In Yangjiang, Guangdong, the warmth of the consumer market arrived earlier than the spring temperature rise. Major commercial districts are bustling with activity, restaurants are seeing a recovery in customer flow with thriving dine-in business, and supermarkets are well-stocked with active buying and selling. These lively scenes collectively outline the steady upward development curve of the city's consumer market in the first quarter.
Data shows that in the first quarter of this year, the city's total retail sales of consumer goods reached 13.255 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.4%. This growth rate is 2.4 percentage points higher than the full-year rate for 2025, ranking 6th in the province—a significant jump of 10 positions compared to the full-year ranking of the previous year. In March alone, retail sales hit 3.633 billion yuan, surging 6.2% year-on-year, propelling Yangjiang to 3rd place provincially. Sectors including automotive, catering, and online consumption contributed synergistically, presenting a favorable trend of accelerated recovery, structural optimization, and diversified growth in the consumer market.
The automotive sector experienced a strong rebound, with new energy vehicles increasingly becoming the main driving force. Recently, numerous auto dealerships in the urban area have reported robust sales, with a steady stream of citizens inquiring, placing orders, and taking test drives. Influenced by persistently high fuel prices, economical and low-maintenance new energy vehicles have become the preferred choice for buyers, leading to high market demand and supply shortages for several popular models.
At a Leapmotor new energy vehicle dealership, the full range of family models is neatly displayed, attracting a continuous flow of potential buyers. The sales area is abuzz with inquiries, staff are busy guiding customers through vehicle experiences and road tests, and appointments for test drives of popular models remain consistently high, significantly increasing vehicle usage frequency. "At peak times, the store received over 50 groups of test-drive customers in a single day. Test drive vehicles were in use from morning till night, covering more than 500 kilometers daily," said Guan Zewei, store manager at the Yangjiang Leapmotor Center. He noted that due to adjustments in the new energy vehicle purchase tax policy and earlier consumer caution, the auto market started the year softly. However, entering March, with new model launches and subsidy policies taking effect, consumer demand concentrated its release, leading to a sharp rise in monthly sales—nearly 100 units sold, an increase of over 80% compared to the same period last year.
Currently, the structure of automotive consumption in the city continues to optimize, showing layered and diversified market demand. On one hand, cost-effective entry-level new energy vehicles meet the essential needs for daily commuting and short trips, maintaining stable sales. On the other hand, larger family models with spacious interiors and comprehensive features precisely match the travel demands of multi-child households, steadily releasing upgrade-oriented purchase demand and supporting steady, quality development in the industry.
Supported by city-wide unified deployments, consumer-benefiting measures such as vehicle trade-in programs, replacement subsidies, and interest-free financial options have been effectively implemented. Government-enterprise coordination has delivered a combined punch to stimulate consumption, effectively lowering the barrier to car ownership and boosting consumer confidence. In the first quarter, retail sales of automobiles above the designated size in the city reached 864 million yuan, up 11.5% year-on-year. The contribution in March was even more pronounced, with auto retail sales hitting 395 million yuan, a substantial 40% year-on-year increase. The penetration rate of new energy vehicles continues to rise, with traditional fuel and new energy vehicles developing complementarily. Positive trends in segmented categories have made the automotive sector a core supporting force driving the growth of the city's total retail sales.
The catering market is thriving, with consumption vouchers demonstrating significant leverage. As evening falls, commercial districts and dining streets along the city's avenues gradually come alive. At the Changjiang International Hotel during the peak dinner hour, the hall is brightly lit, bustling with patrons, and filled with the aroma of hot dishes. Prominently displayed at the checkout counter are notices for the "Dine in Yangjiang" catering consumption vouchers. In addition to government-issued vouchers, the hotel offers promotions such as "Spend 100 yuan, get 50 yuan voucher" for dinner and "Spend 100 yuan, get 30 yuan voucher" for breakfast, which can be stacked with government vouchers. These multiple discount measures effectively attract customers. "March is traditionally a low season for catering, but this year, benefiting from the voucher distribution policy, store activity has been fully activated," said Zhou Yekai, the hotel's general manager. He explained that the vouchers genuinely reduce dining costs for the public, effectively stimulating the willingness to eat out. From Thursday to Sunday, the hotel is basically fully booked daily, achieving growth in both customer traffic and average daily revenue, continuously strengthening business confidence.
