Shop Agents

But the minute Kapur’s portal,MyMumbaiShopping.com went live in January,there was an influx of clients ranging from Indians to tourists. She also started receiving shout-outs from Indian designers,international brands and small boutiques,hoping to offer her commissions and discounts to put them on her itinerary. “It gives me a lot more variety to offer my clients,many of who are brides-to-be and their relatives,” she says. This association works well for brands too,who want to market themselves to people.

But it isn’t the high street brands Kapur’s clients want catering from. They are looking at home-grown designer shops,boutiques and brands as well as prominent designers. In turn,many of these clothing connoisseurs are happy to accommodate requests from personal shoppers to sell their wares.

“Upon a tie-up,many boutiques offer shoppers discounts and commissions,” reveals Jignasa Parikh Shingal,owner of the Mumbai-based XY Personal Shoppers. “But tying up with international high-street brands doesn’t work because many of them have set policies that take time to go around.”

Personal shoppers work with their clients on a one-off basis or more often,on a season-to-season basis. This can sometimes average out to 16-20 garments per client. Falguni Jhaveri,owner of Fuel,a fashion store in Mumbai,states,“Most personal shoppers pick up clothes for multiple clients at one go. So most seasons’ trends are bought out in bulk.” Tying up with them on a discount or commission basis is thus a strategic move on the brand’s part to further their sales.

While this trendy collaboration works decently well for established brands and designers,new stores see a lot of value in tying up with a personal shopper as an initial marketing strategy. “They see it as an important means of marketing and PR,” says Kapur.

But while this might seem like a great deal for brands and consumers,personal shoppers are quite conscious of keeping the dealings transparent with their clients. “Since we charge clients a management fee,we pass on any discounts that we get to them directly,” says Parikh.