Luxury trends, tactics and demographics all proved popular subjects for investigation among Warc subscribers seeking to enhance their understanding of the market for high-end products in 2016.

Warc's annual readership data covering the premium products industry showed that the Global luxury goods trends report – a piece of analysis from Euromonitor – was the most-read article in this space over the last year.

What we know about luxury brands claimed second spot, and offered marketers an overview of eight core considerations for marketers in the category, spanning consumer behaviour, the purchase journey and current best practices.

Third place in the rankings went to Luxury marketing: Demographics of luxury consumption, an article published in the July/August 2016 issue of Admap magazine.

More specifically, this piece took a deep dive into the US market, and suggested traditional assumptions about the profile of luxury buyers were not a valid guide for action.

"Depending on the product or service categories that the luxury organisations offer and the price points at which the products are sold, marketers should ask themselves if their organisations are using appropriate luxury words and descriptions in their marketing materials and advertising," Bob Shullman, Founder of the The Shullman Research Center, argued in the piece.

The fourth most-read luxury-focused article of the year, Moët Hennessy's new look at luxury, demonstrated how one leading brand owner is applying such logic in practice.

Younger consumers, the company believes, are looking for unique experiences and to display their discernment – but are also prompting high-end brands to augment their digital operations.

The Chinese luxury market is perhaps the most dynamic in the world, making it no surprise that an in-depth research paper about the country's premium shoppers completed the top five of Warc's most-read articles in this category.

Based on a survey of over 400 consumers in Shanghai, Exploring Luxury Value Perceptions in China: Direct and indirect effects explored the importance of factors like "the bandwagon effect", "the snob effect" and "the hedonic effect".

Data sourced from Warc