前三季度我国消费市场继续扩容

CCTV.com news (Xinwen Lianbo): China's consumer market continued to expand in the first three quarters. The supply of goods and services kept improving, new business models and consumption settings continued to emerge, and consumption potential was further unlocked.

Data show that in the first three quarters of this year, total retail sales of consumer goods and services rose 2.6% year on year. Within that total, retail sales of services increased 5.0% year on year, a growth rate 4 percentage points higher than that of goods. Service consumption is increasingly becoming an important engine of consumption growth. Retail sales of tourism consulting and rental services and of cultural, sports, and leisure services grew 10.7% and 9.7%, respectively, with holiday spending having a relatively pronounced driving effect.

Goods consumption is expanding and upgrading, with product replacement and iteration, quality improvements, and green, low-carbon choices becoming new trends. In the first three quarters of this year, retail sales of communications equipment by businesses above the designated size grew 18.1% year on year, while retail sales of appliances with high energy-efficiency ratings grew more than 20%.

Markets in smaller cities and rural areas continued to expand. As supporting facilities such as supermarkets and logistics in rural areas steadily improved, consumption potential in county-level markets continued to be unlocked. In the first three quarters, retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas grew 1.4 percentage points faster than in urban areas.

In addition, as online consumption settings continued to innovate and the range of offerings in online markets became increasingly diverse, online consumption became an important channel for consumption growth. In the first three quarters, nationwide online retail sales of goods and services totaled 15,147.1 billion yuan, up 4.4% year on year. Online retail sales of services rose 5.3% year on year.