1.  Introduction

In the digital age, diversified marketing, both online and offline, provides rich channels of screening and understanding between consumers and products. Video promotion, live-streaming marketing, live-streaming sales, and other forms of online marketing, compared to traditional offline marketing, can break through the limitations of time and space, help consumers understand the details of product processing, output, and quality from multiple perspectives and intuitively, and at the same time enhance consumers' more direct experience and recognition of the brand value, culture, etc. of the enterprise [1]. According to the market research report, the transaction volume of live-streaming e-commerce in China was 4,916.8 billion yuan in 2024, and the average annual consumption per user was 8,660 yuan [1,2]. Live-streaming sales, with advantages such as real-time interaction and scene-based display, have permeated all industries, including fast-moving consumer goods, home appliances, clothing, and fresh produce, becoming an important link between brands and consumers [1,2].

Some scholars believe that live-streaming sales can enhance brand perception among target customers, increase user interest and the connection between enterprises and users, and have a positive effect on brand value and brand promotion [1,2]. At the same time, live-streaming sales help break down the barriers of virtual shopping and enhance consumers' perception of the real economy, thereby facilitating consumer decision-making [1,2]. However, live-streaming marketing also faces some problems. For example, improper marketing methods such as hunger marketing and excessive packaging in live streaming can lead to irrational consumption by consumers, and even cause a series of problems such as unethical hosts, false advertising by merchants, and loopholes in platform supervision [2]. It can be seen that current research is mostly focused on a single industry or the marketing model itself, and there is still a lack of systematic exploration of how the specific marketing method of live-streaming sales affects brand building and loyalty through consumer psychology.

This study will focus on live-streaming marketing as its core subject, and through literature review and model analysis, explore the association and influence of consumer psychology in brand building and loyalty enhancement under this online marketing model. The study aims to provide theoretical support for enterprises to optimize live-streaming strategies and strengthen brand building, as well as practical references for regulating the live-streaming business environment and promoting positive interaction cycles between consumers and enterprises, thereby enriching research results in the field of live-streaming marketing and brand management.

2.  The impact of live-streaming marketing on consumer psychology

2.1.  Live-streaming sales online marketing

Platform live streaming is a marketing approach that showcases and sells cross-border goods through live video streaming on an online platform. Typically, streamers show viewers the features and usage of products through live programs and offer real-time interaction, allowing consumers to purchase goods directly during the live stream [2,3]. The advantage of live-streaming sales is that it significantly enhances the shopping experience for consumers, shortens the distance between the hosts and consumers, and strengthens brand trust. For the market, live streaming spreads rapidly and can attract a wider audience [3]. However, there are also some problems caused by streamer controversies in the process, which have raised some concerns among consumers about live-streaming shopping.

2.2.  Consumer psychology in live-streaming sales marketing

Individual behaviour is generated through a series of choices, decisions, or intentions that eventually translate into actual behaviour. In marketing, consumer purchase intention has always been a core research topic, and its generation path is similar to the process of intention formation in psychological research, both manifested as consumers having certain behavioral tendencies after receiving external stimuli [3]. Consumer psychology is a series of mental activities that occur throughout the consumption process of consumers, running through the entire process of consumer decision-making and governing consumer behaviour and purchase decisions. For example: trust psychology, conformity psychology, authority psychology, pragmatism psychology, cheapness psychology, scarcity psychology, loss psychology, etc. The professional ability and interactivity of the live-streamer, the cognitive attitude and consumption behaviour of the live-streamer towards the user, the interaction mode, the promotion behaviour, the marketing methods, etc., will have an impact on the consumer psychology [3,4]. Through AIDA model analysis (Figure 1), it can be found that consumers who make purchases through live-streaming sales marketing will first be influenced by external environmental stimuli and the conscious processing of individual internal psychological activities. Secondly, consumer awareness and opinion recognition will enhance consumers' purchasing psychology, thereby stimulating customers' "scarcity perception" and "demand reinforcement", and ultimately generating consumption behaviour.

2.3.  Consumer Psychology and Brand Identity

When consumers continuously receive "demand satisfaction" and "emotional resonance" during live streaming, their psychology will also be continuously satisfied, and the "trust" at the psychological level will gradually increase and translate into brand recognition. For example, consumers who watch a brand live stream for a long time will form a stable emotional connection due to "host professionalism", "consistent product experience", "community interaction in the live room", "exclusive benefits for long-time fans", and then shift from "single purchase" to "brand preference" [4]. It can be observed that live-streaming sales, as an online marketing tool, have a positive effect on enhancing brand loyalty and consumers' perception of brand value. It should also be noted that excessive live-streaming e-commerce atmosphere cues can reduce consumers' perceived risk and lead to impulse purchase consequences [4]. At the same time, consumer psychology needs to be further optimized in terms of brand building and brand loyalty enhancement to avoid problems such as corporate credit deficiency, irrational consumer behaviour, and inadequate platform supervision [4,5].

