Understanding Showrooming - An exploratory research focusing on channel motivations and personal motivations that trigger showrooming.
(2016) BUSN39 20161Department of Business Administration
- Abstract
- Showrooming is an increasingly popular form of research shopping whereby customers evaluate and gather information at physical stores but end up purchasing the product online. Showrooming is a potential thread for physical retailers. The increasing product commoditization and increased price transparency due to an increase in online retailing, can result in physical retail stores bearing the costs associated with being used as a showroom without benefitting from the final sale. While showrooming has become a controversial topic, there are only a few studies that investigate showrooming and there is clearly a lack of research into the driving factors that result in showrooming. This study is an initial attempt to explore this... (More)
- Showrooming is an increasingly popular form of research shopping whereby customers evaluate and gather information at physical stores but end up purchasing the product online. Showrooming is a potential thread for physical retailers. The increasing product commoditization and increased price transparency due to an increase in online retailing, can result in physical retail stores bearing the costs associated with being used as a showroom without benefitting from the final sale. While showrooming has become a controversial topic, there are only a few studies that investigate showrooming and there is clearly a lack of research into the driving factors that result in showrooming. This study is an initial attempt to explore this under-researched phenomenon and contribute to the marketing literature within this field. Empirical data for this study was gathered by conducting 40 qualitative interviews outside physical stores. On the basis of the results of this research a framework is developed that gives insight into the interrelationship of channel motivations and personal motivations that encourage customers to showroom. The results demonstrate that both hedonic and utilitarian shoppers are prone to showroom. Most common utilitarian channel motivation to go to a physical store is the personal service while the hedonic channel motivation is to experience brands and products. The reason to continue shopping online turn out to be price, information, assortment and escapism & enjoyment. These are connected with several personal motivations including risk-aversion, attitude towards shopping, price-consciousness and rational attachment. The results of this study serve as a foundation for further research. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
http://lup.lub.lu.se/student-papers/record/8884349
- author
- Prior, Sofia LU and Schulenburg, Marieke LU
- supervisor
- organization
- course
- BUSN39 20161
- year
- 2016
- type
- H1 - Master's Degree (One Year)
- subject
- keywords
- Showrooming, Multi-channel shopping, Personal motivations, Channel motivations
- language
- English
- id
- 8884349
- date added to LUP
- 2016-07-04 14:43:39
- date last changed
- 2016-07-04 14:43:39
@misc{8884349,
abstract = {{Showrooming is an increasingly popular form of research shopping whereby customers evaluate and gather information at physical stores but end up purchasing the product online. Showrooming is a potential thread for physical retailers. The increasing product commoditization and increased price transparency due to an increase in online retailing, can result in physical retail stores bearing the costs associated with being used as a showroom without benefitting from the final sale. While showrooming has become a controversial topic, there are only a few studies that investigate showrooming and there is clearly a lack of research into the driving factors that result in showrooming. This study is an initial attempt to explore this under-researched phenomenon and contribute to the marketing literature within this field. Empirical data for this study was gathered by conducting 40 qualitative interviews outside physical stores. On the basis of the results of this research a framework is developed that gives insight into the interrelationship of channel motivations and personal motivations that encourage customers to showroom. The results demonstrate that both hedonic and utilitarian shoppers are prone to showroom. Most common utilitarian channel motivation to go to a physical store is the personal service while the hedonic channel motivation is to experience brands and products. The reason to continue shopping online turn out to be price, information, assortment and escapism & enjoyment. These are connected with several personal motivations including risk-aversion, attitude towards shopping, price-consciousness and rational attachment. The results of this study serve as a foundation for further research.}},
author = {{Prior, Sofia and Schulenburg, Marieke}},
language = {{eng}},
note = {{Student Paper}},
title = {{Understanding Showrooming - An exploratory research focusing on channel motivations and personal motivations that trigger showrooming.}},
year = {{2016}},
}