Digital marketing and consumer behavior of enterprises under the background of national subsidy policies

Introduction

In the rapidly changing economic landscape, government subsidies, as an important macroeconomic regulation tool, have a profound impact on corporate behavior and market dynamics. Especially in the wave of digital economy, enterprises are increasing their investment in digital marketing in order to gain an advantage in the fierce market competition (Zhao et al. 2025a, 2025b, 2025c, 2025d; Ye, 2022).

However, whether there is a synergistic effect between government subsidies and enterprise digital marketing investment, and how this synergistic effect further affects consumer behavior, especially consumer purchase intention, is a topic worth exploring in depth. At the same time, the role played by consumers’ awareness of subsidy policies and their trust in digital marketing platforms in this process, especially in the context of the second-hand product market, is not yet clear about the interaction mechanism of these factors.

This study aims to deeply analyze the complex relationship between government subsidy policies, digital marketing strategies of enterprises, and consumer purchasing intentions. By reviewing and analyzing relevant academic literature, this article will reveal the core findings, research methods, and potential limitations of existing research in these fields, and based on this, propose five core hypotheses for this study. These assumptions not only focus on the incentive effect of subsidy policies on enterprise digital marketing investment, but also explore the impact path of digital marketing strategies on consumer purchase intention, as well as the moderating role of consumer cognition and platform trust in it. In addition, this study will also pay special attention to the potential impact of government subsidies on the willingness to purchase second-hand products, in order to provide theoretical basis and practical guidance for policy makers and business decision-makers.

Through the above review, this paper makes three contributions. First, it incorporates macro-level national subsidy policies into the micro-level analytical framework of enterprise digital marketing and consumer decision-making, establishing a link between policy instruments and platform-based market behaviors. Second, it synthesizes research evidence across the fields of digital marketing, consumer purchase intention, and platform trust, constructing an internally consistent conceptual framework that clarifies the well-established findings and the theoretical spaces requiring further extension in existing research. Third, it introduces a theoretically grounded “substitution effect” proposition, extends the research scope to the second-hand product market, and uncovers a potential unintended policy consequence that has received insufficient attention in the existing digital marketing literature.

Hypotheses 1–3 elaborate on how subsidy intensity affects enterprises’ digital marketing investment, as well as the relationships between digital marketing, policy awareness, and consumer purchase intention. Hypothesis 4 examines the moderating role of platform trust in the process of converting marketing inputs into purchase intention. Hypothesis 5 puts forward an exploratory theoretical proposition regarding subsidies and second-hand purchase willingness. The final section summarizes the research implications and points out the limitations of the study as well as directions for future empirical validation.

Through this study, we hope to bridge the existing research gap and provide a more comprehensive and in-depth perspective for understanding “digital marketing and consumer behavior of enterprises under the background of national subsidy policies”, thereby elucidating its important research value and practical significance.

Main body

The current academic research on digital marketing, consumer behavior, purchase intention, and platform trust has achieved fruitful results, but there are few studies that take government subsidy policies as the core variable and explore how they are combined with enterprise digital marketing investment, consumer purchase intention, and the second-hand product market (Refs. Aldiansyah et al. (2025), Chin et al. (2020), Dong (2022), Erdmann et al. (2021), Han (2023), Liu and Zhang (2023), Pandey et al. (2024), Qin et al. (2021), Santosa et al. (2024), Shieh et al. (2025), Sun and Yu (2025), Theocharis et al. (2025), Wang et al. (2023) and Zhang et al. (2023)).

Although existing literature has not directly explored the relationship between government subsidy intensity and the level of digital marketing investment by enterprises, studies have shown that digital finance plays a key role in promoting consumers’ online purchases, enhancing their trust in online shopping and reducing perceived risks, thereby increasing online purchasing behavior (Wang & Huang, 2023). This indirectly indicates that the government’s investment in promoting the construction of digital infrastructure and the development of the digital economy (broadly defined as subsidy policies) can promote the activities of enterprises in the digital field.

