Mystery Shopping is the most precise and consistent tool commerce can utilize to measure the quality of retail service. They use this research to gather information regarding their authentic customer service conduct at the moment of fact. This moment of fact is not when the staff is on their most excellent behavior because the boss is around – Mystery shoppers ought to remain anonymous and act as regular customers. They carry out specific tasks - for example; asking questions, purchasing merchandise, registering complaints etc. After they interrelate with employees during their usual daily schedules, they provide a detailed statement regarding their experiences. Mystery shopping began in the 1940’s as a way to measure employee integrity.

In order for a business to effectively compete in today's economy, they must be prepared to meet the challenge of increasing sales by retaining existing customers, acquiring new customers, creating word-of-mouth advocacy and improving customer loyalty. Tools used for mystery shopping assessments range from simple questionnaires, to complete audio & viedeo recordings. The most common venues where mystery shopping is used are retails stores, movie theaters, restaurants, fast fast chains, banks, gas stations, car dealerships, apartments and health clubs, as well as health care facilities.

Being the Chairman of one of the very few specialized mystery shopping companies in the Middle East, and the only specialized company in Egypt - member of the "Mystery Shopping Provider Association" is not an easy task at all, especially in a market such as ours - where it is very demanding and challenging to educate most of the companies’ upper management, in regards to the importance of such a service. In addition to benefiting out of it's results by increasing customer satisfaction & decreasing the imperfections that were evidently revealed in the related reports…

Therefore my recommendation for these companies and their staff are as follow:-

• Mystery Shopping is not there just to point fingers and suspend employees - as these are common mistakes management constantly, do.
• Educate senior management & staff to refrain from questioning the mystery shopping companies’ reports - simply benefit from it to the maximum.
• Don't utilize one of your current staff to play the role of the mystery shopper!! 'PEOPLE WHO ARE PROVIDING SERVICE, CAN NOT CONTROL IT"
• Accept your Mystery Shopping providers as partners, seeking the same goal of your company, so don’t deal with their reports as an enemy report.
• Last but not least, be sure to choose the suited mystery shopping provider who does not outsource employees for such a service - your company’s objective is worthy of hiring a focused mystery shopping company, explicitly a member of an international association that monitors its performance.

"The MSPA is the largest professional trade association dedicated to improving service quality using anonymous resources. With over 150 member companies worldwide, our diverse membership includes marketing research and merchandising companies, private investigation firms, training organizations and companies that specialize in providing mystery shopping services. Our member companies work with their clients to establish mechanisms to measure and improve levels of service".