Mystery Shopping 2...

I don't shop often. Like a typical male, I usually know exactly what I want, how much it costs and where to get it. If the cashier is fast, I'm usually in-and-out of the shopping centre in less than 10 minutes.

Friends in product marketing often ask how to reach impatient "very focused" people like me. How to cross-sell and up-sell? What adverts can hold my attention?

It's simple...

Blokes like me do our research online, through magazine reviews or over beer/coffee with friends. Before we approach the shop, the decision HAS been made. So these marketing folks need to go upstream to reach us.

Just take a look at some of the food blogs in Singapore. The moment a nice review comes up, the crowd flocks! 

So how is this related to tennis and mystery shopping?!?!

The sad truth is that physical shops have been relegated to mere "research points." 

A lot of people go to shops to browse, touch, see and size themselves for the items they like. Then buy it online, 20-30% cheaper, delivered.

With the rising rents and labour costs, it is very clear how desperate shop keepers are for business. Just look at my first mystery shop. (link)

To go upstream, these shops need to go online. Join forum discussions. Get updated. Re-deploy traditional advertising expenses and use the budget to allocate rackets, strings, shoes and balls for live play-testing. Then sell these items at a discount.

From forums, groups can be arranged for "racket test days" or "string test days" and go mobile on weekends to tennis courts. Bring along a gadget. A serve speed radar or ball machine attracts crowds and can both be rented cheaply.

Or, organise group buys and help to bring in items not available locally. Another friend lamented that the range of tennis shoes available here is so pathetic. He bought his shoes online too.

They must also change their mindsets about phone enquiries! A doting father asked me to search for a particular frame and natural gut setup for his boy. 

All the shops I called carried the frame. During my second or third question, three apologised that they could not speak any longer as their shops were busy. One put me on hold and I hung up after seven minutes. 

Only one was patient enough to answer all of my four questions in detail. (He did apologise and asked if I mind him talking and stringing a racket simultaneously.) 

Despite the more than one-hour travel from my place, I bought ALL of his stock for that model. And it was not a mere 3 or 4 pieces! He had to order some more!!! What a doting father right?

In just that 5 minutes telephone conversation, he converted his shop from a "research point" to a "distribution point" and sealed the deal.

All I spoke with are Singaporeans. True blue, born and bred here. I genuinely want to help these folks. But please, cultivate a little patience and humility and that S$2k+ deal would have been yours.



16May2013 update:

Barely five days after I posted this mystery shopping, the headlines of a tabloid in Singapore reported about the pathetic state of customer service. 

Irony or fact? Please read for yourself...