
This has left physically-based retailers scrambling to catch up to the ever-advancing march of technology, and as a result a number of potential solutions have been floated. Technologies such as location-aware applications and digital in-store discounts are two of the most popular, but they are still struggling to gain a foothold. In fact, according to a study performed in June of this year by retail research agency Conlumino in the United Kingdom, just over 5% of respondents said they would be highly likely to use a digital coupon they received while in-store. The number gets a bit more reasonable when you include the almost 23% who said they're fairly likely to use one, but remember that doesn't include those who are actively showrooming, just a random sampling of customers, indicating that there is still a great deal of headway to be made against the practice in general.
Rather than investing heavily in technological distractions, one of the simplest and most direct solutions would be to employ a price monitoring solution that provided daily updates on pricing trends across the web, so that in-store prices could be updated in order to ensure that customers aren't lost to showrooming.