Chinese shoppers feel at home in UK stores (2)

According to China UnionPay's UK office, there is no transaction fee or currency conversion fee on purchases with UnionPay cards, and therefore to pay with a UnionPay card is more economical than other payment methods.
Fashions, accessories, fine jewelry, cosmetics and fragrances from luxury brands including Herms, Chanel, Cartier and Louis Vuitton are among the items being favored by Chinese shoppers, according to Harrods.
The number of shops that accept China UnionPay in the UK has grown. Other high-end retailers have also began to adopt it, including watch retailer Watches of Switzerland and department store chain Selfridges.
Zhang Hanye, 22, who was born in Shanghai and moved to the UK when she was 12, works as a sales assistant at Watches of Switzerland near Bond Street in London. She believes her ability to communicate with Chinese customers helped her land the part-time job.
A retail assistant at Italian brand Miu Miu's store within Selfridges, who moved to London from Taiwan and who is fluent in Mandarin, said Chinese tourists have been well known in the past for traveling with a lot of cash and rarely using bank cards.
But UnionPay's London office said that is all changing now.
"We are working closely with our acquiring partners to expand UnionPay coverage in the UK," a representative of the office said.
"It is our target to cover as many merchants as possible that are frequently visited by tourists in London and the UK in time for the 2012 London Olympic Games."