What bare international does

BARE International (legal entity: Bare Associates International, Inc.) is a privately held, family-owned customer experience research company founded in 1987 and headquartered at 9990 Fairfax Boulevard, Suite 115, Fairfax, Virginia. The firm operates a global service platform centered on mystery shopping — in-person, phone, and web evaluations conducted by trained independent-contractor evaluators — alongside a portfolio of adjacent customer-experience services including multi-channel satisfaction surveys (SMS, email, website, SDK, phone, geolocation), business-intelligence analytics, fieldwork support for market research partners, online reputation monitoring (Social Network Assessment Platform aggregating 50+ review sites), self-audit tools (BARE-ify Pulse), QA & brand audits, compliance & regulatory audits, customer interviews, and benchmark studies. The company's underlying infrastructure is a global evaluator network of 500,000+ independent contractors operating in 165+ countries, supplemented by 13 regional offices and a multilingual website (EN, DE, ES, FR, NL, PT); only one AI system is publicly disclosed — an OpenAI-powered website chatbot classified as limited-risk under the EU AI Act.

The platform's technology architecture combines the crowdsourced evaluator workforce with proprietary management tooling including the Global Evaluator Network management system, the SNAP social-reputation dashboard, the InstaShops mobile microshop tool with hi-res photo upload, and a real-time multi-response system that combines live survey data with historical information. The company holds ISO 9001 certification, MSPA ELITE certification (2025), MSPA Americas Shoppers' Choice recognition for ten consecutive years (most recently 2026), an EcoVadis sustainability rating (2020), and is GDPR-compliant for EU data processing. Underlying infrastructure partners include Microsoft (Azure/hosting), Automattic (WordPress), CM.com (email), OpenAI (chatbot), and WhatsApp (business API).

BARE International monetizes through custom enterprise pricing on multi-year contracts across six primary verticals: retail, hospitality, automotive, health & fitness, financial services, and market research buyer-side partnerships. Demand is generated through direct enterprise field sales supported by content marketing (multilingual website, LinkedIn, Instagram, Facebook), benchmark publications, and industry-event participation (MSPA Americas, ShopperFest). Revenue streams are predominantly professional services (mystery shopping, surveys, BI, fieldwork), with a subscription/recurring layer in reputation management. Customer logos publicly cited include Cardinal Bank, Gold's Gym Southern California, Glory Days Grill, The Body Shop, Wyndham Hotel Group, and BI Worldwide. The company's stated volume is 250,000+ evaluations annually and 50,000+ audits monthly across its global footprint.

Name

bare international

Legal name

Bare Associates International, Inc.

Website

https://bareinternational.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

1987

Operating status

Operating

Short description

BARE International is a Fairfax, Virginia-based customer experience research firm founded in 1987, providing mystery shopping, satisfaction surveys, business intelligence, and reputation management services through a global network of 500,000+ evaluators spanning 165+ countries for enterprise clients in retail, hospitality, automotive, financial services, and health & fitness.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Fairfax

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices3 records

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales, Technology or R&D, Infrastructure

Revenue model

1. Mystery Shopping Services: Core service providing mystery shopping evaluations through global field force. Evaluators conduct in-person, phone, and web evaluations following predefined scenarios.
2. Satisfaction Surveys: Customer satisfaction surveys deployed through multiple technologies including SMS, email, website, SDK plug-in, phone, and geolocation
3. Business Intelligence & Analytics: Data analysis and reporting services transforming collected data into actionable insights for customer retention and business growth
4. Fieldwork Support Services: Research partnerships providing data collection for market research companies using the global field force network
5. Reputation Management: Online reputation monitoring across 50+ platforms aggregated into one dashboard

Pricing tiers

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels6 records

Core offering

BARE International provides customer experience research services through a global field force of 500,000+ evaluators conducting mystery shopping visits, satisfaction surveys, QA and brand audits, compliance audits, business intelligence analytics, and reputation management for enterprise clients across 165+ countries. Services are delivered via direct enterprise sales with customized, quote-based engagements, supported by proprietary technology platforms (SNAP, InstaShops, Multi-Response System, BARE-ify Pulse) for data collection and analysis.

