Methods, systems, and computer programs for servicing and/or providing spontaneous collaboration between a shopper and consultants concerning a shopping goal. Information about the shopper's physical or logical proximity to a particular product category, combined with the current contents of his or her shopping cart is used to determine one or more shopping goals. Information about each potential consultant, including physical proximity, willingness to consult, areas of expertise and recent experience is used to rank each consultant in terms of relevance to one or more shopping goal. Communication is established between the shopper and one or more consultants in order that consulting services be provided. Consultants' evaluations are maintained persistently for use in future ranking. In some cases collaboration is coordinated by a service bureau.