Brompton, the British fold-up bike manufacturer, recently put the finishing touches to five customised designs to be sold in China — one sporting the colours of the Union Jack; another traditional English racing green, complete with a Brooks leather saddle.

The bikes, along with about 40 other British brands including Clarks shoes, Austin Reed clothing and Cow & Gate baby formula, will be promoted and sold through a Royal Mail online “shop front” on Tmall, a website operated by Chinese ecommerce company, Alibaba.

For Britain’s recently privatised mail operator, which is under pressure from stiff competition in the parcels market, and an irreversible decline in letters volumes, the tie-up with Tmall is an ambitious move to capture the delivery market to China, already the biggest international buyer of British products online.