The world’s wealthiest shoppers spend an average of €35,000 in UK stores
A new study has found that the world’s wealthiest international shoppers spend an average of €35,000 in stores when they visit the UK. The amount spent was shown to be the highest average spend of all European countries.
Global Blue’s International Elite Shopper study also found that these shoppers travel approximately three times a year and spend a total annual average of €55,000 across 12 different transactions.
The report shows that the UK was second most popular destination for international elite shoppers in the period from September 2018 to October 2019. The top spot was taken by France which had a 36% share of the elite shopper traffic. Elite shoppers accounted for 24% of all tax free shopping spend in the UK compared to a global average of 17%.
Derrick Hardman, managing director of Global Blue UK, said: “The elite shopper represents an important opportunity for UK stores, especially in the context of today’s retail challenges. Understanding how this audience behaves and what they value in the British shopping experience is key. With our detailed and unique insights, we support local retailers to help them benefit from this valuable market.”
Chinese shoppers were found to account for the largest number of elite shoppers globally at nearly 40%. This was followed by South East Asia at 15%, the Gulf countries at 14%, the US at 6% and Russia at 6%. However, it was a different story in the UK where visitors from the Gulf countries made up 30% of the number of elite shoppers followed by shoppers from Greater China at 27%.
Shoppers from the Gulf countries were also found to spend around 14 days in the UK compared to an average duration of just three days in France or Italy. In addition, the UK was often the only country they visited. They were also found to have made 85% of their purchases in department stores to make them ‘Department Store Advocates’ according to Global Blue’s customer profiling. The most popular items bought in department stores were in the watches, jewellery and fashion categories.
Global Blue announced the findings of the study at the Walpole Luxury Summit 2020.
