By Arie Shpanya, Wiser*
A phenomenon is threatening the e-Commerce world and it’s right at our fingertips.
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Webrooming is the newest phenomenon to rock the retail industry. Showrooming used to be the buzzword that brick-and-mortar retailers complained about; this is when shoppers view and maybe try on a product in a store, but then decide to buy it online instead. Webrooming is the flipside of this practice; when shoppers research products online, but then decide to buy them in a physical store.
Webrooming has been around since the advent of the Internet. But recently, online retailers and researchers have turned their attention to it. This article will take recent research further by trying to solve this e-Commerce puzzle with a few suggestions.
Who Webrooms?
Webrooming has outpaced showrooming recently. In the past year, 78% of shoppers have webroomed, while 72% have showroomed. A recent study by Interactions reported that 88% of shoppers webroom frequently. This means that combatting webrooming must be a top priority for online retailers in order to recapture sales. The majority of Americans shop online (55%) and online retail revenue grew by 14% between 2012 and 2013. So what is disrupting these purchases and luring shoppers into brick-and-mortar stores?
Why Webrooming Is So Important Right Now
According to a recent Forrester statement, brick-and-mortar retailers made $1.2 trillion from webrooming in 2012. Forrester’s Sucharita Mulpuru also estimates that by 2017, this amount will increase to $1.7 trillion. This means that now is the time for online retailers to strike back and decrease the rate of webrooming, especially when considering the current size of the e-Commerce market. In the U.S., e-Commerce revenue totaled $225 billion in 2012 and by 2017, it is expected to reach $360 billion. If those sales could be recaptured, e-Commerce could upgrade its piece of the retail pie.
Top Webroomed Products
Product type often plays a significant role in whether consumers are willing to buy something online or prefer to purchase it in a physical store. While shoppers get access to a wide variety of products online, the three most frequently purchased in that channel are computers, electronics and mobile phones. On the other side are the products that the vast majority of consumers buy in person. These categories are groceries, appliances and apparel. It makes sense because many shoppers like to ensure the quality of fresh grocery items, try on clothing and buy high-cost items in person.
What Mobile Has To Do With It
The fact that 56% of adults own a smartphone is driving both webrooming and showrooming. It is easier than ever to research products online, so online retailers must adequately incentivize shoppers to keep them from going to a physical store to be instantly gratified. Developing a mobile friendly web site is one way online retailers can position themselves for success.
Why Shoppers Webroom
There are many reasons that shoppers webroom, but most are linked to convenience and cost.
- Shipping: Nearly half (47%) of webroomers don’t want to pay for shipping. On top of that that, 23% of respondents said they don’t want to wait for items to arrive on their doorsteps.
- Unsatisfactory Product Information: A challenge that online retailers face is that 28.5% of Internet users like to see products before they buy them. Photos and descriptions often aren’t enough to get a complete understanding of the product and some even have missing information, which makes buying decisions even more tenuous.
- Returns and Exchanges: Many online shoppers need to return or exchange items purchased online because they don’t fit or are different than they appeared online, among several other reasons. Returns can be a hassle and when consumers have to pay for it themselves, it can be an extra deterrent.
What Online Retailers Can Do About It
Free shipping is optimal, but it doesn’t always make sense. Businesses with heavy or fragile products might instead choose guaranteed fast or cheap delivery for their products, since there can be a significant cost that they must incur for delivery.
Both online and omnichannel retailers can put consumers at ease with clear, efficient and even free returns and exchanges. Omnichannel retailers in particular have a unique opportunity. More than one third of shoppers (37%) want to have the opportunity to return and exchange products in a physical store. This is a great strategy for omnichannel retailers because it gets the shoppers’ eyes on the merchandise again, but this time in a different medium.
The Future Of Webrooming
The U.S. e-Commerce market is growing steadily and there is still plenty of room for growth. Online retailers must be able to incentivize shoppers to complete purchases on their site. Some consumers just need an extra push to finish the shopping process. Besides improving product information and shipping policies, online retailers can employ psychological pricing tactics because 73% of shoppers are influenced by discounts. While there are countless reasons that shoppers webroom, fortunately, there are also endless innovative ways to get them to move beyond merely researching to completing purchases online.
What other solutions to webrooming can you think of? Share them in the comment section below.
*Co-written by Angelica Valentine, Content Marketing Manager at Wiser.
Arie Shpanya is the CEO of Wiser, a dynamic pricing & merchandising engine for online retailers. He has extensive experience in business development with a focus on eCommerce (eBay and Amazon), as well as social media optimization, marketing strategy and multi-channel platforms.
