1. Introduction

With the acceleration of China's aging population, the issue of old-age care has become a hot topic of social concern. According to the National Bureau of Statistics, by the end of 2023, the number of people aged 60 and above in China will reach 0.27 billion, accounting for 19.4 per cent of the total population, of which 36 million will be aged 80 and above, accounting for 13.3 per cent of the elderly population. The size and proportion of the elderly population is increasing, and the demand for pension services is also growing. However, the traditional family pension and community pension model has been difficult to meet the diversified, personalized and professional pension needs of the elderly, and the supply of public pension services is insufficient and unbalanced. Therefore, as a new pension service model, pension apartment has been favored by more and more elderly people and families.

The old-age apartment refers to the old-age care institution that mainly provides accommodation and provides integrated services such as catering, medical treatment, rehabilitation and entertainment.

The advantage of pension apartment is that, on the one hand, it can meet the needs of the elderly for independent, comfortable and safe living environment, on the other hand, it can provide professional, intimate and humanized pension services, so that the elderly can enjoy a high quality life. According to the China Association for the elderly, by the end of 2023, there were more than 3,000 apartments for the aged, with more than 500000 beds, of which private apartments accounted for more than 90%. It is estimated that by 2025, the number of beds in the national pension apartment will reach 1 million, and the market size will exceed 500 billion yuan.

However, the competition in the pension apartment market is becoming increasingly fierce, and there are big differences in the number, scale, brand and service level of pension apartments. Consumers are faced with multiple decision-making difficulties when choosing pension apartments. How to enhance the brand influence and loyalty of pension apartment has become the concern of pension apartment operators and investors. In order to solve this problem, it is necessary to study the brand preference of pension apartment consumers from the perspective of consumers, that is, consumers' cognition, attitude and choice of different pension apartment brands.

The research on consumer brand preference of pension apartment can not only help the operators of pension apartment to understand the needs and expectations of consumers, optimize brand strategy and service quality, improve market competitiveness and profitability, but also help consumers to improve the cognitive level and choice ability of pension apartment, and protect the rights and well-being of consumers.

Taking consumers as the center, this paper discusses the formation mechanism and influencing factors of consumer brand preference of old-age apartment, puts forward a research method of consumer brand preference of old-age apartment based on multi-level analysis model, and shows the application process and results of this method with Shangpu Consulting Company as an example. The purpose of this paper is to provide theoretical guidance and practical reference for brand management and marketing of pension apartments.

The formation mechanism and influencing factors of consumer brand preference of 2. pension apartment.

The consumer brand preference of pension apartment refers to the relatively stable cognition, attitude and choice of one or several brands when consumers are faced with multiple brands of pension apartment.

The formation of consumer brand preference of pension apartment is a dynamic, multi-dimensional and complex psychological process, which is influenced by many factors. According to the relevant literature, this paper divides these factors into three categories: personal factors, environmental factors and brand factors.

(I) personal factors

Personal factors refer to consumers' own characteristics, including age, gender, education, income, health status, lifestyle, values, consumption motivation, consumption experience, etc. These factors will affect consumers' demand, expectation, cognition and evaluation of pension apartment, thus affecting consumers' brand preference. For example:

Age: Age is an important factor affecting the consumer brand preference of pension apartments. The needs and expectations of the elderly in different ages are different, and the cognition and evaluation of pension apartments are also different. Generally speaking, with the growth of age, the demand of the elderly for the old-age apartment will increase, the expectation of the old-age apartment will be reduced, and the cognition and evaluation of the old-age apartment will be more objective and rational.

Gender: Gender is another important factor that affects the brand preference of pension apartment consumers. The elderly of different genders have different needs and expectations for pension apartments, and their cognition and evaluation of pension apartments are also different. Generally speaking, female elderly people have greater demand for pension apartments, higher expectations for pension apartments, and more subjective and perceptual cognition and evaluation of pension apartments.

Education: Education is another important factor that affects the brand preference of consumers of pension apartments. Elderly people with different education levels have different needs and expectations for pension apartments, and their cognition and evaluation of pension apartments are also different. Generally speaking, the higher the education level of the elderly, the smaller the demand for pension apartments, the higher the expectation of pension apartments, and the more rational and diverse the cognition and evaluation of pension apartments.

