Signal High-income consumers adopt make-do habits by choice, and luxury resale goes mainstream

Summary

McKinsey highlights a counterintuitive result: trading down is no longer mainly a lower-income behaviour. Wealthier consumers, who account for an outsized share of total spending in most markets, are also adopting make-do habits, and they do so by choice rather than out of need. In the survey, more high-income than low-income respondents report selective optimisation behaviours such as doing services themselves, looking for DIY ideas online and using budgeting tools. In luxury fashion, resale is moving into the mainstream. It now attracts both aspiring luxury buyers and long-standing luxury clients. This matters because shifts in the habits of big spenders have a disproportionate effect on overall consumer demand.