I. Introduction
Korean cuisine, as a key component of Korea’s traditional food culture, plays a pivotal role in shaping the nation’s image on the global stage (Jang & Paik 2012). In today’s interconnected world, the globalization of Korean food requires a comprehensive strategy that not only highlights its cultural significance but also adapts to the tastes and preferences of foreign markets (Yoo & Kim 2016). Promoting Korean cuisine and fostering a positive image among foreign consumers not only adds value to the country but also contributes to the growth of both the tourism and cultural industries (Khoe et al. 2007).
In the United States, there has been a notable shift, particularly among younger consumers, towards healthier food options. As they move away from traditionally popular Chinese cuisine, these consumers are seeking new Asian dishes and healthier alternatives (Horng et al. 2012). Amid these changing trends, the image of Korean cuisine— recognized as one of the “world’s five healthiest foods”—is gaining popularity through innovative channels, including the social media accounts of K-Pop idols and through exposure on platforms like Netflix (Jung 2021). Despite this positive momentum, for Korean food to firmly establish itself in the U.S. market, it is crucial to develop a localization strategy that reflects the tastes and preferences of local consumers through thorough market research (Park & Kim 2016).
At the same time, the online food distribution market is undergoing rapid innovation, driven by advancements in food technology (Kim et al. 2023a). Traditional in-person food purchasing is being replaced by contactless transactions, such as online and mobile shopping (Kim 2021). While fresh food has historically accounted for a smaller share of online sales due to concerns about freshness, the rise of fast delivery services and improved cold storage technologies has led to a significant increase in the online sale of fresh products, outpacing other categories (Lee 2018). This presents a significant opportunity for the expansion of Korean food products in the online marketplace.
Previous studies have extensively examined foreign consumers’ perceptions and preferences toward Korean food in various regions, particularly in Southeast Asia. For instance, research on Indonesian consumers analyzed the factors influencing their intentions to purchase Korean food products, emphasizing the growing popularity of Korean food within the Indonesian market (Jeong & Choi 2019). Similarly, studies on Malaysian consumers explored their awareness and preferences for Korean packaged foods such as ramen and gimchi (김치), highlighting the influence of Korean cultural exports on food consumption in Malaysia (Jeong & Choi 2018). Other research has compared perceptions of Korean food between Korean and foreign food workers, focusing on how cultural backgrounds shape attitudes towards Korean cuisine (Kim et al. 2023b). Existing studies have also investigated the value, culture, history and traditions of Korean foods (Kwon et al. 2023;Moon & Cha 2023).
However, despite these valuable contributions, there remains a significant gap in the literature regarding the U.S. market. No studies to date have comprehensively analyzed U.S. consumers’ perceptions of Korean food, particularly through the lens of online reviews, which are a critical source of consumer feedback in today’s digital economy. Additionally, the potential for Korean food to localize and adapt to U.S. consumer preferences has not been thoroughly explored.
This study aims to fill this gap by analyzing consumer perceptions of Korean food products listed on Amazon, one of the largest online platforms in the U.S. market. Through word frequency analysis of customer reviews, this research provides a novel understanding of how U.S. consumers engage with Korean food products, shedding light on key factors such as taste, packaging, and branding that influence consumer satisfaction. By focusing on the U.S. market, this study offers valuable insights into the localization strategies needed for Korean food to succeed in a highly competitive and diverse market, thus contributing to the broader field of Korean food globalization research.
II. Materials and Methods
1. Data collection
In this study, a Python-based web crawler was developed to collect detailed item-specific information (e.g., price, links, food category, producer information, ranking within category) and customer reviews (e.g., review content, star ratings, review date, reviewer country, number of helpful votes) from all Korean food products listed on the U.S. online platform Amazon (Amazon.com Inc.) <Figure 1>. To construct the K-food database, the keywords ‘Korean’ and ‘food’ were combined to perform an initial search within the grocery category. Additionally, popular food categories in the U.S., such as instant food, gimchi (김치), noodles (ramen), sauces, snacks, beverages (drinks, tea), and seaweed, were included in the keyword search to compile a comprehensive list of Korean food products available on Amazon. After collecting detailed information on the products listed on Amazon as shown in <Table 1>, the corresponding review data was also gathered as shown in <Table 2>, and the two datasets were merged for further analysis. Tables 1 and 2 provide examples of the collected data. Information that could identify individual reviewers was removed.
2. Data preprocessing
Data preprocessing is a crucial initial step in text analysis, essential for generating accurate and meaningful results. In this study, all preprocessing tasks were conducted using Python, with various packages employed for different functions: the Natural Language Toolkit (NLTK) for natural language processing (NLP), Pandas for data manipulation, and Scikit-learn and spaCy for text processing.
Specifically, the following steps were performed during preprocessing. First, basic data cleaning was conducted, which involved all text was converted to lowercase and filtering based on a word-length to include only words longer than three characters, ensuring that meaningful words were retained in the dataset. Next, the cleaned text was tokenized into individual words, a standard procedure in natural language processing. Using spaCy’s language model, part- of-speech tagging and lemmatization were performed, ensuring that only nouns, verbs, and adjectives were included in the dataset.
