Here are some stats from StyleCareer.com:

-44% of women aged 13 and over bought a purse for themselves or for someone else

-On average, women bought 3 handbags per year

-On average, women own 6 handbags, younger women own fewer than 6 and older women own more

-40% of women over 55 own 7 or more handbags, the highest ownership of all age segments

-Amount spent for a handbag ranges from about $40 to $65

-Women are reported spending $42, on average, for their most recent handbag and $54, on average, for the bag they carry most often

-Luxury goods produced $525 billion in sales in the United States last year

-Upscale handbag buyers or those willing to spend $150 or more for a handbag, represent about one in ten of those women who purchased a handbag in the past year

I wonder what their stats would look like if I bought everything that I've seen and liked! I fall in love with far more bags and accessories than I actually buy.

^ agreed what if we all could buy everything our heart desired oh em gee.. talk about I'd have more than 6 lol since i'm the younger buyer

I was wondering where you could get a handbag for $45.....except for maybe Target or Walmart. Even then, I don't think the choices are vast. Interesting.

^ would you actually buy one from there? I dont think ive done that since I was 8 when I first started learning the word shop

Originally Posted by Compass Rose

I was wondering where you could get a handbag for $45.....except for maybe Target or Walmart. Even then, I don't think the choices are vast. Interesting.

thats kinda what i was wondering too..

me too. im wondering how the brands pie-section out into the percentages of woman surveyed. there's cheap target stuff, liz clairborne, fossil on teh low end of the scale...all those weird pleather and plastic bags at ross....and then after $100 you gradually get into key namebrands

i would like to know their definition of a bag. pleather shouldnt count.

Originally Posted by Compass Rose

I was wondering where you could get a handbag for $45.....except for maybe Target or Walmart. Even then, I don't think the choices are vast. Interesting.

Hi Compass!! Or shop sells handbags only, and none over $49.50!! They are all fashion handbags, and we have 3000 sq. ft., so tons of choices!

LOL @ the 42-54 dollar bag comments. Although, I have spent just 46 bucks each for two all-over Italian leather handbags by Michael Rome. The bags had to go through one sale and three clearances to get to that price!

I am a little disturbed @ the stat of 1 out of 10 women are upscale handbag buyers or willing to spend 150 bucks or more on handbags. I mean 150 dollars is not that much, relatively speaking. I wonder what "inexpensive," "midrange," or "expensive" is now in general, not just for someone who is like the average tpf'er.

I got a few designer bags for under 100 euro in clearance, so it is not surprising that the average is around 45 $...

Tink it really depends on the demographic base that the survey was conducted on, think women in different demographic groups will have very different avg spends

I thought the stats of avg $40 to $65 per bag sounds resonable, as women who bought high-end bags will have their spend divided among the rest of the women surveyed, and think most women probably don't buy high-end bags.

Personally, just last year, all my bags are around or below the USD 65 mark

^ mine need to be more in that range! hehe

I'm yelling to husband:
"Honeeeyyy, guess what? I'm above average!"

Count me in the corner that is well above average, as well!

I see a lot of cute bags less than $50 at TJMaxx (not leather), and a lot of women buying them. To each her own. The weird thing about averages is that to get to $65 there has to be a lot of them less than $65 to balance out even one designer bag. I wonder where they get their numbers.