Exploring Showrooming Behaviour among Young Adults in a Multichannel Retailing Framework

The present study examines the factors that influence showrooming behaviour, in which a consumer visits offline store to get the details about the product and make his/her purchase online due to price advantages. The study empirically examined certain variables impact on showrooming behaviour. Primary data was collected in Hyderabad through an online survey distributed on social media, reaching 430 people. After removing responses from those who had no showrooming experience, the final sample consisted of 399 respondents. Fashion products were chosen as the product category. The study used exploratory factor analysis (EFA), reliability test, and ANOVA to test the hypothesized relationships. Showrooming intention is influenced by offline search benefits such as the touch and feel of the product and determining the product's quality. In addition, the study looked at the effects of time spent online, pricing consciousness, and demographics, finding that pricing continues to be the most important factor from the consumer's point of view, service quality becomes the second major factor influencing the showrooming intention, and shopping pleasure has a significant positive correlation, while demographics and time spent online have little impact on showrooming behaviour. Furthermore, the study only looked at only one sort of product, i.e., fashion items. As a result, future studies may concentrate on a different product type while simultaneously increasing the elements (online purchase rewards) that influence consumer showrooming behaviour.