Issue consumer vouchers, hold consumer festivals, and promote the integration of online and offline consumption. Recently, a number of measures to promote consumption have been launched intensively.
Accumulate synergy for consumption warming

Consumption is the main engine of economic growth. In the first quarter of this year, the per capita consumption expenditure of the national residents was 6393 yuan, a real increase of 5.7%; The contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to economic growth is 69.4%, which is the largest among the three major demands. However, the recent epidemic has occurred frequently in China, which has brought shocks to consumption. In March, the total retail sales of consumer goods decreased by 3.5% year-on-year, the first negative growth since August 2020.

What are the new trends of consumers in the face of complex situations? What new measures have government departments taken to promote consumption? What is the consumption expectation?

Consumer mentality has quietly changed.

The epidemic situation not only affects the economic operation, but also changes the consumption mentality and habits.

More consumers are accelerating to embrace online. Wang Yunping, 56, used to visit physical stores. Recently, her concept began to change. "Vegetables, fruits, clothes, shoes and socks, cosmetics … In the past, when I bought these things, I had to go to a physical store and have a try, so that I could have a more intuitive feeling about the goods. Affected by the epidemic in the past two years, I have gradually accepted online shopping. " Wang Yunping said, on the one hand, she is reluctant to go to the crowded shopping malls and supermarkets; On the other hand, the quality, brand and reputation of domestic e-commerce are getting better and better, and it can also be delivered to the door, and it is convenient to return goods.

Dong Lihua, director of the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Statistics of the National Bureau of Statistics, said that in the first quarter of this year, online consumption played an obvious role. The national online retail sales of physical goods increased by 8.8% year-on-year, the growth rate was 4 percentage points faster than that in the fourth quarter of 2021, accounting for 23.2% of the total retail sales of social consumer goods, which boosted the market sales growth by more than 1.5 percentage points. The goods that residents buy online are also increasingly diversified. In the first quarter, among the online retail sales of physical goods, the retail sales of food and consumer goods closely related to residents’ lives increased by 13.5% and 10.6% respectively year-on-year, and the retail sales of upgraded goods such as cosmetics, gold and silver jewelry and sports and entertainment products also maintained double-digit growth.

Healthy consumption continues to flourish. Hu Chengyu, a young man from Changsha, Hunan, said that he has just entered the workplace and his current consumption expenditure is not large. A few days ago, affected by the epidemic, Hu Chengyu was isolated at home in the rented community for some time and paid more attention to health. After the isolation, he immediately bought a group of gym courses, intending to increase the amount of exercise and further improve his physical fitness. "It’s worthwhile to spend for a healthy body!"

Since last year, consumption in the fields of health and fitness has increased rapidly. On major e-commerce platforms, household sports products such as yoga clothes, yoga mats and abdominal wheels continue to sell well.

The trend of consumer careful calculation and consumption upgrading coexists, which also attracts attention.

Although affected by the epidemic, the trend of consumption upgrading remains unchanged. In the first quarter, gold, silver and jewelry, household appliances and audio-visual equipment, and cultural office supplies of units above designated size increased by 7.6%, 5.9% and 10.6% respectively year-on-year, and the growth rate was 1.9, 0.2 and 4.9 percentage points higher than the retail sales of units above designated size, respectively, and the demand for upgraded consumption continued to be released.

At the same time, consumers pay more attention to multi-party price comparison when shopping. "I have recently kept a’ life diary’ on a regular basis to calculate how much food and daily necessities to buy, which to reserve in advance and which to buy as you go. Especially for vegetables, meat, eggs, oil and other commodities, I will pay more attention to the price to see if it is up or down and which one is cheap. " Xiao Fu, an intern at a hotel in Beijing, said. In order to buy a laptop for her granddaughter who is going to college, Shao Guoqiang, a retired employee, is also frequently consulting through online and offline channels, "find the most cost-effective."

The policy of promoting consumption continues to increase.

How to promote consumption warming? The executive meeting of the State Council held on April 13th put forward many measures such as "promoting new consumption", "expanding consumption in key areas" and "tapping the consumption potential of counties and townships".

Meng Wei, spokesman of the National Development and Reform Commission, said that the impact of the epidemic on domestic demand is phased. In terms of consumption, the key point is to promote the introduction of policy documents to further release consumption potential and promote sustained recovery of consumption, and strive to stabilize current consumption and comprehensively implement policies. "It is necessary to expand consumption in key areas, continue to support the consumption of new energy vehicles, and encourage local governments to carry out green smart home appliances to the countryside and trade in old ones. It is necessary to promote new consumption, promote the deep integration of online and offline consumption, and cultivate and expand new consumption formats. It is necessary to tap the consumption potential of counties and townships, and guide commercial circulation enterprises and e-commerce platforms to extend to rural areas. Guide financial institutions to enrich bulk consumer financial products. " Meng Wei said.

All localities have shown new tricks to promote the release of consumption potential.

