Four or two toss a thousand catties, consumer coupons leverage the potential of domestic demand

　　Li Hualin, reporter of Economic Daily and China Economic Net

　　At present, the total amount of consumer vouchers issued nationwide exceeds 30 billion yuan, and it is a trend to grab coupons, sell coupons, and use coupons.

While consumer vouchers play a role in stimulating consumption and stimulating economic recovery, phenomena such as "whole wool" and "false consumption" have also emerged.

Experts believe that relevant departments should expand their thinking and strengthen regulatory measures to ensure the full-process supervision of the issuance of consumer coupons; local governments should use financial technology to accurately issue consumer coupons to achieve precise relief while stimulating consumption.

　　In order to cope with the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, boost consumer confidence and activate the potential of the consumer market, since March, large-scale consumer coupons have been issued across the country, and coupons for grabbing, selling and using coupons have become a trend.

How effective is the issuance of consumer vouchers today?

What's the problem?

What needs to be improved?

The Economic Daily reporter interviewed relevant experts and scholars.

　　Obvious leverage

　　Judging from the data released by various places, the intensity of the issuance of consumer vouchers is unprecedented.

At present, the total amount of consumer vouchers issued nationwide has exceeded 30 billion yuan.

　　On the one hand, the consumer vouchers issued by various regions involve a wide range of industries, including consumption such as tourism and fitness with high income elasticity of demand, as well as daily consumption such as food and clothing.

　　On the other hand, the total amount of consumer vouchers issued by various regions has repeatedly hit new highs. Among them, the consumer vouchers issued to the public in Zhejiang, Hubei, Jiangsu, Beijing and other places have exceeded the 100 million yuan level.

　　In addition, since July, the number of issuing entities has also continued to increase. Platforms such as Alipay, WeChat Pay, Meituan have linked banks, enterprises, and merchants to increase their issuance, and jointly issued more than 10 billion consumer coupons.

　　From the perspective of implementation effects, the issuance of consumer coupons has a significant effect on stimulating consumption, which is mainly reflected in the leverage effect of consumer coupons.

According to calculations by the Guanghua School of Management of Peking University, every 1 yuan of government subsidies can drive new consumption of 3.5 to 5.8 yuan, with a leverage effect of more than 3.5 times.

　　Measured data from all over the world show a greater leverage effect.

For example, as of mid-August, nine cities in Shanxi Province issued a total of 198 million yuan in government electronic consumer vouchers. The actual amount of written-off was 135 million yuan, which drove 1.1 billion yuan in consumption, and the driving effect reached 8 times.

In the first half of the year, Fujian Province issued consumer coupons through Alipay. The province has invested a total of 183 million yuan in fiscal funds, driving consumption of 2.79 billion yuan, and the leverage ratio reached 15.2 times.

As of mid-July, governments in various parts of Jiangsu have issued a total of about 2.71 billion yuan in consumer vouchers, driving consumption by nearly 30 billion yuan.

　　At the same time, the leverage effect of consumer coupons has also benefited a large number of physical merchants, especially small and micro merchants.

According to data released by Alipay, the small shop economy is the biggest beneficiary of consumer vouchers. Ninety percent of consumer vouchers flow into small shops, and the flow of small shops supporting consumer vouchers has increased by more than 70%, exceeding the level before the epidemic.

　　Fu Yifu, a senior researcher at the Suning Institute of Financial Research, said that under the epidemic, consumer vouchers should be issued in a timely manner to guide the public to spend more in areas that are more affected, which will help improve business operations.

At the same time, terminal consumption in certain areas can increase rapidly in a short period of time, which will inevitably drive the expansion of the production side, thereby pushing economic operations back on track.

　　The phenomenon of "wooling wool" should be avoided

　　While consumer vouchers play a role in stimulating consumption and stimulating economic recovery, phenomena such as "sweeping wool" and "false consumption" have also emerged, which not only affects consumers' experience, but also reduces the actual role of consumer vouchers.

