pcamerica contact sitemap pcamerica pcamerica blog home
point of sale system












Categories

Archive

Who are the Showroomers? You might be surprised.

The competition between brick and mortar stores and online-only retailers is at fever pitch. Much has been written about showrooming: what it is, how retailers are fighting back and the shopping dollars at stake.

We know what it is and we know why people do it. But who are the showroomers, exactly? According to STORES Magazine, in a survey of 3,752 consumers, 19 percent of shoppers showroom regularly, while 43 percent had done it “a handful of times.”

While showrooming is a serious problem in the industry, it’s believed that many shoppers feel guilty about doing it, hence the low number of people who do it on a regular basis versus those who have tried it.

However, showrooming happens most frequently when people with brand preferences are looking for high value items, like electronics or upscale clothing, handbags or shoes. There’s a certain stigma attached to showrooming, so if you’re looking for someone with their Smartphone blatantly scanning barcodes or taking notes in your store, you’ll need to look a little harder—only five percent of people say they have used their Smartphone to compare prices in a store.

John Dick, CEO of CivicScience, a polling and data mining company, noted that most showroomers are between the ages of 30 and 34. Although it seems counterintuitive, showroomers are typically high income earners, with nearly one in three people earning $150,000 or more saying they showroom “frequently.” The people who fall into the $25,000 to $35,000 a year income bracket are the least likely to showroom.