Life and times of a Consumer Reports secret shopper

Here's a little Wired profile on the secret shoppers used by Consumer Reports Labs. I've had some meetings at the labs and they're incredibly impressive: top notch researchers and top notch facilities, and integrity out the wazoo.

Making these purchases without saying why can be tricky. Once, Jon told a phone salesman that he needed a particular model because his mother had Alzheimer's and he'd never be able to teach her how to use a new brand. He laughs when he describes the wary looks he got after filling up a shopping cart with condoms. He fondly recalls the time he purchased five different washing machines, claiming that his landlord father had given tenants their choice of brands.

But Jon's favorite story by far is the ice cream. With pints stacked on the floor and an angry stocker looming overhead, Jon had to say something. "So I go into my Rain Man routine," he says. "Count the vanilla, count the vanilla, gotta count the vanilla.' Eventually, the stocker just gives up and walks away. And I get my ice cream." Once products are purchased, they're taken back to Consumer Reports' Yonkers, New York, headquarters, where the magazine maintains 50 tricked-out, cost-is-no-object laboratories. There are labs where trained tasters sample chocolate, labs where air conditioners are evaluated to see if units are more efficient at blowing cool air to the right or to the left, and labs where strollers are pushed over a series of bumps for hours at a time.

Link

[#1 posted by M , February 26, 2008 11:58 PM]

I had this conversation with a colleague the other day and I had told him that what we'll see is, with web 2.0, we're going to have legions of testers and consumers and consumers congregating on communities online where companies can go to and gather information or to ask for volunteers to be guinea pigs.
Gone will be the days where we will hire market research agencies because we will get a 99% accurate sampling and very honest (painfully sometimes) opinion. That becomes transparent what's allowed to be published becomes credible, thus PR.
We probably won't need that many lab conditions to test things because we'll get it straight from the horses' mouths.
I also wrote this article speculating the future of how a supermarket would be:
http://theworldofm.wordpress.com/2008/02/17/supermarket-of-the-future-a-brief-introduction/

[#2 posted by Agent 86 , February 27, 2008 1:23 PM]

It's like a magical world that actually exists!

[#3 posted by Registrado , February 27, 2008 2:35 PM]

Secret Shopper: "Let me have one of those porno magazines, a large box of condoms, a bottle of Old Harper, a couple of those panty shields, some illegal fireworks, and one of those disposable enemas. Eh, make it two."

His Wife: "I don't know what you have planned for tonight, Homer, but count me out."

[#4 posted by dculberson , February 27, 2008 3:22 PM]

Consumer Reports is not without it's flaws:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Suzuki_Samurai#Consumers_Union_and_the_Suzuki_Samurai_Lawsuit

They lost a lot of credibility over that. Bias is present in all human endeavors, but hopefully they've eliminated some of theirs..

[#5 posted by dculberson , February 27, 2008 3:24 PM]

I forgot to add: the Wikipedia article is pretty brief. Do some research; there were incriminating memos and test abnormalities. CR basically decided in advance that the Samurai was going to roll over easily, and kept changing their test methodology until that was true.