The Mystery Shopper Providers Association Discuss Collaboration Versus Cut Throat Competition

March 9, 2008 - PRLog -- The mystery shopper providers association talked about the issues surrounding the industry today. They were concerned on some practices of mystery shopping sites perpetually lowering their rates to remove the competition. Is this the kind of atmosphere you want in this industry? According to most members of the mystery shopper providers association, this will be unhealthy in the long run. Cut throat competition will not help the industry in the long run. If mystery shopping sites keep lowering and lowering their rates, it will harm everyone. The mystery shopping industry will become so competitive that a huge number of firms will be competing over too little a market out there. The rates will get cheaper and cheaper and then the quality of the mystery shopping business will certainly decline. The president of the mystery shopper providers association asked the association if this is what they really want. He was very rhetorical, eloquent, and poised in his speech.

The president of the mystery shopper providers association talked about collaboration within the industry in order to protect the quality of mystery shopping. The president of the mystery shopper providers association mentioned that collaboration amongst players in the mystery shopper providers association will certainly protect the industry and the quality of work. He mentioned that you do not want to be competing until all of you die out one by one. You want to help each other and make the industry conducive for business.

An economics doctorate gave a talk during this meeting also. He mentioned that competition is not always the solution to an industry wide problem. For example, if there are five men and five women in a room, if all five men compete for only one woman, only one couple will materialize. The other women will not be interested in the other four men because no one wants to be second best. The economics doctorate mentioned that the mystery shopping industry is very similar. If all the mystery shopping sites wanted to profit then they should be specializing, creating niches, and improving the quality of their work, instead of continuously lowering their prices and cutting everyone out from the competition. You do not want to compete for the same slice of the pie, said the economics doctorate. What you want is every player in the mystery shopper providers association to each have a slice of the pie. You want every player in the mystery shopper providers association to have their own kind of unique specialization and service. A consensus about this matter is yet to be determined.

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