Have you seen any mobile phone adverts lately? They’d all have us believe that people are forever on their smartphones, busy clicking on apps while they are out at the shops, or in a restaurant or on the beach. Indeed “Internet Gurus” are fond of telling us that a whole “new way” of engaging with the web is taking place and that the future is mobile. Gosh, I have even said as much.

Meanwhile, retail experts are telling us that the High Street needs to change to accommodate the growing trend for “showrooming” whereby people come into a store, check out the goods on offer and then buy them from the Internet using their mobile.

In fact, almost everywhere you look for Internet retail advice these days, you’ll find someone explaining it is all mobile.

But it isn’t.

The statistics are lying.

The data is conclusive, however. More and more people are using mobile devices to buy things online.

However, the “experts” appear to have made an assumption. They assume that because the device is mobile, so is the user.

But new research shows that this is not the case. Two thirds of online purchases made using a mobile device are made from within the home of the owner of that smartphone. In other words, the people are not mobile at all; they are using their mobiles from their sofas.

This means many retailers may need to re-think the language on their websites. There is a lot of talk about “mobile convenience” and being “in store”. Maybe this should all be refocused into “from the comfort of your armchair” because that is where most of the mobile buyers are.

This study is yet another indication that people are quick to jump on so-called “big data” trends, when actually analysing human behaviour is more worthwhile.