In addition, the importance of digital marketing strategies in influencing consumer purchase intention has been widely recognized (Awuor et al., 2023). For example, a survey on the clothing industry shows that digital marketing has a significant impact on consumer purchase intention, especially among the younger generation (Ali et al., 2022). This implies that if the government encourages companies to undergo digital transformation through subsidies, companies will naturally increase their investment in digital marketing. Therefore, from indirect evidence, H1 has a certain theoretical basis. It should be noted that this theoretical proposition ought to be distinguished from empirically derived conclusions. Due to limited direct evidence substantiating a specific linkage between subsidy intensity and digital marketing budgets, this hypothesis should be regarded as a logical inference drawn from the broader digital incentive mechanisms facilitated by government policies, rather than as an established causal relationship.

This hypothesis is highly relevant to the existing extensive research on digital marketing and consumer purchase intention. Multiple studies have confirmed the positive impact of digital marketing on consumer purchase intention (Figure 1). For example, in the field of banking services, digital marketing has an impact on purchase intention through trust and engagement (Otopah et al., 2024). In social commerce platforms, user generated content (UGC) influences consumer purchase intention through online trust mediation (Dat et al., 2025). The display of virtual reality (VR) products can stimulate consumers’ willingness to purchase (Raza et al., 2024; Reyes-Mercado & Barajas-Portas, 2020).

Figure 1. Theoretical model illustrating the impact of VR product display on purchase intention (Raza et al., 2024).

This diagram clearly depicts how the origin of a brand influences consumers’ purchasing intentions through “inspiration” and “virtual reality product display” (Figure 2).

Figure 2. Conceptual framework of factors influencing online consumption of second-hand luxury goods (Ki et al., 2024).

In addition, research has found that factors such as visual appeal, interpersonal influence, and portability in the mobile commerce environment can positively affect consumers’ willingness to purchase cosmetics (Akram et al., 2023). In live streaming e-commerce, consumers’ perceived value (such as product quality, hedonic value, social value, and symbolic value) influences their willingness to continue purchasing through the mediating effect of consumer trust (Sari et al., 2025). The role of artificial intelligence in influencing consumer purchase intention in influencer marketing has also been validated (Arya et al., 2025). These studies collectively indicate that the higher the intensity of digital marketing strategies (including their diversity and innovation), the more significant the positive impact on consumer purchase intention. In the context of national subsidies, enterprises have more resources to invest in these efficient digital marketing methods, thereby strengthening this positive impact.

In defining the concept of “digital marketing strategy intensity”, it is necessary to further operationalize it to avoid interpreting intensity merely as “more investment”. A more nuanced conceptualization can include: the breadth of multi-channel reach, the precision of content-audience matching, the frequency of interaction and pace of content updates, and data-driven iterative capabilities. In the context of subsidies, firms may not only expand their budgets but also increase their willingness to experiment due to financial buffers and pressure from policy windows, thereby strengthening the impact on purchase intention in terms of “strategic portfolio diversity” and “optimization speed” (Yan J. & Yuan P., 2025; Ma W. & Yong S. C., 2025; Reimann C. K. et al., 2022; Giantari K. et al., 2022; Vieira V. A. et al., 2022).

Meanwhile, there may be non-linear relationships or boundary conditions between digital marketing intensity and purchase intention: excessive reach or high repetition exposure may lead to ad fatigue and psychological reactance among users, which in turn weakens conversion; when marketing strategies involve stronger data tracking or personalization, privacy concerns may also offset the positive effects. Accordingly, the perspective of “moderate intensity/content quality and relevance” can be added to the discussion of this hypothesis: that is, the effectiveness of marketing intensity depends not only on quantity but also on the balance of information diagnosticity, credibility, and disruption costs, which also provides more testable mechanisms and heterogeneous explanations for subsequent empirical research (Nawaz S. S. & Kaldeen M., 2020; Rusidah, S., 2023; Khwaja M. G. et al., 2020; Saranya G. et al., 2020; Min Q. et al., 2025).

Existing literature supports that consumers’ perception of specific information or attributes can affect their purchase intention. For example, in the study of green smartphones, government subsidies are considered as moderating factors, and their impact on consumer purchase intention deserves attention (Liu & Tsaur, 2020). Although this study mainly focuses on the moderating effect of government subsidies on the willingness to purchase green smartphones, the premise is that consumers can perceive and understand these subsidies. Similarly, in online consumption of second-hand luxury goods, consumers’ perception of product origin, quality (such as “well maintained” and “value preservation”, and platform authenticity verification can affect their purchase intention (Ki et al., 2024)).

