AUSTRALIAN ABs are looking up and trading up to higher levels of quality and taste in their lifestyles and by doing so have created a whole a new category of products and services defined as ‘masstige’, similar to their counterparts in the US.
Harvard Business Review recently defined masstige as the goods and services that occupy a sweet spot between mass and class. Basically they command a premium over conventional products but may not always be positioned at the top of their category in price.
They are also considered a trade-up in value and often status due to the aspirational component associated with these products and services. It’s prestige products available to the masses.
This trading up phenomenon is the result of cultural, economic and most importantly lifestyle factors and affects almost every category of goods—including consumables and durables and services.
The increase in real incomes (1), and with both men and women marrying later (2), young people are spending more time and money on dating, forging an identity and image for themselves and generally experiencing the world.
The delay in marriage also enables them to be better prepared financially, as it happens at a time when their incomes are at a higher level. The boom in the housing industry also means those ABs with property investments are seeing a rise in home equity and in essence, their wealth.
All of these factors play on the fact that consumers have always had a love affair with products but today they have more money and greater desire to pursue the emotional elements of status and style associated with the purchasing process, a wider choice of goods and services and less guilt about spending money as they are better prepared financially for the future.
So, in this environment it was only time before the masstige goods and services emerged.
No longer is up-market something accessible only to the rich.
Class lines have become blurred and the purchasing power of premium products has become applicable to a broader base of consumers.
With the emergence of masstige products it’s a certainty that the different categories of goods and services will be reshaped, market leaders dethroned, new products unveiled, and traditional products re-positioned.
The transformation of possibilities are infinite but one thing is for sure, consumers will continue to shop more selectively and categories will become polarised.
For example, the cheaper products will survive as will the premium and masstige products because consumers will always trade down when buying low-cost labels or items not of real perceived value, but they will always trade up for those products and services that are important to them.
The middle of the road will not survive this turbulent marketplace.
The factors that determine a product or service’s importance are predominantly emotional.
As Australians continue to look up and trade up to masstige products and services, they will continue to invest in In Style, Time and Who as genuine examples and drivers of the masstige phenomenon.
References:
Article: Luxury for the Masses by Michael J. Silverstein and Neil Fishe: Harvard Business Review: April 2003
(1) Australian Bureau of Statistics: The Annual Average Weekly Income of Full-time adults (males and females) has risen 23.9% from 1996–97 to 2001-02.
(2) Australian Bureau of Statistics: The median age at first marriage of a male has risen from 25.6 years in 1986 to 28.7 in 2001; and for females it has risen from 23.5 years in 1986 to 26.9 years in 2001. This refers to registered marriages only.
Tim Trumper is managing director of Time Inc South Pacific.
