National Day holiday spurs consumption

Chinese consumers unleashed their massive buying power during the weeklong National Day holiday, with high-quality intelligent home appliance products and outdoor equipment gaining traction amid the country's vigorous measures to shore up consumption, industry experts said.

Data from e-commerce platform JD show that sales of clothes dryers and floor-cleaning appliances surged about 300 percent from Oct 1 to 3, compared with the same period last year. Purchases of juice extractors, air fryers, coffee makers and other kitchen appliances increased more than 50 percent year-on-year during the same period.

With a growing interest in outdoor recreation among Chinese people, sales of outdoor shoes and apparel, skateboards and cycling equipment rose over 50 percent year-on-year during the first three days of the National Day holiday.

In addition, the turnover of tents and picnic supplies skyrocketed 98 percent and 118 percent on a yearly basis, respectively, while the transaction volume of outdoor photographic equipment soared 17-fold year-on-year, JD said.

In the first five days of the holiday, the sales of extended reality, or XR devices, on Alibaba's Tmall platform surged 330 percent from a year earlier. Moreover, purchases of imported goods including healthcare products and outdoor equipment registered a double-digit growth year-on-year on Tmall Global, an e-commerce site dedicated to overseas items.

Despite sporadic COVID-19 flareups, China's consumption recovery has gained impetus during the seven-day National Day holiday, indicating the strong resilience and immense potential of consumption, said Wang Yun, a researcher at the Academy of Macroeconomic Research.

A series of pro-consumption measures, such as giving away shopping vouchers, have played a vital role in bolstering the recovery of consumption and unleashing consumers' potential purchasing demand, Wang said, estimating the country's consumption growth will gather pace in the fourth quarter of this year.

China has rolled out a raft of measures to promote consumption recovery, including boosting consumption in key fields such as automobiles, green and intelligent home appliances as well as catering and accommodations.

According to Suning, a major online shopping platform, from Oct 1 to 6, the number of orders placed at its brick-and-mortar stores nationwide jumped 168 percent over the same period one month earlier and the sales of intelligent home appliances rose 95 percent on a monthly basis.

Sales of green and energy-saving home appliances increased 98 percent month-on-month during this period, among which energy-saving water heaters and refrigerators witnessed their sales surge 132 percent and 134 percent, respectively, Suning said.

Data from local authorities in Shanghai showed during the seven-day holiday, spending on catering, cars and home appliances via offline channels in the city increased significantly, with the transaction volume reaching 6.96 billion yuan ($978 million), 1.27 billion yuan and 470 million yuan, respectively, up 18 percent, 76.3 percent and 300 percent year-on-year.

China's consumer market, which continues to play a fundamental role in bolstering the country's economic growth, is expected to see a recovery this year, driven by the continuous recovery of supply chains and a slew of supportive policies to spur consumption, said Zhao Ping, deputy head of the Beijing-based Academy of China Council for the Promotion of International Trade.