Consumers Warned Against “Showrooming”

A name has been given to an evil that plagues independent bookstores, a practice that was blamed largely for the demise of the Borders bookstore chain: showrooming. This practice, which affects mom-and-pop retailers across possibly every industry but especially the bookselling profession, occurs when consumers enter a local physical retail shop in order to find information and prices, then make their purchases online instead; some consumers have been caught in the act of making the online purchase even before leaving the store.