Due to various reasons, rural residents, who account for two-thirds of China's population, consume only one-third of the country's consumer goods. In recent years, with rising rural incomes and improved consumption environments, the rural consumer market has quietly warmed up. Domestic and foreign enterprises have long coveted this big "cake" and have entered or are preparing to enter the rural market. However, due to the dual economic structure and other reasons, Chinese rural consumers are vastly different from urban consumers. If urban marketers make a misstep in the "decisive battle" in rural areas, they may lead their enterprises to failure. Clearly, opportunities and risks coexist in entering the rural market. Therefore, before entering, it is essential to have a thorough understanding of rural consumers to remain invincible. So, what are the basic characteristics of contemporary Chinese rural consumer behavior? And how should enterprises formulate targeted marketing strategies and tactics? I. Analysis of Chinese Rural Consumer Behavior Characteristics Overall, the consumption behavior of contemporary rural residents has six main characteristics: 1. Consumption Preference: Mainly Practical Consumption Unlike urban residents, rural residents have lower incomes. According to the China Rural Statistical Yearbook (2010), the urban-rural income gap in 2009 was 3.33:1. Moreover, their income is not only used for living consumption but also for production investment, so they lack sufficient funds for high-level consumption. Their consumption is still mainly practical, favoring good-quality and low-priced products. They have high requirements for product quality, performance, and durability, and are sensitive to price, but do not place much importance on brand, packaging, or appearance. Conceptual and luxury products have basically no market in rural areas. Although with increasing income and the influence of new consumption concepts brought back by migrant workers, rural residents' consumption is gradually shifting from practical to fashion- and brand-oriented, their preference for practical consumption will not change in the short term. 2. Consumption Decision: Tendency to Conform and Follow the Crowd Compared with Western consumers, Chinese consumers' consumption decisions are greatly influenced by groups, especially for rural residents living in acquaintance societies. Rural residents have a prominent tendency to compare with others. Most of them do not decide their purchases based on their own subjective needs but based on others' consumption behavior. They pay great attention to the reactions of their social relations to their personal consumption. Specifically, they generally exhibit conformity and herd behavior in consumption. Before buying, they like to ask relatives, neighbors, and acquaintances, and trust them deeply. For example, in recent years, mobile phone consumption has begun to rise in rural areas. According to the China Rural Statistical Yearbook (2010), the number of mobile phones per 100 rural households increased from 4.3 in 2000 to 115.2 in 2009. When rural consumers buy mobile phones, their conformity and herd mentality are prominent. Often, because early buyers in a certain area bought a certain brand, model, and price of phone and gave positive evaluations, followers will buy the same or similar phones at the same retailer, resulting in convergence of mobile phone consumption in the same area. This contrasts sharply with the fashion and individualization tendencies of urban residents' mobile phone consumption—urban residents see mobile phones as an extension of their lives, showing their personality and lifestyle, while rural residents are cautious when buying phones and are unwilling to take the risk of buying new brands or models. Furthermore, rural residents have a stronger sense of community belonging and prefer to maintain group consistency by using the same or similar products, rather than being unconventional. 3. Consumption Concept: Thrift and Extravagance Coexist Chinese traditional culture advocates thrift, encourages living within one's means, and emphasizes saving and accumulation, which is particularly prominent in rural areas. Affected by low income levels, uncertainty of future income and expenditure, and liquidity constraints, rural residents maintaining a low consumption level in daily life is a rational choice. Rural residents are deeply influenced by the self-sufficient smallholder economy ideology. Their consumption concept differs greatly from urban residents who have experienced economic development and ideological liberation since the reform and opening up. They mainly show thrift, being careful in budgeting, reluctant to spend, and even more afraid of overconsumption. However, in sharp contrast, on important occasions such as festivals, weddings, funerals, and social interactions, they change their usual thrift and spend lavishly, using the money saved from frugal living. They buy extensively from food to use, from clothing to transportation. Some even go into debt to consume, enduring the pain of being in debt for years for a few days of joy. In fact, Fei Xiaotong discovered long ago that in rural areas, people are educated to be thrifty from childhood, living frugally, with clothes passed down through generations and leftover food never thrown away, but at wedding and funeral ceremonies, their thriftiness disappears. Such polarized consumption characteristics make rural residents' consumption show a concentrated trend: spending little or nothing normally, but spending heavily on important occasions. This also determines their unique savings behavior and consumption peaks at different life stages, forming the strange phenomenon of thrift and extravagance coexisting. 