Strategies for Offline Retailers Considering Showrooming Behavior

Abstract

Customers often visit an offline store to experience products but make a purchase online at a lower price. This

behavior, called showrooming, is perceived as a tremendous threat to offline retailers

therefore, the pricing of a product available for offline shopping and the corresponding pricing of it online were addressed considering showrooming. Specifically, pricing in three channel structures and the strategies of price matching and exclusive product assortment are investigated. Findings reveal that, for a channel structure centralized around an offline channel, offline sellers can control showrooming. In addition, price matching may lead to reduced showrooming.