Coming Up With Reasons For Returns For Your Mystery Shopping (Ask The Coach)

Question:

I have shopped for a woman's retail store twice that requires you make a purchase and return it within 30 minutes. I'm running out of excuses/reasons for returning so quickly? Any suggestions/tips? Thanks!

Answer From Coach Melanie:

Try some of these reasons for future shops:

1. I saw something else in another store that I preferred.

2. I tried this on again at home and decided I didn't like the way it looked on me/it's too big/it's too small/the color does nothing for me.

3. This is a gift for my sister-in-law and I just remembered she hates this color and you don't have anything else she would like in her size.

4. I can't believe it, my Mom just called me and told me she got the same thing in your other store for my sister's gift!

5. Sorry, I had second thoughts about this.

6. I'm short money right now and I promised my spouse/fiance/boyfriend that I wouldn't buy any more clothes.

Also, you may be more worried about a particular excuse than you need to be. As both a shopper, and a regular consumer I often return things simply by handing over the item and the receipt and saying "I would like to return this" and I am never asked for a reason (although I note this in my report if it's a shop). Sometimes as mystery shoppers we feel the need to explain ourselves more than is necessary. In fact, you can end up saying too much.

Have a great day and happy shopping!

Taking the mystery out of professional mystery shopping--Melanie Jordan http://www.mysteryshoppercoach.com

Copyright 2005 Melanie R. Jordan E-Publishing