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For All Subscriptions Placed from December 20, 2011-December 31, 2011, Get a Free Update in 2012...

The Ultimate Guide to the Luxury Consumer Market... 

The  Luxury Report 2011:

The annual state of the luxury market 

Order Luxury Report 2011 and receive a FREE copy of the trend report:

 Affluent Consumers and How They Use the Internet, Social Media and Mobile Devices: An in-depth profile of the online luxury customer (a $995 value) 

The Luxury Report 2011 Shows a Luxury Consumer Market in Recovery Mode Coming Out of the Recession

Spending on luxury is up dramatically, but that increase is being driven by greater participation of ultra-affluents in the luxury market -- Lower-income HENRYs continue 'missing in action' when it comes to luxury

Stevens, PA  May 26, 2011 --  Unity Marketing has just published its annual report on the state of the luxury market. The Luxury Report 2011:  the Ultimate Guide to the Luxury Consumer Market, provides detail data about the purchase behavior and spending trends of the nation's most affluent consumers from 2008 through 2010. 

"This year's report shows the luxury consumer emerging from the recession," Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Putting the Luxe Back in Luxury said. "The average amount the luxury consumers spent on luxury in 2010 rose 30.4 percent over 2009 and 68.4 percent over 2008.  But spending is only one measure.  The other metric critical to luxury marketers is consumer demand for luxury goods and services, as measured by purchase incidence.  Unfortunately demand for luxury across all segments of the affluent market continues to lag far behind 2006-2007 pre-recession levels."

This year's report shows more spending, but fewer are buying luxury

The Luxury Report 2011 shows that the lower-income HENRYs – High Earners Not Rich Yet with incomes $100,000-$249,999 – continue to feel the drag of the recession.  They view themselves and their financial status as solidly middle-class and as a result are routinely trading down for many purchases, rather than trading up as they did prior to the recession.  That means luxury marketers have to rely primarily on the ultra-affluents (those in the top 2 percent of incomes starting at $250,000 and above) to maintain growth. 

Danziger says, "So far the ultra-affluents are contributing more than their fair share to luxury businesses, but signs are that even the ultra-affluents are starting to pull back now that their pent up demand for luxury built up through the recession is starting to be satisfied." 

Danziger cautions, "Long term the fortunes for luxury brands and retailers is going to rely on coaxing the HENRYs back to luxury.  While the individual HENRY household spends only about one-third of what a typical ultra-affluent household spends on luxury goods and services, there are ten HENRY households to every one ultra-affluent.  That makes the HENRYs a very important customer segment that luxury marketers can't afford to ignore. "

The Luxury Report 2011 gives marketers data about trends in what luxury consumers are buying, where they are shopping, how much they are spending and what brands they favor in key categories of luxury.  In total the report shares findings of 5,195 luxury consumers surveyed in 2010 (average income $311,400). 

"We designed the Luxury Report 2011 as both a powerful desk reference and a source for insight into the future trends in the luxury market.  The new report provides the kind of detailed facts and figures about the luxury consumer market that will delight data-driven executives.  But it also focuses on the mindset and attitudes of the luxury consumer, making it an invaluable tool for luxury brand executives to plan for the future of their changing marketplace," Danziger concludes.   

More about The Luxury Report 2011

The Luxury Report 2011 is a compilation of the quarterly luxury tracking surveys that Unity Marketing conducts every three months with 1,000-1,250 affluent consumers who purchased one or more luxuries in the study period.  Unity's luxury tracking study is the only longitudinal study of its kind that tracks the luxury consumer market, what they buy, how much they spend. 

The Luxury Report 2011 examines consumers' buying behavior and spending habits related to four key categories of luxury:

  • Home Luxuries, such as kitchen appliances, bath fixtures, art and antiques, furniture, tabletop, decorative home furnishings, electronics and more
  • Personal Luxuries, including fashion, beauty, jewelry and watches
  • Automobiles
  • Experiential Luxuries, such as travel, fine dining, entertainment, spa and beauty services.

The report contains details on 22 luxury product and services bought by affluent consumers, including annual spending, where these products were purchased and details of the types of products and services bought. 

The Luxury Report 2011 is written by Pam Danziger, one of the nation's leading expert on the luxury market and is based upon the kind of in-depth consumer research for which Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing are known. 

Guides luxury marketers to shifts and changes in their target customers' attitudes and shopping behavior

This report provides vital data about what luxuries affluents are buying, how much they are spending, where they are making their purchases and what brands they favor.  This report provides invaluable information about the mindset, attitudes and spending habits of the affluent consumers that luxury marketers target.  This is not just report about  people with high incomes, but affluents who buy luxury goods and services. 

