Simulating the Synergistic Experiences of Customers in Show-Rooming and Web-Rooming Retail Channels

This chapter presents a method to capture a real-life customer decision-making process by inducing a synergy of different senses and simulation of show-rooming and web-rooming environments (Machavolu and Raju, MITS, International Journal of Business Research 1:1–14, 2014; Mehra et al., Showrooming and the competition between store and online retailers, 2013; Reid et al., International Journal of Business and Globalisation 17:364–383, 2016; Schiffman and Wisenblit, Consumer Behavior. Pearson Education Limited, 2015). These multiple-channel purchasing platforms and their accompanying set-ups have to be studied and understood as they can either promote or deter customer purchasing behaviours. Prior studies that have attempted to explore customer behaviour in decision-making processes of buying a product have not been able to effectively capture real-life settings of show-rooming and web-rooming platforms and their resulting experiences due to controlled experimental conditions of the buying environment (Arora and Sahney, International Journal of Retail and Distribution Management 45:762–781, 2017). This study will consider this gap and seek to address reviews of participants in multisensory show-rooming and web-rooming environments in real-life settings. Thus, photographic and video data collection method (Collier, American Anthropologist 59:843–859) and data matrix techniques (Nadin and Cassell, Essential Guide to Qualitative Methods in Organisational Research. SAGE, 2004) to analyse the data were employed in different dimensions of both the virtual and retail environments. A simulated environment of the store—which was a highlighted brand from focused group discussions—and home space were designed for reviewing customer behaviour using smart devices (Rompay et al., Psychology in Marketing 29:919–92, 2012). The store incorporated design layout such as dimensions, visuals, lighting, and wall-layout as well as the employment of space, auditory, olfactory, tactile dimensions to engage participants. Additionally, in the home space, non-responsive set-ups were designed via the elimination of the presence of warm/cool colours, to leave predominantly green spaces to allow for effective engagement with smart devices. These mock set-ups were used to conduct reviews of participants and their engagement within those spaces, to find the most suitable and comfortable multisensory environment and experience, to enhance the likelihood of purchase (Spence et al., Psychology and Marketing 31:472–488, 2014). Findings from this study illustrate the importance of the dimensions of home and retail spaces as well as the impact that multisensory experiences have on purchasing decisions. This is important since it informs not only customer experience but also their purchasing performances in the real retail industry.