Nearly nine out of 10 British smartphone owners are using the device to do their Christmas shopping, researchers say.
Commerce firm Weve, says 88 per cent of Brits who own a smartphone each used it to help buy about STG250 ($A455) worth of Christmas gifts last year, making for a total spend of almost STG4 billion.
Weve commercial director Nigel Clarkson says the figure "surprised us and will give us a benchmark to check the increase in early 2015".
"One thing is certain: as the industry prepares for Christmas 2014, mobile Christmases are only going to get bigger and more sophisticated."
The findings come as the major smartphone brands announce and release their latest round of new devices, with Apple introducing a new payment system called Apple Pay, which will enable in-store purchases by tapping phones against a paypoint.
The technology used, which will become active in early 2015, is called Near-Field Communication and already exists in some Android phones.
It replaces the need for a card and pin entry, with encrypted payment methods stored on smartphones going directly to the merchant when triggered at the till.
Around half the 3700 smartphone owners surveyed by Weve used it to make a purchase, while 70 per cent also used the web to find inspiration for their gift buying.
Although only 21 per cent of those asked used a dedicated app, instead preferring to use the wider web to do their searching and shopping, 64 per cent also said they used a smartphone to compare prices while in store.
Clarkson believes companies should seize on the public interest and give customers more opportunities to shop on mobile.
"There's clearly a huge opportunity for companies to engage with consumers via mobile this Christmas but there's a danger for them too", he said.
"Great mobile campaigns don't happen by accident. If you are not mobile friendly, you will have missed the consumer, both in terms of awareness, research and purchase."
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