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Showrooming

An entry from Word of the Year 2013

This word is really so naughty. A subtle grammatical change and the standard showroom of the merchandising world is transformed into the practice that is bringing giant retailers undone. The bricks-and-mortar shop becomes a giant showroom where the consumer can browse as they like, because, after all, you are so much more confident of a successful purchase if you can see what you are buying. Having checked it all out, the consumer goes home, hauls out the digital device and orders the product on the internet. A few days later it is delivered to the door for considerably less than they would have paid in the shop. As if this wasn’t injury enough, the consumer has heartlessly turned a once-functioning, once-profitable shop into a showroom with a swift turn of a suffix.

showrooming

/ˈʃoʊrumɪŋ/ (say 'shohroohming)

noun the practice of examining products in a bricks-and-mortar shop, and then purchasing online at a lower price.

[from the notion that the shop is regarded as a showroom in which to view products]

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(Image courtesy of Wikipedia)