A new report from Weve has revealed that a whopping 88 per cent of people in the UK took advantage of their smartphone to shop online in the run up to Christmas last year.

With the average m-commerce shopper splashing out £245 via their portable device of choice in the festive shopping season of 2013, analysts are expecting an even greater proportion of the public to indulge in some on-the-move purchases this year.

Report spokesperson, Nigel Clarkson, told the Daily Mail that consumers are becoming increasingly sophisticated in the way that they use their smartphones and tablets to make online purchases. And this means that retailers will need to tweak their sites to make it as easy as possible for people to carry out safe shopping online while out and about.

Of course, carrying out online transactions is only part of what smartphones are being used for in the retail sector, with almost three quarters of the respondents to the study revealing that they hit their handsets simply to get inspiration for the kinds of gifts they intend to give at Christmas.

In many instances, consumers will choose to search for products and look up articles on the best items to buy, before returning home to actually confirm a purchase from their desktop PC.

People are also able to benefit from the ability to compare prices when using their smartphone on the high street, which has obvious implications for bricks and mortar retailers.

While analysts expect the amount of m-commerce activity to increase rapidly as Christmas approaches this year, some companies will clearly be capable of generating more engagement than others. And the mobile shopping experience is improving all the time, as is the safety of making purchases from a portable device.