Dive Brief:
- Luxury consumers are feeling less optimistic about the economy, according to the most recent quarterly Saks Global Luxury Pulse survey released last week.
- According to responses fielded from Jan. 16 to Jan. 22, 45% of luxury consumers said they felt calm about the economy. That represents a decrease of 12 percentage points year over year, and a 7 percentage point drop compared to the company’s October survey.
- Consumers said their decreasing confidence was primarily due to global conflicts and general instability. Survey authors said the lack of confidence was more pronounced among respondents with annual incomes of $200,000 or higher.
Dive Insight:
Despite the waning optimism about the economy, 65% of luxury consumers said they were still optimistic about their personal finances. That’s down 5 percentage points compared to last year’s survey.
For luxury customers with annual incomes below $200,000, 58% said they planned to continue spending the same or more on luxury over the next three months compared to the previous three months.
While that represents a 7 percentage point decline compared to last quarter, survey authors said the drop for this segment of luxury consumers was “in line with expectations, given consumers are coming off of the holiday spending season.”
Consumers with annual incomes above $200,000 are less daunted, and 63% of that segment said they planned to continue spending the same or more on luxury, representing a 4 percentage point year-over-year increase.
Personalization and tailored shopping features may offer new ways to engage with luxury customers, whose survey answers indicated they were more willing to explore these features this year than they were last year.
A vast majority of luxury consumers (94%) said they are “likely to engage in activities that will further enhance their shopping experience through personalization,” per the survey.
The top activities in this category were creating an account, making a wishlist, answering questions about shopping preferences and providing feedback on features. Respondents added that they preferred engaging with these features online or on an app more than via email.
Sixty-six percent of luxury consumers said they are using artificial intelligence to shop for fashion online, which is 2 percentage points more year over year.
The most popular AI feature involves “providing body measurements to receive size recommendations or to visualize a product on various body types.” Nonetheless, survey respondents said they are “increasingly unlikely to upload pictures of themselves for virtual try-on.”
The Saks Global Luxury Pulse survey analyzed luxury consumers’ attitudes towards shopping, spending and the economy. This year’s survey was based on responses from 1,688 U.S.-based luxury consumers over age 18.
The report was known previously as Saks Luxury Pulse, but after Saks Global acquired Neiman Marcus and Bergdorf Goodman, the survey’s scope broadened and was rebranded as the Saks Global Luxury Pulse, per the release.
