Originally rooted in traditional mystery shopping, Mercantile Systems has, over our 50+ years, created and honed a variety of tools to collect and report actionable data. This actionable data helps our service-dependent clients monitor, manage and improve their operational performance. Using customer experience and customer satisfaction surveys, employee theft monitoring and loss prevention tools, we help business managers improve overall customer satisfaction, monitor and manage employee performance and enhance profitability.
Founded in1954 by Robert Cosgrove, until a decade ago our family-owned company was largely a mystery shopping company primarily focused on servicing independent restaurant owners. In 1996, the next generation took over the business and we have assembled a quality team of additional professionals. Together we have expanded to apply proven methodology to new opportunities and industries.
Today Mercantile Systems is known for going beyond data collection. We now provide actionable data — data that is tracked and trended using advanced technologies and methods, then delivered to customers with recommendations that connect the data to needed operational changes.
Starting and running a business is an act of extreme optimism. Thousands of well-established businesses fail each year because of changing demographics, consumer expectations, competitive pressures and failure to respond to emerging trends. Successful companies realize that establishing procedures for customer interaction management can help to avoid these pitfalls.
For decades secret shoppers have been used to provide feedback that is vital to success in the hospitality industry. Now, their use, combined with new technological tools, has expanded across all service-dependent businesses. As more industries seek to elevate service quality — along with sales — customer experience research services are becoming an indispensable tool, giving management a method to view the customer from inside the operation and through all steps of the sales process.