Subsequently, the Gensim Phrases module was employed to build bigram and trigram models, allowing for the identification of word pairs frequently mentioned together (e.g., ‘rice cake’, ‘meal replacement’). Stopwords, or predefined unnecessary words, were also removed.
Finally, stemming and lemmatization were applied to standardize the morphological structure of the words. For instance, ‘are’, ‘is’, ‘am’, were normalized to ‘be’ and ‘running’ and ‘runner’ were converted to ‘run’. Additionally, words that appeared in fewer than two documents or in more than 40% of the documents were removed to improve the quality of the dataset.
3. Basic statistics of Amazon review
The collected data includes the number of Korean food products and their reviews listed on Amazon from 2008 to 2024, tracking the year-over-year trends in the number of products and reviews. Basic statistical analyses were also conducted to examine the number of products and reviews per category, as well as the average satisfaction ratings for each category.
4. Word frequency analysis
Using the preprocessed data, a word frequency analysis was performed on the tokenized words. Python was employed for this analysis, utilizing Pandas for data manipulation and Matplotlib and WordCloud for visualization. The reviews were categorized into three groups based on star ratings: dissatisfied (1-2 stars), neutral (3 stars), and satisfied (4-5 stars). The most frequently mentioned words in each category were compared to identify key consumer feedback and perceptions, as well as to analyze product characteristics.
III. Result and Discussion
1. Basic statics of Amazon reviews
1) Changes over time
An analysis of the data from 2008 to 2024 revealed an overall upward trend in both the number of Korean food products listed on Amazon and the total number of reviews. It is important to note that the 2024 data was collected in February, and thus the results only reflect the data available up to that point <Table 3>. To avoid distorting the overall trend, <Figure 2> visualizes the data from 2008 to 2023, excluding the incomplete 2024 data.
In 2012, there was a significant increase in the number of Korean food products listed on Amazon, with a 120% rise compared to the previous year, and the total number of reviews saw a dramatic 223% increase. This indicates a surge in the popularity of Korean food during that period. Additionally, notable increases in the number of reviews were observed in 2019, 2020, and 2023, suggesting a sustained growth in interest in Korean food during these years.
2) Differences in food category
<Table 4> presents the number of products and reviews for each food category listed on Amazon. The Pantry Staples category had the highest number of products, with 210 items, and also the most reviews, with over 7,000. Interestingly, although the Snacks & Sweets category had fewer products listed than the Beverages category, it had a relatively higher number of reviews. The average satisfaction score across all reviews was 3.70. Among the categories, the Breads & Bakery category had the highest average satisfaction score at 4.17, followed by the Food & Beverage Gifts category at 4.14. In contrast, Pantry Staples, which had the largest number of products and reviews, had an average satisfaction score of 3.69, while Produce had the lowest score at 3.10.
2. Word frequency analysis result
1) Word Frequency by Star Rating (Overall Satisfaction)
<Table 5> presents the results of the word frequency analysis conducted on the reviews of Korean food products listed on Amazon, highlighting key insights related to consumer satisfaction. These results are visualized in <Figure 2>. The most frequently mentioned words across all reviews were “flavor” (5,776 occurrences), “tea” (3,434), “sauce” (2,699), “sweet” (2,008), “add” (1,929), and “spicy” (1,881), which are closely associated with the key characteristics of Korean food.
In the 1-2 star (dissatisfied) reviews, the most frequently mentioned words were “flavor” (1,044), “sauce” (471), “package” (354), “sweet” (354), “order” (351), and “spicy” (328). Words related to packaging and delivery issues, such as “open,” “receive,” “break,” and “plastic,” as well as “expire,” which is associated with product expiration, appeared frequently. In the 3-star (neutral) reviews, the most commonly mentioned words were “flavor” (836), “sweet” (428), “sauce” (340), “tea” (270), and “spicy” (243), indicating that feedback on taste was a primary focus in neutral evaluations. Conversely, in the 4-5 star (satisfied) reviews, words like “flavor” (3,896), “tea” (2,842), “sauce” (1,888), “add” (1,620), “spicy” (1,310), and “sweet” (1,226) appeared frequently. Notably, “gift” and “brand” were also mentioned more often, suggesting that packaging for gifts and brand recognition positively impacted customer satisfaction.
This analysis confirms that flavor is a key factor in determining consumer satisfaction with Korean food products. Additionally, evaluations of sweetness and spiciness varied, highlighting the strong influence of these tastes on consumer preferences.
