Buy your duty-free before leaving home

Fliggy, the online travel arm of Alibaba, has launched of an overseas shopping portal to meet the increasing demand from Chinese outbound travelers. 

Tourists are able to reserve goods in advance and pick the products up at their overseas destinations. 

LAOX, Japan's biggest duty free store, allows tourists to order duty free products before their trips and collect the goods at any of eight outlets of the retail chain in Japan,  three to 30 days after they make the payment. 

The number of Chinese outbound tourists hit nearly 150 million last year, and shopping accounted for 32 percent of their expenditure.

The wide variety of products and foreign language descriptions often bewilder tourists at loss, and they often find the goods they want to purchase are sold out when they arrive, said Zhu Haowen, head of the Fliggy shopping channel. In addition, they often encounter long queues. 

"The portal aims to tackle these issues and improve the shopping experience of Chinese tourists," said Zhu. "Tourists know where to buy their desired products before embarking on their trips and have more time for sightseeing." 

Delivery services between cities and airports and discounts will be offered for customers making big purchase.

The duty free shop at Wusongkou International Cruise Terminal in Baoshan District will be included on the platform soon, providing services to tourists entering and leaving Shanghai by cruise ships.