Shoppers, Start Your Texting!

Don’t want to wait in line at midnight to snag a copy of the upcoming Harry Potter novel or fight the rush to buy Tim McGraw’s latest CD? No worries. Grab your cell phone and text to buy. No store. No Web site. No waiting. No lines. No kidding. This is another example of how technology firms are linking advertisers with consumers who want to buy stuff faster and easier via mobile shopping or m-commerce. 

As reported in the April 16th New York Times, a new service from ShopText offers an “easy and secure way to shop, sample or donate” using your mobile phone. 

As the story details, ads for singer Tim McGraw’s new CD now sport a texting code. So do magazine articles for the upcoming Harry Potter novel. Concert halls are selling tickets by text message, and even some charities are accepting donations via texting.

According to the article, ShopText makes this shopping possible. To use the system, a person sets up an account the old fashioned way, by calling ShopText to provide billing and shipping information. Once registered, users can shop 24/7 via texting. The company processes orders, charges the buyer’s credit card and ships the goods.

Not only are advertisers ready to tempt impulse buyers with buy-by-texting offers, marketers expect to get a better handle on mobile-marketing ROI: Using the ShopText system and unique texting codes, advertisers can determine which magazine ads generate the most sales.

Shoppers, start your texting!