Last week, during our Holiday Recap webinar, we examined how the demographic profiles of the visitors to the Retail 500 shifted in 2009 as compared to the previous year. When looking at the household income of visitors during the peak weeks of the holiday seasons, there was an increase in those earning $100k and over. Visitors that earned over $150k increased 21% and those that earned between $100k and $149k increased 8%.

Similarly, when looking at Mosaic Lifestyle Groups for the same time periods, the two most affluent groups, Affluent Suburbia and Upscale America experienced the highest increases. The share of visitors from each group increased 31% over the previous holiday season and also represent the largest groups of visitors.

With more affluent shoppers emerging online during the holiday season, visits increased to a custom category of Designer & Luxury Retail websites and returned to levels similar to the 2007 Holiday season. Visits increased 14% during the week of Thanksgiving and Black Friday over last year and 20% during the peak week, ending Dec. 12, 2009. This is not to say that the affluent shoppers were strictly visiting the websites of luxury retailers, but following last year’s decline in visits and subsequent clearance sales, the increase in visits is a positive sign of increased willingness to spend.