At PCP, we’re always excited to play a role in SIS’s prestigious Betting Shop Manager of the Year awards. Since 2019, we’ve been tasked with carrying out a comprehensive mystery shopping project across the UK and Ireland – even travelling as far as Jersey in 2022! Our research helps SIS make those crucial decisions when selecting the winner of the award.
Despite a short break during the Covid years, our work resumed in 2022. We’ve been pleased to be a part of the process again in 2023 and 2024. Our mystery shoppers gather data in both qualitative and quantitative formats, the insights from both allow SIS to assess the betting shops across a wide range of factors to make sure the most deserving manager takes home the title.
The Project: Mystery Shopping
Each year, we organise a team of dedicated mystery shoppers to visit the 48 shortlisted betting shops from eight regions spanning the length and breadth of the UK and Ireland. We ensure consistency by having one mystery shopper visit all 6 shops within their respective region, to help provide uniformity in the scoring. Many of the mystery shoppers are very keen to be involved each year also, which helps to keep the scoring consistent.
Our mystery shoppers are tasked with evaluating the shops across a variety of criteria, from the cleanliness of the premises and the friendliness of the atmosphere to the prominence of social responsibility materials and availability of the Racing Post. These observations provide both quantitative scores as well as qualitative feedback. The mystery shoppers really enjoy the work too! The final 48 betting shops have been short-listed for a reason, and it’s a fun way to visit different parts of the country while contributing to a well-deserved award for one hard-working manager.
Collating and Reporting the Data
At PCP, we understand that it’s not just about gathering information; it’s about presenting it in a way that is meaningful and easy to interpret. Once all the visits are complete, we collate the data into a presentation for SIS. We use a weighted scoring system that emphasises the importance of certain areas on the marksheet over others. Our presentation includes graphs showing the changes to the scores across the years for specific bookmakers, regions, and sections of the mark sheet. We also include many verbatim comments from the mystery shoppers themselves, so SIS can see both a birds-eye-view and an in-depth look at how the shops are stacking up in their region. This combination of quantitative data (like tick-box questions or scores for cleanliness and availability of key facilities) and qualitative insights (comments directly from the mystery shoppers) contributes to helping SIS make informed, fair decisions when choosing the final award winner.
Looking to the Future
SIS have found our results both interesting and sometimes amusing! They have told us that it plays a significant role in their award decision-making process, and our team is proud to contribute to what is such an important project to many people across the country. We look forward to continuing this partnership and delivering more insights in the years to come!