London-based Threads Styling, an online personal shopping service that serves both WhatsApp and WeChat, said communication tools have helped its luxury jewelery business expand in recent years. And while the average price of fine jewelery online is between £3,000 and £4,000 ($3,734 to $4,978), Aries Chilumbole, director of fine jewelery and watches at the company, says existing customers use WhatsApp to find her said it buys luxury jewelry worth what it describes as “millions.”
Nouf Alzamil, a tech worker in Saudi Arabia, has been shopping at Threads Styling since 2012. She now makes most of her fashion and jewelry purchases through the platform, where she messages her personal shopper “at least once a week” and buys fine jewelry “four or five times a year.” she said.
In 2019, her Thread Personal Shopper helped her purchase a Patek Philippe watch that was not available locally. Now, she said, she’s likely inspired by shooting styled jewelry and choosing “trending” items that Thread posts on social media.
“Probably 60% of the time, we buy something directly from Threads that it suggests. The other 40%, we find something we like and ask shoppers to source it for us,” she said. said in a telephone interview. Recently, she said, she bought a Loquet necklace and jewelry from her two brands, Shay and Kamyen, which she found at Threads.
“I definitely think that COVID-19 has accelerated digital shopping among my friends,” she said. “In Saudi Arabia, there are not so many options to shop in person and no one wants to spend a lot of time indoors anymore. So it is good to discover new brands and have someone to inspire you. That’s it.”
She is happy to buy fine jewelery based on photos and videos, but said she would “like to see anything over £20,000”.
