Understand the most important, yet overlooked, demographic segment of affluent consumers, the key to the future of the luxury market

A new mini-book by Pam Danziger, entitled What Do HENRYs Want?,  uncovers the new demographic segment key to marketing success over the next ten years — the HENRYs.  They are the high-earners-not-rich-yet customers with household incomes $100k-$249.9k that control some 40% of all consumer spending.

“Poorly understood by marketers who traditionally sell to the masses, and often overlooked by those targeting the affluent segment,  the HENRY mass-affluent demographic is the new middle-class consumer with discretion to spend, and the affluent customer that is the gateway to the future of the luxury market,”  explains Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing.

“This mini-book will help marketers understand how to target this most important consumer demographic.   Effectively tapping the spend power of the HENRYs is what brands need to position themselves for growth over the next ten years.”

Post-recession middle-class consumers lost discretionary spending power — HENRYs still have it!

In today’s post-recession economy, the American middle-class consumers have lost much of their discretionary spending power, as their average income has dropped by some $4,300, down from a pre-recession high of $76,912 to $72,641 in 2013.  By contrast HENRYs have an average income nearly twice the national average, meaning more money to spend.

“The nearly 23 million HENRY households are doing better than almost 80% of all U.S. households.  They are a demographic that traditional mass-marketers need to understand because of their greater spending power,” Danziger says.

Luxury brands can find opportunities one notch down from the luxury class, with HENRYs

At the high-end of the market, the purchases of the upper-class (masions, yachts, luxury resort vacations) may garner far more media attention, but their small population, some 2-3 million households, translates into a much smaller target market.  “For luxury brands there is a much larger potential market merely one notch down, the upper-middle class (HENRYs) rather than the true upper class (ultra-affluents and top 1%). These are consumers with potential for luxury brands; however, in choosing  high-end purchases, HENRYs often must make sacrifices in overall household consumption and as a result, are more careful about where and what to spend their money on.,”  Danziger explains.

Understand the HENRY affluent consumers demographic for future marketing success

If retailers and marketers aim to draw more HENRY affluents, with their significantly greater spending power over middle-income consumers, they need to combine strategies borrowed from high-end brands, along with more mass-market tactics, to send a clear message that these high-potential customers are understood, respected and catered to.  This new mini-book “What Do HENRYs Want:  Reaching the Most Important Affluent Demographic” will show you how.

About Pam Danziger & Unity Marketing

Pamela N. Danziger is an internationally-recognized expert specializing in consumer insights for marketers targeting the affluent consumer.  She is president of Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm she founded in 1992.  Pam received the Global Luxury Award for top luxury industry achievers presented at the Global Luxury Forum in London, 2007.

In January, 2013 Pam was named to Luxury Daily’s elite list of 25 “Luxury Women to Watch in 2013.” She is a member of the Jim Blasingame: The Small Business Advocate’s Brain Trust and a contributing columnist to The Robin Report, a monthly newsletter for senior executives in the retail, fashion, beauty, consumer products and related industries.

Among her many television appearances and interviews, she has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, CBS News Sunday Morning, CNN, Fox News, NPR’s Marketplace, and CNN In the Money and and was featured in the CNBC special “The Costco Craze:  Inside the Warehouse Giant.” 

Pam leads with research to give brand marketers “All Access” to the mind of the affluent consumer.  She uses qualitative and quantitative market research to learn about their brand preferences, shopping habits, and attitudes about their lifestyles, then turns these insights into actionable strategies for marketers to use to reach these high-spending consumers.

Her latest book is entitled Putting the Luxe Back in Luxury:  How new consumer values are redefining the way we market luxury (Paramount Market Publishing, 2011).  Her other books include Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience, published by Kaplan Publishing in October 2006 and currently being revised for release later this year by Paramount under the title Shops that POP!;   Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses-as well as the Classes, (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2005) and Why People Buy Things They Don’t Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2004).