Consumer Perceptions of Cultural Sustainability in Neo-Chinese Furniture: A Text Mining Analysis of Online Reviews from JD and Tmall

Abstract

This study investigates how consumers perceive the cultural sustainability of Neo-Chinese furniture through the lens of online reviews on two major e-commerce platforms in China: JD.com and Tmall. Employing a mixed-methods approach combining Word2Vec modeling, qualitative content analysis, and a cultural semiotics framework, 47,766 reviews were evaluated across eight representative brands. Consumer perceptions were categorized into three cultural layers—tangible (e.g., material quality, design form), behavioral (e.g., functional use, craftsmanship), and intangible (e.g., aesthetic taste, historical symbolism). The data revealed that Tmall reviews were 23% more likely to mention aesthetic attributes (viz., style, elegance), while JD reviews contained 35% more references to functional features and material credibility (viz., “solid wood,” “durability”). However, references to intangible cultural dimensions—such as traditional narratives or symbolic meaning—accounted for less than 8% of all keyword clusters on both platforms. This indicates a shared deficit in deep cultural cognition. The paper concludes by proposing platform-specific strategies to enhance cultural communication and engagement, contributing to the broader discourse on sustainable design and digital cultural branding.