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shopper

shopper

14 2.2
A person hired to visit other stores and report on prices and products
  • noun
  • /ˈʃɑːpər/
translation icon : comprador encubierto
  • The store hired a professional shopper to assess their competitors' merchandise.
  • personal shopper
  • mystery shopper
  • secret shopper

They told me last time that they had used Secret Shopper as a training tool and they were revising their practices.

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Examples

  • As far as being poor shoppers, CareerXRoads' secret shopper research shows otherwise.

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  • After training, the new shopper will visit rival shops to gather pricing information.

  • We don't want it looking like that if secret shopper comes, do we?

  • Plus, they did that personal shopper thing in the green grocer that we went to.

    Blog text (10)
  • Employers even employ "secret shoppers" to assess staff members' performance, including recommendations of menu items.

    Blog text (12)
  • Also, TSA needs to use a secret shopper program to evaluate checkpoint procedures.

    Blog text (18)
  • There are many options for a home business, including a personal shopper for the elderly or infirm, daycare services, or catering.

    Blog text (16)
  • A secret shopper was sent to compare prices at competing stores.

Compounds

A person who buys things at the lowest prices

Surface Forms

shopper singular
shoppers plural

Morphology

shopper = shop (transparent) = shop + er

The role-specific sense ('employed to shop at competitors') is a specialized extension but still formed regularly from 'shop' + '-er'.

Etymology

Shopper is built from shop ('place to buy things') and -er ('person who does something'), like driver, and can also mean someone who shops as a job. That's why a company may call a person a shopper when they pay them to visit other stores and report on prices and products.