Other personal factors: In addition to the main personal factors mentioned above, there are a number of other personal factors that also affect consumer brand preferences for retirement apartments, such as income, health status, lifestyle, values, consumer motivation, consumer experience, etc. These factors will affect the affordability, suitability, satisfaction and loyalty of consumers to the pension apartment, thus affecting the brand preference of consumers. For example, the higher the income of the elderly, the higher the affordability of the old-age apartment, but the higher the suitability and satisfaction of the old-age apartment; the worse the health of the elderly, the higher the suitability of the old-age apartment, but the higher the satisfaction of the old-age apartment; the more active the lifestyle, the higher the satisfaction of the old-age apartment, but the higher the loyalty of the old-age apartment; the more traditional the values of the elderly, the higher the loyalty to the old-age apartment, but the higher the diversity and innovation of the old-age apartment; the stronger the consumption motivation of the elderly, the more active the choice of the old-age apartment, but the evaluation of the old-age apartment is not necessarily more objective; the more experienced the consumption of the elderly, the more the evaluation of the old-age apartment is based, but the preference for the old-age apartment is not necessarily more stable.

(II) environmental factors

Environmental factors refer to the external conditions of consumers, including social culture, policies and regulations, market competition, media communication, family influence, group influence, etc. These factors will affect the consumer's cognition, attitude and choice of pension apartment, thus affecting the consumer's brand preference. For example:

Social culture: Social culture is an important factor that affects the brand preference of consumers of pension apartments. Different social and cultural backgrounds will form different pension concepts, pension methods and pension needs, which will affect consumers' cognition, attitude and choice of pension apartments. Generally speaking, the more open, diverse and inclusive the social culture is, the more positive, positive and understanding consumers' cognition of pension apartments is, the more friendly, respectful and trusting their attitude towards pension apartments is, and the more diverse, flexible and active their choices of pension apartments are.

Policies and regulations: Policies and regulations are another important factor affecting the brand preference of consumers of pension apartments. Different policies and regulations will restrict or promote the development and operation of pension apartments, thus affecting consumers' cognition, attitude and choice of pension apartments. Generally speaking, the more perfect, clear and supportive the policies and regulations, the clearer, more accurate and comprehensive consumers' understanding of pension apartments, the more reassuring, assured and satisfied their attitude towards pension apartments, and the more convenient, reasonable and preferential the choice of pension apartments.

Market competition: Market competition is another important factor that affects the brand preference of consumers of pension apartments. Different market competition conditions will affect the quantity, quality, price and service of pension apartments, thus affecting consumers' cognition, attitude and choice of pension apartments. Generally speaking, the more fierce, standardized and fair the market competition, the more diversified, rich and in-depth consumers' cognition of pension apartments, the more picky, comparative and evaluated their attitude towards pension apartments, and the more extensive, detailed and differentiated the choice of pension apartments.

Other environmental factors: In addition to the above several major environmental factors, there are a number of other environmental factors will also affect the retirement apartment consumer brand preferences, such as media communication, family influence, group influence. These factors will affect consumers' access to information, information processing and information dissemination, thus affecting consumers' brand preference. For example, the more extensive, real and effective the media dissemination, the easier, faster and timely the consumer's access to information about the retirement apartment; the stronger, harmonious and supportive the family influence, the more shared, negotiated and consistent the consumer's information processing of the retirement apartment; the more significant, positive and beneficial the group influence, the more active, proactive and powerful the consumer's information dissemination of the retirement apartment.

(III) brand factors

Brand factor refers to the characteristics of the pension apartment itself, including brand name, brand identity, brand image, brand positioning, brand value, brand relationship and so on. These factors will affect the consumer's cognition, attitude and choice of pension apartment, thus affecting the consumer's brand preference. For example:

Brand name: brand name is the core element of the old-age apartment brand, and it is the first impression and the most direct cognition of consumers to the old-age apartment. The quality of brand name will affect consumers' cognition, attitude and choice of pension apartment. Generally speaking, the more concise, easy to remember and meaningful the brand name is, the clearer, deeper and more familiar the consumer's cognition of the apartment, the more curious, trust and love their attitude, and the more inclined, preference and loyalty to their choice.

Brand logo: Brand logo is the visual element of the old-age apartment brand, and it is the second impression and the most intuitive cognition of consumers to the old-age apartment. The quality of brand logo will affect consumers' cognition, attitude and choice of pension apartment. Generally speaking, the more beautiful, unique and symbolic the brand logo is, the more distinct, profound and impressive the consumer's cognition of the apartment, the more appreciation, respect and love the attitude, and the more inclination, preference and loyalty to the choice.

