Galeries Lafayette, the tourist retail mecca in the heart of Paris, is fighting stop-start French consumption and a strengthening euro this Christmas with the help of Chinese shoppers. The iconic French department store, so keen for Asian custom that it has set up special services for visitors from China and Japan at a dedicated tour group entrance, says the vital year-end period has been shaping up positively. “So far Christmas sales are going well ... the next few days will be crucial,” said Jean-Michel Hallez, general manager at the flagship Boulevard Haussmann store in Paris.

“For now the trend is good for the department store group, and in particular for Galeries Lafayette.” Galeries Lafayette is part of the Galeries Lafayette department store group of which the Haussmann store, which originated as a small fashion shop in 1893, is the largest sales contributor.

Even the US dollar’s drop against the euro has not done irreparable damage. The euro hit a record $1.3470 earlier this month, meaning it is more expensive for owners of dollars to buy euro-denominated goods.

“The dollar-euro exchange rate has punished business but thankfully this is being very, very largely compensated for by other foreign tourists, mainly Chinese customers,” Hallez said. Foreigners make up 40 percent of the flagship store’s sales.

The L’Union de Commerce de Centre-Ville (UCV), which represents several department stores including Le Bon Marche and Habitat, said that sales in the first 15 days of December were very good. “In the current context we are certainly satisfied... but we are still cautious,” said UCV’s head Jacques Perrilliat, adding that the rest of the month would be key for sales performance.

Chinese tourists started flocking to Paris about two years ago and since the Chinese government lifted visa restrictions to France in September, their numbers are set to truly take off, French retailers say.

Flocks of tourists

The World Tourism Organisation last year forecast that China, with a population of about 1.3 billion, will have 100 million outbound travellers by 2020, from about 12 million in 2001. Economist Intelligence Unit researchers predicts Chinese tourists will spend more than $30 billion (15.6 billion pounds) by 2008.

Today, as the tour buses pull up in one of the busiest shopping streets in Paris, hostesses welcome Chinese tourists in Mandarin or Cantonese and explain how to find their

way around the 70,000 square metre (753,500 square feet) “grand magasin” – and how to claim tax refunds. Japanese and Chinese tourists are welcomed at special information desks in different parts of the international area. “One needs to be a bit of a psychologist in this business,” said Hallez. “Apart from the obvious language difference ... the Chinese and Japanese dislike each other, they don’t have the same customs, and so the information we give is different,” he said. Japanese tourists are mad about cosmetics and skincare products, and favour French fashion labels like Agnes B, while the Chinese are big fans of German menswear designer Hugo Boss, Hallez added. But they can’t beat perfumes. “Almost everybody is buying perfumes, it’s the present to buy, it’s popular and famous,” said David Tang, a Chinese tourist whose tour group has given him and others four hours to shop at the Galeries for presents for family and friends. Furthermore the Japanese have a strong tradition of giving presents when they return home, Hallez said.

“There are Louis Vuitton shops in Japan, in Tokyo there’s one bigger than the one on Champs Elysees, but they still buy (the brand) here because it has an emotional value to say you’ve bought it in France,” he added. Chinese tourists have climbed from 20th position 10 years ago to the number one spot in terms of visitor numbers to the Galeries today – overtaking the Japanese, British, Russians and in fifth place, the Americans.

Big spenders are customers from the Middle East, Japan, Russia and the United States. But while Americans spend more than the Chinese, it’s the force of numbers that counts. “An American spends twice as much as a Chinese customer, but because the Chinese are at least 10 times more numerous ...,” Hallez said, declining, for competitive reasons, to specify average spending by nationality.

Galeries Lafayette, however, is already bracing for the next tourist wave, planning to further expand its international shopping area that sells anything from perfumes, foie gras and small bottles of cognac to miniature Eiffel Towers.

Caroline JACOBS