The Application of Mystery Shopping in an Apparel Retailing Chain in China

In this paper a case study of mystery shopping is described, which was jointly conducted by a large apparel retailing company headquartered in Hong Kong and a management school in Shanghai. The program of mystery shopping in the stores of the company has been carried out for six years, and the scope of the activity covers some 30 cities in China. The reinforcement learning model is used to explain how mystery shopping can be employed as one strategy to improve service quality. The paper summarizes the main measures adopted by the company for continuous improvement. The whole processes of mystery shopping, the follow-up measures, and the evaluation sheet and work instruction are described as well. The paper also suggests the ways to select, train and control college students as mystery shoppers