A HUGE Thank You To All Of Our Mystery Shoppers...

A HUGE thank you to all of our mystery shoppers in the UK and beyond.  The past few months have seen us taking on new clients, expanding the services that we offer and we are even moving offices to accommodate our growing empire – we are fast becoming the market leader of all of the UK's mystery shopping companies!  None of this we could have done with you.  Thank you! 

Thank you to Sharon from Wiltshire:

Your name has been given to us as a star shopper on our Health and Vitality shop visits – we have had so many great reports on this project, so to have your name specifically mentioned is amazing.  Thank you!

Thank you to Shaun from West Sussex:

You took on two last minute jobs and completed them perfectly!  Our scheduler mentioned that you are always really nice, encouraging and you always go the extra mile to help out.  Thank you!

Thank you to Alex from Berkshire:

You have picked up a hard-to-allocate visit with important restrictions now, two months in a row – you have no idea how much we appreciate you!

Thank you to Kristinna from Cumbria:

Thank you to Neil from W Sussex:

Thank you to Christiana from Hertfordshire:

You have all gone FAR beyond the extra mile to help with our most recent video project.

Thank you to Jacqui from Bridgend:

You have always been a great member of our mystery shopping team and your recent Shopping Centre video was perfect and just what we were looking for.

Thank you to Richard from Hampshire:

You are adaptable, keen and dedicated and your enthusiasm is a breath of fresh air.  Thank you for all of your help!

Thank you to Philippa from Suffolk:

As always, you are happy to pick up mystery shopping jobs all across East Anglia and beyond and you always manage to fit our visits into your busy lifestyle – it is truly appreciated!

As always, we are delighted to admit that we would be nowhere without our mystery shoppers.

You can find out what we can do for your company, or join our mystery shopping team at www.retailactive.com

Considered Exit Interviewing?

Exit Interviewing is one of the most popular projects that we run, both for our clients and for our Mystery Shoppers. Where Mystery Shopping offers a snapshot of one customer’s experience, Retail Active Exit Interviews can gather several opinions from customers in a matter of hours. 

Exit Interviewing involves speaking with shoppers as they leave a store and filling in questionnaires with them about their experience, their opinions and their new purchases. 

We are looking for both new and experienced customer service Exit Interviewers to work with us on existing projects and to expand our current workforce of Interviewers, as we gain more and more business involving opportunities of this kind.

To be an Exit Interviewer you need to be dedicated, honest and reliable. Although, having Field Marketing, Exit Survey or Brand Auditing experience would be a definite plus! You need to be one of our team of Mystery Shoppers to be eligible, so please sign up at www.retailactive.com and tell us at  shoppersupport@retailactive.com why we should consider you to join our team. Whether you are just interested in Exit Interviewing or you are looking for additional opportunities to complete alongside your Mystery Shopping jobs, we would be delighted to hear from you!

Retail Active is one of Europe's leading Mystery Shopping Companies and conducts Brand Audits, Secret Shopping and Customer Satisfaction Surveys to over 170 companies in the UK and Europe.

The rise of the e-card

Christmas is just round the corner and here at Retail Active our tree is already up and the office is covered in cards and advent calendars.  We’ve also started to receive a few e-cards, which has got us thinking.

As a mystery shopping company, we are thinking about the relationship between business and consumers, and particularly what a company’s behaviour says about itself and its relationship with its customers.

A quick search around the internet will find a lot of people decrying the e-card as pointless and impersonal.  The reasons given are all fairly similar, the ease of which an e-card is sent makes them feel less meaningful.  With a traditional card, you know the person sending it has thought about you as they chose, wrote and sealed the card, whereas with an e-card they may well have simply imported their email contacts and clicked 'send all'.  But these arguments are all on the assumption that it is an individual sending cards to another individual.  When a company sends greeting cards, they are taking your name from a database, using bulk purchased cards and preparing them in an automated envelope stuffer – probably the same one used to send your bills.

The process is not all that different from what they would be doing with the e-cards, so why not save the environment a bit and skip delivering actual cards?  The answer is fairly simple as it turns out. 

Most companies put a lot of work into not appearing faceless and corporate, they engage in massive programmes to engage their customers and ensure their customers think of them as something more than 'just another company' (we would know, we provide the mystery shoppers who check how they are doing!).  When you’ve invested this heavily in building that relationship with your customers, the last thing you want to do is give the impression that you are being impersonal.

With electronic communication ever taking the place of traditional modes of communication, it is safe to say that the e-card is here to stay (and the traditional card might be doomed), but for now, if you are a business who cares about your relationship with your customers, a well chosen traditional card is your only real choice.

Let us know! Will you be sending e-cards this year?

Why choose Retail Active – Automotive Mystery shopping

Retail Active is the market leader of British mystery shopping companies and we also have strong roots in brand auditing, with numerous clients in several sectors.  Like our secret shopping reports, our audit reports are a snapshot of how businesses are performing, but they go one step further in to checking how compliant they are to company standards and what facilities are in place.

