The affluent are popular online shoppers. More than two thirds, of consumers with household incomes of at least $85,000 a year buy online, according to the 2007 Mendelsohn Affluent Survey by research firm Mendelsohn for the American Association of Advertising Agencies.

So do 70 percent of those earning $250,000 a year. Among a third group in the study, households with investable assets of at least $1 million, 63 percent purchase online.

Within this total affluent group, 50 percent bought clothing or footwear online in the past 12 months. The comparable figures for buying home furnishings online were 17 percent.

Among all the affluent, 97 percent use the internet. The figures are higher for the $250,000+ group, in which 98 percent use the internet.

In 2006, the 29 million households with annual income of at least $85,000 represented the top quarter of US households, and the average income within that category was $157,700.

There were slightly more than 2.2 million households with incomes of at least $250,000, with an average income of $483,300. There were 2.6 million with at least $1 million in liquid assets such as certificates of deposits, stocks, bonds and mutual funds. The average income in this group was $300,400.

Most affluent consumers are well educated, married or partnered and own their own home. The average age of a head of household was 47.8 years among the affluent as a whole, 50.3 years for the higher income group and 57.4 years for the high net worth category. Nearly a third, of the heads of household in the latter group are retired.