Research On Symbolic Housing Consumption Behavior Of Urban Residents

The society has stepped into the consumption society with the social and economic progress.The most striking feature of consumption society is that symbolic become more important than material and functional for goods.The real estate market has become more mature,and the residents has also changed from "rational man" in the traditional perspective to "symbol man" in the perspective of symbolic consumption.In the perspective of symbolic consumption,the housing consumption behavior of urban residents has been changed.They not only pay attention to the value of the use,but also to the symbolic value.The demand of consumers has been changed,thus the real estate companies will face more challenges.Therefore,researching the symbolic housing consumption behavior of urban residents,and analyzing the difference of residents' symbolic housing consumption behavior,and providing marketing strategies for real estate enterprises have become the key issues for scholars and marketers.This article studies the symbolic housing consumption behavior in the real estate market.Firstly,it sorted out the domestic and foreign literatures were,and explained symbolic consumption theory,self-concept,conspicuous consumption theory,and symbolic capital theory.Secondly,it introduced an innovative perspective,analyzed the status quo of the current real estate market,and summarized the characteristics and influencing factors of real estate symbolic consumption.In empirical research,unlike the previous studies,this paper combines the classification of symbolic consumption with other industries such as automobiles,luxury goods,etc.It use quantitative analysis methods to explore what symbols has been existed in the symbolic consumption of real estate.Finally,it provided marketing strategies for real estate enterprises through the empirical analysis results.This article draws the following conclusions:(1)The symbolic consumption phenomenon exists in the real estate market.When purchasing a house,consumers have began to pursue the symbolic value.They not only pay attention to the value of use,but also to the symbolic value.At the same time,the symbolic consumption of real estate has the characteristics such as symbolism,"irrationality",randomness,publicity,and fantasy.(2)Different types of consumers have differences in the symbolic consumption of real estate,that is,they sought different symbolic values.Consumers of different genders have differences in symbolic housing consumption,and female consumers pay more attention to symbolic consumption than male consumers;consumers of different education levels have differences in symbolic housing consumption.Graduates pay more attention to symbolic consumption than others,and the higher the academic qualifications are,the stronger the demand for symbolic consumption will be;Consumers of different occupations have differences in symbolic housing consumption.Except for other professionals,self-employed individuals pay more attention to symbolic consumption;Consumers in different marital status have differences in symbolic housing consumption.Unmarried people pay more attention to symbol consumption than married counterparts;consumers of different incomes have differences in symbolic housing consumption,and the higher the income is,the stronger the demand for symbolic consumption will be.(3)In the perspective of symbolic consumption,the current real estate market may have the following problems in the marketing process: some real estate companies lack attention to symbolic consumption;The traditional market segmentation methods may be not sufficient to describe the increasing demand of consumers;The distinction of symbols may be not clear.For these problems,real estate companies can apply the theory of symbolic consumption to practice,pay more attention to the symbolic needs of consumers,divide the market from the perspective of symbolic consumption.Thus,it can make the project of real become more attractive to customers.