Instead, I found myself taking a trip to my nearest electrical retailer, with iPhone in hand, reading over product reviews on my phone while testing the products for real. My online/offline shopping experience led me to think about how many other people approach shopping like this, and whether this kind of ‘dual experience’ shopping gives savvy high street retailers an advantage over others.

Any retailer – digital or bricks-and-mortar – who isn’t serious about offering consumers mobile comparison shopping apps could find themselves funding expensive real estate, trained sales staff, and fancy product displays only to educate smart shoppers who may walk out of those stores and turn to Amazon’s “One Click” application through the mobile web. They order their finger food and open their mobile phones to compare the prices. The couple finds a flat screen they like and the price they can afford, and orders it even before the drinks arrive. Not this year.