Payment processor MasterCard has released figures which suggest that shopping online is now more prevalent than bricks-and-mortar spending.

The firm found that 43 per cent of the cash spent by consumers ends up passing through real-world stores, while the rest is taken up by e-commerce.

The power of the web in the retail sector is further solidified by the fact that 27 per cent of online spending is carried out from portable gadgets like smartphones and tablets.

This Europe-wide report reveals that habits are changing and the days of high street dominance are effectively numbered.

The study also predicts that the festive shopping period will be yet another bumper one for the web, with an 11 per cent uptick in e-commerce activity anticipated.

Industry analyst Janne Karppinen said that tech-fuelled retail growth was turning many people away from the high street, while also pointing out that stores could actually use digital solutions to their advantage in order to outdo their web-based counterparts.

Personalisation was something which Karppinen argued is an important asset that bricks-and-mortar outlets can offer, with the ability to customise products according to shopper requests while showing them the process in real time allowing stores to make up some lost ground.

The study delved into the different types of products which are most commonly purchased online in the UK, with mobile shoppers choosing to use their devices to buy fashion items and associated accessories more regularly than any other category.

Second place went to food and drink, meaning that Britain is leading the rest of Europe when it comes to shopping for this type of consumable online. The mature e-commerce market in the UK makes it much easier for such trends to get a foothold.