Can you imagine being charged to visit a store? Or to try on a product you’re not going to buy right away? These are some of the measures being introduced because of “showrooming.”
“Showrooming” is the trend (or practice) that emerged with offers across multiple online channels. Customers see the product in the store, touch it and even compare it in another, then go home and buy it online. Alarm bells have gone off at some US businesses, which say there are more and more browsers who come in and pull out their phones to compare prices. As a result, signs are appearing that announce small charges for browsing in the store. And we wonder: won’t charging people to look drive potential buyers away?
The popular slogan “Come in, compare, and if you find something better we’ll refund your money” no longer works for everyone because of online stores and how easy they make it to compare and find deals.
The positive side of this practice is that we’ve lost our fear that the internet isn’t secure. What we take away is that physical stores will have to sharpen their wits or improve their prices if they don’t want this practice to become common in our country.
Even so, do you think it’s excessive to be charged just for looking? Or to be banned from bringing your phone into stores?
Image source: http://tomfishburne.com/
