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Mystery Shoppers Enjoy Being Spies

By Renee DeGross

Cox News Service

ATLANTA - Donning a black raincoat rigged with a hidden camera, Chip Cronham slips into a metro Atlanta department store and heads for the bedding.

He pokes a few Sealy mattresses, as if looking for a new one, and waits several minutes until a salesman arrives.

Cronham captures the sales pitch on the camera, making sure to pan the department to film its condition. Today it's neat but empty of other customers.

The salesman doesn't know that Cronham is his employer's hired mystery shopper, paid to film shopping experiences on the sly.

"I get my kicks on acting," said Cronham, who once dyed his hair black and shaved off his beard for the job. "I try not to stand out in a crowd."

Though few will talk about it, department stores and other retailers use mystery shopping to see their stores through customers' eyes. Other service industries such as hotels and restaurants also use the tactic.

For retail chains trying to retain a service edge and goose lackluster sales, mystery shopping can be a valuable tool, proponents say.

Keeping an edge

"Retailers are realizing that mystery shopping is the only way they can understand what truly happens to shoppers," said Ron Welty, president of IntelliShop, a mystery shopping company.

Mark Michelson, founder of the Mystery Shopping Providers Association, estimates that 80 percent of retail chains use mystery shoppers. While no group tracks what retailers spend on mystery shopping, annual spending has topped $1 billion, according to Michelson's estimates.

Cronham says mystery shopping only pays from $5 to $100 per job, depending on complexity, but it helps supplement his income as a contractor.

In recent months, Cronham has hit retailers ranging from furniture stores to car dealerships, eye centers, restaurants and specialty stores.

Some assignments require mystery shoppers to have coffee at a Starbucks, eat a restaurant appetizer or take an eyeglass exam. But on most jobs Cronham pretends he's browsing and doesn't buy anything.

"It's the spy element that attracts people to it," Cronham said. "But it's feast or famine."

Cronham, 50, said he got into the mystery shopping business in 1981, after working in the fast-food industry.

"It was a new concept at that time," Cronham said, adding that he started using video cameras two years ago.

"There's a 007 gene in me, the part that wants to be a spy."

Finding the flaws

One thing mystery shopping does is help chains gauge staffing levels.

"If you can't find help, it's very much a dissatisfier," said Erik Anderson, senior vice president at GFK Custom Research. "Mystery shopping gives positive strokes but also exposes weaknesses, and it helps retailers identify and fix problems."

But mystery shopping doesn't replace research and focus groups, Anderson said. "It augments the process."

To become a mystery shopper, Cronham became certified by the Mystery Shopping Providers Association after taking a series of tests.

Cronham gets work through the association's list of companies that match mystery shoppers with retailers. Cronham applies for jobs regularly, but typically he is competing with several other mystery shoppers.

When he's hired, the company sends him an e-mail with the assignment. Cronham uses his own undercover camera equipment, along with tweezers, tape, wires, extra batteries and recording tapes he keeps in his car.

Some stores that have recently used mystery shoppers include Linens & Things, Sharper Image, Storehouse Furniture, HiFi Buys, Vitamin World, Teavana, PetsMart, Blockbuster, Bed Bath & Beyond and Bass Pro Shops, according to several Atlanta mystery shoppers.

Other chains prefer having managers and executives do unannounced store visits.

"Mystery shopping is very important, but it's more important to do it ourselves than farm it out," said Roger Campbell, Costco's top executive in the Southeast. "Our job is to be in our stores often to see what's going on, and we even make unannounced weekend visits."

Cathy Stucker, author of "The Mystery Shopper's Manual," said retailers use mystery shopping results to reward good employees and identify training problems.

Retailers typically alert workers that they use mystery shoppers, hoping that will encourage good performance, she said.

Cronham said some stores use the tactic to identify employees to promote to managerial positions. At least one chain, Archiver's, gave employees gift cards after positive mystery shopping trips.

Stucker said results of mystery shops are sometimes used in performance evaluations.

Cronham said retailers pay mystery shopping companies from $200 to $600 per video shop, depending on the complexity, and less for shops without a video camera. The free-lance shoppers get only a cut of that.

Cronham said has made over $1,000 a month on a few occasions, though he averages about $200.

"There's a bit of James Bond in it," Cronham said. "Plus, it's fun, and you get paid for it. What more could you ask for?"

Reprinted from http://www.grandforks.com

Yours in success,

Jennifer Callahan

info ~at~ mystershopnow ~dot~ com

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