More people in the UK are searching for products to buy via safe shopping online with the help of their smartphones, according to the latest BRC stats.

There was a 26 per cent rise in the number of Google searches conducted on mobile handsets during the past three months - significantly higher than the seven per cent bump to searches made across every available platform.

Report spokesperson, Helen Dickinson, said that the rise in dominance of smartphones was having an impact on the retail market, with more consumers choosing to check out the latest deals from a portable device than ever before. She said that this tied in with well established trends and suggests that the rise of mobiles is not yet abating.

Analysts also examined the kinds of searches that were being made, with the heat wave in June helping to put summer-specific products at the top of the agenda. This is not only true of Brits looking to buy items via safe shopping online, but also a growing number of overseas customers based elsewhere in Europe who are eager to engage with UK retailers.

Dickinson pointed out that domestic shoppers can be a little too easily influenced by external factors when it comes to making purchases, so online outlets are looking to improve the stability of their sales figures from month to month by courting international custom. This can iron out the peaks and troughs in sales activity and also spread brands further afield, expanding their impact.

Smartphones are not only being used more to search the web and browse sites because they are widely owned and convenient, but also because the warm weather drives more people outdoors and away from traditional laptops and desktop computers which might otherwise be used for online shopping.