Sunday 9 December 2012

NIGERIAN SHOPPERS IN THE UK ARE BRITAIN'S BIG SPENDERS


Multilingual signs at Debenhams advertise discounts in Chinese, Arabic, and Hausa, a language spoken in Nigeria
Courtesy Debenhams
Multilingual signs at Debenhams advertise discounts in Chinese, Arabic, and Hausa, a language spoken in Nigeria

Retailing

Britain's Surprise Shopaholics: Nigerians

By  on May 10, 2012
 

Companies Mentioned

  • MKS
    MARKS & SPENCER GROUP PLC
    • $393.6 GBp
    • -4.20
    • -1.07%
  • ABF
    ASSOCIATED BRITISH FOODS PLC
    • $1485.0 GBp
    • 10.00
    • 0.67%
  • BRBY
    BURBERRY GROUP PLC
    • $1305.0 GBp
    • 24.00
    • 1.84%
  • DEB
    DEBENHAMS PLC
    • $114.9 GBp
    • 0.10
    • 0.09%
Market data is delayed at least 15 minutes.
Nigerian businessman Godwin Patrick took a three-week holiday to the U.K. this month to visit cousins. It wasn’t the only reason. “I’m here to shop,” the 38-year-old says as he strolls down London’s Oxford Street, clutching bags from Marks & Spencer (MKS) and Associated British Foods’ (ABF) Primark containing trousers for himself and dresses for his family in Lagos.
London retailers are big fans of Nigerian shoppers such as Patrick. The African country was the fourth-biggest contributor to overseas tax-free shopping in the U.K. last year, behind only China, Russia, and the Middle East, according to Global Blue U.K., a company that helps foreign shoppers claim a refund of Britain’s 20 percent value-added tax. (Foreigners get the break on most purchases if they take them outside the European Union.) A growing Nigerian population in the U.K. and more frequent direct flights between the countries has led to an influx of visitors who have more to spend because of the former British colony’s booming oil-driven economy.
“Nigerian travelers are very particular to the U.K.; you’d never see them as a top 10 nationality in other markets,” says Global Blue Vice President Richard Brown. As a group, Nigerians spend more than Americans do, he says. (Visitors from the U.S. are the sixth-largest shopping contingent.) Foreigners account for a third of spending in London’s high-end shopping district of Bond Street, Oxford Street, and Regent Street and will spend more than £2 billion ($3.2 billion) this year, according to the New West End, an organization of 600 retailers in the area. Spending by Nigerians in British shops rose 32 percent last year, according to Global Blue.
Russian and Middle Eastern tourists mostly seek luxury goods in Britain, like those sold at tony merchants such as Harrods or Burberry (BRBY). Nigerian visitors also spend heavily at mass-market chains such as Marks & Spencer and Debenhams (DEB) that have more selection, higher-quality products, and better prices than stores back home. “In Nigeria, there is very little formal retail,” says Siemon Scamell-Katz, global consulting director at researcher TNS. “So in terms of retail, Primark and Marks & Spencer is quite something if you haven’t come across much retail before.” Patrick agrees. “We don’t have the same standard of retailing,” he says.
Nigerian visitors spend an average of about £450 per individual transaction, compared with more than £1,000 by Middle Eastern customers, Global Blue says. At a Debenhams store on London’s Oxford Street, Nigerians provide the biggest source of overseas spending as they seek out perfume and moisturizer gift sets, British-themed products such as a Union Jack-printed teapot for £20, clothing, and shoes, according to company spokeswoman Ruth Attridge. One sign of how important the African shoppers have become: Multilingual signs advertising discounts at Debenhams are printed not only in Chinese and Arabic but also Hausa, a language spoken in Nigeria.
The popularity of Britain as a shopping destination for Nigerians partly reflects the growth in the number of people from the country living in the U.K. About two-thirds of shoppers are on holiday or visiting family and friends, while a third are traveling for business, according to Global Blue. The U.K. Office for National Statistics estimates that 174,000 Nigerians lived in the U.K. from July 2010 to June 2011, the ninth-largest nationality. That’s an increase of 34,000 compared with three years earlier.
Daily flights from the capital, Lagos, to London on British Airways and starting on May 16 on Air Nigeria are also fueling shopper journeys. The carriers know their customers: BA allows Nigeria-bound passengers to check an additional 23-kilogram suitcase gratis unlike the majority of its flights, leaving plenty of extra space for all those purchases.
The bottom line: Thanks to their nation’s oil wealth, Nigerians are the fourth-largest group of foreign shoppers in Britain. Each spends $725 on average.
Shannon is a reporter for Bloomberg News in London.

Reader DiscussionShowing 11 Comment now

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  • @O_Pinion and NMC1975, it
    is pretty obvious, your comments reek of outright prejudice,bigotry and moreso
    downright ignorant.
    Perhaps you would care to
    explain, Nigeria's growth rate at 7%, for the last four years straight? Possibly
    care to also explain, that the most successful black students in U.K.
    universities are Nigerian? Surely these are all indicators, that the nation is
    on the up. Get your facts right and quit looking through your rose-tinted
    glasses.

    PS: The Capital of Nigeria,
    is Abuja Not Lagos.
  • Enabli, 6 months ago
    The Nigerian economy might not be in the same league as the BRIC (Britain, Russia, India, China, which are forecast to overtake G7 economies by 2027). Nigeria is listed as part of the N-11 ( Next 11 economies with the potential to become the biggest markets in the 21st century).Your comment indicates ignorance and possibly a myopic view. As a nation we have our own fair share of issues (but which nation doesn't), I expect readers of publications such as this to be more objective in their comments and analysis - one can only hope I guess!
  •  You have told the locations where we can do the tax free shopping. Thanks for it. This is helpful to all those people who don,t know about it. You have very well describe it.
  • Nigerians have been shopping the UK, it is no surprise at all.
  • CEOADE, 5 months ago
    Looted treasury.Shame on these people on spending jamboree in England.I bet they all have to crank their generators everynight.
  • This is the direct  consequence of a lack  in strong manufacturing base, which is now finally undercut by the cheap Chinese poor grade goods  allowed into the country.
    The irony of this is that it is not peculiar to Nigeria , the Chinese flooding everywhere with their poor quality goods, without the  African govt standing up to them to say no, we reject these rubbish pls.
    On the hand Nigerians think it is what you  wear that makes you, (Flamboyance, unfiltered consumerism, and validation seeking mobs,Brand worshiping,Oppressing the less privileged They ll do anything to make them think they are better..........) now that is the problem.
    Nigerians pls know this today,Things don,t make you.
    You are what you add not what you remove.STOP this material madness and come back to your senses.Invest in Nigeria , especially in the Manufacture sector.You are Nigerians, show them the Nigerian brand, buy Nigeria.....
    Cheers brothers
  • Enabli, 6 months ago
    My earlier comments were in response to O_Pinion and NMC1975's rather insipid posts
  • NMC1975, 6 months ago
    Yes it's unfair to brand the whole nation as drug dealers. Many, for instance, are pyramid scheme operators - a true diversification of their economy!
  • @ o_pinion.Your comment is disgusting and you have nothing constructive to say. To group a whole nation as drug dealers is nothing but contempt for the nation.  Im sure you'll say the British do not participate in drug trafficking.
  • O_Pinion, 7 months ago
    Drug Couriers have to have something to take back in their luggage.
  • Be good to know where you are from, I mean your kind? best words to use I believe.

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