2) Word frequency by food category
<Table 6> provides the results of the word frequency analysis for each food category of Korean products on Amazon, visualized in <Figure 3>. In the Pantry Staples category, which included 7,138 reviews, words like “flavor” (2,628), “sauce” (1,738), “hot” (1,077), and “spicy” (964) were frequently mentioned, with a particular emphasis on taste, especially spiciness. Products such as sauces, soy sauce, and noodles were commonly mentioned, along with words related to preparation like “add”, “heat”, and “recipe”. Packaging-related words like “package’, “bottle”, “container”, and “pack” were also frequently cited, indicating that consumers were sensitive to packaging and brand perception. In the Snacks & Sweets category, words like “flavor” (1,660), “sweet” (1,090), “sauce” (961), “spicy” (909), and “rice cake” (807) were frequently mentioned across 3,460 reviews. Tteokbokki (떡볶이) (spicy rice cakes) emerged as a popular product, with words like “spicy”, ‘chewy, “delicious”, and “texture” used to describe its taste and texture. Packaging forms and preparation methods, such as “package”, “cup”, and “microwave”, were also frequently mentioned. In the Beverages category, 2,579 reviews showed frequent mentions of “tea” (2,137), “flavor” (1,228), “drink” (779), “water” (424), “add” (394), and “bag” (341), with a large number of reviews focusing on tea. The reviews mentioned various packaging forms, including teabags, powders, and bottled drinks. Additionally, there were references to meal replacements, convenience, and health-conscious consumption patterns.
In the Food & Beverage Gifts category, words related to gift packaging, such as “gift”, “box”, “package”, and “presentation”, were frequently mentioned in 816 reviews, with tea being the most commonly cited product. In the Vitamins, Minerals & Supplements category, ginseng was a key ingredient, with words like “energy”, “health”, and “healthy” frequently mentioned. Finally, the Meat & Seafood and Breads & Bakery categories showed strong mentions of snacks and gifts, though the Produce category had too few reviews for meaningful conclusions.
3. Discussion
This study analyzed data from 2008 to February 2024 on Korean food products and consumer reviews on Amazon to identify trends in overseas consumers’ interest and evaluations of Korean food. The number of Korean food listings and reviews has increased significantly since 2012, coinciding with the global rise in popularity of Korean culture (Hallyu). The notable increases in reviews in 2019, 2020, and 2023 reflect growing global demand for Korean food, likely supported by its distinctive flavors and positive health perceptions.
Among the reviews, taste was the most frequently mentioned factor, with spiciness and sweetness emerging as key influencers of consumer satisfaction. Positive reviews (4-5 stars) highlighted packaging and branding, indicating that these aspects, along with flavor, contributed to consumer satisfaction. On the other hand, negative reviews (1-2 stars) often cited issues with packaging or delivery, suggesting that product quality in terms of packaging and distribution plays a critical role in the consumer experience.
By food-category, Pantry Staples and Snacks & Sweets had the most reviews, with tteokbokki (떡볶이)(spicy rice cakes) being especially popular, indicating that Korean convenience foods are resonating with foreign consumers. However, fresh produce had fewer reviews, indicating lower demand for fresh Korean food items in the international market. This study highlights both the positive reception of Korean food among overseas consumers and areas for improvement, underscoring the potential for growth in the global market.
IV. Summary and Conclusion
This study conducted a comprehensive evaluation of the market position and consumer responses to Korean food products listed on Amazon from 2008 to February 2024. The findings indicate a significant increase in the number of Korean food products and associated reviews following 2012, which aligns with the global rise of the Korean Wave (Hallyu). This surge reflects a growing and sustained interest in Korean food. Additionally, the sharp increase in reviews during specific years reinforces the continuity of this upward trend.
The category-wise analysis revealed that Pantry Staples and Snacks & Sweets attracted the most attention, with convenience foods such as tteokbokki (떡볶이)(spicy rice cakes) gaining notable popularity among international consumers. There was also considerable interest in beverage products, particularly tea, suggesting that Korean tea culture is receiving positive responses in foreign markets.
The word frequency analysis identified “taste” as the primary factor influencing consumer satisfaction. Specifically, preferences for spiciness and sweetness were strongly evident, demonstrating that these taste profiles play a crucial role in consumers’ purchasing decisions. Additionally, packaging quality and brand recognition were important determinants of consumer satisfaction, with gift products receiving particularly favorable evaluations. However, negative reviews frequently highlighted issues with packaging, delivery, and expiration dates, signaling the need for improvements in product quality. These concerns emphasize the importance of enhancing logistics systems and strengthening quality control measures.
In conclusion, this study confirms the strong potential for Korean food products to continue expanding in the global market. The insights gained here can serve as a foundation for developing future globalization strategies for the Korean food industry. By capitalizing on the distinctive flavors and appealing packaging designs of Korean food, while simultaneously improving branding, product quality, and distribution processes, the industry can achieve greater success in international markets.
This study has some limitations. First, the data were only gathered from Amazon. Second, the results may not be generalized to other types of ethnic cuisines. Food perceptions can differ based on ethnicity, cultural background, and geographic locations(Camillo et al. 2010;Kim et al. 2014). Future research is needed to explore whether individuals’ ethnic backgrounds influence their experience with ethnic foods.