In 2024, the total retail sales of consumer goods in China increased by 3.5% compared to the previous year - the consumer market achieved steady growth. According to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics, the total retail sales of consumer goods in China reached 48789.5 billion yuan in 2024, an increase of 3.5% compared to the previous year. Yu Jianxun, Director of the Trade and Foreign Economic Department of the National Bureau of Statistics, stated that in 2024, with a series of policies to expand domestic demand and promote consumption becoming effective, the consumer market will achieve stable growth driven by new business models and hotspots. The demand for service consumption will continue to be released, and the sales of basic necessities and some upgraded goods will have a good growth trend. Online consumption will maintain rapid growth. From the perspective of product categories, nearly 70% of the retail sales of goods from units above designated size in urban and rural markets will maintain growth in 2024. Kang Yi, Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, stated that the implementation of policies to expand domestic demand and promote consumption in 2024 has stabilized and expanded household consumption. Especially since the fourth quarter, the policy of exchanging old for new consumer goods has been strengthened and expanded, and the effect has continued to show. The market sales growth rate has significantly rebounded, promoting the economic recovery and improvement. The market sales are stable and improving, and both urban and rural markets are growing together. In 2024, the retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas reached 421166 billion yuan, an increase of 3.4% over the previous year; The retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas reached 6672.9 billion yuan, an increase of 4.3% over the previous year, and the sales growth rate in rural markets continued to be higher than that in urban areas. With the continuous promotion of the construction of the county and township commercial system, the development pace of the county and township consumer market has accelerated, and the market share has steadily increased. The retail sales of consumer goods in counties and townships, including towns and rural areas, accounted for 38.8% of the total retail sales of consumer goods in society, an increase of 0.4 percentage points from the previous year, "said Yu Jianxun. Looking at service consumption, under a series of policies and measures to promote consumption, the supply of service consumption has gradually optimized, consumption scenarios continue to integrate and innovate, residents' consumption demand continues to be released, and the service consumption market maintains rapid growth. In 2024, the retail sales of services increased by 6.2% compared to the previous year, with a growth rate 3.0 percentage points higher than the retail sales of goods during the same period. According to Yu Jianxun's analysis, with the increasing willingness of residents to travel, the tourism market continues to heat up, and related consumption such as transportation and tourism is growing well. Retail sales of transportation and travel services, as well as tourism consulting and rental services, are growing rapidly. New forms of consumption such as digital entertainment, online education, live streaming, and short video shopping are flourishing, driving rapid growth in information service consumption and achieving double-digit growth in retail sales of communication and information services. The potential for new consumption is accelerating. Last year, the potential for new consumption was accelerating, and new forms of consumption such as online sales and instant retail continued to emerge, driving the volume of express delivery business to reach a new historical high. In 2024, the national online retail sales will increase by 7.2% compared to the previous year; The online retail sales of physical goods increased by 6.5%, which is 3 percentage points faster than the total retail sales of consumer goods in society. From the perspective of the postal and express delivery industry closely related to online shopping, the national postal and express delivery business volume increased by 21% compared to the previous year. Stable recovery of physical retail. In 2024, the retail sales of physical stores in the retail industry above designated size increased by 1.9% compared to the previous year, with a growth rate 0.2 percentage points faster than from January to November. According to Yu Jianxun, the retail sales of warehouse membership stores, represented by excellent quality and user experience, have maintained double-digit growth; The retail sales of convenience stores with more instant retail increased by 4.7%, with a growth rate 0.3 percentage points faster than from January to November; The traditional supermarket format has achieved sustained and stable recovery through continuous optimization of business methods and content, with retail sales increasing by 2.7%, a growth rate 0.2 percentage points faster than from January to November. The demand for green upgrade consumption is constantly being released. Residents' awareness of green environmental protection has increased, and green products represented by green smart home appliances, new energy vehicles, etc. have become new consumption hotspots. Sales of high-efficiency grade home appliances and smart home appliances have achieved rapid growth. According to the Automobile Circulation Association, the retail sales of new energy vehicles reached 10.899 million units, an increase of 40.7%, with an annual penetration rate of 47.6%. The sales of goods related to trade in have improved. Driven by the effective implementation of the policy of exchanging old for new consumer goods, sales of related products have improved since September 2024. Retail sales of household appliances and audio-visual equipment in units above designated size have continued to grow in double digits for four consecutive months, while retail sales of automobiles and furniture have turned from negative to positive. Retail sales of construction and decoration materials have gradually improved, "said Yu Jianxun. There are many favorable conditions to support consumption in 2025, and consumer demand still needs to be further boosted. Although the overall consumer market maintains a steady growth trend, it should also be noted that effective domestic demand is still insufficient, residents' consumption ability and willingness need to be improved, and some commodity sales and service consumption are relatively sluggish Yu Jianxun stated that as we enter 2025, with the continuous recovery and improvement of the national economy, the income of urban and rural residents continues to grow, relevant policies to boost consumption continue to be implemented and refined, new forms and models of consumption are gradually cultivated and strengthened, and the trend of expanding the consumer market is expected to be consolidated and enhanced. Kang Yi stated that there are many favorable conditions that will support sustained growth in consumption in the future. Firstly, the policy of promoting consumption continues to strengthen, and the Central Economic Work Conference further proposes to comprehensively expand domestic demand, which will release more policy effects. Secondly, the overall employment situation is stable, laying the foundation for increasing residents' income. The third is the continuous expansion of new consumption scenarios and formats, with new growth points such as ice and snow consumption, first-time economy, and silver tourism gradually forming. Fourthly, the advantage of China's super large market continues to emerge, with a population base of over 1.4 billion and a continuously improving level of urbanization, indicating enormous potential for consumption. All of these will strongly support the steady growth of consumption. The next step is to fully implement the decisions and deployments of the Central Economic Work Conference, carry out special actions to boost consumption, promote income growth and burden reduction for low - and middle-income groups, enhance consumption capacity, willingness, and hierarchy, innovate diversified consumption scenarios, and expand service consumption Kang Yi said. (New Society)