Garden furniture and DIY made the top five retail search terms in Q2 2011, while total retail search volumes grew by 27% year-on-year, the latest BRC-Google Online Retail Monitor has revealed.
This growth was driven by a rise in mobile search volumes of 216%, more than trebling compared with the same quarter last year, as smart phones and tablets become increasingly popular ways to shop.

Retail search volumes for multichannel retailers grew 14% in Q2, compared with 21% for pure online retailers.

BRC director general Stephen Robertson said: "While the retail sector as a whole is going through a difficult period, the boom in online retail continues... Consumers are always looking for more convenient ways to shop. Retailers are making m-commerce easier all the time by offering mobile optimised websites, apps and transactional mobile platforms."

Looking at the most popular search terms for retail products in the lead-up to summer, beds came out on top, followed by books, DIY and garden furniture. Electrical products such as the iPad2, kindle and upcoming iPhone 5 were also prominent.

The number of overseas consumers searching for UK retailers grew by 34% in the second quarter of 2011, while the number of UK consumers searching for retailers overseas grew by 76%, a sharp rise from the 21% growth shown in Q1.