The 'Show-rooming' Phenomenon

The trend towards mobile is evident in brick-and-mortar stores around the world. Customers are displaying their mobile tendencies right under the noses of retailers. Showrooming is a consumer mobile trend where they are physically inside a store and using their mobile devices to look for better prices and deals at other locations. For brick-and-mortar stores, this is a huge challenge. Here is an example from a retailer in Australia who didn't face this challenge with the consumer in mind.

Charging customers for window-shopping in the store is not the best way to build customer loyalty. Some popular retailers are employing the Price Match Guarantee to keep customers from straying. The following blog discusses other solutions to battle 'showrooming' but to be honest they didn't impress me (Showroom Solutions). One of their solutions is to simply make sure you have an online presence and the other is to improve the customer experience. I thought this group of MS-MBA's could come up with some better, technology driven solutions. Retailers could be extremely upfront and provide the price comparisons either on their own website, mobile app or in-store (think Progressive car insurance). Retailers could also race to provide the best customer experience by using customer data to personalize the shopping experience. What other insights can retailers provide to differentiate and avoid showrooming?