Intensive policy measures are introduced in many places to activate the consumer market
How small consumer coupons can leverage the big market
"Have you grabbed coupons today?" Since July 18, Beijing has issued a total of 100 million yuan of food and beverage consumption coupons to consumers in the city. ".
Recently, policies and measures have been introduced intensively in many places to activate the consumer market, and the issuance of consumer coupons has become one of the important ways.
According to experts' estimates, the government's consumption subsidy of 1 yuan can drive an average of more than 3.5 yuan of new consumption.
Consumer coupons can stimulate consumption several times the denomination of consumer coupons in a short period of time, instill confidence in market players, and ultimately transmit them to the production and supply side, helping the recovery of the entire economic chain.
How do small consumer coupons leverage the big market?
How do you view the potential of my country's consumption growth and the main force to boost consumption?
The reporter interviewed relevant businessmen, experts and scholars.
Some platform coupons were all looted within 6 minutes, while dine-in coupons were looted in just 68 seconds
On July 19, near 10 a.m., Ms. Sun, a Beijing citizen, quickly picked up her mobile phone and kept refreshing the Meituan APP “Beijing Food and Beverage Coupon” page.
"Yesterday, the first batch of consumer coupons were sold out as soon as they went online. I just found the APP entrance, and today I set an alarm clock to grab it early."
In the past two days, many Beijing citizens like Ms. Sun have set alarm clocks to grab coupons. "Have you grabbed coupons today?" has become a hot topic.
Meituan data shows that on July 18, it took only 6 minutes for Beijing catering consumption coupons to go online, and all 4 denominations of catering consumption coupons on the platform have been collected. It was snatched away in seconds.
The food and beverage consumption coupons named "Reunion Beautiful" are jointly funded by the Beijing Municipal Government and platform companies that provide food and beverage services. The categories are takeaway, in-store, and elderly care and disability assistance, with a total of 100 million yuan. consumers in Beijing.
The first batch of food and beverage consumption coupons were issued through APP platforms such as CCB Life, Meituan, Ele.me, and Maijian Cuisine.
It is understood that more than 70,000 catering merchants participated in this event, covering various catering scenarios such as dinner, fast food, hot pot, baking, and tea.
There are two denominations for takeaway and in-store consumption coupons, which are a 15-yuan coupon for "50 yuan minus 15 yuan" and a 30-yuan coupon for "100 yuan minus 30 yuan".
The old-age and disability-exclusive consumption coupons are aimed at the elderly customers with low unit price, inconvenient use of mobile phones, dine-in and self-pickup, etc., and set up the old-age and disability card to enjoy the "5 yuan off 15 yuan" discount.
Platforms and merchants participating in the event can stack more discounts in combination with the actual situation.
Consumers can receive food and beverage coupons from various platforms every day, but they must be used on the same day after receiving the coupons. Takeaway coupons can be used directly for online orders.
"Consumer coupons have stimulated the desire of consumers, and they are even more helpful for restaurants in the recovery period." The owner of a Sichuan restaurant in Chaoyang District, Beijing told reporters that since the issuance of consumer coupons, its passenger flow and sales have increased, and sales have increased. up to about 20%.
The catering industry has always been an important support for consumption and an important "reservoir" for job placement.
In the first half of this year, affected by the epidemic, various restaurants in Beijing were closed for more than a month, which had a huge impact on the catering industry.
Issuing 100 million yuan of catering consumption coupons to tap the recovery potential of the catering industry from the consumer side is one of the effective means to push the catering industry out of the predicament.
How much energy does a coupon have?
The reporter learned from the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Commerce that this is the first time that Beijing has issued food and beverage consumption coupons this year. It is planned that the government will invest 78 million yuan and the platform will invest 24 million yuan. A total of about 6 million consumption coupons will be issued, which is expected to drive consumption of 600 million yuan.
Issuing consumer vouchers is the current "preferred option" to boost consumption, which is conducive to promoting the development of new types of consumption
While consumers in Beijing are vying for food and beverage consumption coupons, Shenzhen's "Hui Gong consumption vouchers" and Sanya's "government consumption vouchers" are also up for grabs on July 18.
