Luxury Institute News

May 21, 2012

Why Millennials Are Spending More Than They Earn, And Parents Are Footing The Bill

Posted in Finance,Luxury Brands,Luxury Market,Millennials
Tags: Luxury Institute, Luxury Market, Millennials, Wealthy Consumers —

By Larissa Faw
Forbes
May 18, 2012

There’s a striking disconnect with today’s Millennials that can be best described through Steve Jobs’ infamous reality distortion field: Millennial lifestyles and spending habits do not reflect their financial realities.

The majority of the 79 million U.S. Millennials are either unemployed, underpaid, or weighed down with student loans. One in four Millennials, for instance, has more debt than savings, according to Bankrate.com. Some 94% of college students currently graduate with debt. The current unemployment rate among workers ages 20-24 is 13%, compared to 8% for older workers, according to the most recent economic data.

At the same time, Millennial college students (without full-time jobs) spend $784 a month on discretionary expenses, especially food and entertainment, according to the Mooslyvania marketing agency. Millennials are the largest demographic purchasing new technological gadgets and fashion apparel. And their spending on jewelry increased 27% in 2011, according to American Express Business Insights. They even start riots at outside retail malls over $200 limited-edition Air Jordan sneakers.

Click the link to read the entire article: http://www.forbes.com/sites/larissafaw/2012/05/18/why-millennials-are-spending-more-than-they-earn/

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June 8, 2011

Wealthy Millennials Define Luxury Brands In 16 Categories; Craftsmanship And Quality Still Count, But Loyalty Programs, Special Offers And Personalized Service Rise In Importance; Is Apple The New Dom Pérignon?

Posted in Fashion,Food & Beverage,Handbags,Luxury Market,Marketing,Press Releases,Retail,Watches,WealthSurvey
Tags: Apple, BMW, Coach, Dom Pérignon, Generation Y, Grey Goose, Millennials, Milton Pedraza, Rolex —

(NEW YORK) June 8, 2011 – High net-worth consumers 35 years of age and younger define luxury brands much more in terms of loyalty programs and unique offers than do their older wealthy cohorts, according to “Luxury Brand Marketing to Wealthy Millennials,” a new survey by the independent and objective New York City-based Luxury Institute. “Generation Y” individuals born in 1975 and later are also much more likely to have made a luxury purchase in the past year than 35+ wealthy consumers (83% vs. 66%).

Apple, cited without prompting by 45% of wealthy millennials as a luxury brand, tops all other brands, followed by Rolex, Coach and BMW, each offered by 30% of respondents as examples of luxury brands. Just 5.2% cited the iconic Dom Pérignon as a top-of-mind luxury brand, compared to 12% for those older than 35. In spirits, the most popular brand is the relatively young Grey Goose vodka.

“Wealthy millennials view luxury much more for the experiential factors associated with it, rather than relying on brand heritage or residual prestige earned long ago,” says Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury Institute. “The good news for luxury firms is that these tech savvy shoppers want to interact with them, not only in stores but also online and on mobile devices. This builds richer experiences and deeper relationships.”

For greater details on brand perceptions, awareness and what matters most to wealthy millennials in each of 16 luxury categories, please contact Martin Swanson, VP of Luxury Institute.

About Luxury Institute (www.LuxuryInstitute.com)

The Luxury Institute is the objective and independent global voice of the high net-worth consumer. The Institute conducts extensive and actionable research with wealthy consumers about their behaviors and attitudes on customer experience best practices. In addition, we work closely with top-tier luxury brands to successfully transform their organizational cultures into more profitable customer-centric enterprises. Our Luxury CRM Culture consulting process leverages our fact-based research and enables luxury brands to dramatically Outbehave as well as Outperform their competition. The Luxury Institute also operates LuxuryBoard.com, a membership-based online research portal, and the Luxury CRM Association, a membership organization dedicated to building customer-centric luxury enterprises.

For Further Information, Please Contact:
The Luxury Institute, LLC
Martin Swanson
Vice President
(914) 909-6350
mswanson@luxuryinstitute.com

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June 3, 2011

Fear of What’s in Store

Posted in E-Commerce,Fashion,Retail
Tags: BlackBerry, iPad, iPhone, MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, Millennials, Milton Pedraza, Target —

By Romy Ribitzky
Portfolio
June 3, 2011

The month of May isn’t traditionally a good one for retailers, and this one wasn’t an exception, as many chains open for at least one year reported muted sales. Bad weather and rising concern over volatile energy prices kept consumers at home.

It didn’t help that the Easter holiday fell in April this year and that Mother’s Day was a lackluster gift-giving holiday with mom not getting expensive gifts overall.

Of 24 retailers, about 60 percent missed expectations and 40 percent beat expectations, according to a poll by Thomson Reuters.

Even typical trend-bucker Target felt some weakness. “Our guests continue to shop cautiously in light of higher energy costs and inflationary pressures on their household budgets,” Target’s CEO Gregg Steinhafel told the Associated Press.

However, at the other end of the spectrum, high-end luxury sales, jewelry, and e-commerce enjoyed strong growth in May, as did the hotel and restaurant industries, according to the MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse report, a monthly macroeconomic indicator that measures national retail sales per sector.

But perhaps the best standout continues to be e-commerce. Now in its 22^nd month in positive territory, and posting its seventh month of double-digit gains at 15.9 percent, e-commerce sectors continue to dominate across the board says Michael McNamara, Vice President, Research and Analysis for MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse in a statement.

Luxury-hungry Millennials may be driving that growth, finds the latest report from the New York-based Luxury Institute. “Wealthy Americans 35 years of age and younger are avid consumers of a wide range of new media on smartphones and tablet computers,” according to the report. “Seventy-percent own smartphones (40 percent iPhone, 24 percent BlackBerry) and 23 percent already have an Apple iPad.” Their tendency to use their tech toys to make purchases on the go is likely to only continue driving up e-commerce sales. And once mobile payment platforms truly become integrated into mainstream retail, expect Millennials to largely dominate how—and where—retailers spend their ad dollars.

http://www.portfolio.com/views/blogs/executive-style/2011/06/02/same-store-sales-muted-in-may-but-ecommerce-shines#ixzz1OFHAnQWu

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