The research did, however, highlight reasonably buoyant engagement for those retailers that have invested in a Facebook presence.  In total, there are nearly 7 million consumers currently engaged on Facebook fan pages of the top 100 retailers.

In a separate report, by M-Retailing, over 90% of the retailers questioned said they now considered mobile as a very important or important direct sales channel.  Of that figure, 84% agreed that making sure websites are optimised for mobile will be crucial for 2011.

Mobile commerce is beginning to change the mobile retail landscape.  Consumer enthusiasm and engagement with m-commerce is growing exponentially, with industry experts predicting that global online transactions will top £75bn by 2015.  Despite these findings, many retailers have yet to take action, with 35% of respondents to the M-Retailing report yet to leverage the channel in any form.

Rapid adoption of smartphones and use of app stores has provided fertile ground for mobile commerce growth to date and this will only accelerate in the coming years, as tablet commerce also joins the online retail landscape.  There are clear indications of how the convenience of mobile commerce is gaining traction.  As consumers become increasingly comfortable and confident with paying for goods and services through their mobiles or tablet devices it is possible to see m-commerce becoming mainstream or perhaps even the dominant form of transactions.

PureNet’s director of sales and marketing, Paul Doherty, said: “2011 will be the year when retailers need to implement shopping functions across multiple channels in a fully integrated way so that shoppers can buy from the brands they love, whichever way they choose.

“Failure to do so will mean a massive missed opportunity and will undoubtedly result in a loss of business through poor conversion and engagement.  Facebook is set to become the destination for online shopping and retailers must engage shoppers where they spend the majority of their time online.”