Does virtual discussion of a retail space affect the economic outcomes of the retail stores? The dynamics among retail environment, economic performances, and the perceived characteristics of the traditional retail markets by bloggers in Seoul

Using texts from online blogs, this study aimed to analyze the effect of perceived characteristics of a place in the virtual space and their influence on its economic performance. Specifically, this study analyzed old retail space (traditional markets) in Seoul by empirically examining the relationship among the perceived characteristics, economic performances, and the physical and operative conditions of the markets' facilities. The perceived characteristics by the bloggers were analyzed by the text-mining of the blog posts. Next, the associations among the multiple factors including the perceived characteristics, economic measures, were analyzed by PLS-SEM. Three types of characteristics were found from the texts: (a) value shopping, (b) novelty & food, and (c) affective sentiments. Among them, novelty & food have significant positive effects on annual sales growth and the vacancy reduction rates of the markets. The improved physical condition also had a positive direct effect on annual sales growth, which can be partially explained by its positive mediating effects on Novelty & Food. The operating condition had no significant relationship with the perceived characteristics but had significant effects on the four economic measures. The results imply that renovation projects could diminish certain characteristics of the space (i.e., affective sentiments), but it enhanced other place characteristics (i.e., food and novelty) following economic gains.