This chart illustrates how product sources, consumer personal values (Figure 3), and online platform factors affect the consumption patterns (wise, conspicuous, sustainable consumption) and repurchase intentions of second-hand luxury goods (OSHL).

Figure 3. Literature-derived model of factors influencing purchase intention in social commerce (Senali et al., 2024).

In addition, consumers’ awareness of product knowledge, values, and beliefs can affect their willingness to purchase (Jhan et al., 2023). If consumers realize and recognize the positive significance of government subsidy policies (such as promoting product innovation, reducing prices, improving quality, etc.), their trust and willingness to purchase subsidized products may be enhanced. Therefore, H3 believes that the transparency of policy information and consumer awareness are key factors affecting purchase intention, which is consistent with the theory of cognitive influence on behavior mentioned above.

Policy information perception is itself a multidimensional concept. Beyond mere “awareness of existence”, it should be further differentiated into: information exposure, comprehension level, perceived self-applicability, and judgment of implementation credibility. In actual consumption decisions, it is often the combination of perceived applicability and redemption credibility that determines whether policy information can be converted into purchase intention. If consumers face uncertainties regarding the application process, payment arrival time, or restrictive terms, they may adopt a wait-and-see attitude rather than make a purchase even if they are aware of the subsidy (Rowlands I., 1996; Gil-Garcia J. R. et al., 2016; Oh C. H., 1997; Iqbal Q., et al., 2019; Cvetković V. M. et al., 2025).

In addition, the presentation of policy information may significantly influence its psychological weight. The same subsidy intensity can trigger different behavioral responses under different framing conditions: for example, “time-limited or quota-based” policies are more likely to enhance a sense of urgency, and “immediate direct discounts” usually boost immediate purchase intention more effectively than “post-purchase rebates”. If platforms or merchants stack discount rules in an opaque manner, it may also arouse suspicions of “price hikes followed by reductions”, thereby undermining the positive effect of policy signals. Therefore, it is recommended to incorporate the chain of “information availability-comprehensibility-credible implementation” into the argumentation of this hypothesis, emphasizing that transparent, calculable, and redeemable policy communication is a key prerequisite for perception to influence purchase intention (Zhou L. et al., 2022; Šostar M. & Ristanović V., 2023; Shah S. S. & Asghar Z., 2023; Shen M. & Wang J., 2022; Bailey P. E. et al., 2023).

Platform trust plays a core role in e-commerce and digital marketing. Multiple studies have emphasized the importance of trust. For example, in C2C e-commerce, consumers’ trust in merchants and perceived benefits can affect their willingness to purchase (Pan et al., 2023). Trust is a key factor in promoting consumer adoption and sustained use of e-commerce platforms in online retail (Lin et al., 2022). In social e-commerce platforms, the number and quality of comments, perceived symmetrical product information, and response speed all affect consumers’ trust in sellers and products, which in turn affects their purchase intention (Senali et al., 2024).

This chart illustrates how factors related to comments, sellers, trust, and perceived price fairness affect purchase intention (Figure 4).

Figure 4. Theoretical diagram depicting the impact of emotions, expectations, and privacy on purchase intention (Wang et al., 2019).

A study on second-hand goods shows that trust has a significant positive impact on consumer attitudes and purchase intentions (Gammoudi & Rached, 2025). In cross-cultural research, trust also has a significant impact on online purchasing behavior (Pratesi et al., 2021). There are even studies suggesting that emotions, expectations, and privacy perceptions influence the willingness to purchase health products through trust mediation (Wang et al., 2019).

This Figure 5 illustrates how emotional support variables and privacy attention variables influence purchase intention through trust mediation.

Figure 5. Conceptual representation of the influence of perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, and attitudes on purchasing behavior (Cembalo et al., 2019).

These studies collectively demonstrate that trust is a key factor influencing consumer purchase intention. Therefore, the trust moderation effect proposed by H4 is reasonable: when consumers have high trust in the platform, the digital marketing strategies implemented by enterprises on the platform will be more effectively converted into purchase intentions, as trust reduces transaction risks and uncertainties.

