Mystery shopping is the methodology used to measure sales quality and improve customer service. A pretend customer (the mystery shopper) has to verify if the store or brand complied with certain standards. The experience of the final customer is replicated to evaluate product display, staff expertise, and courtesy or visual effect.

Mystery shopping is useful to evaluate all those issues that would pass unnoticed with traditional methodologies.

Information to collect may be varied: quality of employee’s work, staff expertise, courtesy, and care reserved to customers. Other data captured would include product display, cleanliness, and any other parameter that may influence the customer experience.