30367 6 3 econsultancy_xml Years ago in the States I took part in these shops frequently. It's an easy way to make a tenner, especially if you were planning a visit anyway. And in those programmes, making a return was part of the overall shop. <p>Not so with Selfridges, who cleverly leave that step out of their method. They also set up a number of hurdles, each making it less and less likely that the mystery shopper will be able to buy something they actually wanted in the first place.</p><p>The process: </p><blockquote><p>- apply to be a shopper<br />- when confirmed, apply for a specific date range to shop (over a weekend, for example)<br />- within that date range, a store is specified<br />- within that store, a department is specified<br />- within that department, a small group of concessions is specified</p></blockquote><p>If you know Selfridges, you know it has floors upon floors packed out with countless concessions - and each could fit into your average living room. That means they wanted a small flat's worth of floorspace analysed - if that.<br /></p><p>As I went through the process, I realised that there was a very slim chance I'd be able to use the mystery shop to buy what I wanted.</p><p>Wait, you say, it all evens out, right? I could go, buy my item, do the shop, and still get that promised tenner applied to my shop (it's all going and coming from the same wallet, after all).</p><p>But as I mentioned, in addition to the above hurdles, making a return isn't a part of the mystery process.</p><p>The questionnaire is detailed and long, and must be completed and submitted within 24 hours of the shop. Given the trip and the questionnaire time, I wasn't being paid minimum wage, all told. And that's if I had returned the lovely Ted Baker flatcap I purchased.</p><p>To recap, Selfridges gets:</p><blockquote><p>- a visit<br />- a sale (balanced possibly by a return)<br />- a nice chunk of 'human' data about their store</p></blockquote><p>And all for a tenner, which is likely just a 'discount' toward whatever I bought and didn't return. Basically it gave Selfridges a better chance of making an additional sale, and all in the name of performance testing.</p><p>Well done there, but is it done online as well as on the high street? Why not take it online? I suppose it's harder to justify, as monitoring and checks on customer service standards are readily available. </p><p>But if you have a monitoring programme that more than pays for itself - yes, I'm making assumptions here, but I doubt Selfridges would advertise so openly if it didn't - why not set it up and get that incremental boost in sales and quality human feedback?</p> <FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/">Years ago in the States I took part in these shops frequently. It's an easy way to make a tenner, especially if you were planning a visit anyway. And in those programmes, making a return was part of the overall shop. <Paragraph>Not so with Selfridges, who cleverly leave that step out of their method. They also set up a number of hurdles, each making it less and less likely that the mystery shopper will be able to buy something they actually wanted in the first place.</Paragraph><Paragraph>The process: </Paragraph><Block><Paragraph>- apply to be a shopper<LineBreak />- when confirmed, apply for a specific date range to shop (over a weekend, for example)<LineBreak />- within that date range, a store is specified<LineBreak />- within that store, a department is specified<LineBreak />- within that department, a small group of concessions is specified</Paragraph></Block><Paragraph>If you know Selfridges, you know it has floors upon floors packed out with countless concessions - and each could fit into your average living room. That means they wanted a small flat's worth of floorspace analysed - if that.<LineBreak /></Paragraph><Paragraph>As I went through the process, I realised that there was a very slim chance I'd be able to use the mystery shop to buy what I wanted.</Paragraph><Paragraph>Wait, you say, it all evens out, right? I could go, buy my item, do the shop, and still get that promised tenner applied to my shop (it's all going and coming from the same wallet, after all).</Paragraph><Paragraph>But as I mentioned, in addition to the above hurdles, making a return isn't a part of the mystery process.</Paragraph><Paragraph>The questionnaire is detailed and long, and must be completed and submitted within 24 hours of the shop. Given the trip and the questionnaire time, I wasn't being paid minimum wage, all told. And that's if I had returned the lovely Ted Baker flatcap I purchased.</Paragraph><Paragraph>To recap, Selfridges gets:</Paragraph><Block><Paragraph>- a visit<LineBreak />- a sale (balanced possibly by a return)<LineBreak />- a nice chunk of 'human' data about their store</Paragraph></Block><Paragraph>And all for a tenner, which is likely just a 'discount' toward whatever I bought and didn't return. Basically it gave Selfridges a better chance of making an additional sale, and all in the name of performance testing.</Paragraph><Paragraph>Well done there, but is it done online as well as on the high street? Why not take it online? I suppose it's harder to justify, as monitoring and checks on customer service standards are readily available. </Paragraph><Paragraph>But if you have a monitoring programme that more than pays for itself - yes, I'm making assumptions here, but I doubt Selfridges would advertise so openly if it didn't - why not set it up and get that incremental boost in sales and quality human feedback?</Paragraph></FormattedContent> 2006-11-29T14:52:00+00:00 3 1 econsultancy_xml <p> <strong>I recently participated in Selfridges' mystery shopper programme, run by ABA Research. The deal is - and it's a crafty one - Selfridges runs its mystery programme in such a way that typical cost-to-business-research is actually a boost to sales.</strong> </p> <p>I originally came across the programme when trying to find a product online. It was a no-brainer to apply, as I'd be shopping there anyway.</p> <FormattedContent xmlns="http://www.e-consultancy.com/schema/formattedContent/"> <Paragraph> <Emphasis>I recently participated in Selfridges' mystery shopper programme, run by ABA Research. The deal is - and it's a crafty one - Selfridges runs its mystery programme in such a way that typical cost-to-business-research is actually a boost to sales.</Emphasis> </Paragraph> <Paragraph>I originally came across the programme when trying to find a product online. It was a no-brainer to apply, as I'd be shopping there anyway.</Paragraph> </FormattedContent> false 578 362247 Clever mystery shopper programme format could boost sales false 2006-11-29T16:47:00+00:00 clever-mystery-shopper-programme-format-could-boost-sales 2009-04-30T06:21:25+01:00 2009-04-30T06:21:25+01:00 508