They Do Enjoy The Life Of Luxury, But For Non-Materialistic Reasons!

They couldn't live without fancy cars. They look for bargains when buying luxuries, and will "trade down" in many categories. They're influenced in their purchases by style and design, but shrug off ads. We're speaking, of course, of high-income Americans. The insights come from the American Express Platinum Luxury Survey (conducted by Unity Marketing), which quizzed people with household income of $125,000-plus about their attitudes toward luxury. One question looked at how the respondents define luxury. Given three choices, a plurality (44 percent) subscribed to the view that luxury "is how you experience different aspects of your life"—i.e., "the feeling of happiness and satisfaction you get from being with your family or friends, enjoying good times." Thirty-seven percent said it's "having enough time to do whatever you want and being able to afford it." Nineteen percent cast it in more materialistic terms: "Luxury is the finer things in life that surround you with supreme comfort, beauty and quality." Sincerely or not, 85 percent responded to another query by saying luxury "is not about conspicuous consumption or buying things to impress—it's about how it makes you feel." That's not to say they'd gladly forgo their luxuries: 65 percent agreed with the statement, "Once you experience luxury in your life, you never want to go back to the ordinary." Asked to cite luxuries they can't live without, respondents gave the most votes to luxury travel (33 percent) and cars (23 percent). The poll found Gen Xers "far more invested in buying up the material trappings of wealth" than baby boomers are, if only because they've had less time to accumulate them. Per capita, Xers spent 18 percent more than boomers on luxuries in the past year. Upper-income folks live up to the stereotype of the wealthy skinflint. Eighty percent endorsed the statement, "Getting a discount or finding a really good sale price on a luxury makes me feel like a smart shopper"; 58 percent said their most recent luxury purchase was bought on sale. Often, they'll simply skip the luxury brands. "In most categories, about half the luxury consumers only occasionally, rarely or never buy the luxury versions." Among other tidbits from the poll: Gen Xers were more likely than boomers (45 percent vs. 33 percent) to say they "tend to feel guilty" when they splurge on a big-ticket luxury. When people were asked to cite the factors that move them to buy a given luxury, "style and design" topped the list in categories as diverse as cars and pet products. Advertising barely registered, polling in single digits in every category except cosmetics/beauty products and pet products.

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They Do Enjoy The Life Of Luxury, But For Non-Materialistic Reasons!

Mark Dolliver

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Mark Dolliver