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Hi, and welcome back to Luxe Consumer IQ.

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Today's episode is a solo one, and
we're talking about secondary research.

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I know this is not sexy, but before
you tune out, stay with me just for a

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second because I'm going to show you
where luxury professionals actually get

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credible insight without commissioning a
single new study and spending any budget,

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and then ultimately, how they use it.

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And I want to be very clear from the
start, this is not a nice-to-have.

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This is foundational and it's how
senior strategists actually work.

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One of the most common questions I
hear from emerging luxury professionals

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is, " Where do I even start when I
don't have access to budget, access to

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research, or confidence in dealing with
the data?" And the answer is simple.

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You start exactly

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where experienced teams start, with what

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already exists.

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me give you an example.

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where experienced teams start,
with what already exists.

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Let me give you an example.

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When I was working in-house, we were often
asked to quantify an opportunity, the

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size of a region, the growth of a consumer
cohort, or where momentum was building.

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In those moments, secondary research
wasn't about what was interesting

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It was about grounding the
conversation and removing opinion.

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Gold standard, globally recognized
third-party intelligence that no

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one in the room could argue with.

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That's the power of
knowing where to start.

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So what are we actually talking
about when we say secondary research?

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Secondary research means using
existing published intelligence, market

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reports, industry studies, academic
work, and sector level analysis to

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build your foundation before any
primary research is commissioned.

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This is standard practice
inside luxury organizations

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and really in any organization.

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And very often it's free, at
least until you start looking

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for more granular detail.

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When I was working inside groups like
LVMH and L'Oréal, a large part of my

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role was showing teams what already
existed to answer their business

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questions, both internally and externally.

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In fact, one of the first things
I consistently did was organize

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existing intelligence, paid and free,
into something teams could actually

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access, understand, and apply across
the organization And where it wasn't

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intuitive, training on the sources was
always part of the process as well.

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Because here's the reality, most
teams underestimate how much

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credible intelligence already
exists and overestimate how much

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new research they actually need

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Now, let me be crystal clear.

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Secondary research does not
replace primary research.

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It's the starting point.

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So today, I'm going to walk you
through where you can access strong

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luxury insight without a budget and
how to structure it so it becomes

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usable, strategic, and decision-ready

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Before we go any further though, let me
give you the structure we're going to use.

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In earlier episodes, we explored
a broader five-layer view of the

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types of intelligence available.

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If you want to go deeper on this,
you can go back and listen to episode

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six, which also covers the insight
to action framework in more detail.

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But for today, we are going to
simplify those five layers into

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three broader buckets purely for
the purpose of this exercise.

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Those layers are one, macro and market.

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two,

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category and sector, and
three, consumer and behaviour.

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Each layer answers a different question,

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And

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together they give you a credible
picture of who you're serving and

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where opportunity actually sits.

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Let's look at them one by one So
the first layer is macro and market.

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At this level, you're building context.

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You're answering questions like
where is wealth concentrated

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today and where is it growing?

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Or how big is the luxury
opportunity by region?

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this is where sources like Knight Frank's
Wealth Report are particularly useful.

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Knight Frank does one
thing extremely well.

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It provides clarity on what
wealthy actually means.

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They define wealth in tiers.

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high net worth starts at
one million US dollars.

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Ultra-high net worth starts at
thirty million, and billionaires,

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well, are at one billion.

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That matters because different luxury
categories speak to very different tiers.

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These

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reports help you understand two
things: where wealth exists today

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and where wealth is growing fastest.

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For example, recent additions
highlight parts of Africa.

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For example, recent additions highlight
Africa as the strongest forecast

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growth in wealthy populations.

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And those of you working in
luxury would have heard about

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Africa for a little while now.

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This doesn't mean Africa suddenly
became the largest market overnight.

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In absolute terms, North
America and Asia still dominate.

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But the distinction matters
Because size tells you where scale

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exists today and growth tells
you where momentum is building.

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It really depends on
what you're trying to do.

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This is the kind of insight you'd
use when thinking about long-term

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market prioritisation, future
retail presence, or where emerging

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luxury demand might come from next.

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Another useful macro reference
is the UBS Global Wealth Report.

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Unlike Knight Frank, UBS looks at
wealth across entire populations,

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not just high-net-worth individuals.

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It's particularly useful for premium
and entry luxury brands trying

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to understand affluence across
the broader market in real terms.

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At this layer, you're still
not analysing individuals.

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You're building the economic
reality your brand operates within.

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So let's move on to layer
two, category and sector.

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Once you understand where wealth exists,
the next question is: how is luxury

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demand behaving within your category?

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This is where category-level
intelligence comes in.

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One of the most widely used references
inside luxury organisations is the

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Bain Luxury Goods Worldwide Market
Study produced with Altagamma.

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Not

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because it offers deep consumer
psychology, but because it tracks

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performance consistently, year after
year across categories and regions.

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Very practically, it helps you see
how spend is split between entry

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level, luxury, and true luxury, how
performance differs by category, such

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as fashion, leather goods, watches,
jewelry, et cetera, and how patterns

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shift by region and economic context.

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For

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example, the most recent report
highlighted that the luxury

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consumer base has contracted
significantly in recent years.

