It only takes a quick scroll and some clicks to buy online and for Australians the dollars are adding up with more than $16 billion spent on shopping via social media each year.

Research from ING released on Wednesday revealed over a third of Australians (34 per cent) admit shopping through social media has led to unplanned purchases.

On average Australians are spending an extra $860 annually, with 20 per cent revealing they consider buying something on social media every time they scroll through their feed.

ING’s Head of Retail Melanie Evans said close to a quarter of respondents admitted to not keeping track of their online spending.

“Online shopping is undoubtedly very convenient and the recent emergence of shopping via social media has made it easier than ever to get what we want, but it’s also easy to unintentionally overspend,” Ms Evans said.

Targeted advertising also adds to the temptation, with 36 per cent finding that social media buying opportunities are very targeted to their interests.

“It’s a good idea to be aware of the highly targeted advertising often employed by social media platforms, which can increase temptation to buy things we otherwise wouldn’t have considered,” she said.

“If you are focused on saving, try and avoid those impulse purchases and the buyer’s remorse that can come with them. Spontaneous dips into our hard-earned savings all add up.”

The most popular platform to shop on was Facebook with 22 per cent, followed by Instagram nine per cent, YouTube nine per cent, Snapchat four per cent and Pinterest four per cent.

-AAP