Research on the Business Model and Consumer Decision-Making of “Chagee” from a Behavioral Economics Perspective

Abstract

This study takes the leading new-style tea beverage brand “Chagee” as its research subject, integrating behavioral economics theory to explore its business model and consumer decision-making behavior. Through a questionnaire survey (133 valid responses) and text analysis of Dianping reviews, the research reveals that consumers are not entirely rational in their purchasing process but are systematically influenced by a series of cognitive biases and psychological mechanisms. The results indicate that loss aversion, anchoring effect, scarcity preference, conformity, and information framing effect significantly affect consumers’ purchase intentions and decision preferences, with these effect being universal across demographic variables. Text analysis further validates consumers’ positive evaluations of product taste, cost-effectiveness, and brand culture, while also reflecting the critical role of social media and scarcity marketing in shaping word-of-mouth and facilitating dissemination. The study concludes that behavioral economics can not only explain and predict irrational decision-making in consumer markets but also provides practical guidance for businesses to optimize choice architecture and develop differentiated marketing strategies. Additionally, this research suggests that future studies could employ experimental methods and longitudinal tracking to further examine the applicability of behavioral economics in diverse consumption contexts. The findings offer a novel perspective for understanding consumer behavior in the new-style tea beverage industry and provide references for enterprises to achieve sustainable development in a highly competitive market.