What is a social showroomer?  With 70% of people trusting reviews by their “friends” than a company’s own site, a social showroomer is one who leverages social before they purchase.   But they do it in a uniqure way.  They come into a real store with their smartphone and scan a product’s barcode to see the reviews, and lowest prices for the item.    Then they search both online retailers to compare with those of brick and mortar.   

First a factoid, 1/3 of showroomers bought from an online-only retailer, the other two-thirds from a multi-channel retailer.

Who are these new social shoppers?    

Showroomers are more often male than female with the largest gender gap being in consumer electronics but women are still quite capable of showrooming.   In fact,women still constitute 80% of Pinterest users. (Search Engine Journal)

On  age & income dimensions, this is not an older group but not particularly young. Most likely to be 26 to 34, however in some categories like consumer electronics, home decor and healthcare, showrooming skews as high as 35 to 44. 

The showroomers are also more affluent on average but has quite a contribution from the middle-income group as well. 

And the final point,  this group is very vocal.   57%, had written a positive review of their online retailer. They are a dynamic group having positive experiences and wanting to share them with their peers.

Are you a showroomer?    Tell me about it.   What do you think about showrooming?   Is it fair to local merchants?