Data recently released by the Ministry of Commerce on China's consumer market in the first three quarters of this year shows that final consumption expenditure contributed 46.7% to economic growth, up 0.7 percentage points from the first half, and drove gross domestic product (GDP) growth by 2.1 percentage points, with consumption remaining the primary driver of economic growth.
From the perspective of consumption structure, services consumption is expanding at a faster pace, demand for green and smart consumption is strong, new forms of consumption are gaining vitality, and the consumer market is showing a renewed trend.
China's advantage as a super-large market lies not only in its huge total consumption volume, but also in the growth potential brought by consumption upgrading. At present, these positive changes in the consumer market are providing strong support for economic growth by expanding domestic demand space, driving industrial innovation, and improving the efficiency of economic circulation.
First, services consumption is accelerating its expansion, broadening space for domestic demand growth.
As residents' living standards improve, their consumption needs are gradually shifting from meeting basic living needs to placing greater emphasis on quality, experience, and personalization. In the first three quarters, China's services retail sales rose 5.0% year on year, 4 percentage points faster than goods retail sales; per capita services consumption expenditure accounted for 47.3% of per capita consumption expenditure, up 1.6 percentage points from the first half. The position of services consumption in household spending has risen further, expanding consumption space and becoming an important force in expanding domestic demand. Consumption in culture and tourism, sports, and cultural entertainment has heated up, driving the development of related industries such as transportation, accommodation, and catering; demand for elderly care, childcare, and health services is being released at a faster pace, nurturing new consumption growth points. At the same time, the services sector has a strong capacity to absorb employment, and the development of related industries helps create more job opportunities and promote higher incomes for residents, thereby driving residents to expand consumption and providing support for sustained domestic demand growth, forming a virtuous cycle in which employment increases, income grows, and consumption expands in a mutually reinforcing way.
Second, green and smart consumption upgrading is driving industrial innovation and development.
Demand in the goods consumption sector is also constantly changing. Today, consumers place increasing importance on product quality, technological content, and user experience. In the first three quarters, retail sales of communication equipment by units above designated size rose 18.1% year on year, retail sales of high-energy-efficiency household appliances increased by more than 20%, and retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles exceeded 7.7 million units. At the same time, new products such as smart glasses are constantly emerging, and enterprises are actively exploring consumer application scenarios for products such as embodied intelligent robots, with green and intelligent development becoming important directions for goods consumption upgrading. Consumption demand upgrading is pushing enterprises to accelerate innovation. Green products are favored, creating more market opportunities for the research, development, and application of energy-saving and environmental protection technologies; the accelerated popularization of smart terminals, smart homes, and other products is driving the development of related technologies such as artificial intelligence and chips. More importantly, China's huge consumer market provides abundant application scenarios for new technologies, enabling enterprises to promptly understand user needs, improve product performance, and accelerate the transformation of innovation achievements.
Third, consumption formats continue to innovate, improving the efficiency of the domestic economic circulation.
Unlocking consumption potential requires not only abundant supplies of goods and services, but also an efficient circulation system. In recent years, with the widespread application of digital technology, online and offline consumption have accelerated their integration, and new formats such as instant retail and unattended stores have continued to emerge. In the first three quarters, national online retail sales of goods and services rose 4.4% year on year, and retail sales growth of warehouse membership stores and unattended stores above designated size both exceeded 25%, making consumption scenarios and shopping methods more diverse. New formats not only make shopping more convenient for consumers, but also change the production and operation methods of enterprises. On the one hand, with the help of digital technology, enterprises can grasp changes in market demand in a more timely manner, reasonably arrange production and inventory, reduce product backlogs and mismatches between supply and demand, and lower operating costs; on the other hand, the integration of online and offline channels helps break through some geographical and channel limitations, promote more high-quality goods and services into county-level and rural markets, and expand consumption space. These changes make the connection between supply and demand smoother and the circulation of goods and services more efficient, helping improve the efficiency of the domestic economic circulation.
The consumer market continues to "renew," demonstrating the resilience and vitality of China's super-large market. To ensure that consumption "renewal" continues to translate into momentum for economic growth, improving supply quality and expanding demand must be advanced in tandem: enterprises should follow the trend of consumption upgrading, enrich the supply of high-quality goods and services, and precisely match residents' consumption needs; relevant departments should, through measures such as stabilizing employment, promoting income growth, and improving social security, enhance residents' consumption capacity and willingness, promote the transformation of potential demand into actual consumption, and further leverage the role of consumption in driving economic growth.
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