Purpose of the present study, is to assess the quality of service provided to the
customer and identify possibilities for improvement in the service offered by the
employees of company X, a major Greek telecommunication company. In this paper,
mystery shopping is used as research method. Additionally, the influence of personality
and background differences between mystery shoppers on the results is examined.
Hence, the following research question is investigated: “How can the customer‟s
satisfaction with company X be evaluated and improved, using mystery shopping as
research method?”
Mystery shopping is conducted in 15 stores in Thessaloniki. The visits are done
by 5 different mystery shoppers. Each store is visited twice, to ensure objective and
reliable results. The mystery shoppers perceive the environment of the stores as very
good. As far as the employees are concerned, they have good knowledge, but can
improve on friendliness, convincingness and their understanding of customers‟ needs.
In general, the mystery shoppers are satisfied with the service provision of company X,
although there is further room for improvement. A first recommendation, is to increase
the number of employees. Other proposals include: making changes in the training
program, extend the operating hours of the stores and increase the number of mystery
shoppers per store. All these suggestions, will help company X to improve its service
and customer satisfaction. Some evidence of influence of personality and background
differences, on mystery shoppers‟ results, is discussed. Furthermore, this paper
contributes to a better understanding of a relatively unknown research method, but
further study is still required. Finally, this is one of the first studies, in which the
relation between mystery shopping, customer satisfaction and service quality, is
suggested.
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