Wanderlust: Expat Life & Style in Thailand June / July 2017: The Business Issue | Page 13

the likes of Villa Market and K-Market, the online app and website lists the items avail- able to order — as you would find in a typical online shop — along with their prices. You’ll find more than 10,000 products to shop from, including organic food, fresh meat and imported products. Pop the products you want in your virtual shopping basket, and an honestbee team mem- ber (or shopper bee, as they are called) will call in to the store to hand-pick the exact items you requested, looking for optimal quality with each item. For ex- ample, your shopper bee will choose the freshest pineapple available, instead of blindly pick- ing one from the shelf simply to tick another thing off your list. Bounthay Khammanyvong, honestbee country manager for Thailand, explains: “Today, people tend to buy fresher and on-demand; they don’t want to stock up and eat old food. Our professional concierge shoppers give customers the peace of mind that they are getting the best and freshest products de- livered to their doorstep, which we achieve through solid com- munication with customers.” Part of this strong commu- nicative approach is keeping customers informed of their order. A shopper bee will send a text message to the custom- er during the shop to let them know if an item is not the fresh- est at the time. They can make suggestions for an alternative, or omit the product altogeth- er —just as you would if you were in the store yourself. Product quality also comes into play here. Your shopper might get in touch to let you know that the broccoli you re- quested, for instance, is not looking its best by the end of the day and then suggest an al- ternative. On average, a shop- per bee will contact the cus- tomer between two to three times with an update, even sending photos to show them what items look like. WWW.WANDERLUSTMAG.COMWANDERLUST 13