12 days of Retail Active

On the first day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
An email – “Welcome to the team!”

On the second day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
A local meal on my lunch break,
And I’m happy to be on the mystery shopper team!

On the third day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
Coffee on my commute,
A local meal on my lunch break,
And I’m happy to be on the team!

On the fourth day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
All of my Secret Santa presents,
Coffee on my commute,
Catching up with the girls on my lunch break,
And I’m happy to be on the team!

On the fifth day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
AN EXTRA PAY DAY!
All of my Secret Santa presents,
Two hour-long commute,
Did twenty visits on my lunch break,
I’m far too busy now I’m on the team!

On the sixth day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
Some make-up for the missus,
AN EXTRA PAY DAY!
All of my Secret Santa presents,
The coffee went cold in the rain,
Did twenty visits on my lunch break,
I’m far too busy now I’m on the team!

On the seventh day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
Toys for the children,
Some make-up for the missus,
AN EXTRA PAY DAY!
All of my Secret Santa presents,
Forgot to even pick up coffee,
No time on my lunch break,
And I’m happy to be on the team!

On the eighth day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
A much-needed night out dancing,
Toys for the children,
Some make-up for the missus,
IT’S ALL BEEN SPENT ALREADY?
I don’t even know James from Accounts,
I NEED CAFFEINE!
No time on my lunch break,
And I’m happy to be on the team!

On the ninth day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
A romantic meal for two,
A much-needed night out dancing,
“Barbie is SOOO last year!”
“Don’t you love me as I am?”
Another mid-month pay day,
How was I to know he was vegan?
THANK YOU for the coffee on my commute,
The local meal on my lunch break,
I’m so happy to be on the team!

On the tenth day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
My Christmas presents paid for,
But they messed up our order,
I trod on his toes,
What do you mean, you don’t like Barbie?
NO, YOU’RE BEAUTIFUL WITHOUT THE MAKE-UP!
IT’S ALL BEEN SPENT ALREADY AGAIN?
Had to re-wrap all of the presents,
Spilt the coffee on my commute,
Rescheduled the meal on my lunch break,
But I’m thankful I can get out of the house!

On the eleventh day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
Work to get me out the house,
My Christmas presents paid for,
“That’ll be to take away”,
Quick dash to the Pharmacy for plasters,
Thank goodness for gift receipts,
How is red the wrong colour?
How did we get through all this money?
Mixed up all of the gift tags,
Didn’t even get a chance to enjoy the coffee on my commute,
Christmas makes me crazy,
But I’m delighted to be on the team!

On the twelfth day of Christmas, Mystery Shopping gave to me;
A perfect Retail Active Christmas,
Some time to myself,
All the presents under the tree,
The turkey is in the oven,
Enjoyed our night out dancing,
Finally some peace and quiet,
You look gorgeous with that lipstick,
Every minute working was worth it,
Everyone’s happy in the end,
Drowned in a large glass of Bucks Fizz,
I love Christmas really,
And I’m delighted to be on the team!

If you would like to be a mystery shopper, Google mystery shopper jobs, or visit retailactive.com

Retail Active research featured in top rated ITV programme

Retail Active has been working with ITV’s top rated “Tonight” programme, which investigated consumer spending in the run up to Christmas 2010.

The programme, “Christmas or Bust”, reached a prime time audience of more than four million and looked at how Christmas shoppers were responding to economic uncertainty.

Retail Active carried out a special survey and the results were featured prominently in the programme.

Retail Active also helped the producers to find a couple who had decided times were so tough – they were going to cancel Christmas altogether this year.

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “We were able to help the programme makers with our expertise and with the use of our considerable resources, which allows us to contact thousands of shoppers instantly.

“The results of our poll, gave precise details of ways in which families were planning to economise on their Christmas spending.

“The findings were fully supported in the programme by financial experts, retailers and shoppers. This shows the accuracy of our research methods in generating a true picture of what is happening in the economy at any given moment and in determining the attitude of shoppers.

“Our experience as one of the UK’s leading business intelligence and mystery shopping companies was able to put the producers in touch with the mood on the High Street and produce figures, which could be used confidently in this prime time programme.

“Thanks to our survey, we were also able to find a Scottish couple who had cancelled their Christmas because of job uncertainty and who gave an excellent interview.”

Christmas Shoppers plan their own spending cuts for a reduced-price Christmas

Christmas shoppers are planning their own spending cuts this Christmas in defiance of the Bank of England’s plea to “Spend, spend, spend” to boost the economy.

A survey by the business intelligence analysts Retail Active found that four out of ten shoppers say they plan to spend less or much less on Christmas than last year.

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “We asked 2000 people for details of their Christmas shopping plans and 1394 responded.

Just over half (51%) said the uncertain state of the economy made them worried about spending money on Christmas.

“Families say they plan to save on Christmas spending this year, wherever possible – with more than nine out of ten saying they are going to spend under their limits this Christmas.

“Times are tight and our survey shows that people are resorting to selling belongings to raise cash, dipping into savings and using credit cards for Christmas purchases.

“Competition on the High Street is vicious and there is firm evidence that retailers are bringing forward their January sale prices now in an attempt to encourage shoppers to spend and beat the January increase in VAT.

“The high street is highly price sensitive with retailers under pressure to achieve revenue forecasts during the “golden quarter.”

“The fact that more than a third of shoppers surveyed reported that they had already completed ninety five per cent of their Christmas shopping before the end of November is an ill omen for high street retailers hoping for a late surge in spending.”