Mystery shopping or mystery consumer is a tool used by market research companies to measure quality of retail service or gather specific information about products and services.
Mystery shoppers posing as normal customers perform specific tasks—such as purchasing a product, asking questions, registering complaints or behaving in a certain way – and then provide detailed reports or feedback about their experiences.
Tools used for mystery shopping assessments range from simple questionnaires to complete audio and photograph/video recordings.
The most common venues where mystery shopping is used are retail stores, movie stores, movie theaters, restaurants, fast food chains, banks, gas stations, health clubs as well as health care facilities.