China News Service, March 26. According to the "Business Micro News" WeChat public account, the person in charge of the Department of Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce talked about my country's consumer market situation from January to February 2024 and said that since 2024, commercial authorities at all levels have in-depth implemented Implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and in accordance with the overall arrangement of the "Consumption Promotion Year", organize and carry out a series of consumption promotion activities such as the National Consumption Promotion Month, Online New Year Festival, Time-honored Brand Carnival, etc., implement various consumption promotion policies and measures in detail, and promote the continued expansion of consumption . From January to February, the total retail sales of consumer goods was 8.1307 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%.
First, commodity consumption has grown steadily. From January to February, retail sales of goods increased by 4.6% year-on-year. Upgraded products are favored, and retail sales of communication equipment and gold and silver jewelry for units above designated size increased by 16.2% and 5.0% respectively year-on-year. Automobile sales grew rapidly, with retail sales of automobiles above designated size increasing by 8.7% year-on-year. Sales of new energy vehicles were 1.207 million units, a year-on-year increase of 29.4%, accounting for 30.1% of new car sales. Household consumption rebounded to varying degrees, with retail sales of household appliances, furniture, and building materials of units above designated size increasing by 5.7%, 4.6%, and 2.1% respectively year-on-year.
Second, service consumption continues to expand. Driven by the New Year's Day and Spring Festival holiday effects, consumption of services such as catering, tourism, culture and sports has grown rapidly. From January to February, the retail sales of services increased by 12.3% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 7.7 percentage points higher than the retail sales of goods. Catering revenue was 948.1 billion yuan, an increase of 12.5%. The box office of Spring Festival movies was 8.016 billion yuan, setting a new record for the Spring Festival box office in previous years. During the Spring Festival holiday, domestic tourists spent a total of 632.687 billion yuan on travel, a year-on-year increase of 47.3%.
Third, new consumption continues to grow. Digital consumption is booming, and online retail is growing rapidly. From January to February, national online retail sales were 2,153.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.3%, of which online retail sales of physical goods were 1,820.6 billion yuan, an increase of 14.4%, accounting for 22.4% of the total retail sales of consumer goods. %. The potential of healthy consumption was released, and the retail sales of sports and entertainment products for units above designated size increased by 11.3% year-on-year. Ice and snow consumption is very popular. During the Spring Festival, the sales of ski equipment on some key monitoring e-commerce platforms increased by more than 50% year-on-year.
Fourth, urban and rural consumption grew simultaneously. From January to February, the retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas was 7,043.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 5.5%; the retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas was 1,087 billion yuan, an increase of 5.8%. During the Spring Festival, the Ministry of Commerce focused on monitoring rural online retail sales on e-commerce platforms, which increased by 16.1% year-on-year.