Undercover Price Audits in Supermarkets

Hello All,

I have my first undercover competitive price audit in a supermarket today. I am a bit nervous as I've never done one. I am planning to get a shopping cart and look the part of a real shopper, and just leave the cart with groceries in the aisle and bail out of the store when I am done.

I have a mini recorder in my shirt to "talk to myself about prices" while I shop, I can also text from my cell phone some details to my email account at home. I figure these would be some good tactics to look inconpicous and get the info I need.

I would love to hear some tactics from people who do these types of projects.

Create an Account or Log In

Membership is free. Simply choose your username, type in your email address, and choose a password. You immediately get full access to the forum.

More About Price Check Audits

I have done these many times for two different firms, but have never ditched the cart-why not just buy something? After all, everyone needs groceries. I have never come close to being noticed; the only time I wanted to die was when I got vitamins for my list in a tiny local grocery store.

**********************************************************************
“Lying in bed would be an altogether perfect and supreme experience if only one had a colored pencil long enough to draw on the ceiling."
~Gilbert K. Chesterton

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/04/2009 06:55PM by dee shops.

Ditching your cart is not a smart move. One it is noticeable. Two it makes more work for an employee.

What company does price audits?

In the larger stores, no one will notice a ditched cart for hours. I have done product demonstrations in a position where I could watch them. I have to tell the employees that it has been there. Sometimes employees leave carts with things they are working on that don't look like an employee did it.

In a smaller grocery store, I once parked my cart with five items and went to the restroom. When I returned, the cart was gone and every single one of them was back on the shelf. I was tempted to make them get them all for me. I wasn't gone very long!

I have done price audits in another type of store for little pay and a lot of nuisance. I haven't done any in the big famous one, but I know someone who does. She doesn't seem to happy about it.

Sandra

i agree about the making more work for the employee... i have worked in supermarkets before... its not fun... if i were you i would not put much in my cart if you are determined to leave it...

supermarket employees dont get much and have to pay union dues and put up with some pretty rude people...

to quote waiting...
"dont f*** with the people who make your food"

shopping north west PA and south west ny

How is the Trendsource competitor audit assignment of 50 grocery items???

Got a email for one in Paramus, NJ which I suspect is at that west coast based trendy chain with the friendly employees who wear Hawaii type shirts.

Do they tell you the exact name of each item to price, or do you randomly choose 50 items from different areas in the store ???

Thank You and Happy New Year to all.

I did one last month for TS. They gave me a list of each item including the sizes to find. It took me a while and it was bonused, but it really did not pay very much for the time it took me to do the audit. will have to think about doing another one.

It all depends upon the list you are given and how familiar you are with the placement of items in the store. I have done the ones from hell I refuse if I get assigned (wellness items in a small neighborhood store) vs meat in a national chain. I can get out on the latter in 15 minutes.

Certified Field Market does they pay 10 dollars the first hour and 2 bucks every 15 minutes they are on going projects. I use to rack up 120 a weekend, but now they wanna crack down on all of use old timers making easy money. With only having one day audits instead of 2 days for the supermarket audits.

I've done a lot of audits for TS; after my first one, I said I was never going to do them again. Then everytime the scheduler calls, I have a hard time saying no...And my pet peeve, really, is when they don't believe the prices you've recorded and ask you to either go back or call the store up for the $7 of pay you get. (Ok, maybe it's $14, including the reimbursement for the items you're supposed to buy but it's totally PITA!)

Yes, I agree, Maddie. They now programed the SW to reflect an "off" price...so sometimes you get it from the SW and then from the QA person. It's annoying.

Why would you ditch the cart? Don't you have to make a purchase? The ones I've done pay you for your purchase of certain items plus a payment fee.

I just started doing these grocery store price audits undercover. I just act like a regular shopper and wheel the cart around in the store picking up a few items as I go. Then I ditch the cart with items in it. I cannot think of another way to do this. This is a large grocery store chain in Canada, so a stray cart with five or six items isn't such a big deal.

Yes I do the samething with the carts,but now I don't go 2 the assigned stores I just go 2another of the same store in my area...these compaines are getting silly with these 10 dollar audits..its really now wasting my gas and time on Saturdays.

Ditching the cart is just plain wrong. You are creating extra work for people, first of all. Didn't your mother ever teach you to put away your own toys when you are done playing with them?

Second, it is not the "normal" behavior exhibited by most *non MS'ng shoppers*, so it makes you stand out more.

