From The Classes To The Masses: Why is the luxury market so important? It’s not only the depth of their pockets and their contribution to the consumer economy. The affluent, luxury consumer is a bellwether of trends coming to the great mass market. All luxury concepts after first being introduced to the luxury affluent consumers inevitably are translated down into the mass market. Today everyone is a member of the ‘jet set,’ while in the ’60s that term described only the most elite who had the means to fly by jet. This luxury evolution is happening faster and faster today owing to the rapid adoption of technology and the explosion of mass media, particularly the Internet. (Unity Marketing 1/19/04)
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