With years of experience as the leading brand auditing and mystery shopping company, Retail Active knows many of the problems that arise from running franchise operations.  Our audits highlight issues such as non compliant signage, inferior customer environments and incorrectly displayed POS; all of which could affect customer experience and sales.  Through a regular mystery shopping and auditing procedure, we can help save clients money.  We do this by ensuring that service and premises are maintained to a higher consistent standard throughout the franchise.

We have an International team of auditors who are detail conscientious, articulate and work to an exacting standard.  Retail Active provides a brand auditing and mystery shopping service throughout Europe, completing thousands of assignments each month to test service, quality and brand compliance.

We liaise with our clients to understand the emphasis of their audits, before preparing a custom audit programme to support their needs.  At Retail Active your Brand Audit will be completed perfectly, precisely and in a timely manner.

If you wish to enquire about the services Retail Active can provide, please email info@retailactive.com

If you are interested in becoming a brand assessor, please click through for more details on positions available.

If you are looking for mystery shopping jobs, or are looking to become a secret shopper, please sign up through www.retailactive.com.

The Retail Active Difference

In order to be the best you need to learn from your mistakes.  Retail Active is the leading British Mystery shopping company and there is a reason for that.  We review and improve our techniques constantly, staying a step ahead of the competition and providing a high-quality mystery shopping and customer research service for all of our valued clients.  It’s important to be quick to recognise mistakes and just as important to fix them quickly.

Lack of Communication

From the client to us, from the secret shopper to the proof-reader, communication is key.  Too often, companies will come to us with complaints about breakdowns of communication and one of their key requests is an Account Manager that will be with them throughout their engagement with us.  We have built our Account Management around this ideal to ensure that all of our clients’ needs are listened to and met.

Managing Change

Every client is important to us and we go to exacting lengths to ensure complete client satisfaction.  Our own research tells us that clients want meaningful and lasting relationships with their service providers, so we don’t change any of our key relationship contacts without carefully checking first.  As we grow and gain new clients we continue to recruit new secret shoppers for new, exciting mystery shopping jobs.  All of our mystery shoppers are graded after each and every assignment. 

Lack of Groundwork

You wouldn’t promise to build a skyscraper without laying the correct foundations. All of our client projects run on a tried and tested system that is proven to provide reliable secret shopping and brand auditing results so when we make a promise, you can trust that we can deliver it.

Inconsistency of service

Secret shopping is a very different to brand auditing, or any of our other products and services.  We have a graded and profiled International panel where it is possible for someone different to be assessing your business at every interaction.  Our reporting style means that our processes are consistent, but our mystery shopper’s opinion is relevant, fresh, considered and timely.

If you would like to learn more on how we can help you, contact us on 01235 438413.

How To Turbo Charge Your Sales & Profits

Over the last year, Retail Active has played a vital part in the success of our client’s business performance.  We don’t pretend to be the silver bullet, but are very proud to announce the average YOY revenue increase experienced by our customers is over 18%, in a very challenging market. 

As a Mystery Shopping Company, Retail Active provides a holistic service to improve customer loyalty and satisfaction.  We use a range of products and services - from Mystery Shopping, Brand Auditing and Customer Satisfaction Surveys to Employee Opinion Surveys.  With all of our programmes we carefully research our client’s specific requirements, taking care to immerse ourselves in their culture, spotting opportunities to share our unique research capabilities.  Research is driven by our expert team to analyse results, spot trends and communicate ways to maximise behaviours, revenue and profits.

We often identify quick wins and over the years have learnt that 90% of customers who have left a store without making a purchase do so due to poor service.  In other words, poor service has forced 90% of your potential customers to buy your products elsewhere.

Your current customers should be your greatest asset in recommending your brand, your best way to increase profits, your most frequent visitors and your greatest critics.  Current customers, when kept happy, return more often, increase their spending and recommend you to family and friends.

70% of customers are prepared to pay more IF they receive a better service.  Improving your service would result in 70% of your customers being happy to pay more.

If you are wondering how customers rate your service, you can contact us on 01235 438413.
If your customers are spending more money, more often, are happy to spend more on your services and are shouting your praises from the rooftops - then you then you must be one of our clients.  If not, please visit www.retailactive.com to find out more.

Retail Active is a British research organisation, specialising in secret shopping, using carefully selected mystery shoppers.  If you are looking for mystery shopping jobs and would like to join our panel, please contact us. We take huge pride in being one of the globes most successful mystery shopping companies and are always looking for talented secret shoppers to join us.

European Queue Survey

Members of MSPA Europe have conducted a major, pan-European, survey of queues. This is the fourth survey of its kind conducted by MSPA Mystery Shopping Companies, with the results giving valuable insight and an interesting picture of the way customers experience service.