Well I only have one or 2 items N my cart and go towards the magazine area and read and then go....one item N a cart isn't as bad as a full cart.

Putting a few items in the cart to seem like a regular shopper is a good idea. I would just suggest taking some occasional items and then putting them back on another pass down that isle.

Most of the audits I've seen have you make a small purchase to prove you were there, so you end up with a few needed items in the cart and viola, no extra hassle.

I was doing one of my regular grocery shops for the company that makes you an employee yesterday and another shopper in the produce area was clearly doing a competitor audit. He had a clipboard and was writing down the price of each item. No cart at all. Very obvious.

What made it annoying was that it was so distracting for the store staff, they were staring at this guy and ignoring me, so they got a poor grade on their actual shop!

If certified marketing had ppl to purchase an item I would,but they don't. Most of these stores know they get shopped. I stop'd going N2 one store because the manager and security would follow me every week even when I did purchase 50 bucks of crap...now that's not worth my time or the 14 bucks they pay me for and I don't even get reimbursed for the shopping purchases

hassan12 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well I only have one or 2 items N my cart and go
> towards the magazine area and read and then
> go....one item N a cart isn't as bad as a full
> cart.

You can justify this in your own mind any way you want, but you are still acting outside the norm of behavior of the typical customer, and you are creating extra work for others. Put the stuff away after.

Say no more. "Certified" explains it all.

There's enough regular grocery shops so that I can avoid the audits where I live. Apparently I'm not alone because those audits sit on the board while the grocery shops go quickly.

SteveSoCal Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

>
> I was doing one of my regular grocery shops for
> the company that makes you an employee yesterday
> and another shopper in the produce area was
> clearly doing a competitor audit. He had a
> clipboard and was writing down the price of each
> item. No cart at all. Very obvious.
>

I have done about 300 of these things, for Trendsource. They come in waves here. I have seen other shoppers standing in the aisle, waving the form I recognize, trying to look for something that they don't know, and stop other
customers, show them the list, and say something like, "Do you know what this is? Because I don't."

Well I am a normal customer since we don't you go N2 a store and see ppl read magazines that they aren't going 2 spend money on to buy a subcription 2 it...

Bleev me I've worked N a store and didn't mind putting things back bcuz it meant me getting more hours and not being sent home due to lack of no work or the store being slow...half the store employees hide that stuff anyway...

A store isn't well stocked unless corporate is coming N to make a store visit and usually the management team knows about this.

Maybe you get paid more then 14 dollars for a 2 hour shop,but certified aint gonna pay more

So regular customers "we" all read magazines we aint gonna buy. It happens all the time N the magazine area or at the check out stand...Cheap ppl read for free

Is there some reason you use texting jargon here?

Lol...naw...don't take it personal...its just a bunch of words on a 'puter screen and not directed towards U personally...

Its just called feedback..like it or hate I don't care

I didn't take "it" personally. But I wonder what your reports, look like if you need to use texting jargon when writing on a forum.

hassan12 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Yes I do the samething with the carts,but now I
> don't go 2 the assigned stores I just go 2another
> of the same store in my area...these compaines are
> getting silly with these 10 dollar audits..its
> really now wasting my gas and time on Saturdays.

Frankly, hassan12, this is a post I find very disturbing. Are you indeed saying that you are not going to the stores you are assigned to shop but rather just visiting a more convenient location? I have never seen a shop that suggests that I just go into the most convenient location of the client.

My reports R fine been doing these audits 4 2 years and never received a call back about my reports from certified...

I do wonder Y ppl act like they really doing something BIG and special for these 10 buck jobs...its called easy money that doesn't require a high school diploma..just my take on it

I 1der Y u hav so lil props 4 ppl. U n33d sh0 u kewl?

Seriously, I have a difficult time taking anything you say seriously; you write in texting language on a forum, show little respect for the work or the company that is paying you, and can't put your own toys away after playing.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2010 09:51PM by dee shops.

hassan, I'm not taking your writing style personally, but it's occasionally difficult to get your meaning.

Is a '10 buck job' something 'BIG and special'? That's not the point as I see it. $3, $10, or $75 shops have requirements that we agree to meet. It can sometimes be 'easy money', sometimes not.

Sorry, only registered users may post in this forum.

Click here to login

Undercover Price Audits in Supermarkets

Create an Account or Log In

Official List of Mystery Shopping Companies

Mystery Shopper Magazine