NEW YORK – Nearly two months
after Best Buy deployed an aggressive anti-showrooming campaign — one that actually encouraged
shoppers to adopt the practice at its stores
with the hope that the traffic would be converted to new customers — the results are
in and they’re
… inconclusive, AdAge
reports.
While the campaign has led to
increased store traffic, “more could be done to encourage shoppers to actually
buy its products,”
AdAge writes, citing social media data.
Jehan Hamedi, global market
development manager at Crimson Hexagon, a social-media analytics company that
analyzed Twitter and Facebook data from 16,500 online consumer opinions from
Oct. 21 to Dec. 12 on Best Buy, said Best Buy’s show rooming campaign resonated strongly among consumers,
with positive sentiments far outweighing the negative. However, he said
understanding what drives purchasing decisions is the most relevant and that
10% of the surveyed customers said Best Buy’s strategy actually gave Amazon the benefit.
"They're [consumers are]
telling us that Best Buy is where they go to look at merchandise and then they
go buy it online later," Hamedi said. "What consumers are not shy
about telling us is why they showroom, when they do it and the connection to a
named competitor, and that's Amazon.”
“What if you created something memorable that exceeds
[consumers'] expectations?" Hamedi said.
Final results of Best Buy’s strategy won’t become
conclusive until it releases its Q4 earnings early next month.