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More specifically, in the twenty
twenty-four report, Bain noted that

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fifty million luxury consumers had either
opted out of the luxury industry or had

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been forced out over the last two years.

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This tells us where pressure is
being felt and which consumers

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are still driving value.

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In other words, in this scenario,
aspiration tends to be more sensitive

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to the economic tension, while true
high-end demand is often more resilient.

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That's the strategic signal.

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At this layer, you're not asking why yet.

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You're asking what is happening.

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And now that I've pointed out this
source, you'll probably start noticing

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just how often it's cited in luxury
presentations and in the online world.

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So let's pause for a second.

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If

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knew how spend was shifting in
your category by price tier,

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by region, by channel, how

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you knew how spend was shifting in your
category by price tier, by region, by

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channel, how would that change your
next brand plan or your global strategy?

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That's the kind of question
this layer helps you answer.

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Now,

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let's move to the third layer.

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This is where most teams assume they
need primary research because this is

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the behavioral and attitudinal layer.

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We ask things here like
why do consumers buy?

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What do they value?

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And how do they describe their
relationship with luxury?

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Primary research is powerful here,
but it's not your only option.

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There is credible syndicated
research already available.

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And by syndicated, I mean research
conducted and published by a

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third party, sometimes free and
sometimes behind a subscription.

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One example I'm personally
familiar with is Alteon.

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Alteon works with a manually
verified invitation-only panel

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of affluent and high-net-worth
individuals across key markets.

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This is exciting because this audience
is notoriously difficult to access.

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Some of Alteon's syndicated
research is publicly available,

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provided it's referenced properly.

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One example is the GLAM Monitor, the
Global Luxury Affluent Market Monitor,

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a global study updated quarterly.

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This kind of research allows you to
explore things like how different cohorts

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talk about sustainability, experiences
versus products, consumer confidence,

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uncertainty, and outlook, and so on.

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So how do you actually use this?

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Not as truth, but as a pressure test.

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It helps you check whether the assumptions
you're making about mindset still hold

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across markets or categories and without
commissioning any primary research

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yourself for example, take sustainability.

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You might want to know, does
your consumer care or not?

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And are they consciously
thinking about it?

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And one important reminder, these are
not necessarily your brand's consumers.

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Think of this as your starting point.

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Now, these are just some examples
of sources that I've used.

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Many more exist, and other worthy mentions
include company annual reports from

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groups like LVMH or Kering My teams and
I spent a great deal of time on these

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when I was in-house, particularly from
a competitive landscape perspective.

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Now, before we wrap, there's just one
more source that matters, and it's very

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easy to forget: your internal data.

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Depending on the model you may have, you
will have things available to you such

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as purchase patterns or CRM behavior,
which is how often, how consistently,

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and how deeply clients engage over time.

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You may also have frontline and
retail feedback, what teams on

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the ground are seeing and hearing.

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Or you may have client signals.

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This is what private client teams
respond to in real relationships.

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Sitting with your retail teams and private
client directors is one of the most

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highest ROI research moves you can make.

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And when reviewing secondary
sources, there's just one more

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thing I want you to remember:

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Behaviour

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always wins.

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If people say one thing and do
another, believe what they do.

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So for example, a survey tells you
what they say, but transactional

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data tells you exactly what they did.

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So how do you know you've used
secondary research correctly?

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When

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you've worked through it properly,
you should be able to do three things.

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First, clearly describe the landscape.

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What's happening in the market, the
category, and the broader consumer

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patterns that are already visible.

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Second, sharpen the problem you're
trying to solve, including the key

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question you need answered and the
assumptions you're currently making.

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And third, identify what you still
don't know and whether you genuinely

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need primary research to move forward.

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Secondary

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research isn't there to
give you all the answers.

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It gives you context  and
directional intelligence.

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And let's be clear, what it won't do
is track your brand health, map your

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specific customer journey, or tell
you how your consumers are behaving.

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That's a different job completely.

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And if you'd like to go deeper
on brand health tracking, be

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sure to listen to episode eight.

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Okay, so let's recap this episode.

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Layer one gives you macro context.

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This is where wealth sits.

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Layer two shows category trends,
how luxury demand is behaving.

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And layer three explores consumer mindset.

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This is why they buy.

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And then, of course, your
own internal data, the most

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underutilized insight source of all.

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Secondary research is not a shortcut.

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It's the starting point.

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This is what I want you to remember.

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It's how you save budget for the bespoke,
granular insight you actually need.

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You're capitalizing on collective
intelligence that already exists first.

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Okay, so we've come to the end.

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Today, we've explored steps two
and three of the insight framework,

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which is collecting the evidence
and identifying the insight.

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If you do want to go deeper or refresh on
the architecture behind that framework,

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episode six is where you can start.

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Here's your homework from this episode.

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Pick one source mentioned today, open
it, spend twenty minutes or thereabouts,

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and ask yourself, " What assumption
am I making that this challenges?"

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you

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you don't need a research budget to
start thinking like a strategist.

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You need structure and discernment, and
now you know exactly where to start.

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Thanks for

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listening.

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I'll see you in the next episode.