By Andrew Miller
The Birkin bag is losing to the dinner reservation.
It’s part of a shift in priorities for wealthy consumers around the world. Travel, events, and dining are now more important than simply flexing expensive goods.
According to Bain & Co., luxury experience spending is on track to grow 3–7% in 2026. Meanwhile, goods like handbags, watches, and jewelry are only expected to grow 1–4%.
“Immersive wayfaring” is part of the trending shift in wealthy consumer spending. They’re seeking out authentic travel experiences tied to local heritage and discovery instead of traditional tourism hubs.
Accelerating this trend is a new phenomenon called “inheritourism.” Younger generations like Gen Z are absorbing their parents’ tastes after traveling together. Essentially, the great wealth transfer isn’t just moving money down the generational ladder. It’s passing preferences down too.
Bain’s framing says it plainly: “luxury is increasingly about how people live, not what they own.”
This isn’t just a problem for Hermès or Rolex. It’s a signal about what consumers across income levels are optimizing for. Experiences over objects, meaning over status, memories over merchandise.
Bookings for dining, leisure, and entertainment are already up 30% this year. Wealthy consumers with options are opting into the “less-but-better” mindset. In other words, they’d rather spend more on one good meal than on three mediocre ones.
For small business owners, this cuts both ways. If you specialize in the experience economy of restaurants, boutique fitness, events, hospitality, entertainment, this is a tailwind you may be underselling. The customers you’re competing for are actively looking for what you offer.
If you sell physical goods, the shift still applies: your customers aren’t just buying a product anymore, they’re buying the experience of buying it. Businesses capturing this moment are manufacturing access and exclusivity.
Think limited offerings, curated events, invite-only experiences. Not just better inventory.
Better staff, better ambiance, better marketing. None of which runs on a thin cash cushion. Access and exclusivity are easy to sell. The hard part is having the capital to build them before your customers start looking somewhere else.
P.S. If you’re ready to build the experience your customers are already looking for, Signet can get your business funded in as little as 24 hours. Let’s talk about your funding.