Study: Discounts as low as 2.5% sway shoppers to leave stores, purchase online

St. Louis -- Forty-five percent of customers shopping in-store at bricks-and mortar-locations will walk out and complete their purchase online for a discount as low as 2.5%, according to new showrooming research from GroupM Next.



This number jumps to 60% of shoppers who will leave and purchase a product online for a savings of 5%. When discovering an online discount of 20%, a small percentage of shoppers (13%) stay and complete their purchase in store.



“Consumers have shifted their path to purchase to include the store as a step but not necessarily the final step, and this will likely continue to increase over time. Brands need to think about how showrooming can be used to their advantage to navigate would-be buyers to a checkout location, be it in store or online,” said GroupM Next CEO Chris Copeland. 




Showrooming is the new habit of consumers conducting price comparisons on a mobile device while in store, leaving the store and completing their purchase online. 
 




The study “Showrooming & The Price Of Keeping Buyers In-Store” was conducted to take a close look at the influencing factors of showrooming and to identify the tipping point at which the difference between an in-store and online price is large enough to lure shoppers out of stores, according to GroupM Next.



Other research highlights include:

• Forty-four percent of consumers use a mobile device to influence their purchase decision when shopping in-store;


• If the price difference in-store versus online is more than $5 most customers will leave;


• The average showroomer profile includes young females who make frequent online purchases; alternately, the profile of the shopper who can be most swayed to stay and complete a purchase in store is older male, 55% of whom buy online one time per month; and


• Customers who interact with an associate are 12.5% more likely to purchase in-store.