Holiday Shoppers Look to Showrooming for the Best Deals this Year

Study from CFI Group, sponsored by eBay Enterprise, finds consumers will increasingly use smartphones to assist with shopping this holiday season

News provided by

CFI Group

Oct 29, 2014, 11:52 ET

ANN ARBOR, Mich., Oct. 29, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- As consumers prepare to mark items off their wish lists this holiday season, they'll be shopping with a familiar friend in tow – their smartphones. Fifty-seven percent of consumers use their smartphones to assist shopping activities in store, according to new data from CFI Group's newest report Holiday Shopping 2014: Shutting Down the Showroom Effect, which surveyed 1,000 U.S. consumers and is sponsored by eBay Enterprise™.

For retailers, that means an increasing number of people will be showrooming both actively and passively. Armed with a veritable competitive price checker in hand, even "passive" showroomers are comparison shopping from the store floor. A full 60 percent of survey respondents compare retailer's prices to their online competitors, while 63 percent use their phones to check prices at other local stores.

"New showroomers are born every day," said Sheri Petras, CEO of CFI Group. "As mobile devices become even more engrained into consumers' daily lives, even those who don't realize they're showrooming are taking to their mobile devices in search of the best deal on a desired product. The real challenge for retailers this season is to how to improve brand fidelity."

Electronics retailers are at the highest risk for suffering lost sales due to showrooming. Asked specifically what type of goods they showroom, 70 percent of consumers who have engaged in the practice said electronics, followed by apparel and accessories at 47 percent and toys at 43 percent. Price was the most commonly cited reason for showrooming, but a growing number of consumers (26 percent) cited convenience – proving that online retailers offering fast and free shipping straight to a consumer's doorstep are hard to resist, especially during the frenzied holiday season.

Consumers point to in-store help, or a lack of it, as a reason they turn to their mobile devices. Of those surveyed, 76 percent said they've never received assistance from a tech-enabled associate on the store floor, and of the quarter of shoppers who did receive tech-enabled assistance from a store associate, 55 percent said the assistance they received did not help them make a purchasing decision.

There is hope for brick-and-mortar stores this season. Consumers are looking for deals on social media channels; one-third of consumers said they would respond to a retailer's social outreach if it included a discount offer. Fifty-four percent of shoppers use both retail-specific apps and mobile websites while shopping in store, presenting another opportunity to engage customers and offer savings. Nearly half of all shoppers said they expect to receive a savings between 11 and 25 percent when showrooming, meaning an in-store sale could be saved by offering even a small discount via apps or social. Utilizing a two-pronged approach, and focusing on consumers' mobile desires, can lead to improved sales.

"If retailers truly want to outsell the online competition, they have to engage each consumer strategically on his or her mobile device through social, personalized applications and a meaningful mobile Web experience," Petras said. "Brand-level mobile engagement through apps and mobile commerce sites must be utilized to give customers one-touch access to the information they seek – price information, reviews and recommendations and discounts. That's the only way to build customer relationships that will extend beyond the holiday season."

To learn more about the rise of showrooming this holiday season, download the CFI Group report, Holiday Shopping 2014: Shutting Down the Showroom Effect.

About CFI Group (www.cfigroup.com)
CFI Group is a global leader in providing customer feedback insights through analytics. CFI Group provides a technology platform that leverages the science of the American Customer Satisfaction Index (ACSI). This platform continuously measures the customer experience across multiple channels, benchmarks performance, and prioritizes improvements for maximum impact.

Founded in 1988 and headquartered in Ann Arbor, Michigan, CFI Group serves global clients from a network of offices worldwide. Our clients span a variety of industries, including financial services, hospitality, manufacturing, telecom, retail and government. Regardless of your industry, we can put the power of our technology and the science of the ACSI methodology to work for you.

About eBay Enterprise (http://www.ebayenterprise.com)
eBay Enterprise is a leading global provider of omnichannel solutions, including commerce technologies, order management, retail operations and marketing services. Our comprehensive and modular solutions enable brands and retailers to deliver consistent consumer experiences across all retail touch points. Our expertise in commerce and omnichannel solutions provide our clients with the flexibility and control they need to accelerate sales growth and win with today's digitally connected consumer. eBay Enterprise is an eBay Inc. (Nasdaq: EBAY) company.

SOURCE CFI Group