Luxury brands use apps with mobile marketing to best appeal to wealthy American consumers

Study shows richest American consumers want mobile marketing apps from their favorite luxury brands.

A study performed by a partnership between the Luxury Institute – an independent and objective organization based in New York City – and Plastic Mobile – an award winning agency for mobile marketing – has shown that the most affluent consumers in the united States prefer to connect with their favorite luxury brands by way of a smartphone app.

The results of the study were released in a report entitled “Mobile Apps And Commerce for Luxury Brands”.

According to CEO Milton Pedraza, from the Luxury Institute, “Luxury brands must acknowledge the impact of technology advancements in the mobile space and find a humanistic way to connect and engage with their consumers through mobile.”

Among the most commonly downloaded apps by rich consumers are Saks Fifth Avenue, Gucci, Gilt Groupe, and Louis Vuitton. The majority of wealthy smartphone owners (56 percent) are using these applications to learn more about the various products being offered or to gain additional information about the brand or its locations.

Ninety three percent of wealthy consumers in the U.S. who have used an app from a luxury brand have stated that they have enjoyed their experience with that application and its mobile marketing. Furthermore, 71 percent have stated that when they download a luxury brand app, they feel more connected with it.

Sixty four percent feel more favorably about luxury brands that have an app than they do about those that don’t.

The participants in the study suggested that there are several features that they expect from an app offered by a luxury brand. Among them, the top expectations were exclusive early access to upcoming sales (45 percent) and loyalty programs (46 percent).

Furthermore, 53 percent said that they felt sales professionals should be provided with mobile marketing apps that can provide them with additional product details, 50 percent said that those sales professionals should be able to use the app to check for availability and sizes at other store locations, and 47 percent said that their shopping experience with luxury brands would be improved if the app let sales professionals to check the store inventory of a product.