What Are the Concerns of Consumers Regarding Omnichannel Service? A Sentiment Analysis of Customer Mobile Reviews

ABSTRACT Omnichannel retailing is a critical strategy for retailers, yet it often fails to meet consumer expectations due to channel‐related issues, such as inconsistent service or a lack of seamless transitions. This gap underscores the need for a deeper understanding of how customers perceive omnichannel service performance to facilitate a seamless experience. This study addresses this gap by analyzing 13,923 customer reviews from retailer mobile applications using sentiment analysis (SnowNLP) and topic modeling (LDA). We identify five key topics of utmost concern to users: logistics quality , technology support , promotion and loyalty programs , service personnel interaction , and product experience . By dissecting customer satisfaction/dissatisfaction patterns within these topics, we advance a four‐dimensional theoretical framework encompassing channel integration , service reliability , operational transparency , and digital technology quality . This model integrates 16 subdimensions and 31 measurable attributes, demonstrating that customers assess retailers' service quality not solely on cross‐channel consistency but also on the granular execution of service elements. Enhancing operational transparency and service reliability can significantly mitigate negative experiences. Our results also highlight the importance of digital technology—encompassing perceived usefulness, ease of use, autonomy, and security—which not only facilitates the realization of omnichannel integration and transparency but also directly influences customer experience. Our framework provides retailers with actionable diagnostics to refine omnichannel strategies, emphasizing the strategic interplay between systemic alignment and contextual service excellence in meeting evolving consumer demands. However, the dataset is restricted to two Chinese omnichannel platforms, and the lack of empirical validation of the proposed framework should be noted.