The current research offers various managerial consequences for both retail managers generally and mobile app entrepreneurs towards building the future retail shop. Retails mobile apps with customer aiding capabilities are still in their early years. Apart from offering a supplementary shopping assistant interface, mobile app developers should concentrate on integrating this interface with hardware elements that effortlessly combine the physical and
online worlds. They might thus offer the best of the two worlds, thereby designing a better retail atmosphere that might discourage showrooming and offer extra value services. Some stores have already made use of mobile apps as omniretailing assisting technologies either by means of in-store location based services and promotions (e.g., Apple stores app, Macy's Shopbeacon, Carrefour China app), loyalty points and social media integration (Guess Mobile
app) or augmented reality support (American Apparel) Looking at Tables 5 and 6, we can derive various rules on the characteristics that omniretailing mobile apps ought to have. More precisely, they should provide rapid checkouts, consistent pricing, and real-time stock availability by means of close connection with backend IS and POS systems. Second runners
Are other technologies like in-store
location based services; yet, they should not be overlooked either Furthermore, it looks that smartphone apps can be quite helpful for store employees as well. Customers like the salespeople-technology mix the greatest, so mobile apps could enable staff members in a more potent way. In such instance, programs could be more efficient by using them on tablets, therefore offering a more roomy UI. Regarding showrooming avoidance, studies also
reveal that particular human selling strategies and techniques should be embraced by salespeople since technology on its own is not enough (Rapp et al., 2015). Retailers should so invest on their human capital while adopting omnichannel retailing ideas and practices, so changing into omnirellers. Considering Table 6, we should advise mobile app developers to
provide anti-showrooming features for mobile devices used by salespeople. Indicatively, these could have price matching and comparison tools. New apps, mostly for salespeople tablets, start toward these paths. Retailing mobile apps seems to be rather essential in this behavior since consumers in the physical stores want E-Commerce practices. This integrates retail
Channels Along with more mobile
internet use, in-store activity of using these apps has been noted. With "In-store price comparison, which could lead to showrooming to gather the highest percentage of users that regard it of utmost importance," price-centric apps rule customers' preferences. Showrooming intention is therefore strong among in-store online consumers, both retailing mobile apps and non-app ones. Fascinatingly, service support by salespeople using sales supporting electronic
technologies and omnichannel integration was found to be considered as more significant than the group that didn’s care about showrooming. That target consumer group was high showrooming intent. This result makes us assume that, apart from price-matching efforts (since these consumers seem to be price-centric), additional significance should be placed at
the role of salespeople in the physical store, as well as at omnichannel integrated methods Regarding the function of salespeople, the results are similar with related studies (Zhang & Oh, 2013; Monteleone & Wolferseberger, 2012; Rapp et al., 2015; Pantano & Viassone, 2015) which stressed on the prominent role store associates play, coping with that emerging consumer behavior Zhang & Oh (2013) in particular underlined the importance of service
Support Monteleone & Wolferseberger
on salespeople assisting technologies; Rapp et al. (2015) on salesperson-consumer interaction; Pantano & Viassone (2015) on service quality perception as an outcome of technology and/or salesperson interaction. Hence, our criterion of "Service support by salespeople utilizing sales supporting electronic technologies" is validated as a means of combating showrooming since users that tend to engage in such behavior attach much more
importance in order to purchase from the physical store that they have visited Regarding the omnichannel integration criterion, that is, the multichannel integration of a store to offer a seamless shopping experience, Pantano & Viassone (2015) offered empirical data showing it can prevent showrooming and suggested the use of channel integrating technologies to achieve it (iBeacon, mobile apps and smartphones). This result also fits our statistics results
about the technology customers are paying more and more interest in. Furthermore mentioned by Zhang & Oh (2013) are client retention resulting from cross-channel services. Still, Chiu et al. (2011) discovered that showrooming is favorably affected by multichannel self-efficacy; so, multichannel integration should be done carefully. Though regarded as crucial, store atmosphere—in both traditional and online forms—does not draw customers
Conclusion
with showrooming intention more than the others. These findings, however, contradict those how showrooming is influenced by store environment. Conversely, they are consistent with Heitz-Spahn (2013) observations that cross-channel free-riding behavior is not influenced by channel aesthetics as components of shop environment. They suggest, nonetheless, that suitable mobile apps could help one fight this behavior (e.g., Shopkeep, Entersoft Mobile
Retail Sales Assistant All things considered, the future retail store should have strong omnichannel integration, so giving a 360 degree picture of the consumers (e.g., using universal analytics), so harmonizing the offline and online buying experiences. Aiming at combining online and offline operations delivering universal insights, new omniretailing software platforms were recently launched (e.g., Euclid insights, Index, RetailNext, Prism).
Apps could also help with this integration, but stores should also be improved with additional technologies that provide location-based services (e.g., iBeacon), effective and useful electronic check-in for consumers, and quick electronic checkouts free from lines. As one moves toward the last option, the store might accept mobile payments or perhaps go entirely without check-outs. In view of it, a recent Amazon patent (Amazon, 2015) using RFID



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