Homebase has revealed a 600% increase in online sales from mobiles in the past year as it launches its Reserve & Collect mobile app.
The Apple OS Homebase app includes more than 30,000 browsable products, and can be used to check stock and reserve 20,000 products for in-store collection in all 330 UK Homebase stores.

It is fully integrated with Reserve & Collect orders on Homebase.co.uk, which means reserved products are guaranteed to be ready for collection within three hours. According to the retailer, this makes it the fastest multi-channel shopping service in the UK DIY sector.

Homebase has seen a 33% year-on-year increase in unique visitors to Homebase.co.uk, while online sales increased by 63% in 12 months. Having identified cross-channel sales as a key business strategy, the company has revealed customer research showing that 40% of Homebase customers go to the retailer's website before shopping instore.

Homebase head of multi-channel and planning Harvey Bennett said: "Homebase hasn't rushed into this space and as a result, we are proud to release an m-commerce solution that goes beyond a marketing tool to improve the DIY customer shopping experience. We have developed the first stage of our mobile proposition to cater for the growth of website visits from on-the-go mobile users, and future developments will look to continue to improve the cross-channel Homebase shopping experience for this emerging consumer base."