High-Net-Worth Consumers Important, but Comfortably Well-Off Are Key for Luxury Marketers

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The High-Net-Worth Market Is Important, but the Comfortably Well-Off Consumers Make More of a Difference for Today's Luxury Marketers

Unity Marketing helps luxury marketers understand the implications of key trends in the luxury market

Stevens, Pa July 7, 2007 -- The just-published 11th annual World Wealth Report, compiled by Merrill Lynch and Capgemini Group, examines the high-net-worth market made up of 9.5 million people worldwide who hold more than US$1 million in assets. Among the key findings in this study is that North America ranks number one in the world in terms of total high-net-worth individuals (HNWI) and the size of their financial assets.

"The high-net-worth market, totaling 3.2 million people in North America, are a small but influential market segment for ultra high-end luxury marketers that sell goods and services only the truly rich can afford," explains Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and winner of this year's Global Luxury Award, presented at the Global Luxury Forum (London, April 20, 2007). "But today's American luxury market is far broader and more diverse than just the rich."

"High-income consumers, especially those 18 million households that are comfortably well-off with incomes from $100,000 to $249,000, are the prime target market for many of the leading luxury brands and retailers today," Danziger continues.

"A luxury lifestyle is attainable not just for the rich but to people with more modest levels of income thanks to the increased availability of luxury goods and services. And the new trend toward fractional ownership makes the pleasures that once only the rich could enjoy available to the merely affluent."

"While the high-net-worth consumer market is an important one, most luxury marketers' success today is directly related to how well they satisfy the luxury cravings of the comfortably well-off shoppers in their midst," Danziger explains. "That is the focus of Unity Marketing's latest study on the buying habits of luxury consumers published in The Luxury Report 2007."

Unity Marketing's Luxury Report 2007 provides details about luxury consumers' purchases and spending

Unity Marketing's latest Luxury Report 2007 � The Ultimate Guide to the Luxury Consumer Market is luxury marketers' definitive guide to the U.S. luxury consumer marketplace. It provides details about what luxury consumers bought, how much they spent, where they made their purchases, and in certain categories, the luxury brands they purchased. The report tracks the leading trends in the luxury market from 2005 and 2006.

Danziger says, "The Luxury Report 2007 is based upon surveys of over 4,000 luxury consumers with an average household income of $149,800 and age 43.1 years. It provides a wealth of information for luxury marketers who must make business decisions based upon facts about the luxury consumer market, not beliefs, assumptions or fantasies."

The research study found that in 2006 American affluent consumers continued to spend significant amounts of money indulging in luxury goods and services. The typical luxury consumer's spending on luxuries rose 6.6 percent to reach $56,065, following an increase of 3.8 percent in spending in 2005.

The Luxury Report 2007 also details the fastest growing categories in the luxury market and provides data about what influences the consumers most in terms of buying products in the category, such as style and design; product or design brand; store where the purchase was made, etc. This insight is invaluable for luxury marketers, retailers and advertisers in terms of positioning their products and brands to appeal to the luxury consumers' mindset.

Sample pages from The Luxury Report 2007 describing the number of affluent households by income levels are available on this webpage http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/cms_luxury/luxury/Luxury_Report_2007.php

To learn more about the study, visit http://www.unitymarketingonline.com/cms_luxury/luxury/Luxury_Report_2007.php

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

About Pam Danziger and Unity Marketing
Pamela N. Danziger is an internationally 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, Diageo, Stearns & Foster, Waterford/Wedgwood, Prudential Fine Homes, Ritz Carlton, Orient-Express Hotels, 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.

In recognition of her ground-breaking work in the luxury consumer market, Pam received the Global Luxury Award presented for top luxury industry achievers in 2007 at the Global Luxury Forum.

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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