Mystery Shopping at Clothing Stores

Clothing stores are excellent mystery shopping assignments, especially when starting a mystery shopping business.  The in-store procedure usually doesn’t take more than half an hour and the report to submit less than an hour.  It’s possible to do multiple assignments in one day.   

Retail clothing stores have a lot of mystery shops for both written and video assignments.  The emphasis of these mystery shops is to evaluate the presentation of the salesperson.  Some assignments may have questions on cleanliness, but not all.    

The mystery shopping company will have specific information on what to do and ask for.  Some assignments allow you to purchase an item and keep it.  Other instructions require you to purchase an item, then return it later.  The purpose of this is so the business owner can see how their salespeople handle the return process.    

There are different scenarios for returning items as well.  Some assignments require you to wait an hour before returning the purchase.  Others want you to wait a full day or two.  The latter assignments usually pay more due to the inconvenience of visiting a location twice.   

However, there are plenty of assignments where you can keep items you purchase.  If you’re looking to enhance your wardrobe, these assignments can help with that.   

Fitting Rooms at Clothing Stores

Most assignments at clothing stores start with you walking into the store and waiting for a salesperson to approach you.  Sometimes, the questionnaire will ask how long you have to wait before you are greeted.  If a salesperson does not approach you after 5 minutes or more, you may approach one.   

The salesperson will ask what you’re looking for.  Usually, the assignment will call for you to ask about a shirt, suit, or pants of some kind.   

Once you have some clothes in hand, you go into a fitting room and try them on.  For written assignments, it’s not a problem.  When you’re wearing a microphone and hidden video equipment, it’s tougher to do.  In this case, you don’t really try anything on.  You go through the motions as if you’re trying on the clothes and return to the salesperson to continue the presentation.   

These assignments generally require you to buy one item.  The mystery shopper has the option to buy more clothes unless the assignment prohibits you from doing that.  The money to buy more clothes comes from your pocket.    

There is a popular mystery shopping scam that will send you a check to purchase items.  The check is a fake and you will end up repaying the bank if you cash it.  Learn more about these scams that frustrate you and every legitimate mystery shopping company.     

Returns and How Payment is Handled

There are a lot of assignments at clothing stores that want you to return the clothes you purchased.  The preference for most people is to return the items the same day.  Some business owners and mystery shopping companies feel you lose your anonymity by returning an item so soon.  (The person handling the return may think you’re a mystery shopper if you do so.) 

Business owners want to see how a salesperson handles the return.  They’re looking for any upsells from the salesperson or tactics to save the sale.  The person who handles the return may not always be the same person who helped you initially.    

Once you’re done at the clothing store, it’s time to fill out the report and submit it to the mystery shopping company.  The questionnaire has a few multiple choice questions and requires some narrative to write.  If you did a video assignment, your questionnaire is probably shorter.     

The video from the assignment is uploaded to a fileshare source that the mystery shopping company will provide you with.  You don’t need to have your own fileshare program.   

The Legality of Video Mystery Shopping.

The payment for mystery shops at clothing stores has a wide range, based on the extent of the requirements.  Written assignments range between $25 to $40.  Video shops will usually be double that.   If you must return your items, the payment is all profit.  If you’re allowed to keep your purchases, you’ll receive the set amount for payment.  

If you spend $45 on clothes and are paid $50 for the assignment, you’ll make a $5 profit.  If you spend $80 on clothes, you’ll still get paid $50.  In this case. you won’t be reimbursed for all of your expenses.  If you have to return your items on another day, you may make an additional $20 or more.   

Start Your Mystery Shopping Business

The mystery shopping business is always looking for new faces to visit different places.  Learn how you can start your own mystery shopping business from my book, “Take That Job And Mystery Shop It!”  I also list close to 200 mystery shopping companies that you can click on their website and fill out an application.  There’s information about each company and I indicate which ones I’ve had success with.  

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