Retail Dude

How many of you would like to shop when someone else is paying for it ;) ? And yes my guess is true, ALL OF US! To enthrall you even more, this is no joke but an actual reality. Welcome to the concept of a Secret Shoppers aka Mystery Shoppers aka Spotters aka Virtual Customers.

Its a tool which stores and organizations such as The Gap, Walmart, Pizza Hut, Hooters and Bank One amongst many others use. They pay Secret Shoppers to shop in their establishments and report their experiences. On top of being paid for shopping you are also allowed to keep purchases for free. Although this concepts dates back to 1940’s but in todays scenario the perspectives may have changed. It is the practice of using shoppers who have been specially briefed to anonymously evaluate customer service, operations, merchandising, product quality, and in special cases, employee integrity. This tool is also commonly used by the research agencies looking for service quality, however a trained secret shopper is the one, who goes looking in for certain things and makes detailed observations as the experience unfolds.

This tool helps you understand what it is like to interact with your company from the customer perspective, if i were a retailer. Its also of importance to know whether we are doing enough to win our customers. Are the Sales Associates making it easier for customers to find what they’re looking for, and the right sales and closing techniques can help ring the register. Its not only retail shopping outlets but the tool is effectively used in Restaurant, Hotels, Financial Services, Automotive and even Call centres.

The Secret Shopper helps the retailer to churn out and evaluate almost all the points of initial contact, sometimes by phone, through the completed sale, and even the return of a purchase - all critical elements to future repeat business.

Mystery Shopping Providers Association is one of the largest Mystery Shopping Providers in the world. The MSPA is located in North America, Asia, Europe and South America representing one of the largest resources for businesses and shoppers in the industry. They also usually impart trainings to be one the secret shoppers. So you see, we also have a provider for it.

 So, you get to have fun, flexi hours, your opinion, try new things, spend time with family, you spend (someone else pays out), valuable work and after all this YOU GET PAID TO DO ALL THIS!

Dream Job eh……

Cheers!

- Sudip

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