Interest in the analytics of consumer intention, affect, and sentiment using the increasing availability of large data samples, has grown substantially over the last decade. This special issue of Electronic Commerce Research showcases recent research offering us innovative contributions in the computationally and knowledge intensive analysis of electronic markets and businesses models enabled by electronic commerce. The research addresses several exciting new topics at the cutting edge of market analysis in an age where very large datasets have become commonplace. Research in this issue encompasses a diverse and timely range of subjects: new product innovations from online reviews, online language learning, product price predictions, lean production, computing based on emotional psychology, diffusion of innovations, risk detection using affective computing web texts, recommender systems appropriate for Chinese e-commerce and sentiment and emotional analysis from social media. We are enthused about the new work presented in this special issue and hope you will, as well, find the issue both enlightening and germane to your research and applications.