Consumers shopping for cosmetics from Eyes Lips Face in stores now have an assistant to help them find the right product. The online cosmetics retailer, also known as e.l.f., designed its new mobile-optimized web site to be a digital assistant in stores that carry its products, including Target, Kmart and Meijer.

Eyes Lips Face wanted a way to connect the in-store shopper with all of the reviews, videos and production citations it has built up on its e-commerce site since the company’s launch in 2004, says Joseph Shamah, president. Shoppers also can read tips for using the products on the mobile site and view the company’s social media activity.

Shoppers can navigate to the site directly or text BEAUTY to the company’s short code, 96362, and receive a link to the site. Once there, a shopper can enter an e.l.f. product code and retrieve information about the product on her web-enabled phone.

A mobile-optimized web site made sense for e.l.f. because many more phones can access such a site than a mobile app, and the company did not have to develop a mobile app for every mobile phone operating system, Shamah says. “We know iPhone and Android users are savvy, but we wanted to make sure not to limit the service to any one device or operating system,” he says.

In-store promotional material for the mobile site first will appear in about 1,500 Target stores this month, with additional outlets to follow.

The site took about six weeks to develop. Eyes Lips Face worked with Blueswitch, a technology provider, to create the site.