Mary Portas: Secret Shopper

Mary turns her attentions to poor service in the `fast fashion' sector. She needs a chain that is willing to let her show them how to give their shoppers the service they deserve. Up steps Chris George, MD of swiftly expanding fast fashion chain Pilot. Pilot has 44 shops, with more in the pipeline. Mary's mission is to transform the chain's worst performing store in Essex into a haven for shoppers, and to then challenge Chris to roll her ideas out across the rest of his empire. But with a team of disenchanted shop girls and an MD who hires shop managers without meeting them first, she's not going to have an easy ride.

Mary Portas goes undercover in the world of sofa superstores, revealing an industry that puts sales commission - and not shoppers - first. We've all seen the adverts for Bank Holiday sofa sales, but do the superstores really offer a good deal? Mary's covert cameras reveal the sales techniques well-known superstores use to persuade customers to buy. Mary is invited onto the premises of CSL Sofas, a northern chain run by Bentley-driving, go-getter Jason Tyldesley. Almost as soon as she's through the doors, Mary deftly picks apart Jason's idea of customer service, tears up his price-match promise and takes in hand his Rotherham store, along with its team of raucous sales guys. If she can prove her novel ideas work, Jason is willing to put his hand in his pocket and roll Mary's ideas out across his chain.

Mary explores the infuriating world of mobile-phone retailers. Mary plans to start a revolution in the phone shops. Her secret cameras reveal them to be one of the least user-friendly retail environments on the high street. Staff bombard you with technical information that has little to do with finding the right phone for you - and you can't even try before you buy. The worst offender, Mary thinks, is Fonehouse, a national chain run by CEO Clive Bayley, who thinks his customer service is a cut about the competition. Mary quickly bursts his bubble and persuades him to give her control of his flagship store in Angel Islington, London. So can she show him what good customer service is really about? But getting her ideas rolled out across the chain won't be easy, because she'll have to convince a group of successful franchisees as well as CEO Clive that customer service is worth spending serious money on.