In Beijing, the first batch of green energy-saving coupons was issued on April 18th. Consumers who purchase household appliances by receiving green energy-saving coupons can enjoy the highest discount in 900 yuan. The applicable commodities of green energy-saving coupons include tablet computers, air conditioners, refrigerators, washing machines, water heaters, microwave ovens, etc. JD.COM, Suning, Gome and other enterprises also launched "trade-in" and other activities.

In Hubei Province, the consumption promotion activities started in early March will last until December 31st. It is understood that the event focuses on key areas such as retail, catering and life, and adopts various forms such as business travel and cultural integration, online and offline integration, and urban-rural regional linkage. Among them, special activities such as Life Festival, Midnight Food Store Festival, Sleepless Shopping Night, etc. guide night markets, pedestrian streets, supermarkets, etc. to extend their business hours, improve supporting measures, and build night consumption brands.

In Tianjin, 20 large-scale commercial complexes will be opened in 2022, and the first store economy and brand economy will be vigorously developed, and characteristic consumption scenarios will be cultivated. These newly opened large-scale shopping centers and community shopping centers will add 1.48 million square meters of commercial area and more than 2,000 new merchants.

In Guangxi, the three-month "33 Consumer Festival" became the highlight. According to reports, the "33 Consumer Festival" plans to carry out more than 600 promotional activities. Among them, the government, financial institutions, commercial enterprises and other units have subsidized consumers more than 1 billion yuan. Not only that, this year will also be the first time to set up the "ASEAN products gathering in Guangxi" ASEAN section promotion series, so that domestic and foreign consumers can buy good quality and affordable ASEAN products without going out.

Wei Wang, director of the Market Economy Research Institute of the State Council Development Research Center, believes that this round of consumption promotion policies emphasizes synergy and both distance and distance, and the policies and measures not only pay attention to dealing with short-term difficult industries and weak links, but also aim at the future upgrading direction and growth point, which embodies five characteristics: short-term and long-term combination, online and offline combination, focus and shortcomings combination, promotion and guarantee combination and supply and demand combination, which will effectively promote the recovery and development of consumption.

Let the supply and demand docking be more accurate and in-depth

Market participants generally believe that the continuous improvement of the level of precision and refinement of epidemic prevention and control and the gradual implementation of relevant policies will further consolidate the foundation of consumption recovery.

Suppliers of goods and services are taking active actions to ensure that supply and demand are matched, accurate and smooth by all means.

It varies from person to person, and deeply explores the internal needs of consumers for personalization and high quality. "As an important decision-making entrance for young people’s lifestyle platform and consumption, Xiaohongshu platform has gathered a large number of young users who understand life and love to share. From them, we can capture the latest consumer demand and changing trends. " Wang Yajuan, chief marketing officer of Xiaohongshu, said that the changing speed of young consumers chasing the trend often exceeds the speed of business understanding and reaction, so both the supply and demand sides have the demand for accurate docking.

"For example, in the cooperation with a milk brand, we collected a large number of in-depth surveys and questionnaires through user testing, forming nearly 500 experience evaluation notes, providing optimization suggestions for the product from packaging, taste, ingredients and other aspects, and finally helping the brand find improvement directions in product positioning, user experience, packaging design and other aspects, making it more satisfactory to consumers." Wang Yajuan said that the upcoming outdoor coffee season, camping season and other activities will be combined with relevant vertical brands to better meet consumer demand.

Integrate resources and actively create a one-stop and all-round consumption scene. Every year around mid-April, peach blossoms are in full bloom in Pinggu, Beijing. "After reading Pinggu Peach Blossom Beauty, netizens all over the country can remember how sweet our big peach in Pinggu is!" Sun Limei, director of the Cultural and Tourism Bureau of Pinggu District, said that during the 24th International Peach Blossom Festival this year, Pinggu cooperated with Alibaba to launch a 168-hour live cloud broadcast on Youku and Taobao, and at the same time, flying pigs and other platforms also opened the exclusive venue of Pinggu Peach Blossom Festival, which comprehensively displayed the information of Pinggu tourism routes and agricultural special products.

According to reports, Pinggu District is an agricultural region in Beijing, and "Pinggu Peach" and "Beizhai Red Apricot" have been selected as national geographical indication protection products. Integrating all kinds of consumption resources at one time through digital technology can greatly enhance the consumption experience, give full play to the consumption pulling ability of characteristic industries, and finally transform it into economic benefits.

"Overall, the long-term fundamentals of China’s economy have not changed, and the characteristics of great potential and strong resilience in the consumer market have not changed." Gao Feng, a spokesman for the Ministry of Commerce, said that with the gradual control of the epidemic and the effective implementation of various policies and measures to promote consumption, it is expected that consumption will continue to recover in the later period. Relevant departments will promote the introduction of targeted measures to promote consumption, help the sustained recovery of consumption and consolidate the basic role of consumption in economic development. (Reporter Wang Junling)