Mobile Boutiques

ChannelNewsAsia.com: Xavel Inc. has a client base marketing gurus dream about.
When they’re done shopping, customers are in the habit of e-mailing their friends to pass on a recommendation.
The Tokyo-based fashion retailer operates a cellphone shopping site, not a conventional outlet. It means the referred customer can be making the same purchase within minutes.
Net effect: Projected sales of between 7 billion and 8 billion yen for the year through September from its mail-order operations, 50 percent more than in the previous year.
This kind of word-of-mouth advertising is not only ringing up profits for Xavel, it is helping to create a new industry.
Annual sales from mobile shopping are nearing 1 trillion yen in Japan.
Downloads of screen images and ringtones continue to dominate cellphone showcases. But fashion and other conventional retail ware are starting to get cyber shelf space.
Young women are leading the charge into mobile shopping.
Xavel’s site shows it knows who its customers are. It is sprinkled with whimsical pictures and symbols.
Boutiques spring up in cellphones [ChannelNewsAsia.com]