A new report from Opinium has found that each month people across the UK are saving a collective total of 51.5 million hours as a result of using apps to carry out safe shopping online and managing other areas of their lives.

In fact, the popularity of apps as a time-saving solution outstrips the benefits that they offer in terms of being able to save consumers cash, the study found.

This implies that time is especially precious to people across the UK, so if retailers really want to connect with customers and improve loyalty they will need to make their mobile services as streamlined as possible.

Indeed, this is one of a number of recent investigations which has found that while bargain-hunting is still a common activity, people are generally inclined to stick with retailers that offer them a more convenient experience, rather than solely being swayed by low prices.

This ties into the ongoing debate over the extent to which the availability of safe shopping online is making consumers more fickle and liable to flightiness than they were in the past. With just over two thirds of respondents stating that they would be willing to make the leap from a retailer they regularly use to a new brand if the opportunity arose, it is difficult to argue against such claims.

Mobile apps can be used to improve loyalty because, unlike websites, they actively capture an audience and keep them within an ecosystem that retailers can control as tightly as possible. Meanwhile, casual visitors to an e-commerce site can leave and look elsewhere, or keep multiple tabs open at once, dividing their attention.

Shopping apps let consumers make purchases while on the move, saving them time which might otherwise be spent doing nothing productive, such as during the morning commute.