Research on the Determination of Preferences for Showrooming and Webrooming Behaviors in Vacation Purchase

The disadvantages of online and traditional shopping have led to two different multi-channel shopping behaviors: showrooming, which refers to online purchasing after obtaining information from a store, and webrooming, where consumers buy from a store after getting information online. The aim of this study is to reveal the showrooming or webrooming intentions of consumers, reasons for their preferences, and demographic characteristics of such consumers when purchasing vacations. This study is important for tourism companies to develop and improve effective and efficient marketing strategies in line with the obtained data, as well as to contribute to relevant literature. Data were obtained by conducting a face-to-face survey with 282 people who reside in Eskişehir, who were selected by means of a convenience sampling method. A total of 241 collected surveys were considered valid. The analyses revealed that consumers mostly preferred getting information from the Internet before buying services for tours (n = 153), accommodation (n = 172), air tickets (n = 182), and transfers (n = 124), and were more inclined to webrooming behavior while purchasing a vacation. Tourism companies are recommended to develop effective marketing strategies aimed at multi-channel purchasing behaviors as consumers use different channels for obtaining information on tourism services and purchasing.