General facts about ShopScout
ShopScout sees itself as a mobile Mystery-Shopping platform which offers micro jobs to contractors (Scouts) via app. The company does not give any information on its founding (24Insights GmbH in Berlin Mitte). On the basis of media coverage and blog entries the service started at the beginning of 2014. In several Austrian online platforms (e.g. willhaben) there is active advertisement for a second job with ShopScout.
The contractors can carry out the following tasks:
- Fill in survey mobile
- Location-based jobs like looking for products on shelfs, evaluate sales personnel, take pictures of products, etc.
The awards for the tasks vary between min. 5 EUR and max. 20 EUR per task. With a minimum amount of 10 EUR the earned money can be paid via PayPal or credit transfer.
Information for potential purchasers cannot be found on the ShopScout website. For this there is an extra website: www.POSPulse.com.
The ShopScout process
- How the purchaser puts in the jobs is not clear. It seems that this is done manually with the platform operator.
- The contractor has to download the App and then register. In the first task you have to complete your profile and get 0.50 EUR for it. New tasks can be carried out either independent of location (mostly surveys but without payment) or located-based (I have to be at location X).
New tasks are shown via push notification. - When the amount of 10 EUR is reached you can apply for the transfer to the PayPal account or bank account.
- When a job campaign is completed ShopScout creates an analysis which is then made available for the purchaser via Analytics Dashboard Webportal.
ShopScout user journey
At the time of testing there were no tasks available in or around Graz so a user journey could not be completed.
ShopScout app screenshots
ShopScout data usage range and spreading
Detailed information on user numbers could not be found. On Facebook the platform has 3K fans. In contrast to other platforms it has only been existing for a short time. Therefore 50K-100K users have to be assumed.
The spreading of the platform is limited to Germany, Austria and Switzerland. In Austria the tasks are spread in the rural areas, there are no tasks in the bigger cities in Austria.
ShopScout strengths and weaknesses
ShopScout strengths
Concentrates only on one sector, so it builds up strength in the customer goods industry. It focusses on promotion performance at POS.
5 EUR minimum payment are fair and appropriate.
The results of the Mystery Shopping tasks are presented in a good way online. So the Scout sees that his work makes sense and the company appears to be professional.
ShopScouts weaknesses
- The POSPulse.com website for purchasers is not linked to ShopScout anywhere and therefore difficult to find.
- The high data quality will be difficult to handle in the future as the data check is done manually at the moment.
Personal evaluation of ShopScout
The ShopScout app can be used very intuitively and push notifications for new tasks are practical. The payment is, compared to other providers, rather high and taking pictures in a supermarket is much easier than in a restaurant/hotel or any other store. Even though the platform is still quite young compared to others the situation concerning orders seems to be very positive. The tasks in the rural areas seem somehow incomprehensible. When someone registers there for a task it is doubtful if there are more tasks to follow in the future when the first tasks are completed.
Have you already tried Amazon ShopScout? Let us know about your experience in the comments.