"Huigong Consumption Vouchers" are issued in the form of WeChat full-reduction consumption vouchers, and are supported by four types of merchants in Shenzhen that support WeChat payment, including catering, retail, life services, and hotels, as well as merchants such as the "Shenzhen Help" applet. , full coverage of food, drink and entertainment.
Sanya's "Government Consumption Vouchers" are quite characteristic of Hainan, and they mainly focus on "outlying island tax-free consumption coupons", including 800 yuan off for over 8,000 yuan, 500 yuan off for over 5,000 yuan, and 200 yuan off for over 2,000 yuan.
Since the outbreak of the epidemic, consumer coupons have gradually become well known to the public.
Various localities have actively expanded consumer demand by building consumer platforms, issuing consumer coupons, and opening shopping festivals.
Statistics show that in the first four months of this year, 20 provinces and cities including Zhejiang, Jiangxi, and Sichuan have successively issued consumer coupons totaling more than 3.4 billion yuan, effectively boosting consumption.
"Issuing consumer coupons is the current 'preferred option' to boost consumption." Hong Qunlian, a researcher at the Institute of Industrial and Technical Economics of the China Academy of Macroeconomics, believes that my country's current consumption is in a new development stage of upgrading, and there is huge room for expanding consumption.
The issuance of consumer coupons, due to their time-limited, special-purpose and specificity, has an immediate effect on stimulating consumption, can activate the consumer market in a relatively short period of time, and drive the recovery of the entire economic chain.
In 2020, my country's household consumption expenditure will account for 12.27% of the world's total. In the same year, my country's population will account for 18.17% of the world's total, and the proportion of consumption will be nearly 6 percentage points lower than that of the population.
"If my country's consumption ratio can approach or reach a level commensurate with the population ratio, it will bring considerable room for new consumption." Chi Fulin, president of the China (Hainan) Reform and Development Research Institute, wrote in an article.
The development of digital economic infrastructure has provided convenient conditions for issuing consumer coupons and improving the effect of use.
According to the "China Payment Industry Annual Report 2022" released by the China Payment and Clearing Association, by the end of 2021, the number of online payment users in China reached 904 million, accounting for 87.6% of the total netizens.
The electronic form of consumer coupons can be accurate to individuals, merchants and industries, with low operating costs and good implementation effects.
Hong Qunlian noticed that consumer coupons in various places focus on helping industries that are most seriously affected by the epidemic, such as catering, retail, entertainment and culture.
According to WeChat payment data, small and micro merchants account for 85% of the merchants benefiting from consumer vouchers nationwide.
At the same time, many places have specially issued targeted consumer coupons for families in need and low-income groups.
All localities are basically dominated by electronic consumer coupons, which are issued in batches, and some areas have set up methods such as lottery and coupon grabbing.
The validity period of catering and retail consumption vouchers is generally 7 days, and the period of 1 to 3 months is set for travel and car purchases.
Generally, there is no threshold for coupon use. Many fields are general coupons, which reflect fairness and are issued on multiple platforms.
Pay attention to the diversification of financing.
According to Hong Qunlian, the model of consumer coupons is basically "a little bit of government subsidies, a little bit of profit from merchants, a little bit of platform support, and a little bit of consumer spending".
Some local governments have formed synergies by compressing "three public" funds and mobilizing leading enterprises to lead.
Stimulated by a series of measures such as the issuance of consumer coupons, new formats, new models and new scenarios such as online retailing, cross-border e-commerce, and mobile payment continue to emerge. Traditional commercial enterprises have accelerated their digital and intelligent transformation, and online and offline consumption has accelerated.
In 2021, my country's online retail sales of physical goods will be 10.8 trillion yuan, accounting for 24.5% of the total retail sales of consumer goods, ranking first in the world.
Green, healthy and smart consumption are favored. The sales volume of new energy vehicles reached 3.52 million, and 1 out of every 8 new cars sold is a new energy vehicle.
