Secret Shopper Associations

By Marcus Peterson

There are numerous associations dedicated to the employment and support of Secret Shoppers or Mystery Shoppers. These associations provide resources and assistance to people who want to enter or are already a part of the industry, and provide services to thousands of business setups and clients. Most of the big ones like MSPA (Mystery Shopper Providers Association) have extended their membership worldwide and are growing bigger everyday.

The MSPA (www.mysteryshop.org) is one of the biggest professional trade associations and sources that involve the recruitment of Secret Shoppers. It has more than 150 member companies around the world, which includes marketing research and merchandising companies, private investigation firms, training organizations and companies that specialize in providing mystery shopping services.

The National Shopping Service (www.nationalshoppingservice.com) has been an association of Mystery Shopping Providers since 1972. It is also the provider of a set of audit, feedback and inspection services, market research and analytics. NSS has employed more than 200,000 Secret Shoppers Worldwide.

The IMSA or International Mystery Shopper Association (www.imsa.org) aims to extend its Secret Shopping activities worldwide, both for local and international projects. The IMSA is the largest network of individually recruited and trained Secret Shoppers, and has over 500,000 shoppers making 1,000,000 visits a year.

Beginning in the 1980s, Bare Associates International (www.baiservices.com) has now more than 112,000 certified Secret Shoppers worldwide. BAI has its international office in Antwerp, Belgium. It has over 4500 financial, hotel, retail, health & fitness, golf course, residential, automotive and restaurant clients around the world. The corporate office of BAI is located at Fairfax, VA.

These are some of the largest Secret Shopper Associations with membership of more than 100 companies. Other big associations include National Center for Professional Mystery Shoppers and Merchandisers, QualityWorks Associates, Pinkerton Field Research Services, National Shopping Service Network, LLC etc.

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