More importantly it gives marketers an analytic view of the luxury consumer market going in and coming out of the recession. 

>> Luxury Marketers:  This is a report about your customers & your target customers

Details about what these luxury consumers bought, how much they spent, where they made their purchases, and in certain categories the luxury brands they patronized are reported in four major categories of luxury. Significantly more product categories and more brands were included in the latest surveys, notably:

Home Luxuries

  • Art and Antiques (Specific data is collected on already-framed reproductions; unframed reproductions; custom-framed art or reproductions; other custom framing; original art; sculpture, statues, 3D art; antique furniture and collectibles; wall decor)
  • Home Electronics (Desktop Computers; televisions; DVD/video players; audio equipment; home entertainment systems)
  • Furniture, Lamps and Floor Coverings (Lamps and lighting; upholstered furniture; wooden furniture; rugs and floor coverings)
  • Garden and Outdoor (Patio furniture; grills; lighting accents; fencing; power gardening equipment; decorative pots; garden statues; chimeneas and outdoor stoves; garden shelters; water gardens; porch and patio decorative accents)
  • Home Decorating Fabrics, Wall and Window Coverings (Wall coverings, such as wall paper; ready-made curtains, drapes; window coverings, such as blinds, shades; home decorating fabrics for custom upholstery, curtains, drapes, etc.)
  • Kitchen Appliances, Bathroom Equipment and Building Products (Kitchen appliances, such as stoves, ovens, refrigerators; bathroom equipment, such as tubs, showers, toilets, fixtures; kitchen equipment, such as cabinets, countertops; air conditioning/filtration systems; water systems)
  • Kitchenware, Cookware, Housewares (Small appliances; cookware; bakeware; cutlery; storage and organization; barware)
  • Linens and Beddings (Sheets and pillowcases; comforters, spreads; pillows and pillow accents; bath linens; mattresses and box springs; duvets and shams; feather beds and mattress covers; table linens)
  • Tabletop, Dinnerware, Stemware, Flatware (Dinnerware, including fine china, ceramic or stoneware, serving ware and decorative accents; crystal and glassware decoratives, stem ware, serving pieces, barware; flatware, including sterling silver flatware, serving pieces, decorative accents and other flatware)

Personal Luxuries

  • Clothing and Apparel (Women's casual, dress/business, formal/evening, outerwear; men's casual, dress/business, formal/evening, outerwear; teen's clothing; children's clothing; baby clothing)
  • Cosmetics, Fragrance and Beauty Products (Fragrances, perfumes; bath and body lotions; face care; hair care; cosmetics and makeup; sun and tanning products)
  • Fashion Accessories (Women's handbags, shoes, brief cases, and fashion accessories, such as scarves, belts; men's wallets, brief cases and men's fashion accessories, including shoes, belts, etc.; luggage for men and women)
  • Jewelry (Women's and men's jewelry by type, including necklaces, earrings, bracelets, rings, bridal/wedding, pins and brooches; women's and men's jewelry by material, including 14k and above gold, sterling silver, platinum, gold plate or vermeil, costume jewelry; and women's and men's jewelry by stone, including diamonds, other precious gemstones, semi-precious gemstones, pearl, faux or man-made, no gemstone content)
  • Watches (Women's and men's watches by style, including formal/dress or casual/sports)
  • Wine, Liquor and Spirits (Wine, champagne, vodka, whiskey, rum, scotch, cognac, bourbon, sherry/port)
  • Personal Electronics (iPods and other MP3 devices; cameras; cellular phones; laptop computers & notebooks; PDA's)

Automobiles (Euro, Asian and U.S luxury models)

Experiential Luxuries

  • Dining
  • Entertainment
  • Home Services (House cleaning/maid; lawn care; landscaping; party planning/catering; home decorator/designer; pet care; pool maintenance)
  • Spa, Massage, Beauty and Cosmetic Services
  • Travel (Foreign and domestic luxury hotels, commercial air, resorts, cruises, group tours, adventure travel, private air travel)

Provides marketers with facts and data that support strategic decisions

Make critical business decisions based upon facts -- not beliefs, assumptions or fantasies

This report provides the facts and figures you need to develop winning marketing and business strategies. By working with the facts, not fantasies, you have a much better chance of success marketing to the luxury consumers. This report gives you a horizontal view of the luxury market, recognizing that luxury marketers compete not just with companies within their vertical product niche, but across all luxury categories as well.

Within each category of luxury, the key drivers for purchase are studied, such as role of luxury brand in purchase decision; the influence of sales price on purchase; where the shopper bought their last luxury; why they bought luxuries; whether their luxury purchases were made a gifts; and other motivational factors.

