Not long ago retailers were afraid that showrooming would gut in-store profits, but now the implications of the trend seem to have reversed, according to a new report by L2 and RichRelevance.
Unlike “showrooming” where consumers let in-store prices duke it out with discounted online prices, “Webrooming” occurs when consumers research online before shopping in-store. However, many retailers are failing to provide consumers with the resources they need to make Webrooming a seamless affair, and are losing sales in the process.
It wasn’t long ago that retailers were fervently trying to combat showrooming out of fear that it would take away from their in-store profits.
But now, according to a new report by L2 and RichRelevance, it seems as if this trend is already being reversed. This new research shows that webrooming, the practice of researching items online and then purchasing them in-store, has been gaining in popularity lately.
New York, NY and San Francisco, CA – July 30, 2014 – A decade of omnichannel investments such as cross-channel inventory management and ship from store capabilities are paying dividends for retail giants as they reshape their brick and mortar footprint. In 2013 the showrooming phenomenon, consumers browsing products in store and purchasing online, garnered a great deal of media attention but now the tides have turned: data suggests consumers are more prone to “webrooming” – researching online or on mobile and purchasing in-store.
L2’s Intelligence Report: Omnichannel, created in partnership with RichRelevance, examines the efforts of 100 retailers to drive customers from clicks to bricks and back again. L2 attempts to determine brands and best practices that are removing organizational and technological barriers to deliver a true omnichannel experience.
Download an excerpt of the report:
http://l2thinktank.com/research/omnichannel-retail-2014
Study highlights:
- 50 percent of offline retail sales will touch digital channels by September 2014.
- Omnichannel success requires uniting e-commerce and physical store teams via alignment of technology, incentives and training of on and off-line associates.
- Of the 100 brands tracked in our 2014 Omnichannel Retail study only 6% have real-time inventory visibility online and only 26% offer in-store pick-up.
- Gucci is the only brand in the luxury category to launch inventory visibility since L2’s 2013 study, joining Tourneau as the sole luxury retailer with in-store inventory visibility.
- Only 5 retailers (Best Buy, Crate & Barrel, Home Depot, Sears and Walmart) leverage the information stored to a consumer’s account in order to seamlessly deliver in-store inventory information.
- Of the 8 department stores benchmarked in the study, 75 percent provide inventory visibility – Barney’s and Bergdorf Goodman are the only holdouts.
- Retailers such as Macy’s and Coach that are deploying omnichannel strategies are seeing growth that surpasses Amazon due to their leveraging of stores as assets.
Comments on the news:
- “We believe the most successful organizations will bring customers to the center of their sales strategies and will make the requisite investments in systems, incentives, and attribution models, using digital as the connective tissue.” –Maureen Mullen, Head of Research & Advisory, L2
- “Omnichannel success requires retailers to use technology and data to deliver real value to shoppers in terms of convenience, experience and connection. There is a sea change occurring in retail as merchants tap into personalization, location data and new devices to deliver real-time experiences that support the shopper in her goals.” – Diane Kegley, CMO, RichRelevance
ABOUT L2
L2 is a subscription business intelligence (“BI”) firm focused on digital competence of consumer brands. We provide our member brands with actionable, data-driven insights on their digital performance. The L2 Digital IQ Index® is the globally recognized benchmark for digital performance. By analyzing more than 850 data points across Site & E-Commerce, Digital Marketing, Social Media, and Mobile & Tablets – we quantitatively diagnose brands’ digital strengths and weaknesses and rank peer-to-peer performance. For more information, please visit: www.l2thinktank.com
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