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

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.