Do you ever see something in a store ,try it on, check the price online on your smartphone,find it is cheaper, and walk out of the store? Welcome to the world of "showrooming".
You are not the only person who does this, and it is becoming a major problem for store owners. Clothing stores, stores for electronic equipment, bookstores, and cosmetics stores are al losing business.
Amy Fu,23,lives and shops in singapore. She sometimes spends $200 in an afternoon,but not in the stores she visits. "I can go in and small a perfume, and then find it online $20 cheaper ," she says. "Sometimes when the staff are very helpful, i feel bad. But it's my money".
Online stores can offer cheaper prices because they don't have the costs of a building and staff. Some shoes and clothing stores in Australia ask for a fee when someone tries something on. The fee is taken off the bill when someone buys something
Steve Richards, who has an English bookstore in singapore, says: "We see customers in the corner with their cell phones. We know what they are doing, but we can,t stop them. We can only hope they feel uncomfortable when they know we are watching them."
Of course, online stores such as Amazon want "real" store to survive so that people can see, touch, and try on products. So perhaps one day online store will have real showrooms, but only to look and try on-not to buy. All buying and selling will be online.