Britain’s economy could be seeing a £4.5bn boost from customers shopping on their mobile phones by 2016 according to research carried out by the online auction site eBay.

There could even be a further £13bn growth by 2021, with an increase in people using their mobiles for more than just making a phone call. 

For retailers this means getting their websites m-commerce ready and jumping on the train of mobile shopping in order not to miss out on the growing sales.

However, Verdict research found that the boost is being slowed down by bad mobile broadband connections, coverage and speeds. One third of buyers using their mobile handsets were unable to complete a purchase due to problems with their mobile broadband. The extra cost of using the web on the go is another factor that goes against mobile buying; it was an issue to 80% of shoppers.