Figures published by App Annie show that smartphones are being used to carry out safe shopping online in greater volumes than ever before, with the COVID-19 crisis convincing more consumers to order from their mobile devices.

The 30 per cent boost to m-commerce sales seen in the past quarter is indicative of the fact that the popularity of web-based retail was boosted as a whole over the course of the national lockdown, with analysts claiming that this means the market has enjoyed several years of progress squeezed into the space of a few weeks.

The study found that around the world people have collectively taken up 1.6 trillion hours of their time by playing around on their handsets, according to Internet Retailing. This means that around a third of every day for a typical user is taken up with smartphone screen time.

Internationally over $50 billion (£38 billion) has been spent via m-commerce sites and apps in the first six months of the year, in conjunction with other mobile revenue generators such as games with in-app payments.

Another symptom of the coronavirus situation is that retailers and brands are investing more cash in mobile advertising, moving away from traditional platforms in order to target consumers where they are spending more of their time.

This means that smartphone users can expect to be accosted more frequently by ads aimed at encouraging them to spend cash from their device, with social media sites channelling a lot of this promotional activity at the moment.

The growth in m-commerce is likely to continue for the rest of the year, especially as bricks and mortar sales are still struggling and the uncertainty surrounding the prospect of future lockdowns is making consumers more cautious about where they spend their money.