Match-making via mobile

Soon you could shop via text message

Shopping trips in which you fail to find your heart's desire could soon be a thing of the past.

British firm Responsa is creating a service that finds merchants able to supply exactly what shoppers want.

It uses mobile phones to put shoppers and merchants in touch.

The service can also find restaurants, hotels or almost anything that customers can describe in detail.

Find and seek

Anyone wanting to use the Responsa service describes what they are looking for via their mobile. The service encourages people to be as specific as possible to improve the chances of finding a merchant, shop or restaurant that can meet their demands.

Once the description is complete the query is relayed to the Responsa members who can match the requirements who then send acknowledgements to the potential buyer.

The responses arrive as voice, text or multimedia messages allowing shoppers to scroll through them to pick who they want to buy from.

According to Responsa there are about 4750 classified searches every minute in the UK in which consumers search for a company, shop or service that can meet their requirements.

Responsa reverses this searching and ensures customers only get answered by the firms that can help them.

The service could prove popular with mobile phone firms which are keen to get customers using their phones more.

It could also help people who are looking for a restaurant, bar or other service in cities or locations they do not know as well as their home town.

Responsa is currently looking for a partner network to roll out its first commercial service.