Okay, so Showrooming and Webrooming are buzz words from retail shopping research firms but they are also important concepts to understand. Showrooming happens when consumers first go into brick and mortar stores to find products they like, but then they leave the store only to purchase the item online. Many times the items which are purchased online are purchased at reduced prices and may not be purchased from the same store owner of the brick and mortar store they visited earlier.
Opposite to Showrooming, Webrooming happens when consumers first go online to research products and then they head off to a brick and mortar store to purchase the product they found online.
Webrooming is more important
Both terms are important for brick and mortar stores. However, Webrooming is more important as it involves people going to the brick and mortar store for purchase. More people going to the brick and mortar store also means more opportunity for further in store sales.
Based on research found in the GFK FutureBuy 2014 study report, 40% of Canadian consumers who saw a product on their smartphone later went to the brick and mortar store to purchase it. If brick and mortar stores don't have a good online presence they risk losing 40% of consumers who would have made purchases. The study also mentions “smartphone”, which means the brick and mortar store's online presence should show as well on mobile as it does on a computer. If you have a brick and mortar store with an online presence you should know if it shows well on mobile devices and take some action to make it work better for mobile devices if it doesn't. If you don’t know if it looks good for mobile devices or you don't know what action to take, you may want to take a look at this article titled, “Does your website show well on mobile?”.
Tools influential to purchase
With today’s purchasing options available for consumers, retailers have to utilize all the tools available to help the consumer along the path to a purchasing decision. As again highlighted in the GFK FutureBuy 2014 study cited above, following are some of the top 10 “influential” tools to help influence the consumer:
1. Store Flyers
2. Gender shop sites
3. Product samples and demos
4. Consumer Opinion sites
5. Packaging
6. Retailer sites
7. Branded sites
8. Price sites
9. TV/Print
10. Brochures
Online vs. in Store Shopping experiences
Again from the same GFK FutureBuy 2014 study, it seems that the online shopping experience for consumers reported all positive attributes. Conversely, the in Store shopping experience highlighted several areas where the shoppers applied negative attributes. Following are the descriptors of the negative attributes attributed to in Store shopping:
1. Intimidating
2. Difficult
3. Outdated
4. Stressful
5. Frustrating
6. Slow
7. Cluttered
8. Tired
This is quite a list of negative attributes for in Store shopping. Brick and mortar stores must overcome these negative attributes to improve the consumer experience and help improve sales. Some of these attributes are more difficult to tackle, but some should be easy to improve. For example, the cluttered attribute should be easily resolved with good store merchandise planning and management.
What to do next
Well, if you are a brick and mortar store owner, it seems you should focus more of your attention on your online presence. If you don’t already focus on your online presence you maybe losing 40% of potential consumers to your brick and mortar store. Don't forget to check how your online presence looks on mobile devices. When these consumers do make it to your brick and mortar store, you will want to try to improve on the negative in store attributes highlighted above. As there are many in store and online things which can be improved, there is ample opportunity available to improve your business.
If you need assistance implementing any changes for your store or online business, please know that Wise Crescent is here to help. We have a large network of service providers and can do the work for you.