{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,6,15]],"date-time":"2026-06-15T04:29:29Z","timestamp":1781497769765,"version":"3.54.1"},"reference-count":50,"publisher":"MIS Quarterly","issue":"3","content-domain":{"domain":[],"crossmark-restriction":false},"short-container-title":[],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,1]]},"abstract":"<jats:p>In this study, we quantify the value of physical showrooms to online competitors by investigating how the presence and absence of local showrooms impact customers\u2019 search and purchase behaviors with online competitors. By using an exogenous event of a large retailer\u2019s offline market exit and a unique dataset that captures customers\u2019 online browsing and purchasing activities before and after the event, we empirically examine the changes in online search and sales made by customers who lived within neighborhoods where local showrooms closed. We devise several search-oriented measures to complement the conventional sales-based measures in order to quantify the value of a showroom more completely. Using a difference-in-difference approach, we do not find a significant impact on online competitors\u2019 sales when a neighboring showroom closes. However, we observe a significant increase in customers\u2019 online search intensity as well as an increase of direct navigations to Amazon in the absence of local showrooms. We discuss a wide range of implications both for online and offline retailers based on our results.<\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.25300\/misq\/2020\/15291","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2021,1,14]],"date-time":"2021-01-14T15:24:40Z","timestamp":1610637880000},"page":"1073-1106","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":20,"title":["Value of Local Showrooms to Online Competitors"],"prefix":"10.25300","volume":"44","author":[{"given":"Jayarajan","family":"Samuel","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"Information Systems and Operations Management, College of Business, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, TX 76019 U.S.A."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Zhiqiang (Eric)","family":"Zheng","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Information Systems and Operations Management, Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080 U.S.A."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Ying","family":"Xie","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[{"name":"Marketing, Jindal School of Management, University of Texas at Dallas, Richardson, TX 75080 U.S.A."}],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"10933","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2020,9,1]]},"reference":[{"key":"2025082212213212300_b1-04_15291_ra_samuelzheng","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"179","DOI":"10.1016\/0749-5978(91)90020-T","article-title":"The Theory of Planned Behavior","volume":"50","author":"Ajzen","year":"1991","journal-title":"Organizational Behavior & Human Decision Processes"},{"key":"2025082212213212300_b2-04_15291_ra_samuelzheng","unstructured":"Alicea, S.\n          \u20082018. \u201cNo Carts, No Cashiers: Amazon Opens Brick-And-Mortar Convenience Store,\u201d NPR, January\u200822 (https:\/\/www.npr.org\/2018\/01\/22\/579787727\/no-carts-no-cashiers-amazon-opens-brick-and-mortar-convenience-store; 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Here\u2019s Why,\u201d CNBC, January\u20089 (https:\/\/www.cnbc.com\/2015\/01\/09\/retailers-are-closing-up-shop-heres-why.html; accessed January 9, 2017)."},{"key":"2025082212213212300_b21-04_15291_ra_samuelzheng","unstructured":"Howland, D.\n          \u20082014. \u201cTarget Wants to Play That Showrooming Game,\u201d RetailDive, July\u200822 (https:\/\/www.retaildive.com\/news\/target-wants-to-play-that-showrooming-game\/288830\/; accessed January 26, 2017)."},{"issue":"3","key":"2025082212213212300_b22-04_15291_ra_samuelzheng","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"55","DOI":"10.1509\/jmkg.73.2.55","article-title":"Searching for Experience on the Web: An Empirical Examination of Consumer Behavior for Search and Experience Goods","volume":"73","author":"Huang","year":"2009","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing"},{"issue":"9","key":"2025082212213212300_b23-04_15291_ra_samuelzheng","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"1","DOI":"10.18637\/jss.v030.i09","article-title":"CEM: Software for Coarsened Exact Matching","volume":"30","author":"Iacus","year":"2009","journal-title":"Journal of Statistical Software"},{"issue":"3","key":"2025082212213212300_b24-04_15291_ra_samuelzheng","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"469","DOI":"10.1287\/mksc.2018.1084","article-title":"Showrooming and Webrooming: Information Externalities Between Online and Offline Sellers","volume":"37","author":"Jing","year":"2018","journal-title":"Marketing Science"},{"issue":"4","key":"2025082212213212300_b25-04_15291_ra_samuelzheng","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"459","DOI":"10.1509\/jmr.17.0059","article-title":"When Showrooming Increases Retailer Profit","volume":"55","author":"Kuksov","year":"2018","journal-title":"Journal of Marketing Research"},{"issue":"1","key":"2025082212213212300_b26-04_15291_ra_samuelzheng","doi-asserted-by":"crossref","first-page":"319","DOI":"10.1287\/isre.2018.0814","article-title":"Why Do Stores Drive Online Sales? 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