‘Conflicted Justifiers’ – Are these the new Luxury Consumers?

Luxury consumers have changed over time and with the economic changes in the 21st century where the fastest growth of annual disposable income (OECD, 2013) has been for those in the top 20% of households earning between $150,000 and $200,000 pa, the purchase drivers have also changed. An inductive qualitative study of high net worth individuals and their luxury fashion purchases confirmed changes in drivers of consumption. An identification of a number of specific segments has contributed to a proposed new praxis based model formed from VALS. This may impact upon the way luxury fashion is marketed and furthering theoretical research undertaken in this area. The research uncovers the ‘conflicted justifier’, which crosses all age and gender demographics to form a clear approach to market to these important consumers.