The study of 2228 UK adults found that of the 23% that had undertaken some form of m-commerce, nearly two-thirds (63%) had bought goods, and more than a third had engaged with financial services (37%) and booked travel (34%) respectively.  23% had used the channel to buy or research insurance.

Unusually, over half (51%) of those surveyed expect to get a better service from retailers on mobile than in bricks and mortar stores and 52% expect to get a better experience of shopping on mobile than on a desktop computer, with three-quarters (75%) of shoppers expecting to complete a transaction first time.

In a separate report produced jointly by The British Retail Consortium and Google, total retail-related searches are up by 23% in the first quarter of 2011, but the same searches on mobile have risen by 181%, highlighting the growth and importance of mobile retail.

Searches via mobile accounted for 11% of total retail searches in the first quarter of 2011, with retail searches growing fastest for multi-channel retailers.  These merchants saw a rise of 42% year-on-year, compared with 19% for retailers trading solely online.

PureNet’s chief executive, Dr Paul Gibson, said: “What really stands out from these findings is the fundamental strength of online retailing, especially in the burgeoning mobile channel.

“The rise of mobile use to one in ten searches and the average shopper making more than four purchases each month sends a convincing message to any online retailer that doesn’t yet have an m-commerce platform that now is the time they should be implementing one.”