Consumers who regularly shop using mobile apps are most likely to buy from entertainment and grocery apps, with 32 per cent and 24 per cent of mobile shoppers purchasing from these industries respectively.

Nearly half (47 per cent) of consumers questioned about on-site engagement believe detailed product information is a critical factor of an ecommerce website in driving them to make a purchase.

The findings highlight that while consumers are crying out for more detailed product information, they still believe more could be done by businesses to achieve this.  30 per cent of consumers feel that more detailed product information is the best way to improve mobile shopping sites, ahead of all other factors including more personalised promotions (17 per cent), better search capabilities (14 per cent) and email or text alerts notifying consumers when sold out products are back in stock (12 per cent).

PureNet chief executive, Dr Paul Gibson, said: “You can do a number of things to get your business technically prepared for m-commerce.  You may already have, or are preparing to launch a mobile-optimised website or a mobile commerce application.  Your ordering systems and back-end applications may be tweaked to support mobile transactions, but ultimately your investment is unlikely to succeed if, in addition, your product information is not ‘mobile-ready’.

“When it comes to the ways in which consumers research and buy products via mobile commerce, they want information that is complete, correct and consistent across all channels.”