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Traditionally, the most widely accepted predictor of luxury consumption has been limited to Affluence. We at Ipsos felt like we needed to bring some nuance to this assumption and offer media agencies and luxury brands more context than just income levels when trying to target luxury buyers.
By going beyond just demographical and economic data when trying to understand reasons and motives for luxury buying.
We decided to focus on a motivation driven segmentation based on a subset of 20 attitudinal and motivational statements focused on luxury items.
This luxury segmentation is based on our Affluent Global data for which we collected data across more than 40 countries from more than 73.000 respondents with a universe of 165 million affluent individuals globally. We are proud to announce the biggest and most relevant segmentation on luxury buying to date.
Understanding your audience is one of the most challenging tasks out there for advertisers and luxury brands. Luxury brands find themselves in a complex landscape of hybrid (online/offline) marketing funnels, cross-platform advertising, influencer marketing and even VR shopping experiences.
They are all competing for the same individuals and in a world where everything you desire is only a few clicks away; the luxury buyer is more demanding than ever. Now, more than ever it is important for advertisers to understand how to tailor their brand messaging and advertising according to the wants and needs of their audience. To do so you would need data beyond just demographic or income data.
Advertisers need a segmentation that helps them understand what motivates different luxury consumers, how do they like to be communicated to and what type of media is best used to target them? Once advertisers start to apply tailor-made messaging is when they can ensure their own relevance in the complex landscape of luxury buying. Luckily with our new luxury segmentation Ipsos has done most of the work already.
Fashionistas are always on the lookout for the next best thing to buy. They purchase luxury items to show that they are trendy. They see themselves as luxury addicts and are spontaneous and impulsive buyers who love being the center of attention.
The Middle East Affluent stand out because of their high presence of fashionistas. Among all Affluents in the Middle East, 60% is considered a fashionista, in APAC this is 32% of all Affluent consumers.
Contrary to what you might expect in terms of their consumption behaviour, Fashionista’s care a lot about the environment.
Around 80% says they would be willing to pay more for goods that are more environmentally friendly, this is important for brands to communicate when trying to reach this segment.
Of all segments, Fashionistas are the most likely to be spending time outside of their homes, they tend to visit museums, restaurants, art galleries and concerts more frequently. Leveraging other advertising platforms aside from traditional media advertising, would help you reach a Fashionista too.
If you chose to still advertise on traditional media channels, it is advisable to do so on mobile devices, as our data shows that
75% of Fashionistas spend more than 11 hours a week on their phones.
Optimizing shopping experiences through mobile-optimized websites will also help you cater to the wants and needs of fashionistas.
This segment associate luxury buying with prestige, status, and exclusivity. They purchase luxury items for their rarity and uniqueness. Exclusives are mostly found in Europe and Asia. Because the outward facing values of owning luxury items are important to Exclusives, it may come as no surprise that
76% of exclusives say that gaining new knowledge and becoming better informed is a priority to them.
For brands this means that when targeting customers who belong to this segment, you should communicate about the exclusivity of your product. Why is it so unique? Why would owning this product feed into the Exclusive’s desire for status? This is the segment among luxury buyers who is most susceptible to buying limited edition and brand collab items from luxury brands..
Indulgents purchase luxury as a reward for themselves and to celebrate special milestones. Of all Indulgents, 79% says they sometimes like to treat themselves to something, even though they don’t need it.
They experience a lot of rewarding feelings and emotions when they purchase luxury because they, contrary to fashionistas do perceive luxury as expensive.
Indulgents make up 17% of all affluent consumers in the United States and account for the most indulgents globally.
Advertising to Indulgents requires focusing on the rewarding feeling that comes with purchasing luxury.
Classics like to purchase timeless items and care of lot about stories behind brands. They prefer to own only a few well-considered objects that hold a lot of value. They put a lot of thinking in their purchases and focus more on quality over quantity. This segment also sees patrimonial value in luxury items. They tend to pass on their possessions of hard luxury items from generation to generation.
European Affluents stand out because of their high percentage of classics. The classic luxury buyer is on average older than the rest of the Affluent population.
The segmentation shows that 61% of this audience is older than 45 years old. They prefer the comfort of their own homes, which is reflected in their TV consumption, 40% of classics watch more than 21 hours of TV each week.
Classics see value in luxury buying as 9% of them spends over €2.700 a year on Jewelry.
Even though this is a tough audience to cater to because they are known to be quite demanding, classic luxury buyers are still a very important audience to hard luxury brands like Rolex for example.
Essentials feel a little skeptical towards luxury because they see it mostly as something that is superficial. Regardless of the perceived superficiality, they do purchase luxury on key occasions to celebrate milestones.
When Essentials purchase luxury, they tend to see it as an investment, and they appreciate the investment value that luxury items hold.
Essentials make up 15% of the global Affluent population and Essentials find themselves in top management positions within the companies they work for. Just like Classics they tend to be an older audience and of all media channels, TV consumption is the highest among this segment. In fact,
50% of Essentials watch more than 21 hours of TV each week.
The Immaterials could be considered as the anti-luxury category. Compared to all segments, they spend the least on luxury items, because they do not see the value in luxury items and consider it superficial.
Immaterial are actively involved in the management of their finances, and this is the segment that owns the most different types of investments. Rather than “wasting” their money on luxury items they tend to safe and invest their money. It is therefore an important audience to understand for banks and other financial institutions.
Immaterials perceive luxury as too expensive and are not bothered by outward facing values of owning any luxury items.
It seems like this segment would be of least importance to advertisers and luxury brands.
Surprisingly, this segment does spend money on luxury experiences like gourmet dining and international travel.
76% of immaterial say they enjoy going to new travel destinations and in 2021, they spent an average of €5.280 per person on personal travel.
The segmentation produced by Ipsos allows brands to understand why and to what extent their communication strategies should differ not just across segments but also across geographies. It is important for luxury brands to recognize how their audience is made up of different segments who are all driven by different factors to purchase luxury.
Understanding what segment is your key target audience will help luxury brand take smarter and better business decisions. If you’d like to see what our luxury segmentation can do for your brand, please reach out to us:
