The Importance of a Secret Shopper

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How important is a secret shopper to a business where customer satisfaction holds the key? This is a question that is often asked when the advertisements asking for the shoppers to register flood the internet. Moreover, the profession is one where you get paid for shopping and also for throwing tantrums at the store or a restaurant. It is quite baffling for the common man to understand why the companies are paying for something which actually seems to benefit the special shoppers.

Well the secret lies in the word secret attached to the word shopper. First, an understanding of the nature of the job of a secret shopper needs to be gone through to gain a basic understanding of the process. This type of shopper is no ordinary shopper. The person is appointed for doing shopping by a company that owns the establishment. It is usually done through agencies that are called shadow shopping providers. There are many names for shopping secretly or anonymously. They are required to keep their identity secret hence the prefix secret before the word shopper. These special shoppers act like any shopper, asking for a particular item, comparing the price and quality with other brands, asking for special offers on it, and hundreds other questions to the shop floor assistants. Yes, you also ask the same questions when buying a product but you do not send your observations of the shop assistant to anybody for review. If you find it unpleasant you just grumble and look for another shop and if you find it otherwise you just keep on going back because you get the proper advice on the products to buy.

This is exactly what the companies are paying for. A grumbling customer who decides not to come back does not lose anything as there are many shops waiting to provide the same service. But the store from where you turn away loses a customer and through it loses in business. If the number of unsatisfied customers goes on increasing it spells the doom for the store. The role of the secret shopper gains importance over here. This shopper is sent in as the eye and ear of the company. He observes all that is going on in the establishment. Sometimes proper guidelines are spelled out to pinpoint the observation on some particular area. The staffs at the establishment do not suspect anything different from the usual when such a shopper visits. Even if they do get a wind of the appointment of an agency for observing them they can hardly differentiate a special shopper from the regular ones. In that case they have only one choice, to behave properly.

The observations submitted by the secret shopper are analyzed over various parameters and then a conclusion is arrived at where the company is faltering or can improve. These shoppers are not only important for the companies that find their customer base and in turn the business output dwindling but also by the companies that are doing satisfactorily. As often said everything is fair in love and war, a simple business tactics is to appoint spies in the rival establishment to see how they are doing. A secret shopper , unknowingly, also is appointed as a spy in such cases. The service of these special shoppers is simply invaluable to the service industry and every one in the industry will swear by that.

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