Analysis of Changes in Consumer Perception of Meal Kits using Social Media Text Mining

This study aims to analyze recent changes in consumer perceptions and key trends related to meal kits by employing social media text mining techniques. The data were collected from July 2022 to July 2024, based on social text data retrieved from platforms such as Naver Blog, Café, Knowledge iN, Daum Blog, Google, and Facebook, using keywords related to “meal kit.” Text mining, N-gram analysis, TF-IDF analysis, and CONCOR analysis were conducted on the collected data to extract major keywords and identify the clustered structure of consumer perceptions. The analysis revealed that consumers tend to use the term “kit” more frequently than “meal kit” and that there is a clear perception pattern linked to specific menu items such as tteokbokki, budae-jjigae, and gopchang-jeongol. “Tteokbokki” emerged as a core keyword according to the TF-IDF analysis, indicating a stronger consumer focus on menus rather than brands. The CONCOR analysis identified four major clusters: characteristics of meal kits, meal kit menus, premium restaurant alternatives, and camping-related products. These findings suggest the need for product diversification centered on menu themes and a segmented market strategy based on evolving consumer trends when developing and marketing meal kits.