America's Most Affluent Name Top Quality Brands and Retail Stores.

A recent nationwide survey of the country's most affluent men and women reveals their choices for highest quality brands and best retail outlets. The survey also revealed that over 80% use the internet for shopping.

When it comes to top quality, America's most affluent tend to think automobiles. In it's recently completed Fall 2003 Survey of Affluent Americans, the American Affluence Research Center asked wealthy men and women which brands they thought represented "the very highest quality". Of the five most frequent responses, three were cars: BMW, Lexus, and Mercedes-Benz. The top-10 picks included Honda and Toyota. The remaining top-10 brands were Bose, Dell, GE, Rolex, and Sony.

The semi-annual survey focused on the nearly 11 million households that represent the wealthiest 10% of all U.S. households. These households have a minimum net worth of $750,000 and earn 40% of the total income of all Americans.

During the survey, the men and women were also asked to name the retail chain stores that they felt offered "the best combination of quality products, product selection, fair prices, and responsive service". Overall, Costco, Home Depot, Nordstrom, Target, and Wal-Mart led the list. Target was the first choice of the women while Home Depot topped the men's list.

The survey also showed that in the past 12 months, 84% of the affluent used the internet to buy products or services, or to conduct research before making a purchase. Items most likely to be bought over the internet included non-business airline travel and lodging, computers, stocks/bonds/mutual funds, and non-designer apparel.

This survey has a maximum margin of error of five percentage points. The complete 35-page report is available for $295 from AARC.