NEW YORK, NY -- (Marketwire) -- 02/05/13 -- U.S. shoppers earning at least $150,000 a year share detailed opinions and evaluations of seven leading luxury retailers in the 2013 Luxury Consumer Experience Index (LCEI) conducted by the independent and objective New York-based Luxury Institute. Based on an average of seven customer experience components rated on a 1-10 scale, Bergdorf Goodman (8.58) ranks first, but wealthy consumers are far more likely to shop at second-place Nordstrom (8.36).

Visited by 34% of wealthy shoppers in the past 12 months, Nordstrom is the most popular luxury retail chain, and it is also most likely (92%) to be recommended favorably to family and friends. The affluent shoppers who have visited Bergdorf Goodman's two stores in the past 12 months rave about it, ranking it first on six of seven experience criteria, including having polite, trustworthy, knowledgeable and enthusiastic employees, as well as stores that are appealing and well maintained. Bergdorf's parent, Neiman Marcus, ranks first for being the retailer that high-income shoppers say, "completely satisfies my needs."

Despite the high praise for its people and its stores, wealthy shoppers perceive Bergdorf's merchandise as a bit too pricey, ranking it last (63%) on the question of whether its products are worth premium prices. Barneys New York ranks first (85%) for deserving premium pricing.

"Bergdorf Goodman retains the cachet of a classic boutique that delivers outstanding experiences," says Luxury Institute CEO Milton Pedraza. "On a larger scale, Nordstrom deserves credit for replicating great experiences with a customer centric culture across its entire network of stores."

Wealthy shoppers also evaluated Saks Fifth Avenue, Burberry, Bloomingdale's and Brooks Brothers.

About Luxury Institute (www.LuxuryInstitute.com)
The Luxury Institute is the objective and independent global voice of the high net-worth consumer. The Institute conducts extensive and actionable research with wealthy consumers about their behaviors and attitudes on customer experience best practices. In addition, we work closely with top-tier luxury brands to successfully transform their organizational cultures into more profitable customer-centric enterprises. Our Luxury CRM Culture consulting process leverages our fact-based research and enables luxury brands to dramatically Outbehave as well as Outperform their competition. The Luxury Institute also operates LuxuryBoard.com, a membership-based online research portal, and the Luxury CRM Association, a membership organization dedicated to building customer-centric luxury enterprises.

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