As a provider of mystery shopping services, I get a bit anxious every time a story about our industry appears in the press. When words such as “stealth” appears in a headline and mystery shoppers appears in quotes, the media is unwittingly contributing to further degenerating the perception of what mystery shopping is. It’s not their fault; our industry itself may be contributing to the mis-perception with titles like “secret shopper.”

Mystery shopping is not “stealth.” It is not employing “gotcha tactics” to expose anyone. It is gathering objective, measurable data so an organization can make decisions based on what is really happening rather than on what they think is happening. As it relates to the story that appeared in the Times, most of the doctor shortage we hear about is anecdotal evidence. A quality mystery shopping program could have helped establish an objective view of the availability of doctors.

An objective survey is necessary because we don’t know what new patients are being told when they call and ask, “Are you taking new patients? Are you taking new patients with Medicaid/Medicare?” Today we can guess at the doctor shortage issue by calculating the number of doctors per capita and slice and dice those numbers, but suspecting we don’t have enough doctors is not the same as knowing we don’t have enough doctors available who will take new patients.

Under the Affordable Care Act, there are an estimated 30 million new patients who will need a primary care doctor. Measuring the ability of the medical industry to accommodate the additional demand is the responsible thing to do. Scaring patients and getting doctors riled up about distrusting government is not. A quality mystery shopping program for health care would benefit the medical provider industry as much as it would the government.

In 2014, the ACA will become law. It makes sense that the medical industry would want to be structured to reduce the stress an additional patient load of 30 million would cause.

Change is hard for everyone. But going into change without knowing what you are up against is irresponsible at best, reckless at worst. Mystery shopping helps gather objective data so responsible decisions can be made at all levels; from the patient through the health care providers to the universities who train them.

It may be time for us in the mystery shopping industry to take a realistic view at how the retail and other service industries view our services. In the end analysis — through an objective lens — we may find that we’re contributing to our own worst public relations.

Editor’s note: Volition posted a link to this article and mystery shoppers are weighing in on the discussion.

A mystery shopping service can help a company turn itself around, but the process takes time. The assessments completed can help identify procedures that could be improved to deliver a better customer experience. A program like this looks at the big picture as well as all of the minor details that they encounter along the way. When the mystery shopping service has worked their magic,* the store, the staff, the management and the atmosphere all have a positive impact upon every customer that walks through the doors.

Of course, this takes time so the mystery shopping service can gather all of the required data, advise the business on the changes they could make, and then complete additional review. Those that expect that hiring a mystery shopping service to dig them out of a hole fast, are never going to get what they expect.

All good things are worth waiting for, and the mystery shopping route is a journey, so this applies.

*When we say magic, we really mean a time-tested formula based on objective data and experience.

We are used to seeing Amazon as a leader in e-commerce. In many ways, it is a bit surprising that they have come so late to the party with the introduction of their own flash sale site, Myhabitat.

But let’s not write Amazon off too soon. They’ve had the chance to see what works and what doesn’t  by watching other sites like Rue La La, Hautelook and Gilt that started the flash sale trend. Considering Amazon’s connections with many major retailers of designer clothing, there is a good chance they might just be in a position to one-up their competition. Or at least attain a strong position as a major player.

Instead of rolling our eyes that Amazon is following a trend rather than setting one, let’s look at what Amazon is doing to set themselves apart from others offering something similar.

• Amazon can fulfill orders much faster than their competitors because they actually have access to the warehouses before the sale has even begun. Other sites only obtain and ship the items that have been sold, taking time for them to get the items from the retailers. Sometimes, they have to rely on the retailers ship on their behalf, pushing them one step further from the process.
• Amazon offers free shipping and free returns so those that purchase on impulse don’t have to hesitate. Often with online shopping for clothing, people order multiple sizes or colours to ensure they get something they love. The fact that they don’t have to pay extra for this luxury means even more sales will be made. Amazon credits all returns with funds that can be used at any of Amazon’s sites (Amazon.com, Endless or Myhabitat).
• They are in a position to offer flash sales from 800 major brands with which they already have an affiliate relationship.
• Amazon has strong online merchandising. Amazon ensures people can see what they’re buying with images that offer a 360 degree view of each garment.

Using social media for this purpose can have both pros and cons.

Pros of Using Social Media for Customer Experience Feedback

• Social media encourages individuals to be open and voice their opinions
• When one consumer voices an opinion in a public forum, others are apt to jump in
• Word of mouth created by consumers may cause businesses to share best practices
• Consumers can ask questions and reach out to consumers and get an assessment from real shoppers
• When negative experiences are shared, retailers have the opportunity to publicly resolve the issue

Cons of Using Social Media for Customer Experience Feedback

• There’s the risk that dirty laundry will be aired, and social media users may only see one side of the story
• Competitors might be aware of weaknesses

As a retailer, it’s up to you to determine where you draw that line. You may choose to air it all online to benefit from social media, or you may encourage customers to provide extensive feedback in a private venue.

What’s your opinion on this?

