Predicting online product sales via online reviews, sentiments, and promotion strategies: A big data architecture and neural network approach

Alain Yee Loong Chong, Boying Li, Eric W.T. Ngai, Eugene Ch'ng, Filbert Lee

Research output: Journal PublicationArticlepeer-review

125 Citations (Scopus)
71 Downloads (Pure)

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate if online reviews (e.g. valence and volume), online promotional strategies (e.g. free delivery and discounts) and sentiments from user reviews can help predict product sales. Design/methodology/approach – The authors designed a big data architecture and deployed Node.js agents for scraping the Amazon.com pages using asynchronous input/output calls. The completed web crawling and scraping data sets were then preprocessed for sentimental and neural network analysis. The neural network was employed to examine which variables in the study are important predictors of product sales. Findings – This study found that although online reviews, online promotional strategies and online sentiments can all predict product sales, some variables are more important predictors than others. The authors found that the interplay effects of these variables become more important variables than the individual variables themselves. For example, online volume interactions with sentiments and discounts are more important than the individual predictors of discounts, sentiments or online volume. Originality/value – This study designed big data architecture, in combination with sentimental and neural network analysis that can facilitate future business research for predicting product sales in an online environment. This study also employed a predictive analytic approach (e.g. neural network) to examine the variables, and this approach is useful for future data analysis in a big data environment where prediction can have more practical implications than significance testing. This study also examined the interplay between online reviews, sentiments and promotional strategies, which up to now have mostly been examined individually in previous studies.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)358-383
Number of pages26
JournalInternational Journal of Operations and Production Management
Volume36
Issue number4
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 4 Apr 2016

Keywords

  • Big data
  • Neural network
  • Online marketplace
  • Online reviews
  • Product demands
  • Promotional marketing
  • Valence

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Decision Sciences
  • Strategy and Management
  • Management of Technology and Innovation

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