Rating: 
Summary: Excellent!
Review: As the next generation in a family business rooted in luxury, I bought this book to expand my knowledge of the 'new luxury', middle-market consumer. The book was brilliantly written and well executed in terms of the combination of research, data, interviews and testimony complied. The authors made intelligent choices in the companies they profiled and the success tories they told were not only informative and helpful, but were inspiring. The language of the book was very straightforward and succinct. I have made this a mandatory read for anyone that works for me. I also bought and read Living It Up: America's Affair with Luxury by James B Twitchell which I also found to be an excellent read. I began my self-tutelage with Twitchell's book and in my having now read both, think I should have read this book first. This book laid a great foundation for what I met in Twitchell's book. My only complaint was that is was not longer, which is why I rated with 4 out of 5 stars, but I suspect that is just my brain being the sponge that it is and wanting more input.
Rating: 
Summary: Excellent book
Review: Excellent book that describes what Americans are willing to spend extra on. It explains the dichotomy between why someone who shops at Target is willing to buy a Lexus.
Rating:
Summary: Excellent book
Review: Excellent book that describes what Americans are willing to spend extra on. It explains the dichotomy between why someone who shops at Target is willing to buy a Lexus.
Rating:
Summary: Trading Up with the Jones's
Review: Finally a book on business that is concise, engaging and has practical applications. It's informative without being preachy or bogged down with too much data. The topics make sense and they have practical applications. In order to buy my cup of Starbucks coffee - I'll gladly trade down in other areas. This is a book for entrepeneurs looking to make their mark or for the everyday consumer who wants to better understand their purchasing psychology.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting read, but there's others out there
Review: Good case studies. Interesting if you haven't read other books on the sociology of shopping. I think Twitchell's Living it Up: Our Love Affair With Luxury is a more thorough and engaging read that explores the same issues. I'll put it this way: I got both books from the library to read. The Twitchell book I decided to actually buy because I knew I would be re-reading it again and again over the years.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting read, but there's others out there
Review: Good case studies. Interesting if you haven't read other books on the sociology of shopping. I think Twitchell's Living it Up: Our Love Affair With Luxury is a more thorough and engaging read that explores the same issues. I'll put it this way: I got both books from the library to read. The Twitchell book I decided to actually buy because I knew I would be re-reading it again and again over the years.
Rating: 
Summary: Would have been better as an HBR article
Review: I found the defensive tone of the introduction to this book very distracting. It was as if the authors had completed the book and then an editor got worried about readers getting judgmental about people spending to achieve self-expression or better connection with their families.Apart from that minor flaw, the book is a very useful discussion of ways companies can design, produce and sell high-priced (and highly profitable) products and services. I especially appreciated their typology of today's emotional motivators: Taking Care of Me; Connecting with Friends, Mates and Family; Questing; and Achieving Individual Style. The examples are eye-opening and convincing.
Rating:
Summary: Very useful for marketers
Review: I found the defensive tone of the introduction to this book very distracting. It was as if the authors had completed the book and then an editor got worried about readers getting judgmental about people spending to achieve self-expression or better connection with their families. Apart from that minor flaw, the book is a very useful discussion of ways companies can design, produce and sell high-priced (and highly profitable) products and services. I especially appreciated their typology of today's emotional motivators: Taking Care of Me; Connecting with Friends, Mates and Family; Questing; and Achieving Individual Style. The examples are eye-opening and convincing.
Rating:
Summary: Outstanding view of the new way people buy
Review: I loved this book for several reasons. 1) The premise made sense from the beginning
2) They backed it up with real data and examples
3) The book was highly readable (not an academic snooze inducer)
4) The information is useful to my business A brilliant successor to Paco Underhill's outstanding "Why We Buy." Are people shallow if they identify with certain products or lifestyle choices? Perhaps. What this consumer trend says about people is not the issue. It's about how businesses must adjust to this phenomenon to remain viable. The book visits the concept of "Death in the middle." The market is polarizing more than ever. The biggest successes are either the lowest cost or the highest. People are moving away from the mid-range products. Your product is either a commodity or a specialty item. People are choosing which goods that they want to be identified with - good that define their passion and personality. They will spend a great deal more on these few items. Everything else is unimportant, so the cheaper the cost the better. So if you are a marketer, position your products as either the lowest cost or the highest. If you are a product manager, design your products to fit one or the other class. Don't die in the middle. I wonder if we'll see this phenomenon in books. Maybe we'll start seeing $75 luxuriously bound books for people who love reading. I'll keep watching Amazon.com to see if anyone tries it.
Rating:
Summary: Business strategy and the human psyche
Review: I started reading this book expecting to skim and learn a few key points, like with most business books. But I was pleasantly surprised by Trading Up and read it in its entirety. It is a business book, but it's not "just" a business book. It's about history, behavioral psychology, and sociology; fundamentally, it's about people. It's David Brooks (Bobos in Paradise) meets Michael Porter (Competitive Strategy). It includes colorful stories about how and why "middle market" Americans "trade up" on certain classes of products and scrimp on others. I definitely see myself and many of my friends in these stories. The book also includes an interesting discussion of societal trends that the authors argue have enabled trading up to occur, and many of these trends relate to women (working more, earning more, getting married later, etc.). By documented these trends and telling people's stories, the authors make the idea that "consumption can be good" believable - what's wrong with rewarding myself with Belvedere vodka or a Viking range? I work hard! Although some will disagree with this point (The idea of one rewarding oneself, not the point that I work hard!), I found it refreshing to see the authors take a stance and support their points with data and logic. For those more interested in the business strategy side, "Trading Up" documents how a handful of companies have been able to transcend the conventional wisdom and create breakthrough products that people love (and for which they are willing to pay more). The Victoria's Secret story and the Kendall Jackson wine story were particularly strong. If the book has one fault, it's that it could be more concise (about 50 pages more concise). But all in all, I loved it.
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