Affluent shoppers still prefer physical stores

While most shoppers do online research prior to any big purchases, many rich people still prefer taking their picks right in the store.

Research firm Luxury Institute surveyed 1,600 rich people who earn at least $150,000 per annum and have an average net worth of $2.9 million. Survey results revealed that this demographic still prefer going to physical shops and browsing around.

Many regular shoppers do their research online regarding the products that they are interested in and read reviews. But among the affluent, only a few do research on their next hauls.

Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza indicated that luxury experts were mistaken in thinking that the shoppers are no longer influenced by store finds because of their extensive online research. Brick-and-mortars continue to leverage the opportunity to improve their customer relationships based on expertise and trust.

According to the survey, 60 percent of women do not conduct online research prior to purchasing a designer handbag. The same goes for jewelry as women prefer to peruse the items on display then make their decisions on what to pick out.

The scenario is not the same, however, for men who want to buy a watch, with 28 percent having a specific item in mind to purchase. Similarly, more than a quarter of women purchasing beauty products know what specific product they are buying upon entering the store.

The reason is that most buyers of expensive timepieces have extensive knowledge about fancy watches while beauty product purchases are often done to replenish items that were used up.

Wealthy shoppers also prefer having a salesperson assist them in picking out items.

Pedraza noted that in order to build trust salespeople should inform the customer about the products they are interested in rather than hard-selling them a particular item.

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