5G mobile phone shipments were 266 million units, accounting for 76% of the total mobile phone shipments.
Fully unleashing consumption potential is a long-term strategic task
Consumption has a lasting driving force for economic development. It is an important engine for smoothing the domestic cycle. It is also a key link in forming a higher-level dynamic balance in which demand drives supply and supply creates demand. It is related to the national economy and people's livelihood.
At present, the importance and urgency of stabilizing consumption and promoting consumption have increased significantly.
Since the beginning of this year, the overall consumption has shown a steady recovery, and the total retail sales of consumer goods in the first quarter increased by 3.3% year-on-year.
In March, the domestic epidemic spread frequently, consumption, especially contact and cluster consumption, was greatly affected, and the year-on-year growth rate of total retail sales of social consumer goods turned from positive to negative.
In the face of the impact of the epidemic, it is very important to do everything possible and take comprehensive measures to release the potential of consumption and promote the continuous recovery of consumption.
The Politburo meeting of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China held in April this year emphasized that "consumption must play a leading role in the economic cycle."
Since May, as the epidemic situation has been effectively controlled and the consumption promotion policy has been effective, market sales have rebounded steadily, and the decline in total retail sales of consumer goods has narrowed. The growth rate in June turned positive, with a year-on-year increase of 3.1%.
Yang Yaowu, an associate researcher at the Institute of Economics of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, believes that at present, we should seize the favorable opportunity of the overall improvement of my country's epidemic prevention and control situation and the peak summer travel season to formulate relevant support policies and measures, including the issuance of consumer coupons, to promote tourism and catering. Wait for the recovery and growth of industries that have been deeply affected by the epidemic.
Recently, consumer coupons have been issued in succession in various places, which not only effectively stimulated the consumption enthusiasm of the general public, but also became one of the ways for small and medium-sized enterprises and individual industrial and commercial households to relieve difficulties.
At 5 pm on July 8, Hangzhou City issued the third phase of this year's digital consumer coupons, worth 80 million yuan, divided into 1.6 million coupon packages, each worth 50 yuan.
After hearing the news the night before, Zhang Kun, the manager of Qingbo Store of Century Lianhua Fresh Food Supermarket in Shangcheng District, Hangzhou, got busy immediately.
"The stimulating effect of the coupons is immediate. On the evening of the 8th, more customers came to the store to shop. The daily turnover of the store increased from 15,000 yuan to 18,000 yuan. Stimulated by consumer coupons, store business has gradually recovered, and sales have remained stable since mid-July." Zhang Kun told reporters.
"Consumers get discounts by reducing spending, and our merchants benefit from increasing passenger flow." Zhu Guanming, head of Hema Fresh Supermarket, Cangqian Street, Yuhang District, Hangzhou City also felt the resurgence of passenger traffic brought about by issuing consumer coupons: July 8 Hangzhou After the third issue of consumer coupons was issued, within the validity period of the consumer coupons, the single-day turnover of the Hema Fresh Produce Supermarket in Yuhang area increased by about 10% compared with the previous period.
In the medium and long term, fully releasing consumption potential is not only a temporary measure to deal with the epidemic and external shocks, but also a long-term strategic task.
Accelerating the construction of a new development pattern is a major strategic task related to the overall development of our country put forward in the "14th Five-Year Plan" "Proposal".
Open the "14th Five-Year Plan" outline, the fourth chapter "Forming a Strong Domestic Market and Building a New Development Pattern" clearly requires: "In-depth implementation of the strategy of expanding domestic demand, strengthening the basic role of consumption in economic development and investment in optimizing the supply structure is the key. play a role in building a strong domestic market with strong demand for consumption and investment.”
Yang Yaowu pointed out that objectively speaking, there is still a certain gap between my country's consumption development level and major developed economies, and the proportion of development enjoyment consumption expenditure is still relatively low, especially service consumption has great potential space; from the perspective of consumption expenditure scale, my country's consumption expenditure There are still gaps between regions and between urban and rural areas, and the huge consumption potential contained in coordinated regional development and new urbanization has yet to be released; consumption development still faces some constraints, such as the need to improve the supply of high-quality products and services, circulation and consumption environment. optimization, etc.
