14 September 2009 - 16:47The New Luxury Consumers

Standing in line at the annual Barney’s warehouse sale last week was a comparable experience to waiting on the security line at Newark airport during thanksgiving weekend. And when I walked into Lohman’s the other night there was a sales employee waiting with a silver tray of catered hors d’ oeuvres while the high-end designer section had been thoroughly picked through.

If you look around the streets of major US cities, luxury brands have not disappeared off the arms of strolling pedestrians, yet reports still go on about stocks free falling and stores closing. So you might ask how does this all add up?

Luxury consumers aren’t just 40-year-old house wives living on Park Avenue, they are 20 and 30 something millennials, who are doing their research on everlasting trends, quality, and ethically conscious brands. They do their shopping online after extensive research on blogs and fashion sites. They are image conscious professionals who know how to find a bargain (and are willing to stand in everlasting lines to get 40% off a Dolce and Gabbana dress).

Reaching these individuals is a whole new marketing game for luxury brands and fashion houses that are used to cringing at online shopping and advertising and get nauseated by the word sale. In order to approach these new luxury consumers, brands will have to change their old ways, get creative, go digital, and maybe even start interviewing the hundreds of tenacious women on line at the Barney’s warehouse sale. In the coming months luxury brands will have to change with the times and their consumers if they plan on making it out of this recession alive.

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