Treasure Hunt: Inside the Mind of the New Global Consumer

In their bestselling Trading Up, Silverstein and Neil Fiske explained why people are willing to spend beyond their means for certain premium goods. But that's only half the story: as middle-class customers splurge on lingerie and appliances, they're bargain-hunting for everything else. Companies will thrive, Silverstein argues, by catering to the penny-pinching impulses of consumers, or by ""spanning the poles"" and appealing to both the high and low ends while avoiding anything else-there's only ""death in the middle."" The book's profiles of individuals who splurge-and-scrimp and case studies of companies that have successfully adapted to the polarization of the marketplace show the key to survival is to offer the perception of good value for money and an emotionally satisfying experience. This is where the book becomes a tad creepy: Silverstein analyzes female consumers' relationships with their mothers and attributes an advertising executive's ""lack of a father's love, a social-climbing mother and several failed relationships"" as causes of her binge-spending and scrimping. Silverstein's guide to cashing in on the top and the bottom is intelligent without becoming mercenary; business owners will take notice.