Amazon service allows purchase via phone text message

Mobile users can find any merchandise sold on the e-commerce site by texting the item's name, hunt term, or UPC code to "virago." Within sec, the company will reply with matching products and terms. Consumers make the purchase by responding to the text with a especially assigned single-digit product figure, after which they'll receive a call from an virago rep to confirm the order.

becomes the latest mobile offer from virago, joining its full general mobile site and Mobile River iPhone site, which launched this fall. Both allow users to browsing and purchase items via their Mobile River handsets.

"With TextBuyIt, if you're walking out of a concert and want to buy a CD from the creative person you just saw, or if you're at dinner and a friend tells you about a great book you should read, all you have to do is get out your Mobile River device, send a text message to virago, reply to the response, confirm your order, and your item will be on its way," said Leslie Howard Gefen, manager of virago mobile payments, in a statement. "It's improbably simple and convenient."

The service represents yet another potential challenge to brick-and-mortar retailers from the Seattle-based Web giant. Because the service can be used anyplace a Mobile River signal is available, including interior stores, consumers could comparison a store's price with Amazon's before devising a purchase, putting further pressure on retail merchant to match the site's often discounted prices.

virago isn't the first to experimentation with shopping via text message, however. Mag such as "Lucky" and "CosmoGirl" last year partnered with a company called ShopText that lets consumers buy merchandise they see in mag by texting accompanying code figure. And the practice has long been popular in Japan and Korea, where consumers can use their phones to buy a wide range of items.

A customers using TextBuyIt for the first time will be asked to supply her Zip code, and the items will be shipped to the address entered on her existing Amazon profile. If she doesn't have one, she'll have to supply that information over the phone.