Most of us are familiar with shopping, shopping and more shopping. But how many of us know about ‘Mystery Shopping’. Not many! Here we speak about a part of business activity very much familiar in West, and steadily rising in India.

To begin with...

What is Mystery Shopping?
Mystery Shopping is a survey conducted by an anonymous company to get an insight of the customer service of a company, organisation or a corporate giant. The survey is conducted through hired candidates known as Mystery Shoppers.

How does a company gain through Mystery Shopping?
Mystery Shopping provides the vital knowledge of the quality of customer service of the company and its scope for improvement without the knowledge of the employees. It provides an opportunity to assess the frontline staff from the customer point of view and offers cost effective methods in further developing the business. Through Mystery Shopping, deserving employees are also rewarded with incentives.

Is a standard procedure Mystery Shopping followed for all companies?
Mystery Shopping procedures vary to some extent for different companies. In most cases, a Mystery Shopping company will sets its objectives, prepares a questionnaire, hires shoppers, collects and classifies data and reviews the results.

Which companies or organisations hire the above services?
Companies willing to perk up their frontline staff and in turn their businesses hire the services. Initial movie reviews are also based on Mystery Shoppers reporting.

What are the expenses for the above services?
Expenses are based on varied factors such as: procedures adopted, geographical locations covered, complexity of service required, etc. Geographical locations may vary from a few retail shops within a town or city to outlets across the country.

Flipside
The results of Mystery Shopping Service need to be utilised within a short span of time. Also they are very much dependent on the authenticity of Mystery Shoppers, thus the results being inaccurate.