Super-rich are buying luxury products online like never before

It's not just the number of online auctions that have risen. Buyers' price threshold has shot far beyond anyone's expectations

Mass market retailers aren’t the only ones betting on a banner online holiday sales season.

Christie’s auction house has launched its worldwide “Luxury Week” with beefed up offerings to meet this year’s record demand. (Week this year is a loose designation, given that some of the sales have already started, and many last through mid-December.)

“This year we’ve seen a 200 per cent increase in the number of [online] sales,” for November and December says Caroline Ervin, a head of e-commerce for Christie’s jewelry department.  

Last year, Christies hosted just four online-only luxury sales in the same November/December stretch. Those sales carried a