New Luxury and Brands Reloaded
Did the global crisis change consumers’ attitudes toward luxury brands?
Patterns of consumption are increasingly defined by values such as sustainability, fairtrade and individuality. So will this shift in the importance of certain values also lead to a change in the way we perceive luxury? Back in 2007, Brand Trust decided to find out more about this and conducted the first representative study to investigate the topic of “the new luxury” in Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The results revealed that these new values have a great deal of influence: immaterial values, such as having more freedom and spare time, were seen as major luxuries and were in direct competition with material luxury products.
The new Brand Trust study differed from the 2007 study in two major ways:
1. The study was not only conducted in Germany, Austria and Switzerland but also in the US and China, the two largest luxury markets in the world. This means that the study investigated the three largest regions for luxury products in the world, enabling a comparison of the concept of luxury in
three different continents.
2. The study focussed for the first time on people in the highest 10% income bracket, i.e. the income group most relevant to luxury brands.
D = more than 38,400 net/p.a. (or assets above 300,000)
A = more than 38,400 net/p.a (or assets above 300,000)
CH = more than CHF 96,000 net/p.a. (or assets above 500,000 CHF)
USA = more than $ 96,000 net/p.a. (or assets above $ 400,000)
CN = more than ¥ 150,000 net/p.a. (or assets above ¥ 1,000,000)
The Study Design
In total, 1.491 persons from the upper 10% of incomes were surveyed. The sample consisted of 509 German participants, 202 Austrians, 267 survey partners from Switzerland, 255 from the USA and 258 from China. The survey was conducted in August 2012.
Processing the results has brought us exciting new insights into the global understanding of luxury.
The study results are only available in digital form. To view them, please register here. You will receive a confirmation of your login date per e-mail, giving you access to our study presentation.
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