Tuesday afternoon at 12:30 p.m. Petra B. enters the store. She is on a mission. Petra B. is a mystery shopper. Armed with her wallet, a trained eye and exact instructions by the storeowner, it is now up to her to put the service quality of the store under the microscope. Mystery shoppers are the kind of customer, salespeople should be especially polite to. However, as the term ”mystery shopping“ already implies, service personnel is not able to distinguish them from regular shoppers. And there is a good reason for that.

It sounds mysterious, but it is far from being cryptic. On the contrary, so-called mystery shopping provides important information about customers, employees and service in retail. Christian Karrenbauer is the Managing Director of the MSM Group. His company specializes in optimally uniting the words customer and satisfaction. In this interview, he explains why mystery shoppers are still valuable for retail.

Karin S. works in the service area of a gas station. Her daily routine includes taking in money for gas and oil as well as snacks, beverages and other food items. Even at gas stations, test purchases contribute to making service better. Mrs. S. tells us in our EuroShop interview, how she was being prepared for mystery shoppers. She also talks about how mystery shoppers have influenced her work.