Treasure Hunt

The essential follow-up to the BusinessWeek bestseller Trading UpA BMW in a Costco parking lot?A working class family with a 50 inch plasma TV?A 27-year-old Japanese administrative assistant with a collection of Coach purses?An 87-year-old retiree in Ohio exclaiming the value of Aldi brand honey?What's going on in the mind of the new consumer?Today's consumers can seem impossible to understand, and even harder to please. For instance, the average mall shopper will spend her $100, then leave when she hits that limit. She'll probably buy shoes rather than clothing, because she doesn't want to think about her dress size. And the store most likely to get her money isn't the one with the nicest display or the deepest discounts... it's the one closest to her parking spot.In his research with dozens of leading companies, Michael J. Silverstein has interviewed thousands of customers, extracting fascinating patterns about what really drives their purchase decisions. His first book, the acclaimed bestseller Trading Up, has taught a generation of marketers about the "new luxury" phenomenon, and why consumers will happily pay a steep premium for goods and services that are emotionally satisfyi