The importance of China Union Pay Card for Chinese tourists abroad

May 23, 2011 - PRLog -- Wealthy Chinese tourists with money to spend don’t need an excuse to buy luxury goods, but they do need the plastic to facilitate their purchases. That’s why it wasn’t until Harrod’s installed special Chinese credit card readers in its stores earlier this year that the store could boast it had sold two bottles of £25,000 wine, and one £140,000 diamond to Chinese customers.
The store has seen a 40 percent increase in salesto wealthy Chinese tourists since installing 75 China Union Pay terminals into its London store.
Using data from VAT reclaim forms (UK sales tax can be reclaimed by visiting tourists at the airport), the luxury store has calculated sales to wealthy Chinese have risen to an average of £3,500 per tourist.
According to the recent statistics released by the ultra high-end travel club for rich Chinese “Shanghai Travelers’ Club”, 37% of Chinese travelers to the UK are ready to spend more than £54,000, and 12% of them is ready to spend more than £70,000 in London!
The increase is largely due to the fact that Chinese bank cards are not recognised outside of China because they use a separate card processing method via China Union Pay card terminals. According to one Chinese saleslady at Harrods, Chinese tourists visiting from the mainland have to bring “a lot of cash” when they travel abroad because so few places have CUP terminals.
In London, the only other store that has the terminals is Selfridges where sales to Chinese shoppers have seen “double digit growth” since the installation of CUP terminals last June, according to a spokesperson.
Making it easy for Chinese tourists to spend money with their domestic cards seems to be a no-brainer. Looking around the store, small groups of Chinese customers now feature prominently. So too do tour groups, who arrive at the store en masse. Harrods’ Mandarin speaking staff say they handle on average 20 to 30 Chinese visitors a day. During Chinese holidays like New Year in February, and two week-long holidays in May and October, coach parties with up to 70 tourists is standard fare.
Joined by telephone from Hong-Kong, Pierre Gervois, CEO of China Elite Focus declared “Luxury retailers should install China Union Pay readers and hire more Chinese speaking staff” He added “It’s the key to success to increase sales with wealthy Chinese tourists”
One Mandarin-speaking sales assistant told beyondbrics that Hermes is the most popular brand, followed by Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Dior. Speaking about their Chinese clientèle another spokesperson said, “they are some of our most discerning customers.”
On a recent trip to the store, one young Chinese shopper from Chengdu, studying at Manchester University, said Chanel was her favourite brand. Her male companion, who was carrying a giant Chanel carrier bag filled with her purchases, quipped: “It used to be Arabs who were the richest shoppers. Now it is the Chinese, isn’t it? Next, it will be the Indians.”

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The leading marketing agency for tourism & travel Industry targeting the affluent Chinese Outbound tourists. China Elite Focus builds high impact marketing campaigns on the Chinese web for luxury hotels worldwide, Incoming Tour Operators, Tourism Boards.