Mystery shopping is a research tool used by market research companies, watchdog organisations, and companies themselves to gather information about products and/or services, customer service standards, compliance with regulations or promotions and more. Before visiting a store, mystery shoppers receive a detailed brief or questionnaire to understand and remember. After visiting each store, the mystery shopper completes a questionnaire that is used to prepare reports on the shopping experience . Companies who mystery shop use the information gathered by the mystery shoppers to help them make business decisions. A number of different people within each organisation read the reports shoppers write up on their experience. Companies generally mystery shop in ‘cycles’. Some businesses have their stores mystery shopped in monthly cycles, whilst others shop on a quarterly or just when they need them. The frequency of shops within each ‘cycle’ can also vary from weeks to as little as a