One of the biggest advantages to shopping online, from the perspective of consumers, is being able to conduct research quickly and efficiently. They can learn about products they've never heard of in a matter of seconds by entering the name into a search bar or asking friends on social media.

Perhaps an even better means of accomplishing this – and one that retailers can further facilitate – is online reviews. Businesses can quickly and easily integrate online reviews into their websites to give consumers a way of offering their advice to other prospective buyers. Moreover, consumers are growing increasingly trusting of these reviews when it comes to making a purchase decision.

According to a new report from Nielsen, approximately three-fourths of online shoppers (70 percent) believe in online reviews – a 15 percent increase from the 55 percent who trusted them as recently as four years ago. This makes web recommendations the No. 2 most trusted source of brand information and messaging, second only to personal advice given by family members and friends.

"The explosion of social networks and consumer-generated media over the last few years continues to have a significant impact on advertising as consumers' reliance on word-of-mouth in the decision-making process – either from people they know or online consumers they don't – has increased significantly," the Nielsen report adds.

In mobile devices we don't trust

On the other end of the spectrum, however, is mobile devices. Few consumers trusted promotional messages and advertisements served to them through their smartphones and tablets – only 33 percent had faith in display ads on mobile devices, while a mere 29 percent believed in mobile text ads.

In general, paid media garnered less trust than organic earned media, so the problem may be with the way retail brands are engaging consumers, rather than the platform through which they have these communications.

"When it comes to traditional, paid media, while nearly half of consumers around the world say they trust television (47 percent), magazine (47 percent) and newspaper ads (46 percent), confidence declined by 24 percent, 20 percent and 25 percent, respectively, between 2009 and 2011," the news source added.

As it is, many consumers consider smartphones a top shopping companion, as they enable shoppers to compare prices, look up reviews and do other research while in-store.