The mobile-assisted showroomer’s dilemma: where to buy? Actions to prevent sales leakage

Competitive vs. loyal showrooming behavior

The ability to combine online and offline channels in the purchase process has encouraged “research shopping” and “free-riding” behavior (Verhoef et al., 2007). These concepts refer, respectively, to “the propensity of consumers to research the product in one channel (e.g., the Internet), and then purchase it through another channel (e.g., the store)” (Verhoef et al., 2007, p. 129). One of the most representative examples of this behavior (along with webrooming) is showrooming.

Whereas LB is the behavior most valued by physical retailers…