One of Britain’s favourite retailers has opened up the virtual doors to its mobile phone based store.

Rather than kick off with a mobile app, Marks and Spencer has launched an entire site dedicated to searching, browsing and of course buying their products.

Using just their mobile handsets, customers can now go to m.marksandspencer.com and trawl through more than 20,000 M&S items.

These range from clothing goods to home and electricals, and as the m-commerce site is directly synchronized with the online shop, consumers are able to log into their previous shopping accounts.

Director of M&S Direct, Dave Hughes, said the development is "a major step forward in mobile retailing."

He added that the "new site allows these customers to browse and buy from their mobile device without the frustrations that come with a traditional website".