Indian housewives earn ‘easy bucks’
New Delhi, 25 May
Housewives can now earn up to Rs 1 lakh a year by being a ‘mystery shopper’ for multinationals and retail chains giving feedback about their products, prices and services that will be used for overall improvement of the same.
Gurgaon-based Grass Roots India is one of the companies that provides services to telecom, banking companies and food chains on their products and staff, using ‘mystery shopping’ as a tool to measure the quality of retail service or gather specific information.
Armed with real-time feedback, it also helps retailers improve their performance by providing a range of tools, training and professional advice.
Apart from housewives and young girls, male customers can also join the league of ‘mystery shoppers’ – a concept popular in the US – that has entered India recently. Once you register online with the agencies, you are paid to try out services and offers according to your profile and preferences.
“In a country like ours, where a lot of women are home-makers, ‘mystery shopping’ will help them in providing a helping hand in the home income.” Grass Roots India Managing Director Samhita Rao said.
“What we pay to our ‘mystery shoppers’ varies on the nature of the assignment. They can easily earn from Rs 25,000 to Rs 100,000 annually be meticulously evaluating the business and filing an online feedback”, she said.
There are many big companies which hire the services of companies to provide feedback relating to their sales staff and product ranges, prices and quality of items from ‘genuine buyers’, especially housewives.
“One may be asked to do grocery shopping at a particular outlet or inquire at a consumer goods store and fill up an online feedback form. Your cheque at the end of the month usually includes an assignment fee plus reimbursement for shopping to a certain limit”, Rao said.
In fact, mystery shopping is an emerging concept in India where people are paid on behalf of retailers to visit their establishments as normal customers, perform specific tasks – such as purchasing a product, asking questions, registering complaints – and then provide feedback about their experiences.
It helps the organisations to evaluate products on offer and service levels of staff as well as to help improve their business in today’s competitive environment.