In February, Amazon released the ‘Flow’ feature to its main iOS app. Flow enables shoppers to scan an item while in store and add have the item added to their Amazon shopping list. It’s an interesting concept that has triggered worries about increased showrooming. Showrooming is the practice of looking in store for items, then price shopping and purchasing online.
According to data recently released by ShopAdvisor, the new Flow feature isn’t impacting shopping habits as much as people had feared. Let’s take a look at how the purchase of various items has been impacted:
Big Ticket Electronics
While big ticket electronics accounted for just 5% of the items scanned, they accounted for 30% of the overall value of items purchased via Flow. With an average price of $356 each, you’d expect deep discounts from Amazon to have an impact on this category.
Health and Beauty
Health and Beauty products made up 15% of all items scanned. The average price of these items was $29. As a brand driven item, health and beauty products offer Amazon the opportunity to offer deep discounts.
Toys
Fourteen percent of items scanned fell into the toy category and with an average cost of $26 each. Toys are another category where Amazon’s deep discounts play to their benefit.
Books, Music, Movies, and Video Games
While many worry that Amazon will drive local book sellers out of business, books accounted for just 10% of items scanned. As a whole, music, movies and video games made up just 4% of scans.
Overall, items scanned by the Flow feature had an average cost between $20 and $50.
The message here is simple. Consumers who identify more with a brand than a store are more likely to jump to Amazon for discounts.
In response to fears about showrooming, we point to data recently released revealing 69% of Americans did at least half their shopping in store during the 2013 holiday season. Based on a study conducted by Gallup in November of 2013, only 6% of Americans had showroomed in the past month.
If you are interested in learning more about online shopping, capturing consumer attention via online marketing, or your brand’s online marketing reputation, call Qiigo today at (404) 496-6841.
