Luxury Spending Sees a Boost, But Gains Driven By Ultra-Affluent (COH, TIF, SKS, RL, JWN)

Affluent consumers dove back into the luxury market with a 29.4% increase in spending from the second quarter to the third. However deeper analysis of the data reveals that the ultra-affluent consumers are causing the uptick.

According to Unity Marketing's latest Luxury Tracking survey consumers spent more in the third quarter on all but three of the 22 product and service categories examined.

The average income of the consumers tracked was $228,800. This indicates that the affluent consumers at the lowest income levels are staying away from the luxury market, while those with income above $250,000 are getting back into the habit of spending.

Pam Danziger, president of Unity Marketing, believes that the increased spending by affluent consumers could be attributed to the need for wealthy consumers to release some pent-up spending frustration caused by the economic recession and warns that this increase in spending may not continue.

Luxury-companies are feeling the impact in early trading on the news.

Coach (NYSE: COH) +1.88%, Tiffany's (NYSE: TIF) +1.26%, Saks (NYSE: SKS) +5.08%, Polo Ralph Lauren (NYSE: RL) +3.3% and Nordstrom (NYSE: JWN) +5.41%.

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