Office Supply Store Mystery Shopping:
Shops and Audits

Office supply store mystery shopping can include two very different types of assignments: traditional undercover mystery shops and revealed audits.

I've completed both.

Some of my mystery shops involved asking an employee questions about products such as printers, ink cartridges, or specialty paper. My audits were different. Those assignments involved checking products, signs, displays, and other items for a manufacturer whose merchandise was being sold in the store.

Understanding that difference is important before accepting the assignment.

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Want more help getting started? My book, Take That Job And Mystery Shop It!, walks you through finding assignments, completing shops, writing reports, and avoiding many of the mistakes new shoppers make.

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Mystery Shopping at an Office Supply Store

A traditional mystery shop may require you to enter the store as an ordinary customer and evaluate your interaction with an employee.

The instructions might give you a particular product to ask about and specific questions to ask.

I've completed assignments where I asked employees about remanufactured ink cartridges and how well they worked. The purpose wasn't necessarily to evaluate the office supply store itself.

Sometimes the client was a manufacturer that wanted to know what store employees were telling customers about its products—or competing products.

That's an important lesson for new shoppers.

You don't always know everything the client is trying to learn. Your job is to follow the scenario and accurately report what happened.

For example, you might be asked:

• How long did it take for an employee to acknowledge you?
• Did you have to find an employee yourself?
• What product did the employee recommend?
• Did the employee appear knowledgeable?
• What did the employee say about the product?
• Did the employee mention another brand?
• How was the interaction handled?

The actual questions will vary by assignment.

Don't assume that because you've completed one office supply store mystery shopping assignment, the next one will have the same requirements.

Mystery Shop or Revealed Audit?

Many of the office supply assignments I've completed were audits rather than traditional mystery shops.

There's an important difference.

During an undercover mystery shop, employees generally aren't supposed to know you're evaluating them.

During a revealed audit, you may be instructed to identify yourself and explain why you're there. The assignment should tell you exactly how to introduce yourself and what documentation or authorization you need.

An audit might involve checking whether certain products are available, properly displayed, correctly priced, or positioned according to the client's requirements.

You may also be looking for promotional signs or other materials.

Product Displays Can Be Important

One thing I learned from these audits is how much attention manufacturers pay to how their products appear inside a store.

I completed assignments involving printers, ink cartridges, paper products, and related displays.

One item I frequently checked was the ink guide that helped customers determine which cartridge worked with their printer. I found those guides missing during a number of my assignments.

Product placement could matter, too.

A client might want to know how its products were positioned in relation to competing brands. Promotional signage might also be part of the evaluation.

As a regular customer, you might walk past these things without giving them a second thought.

As an auditor, they're exactly what you're there to observe.

Photographs May Be Part of Office Supply Store Mystery Shopping

Revealed audits frequently involve photographs.

The client may want documentation showing a display, sign, product placement, shelf condition, storefront, or another specific area.

Read the instructions before taking pictures.

Don't assume that one general photograph of a display will satisfy the requirement. An assignment may specify exactly what each image needs to show.

Before leaving, I recommend checking your photographs to make sure they're clear and actually show what the client requested.

Nothing is worse than getting home and discovering an important photograph is blurry, or you photographed the wrong section.

Purchases and Receipts

Some assignments may require a purchase. Others may not.

If a purchase is required, check the reimbursement limit and instructions before spending your money. Don't rely on what you remember from another assignment.

If a receipt is required, inspect it before leaving the store and keep it until the assignment has been accepted and you've been paid.

As we've discussed elsewhere on MystShopper.com, reimbursement and shopper fees are different. A reimbursed purchase isn't necessarily money you've earned.

Read the Assignment Before Accepting It

I no longer think it's useful to tell shoppers that these assignments normally pay a particular dollar amount or take a certain number of minutes.

There are too many variables.

Before accepting an assignment, look at the entire job:

How far do you have to drive?

Will you remain undercover or complete a revealed audit?

How many products or displays must you check?

Are photographs required?

Is a purchase required?

How complicated is the report?

What's the deadline?

Those questions tell you much more about whether an assignment is worthwhile than the advertised fee by itself.

Be Professional During Revealed Audits

A revealed audit puts you in a different position from an undercover mystery shop.

Employees know you're there.

That makes professionalism especially important. Follow the identification procedure provided by the mystery shopping company, be polite, don't interfere unnecessarily with employees or customers, and complete only the tasks you're authorized to perform.

Don't assume a particular dress code, either. Follow whatever appearance or clothing requirements are included with that specific assignment.

Office supply store mystery shopping may not sound as exciting as evaluating a hotel or restaurant, but these assignments taught me a lot about the other side of mystery shopping.

Sometimes you're evaluating customer service.

Other times you're helping a manufacturer learn what's happening to its products after they reach the retail store.

Either way, the same rules apply.  Read the instructions, observe carefully, document what the client requests, and report what you actually found.

About the Author

I'm Mystery Don (Donald J. Servais, Jr.), and I've completed mystery shopping assignments for restaurants, hotels, apartment communities, automobile dealerships, new-home builders, and other businesses.

I created MystShopper.com to share what I've learned from my own experiences, help new shoppers avoid common mistakes, and explain how legitimate mystery shopping really works.

I'm also the author of Take That Job And Mystery Shop It!, which includes beginner-friendly advice, real-world mystery shopping experiences, and a directory of more than 150 mystery shopping companies.

Drawing on my 45-year career in television, I've also written 7 Keys to Success in a Changing Television Industry, a guide for people interested in building a career in television and video.

My goal is simple: honest guidance without the hype.

We're always looking for new faces to visit different places. 

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