In a study by the Nomura Research Institute, as of 2006, the wealthy class in Japan with financial assets worth 100 million Yen or more consists of approximately 865,000 households (Miyamoto et al. 2006: 4). But these HNWIs (high net worth individuals) are not necessarily the most interesting customers for premium companies. Not all people who maintain luxurious consumer lifestyles have large investments or other wealth-producing assets. So while a high income or high net worth enables luxury spending, more important is a certain personal and cultural predisposition to it (Davis 2006; Nunes et al. 2004: 16). Takahashi (2005) seperates two different groups of “new rich” that are of interest to luxury companies due to their customer lifetime value (CLV) and high spending on luxury goods.
Group 1 became rich through the changes caused by the economic recovery after the lost decade in the 90s, such as the IT-bubble, the retirement of the baby boomer generation starting in 2007 (The approximately 7 million baby boomers will receive 50 trillion yen [ca. 320 billion euros] in retirement allowances. See Usui 2006: 60; Hakuhodo 2004; Hakuhodo 2006a; Higushi et al. 2004), and other structural changes in the society. IT-millionaires, the silver market (retirement rich), and super-salarymen (who became rich by performance based salaries) all belong to this group. Group 2, called the consumer rich (Tsuchiya 2007) are not rich by definition of their assets. They are the product of a change in the mind-set of consumers, leading to extensive consumption of luxury goods in selected areas. The rapid development of the luxury market in Japan can be attributed predominantly to the rising numbers in group 2.The consumer rich have become the main customer base for many luxury companies (Takahashi 2005: 11). They tend to be young, single, have a higher salary than members of the middle-class, and use their money freely for personal lifestyle consumption (Takahashi 2005; Usui 2005; Tsuchiya 2007). Their distinctive feature is that they do not have enough assets or income to show premium consumption in all aspects of their lives. Members of this group with lower income are “trading-up”, spending disproportionally in areas with emotional importance to them while economizing in others (Silverstein and Fiske 2005: 7). Individually, these shoppers may spend relatively small amounts, but their large numbers form a substantial amount of luxury sales. Many are on career paths that will have their income rise quickly, making their customer lifetime value (CLV) worthy of recognition (Chadha and Husband 2006: 58). Figure 2.1 shows all luxury consumers, grouped into three consumer levels that are representing different social environments and imply different marketing approaches. The levels will be detailed in section 3.2 in the three-level luxury marketing model.

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