Mystery Shopping and the Rising Role of the Employee in the Digital Retail Environment
February 1, 2013After visiting the store, many browsing customers go online to purchase the same item rather than making the purchase in the store. Even with efforts from trained associates, selling to these customers is difficult at best. Despite this phenomenon (called showrooming), the importance of human touch in retail environments lives on. In fact, 82% of retailers in a recent survey said that the role of employees in the workforce toward building better service has become even more important over the past three years.
Audit Projects Increase
May 24, 2011Our mystery shoppers may have noticed that over the past year, Confero has seen a big increase in clients requesting audits of their location. Audits are usually used by large companies or corporations with multiple locations, often nationwide. Audits provide a simple way for companies to manage the image they are presenting to customers in all their locations.
Audits usually require auditors to visit the assigned location and do any of the following items:
- Take an inventory of particular products. Companies want to ensure that their shelves are properly stocked at all times. And sometimes, they are auditing their competitors, so they want to be able to compare what their competitors have in stock. In a recent program, one of our clients had auditors visit grocery stores to take inventory particular brands of products. They wanted to know how much shelf space was designated for their product, as well as their competitors.