Extraction of Onomatopoeia Co-Occurrence Patterns and Analysis of Sales Trends in C2C Product Descriptions

Abstract

This study analyzes the actual usage of onomatopoeia in product descriptions and its impact on sales performance, focusing on items in the “Women’s” category on Mercari, one of Japan’s largest online flea market platforms. The analysis reveals that terms such as pittari (perfect fit), kirakira (sparkling), and saratto (smooth/light touch) appear frequently. By extracting co-occurring words with these high-frequency onomatopoeic expressions and performing cluster analysis, this study examines the specific contexts in which they are used. The results suggest that the likelihood of an item being sold is influenced by the use of onomatopoeia within appropriate contexts, specifically through effective combinations with relevant co-occurring words.