"Alexandra Samuel, vice president of social media at Vision Critical and David Sevitt, vice president of consumer insight at Vision Critical, said: “While 26 per cent of consumers engage regularly in ‘showrooming’, 41 per cent browse online and then purchase in stores — a practice we call ‘reverse showrooming’.

Instead of feeling threatened by ‘showrooming’, retailers should study their customers’ paths to purchase and use the insights gained to hone their online marketing efforts.”

In terms of influencing purchasing, Pinterest helped consumers get more information, Twitter helped consumers find out where to buy the item and Facebook alerted consumers to sales."

The busineses who haven't fully developed their social media profiles yet don't enjoy as much upside.

Plenty of people still try things on before they buy.