Millionaires:
They’re just like any other ordinary, average American.
Well, OK. They only comprise around 9% of all American adults – or 20 million of the 236.9 million U.S. adult consumers.
And they all have a personal net worth (assets minus debts) of at least $1 million. In a country where many adults are swimming (and sometimes even drowning) in a sea of debt.
But when it comes to shopping habits, preferences, proclivities and favorites…well, THEN our millionaires are just like anyone else.
According to a recent report on affluent American consumers authored by The Shullman Research Center, an overwhelming 62% of U.S. millionaires say their favorite place to shop is…
Amazon.
Coming in at second place, with a hearty 54% “approval rating,” is…
And clocking in at third, with some 49% of the vote, the survey says…
Yes, you read that right. The top three favorite shopping stops of American millionaires are Amazon, Walmart and Target.
Of course, these are all the results on the aggregate.
As one would suspect, the study also revealed that American millionaires shop based largely on the generation to which they belong. From their preferred shopping destination to their means of planning and research, to their methods of making the actual purchase…much varies, based on the millionaires’ generational identification and age bracket.
Baby Boomers, or Americans ages 49 to 67, comprise 49% of all U.S. millionaires, or a total of 10 million millionaires (try saying that 10 million times, fast). Millennials (ages 18 to 33) now amazingly comprise 23% of all U.S. millionaires, with many of those Millennial Millionaires (there’s another fine tongue-twister) no doubt driven to fast financial fortune by the recent tech boom that has turned Silicon Valley into something like a New Age Hollywood. Gen-X (ages 34 to 48) comprise 20% of the U.S. millionaire population, while the Silent Generation (ages 68 and older) account for 7% of all American millionaires.
The Gen-X Millionaire crowd, for example, preferred Walmart (49%) to Amazon (which dropped all the way down to 41% for them) – while among Millennial Millionaires, Macy’s (57%) clocked in at a strong second to Amazon (64%). Some 40% of Millennial Millionaires cited Apple as their top shopping destination, while merely 17% of Baby Boomer Millionaires chose the newly minted owners of Beats Audio.
When it came to researching and searching planned purchases, a whopping 90% of Millennial Millionaires use digital methods to do so (compared to 75% of Baby Boomer Millionaires). Some 23% of Baby Boomer Millionaires prefer visiting stores in person when conducting their research, while 15% of Gen-X Millionaires chose to use their smartphone to actually make a phone call (compared to just 1% of Millennial Millionaires, and 0% of Baby Boomer Millionaires).
Once that research has been completed, some 65% of Gen-X Millionaires prefer online purchasing (or e-commerce), while 52% of Millennial Millionaires opt to make in-store purchases. Both Millennial Millionaires (46%) and Baby Boomer Millionaires (48%) say they are “uncomfortable” making purchases on a smartphone, while only 13% of Gen-X Millionaires stated such discomfort with this particular form of mobile commerce (aka m-commerce).
In addition to their intriguing and at-times surprising discoveries, all of these findings indicate the importance of advertisers and marketers making a strong effort to communicate to these American millionaires – along with all other consumers – in a variety of manners, methods and mediums.
If you’re ready to put together a smart, comprehensive and complete marketing and advertising program specifically tailored to reach your business or brand’s target audience, contact us today.
We’ll help you get in touch with America’s millionaires…wherever they may be looking to shop.
