@tstewart3 wrote:
The people making the decisions about how much we are paid never buy gas, groceries or anything else. I would like to know their secret.
@tstewart3 wrote:
The people making the decisions about how much we are paid never buy gas, groceries or anything else. I would like to know their secret.
@French Farmer wrote:
....Currently, I'm looking at some "Blue" shops right now that are miles away distant. They are really nicely bonused....Maybe the IPSOS schedulers are bound by their company's dictates, maybe not.
Whatever. In my opinion, they are being cheap and tone deaf to what is happening out there.
@Zek wrote:
@tstewart3 wrote:
The people making the decisions about how much we are paid never buy gas, groceries or anything else. I would like to know their secret.
I think they know or have an idea. They pay the bills or have have a financial person to keep them informed. IMO they are more in tune with good profit margins. Shops that require a purchase is revenue back to the client. Even if the client pays the MS for the shopper reimbursement, the client is still turning a profit. A clearance item or use of a coupon may decrease the profit, but generally the cost is less than what a shopper paid. The one big exception to that may be the $4.99 chickens at Costco.
@sandyf wrote:
Zek, I always thought I understood the math of this but now I am wondering exactly how the client makes a profit on the item you purchase for a shop that the client then reimburses you for? Basically in my math the client not only does not end up with any net profit for selling you , the shopper, that item but they also may have some small per item costs involved in ordering , stocking etc of the item not to mention the cost of the mystery shop program.
@BirdyC wrote:
@sandyf wrote:
Zek, I always thought I understood the math of this but now I am wondering exactly how the client makes a profit on the item you purchase for a shop that the client then reimburses you for? Basically in my math the client not only does not end up with any net profit for selling you , the shopper, that item but they also may have some small per item costs involved in ordering , stocking etc of the item not to mention the cost of the mystery shop program.
I don't know the numbers, of course. But retail prices are at least double (or more) of wholesale prices. We don't know what the end client pays the MSC per shop, but if I buy a $60 pair of jeans or shoes at a retail chain that is the end client, and the MSC reimburses me $20 and, in turn, is reimbursed that $20 by their client, there's at least $10 in gross profit. If the retail chain owns the factory that produces the jeans, there's probably a *whopping* profit in there somewhere. Even if the end client beaks even on the sale of that one pair of jeans, they're getting back their money in revenue (not necessarily profit) and gaining valuable (we hope!) insight into the customer experience.
This seems to make the most sense to me in terms of reimbursement shops. It's probably cheaper for a company to do that than to pay a fee.
@sandyf wrote:
Okay, then you and Zek are talking about the so called "coupon" shops. I did not realize this is what Zek was speaking about as I have never taken a shop where only $20 of a $60 purchase was reimbursed. In my market there are very few of those and I read here whenever the subject comes up that most shoppers do not take these shops. I would think, based on the companies I work for these types of shops are a small percentage of shops.
@sandyf wrote:
I'm not totally sure that's what Zek was talking about, but it seems to me that those shops fall into the category of reimbursement shops. I did one where there was a coupon plus a reimbursement up to a certain amount. The required purchase amount exceeded both the coupon amount and the reimbursement, so there was money going back to the end client, even if not much.
Even on a straight reimbursement/no fee shop, it seems that shoppers almost always end up out of pocket some. Granted, it doesn't seem like there's any profit in it in most cases, but I'm thinking it can't be a total loss to the end client. Or maybe they just figure the value of the feedback makes up for any lost $$?
I learn something new every day, but not everyday!
I've learned to never trust spell-check or my phone's auto-fill feature.
@sandyf wrote:
Zek, I always thought I understood the math of this but now I am wondering exactly how the client makes a profit on the item you purchase for a shop that the client then reimburses you for? Basically in my math the client not only does not end up with any net profit for selling you , the shopper, that item but they also may have some small per item costs involved in ordering , stocking etc of the item not to mention the cost of the mystery shop program. .
@ sandyf, the overhead/cost of sale is factored into the selling price (upfront). Correct, clients are buying a service from the MSC whom delivers information. That is a cost of doing business which may or may not be factored into the selling price, or is budgeted for elsewhere in the business. But on a shop that is fully or partially reimbursable, it is revenue back to the client (not necessarily profit as BirdyC points out).
@wrosie wrote:
Hell, people gladly pay over $5.00 a gallon for bottled water, something I drink from the tap. And don't get started figuring out what Starbucks costs per gallon.
@Zek wrote:
@tstewart3 wrote:
The people making the decisions about how much we are paid never buy gas, groceries or anything else. I would like to know their secret.
I think they know or have an idea. They pay the bills or have have a financial person to keep them informed. IMO they are more in tune with good profit margins. Shops that require a purchase is revenue back to the client. Even if the client pays the MS for the shopper reimbursement, the client is still turning a profit. A clearance item or use of a coupon may decrease the profit, but generally the cost is less than what a shopper paid. The one big exception to that may be the $4.99 chickens at Costco.
@luckygirl0100 wrote:
Huh?
YOU are the only person who decides how much you will be paid. Don't take the job if you don't like the pay! But fyi MANY MANY MANY MSC & clients are middle class business owners.
@tstewart3 wrote:
The people making the decisions about how much we are paid never buy gas, groceries or anything else. I would like to know their secret.