Chinese shoppers spend big overseas during holidays

According to an age-old tradition, today is the day where Chinese people need to clean up their homes and welcome in the god of Wealth in hopes the diety will bring good fortune for the new year. But the god of Wealth is not limiting itself just within China's borders it's spreading the joy and sending wealth to companies thousands of miles away in the form of Chinese consumers.

The Dubai Mall is one of the world's largest and most ravishing shopping centers. Within the mall, the decor is distinctly red, an auspicious color in China, especially for welcoming in the Chinese Lunar New Year. In an effort to make Chinese shoppers feel at home, the Dubai Mall is also distributing guide maps in Chinese, as well as shopping assistants who speak Mandarin.

"Every luxury brand store has three to five Chinese shopping assistants. Those lesser-known ones such as fragrance stores also has at least one guide that speaks Mandarin."

Lanterns, packets and snakes this IS the Year of the Snake afterall. The UK's iconic retailer Harrods is also attempting to woo Chinese shoppers as it drapes its London flagship store in red. This is the first time ever that this century-old store decorated its entire store dedicated to just one nation.

Xi Fang, Mandarin Speaking Shopping Guide, Harrods, said, "One of our promotion is to hand out traditional red packets, which have coupons or greeting cards inside."

Another popular destination for Chinese customers is the Printemps department store in Paris, which is ramping up service to Chinese shoppers with signs and guide maps in Mandarin, as well as Mandarin speaking shopping assistants.

Pierre Pelarrey, Manager, Printemps Dept. Store Paris, said, "Chinese customers bring in 35 percent of revenues of all international sales. They are our most important international customers."

Surveys show that 90 percent of Chinese tourists travelling abroad will spend, spend, spend. The main reason is brand names are cheaper overseas. For Chinese tourists, the same name brands usually cost a lot less than they do in China, even when flight and housing costs are included.