LivePerson launches LivePersonalShoppers.com: chat with a Personal Shopper

[mandy]

Can’t find the right dress to go with your new handbag? Out of birthday gift ideas for Aunt Sue? LivePerson Inc., which provides chat services for online retailers and service providers like banks and mobile phone companies, is testing a service that provides befuddled consumers with expert shoppers to guide them through the retail maze.

At LivePersonalShoppers.com, consumers can choose among several presumably more well-informed consumers to provide product suggestions in such areas as apparel, accessories, gifts, home furnishings, wine and cosmetics. Initial tests began in November with 50 participants, and since January LivePerson has been driving traffic to the site, primarily through paid search, says CEO Robert LoCascio.

He says the site attracts about 10,000 consumers a month, and that they act on the expert shopper’s suggestion about half the time. That is a higher conversion rate than LivePerson sees with its 5,000 clients, which include such retailers as Macy’s, Overstock.com and Neiman Marcus. LivePerson handles 4.5 million chats a month and about 25% of those chats lead to purchases, he says...

full article: http://www.internetretailer.com/dailyNews.asp?id=22159