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MKT-SA

Mystery shopping in Saudi Arabia

The largest market we cover and the one where regional variation matters most. A national programme that treats Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province as one market will report an average nobody experiences.

Request a quote Cities we cover
Coverage

Cities and zones we cover.

Where our panel actually reaches. Where a location falls outside it we say so at scoping rather than substituting a shopper who does not fit the profile.

01 Riyadh Olaya, King Abdullah Financial District and the northern retail corridor
02 Jeddah Tahlia, the Corniche and the historic centre
03 Dammam Eastern Province commercial centre
04 Khobar Corniche retail and the Bahrain causeway corridor
05 Makkah Haram-adjacent hospitality and retail, with access constraints on non-Muslim shoppers
06 Madinah Central district hospitality and retail, with the same access constraints
How it runs

How engagements run in Saudi Arabia.

LanguagesArabic-first. English available and appropriate for a limited set of segments; a programme run predominantly in English will misrepresent this market.
Typical lead timeFour to six weeks, longer where a specific shopper profile has to be recruited in a secondary city.
PanelPanel concentrated in Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province. Coverage in Makkah and Madinah requires shoppers eligible to enter the central areas, which is a recruitment constraint rather than a scheduling one.
Run fromThe Doha office. Fieldwork is staffed locally.

Regional variation is the defining fact of fieldwork here. Riyadh, Jeddah and the Eastern Province differ in customer expectation, staffing mix and competitive intensity to a degree that makes a single national score misleading. Programmes are designed with the region as a reporting cut from the outset, not as an afterthought.

Female shopper participation has expanded considerably and quota coverage that was difficult a decade ago is now routine in the major cities. It remains worth confirming the achievable quota during scoping rather than assuming it, particularly outside the three main centres.

Access to the central areas of Makkah and Madinah constrains who can shop there. Programmes covering hospitality or retail in those cities are staffed accordingly, and where a required profile cannot be recruited we say so at scoping rather than substituting a different profile and reporting it as equivalent.

Sectors

Where the work is in this market.

IND-RTL Retail How long a customer stands in a department before anyone acknowledges them IND-RST Restaurant Whether anyone came back to the table after the food arrived IND-FIN Financial Whether the fee was disclosed before the customer was asked to sign IND-HSP Hospitality How a request that could not be met was handled IND-AUT Automotive Whether the test drive was offered or had to be requested IND-FMC FMCG Whether the promotion you paid for is actually on the shelf IND-ELC Electronics Whether the recommendation followed the customer's need or the vendor's incentive
Other markets

The other five.

Undercover coverage across the GCC Saudi Arabia Kuwait Bahrain Qatar UAE Oman
MKT-QA Qatar HQ Two to three weeks from a signed brief to first completed visits. MKT-SA Saudi Arabia Four to six weeks, longer where a specific shopper profile has to be recruited in a secondary city. MKT-AE UAE Three to four weeks for client programmes. MKT-OM Oman Four to five weeks, longer for Salalah outside the Khareef season. MKT-KW Kuwait Three to four weeks. MKT-BH Bahrain Three to four weeks.

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Next step

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