Want to find a reliable way to supplement your mystery shopping income? You might have noticed that some mystery shopping companies also offer merchandising and demonstration assignments.

These assignments often pay by the hour, and you often negotiate regular work that lasts a month or longer.

So what is merchandising, and what are demonstrations?

First off, merchandising usually involves working with how a product is displayed in the store. As a merchandiser your job will be to make sure the product is displayed appropriately and attractively in the store. You might also order new stock, set up new displays, or change the merchandise altogether depending on the time of year.

As a demonstrator, you literally demonstrate a product to customers or passers-by. This means you might be handing out samples at a grocery store, or giving away coupons, or just plain showing how a product works.

Merchandising and demonstrations follow different rules than mystery shopping. They’re not ‘secret’ — you usually work closely with the store employees, instead of keeping your task a secret.

But finding assignments is a similar process to mystery shopping. You can find assignments through mystery shopping companies, but there are also many companies dedicated just to merchandising and demonstrations. You can find them through the National Association for Retail Marketing Services. Their website has company listings, and a job-board, so it is a good place to find work.

Many mystery shoppers end up spending more time, and making more money, doing merchandising and demonstrations. It can be a great supplement to your mystery shopping income, and sometimes it can become your main source of money.