WebProNews

When the wealthy shop online some of the key features they look for are easy to navigate Web sites that offer useful product information and the option to purchase all items that are sold offline.

A survey by the Luxury Institute, finds that 96 percent of Americans with annual incomes of $150,000 or more buy products and services online. More than half (55%) make online purchases on a regular basis. Close to all wealthy consumers (99%) research products on the Internet that they are going to purchase; two-thirds research online frequently.

"The Internet is the channel the wealthy prefer when buying several categories of goods and services," said Milton Pedraza, CEO of the Luxury institute. "Sixty-nine percent make hotel and resort reservations mostly on the Internet.

"Ironically, the only remaining obstacle preventing wealthy consumers from purchasing a multitude of luxury products and services on the Internet appears to be the lack of customer-centricity of some luxury firms."

Over half of the wealthy (53 %) favor purchasing women's clothing online and 43 percent use the Internet to buy men's apparel.

Google Checkout and Yahoo are leaders when it comes to sites that the affluent visit for their online shopping. About 73 percent say that using Internet search to find a company is a good way to create a positive impression. When it comes to ads on a search engine site only 30 percent found them to be an effective marketing strategy.

Besides easy to navigate sites wealthy consumers rank privacy and security as areas of major importance when shopping online. Women find easy navigation (46%) to be an effective way to create a positive impression while 35 percent of men feel the same.

Other areas of online shopping the wealthy prefer are useful content, a liberal return policy and the ability to track shipments were key factors in online shopping choices. An offline physical location was of low importance as it ranked a 4.8 on 10-point scale.