Consumption stabilizes, strengthens, stabilizes, and improves (new data and highlights)
"I took my kids to the shopping mall last weekend and found that many restaurants were lined up in long lines." said Su Wenfeng, an employee of a public institution in Chaoyang District, Beijing.
This large shopping mall near Su Wenfeng's home is the first choice for many residents to shop within a few kilometers, and business is booming.
Affected by the new crown pneumonia epidemic, the shopping malls were deserted for a while, and this year they became lively again: every weekend, customers in restaurants, children's playgrounds, and fashion stores are endless.
The reporter learned from the Ministry of Commerce a few days ago: Since the beginning of this year, the consumer market has shown a steady recovery, with steady strengthening and steady improvement, laying a solid foundation for the beginning of the "14th Five-Year Plan".
In the first quarter, the total retail sales of consumer goods was 10.52 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.9% and an increase of 8.5% over the same period in 2019.
Among them, March increased by 34.2% year-on-year and 12.9% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 0.4 and 6.5 percentage points faster than that from January to February, respectively.
Commodity consumption has grown rapidly.
In the first quarter, retail sales of goods increased by 30.4% year-on-year, and nearly 10% year-on-year.
Both basic lifestyle and consumption upgrade products have shown rapid growth. Among them, the retail sales of communication equipment, cosmetics, sports and entertainment products, daily necessities and other commodities above designated size increased by more than 20% over the same period in 2019.
Consumption of mid-to-high-end products has grown rapidly, and the duty-free sales of Hainan Islands continue to be hot.
Service consumption gradually recovered.
In the first quarter, catering revenue increased by 75.8% year-on-year and recovered to about 98% in the same period in 2019. Among them, it increased by 91.6% in March, exceeding the level of the same period in 2019; movie box office revenue was close to the full-year level of 2020 and recovered to about 97% in the same period in 2019 .
During the Spring Festival, the consumption of accommodation in the suburbs of cities such as Beijing and Shanghai increased by more than 2 times year-on-year, and the number of New Year's Eve dinner orders on some e-commerce platforms increased by 70%.
The rapid development of new types of consumption.
Online retail sales of physical goods increased by 25.8% year-on-year, accounting for 21.9% of total retail sales; express delivery business volume exceeded 20 billion pieces, an increase of 75% year-on-year; sales of new energy vehicles increased by 2.8 times year-on-year, accounting for 7.9% of automobile sales.
The sales of smart door locks, sweeping robots, and massage chairs on some e-commerce platforms increased by more than 30% year-on-year, and sales of smart homes and custom furniture in some home furnishing stores increased by more than 50% over the same period in 2019.
Consumer prices are generally stable.
Consumer prices were unchanged from the same period last year, with a 0.4% increase in March.
The person in charge of the Department of Consumption Promotion of the Ministry of Commerce believes that the consumer market in the first quarter continued its upward trend since the second half of last year, and the year-on-year growth rate increased significantly, mainly due to the significant incomparable factors caused by the low base in the same period last year. Next, it is expected that the consumer market will continue to show a positive recovery trend.