Luxury Consumers Express Growing Confidence in their Financial Status --

The Result:  They Spent Significantly More on Luxury Goods & Services in the Third Quarter

You are invited to attend a webinar on December 13 to learn the latest results of Unity Marketing's Luxury Tracking Survey, including the latest Luxury Consumption Index and what it predicts for the next six months

November 5, 2012  Stevens, PA -- Unity Marketing's latest survey of affluent consumer confidence found a strong upturn in their feelings about their financial status and prospects for the future.  As a result, luxury consumers picked up their pace of shopping in the past quarter, with luxury spending up 25.8 percent over last quarter.  This according to Unity Marketing's Luxury Tracking Survey conducted October 9-15, 2012 among 1,289 affluent consumers (avg. income $290.6k; avg. age 44 years.)

>> Pam Danziger, Unity Marketing, will host a webinar on December 13 at noon to present an executive summary of the latest survey results.  Register here.    

"The first half of 2012 showed affluent consumers restrained in spending on luxury goods and services, but spending rebounded strongly in the third quarter survey,"  Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing and author of Putting the Luxe Back in Luxury:  How new consumer values are redefining the way we market luxury.  "Over half (52 percent) of affluent consumer surveyed feel they are financially better off today than twelve months ago; this measure hasn't been this high since 1Q2011.  Rising even more sharply is the percentage of luxury consumers who feel the country as a whole is doing better now as compared with three months ago.  Some 37 percent of affluent surveyed feel the country is now moving in the right direction, up 15 percentage points from last quarter."

Rising affluent consumer confidence is sparking a pick up in spending on luxuries, with these categories posting the strongest quarter-over-quarter increase:

• Luxury clothing and apparel, with spending up 95.2 percent over second quarter;
• Luxury kitchenware and cooks' tools, up 83.1 percent;
• Luxury beauty, cosmetics, fragrances, up 75.4 percent;
• Luxury dining, up 67.7 percent; and
• Luxury fashion accessories, up 52.2 percent.

"Throughout 2011 and 2012, we have seen luxury consumer spending mostly on a downward trajectory, with their feelings of consumer confidence as measured by the Luxury Consumption Index (LCI) wavering over the same period.  Finally in the latest survey, we see a strong measure of growing confidence which should give marketers from high-end to mid-market a boost.  After all the affluent consumers we survey are the economy's 'heavy-lifters,' accounting for only 20 percent of U.S. households but over 40 percent of all consumer spending,"  Danziger explains. 

Take Action>>

Unity Marketing will host a 30-minute webinar at noon December 13 e.s.t. to review the results of the latest Luxury Tracking Survey and what the Luxury Consumption Index projects for the next six months.  Click this link to register today.

Unity Marketing has been calculating the LCI since first quarter 2004 based upon five key measures of luxury consumer confidence including their expectations for future spending on luxury, their personal financial conditions and their overall assessment of the economy as a whole, in surveys conducted every three months among over 1,200 affluent luxury consumers.  This quarter's luxury tracking survey, conducted from October 9-15, 2012, took the measure of 1,289 luxury consumers (average income $290.6k; avg. age 44 years; median net worth $797k.)

Visit this link to learn more about the upcoming webinar and to register to attend to get the latest news about the luxury consumer, what they are buying and how much they are spending.  Plus hear what the forward-looking LCI predicts for the rest of 2012 and into 2013.