More than ever private jet travelers, or elite travelers as we like to call them, are the most lucrative market for luxury brands and service providers.  With readers spending $10,000 per hour to fly privately, the over 600,000 readers Elite Traveler reaches each issue provide you a great way to make sure your message is in front of consumers who have the money to be good customers.  With our Asia Edition, Elite Traveler Superyachts, our over 60 Elite Traveler Destination Guides at Elitetraveler.com, our global database of private jet owners and our award-winning custom marketing team, we would welcome the opportunity to be of help to you in making sure you get a bigger share of our reader spending. 

With a Net Worth of more than $25 trillion, I hope you will agree elite travelers should be a key target for your marketing!

Follow Doug Gollan on Twitter: 

https://twitter.com/EliteTravelerDG

 

In this edition:

1. Selling Big Diamonds on the Internet

2. In Thailand, Private Jet Travel Surges

3. Huffington Post: Meet The Rich People

4.  The iWatch and How to Sell $2 Billion More Watches to Rich People

5. In India, Top of the Market Keeps Spending

 

1. Selling Big Diamonds on the Internet 

A recent article in JCK Magazine outlined that wealth consumers are indeed shopping on the internet.   

“Blue Nile’s customers are “regularly” buying $100,000 diamonds from their phones, the company’s CEO Harvey Kanter said in a recent interview. 

While the Seattle-based e-tailer has talked about making big sales via its phone app before, Kanter told Motley Fool they are becoming increasingly common. 

“We traditionally, regularly with some degree of-not necessarily a weekly cadence-but cadence, sell $100,000 stones off of iPhones and Androids,” he said. “It’s kind of mesmerizing to me. I would have had [the perspective of], ‘Is that a realistic expectation?’ But the reality is, it is.” 

“The younger customer is very, very accessible and, even more importantly, has grown up with the phone, to the point where their phone is actually their PC and they don’t go to a normal PC,” he said.  

Elitetraveler.com has become the go to place for ultra-high net worth consumers on the web.  With over 150,000 unique viewers per month, Elite Traveler ranks ahead of other websites claiming affluent viewership such as Robb Report, Departures and FT’s How to Spend It.  More importantly, Elite Traveler leads not only in audience size, but time spent on the site, pages viewed and lowest bounce rate (only viewed one page).  Of keen interest for those of you who are looking for big spenders, over 80 percent of Elitetraveler.com’s audience are private jet users!

“Recently we had an American customer who walked in with a copy of Elite Traveler and booked two suites that been directly featured in the magazine.  The value of the booking was in the region of $200,000.”  – Tony Potter, Corinthia Hotels

2. In Thailand, Private Jet Travel Surges

According to a recent report in The Bangkok Post, “Thailand’s private jet traffic has gathered pace, soaring more than 50% in the first seven months of the year and signaling the emergence of a general aviation trend that was almost unknown in the country.”

Traffic managed by Mjets, a Thai provider of chartered private jets and ground handler of executive jets, reached 1,350 flights in January-July, up from 849 in the same period last year, according to the article.

Both intra-regional tourism and business travel plus global elite travelers from Europe, the Middle East and Americas are driving up the private jet arrival numbers.

According to research by Prince & Associates, private jet users spend an average of $69,000 on the ground in the destinations they visit on hotels, sightseeing, shopping and activities (excluding fuel, aircraft and airport fees). Based on the Mjets data, the 501additional flights would have delivered nearly $35 million in extra spending to the Thai economy. If one considers the average tourist in Thailand only spends US$125 per person, a single private jet arrival brings as much revenue to the Kingdom as 552 visitor days by the average traveler, or the $35 million that the 501 extra private jet visits produced in increased spend would be equivalent to the daily spend of 280,000 travelers at the average per diem!

“Elite Traveler is a key media source for us with well over $200,000 in sales we can track directly back to our ads in your magazine over the past year.” – Charles Krypell, Owner, Charles Krypell

3. Huffington Post: Meet The Rich People

Courtesy of the Huffington Post, here are some ways elite travelers spend money:

Break-the-Bank BirthdayPRICE TAG $2.5 MILLIONAs part of a $2.5 million, two-week birthday romp through southern France that a Los Angeles man threw for his wife and 30 of her friends, 20 vintage cars from all over Europe were imported to Provence for a road rally through the Bandol wine region. The road was closed to the public for the 90-minute race, and at one of the pit stops the birthday girl’s favorite chef from Los Angeles served snacks. Other highlights included a six-night sailing on a luxury cruise ship and a private cooking lesson with a two-star Michelin chef. -Lia Batkin, In the Know Experiences

Copter CrazyPRICE TAG $17,000A traveler in Istanbul who wanted to visit Troy at the last minute insisted on a twin-engine helicopter for the trip. One was procured — along with two pilots and a noted historian — for a tour that lasted just a few hours. -Kevan Cowie, Exeter International

Bieber FeverPRICE TAG $25,000Justin Bieber brings a girl on stage to serenade at every concert, so one client paid $25,000 for his daughter to be picked by the teen heartthrob.

