Forty percent of Americans have showroomed or tested a product in a store, but then purchased it online—most often from Amazon, according to a new poll.

The Harris Poll, which was released last month and surveyed 2,114 U.S. adults online, found that Best Buy, Wal-Mart and Target were the most likely brick-and-mortar stores to get showroomed, with 23%, 21% and 12%, respectively, of showroomers choosing the stores to most frequently physically examine goods before buying online.

The poll revealed that Amazon was showroomers' dominant destination, with 57% identifying the online retailer as the go-to site for most of showrooming purchases.

"You've got to hand it to Amazon: they are truly a retail darling that knows how to deliver on customer expectations," said Harris Poll President Mike de Vere. "The company led the rankings in our annual Reputation Quotient study, as well as taking the E-Retailer Brand of the Year title in our annual Harris Poll EquiTrend Study. These results further stress the company's clout by displaying its ability to pluck customers right from their competitors' stores."

A majority of showroomers (57%) were more likely to make purchases in stores that have implemented permanent price-matching policies in order to compete with online retailers, the study found. Retailers can also benefit from allowing consumers to place orders online that can then be picked up in a physical store. Half of those surveyed have made purchases this way, and nearly all of those who have (93%) reported being satisfied.

Almost six in 10 showroomers with smartphones (59%) also preferred looking up product information on their phone versus asking a salesperson for help. Additionally, only 15% of consumers were willing to be charged for physically examining a product in a store before purchasing from an online retailer.

Visit http://www.harrisinteractive.com/NewsRoom.aspx to read the poll results.

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