Will "fashionable" consumption make you "plant grass"?
【Economic interface】
In recent days, some people have followed fitness anchors to exercise and ordered a variety of fitness products online; some people have become camping "fanatics", and under the shade of the city's suburbs, they set up a tent to have a close contact with nature and enjoy Leisure summer time...Although consumption is affected by factors such as the epidemic, there are still some "fashionable" consumptions that have quickly become popular and are favored by consumers, making people call "grass planted".
What is the current consumption situation in my country? What is the development trend of consumption in the next period of time? How should we further unleash the consumption potential and promote the continuous recovery of consumption? Reporter conducted an interview.
1 Consumption coupons and discount activities are "combined" The impact of the epidemic on consumption is short-term
"Recently, I have been working from home. Except for buying some vegetables, fruits and other daily necessities online, other consumption is relatively small. When this wave of epidemic is over, I must go out to travel, 'check in' various Internet celebrity attractions, and taste special delicacies. I also want to invite friends to the cinema to watch a few movies," said Beijing resident Wang Xiaoli.
In fact, many citizens have similar experiences and thoughts.
From the data point of view, in March this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods turned from a year-on-year increase to a decline, and the consumption recovery was further under pressure; in April, the total retail sales of consumer goods fell by 11.1% year-on-year, and the sales of non-necessities and catering were significantly affected by the epidemic. .
"Recently, domestic epidemics have occurred frequently, and consumption, especially contact consumption, has suffered a great impact." Guo Chunli, director and researcher of the Economic Research Institute of the China Academy of Macroeconomics, said frankly.
In this regard, various localities and departments have taken measures to stimulate consumption potential, expand consumer demand, boost consumer confidence, and promote consumption recovery.
Shenzhen, Guangdong will grant a subsidy of up to 10,000 yuan per unit to individual consumers who newly purchase eligible new energy vehicles and have their licenses registered in Shenzhen, and add 20,000 incremental indicators for ordinary cars to encourage auto consumption. ; Jinan, Shandong invested nearly 300 million yuan to issue government consumption coupons in key areas such as automobiles, cultural tourism, homestays, and catering, and drive enterprises to carry out a series of discount and promotion activities.
Focusing on industries such as cultural tourism, catering, and retail, Zhejiang supports various localities to carry out special campaigns to promote consumption, and distributes consumer coupons, service coupons and other benefits to the people.
"During the 'May 1' holiday, the government issued consumer coupons, and the store wrote off more than 400,000 yuan. It feels like a relief," said Yue Rongqing, head of a jewelry store in Tongxiang City, Zhejiang Province.
Wu Qing, executive vice mayor of Shanghai, introduced that Shanghai will increase the quota of 40,000 non-commercial passenger vehicle license plates within the year, and provide a one-time subsidy of 10,000 yuan to individual consumers who replace pure electric vehicles, supporting large commercial enterprises and e-commerce platforms. Distribute consumer coupons to support the development of cultural and creative, tourism and sports industries.
In an interview with this reporter, Yi Shaohua, director of the Market Circulation and Consumption Research Office of the Institute of Financial and Economic Strategy of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, said that in response to the adverse impact of the epidemic, many merchants provided services such as "online ordering and door-to-door delivery", and constantly Optimizing the online retail model further stimulated the growth of online consumption.
Relevant data show that residents have obvious preferences for consumption upgrade products, and the consumption demand for upgrades continues to release.
Gao Baohua, a researcher at the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, said that although the current epidemic has had a certain impact on freight logistics, enterprise production, and catering consumption, the impact of the epidemic on consumption is short-term and temporary, and my country's consumption has been improving for a long time. development trend has not changed.
2 The market gradually recovers and offline consumption will rebound
The automobile industry is an important pillar industry of the national economy, with a long industrial chain, extensive coverage and strong driving force.
According to the statistics of the Passenger Car Market Information Association, from May 1 to 15, 483,000 passenger cars were sold nationwide, a decrease of 13 percentage points from the same period last month.
"With the concerted efforts of all parties concerned, the resumption of work and production in the auto industry has achieved phased results, auto production and sales are gradually recovering, and the momentum for bottoming out is gathering," said Xin Guobin, Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology.
In fact, it is not just the auto consumer market that has released a signal of recovery.
Today, the popularity of some urban business districts is picking up. The number of tourists in some popular scenic spots has grown rapidly, and the traffic of many restaurants has gradually recovered. Local outings and rural tours are favored, and the sales of outdoor products have increased significantly.
At the same time, a series of policies to promote consumption have been introduced.