Hail to The Chief, in StyleA New York couple paid close to $19,000 for a two-day trip to D.C. to attend President Obama’s second inauguration and inaugural ball. -Jim Zissler, Inside Sports & Entertainment Group

Politburo Par-tay!PRICE TAG $1 MillionSix members of the Russian parliament, their wives, and adult children had planned a month-long, $1 million vacation in Canada fishing, hunting, and stopping in Montreal for plastic surgery. Sadly, visa setbacks forced them to cancel the trip. -Marc Telio, Entrée Destinations

It Takes a VillagePRICE TAG $500,000For a diversion during a $500,000 three-day holiday to Ireland, a family of five had a Celtic village, complete with thatched-roof roundhouses and silversmiths, constructed at Lismore Castle. Entertainment included jugglers, fiddle players, a sword fight, and a private fireworks show. -David Tobin, Dream Escapes

From Russia, with RublesPRICE TAG $800,000A Russian tycoon took seven employees and their sons on a 10-day off-road trip in Mexico. They flew from Moscow to Chiapas in the client’s private 747, rented 15 4 x 4s directly from the owners (at $10,000 apiece), hired local police and private security for every leg of the trip, and had groceries imported from around the world — lobster from Maine, pheasant from England, and caviar from you know where. -Zachary Rabinor, Journey Mexico

Peak ExperiencePRICE TAG $800,000For a 50th-birthday celebration, a Canadian woman surprised her husband with a trip to Brazil. Birthday festivities — for some 30 guests — included a private dinner on Sugarloaf Mountain and joining in the winners’ parade during Carnaval. Price tag for the week: approximately $800,000. -Martin Frankenberg, Matueté

Each issue of Elite Traveler brings your message to elite travelers such as the above via our BPA audited worldwide distribution to private jet travelers. With the largest audience of readers who make $1 million + of any magazine or newspaper in the world, Elite Traveler helps you gain awareness with consumers who move the needle and influence others.

“From the Summer Edition of Elite Traveler Superyachts, as well as the Asia Edition including the May/June issue we are happy to report sales ($437,000) of the timekeepers we advertised” – Patrik Hoffmann, CEO Ulysse Nardin

4. The iWatch and How to Sell $2 Billion More Watches to Rich People 

Below is from Russ Prince’s Wealth blog on Forbes.com… 

Of the many categories of luxury goods and services that the super-rich private jet set acquire on an annual basis, only about one-third (32 percent) purchase a luxury watch either as a gift, or for themselves as part of a collection.  

Compared to other types of luxury acquisitions such as fashion and accessories (90 percent), fine jewelry (90 percent), spirits (85 percent), or staying at a resort for leisure (70 percent), regular purchases of high-end watches appear not to be an everyday, every month or even an every year habit for the vast majority of the super-rich. 

Yet on the back of the super-rich that do buy watches, there is enough volume that they remain the prime driver behind global luxury watch sales. The super-rich who do buy watches spend an average of US$150,000 per year on watch purchases. With a worldwide universe of about 200,000 ultra-high-net-worth families, this translates to US$9.5 billion in annual high-end watch purchases. 

In general, current watch industry thinking seems to be that iWatch will only impact the lower price segments. However, Apple has shown its success at selling its products from the richest, to the rich and to the consumers who literally save several months’ wages to buy an Apple product. A just released survey by the Jewelry Consumer Opinion Council suggests nearly two-thirds of those who wear watches regularly could switch to the iWatch. 

Some in the watch industry agree that the impact of smart watches could be large.  “When you look at the fact that Apple, Microsoft, and Samsung are all working with huge teams developing smart watches, it should be a cause for concern. If only five percent of iPhone users bought an iWatch that would be around US$3 billion in revenue,” Romain Jerome CEO Manuel Emch said in a recent interview. Since most people only wear one watch at a time, any success Apple has in getting the current customer base of super-rich to at least switch for some period of time to an iWatch could have a very significant impact.

At the same time, if the watch industry can increase the percentage of the world’s 200,000 ultra-high-net-worth households buying watches annually by 10% that would translate into an extra US$1 billion in annual sales. If the watch industry can get its core ultra-high-net-worth customers to spend 10% percent more on watch purchases, essentially an extra US$15,000 watch, sales would grow by another US$1 billion.

ONLY ELITE TRAVELER – Elite Traveler is the ONLY global publication targeting and reaching private jet travelers to have its circulation successfully audited.    View our BPA statement here. 

5. In India, Top of the Market Keeps Spending 

While India’s economy may be hitting some bumps, a report by Kotak Wealth Management shows India’s Super Rich – those with over $30 million in assets – are still spending freely. 

“Ultra-HNWIs continued to spend significantly on branded wear, customized holidays, luxury watches, jewelry and diamonds/precious stones, or home electronics. And despite the staggering rise in gold prices during the year, the yellow metal continues to be bought, especially in jewelry form. The extravagance extends also to real estate choices. The growth in luxury home sales is a clear indicator of the top-of-the-shelf wealth creation happening in the country. Also, luxury home purchases are not confined to India as an increasing number of ultra-HNIs are buying property in Singapore, London and Dubai,” according to the article.

 

All the best,

Douglas D. Gollan Group President and Editor-in-Chief Elite Traveler, the private jet lifestyle magazine Elite Traveler Superyachts, the superyacht lifestyle magazine Elite Traveler Asia, Asia’s private jet lifestyle magazine