"Reverse Showrooming" from Pinterest and Other Sites

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People are looking at product images online and buying in the store. Proving a concept called "reverse showrooming," a survey reported that 41% of social media users look online and buy in person, while only 26% practice "showrooming," which is browsing in the store but ordering online. Twenty-one percent of Pinterest users reported purchasing a product in-store after pinning, repinning, or liking an item.

Pinterest and Reverse Showrooming

This survey is significant because it could alleviate concerns that people increasingly browse in brick-and-mortar stores but order online, a claim used to explain declining store sales, such as Best Buy's.

In a nifty interactive, a Harvard Business Review article described five typical paths that Pinterest users follow to consume products: 

  • The Deal Seeker
  • The Nonseeker
  • The Category Seeker
  • The Inspiration Seeker
  • The Social-Proof Seeker

Pinterest reverse showrooming

 Discussion Starters:

  • What is your own experience with online and in-store shopping? How do you explain differences or similarities between your behavior and that reported in this survey?
  • What implications of this survey do you see for Pinterest? Amazon? Best Buy?