Up until the 2008/2009 Great Recession, conventional wisdom held that affluent consumers were immune to economic downturns. The assumption was their higher levels of income and wealth sheltered them when prices rise and the economy tanks. But during the last recession, that conventional wisdom didn’t hold. Luxury consumers felt the pain and reacted just like […]
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RSS feed for this sectionConspicuous Consumption Is Back as Higher Luxury Prices Drives Demand
The personal luxury goods market has come through the most disruptive year in recent history and emerged on the other side stronger than ever. After reaching a global high of $307 billion in 2019, industry sales dropped a whopping 22% in 2020 only to recover and even top it in 2021, reaching $309 billion, according […]
Holiday Retail 2021 Threatened by Rising Prices, Product Shortages and Delta Variant
After people satisfy their basic human needs for food, clothing and shelter, their safety and security needs take precedence, ahead of higher-level needs for love and belonging, self-esteem, and self-actualization on Maslow’s hierarchy. Given our overall high quality of life, American consumers have been primarily focused on their higher-level needs, taking the basics for granted. […]
Mapping the New Consumer Path to Purchase
We’ve been told a consumer’s path to purchase proceeds in a straight line: awareness, familiarity, consideration, purchase … and if done right, it leads to loyalty. It’s a logical step-by-step progression model and gives brands the confidence to manage customers’ engagement and activate them along each step in their journey. Illusion Unveiled The problem is […]
Instead of Talking about ‘Post-Aspirational’ Consumers, Talk of ‘Transcendent’ Luxury
The phrase “post-aspirational consumers” is catching on in marketing circles, implying that consumers have evolved beyond aspiration as a motivator for purchase. Bain, one of the leading lights in the luxury market, gave the term its official imprimatur describing the “rise of a post-aspirational mindset.” For years the term “aspirational consumer” has been used in […]