Why Retail Businesses Need Mystery Shopping

Retail mystery shopping is a value added tool for retailers. There is a lot going on behind the back of a retailer that he or she is unaware of. The undercover shoppers unveil the truth about the retailers business. According to MSPA, an association for such services, a business may have to spend four times more to lure new customers than to retain old ones. Also, about 95 percent of customers would never speak about their dissatisfaction to the store people. But, they would never re-visit the store too. Besides this, a customer with bad experience at a certain store will spread the news like wildfire than a customer with good experience.

These are some of the reasons why businesses hire hidden shoppers. Customers are the core of business. The ultimate aim of any business in the world is to serve the customers at their best. Its no wonder that retail quality assurance shopping has grown colossally over the years. Who knows amidst the crowd of shoppers thronging the market, a few may be undercover shoppers. They may visit departmental stores, malls, salons, pizza shops, local grocery stores, and other such outlets to observe how employees are performing and what customers are thinking about the store. This, they report back, to the retailers, who have hired them for this task.

According to a survey done by MSPA in Dallas, businesses spent approximately dollar 600 million on hiring undercover shoppers in the year 2004. This was 11 percent higher than the money spent in 2003. Till now, undercover shoppers have made many millions of visits to stores in a bid to expose the reality of management and employees performance. Businesses may think they are doing great. However, sometimes they are in for a rude shock when the hidden shoppers report about the laxity of their staff or how the customers are dissatisfied with their store atmosphere. Retail mystery shopping has prevented many a business from crashing by informing them about the real situation in time so that they could correct the loopholes before it is too late.

Thanks to the cut throat competition in the world of retailing, businesses need to know what is happening behind the scenes. Tools like employee appraisal and HR are not enough to get an unbiased feedback. There are many employees who appear competent on paper, but when they are sent to the floor, they show their true colors. Only a professional with expertise and experience in retail mystery shopping can catch minute improvement areas in a store. Things like delay in greeting customers, making the customers wait for a long time at the cash counter, or not attending to the customers when they are selecting items need attention. Also, factors like cleanliness of the store and the display of products on the shelves play an important role in attracting customers. Stores that are neat and well organized tend to draw more customers than those that are dusty and disheveled.

Besides, it is a known fact that employees perform best when their boss is around. But, in the absence of an authority, the staff may become careless in performing their duties. It is crucial for a business owner to know how his or her staff is doing in their absence. Businesses want a precise report and an accurate quality monitoring and guarantee. Hence, the demand for retail mystery shopping has grown in leaps and bounds. And it is going to stay high for a considerable time period in the future.

Brought to you by : Storage Mart Self Storage Provider

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Disclamer: This entry is intended to promote our partner StorageMart and some or all participants received compensation.