Showrooming is the practice of examining merchandise in a traditional

brick-and-mortar Brick and mortar (also bricks and mortar or B&M) refers to a physical presence of an organization or business in a building or other structure. The term ''brick-and-mortar business'' is often used to refer to a company that possesses or leases r ...

retail store or other offline setting, and then buying it online, sometimes at a lower price.

Online store Online shopping is a form of electronic commerce which allows consumers to directly buy goods or services from a seller over the Internet using a web browser or a mobile app. Consumers find a product of interest by visiting the website of the r ...

s often offer lower prices than their brick and mortar counterparts because they do not have the same

overhead cost In business, overhead or overhead expense refers to an ongoing expense of operating a business. Overheads are the expenditure which cannot be conveniently traced to or identified with any particular revenue unit, unlike operating expenses such as r ...

. The reverse phenomenon of showrooming is webrooming. In webrooming customers research a product online before buying it in a store.

Prevalence

A 2012 comScore study found 35% of U.S. consumers reported showrooming and of those, half were between 25 and 34 years old. A 2013 survey polled 750 U.S. consumers, 73% of whom reported having showroomed in the previous six months. However, three years of data collected and analyzed by

Deloitte Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu Limited (), commonly referred to as Deloitte, is an international professional services network headquartered in London, England. Deloitte is the largest professional services network by revenue and number of professio ...

, refutes the prevalence of showrooming. Deloitte found that, in fact, customers who use a digital device in-store as part of their shopping process were actually more likely to make a purchase – not less.

Effects on retailers

Showrooming can be costly to retailers, not only in terms of the loss of the sale, but also due to damage caused to the store's floor samples of a product through repeated examination from consumers. Showrooming was said to be behind the collapse of UK photography chain

Jessops Jessops (Group) Limited is a British photographic retailing company. It was established in 1935 by Frank Jessop in Leicester, United Kingdom. The company controls Jessops Europe Limited, which in turn control JR Prop Limited (formally Jessops Re ...

, and

Target Target may refer to: Physical items * Shooting target, used in marksmanship training and various shooting sports ** Bullseye (target), the goal one for which one aims in many of these sports ** Aiming point, in field artillery, f ...

’s decision to discontinue carrying the Amazon Kindle.

Efforts to combat showrooming by retailers

Many retailers have tried to compete with showroomers by slashing their own prices. Independent businesses, however, are advised to counter showrooming by adding value via included services and other tactics, such as making information and reviews more readily available to customers so that they might not choose to seek it out online. Some major retailers, such as Target, are attempting to battle showrooming by selling products exclusive to their stores.

Walmart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

is allowing customers to avoid the shipping charges of online purchases by picking up the items in the stores. The same practice is expanding to European countries. Some specialty fashion stores in the U.S. and Australia have introduced a "fitting fee" for browsing, which is refunded in full if the customer makes a purchase. Best Buy has guaranteed to match the online price of goods listed on

Amazon.com Amazon.com, Inc. ( ) is an American multinational technology company focusing on e-commerce, cloud computing, online advertising, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It has been referred to as "one of the most influential econo ...

, and in April 2013 announced it would begin to lease out space to manufacturers such as Samsung, so customers can view working products and then purchase them at the

MSRP The list price, also known as the manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP), or the recommended retail price (RRP), or the suggested retail price (SRP) of a product is the price at which its manufacturer notionally recommends that a retailer ...

References

{{Reflist 2010s fads and trends 2010s neologisms Retail processes and techniques E-commerce Marketing techniques Retail formats

Prevalence

Effects on retailers

Efforts to combat showrooming by retailers

See also

References