Product overview

BARE International operates as a customer experience research company offering a platform of integrated mystery shopping, satisfaction survey, and audit solutions. The core offering consists of six interconnected service lines: Mystery Shopping (using evaluators for in-person, phone, and web assessments), Satisfaction Surveys (multi-channel data collection via SMS, email, phone, and geolocation), Business Intelligence (analytics and reporting), Fieldwork Support Services (global research partnerships), Social Reputation+ Management (online review aggregation across 50+ platforms), and Self-Audits (BARE-ify Pulse for internal compliance). Additional specialized offerings include Customer Interviews, QA & Brand Audits, Compliance & Regulatory Audits, and the BARECOVERY Suite for digital channel assessment. The company supplements its service portfolio with Benchmark Studies and case study publications. Services are delivered through a global field force of 500,000+ evaluators operating in 165+ countries.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• BARE-ify Pulse: Self-audit solution for businesses to conduct internal evaluations.

Products and services

• Mystery Shopping Traditional mystery shopping service using in-person visits, phone calls, and web interactions where trained evaluators follow predefined scenarios to assess customer experience at various touchpoints. Used by enterprise clients to evaluate frontline service quality.
• Satisfaction Surveys Multi-channel customer satisfaction survey platform supporting SMS, email, website links, SDK plug-ins, phone, geolocation, and flash feedback stands for real-time data collection from end customers.
• Business Intelligence
• Fieldwork Support Services
• Social Reputation+ Management
• Self-Audits (BARE-ify Pulse)
• Customer Interviews (Face to Face)
• QA & Brand Audits
• Compliance & Regulatory Audits
• BARECOVERY Suite COVID-19 response suite offering digital adoption solutions including eCommerce and web support insights, delivery assessment, remote mystery shops, and online reputation tools for businesses transitioning to digital channels.

Quantifiable outcome

• 12% increase in subscription rates after implementing BARE's audit-driven training methodology (airport kiosk case study)
• +3 more outcomes

Named customers6 records

Segments6 records

Ideal customer profiles4 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability2 records

Feature4 records

Partnerships

Four partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Market Research CompaniescoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerBARE collaborates with many top research companies to provide data collection capabilities. The global field force of 500,000+ evaluators across 220+ countries provides bandwidth needed by market research partners to meet client goals. Operations teams can recruit and field projects in as few as 14 days.
• MobieTrainminorGTM or Marketing PartnerExclusive partnership offering mobile training and communication platform for gamified knowledge transfer to remote employees. Offered as part of COVID-19 BARECOVERY Suite promotions.
• Microsoft Ireland Operations LimitedcoreTechnology or IntegrationWebsite hosting and storage space provider using Microsoft Azure/cloud infrastructure. Also serves as email hosting and communication software provider.
• Automattic Inc. (WordPress)coreTechnology or IntegrationWebsite development platform provider powering the BARE International website infrastructure.

Scale indicators6 records

Recent moves7 records

Expansion highlights7 records

Direct peers

• Shopmetrics: Shopmetrics provides mystery-shopping software and program management for brands, competing with BARE's BARE-ify Pulse and traditional mystery-shopping execution services.
• Reality Check: Reality Check is a long-standing mystery-shopping provider with global field force capabilities, offering the same enterprise CX-evaluation services as BARE International.
• Service Management Group (SMG): SMG is a customer experience management and mystery-shopping provider serving large enterprise clients in retail, restaurant and hospitality - directly competing with BARE's core verticals and service model.
• Market Force Information: Market Force Information is a customer intelligence and mystery-shopping firm with multi-country execution capabilities, closely overlapping BARE's enterprise CX-research offering.
• Intouch Insight: Intouch Insight provides customer experience measurement, mystery shopping and operational audits across North America and internationally, competing head-to-head with BARE in retail, hospitality and financial services.
• MaritzCX: MaritzCX (Maritz's customer experience division) designs and runs CX, loyalty and mystery-shopping programs for global enterprises, directly comparable to BARE's enterprise CX-research portfolio.
• BestMark: BestMark is a mystery shopping and CX research firm serving North American enterprise clients in retail, restaurant and hospitality, directly comparable to BARE's core service lines.
• Cipher (formerly A Mystery Shopper): Cipher delivers mystery shopping and customer experience measurement with mobile audit technology, directly comparable to BARE's InstaShops and field-audit offerings.

Broad incumbents

• Ipsos: Ipsos is a global market research leader with significant customer-experience and mystery-shopping capabilities, representing a much larger incumbent that competes with BARE for enterprise CX-research budgets.
• Kantar: Kantar is one of the world's largest research and insights groups with customer-experience offerings, competing with BARE for multinational brand measurement and shopper-experience engagements.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat6 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• Facebookfacebook.com/bare.international.europe
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/bare-international
• Instagraminstagram.com/bare_international
• Xx.com/BARE_Intl

Compliance4 records

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles18 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about bare international