Survey: Consumer Confidence Among the Affluent Drops Sharply

The top 20 percent of households by income are no longer feeling confident about economic conditions in the U.S. and are spending far less, according to a quarterly survey of the affluent consumers.

The Unity Marketing Luxury Consumption Index took its steepest quarterly plunge since the recession (between fourth quarter 2007 to first quarter 2008), falling 16.8 points to bottom out at 66

The Wealthiest Shoppers Choose Amazon.com

The wealthiest 2 percent of the U.S. population have embraced online shopping with Amazon.com by far their favorite online retailer, according to a recent Unity Marketing survey.“Amazon.com has consistently emerged in Unity Marketing’s quarterly surveys as ultra-affluents’ top online shopping destination, regularly attracting about 45 percent of all ultra-affluent shoppers, a percentage that is

Survey: Luxury Up 8% in June, Jewelry Showed Strength and Weakness

The De Beers Jewelry Store on Rodeo Drive in Los Angeles.

In its ninth consecutive month of year-over-year gains, the SpendingPulse Luxury Index (excluding Jewelry) for June was up 8.2 percent, more in line with first quarter of the year and better than the 4.7 percent gains seen in May 2011, according to MasterCard Advisors SpendingPulse, a macroeconomic report tracking national retail and