• by Skip Brand , October 30, 2013

Targeting affluents? Want to know what they are buying and where they are buying it? Well, to no surprise, they are online and love their devices. However, are they buying online and paying attention to your brand?

Rest assured, according to the Affluent Online Shopper Index study just released by our firm and comScore, they shop online. In fact, consumers making $100K+ were 90% more likely to make a purchase online. This is up 5% from last year. Purchase categories include apparel, accessories, and jewelry (up 16% YOY), event and movie tickets (13%), flowers, greetings and gifts (15%), and video Games and consoles (20%). Shopper spend was up 20% from last year. 

There’s also been a lot of chatter as to whether or not this audience pays attention to ads targeted toward them. Notably affluent shoppers are indeed engaged when it comes to digital display ads. We and digital analytics company Moat measured universal interaction time; the amount of time an audience spends voluntarily engaging with an ad. 

According to Moat, the average interaction time is 4.1%, but the affluent audience measured engaged at a rate of:

• 13% in retail – 217% over average
• 10.3% in automotive ads – 151% over average
• 9.5% in travel – 131% over average 
• 6.1% in tech – 48% over average

Steve Kraus, chief insights officer for the Audience Measurement Group, Ipsos MediaCT — a research group that recently released an affluent spending study that also indicates growing spending and digital media use by affluent Americans — said, "Compared to a year ago, affluent Americans have significantly increased their spending in many categories, while also increasing their time spent online and their use of mobile devices. Coupled with the growing size and wealth of the affluent population, the growth potential remains strong for affluent-targeted brands, provided they reach and engage their audiences in compelling ways."

Other Ispos findings include:

• Smartphones: 63% now own a smartphone, up from 55% in 2012 and 45% in 2011.
• Tablets: 41% now own a tablet, up from 26% in 2012 and just 9% in 2011.
• Internet: As in previous years, virtually all affluents (99%+) use the Internet. Hours online in a typical week rose to 41.6, up from 37.4 in 2012; affluent millennials (those aged 18-31) average 52.7 hours online weekly, up from 42.4 in 2012. Several websites related to entertainment, shopping, travel and social media showed significant growth in affluent visitors.
• Magazine/newspaper apps: 6.9 million affluents have downloaded a magazine app, up 47% from 4.7 million in 2012; 8.5 million affluents have downloaded a newspaper app, up 21% from 7.0 in 2012.

So what does this mean to you as marketers and advertisers? Affluents are still loyal to traditional media but go online via computers, smartphones and tablets regularly. They like to be treated differently and spend time online researching, connecting and shopping. 

Today’s affluent consumer uses social media and they “like,” comment and share. LinkedIn and Cogent Research released a study, “Influencing the Mass Affluent,” which found that just about 90% of affluent people are active social media users. Of that, 44% are engaging with financial institutions in social media, with more than a third actively following companies, liking, commenting and sharing content. 

Google and Ispos found that 75% of affluent users go online, but often research online before purchasing offline. Among those consumers 65% are tactile. They want to see and touch the product before they purchase it. 

Search and ecommerce are important to the luxury market. The Google and Ipsos study also found that 68% of affluents go to a search engine when researching products. Luxury buyers in new markets use devices: 81% on a computer, 55% on a smartphone and 53% on a tablet. 

Google and Ispos also found that affluent online users like immersive advertising:

• 45% like video
• 42% like full screen 
• 34% like newsletter/emailing
• 30% like sponsored links
• 27% banners

Smart advertisers need to keep a close eye on affluents and offer up information, content and video that appeals to the audience across devices.