Shop for free & get paid for effort!

Shop for free & get paid for effort!

Devanshi Joshi. Ahmedabad/DNA
Sunday, June 08, 2008

Want to shop without spending any money, and then get paid for the effort? The baffling deal is too good to be true, you say? It is, unless you are a mystery shopper — someone who is contracted by such facilities as retail stores, movie theatres, and restaurants to secretly evaluate services and products in the guise of an ordinary shopper. Trained researchers who operate with carefully defined assessment parameters engage in mystery shopping. Raj Sharma, the co-founder & president of Majestic Market Research Support Services, said, “The most common places where mystery shopping is carried out are retail stores, movie theatres, restaurants and fast-food chains.” He added that banks, gas stations, car dealerships, apartments and health clubs, and healthcare facilities also used mystery shoppers.“Mystery shopping originated in developed economies but now it has become popular in India too,” Sharma said. “We have 800 to 900 mystery shoppers in Gujarat, out of whom 45% to 50% are based in Ahmedabad.”Companies invest anything between Rs30 lakh and Rs40 lakh per year in mystery shopping. Such huge investments have been drawing an ever-growing number of people to mystery shopping assignments. It is easy to see why: the task offers extra income for easy work, and mystery shoppers enjoy free products and services. A mystery shoppers income depends on the assignment and on his or her profile. At the entry-level, the earning is Rs300 per assignment but experienced mystery shoppers who have carried out splurging expeditions for large corporations can earn up to Rs5,000 per outing. Mystery shoppers contend that they are an important part of consumer research initiatives because their feedback helps companies retool services, attract new customers, and reward valuable employees.