Shoppers have given the facility an enthusiastic welcome. Weibo user Bubi said, "They come for my wallet, can't stop buying lots of interesting things." On Twitter, Ran tweeted, "The British Museum just opened its Taobao store, and the prices are surprisingly low."

The British Museum, in London's Bloomsbury area, attracts millions of visitors each year and is hugely popular with Chinese tourists. The merchandising partnership between the British Museum and Alibaba was announced in 2016.

"It is an exciting prospect for the British Museum to be working with a company of Alibaba's stature as part of the museum's product licensing campaign," said Craig Bendle, the museum's manager of merchandising and licensing.

"The British Museum is a museum of the world, for the world, and this program provides a unique opportunity to share the museum through both online and physical store activities," he added.