Using policy as a lever, the city has precisely targeted and stimulated catering consumption. In the first quarter, 38 catering enterprises participated in the voucher program. Yangchun City stood out for its effective promotion, high public awareness, and active business cooperation, leading the counties and districts in implementation results. The Municipal Commerce Bureau continues to expand the program's coverage, constantly recruiting quality catering merchants into the activity matrix, routinely conducting service training for staff, standardizing the entire process from voucher collection to scan-and-verify redemption, and guiding businesses to proactively offer discounts while encouraging the public to use vouchers actively. This refined service approach effectively streamlines the consumer benefit chain. Currently, the catering vouchers have achieved a high leverage effect of 1:6, fully demonstrating the policy's multiplier effect.
Based on a strategy of deep integration of culture, commerce, tourism, and sports, the city leveraged the visibility of major events like the YueBA basketball league, setting up promotional points near venues and activity sites to collectively promote participating catering merchants. Combined with引流 activities featuring local delicacies like pig intestine rolls, these efforts broadened promotional channels and gathered consumer interest for the catering industry. The influx from cultural and sports events empowered the real economy, with many catering merchants seeing significant single-day revenue growth through cross-sector collaborations, fully unleashing the industry's overall vitality.
Policy benefits were precisely delivered, and multiple measures consolidated the foundation for growth. As consumption recovers, policy leads the way. In the first quarter, focusing on the core objectives of expanding domestic demand and stabilizing consumption, the city adhered to a principle of government guidance, market leadership, and government-enterprise collaboration. It coordinated the implementation of various national and provincial consumption-stimulus support policies, using precise measures to smooth consumption cycles and activate market vitality.
The precise landing of financial subsidy benefits became a key driver of consumption growth. In the first quarter, the city disbursed 43.705 million yuan in national consumption-stimulus subsidy funds, stimulating 428 million yuan in consumption. Provincial subsidy funds totaling 29.429 million yuan were disbursed, catalyzing 843 million yuan in consumption, with a consumption multiplier effect higher than the provincial average.
While strengthening policy implementation, the city continuously optimized the consumption business environment, streamlined approval processes for various promotional activities, regulated market order, deepened the creation of integrity demonstration models, and comprehensively protected consumer rights. For key aspects like voucher usage and enterprise operational services, staff provided on-the-ground guidance and detailed services, ensuring the orderly and standardized implementation of pro-consumer policies and fostering a safe, convenient, and comfortable consumption environment.
Online consumption also accelerated rapidly. Leveraging diverse channels such as e-commerce platforms, live-streaming sales, and online group buying, local commercial, industrial, and trade enterprises accelerated their digital transformation, continuously expanding their online market presence. In the first quarter, designated large enterprises in the city achieved commodity sales of 211 million yuan via public networks, a year-on-year increase of 22.8%. Key performers included Yangjiang Global Trade Co., Ltd. with growth of 110.4%, Yangjiang Shibazi Business Technology Co., Ltd. up 25.7%, and Yangjiang Yangdong Xinzuo Industrial & Trade Co., Ltd. surging 207%. Traditional commercial enterprises accelerated their online transition, with local knife and scissors products, seafood, and agricultural products reaching nationwide customers through e-commerce platforms, maturing the integrated online-offline landscape.
A relevant official from the Municipal Commerce Bureau stated that the next step involves consolidating the current positive recovery trend in consumption. The city will closely follow market demand changes, continue detailed implementation of various consumption-stimulus policies, and focus on key areas like automotive, catering, and new forms of consumption, while deeply tapping the potential of consumption below the designated size threshold. Simultaneously, it will continue deepening the integration of commerce, tourism, culture, and sports, plan and execute diverse themed consumption promotion activities, actively introduce quality commercial brands, enrich the supply of consumption options across the region, continuously unleash urban and rural consumption potential, persistently stimulate endogenous market momentum, and use consumption quality and efficiency improvements to support the city's high-quality economic development.
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