People stroll through a shopping mall, Beijing, China, December 22, 2024. /CFP
China's consumer market has shown steady growth as 2024 comes to a close, with policymakers pledging to intensify efforts to spur spending to drive the country's economic expansion, reported China Central Television.
Several data indicators have shown that online and offline consumer markets remain vibrant.
From January to November this year, China's total retail sales of consumer goods came closer to 45 trillion yuan ($6.25 trillion), up by 3.5 percent year on year. Specifically, the sales of home appliances, automobiles and home furnishings exceeded 1 trillion yuan while the annual express delivery volume surpassed 150 billion items for the first time.
Overall consumption rose, according to official data for the first 11 months:
• Online retail sales exceeded 14 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 7.4 percent;
• China's offline consumer activity index grew by 6.2 percent yearly;
• China's consumer services activity index increased by 18.3 percent year on year, with 12 provinces and cities seeing growth rates above 20 percent.
Staff sorts through packages at a logistics company, Shandong Province, China, December 22, 2024. /CFP
Consumption sector drives logistics and related industries
Meanwhile, the consumption environment and structure continued to improve.
The services sector drove growth across industries, including catering, accommodation, and cultural and creative services.
From January to November, the retail sales of the services industry grew by 6.4 percent year on year, outpacing the retail sales of goods by 3.2 percentage points.
To date, China has established nearly 3,000 county-level e-commerce public service centers and logistics express delivery centers, with over 100 million express packages entering and leaving rural areas daily. These have streamlined consumption in both urban and rural regions.
The "old-for-new" appliance exchange program attracts citizens to make purchases in Shanghai, China, December 15, 2024. /CFP
Government policy promotes consumption and benefits livelihoods
These positive trends can be attributed to government policies, especially those aimed at stimulating consumption and improving people's livelihoods that have been rolled out this year.
The country's recent Central Economic Work Conference placed stimulating consumption and improving the efficiency of investment, and expanding domestic demand in all directions at the top of the nine key tasks for 2025.
It explicitly proposed innovating diversified consumption scenarios, expanding service consumption and promoting the development of the cultural and tourism industries.