Showrooming Can Help Retailers: Report

Alan Wolf On Oct 2 2012 - 2:59pm

Montreal – A new report by Aimia, a Canadian retail consulting group, suggests that brick-and-mortar stores can actually benefit from the showrooming phenomenon.

According to the study, showroomers are more likely to participate in loyalty programs than their non-price-scanning peers, giving retailers a crucial entrée to these largely Millennial customers.

Aimia VP Rick Ferguson said savvy retailers can use this knowledge to their advantage by:

• interrupting price searches to offer showroomers membership in rewards programs with a rich bonus offer on their first purchase;
• including showroomers in the upper tier of their most valuable customers, and lavishing them with “soft” benefits such as private sales, experiential rewards, location-based offers and other privileges that resonate with that audience;
•  providing their own showrooming app through their loyalty program; and
• working and sharing opt-in data with partners and suppliers to combat showrooming together.

“The solution to embracing showrooming behavior lies in retailers leveraging their shopping data to get consumer insights that will help shape their marketing strategies and drive in-store purchases,” Ferguson said.

The complete report is available here.