my country’s consumer market is growing steadily overall
Recently, the National Bureau of Statistics in China released data indicating that in the first three quarters of this year, the country has made significant strides in implementing a series of policies aimed at boosting domestic demand and consumer spending. Overall, the consumption market has shown a stable growth trend.
As part of these initiatives, the government has intensified efforts to promote the trade-in of old consumer goods, particularly stimulating sales in the automotive and home appliance sectors. Notably, in September, sales of household appliances and audiovisual equipment experienced a remarkable surge, achieving over 20% growth for the first time this year. Retail sales in this category rose by 20.5% compared to the previous year, with the growth rate accelerating by 17.1 percentage points from the previous month. High-efficiency and smart appliances drove this growth, reporting double-digit increases in retail sales. As a result, the year-on-year growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods in the third quarter surpassed that of the second quarter by 0.1 percentage points.
Online consumption has also seen rapid expansion, with the retail sales of physical goods online increasing by 7.9% year on year, outpacing the overall retail sales growth by 4.6 percentage points. Online sales now account for 25.7% of total retail sales, marking a 0.1 percentage point increase from January to August. Innovative e-commerce models such as live-streaming sales and instant retail are significantly contributing to this online consumption growth.
Additionally, the potential of the service consumption market has been steadily realized, with travel-related spending growing at a swift pace. The retail sales in the service sector experienced a 6.7% year-on-year increase, which is 3.7 percentage points higher than the growth in goods retail during the same period. Noteworthy is the sustained growth in transportation and leisure service consumption, which consistently surpasses the overall growth rate of service consumption. This stable growth in the consumption market continues to support the smooth operation of the Chinese economy.
