From popularity to pitfalls: Diagnosing consumer issues and engineering solutions for an ink-inspired mobile theme system

Zhenfei Wang and Younghwan Pan

Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, 2025, vol. 82, issue C

Abstract: The demand for personalized smartphone theme systems is growing steadily. In China, the emerging ink-inspired mobile theme system (IMTS) serves as a representative example of such personalized theme systems. The IMTS integrates cultural elements and aesthetics into its design, thereby introducing a novel form of smartphone personalization. However, consumer feedback and willingness to use the IMTS have not increased alongside its development; rather, they have declined significantly. This study analyzes consumer feedback and use intentions of the IMTS to assess its developmental trajectory and propose potential modifications. The study employs the Latent Dirichlet Allocation (LDA) model to analyze all user reviews of the IMTS to identify consumer-behavior-related issues. Subsequently, a targeted survey was conducted, and the results from 407 representative samples were analyzed using the Kano model to identify specific factors influencing consumer willingness to use the system. Results indicate that the IMTS faces significant challenges, such as inconsistency between theme descriptions and the actual user experience, low compatibility between icons and themes, unsatisfactory visual communication, and an overemphasis on cultural elements at the expense of practicality. Addressing these issues is crucial for enhancing the user experience and ensuring the future development of the IMTS.

Keywords: Consumer online reviews; Ink-inspired mobile theme system; Consumer reviews and consumer feedback; Latent dirichlet allocation model analysis; Better-worse-kano model analysis (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joreco:v:82:y:2025:i:c:s0969698924004387

DOI: 10.1016/j.jretconser.2024.104142

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