Trading Up refers to the phenomenon of “New Luxury” goods being purchased at a price point that from traditional demand curves should have a very low volume, but in fact have a very high volume. There are a couple of factors discussed that contribute to this phenomenon. The first is the wide availability of cheap commodities, which allow the middle class consumer to purchase things that they don’t really care about at a low price point (think of the Wal-mart and Costco phenomenons). This allows them to splurge in areas of importance to the individual. This effect is referred to as “rocketing” by the authors. The concept being that spending is dramatically increased in those areas of importance.