Mobile-enabled shopping assistance services hotting up

If you’re into retail and mobile, definitely get a cup of coffee and sit and read this USA Today piece on shopping with the aid of mobile. It gives a brilliant insight into what’s going on in small town America and some of the key companies working to make things happen.

Link: Shop by phone gets new meaning – USATODAY.com

It’s not that stores aren’t trying to go higher-tech. Mobile retailing site mPoria is rapidly signing up retailers, going from eight to more than 130 since the start of 2007. Mobile couponing company Cellfire’s discounts can now be used at more than 250 merchants, including retail and restaurant chains, up from 10 in January.

While mobile company Slifter helps shoppers find items in a geographic area, NearbyNow helps them search anywhere in its 200 member malls. All the mall retailers are part of NearbyNow for at least basic searches — for brands of jeans, but not individual styles or products, for instance — and more than 70% offer full access to their inventories. And retailers are experimenting with a variety of text-message campaigns to see what best draws in the young crowds.

I’ll need to take a look at Slifter, mPoria, Cellfire and NearbyNow.