Online payment service provider PayPal is set to expand its focus on mobile following a huge increase in activity from smartphones and tablets during yesterday's Cyber Monday sales.

Cyber Monday follows retailers'Black Friday sales bonanza,and is the day when consumers purchase online what they couldn't find in bricks-and-mortar shops.

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Mobile transactions using PayPal increased by 190 per cent compared with last year's Cyber Monday,with the firm confident that the figure will only increase as mobile penetration becomes more prevalent.

"Companies that are solely trying to solve payments offline are going to fail,"PayPal president David Marcus told Mashable.

"A lot of companies are obsessed with payments at a point of sale.With payments offline there's no real problem to fix."

He suggests that mobile payments will become increasingly common and even a quick and easy way of paying for items in-store,as well as online.Marcus used the example of a fast food retailer in France that allows customers who pay via PayPal to get their food quicker than those waiting to pay via card or cash.

"If you don't have to wait in line,we're solving a problem for you,"he added."People will adopt PayPal because it solves a real fundamental problem."

PayPal's in-store technology is currently available in 17,000 stores,mostly in the US,but the firm plan to expand it to over seven million shops worldwide by the end of 2013.

Retailers are increasingly having to adapt to smartphone and tablet use,with eBay predicting one third of Christmas purchases will be made via mobile this year.