Buying books via your cell phone

Cell phones have become an integral part of our lives. They allow us to do everything from text message, surf the internet, check email, play games, take pictures, shoot video, organize our calender, and…oh yeah…make phone calls. But one company is changing the way we shop, with cell phones being the focus point.

According to an article on the Publisher’s Weekly website, a company called ShopText is allowing consumers to buy, among other things, books directly from their phones. When I first read this I was under the false assumption that when you buy a book from your phone, the book is then downloaded to your phone and you must read it from your phone as well – imagine reading War and Peace on that tiny screen!

No. Instead, the book is purchased using your phone, and then a hard copy is shipped to you, just as if you were ordering from Borders or something. According to the article, the process is fairly simple:

Here’s how it works: a person registers at the ShopText site and provides his or her name, shipping address, credit card information, e-mail address and cell phone number. ShopText then sends the person a receipt via e-mail and text. It includes a short password, necessary to avoid ordering fraud. Then, the person sends a text with a keyword—e.g., "HARRY" for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows—in the message body to ShopText. ShopText sends a message confirming the product’s price and requesting the security password. The person approves this, ShopText sends the product to the customer and the transaction is complete.

Pretty cool, huh?

So how does one find out about the products available for purchase through ShopText? Surprisingly, the answer is not what one would expect: print magazines. As you’re browsing through these traditional publications, some of the advertisements contain short codes that you can use to buy the product being advertised. So the service is not just limited to books. Assuming you already have an account, you see a really cool new book being advertised in your favorite magazine, you just text the special code to ShopText, follow the simple directions, and soon the product is being shipped to your house. Right now, these ads are the only way to know what can be purchased through ShopText:

so far, Brides, CosmoGIRL!, Details, Glamour, Lucky and New York magazine have run ads with short codes for text-to-buy transactions. Without the ads—which are a "partnership" between ShopText and the publications, sometimes paid for by the magazines, who may or may not get a cut of sales, depending on the deal—potential customers wouldn’t know what’s for sale through ShopText, since the company’s web site does not display its wares online.

These aren’t exactly the type of publications I’m reading on a daily basis, or even annually for that matter, but this is still a new company were talking about (started in 2005). In fact, the story reports that ShopText is looking to partner with bookstores and expand the number of publications they’re in.

This is just one more example of using existing technology to make it easier to get books into the hands of consumers. Whether or not it will catch on remains to be seen, and only time will tell, but it’s certainly a step forward in the right direction. Furthermore, in the world of advertising, this is a good way to connect the product being advertised with the consumer. Instead of just seeing a print ad, then having to go to all that trouble of going to a brick-and-mortar store or even online, this lets you buy the product instantly with little hassle.

While I’m not going to sign up for the service right away, I’m going to file it under "Watch This" so I can keep an eye on them. If they expand to partner with bookstores and/or other magazines (geared toward the literati), I might just be purchasing my books in the near future via cell phone!

Check out the Publisher’s Weekly article here:
Text HARRY, get book

Check out ShopText’s website here:
ShopText
(Note: I’m not an affiliate or compensated in any way for this post. Just my own candid opinion.)

Related posts

• ‘Cell phone novels’ enjoy growing popularity in Japan
• CellStories.net serves up digital content on your cell phone
• Are cell phones ruining some classic plot devices?
• Is your fiction technophobic?
• Move over Kindle, Japan is way ahead in the ebook game!

Read More: Publishing News, Technology