggering brand switching in online stores: The effectiveness of recommendations for private labels versus national brands," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 164(C).
    12. Bradlow, Eric T. & Gangwar, Manish & Kopalle, Praveen & Voleti, Sudhir, 2017. "The Role of Big Data and Predictive Analytics in Retailing," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 93(1), pages 79-95.
    13. Bitty Balducci & Detelina Marinova, 2018. "Unstructured data in marketing," Journal of the Academy of Marketing Science, Springer, vol. 46(4), pages 557-590, July.
    14. Guthrie, Cameron & Fosso-Wamba, Samuel & Arnaud, Jean Brice, 2021. "Online consumer resilience during a pandemic: An exploratory study of e-commerce behavior before, during and after a COVID-19 lockdown," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    15. Pan, Yue & Sheng, Simon & Xie, Frank T., 2012. "Antecedents of customer loyalty: An empirical synthesis and reexamination," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 19(1), pages 150-158.
    16. Jasper Grashuis & Theodoros Skevas & Michelle S. Segovia, 2020. "Grocery Shopping Preferences during the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-10, July.
    17. Roelen-Blasberg, Tobias & Habel, Johannes & Klarmann, Martin, 2023. "Automated inference of product attributes and their importance from user-generated content: Can we replace traditional market research?," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 40(1), pages 164-188.
    18. Guo, Yue & Barnes, Stuart J. & Jia, Qiong, 2017. "Mining meaning from online ratings and reviews: Tourist satisfaction analysis using latent dirichlet allocation," Tourism Management, Elsevier, vol. 59(C), pages 467-483.
    19. Holmlund, Maria & Van Vaerenbergh, Yves & Ciuchita, Robert & Ravald, Annika & Sarantopoulos, Panagiotis & Ordenes, Francisco Villarroel & Zaki, Mohamed, 2020. "Customer experience management in the age of big data analytics: A strategic framework," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 356-365.
    20. Louis, Didier & Lombart, Cindy & Durif, Fabien, 2021. "Packaging-free products: A lever of proximity and loyalty between consumers and grocery stores," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 60(C).
    21. Pashchenko, Yana & Rahman, Mst Farjana & Hossain, Md Shamim & Uddin, Md Kutub & Islam, Tarannum, 2022. "Emotional and the normative aspects of customers’ reviews," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    22. Oded Netzer & Ronen Feldman & Jacob Goldenberg & Moshe Fresko, 2012. "Mine Your Own Business: Market-Structure Surveillance Through Text Mining," Marketing Science, INFORMS, vol. 31(3), pages 521-543, May.
    23. Duc Hoang & Sofia Kousi & Luis F. Martinez, 2023. "Online customer engagement in the post-pandemic scenario: a hybrid thematic analysis of the luxury fashion industry," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 23(3), pages 1401-1428, September.
    24. Molinillo, Sebastian & Aguilar-Illescas, Rocío & Anaya-Sánchez, Rafael & Carvajal-Trujillo, Elena, 2022. "The customer retail app experience: Implications for customer loyalty," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 65(C).
    25. Didier Louis & Cindy Lombart & Fabien Durif, 2021. "Packaging-free products: A lever of proximity and loyalty between consumers and grocery stores," Post-Print hal-03379616, HAL.
    26. Laukkanen, Tommi, 2016. "Consumer adoption versus rejection decisions in seemingly similar service innovations: The case of the Internet and mobile banking," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 69(7), pages 2432-2439.
    27. Kimiagari, Salman & Asadi Malafe, Neda Sharifi, 2021. "The role of cognitive and affective responses in the relationship between internal and external stimuli on online impulse buying behavior," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 61(C).
    28. Argo, Jennifer J. & Dahl, Darren W., 2020. "Social Influence in the Retail Context: A Contemporary Review of the Literature," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 96(1), pages 25-39.
    29. Roma, Paolo & Aloini, Davide, 2019. "How does brand-related user-generated content differ across social media? Evidence reloaded," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 322-339.
    30. Martin Mende & Dhruv Grewal & Abhijit Guha & Kusum Ailawadi & Anne Roggeveen & Maura L. Scott & Aric Rindfleisch & Koen Pauwels & Barbara Kahn, 2023. "Exploring Consumer Responses to COVID-19: Meaning Making, Cohort Effects, and Consumer Rebound," Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, University of Chicago Press, vol. 8(2), pages 220-234.
    31. Hallikainen, Heli & Luongo, Milena & Dhir, Amandeep & Laukkanen, Tommi, 2022. "Consequences of personalized product recommendations and price promotions in online grocery shopping," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 69(C).
    32. Pantano, Eleonora & Pizzi, Gabriele & Scarpi, Daniele & Dennis, Charles, 2020. "Competing during a pandemic? Retailers’ ups and downs during the COVID-19 outbreak," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 116(C), pages 209-213.
