Pam Danziger observes in Unity Marketing's recent report that fair-trade marketer Ten Thousand Villages has found that giving back and doing good is good business. The latest issue of Forbes magazine profiled this unique non-profit retail chain which operates about 100 outlets and reports net sales of $24 million. The company exclusively sells artisan-made goods imported from underdeveloped countries.
The secret of the company's success: People feel good shopping at a Ten Thousand Villages store. By shopping they are helping the less fortunate because Ten Thousand Villages guarantees the crafts people receive a fair price for their handicrafts. The company works hard to fulfill its mission to promote economic development through crafts by giving back on average 21 cents on the sales dollar to their artisan partners, as compared with the usual 1 to 5 cents of the retail dollar from other commercial channels. Click this link to see the Forbes story.
Ten Thousand Villages taps into a profound change in affluent consumer psychology
Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses as well as the Classes, in which Ten Thousand Villages was also profiled said, "Ten Thousand Villages has successfully tapped a growing trend toward social consciousness among affluents. They are rejecting a luxury lifestyle focused on the pursuit of self-centered materialism. Ten Thousand Villages attracts a clientele made up largely of affluent women who are highly educated and concerned about social issues. Today's luxury brands need to be attuned to this rising social consciousness and think about ways small and large, highly visible and much more subtle, that they can support their customers' desire to be socially-responsible consumers, at the same time let them participate in owning luxury goods. They need to give their consumers ways to feel good even while they are splurging."
The desire to do good and give back is a bellwether of fundamental changes taking place in the luxury consumer market.
The recently released Luxury Report 2009, Unity Marketing's report on the annual state of the luxury market, puts numbers behind the trends that are shaping the future of the luxury consumer market. Danziger says that surveys conducted among affluent luxury consumers show that the culture is shifting and the lifestyle of luxury indulgence is no longer the American ideal.
"Luxury consumers' desire to do good and give back is a bellwether of more profound changes taking place in the luxury market," Danziger says. "Luxury has lost its luster. Today luxury is synonymous with excessive indulgence, self-gratification, and an arrogant, wasteful lifestyle. Affluents who have much are giving back, doing good, taking concrete steps to make the world a better place."
Danziger continues, "When the current recession is over, the luxury market is going to be very different from the way it was before the current crisis. The next generation of affluent consumers are thinking about the impact of their consumption on future generations and learning that conspicuous consumption is not the way to grow wealth, to achieve happiness or to make their lives more meaningful."
A new age of post-materialism is emerging
Affluent consumers no longer measure their achievement in the things they have and own or by the size of their home or brand of their car. They are measuring life success in new ways, including what they contribute to society and how they help make the world a better place for all of us.
"As this new trend toward post-materialism takes hold, luxury doesn't mean the same thing it once did. People with money will always want the best quality, best workmanship, best style and design, but when they shop they place the emphasis on concrete attributes and values that are measurable and defined by facts and figures, not image or status," Danziger explains.
"Luxury is turning inward. It no longer is an external or outward show of status or wealth, but to an inner state of being defined by personal happiness and an outstanding quality of life," Danziger concludes.
Unity Marketing has recently published its annual report on the state of the luxury market. The Luxury Report 2009: the Ultimate Guide to the Luxury Consumer Market, provides detail data about the purchase behavior and spending patterns of the nation's most affluent consumers. In addition to its focus on historical shifts in the luxury consumer market, it gives marketers a forward-look into the future trajectory of consumer trends that are transforming the luxury market in 2009 and beyond.
For more information about the Luxury Report 2009 click here.
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 as well as the 'classes.' She is president of Unity Marketing, a marketing consulting firm she founded in 1992.
Advising such clients as PPR & Gucci, Diageo, Waterford-Wedgwood, Google, Swarovski, GM, Orient-Express Hotels, Italian Trade Commission, Marie Claire magazine, The World Gold Council, and The Conference Board, Pam taps consumer psychology to help clients navigate the changing consumer marketplace.
Her latest book is Shopping: Why We Love It and How Retailers Can Create the Ultimate Customer Experience (Kaplan, $27) is in the bookstores now.
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).