For affluents, online advice tips the buying scales

Naples, Fla.--The latest Survey of Affluence and Wealth found that well-to-do Americans today are relying more on online reviews than brand messaging or salespeople’s opinions when deciding what to buy. 

According to the survey, which was conducted by Time Inc. and YouGov, 80 percent of affluent consumers (defined as the top 10 percent of households in terms of annual income) in the U.S. say they know what they want and how much they’re willing to pay before they even interact with a salesperson when it comes to purchasing luxury or high-end goods and services.

Additionally, fewer affluent American consumers in the top 5 percent of U.S. households say that they have favorite brands in retail, fashion or luxury hotels. Only 28 percent said that they have a favorite retailer, versus 47 percent more than five years ago, and only 61 percent selected a favorite fashion brand, compared with 80 percent in 2007/2008.

Moreover, consumers are relying less on solely brand messaging to form their opinions about brands and more on online comments by users of the product or service--72 percent said that this feedback was important to them when making decisions about purchases, increasing from 65 percent just two years ago.

“At the beginning of the recession, fear drove people to stop spending. But in being resourceful, they discovered that they could actually manage the threat of further recession,” said Jim Taylor, vice chairman of YouGov. “As a result, the power of brands as a source of self-identification became severely eroded. Affluent consumers adopted a strategic approach to shopping that involves research, drawing on their own taste or judgment and--for a segment of consumers--the use of brands as the vanguards of successful shopping.”

Wealthy consumers also are increasingly harnessing the power of mobile while they’re shopping, with 49 percent of American affluent shoppers who own devices reporting that they shopping in stores, they often use their smartphone or tablet to research prices or other product options online.

“What we’ve found is that resourceful consumers believe that the most important brand in a store or a car dealership is their own,” said Caryn Klein, vice president of Time Inc. Research & Insights. “Repeated strategies for purchasing now depend upon the individual’s confidence in their own taste, confidence in their ability to research quality and value, and confidence in the brand itself. These strategic propositions yield substantial differences