“Trading Up”: A Consumption Value Approach

Abstract

“Trading up” is the phenomenon that describes consumers’ willingness to pay premiums on goods that are emotionally meaningful to them. The meaning of a good is reliant on an individual's consumption values. The purpose of this study was to examine the phenomenon of trading up among Korean university students. A total of 223 usable surveys were analyzed. Fifty-one product categories were reported for trading up, and divided into four classifications: clothes, fashion accessories, small electronics, and other appliances. These four classifications were significantly associated with brand types, retailing formats, and information sources. Finally, respondents were classified into three groups according to consumption values and each group exhibited different relationships with the marketing mix variables.

Citation

Ko, E. and Sung, H. (2007), "“Trading Up”: A Consumption Value Approach", Taylor, C.R. and Lee, D.-H. (Ed.) Cross-Cultural Buyer Behavior (Advances in International Marketing, Vol. 18), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 115-137. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1474-7979(06)18005-9