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Toys ‘R Us came out on top, followed by Target and then Walmart. We buy gifts for everyone at the holidays, but who do most of us focus on? Kids if we have them. Toys are a ubiquitous holiday purchase. So why in the world did our secret shoppers find the toy category rating so low on service and sales? What’s wrong with this picture and better yet, what’s the opportunity we see in this?

The opportunity is for any of these retailers to make a small effort toward improving in both these categories and standing head and shoulders above the competition, bringing them more business and ideally increased profits by improving the customer experience and helping people to buy more toys. Pointing out specials, helping people find promotions, being educated and in turn educating the retail customer is absolutely win-win.

In the office supply category, these three placed one, two and three respectively: Staples, Office Depot and Office Max. While all the stores scored well on welcoming and thanking customers, their friendliness didn’t translate into the aisles, making suggestions and increasing sales.

While our Mystery Shoppers rated them fairly high on service, they rated them low on making sales. Employees are friendly and helpful, but they don’t do well when it comes to suggesting what else customers might buy or pointing out items on sale or potential discounts.

A bit more emphasis on selling could go a long way toward a more profitable holiday season – exceeding expectations of what is expected to a better year over all. The customer experience is positive and we believe that means they’re open to hearing what the people who know most about the products think would make most sense for them to buy. It’s simple and it enhances the customer experience.

In the electronics category the top three stores are:  Game Stop, Radio Shack and Best Buy. Here’s the shocker – the number three retailer, Best Buy ranked 23.3 (out of 100) points in the suggestion category. Employees are helpful, they greet visitors to the store, they thank them when they leave and the wait to buy was minimal or none.

When it came to selling to our secret shoppers, it more or less didn’t happen. Electronics are hot. It’s a sector where people are spending money, yet our Best Buy Mystery Shopping indicates the retailer is missing major opportunities for increased revenue.

Most of the time, employees are NOT suggesting other purchases to customers. Encouraging purchases and selling to customers would benefit the electronics retailers and making more sales is an key opportunity to increase revenue in this busiest retail season.

Our mystery shoppers found the top five in the apparel category to be: Delia’s, Charlotte Russe, Coldwater Creek, Burberry’s and Victoria’s Secret. These five, in this order, met the most retail benchmarks in our study.

Let’s look a bit deeper than who ranked first, second and third and ask what opportunities the numbers reveal.

While Delia’s employees greeted and thanked customers nearly 100% of the time, the wait to pay was virtually non-existent and the fitting rooms were impeccable, they scored only 73.3 on suggestions. Suggestions to customers drive sales.

Selling is the missing part of the equation here. Making suggestions, in effect up-selling can be done graciously and easily – there’s no need to be in-your-face or pushy.

Suggesting a blouse that would make a stunning outfit when combined with the pants the customers is about to buy is really helpful and more often than not, the customer spends more when being helped.

Sales, when done well, is simply helping other people get what they want. Just a little more of that kind of sales can make a huge impact on a retailer’s bottom line and may be the biggest take away from our retail benchmark study.

As the electronics business gets more competitive with discount stores like Target and Walmart fighting specialized stores like Best Buy for a larger customer base, stores realize they need to do a lot more than just stock shelves with the products customers want–and need. In an effort to become more of a destination electronic store, Target announced new services for electronics shoppers.

Among the new offerings, Target is adding a free telephone technical support service for purchases, an electronics recycling program that offers store gift cards and more wireless phone choices.

“Electronics are getting more complicated and more of us are connected to the Internet and wireless,” Senior Vice President Mark Schindele said. “Guests want a seamless experience.”

Like Best Buy’s Geek Squad and Apple’s Genius Bar, Target’s new services hope to bring more traffic to the store. Time will tell whether consumers will buy what Target is selling.

Ann Taylor reported a second-quarter profit and rising sales that even bested their lower-priced namesake Loft chain, which used to be a superstar during the recession. MarketWatch quotes the company saying gross-margin comps “dramatically outpaced” sales performance because of “the strength of the full-priced offering.”

It’s an encouraging report for women retailers. Often, women retailers feel the effects of a recession harder than other companies. When women oversee the household finances, they tend to cut back their own spending first. Plus, Ann Taylor, a retailer known for supplying professional clothing, found itself in a tricky situation trying to sell business clothes amidst job layoffs and potential job layoffs.

While the economy still isn’t in great shape, it’s nice to hear that retailers can do well in the present situation.

According to a recent study done by the Pew Research Center, consumer needs aren’t the same as they once were. According to the study, just 42 percent of Americans say they consider a television set a necessity, down from 52 percent just last year and 64 percent in 2006. The landline telephone also saw a dip in numbers. Of those polled, 62 percent still consider the landline phone a necessity, down from 68 percent in 2009.

“It’s true that in the digital era, consumers know they can watch a lot of television programming on their computers or smartphones,” Pew said. They also can make calls from their cell phones, a belief young people especially share. Fewer than half of those in the 18-29 age range consider a landline phone a necessity, but almost 60 percent think a cell phone is a must have item.

The report also shows people consider cars, clothes dryers, microwaves, home air conditioners and home PCs as less of a necessity than years prior.

“This suggests that the psyche of the American consumer is in a much different place now than it had been in the heady days before the recession.”

