Network Perspectives on Showrooming : Examining Trust and Commitment in the Hair Care Industry

Abstract: Consumers are increasingly adopting new ways of purchasing and consuming hair care products, utilizing multiple channels (showrooming) in a hair care market where E-commerce actors are increasingly offering premium products at low price points. While previous research has extensively portrayed consumers as the central actor and villain of showrooming, this paper has instead focused its purpose and empirical investigation on the act ions and relationships between consumers, hairdressers, L’Oréal Redken and E-commerce as actors in the network of showrooming, applying a business network perspective. This paper focuses specifically on the relationship between hairdressers and L’Oréal Redken, using a dyadic research methodology that improves upon previous research of showrooming that often have limited their studies to only one side of the relationship. Disproportionate levels of trust and commitment are uncovered which are also shown to be manifested in relationships with consumer and E-commerce actors, strengthening the view that understanding showrooming also requires insight of relationships in the network.