Brand image: brand image is the psychological element of the old-age apartment brand, and it is the third impression and the most comprehensive cognition of consumers to the old-age apartment. The quality of brand image will affect consumers' cognition, attitude and choice of pension apartment. Generally speaking, the more positive, positive and attractive the brand image is, the more comprehensive, accurate and trust consumers' cognition of the apartment is, the more they agree, agree and support their attitude, and the more firm, loyal and recommend their choice is.

Brand positioning: Brand positioning is the strategic element of the pension apartment brand, and it is the fourth impression and the most important cognition of consumers. The quality of brand positioning will affect consumers' cognition, attitude and choice of pension apartment. Generally speaking, the more clear, reasonable and differentiated the brand positioning is, the more clear, professional and valuable consumers' cognition of the apartment is, the more they respect, trust and love their attitude, and the more diverse, flexible and active their choices are.

Brand value: Brand value is the core element of the pension apartment brand, and it is the fifth impression and the most essential cognition of consumers to the pension apartment. The quality of brand value will affect consumers' cognition, attitude and choice of pension apartment. Generally speaking, the higher the brand value, the more stable and growing the pension apartment, the more deeply, truthful and confident consumers have, the more satisfied, loyal and responsible their attitude, and the more lasting, stable and rewarding their choice.

Brand relationship: brand relationship is the relationship element of the old-age apartment brand, and it is the sixth impression and the most dynamic cognition of consumers to the old-age apartment. The quality of brand relationship will affect consumers' cognition, attitude and choice of pension apartment. Generally speaking, the more intimate, harmonious and interactive the brand relationship is, the more continuous, updated and involved consumers' cognition is, the more friendly, trusting and affectionate their attitude is, and the more positive, active and influential their choice is.

The method of studying consumer brand preference of 3. pension apartment.

According to the above analysis of the formation mechanism and influencing factors of consumer brand preference of pension apartment, this paper puts forward a research method of consumer brand preference of pension apartment based on multi-level analysis model. The multi-level analysis model is a statistical method suitable for analyzing multi-level structure data, which can effectively deal with the relationship between variables at the individual level and the group level. In this paper, the consumer brand preference of pension apartment is divided into two levels: individual level and brand level. The individual level refers to the consumer's own personal factors, and the brand level refers to the brand factors of the pension apartment itself. Environmental factors are used as control variables to control the influence between the individual level and the brand level.

The significance of the multi-level analysis model of this paper is that it can examine the influence of personal factors and brand factors on the consumer brand preference of pension apartment, as well as the interaction between personal factors and brand factors. Through the parameter estimation of the model, the size and direction of the fixed effect and random effect of individual factors and brand factors can be obtained, so as to analyze the formation mechanism of the consumer brand preference of the old-age apartment and the law and characteristics of the influencing factors.

An example of the study of consumer brand preference of 4. pension apartment.

In order to verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the research method of consumer brand preference of pension apartment proposed in this paper, this paper takes Shangpu Consulting Company as an example to show the application process and results of this method. Shangpu Consulting Company is a company specializing in consulting and research on the elderly care industry. It has many years of experience in market research and analysis of elderly care apartments, and provides brand planning, brand management and brand marketing services for many elderly care apartments. Based on the data and report of a market research and analysis conducted by Shangpu Consulting Company on the consumers of the old-age apartment in Beijing in 2023, this paper makes an example analysis of the brand preference of the old-age apartment consumers. Shangpu Consulting Company investigated a total of 10 pension apartments in Beijing, namely A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, and 500 pension apartment consumers, namely 1, 2, 3,..., 500. The survey includes brand name, brand identity, brand image, brand positioning, brand value, brand relationship and other brand factors, as well as consumers' age, gender, education, income, health status, lifestyle, values, consumption motivation, consumption experience and other personal factors, as well as consumers' brand preference for pension apartments. The survey methods include questionnaire survey, interview survey, observation survey and so on. After the survey data is cleaned, sorted, coded and entered, a multi-level data set is obtained, which is used for the parameter estimation of the multi-level analysis model.

In this paper, SPSS software and HLM software are used to estimate the parameters of the multi-level analysis model, and the results are as follows:

Fixed effects at the individual level: Among the individual factors, age, gender, education, income, health status, lifestyle, values, consumer motivation, and consumer experience all have a significant impact on consumer brand preferences for retirement apartments, and the direction and size are different. Specifically, the older the consumers, the lower the brand preference of the apartment for the aged; the female consumers, the higher the brand preference of the apartment for the aged than the male consumers; the higher the education level, the higher the brand preference of the apartment for the aged; the higher the income level, the lower the brand preference of the apartment for the aged; the poorer the health condition, the higher the brand preference of the apartment for the aged; the more active the lifestyle of consumers, the lower the brand preference of the old-age apartment, the more traditional the values of consumers, the higher the brand preference of the old-age apartment, the stronger the consumer motivation, the higher the brand preference of the old-age apartment, the more experienced the consumer, the lower the brand preference of the old-age apartment.

