Royal Mail : improves access to Chinese market for UK brands

Royal Mail has launched an automated, online-registration tool which makes it easier for British companies to sell to Chinese consumers through its Tmall Global storefront.

• Royal Mail has launched an automated online-registration tool on its Tmall Global storefront, to help more British brands sell their products in China
• The newtool brings a low-cost market entry solution within reach of British companies that would previously not have been able to afford to enter the Chinese market
• This is part of the Royal Mail's strategy to pursue faster growing areas of the UK and international markets
• Tmall Global, part of the Alibaba Group, is China's largest third-party e-commerce platform enabling brands and retailers to connect with millions of Chinese consumers
• Royal Mail's Tmall Global storefront makes it easier for British companies of all sizes to reach China's e-commerce consumers, following in the footsteps of other British brands such as Waitrose, The Cambridge Satchel Company and Yoomi
• The Royal Mail store specialises in championing British companies and gives Royal Mail valuable insight into Chinese consumers online shopping behaviour
• There are currently 35 British brands selling on Royal Mail's Tmall Global storefront
• The new tool comes as the company marks its one year anniversary on the site

Royal Mail has launched an automated, online-registration tool which makes it easier for British companies to sell to Chinese consumers through its Tmall Global storefront. The tool brings a low-cost market entry solution within reach of British companies that would previously not have been able to afford to enter the Chinese market. This is part of the Royal Mail's strategy to pursue faster growing areas of the UK and international markets.

Launched in 2015, Royal Mail's Tmall Global Storefront makes it easier for British companies of all sizes to reach China's e-commerce consumers. In the past, British companies have struggled to enter the Chinese market due to the high cost of entry, cultural differences and language barriers.

Championing British Brands

Royal Mail's Tmall Global Storefront is hugely popular among China's fast-growing and increasingly sophisticated consumers with its reputation for quality British products.

Leveraging Royal Mail's trusted brand, the number of British brands selling on Royal Mail's Tmall Global Storefront has grown significantly since its launch a year ago. 35 British companies now have access to around 650 million of China's population who regularly purchase items online. The latest British brands to benefit from the 'halo effect' of quality British products under the Royal Mail umbrella include self-warming baby bottle manufacturer Yoomi, luxury jeweller Monica Vinader and British supermarket chain Waitrose.

'Royal Mail's Tmall Global storefront provided an easy, low cost entry solution to the huge opportunity that China has to offer' said Dr Jim Shaikh, CEO of Yoomi. 'China is a very complex retail environment and to be able to access the market in a low-risk and low-cost manner is priceless.'

Online marketplaces are hugely popular in China with 90% of online shoppers electing to use them. Equally, 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, according to Royal Mail research.

'There's no doubt that a growing number of Chinese middle class consumers are being wooed by the quality associated with British brands' said Helen Wylde, Director of Sales & Marketing at Parcelforce Worldwide. 'Through the Royal Mail Tmall Global Storefront, we're able to offer British manufacturers and retailers fast and easy access to a market that is often very difficult for foreign companies to enter.'

ENDS

For more information contact:

Akudo Ike

Akudo.ike@royalmail.com

02074498360/07843333035

Note to Editors:

*Royal Mail Delivery Matters; Understanding the needs of online shoppers in China in 2015 (China Edition)

China is both the world's largest, and fastest growing, e-commerce market with 40 per cent (c.650 million people) of the country's population regularly purchasing from online businesses.

On the 29th June Royal Mail will be running a China Ecommerce Workshop for businesses interested in selling to Chinese consumers Royal Mail Mount Pleasant, Phoenix Place, LONDON, WC1X 0DG