Fashion magazines, shopping for latest collections clothes, new hairstyle, luxury brands, and the latest model smartphone to complete the perfect look – these are typically women’s favs, right? But it seems, a new breed of men has emerged in the recent years – young, urban males, who look good and love luxury. Meet the “yummy”, or the most promising customer of luxury brands and fashionable designer goods.
Instead of young women with wealthy parents and middle-aged ladies with attractive bank accounts, luxury brands, think Prada, Burberry, or Michael Kors, are now targeting young men. This conclusion came after a research conducted by banking professionals . The best demographic group for luxury fashion is the urban man in his twenties, who looks good and has the latest smartphone model. Researchers called such young men the “yummies”, which is a little confusing, as “yummy” is already a word. However, the yummy, or what the media used to call 10-15 years ago “metro-sexual”, is luxury industry’s favourite customer.
The report explains that young, urban men are buying more and more luxury items in order to impress others. But it’s always been like this, most would assume. The typical yuppie from the early 1980’s who is also a young man living and working in a city and earning a lot of money, has become more style-conscious today. But that’s not the only difference, the researchers say. Today, men marry later in life, much later than they did 30 years ago. They also have more opportunities for a well-paid job or some type of entrepreneurship in a very young age. For example, you can find nowadays a few teenagers who have made millions after creating a simple mobile application and have sold it for the right price.
Many young men don’t even need to go to brands’ boutiques, they don’t need to read fashion magazines or watch fashion TV channels to know what’s on trend. Now, they have Internet and social media, runway shows that are streamed online, e-magazines, and of course, online boutiques to shop their favourite brands and designers. But that’s not all. The report also says that luxury good consumers are not only young today; they are getting younger. According to the researchers, there are certain social and psychological trends that play a huge role in this. While older consumers (who are the typical luxury consumers) would buy expensive things for themselves, youngsters surround themselves with luxury, pricy and shiny things to impress other people. In addition, today consumers want to display social status as early as possible – just think of the children and teenagers at school, with their latest-gen smartphones, tablets, and luxury clothes!
The researchers have analyzed a range of luxury brands around the world and their consumers. Overall, there’s a rapid growth in the number of male customers and the sales generated by male goods. The only exception is China, where women are still dominating the luxury fashion market and no change is expected in the near future.
