In the first half of the year, as the economy and society fully resumed normal operation, a series of policies to expand domestic demand and promote consumption took effect, market vitality gradually recovered, and urban and rural consumer markets became more active, showing a trend of recovery. The proportion of online consumption increased steadily, the operation of physical stores continued to recover, the sales of green and upgraded goods grew rapidly, and residents' consumption of services continued to rebound.

First, the market sales growth trend is good, the rural market recovery faster than the town

In the first half of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 22,758.8 billion yuan, an increase of 8.2% year-on-year and 2.4 percentage points higher than that in the first quarter. On a quarterly basis, the total retail sales of consumer goods in the second quarter increased by 10.7% year-on-year, 4.9 percentage points higher than that in the first quarter.

In terms of urban and rural markets, in the first half of this year, the retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas were 1,753.2 billion yuan, up by 8.1% year-on-year; Retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas reached 3,005.6 billion yuan, an increase of 8.4%, and sales in rural markets recovered faster than in urban areas. In the second quarter, retail sales of consumer goods in urban and rural areas increased by 10.7% and 10.8%, respectively, 5 and 4.6 percentage points higher than that in the first quarter.

Second, the rapid development of online retail, physical store business continued to recover

In the first half of this year, the online retail sales of physical commodities in China grew by 10.8% year-on-year, 3.5 percentage points higher than that in the first quarter, maintaining rapid growth. It accounted for 26.6% of the total retail sales of consumer goods, an increase of 2.4 percentage points over the first quarter. The development of rural e-commerce has accelerated, and the platform monitoring big data shows that during the "618" period, the year-on-year growth rate of online retail sales in rural areas was 2.8 percentage points higher than that of all online retail sales.

With the continuous expansion and improvement of offline consumption scenarios and consumption experience, retail sales in physical stores continued to recover. In the first half of the year, the retail sales of physical stores above designated size increased by 5.1% year-on-year, the growth rate was 1.5 percentage points higher than the first quarter. Among them, the retail sales of convenience stores, department stores, specialty stores and brand specialty stores increased by 8.2%, 9.8%, 5.4% and 4.6% respectively.

Third, commodity sales are growing well, and consumption of green upgrading is growing rapidly

In the first half of this year, retail sales of goods increased by 6.8% year-on-year, 1.9 percentage points higher than that in the first quarter. The value of more than 80% of the commodity categories of units above the quota has maintained growth, and the demand for upgraded commodities has continued to be released. The retail sales of cosmetics, gold, silver and jewelry, sports and entertainment products, books, newspapers and magazines by units above designated size increased by 8.6%, 17.5%, 10.5% and 8.6% respectively. Benefiting from the rapid growth of rural income, the consumption potential of the rural market for upgrading has been effectively released, and the growth rate of retail sales of cosmetics and gold, silver and jewelry in rural units above designated size is 7.5 and 21.1 percentage points higher than that of urban areas, respectively.

With the continuous improvement of market supply, the gradual upgrading of residents' consumption structure, the concept of green environmental protection, and the consumption demand for green goods continues to be released. In the first half of the year, the retail sales of low-energy household appliances and audio-visual equipment in units above the quota increased by more than 20% year-on-year. According to the statistics of the Automobile Circulation Association, the retail sales of new energy passenger vehicles in the first half of the year were 3.09 million, an increase of 37.3%.

4. Consumer demand for services was gradually released, and consumption of contact and travel services recovered at a faster pace

Consumption of contact services such as catering continues to pick up. In the first half of the year, catering revenue grew by 21.4%, 7.5 percentage points faster than the first quarter, and catering revenue growth was 14.6 percentage points higher than retail sales. The country's box office revenue was 26.27 billion yuan, up 52.9 percent year-on-year.

Consumption of travel-related services recovered rapidly. In June, the country's urban rail transit passenger volume increased by 37.7 percent year-on-year. According to estimates, this year's Dragon Boat Festival holiday, domestic travel 106 million people, an increase of 32.3%; Domestic tourism revenue reached 37.31 billion yuan, up 44.5% year on year.

Overall, in the first half of the year, the consumer market recovered fairly quickly, the optimization and upgrading of the consumption structure continued to advance, and new types of consumption developed rapidly. However, we must also see that people's spending power and consumer confidence still need to be strengthened, and the foundation for restoring and expanding consumption needs to be further consolidated. In the next stage, we must thoroughly implement the decision-making and deployment of the Party Central Committee, implement various policies to promote consumption, innovate consumption scenarios, strive to improve residents' consumption power, constantly consolidate the foundation for consumption growth, and promote the sustained and stable recovery of the consumer market.