A new survey from Awin has revealed that in terms of the most wanted features of safe shopping online, consumers see being able to get the products they order delivered that very same day as the biggest selling point of any e-commerce site.

Almost two-thirds of those questioned said that this was a major factor in shaping their buying decisions and would continue to increase in relevance over the next half decade due to the emergence of automated delivery technologies.

In particular, the rollout of self-driving robots and drones is seen as something that will increase consumer expectations of the availability of same-day delivery.

The other must-have features which were discussed in the study include automatic ordering, which pre-empts the needs of shoppers and makes sure that items that require regular replenishment are shipped to them without having to worry about manual confirmation.

46 per cent said that they would be looking to shop on sites that have virtual changing rooms available, allowing for fashion items to be trialled before purchase in the same way as they are in a bricks-and-mortar store.

39 per cent confirmed that they would be interested in having the option of being able to pay for online shopping orders using cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, which is an interesting proposition, though not one which many retailers seem to be eager to adopt at the moment.

Respondents were asked to identify the reasons that they shopped with retailers that had high street presences rather than pure-play web retailers. Click and collect is the top factor mentioned, which is not surprising given that it essentially mirrors the option of same-day delivery, albeit with the minor inconvenience of having to visit a local store to pick up the order.