The need for retailers to keep up with consumers.

A survey conducted by marketing professionals in retail, advertising and mobile services revealed that only four of the top 20 most visited websites, retailers are optimized for mobile devices, while only eight have any kind of mobile application for smartphones .

The research highlights the need for retailers to keep up with consumers who are already looking for retail Web sites via their mobile phones. Every month 4.2 million consumers are visiting websites via mobile Internet retailers.

However, 94% of respondents said they had seen in mobile Internet as a real opportunity for their business, while 41% of retail brands in the UK expect to have a mobile site or transactional application within the next year.

Alex Kozloff, mobile service for the Internet Advertising Bureau, which co-commissioned the study, said that for brands, expanding their presence on the mobile has been a daunting prospect, simply because of jargon, technology and tricks craft that need to be construed so as to exploit the medium.

But with UK consumers looking for brands already on their cell phones, particularly retailers, is very essential to ensure that markets mobile experience they offer is equally useful, usable and attractive as other properties, is online offline. If they do not, competitors have already developed mobile agenda can begin to steal their customers if not loyal.

The survey was also commissioned by the Association of Interactive Media and Entertainment (AIME) and the Interactive Media in Retail Group (IMRG).