Personal shopper

A personal shopper assists customers, with a level of individualized attention, to decide what to buy, providing one-on-one sales assistance.
Their focus is usually on clothes, jewelry and gifts, although the number of other stores - such as furniture retailers - that offer personal shopping services is on the rise, and many freelance personal shoppers will help customers shop in whatever item they happen to be after. A personal shopper can help a customer pull together an entire season’s wardrobe based on his or her needs, budget or style, or find just the right gift based on a client’s suggestions.

The way it works is simple: the personal shopper will give the customer focused and individual attention, and will advise the customer of what is in fashion, help the customer to decide what looks good on them, or assist in picking out an outfit for a particular occasion- or even an entire wardrobe for a particular season. They will often also conduct other services such as a colour analysis, enabling the customer to better understand which colours suit them best, or which colours should be worn for which seasons.

A personal shopper is typically employed by the store itself, which means that payment for the service is not required - only the items bought. Other stores will charge a small fee to use their personal shoppers. More and more frequently some personal shoppers offer their services as freelancers, building up their own clientele that pay for the service. Many celebrities use their own personal shoppers (called stylists).

Skills
A personal shopper must have strong understanding of fashion, product knowledge and creativity, but also patience, tact, good communication skills and the ability to build relationships and trust with clients. There are no formal education requirements for this position, but a background in fashion and retail is especially helpful.

Opportunity
In our busy society an increasing number of people need to hire someone to do their shopping. As a result, personal shoppers are more in demand than ever before. Here are some of the types of shopping done by personal shoppers:

• Taking care of shopping for busy families
• Shopping for designer clothing, home furnishings, and other items for wealthy people
• Finding gifts for companies to give to their important clients
• Selecting gifts for special occasions such as: Christmas, anniversaries, new baby, birthdays, graduations, Valentine's Day, weddings, ...
Working for a boutique, department store, or shopping center to assists customers with a level of individualized attention and service beyond what a retail associate would offer
• Being hired by busy executives to buy gifts for their employees or family
• Preparing gift bags for special events such as awards shows and conferences
• ...

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