Mobile Apps for Omnichannel Retailing: Revealing the Emerging Showroom Phenomenon

The transformation of the smartphone into a key integrating factor of the online & offline retailing environment has lead to the development of mobile applications that shape the omniretailing landscape. The present study provides evidence of the mobile retailing apps frequency of use inside physical stores and explores mobile retailing app assisted shoppers’ preferences of in-store omniretailing practices & technologies. Results reveal that price comparison that could lead to showrooming is of utmost important for consumers. In parallel, consumers that attach great importance to such practice significantly differ from the rest, in terms of the importance they attach to salespeople & omnichannel integration criteria, in order to purchase offline. In contrast, there weren’t found statistically significant differences in terms of the importance they attach to online & offline store atmosphere. Nevertheless, the importance attached to online store atmosphere is high among mobile retailing app assisted shoppers. Drawing on these results, the study provides feedback to retail entrepreneurs regarding the optimal design and features of the future physical retail store