"In order to calmly cope with the stormy waves on the new journey, and to 'make the construction of a super-large domestic market a sustainable historical process', we must take expanding domestic demand and comprehensively promoting consumption as the basic foothold for long-term economic development." China Macroeconomic Research Guo Liyan, director and researcher of the Comprehensive Situation Research Office of the Academy, said that China has a population of more than 1.4 billion, the middle-income group is the largest in the world, and the market size ranks among the top in the world.
In the long run, my country's consumer market has strong resilience and great potential, and the overall trend of expanding consumption scale and upgrading consumption structure has not changed.
Continue to do more, bigger and stronger market players, increase employment income and improve consumption capacity
"Promoting consumption seems to be a consumption problem on the surface, but it is essentially a problem of employment and income." Yang Guangpu, deputy director of the Research Office of the Macroeconomic Research Department of the Development Research Center of the State Council, analyzed that to promote consumption, we must first ensure that people, especially low- and middle-income groups work and income, especially disposable income.
In the short term, under the impact of the epidemic, the key is to preserve market entities and jobs, so as to preserve income and consumption.
In the long run, it is necessary to give full play to the market mechanism and combine various reform measures to continue to expand and strengthen market entities, create more jobs for low- and middle-income groups, and ensure the sustainability of their incomes.
Only when market entities are stabilized and workers' employment and jobs are stabilized can they further stimulate consumption enthusiasm.
In April this year, the General Office of the State Council issued the "Opinions on Further Unleashing Consumption Potential and Promoting the Sustainable Recovery of Consumption", which systematically deployed 20 key measures in five areas, of which the top one is "intensifying efforts to assist enterprises in bailouts around the protection of market players" .
This is a key to promoting the orderly recovery of consumption and stabilizing the fundamentals of the economy.
At present, there are more than 150 million market players in my country, carrying hundreds of millions of people to work and start businesses.
If the market players are retained, employment will be retained; if there is employment, there will be income and consumption, and economic growth will be promoted.
The central government and local governments have introduced relief measures such as tax cuts and fee reductions, and delayed payment of social insurance premiums. Some food delivery platforms and other related companies have also responded positively, helping small and medium-sized businesses to tide over the difficulties by reducing commissions.
In recent years, the excessive proportion of rigid expenditure has restricted the growth of household consumption.
Under the influence of factors such as accelerated aging, residents' expectations of future rigid spending will further reduce their willingness to consume. It is necessary to speed up the improvement of people's livelihood shortcomings and improve the social security system to reduce urban and rural residents' consumption.
Focusing on how to better tap the consumption potential, the relevant person in charge of the National Development and Reform Commission said that it will improve the system of providing basic public services in places of permanent residence, closely follow the people's "urgency and hope", expand the supply of inclusive non-essential public services, and improve education. , health care, pension, childcare and other public services expenditure efficiency.
On the first day of the Lunar New Year this year, tickets for the dance drama "Only Green" at Hangzhou Station were sold out in only 7 minutes; in March, the national tour at Haikou Station was added.
Some audience members chased from Beijing to Hainan in order to watch more performances.
After more than 40 years of rapid development, my country has not only formed a super-large-scale consumer market, but also formed a consumer culture that pursues innovation and change, and prefers new products and new experiences.
Wonderful stories of consumption upgrades are being staged around people every day.
This also shows that as long as there is innovative and high-quality supply, it is expected to cultivate new growth points in the market.
"Aim at the 'blocking points', 'difficulties' and 'pain points' of the release of consumption potential, improve consumption capacity by stabilizing employment and increasing income, and enable the people to 'consume'; Residents' consumption expectations make the people 'dare to consume'; follow the trend of consumption upgrading, improve the quality of products and services, and make the people 'willing to consume'." said Zhang Yaojun, a professor at the School of Applied Economics of Renmin University of China.
Our reporter Han Yadong Xue Peng