Neiman Marcus’s 4,500 associates are ringing up sales for their employer via their personal Instagram and Snapchat accounts, Chief Executive Karen Katz said at the National Retail Federation show last week.
The posh department store encourages its customers to follow sales associates on social media because “customers who are attached to a sales associate spend more,” the executive said during a panel discussion.
Each of its associates is given a company-issued iPhone, on which he or she uses an app called Isell to communicate with customers.
The associates might post advice on how to dress up jeans for going out or alert customers via text about new items that arrived in the store.
“We are trying to bring a more human touch to how [our associates] act online,” Katz said.