In April of this year, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Unleashing Consumption Potential and Promoting the Sustained Recovery of Consumption" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions"), proposing twenty key measures in five areas.
In Guo Chunli's view, the "Opinions" are closely related to the main problems currently restricting the release of consumption potential, and have been systematically deployed in accordance with the new requirements of the people for a better life and the new trend of consumption upgrading, which is conducive to actively responding to the impact of the epidemic and promoting the continuous recovery of consumption; it is conducive to effective Expand domestic demand and help build a new development pattern.
The executive meeting of the State Council held a few days ago decided to relax car purchase restrictions and reduce the purchase tax of some passenger cars by 60 billion yuan in stages.
City-by-city policies support rigid and improved housing needs.
According to Shaohua Yi, the State Council and relevant departments have recently introduced a number of policy measures to reduce the burden on enterprises, increase employment income and public consumption, and remove barriers to restrict consumption, which will stabilize residents' consumption expectations, increase consumption willingness, and have a positive role in promoting consumption growth. .
"As the epidemic is effectively controlled and the resumption of work and production in Shanghai and other places is in full swing, residents' consumption will recover rapidly, especially offline contact consumption will rebound in the short term. However, as the risk of the epidemic still exists, consumption will remain stable. growth," she said.
Gao Baohua also told reporters that with the effective control of the epidemic and the orderly restoration of production and living order, the previously suppressed consumption of catering, tourism, transportation, and commodities such as automobiles and housing will rebound, online retail will continue to grow, and consumer infrastructure will continue to grow. With continuous improvement, consumption potential will be released.
For a period of time in the future, my country's consumption is expected to show a development trend of continuous recovery, but there will be fluctuations in the recovery.
Overall, the scale of consumption will expand, the consumption structure will be gradually optimized, and the quality of consumption will continue to improve.
3 Smart, green and healthy become the trend to promote the upgrading of consumption structure
In recent years, my country's residents' consumption has expanded from tangible material goods to more service consumption, development-oriented and enjoyment-oriented consumption has further expanded, and the basic role of consumption in economic development has been continuously consolidated.
"my country has a super-large domestic demand market with a population of more than 1.4 billion, and has the world's largest and fastest-growing middle-income group. The steady growth of residents' income has given birth to a large number of consumption upgrade needs. In the future, consumption will become more diversified, personalized, and Quality, intelligence, greenness, and health have become new trends in residents' consumption." The relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission said that it should also be seen that the consumption capacity and willingness of Chinese residents need to be enhanced, the supply of high-quality products and services needs to be improved, circulation and consumption. The environment needs to be optimized.
The person in charge said that in the future, it will aim at the trend of personalization, diversification and structural upgrading of residents' consumption, focus on the pain points, difficulties and blockages and institutional and mechanism obstacles in the consumption field, focus on consolidating and expanding consumption in key areas, and improve the support system for consumption development, so as to reform and create good consumption. surroundings.
Gao Baohua suggested that efforts should be made to stabilize market players, stabilize employment, and increase residents' income.
Closely follow the people's "urgency and worries", expand the supply of inclusive non-basic public services in the fields of education, elderly care, and medical care, and stabilize residents' consumption expectations.
Take multiple measures to promote the recovery of difficult industries such as catering, retail, and tourism, and promote the expansion and quality of consumption of commodities, services, new types of consumption, urban consumption, and rural consumption.
It is necessary to unblock consumption channels, strengthen consumption supervision, and increase the protection of consumers' rights and interests.
"It is necessary to increase the income of key groups such as the low-income population and expand the number of middle-income groups." Yi Shaohua suggested that on the basis of continuing to stabilize social employment positions, we should appropriately increase public welfare and community employment positions to provide stable income sources for middle- and low-income groups. .
Improve policies and systems for the protection of labor rights and interests, premium payment, and remuneration of flexible employees.
At the same time, the transfer payment for people's livelihood will be enhanced, and it will be tilted towards key areas and regions.
Orderly relax market access conditions for industries such as elderly care and education, and improve the quality of service product supply.
By the end of 2021, my country's Internet penetration rate will reach 73.0%, and the number of netizens will reach 1.032 billion, making it the world's largest and most potential new consumer group.
In addition, green consumption is a new growth point of my country's economy, which has far-reaching significance for promoting the green and low-carbon upgrade of the supply side of goods and services.
Yi Shaohua said that it is necessary to strengthen the construction of new infrastructure, provide data element resources for the development of new consumption, and take multiple measures to guide green consumption.
(Our reporter Liu Kun)