Exploring the Use of Shopper-Facing Technology to Reduce Showrooming

Abstract

The phenomenon of showrooming has given brick-and-mortar stores even greater challenges throughout the past decade of the growth in smartphone information technology. This study explores how smartphone technologies can be used to reduce showrooming. A conjoint experiment (n= 163) was conducted to examine factors like price, salesperson interference, and information search, and offers real-time data provided by in-store Internet of Things (IoT) technologies via a smartphone. Findings show that personalized offers with a scarcity message was the most impactful factor in the likelihood to buy, discouraging showrooming. This study reveals the relative impact of different attributes that can be provided on a shopper-facing smartphone application that provides real-time data using IoT technologies. Access to real-time information is important for showroomers to help encourage them to buy the product in-store rather than online. Offline retailers must use IoT technologies to enhance the consumer shopping journey and help support in-store purchases or purchase from the retailer’s online web shop.