Platform trust is not a unidimensional construct; it can be minimally differentiated into trust in the platform’s governance capacity (rules, risk control, after-sales service, and dispute resolution), trust in transaction counterparts (merchant/seller reliability), and trust in the information environment (review systems, recommendation algorithms, and information authenticity). In the context of digital marketing, whether marketing information is regarded as an “adoptable signal” by consumers largely depends on whether the platform provides credible institutional safeguards and verification mechanisms (e.g., certification, guarantees, compensation, third-party testing, and anti-fraud review systems). Therefore, the “moderating role of trust” is not merely a psychological difference in preferences; rather, it reflects that marketing inputs are more easily translated into purchase intention only after platform institutions and governance mechanisms reduce transaction risks (Salgado S. et al., 2024; Akhmedova A. et al., 2021; Qin L. et al., 2022; Sun, Y. et al., 2025; Cao C. & Huang S., 2022).

At the same time, platform trust is dynamic and fragile: once counterfeit incidents, review fraud, privacy breaches, or controversies over recommendation algorithms occur, consumers’ overall trust in the platform declines rapidly, leading to “diminishing marginal conversion” for digital marketing of the same intensity. This implies that a more realistic inference can be added to the discussion of the hypothesis: platform trust may be “context-dependent” in relation to marketing effectiveness, and is influenced by privacy concerns, algorithm transparency, and platform credibility events. Subsequent research can accordingly test the differentiated effects of marketing strategies on purchase intention from the comparative perspective of “high/low trust platforms” or “high/low governance intensity platforms”, thereby enhancing the operationalizability and explanatory power of the hypothesis (Herriger C. et al., 2025; Ahmad A. et al., 2025; Shabankareh M. et al., 2025; Wang Y. et al., 2025a; Dehling T. & Sunyaev A., 2022).

This hypothesis is relatively novel and has exploratory value. The existing literature on second-hand products mainly focuses on the motivations of consumers to purchase second-hand products, such as price awareness, sustainable consumption concepts, or treasure hunting fun (Calvo Porral et al., 2024; Ki et al., 2024). A study analyzed the impact of the “Land of Fire” toxic waste scandal on consumers’ food choices and found that perceived risk reduces consumers’ trust and willingness to purchase specific products (Cembalo et al., 2019).

Building on the above trust-centered discussion, Assumption 5 proposes a policy-to-market transmission mechanism that is conceptually distinct from the established marketing-intention relationships. Its core argument is a potential substitution effect: when subsidies reduce the effective cost of new products or enhance their perceived value, consumers may reallocate their purchase plans from second-hand alternatives to new products. This reallocation can occur through multiple channels. First, subsidies narrow the price gap between new and second-hand products, weakening the economic advantage of second-hand options. Second, subsidized new products generally offer more comprehensive quality assurance, after-sales warranty services, and lower perceived risk, a feature that is particularly prominent in product categories with higher uncertainty (e.g., durable goods or technology products). Third, the salience of subsidies can shift consumers’ attention and consideration sets toward new products, especially when policy information is widely disseminated through platforms and marketing campaigns (Van Loon P. et al., 2018; Lou X. et al., 2022; Wang M. et al., 2025b; Errázuriz T. et al., 2024; Chen K. et al., 2025).

Meanwhile, the direction and magnitude of this substitution effect are not fixed but context-dependent. Several plausible boundary conditions exist. The effect is more pronounced when (1) the subsidy amount is larger relative to the typical second-hand discount; (2) product replacement cycles are short and consumers are close to repurchasing; (3) consumers have low trust in second-hand transaction platforms, thereby increasing the attractiveness of subsidized new products; and (4) product authenticity and after-sales concerns are salient to consumers. Conversely, the effect may be weakened or even offset in the following scenarios: (1) consumers have a strong orientation toward sustainable development; (2) second-hand platforms provide robust authenticity verification and guarantee services; (3) the supply of new products is constrained; and (4) subsidies indirectly increase the future supply of the second-hand market by boosting current new-product sales (as new products later enter the resale market). The above analysis indicates that Assumption 5 should be regarded as an exploratory theoretical proposition that requires rigorous empirical examination across different product, platform, and regional contexts (Yuan Z. et al., 2022; Gordon B. R., 2009; Durugbo, C. M., 2020; Huang M. & Yue H., 2024; Srivastava A. et al., 2025).

