Historical Timeline & Milestones
1995
- 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.
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.
2010
- June – Shopper Anonymous UK wins Small Business of the year in the 1066 region.
- September – Shopper Anonymous UK start Twitter use.
- October – Mystery Shop – Lets Do Business Exhibition.
2011
- Feb – become Premier supplier for the Play Providers Association
- May- win Tender / bid process for Mystery Shopping Booths supermarkets.
- June – Start mystery shopping Scottish Farmers Markets.
- July – Nick Siragher becomes third franchisee for Shopper Anonymous UK in Cambridgeshire & Bedfordshire.
