Bob Shullman

Affluency: In this month's column, Ipsos Mendelsohn looks at the data it has collected about affluent's shopping patterns throughout the year, and distills it into three key takeaways to help marketers prepare for 2012 and beyond.

Affluent Americans spend $1.6 trillion across all categories. Looking at the results of a new Ipsos Mendelsohn study, here's how they spend it and how they're redefining "luxury," including the emergence of "treats" as a subcategory.

Internet use is already essentially universal among the affluent, with 98% going online. The surprising finding from the 2011 Ipsos Mendelsohn Affluent survey is that in the past year alone, affluent internet use rose about 20%, to more than 30 hours in a typical week. But media use is not a zero-sum game.

Affluents who describe themselves as members of the LGBT community have a distinctive profile, one that is particularly attractive to marketers and advertisers in a variety of categories.

Ipsos Mendelsohn digs into generational trends among the affluent's media consumption.