Shopping gala boosts market vitality

Chinese consumers unleashed their massive purchasing power during the midyear "618" shopping carnival, a weekslong sales event that began in mid-May and reached a crescendo on Wednesday, June 18, which experts said is pivotal to bolstering the recovery of consumption and shoring up economic growth.

They noted that the buying frenzy indicates the enormous vitality and potential of the country's consumer market, with household appliances and intelligent electronic products gaining popularity among Chinese shoppers amid the country's steps to boost consumption, including the expansion of the consumer goods trade-in program.

To further stimulate people's purchasing appetites, they called for more measures to increase household incomes, distribute consumption coupons, and nurture diversified purchasing scenarios and new types of consumption.

Data from e-commerce giant JD, which initiated the midyear promotional campaign, showed that as of 11:59 pm on Wednesday, the number of users placing orders more than doubled year-on-year, while the total order volume from its online and offline retail and food delivery businesses, exceeded 2.2 billion.

The number of new electronic gadgets that saw their sales surpass 10 million yuan ($1.4 million) surged 200 percent year-on-year during the shopping extravaganza, which officially kicked off at 8 pm on May 30, JD said. The turnover of over 2,000 brands in the home appliances and home furnishing sector increased 100 percent from a year earlier.

According to Tmall, Alibaba's business-to-customer platform, the sales of 453 brands exceeded 100 million yuan from 8 pm on May 16 to midnight on Wednesday, an increase of 24 percent compared with the same period last year. The transaction volume of Apple, Midea, Xiaomi, Huawei and Nike each reached more than 1 billion yuan during the promotional gala.

In addition, outdoor sporting goods, beauty and skin care products, apparel and trendy toys witnessed robust growth on online marketplaces during the shopping extravaganza that now spans around one month.

Noting that consumption has become the main driving force boosting China's economic growth, Hong Yong, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, said the online shopping bonanza has played a vital role in bolstering domestic demand, unleashing consumers' purchasing potential and shoring up the economy.

Hong estimated that the country's consumer market is poised for steady growth this year, fueled by a series of pro-consumption policies, online shopping festivals and stable recovery of the macroeconomy despite external uncertainties.

He called for more efforts to strengthen employment support, cultivate new types of consumption in the digital, green and intelligent fields, and improve the consumption environment, in order to boost people's ability and willingness to spend.

In this year's Government Work Report, China listed vigorously boosting consumption and expanding domestic demand across the board as key priorities for 2025.

Mo Daiqing, a senior analyst at the Internet Economy Institute, a domestic consultancy, said that e-commerce platforms have ramped up efforts to offer discounts and subsidies, increase support for small and medium-sized merchants, and simplify promotional methods to rev up sales.

"The policy measures to expand the scope of the consumer goods trade-in program have not only stimulated consumers' desire to purchase, but also pushed up the sales of household appliances and electronic devices, and bolstered the popularization of green and energy-saving products," Mo said.

China's retail sales, a significant indicator of consumption strength, grew 6.4 percent year-on-year in May, marking the fastest growth since December 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Online sales remained a bright spot, expanding 8.5 percent year-on-year during the first five months.

Jason Yu, general manager of CTR Market Research, said that Chinese consumers have become more value-conscious and prefer to purchase premium products with high cost-effectiveness, emphasizing that retailers should step up investment in technological innovation and roll out new merchandise to attract more young shoppers.

anfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn