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Why The Barbell Economy Will Dominate In 2019 By Matt Britton (Gen Y Keynote Speaker)

Name: Why The Barbell Economy Will Dominate In 2019 By Matt Britton (Gen Y Keynote Speaker)
Uploaded: 2018-12-17T19:10:50Z
Channel: Matt Britton
Description: Matt Britton argues the economy is polarizing into a "barbell" shape: strong growth and opportunity at the value end and the luxury end, with shrinking…

17 Dec 2018

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Matt Britton argues the economy is polarizing into a "barbell" shape: strong growth and opportunity at the value end and the luxury end, with shrinking opportunity in the middle. He uses examples (Gap closing stores, $25 vs $100 vs $250 jeans; Tide vs private-label detergent) to show mid-market brands are squeezed out.

The barbell economy is probably the number one piece of advice I give to anybody going in business. There is opportunity in two places in this country on the value side and on the luxury side. There's not much opportunity in between. Why is the Gap closing down more stores because they sell $100 jeans? Well, the value side's buying $25 Lee jeans from Walmart and the luxury side is buying $250 J Brand jeans from boutique in Soho. And not many people are buying $100 jeans. And I think there's $100 jeans in almost every single category. Tide is $100 jeans. Why? Because the wealthy, affluent urban mom is buying method detergent with organic ingredients because she's not bringing that crap into her home. And the value side, they can't afford to spend the extra $2 on Tide, so they're buying private label store brand detergent. And Tide is in the middle. One of the biggest issues facing so many big companies right now is that they play in the middle in a world where there is no middle.