4. Consumption Culture: Gray Consumption Flourishes Rural residents have lower cultural literacy and a strong local cultural atmosphere, and their consumption life is still filled with many gray elements. Among these, superstitious consumption is the most prominent. In rural areas, superstitious consumption is common at weddings, funerals, housewarmings, etc., especially among the elderly, who consider it natural. Others adopt an attitude of "rather believe it exists than not." Secondly, gambling consumption is enduring. Due to the lack of cultural facilities in rural areas, the problems of rural residents having difficulty reading books, watching plays, and watching movies are still prominent. Because rural residents' leisure and entertainment are extremely monotonous, most of their leisure time is spent playing cards. In some rural areas, during festivals and slack farming seasons, gambling becomes rampant, lasting all night. These gray consumptions not only increase the economic burden on rural residents but also bring many negative effects on social atmosphere and the improvement of consumption levels. 5. Consumption Psychology: Money Matters Little, but Relationships and Face Matter Much "Face" is a unique Chinese value. In traditional Chinese society, "face" is extremely important, being the foundation of moral existence, and maintaining dignity is considered a basic need of Chinese cultural life. For rural areas, which are acquaintance societies, maintaining face is a logic that must be followed in life. To some extent, "face" is the fundamental reason for rural consumers' relationship consumption and comparison consumption. Confucian ethics, which has sustained Chinese civilization for over 2,000 years, places great emphasis on "li" (ritual/propriety), advocating "reciprocity: it is impolite not to return a gift, and it is also impolite to give without receiving." In Chinese society, which values personal relationships, "reciprocity" as a social interaction ethic with cultural and moral connotations eventually becomes a means of exchanging private interests, i.e., "renging" (favor). In rural society, most rural residents accept the ancient adage "renging is greater than heaven." Treating guests and giving gifts are regarded as basic behavioral norms for maintaining face and relationships. Renging consumption occupies an important position in farmers' daily lives. With the marketization of the rural economy, gift money has become the main carrier of social interactions. There are many and varied occasions for giving gifts in rural areas: childbirth, birthdays, building houses, family division, school enrollment, joining the army, etc., all require gifts from relatives and friends. Renging consumption has become a burden on villagers' lives. According to a survey by Zhou Hui et al. (2007) in parts of Liaoning Province, about 70% of rural residents believe that gift money is too heavy, with an average annual expenditure of about 2,500 yuan per household. People often judge the closeness of interpersonal relationships by the amount of gift money, making renging consumption a major hard cash expenditure for rural residents. The occasions for treating and giving gifts are numerous, and standards keep rising. Some rural residents even overconsume for this, borrowing money to treat and give gifts, eventually becoming poor due to "li." Using consumption as a tool and means to maintain one's moral capital, social status, reputation, and prestige in the community, and gaining satisfaction from consumption, is recognized by many rural residents. "Beating one's face to look fat" (i.e., pretending to be rich) is often a conscious consumption choice for rural residents. According to a survey, when rural residents were asked why they spend lavishly on weddings and funerals, 52% answered "others do it, and I can't be worse than them," 12% answered "to show off my wealth," and 36% answered "to show that I care about the event." Thus, 64% indicated a comparison mentality in this matter. II. Basic Strategy Choices for Rural Marketing Based on the above analysis of rural consumer behavior, the author proposes the following five rural marketing strategies and tactics: 1. Product Design Focuses on Applicability and Affordability Rural consumers have lower income levels and limited purchasing power, preferring economical, practical, and durable products. Marketers should, on one hand, design functions that rural consumers consider important, such as televisions with super-strong signal reception for areas with poor signals. On the other hand, they should learn to "subtract" from products for the rural market. For example, Lenovo computers reduced some non-essential functions for the rural market to lower prices and achieve "affordability" pricing goals, adopting this strategic approach. 