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Sales & Retail vocabulary · Retail Store & Customers

Mystery shopper

Meaning in sales & retail, with examples

/ˈmɪstəri ˌʃɑːpər/nounCommon term

In sales & retail, mystery shopper means: A person paid by a company to visit a shop as an ordinary customer and report on the service, staff behaviour and store standards.

In Turkish: gizli müşteri

How it is used

Common in retail chains, banks, restaurants and car dealers. Mystery shoppers follow a checklist, for example whether staff greeted them, offered help and mentioned the loyalty program. The practice is called mystery shopping, and results often affect store bonuses.

Example sentences

  1. We scored 92 percent in last month's mystery shopper visit.

  2. The mystery shopper noted that nobody offered to check the stockroom for her size.

Common collocations

  • mystery shopper visit
  • mystery shopping programme
  • mystery shopper report
  • mystery shopper score
  • store managerThe person in charge of a shop, responsible for its staff, sales results, stock, customer service and daily running.
  • sales associateA shop employee who helps customers on the sales floor, answers questions, finds products and sizes, and often works on the till as well.
  • KPIKey performance indicator: a number that shows how well a person, team or store is doing against an important goal, such as daily sales or conversion rate.
  • loyalty programA scheme in which regular customers collect points, discounts or rewards when they shop, designed to make them come back.

More terms: Retail Store & Customers

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