Research shows that 73% of American consumers prefer "anti-showrooming" when buying shoes and clothing

Research shows that 73% of consumers will go online to research before buying clothing, shoes and socks, and REI, the largest outdoor retailer in the United States, recently disclosed that 75% of its physical store consumers frequently log on to their website or mobile terminals to research and browse products. For this reason, the company has specially upgraded its mobile APP to provide more convenience for consumers' shopping.

More often than not, consumers will do some research online before paying for their purchases in physical stores. This phenomenon is called "webrooming".

Specifically, "reverse showrooming" (or webrooming) means that consumers first search, browse and research a product online, and then go to a physical store to buy it. This is the opposite of the "showrooming" phenomenon that has been widely concerned by the industry before, which refers to buying a product through an online store after seeing it in the store.

As today’s consumers increasingly demand more information-based and streamlined shopping experiences, Forrester Research predicts that anti-showrooming will generate $180 billion in sales by 2017.

Many users of the "anti-showroom phenomenon" make purchasing decisions based on recommendations from friends or strangers. How can outdoor companies and retailers seize this development opportunity? First, they must understand how their consumers shop, interact with them in-store, give them more personal experiences, and then spread these experiences online to provide advice and help to more people.

Now some outdoor companies have successfully created a comprehensive online shopping experience through some technical tools: consumers can compare prices online, write reviews and recommendations, and merchants can achieve inventory transparency and diversify category selection: consumers can choose products suitable for them by benefits, activities and fit in addition to gender. In short, in this highly connected society, if merchants want to survive and develop better, they must pay attention to consumers who like to research products online and how to help them find the most suitable products.