Canadian Retailer - Spring 2014 - 52

ONLINE EXCLUSIVE
Here's how it works:
1. Field Agent clients identify the information
that they would like to collect using our
network of Field Agents.
2. Field Agent designs and builds the tasks and
they are pushed out to Agents instantaneously
to their Field Agent smartphone app.
3.Agents find jobs near them in the app and
reserve the task for two hours giving them
enough time to reach the store and execute
the task.
4.Agents submit work back to Field Agent via
the app.
5.All job submissions are reviewed by our Quality
Control team to ensure they were completed
correctly and at the correct location.
6.Data is immediately visible to the client via
the Field Agent website.
data point, photo, video or audio clip submitted and all work
is time and date stamped. This data drives the quality control
process, which tackled by a team of well-trained analysts that
review each submission for accuracy before the data is available
to clients.
Crowd-sourced mystery shops and audits are perfectly suited
for the following types of tasks:
1. Service Standards. Is your staff greeting customers the way
that you would greet the customer yourself? Are your staff
friendly and helpful?
2. Training Assessment. How much of your training programs
about product knowledge or up-selling are making
it through to the shopper? Are you getting an ROI for your
investment?
3. Compliance Checks. Are staff asking for ID from every
shopper who is under the age of thirty before they sell that
package of cigarettes?
"...companies using a crowd-sourcing model like Field Agent require a minimal amount
of equipment (the phone, data plan and transportation are provided by the Agent) and
overheads are kept low by following simple, easy to understand processes. Simple audits
can start as low as $5.00 per visit."
The three main advantages to crowd-sourcing
mystery shops and compliance audits include:
Cost
With shoppers already planning to visit your
store, the cash incentive required to have them
complete an audit or mystery shop while at that
location is relatively low. In addition, companies
using a crowd-sourcing model
like Field
Agent require a minimal amount of equipment
(the phone, data plan and transportation are
provided by the Agent) and overheads are kept
low by following simple, easy to understand
processes. Simple audits can start as low as
$5.00 per visit.
Speed
When a task is deployed it is immediately
visible to Agents right across the country and
can be completed by Agents who are nearby the
target location. Agents have just 120 minutes
to complete the task or it is made available to
other Agents on a first-come, first-served basis.
About 80 per cent of data will be collected in
the first 48 hours that a task is deployed.
Data Accuracy
The smartphone almost seems like it was
designed for crowd-sourced mystery shops
and audits. It provides a GPS reading for each
One additional advantage of using crowd-sourcing is that
you are getting a "shoppers eye view" on what is happening at
store level. These are real customers having real interactions
with stores and staff and they are happy to provide candid and
accurate feedback on what they experience when they shop at
your stores.
If you have used Wikipedia you should probably be using
crowd-sourcing to help improve your business in a cost-effective
manner.
Field Agent makes it easy to get started. There are no min-
imums or long-term contracts. Our team is eager to help you
get your job set up or you can use our self-service website where
you can build, pay and deploy your task for one store or one
thousand stores.
Field Agent is the leading Retail Audit and Mobile Research
crowd-sourcing platform in Canada, powered by its network of
more than 27,000 Agents from coast-to-coast. Field Agent works
with leading retailers and vendors to provide actionable data
to improve execution at store-level for organizations of all sizes.
www.ca.fieldagent.net.
52 | canadian retailer | spring 2014 | www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer
4. Promotional Execution. Is the expensive POP material
up and visible in every store? Is the promotional display
stocked and placed in the right location?
5. Facilities Monitoring. Are the washrooms clean and tidy at
8:30 PM? Are the garbage cans empty or overflowing?
6. Competitive Intelligence. Do you have eyes on what your
competition is doing in regards to pricing, promotion and
customer service?
http://www.ca.fieldagent.net http://www.retailcouncil.org/cdnretailer
Canadian Retailer - Spring 2014

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