The ROPO effect and showrooming are two important phenomena in the interaction between eCommerce and physical commerce, which clearly show how the borders between both they are thinner and more permeable than they seem.
Both have been and are the subject of repeated complaints by the owners of eCommerce stores (regarding ROPO) and physical stores (showrooming) that, as I can assure you from my own experience as a consultant, in many cases they accuse eCommerce of “stealing customers” in their stores that in the end end up buying online. Both are the two opposite aspects of the same thing.
What is the ROPO effect and what is showrooming
Showrooming
Of You will have already heard about it, even in many articles in this same medium. This is an effect closely linked to the appearance of smartphones connected to the Internet, and It consists of seeing a product that interests us in a physical store and then looking for it on the internet to try to find an eCommerce that offers it cheaper.
ROPO effect
However the ROPO effect It is less known, although as we will see later it has become more important than showrooming. And what does it consist of? Well the opposite of showrooming. The ROPO Effect (Research Online, Purchase Offline) is the one that occurs when the user finds an interesting product in eCommerce and then ends up buying it in a physical store.
Real scope of ROPO effect and showrooming
Actually, both are cause for frequent complaints by store owners: those in physical stores complain about showrooming (especially in electronics) and those in online stores complain about the ROPO effect. Are they good, are they bad, should we fight them, should we not care…?
Before answering this question, let’s see what is the real incidence of each one with data. And for this we are going to use a cool studio: the . And it shows us a fact that decisively tilts the balance: While showrooming has only been practiced by 7% of eCommerce buyers in Spain, the ROPO effect reaches 21% of them. That is There are many more who search the Internet and end up buying in a physical store than the other way around.
this dismounts Quite categorically, one of the main complaints of physical stores regarding eCommerce. Obviously, showrooming is perceived by the store owner or salesperson when it occurs, but the ROPO effect is much quieter. Both are examples of what I mentioned before: the barrier between eCommerce and physical commerce is broken.
Customers move in both directions with some ease, looking for what is most comfortable for them, gives them better prices or a better shopping experience. That is why strategies of the type are so necessary. to the buyerin an increasing number of cases, he does not care where to buy and what channel to use if the experience is satisfactory for him.
The need to exploit the ROPO effect and showrooming
If we want to take advantage of both effects at the same time, We need to have a physical and online store. And that is what the big operators of both worlds are walking towards: and the chain stores open eCommerces. If you have both channels, that’s when you can integrate them and make them work as one.
That means your physical store must be able to “recognize” a registered customer online and vice versa. We are moving towards a business model in which the separation between online and offline will not make senseas now you don’t have to wonder If the Media Markt in Murcia or Albacete is better.
Commercial activity tends to lag behind social demand on many occasions, but it must never stop adapting and responding to said demand. Today, most of us have completely broken down the distinction between online and offline. Our social life, our personal, professional and affective relationships are partly carried out or even born on the Internet.
Why shouldn’t the trade do the same?
How to take advantage of the ROPO effect and showrooming
Not only are they not a problembut the ROPO effect and showrooming can be a advantage for those businesses that are present in the physical world and eCommerce. It’s about not trying to fight social trends, but about taking advantage of them and putting them to work for our business. Both the client, who is already used to it, and the trade will win.
And how we do it? Let’s see some actions that can be implemented easily and without large investments, based on the fact that you have a physical and online store(s):
1. Provide your eCommerce customers with advantages such as vouchers or discount codes, exclusive promotions and preferential treatment when they visit your physical store.
2. Use the “pick up in store” option as one of the shipping options for products purchased online.
3. Develop an app (if you can afford it) or at least one (it’s free) that allows the eCommerce customer to identify himself in the physical store as such.
4. Includes downloadable QR codes on the product sheetsindicating that with them they can also find these products in the physical store, either by showing them to the seller or with a reader that tells them where they are.
5. Make customer registration possible from the physical or online storeindistinctly, and that in the physical store it is available at checkout to be able to identify an eCommerce customer.
6. Use cards or loyalty systems (for points, accumulation of purchases, etc.) that are valid in the physical store and eCommerce.
7. Create an online comparator or facilitate access to an existing one, and includes a QR and/or the access address in the information about the existing product in the physical store. Since customers are going to do it anyway, why not make it easy for them to make the comparison now, which will help them make the purchase decision? Do the same with blogs or websites where there are comparisons of that product with others.
8. Specify the prices of other online stores (legally you can) on the label or information that accompanies the product in your physical store.
9. Have a large format touch screen with a claim such as “Do you want to compare the price? Do it now!”. Be careful, both this point and the previous two are based on the assumption that you want to fight in a price war.
10. Take care of your catalog. If you sell unique products, make sure to specify it, both in your physical store and in your eCommerce.
eleven. If you use the added value in the form of useful information, tricks, tips or ways to use your products in your eCommerce (if you don’t do it yet, you should consider it), make that information available in your physical store as well.
These are just a few suggestions, but I’m sure you can think of many more, and possibly better ones. The key to taking advantage of the ROPO effect and showrooming is to understand why they occur. If most of your customers are connected through their smartphone when they enter a physical store, it’s time for this one to be connected too. It is the only way for the client to feel that you are at his level, that you understand his behavior and that, far from fighting against him, you are helping him.
Do you dare to try? You have a world of possibilities at your fingertips.
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