Comparative Retail Analysis: Shopko, Target, and Wal-Mart

For the mystery shopper assignment, I decided to cover three retail stores located in Janesville, WI, Shopko, Target, and Wal-Mart. For this reason, I created a survey style format with two specific topics in mind, store appearance/cleanliness and store employees, to answer eleven questions. These questions focus on certain criteria’s, such as parking lot condition, restroom facilities, and interior mobility to name a few. In order to compare each store, a number ranking from one (lowest) through five (highest) grades the questions. Upon completion, the total numbers obtain are divided by eleven to give a rating for each individual store, and therefore, allowing us to compare each store’s overall performance to one another.

With the survey established, my two teenage daughters and I set out to evaluate each

This portion of the survey asked questions on being greeted by their sale associates and if we needed assistance. We also graded their associates on their uniforms, personal hygiene, and knowledge of product location. Finally, we ranked our experience at the checkout counter based on the time it took to checkout and the professionalism of the checkout associate.

For questions one and two, our experience of feeling welcome at Shopko and Target were not meet, unlike at Wal-Mart. When we walked into Wal-Mart, they have an associate greet very body with a smile, whereas Shopko and Target did not have a greeter. While this greeter was exceptional, the rest of the associate did not acknowledge our presence, this was similar at Shopko and Target. Therefore, while Wal-Mart received a five for first impression with a greeter compared to Shopko and Target, they received the same poor ranking in question two dealing with additional sale associates interaction with the