Concept stores eye consumption bounce

Beijing is accelerating its transformation into a global consumption center by creating a globally attractive retail environment, with the city launching the world's first "Beijing gifts" coffee concept store on Tuesday, as part of China's latest moves to spur domestic consumption.

The store, which combines coffee culture and Beijing elements, also stands as the 1,000th store for K Coffee — a brand of US fast-food catering chain KFC — in China, and it is expected to create new experiences for consumers.

China places great emphasis on the fundamental role of consumption in driving economic growth. In the Government Work Report delivered in March, boosting consumption was listed as a top priority among this year's tasks.

Earlier this month, the Ministry of Commerce and five other entities launched the "Shopping in China "campaign, and various promotional activities will be carried out nationwide throughout the year to help boost domestic consumption.

Yang Nie, deputy director-general of the department of market operation and consumption promotion at the Ministry of Commerce, participated in the event.

Next, the ministry will actively work with relevant departments to launch more practical measures to vigorously boost consumption. The measures include further carrying out the consumer products trade-in program this year, expanding services consumption, and innovating more consumption scenarios.

China's consumption market has achieved a stable start this year. In the first quarter, total retail sales of consumer goods in the country reached 12.47 trillion yuan ($1.7 trillion), up 4.6 percent year-on-year. Catering revenue came in at 1.4 trillion yuan, rising 4.7 percent on a yearly basis, said the National Bureau of Statistics.

Liu Weiling, deputy editor-in-chief of China Daily, said the media organization has been interpreting the government's policy measures to boost consumption, and introducing the efforts of Chinese enterprises in expanding markets and providing high-quality products and services.

China Daily also reported on China's unique neighborhoods, distinctive shopping destinations and time-honored brands, thus helping to make the "Shopping in China" campaign proposed by the commerce ministry more deeply rooted in people's hearts, Liu said.

China is offering more generous instant tax refunds incentives for international visitors, and it has lowered the starting point for tax refunds from 500 yuan to 200 yuan, according to a new package of measures released by the Ministry of Commerce and five other entities on Sunday.

Zhang Lijun, deputy head of the China General Chamber of Commerce, said expanding consumption stands as a top priority to help drive China's economic growth. The debut of the concept store is an important innovative measure for Beijing to build an international consumption center and further promote consumption growth.

The government will encourage the opening of more such stores and guide internationally renowned products, trendy domestic products, time-honored brands, cultural and creative stores, as well as souvenir, gift and specialty stores to become tax refund venues for overseas visitors.

Beijing's inbound tourism market has continued to rebound. Last year, the capital received over 3.94 million passenger trips of overseas visitors, surging 186.8 percent year-on-year, according to the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism.

Wang Tao, general manager of KFC China, said China has become one of the fastest-growing markets for global coffee consumption. Last year, KFC purchased over 1,200 metric tons of coffee beans from Yunnan province, and it is willing to contribute to the development of China's coffee industry chain.

"The coffee tastes really good, and the environment is also good. I would like to come here to have some coffee and hang out with friends in the future," said Muhammadzoda Daler of Tajikistan, a 19-year-old student at the University of International Business and Economics.

Wang Yu, Liu Zhihua, Zhou Lanxu and Zhuang Qiange contributed to this story.