It is becoming common to see bargain-hunters trying products in shops and asking staff for advice, only to pull out their smartphone and search for a better price online, according to retailers and researchers.

“…Coriolis Research managing director Tim Morris said showrooming and a decline in certain kinds of retails stores were inevitable in the changing market.

“Retailing is a dynamic industry that is constantly changing.

“Some products don’t make sense to be sold retail anymore.”

He said as retail stores moved away from products like consumer electronics, shoppers would replace in-store advice and service with new sources.

“I can go on Amazon, I can read through a hundred user reviews of a product.

“Those are objective and worth more to me than what I get told in a store, a lot of the time.”

Morris said New Zealand was only just catching up to a global trend of changing retail structures and the effect was felt more heavily in other countries.

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