Still, just because more people categorize certain goods as a luxury over a necessity doesn’t mean the products aren’t selling. Retailers can take this information and apply what they know to their future marketing strategies.

Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst with the NPD Group, told msnbc.com, “The consumer is not in any rush.”

An earnings call from Walmart indicated more shoppers are making their school supply purchases closer to their schools’ start dates. The National Retail Federation also predicted a quarter of school shoppers won’t begin their back-to-school shopping until one or two weeks before school begins. In some cases, families may even put the shopping off until later in the fall after seeing what’s in style and what students really need.

Still, the National Retail Federation predicts American families will eventually spend more on back-to-school supplies and clothes than last year. Back-to-college spending should remain about the same.

Meanwhile, retailers are offering deals for the customers now. Abercrombie & Fitch’s jeans are currently 40 percent off, Target is offering free shipping on $50 online purchases and Amazon.com has bargains on coffee makers, printers, microwaves and textbooks for college students.

Corporate leaders dramatically overestimate how much the customer wants to talk to a customer service representative. They believe customers value live service twice as much as self-service. HBR’s data shows customers are significantly indifferent to that claim, and they value self-service just as much as they value using the phone. More interestingly, that indifference doesn’t change across their demographic, issue type or urgency.

It’s an interesting predicament: what should your company do to improve its customer service when the customer prefers self-service? And what’s compelling the customer to repel real-life interaction? It could be argued that with the rise in social networks, people don’t like to engage in as many face-to-face conversations with others. Maybe fascination with technology has won out and the lure of fancy, powerful machines are more attractive than the sales associates. Or, now, everyone considers themselves a control freak and dislikes relying on other people to get something done.

Or maybe, customers haven’t wanted the relationships companies have been pushing all along and this rise in self-service finally gives them the easy way out. That’s not a comforting thought for retailers who build their company on the promises of quality customer service. So, what should those retailers do?

It’s a simple task in the world of automated customer service recordings, information computer stations and high tech self-service cash registers: have customer service reps be real people. Too often, customers blow off the sales associates because they sound like robots reading from a script. If customer service practices create authentic experiences by individualizing how each customer gets served, it’s a good bet that customers will again appreciate that friendly face that greets them right when they walk through the door.

The study reports that only four percent of U.S. online adults use location-based mobile apps such as Foursquare, Gowalla and Loopt. Only one percent update these services more than once a week. Even more, a good majority of respondents””84 percent””claimed they were unfamiliar with the apps, a number to surely make companies rethink how necessary it is to start a marketing campaign using LBSNs.

Those numbers may seem like LBSNs aren’t a great investment at this time, but the report calls for another look. Among location-based service users, almost 80 percent of them are male and about 70 percent of them have a college degree and are between the ages of 19 and 35. Even more importantly, Forrester discovered these users are highly influential. They are far more likely to research products and read customer reviews and frequently have family and friends coming to them for advice before purchasing a product. In this sense, companies in the gaming, electronics and sportswear industry that target their marketing plan to men may want to include an early adoption of LBSNs.

Still, plenty of companies have launched marketing plans with location-based apps that aren’t just for the guys, including PepsiCo and Starbucks. When deciding whether LBSNs are right for you brand, consider your demographic and marketing plan’s goals. Weigh whether you want to establish yourself early in the location-based marketing playing field or whether you’d rather sit in the bullpen and wait until the user numbers grow to give it a try. Like every other marketing plan for a retailer, whether it be holding a sweepstakes, advertising or social networking, location-based mobile apps can be just another tool in a well-stocked toolbox.

Forbes Insights published a study that surveyed leading U.S. retailers’ use of mobile applications in enhancing consumer’s shopping experiences. Researchers discovered many retailers–almost fifty percent–are hoping to capture first-mover advantage as their customers go mobile. The levels of sophistication in mobile design and application vary depending on the retailer and its goals. For many, the mobile features are a scaled-back version of their website. Others have ventured into offering transaction-based and customer-oriented applications that use powerful GPS technology to pinpoint an individual customer’s needs.

Whether you want to try to increase e-commerce sales, give out coupons or suggest products to your customer, mobile applications must be molded to fit your store’s demographic and mission in order to be effective. American Eagle Outfitters, a specialty retailer that caters to 15-25 year olds, was one of the earliest adopters of mobile technology when they launched their mobile website in August 2008. They recognized their customer base was highly engaged in mobile technology and made sure to capitalize on that activity by going to where there customers spent their time: on their mobile phones. Since the experiment began, the store has seen several hundred thousand customers opt in and contribute to sales through the mobile site. Vice President Michael Dupuis cites their success to consistency across all channels. Customers can access all the same information on their mobile phone that is on American Eagle’s website. Similarly, The North Face built applications that use GPS technology to determine the location of skiers, bikers, rock climbers, runners, and more. The mobile phone users can then access information about terrain they soon will face and read suggestions for how to tackle the trails. The possibilities for what kind of mobile application a retailer develops are endless, and it’s important to figure out what your customers want in their hands.

Retailers should know that mobile technology is not a passing fad. Soon, customers will expect stores to have mobile applications. Like a website, mobile technology will be just another part of the shopping experience.