Market sales recover in May
——Fu Jiaqi, statistician of the Department of Trade and Foreign Economic Relations of the National Bureau of Statistics, interprets the total retail sales of consumer goods in May
In May, various regions and departments actively implemented the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council, and accelerated the implementation of a series of policies and measures to promote consumption. With the gradual emergence of effective coordination of epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, market sales have recovered, most commodity sales have improved, the proportion of online consumption has continued to increase, and retail formats such as supermarkets and convenience stores have grown steadily.
1. The consumer market has improved, and both urban and rural markets have improved
The decline in market sales narrowed. With the overall improvement of domestic epidemic prevention and control, the orderly restoration of production and living order, the vitality of the consumer market has gradually recovered. In May, the total retail sales of consumer goods exceeded 3.3 trillion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 6.7%, 4.4 percentage points lower than that in April. Among them, the retail sales of automobiles, which accounted for nearly 10% of the total retail sales of social consumer goods, fell by 16%, 15.6 percentage points lower than that in April.
Both urban and rural consumer markets have improved. In May, the retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas fell by 6.7% year-on-year, 4.6 percentage points lower than that in April; the retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas fell by 6.3%, 0.4 percentage points lower than that in urban areas, and 3.5 percentage points lower than that in April.
2. The sales of most commodities have gradually recovered, and the consumption of basic living categories has rebounded
Over 80% of the product category value sales improved. From the perspective of commodity categories, among the retail sales of units above designated size in May, over 80% of the retail sales of goods by category value were better than in April, and half of the retail sales of goods by category value achieved growth. Among them, the retail sales of some consumption-upgraded commodities improved. In May, the decline in retail sales of cosmetics, gold and silver jewelry, sports and entertainment supplies, cultural office supplies, and communication equipment in units above designated size narrowed by 11.3, 11.2, 11.8, 1.5 and 14.1 percentage points respectively compared with April.
Sales of basic living goods rebounded. In May, the retail sales of grain, oil, food, and beverages of units above designated size increased by 12.3% and 7.7% year-on-year, respectively, 2.3 and 1.7 percentage points higher than that in April; tobacco and alcohol increased by 3.8%, down 7% in April ; The decline in retail sales of clothing, shoes and hats, knitted textiles and daily necessities narrowed by 6.6 and 3.5 percentage points respectively compared with April.
3. The proportion of online consumption continues to increase, and self-service retail formats such as supermarkets maintain growth
The growth rate of physical online retailing accelerated. From January to May, the national online retail sales of physical goods increased by 5.6% year-on-year, 0.4 percentage points faster than that from January to April; it accounted for 24.9% of the total retail sales of consumer goods, an increase of 1.1 percentage points from January to April. The postal express industry, which is closely related to online shopping, has rebounded significantly. Statistics from the State Post Bureau show that in May, China’s express delivery development index was 269.2, a month-on-month increase of 11.6%; express delivery business volume increased by 20.6% month-on-month.
The sales of self-service retail formats such as supermarkets are better than the overall. From the perspective of retail formats, among retail stores with stores, self-service retail formats such as supermarkets that are closely related to basic life and community retail stores have better sales growth. From January to May, the retail sales of supermarkets and warehouse membership stores above designated size increased by 4% and 12.3% year-on-year respectively, and the retail sales of grocery stores and convenience stores with high convenience increased by 1.2% and 4.7% year-on-year respectively. The retail sales of units above designated size decreased by 0.3%.
However, it should be noted that, affected by the epidemic, in May, the consumption of food and beverages with obvious contact and clustering characteristics still declined greatly, and the growth rate of retail sales of goods has not turned positive. In the next stage, it is necessary to implement the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council, efficiently coordinate epidemic prevention and control and economic and social development, and steadily promote the implementation of a package of economic policies and measures to stabilize the economy. The market continues to recover.