Hermès Rudolph leads the sled
The outlook is positive for holiday spending by affluents this season as their optimism rises about the economy.
Affluent spending during the holiday season varies across industries and products both on and offline. Looking at Q4 and the thoughts of affluent consumers, luxury brands are able to gain a better understanding of consumer-driven trends.
Q4 2014 Ipsos Affluent Barometer was conducted online from Oct. 24 to Nov. 4, with 754 adults living in a household with household income of $100,000 or more (“Affluent”). The sample included 133 Ultra Affluents who have an household income of $250,000 or more.
Positive thoughts
The barometer discovered the optimism among affluents with 49 percent being optimistic about the United States, this number improved from Q3.
While shopping for the holidays affluents plan to spend money on an expensive gift including, vacations, fragrances and smartphones, these purchases are up from last year.
When purchasing, 45 percent of the shopping is completed in retail stores, while 44 percent is online. Ten percent of purchases are made on mobile devices, and affluent millennial men are found to make 20 percent of their purchases on mobile.
Mobile shopping becomes more prevalent
The average affluent is expected to spend $1,939 on holiday gifts and with a growth in the affluent population by 8 percent this year, dollars spent are predicted to outshine last years holiday season.
Affluents are not only spending money on gifts related to travel, but 42 percent are traveling this season.
When looking at the trends of affluents over the holidays, brands must take into consideration the type of gifts they are purchasing, where they are buying from and where they will be during the season.
Hermès looked toward these trends with a holiday ad to appeal to the last minute shoppers who may be traveling this season.
The French leather goods maker targeted the affluent readers of Departures’ mobile-optimized Web site with a holiday advertisement.
Hermès ad features the maison’s take on “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer” and will likely spur interest among last minute shoppers who turned to Departures for inspiration. Also, with many affluent Departures readers likely to be traveling this holiday, Rudolph’s Christmas Eve flight around the world is fitting (see story).