Consumer Behavior Changes and Coping Strategies in the Digital Age
Authors: Li Yanyi 
Published: February 2025

With the advent of the digital age, consumers' shopping behavior and information acquisition have undergone profound changes. Traditional advertising platforms such as Baidu and Jinri Toutiao have gradually been replaced by social media platforms, and new media channels such as Wechat moment, Xiaohongshu and broadcast rooms have become the main sources for consumers to obtain product and service information. In the traditional real estate sector, this trend is also prominently observable. The purpose of this study is to explore the changes in consumer behavior in the digital age and analyze the key roles played by live broadcasting and new media. This study shows that the impact of social media on different home buying customer groups is significantly different in marketing conversion data, including the retention of potential customers, the number of customers visited, and the proportion of transactions brought by social media tools. In addition, this paper deeply focuses on the influence of buyers' life stage on their house purchase demand, and subdivides buyers into several typical life stages. Through a detailed analysis of the changes in the needs of 49 different types of households, we reveal the specific differences in the needs of buyers at different life stages in terms of home size, location, function and so on. For example, single young people are more likely to choose a small apartment with a good location; Newlyweds focus on community safety and future parenting resources; Families with children emphasize safety, education, and the functionality of living Spaces. Families with stable career pursue high-quality improved housing and matching personal circle; The retired pay attention to health and wellness facilities and recreational activities. Based on the above analysis, this study provides more targeted product design and service strategies for developers. Specifically, through the detailed classification of 49 household types, such as single youth, newlyweds, families with young children (full nest I, II, III), empty-nest families, and families in the breakup stage, developers can better understand the unique needs of each stage and design products and services that are more in line with market needs. Finally, for different types of customer groups, this paper puts forward the project characteristics based on the precise delivery portfolio strategy and expansion strategy, in order to reduce marketing costs and improve efficiency. Young customers pay more attention to Xiaohongshu and live broadcast channels; customers with families pay more attention to WeChat Moments or Baidu; the retired class pays more attention to personal circle channels; different groups get effective information from different channels, which is more direct; thus, guiding us to match the corresponding delivery channels according to different customer groups in the future. The proportion of investment is equivalent to the proportion of marketing expenses invested in promotion and expansion. Through the segmentation of different types of customer groups and the testing of different digital media channels, this study helps enterprises to analyze and study in the dimension of customer classification, and improve the accuracy of enterprises in acquiring effective customers and effectively reduce costs based on the feedback of different customer groups on different social media.