In today’s world of luxury retail, he who makes the sale as quick and painless as possible is king. Or queen. In 2009, inspired by the way young people were using social media, Sophie Hill, a blonde 20-something fashion buyer, launched Threads Styling, a personal shopping service with a mission to “Inspire, Acquire, Deliver”. All its business is done using social media: new clients usually arrive through Instagram before being picked up by the brand’s WhatsApp host team, who connect them with a personal shopper (one of 27) who becomes their sole point of contact. All communications are done via messaging. They call it “conversational commerce” or “chat-based media”, but the business model emulates normal peer-to-peer communication.
在当今奢侈品零售界，谁能尽可能又快又不费力气地卖出东西，谁就为王，或女王。2009年，时年20多岁的金发女郎、时尚买手索菲•希尔(Sophie Hill)，受年轻人使用社交媒体的方式启发，推出了私人采购服务Threads Styling，口号为“启发、获得、给予”。所有业务均通过社交媒体完成：新客户通常都是通过Instagram联系，经由公司WhatsApp运营团队沟通后，分配给一位私人买手（共有27名）。这名私人买手将成为客户的单一联络人。所有交流均通过发信息完成。他们称之为“交谈商务”，或“聊天媒体”，但商业模式仿效一般的P2P社交。