Claiming to be the first mobile site from a major UK high street retailer, M&S says the development will be synchronized with its main website.

No software or applications need to be downloaded - customers will log onto their regular web account and manage their shopping basket from the mobile.

"This is a major step forward in mobile retailing," said M&S Direct director Dave Hughes. "Mobile optimized shopping sites have been done before by specialist retailers, but M&S entering the market with 21m customers changes the mobile retail landscape.
"Even before the site has launched, hundreds of thousands of customers are already shopping with us on their mobile phones and market data is telling us that this will soon be millions."

M&S says 48mn people use 76m mobile phones in the UK today and the proportion that is smart phones, such as iPhones and Blackberrys, is growing rapidly. It is currently 50%.

One in ten of all internet pages viewed in the UK is viewed on a mobile device and the number of adults using mobile internet is expected to double in the next two years.