The founder of a company that rents out private jets has revealed some of the shopping habits of the super-rich, outlining some of the exorbitant amounts of money they spend on clothes, wine and other luxury items.
Ameerh Naran is the founder and CEO of Vimana Private Jets, according to The timesHis company works for “ultra-high net worth individuals” and arranges lavish private jets for them.
Speaking to the outlet, he discussed how these wealthy individuals spend their money and where.
According to Ameerh, more and more high-net-worth individuals are choosing to spend their money abroad, meaning fewer are spending their money in the UK.
And the sums of money he’s talking about are significant: the average Vimana customer spends around $1 million a month on “personal family travel.”
Extremely high net worth individuals can charter private jets to go on shopping sprees and shell out millions (file image)
But the extravagance doesn’t end there, according to Ameerh, who said: “We focus on the most expensive private jet trips. The amount they spend on shopping is far higher than what they pay to travel there.”
One major shift Ameerh talked about when it comes to the spending habits of the super-rich is not what they spend their money on, but where.
According to the CEO, Paris and Geneva are among the main destinations for Vimana’s clients, who come mainly from Asia, the Middle East and the United States.
This is a change from another popular shopping destination: London.
In 2021, then-Chancellor Rishi Sunak scrapped tax-free shopping for overseas visitors, meaning many of these big spenders decided to do their luxury shopping elsewhere.
The Office for Budget Responsibility estimated that the move would cost the Treasury £2bn.
However, according to the Centre for Economics and Business Research, the cost of losing high-spending shoppers was £11bn a year.
According to Ameerh, because “it is very easy to travel to another destination where taxes can be recovered,” he knew this measure would likely affect where high-net-worth individuals would choose to shop.
Members of the private jetterati who come to London for a shopping spree are often drawn to luxury department stores such as Harrods (pictured)
However, there is a solution for the super-rich, which Ameerh offers to its clients who are members of the private jetterati.
Using a freight licence to transport customers’ purchases means that while buyers pay VAT on goods when they buy them, when the items are taken to their destination outside the European Economic Area, the tax is reimbursed by a company called SkyBlue Exports, which earns a percentage of the VAT as a fee.
Vimana works with several luxury brands and offers the kind of luxury products that the ultra-rich are likely to buy.
Among the companies the private air broker works with are high-end jewellers such as Ferrara Diamonds and Catherine Best, among others, as well as pricey department store Harrods and British giant Asprey London, which sells luxury versions of items such as jewellery, homewear and handbags.
While customers can send their purchases directly and then reclaim the VAT, using the freight forwarding licensing option means that buyers don’t have to wait for their new products to arrive, and can instead pick them up straight away.
While shipping groceries may seem like a complicated way to save 20 percent, the exorbitant amounts of money spent by people using services like Ameerh make the service financially worthwhile.
According to Ameerh, she has a client who receives a monthly budget from her husband to spend on clothes for $2,000,000.
Describing the type of clients who use private jobs to fly to shopping destinations, one flight agent revealed that one client has a monthly budget of $2 million for clothing (file image)
Twenty percent of that figure is $400,000, he explained, so if a wealthy shopper chose to spend their money in Paris instead of London without using the service, they would save hundreds of thousands of dollars — an amount most people don’t make in a year.
In addition to the tax implications of purchases, Ameerh also looked at some of the types of purchases these super-rich individuals make.
In addition to designer clothes, watches are popular, and he described those purchased by his clients as items costing “between a quarter of a million and tens of millions of dollars.”
In addition to accessories, he revealed that people also rent private planes to buy home furnishings such as home theatre systems, sound equipment and furniture.
Expensive wines also figure on the list, with the CEO mentioning Pétrus, a prestigious brand that typically costs between €2,000 and more than €6,000 a bottle.
Speaking about their services, SkyBlue chief executive Ben Amri told the Times that the company’s service “is most beneficial to customers living outside the EEA” as it saves time in shipping goods to those areas.
Among the purchases made by some of these super-rich shoppers are high-end wines, such as Pétrus, a prestigious brand that typically costs between €2,000 and more than €6,000 per bottle.
He added: “The SBE service was created to offer customers the choice of how they export goods they purchase in the UK. Our service allows the customer to retain possession and control of their goods, whilst benefiting from a refund of the VAT they have paid.
In addition to clothing brands, jewelry stores, wine shops and other retailers that are feeling the drop in foreign purchases of high-end goods, service providers such as hotels, restaurants, theaters and museums have also seen lower footfall.
Luxury brands that have complained of lost revenue due to the scrapping of duty-free shopping for international visitors include shoe giant Christian Louboutin and fashion house Burberry.
Meanwhile, celebrated theatre producer Sonia Friedman, known for The Book of Mormon and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, among other great shows, has also criticised how the tax-free plan has been scrapped, describing it using theatre jargon and calling it a “failure”.
While Ameeth has pledged to take his super-rich clients to any shopping destination they desire, he too lamented the end of the scheme and said he wants to see private jet-setters spending their millions in London, describing it as “the best city in the world”.
