Shopping for an Opinion

Who said only the wealthy can afford personal shoppers? These days, it is a free service offered by most department stores, and in some cases, available on the Internet. So you can look like a million bucks without spending a million bucks.

Theoretically, it won't cost you a penny to locate that must-have Marc Jacobs dress or those perfect Dunhill cufflinks. But you might have to outsource shopping services to find the Apple iPod carrying case from Fendi that holds as many as 40 of the trendy personal jukeboxes and goes for a mere $1,500.

Retailing, by definition, is a service industry. The word "retail" is partially derived from the Old French "re" plus "tailler", which means "to cut" or "to tailor." As such, personal shoppers tailor merchandise selections to a customer's special needs or purposes.

Neiman Marcus(NMGa Quote), Bloomingdale's and Macy's, both owned by Federated Department Stores(FD Quote), Nordstrom(JWN Quote) and Saks Fifth Avenue(SKS Quote) each offer free personal shopping services.

But somehow, consumers -- especially those in the upper middle class -- are often intimidated by or feel unworthy of having a personal shopper. "People fear the personal shopper," said Kristin Bentz, luxury market analyst at New York-based Kinney & Kinsella, a creative services firm. Very few consumers actually use personal shopping services, she said, often because they are uninformed.

Clearly, however, the demand for luxury items is there. Luxury spending has rebounded from an early 2003 drop. Retail experts have speculated that moderate shoppers are "trading up" for unique products, especially after many curbed spending as the start of the war in Iraq prolonged uncertainty about the strength of the U.S. economic turnaround. Indeed, the momentum of luxury spending has proven its staying power so far in 2004.