Alibaba helps sell British Museum products

Chinese shoppers will be able to buy replicas of the British Museum's artifacts and other goods sold in its shop after the iconic London institution struck a deal with Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba.

The agreement means the British Museum joins such establishments as Amsterdam's Van Gogh Museum, which also sells products based on its collection through Alibaba's Alifish online platform.

Craig Bendle, manager of merchandise licensing at the museum, told China Daily: "The partnership will see a range of products developed, including jewelry, apparel for men, women and children, leather goods and travel goods, homeware and collectibles, including object reproductions. Our onsite experience is that these categories will appeal to the Chinese market and we will work with our partners in this project to deliver popular products."

He said Chinese visitors are passionate about the museum.

"And we look forward to bringing the collection and the many stories it tells to consumers in China."

In 2015, the number of Chinese visitors to Britain rose by 37 percent. Many put the 263-year-old British Museum at the top of their to-do-lists.

Maria Chen, 29, a visitor from Hong Kong, made a beeline for the museum this week.

"The British Museum is so iconic," she said. "It's something we must visit on a UK trip and, of course, we want to buy something to leave a good memory."

Chen left the museum with a mug and magnet with ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs on them.

A 63-year-old man from Chengdu, who gave his name as Mr Zhou, left with a booklet in Chinese that describes the British Museum's collection.

"I want to read it in detail because I have limited time in the UK, so couldn't visit the museum in such detail," he said."I also want to show this to my grandson and granddaughter, so they will know what the British Museum has."

The Alifish online platform has already been successful in selling products from Dream-Works Animation's Kung Fu Panda, and Finnish company Rovio Entertainment's Angry Birds games, as well as the Van Gogh-related products.

Alifish will provide e-retailing and data mining support to the British Museum, so it can tailor its mix of licensed products for the Chinese market.

As a part of the deal, Shanghai branding company Alfilo will sell British Museum items in physical retail stores in China.

"The British Museum is the most visited attraction in the UK and our collaboration with the museum allows hundreds of millions of Chinese consumers to experience and enjoy some of the most important milestones in human history," said Hong Ying, general manager of Alifish.

Eric Wang, co-founder of Avenue 51, the London-based e-commerce consultancy that runs the Royal Mail store on Tmall Global, agreed.

"There's a huge demand for prestigious British brands in China," he said.

Bai Xue in London contributed to this story.