“Two dealers in one city with the same stock, and one sells three times more.”
The gap is often how the buyer is handled. Visits to both show the steps the weaker one skips.
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Strategy · Market research · Mystery shopping
Mysteryshopping
Since 201565+ in-house teamKolkata office, 5 team bases
See your counter the way a buyer sees it. Then fix what is costing you sales.
A strategist calls you in one working day.
/ 01 Mystery shopping
What really happenswhen a buyer walks in.
You pay for ads and dealer schemes, but you can't see if the dealer answers the call or follows up the lead. PromotEdge checks your outlets, dealers and branches with visits, calls and WhatsApp enquiries, so the enquiries your marketing brings are not lost at the counter.
A trained person visits, calls or messages your outlet as an ordinary buyer, follows a set story and fills in a scorecard of yes-or-no questions, with proof for each answer.
Choose this over wider market research when you already know what should happen at the counter and want to know if every outlet does it. It helps most when a brand steps up to premium: car and two-wheeler dealers, diagnostic centres, hotels, jewellery showrooms and bank and NBFC branches (NBFC: non-banking financial company), real estate sales offices and industrial dealer networks.
We have no published mystery shopping case yet, so hold us to this: the same questions for every outlet, proof behind every answer, the cleaned data and a repeat round.
- 2015working with Indian brands since
- 65+in-house team: strategy, creative, media and tech
- 4pillars under one roof: strategy, advertising, digital, on-ground activation (BTL)
- 6cities: head office in Kolkata, teams in Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Guwahati and Bhubaneswar
Our beliefThink creative. Act on numbers.
/ 02 What we check and what you receive
Four ways in,one scorecard.
| Check | What the shopper does | What you receive |
|---|---|---|
| Walk-in visit | Visits as a buyer and follows the agreed story | Scored report, photos, bill or quote, time in and out |
| Mystery call | Calls the outlet or helpline at set times | Pick-up rate, answer time and quality, callback made or not |
| WhatsApp and chat check | Sends an enquiry and follows the conversation | First-reply time, screenshots, price or visit offered |
| Online enquiry and purchase | Fills in your form, or buys online | Callback time, delivery and return notes, order records |
| Dealer compliance audit | Checks branding, display, price tags, stock and how schemes are explained | Outlet checklist, dated photos, fixes for each dealer |
| Competitor benchmark | Runs the same story at two or three rivals nearby | Your scores beside theirs |
| Scorecard and findings | Scores every outlet on the same weighted questions | Short report, outlet ranking, cleaned data, a meeting with your sales head |
You choose the mix. Many studies start with calls and WhatsApp checks, which cost less, and visit only where those show a problem.
/ 03 Common hurdles
What usually gets in the way,and the way through.
“We paid for in-store branding. Nobody can say if it is still up.”
A dealer audit checks boards, displays and price tags with a dated photo. It pairs well with signage and retail branding.
“Calls to our branches ring out, or nobody can answer a basic question.”
Mystery calls at different times show how many are picked up, how fast, and whether the caller got a next step.
“Leads on WhatsApp get a reply two days later, if at all.”
We send real-looking enquiries and time every reply, so you see which branch lets buyers go cold.
“Our last report was a score with no proof behind it.”
Every answer carries a photo, bill, screenshot or time stamp. Audio only where your legal team approves.
Not sure where your counters lose buyers? Tell us about your outlets and we will say which checks to start with. Get a free growth plan
/ 04 How a study runs
From scorecardto retraining.
A first round across 30 to 50 outlets usually takes four to six weeks from brief to findings. More towns, or test purchases, add time.
- 01
Week 1: agree what good looks like
We map the buyer's journey with your sales and service heads and fix the outlets.
- 02
Weeks 1 to 2: scorecard and stories
Plain yes-or-no questions, so two shoppers score a visit the same way.
- 03
Week 2: brief shoppers, settle privacy
Your legal team approves what may be photographed or recorded.
- 04
Weeks 3 to 4: fieldwork
Checks are spread across days and times, and every report is checked against its proof.
- 05
Week 5: score and report
Outlets are ranked by region, with the few questions that explain most of the gap.
- 06
Then: retrain and check again
Good results should repeat, not happen by luck. A repeat round, often quarterly, shows if fixes held.
Tell us what’s not working. We’ll send you an honest one-page growth plan, free.
Go deeperMore on this
Deeper reading if you want the research behind the plan.
How we deliver it, and why
How your business model changes the plan
A dealer-led maker starts with compliance audits. A franchise uses one scorecard for every outlet. A D2C (direct-to-consumer) brand leans on online enquiry and purchase checks.
Who sets the standards
The MSPA is a global association of mystery shopping providers. Its site links to common codes of professional standards and ethical conduct for the trade.
Source: MSPA, own site, read 10 October 2026
- Agree what good looks like. A shopper can only score against a standard you have signed. A one-page standard.
- Write plain yes-or-no questions. Two shoppers should score the same visit the same way. A scorecard and buyer stories.
- Settle privacy before fieldwork. Staff faces and voices can be personal data, so your legal team decides what is recorded. A signed-off privacy note.
