Showboat a Bit with Showrooming Shoppers

Retailing consultants are talking about “showrooming.” This is the term applied to consumers coming into your bricks-and-mortar store, draining the brains of you and your staff for advice and training, and then leaving your store to make the purchase online. Or maybe not even leaving your store, but rather using a mobile phone to scan the UPC code from a package on your store’s shelves and placing the online order while standing right there.
     A Marketing Daily post reports that about one out of five shoppers for somewhat technical, somewhat expensive products are showrooming. Examples include electric knives, sewing machines, power tools, and hairsetters. My first reaction to this news is that it still leaves four out of five shoppers who are not showrooming. They might be making lots of purchases online, but they’re not taking up the time of your sales staff and then walking away. Twenty percent of consumers is a good chunk, but not approaching a crisis majority.
     And if, in fact, showrooming is restricted to the somewhat technical, somewhat expensive merchandise, this leaves loads of other SKUs.
     Still, you’d like to keep all the showroomer’s dollars in your store. The Marketing Daily piece suggests that you accomplish this by doing your own online sales. When the shopper comes into your store, the shopper or the salesperson can use a computer to place the order. That’s fine, but it certainly is nothing new. Bricks-and-mortar stores have been accepting special orders for a while.
     What I’ll suggest as a way to handle showrooming is showboating. Now, “showboating” means to show off in ways intended to draw attention. Too much of that would irritate consumers, so what we want is only a little bit.

• Highlight the post-purchase extras your store has to offer which are challenging to find online. Setup at the home or business. On-site training, for a fee or as part of a large purchase. Tell the shopper about all the extras, but to assist memory and avoid irritation, unveil them a bit at a time.
• Without grandstanding, display your expertise. You might not get this one sale, but the consumer will build gratitude.
• Entertain the shopper. The best humor to use in a sales situation is gentle and informal. To avoid offending, build on what you discover the customer considers to be funny. Make humor a team sport as you volley giggles back and forth.

For your profitability: Sell Well: What Really Moves Your Shoppers 

Click below for more:
Let the Internet Set Your Price
Lock In Customer Gratitude
Joke Around to Facilitate the Sale