    33. Muhammad Rifki Shihab & Audry Pragita Putri, 2019. "Negative online reviews of popular products: understanding the effects of review proportion and quality on consumers’ attitude and intention to buy," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 19(1), pages 159-187, March.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Morimura, Fumikazu & Sakagawa, Yuji, 2023. "The intermediating role of big data analytics capability between responsive and proactive market orientations and firm performance in the retail industry," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 71(C).
    2. Ali Zackery & Joseph Amankwah-Amoah & Zahra Heidari Darani & Shiva Ghasemi, 2022. "COVID-19 Research in Business and Management: A Review and Future Research Agenda," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-32, August.
    3. Lash, Michael T. & Sajeesh, S. & Araz, Ozgur M., 2023. "Predicting mobility using limited data during early stages of a pandemic," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 157(C).
    4. Carracedo, Patricia & Puertas, Rosa & Marti, Luisa, 2021. "Research lines on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on business. A text mining analysis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 132(C), pages 586-593.
    5. Grewal, Dhruv & Herhausen, Dennis & Ludwig, Stephan & Villarroel Ordenes, Francisco, 2022. "The Future of Digital Communication Research: Considering Dynamics and Multimodality," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 224-240.
    6. Katsumata, Sotaro & Nishimoto, Akihiro & Kannan, P.K., 2023. "Brand competitiveness and resilience to exogenous shock: Usage of smartphone apps during the COVID-19 pandemic," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    7. Stanca, Liana & Dabija, Dan-Cristian & Câmpian, Veronica, 2023. "Qualitative analysis of customer behavior in the retail industry during the COVID-19 pandemic: A word-cloud and sentiment analysis approach," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 75(C).
    8. Michela Piccarozzi & Cecilia Silvestri & Patrizio Morganti, 2021. "COVID-19 in Management Studies: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-28, March.
    9. Jianan Li & Xiaotong Jin & Taiyang Zhao & Tiannv Ma, 2021. "Conformity Consumer Behavior and External Threats: An Empirical Analysis in China During the COVID-19 Pandemic," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(3), pages 21582440211, July.
    10. Philipp Brüggemann & Luis F. Martinez & Koen Pauwels, 2025. "Theoretical perspectives and conceptual framework for online grocery shopping: Adapting to environmental circumstances and influencing internal factors," Electronic Commerce Research, Springer, vol. 25(3), pages 2271-2307, June.
    11. Jiang, Yangyang & Stylos, Nikolaos, 2021. "Triggers of consumers’ enhanced digital engagement and the role of digital technologies in transforming the retail ecosystem during COVID-19 pandemic," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 172(C).
    12. Mustak, Mekhail & Hallikainen, Heli & Laukkanen, Tommi & Plé, Loïc & Hollebeek, Linda D. & Aleem, Majid, 2024. "Using machine learning to develop customer insights from user-generated content," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    13. Eleonora Annunziata & Tommaso Pucci & Jacopo Cammeo & Lorenzo Zanni & Marco Frey, 2023. "The mediating role of exogenous shocks in green purchase intention: evidence from italian fashion industry in the Covid-19 era," Italian Journal of Marketing, Springer, vol. 2023(1), pages 59-79, March.
    14. Yu Li & Sang-June Park & Hao Li & Sungchul Choi, 2024. "Contact or Contactless Payment: Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on Consumer Decision Making in Money Domain," SAGE Open, , vol. 14(1), pages 21582440241, March.
    15. Bożena Kusz & Lucyna Witek & Dariusz Kusz & Katarzyna Chudy-Laskowska & Paulina Ostyńska & Alina Walenia, 2023. "The Effect of COVID-19 on Food Consumers’ Channel Purchasing Behaviors: An Empirical Study from Poland," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-17, March.
    16. Paweł Brzustewicz & Anupam Singh, 2021. "Sustainable Consumption in Consumer Behavior in the Time of COVID-19: Topic Modeling on Twitter Data Using LDA," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-20, September.
    17. Szwajca Danuta, 2022. "The Use of Digital Communication Channels by Polish Consumers – Changes Caused by the Pandemic," Foundations of Management, Sciendo, vol. 14(1), pages 37-50, January.
    18. Marina Sheresheva & Marina Efremova & Lilia Valitova & Anna Polukhina & Georgy Laptev, 2021. "Russian Tourism Enterprises’ Marketing Innovations to Meet the COVID-19 Challenges," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(7), pages 1-17, March.
    19. Beniamino Callegari & Christophe Feder, 2022. "Entrepreneurship and the systemic consequences of epidemics: A literature review and emerging model," International Entrepreneurship and Management Journal, Springer, vol. 18(4), pages 1653-1684, December.
    20. Katarina Valaskova & Pavol Durana & Peter Adamko, 2021. "Changes in Consumers’ Purchase Patterns as a Consequence of the COVID-19 Pandemic," Mathematics, MDPI, vol. 9(15), pages 1-17, July.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:elcore:v:25:y:2025:i:3:d:10.1007_s10660-024-09857-y. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.