History

Initially, mystery shopping was a technique used by private investigators to prevent theft by employees primarily at banks and retail stores. In the 1940's, a mystery Shopping company coined the term "mystery shopping" and began using the method for evaluating customer service. In the 1970's and 80's, Mystery Shopping gained extensive publicity, in the 90's, fueled by internet, the mystery shopping industry experienced rapid growth and acceptance. And today, with video and digital shopping the industry has been completely revolutionized.


Worldwide Industry

• Nearing US $1.5 Billion (worldwide)
• More focused on improving customer service than on policing bad employees
• Clients becoming more particular in use of mystery shopping
• Faster reporting from the field to the client using internet
• More diverse and specialized services
• Wide-ranging impact - with shoppers, clients, and providers

Why to Use Mystery Shopping
When location, pricing, and product assortment are no longer the unique selling proposition by themselves, service is often the ONLY key to success or failure .

It costs 10 times more to get a new customer than to keep an existing one.

One unhappy customer will tell 5 other people of their bad experience with service


Why customers leave:

• 69% poor customer service
• 13% poor product quality
• 9% competitive reasons
• 5% other
• 3% moved away
• 1% died