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Historical Timeline & Milestones

Shopper Anonymous was set up in Perth, Western Australia in 1995 by Jonathan Winchester as a result of visiting local supermarkets and being frustrated by the customer service. Jonathan approached some independent storeowners who agreed to trial his product.

1997

  • June
    Expanded into the Eastern States of Australia.

1999

  • March
    Expanded into New Zealand, after winning the biggest mystery shopping contract on the Island.

2001

  • September
    Hits a key milestone of servicing 600 businesses every month.

2002

  • May
    Became the first mystery shopping company in Australia to mystery shop a whole town!
  • Geraldton in Western Australia received Government funding in a bid to improve the town’s service levels. The project was enormously successful.

2004

  • Shopper Anonymous New Zealand is sold.

2005

  • April
    Jonathan, Debbie Winchester and their three children returned to the UK and placed the Australian business under management.
  • June
    Shopper Anonymous UK was established.
  • October
    Shopper Anonymous Australia was sold to the management team.
  • Jempsons, thought to be one of the best independent supermarkets in the world, began to use Shopper Anonymous UK for their mystery shopping.

2006

  • August
    Shopper Anonymous UK began its journey to become the most dynamic mystery shopping business in the UK.

2007

  • February
    To much acclaim Shopper Anonymous UK conducted a full mystery shop on Horsham retailers, culminating in the retailer of the year award for the town.
  • Mystery shopped Horsham for the Snapshot project. It was our first UK town. The winning store La Viva saw turnover lift by 17%.
  • March
    Won the Booths Supermarket contract throughout the North West of England.
  • August
    Shopper Anonymous UK, working with Business Link, mystery shopped Chichester—the first City to be mystery shopped in the South East.
  • November
    Guildford and Dorking were mystery shopped with raving press reviews and numerous service improvements in both towns.

2008

  • January
    Shopper Anonymous UK completes work on its franchise model and becomes a proud member of the British Franchise Association (BFA).
  • June
    Graham Seymour heads up Shopper Anonymous UK’s first franchise in Kent.
  • September
    Mystery shopped the Kent City of Canterbury—gaining media coverage on the BBC as a result.
  • October
    Completed another successful town project by mystery shopping the retailers in the Adur region.

2009

  • February
    Shopper Anonymous UK starts to work with Willows Farm Village, the largest independent farm park in the UK.
  • April
    Begins comprehensive mystery shopping programme with Rother District Council. One of few councils to measure their service standards.
  • May
    Become members of the Fine Food Guild.
  • June
    Jim Smith becomes the second Shopper Anonymous UK franchisee in Surrey.
  • August
    Appointed as preferred supplier for the mystery shopping of Hastings under the Custom Eyes programme.
 
 
 

Shopper Anonymous UK
Innovation Centre
Highfield Drive
St Leonards-on-Sea
East Sussex
TN38 9UH

+44 (0)1424 858 230
info@shopperanonymous.co.uk

Is your business based in Kent or Surrey? Contact our regional offices: Kent and Surrey.

Offer us feedback on our web site!

Association of Town Centre Management member

British Franchise Association provisional member

Member of the The Guild of Fine Food