Purpose - The purpose of this study was to deepen the understanding of how showrooming affect the exploited brick-and-mortar businesses. This was done by investigating an industry characterized by high levels of employee knowledge where the expertise of the personnel create showrooming incentives. Methodology - The study applied a qualitative case study where semi-structured interviews was held with employees of a firm representing the case of an exploited firm. Findings - The empirical findings suggest that showrooming may affect the exploited firm in the areas; profits, offerings, channels, and personnel. Profit-losses due to showrooming may force the exploited firm to reduce number of personnel and working hours, decrease store areas and close of unprofitable stores, change the product and services offered, change how products are displayed, and in what channels the products are available. Further it may give rise to internal channel conflicts, and affect personnel motivation and sales performance. Practical Implications - A perceived showroomer should be treated as a paying customer to avoid misjudgment of character and a loss in service level. Private labels and exclusive selling rights allow for higher profits while reducing showrooming opportunities. In addition to this, rewards for cross-channel retention, synchronized channel information, and price consistency across channels may reduce internal conflicts. Contribution - This study contributes to the young research area of showrooming by assessing the effects an exploited firm may encounter when faced with showroomers.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:UPSALLA1/oai:DiVA.org:uu-359435 |
| Date | January 2018 |
| Creators | Westerlund, Johanna, Westin, Mikael |
| Publisher | Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen, Uppsala universitet, Företagsekonomiska institutionen |
| Source Sets | DiVA Archive at Upsalla University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Student thesis, info:eu-repo/semantics/bachelorThesis, text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Rights | info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
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