The Fashionable Affluent: A Luxury Trend Report on the High-End Fashion Customer and What Influences Them When They Shop for Fashion

This succinct 35-page trend report, entitled The Fashionable Affluent: A Luxury Trend Report on the High-End Fashion Customers and What Influences Them When They Shop for Fashion, analyzes the results of Unity Marketing's most recent special investigation into the affluent consumers and their fashion choices. In this survey affluent shoppers were asked about purchases of clothing and apparel, shoes, handbags and other fashion accessories, including the role of the designer in their purchases. They were also asked about the type of stores which were their destination for shopping for high-end designer merchandise and to rank these stores as either their 'go-to destination; an occasional destination under certain circumstances; or a destination which they very infrequently or rarely use. Finally they were asked what most influences them in their choice of shopping destinations, including such factors as selection of styles that are liked; selection of designer brands favored; prices; sales and discounts; service; among other factors. If you manufacture, market and/or sell design fashion brands, this report is prepared for you. Fashion marketers will use this report to better understand the demographics and shopping behavior of affluent consumer who buy designer brands in luxury fashion items including clothing, shoes, handbags and other fashion accessories, such as wallets, belts, briefcases among others.

Additional Information

The study, entitled The Fashionable Affluent, gives insights into how affluent consumers shop for fashion, including how social media influences their fashion choices.

While the data does show that young consumers are more likely to use social media, it also gives a very different income and overall demographic profile than one might expect. The research study was headed up by Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of the new book, Putting the Luxe Back in Luxury: How New Consumer Values Are Redefining the Way We Market Luxury.

"Without a doubt the population using social media skews young, but luxury fashion brands need to be aware that these media are powerful influencers of shoppers with a great deal of discretionary income and high-net-worth. The study found that nearly half of the ultra-affluents (incomes $250,000 and above) and HNW ($1 million or more in investible assets) fashion customers surveyed were spurred by information gathered via social media to visit web sites, shop in retail stores, and to make a decision about which luxury fashion brand to purchase," Danziger explains.

"Ultra-affluents and HNW fashion shoppers were far more likely to be influenced by social media than were HENRYs (High Earners Not Rich Yet, $100k-$249.9k) and low-net-worth shoppers (less than $1 million investible assets)."

"Fashion marketers need to make strategic use of social media to build powerful relationships between their brand and these high-value customers. That will translate a shopper's 'like' of a brand or becoming the 'mayor' of a retail location into added revenues and profits," Danziger says.

During this most recent survey, Unity Marketing interviewed a total of 1,237 affluent consumers with incomes of $100K or more who bought luxury in the second quarter of 2011. Some 65 percent of all those surveyed (avg. income $301.8k; net wealth $856k (median); avg. age 45.3 years; male 46%/female 54%) reported buying one or more high-end designer brand shoes, handbags, clothing or other fashion accessories in the past year. The interviews took place from July 6-13, 2011, and the data gathered gives insight into affluent consumers' preferences and buying behaviors when it comes to fashion, including the demographic profile of the best customer for each fashion category.

In the survey, affluent shoppers were asked about purchases of clothing and apparel, shoes, handbags, and other fashion accessories, including the role of the designer in their purchases. Key data collected includes:

• What fashion items they buy
• How much they spent in total on high-end apparel, shoes, handbags and other fashion accessories
• What influences them in their fashion choices
• Where they like to shop
• Role of social media in influencing their purchases