PayPal Stories Archive

Here’s a stat that might surprise you. Last year, Singles Day sales were higher than Black Friday and Cyber Monday combined. In just 24 hours, Chinese consumers spent a massive £14.2 billion on gifts for themselves.

 

Those figures make it the world’s fastest growing global retail holiday. Yet though Singles Day may be born in China, that doesn’t mean every pound, dollar or Yuan is spent in Chinese stores. In fact, more and more of the money is being spent online in countries all over the world.

 

This year’s Singles Day arrives tomorrow, which is good news for British retailers given the UK is now the second most popular online shopping destination for Chinese shoppers. PayPal’s own research found that, in the past year, 45% of the country’s shoppers bought British, attracted by assurances of ‘good quality’, ‘guaranteed authenticity’ and ‘a richer variety of products’.

 

What’s more, it’s not just internationally renowned brands that are proving popular. This appetite for UK goods runs right across the world of retail – from accessories and clothing, to food and health products.

 

All of which represents a pretty powerful opportunity for the nation’s online businesses – for Single’s Day, not to mention the rest of the year too. Yet there’s a ‘but’. A ‘but’ that comes from the fact only 15% of British retailers we surveyed are actually selling to Chinese shoppers. That’s a lot of other businesses missing out on a potential sales boom.

 

Fortunately, if you think you might be one of them, there are some straightforward things you can do to boost your chances of cashing in. Here are our top tips for selling to China:

 

1.Like any shopper, Chinese buyers want simplicity when it comes to payments…make sure you offer accurate currency conversions at checkout.

2.More than a third (39%) of Chinese consumers say security is the main reason they haven’t bought overseas…use a trusted payment platform like PayPal to build their confidence and turn browsing into buying.

3.Mintel research shows over half (51%) of urban Chinese consumers say reviews and/or recommendations are important to them… make sure your goods’ positive endorsements are easy to find on your website.

Although it can sound daunting, making these changes really needn’t cost the Earth nor take loads of expertise or time to implement.

 

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