This week brought not only the commercial benefits of Valentine’s Day and half term, but also Chinese New Year – an increasingly significant date in the UK retail calendar.
For Chinese nationals, February 16 is the biggest event of the year and a time when many travel abroad, and a growing number of Chinese tourists are opting to visit – and shop – the UK.
This is great news for many UK retailers – especially in the luxury market – who will benefit from tourists in the holiday spirit spending.
The Brexit vote in June 2016, and the subsequent fall in the value of the pound, spurred a tourist boom that generated a 27% spike in UK retail sales to Chinese visitors last year, according to multi-currency payment firm Premier Tax Free.
During the 2017 Chinese New Year celebrations – dubbed Spring Golden Week – sales to Chinese tourists rocketed 93%.
Historical statistics from Global Blue reveal that the amount spent by Chinese visitors has consistently increased each February for the past three years.
In February 2017, the average spend per transaction for Chinese shoppers was £922, a 23.5% increase from 2016 when average spend per transaction was £746.
In the West End, Chinese shoppers currently spend an average of £1,370 per transaction.
Global Blue pinpoints factors such as China’s strengthening economic position, the weakened pound and the work of the UK Chinese Visitor Alliance as ensuring that Chinese tourists consistently remain the number-one spending nationality in the UK.
And it’s a boom that looks set to continue, because according to Forward Keys, the number of Chinese tourists set to visit the UK for this year’s celebrations is 8% higher than last year.
Location, location, location
While the celebration positively impacted retailers nationwide last year, the locations that benefited the most were Birmingham, where sales jumped 119% during Chinese New Year 2017, London – up 113% – and outlet centre Bicester Village, where sales increased by 69%.
Global Blue says sales to Chinese shoppers in London’s West End will climb around 14.3% to £32m during the event this year, with retailers in the area supporting the event with limited edition ‘Year of the Dog’ products.
However, all UK cities hold appeal with Chinese tourists and are attracting growing numbers of visitors.
University towns, with large numbers of Chinese students, or those which attract high levels of tourism, such as Oxford and Cambridge, should also do well out of the celebrations.
Seize the moment
This February influx of visitors also gives retailers with ambitions for global expansion an opportunity to showcase their wares and grow brand awareness overseas.
River Island customer director Josie Cartridge says: “To this end, we have been looking into new ways of engaging Chinese tourists across print and digital platforms to help attract more of these visitors into our stores and encourage them to shop tax-free with us.”
Westfield also seizes the opportunity by hosting workshops around Chinese New Year and student shopping events. Last year, the shopping centre group also launched a WeChat channel, which connected thousands of Chinese consumers to the brand.
This helped generate an uplift in Chinese shoppers across its two London shopping centres during the celebrations last year – up 13% at Westfield London and 6% at Westfield Stratford.
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