New UK government figures show that bilateral trade with China remains substantial, but the performance of British exports is becoming increasingly uneven across sectors.
According to the Department for Business and Trade’s latest China trade and investment factsheet, total UK–China trade reached £104.9 billion in the four quarters to the end of Q4 2025.
UK exports to China were valued at £31.4 billion, down 1.0% year on year. However, UK services exports rose by 4.8% to £13.2 billion, while the UK’s overall market share in China fell to 1.2% in 2024.
Gogetop Marketing, a London-based cross-border marketing and communications agency, says the figures point to a challenge that extends beyond market access: whether British brands can be found, understood and trusted within China’s digital ecosystem.
The agency describes this as the “cross-border discoverability gap” – the distance between a brand’s reputation in its home market and the visibility it establishes across Chinese-language search, social media, digital publishing and AI-assisted discovery.
“The latest figures show opportunity and pressure at the same time,” said Ann Zhu, Co-Founder and Director of Gogetop Marketing.
“China remains a major commercial market, particularly for UK services, but an established reputation in Britain does not automatically transfer into Chinese-language visibility. A business can have a strong website, credible expertise and extensive English-language media coverage, yet still be almost invisible when a prospective customer searches in Chinese.”
China had approximately 1.125 billion internet users by the end of 2025, while the country’s generative AI adoption rate reached 42.8%, according to official figures.
Gogetop says this makes brand information architecture increasingly important because discovery can move between search engines, RedNote, WeChat, short-video platforms, online media, company websites and AI assistants before a prospective customer makes contact.
The agency recommends that organisations entering Chinese-speaking markets assess four connected areas: whether their Chinese brand name and core company information are consistent; whether they have native-language content addressing genuine customer questions; whether credible third-party sources support their claims; and whether users have a clear route from discovery to enquiry.
“A translated English website may explain what a company does, but it does not by itself create discoverability, authority or conversion,” Zhu added.
“Cross-border growth requires a brand to become legible within the market’s own search behaviour, platform culture and trust signals.”
Gogetop says the issue is particularly relevant to professional services, education, property, travel, financial services, technology and consumer brands, where prospective customers may conduct substantial research before making an enquiry.
The agency is encouraging UK organisations to audit not only whether Chinese-language content exists, but whether that content can be found, verified and acted upon throughout the customer journey.
