Royal Mail announced today that it is
joining the Chinese e-commerce boom with the launch of its shop front on
Alibaba’s Tmall Global e-marketplace, providing Chinese consumers with
increased access to premium, authentic and high quality British products.
Chief Executive Officer Moya Greene unveiled the new initiative at the GREAT
Festival of Creativity in Shanghai, China.
The solution will offer British retailers
and exporters an accelerated opportunity to access the China market. It will
remove the challenges that many companies would otherwise face in getting their
products into the hands of Chinese consumers, including promotion on Chinese
e-commerce sites, local customer support service, customs duties,
documentation, shipping and logistics.For China’s 302 million online shoppers,
Royal Mail’s new shop front on Tmall Global will offer a selection of
distinctive products for purchase by renowned British brands including Brompton
Bicycles, with delivery to the doorstep. The platform is expected to go live
towards the end of March.
Royal Mail Chief
Executive Officer Moya Greene said: “Royal Mail’s new shop front will
help support British retailers and exporters expanding into the China market,
fulfilling the strong demand of Chinese consumers for authentic, high quality
British goods. Online shopping, and the connection it facilitates between
retailers and consumers is a key channel to develop sustainable trade between
China and Britain and we are excited at the prospect of offering UK companies a
new and streamlined way to increase the accessibility of their products to
Chinese consumers.”
Brompton CEO Will
Butler-Adams said: “We are excited about the opportunity to sell a range of
Brompton Bicycles on Royal Mail’s new Tmall Global Storefront, which will
provide easy access into the China market and a direct connection with Chinese
consumers.”
China is the largest economy by purchasing
power parity and the biggest internet user base in the world. Online shopping
has grown exponentially in China, with e-retail sales increasing by 42 per cent
in 2013 to $305.2 billion. Almost half of the country’s internet users – approximately
302 million people – purchase goods online, with 75 per cent of online shoppers
in China buying products every week. Online shopping now accounts for just over
10 per cent of total retail sales of consumer goods in China, with the
overwhelming majority of these online purchases being made through
e-marketplaces, like Tmall and Taobao.
The rapid growth in online shopping has
also mirrored the increased demand from Chinese consumers for authentic, high
quality goods. Chinese consumers represent almost one third of the global
market for personal luxury goods and spend three times more abroad on high
quality, designer goods than they spend locally. There are also rising
concerns in China over authenticity and safety of goods, with the ongoing issue
of fake items being sold within the country. Together, these factors have
helped boost dramatically the appetite for brands and products sourced from
British suppliers. China is now the biggest overseas consumer of British
products online, accounting for 25 per cent of overseas online shoppers
purchasing goods from the UK.
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