Mystery Shoppers from 23 countries joined queues in a range of retail types including grocery stores, banks, fast food outlets and travel ticket offices. Secret Shoppers reported on the time taken to reach the front of the queue and on the response of the member of staff to the queuing customer. Nearly 3000 mystery shopper queue reports were submitted, making this the largest survey of its kind.

Julian Chamberlain, MD of Retail Active Mystery Shopping and Brand Audits said "Frustratingly mystery shoppers could see ways in which the queue could be shortened, by opening more available tills, or bringing extra staff to assist, but noted that this very rarely happened.

"The research shows that Russia has the longest and slowest queues and Post Offices have the longest queues.

"Customers appear resigned to staying in the queue, but one in three was dissatisfied about the experience."

The surveys show that on average it takes almost 9 minutes to reach the front of the queue, 1 minute less than 2 years ago and still about the time taken in 2008, indicating that cost cutting changes made because of the recession may be having a real impact on customer experiences.

Retail active is a leading mystery shopping company providing research throughout Europe. Mystery Shopping is a valuable way to help organisations measure exactly how well, or badly, their customers are treated.

Become a Retail Active Account Manager

Retail Active the leading UK based Brand Audit & Mystery Shopping Company is actively seeking an experienced Account Manager to join them at their Oxfordshire based headquarters.

You will be responsible for promoting Retail Active through presentations and analysis, whilst proactively identifying further new business opportunities. Over the next few months we have several high profile clients joining us and there are exciting new opportunities ahead.

The primary purpose of a Retail Active Account Manager is to manage the commercial relationship with existing and new Mystery Shopping clients. This will involve regularly meetings with clients to give feedback, share best practice and recommend improvements to their programmes. Our clients look for well informed and proactive challenge to help them improve their proposition, therefore having the confidence to present compelling commercial information is essential.

Working with the Operations Team you will ensure that client programme requirements are understood and implemented to an exacting standard.

You will have previous relevant experience as an Account Manager, be willing to travel extensively and looking for a challenge to develop your career in a growing organisation. It is highly likely that you will work closely with our clients, possibly at least one day a week at their headquarters.

Applicants will need to be confident individuals with the abilities to communicate effectively at all levels. This is a challenging and rewarding job requiring excellent organisational skills and ability to manage multiple projects.

Julian Chamberlain, Managing Director of Retail Active commented: 'This is a crucial role and we are looking for the very best and brightest Account Managers to join us. We offer excellent opportunities those able to make an engaging and meaningful difference to clients and brand performance. We have exciting plans for the future and it is essential the right team in place to make Retail Active the secret shopper company of choice.

If you would like to apply for this position please send your CV to info@retailactive.com, together with a covering letter, detailing why you believe you should be considered.

Retail Active is one of Europe's leading Mystery Shopping Companies, sending thousands of mystery shoppers each week to conduct assignments.

Salary, circa £34,000 pa including car allowance and benefits.

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.

Mystery Shopping Scams

Mystery Shoppers are being targeted by fraudsters, who are trying to cash in on this increasingly popular part-time activity.

Internet-based tricksters send tempting emails to would-be mystery shoppers asking them for personal information and bank account details.

Unsuspecting people, who want to earn extra income by monitoring customer service standards in retail businesses and public organisations, risk falling prey to a series of scams by bogus companies.

Potential victims are targeted by huge volumes of unsolicited emails on random lists.

The fraudsters have angered genuine Mystery Shopping companies, like Retail Active, which has a wide variety of clients in the Automotive, Food and Drink, Government, Hotels, Leisure, Retail and Travel sectors.

The company gets dozens of calls a week from people all over the world worried that they have been duped – or are about to be.

Retail Active’s managing director, Julian Chamberlain says: “

“We have received reports of people being asked for personal details, which are then sold off to use on marketing lists – or for other uses, such as fraudulently accessing people banks accounts.

“No reputable Mystery Shopping company would ever ask for money – so that is the first way to establish whether a company is genuine or not.

“Mystery Shopping is becoming increasingly popular and provides a valuable service to industry.

“We are very angry that fraudsters are trying to exploit people who genuinely want to help improve levels of customer service – and earn some much-needed extra income as well.

“We’ve drawn up a five point guide to help mystery shoppers avoid being conned.

1. Do not apply to be a mystery shopper through an email, list, club or agency. Always apply directly to mystery shopping companies.

2. All reputable mystery shopping companies provide online training as part of the application process. If there is no training then the likelihood is that you are being conned.

3. If in doubt phone. All genuine mystery shopping companies such as Retail Active advertise their telephone number and can be contacted directly.

4. Never, ever part with cash in advance. If you do then there is a high probability that you are being defrauded.

5. There are hundreds of thousands of active mystery shoppers in the UK, ask a friend if they are a mystery shopper. The chances are that they are or at least know someone that does. Ask them who the best mystery shopping companies are.

If in doubt register with mystery shopping company Retail Active at www.retailactive.com.