• More About Why People Buy

• Table of Contents

• Book Excerpt

• Biography

• Upcoming Book

Speeches & Presentations
by Pam Danziger, Unity Marketing

• The Nine Things Every Home Marketer Needs to Know about the Luxury Market
  In retailing the 80’s was the decade of the mall and the 90’s was the decade of the discounters. This first decade of 21st century is the decade of luxury, which is ushering in changes of paradigm-shifting proportions at retail. The gigantic Baby Boom generation (born 1946-1964) has reached the empty-nesting life stage, freeing up vast stores of discretionary spending as boomers indulge in the luxury lifestyle to which they have always aspired. In addition, the Generation X (1965-1977) cohort is rapidly reaching middle-age which corresponds to a rise in affluence and spending on luxury.

  Because of the rising tide of affluence across the board, empowered middle-income consumers are shopping for more luxuries to enhance the quality of their. And consumers at all income levels with their homes, closets, attics and basements stuffed full of things, are turning away from a pursuit of more materialism toward an experiential consumerism.

  In this session attendees will learn the nine essential things they need to understand about the luxury market for home-related luxuries to win in the new decade of luxury retail. Backed up by a three-year longitudinal research study of luxury consumers defined as the top 25 percent of U.S. households (incomes of $75,000 and above), Pam Danziger draws on 20 years of research experience to offer a new direction for luxury marketers. She discovered a totally new type of luxury consumers that she identifies as ‘butterflies’ — the affluent consumers who have emerged from their cocoons to reconnect with the outside world and who respond strongly to luxury goods and services that connect with their dreams, desires, passions and value system.

• Let Them Eat Cake—Marketing Luxury to the Masses as well as the Classes
  In retailing the 80’s was the decade of the mall and the 90’s was the decade of the discounters. This first decade of 21st century is the decade of luxury, which is ushering in changes of paradigm-shifting proportions at retail. The gigantic Baby Boom generation (born 1946-1964) has reached the empty-nesting life stage, freeing up vast stores of discretionary spending as boomers indulge in the luxury lifestyle to which they have always aspired. Because of the rising tide of affluence across the board, empowered middle-income consumers are shopping for more luxuries to enhance the quality of their lives. And consumers at all income levels with their homes, closets, attics and basements stuffed full of things, are turning away from a pursuit of more materialism toward an experiential consumerism.

  In this session attendees will gain insight from luxury marketing expert Pam Danziger on the latest research of the luxury consumer market and published in her new book Let Them Eat Cake: Marketing Luxury to the Masses — as well as the Classes (Chicago: Dearborn Trade Publishing, 2005). Her fact-based presentation will ground attendees in the new reality of today’s luxury shopper and how retailers must adapt to capture more of their share of wallet.

• Why People Buy Things They Don't Need—So You Can Sell More
  American consumers spend $3 trillion buying discretionary and luxury products and services. In today's consumer-driven economy we spend proportionately less on basic necessities and more on things based upon emotion and desire. This session delves into the psychology of consumer spending on things they don't need. Learn how consumers use 14 different 'justifiers' to give themselves permission to make emotional purchases. Get new ideas about how to stack the consumer's emotional-buying equation in your favor so that you can increase sales. By uncovering the interior emotional life of the consumer, this session will deliver actionable ideas and recommendations so marketers and retailers can devise new marketing strategies, competitively position their products and craft persuasive advertising messages.
  
  
• Gifts: It's No Longer a Noun, It's a Verb—Gifting
  Until now the business of gift giving has been virtually ignored from a research perspective, yet its impact on the national economy, on retailers and consumer goods manufacturers is tremendous. The end-of-year two-month gift-giving shopping season accounts for nearly one-fourth of total annual sales among typical retailers. And that doesn't even include the regular, routine gift-giving that occurs throughout the year for birthdays, anniversaries, weddings, housewarmings and holiday occasions, such as Mothers Day, Fathers Day, Valentines Day, Easter.

