According to a 2014 survey, 70% of people who come from affluent households (total annual income >$200,000) own a smartphone. ExactTarget research indicates that 75% of smartphone users engage with social media on a daily basis.

Last month's column highlighted six of 'the dirty dozen' challenges/opportunities facing marketers of luxury products and services. Based on extensive conversations with top management and marketers of luxury brands, here's our last six.

Our previous column, "Luxury Purchasers: Who Are They and What Are Their Interests?," focused on our finding that luxury goes way deeper than the affluent market segment with household incomes of $75,000 or more. All luxury purchasers - adult consumers (18+ in age) who bought one or more luxury goods or services in the prior 12 months - constitute almost 20%, or about 46 million, of the 239 million adults in the United States. Luxury marketers would be correct in surmising that as household income increases, the proportion of luxury purchasers rises.