A new report has found that 40 per cent of consumers in the UK who buy groceries online do so from their smartphone or tablet computer, according to Internet Retailing.

The study from Criteo indicated that m-commerce is increasingly important for supermarkets, with the market set to grow by two thirds over the next three years.

Online grocery shopping is still an activity carried out by the minority of Brits, with 75 per cent of people admitting that they have yet to indulge in this particular practice. But this is set to change as the rise of m-commerce continues to influence habits.

One of the key factors behind the projected growth is the popularity of click and collect as a delivery option. This is giving supermarket customers more flexibility and enabling them to pick up food orders on the same day that they place them, without having to spend hours trawling the shelves for the items they want to buy in person.

Furthermore, this factor could be the one thing which is holding back Amazon from becoming a dominant force in the world of buying groceries via safe shopping online. Because the e-commerce giant lacks any major bricks and mortar presence, click and collect is not an option that it can offer.

That is not to say that traditional supermarkets can rest easy; the threat posed by Amazon is still significant, especially as it is turning towards a renewed focus on same day delivery services.

Report spokesperson, Ben Cooper, said that the UK remains a leading light in terms of online grocery sales, outdoing all other European nations in terms of m-commerce spending at the moment. In addition, he pointed out that it is the combination of online and in-store services which is helping to strengthen the industry.