Home goods retailer Williams-Sonoma has rolled out mobile gift cards in time for the holiday shopping season.

Using CashStar’s mobile Web digital gifting platform, Williams-Sonoma’s customers can be the first to purchase and send mobile gift cards directly from their smartphones. Additionally, the service gives the retailer an easy way to track the sales made with the gift card.

“Consumers of Williams-Sonoma will now be able to easily shop from their mobile devices,” said David Stone, cofounder/CEO of CashStar, Portland, ME. “The high-quality shopping experience that customers have come to expect is now optimized and delivered when purchasing personalized, easy to use gift cards.

“This holiday season, consumers can now easily shop for an egift card on their smartphones,” he said. “Williams-Sonoma and CashStar have made this important program work beautifully on smartphones as part of the mobile gift card solution.”

The new mobile gift card program is also a completely personalized experience. Consumers can make their gift cards their own by choosing their own designs, personal messages or even specifically what time they would like card delivered.

A Pew Internet Project report confirmed that a whopping 87 percent of U.S. adults with smartphones use the email or Internet functions, while the popularity of gift cards has also increased.

According to a CashStar, mobile digital gift purchases have been increasing at a 7,000 percent rate since last year.

CashStar is an on-demand digital gifting and incentives partner for retailers nationwide.

Personalize the gift card with a message to the recipient

Williams-Sonoma is the first multichannel retailer to use mobile platform CashStar has provided. CashStar plans on extending its mobile Web gifting product to three other major brands in the last quarter of 2011.

Williams-Sonoma, founded in 1956, is a home furnishings and cookware retailer.

“Williams-Sonoma is able to position itself as an innovator providing consumers an easy, highly intuitive mobile shopping experience with CashStar’s mobile Web gifting platform,” Mr. Stone said.

“This new mobile gift product will drive incremental holiday sales for Williams-Sonoma’s digital shoppers,” he said. “If a shopper/gift giver wants to give a last minute gift, they can now do so anywhere, anytime from their smart phone or tablet with a great experience.”

Final Take
Rimma Kats is staff reporter on Mobile Commerce Daily, New York