Trading Up: The New American Luxury

Rating:
Summary: Some goods facts, but...
Review: This book contains some good facts and reasonable articulation of a phenomenon we all feel is happening. However, the self congratulatory style is tiresome.

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Summary: shameless self promotion and no new news
Review: this book is packed with (annoyingly repetitive) case studies that have appeared in business books for the last ten years. if you are in marketing and don't know what this book has to tell you, you shouldn't be in marketing. i saw this as a way for the Boston Consulting Group to sell themselves and their brilliant thinking (notice how chock full the book is of made-up marketing words like "questing"). the main redeeming feature of the book are its facts and figures about American spending and economics, however NONE of the facts are sourced, cited or otherwise grounded in reality. very annoying.

Rating:
Summary: Great insight, interesting read
Review: This is definitely not your typical business book! As a young professional, I certainly recognized aspects of my spending habits throughout. While willing to pay top dollar for a Gucci handbag or a pair of Jimmy Choo's, the lack of a Viking range in my tiny studio apartment's kitchen is the least of my concerns! The anecdotal nature of Trading Up sets it apart from most other business books and kept my attention, and there are plenty of statistics to back up the consumer phenomenon Silverstein and Fiske call "New Luxury." I'd recommend this book to any business owner or retail trend watcher looking to get a leg up the competition.

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Summary: Would have been better as an HBR article
Review: Though the authors touch on some curious trends, they don't ever get to a level where they are explaining the theoretical causality of the "trading up" phenomenon. And they miss use their "case studies" in such a way that they are anecdotes highlighting their story, rather than teaching tools. In the end, readers would have been much better served had the authors written this book as an article.

Rating:
Summary: Would have been better as an HBR article
Review: Though the authors touch on some curious trends, they don't ever get to a level where they are explaining the theoretical causality of the "trading up" phenomenon. And they miss use their "case studies" in such a way that they are anecdotes highlighting their story, rather than teaching tools. In the end, readers would have been much better served had the authors written this book as an article.

Rating:
Summary: Best Business Book of 2003
Review: Trading Up is the first business book I've read that not only provides useful insights for my company but also speaks to my life as a consumer. The book makes me understand why I, my family and friends spend the way we do -- and how my company can begin to position products and services so people spend more on them. Furthermore, the book makes you realize that materialism -- being obsessed with things and willing to pay for them -- is good and healthy for the spender, the economy and the country. Trading Up is a very useful read.