New App Can Help Turn 'Showroomers' Into Paying Customers A consignment store fights back against showrooming, with a new app called Swarm Mobile.
By Kristan Schiller •
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With two stores in New York, one in Los Angeles and a robust website, the upscale consignment sneaker store Flight Club has remained popular with trendy teenagers and the "sneakerhead" set since 2005 by selling vintage shoes "new in the box."
Flight Club's New York flagship on the corner of Broadway and 11th Street has no shortage of visitors, but director of business development John McPheters faced a challenge in getting them to buy. It seems many shoppers would see a shoe in the store and immediately go on their smartphones to find a better deal online--a process known as "showrooming."
"If you look in our store, you might see a $3,000 pair of sneakers," McPheters says. "When kids see these shoes, they're in sticker shock, and there's a knee-jerk reaction to see where else they can find [them]. So they go onto their phones and search."
