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Do Mystery Shoppers Really Predict Customer Satisfaction and Sales Performance?

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  • Blessing, Gerald
  • Natter, Martin

Abstract

Mystery shopping (MS) is a widely used tool to monitor the quality of service and personal selling. In consultative retail settings, assessments of mystery shoppers are supposed to capture the most relevant aspects of salespeople’s service and sales behavior. Given the important conclusions drawn by managers from MS results, the standard assumption seems to be that assessments of mystery shoppers are strongly related to customer satisfaction and sales performance. However, surprisingly scant empirical evidence supports this assumption. We test the relationship between MS assessments and customer evaluations and sales performance with large-scale data from three service retail chains. Surprisingly, we do not find a substantial correlation. The results show that mystery shoppers are not good proxies for real customers. While MS assessments are not related to sales, our findings confirm the established correlation between customer satisfaction measurements and sales results.

Suggested Citation

  • Blessing, Gerald & Natter, Martin, 2019. "Do Mystery Shoppers Really Predict Customer Satisfaction and Sales Performance?," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 95(3), pages 47-62.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jouret:v:95:y:2019:i:3:p:47-62
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jretai.2019.04.001
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Alan M. Wilson, 1998. "The Use of Mystery Shopping in the Measurement of Service Delivery," The Service Industries Journal, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 18(3), pages 148-163, July.
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    4. Ailawadi, Kusum L. & Neslin, Scott A. & Luan, Y. Jackie & Taylor, Gail Ayala, 2014. "Does retailer CSR enhance behavioral loyalty? A case for benefit segmentation," International Journal of Research in Marketing, Elsevier, vol. 31(2), pages 156-167.
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    Cited by:

    1. Marder, Ben & Angell, Rob & Boyd, Eric, 2023. "How and why (imagined) online reviews impact frontline retail encounters," Journal of Retailing, Elsevier, vol. 99(2), pages 265-279.
    2. Agag, Gomaa & Durrani, Baseer Ali & Shehawy, Yasser Moustafa & Alharthi, Majed & Alamoudi, Hawazen & El-Halaby, Sherif & Hassanein, Ahmed & Abdelmoety, Ziad H., 2023. "Understanding the link between customer feedback metrics and firm performance," Journal of Retailing and Consumer Services, Elsevier, vol. 73(C).
    3. Block, Sidney T. & Friebel, Guido & Heinz, Matthias & Zubanov, Nick, 2022. "Mystery Shopping as a Strategic Management Practice in Multi-Site Firms," IZA Discussion Papers 15599, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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