Everyone agrees that Work-Life Balance still remains questionable when organizations introduce new workload every day and expect more than employee’s capacity. Busy day filled with high workload has been leading to depression and trauma for many professionals working in different industries. Moreover, the same nature of work on a routine basis fades away interest and passion.

Professionals expect adventurous toil which is absent in most of the professions which is very depressing and demotivates employees to perform low. However, institutions in the competitive landscape have become indifferent and greedy expecting the employees to work round the clock.

To enhance life satisfaction, individuals have turned to be ghost shoppers in the past decade. Social media platforms and the internet has paved the way for individuals to discover mystery shopping professional opportunities. Frequent advertisements and personal email communication on mystery shopping opportunities have attracted youngsters to become active mystery shoppers with a motto “Earn extra pocket money”.

Mystery shoppers have hope in this market research horizon and it has proved to be true for many who have taken up mystery shopping assignments after which they are paid a fair amount for the work being rendered.

Mystery shopping is an interesting profession, which has ‘n’ number of advantages especially for homemakers and old retired senior citizens. Though this profession is not exposed to the outer world like other professions, it helps an individual to earn extra money in flexible work hours. Bangalore today houses a variety of retail stores and hyper-malls across most of the districts attracting a wide population.

Long gone are days when customers gave importance only to customer satisfaction. However, smart customers in the modern world expect a memorable customer experience. It becomes very difficult for the retail store owners to monitor the store environment and the employees and hence they appoint spy shoppers called “Mystery shoppers”. The task of a mystery shopper is very simple! It involves no basic investment to get into employment. Right from college students to old senior citizens can be a mystery shopper.

All they need is to be registered with a market research firm with a government Identity proof. The entire process is online based and quick and takes less than 10 minutes to be registered with a market research firm. When there are holidays or free hours, anyone can take up mystery shopping assignments based on the availability of assignments with the market research firm. Sometimes mystery shopping is done due to passion. Individuals can specialize in the domain in which they are interested. Mystery shopping assignments are available with wide fields such as marketing, retail, finance, insurance, banking, medical, hospitality, entertainment etc.

The core skills required are “observational skill” and descriptive writing skills. At the time of the mystery-shopping task the individual is requested to keenly observe various aspects such as store arrangements, cleanliness, storekeepers knowledge, billing counter, customer reactions etc. The observation has to be converted into a written record and the same has to be submitted to the market research firm for perusal. The payment is based on timely submission, quality work, and descriptive reporting which will be useful for better decision making by the client firm. A wide variety of market research firms are approached by many business houses to conduct mystery-shopping audits and as an outcome, the market research firms hire mystery shoppers.

Mystery shopping can be a full-time profession or it can be a casual work based on an individual’s capacity to work. Mystery shoppers also get free products and services based on the nature of assignment such as restaurant service, movie or concert, amusement parks etc. It is very important for an individual not to expose the mystery shopper identity to the external world. This silent profession is simple but has growth opportunities in the domestic and international market.

Thus, being a mystery shopper has endless benefits. Mystery shopping has now become an obvious choice for many individuals who expect peace and happiness in work. There is however no other interesting casual job like mystery shopping which holds great perquisites. Mystery shopping is a triple benefit for client firms, market research firms and for the mystery shopper.