67 per cent of US consumers are researching their Christmas gift shopping using their smartphones this year, with 20 per cent of shoppers saying that their mobile is the only device they will use to carry out research.

Amazon and Google are the most popular ways to research holiday shopping, according to figures from search and content performance firm Searchmetrics, with 62 per cent of shoppers using Amazon to find gifts, and 44 per cent carrying out searches on Google.

Social networks, while not traditionally associated with shopping, also have power during the festive season, with 27 per cent of consumers using Facebook to research items, and 12 per cent taking to Twitter to find gifts. Pinterest, which has increasingly focused on aiding shoppers, is being used by 27 per cent of those surveyed, the same as Facebook, despite vastly different numbers of registered users.

“The way people look for seasonal gifts online is a big part of the multi-billion dollar product search market in which Google, Amazon, the main social networks, and major retail sites are fighting it out to be the go-to destination for consumers to research products before they buy,” said Marcus Tober, chief technical officer and founder of Searchmetrics.

“Ahead of the 2012 holiday shopping season, Google overhauled its Google Shopping service to entice more consumers to use its search engine to research their holiday buys. This year, the search giant has taken the seasonal product search battle to the mobile platform by introducing new features just ahead of the shopping season that make it easier for shoppers to use Google Shopping to locate products using their phones.”