Across Britain and throughout Europe there are far more transactions made via safe shopping online which are conducted from a mobile device than any other platform, with the latest statistics from Criteo confirming the power of m-commerce at the moment.

54 per cent of all web-based sales made in the past quarter throughout the continent were attributed to smartphones and tablets, with the UK sitting in third place behind the Scandinavian nations of Norway and Sweden.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, it is smartphones that are racing ahead of other portable gadgets, enjoying a 10 per cent uptick in activity during the last 12 months. Meanwhile, the downturn in the tablet trend gathered pace, with sales originating from larger handhelds dipping by a quarter, according to Internet Retailing.

Shopping apps remain hugely important for retailers that want to engage with modern consumers and boost sales, generating significantly greater conversion rates of 17 per cent. Desktop devices can muster a measly 12 per cent, while mobile websites manage to get their hooks into just five per cent of visitors.

The suggestion is that while mobile browsing is the most widely used option for researching products and comparing prices, most people would rather turn to an app in order to complete a transaction. The tightly controlled, slick experience of using an app has many advantages over using a standard site, especially on a mobile platform.

In spite of mobile’s ongoing dominance, the study also found that people who shop across a multitude of different devices are of most value to retailers. So-called omnichannel consumers account for almost a third of all sales while at the same time accounting for under a tenth of all shoppers.

This year should see smartphones cement themselves as the online shopping solution of choice, both in the UK and globally.