Retail agents tap into huge potential

Chinese customers willing to pay a premium for authentic luxury goods from daigou in UK

Laden with shopping from Harrods and clutching her fashionable Chanel bag, Julie Li is glued to her smartphone WeChat-ing clients back home in China. A 30-year-old finance graduate from Beijing, she is a full-time freelance retail agent, known in Chinese as daigou.

"I worked as a daigou alongside my day job for about three years. Then six months ago I decided to quit my job to fully concentrate on the business," said Li - not her real name.