I am spending much of today at the Luxury Briefing conference on web 2.0 in London. I'm heading back soon but I wanted to share some of the highlights from this morning's session.

THE NUMBERS: Some facts and figures about the wealthy and their on-line shopping habits. According to Ledbury Resarch, luxury products now make up 2.5 percent of all goods sold online. They think it will grow to 4.1 billion by 2011, or roughly 20 percent a year. Of the luxury brands which are selling online, currently the net is only responsible for about 1 percent of their sales. They predict that by 2011, 4.5 percent of all luxury purchases will be made online. There are, of course, exceptions. Saul Klein, a former VP at Skype and an investor in internet ventures, said that currently Agent Provocateur makes between 30 and 40 percent of its sales online.

Ledbury Research sees the U.S. as having great potential for luxury brands online. Why? In a recent survey, 30 percent of core luxury consumers in the U.S. (those with incomes of $200,000) said that they hadn't bought a brand because of the lack of availability over problems with product perception, etc. The new rich (or as I like to call the working rich) are much more likely to turn to the internet for advice and networking about shopping. The established rich get much of this information from friends.

THE SITES:
Cohen, of Ledbury, said that sites like Facebook and My Space were best for the aspirational customers who may buy a brand's perfume as an introduction to a brand. Klein, of Index Ventures, was there with two of his investments, an online luxury jewelery brand, Astley Clarke, and an online brand clearance site which hosts private sales and allows candid comments by shoppers, Koodos. He pointed to some examples of networking sites that attract a more affluent audience. They are:

A Small World which is essentially a Facebook for the rich and/or fabulous with a "by invitation only" policy and
Dopplr, a networking site where frequent travelers can find out who is traveling to the same destination they are.

Claus Sendlinger, the C.E.O. of Design Hotels pointed to some sites that he thought the hotel industry could use as a model for their own sites. I think there are good ideas for luxury goods brands on them as well.

PortoSenso is a vacation property development that managed to sell 30 percent of its units online before construction began. The site won his respect for, among other things, bringing the viewer into contact with not just the property but the entire area, by using Google Earth and well thought out photos that showed the views from each room on the floor plan.

The Toyota Virtual Test Drive allows consumers to pick the city of their test drive, the music they listen too, and also points out things of interest along the route.

The Bugaboo stroller site allows you to download gives daytrip walking tours of various cities, custom-made for two-to-four year olds.

Geobeats introduces viewers to a city with short videos made by locals describing the must-sees and the local favorites.

Wayfaring was one of my favorites. You can build a personal map of favorite things in a city and distribute it to your friends or look at maps that others have built.

AirTroductions is a rather hysterical networking site that allows you to meet people who will be on your flight, and change your seat assignment accordingly. It started in 2005 and has over 21,000 members.

And Claus's own site, of course, Design Hotels, which lets you keep track of your favorite things in a city and make several reservations -- like say for dinner -- at the same time you book your room.

We also got a preview of MyDeco, the new venture by Lastminute.com co-founder Brent Hoberman. I'll have to let you check that one out for yourself. I've got another session to attend.