Category: News

Research from mystery shoppers and the public has shown that almost 50% of those earning between £25,000 and £50,000 would choose a supermarket own brand label (often considered as being budget) on products whenever possible.

It was also found that 37% of middle earners would only shop at a supermarket considered as socially acceptable, with Sainsbury’s and Waitrose topping the poll. This contrasts strongly with lower earners where distance and quality of products was the main deciding factor.

From this survey it would seem that although middle earners have more income to spend, they are equally price conscious when shopping every week at supermarkets. Shopping and purchasing own brand goods from a socially acceptable supermarket seems to be the best value option.

In Edinburgh, hundreds of staff working at the council have been tested through the use of a mystery shopper project. Last year saw 264 different tests held for various departments and areas of the council through a combination of service in person, by email and over the telephone.

Overall, mystery shoppers found levels of service to be satisfactory in seven out of ten cases. Unfortunately however this statistic is a decrease by around four percent on a year earlier. As different areas of the council were tested, results did vary. The lowest level of satisfaction scores were seen on services regarding mortgage advice and business improvement.

Results from over the telephone were seen as staff mostly being polite, although results were still down on the previous year. Face to face experiences however remained mostly unchanged, which is positive news to many tested members of staff.