Consumption potential - nowhere near fully tapped

Since last year, "consumption downgrading" has become a catchphrase. Especially when people talk about what they presume is a weakening in domestic demand. They readily point to the fast rise of Pinduoduo, an e-commerce platform for low-price goods, as well as an increase in the sales of pickles and cheap liquor as evidence that Chinese consumers are being more cautious with their money.

Which could be true; the total retail sales of consumer goods grew at 9 percent in 2018, compared with 10.2 percent in 2017. But to infer from this that domestic consumption is taking a nose-dive in China is to fail to see the forest for the trees.

The debate over China's consumption tends to be between those who view the glass as half empty and those who view it as half full.