The wealthy like to buy snazzy ---and boring--- goods

By Dian Vujovich

Those who design retail store interiors spend a lot of time figuring out traffic flow, where and how to merchandise everything from cosmetics to sale items, lighting and ways to inhibit shop lifting all in hopes of hearing that cash register ring. Oops, I’ve just hugely dated myself—let me change that to in hopes of watching folks swipe their credit cards.

We all know that there’s a certain cache one gets when walking in and shopping at say a Saks Fifth Avenue store or when Wall-Mart is their store of choice. We also all know that there’s more to getting people to spend their money than a store’s layout or cache. Brand names on everything from under garments to wireless toys play an enormous part in the merchandise we all purchase. And it’s disposable income that calls the real shots.

Look at where the most discretionary spending comes from and it’s from the top 10 percent of Americans. You might be surprised to learn that those wealthy folks have a hankering for everything from hot brands to boring ones.

According to another who-thinks-of-this-stuff study, the top four brands people with the most disposable income like to spend their money on are those from Apple, Microsoft, Best Buy and Sony. This, according to research from Affluence Collaborative.

Research from this study also revealed that pricey goods can be boring goods. Louis Vuitton, for instance, was the brand most often called “boring” by those questioned. Others considered “most boring” included Juicy Couture, Prada, Saks Fifth Avenue and, get this, Starbucks. Hum, I would have thought a Starbucks caffeine rush would catapult it out of a boring category into some kind of exciting high but apparently not.

As for the not-boring brands the wealthy like to purchase, Apple was considered the most innovative followed by Microsoft, Sony, BMW and Mercedes.

I saw a little Mercedes SL550 in the showroom today that didn’t look boring at all. Now all I’ve got to do is getting into that top 10 percent bracket.