Online personal shopping services are exploding

Online personal shopping sites like Stitch Fix, that send consumers a curated box of clothing, seem to be proliferating. (Tom Sweeney/Minneapolis Star Tribune/TNS)

What if you could celebrate your birthday every month? More and more, shoppers are coming home to find the glee that comes from opening a box full of surprises, thanks to subscription-based personal shopping services. 

Personal shoppers have been a mainstay of the retail experience for the well-heeled and wealthy, but only recently have they been accessible to the masses through digital-age ingenuity. By filling out a questionnaire, customers give retailers guidelines to their likes and dislikes, their body shape and size, their ideal price range. On the other end, the retailers crunch the data into a box of hand-picked items that they hope will land them a sale – or five.