Over the past few years, Christmas Day and Boxing Day have proven to be popular periods for people to carry out safe shopping online. And the rise of smartphone ownership has made it even easier for customers to shop from the sofa or even at the table, while others finish their turkey.

Because of this, it is perhaps unsurprising that a new report from Bing Ads predicts that there will be a 500 per cent increase in the number of search queries which are made from mobile devices over the course of the Christmas weekend this year.

This quintupling of searches will also coincide with many retailers launching their latest sales, with the report predicting that most people who plan to carry out safe shopping online on December the 25th will be doing so from about 4pm in the afternoon onwards.

Meanwhile, the Boxing Day e-commerce shopping bonanza will begin much earlier than this for some, with 8am being the time at which lots of people are going to begin their hunt for deals and offers.

Almost three quarters of people who searched for products online last Christmas did so from a smartphone or a tablet, with this likely to rise in 2015 as a reflection of the ever growing trend for a mobile-first approach to internet access that is sweeping the UK.

Interestingly, the report also indicated that out of all the products in the UK it was jewellery that managed to make the biggest splash in terms of mobile search queries last Christmas. Whether or not this will be repeated over the festive period in 2015 remains to be seen, but there will undoubtedly be many more people using their mobiles and tablets while spending time with loved ones this year.