Mystery shopper's High St mission

Helen Jones on the woman who goes undercover to check out stores and the staff

ANNIE PRICE is an undercover agent. The job is difficult but rarely dangerous. Her uniform isn't a slouch hat and a raincoat but jeans and a T-shirt to help her blend in with a crowd. But Price hasn't been recruited by MI5, she is a mystery shopper.

Her task is to assess standards of customer service in High Street stores, on trains, in pubs, clubs and hotels and to report back to the companies concerned. "Occasionally I have had to act as the customer from hell and be really awkward to gauge how well staff react, but usually I act as a normal shopper," she says. Many companies, including Sainsbury's and Dixons, are recruiting undercover agents like Price who can alert them to potential problems such as scruffy stores or rude staff. Richard Hyman of retail analysts Verdict, says: "There has been a significant increase in the number of companies using mystery shoppers because customer service is a key differentiating factor." Consumers will no longer put up with rude or inattentive staff or long queues and are voting with their feet. "There are more and more choices available to consumers and they will simply go elsewhere if the service isn't up to scratch," says Hyman. Hotel groups such as Marriott, Savoy Group and Stakis use mystery guests to check everything from the fluffiness of the towels to the speed with which room service delivers a sandwich. Gordon Lyle, director of training and development for Stakis, say: "We use them constantly to help us focus on customer service. It has helped us identify weaknesses. Room service didn't used to be terribly good, so we have been able to address it and beef up staff training." However, he adds that they are not used to spy on staff. "We get detailed reports and staff who are specifically mentioned for providing good service are rewarded. It is much more a carrot than a stick." Mystery shoppers can also add to the bottom line. A spokesman for Scher Associates, which runs mystery shopper programmes for a range of clients, says: "One of our hotel clients was losing up to GBP 25,000 a year simply because it didn't offer customers coffee. If staff are trained to ask all customers if they want coffee it not only increases the quality of service but also increases turnover of a high-margin product." Dixons also makes extensive use of mystery shoppers. All 950 stores in the group - Dixons, Currys, PC World and The Link - are inspected at least four times a year. "It is done through a third-party agency so it is independent and tells us what is right and what is wrong in every single store. Customer service is the most important thing to us and it helps us to identify where additional training may be needed," says spokesman Steve O'Brien. The use of undercover consumers will be even greater in the future, says Hyman. "We forecast that the retail environment will become increasing competitive in the next five years and if stores do not live up to consumer expectations and offer good service then they will lose out."

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