A new study from uSwitch has suggested that this year will be the first in which carrying out safe shopping online from a portable handset is just as popular as using a desktop PC or a laptop, according to Internet Retailing.

Analysts found that an impressive £25 billion will be spent by people using their mobile devices in 2019, representing a rise of over a third in comparison with 2018.

58 per cent of Brits are intending to make online purchases using their smartphones, which again is up by 66 per cent year on year.

The report looked into the reasons that more people are choosing to shop from their mobile, with 66 per cent saying that they love the convenience that this process offers.

64 per cent said that having the option to browse products and complete transactions whenever they like is a major selling point. 40 per cent said price comparison was an important asset of this industry, and 39 per cent claimed that another motivation to use m-commerce sites came from the sheer range of products that are available.

Fashion items lead the way in terms of online shopping popularity, with more than two-thirds of consumers choosing to snap up clothing and accessories from the web.

When it comes to the retailers that are racing ahead of the competition in the online space, Amazon retains a strong lead, with nine in ten people questioned in the study saying that they plan to buy from this specific site in 2019.

eBay sat in second place, capturing the attention of 63 per cent of consumers. Since both of the front-running online retailers have well-optimised mobile websites and apps, it is perhaps unsurprising that they have managed to become so dominant at this point in time.