A Little History About Mystery Shopping…

October 13, 2009

At a recent networking function for ASTD (American Society for Training and Development), one of the members shared a great personal “blast from the past” story about mystery shopping.

In 1972, the woman’s mother was hired by Dayton’s department store in Minneapolis as an employee specifically to conduct in-house customer service mystery shops for the different store departments. Due to the large staff size and high rate of turnover, she was able to effectively maintain her anonymity and successfully provide service evaluations for several years. Kudos to Daytons for taking the initiative to develop their own internal program as early as the 1970’s – before mystery shopping was a widely accepted practice.

Want to know a little more about the history of mystery shopping? 

• Research tells us that it was a technique originally used by private investigators to prevent internal theft at banks and retail stores.
• During the 1940’s, Wilmark started using the term “mystery shopping” to describe the process of anonymously evaluating customer service.
• The industry slowly gained popularity throughout the 1970’s and 1980’s.
• Widespread Internet access fueled rapid industry growth during the 1990’s.
• Awareness of mystery shopping and an understanding of its benefits continue to move the industry forward. 

Today, there are many more options available from mystery shopping providers than there were when Dayton’s ran their in-house program during the 1970’s. An externally developed and managed program will provide: industry expertise, objectivity, a large shopper database, and extensive reporting options.

If you’d like to learn more, please contact us. We’d love to share our own company history, and explain how our services can help your business.