Happy Christmas

Leading UK based Brand Auditing and Mystery Shopping Company, Retail Active, is getting ready for Christmas! A notoriously busy time of year for all of us in the Retail Industry and this year the pressure is even greater. Thanks to a very successful 2011, November and December will prove to be very busy for the Retail Active Team.

This means more Mystery Visits are available than ever before, so keep your eyes peeled for those exciting Mystery Shopping Jobs and get in touch if you would like to register with us. Why not tell a friend and get them to register too!!

Christmas is a crucial time for everyone in the Retail, Hospitality and leisure sectors, but with the current economy under pressure - there will be a big focus on trading results this year. More and more businesses are coming to Retail Active to experience our unique approach and focus on commercial improvements.

Running a Mystery Shopping programme is a compelling way to measure how staff interact and engage with customers, giving powerful and meaningful customer insight.

Julian Chamberlain, Managing Director at Retail Active says - Our carefully selected and profiled Mystery Shoppers give our valued clients unique visibility at the customer end of their business. It is at busy times, such as Christmas that successful operators embrace customer engagement to achieve the profitability levels required to sustain their businesses. British consumers will continue to shop in these hard times, but they will only go where they feel the custom is valued.

Customers are a company's best asset; to understand yours better this Christmas visit www.retailactive.com or email us for more information about starting a programme.

High Street retailers may feel a chill as Christmas shoppers plan their own spending cuts

Christmas shoppers are planning their own spending cuts this Christmas - tarnishing retailers’ hopes of a prosperous “Golden Quarter” – according to new research.

Four out of ten shoppers say they plan to spend less or much less on Christmas than last year – the survey says.

More than a third have already almost completed their Christmas shopping.

An astonishing eight out of ten shoppers said they would walk out of a high street store if customer service doesn’t come up to scratch.

And there is a gloomy forecast for January sales, when New Year VAT increases begin to bite.

The survey, by business intelligence analysts and mystery shopping company, Retail Active asked 2000 people for details of their Christmas shopping plans.

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “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 buying on credit.

“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 is an ill omen for high street retailers hoping for a late surge in spending.”

Eighty-seven per cent of shoppers said they would walk out of shops where customer service fell below expectations.

Julian Chamberlain said: “We send thousands of mystery shoppers to test the service and brand delivery of high street brands up and down the land.

“Customers are just not prepared to put up with poor service unless they have to make a distress purchase.
“There is everything to go for over the next few weeks and it’s still not too late to make a real difference to store performance.

We are offering retailers a five point plan to help them capitalise on the trade that is still out there and to maximise sales.


1 Front line is Bottom Line – focus on ensuring that your staff are motivated to give attentive and speedy service.
2 Are your staff up selling? Look for the opportunity to sell, Even up to the point of paying, customers still want to buy and are at their weakest when at the checkout
3 Perception is reality! create an experience that customers remember and want to revisit – consider how you will get customers back to buy again before Christmas
4 Price is important but service is critical – What can you do to ensure your brand delivery flawless
5 Provide focused training for your team and have systems in place to monitor service delivery and quality

Santa Needs To Sharpen His Act - Or Lose Money

Its no longer good enough for Santa to deliver his gift with a Ho,ho,ho – customer service will be high on everyone’s shopping list this Christmas.

A new survey says poor service could cost High Street stores millions of pounds and drive customers away for ever.

Research by Retail Active, Britain’s leading shopping intelligence company, says more than half the shoppers surveyed beleive customer service has declined in the past year.

Eight out of ten wouldn’t shop again at stores giving poor service.

Almost as many said they would spend more on products at stores with good service and more than a quarter said they complain more than they did before the start of the credit crunch.


Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain said: “Stores will be having to deal with a customer service time bomb this Christmas.

“The recession has sharpened customers’ demands and more than ever before – seven out of ten - say they are prepared to complain about poor service.

Retail Active has identified several types of shopper who can damage businesses if they are not happy.

“The most dangerous for stores is the “Silent but Deadly” type, says Julian Chamberlain.

“According to our research, nearly a third of customers never complain at all – but they never go back either. And what is worse for retailers, they tell on average nine other people about their dissatisfaction.

“If the average customer value is £100 – that means every silent complaint costs a company at least £900. These figures are confirmed by the Office of Fair Trading, which puts a figure of £935 on the cost of each complaint.

“On the positive side customers who do complain and have their complaint well handled, tell on average 12 people about the great service they received. There is a distinct commercial advantage in good customer service.

“With internet sales booming – online companies are just waiting to welcome customers disillusioned with the High Street.

“This is really a crunch year for High Street Christmas shopping. Our survey shows that customer service will be the vital ingredient in deciding whether customers stay for next year – or desert in droves.”

Retail Active is one of the UK’s leading Customer Intelligence and Mystery Shopping companies. It sends out thousands of agents every year to monitor customer service standards for a wide variety of clients in the retail, leisure, automotive and travel sectors.

Clients include household names Porsche, Lexus and Toyota, P&O, Asda, and Center Parcs.