White goods, electronics hot items in holiday

Chinese consumers are enthusiastically unleashing their massive purchasing power during the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday, with intelligent household appliances and electronic products gaining popularity amid the country's vigorous measures to boost consumption.

Experts said the consumption boom during the Golden Week break indicates the enormous vitality and strong resilience of the world's second-largest economy, and will further unleash the potential of domestic demand to stimulate economic growth.

Data from the Ministry of Commerce showed that during the first four days of the holiday, sales from key retail and catering enterprises nationwide increased 3.3 percent year-on-year.

The customer traffic and sales revenue at 78 key pedestrian streets and business districts monitored by the ministry rose 4.2 percent and 4 percent year-on-year, respectively, from Wednesday to Friday.

Major e-commerce platforms monitored by the ministry saw their sales of energy-saving home appliances jump 19 percent year-on-year during the first four days of the eight-day holiday, while the sales of intelligent refrigerators and smart home devices grew 20.7 percent and 16.8 percent, respectively, compared with the same period last year.

Smartphones, tablets, digital cameras, outdoor sporting goods, and beauty and skincare products have witnessed rapid growth on leading online marketplaces such as JD, Taobao and Tmall during the holiday period.

"China's consumption recovery is gaining momentum during the eight-day break, which demonstrates the continuous restoration of consumer confidence," said Hong Yong, an associate research fellow at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation, highlighting that Chinese shoppers attach great importance to product quality and value, and prefer to purchase premium merchandise boasting high cost-effectiveness.

Hong estimated that the country's consumer market is poised for steady growth this year, driven by a slew of supportive policy measures to boost consumption, stabilize employment and increase household income.

E-commerce platforms should step up investment in technological innovation, improve shopping experience, and roll out more high-quality and intelligent commodities to attract young shoppers, he added.

Consumption has become the main driving force bolstering China's economic growth. This year's Government Work Report made vigorously boosting consumption and expanding domestic demand across the board among the nation's top priorities for 2025.

The country announced a raft of measures to expand the scope of the consumer goods trade-in program in January, increasing funding from 150 billion yuan ($20.9 billion) last year to 300 billion yuan, and offering subsidies for more home appliances and electronic devices such as smartphones, tablets and smartwatches.

With Mid-Autumn Festival falling alongside National Day this year, China's consumer market is picking up steam during the extended eight-day holiday, showcasing immense potential and strong resilience, said Pan Helin, a member of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology's Expert Committee for Information and Communication Economy.

A series of pro-consumption policies have played a vital role in stimulating shoppers' purchasing appetites, shoring up domestic demand and spurring economic growth amid external uncertainties, Pan said, estimating that the country's consumption growth will gather pace in the fourth quarter of this year.

Industry insiders said the Golden Week break has typically been a peak season for consumption when Chinese shoppers loosen their purse strings to buy personalized and diversified commodities at a brisk pace.

China's consumption market has witnessed a sustained recovery. Retail sales, a major indicator of consumption strength, expanded 3.4 percent year-on-year in August, according to the National Bureau of Statistics. Online sales remained a bright spot, expanding 9.6 percent year-on-year during the first eight months of the year.

Mo Daiqing, a senior analyst at the Internet Economy Institute, a domestic consultancy, said the robust recovery in consumer spending during the holiday is of great importance in bolstering market expectations as well as the confidence of investors and consumers.

"The expansion of the consumer goods trade-in program has not only motivated consumers' enthusiasm to purchase and pushed up the sales of household appliances and electronic devices, but also bolstered the popularization of green and energy-saving products," she added.

Zhou Guanlin, a Beijing white-collar worker, bought a new handset on Chinese e-commerce platform JD during the holiday. He enjoyed a discount of about 800 yuan with national subsidies and shopping coupons provided by the platform.

fanfeifei@chinadaily.com.cn