A survey conducted by McKinsey as part of its Periscope offshoot has looked at the way that retail trends have been impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, with respondents from both Europe and North America questioned as to how their habits have changed.

Just over a third of UK-based participants said that they were now more interested in carrying out safe shopping online from mobile applications, which is a greater proportion than seen in places like the US and France.

Mobile payments are also becoming more relevant, with 28 per cent of Brits saying that they wanted to have more options when it comes to completing transactions both via the web and on the high street.

44 per cent of those from the UK said that they had experimented with different brands from their usual selection during the pandemic, slightly behind the 46 per cent of people who became more adventurous in their choices from the US.

48 per cent of Brits said that they had been convinced to switch brands because of more appealing prices offered by alternative options.

50 per cent of all people questioned, regardless of their nationality, said that they would want to see bricks and mortar stores introduce self-service checkouts with displays in place of human workers to minimise contact with other people. There was also widespread support for the use of PPE in this context.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, there was a rise in online sales across the board in the past few months, and the most important aspects convincing people to shop with particular e-commerce sites included free delivery and also the presence of compelling product images accompanied by descriptions that give plenty of detail.

A report spokesperson said that the disruption brought about by coronavirus had created an even more competitive and tricky to navigate market which would continue to be shaped by shifting habits.