What is showrooming and how to avoid it in your business

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Although the rise of online shopping is undeniable, street-level businesses still have a lot to say. New strategies are giving many shops a second chance, even taking advantage of what initially appears to be a threat. This is what happens with the practice known as Showrooming.

Online shopping has many advantages. It is convenient, fast and we avoid unnecessary trips when we know exactly what we want. However, the streets are still full of businesses that are eager to receive our visit . One of the great advantages that they continue to have is the ability to offer a first-hand experience with the product. Inside a store we can touch, see and smell a pair of shoes or a jacket , something that does not happen inside a marketplace.

However, there is a practice that is taking place very naturally and that has been called Showrooming . Although it can be perceived as a great threat to physical stores, the truth is that it can be a great opportunity to make new customers and start a few sales. Let's see what this practice consists of and how to take advantage of it for our own benefit.

man making webroom
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What is Showrooming
This practice consists of checking a product online, and whose purchase bolivia number data we are going to make in this way, but going to a physical store to check the product first hand . This may be a premeditated decision, but it may also be the case of going to a physical store without a decision made and looking at products to later search online and buy it this way.

There are many reasons why people do showrooming. The main one is to be able to try the product in person . However, in many cases the purchase decision has already been made in advance. Likewise, being able to find a cheaper price online or resolve doubts about it are other common reasons. However, as we will see below, far from fearing this practice, many stores can take advantage of the trend.

How to take advantage of showrooming for our store
If one thing is clear, it is that this practice generates traffic in our store that otherwise might not have occurred. The customer may arrive with a preconceived idea, but the mere fact that they walk through the door of our business is a great opportunity to profit from it.

Visual merchandising in shop window
Run promotions
If we don't want customers to simply "come and see", we can create an offer that invites customers to buy directly in a physical store. It is not usual that when you buy one product you get another one for free in an online store. Therefore, we can have some detail with customers so that they find in this deal, what they might not find online, thus abandoning their idea of ​​Showrooming.

Customer service is key
We have already mentioned that this practice aims to ensure that many people can be sure about the characteristics of a product by seeing and touching it first hand . For this reason, we must take care of customer service more than ever. It is likely that if the online price matches the price in a physical store, good customer service and knowledge about the product will make the customer decide to buy from us.

Sell ​​other products
The customer may come with a preconceived idea. That doesn't mean we can't take advantage of the opportunity to show other products or build loyalty with the attention we mentioned above . We must keep in mind that this is traffic that is coming to our store and we shouldn't be offended because they are looking at the same product on their mobile phone that we have in the store. Let's highlight the value of personal attention and offer the alternatives we have in our business.