Come shop with me

25-year-old Puneet Dua goes shopping with the super rich. He can often be seen at DLF Emporio, Delhi's luxury shopping destination, and various other shopping arcades at five-star hotels across the city. Manoj Sharma reports.

Twenty-five-year-old Puneet Dua loves shopping extravagantly. He can often be seen at DLF Emporio, Delhi's luxury shopping destination, and various other shopping arcades at five-star hotels across the city. But he doesn't shop for himself: he is a personal shopper who helps the super rich shop! No, he does not carry their shopping bags, he is a fashion-forward professional who offers his "shopping expertise" to luxury shoppers and gets paid for it.

HT Image

He says what makes him an "expert" is his inside knowledge of luxury brands available in India and abroad. His job involves collaborating with various luxury brands, keeping track of new launches and limited editions of luxury brands, and sourcing what is not available in the country. "I pull it all together for my clients and save their time. Though not a stylist, I also tell them what they should wear and what will make them look and feel good," says the suave and sophisticate Dua, sitting in the shopping arcade of a five-star hotel he often frequents with his clients.

Most of his clients are super rich: industrialists, real estate developers, gutka manufacturers – generally, people who have the money, but not enough knowledge of luxury brands and what will suit them most. He has classified his clients into two categories: "advanced luxury clients", whose families have been rich for generations, and "aspiring luxury clients", the nouveau riche. "Eighty per cent of my clients belong to the latter category. Delhi has about 2,000 super rich families, making it the largest luxury market in the country," he says.

Dua says he has three kinds of clients in terms of taste and temperament: "the power dressers", who will only buy what they believe is right for them; "the attention seekers", who look for compliments, consider brands status symbols and want the tags prominently visible on their dresses; the "detached dressers", who believe that they are a cut above the rest and mostly go for classics. "But there are also people who can be all three, depending on their mood and occasion, and it is quite a challenge being a personal shopper for them," says Dua, who studied at Modern School, Barakhamba Road, in Delhi.

His super-rich clients come not just from Delhi, but also cities such as Ludhiana, Indore, Bhopal and Chandigarh. They contact him on email or over phone. Dua asks them a few questions regarding their lifestyle, personality and their budgets. "Then we fix a date to go shopping together. I inform the luxury stores in advance about the arrival of my clients and what they need to show them. But, at times, I also do shopping without my clients and ship the garments to their homes or offices," says Dua, who lives in north Delhi's Model Town and has a degree in fashion retail and marketing.

Most of his clients are in the 35-50 age group and have great spending capacities, says Dua. "One of my clients recently shopped for about R30 lakh in just two days. I have many clients doing shopping worth R10 lakh a month regularly, and most of them make payments in cash. While they do not haggle over prices, they do want value for money," he says, adding, "Many businessmen from small towns spend a lot of money on buying gifts for their wives. I recently had a client who came with his girlfriend and shopped for his wife. The girlfriend was furious," Dua says with a wry smile.

Some of his clients, he says, cannot pronounce the name of the brands they want to wear and are fussy. "Some women want to buy a patent leather bag to go with a sari. There are men who insist on wearing checked shirts with striped trousers, not quite a sensible combination. But most of them evolve and develop a good fashion sense over time," he says.

Dua charges only his clients and not the luxury stores for his services. He offers packages to his clients, such as "wardrobe weeding" (it costs R50, 000 and involves a complete overhaul of a client's wardrobe) and "corporate power programme".

"On an average, I charge R5,000 for five hours of shopping. I decide on people's wardrobes taking into account factors such as the nature of their jobs, how often they travel and what their workplaces are like. I will decide on what shoes they should wear only after I know things such as whether their offices have wooden or marble floors," he says.

His "corporate power programme", he says, is aimed at helping executives look more polished and professional. "About 30% of female corporate executives in Gurgaon still wear salwars, though they aspire for modern attire. My programme helps such people," he says.

Dua shares a personal bond with his clients and they share a lot about their personal life with him, he says. "One of my women clients recently gifted me a painting worth about R1 lakh."

He "loves" being in a profession dominated by women. "I enjoy their company and competition. I also love dressing up women. They are much better groomed than men," he says.

But Dua says he is now trying to shift to retail business consulting — helping international brands set up their businesses in India. "A personal shopper has a limited shelf life. Your looks and communication skills matter a lot. Besides, my job also involves ego massage of the clients. One should have an exit plan ready," says Dua