This Figure 5 illustrates how perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, attitudes, risk perception, and trust affect consumers’ purchase intention and behavior. Figures 1–5 are conceptual illustrations used to visualize mechanisms discussed in prior literature and to motivate the proposed hypotheses; they do not report empirical results from the present review.

In theory, if government subsidies aim to stimulate the consumption of new products, especially by lowering their prices or increasing their attractiveness, consumers may be more inclined to purchase new, subsidized products, thereby reducing the demand for second-hand products. This ‘substitution effect’ may reduce the attractiveness of second-hand products. However, there is currently little direct research to prove the negative impact of national subsidy policies on the willingness to purchase second-hand products. This provides a unique and innovative perspective for your research, which is worth verifying through empirical research. Therefore, this assumption is positioned as an exploratory theoretical perspective. Unlike the proven positive impact of digital marketing on purchase intention, the “substitution effect” of subsidies on the second-hand market is a novel assertion based on economic principles. We do not consider it a definitive conclusion but rather view it as a key area for future in-depth research based on data.

In summary, existing literature provides a solid theoretical foundation and partial empirical support for this study, particularly emphasizing the multiple pathways of digital marketing in promoting purchase intention and the key moderating role of trust in it.

However, there is limited direct evidence in existing research on the direct relationship between government subsidy policies and enterprise digital marketing investment, as well as the negative impact of government subsidies on the willingness to purchase second-hand products, and more in-depth research is needed. This study combines macroeconomic policies with micro level corporate and consumer behavior by introducing the variable of “national subsidy policy”, which is expected to provide more refined guidance for policy makers in the digital economy era and provide more targeted strategic recommendations for enterprises when using digital marketing tools. Through in-depth exploration of these hypotheses, this study will contribute to constructing a more comprehensive theoretical framework to understand the interaction mechanisms among government, businesses, and consumers in the context of the digital age.

Conclusions

This study focuses on the complex interaction mechanism among national subsidy policies, enterprise digital marketing strategies and consumer purchase intentions, and specifically explores the potential impact of subsidy policies on the second-hand product market. Through in-depth sorting and analysis of existing academic literature, the research puts forward five core hypotheses, and constructs a theoretical framework that connects macroeconomic policies with micro enterprise behavior and consumer decision-making, which provides a new perspective for understanding the operation logic of the market in the digital economy era.

The research finds that existing literature has laid a solid theoretical foundation for the hypotheses proposed in this study. National subsidy policies, as an important macro regulatory tool, can provide enterprises with more resource support to promote digital transformation, thereby significantly enhancing the level of digital marketing investment. This inference is supported by indirect evidence from relevant studies on digital economy development and enterprise behavior, which confirms that government-led policy support can effectively guide enterprises to increase investment in emerging business areas. At the same time, digital marketing strategies have been proved by a large number of empirical studies to have a positive impact on consumer purchase intention. Under the background of national subsidies, enterprises can adopt more diversified and innovative digital marketing methods such as virtual reality product display, user-generated content and live streaming marketing, which further strengthens the positive guiding effect on consumer purchase decisions.

Consumer’s awareness of subsidy policies and trust in digital marketing platforms are important factors affecting purchase intention. Consumers’ accurate perception and recognition of subsidy policies can enhance their trust in subsidized products and thus improve their purchase willingness, which is consistent with the theoretical logic that cognitive factors affect behavioral decisions. Platform trust, as a core intermediary variable in digital marketing, can reduce consumers’ perceived transaction risks and uncertainties, so that the marketing effects of enterprises can be more effectively converted into actual purchase behavior. This conclusion is supported by relevant research results in C2C e-commerce, social commerce and other fields, highlighting the key role of trust in digital transaction scenarios. In addition, this study differentiates between established associations and exploratory hypotheses. While the impact of trust on marketing is well-supported by data, the proposed negative impact of national subsidy policies on the second-hand product market represents a theoretical ‘substitution effect.’ This is an exploratory viewpoint that highlights a potential unintended consequence of subsidy policies, serving as a specific direction for subsequent empirical verification rather than a settled conclusion. Existing research on second-hand product consumption mainly focuses on factors such as price advantage and sustainable consumption concepts, while this study proposes a “substitution effect” of subsidy policies on new product consumption, which enriches the research perspective on the second-hand product market and provides a new direction for subsequent empirical verification.

