Meet the Butterflies: The Emerging Luxury Market (From Their Cocoons)

Furniture World Magazine

The key challenge for all brand marketers, whether selling to the luxury or the mass market, is to connect emotionally with the consumer. Connecting with the consumer is all about knowing them, understanding them, and getting inside their heads and hearts. Connecting is even more important for luxury marketers as the whole buying experience is based upon emotion, according to Unity Marketing's new report, Luxury Market Report - Who Buys Luxury, What They Buy, Why They Buy. "Remember the 60's song by the 5th Dimension 'Age of Aquarius?' If you are planning and strategizing your 21st century business today based upon what you learned about the 20th century consumer, then you are headed for trouble," Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of the study, warns. "Today the Age of Aquarius is dawning as a new type of luxury consumer emerges from his or her cocoon. Meet your new luxury consumer: the Butterfly." Butterflies have emerged from their luxurious cocoons: Butterflies have emerged from their luxurious cocoons and are driven by a need to reconnect with the outside world. They are connecting in their social, political, commercial and cultural worlds. Unlike cocooners who are inwardly directed, butterflies define their personal identity by connecting and relating to the outside world. In the latest research among luxury consumers conducted by Unity Marketing in association with House & Garden magazine, three different types or segments of the luxury market were discovered. "Butterfly consumers today make up about one-fourth of the luxury market, but their participation is destined to grow as luxury cocooners, who comprise about 40% of the luxury market, and luxury aspirers, about one-third of the luxury market, evolve into butterflies," Danziger predicts. Butterflies are less materialistic, yet they spend the most buying luxuries: In contrast to the luxury cocooners who are wrapped up in their luxury cocoons and inwardly focus their time and attention to making their nests more luxurious or the luxury aspirers who are driven to buy and display but have not yet reached the level of luxury to which they aspire, the butterflies are the least materialistic, most highly evolved luxury consumers. They know, as ultimately we all must, that things won't bring happiness. Yet, in the world's terms, the butterflies are the most successful, having the highest average income of the segments and living in the most expensive houses. Paradoxically, while the butterflies are the least materialistically oriented, they spend the most buying luxuries, about $14,675 a year on average. Luxury cocooners spend only about 65% of what butterflies do annually on luxuries, while aspirers spend less than half as much. Danziger says, "Not only do butterflies spend more on luxuries, they also spend differently." Only one-third of the butterflies' annual luxury spending is for home-related luxuries, like furniture, art and antiques, appliances, housewares, linens or tabletop. Rather the butterflies devote the biggest share of their luxury budget to personal luxuries, notably fashion and fashion accessories, jewelry and watches, fragrance and beauty products and automobiles. By comparison more than half of the luxury cocooners' luxury spending goes for home-related luxuries. Butterflies want to make a difference: Butterflies are characterized by a deep desire to find new meaning and establish a new equilibrium in their lives. They feel conflicted between the roles they play in their inner and external worlds. They feel blessed that they have so much worldly success, yet they feel a need to give back to the society that has given them so much. Prototypical butterflies include Bill Gates, Ted Turner, and Meg Whitman, the ceo of eBay, all of whom are giving a significant portion of their wealth to charitable causes that each one feels will benefit those less fortunate. "The idealistic butterflies want to make a real difference in the world and leave it a better place," Danziger says. Butterflies are neither motivated by status or exclusivity when they buy luxury goods, whereas luxury aspirers are driven by need to have and to own. Butterflies are democratic in their view of luxury and strongly agree with the statement, "Luxury is for everyone, but different for everyone." Butterflies seek connection: "When you think of the butterflies, the key word that characterizes them is 'connected.' They seek connection in all realms of their lives. Unlike cocooners who are disconnected, the butterflies are connected to others, to the outside world, their communities, the social, cultural and political establishments, the rest of the world," Danziger explains. As luxury consumers, they spend the most on connecting-driven travel and entertainment and also on luxury services, such as housecleaning, lawn care, etc., because these personal services free them from the drudgery of day-to-day life so they can spend time out and about connecting. The new report, Luxury Market Report 2003: Who Buys Luxury, What They Buy, Why They Buy, will improve business planning and make it more successful by providing the facts and figures marketers and retailers need to understand the luxury market now and into the future. Based upon an integrated qualitative and quantitative research study among affluent (incomes of $50k-$99.9k) and super-affluent consumers ($100k and above), the report analyzes consumers' purchase behavior among 14 different categories of luxury products and seven luxury services in the past year. This 200+ page report is available for $2,250 from Unity Marketing. For more information visit www.unitymarketingonline.com. About Unity Marketing: Founded in 1992, Unity Marketing (www.unitymarketingonline.com) is a marketing research and consulting firm that specializes in consumer insights for luxury marketers. Using its proprietary "why people buy" strategy, Pam Danziger, company founder and author of Why People Buy Things They Don't Need (Ithaca, NY: Paramount Market Publishing, 2002), uncovers the motivations, desires and emotional needs that drive consumers to buy. Unity also publishes market research studies on the luxury market, art, jewelry, gifts and collectibles, home furnishings, personal care markets, as well as the Luxury Business newsletter. Pam is currently working on her next book, Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses (as well as the Classes), to be published early in 2004.