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Trading Up: Why Consumers Want New Luxury Goods--and How Companies Create Them | 
 enlarge | Authors: Michael J. Silverstein, Neil Fiske, John Butman
Publisher: Portfolio Trade
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
Buy New: $0.50
You Save: $15.50 (97%)
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Avg. Customer Rating:  36 reviews
Sales Rank: 383338
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 320
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.4
Dimensions (in): 8.4 x 5.3 x 1
ISBN: 1591840708
Dewey Decimal Number: 380
EAN: 9781591840701
ASIN: 1591840708
Publication Date: April 29, 2008
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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Product Description
Trading up isnt just for the wealthy anymore. These days no one is shocked when an administrative assistant buys silk pajamas at Victorias Secret. Or a young professional buys only Kendall-Jackson premium wines. Or a construction worker splurges on a $3,000 set of Callaway golf clubs.
In dozens of categories, these new luxury brands now sell at huge premiums over conventional goods, and in much larger volumes than traditional old luxury goods. Trading Up has become the definitive book about this growing trend.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 31 more reviews...
Good introduction March 29, 2008
If you want a basic economic study that has surprising resonance - even prescience - about the current mortgage/credit meltdown, this is the one.
Interesting treatment of how we perceive value March 13, 2008
Perhaps the most interestly aspect of this book are its insights through a series of case studies into how people perceive value in the material culture around them. The authors are fascinated by how, given some modest shifts in fit, form and function, some products will be perceived both at the point of sale and on an on-going basis as giving much more satisfaction than others. While the book is intended to be neither exhaustive nor profound, a blending of some of the methods of cultural anthropology, semiotics, and marketing offers perspectives that comparable treatments do not.
 New Criteria for Self-Definition January 21, 2008
1 out of 2 found this review helpful
In the original and now in this revised edition, Silverstein and Fiske brilliantly examine "New Luxury": a rapidly developing socio-economic trend as America's middle-market consumers are trading up to "products and services which possess higher levels of quality, taste, and [key word] aspiration than [other] goods in the [same] category but are not so expensive as to be out of reach...[trading up to products and services which] sell at much higher prices than conventional goods and in much higher volumes than traditional luxury goods and, as a result, have soared into previously uncharted territory high above the familiar price-volume demand curve." The significance of this paradigm shift has profound implications for literally anyone who competes each day for consumers' attention, consideration, and (most important of all) business.
Think about it. How to explain the spectacular success of diverse companies such as Starbucks, Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Lexus and BMW, Williams-Sonoma and Bed, Bath & Beyond, Restoration Hardware, Victoria's Secret, Prada, Coach, Panera Bread, and Callaway? Granted, most consumers cannot afford to purchase everything from companies such as these but an astonishing number of consumers are not only willing but eager to pay a premium for at least a few of the products offered.
Why? Silverstein and Fiske offer several reasons. New Luxury merchants never underestimate their customer; they shatter the price-volume demand curve; they create a ladder of genuine benefits (i.e. technical, functional, and emotional benefits); they escalate innovation, elevate quality, and deliver a flawless experience; they extend the price range and positioning of the brand; they customize the customer's value chain to deliver on the benefit ladder; they use influence marketing to "seed" success through brand apostles (i.e. "evangelism"); and finally, they continually attack the category like an outsider. What Silverstein and Fiske offer is this volume is a rigorous analysis of those companies which continue to be most successful in the New Luxury economy. They also explain in detail precisely HOW they achieve such success.
 Emotionally Based Fluff December 28, 2007
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
I'm really disappointed by this book.
The "case studies" are short and extremely basic. For example, take Cadillac's "case study". Two or three pages about the history of Cadillac. The perceived problem with the Cadillac brand is stated in one paragraph. "Fifty-seven year old executive Gary" tells us the quality and innovation of Cadillac products declined.
While I'm sure Gary is an excellent judge of quality, I'd like to see some of this backed up. The JD Power and Associates or Consumer Reports reliability surveys aren't included and neither are reviews of problematic Cadillacs written by experts. They claim Mercedes-Benz provided more features than Cadillacs, but there's no side-by-side comparison of similar models. They interviewed two BMW officials, but no interviews with independent automotive experts or Cadillac executives. Actually, there's rarely balance in the writing. There are brands that have no criticism and brands that are wholly criticized.
At the end of the Cadillac chapter, they claim that reviving New Luxury brands is "unlikely," meaning that Cadillac may never be able to successful compete against Lexus or BMW. However, throughout the book, New Luxury buyers are supposedly people that seek out quality. If that was true, wouldn't New Luxury buyers return to Cadillac once they improve the product? So what is it? Are New Luxury goods high-end products that are actively sought for in the market or are they products completely dependent on marketing schemes?
The Cadillac chapter is representative of the rest of the book. The chapter on kitchens has statements like, "The quality of our appliances represents us." The notes section reveals the chapter is based on interviews with two officials (Whirlpool and Crate & Barrel) and a focus group of washer and dryer owners who made the authors "think twice about the boundaries of the relationship between person and machine."
If you're wondering about Gary, he made out okay. After his son began making fun of his Cadillacs in the 1970s, he switched to imports.
Great Insight, but Could Be Shorter August 15, 2007
0 out of 1 found this review helpful
This book is a great reference to trends in our society and the new buying habits. There are great "buzzwords" and alot of statistics quoted. However, as you read on, there is a great deal of repetition and I believe that this entire book could be summarized in 25 pages.
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