Showroomers and Webroomers: How To Reach Today’s Shoppers

With the onslaught of the digital revolution, the nature of the retail industry has shifted. The days of simply walking into a store and making a purchase are seldom. Today’s shoppers, showroomers and webroomers, want higher transparency and more consumer options, making competition fiercer than ever. As a result, it is up to every retailer to adjust their business practices and utilize more up-to-date and effective marketing strategies. Here’s a deeper look into this new trend and how you can make it work for your retail business.

What Are Showroomers and Webroomers?

Showroomers are shoppers who browse in store, observing product attributes and store ranges before researching competition, price shopping and purchasing all online. This is a common trait for people who prefer to see the product in person while still getting the best deal by doing appropriate price research.

Webroomers are shoppers who throughly browse and research on the internet before finally purchasing in store. This is often due to the desire to avoid delivery charges and return shipping charges or not wanting to wait for the product to be shipped.

Utilizing both online and face-to-face activity, showroomers and webroomers are a fast developing trend that is changing retail markets, with 69 percent of people admitting to webrooming and 46 percent admitting to showrooming, according to a Harris poll. This highlights how audiences are more empowered in the purchasing decisions, which is important for brands to notice and adjust their business practices accordingly.

How to Reach Both Showroomers and Webroomers

With today’s market being split between these two shopping methods, creating a strategy that reaches both types of consumers is important to an efficient and effective marketing plan. Simply put, an omnichannel strategy that seamlessly integrates online and offline content is the best way to go.

What exactly could an omnichannel strategy consist of? It could be providing purchasing options, like offering to sell a product online while in the store, when it is not available in store. Or it could be offering price matches across both your online and brick-and-mortar stores. Omnichannel strategies also have a lot to do with your brand’s content. Try including comprehensive product reviews or information in store to give customers the information they may find online. This reaches showroomers and could avoid them going online afterward to research other brands, and it reaches webroomers at their first point of contact. Another idea is utilizing email marketing to send coupons for both in-store and online purchases. In fact, according to a report by Accenture, 90 percent of showroomers identified discounts as important to their buying decision. Due to the added discount, this may deter consumers from spending the time researching elsewhere.

How to Manage Your Content

The common characteristic of both showroomers and webroomers is that important activity, research, and decision making is taken online. Tracking, managing, and analyzing this can be difficult due to the accumulation of content, which is often across many different vendors, depending on the nature of your business. By utilizing a platform like Content Analytics, you can manage all your content, identify points of improvement, and pull important data that can be used for business development. Such a platform is a great way to optimize product content for both showroomer and webroomer activity, and ensure an enjoyable shopping experience for all your consumers.

Consumer activity in the retail world is dramatically changing with the integration of online and in-store activity.

With showroomers and webroomers becoming the new trend in retail practices, brands need to be aware of increased competition and ensure they’re adjusting and managing the marketing accordingly.

Photo Credit: Provided by Social Monsters with permission to use.