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Mystery-Shopping.org.uk
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| Mystery Shopping Articles | Be a Mystery Shopper | Get Paid to Shop |
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Main Categories of Mystery Shopping: Comparison Shopping: Most assignments involve a comparison of one firm’s performance against another, usually in the same field. Hence the reason you might be asked to purchase the exact same goods at several stores to see which is cheapest, and who offers the best, most efficient service. Most projects are on a local scale involving a comparison of stores in the same town or city.
Customer Loyalty/Competitive Positioning: Competitive positioning closely resembles comparison shopping, but in this case research takes place over a wider area. Where comparison shopping largely involves comparisons on a local scale, competitive positioning has much wider applications and normally involves the entire market in which the client operates. So, for example, a firm like Sainsbury’s may use competitive positioning to assess how large a share of the UK market it has compared to Asda or other major competitor. Much of competitive positioning revolves around customer loyalty and is designed to win customers from other firms while also maintaining the client’s own current market share. In-Store Evaluation: Here the mystery shopper measures and evaluates actual against desired performance within the store, with the intention of highlighting strengths and weaknesses and to suggest whatever action is needed to increase strength and reduce weaknesses. Impulse Buying: Few people buy just essentials and most go home with at least a few additional items, often purchased on impulse. Unplanned buys can amount to more than one-third of sales, making it vital that management understands what goods and display methods induce people to purchase non-essential items. Mystery shoppers are instructed to purchase whatever they fancy up to a specified amount after which choice is compared and buying patterns noted. Qualitative Research: This often involves bringing people together into an informal setting, say a quiet corner in the bar of a small hotel or country inn where the purpose is to test and sample specific items and report back on findings. Because most work is conducted by independent research groups (sometimes called focus groups), not business owners or manufacturers themselves, people feel less inhibited in expressing their views about other people’s goods and services. Exactly what the client wants! Receiving Mail: The mystery shopper is simply asked to retain mail forwarded to his or her address as part of a local or regional exercise to test direct mail offers or act as a collection point for direct mail offers. For example, an information publisher advertising in the likes of ‘Exchange and Mart’ might want to know what the opposition is selling and how readers react to their own advertisements in the same magazine. As a mystery shopper your job might be to write, phone, fax or even e-mail a long list of advertisers, posing as a potential buyer of such as business opportunity packages, following which you retain all communications and make a note of what was said in phone conversations, and so on. Some companies, notably direct mail specialists, include mystery shoppers as ‘seeds’ on mailing lists to ensure other companies are abiding by conditions on which their lists are rented. Telephone Surveys: Not all mystery shopping involves making personal visits and much work takes place by telephone, fax or online. For example, a major high street bank recently hired mystery shoppers to phone local branches to check how fast and efficiently calls were answered. Telephone and Internet shoppers might also be asked to place orders in response to mail order or direct mail promotions. Numerous variations exist, as for example where people are hired to pose as irate customers wanting to air their grievance and demand redress. The objective is to check how well staff handle the problem or what improvements were effected as a result of staff being recently trained in complaint management. Internet Ordering and Research: More and more businesses gaining an online presence has generated huge demands for home-based mystery shoppers to comment on the appearance and user-friendliness of web sites, ease of navigation, product range and download times, delivery times, speed and manner of response to customer queries and comparison with competing companies on and off the Internet. Sometimes you will be asked to make specific purchases, often you can buy whatever you like up to a specific price, frequently all you will have to do is ask questions and compare prices and product range between the client and competing companies. Other: The above is not a comprehensive list by any means and a wide range of alternative tasks might be assigned to mystery shoppers, such as conducting house-to-house enquiries, distributing samples in supermarkets, interviewing passers-by in the high street, and so on. Extract from: Be a Mystery Shopper GET PAID TO SHOP … and keep everything you ‘buy’ completely free of charge! byAvril Harper
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Mystery Shopping Facts
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