Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods Went Up by 33.8 percent from January to February 2021

National Bureau of Statistics of China 2021-03-16 10:00 Print| Large| Medium| Small

From January to February, the total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 6,973.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.8 percent; compared with January to February in 2019, it increased by 6.4 percent, with an average growth rate of 3.2 percent in two years. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods other than automobiles reached 6,307.6 billion yuan, an increase of 30.4 percent and an average growth of 2.9 percent in two years. After deducting price factors, the total retail sales of social consumer goods from January to February 2021 increased by 34.3 percent in real terms, with an average growth of 1.2 percent in two years.

From January to February, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 6,055.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.9 percent and an average increase of 3.4 percent in two years; the retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 918.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 26.7 percent and an average increase of 1.3 percent in two years.

According to the consumption type, from January to February, commodity retail sales amounted to 6,265.1 billion yuan, an increase of 30.7 percent year-on-year, an average growth of 3.8 percent in two years; catering income was 708.5 billion yuan, up 68.9 percent year-on-year, and 2.0 percent on average in two years.

From January to February, the national online retail sales volume was 1,758.7 billion yuan, an increase of 32.5 percent year-on-year, and an average growth of 13.3 percent in two years. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 1,441.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 30.6 percent, with an average growth of 16.0 percent in two years, accounting for 20.7 percent of the total retail sales of social consumer goods; in the online retail sales of physical goods, food, clothing and consumer goods increased by 41.6, 44.3 and 25.1 percent, respectively, with an average growth of 33.8, 8.7 and 16.0 percent in two years.

Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods from January to February 2021


tem	Jan-Feb
	Absolute Value (100 million yuan)	Y/Y (%)

Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods	69737	33.8
Of Which: Retail Sales of the Enterprises (units) excluding automobiles	63076	30.4
Of Which: Retail Sales of the Enterprises (units) above Designated Size	24375	43.9
Of Which: Online Retail Sales of Physical Goods	14412	30.6
Grouped by Different Areas
City	60552	34.9
At and Below County Level	9185	26.7
Grouped by Consumption Patterns
Catering Services	7085	68.9
Of which: Income of Catering Services of the Enterprises (units) above Designated Size	1459	61.8
Retail Sales of Goods	62651	30.7
Of which: Income of Retail Sales of Goods of the Enterprises (units) above Designated Size	22916	42.9
Of which: Grain, Oil, Foodstuff	2828	10.9
Beverages,	439	36.9
Tobacco and Liquor	861	43.9
Garments, Footwear, Hats, Knitwear	2262	47.6
Cosmetics	558	40.7
Gold, Silver and Jewelry	545	98.7
Commodities	1093	34.6
Household Appliances and AV Equipment	1152	43.2
Traditional Chinese and Western Medicines	879	16.9
Cultural and Office Appliances	515	38.3
Furniture	223	58.7
Communication Appliances	1005	53.1
Petroleum and Related Products	2738	21.9
Automobile	6661	77.6
Building and Decoration Materials	221	52.8

Notes: 1. The growth rate in this table are all nominal growth rate without deducting the price factor. 　　 2. Some data in this table are not equal to total and itemized total due to rounding.

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 include 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: 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).

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 February 2020 was revised. The revised figures and figures are as follows:

The Month-on-Month Growth Rate of Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods
Months	Growth Rate (%)

2020-February	0.94
March	0.87
April	0.99
May	3.84
June	1.25
July	0.52
August	1.21
September	4.77
October	0.56
November	1.36
December	1.26
2021-January	-1.40
February	0.56

5. In order to eliminate the influence of the uncertain date of the Spring Festival and enhance the comparability of the data, according to the national statistical system, the data from January to February over the years are investigated and released together.

6. The two-year average growth rate refers to the growth rate calculated by geometric average method based on the corresponding number of the same period in 2019.