"America’s middle-market consumers are trading up.

They are willing, even eager, to pay a premium price for remarkable kinds of goods that we call New Luxury—products and services that possess higher levels of quality, taste, and aspiration than other goods in the category but are not so expensive as to be out of reach.

So many middle-market consumers want to trade up, and so many can now afford to, that New Luxury goods have flouted the conventional wisdom that says, “The higher the price, the lower the volume.” They 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. In category after category of consumer goods and services, New Luxury winners have emerged, traditional leaders have been dethroned, and the entire category has been transformed. The phenomenon forces us to think in new ways about the relationship between consumer needs and consumer goods, and it offers a huge opportunity for business leaders to pursue their own aspirations and realize growth and profit as well. America is trading up, and it’s good for both business and society."