Changing Life

Pound lures Chinese to UK stores

(China Daily)
Updated: 2009-09-02 08:30

Shoppers make their way along London's Bond Street, which is well known for its jewelry and designer retailers. Chinese shoppers are flocking to luxury stores in England's capital, thanks in part to a weak pound, lifting the spirits of retailers after nine months of recession. Reuters

LONDON: Chinese shoppers have been brightening the economic gloom in London where they have been flocking to luxury stores in the West End on spending sprees that have been turning heads in England's capital.

Observers say consumers from China have replaced Russia's super-rich as the city's big spenders and lifted the spirits of top-end stores following nine months of recession.

Data from tax rebate companies suggests Chinese tourists have been spending three to four times more than they were a year ago in London's chic shopping districts.

On Bond Street, which is famous for its designer boutiques and jewelry stores, including De Beers and Graff, Chinese shoppers spent more than those from the Gulf states, Russia, the United States and oil-rich Nigeria.

"We are looking for good-quality branded stuff," said Lillian Wang, a 28-year-old bank worker from Beijing who was shopping on Oxford Street, one of London's main thoroughfares. "I'm not as crazy as others, buying a dozen Louis Vuittons (bags), but I'm sure they are a lot cheaper here than in Beijing.

"A cheaper pound has also helped."

Thanks to a $585-billion stimulus package and record lending by State-owned banks, China is likely to hit the government's target of 8 percent growth this year, by far the fastest rate of growth in any major economy.

This has offset a slump in export demand and sustained increases in income, making well-off Chinese shoppers a rich seam of potential profit for Europe's luxury brand outlets.

The Pound has recovered from lows earlier this year against currencies including the dollar and the yuan, but the British currency is still a long way off its mid-2008 levels.

Britain has been in recession since the last quarter of 2008, when GDP shrunk at its fastest rate since 1980.

Different shopping tastes

In addition to top labels, Chinese shoppers are being drawn to everyday items, and they are not as easily seduced by lifestyle offerings as shoppers from many other countries.

For example, top-end retailers have employed Mandarin-speaking sales staff to cope with the influx of Chinese customers, but London's chic hotels have not yet seen more Chinese spending, said Charles Wang of tour operator Travco.

"You still find that the majority of Chinese shoppers stay at standard four-star hotels in London but at the same time easily spend thousands and thousands of pounds on brands like Louis Vuitton, Gucci, Armani and Burberry," he said.

New top-flight spenders

The trend is even more marked elsewhere.

Global Refund, which arranges sales tax refunds for tourists, reported a 164-percent rise in sales to Chinese customers on Bond Street in the first seven months of 2009, compared to one year ago. Spending by Russians fell 27 percent, although at 1,295 pounds ($2,100), their average spending was still higher than that of typical Chinese shoppers, which stood at 972 pounds.

"In spite of the downturn, the growth in Chinese spending is a trend we expect will continue to the end of 2009," said Global Refund's vice president of UK sales, Nigel Dasler. "Seventy percent of their tourism expenditure is on shopping."

Similar figures from the company Premier Tax Free show sales to Chinese shoppers for whom it arranged tax rebates had soared to 3.9 million pounds on Bond Street in the first seven months of the year, up from just under 1 million pounds one year ago.

That figure outstripped the combined 3.1-million-pound total for visitors from the Gulf states of Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and eclipsed other traditional big spenders, including the United States, at 1.8 million, and Nigeria, at 1.2 million.

Last year's table-topper, Russia, dropped to 1.7 million pounds from 1.9 million in the first seven months of 2008.

Reuters

(China Daily 09/02/2009 page2)