‘Webrooming’ or ‘showrooming’? 

A spotlight on customer experience across multiple channels

I really enjoyed this piece on ‘webrooming’ i.e. when people research a product online and then visit a store to buy it. It really reinforces the fact that we live in a totally omni-channel retail world and consumers are going to shop how they want, when they want. That could be clicks for exploring and discovery, while you have bricks for touching, feeling and taking away. Click & Collect is a great example of the growing ‘webrooming’ trend as consumers find what they want online and go to collect it at a time that suits them.

It happens the other way round too with ‘showrooming’ — when people buy the best priced products online after visiting physical stores to touch, feel and find the right product for them. Interestingly, I was speaking with a chap from America the other day who was saying this is something that’s really encouraged — a far cry from the UK’s fears of this shopping style.

The point is that retailers need to offer up quality shopping channels to consumers, in the way that shoppers want it — be that online, via mobile or physical bricks and mortar. For example, in the future, I think we’ll see experiential and ‘showroom’ stores on the High Street (which Apple does SO well), but with the retailer expecting people to log on and buy later.

Webrooming or showrooming. It doesn’t matter. Consumers are going to manoeuvre through the channels available to them to get the shopping experience they want. If retailers want to sell their products, they’re going to need to be damned sure they are providing the customer experience — online or offline — that shoppers want.