British shoppers are using their mobile devices to make purchases more than ever before, according to new research from Mastercard.
The payments firm found that shopping on devices such as a smartphone or tablet now makes over a quarter of the entire consumer spending in the UK.
This also correlates to around half of all online spending across Europe, with Mastercard finding that just 43 percent of shopping is now done in a physical store, highlighting the dwindling importance of the high street.
Mobile shopping
In its study, which examined customers habits across Europe, it found that of the remainders, 30 percent of spending was done via a PC or laptop, with the remainder down via a mobile device either at home, work or on the go.
Clothing (55 percent), food and drinks (45 percent), books (43 percent) and healthcare and beauty items (37 percent) were among the most popular items for UK shoppers to to buy through a mobile device.
“Technology will have an increasingly important role in helping retailers woo shoppers back to the high street," said Janne Karppinen, Head of Retail at Mastercard UK.
"The most successful stores are always gearing themselves around the overall shopping experience. These shops are becoming places to interact and personalise products rather than simply a place to buy things. We expect to see this trend to grow as smaller retailers realise they can offer something the online world can’t.”
- Best ecommerce platform of 2018: get an online store now
