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Webrooming or showrooming? The moderating effect of product attributes

Yan Guo (School of Business, Jiangsu Ocean University, Lianyungang, China) (College of Business (Nanyang Business School), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore)
Min Zhang (School of Marketing and Logistics Management, Nanjing University of Finance and Economics, Nanjing, China)
Valerie Lynette Wang (Marketing, West Chester University of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania, USA)

Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing

ISSN: 2040-7122

Article publication date: 1 November 2021

Issue publication date: 6 December 2022

1305

Abstract

Purpose

This study examines consumers' channel attitudes and choices leading to webrooming and showrooming, and how product attributes (informational vs experiential and perceived risk) moderate the effects of channel attitudes.

Design/methodology/approach

A research framework is built upon the heterogeneity of channel attitudes, the lack of intrachannel lock-in and interchannel synergy. A questionnaire-based survey yields 868 multi-channel consumer responses in China. Simultaneous equation modeling and STATA 12.0 are used to test the hypotheses.

Findings

Consumers webroom when buying high-risk informational products (e.g. personal computers or mobile phones). They webroom as well as showroom for high-risk experiential products (e.g. clothing or cosmetics). Moreover, a single channel is preferred to webrooming or showrooming for purchasing low-risk informational (e.g. books or stationery) and low-risk experiential (e.g. snacks or toys) products. The results also show that webrooming is more frequently used than showrooming by consumers.

Research limitations/implications

This study extends current understanding on multi-channel and omnichannel shopping behavior and highlights the role of product attributes in customer journey mapping.

Practical implications

This study offers retailers and other downstream firms a fresh perspective on multi-channel customer experience management and channel design.

Originality/value

This study offers a clear explanation on the commonalities and differences between webrooming and showrooming.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

Yan Guo: Conceptualization, methodology, data collection and analysis, writing and original draft preparation, Min Zhang: Reviewing and editing, Valerie Lynette Wang: Reshaping the paper, improving the English writing, reviewing and editing.

The paper is supported by the project of Jiangsu Social Science Fund of China (Grant NO. 19GLD005). Thanks for the financial support of the fund. The authors also greatly thank Professor WEE CHOW HOU and Teacher Sharon NG of College of Business (Nanyang Business School), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. They put forward many precious modification proposals and provide the corresponding author terrific research conditions. Without them, it is impossible for us to finish the original paper. The authors also show great respects to Professor Cheng Lu Wang, Pompea College of Business, University of New Haven, USA. He teaches us how to improve the paper and urges us to highlights the contributions. Without his help, we couldn't improve the paper to match the request of JRIM. At last, the authors thank the anonymous reviewers of the paper. Thanks a lot for their precious suggestions and can admit our contributions.

Citation

Guo, Y., Zhang, M. and Lynette Wang, V. (2022), "Webrooming or showrooming? The moderating effect of product attributes", Journal of Research in Interactive Marketing, Vol. 16 No. 4, pp. 534-550. https://doi.org/10.1108/JRIM-08-2020-0161

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2021, Emerald Publishing Limited

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