You can either generalize or particularize your personal shopping services to shop for items such as gifts clothes, groceries, or other everyday goods that busy people do not have the time to get for them. Of course, you must like to shop, know the best stores (or the stores your customers prefer), recognize a good's quality, and know current prices.
Along with individual consumers, business executives are good potential customers. They need someone to shop for gifts for clients, find caterers, and other services they do not have time to search out. Internet shopping services are also offered to facilitate the customers by presenting multiple choices of shopping the commodities of daily life. Shopping service can be offered easily along with the performance of other house-hold duties of women so it is very reasonable business to be established by house-wives.

Start-Up Costs And Financing Sources

* $3,000 average for advertising and home office supplies and equipment (not including a dependable vehicle)
* Personal savings, credit line on credit cards.

Pricing Guidelines

Average charges include 15 percent to 30 percent of the purchase price of the item(s). Factor in your time, expertise, overhead, and wear and tear on your vehicle: You might include a minimum charge, then so many cents per mile and an additional charge per stop of $3-$5. Or you can simply charge by the hour.

Marketing And Advertising Methods And Tips

* Send out direct mailings and make presentations to the stores you know best. If you plan to shop regularly in certain stores, have them help advertise your business of shopping service, refer you to their best customers, and even offer you discounts.
* Post flyers on community bulletin boards.
* Print up business cards.
* Offer seminars and talks to groups you know are your target customers.
* Place ads in publications and newspapers that your target customers read.

Essential Equipment

Publicity and marketing materials; business telephone line with answering machine, answering service, or voice mail; computer database of your customers, stores and their layouts, contact persons (retailers and wholesalers), etc.; car phone and pager.

Recommended Training, Experience, Or Needed Skills

* Have experience, knowledge, and expertise either from personal or work experience, or training and study in the area of personal shopping services in which you plan to specialize.
* Be efficient, dependable, honest, and know what kind of purchases best please each of your customers.

Income Potential

Depending on your clientele, you can earn anywhere from $20,000 per year to a six-figure income if you have higher income and corporate clients.

Type Of Business

¼ in-home, marketing and running the business; ¾ out-of-the-home shopping, making presentations, and meeting with clients to hire teachers to tutor her growing list of students. "I hire teachers who really care about my students, and it gives us all the satisfaction of having the time to help those who really need it."

Best Customers

Professional working couples, business executives.

Helpful Tips

* Prove to your customers that they can trust you to get the best quality items for their money and that you are dependable.
* Know the clients you want to target, their tastes, and the stores they like best.
* Consult regularly with contact people at the stores you visit for the latest tips on sales, trends, etc.
* Be able to shop for more than one customer at once.
* Print up a checklist of each regular store's merchandise for your customer to fill in and give or fax to you or call in.

Multiple Shopping Services

Business economy services shopping are very profiteering business where the enterprisers take care of the economical status by introducing the savings schemes. Business and economy shopping services offers you the warranty of the safest and cheapest shopping in accordance with the economical standard of different customers. National shopping service offers the quick and dedicated spirits to serve the clients’ with the exquisite availability of the different kinds of commodities for them. Internet shopping services have changed the style of shopping the people now don’t need to go bazaar and purchase after the hectic process of shopping, now the customers visits the web sites of the required commodities where a long catalogue with all features of brands and price packages available and you may choose easily the desired items with the help of internet shopping service. Internet services shopping are highly recommended by all shoppers to be facilitated by the latest technological equipment of shopping and service.