NEW YORK: Affluent consumers in the US prefer to buy luxury goods in store but there is a discernible generational shift taking place as fewer millennials are concerned to shop this way with more inclined to explore options via an app.

A report from The Luxury Institute surveyed wealthy consumers in the US with a minimum household income of $150,000 per year and found that only 40% of millennials wanted especially to shop in store, while 72% would download a branded luxury app.

"There are clear generational differences where the boomers are less digital and millennials are extremely digital," Milton Pedraza, CEO of The Luxury Institute told Luxury Daily.

"There is no one size all client experience," he added, "and we have to understand the consumer not as a segment but as one individual, as a human being, in order to build a long-term relationship."

That said, the differences leapt out in a number of statistics. Overall, 53% of luxury consumers did not download apps, while 47% did so, with most of these being in the younger generations.

Another instance came in social media, where almost two thirds (64%) of wealthy consumers didn't follow any brands. But among millennials a similar proportion (68%) followed at least one brand and among Gen X the figure was 58%.

But more than one third (38%) of baby boomers also claimed to have downloaded branded luxury apps.

"Boomers are behind in digitalisation, [but] they are by no means not digital," said Pedraza, "especially the highly educated global traveller."

The Luxury Institute drew attention to the role of fashion bloggers in reaching and influencing the younger generation.

It found only 15% of boomers followed a fashion blogger compared to 62% of millennials. And followers had made an average of 4.2 purchases from blogger suggestions.

Even if these bloggers can find it difficult to maintain a leading edge position, Luxury Daily observed that their followings can compare favourably with magazines, the traditional influencer in luxury fashion.

The influence of technology is inexorably influencing purchase decisions in some way: 61% of all affluent consumers said it allowed them to make more purchases, while 65% said it was changing the way they shop with luxury brands.

Data sourced from Luxury Daily; additional content by Warc staff