　　For example, with the rise of the "ticket issuance" craze, the "wool party" has also moved in response.

Some "wool parties" openly post on the Internet to purchase consumer coupons, and then use fictitious consumption to share the benefits with consumers.

Some "wool parties" use technical means to grab consumer coupons in batches and then sell them at low prices.

Some consumers even collude with merchants to cash out consumer coupons by means of false consumption.

　　"The occurrence of'wool wool' phenomenon indicates that the platform still has serious risk control loopholes." Meng Tian, ​​deputy director of the Institute of Technology and Finance of Shanghai University, said that some of the current Internet payment platforms that issue consumer vouchers have not yet implemented the process of using consumer vouchers. It is traceable, and the platform has insufficient technical capabilities to effectively control risks.

　　In addition to "wool wool", some consumers also report that the issuance of consumer vouchers in some places is not accurate enough, and the rules for use are too complicated. "You can't get what you need, and you don't want to consume what you get." .

In addition, the face value of consumer vouchers issued in some places is too small and too restrictive, making consumer vouchers unable to benefit more people, especially unable to improve the living conditions of low- and middle-income groups who most need the support of consumer vouchers.

　　"Compared to cash, consumer vouchers have a series of restrictive factors such as the threshold, scope of use, and expiration date, which makes it difficult for consumers to release their purchasing power as they please. Therefore, the real value of consumer vouchers issued in some places is lower than the nominal value. "Pan Helin, executive dean of the Digital Economy Research Institute of Zhongnan University of Economics and Law, said that in the process of using consumer vouchers, some merchants may modify the rules of use, charge shoddy goods, and increase prices in disguise. With effective protection, consumer coupons cannot play their due role.

　　Relevant experts said that supervision of the issuance of consumer coupons should be strengthened.

If some places just follow the trend and formally issue consumer vouchers, it will not only make consumer vouchers an exclusive benefit for some people, but also increase government financial pressure and cause a waste of social resources.

　　Accurate delivery

　　How to make better use of the leverage of consumer coupons to maximize the utility of limited funds?

Experts believe that in order for consumer coupons to have the effect of "four or two allocations", they need to be accurately placed.

　　For the fancy "wool" routines that have already emerged, the top priority is to plug the loopholes in supervision.

Experts said that relevant departments should expand their thinking and strengthen supervision measures to ensure the full-process supervision of the issuance of consumer vouchers, while introducing a credit punishment mechanism to resolutely combat and curb the bad behavior of consumer vouchers to ensure the issuance of consumer vouchers by enterprises everywhere. Positivity.

　　In terms of the issuing industry and the issuing target, we should choose to implement precise delivery as much as possible, avoid hasty delivery, and turn government subsidized coupons into discount coupons for merchants.

Peking University Guanghua-Ant Group Research Institute joint research team believes that to prevent consumer vouchers from being dissimilated into merchants’ sales promotion methods, the government should provide financial subsidies of “real money”.

At the same time, for small, medium and micro enterprises, they need to be treated indiscriminately, and no entry barriers for merchants are set to avoid arbitrage.

　　“We should try our best to choose non-durable consumer products with low substitution effects, such as consumer products for daily life services such as catering, fitness, and cultural tourism that have been the most impacted in this epidemic.” Pan Helin said that consumption in these areas will not make consumers To reduce normal expenditure, there is no need to replace the original consumption plan, so it can effectively avoid the crowding effect of government financial support on residents' normal consumption activities.

　　"It is recommended that local governments use financial technology to accurately issue consumer vouchers, especially to the needy groups, to achieve precise relief while stimulating consumption." Meng Tian said that different groups have different marginal consumption propensities, and obtaining consumer vouchers will affect their consumption behavior. The impact is different, and the role of driving total retail sales is also different.

With the help of big data and other technologies, it is possible to accurately determine the specific objects in need of assistance, which can strengthen the stimulating effect of consumer coupons.