A Dearth of Millionaires in Macy’s

Did you hear the one about the rich dude who walked into Macy's? Neither did I. Affluent shoppers are turning away from general merchandise retailers in favor of more specialized and specialty shopping experiences, like the ones offered by specialty retailers,  according to Unity Marketing's latest ACTS Shopper Track study. The average income of those surveyed was $258,700. 

 
While affluents spent .4% less overall shopping in general merchandise stores, they picked up the pace of spending in specialty retail by 9.4%  from 2014 to 2015, according to the survey of more than 1,300 affluents. Among the specialty retailing sectors that benefited from more generous spending by affluent shoppers were home specialty stores, personal care/beauty stores, liquor/wine stores, art galleries and custom framing stores, and sunglass/optical stores. 
 
 
Affluent shoppers are the high-potential, high-spending customers on which every retailers' success depends, according to Unity Marketing. Affluent shoppers make up only 20% of all households, yet they account for upwards of 50% of all retail spending.  These are the high-potential, high-spending customers on which every retailers' success depends, whether they are positioned at the high-end, low-end or middle-market price ranges.


The latest survey calls on general merchandise retailers to reimagine the shopping experience in their stores to make it more specialized for the needs of the affluent, high-spending customers looking for more unique, specialty experiences. Rather than trying to be all things to all shoppers, general merchandisers need to look at ways to bring the kinds of special shopping experiences to the customers, concludes Unity Marketing.