A survey conducted by Engine has found that the majority of British women who regularly carry out safe shopping online believe that many sites are becoming harder to use, according to Internet Retailing.

A lot of this comes down to the sub-par mobile experiences that many sites offer, with 58 per cent of respondents arguing that more needs to be done to make things easier for smartphone users.

Ninety eight per cent of the female shoppers questioned in the report said that they have taken advantage of some form of safe shopping online in the past, with nine in 10 relying on a mobile or tablet to make purchases.

Fifty three per cent said that mobile-friendly sites were still not intuitive enough to make them straightforward to use for first time visitors. Forty four per cent said that they were regularly disappointed by the limited number of features that are on offer when browsing from a portable gadget.

The result of these criticisms is that of the 88 per cent of females who make daily trips to their favourite shopping sites, just five per cent actually make purchases during a typical visit.

Analysts went on to point out that women are still just as eager to make trips to bricks and mortar stores, with over half claiming to be influenced by the layout and aesthetic styling of real world stores.

More than a tenth of those questioned said that they combined mobile shopping with high street visits, using their handset to buy items online while out and about at physical outlets.

Retailers need to adapt to the ever-changing expectations and habits of consumers if they want to increase sales. And it is clear that women are at the forefront of multichannel shopping, as well as being particularly sensitive to the quality of the mobile experience.