MANCHESTER, England, December 2, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --

Research from tecmark confirms that bargain-hunting Brits have their Christmas shopping quite literally in the palm of their hand - with over 50 percent using their mobile or tablet to carry out price comparisons on gifts whilst visiting a store.

• 50 percent of Brits will shop around for the cheapest price whilst out and about Christmas shopping by using their mobile / tablet to check competitor prices
• Research puts this percentage at just 24 percent during Christmas 2012
• Under 35s are the most handy shoppers with 67 percent finding the best deal on a handheld device whilst out shopping
• Over 35s are less likely to look for a better price for a product using their phone whilst on the move

In the run-up to the Christmas shopping season, multi-screen marketing agency tecmark asked consumers how they planned to tackle Christmas gift lists. The data showed that smart phones are making us smarter shoppers, with Brits now twice as likely to look at a gift in a shop before checking online for the best price as they were in 2012*.

The trend, coined 'showrooming', is most prevalent amongst the under 35s, with 67 per cent planning to use their mobile phones in store over the Christmas period to check prices elsewhere.

Meanwhile the number of over 35s engaging in showrooming and looking at competitor prices is much lower, suggesting they will either pay a higher price, or will physically visit several stores to check prices.

Commenting on the data, managing director Richard Heyes said: "The data gives us a fantastic insight into how advances in technology are affecting consumer shopping habits. It confirms that showrooming is growing at speed, especially amongst the younger generations - this is a trend that we expect to become common practice in time and one that retailers need to be prepared for.

"Consumers are becoming very clever at utilising the tools that mobile phone technology affords and have quickly realised that something as simple as an online price comparison can result in significant savings."

Tecmark is a Manchester-based specialist, multiscreen digital agency. Survey results are available at http://www.tecmark.co.uk

The survey of 2,000 respondents was conducted by onepoll, on behalf of tecmark, during November 2014.

*2012 showrooming research carried out by design agency Foolproof.

SOURCE tecmark