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.

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 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.

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).

Figure 1. 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. 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.

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. 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.

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. 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. 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.

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).

This Figure 5 illustrates how perceived behavioral control, subjective norms, attitudes, risk perception, and trust affect consumers’ purchase intention and behavior.

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.

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, the hypothesis that national subsidy policies may reduce consumers’ willingness to purchase second-hand products has unique exploratory value. 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.