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•Many companies use mystery shopping (MS) to measure salespeople’s behavior.•We examine whether MS assessments can be related to customer evaluations and sales.•We observe a low ...correlation between MS assessments and evaluations of customers.•In contrast to customer evaluations, MS assessments cannot predict sales.•These findings put the informative value of MS data into question.
Mystery shopping (MS) is a widely used tool to monitor the quality of service and personal selling. In consultative retail settings, assessments of mystery shoppers are supposed to capture the most relevant aspects of salespeople’s service and sales behavior. Given the important conclusions drawn by managers from MS results, the standard assumption seems to be that assessments of mystery shoppers are strongly related to customer satisfaction and sales performance. However, surprisingly scant empirical evidence supports this assumption. We test the relationship between MS assessments and customer evaluations and sales performance with large-scale data from three service retail chains. Surprisingly, we do not find a substantial correlation. The results show that mystery shoppers are not good proxies for real customers. While MS assessments are not related to sales, our findings confirm the established correlation between customer satisfaction measurements and sales results.
This study investigates shopping experiences at dealerships selling electric vehicles (EVs) in Ontario, Canada. In 2014, twenty mystery shoppers were trained and sent into 24 EV-certified dealerships ...(with a total of 95 shopping experiences) to observe the sales approach towards EVs. Results show that a common barrier for shoppers is the unavailability of EVs at the dealership – including a lack of EV models on site to view or test-drive as well as a three- to four-month waiting period to receive the vehicle once ordered. A multiple regression model was developed to explore which factors influence the likelihood of deciding to purchase an EV. Findings suggest that, controlling for brand, the key success factors are a salesperson's positive attitude and the availability of an EV on site. It is important for future policy makers to acknowledge the influential role of market intermediaries, such as dealerships, in the adoption of EVs. The research findings demonstrate a potential for government agencies to work with dealerships and/or salespeople to improve EV uptake by encouraging the presence of floor models and vehicles for test-driving on site, and by increasing the accuracy of information being provided to customers.
•Mystery shopping was used to observe EV sales interactions at dealerships in Ontario.•A common barrier for customers is the lack of availability of vehicles on site.•Salespeople were enthusiastic about EVs but sometimes relayed inaccurate information.•Government EV policy needs to acknowledge the importance of market intermediaries.
Western retail experience balances between customer expectations and experience in the service exchange. Retailers set on customer service improvement often use mystery shoppers to gauge alignment ...between intended service and client experience. This exploratory research considers how instructions typically used by mystery shopping providers impact the diagnostic value of data gathered, and whether those instructions become superseded by hired shopper experiences and cultural behavioral expectations. This work suggests the industry tacitly relies on mystery shoppers to leverage cultural knowledge to deliver insights, and that even robust instructional changes may not significantly change the reporting of mercenary shoppers.
With limited financial sophistication, entrepreneurial consumers approach the financial marketplace more like retail financial consumers than like business customers. However, an assumption of both ...legislators and regulators is that business borrowers are more financially savvy than consumer borrowers and thus do not require protections that are as broad reaching. This gap between marketplace policy protections and the lived reality of the vast majority of small business entrepreneurs sets the stage for entrepreneurial consumers to fall through the regulatory cracks, creating the potential for exploitation and abuse. This situation may be exacerbated for minority entrepreneurs, who belong to protected classes that generally are more vulnerable to exploitation in marketplaces, including the small business lending marketplace. This article details the current status of the policy gap relative to minority entrepreneurial consumers and presents a matched-pair mystery shopping study to demonstrate the critical need for reliable, primary data to inform regulatory agencies as they work to implement appropriate protections to ensure equal access to credit across the small business lending marketplace.
Das Ziel ist die Entwicklung eines geeigneten Kriterienkatalogs zur Evaluierung der Mystery-Shopping-Erfahrung innerhalb der Chatauskunft. Die Prüfung der Eignung des Katalogs erfolgt mittels eines ...Pretests an ausgewählten Universitätsbibliotheken in Nordrhein-Westfalen und dient einer Überarbeitung der Kriterien, die Rückschlüsse aus den Erfahrungswerten miteinbezieht.
Up to now, there have been no data on patient counselling in the Slovak community pharmacies. The literature provides a wide range of activities for which mystery shopping methodology be used, ...including assessment of patient counselling.
To assess patient counselling on the common cold treatment with OTC medicine containing zinc provided by Slovak community pharmacists. To analyse this counselling considering the set scenarios, counsellors and their age.
54 pharmacy students visited 270 different community pharmacies throughout Slovakia in 2 weeks in October 2016 to conduct mystery shopping with set scenarios. For assessment of patient counselling, we defined Counselling Performance. It was conceptualised as weighted mean percentage counselling successes rate of its three categories (Identification, Information and Communication) and their weights. Individual perception of counselling evaluated separately. Student t-test and Person's chi-squared test (p < 0.05) and Cohen delta were used for comparing outcomes and effect size of counselling. A simple linear regression was used to find relationships.
The total Counselling Performance was 39.0 ± 22.4%, Identification 30.6 ± 28.7%, Information 39.8 ± 25.1% and Communication 74.3 ± 11.5%. 26.3% pharmacies achieved the average Counselling Performance (41–60%). Subjective Perception had a success rate of 73.4 ± 21.2%, but it could be predicted by the Counselling Performance and the success rate of the three categories only in 1/5 pharmacies. Spontaneous counselling was provided more by pharmacy technicians (p = 0.0009). The duration of counselling was similar when comparing both scenarios, counsellors and their age. The product-requested scenario achieved a higher success rate in the Information category (p = 0.0304; d = 0.27). Pharmacists achieved a higher Counselling Performance (p < 0.0001; d = 0.48) and success rate in categories Identification (p = 0.0001, d = 0.46), Information (p = 0.0004, d = 0.37), and Perception (p = 0.0007; d = 0.54). The estimated age of counsellors did not have any impact on the counselling.
Patient counselling on the common cold showed a suboptimal level, particularly considering its content. In the study, we found a significant relationship between the success of counselling and counsellors.
To control adherence to age limits regarding sales of tobacco products, Swedish authorities can conduct compliance checks. Compliance checks involve prior information to all retailers, mystery ...shopping, and subsequent feedback to the retailers. This study investigated whether compliance checks can decrease the rates of cigarette sales to underaged adolescents. Test purchases of cigarettes were conducted using pseudo-underaged mystery shoppers, i.e., 18-year-old adolescents with a younger appearance not carrying ID, to measure the refusal rate and rate of ID checks. Test purchases were conducted at 257 retail outlets in 13 municipalities in Stockholm County at baseline 2017 and follow-up 2019, respectively. In between the measurements, six municipalities (intervention area) conducted compliance checks, and seven municipalities were used as a comparison. Comparing baseline and follow-up, rates of refusal (70.4 to 95.8%) and ID checks (80.3 to 95.8%) improved in the intervention area. In the comparison area, refusal rates increased (80.9 to 85.2%), and ID check rates remained stable (at 86.1%). Significant group × time interaction effects reveal that the rates of refusal and ID checks differently changed in the study areas over time. These results indicate that compliance checks are an effective method to decrease cigarette sales to underaged adolescents.
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