Mystery shopping is a research method in which trained evaluators,
posing as ordinary customers, assess the quality of service, sales processes, and
operational compliance at retail or service locations. Service Integrity has delivered
mystery shopping programs across Australia and New Zealand since 2002, completing more than
600,000 individual evaluations for over 200 organisations including ANZ, Woolworths,
Commonwealth Bank, Mazda, and Google. The company holds MSPA Elite accreditation — the
highest global recognition tier from the Mystery Shopping Providers Association — and
directly manages offices in Sydney, Wollongong, Auckland, Shanghai, and Tokyo. Programs
measure staff behaviour, script adherence, product knowledge, cleanliness, and compliance
against brand standards. Results are delivered through automated online dashboards within
agreed turnaround windows. Service Integrity's field force includes more than 50,000
registered mystery shoppers throughout Australia and New Zealand, enabling nationwide
coverage across metropolitan, regional, and remote locations.
Guess what. Customer service is NOT necessarily the most important driver of sales.
That might sound strange coming from someone running a Mystery Shopping company, but I see it time and time again. Companies focusing on the wrong things.
Sure service is important, but it’s also important to ensure that:
1) your products are on the shelves
2) the promotions are correctly displayed, and
3) that the product is recommended.
Our research shows that on average there are 53 item categories missing in a single big box grocery store.
We’ve also found that on average there are 13 categories missing from the dairy section alone.
As for recommendations, we recently did a study for a manufacturer distributing in a hardware chain, and found that their product was first recommended 31% of the time. Sounds OK, except they only have one competitor.
For complex products, consumers will still lean heavily on the recommendation.
If the product is not there, or not recommended, you’ve lost before you start.
Ask the right questions and discover the truth.