New data points enhance marketers understanding of their consumers

Spending is now provided at the product and retailer levels within each major category of luxury

Enhancing this year's Luxury Report 2011 are new data points that show exactly how the affluents' money is being spent and how it is changing from year to year.  It contains data about the average amount spent within a particular product category, such as Luxury Fashion Accessories, and within the category to the average amount spent on women's shoes or women's handbags, for example.  It enables marketers to identify what products are up and down within their product category. 

Further this report provides an estimate within product category of how the consumers' share of wallet is divided based upon type of store.  So you can tell when affluent shoppers are shifting their spending out of one retailing segment and into another.  For example, this year affluents spent less of their fashion accessories budgets in department stores and more in specialty fashion boutiques. 

This report doesn't stop with the data -- It pushes further to help marketers and retailers put the information to use

Translate the data into information that marketing executives can use to make critical strategic decisions 

This market research report helps make the research data and findings accessible and useable.  It provides marketers with three powerful perspectives:  "The What", "So What" and  "Now What."  This report is filled with advice and guidance for luxury marketers to take action on the research findings revealed. 

Special feature: Find out which of the five different types of luxury consumers are your best customers

A special feature in Unity Marketing's Luxury Report 2011 is a psychographic profile of five key types of luxury consumers. These include:

  • X-Fluents (Extremely Affluent) who spend the most on luxury and are most highly invested in luxury living;
  • Butterflies, the most highly evolved luxury consumers who have emerged from their luxury cocoons with a passion to reconnect with the outside world. Powered by a search for meaning and new experiences, the butterflies have the least materialistic orientation among the segments, yet they spend nearly as much as the X-Fluents on luxury;
  • Luxury Cocooners who are focused on hearth and home. They spend most of their luxury budgets on home-related purchases;
  • Aspirers, those luxury consumers who have not yet achieved the level of luxury to which they aspire. They are highly attuned to brands and believe luxury is best expressed in what they buy and what they own.
  • Temperate Pragmatist a newly emerged luxury consumer who is not all that involved in the luxury lifestyle.  As their name implies, they are careful spenders and not given to luxury indulgence.

Special Offer:  Order your copy of the Luxury Report 2011 and receive a FREE copy of Unity Marketing's best-selling trend report: Affluent Consumers and How They Use the Internet, Social Media and Mobile Devices: An in-depth profile of the online luxury customer  (a $995 value) 

(May 2011, ~230 pages)

Subscription Price: $3,500
(Subscription fee for Luxury Report 2011 can be credited towards the annual Luxury Tracking Study for first-time subscribers)

For All Subscriptions Placed from December 20, 2011-December 31, 2011, Get a Free Update in 2012...

Now the Luxury Report is available in special editions containing subsets of the data.

Special Offer:  Buy Luxury Report 2010 today and continue to receive four quarterly updates about the luxury consumer market to keep current throughout 2010 for $6,500. 

You will receive the Luxury Report 2010 now and the topline executive summary (Chapter 1 & 2) of each successive Luxury Tracking Report throughout 2010, published after completion of each quarterly survey of 1,200+ affluent consumers including one-third of each sample made up of ultra-affluent consumers (HHI $250,000 and above).  For more information, call Pam at 717-336-1600.

When a Report Won't Do:

Sometimes you don't have the time to do a great deal of analysis or you need to share complex information with other members of your team.  An in-depth research report, while cost effective, is not always the most efficient way for helping your colleagues and executive management understand current consumer trends that directly impact your business.

Unity Marketing offers a solution.  Pam Danziger can transform the written research report into a learning experience for you and your team.   She will extract the most pertinent pieces of data from the research report and prepare and present a custom presentation specifically to address your company's critical issues.  Not only will she extract and explains the data most relevant to your core business, she will highlight the trends most likely to affect you in the coming months and years.  In addition, after the presentation you can ask her those hard questions you really need answers to and get her expert perspective on the issues of most importance to you.

After just a few hours, you and your entire team will be fully informed and ready to put the research findings to work in creating new marketing or product strategies.

There are several presentation options including a webcast or an in-office presentation.  Call Pam at 717-336-1600 to discuss your needs further. 


More Information on the Luxury Market

Table of Contents

Methodology & Survey Sample Demographics

Luxury Brands included in the Study

Sample Data: 

Sample Pages --  Demographics of Affluence 


 To Order:

Executive Presentation and Leave-Behind Report

Downloadable PDFs:

Luxury Report 2011 Full Report ($3,500) plus Affluent Consumers and How They Use the Internet, Social Media and Mobile Devices Trend Report

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