Undercover shoppers prowl U.S. stores.
By Holly McKenna
6 June 2004
Reuters News

ALBANY, N.Y. (Reuters) - Sandra Bachman leads a double life as an undercover agent for the FPI - Feedback Plus Inc., a company that hires "mystery shoppers" to spy on stores and restaurants to rate their products and service.

Bachman is one of thousands of mystery shoppers all over America who can get free meals, go on free vacations and watch free movies - in addition to being paid for their evaluations.

"I love doing it because it's fun to voice one's opinion," said Bachman, 43, who is engaged to be married to another mystery shopper. "So often we are frustrated with a shopping transaction and we have no way to complain. It's empowering."

A full-time undercover employee with Dallas-based FPI, Bachman visits restaurants, truck stops, automotive businesses and retail stores. She performs at least 10 jobs a month, earning $17-$125 per assignment, then reports her findings on line.

The most notable shopper is Jennifer Voitle, a former investment banker who earns $7,000 a month in shopping fees, not including freebies.

The profession has been around for more than 60 years and agents are in demand from the national headquarters of many major companies that want to evaluate the performance of a local restaurant or store.

Companies who employ mystery shoppers include Blockbuster, Starbucks, Citibank, jewelry chains, gas companies, mobile phone companies and the hotel industry.

Frederick's of Hollywood even uses mystery shoppers who have to try on bras and panties to get paid.

GROWTH INDUSTRY

As an industry, mystery shopping has grown to more than 1,200 companies in the United States, said Matt Wozniak, president of the 32-year-old National Shopping Service based in Rocklin, California, which is one of the country's top five companies with about 60 clients.

"There are only a handful (of businesses) who don't do it because most do," Wozniak said. "At our company, there are 30,000 individual observations every month."

Sometimes, digital audio and video equipment is used to collect information for what Wozniak calls "covert operations." They even use "pinhole" cameras on mystery shopping expeditions.

Most of the time, mystery shoppers take a pre-printed form into the store with them as a guide. Taking mental notes, they are asked to find out about customer service, including good eye contact, friendly attitude and knowledge about products and services.

They then go to a bathroom or a quiet aisle without employees and fill out the printed form.

However, on other occasions the form is not enough. Wozniak said a pinhole camera placed inside a personal paging device is used when there is a lot of detailed discussion between a customer and the salesman or saleswoman.

"The client is looking for eye contact, tone of voice and body language," he said.

There are no revenue totals available for the mystery shopping industry, but top companies each have three to four multimillion-dollar clients, Wozniak said.

The Mystery Shopping Providers Association based in Dallas represents only a fraction of the companies - 130 U.S. companies and 40 European businesses.

"Most people don't work full-time as mystery shoppers," said executive director John Swinburn. "There are hundreds of thousands of people listed in databases to use any time."

UNDERCOVER BUYING

Vicky Henry, chief executive officer of Feedback Plus, which has been around for 31 years, said she has done her own share of undercover buying over the last 21 years.

"The beauty of mystery shopping is a way for you to get information you can't get any other way," she said. "Employees automatically know they give better customer service if they know any one of their customers are mystery shoppers."

The average consumer can become a mystery shopper simply by searching for secret shopper companies on the Internet and signing up on a Web page. Other mystery shoppers are found through newspaper ads and referrals. Training is done on-line or in person.

At times, mystery shoppers are revealed to reward a job well done by employees, who also receive money or a gift, Henry said.

To assist newcomers to the profession, several publishing companies have created on-line directories that provide direct access to on-line applications for companies actively seeking mystery shoppers.

In the meantime, shoppers like Bachman earn a salary while doing their favorite activity - shopping.

"I like the restaurants best," Bachman said. "It's fun getting paid to eat out!"