Beauty and the Geek Time at Sephora (Portfolio.com)

Sephora is often a model student when it comes to bringing new technology to its retail business, and its latest makeover again makes it one to watch....

The company launched a program that will give its sales associates iPads for the counter and iPod touches for the sales floor. Similarly, shoppers browsing at Sephora stores can use their iPhones to scan products off the shelves and read reviews.

Why do all this? It's customers are increasingly shopping using mobile devices. According to Mashable, the company has seen a 300 percent increase over the past year in mobile shopping on its website.... iPad traffic to Sephora.com is up 400 percent in the first quarter over the same period last year, and 20 percent of all of the traffic to the site comes from mobile devices.