Shopping Tourism, the return of the Chinese to Italy: how retailers can attract tourists

06-07-23

I went in China the first time in the summer of 2012 and until the end of 2019 I traveled several times a year, each time seeing crowds of Chinese tourists leaving Italy returning home loaded with shopping bags from prestigious Italian and international brands. Then it came the pandemic, with tourism as the first victim and the lack of Chinese travelers for three years had serious effects on retail, in particular for the medium-high range products that were purchased by visitors from China. Many of the boutiques in the Quadrilatero in Milan and all the outlets starting from Serravalle until January 2020 counted on the huge revenues generated by Chinese tourists, who often also bought for friends and relatives, with very high receipts (in 2019, the latest data available, they were an average of 1,500 euros).

From China a new wave of tourists to Italy between July and August 2023

Then finally on Chinese New Year 2023, tourism outside China picked up significantly. During that time, according to the Immigration Department, some 250,000 people departed every day, equal to around 7.5 million overseas travelers per month, with destinations such as Singapore, South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand and Macau.

The first important wave of Chinese travelers to Italy and Europe will arrive between July and August 2023with the peak expected during the Golden Weekin the first week of October.

Informed strategic decisions? Leverage the power of data (and the dedicated ERP suite)

But 2024 will tell us if the tourist flows will return to pre-Covid levels and consequently the turnover for Italian and European retailers, which however must be ready to welcome consumers back from China. For example, according to recent research conducted on Global Web Index, 59% of wealthy Chinese travelers research a product online before buying it and 47% trust online reviews. So it needs to be visible and findable onlinebefore the visitor arrives in Italy.

Italian retail and the importance of an online presence in China

The digital presence must be carefully planned and managed on the most popular platforms in China today, in particular Douyin (parent company of TikTok), XiaoHongShu (otherwise known as REDis a popular social media platform for must-try places, experiences, and products) and of course WeChat. Being active and visible on these media is essential to start a dialogue with tourists even before they come to Italy, in the phase in which they decide which brands and which products to include in their shopping plan. For example, Milan has long had an official account on Wechat (YesMilano 探索米兰) which provides information on shops and other city points of interest in geolocated mode. Each merchant is classified by category and has its own detailed file with the main information: address, website, accepted payment methods, profile of the store and products offered. Me too’ENIT (National Tourism Agency) has an account on WeChat to promote regions, cities and Unesco sites in Italy, to discover and plan travel itineraries, which also include shopping places.

What Italian retail can do to attract Chinese tourists

But brands can do much more to capture the interest of future visitors from China, for example by organizing Live Commerce events from your own boutiquepresenting a series of products that can be bought live and shipped to Chinese consumers’ homes, as various luxury brands have done using Secoo, a high-end e-tailer that has organized several events to virtually bring Chinese customers into stores in Italy, interacting via chat with native Mandarin-speaking influencers and buying online.