Global Blue, the international retail tourism experts, report that total international tax free spend has surged up 21% to date this year with globe shoppers from South East Asian driving the growth. Thai spend in particular is up a massive 48% YTD.
Chinese globe shoppers are still the number one tourist market in terms of sales for the UK however this year Global Blue have seen Thai globe shoppers increase their average transaction value by 19% to reach £742 which now matches that of the Chinese. The figures give evidence that the UK this year has not felt the effects of the reported downturn in spend by Chinese globe shoppers on luxury goods, as spend has rocketed 33% this year.
Gordon Clark, UK Country Manager of Global Blue, comments: “Though China still represents a fifth of all tax free spend across the UK, the desire for luxury goods is rippling to other Asian nations like Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore and Indonesia. It is now more important than ever for luxury brands to tailor their service to their ever discerning international customer base from flagships on Oxford Street through to luxury boutiques in Edinburgh.”
According to Global Blue, the UK is the third most popular tax free shopping destination this year. The festive season is an important time in the UK retail calendar and whilst not all globe shoppers celebrate Christmas, luxury accessories and fashion still top the wish list and Boxing Day sales are increasingly popular. Retailers across the UK have been working up to this period, pulling out all the stops to draw in these high net worth individuals.
Global Blue have seen a rise in demand for brands to introduce tax free shopping, pre-travel marketing, and cultural training particularly as well as investing in multi-lingual shop assistants and the most unique items money can buy to entice globe shoppers.
Kevin Boltman, Managing Director for Montblanc UK comments: “All Montblanc boutiques have at least one foreign-speaking staff to assist tourist shoppers and accept China Union Pay, China's only domestic debit card and credit card.
"The Chinese are the top-spending international visitors with the highest average spend upon a store visit, according to Global Blue tax refund data analysis, favouring jewellery and watches. We have seen a growing influx of high-spending foreign tourists throughout the year, but the holiday season generally sees an uplift as it coincides with the start of the Chinese New Year.”
A key incentive for international shoppers is the ‘new’, ‘exclusive’ and ‘spectacular’. Many luxury retailers specially order never-before-seen product and now offer bespoke services particularly for these customers around key holiday periods.
Mark Henderson, Chairman of the London Luxury Quarter comments: “International shoppers are hugely important and we aim to accommodate their needs in every aspect possible. Over half of stores in LLQ have mandarin speaking staff and 90% of stores offer the option for private shopping after store opening hours.
We have recently created ‘The London Luxury Quarter Experiences’. These experiences offer ultra-high net worth visitors unprecedented access to a range of services from across the art, jewellery and fashion world.”
Ralf Graeser, Van Cleef & Arpels Retail Director UK comments: “For High Jewellery Maison Van Cleef & Arpels, every day is special. Thus during the Christmas period the stores continue to offer as always, perfect service, champagne, chocolates, tea , coffee etc.
"A sales executive as a dedicated ‘hostess’ supports the rest of the team to provide the best attention to the customer. However, at this festive time of the year, Van Cleef & Arpels always goes to great lengths to find the most extraordinary unique pieces of jewellery from our High Jewellery and Estate Collections as special surprises for our clients.”
With around 75% of globe shoppers making their ‘wish list’ of purchases before heading to the UK, Global Blue have experienced increased demand from retailers to introduce pre travel marketing techniques to attract them before they arrive in addition to tax free services and wider currency choice in time to capitalise on the Christmas rush in spend. Luxury watch brand Bremont is making a conscious effort to entice shoppers at the initial stage of their trip planning.
Giles English, co-founder Bremont comments: “The international traveller is becoming increasingly important to Bremont as we are looking to entice clients in the holiday season to our stores both in London and HK, this year we are doing this with an increased push via social media.
"We will have product that has not been seen before such as our Codebreaker watch and use this as a pull for customers to see this exclusive watch. We are also building a custom Codebreaker display in Selfridges to support this marketing push and some clearly placed advertising.”
