2012 TOP SHOP® Mystery Shopping

Mystery shopping (Customer Experience Management) - process and scoring

The TOP SHOP® Retail Excellence Awards are an opportunity to recognise and celebrate New Zealand businesses that show excellence in retailing, as well as providing retailers with an opportunity to gain an insight into your customers’ experience in your store, on any day at anytime.

Shopping

Mystery Shopping in the 2012 TOP SHOP® Retail Excellence Awards focuses primarily on the service within your store.

Each mystery shopper will be provided with a brief and survey prior to completing their mystery shop.  This allows them to gain an understanding of the type of store they are visiting and the standards that are being measured during the mystery shop. 

During their visit they will observe and report on the presentation of the store, the ambience and delivery of the service, and the relationship building that was displayed by the staff member during the short, in-store contact period.

Mystery shoppers will not be judging stores on the products being offered, or the offers available – the focus of the visit will be on presentation of product or services, and the presentation, knowledge, availability and service of your staff. 

Scoring

In order to best prepare for your Mystery Shop, we have provided a brief description below of each of the scoring sections of the Mystery Shop:

Presentation – This category is about first impressions, from the exterior of the store to the interior of the store, the ambience and the presentation of the staff members.

Welcome – The focus here is on the initial contact with the staff member, acknowledgement, approach and the helpfulness of the staff member.

Selling – This section measures the staff member’s selling skills. Did the staff member establish the needs of the customer, display product knowledge and attempt to upsell and close the sale?

Transaction – This section measures the final stages of the customer experience, the queue acknowledgement if applicable, the purchase transaction itself and the farewell.  This is only applicable to those categories with a purchase component.

Please remember one Mystery Shop will offer only a snap-shot in time.

Should you wish to use Mystery Shopping as a tool in the development of your business operation, an ongoing program of Mystery Shopping is recommended and you can contact HOED Mystery Shopping NZ Ltd on 09 579 0731 or visit their website at www.hoed.co.nz. 

Best of luck, and we look forward to seeing you at the awards.

From the Team at Hoed