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Finding the perfect car seat for your family can be difficult, especially as shoppers might be looking for something specific that is not obviously highlighted in the research. Is it easy to install? Is it lightweight? Does it have a cup holder? From safety to look, parents are considering many aspects when making the important investment of a seat to house their young child. That’s why the data scientists at Aspectiva were interested in uncovering what shoppers thought about the hundreds of car seats available on the market....

Sentiment Analysis is the process of determining whether a piece of writing is positive, negative or neutral. It’s also known as opinion mining, deriving the opinion or attitude of a speaker. A common use case for this technology is to discover how people feel about a particular topic. The rise of social networks and blogs and forums, and the accompanying mountain of data available from these sources, has seen increased interest in the field of sentiment analysis. Many companies now exist that use a form of sentiment analysis to "listen in" on social conversations or to spot online trends....

Over the last few years there has been an explosion in the number of reviews that have been written online. They have arrived in many forms, be they formal reviews left on eCommerce sites, forums, thoughts left on the comments section of a website or opinions written on social media platforms. User Generated Content has grown in both quantity and influence. The idea of buying something online nowadays and not checking reviews is unthinkable. eCommerce sites can no longer afford to ignore the power of consumer opinions and are missing out on sales by doing so....

With the pace of change in eCommerce taking place at a faster rate than ever before, two major shifts in consumer behavior have impacted retailers in a way that they cannot ignore. The first is the increasing importance placed on consumer reviews. This trend has grown in significance with one survey stating that 88% of consumers trust online reviews as much as a personal recommendation....

The famous Big Apple is one of the most visited cities in the world welcoming 55 million tourists in 2015. That is a lot of hotel rooms. The Hotel Association of New York, which represents most of the hotels in the city, lists over 270 members covering over 75,000 rooms. With so many to choose from it is almost impossible for travelers to find the one that best fits their needs. Tourists come in all shapes and sizes and there is likely to be a hotel for any type of holiday....

In 2009, YouTube famously abandoned its star ratings and reviews system after it discovered that the majority of videos were being given 5 stars while those who loathed videos gave a 1 star - with very few ratings in between. They deduced that "the ratings system is primarily being used as a seal of approval, not as an editorial indicator of what the community thinks about a video."...

The last 40 years in the retail industry has seen incredible change. It is fair to say that the consumer experience compared to the 1980s is largely unrecognizable for shoppers. For retailers, more so than most industries, it is vital that they stay ahead of the curve. In order to look ahead at upcoming trends, however, it can be useful to note the evolutionary changes that have taken place thus far. Let’s now look at the trends that have impacted the retail sector the most....