Showrooming: Adapting your online marketing strategy

A new problem facing 21^st century retail is known as ‘showrooming’. It involves a customer walking into a shop to try out the products, looking them up online, finding them cheaper and leaving. This is causing major problems for high street shops, such as Jessops, who are finding sales down as people turn to cheaper online alternatives. It was found that 40% of showroomers took their business elsewhere. Some shops overseas have started charging for the privilege of browsing to cut down on this process, but this is obviously not a viable option for most businesses.

What this shows us is that e-commerce businesses need to be ready to adapt to this change. If someone is stood in a shop searching for a product on their mobile phone, you want yours to be the first to show up to persuade them to leave the one in front of them and make the sale with you instead. It shows the need to be flexible and respond to new trends and challenges facing the retail industry. While showrooming spells bad news for the high street, it could prove very profitable for you if you can appear at the top of their search and attract them onto your website to buy.

So what does this mean for you and your website? Basically, showrooming is a good thing as it means that people are actively seeking to buy a product, are ready to make the purchase and need to be tempted elsewhere. Get yourself to the top of the rankings with competitive prices and this can only be a good thing. For more information about how Artemis can help you reach a prime position in a showroomer’s search, get in touch today.