The webrooming phenomenon: Research online, purchase offline

Webrooming theory states that some consumers do their research online but then end up purchasing the product offline, in a physical retail store

Business Standard Best B-School Project Award is a unique effort by a business publication and is now in its 15th year. Every year B-schools are invited to send what they consider to be their “best summer project report” to Business Standard. These, running into hundreds, are screened by a knowledge partner (E&Y), a select number of them are then shared with the jury, who go through these and shortlist five or six for a final presentation.

I have had the good fortune of being on the jury panel for a few years and always come away learning much. Not only are the projects of varied nature (the winner this year was a project done for a hospital in South India that looked at utilisation of various facilities at the hospital) but also the finalists come from several lesser known B-schools. And as a jury I end up learning something new every year. This year was the concept of “webrooming”. I thought it was unique but my digitally savvier fellow jury members corrected me and pointed out that this term has been in use for many years.

What is webrooming and why does it matter? Most products today are made available through the omnichannel route. You can buy your headphones online, or in a company’s exclusive store, a large format multi-brand outlet, or a neighborhood electronics store. How do consumers take their purchase call? Webrooming theory (the name was probably first used in 2005 in academic research) states that some consumers do their research online but then end up purchasing the product offline, in a physical retail store. The opposite end of webrooming is the showrooming phenomenon; here, consumers do their research offline, in physical stores, but then end up buying the product online.

WARC news says that in the UK three quarters of consumers do their research online, but half of them end up making their purchase in a store (“Webroomers Are a Key Audience for Retailers”; WARC, August 23, 2018). The concept of webrooming is more common with DIY and automotive categories. It was found that webroomers are by and large more satisfied with their purchases than consumers who do showrooming or purely online or offline shopping.

How many types of “rooming” can there be? There are webroomers and showroomers. Then there are online-only (consumers who do the research online and also do the transaction online) and offline-only (consumers who do research and purchase offline, in a physical store).

Every product category may have its own mix of consumers with one or two journeys dominating. This may also depend on the demographic profile of the key target consumers. A millennial consumer may be adopting a showrooming or an online-only approach for many products they buy. An older consumer may be more happy doing their purchases through the webrooming or the offline-only process.

International research says that a webrooming consumer is likely to be looking for variety, could be spending more on their purchase, are more satisfied with the process they adopted, and may be more amenable to speak about their purchase. A showrooming consumer is found to be more careful with their money, less variety-seeking and may have gone online to do the purchase at the best available price.

What does this have to do with brands and marketers? It is likely that in every product category there will be different types of consumers who need to be studied, understood and satisfied. Just because a consumer is walking into a showroom it does not mean that they have not done their online research. So even if the focus of a brand is to provide the best offline shopping experience, you need to ensure that you have a credible online presence because webroomers appear like offline shoppers but they are not the same.

The same is true of showrooming consumers; someone who may visit your showroom and then walks away may not be fully lost. They may yet buy your brand from an online store.

How to manage these varied journeys? Resources are not unlimited and will have to be deployed carefully. Every brand will have to take a call on who is the predominant type of consumer and the best prospect for the brand. If they are webroomers then you need to ensure that you have a good offline presence to clinch the sale, but you also need to be active online to ensure that online research does not throw up any unwanted surprises.

In India, too, except for the basic consumer goods, I would suspect that most consumers do their online research before stepping out to buy a product. Be it a mobile, a headphone or a car. Hence, every brand has to hone in on the target consumer, map her decision journey, and ensure that it is present at all the critical points of contact. Webrooming consumers may in fact be the best types to go after and cultivate. Something I learnt sitting in the jury of Business Standard B-school Project Award 2022.

The writer is an independent brand coach and founder, brand-building.com. He can be reached at ambimgp@brand-building.com