2. Positioning Products as Gifts to Win Rural Consumers' Hearts Given rural consumers' emphasis on relationships and face, enterprises should adopt a strategy of cleverly positioning products as gifts to attract consumers. Before fully launching Nao Bai Jin (a health supplement), Shi Yuzhu thoroughly studied rural consumers' psychology and found that rural elderly people hoped their children would give Nao Bai Jin as a gift. This led to his famous "earthy" advertising slogan: "This year, no gifts; if you give gifts, give Nao Bai Jin," which made Nao Bai Jin one of the best-selling gifts in China. This shows the wonderful effect of gift positioning in rural areas. 3. Marketing Communication Emphasizes Word-of-Mouth Rural information dissemination is underdeveloped; information sources and influence mostly come from relatives, neighbors, and acquaintances. Rural residents' consumption tends to conform and follow the crowd, so word-of-mouth marketing is the best strategy in rural areas. To win rural consumers through word-of-mouth, enterprises must first work on products and services. They should design practical and reliable products targeted at rural needs, rather than simply dumping outdated urban products for short-term gains. In terms of service, they should emphasize pre-sale guidance and strengthen after-sales repair, installation, and service to eliminate rural residents' worries. Making rural residents feel reliable and assured is the foundation for maintaining rural customer relationships. Secondly, they should make good use of the influence of opinion leaders, turning them into promoters and demonstrators of the brand or product. Because villagers trust and obey authority, and have a tendency to compare and conform, local village cadres, capable people, and respected authorities have great influence on rural consumers. Therefore, enterprises should try to cultivate these opinion leaders as core customers, letting them take the lead and call for action, which can achieve twice the result with half the effort. 4. Marketing Offensives Focus on Traditional Festivals and Red-White Events As mentioned above, rural residents' consumption fluctuates: they are reluctant to spend normally but invest heavily during important festivals, such as Spring Festival, Lantern Festival, Dragon Boat Festival, Mid-Autumn Festival, and Double Ninth Festival. Enterprises should concentrate their marketing resources around these festivals. For example, Nao Bai Jin's advertising is concentrated around the Mid-Autumn Festival and Spring Festival, using a pulse-style advertising schedule: from February to early September, advertising volume is very small, with only two peaks each year during Spring Festival and Mid-Autumn Festival. The densest advertising period is 10 days before Mid-Autumn Festival and 20 days before Spring Festival, totaling 30 days. At the peak sales season, the boiling point is reached simultaneously. In addition, rural residents' red-white events (weddings and funerals) are also important consumption occasions. Marketers should pay attention to local customs and promote accordingly. For example, products needed for weddings, such as cigarettes, alcohol, and home appliances, should be promoted during periods when local weddings are concentrated. 5. Cultural Marketing Fills Rural Residents' Leisure Consumption Gap Given the poverty of rural residents' leisure consumption content, enterprises can adopt cultural marketing strategies to promote products and services, that is, adding cultural elements to marketing, bringing cultural products that rural residents enjoy, meeting their leisure consumption needs while establishing a good corporate image and increasing product sales. For example, in the sale of refrigerators, while other merchants were immersed in advertising and prize promotions, Haier took a different path by launching a public welfare activity of "sending 10,000 movies to the countryside." They also purchased multiple passenger-cargo vehicles and dozens of film copies, each vehicle carrying a driver and several publicity officers with bachelor's degrees, along with specially printed rural science and technology brochures, going to villages to deliver the unique "Haier culture" to the increasingly wealthy farmers, greatly increasing their refrigerator sales. This article is excerpted from: Yang Yi, "Winning in the Low-End Market: Research on Chinese Rural Consumer Behavior and Marketing" (Jinan University Press) Editor's PS: The editor has selected 1,067 quality articles from nearly 1,900 articles published on this official account, divided into 14 categories and 57 knowledge points, systematically organizing frontline marketing management content into a library for everyone to learn. From market to customers, focusing on practical combat and management, all are dry goods. After following the official account, reply with the number "1" to browse and view related content.