3.  The impact of live-streaming marketing on consumer behaviour

3.1.  Consumer purchasing behaviour

Consumer purchasing behaviour refers to the act of an individual or organization purchasing goods or services to obtain the material or service they need in order to meet a certain need or goal. The purchasing process encompasses a wide range of steps, from demand identification, information search, evaluation and comparison, purchase, to post-purchase behaviour. According to consumers' psychology and purchasing attitudes, they can be classified as habitual, rational, economical, impulsive, doubtful, influential, etc [5]. Impulsive and influential purchasing behaviors are more likely to be influenced by psychological factors.

3.2.  Consumer behaviour in live-streaming marketing

Impulse buying behaviour refers to the purchase behaviour of consumers who are easily stimulated by the appearance, packaging, trademark, or other promotional efforts of a product [5,6]. The purchase is usually based on intuitive feelings, driven by personal interests or emotions, preferring novelty, novelty, and fashion, and is reluctant to make repeated comparisons and choices when making a purchase. In influence buying behaviour, the reason why consumers' purchasing behaviour is influenced by external factors is often because consumers lack understanding of the products and have difficulty judging the quality of the goods and the differences between brands by sight and touch [5,6]. At this time, word-of-mouth from friends and relatives, recommendations from experts and authorities, or promotions from advertising spokespersons are regarded as very powerful evidence. It compensates for consumers' lack of information and knowledge about the brand, leading to recognition and acceptance of a product or brand [6].

Through the SWOT model analysis (Figure 2) and 4CS model analysis (Table 1), it can be found that live-streaming marketing can largely guide consumers to make purchases through emotional factors by reducing the cost of information acquisition, cognitive cost and price cost of the goods [6,7]. At the same time, the specific oral expression of the streamer will inadvertently convey the brand awareness and product value of the enterprise to consumers, causing consumption behaviour to arise along with brand recognition [7]. However, due to the strong requirements for the ability and public awareness of the live-streamer themselves, enterprises should also pay attention to the social evaluation of the live-streamer themselves when choosing live-streamers for promotion, to avoid the brand value being questioned by society due to the live-streamer's inappropriate remarks [7,8].

3.3.  Consumer Behavior and brand building

Brand image building is the shaping of brands, products, and services from the perspective of their essence and function. Based on the above analysis, it can be found that, the key to evoking consumer resonance, participation and other consumption behaviors, and attracting the target consumer group and potential consumers lies in brand building [8,9]. In live-streaming media, grasping the psychological demands and trends of target consumers is conducive to enhancing brand value in a targeted manner, creating competitive advantages, thereby increasing consumer stickiness and forming a virtuous cycle between consumers and enterprises [9].

4.  Suggestions

Combining the above analysis, it can be found that live-streaming marketing, by targeting consumer psychology and influencing consumer behaviour, can increase sales while also achieving the output of brand value and brand concept, enhancing the effect of brand building, and helping enterprises increase consumer recognition of the brand [9,10]. However, live-streaming sales also have the following aspects that need to be further optimized and improved.

Live-streaming sales should not solely rely on the "low-price promotion" strategy. Although this approach can stimulate consumption in the short term, it is not conducive to the accumulation of brand value and the cultivation of consumer loyalty in the long run [10]. Brand recognition should be enhanced through "emotional content" combined with "value delivery", such as skillfully embedding brand public welfare projects in the live stream. For example, Proya's live stream has launched the "Female Growth" theme, the "Echo Project" focusing on mental health, and the "Firefly Project" against school bullying [11]. By participating in public welfare activities and other means, the brand not only stimulated consumers' purchasing behaviour but also strengthened its image of "social responsibility", earning a good reputation and consumer recognition for the brand. At the same time, it can evoke consumers' emotional resonance and thereby enhance brand loyalty.

The personal qualities of the live-streamer are also closely related to the success of live-streaming marketing. The inappropriate words and deeds of the live-streamer may have a negative impact on the brand image [12,13]. Merchants and platforms need to strengthen the qualification review and content supervision of the live-streamer. It is also recommended that platforms strictly supervise to avoid short-term behaviors such as "false advertising", damaging the long-term value of brands [13].

Live streaming can enhance the overall influence of a brand, and moderate marketing can drive the mechanism of "live-streaming sales - consumer psychological triggering - consumer purchasing behaviour" to interact positively [14]. However, for sustainable development, excessive marketing should be avoided as much as possible. Excessive marketing stimulation can easily lead to consumer resistance.

5.  Conclusion

In summary, this paper dissects the impact of live-streaming sales on consumer psychology, explores the mechanism of its effect on consumer behaviour, and finds that live-streaming sales can rapidly increase sales in the short term through psychological stimulation and behavioral convenience, and can also enhance brand recognition through emotional resonance. However, over-reliance on short-term strategies such as "low price" and "scarcity" can easily lead to consumer psychological fatigue, dilution of brand value, and even an increase in return rates, and consumers of different ages may react significantly to such negative effects. Therefore, further focus will be on the differences in psychological acceptance of live-streaming marketing methods among consumers of different age groups, aiming to provide more segmented marketing strategy references for enterprises, promote the transformation of live-streaming sales from "traffic-oriented" to a sustainable model of "win-win for brands and consumers", and achieve the long-term healthy development of the live-streaming sales industry.