MYSTERY SHOPPER | ANDOVER AND BASINGSTOKE
Selling ‘And-over fist?
R O
Like the April weather, this month mystery Shopper ended up all over the place – from military training barracks warning of unexploded bombs, to shopping centres for shelter from the rain. Oh, and some bike shops too…
Just bikes
UNFORTUNATELY, ON this occasion, Mystery Shopper did too many lengths of the shop floor before being seen. As the day’s visits went, this was one of the more stand offish and despite me playing incredibly dumb my visit wasn’t particularly educational. My budget placed me slap bang in-between two
Whyte hardtails at £700 and £900 and it was the former of the two that was sold to me over the higher priced model.
My intended use wasn’t discussed, nor how seriously I
foresaw myself taking mountain biking given my relative newbie status. It was in fact the road worthy features of the build
that were flagged up to me and led the conversation, including discussion on the fork’s lockout and low profile tyre tread. Good to know, but not really what I’d hoped for while being sold an off-road rig. Another store, Behind the Bikeshed’s 22a
Marlborough Street address bizarrely took me to Just Bikes.
10 BIKEBIZ MAY Basing Cycles
HIGH STREET store Basing Cycles proved one of the day’s more productive visits, with an assistant quickly meeting me and pinpointing the Specialized Rockhopper as the strongest bike I’d find on my budget anywhere. We discussed the bike’s pros and cons over competitors for some time, though the chat largely revolved around the bike’s chassis, as opposed to tyres, brakes and gears. Selling from personal experience of the Spesh classic, the assistant came across as very honest in his manner, telling me that he could easily upsell me a bike nearing a grand, yet touted the Rockhopper’s foundations as a great base to build on, with a good finishing kit to boot. Ideal for the novice mountain biker Mystery Shopper pitched himself as. Crucially, the assistant didn’t give away sizing
information that’d perhaps allow me to leave and order online, instead stating ‘he had my size in stock’ and would adjust it to best fit my measurements at the point of purchase.
BIKEBIZ.COM
•
T
S
T
A
•
R
S
R
T
O
O
T
R
S
E
R
•
T
S
T
A
•
R
S
R
T
O
O
T
R
S
E
•
T
S
A
R
E
S
A
E
S
A
R
S
E
T
R
O
O
R
E
S
•
S
A
T
S
A
R
STAR STORE
S
E
T
•
T
R
T
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80