The wealthiest 2 percent of the U.S. population have embraced online shopping with Amazon.com by far their favorite online retailer, according to a recent Unity Marketing survey.
“Amazon.com has consistently emerged in Unity Marketing’s quarterly surveys as ultra-affluents’ top online shopping destination, regularly attracting about 45 percent of all ultra-affluent shoppers, a percentage that is typically two to three times greater than the next most popular website,’ said Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing.
Ultra-affluents are defined by Danziger and Unity Marketing as persons with annual incomes of at least $250,000.
“For the most discerning affluent shoppers Amazon offers outstanding levels of customer service along with an expansive product selection,” Danziger added. “Further, Amazon ‘learns’ the shoppers preferences and offers new selections based upon previous needs which boosts the company's revenues and the customer's satisfaction.”
What stands out from the data, however, is the interest ultra-affluents have in online shops that are geared toward savings. In Unity Marketing's most recent luxury tracking survey, among ultra-affluents surveyed, some 14 percent shopped through auction site eBay.com, just over 10 percent frequented local coupon site Groupon.com, and about 8 percent visited the local “want ad” site, Craigslist.com. All three of these frugal shopping sites were in the top eight among all sites visited.
Also attracting the bargain-hunting, yet wealthy “fashionistas” are flash sale sites like Shopittome.com, Gilt.com, Hautelook.com, BeyondtheRack.com and Amazon's new entry into the category, MyHabit.com, according to the report. Another favorite site for the wealthiest tech-oriented bargain shopper is Buy.com.
“While ultra-affluent consumers may make purchases of top-end luxury items online, the data show that these consumers are also interested in finding great deals and perhaps selling a few of their own unwanted items online,” Danziger said. “It is important for marketers to realize that their wealthiest shoppers are keenly interested in value and bargains, particularly online. These deal-oriented sites attract even those at the highest income levels.”