This year the amount of shopping carried out via safe shopping online in the lead-up to Valentine’s Day is expected to spike, largely thanks to the fact that people can now easily make purchases from their smartphones.

The ability to seek out gifts for loved ones in a last-minute panic, rather than planning ahead, means that conversions rates on mobile platforms are likely to increase to 20 per cent, according to forecasts made by Glassbox Digital.

Internet Retailing reports that this is a significant leap upwards, given that just two per cent of mobile shoppers tend to convert on an average day.

In particular, analysts are expecting to see impulse purchases made by men rise to prominence just before the 14th of February this year, with male consumers losing their usual inhibitions. It is not just physical gift items that will be purchased in greater numbers but also experiences and holiday deals.

Report spokesperson Ben Tang said that the power of mobiles meant that choosing products and services to buy at the last minute was much simpler in 2019 than ever before. He predicted that this will also help food delivery services to increase their sales on Valentine’s Day, with consumers eschewing trips to restaurants in favour of ordering takeaway meals from their preferred app.

Even with the rising panic that surrounds Valentine’s Day gift buying, experts warn that retailers could still miss out on sales if they do not have sites that are optimised for use on mobile and capable of running consistently even during peak periods.

Heavy site traffic can cause outages and a host of other issues that might put off consumers and prevent them from going through with purchases, in spite of the fact that they may be looking for impulse buys.