Latest researches revealed an interesting fact – 62% online consumers in UK are boomerooming right now!

The research conducted by expert marketers was commissioned to improve their understanding of the consumers’ journey and how it affects the online retailers. SoftProdigy wanted to know how consumer’s research affects their decision on whether to buy online or in-store.

If you have not been living under a rock for past any years then you’ll undoubtedly have heard the new buzzwords: 'showrooming' and 'webrooming'. While the number of people doing showrooming is more than those who’re engaged in webrooming and the reason here is clear – lucrative deals and online stores with unique features using premium Magento extensions.

The researchers have also revealed a new type of shopping behavior that we call 'boomerooming'.

Showrooming: Practice of examining merchandise in a traditional brick-and-mortar store and buying the same product at a lower price from online stores.

Webrooming: The opposite of showrooming is the practice to exploring products and items online and then purchasing them in-store.

Well the researchers claimed more people are webrooming and prefer to explore products online market and then buy from local stores. This gives them the freedom to buy product after checking how it looks in real. This was a great news for brick-and-mortar stores who had feared an increase in showrooming.

We took the research a step ahead to find out if consumers were boomerooming (researching online, visiting local stores to check how it looks in real and then returning online to make their purchase). So, we surveyed many people with few questions:

Have you ever boomeroomed?

  • 62% - Yes
  • 38% - No

Is the talk of webrooming just the talk of hot air?

The result here is a bad news for local stores as it shows more consumers prefer an online bargain rather than paying a premium for an in-store experience. So, if you are not offering consumers to request a quote, it’s time you start offering them.

Our survey revealed that 67% of women have boomeroomed, the number was 58% in men, whilst the age demographic most likely to boomeroomed is 50-59.

We were quite eager to explore the boomerang phenomenon. So, to give us an insight, we asked consumers about what they disked about online shopping. And here’s what we found.

Customers’ grips when shopping online!

46% - Can’t see, touch or try products

15% - Prefer shopping online

10% - Time

9% Delivery

7% Security

3% - Setting up account

2% - Returns

2% - Prefer personal advice

2% Postage costs

1% - Never shopped online

1% - Damaged goods in transit

1% - Too easy to spend

1% - Wrong order

Among the above mentioned, the more popular answer include ‘having to wait for delivery’ while 15% consumers actually prefer online shopping experience compared to shopping in a physical store.

While the largest slice (46%) of consumers was unable to see, touch or try products online with online shopping, the emergence of boomerooming came into existence using which they could easily explore the product of their choice, visit local store to try it and then make purchase online for the lowest price possible.

How to monitor this behavior?

Today, the need to monitor this shopping behavior of consumers is greater than ever, and marketers are working towards integrating online and offline analytics data altogether. A combination of the data will provide a better understanding of consumer shopping behavior and will assessment of impact of promotional campaign and marketing efforts – online and offline.

Don’t worry as Google has already discovered a great tool for it – Google Universal Analytics. It allows marketers to gather online and offline data in one place, thus providing retailers with a 360 degree view of the consumers. With the progress in technology, marketers will have more and more data about consumer and their shopping behavior.