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Some stores (generally high end clothing) offer 'Personal Shopper' service that does what you described, its not just Nordstrom. There are also small businesses

by miah_ 3y ago

Some stores (generally high end clothing) offer 'Personal Shopper' service that does what you described, its not just Nordstrom. There are also small businesses, and people who will do 'Personal Shopper' services across brands / stores.

RandallBrown 3y ago
What I described is a bit different than a personal shopper program, which Nordstrom also has. This experience involved basically no interaction with a store employee. The Nordstrom app would alert the store that the customer was approaching and their dressing room would be readied. After that the customer only interacted with salespeople if they wanted to. Nordstrom also had a pretty cool personal shopping system that I'm not sure still exists. Apparently stylists and customers can have fairly close relationships and it was pretty common to exchange numbers so a stylist could alert the customer of new items they might like. You could link your Nordstrom account to your phone number and stylists could send you items and you could simply reply with a yes or no to buy them. This was done using a custom texting app on the stylist's end. This gave Nordstrom some more visibility into their customer's shopping habits and prevented the stylist from having to give out their personal phone number.
- xp84 3y ago
  > stylists and customers can have fairly close relationships and it was pretty common to exchange numbers so a stylist could alert the customer of new items they might like. I'm sure you're probably well aware of this, but for those younger than 30 who might not have relevant experience, this was standard practice among commissioned sales staff at all department stores until roughly the turn of the millennium (that was roughly the end of the line for most stores even offering commission, so the concept of a professional salesperson quickly died in favor of cashiers who have no stake in the transactions). I had such a job as a teen, at a store which would be considered very middle-class. This was 2001. Being a dork, I read all the handbooks and manuals, and they explained all about prospecting -- how to keep a book of all my customers, to keep track of all their important dates and things. It suggested sending them letters telling them about new items they might like, gift ideas, etc. Today that store is still operating, but zero employees have any incentive to even provide any form of customer service, let alone build relationships with customers. Nordstrom is thankfully much closer to how things were, but it's sad to me that now you have to be pretty loaded to afford to shop somewhere that offers customer service.
TylerE 3y ago
My understanding is an actual personal shopper does a lot more than that - they're the ones even selecting the candidate options.

by miah_ 3y ago

RandallBrown 3y ago

What I described is a bit different than a personal shopper program, which Nordstrom also has. This experience involved basically no interaction with a store employee. The Nordstrom app would alert the store that the customer was approaching and their dressing room would be readied. After that the customer only interacted with salespeople if they wanted to. Nordstrom also had a pretty cool personal shopping system that I'm not sure still exists. Apparently stylists and customers can have fairly close relationships and it was pretty common to exchange numbers so a stylist could alert the customer of new items they might like. You could link your Nordstrom account to your phone number and stylists could send you items and you could simply reply with a yes or no to buy them. This was done using a custom texting app on the stylist's end. This gave Nordstrom some more visibility into their customer's shopping habits and prevented the stylist from having to give out their personal phone number.

xp84 3y ago
> stylists and customers can have fairly close relationships and it was pretty common to exchange numbers so a stylist could alert the customer of new items they might like. I'm sure you're probably well aware of this, but for those younger than 30 who might not have relevant experience, this was standard practice among commissioned sales staff at all department stores until roughly the turn of the millennium (that was roughly the end of the line for most stores even offering commission, so the concept of a professional salesperson quickly died in favor of cashiers who have no stake in the transactions). I had such a job as a teen, at a store which would be considered very middle-class. This was 2001. Being a dork, I read all the handbooks and manuals, and they explained all about prospecting -- how to keep a book of all my customers, to keep track of all their important dates and things. It suggested sending them letters telling them about new items they might like, gift ideas, etc. Today that store is still operating, but zero employees have any incentive to even provide any form of customer service, let alone build relationships with customers. Nordstrom is thankfully much closer to how things were, but it's sad to me that now you have to be pretty loaded to afford to shop somewhere that offers customer service.

TylerE 3y ago

My understanding is an actual personal shopper does a lot more than that - they're the ones even selecting the candidate options.