Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods Went Up by 7.2 percent in October 2019

In October 2019, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 3,810.4 billion yuan, went up by 7.2 percent year-on-year (nominal growth rate. The real growth rate was 4.9 percent. The follows are nominal growth rates if there’s no additional explanation). Of the total, the retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles reached 3,487.6 billion yuan, increased by 8.3 percent.

In October 2019, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 33,477.8 billion yuan, up by 8.1 percent year-on-year. Of the total, the retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles was 30,306.6 billion yuan, increased by 9.0 percent.

In terms of different areas, the retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas was 3,274.4 billion yuan in October 2019, up by 7.0 percent year-on-year, while that in rural areas was 536 billion yuan, up by 8.6 percent year-on-year. In the first ten months, the retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas was 28,626.8 billion yuan, up by 7.9 percent year-on-year, while that in rural areas was 4,851 billion yuan, up by 9.0 percent.

In terms of different consumption patterns, the catering services in October 2019 gained 436.7 billion yuan, up by 9.0 percent year-on-year. The retail sales of goods gained 3,373.7 billion yuan, up by 7.0 percent. In the first ten months, the catering services gained 3,693.2 billion yuan, up by 9.4 percent year-on-year, the retail sales of goods gained 29,784.6 billion yuan, up by 7.9 percent.

From January to October of 2019, the national online retail sales reached 8,230.7 billion yuan, an increase of 16.4 percent year on year. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 6,517.2 billion yuan, an increase of 19.8 percent, accounting for 19.5 percent of the total retail sales of social consumer goods; among the online retail sales of physical goods, food, clothing and other commodities increased by 34.8, 7.1 and 16.6 percent respectively.

Annotations:

1. Explanatory Notes

Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods: refers to the sales of physical commodity or the income of catering services sold or provided by enterprises (units) to individuals, social organizations for non-production and non-operation purposes.

Online Retail Sales: refers to the sales of goods and services got through public online trading platform (including self-built websites and third-party platform). Goods and services include physical goods and non-physical goods (such as virtual product, services). 

The total retail sales of consumer goods includes online retail sales of physical goods, excludes online retail sales of non-physical goods.

2.Statistical Coverage

The corporate enterprises, industrial activity units or self-employed individuals which retail goods or provide catering services. Enterprises (units) above designated size refer to those wholesale enterprises (units) with an annual revenue from primary business of 20 million yuan and above, those retail enterprises (units) with an annual revenue from primary business of 5 million yuan and above, and those hotel and catering enterprises (units) with an annual revenue from primary business of 2 million yuan and above.

As the scope of wholesale and retail enterprises, accommodation and catering enterprises (units) above the designated size changes every year, the same period used to calculate the growth rate of retail sales per unit of consumer goods above the designated size is consistent with the statistical range of enterprises (units) in this period, and there is a caliber difference from the data released last year in order to ensure that the current year's data are comparable with the previous years. The main reasons are as follows: (1) some enterprises (units) reach the designated size and are included in the scope of the investigation every year, at the same time, some enterprises (units) withdraw from the scope of the investigation because their scale is smaller than the designated size, and there are also the effects of newly opened enterprises, bankruptcy, note (revocation) enterprises (units). (2) The monthly report of 2019, combined with the results of the fourth national economic census unit inventory (August-December 2018), re-verifies and identifies the units above the designated size at the end of 2018. Enterprises (units) that fail to meet the standard are included in the scope of the unit survey below the designated size

3. Survey Methods

All enterprises (units) above designated size are surveyed, while the data of enterprises (units) below designated size are collected by sampling survey.

4. Month-on-Month Figure Revision

According to the auto-revision function of the seasonal adjustment model, the growth rate of the total retail sales of consumer goods since September 2018 was revised. The revised figures and figures in October 2019 are as follows: