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VisitBritain

Shopping

Learn about the shopping habits of overseas visitors in Britain – including where they shop and what they buy.

Introduction

Shopping is one of the most popular activities for overseas visitors to Britain. Given the importance of shopping to inbound tourism, we have compiled reports examining the volume and value of this activity, the markets most likely to go shopping in Britain, and their key behaviours and preferences.

Note: The reports based on the International Passenger Survey (IPS) which was published before March 2018 and has not been updated with the 2009 to 2018 revised IPS data.

For further information, please contact research@visitbritain.org.

Types of shops visited by overseas visitors (2015)

To discover which shop types are particularly popular with our overseas visitors, we sponsored a question on the International Passenger Survey. Departing visitors were asked if they had visited four different types of shops during their visit to the UK.

Report highlights

  • In 2014, around 22 million visits included visiting a shop, with just over 0.3 million trips mainly for personal shopping.

  • Half of the visits included shopping on the high street or at a shopping centre.

  • Department stores, outlet villages and luxury or designer shops were the second most popular shopping venue (visited by 26%).

  • Gift or souvenir shops were visited by 19%, and were particularly popular with holiday and study visitors seeking a trip memento.

  • Visitors who went to any of these types of shops explored in this research spent an average of £739 during their trip, compared to £414 by those who did not – around 80% more.

  • The per-visit spend rose to £960 for those who included shopping at an outlet, department store or shop selling luxury or designer goods.

PDF

Shopping_report_Aug15.pdf

Read the full findings in the report

Download (2.41 MB)

What inbound visitors shop for in Britain (2013)

In 2013, we sponsored a question on the IPS, focused on what inbound visitors bought while shopping on their trip. Expand the below to see the proportion of visits (%) that included purchasing the items that were asked about. The most common purchase was clothes or shoes, with more than two in five having bought these items during their trip.
  • Items purchased

    %

    Clothes or shoes

    37.5%

    Food or drink21.7%
    Books or stationery11.5%

    Cosmetics or toiletries

    11.4%

    Bags, purses

    8.8%

    Personal accessories

    8.8%

    Games, toys or gifts for children

    8.5%

    CDs, DVDs, computer games

    4.8%

    Items for your home2.8%

    Electrical or electronic items

    2.6%

    Other holiday souvenir

    14.1%

    None of these

    34.3%

Visiting Britain for Shopping (2011)

In 2011, in the IPS, we explored the importance of shopping to inbound tourism. Here is the report which looked at the volume and value of shopping, also exploring the markets that would most likely shop in Britain.

Report highlights

  • In 2011, shopping was one of the most popular activities for overseas visitors to Britain, with 58% of all visits involving shopping (increasing to around 70% amongst leisure visitors). Around 18 million visits included shopping in 2011.

  • It was estimated that overseas visitors spent around £4.5 billion on shopping in the UK in 2011. 

  • In 2011, the USA, France and Germany were the highest spending markets in Britain whilst highest average spend per visit was seen from the Gulf States, Nigeria, China and Russia.

PDF

Foresight_112.pdf

See full findings from the research in the full report

Download (660.38 KB)

Further resources