Understanding the Psyche of an Elite Client

They love their champagne, diamonds and cars, living lifestyles of modern kingly avatars, they spend on pleasures and on art for they are the ultra-rich and smart. Join Kamakshi VF as she gets jewellers to reveal the psyche of the Ultra Rich Individual – a true blue jewellery aficionado who shops only for exclusives at the most elite jewellery retail stores

- Kamakshi VF

The Ultra High Net Worth Individuals or UHNIs are those who own assets worth USD 30 million or more. According to the Wealth Report 2022 by Knight Frank, India ranked 3rd in billionaire population globally and the number of HNIs grew from 12,287 in 2020 to 13,637 in 2021. The global economic cordon due to Covid-19 was followed by a supercharged rebound in the creation of wealth worldwide where the number of UHNWIs rose 9.3% over the year, creating an additional 52,000 very wealthy people compared with just 12 months earlier said the report.

Naturally, as wealth is being created the Indian UHNI is shopping for jewellery and related luxury items. To understand how a jewellery retailer is different from the regular jewellery consumer we spoke to jewellers to throw some light on the tastes that dictate the purchase decisions of a UHNIs who are a regular at their store.

CONSUMER V/S CLIENT

Business psychology has listed consumer behavior into 5 typical stages before a purchase decision is made. Purchase starts in the mind of a consumer with the recognition of a problem followed by the stage of scouring for information to solve that problem; then alternatives are evaluated before a purchase decision is taken, which is finally followed by post purchase syndromes. The regular consumer typically follows these stages in order or reverse order or even skip some steps.