SWOT Analysis of Mystery Shop - Essay Sample

Introduction

In the modern competitive and dynamic business world, businesses are strategically aligning themselves to adopt into the uncertain future. As such, they are using analytical business tools such as SWOT analysis. SWOT analysis is a business analytical tool which establishes the strengths, weakness, opportunities and threats for the business (Buyukozkan & Ilicak, 2019). The following paper will give a detailed executive report on the identified shop, which is Mystery Shop. The exercise taken on the shop will perform a SWOT analysis of the identified shop.

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SWOT analysis in the business context helps businesses in gaining competitive advantage in the market (Helms & Nixon, 2010). SWOT is powerful in that it aids in unveiling the opportunities a business or n organization has and how it can exploit them. When weaknesses are well identified, they can be well managed, and possible threats could be eliminated. Again, when business compares themselves and their competitors through the SWOT framework, they can develop strategies which help distinguish from competitors and therefore gain a competitive advantage in the market. Some crucial pointy to note is that the strengths and weakness are factors that are internal to the organization, whereas the threats and opportunities are related to the external factors of an organization (Van Wijngaarden, Scholten & van Wijk, 2010). As such, the SWOT framework is often referred to as the internal-external analysis (John, n.d.).

The exercise taken on the Mystery shop was evaluated, and the following report was given. The mystery shop is located in Atasay Mega Mall in UAE. In the general questions used to assess the SWOT, the following were the failed items. Upon entering the shop, it is reported that the staff were not welcoming. There was only one staff working in the shop, and they were busy with another customer. The staffs' name is believed to be Carlos. The sales person was not present. This is evidenced by the fact that there was only one member of the team working at the Mystery shop at that time. The sales person did not also greet the customer as he was too busy with another person. As such, there was no acknowledgement that I had entered the store. There was neither eye contact made, nor was I asked how he/she could have helped me. As evidenced by the photos in the report, the salesperson was busy talking to another customer at the time and did not have the chance to attend to me. The other failed item was that there was no direction form the sales person to the lines or details that were of interest to me. The sale person had no badge on him (i Auditor, 2019). These failed items can be taken as the shops weaknesses and point in which they can improve on.

I passively had to wait for 15 minutes, which was long waiting time in the store. Indeed, I was not satisfied with the waiting time as I asked for help, direction to the lines and the little or barely any time to inquire about more items available in the store. Again, unlike many other stores that I had visited, Mystery shop did not ask for my contacts so that they could keep in touch. Other stores that I had visited requested my contact details, which helped them reach me and inform me about new trends, new arrivals, among other things concerning their stores. I believe keeping in touch with the customer was crucial as it serves a way to maintain the clients and rue them to making purchases of the shops' items. Again, the client could use the contact information of the stores in enquiring about the products in the stores and this build on the customer base for the stores.

The other failed item was that the salesperson did not give me an overview of the jewellery lines, and I think they did not take my desire to learn about the various items in the store seriously. Without asking my intention, the Sales Person showed me a couple of ranges and went back to the cashier station. I assume he made the assumption I was not a serious buyer. The shop offered no exclusive promos. As the customer, I asked about the promotions or a discount. In other stores that the team has Mystery Shopped, this was offered by the Sales Person as a technique to build rapport and demonstrate value. The sales person did not also direct me to their website, nor did she give me her contact information. In rating the staff member's availability, I was unsatisfied. Again the services were unsatisfactory as one had to wait up to 15 minutes (i Auditor, 2019).

However, the positive side about the Mystery shop was that it was easy to find and the signage, as well as the windows, were tidy and "on brand." The sales person also seemed friendly as he noticed my presence in the store after 15 minutes. The sales person was also smartly dressed and presentable, which created a positive, positive impression. The sales person created an emotional connection with me and even tried to find a reason to introduce me to a product (i Auditor, 2019). These factors are the strengths of the shop.

In general and in terms of the staff members service attributes, I was satisfied by the attentiveness, courteousness, friendliness, helpfulness, professional appearance, professional behavior, how well he/she made me feel comfortable, how well he/she communicated, how well he/she treated me with respect, and how well any question was answered. I was not satisfied with the availability, but the level of knowledge was excellent. In terms of services, I was satisfied with the staff's experience with their services and their welcoming environment. I was not satisfied with the long waiting time, although the shop had excellent staff knowledge about pricing, visual appeal, organization. The overall impression is that the shop was very clean, products were well organized and displayed beautifully, there was a fantastic range suiting all tastes and ages, and more staffs were available onsite during peak hours as per an audit conducted on the weekend.

We can conclude that Mystery shop has the strengths in that Atasay have high quality products serving every taste and at a full price point range. Again, the stores are in prime shopping locations, the designs are unique and original, and there are enough product lines available to upsell or cross-sell ideas or preferences. Also, the sales staff are empowered to give discounts, and some stores offer a Tea/Coffee/Water and seating for potential buyers, some Sales Staff were able to articulate the craft-man ship of the pieces and share warranty and guarantees. The weaknesses are that the stores are often hard to find in large malls, the stores are usually found situated against rival jewellery stores, and the Atasay brand is still not well known in the UAE market. Further, the consumer experience is not consistent with staff members showing bias to specific nationalities, and there were no consumer follow-ups made nor did a single salesperson give their business card without being asked. Besides, there was no consistency on product knowledge, and some gemstones were incorrectly named, many stores only had one member of staff at any given time meaning long waiting times to be served if Sales Person is busy, and there was Lack of evident sales training.

The threats for the Mystery shop are; the dynamic displays and marketing material is in English or Turkish, which will not appeal to the Arabic Consumers. The staff had no hunger to make a sale and were happy to let potential customers go, without attempting to close the deal or contact loop, and consumers were not aware of, nor signposted to any marketing material, the website or Instagram. However, Mystery shop has opportunities in that Consumers want the "white glove treatment" all visitors to the store should be offered beverages, a seat and a private area to peruse items, keeping in touch and sharing new collections, that could be of interest over Whatapp would create advocacy towards the brand. Besides, the other opportunity lies in helping keep consumers aware of Atasay. and learning about Consumers birthdays or special occasions will help draw them back into the store.

References

Buyukozkan, G., & Ilicak, O. (2019). Integrated SWOT analysis with multiple preference relations. Kybernetes, 48(3), 451-470. doi:10.1108/k-12-2017-0512

Helms, M. M., & Nixon, J. (2010). Exploring SWOT analysis - where are we now? Journal of Strategy and Management, 3(3), 215-251. doi:10.1108/17554251011064837

i Auditor. (2019). i Auditor: Manage Teams and Inspection Data. Retrieved from https://app.safetyculture.io/dashboard

John, C. S. (n.d.). SWOT (Strength-Weakness-Opportunity-Threat) Analysis. Encyclopedia of Health Care Management. doi:10.4135/9781412950602.n791

Van Wijngaarden, J. D. H., Scholten, G. R. M., & van Wijk, K. P. (2010). Strategic analysis for health care organizations: the suitability of the SWOT-analysis. The International Journal of Health Planning and Management, 27(1), 34-49. doi:10.1002/hpm.1032