The UK is now ranked second highest with regards to mobile share of retail e-commerce globally, surpassing South Korea and remaining behind only Japan, says performance marketing tech outfit Criteo, which analysed 1.4 billion transactions from around the world.

Despite Android’s dominant global market share, its users in the UK, US and Japan are far less prominent than their iOS counterparts when it comes to shopping from their handsets. Meanwhile, sites that are optimised for mobile see a 3.4% conversion rate, more than double that of non-optimised sites.

In addition, 40% of ecommerce transactions now involve more than one device as smartphones, desktops and tablets are used in a variety of combinations to research and make purchases.

While customers are embracing the omni-channel approach to shopping, merchants are facing problems, separate research from Forrester Consulting suggests. In a report for ACI Worldwide, Forrester shows that more than half of retailers in Europe and the US still have to consolidate their fraud management solutions across all channels.

Nearly two thirds of retailers believe they lack adequate tools to support effective fraud management in an omni-channel environment, although 60% say they have a cross-channel strategy. In addition, 54% agree or strongly agree that they do not have the skilled staff needed, and 66% agree or strongly agree that organizational silos hamper the management of fraud across channels.

Jackie Barwell, director, fraud product management, ACI Worldwide, says: "It is clear from our study that many retailers feel unprepared to face the fraud challenges of an omni-channel world. There is a need for strategic and organizational changes, and an integrated approach to creating a true omni-channel environment for payments and fraud management."