This Canadian MSP (not to be confused with Premier Shopper’s Network) was started by CEO Michael Glazer in 1991 as part of a college project. That project was to assist retailers, “Evaluate and improve their customer service.” After a period of growth, Keren Dolan joined Premier in 2001 as President of Sales and Operations.
Continued steady growth has seen the company expand into a full service business consulting firm also offering market and consumer research, employee training and development, and human resource consulting. This MSPA member company is headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. It makes superior service its priority. As such, clients contacting Premier will interact with either Michael or Keren directly.
Shoppers may interact in their choice of French or English. In around 2012 it adopted Shopmetrics as a platform after previously using email for shop offers and Excel documents for data entry. Shoppers will find their website here: https://premierservice.
Clients include members of all industries and most shops (called missions by this company) are located in Canada with a few in the US. Payment is made by Paypal on the 18th of the month following shop submission. An additional change in about 2012 was the elimination of the $4 penalty for shopper errors and the 4x penalty or the four times reimbursement penalty for flaking. They ask shoppers to communicate exclusively by email and provide email addresses for different purposes. A response in 24 hours is promised. The company has stated an intent to increase its presence in social media and forums in 2015.
Although a job board has made me aware of one recurring shop in the outer range of my area for some time, I have yet to find it a good match for my schedule. I recently signed up and found the process to include requests for information not normally requested by an MSP . For example, I was asked for a photo dressed in casual business attire, a scan of my government issued ID, and a voice recording. Reasons for those requests were clearly spelled out. Examples include verification of the ability to purchase alcohol or tobacco or drive a car. Despite not submitting any of that information, I was able to complete the sign up process. In the future, I expect to supply those items to be considered for relevant shops. New shoppers are asked to pass a basic certification of 11 questions. This experienced shopper found it easily done with a need to reference only Premier’s payment policy. I found the website and documents written in perfect English. A new client of luxury car dealerships in Canada was recently announced.
Forum users have posted a few comments, sometimes confusing it with another similarly named company. Many were positive, praising the responsiveness of the company, saying payments arrive on time and calling it a favorite. Some however, complained about low pay, disliking the practice of shop assignment by email, and difficulties with the Excel forms. It is notable that most of the negative comments occurred before Shopmetrics was adopted as a platform.
In conclusion, this is a small, but growing company with shops mostly in Canada. Premier seems to place a high value on shoppers. Adoption of the Shopmetrics platform seems to have made the shopper experience easier. Personally, I look forward to finding an opportunity to work for them.