Harrods has partnered with Tencent's strategic partner My Money to roll out the WeChat digital payment system at Harrods Knightsbridge and its airport retail stores. WeChat pay is ubiquitous in China. It allows users to instantly send money to their contacts or, by scanning a QR code, to all kinds of retailers, from fruit vendors to restaurants to fashion retailers. Harrods' announcement comes as good news for Chinese travelers visiting the UK, who recently found out they were missing out on significant discounts due to discriminatory policies at Heathrow Airport's duty-free stores* – According to the China Tourism Academy, 115,000Chinese tourists visited the UK in the first half of 2017.

Harrods has been strategic in its efforts to reach Chinese shoppers. They've recruited more than 200 Mandarin-speaking staff, and even redesigned their floor plan — adding a new fine watch room and changes to the jewelry department — with Chinese shoppers in mind. They were also quick to adopt other Chinese payment methods, accepting cards from China Union Pay in 2010 and payments using Alibaba's Alipay in 2016.

*Chinese charged more at Heathrow: Heathrow Airport is under fire after it was claimed that World Duty Free shops discriminated against Chinese travellers. Customers from China were offered a 20 per cent "VIP" discount if they spent £1,000 in-store, other shoppers were offered the discount for a spend of just £79.