Trend Perspectives By: Cynthia Maxwell
A premium product is usually described as having a 20% higher price tag than an average category product. With an enormous amount of fast moving consumer goods available via brick and mortar and ecommerce, why is there a rise in premium driven products? Find out below, and with the holidays right around the corner you might discover a few gift ideas.
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Niche products usually sell better via ecommerce because the reach is better –especially when focusing on a smaller number of consumers. The niche category has broad appeal in that it can be hand crafted, hard to find, offering something that no other product provides etc. We usually know these attributes come with a higher price tag and that’s not a big deal to some. According to a Nielson ratings survey, millennials and boomers are more likely to associate “premium” products with these attributes (and others) rather than the price.
Items like craft cocktail mixes, matcha (the real stuff) and any unique pet related products, are examples of niche products.
Buy for life products always make the trend list but the term changes—sometimes called investments, luxury goods, the classics etc. These products continue to grow especially as consumers have become more loyal to trusted brands of their choice and want to throw away less.
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Recently, I recommended a friend purchase a better luxury boot by a designer I loved, knowing that the boot would last her both from a quality and trend standpoint for more than 10 years.
A lovely site Buy Me Once focuses on finding the longest lasting products on the planet so the consumer can throw away less and also “campaign to improve product manufacturing and partner with movements such as iFixit and Fashion Revolution to change the way we shop forever.” It’s an appealing concept that Buy Me Once curates all these long lasting items so the consumer does not have to search for them.
Some top historical buy for life items you might recognize:
- Staub and Le Creuset enamel cookware
- Quality leather goods like backpacks/handbags/wallets, the riding boot and the motorcycle jacket
- Watches
- Stainless steel water bottles
- Butcher blocks
- Pendleton wool blankets
Green, plant based, eco-friendly, organic and sustainable trends will continue to thrive especially if there is a fair trade cause attached to products and company transparency when it comes to ingredients and production practices.
Consumers, especially millennials, are willing to pay more for these products and soon, if not already, these attributes will be expected rather than trends.
Trending earth and body friendly items:
- Swimwear and clothing made out of recycled plastic water bottles
- The re-useable water bottle and travel coffee vessel-these are constantly updated!
- A CAUSEBOX subscription “beautiful products that give back”
- Coffee subscriptions like Vega that partners with farmer owned cooperatives-focusing on small scale production and female-run farms.
- Organic and natural beauty (it’s predicted to become a $2 billion industry)
Buying the premium experience—Companies will win at premium pricing if they can create a deeper connection between the consumer and the brand. Adidas does this with their Parley Primeknit shoe. Created with Parley Ocean Plastic ( waste from polluted oceans) with a NFC chip in the right heel-Scan with your mobile phone to follow the story of this shoe from plastic bottle to final product and to learn what you can do to help protect the oceans. Adidas linked an environmental cause and technology in a pair of shoes!
The term premium means so much more these days than just a high price tag!
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Photo credits: ABLE (@livefashionable) and adidas.com
