A new report from Sharethrough has found that British parents, in particular mothers, prefer to look up product info and carry out safe shopping online from smartphones over any other available platform, according to Internet Retailing.

1000 mums from the UK and the US were questioned as part of the report, which indicated that almost three quarters of parents from this side of the pond are enamoured with the research potential of portable devices.

43 per cent of respondents said that the primary problem they faced when preparing for Christmas was finding the time to actually do any planning for the big day itself. A similar proportion said they also struggled when trying to work out which gifts to buy their loved ones, which is where m-commerce and safe shopping online can be especially helpful.

38 per cent said that they were even taking advantage of smartphones to plan for Christmas while on the move, whipping out their device of choice while visiting bricks and mortar stores to truly multitask and save time.

87 per cent said that the product reviews still hold the biggest influence over their purchasing decisions, followed closely by testimonials provided by other customers.

The report also revealed that parents are far more likely to buy products based on content they experience digitally, rather than via TV advertising, which shows just how powerful things like social media have become in recent years.

Report spokesperson Ally Stuart, said that mothers were especially attuned to the different types of digital content which were available to them and were latching onto a range of sources in order to get inspiration when planning Christmas this year. She also said that respondents were generally in favour of marketing material which did not get in the way of the overall m-commerce experience.