Affluents Spending on Luxury Home Goods

By Staff -- Gifts and Dec, June 10, 2009

Stevens, PA – According to the Home Luxury Report 2009 conducted by Unity Marketing, the nation’s affluent homeowners are beginning to spend again on home luxury goods. The average amount spent on home luxuries increased 16 percent in the first quarter of 2009 over the previous quarter and 17 percent over the same quarter last year. “Whether drawn to shop for home furnishings by retailer promotions and sales or the need to spruce up their living spaces after spending more time at home because of the recession, affluent shoppers increased spending on luxuries for their home in the first quarter,” said Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing. Danziger also said that this group, while spending more on their homes, spent less on experiences that takes them out of their home, like dining out. This may be good news for luxury retailers. As affluents look to stay at home more, they’ll want to create a pleasing living environment with home accents.

Danziger also notes other factors such as the worry of a potential flu pandemic in the fall as another reason for people staying home more. “This may contribute in future quarters to an even greater reason for affluents to stay home, potentially good news for home luxury marketers but disastrous for experiential luxury marketers in the restaurant and travel sectors,” she said.

While things are moving in a positive direction, Danziger doesn’t think that the luxury goods industry will come back to its glory days after the recession. People may just continue to cut back on spending even after the economy turns around. She says retailers will have to be willing to make tough choices and clearly align themselves with the needs of the customer without just paying lip service.

Reuters hosted its first Luxury Goods Summit, June 8–10, in Paris, London, Tokyo, Dubai and New York and focused on the future of the luxury goods market, how it will survive and if emerging markets such as China and Latin America will be strong enough to compensate for weak sales in Western Europe, Japan and the United States. Other concerns include whether or not the industry will make a comeback or if it will remain low.

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