From the theoretical perspective, this study fills the gap in existing research that rarely takes national subsidy policies as the core variable to explore the connection between enterprise digital marketing and consumer behavior. By integrating macro policy factors into the analysis framework of micro market behavior, the research constructs a more comprehensive theoretical system for understanding the interaction among government, enterprises and consumers in the digital age, and expands the application scope of relevant theories such as consumer behavior theory and digital marketing theory. From the practical perspective, the research conclusions provide important reference for policy makers and business decision-makers. For policy makers, it is necessary to further improve the transparency of subsidy policies and strengthen the publicity of policy information to ensure that consumers can accurately perceive the policy dividends, so as to better play the role of subsidy policies in stimulating consumption and promoting market development. For enterprises, they should reasonably use subsidy funds to optimize digital marketing strategies, pay attention to improving the diversity and innovation of marketing methods, and at the same time attach importance to the cultivation of consumer trust in the platform, so as to improve the conversion efficiency of marketing activities. For the second-hand product market operators, they need to pay attention to the potential impact of subsidy policies on market demand, and adjust business strategies in a timely manner to maintain market competitiveness.

It should be noted that this study also has certain limitations. As a theoretical exploration based on literature review, the research conclusions still need to be verified by subsequent empirical research. The measurement of variables such as the intensity of national subsidy policies, the level of enterprise digital marketing investment and consumer purchase intention needs to be further refined in empirical research. In addition, the impact of subsidy policies on the second-hand product market may be affected by factors such as product types, consumer groups and regional economic development levels, which have not been fully considered in this study. Future research can adopt empirical research methods such as questionnaire survey and data analysis to test the proposed hypotheses, and further explore the regulatory role of various contextual factors, so as to make the research conclusions more accurate and applicable. At the same time, future research can also expand the research scope, explore the long-term impact of subsidy policies on enterprise digital marketing and consumer behavior, and provide more in-depth theoretical support and practical guidance for the sustainable development of the digital economy.

Future research can further strengthen the theoretical contribution of this framework by translating the above propositions into measurable constructs and testable research designs. Specific practical approaches include operationalizing subsidy intensity at the regional or category level (e.g., subsidy amount per unit product, per household, or per purchase), and measuring enterprises’ digital marketing investment through either firm-level disclosed data (marketing-to-sales ratios, digital advertising expenditure shares) or platform-based indicators (ad impressions, marketing campaign frequency, influencer/live-streaming marketing intensity). Consumer-level variables can be measured using established multi-item scales, covering policy awareness (information exposure, comprehension level, and perceived eligibility), platform trust (perceptions of integrity, competence, and benevolence), perceived risk, and purchase intention. For outcome variables related to the second-hand market, researchers can distinguish between willingness to buy second-hand, actual second-hand purchase frequency, and second-hand search and consideration behavior.

In terms of empirical strategy, multiple research methods are feasible. Survey-based studies can adopt structural equation modeling to test the proposed relationships and moderating effects, which is particularly suitable for verifying Assumptions 2–4. To evaluate policy effects more rigorously, quasi-experimental designs can exploit the temporal and spatial variations in the implementation timing and intensity of subsidies. For instance, difference-in-differences frameworks can compare consumer purchase behavior and second-hand transactions before and after subsidy implementation across regions with different subsidy levels, while controlling for time trends and category-specific shocks. Platform transaction data, search logs, and the dynamics of product listings and prices in second-hand marketplaces can provide objective behavioral evidence, enabling robustness checks beyond self-reported intentions.

Finally, longitudinal research designs are particularly valuable for clarifying long-term market effects. Subsidies may initially shift demand toward new products, yet subsequently increase the supply of the second-hand market as subsidized new products flow into resale channels. Therefore, long-term tracking of product and consumer cohorts can help disentangle short-term substitution effects from long-term market expansion and resale effects. Future studies may also test additional moderators proposed in this review, such as product type, consumer income group, sustainability orientation, and regional economic development level, to specify the predictive boundaries of this framework and refine policy recommendations and managerial implications.