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'Cheap Chic' Marketers Play to Growing Trend in the Luxury Market

For more affluent consumers, the pursuit of anti-status brands - as opposed to status symbols -- is suddenly cool

Stevens, PA February 16, 2007 - A growing list of 'cheap chic' marketers - Target, Kohls, Payless, TJ Maxx, and H&M - are scoring big not just with the 'trading up' budget-conscious consumers, but also with affluent shoppers who have fat wallets but think it is smart to get look-alike styles for less.

A trend toward anti-status shopping is growing rapidly among luxury consumers, according to the results of a new research investigation by Unity Marketing among 1,036 luxury consumers (average income $156.5k and average age 42.8 years). The anti-status shopper rejects the idea that the brands you wear, the car you drive, the way you decorate your home gives you some kind of elevated social status or prestige. They are driven to get value for their money, rather than to make an impression on others according to how much money they spent.

"The growth trajectory of many traditional status symbol luxury brands is threatened by this growing consumer trend toward anti-status," says Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience.

"Roughly 40 percent of luxury consumers today express an anti-status point of view. The problem for status symbol luxury brands with this emerging anti-status trend is that anti-status consumers spend significantly less than status-seeking consumers when they shop for luxury."

New Study Examines Luxury Consumers' Attitudes toward Status and the Anti-Status Trend

In a new study from Unity Marketing, Luxury Tracking 4Q2006 Executive Summary: Luxury Consumers & Status, luxury consumer-insights expert Pam Danziger explores what the anti-status trend means for luxury marketers. The report explains how luxury marketers can target the growing number of affluent consumers who simply don't see value in spending more - so much more - for status symbol brands. The report also identifies the types of luxury consumers that respond to status positioning and how marketers can build the status allure of their brands while not antagonizing the anti-status consumers who think of buying status symbols as 'un-cool.'

Luxury marketers who need to understand their target market's attitudes toward status and the growing anti-status trend can order the new report available directly from Unity Marketing http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/cms_luxury/luxury/luxury3/luxury4Q2006.php. They can also call Pam Danziger today at 717-336-1600 to discuss the implications of the new anti-status research in terms of their company's brand positioning, product development, distribution and advertising strategies.

The research includes:

Luxury consumers' attitudes about status and luxury;
A profile of the four status personalities - Status-seeking Sarah, Consensus Connie, Quality Magnet Martha and Anti-Status Andy - and their distinctive attitudes toward status;
How the luxury consumers' attitudes toward status translates into different spending patterns in luxury;
Key demographics that identify consumers' attitudes toward status;
How luxury marketers' can use status and anti-status positioning to promote their branding messages.

In addition visitors to Unity Marketing's website can download a profile about the Coach brand which isn't positioned as a traditional �status symbol' luxury brand. The Coach corporate profile is available here http://www.whypeoplebuy.com/cms/Home_Page/White_Papers_Articles.php

Unity Marketing Can Help Luxury Marketers Be More Successful Marketing Luxury to the Affluent Consumers

Unity provides a range of consumer insight services that will give you a deep understanding of the luxury consumer. Your company can put these new insights to work in strategy, marketing and new product development. Unity Marketing offers:

Luxury Consumer Tracking Study - Unity's flagship service for luxury marketers, it keeps you on the cutting edge of new trends in the luxury market. You get updates every three months about what more than 1,000 luxury consumers are buying, how much they spend, where they are shopping and what brands they prefer. The cost is only $3 for each of the 4,000 luxury consumers surveyed each year. Marketers can also tap Unity's affluent consumer panel for one-time omnibus surveys. To learn more visit http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/cms_luxury/luxury/luxury3.php
Luxury Market Report 2007 - This annual report compiles results from the previous year's quarterly tracking studies for companies that want a historical perspective. To find out more, visit http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/cms_luxury/luxury/luxury1.php
Customize Research and Consultation - Pam Danziger can design a cutting-edge consumer insight program for your company. She can make sense of much of the �gobbledygook' that comes out of market research and tell you what it really means for your company. For more information, go to http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/cms_pages/about_us.php
Executive Presentations, Meeting Facilitator, Keynote Speeches - Danziger is a popular speaker at corporate presentations, meetings and conventions. She also facilitates ideation and marketing strategy sessions. Her most popular presentation is "The Ten Things Every Luxury Marketer Needs to Know about the New Luxury Market." For more info, click through to http://www.whypeoplebuy.com/cms/Home_Page/Speeches_Presentations.php or call Pam at 717-336-1600 or email pam@unitymarketingonline.com

For media: Charts, tables and graphs are available on request.

About Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing
Pamela N. Danziger is a nationally recognized expert specializing in consumer insights, especially for marketers and retailers that sell luxury goods and experiences to the masses or the �classes.' She is president of Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm she founded in 1992.

Advising such clients as Cartier, PPR, R�my Amerique, Stearns & Foster, Waterford/Wedgwood, Prudential Fine Homes, Ritz Carlton, The World Gold Council, The Conference Board and American Express, Danziger taps consumer psychology to help clients navigate and master the changing luxury consumer marketplace.

Her latest book is Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience, published by Kaplan Publishing in October 2006. Her other books include Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses-as well as the Classes, (Dearborn Trade Publishing, $27, hardcover) and Why People Buy Things They Don't Need: Understanding and Predicting Consumer Behavior (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2004).

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