Chinese e-shoppers are buying more British fashion online

By

Sandra Halliday

Published
Nov 8, 2017

Chinese shoppers are crucial to UK stores in key tourist destinations but it looks like they’re also getting more important to UK e-tail sales with a new report showing that 55% of China’s online shoppers buy from Britain.

The new Royal Mail Delivery Matters report surveyed only 1,500 consumers, which is a small sample size given the vast size of the Chinese market. But it’s nonetheless a large enough group to gain some insights and the survey found that its respondents spent an average of £104 per month on items from British retailers in a three-month study period. As the average e-shopper in China spends £123 a month in total buying online, £104 is a big number even if the three-month period might have represented a particularly heavy-spending 13 weeks compared to the rest of the year. And it’s also a significant amount of money given that the average UK shopper spends only £89 a month.

The study, commissioned ahead of China’s Singles Day this weekend, showed there’s a real appetite for ‘Brand Britain’ and UK goods are regarded as being well made and genuine. Some 87% said they like to buy British brands and 76% trust items bought from British retailers not to be counterfeit.

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Almost two in three (61%) shoppers in China have bought clothes online, compared to the international average of 46%. Footwear (44%) and toiletries (36%) are also popular with China’s e-shoppers.

So how are Chinese shoppers making their way to UK websites? The Royal Mail said that search engines are the main method (44%), followed by word of mouth (42%) and 30% via advertising. Some 30% also find British goods via social media, which is significantly higher than the international average. Shoppers in China are far more likely to buy from a UK retailer while browsing online generally as part of their shopping (53%) than they are to look for one from the start (38%).

The survey also showed that 75% of Chinese e-shoppers claim to have recently increased their rate of online shopping and 79% of China’s shoppers made purchases via their smartphones (up from 70% in 2015), compared to 28% of UK shoppers.

That should be a huge boost for UK e-tailers and will continue to be so as, by 2020, China’s e-commerce market is anticipated to be larger than those of the US, Japan, Germany, the UK and France combined, according to the World Bank.

But in order to win them over, it’s important for websites to offer appealing delivery options, which many not always be possible if they’re being fulfilled from the UK. The survey showed that China’s online shoppers have high expectations and 88% spend time hunting for websites with free delivery. When China’s shoppers are satisfied with their delivery, 92% are more likely to buy from retailers again in the future and 91% are more likely to shop with a retailer that has a clear returns policy.