Market sales rose steadily in August
——Fu Jiaqi, a statistician of the Department of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations of the National Bureau of Statistics, interprets the total retail sales of consumer goods in August
In August, various regions and departments actively implemented the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, efficiently coordinated epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, and continued to promote a series of policies to promote consumption. Steady and rapid growth was maintained, food and beverage consumption continued to recover, and online retail continued to play a role in driving growth.
1. The growth of the consumer market has accelerated, and both urban and rural markets have improved
Market sales growth accelerated. Under the influence of factors such as the continued strength of the consumption promotion policy, in August, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 5.4% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 2.7 percentage points higher than that in July. From January to August, the total retail sales of social consumer goods increased by 0.5% year-on-year, while from January to July it was down 0.2%; the retail sales of consumer goods other than automobiles increased by 0.7%.
Sales in both urban and rural markets rebounded. In August, the retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas increased by 5.5% year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points faster than that in July; the retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas increased by 5.0% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 2.4 percentage points faster than that in July.
2. Commodity retailing maintained a good growth trend, and catering consumption recovered well
Retail sales of goods grew steadily. In August, retail sales of goods increased by 5.1% year-on-year, 1.9 percentage points faster than that in July. From the perspective of commodity categories, the retail sales of basic living commodities maintained a good growth momentum, while automobile and petroleum commodities maintained rapid growth. In August, the retail sales of grain, oil, food, beverages, tobacco and alcohol, and daily necessities of units above designated size increased by 8.1%, 5.8%, 8.0%, and 3.6% year-on-year, respectively, and the growth rate was 1.9, 2.8, 0.3 and 3.6 percent higher than that in July. 2.9 percentage points; the retail sales of automobiles and petroleum commodities increased by 15.9% and 17.1% respectively, and the growth rate was 6.2 and 2.9 percentage points higher than that in July.
Food and beverage consumption grew rapidly. Driven by factors such as the issuance of food and beverage consumption coupons in many places, the increase in residents’ summer travel and dining activities, and the active transformation of catering companies to “go online”, food and beverage revenue in August increased by 8.4% year-on-year, and fell by 1.5% in July. The growth rate of catering revenue was 3.3 percentage points higher than that of retail sales, the first time since March this year.
3. Online shopping continued to drive consumption growth, and offline retail continued to recover
Online sales maintained steady growth. From January to August, the national online retail sales of physical goods increased by 5.8% year-on-year, 0.1 percentage points faster than that from January to July, and accelerated for two consecutive months; it accounted for 25.6% of the total retail sales of consumer goods, driving market sales growth of about 1.5 percentage points, the driving effect of online shopping on the consumer market continued to show. Among the online retail sales of physical goods, the retail sales of food and clothing products closely related to residents’ lives increased by 16.5% and 4% year-on-year respectively, and the growth rate was 0.8 and 0.6 percentage points higher than that from January to July respectively.
Offline brick-and-mortar retail continued to improve. From January to August, among the retail sales of brick-and-mortar stores above designated size, the retail sales of convenience stores and specialty stores increased by 4.8% and 4.6% year-on-year respectively, and the growth rate was 0.2 and 0.9 percentage points higher than that of January-July; the retail sales of department stores and specialty stores. The year-on-year declines were 6.6% and 0.5%, respectively, 0.8 and 1.8 percentage points lower than that from January to July.
Overall, market sales growth accelerated in August. However, it should also be noted that the recent epidemic has spread frequently, consumption scenarios are still limited, residents’ willingness to consume needs to be further improved, and the foundation for the recovery of the consumer market still needs to be consolidated. In the next stage, we must continue to efficiently coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, conscientiously implement various decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, give full play to the effect of consumption promotion policies, continue to relieve the burden of market players, stimulate vitality, and promote the stability of the consumer market. recover.