  Because people always have and surely always will give gifts, the industry has simply taken gift giving for granted and built a $50+ billion industry on this assumption. But giftware companies and retailers are discovering that the consumer market is shifting. While gift companies and gift stores focus on finding and selling the next big gift item, consumers are choosing different kinds of gifts that they find in different kinds of stores. If you believe the gifts business is about designing, creating, selling and marketing giftware products and your favorite business motto is "product is king," then your business is doomed to failure because it is based on an obsolete business model and misplaced priorities.

  But if you see your business delivering a wonderfully unique, emotional gift-giving ("gifting") experience to the recipient (the consumer), then you're on track to succeed in the 21st century. You've discovered "product is king" is a lie and what is really important is meeting the consumers' need and desire.

  Today our society is incredibly affluent with most consumers having all the material goods they could possibly need. As a result, when shoppers go to the store, they rarely are driven by a need to buy anything, rather their purchases are based upon a desire to achieve an experience or a feeling. Your gift business needs to recognize this new consumer paradigm and get on the experiential marketing bandwagon.

  The road to business success in the gift industry today is all about the consumer, anticipating their needs, satisfying their desires, fulfilling their dreams. Today, the products we sell are but a means to an end, and that end is a heightened experience...a good feeling ...a positive emotion that connects the gift giver and the gift recipient.

  In this session you will learn what drives the gift giver in shopping and buying gifts. Discover how to tap into consumers' need for gifts in order to sell more of your company's or store's products. Get a view 'over the horizon' about where the gift-giving market is going and find out how to get out in front of the consumer. In this provocative session you'll be turned around 180° to look at your business from the consumers' perspective. Guaranteed to be eye-opening!

• Meet the Butterflies - The New Luxury Consumer
  A new age is dawning in the luxury market. The go-go 90's characterized by conspicuous consumption and self-centered cocooning has given way to a new type of luxury consumer called the Butterfly, who has emerged from his or her luxurious cocoons to reconnect with the external world. In this session we'll meet the butterflies who are changing the way we market and retail luxury in the 21st century. The new, more highly evolved butterfly consumers are at once less materialistic, yet they spend the most money on luxury. And when they buy luxury, they are more likely to spend on personal luxuries, e.g. fashion, cars, jewelry, beauty, rather than home luxuries. Understand the marketing implications of the new butterfly consumer and how to connect with their desire to find new meaning in their lives. Learn ways to tap the tremendous marketing potential of the butterfly luxury consumer through new marketing and retail strategies.
  
  
• Connecting with the Consumer—The Ultimate Branding Challenge
  Traditional marketing with its emphasis on the 4 P's of marketing—product, price, promotion, placement—ignores the more important P of all—the people who buy our products and shop in our stores. Retailers today sell in the tradition of Sam Walton, 'stack it high and watch it fly,' focusing on selling the 'thing' (noun). But when consumers buy any discretionary or luxury product, the thing they buy becomes a means to an end, and that end is a feeling, an experience that makes their life more meaningful (verb). The ultimate challenge for marketers and retailers today is to connect why the consumer buys with how to reach them and where to reach them. In this session we will explore branding, that is building a brand, communicating its values and using the brand as a conduit to connect with the consumer. Learn how to use the experience of the brand to connect with the consumer through their passion. Harness the power of emotional marketing by viewing the shopping experience through the consumers' eyes.
  
  
• Retailing in the New Millennium—Key Trends Today Changing Shopping Tomorrow
  If you are planning and strategizing your 21st century business based upon what you learned about the 20th century consumer, you are headed for disaster. There is a whole new consumer psychology at play in the marketplace that has changed the fundamental way we connect with our consumers to sell products and services. Through research findings and case studies of marketers and retailers that are 'doing it right,' this session will give marketers and retailers 'future vision' by exploring the key trends changing the retail landscape in this new millenium:
  
  
  • Services boom: I got plenty of money, but what I don't have is TIME
  • Word-of-mouth advertising: Too powerful to leave up to chance
  • Discounting: the Pandora's Box of retailing and how to get the 'discounting demons' back into the box
  • Customer loyalty: It's what we give to our consumers, not something they give to us
  • Been there, done that: I've bought everything I could ever need and want, now what?
  • Polarizing marketplace: Two generations will define the market over the next decade, the luxury baby boomers and the budget conscious millennials
  • Make it real: As our world goes more digital and virtual, consumers crave real human, emotional experience