The fixed effect of brand level: brand name, brand identity, brand image, brand positioning, brand value and brand relationship have significant influence on the consumer brand preference of pension apartment, and the direction and size are different. Specifically, the more concise, easy-to-remember and meaningful the brand name is, the higher the brand preference of consumers; the more beautiful, unique and symbolic the brand logo is, the higher the brand preference of consumers; the more positive, positive and attractive the brand image is, the higher the brand preference of consumers; the more clear, reasonable and differentiated the brand positioning is, the higher the consumer's brand preference, the higher the brand value, the higher the stability and growth of the pension apartment, the higher the consumer's brand preference, the more intimate, harmonious and interactive the brand relationship, the higher the consumer's brand preference.

The interaction effect of individual level and brand level: there are many interactions between individual factors and brand factors, and the direction and size are different. Specifically, there is a positive interaction between age and brand name, that is, the older the consumer, the more concise, easy to remember and meaningful the brand name of the old-age apartment brand preference is higher; there is a negative interaction between gender and brand identity, that is, female consumers.

There is a negative interaction between gender and brand identity, that is, female consumers have a lower brand preference for the more beautiful, unique and symbolic brand identity of the retirement apartment than male consumers; there is a positive interaction between education and brand image, that is, the higher the level of education, the higher the consumer's brand preference for the more positive, positive and attractive the brand image of the retirement apartment; there is a negative interaction between income and brand positioning, that is, the higher the income level of consumers, the more clear, reasonable and differentiated the brand positioning of the old-age apartment brand preference is lower than that of consumers with lower income level; there is a positive interaction between health status and brand value, that is, the worse the health status of consumers, the higher the brand value of the old-age apartment, the higher the stability and growth of the brand preference; there is a negative interaction between lifestyle and brand relationship, that is, consumers with more active lifestyle have a lower brand preference for the more intimate, harmonious and interactive pension apartments than consumers with more conservative lifestyle.

5. conclusions and recommendations

Taking consumers as the center, this paper discusses the formation mechanism and influencing factors of consumer brand preference of old-age apartment, puts forward a research method of consumer brand preference of old-age apartment based on multi-level analysis model, and shows the application process and results of this method with Shangpu Consulting Company as an example. The main part of this paperConclusionAnd the recommendations are as follows:

The consumer brand preference of pension apartment is a dynamic, multi-dimensional and complex psychological process, which is influenced by personal factors, environmental factors and brand factors, and there are many interactions between these factors. Therefore, the brand management and marketing of pension apartments should start from the perspective of consumers, fully consider the needs, expectations, cognition and evaluation of consumers, as well as the social culture, policies and regulations, market competition and other environmental conditions of consumers, as well as the brand name, brand identity, brand image, brand positioning, brand value, brand relationship and other brand characteristics of pension apartments, the formation mechanism and influencing factors of consumer brand preference are analyzed comprehensively, and reasonable brand strategy and brand action are formulated to enhance the brand influence and loyalty of the pension apartment.

The multi-level analysis model is a statistical method suitable for analyzing multi-level structure data, which can effectively deal with the relationship between variables at the individual level and the group level. This paper divides the consumer brand preference of pension apartment into two levels: individual level and brand level, and examines the influence of personal factors and brand factors on the consumer brand preference of pension apartment, as well as the interaction between personal factors and brand factors. The advantage of the multi-level analysis model in this paper is that it can overcome the limitations of the traditional single-level analysis model, reveal the laws and characteristics of consumer brand preferences of pension apartments more comprehensively, accurately and deeply, and provide theoretical guidance and practical reference for the brand management and marketing of pension apartments.

Shangpu Consulting Company is a company specializing in consulting and research on the elderly care industry. It has many years of experience in market research and analysis of elderly care apartments, and provides brand planning, brand management and brand marketing services for many elderly care apartments. Based on the data and report of a market research and analysis conducted by Shangpu Consulting Company on the consumers of the old-age apartment in Beijing in 2023, this paper makes an example analysis of the brand preference of the old-age apartment consumers. The significance of the example analysis of this paper is that it can verify the effectiveness and feasibility of the research method of consumer brand preference of pension apartment proposed in this paper, and also provide some specific, targeted and operational brand management and marketing suggestions for Shangpu Consulting Company and Beijing pension apartment.