Merchandisers, beware – your next customer may well be a mystery shopper! The concept of mystery shopping, already well established in the USA and other developed economies, has lately found its way to the Middle East, thanks to the Grass Roots Group. This is a company that employs so-called mystery shoppers: bogus customers who are really spies. They secretly investigate performance in merchandising, say the quality of service, or the suffi ciency of stock. The report is processed by the mystery shopper company and then submitted to the client who ordered it. Usually, mystery shoppers don’t spy on the competition; they spy on their employer’s client, at the behest of this client. They represent, in other words, a form of quality control. Mystery shoppers are paid

Mystery shoppers are paid in various combinations of cash, store credit, and purchase discounts, or rewarded by clearance to keep the goods or services they purchased as part of their surveillance. Mystery shoppers are carefully chosen to blend in with client company’s customer base. Common targets of mystery shopping are retail stores, restaurants, fast-food chains, banks, gas stations, car dealerships, real estate agents, health clubs, and now even online shopping outlets. The aim is to give managers at headquarters feedback on their company’s performance in the fi eld. Pricing, display, and sales campaigns are typical merchandising modes that are placed under the looking glass.