When Michelle Moquin enters the Christmas shopping season, her shopping list looks incredibly glamorous. Fine art, Teslas and Van Cleef Arpels watches feature prominently, and her days are spent browsing auction websites and speaking to luxury dealers.
“I have gifts that are anywhere from $10,000 to a few million dollars, depending on the client,” she says. Moquin’s a full-time personal shopper and stylist who works out of the San Francisco Bay Area, and her clients range from twenty-something tech billionaires to sixty something CFO’s. “There are some differences between people in their twenties with new ‘techie’ money, opposed to older gentlemen,” she says. “A lot of tech people aren't used to money and they're wanting to show off how much they can spend — the older clients are not as flashy, and more [concerned] about the uniqueness of the gift.”
The use of luxury concierge and personal shopping services has risen over the last decade, and for many billionaires and millionaires they’re a necessary service for the cash rich, time poor.
Many of the 1% view these as the most efficient way to get the gifts they need while using their time working on their business — what they do best. Entrepreneurs earning this kind of money tend to be aware of what their strengths are, and time is an increasingly valuable commodity.
Concierge companies and luxury shopping services provide everything from luxury travel to private jets and schools for the wealthy, but Christmas is the season where this excess accelerates.
Concierge service Quintessentially, established in 2000, finds the Christmas season extremely busy. But they try and keep ahead of the process. “Our job is to remind [clients] of things — we don't sit back and wait for the phone to ring, we’re proactive,” says Jackie Brander, USA Director for Quintessentially Gifts. Quintessentially are known for their extravagant experiences, from closing Sydney Harbour Bridge for a wedding proposal to arranging a romantic dinner on an iceberg.
They have clients all over the world, but say there are some differences in the Silicon Valley region. Youth, for example — but not as extreme as the stereotype. “We’re not dominated by a bunch of Mark Zuckerberg's,” says Jon Goss, Senior Vice President at Quintessentially.
“We skew male [globally] with an age range of 35-55, and an average age of 44. This skews younger in San Francisco. We have a general spread of C-suite execs, and non-tech entrepreneurs and banking and finance. There are more [tech founders] but it’s a cliche that everyone in the Bay Area is in tech.”
Quintessentially are often tasked with finding gifts at short notice, and pride themselves on attention to detail. A recent gift Brander purchased was a $10,000 S.T.Dupont James Bond kit that included a lighter in the shape of Bond’s famous gun. Pets are also big business — a collar made of diamond and gold was recently requested for a teacup dog. “We’ve flown a dog to a wedding on a private jet,” says Brander. “These are usually gifts for one of the parents of the dog.”
Brander says she can’t provide ‘top’ gift suggestions, as every client has unique needs, but does say that Hermes Birkin bags continue to be extremely popular-- and that the company keeps an inventory at all times. “They’re big ticket items,” she says, “ they can be anywhere from $20,000 to $200,000.”
But apart from time-saving, what’s the real benefit of using a personal shopper? For Brander it’s obvious. “They're looking for expertise and taste levels,” — something you don't get on Amazon. Goss agrees. “It’s saving clients time and getting products that don't exist in the ordinary world. We have a unique access point.”
Moquin starts taking Christmas request in July and August, by November, her workload is full up. She’s noticed a trend towards CEO’s providing luxury Christmas gifts for their employees. “For one CEO, I arranged a case of champagnes from across the world to be delivered on a monthly basis to 20 [of her staff] — her Christmas holiday gift,” says Moquin. She says that tech items are in high demand — from luxury Fitbits to Apple watches in custom colors and Augmented Reality glasses that display driving directions. And health is a driver behind many gifts; she says she’s had requests for UV exposure patches and clothing that changes color based on temperature.
Moquin interviews every client extensively to understand what drives their purchases — are they looking to be known as someone who is original, do they want their name monogrammed on the gift? “Sometimes they don't care if a person likes it, it’s more about much they can afford,” she says. “They want people to know they spent a ton of money. For others, it’s about exclusivity and how unique the gift is.”
The team at Quintessentially agree that price isn't always the most important part of the gift process. “One of the craziest things we got in the last year were the Yeezy Boost Kanye West sneaker,” says Goss. “The minute they’re released they’re sold out, and they were really hard to source. We’ve done something impossible and now someone in Stockholm has the sneakers and that’s immeasurable, and not just about the dollar value.”
That’s the crux of these services; they’re more than simplifying tasks, they’re about creating and curating real tangible experiences.
“When someone hears no elsewhere and we say yes, it’s the biggest high we can get. That’s the greatest joy of this position,” says Brander.
