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Earn Money Doing Mystery Shopping - Men Wanted
Copyright 2006 Elaine Currie
The art of shopping is something of a mystery to most men.
Perhaps, therefore, it is not so surprising that few men realise
there is an opportunity for them to earn money working from home
doing mystery shopping. There are probably not many men who have
even thought about the existence of mystery shoppers. In fact,
it would be unusual for a man to spend any time at all thinking
about shopping in a positive way.
Mystery shopping (sometimes called secret shopping) is an easy
way to earn money: it is very simple to do, you need no previous
experience, no special knowledge and no expensive equipment.
Mystery shopping jobs can be done as part-time employment in
hours you choose to fit in with your current schedule. Mystery
shopping companies employ men and women of all ages and
backgrounds as mystery shoppers. In fact, just about adult who
can manage to go shopping could become a mystery shopper, but
most mystery shoppers are women.
Men are not genetically designed to be great recreational
shoppers: they find it impossible to grasp the concept of
shopping as a form of entertainment and tend only to go shopping
when they have a particular purchase in mind. For example, when
I tell my husband that I have arranged to go on a shopping trip
with my daughter, he will ask me what we want to buy. What sort
of a question is that? We can't possibly know what we want to
buy until we see what the shops have to offer. Research shows
that this is a typical male reaction to shopping. Men have this
odd way of deciding they want something and then going to the
shops to make the purchase. Strangely, they never come back with
anything over and above the item they went out to buy and, if
the item is not available, a man will even return from a
shopping trip empty handed.
Whether they enjoy it or not men do go shopping. If you look
around you will notice plenty of men in supermarkets. Some will
just be dutiful husbands reluctantly accompanying their wives
but there will be numerous other men who are solitary shoppers
actually shopping in their own right. Even if their shopping
basket reaches the checkout containing nothing but a six pack of
beer and a cd, it's still shopping.
Look around the mall and you'll see plenty of men. Some of these
will be driven by the need to buy a gift for a wife or
girlfriend but there will be plenty of men out shopping for
things they actually want for themselves. Men might rely on
female relatives to keep them supplied with socks and underwear
but it's a different story when new footwear or outerwear or
sports equipment are needed.
Most men exist in a state of denial when it comes to the
significance of shopping. If a man and a woman each go shopping
on a particular day and they are later asked what they did that
day, the woman will reply "shopping" and the man will say
"nothing". However, it is this male reluctance to throw body and
soul into shopping that
will be a great advantage if a man
decides to try a career in mystery shopping. A man sent to
purchase one specific item at a particular place will be able to
do exactly that. A man will not be in any danger of becoming
sidetracked so that the mystery shopping assignment takes over
the whole day or ends up costing him money because of an attack
of impulse purchasing.
The reason mystery shopping companies exist is that companies
such as retail chains, restaurants, travel companies, hotels etc
need to be able to obtain impartial feedback on their employees
and services. Mystery shoppers are employed to provide feedback
on such things as the behaviour of members of staff, the quality
of customer service and the cleanliness standards of the
premises. There is no reason whatsoever for mystery shopping to
be restricted to women only and some assignments are only
suitable for male secret shoppers.
Apart from general retail mystery shopping assignments that are
suitable for either gender, there are also male only areas that
require inspection. Companies will employ mystery shoppers to
report on such things as toilet facilities, men's fitting rooms
in shops, men's changing rooms at gyms etc. Needless to say, a
woman secret shopper would not be much of a secret in these
surroundings.
When the subject of mystery shopping is considered, people
normally thing of women buying dresses or shopping for food in
supermarkets but there is a lot more to mystery shopping than
this. Mystery shopping companies will also pay you to do things
such as eat at a restaurant, have a drink at a bar, visit a
cinema or spend a night in a hotel. If you are really lucky, you
might be sent on an expenses paid vacation as a mystery shopping
assignment.
The companies employing the services of the mystery shopping
company need to hear the opinions of both men and women. If you
forget actual shops for a moment and consider the people who use
restaurants, bars, cinemas, bowling alleys, skating rinks,
hotels, theatres, taxi companies, gyms etc, it will be obvious
that a large percentage of customers are men. The owners of
these establishments need to discover whether men are satisfied
with their staff and services, they can't afford to ignore the
needs of half their customers.
An assignment to visit a bar, sample a beer, purchase a snack
and check out the men's cloakroom is not most women's idea of a
great shopping trip but getting paid to carry out such an
assignment will sound like a good deal to many men. Perhaps it's
just the name mystery "shopping" that puts men off and the
companies need to find a suitable alternative title to attract
more men into this work.
About the author:
Elaine Currie has a Work At Home Directory at her Plug-In Profit
Site to help everyone who wants to work at home:
http://www.huntingvenus.com She also has reviews of Online Paid
Survey Programmes, Mystery Shopping Companies and Paid Autosurf
Sites
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