From Lipstick Effect to Rational Regression: An Analysis of Changes in Consumer Behavior under the Background of Economic Fluctuations

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_101How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Rational Consumption; Value Orientation; Consumption Degradation; Lipstick Effect; Consumer Behavior

Abstract

This paper aims to examine the profound change of consumer behavior in the period of economic fluctuations, that is, from passive price recipients to active value seekers. Focusing on the coexistence of “lipstick effect” and so-called “consumption degradation”, this paper proposes a concept of “rational regression” to uniformly explain these seemingly contradictory behaviors. The study found that consumers are making wise and value-oriented decisions through various methods. Consumer’s decision-making has changed in the past two decades, and the year-on-year growth rate of per capita disposable income of residents has shifted from high-speed growth stage to medium-high speed stage, which also reflects that consumer’s decision-making is gradually becoming rational. This behavior change makes the empty brand narrative invalid, forces enterprises to compete on the real product value or emotional resonance and also promotes the government to make relevant decisions. Sustainable economic growth must be rooted in real value creation, rather than speculative or marketing driven demand. Finally, this study provides an integrated perspective for understanding contemporary consumption patterns and provides strategic enlightenment for enterprises and policy makers in dealing with an increasingly picky market environment.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - Duowen Pan
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/23
TI  - From Lipstick Effect to Rational Regression: An Analysis of Changes in Consumer Behavior under the Background of Economic Fluctuations
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 2nd International Conference on Financial Innovation and Marketing Management (FIMM 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 971
EP  - 978
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_101
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_101
ID  - Pan2026
ER  -