- Spread checks across days and times. One busy Saturday should not decide an outlet's score. A score per outlet, not per visit.
- Check every report against its proof. A report without proof does not count. A photo, bill or screenshot behind each answer.
AI in mystery shopping: today and next
Today
Gemini in Google Sheets can build formulas, summarise data and draw charts, which helps with scorecard tables. Google's page warns it may suggest inaccurate information, so a person checks every score.
Source: Google Docs Editors Help, Gemini in Sheets, read 10 October 2026
Next
Our view: reading many reports will get faster. The visit, the proof and the privacy decision stay with people. Want us to look at your scorecard? Ask us.
Have a legal team that needs the privacy note first? We can send it with the quote. Talk to us
/ 05 Cost
What affects the cost of mystery shopping.
No price list. These things move the number.
Third-party costs, such as test purchases and travel, are charged at actuals and shown to you before you approve.
What affects the cost
- Number of outlets, and checks per outlet
- Type of check: calls and WhatsApp cost least, a purchase and return most
- How spread out the outlets are
- The shopper profile: a home-loan buyer takes more preparation
- Scorecard length, and photos or audio
- Languages, and how often the study repeats
How we quote
- You tell us which outlets matter and what a good visit looks like.
- We check the outlet list, towns and buyer stories.
- We write a scope: outlets, checks and the repeat plan.
- You get a line-by-line quote before you approve.
What you get in the quote
- The outlet list and the checks for each
- The scorecard and buyer stories, signed off by you
- Shopper briefing, proof checks, ranking, report and cleaned data
- A findings meeting with your sales head
Compare quotes on verified checks, not cost per visit. Ask how each agency proves a visit happened.
/ 06 What happens next
What happensafter you ask.
For projects we think we can help, this is how it goes.
- 01
A strategist calls you
In one working day: a 30-minute call with one of our strategists about your business and what is not working.
- 02
You get a 1-page plan
A short, honest plan: what to fix first and what we would do. It is free.
- 03
A quote, if you want one
If you want to go ahead, we send a quote within 2 working days.
We confirm the timeline in the quote. Contracts start at 3 months, with 30 days' notice to stop.
Keep exploring
Related pages.
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Proof and reading
What people say
In their own words
What clients told us after working with PromotEdge.
“PromotEdge is one of the most hard working creative agency that LISTENS ! Do I need to say anything more ?!!!! …”
Harsh GuptaManaging Director at Rishta Foods“An aligned partner is always a welcoming step. Someone who can think deep through lines, understand the matrix of product management. Fortunate enough, PromotEdge has been a partner in progress for me. …”
Bobby SrinivasChief Manager Marketing & Brand Marketing at Utkarsh India“I would just like to congratulate, PromotEdge Led by Sayantan and his Team who have done an absolutely fantastic job of branding for the Kolkata Thunderbolts, the Branding, the social media campaign was bang on, and I think …”
Joy BhattacharjyaCEO at Prime Volleyball League“PromotEdge has been a unique creative group amongst unique creativity world. …”
Rajat ChatterjeeHead Business Development at Birdman Chemeng Pvt Ltd.“As a progressive and emerging digital marketing company, PromotEdge is doing something right to enhance the experience of companies associated with them. …”
Anish Basu MallikMarketing Executive at Unimark Group
No pressure. No sales pitch.
Tell us where your counters lose buyers.We'll show you the plan.
Straight answers.
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A trained person poses as an ordinary buyer, visits, calls or messages your outlet, and scores what happened against a checklist with proof for each answer. You can then train, reward or correct dealers, branches and showrooms on facts, not on guesses or on one angry customer call.
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It depends on the number of outlets, the type of check, the towns and how often you repeat it. Calls and WhatsApp checks cost far less than visits or test purchases. We quote line by line against a written scope, after a first conversation, and you approve it before any fieldwork.
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Two or three checks per outlet per round, on different days and times, give a fair score. The first round is your baseline. A repeat round on the same scorecard, often a quarter later, shows what improved, outlet by outlet, and which fixes did not hold.
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Mystery shopping is common practice. Recording needs care: the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, 2023 can treat staff faces and voices as personal data. We collect only what the scorecard needs, and your legal team approves recording. General guidance, not legal advice.
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We'd suggest yes. Tell your staff that mystery checks happen and what the scorecard looks for, but not when or where. Staff who know the standard tend to meet it, and the scores then reward good habits instead of feeling like a trap set for them.
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Our servicing team is based in cities across India, and our in-house team of 65+ people does the work, with consultants and partner agencies. Calls, WhatsApp and online checks run for any city, and we add trained local shoppers where a physical visit is needed.
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We have no published mystery shopping work yet, so we don't claim any. We learn your counter from your sales team first, whether it is a dealer showroom, a bank branch or a clinic, and we share a sample scorecard and proof pack when we meet, so you can judge the method.
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No. This page is for businesses that want their outlets checked, and we don't hire shoppers through it. Be wary of anyone who asks you to pay a fee for mystery shopping work, and check any company's own site before you share your details.