Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods in September 2021

In September, the total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 3,683.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.4 percent; The growth rate was 7.8 percent higher than that in September 2019, and the average growth rate in the two years was 3.8 percent. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods other than automobiles reached 3,329.8 billion yuan, an increase of 6.4 percent. Excluding price factors, the total retail sales of social consumer goods in September actually increased by 2.5 percent year-on-year. On a month-on-month basis, the total retail sales of social consumer goods increased by 0.3 percent in September.

From January to September, the total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 31,805.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.4 percent, an increase of 8.0 percent over January to September 2019. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods other than automobiles reached 28,599.2 billion yuan, an increase of 16.3 percent.

According to the location of business units, in September, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 3,146.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.2 percent; the retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 537.1 billion yuan, an increase of 5.4 percent. From January to September, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 27,588.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 16.5 percent; the retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 4,216.9 billion yuan, an increase of 15.6 percent.

According to consumption types, in September, retail sales of goods reached 3,300.2 billion yuan, an increase of 4.5 percent year-on-year; catering revenue was 383.1 billion yuan, an increase of 3.1 percent. From January to September, retail sales of goods reached 28,530.7 billion yuan, up 15.0 percent year-on-year; catering revenue was 3,275 billion yuan, an increase of 29.8 percent.

By retail format, from January to September, the retail sales of supermarkets, convenience stores, department stores, professional stores and specialty stores in retail units above designated size increased by 6.2, 14.5, 19.9, 17.1 and 19.8 percent respectively year-on-year.

From January to September, China's online retail sales reached 9,187.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 18.5 percent. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 7,504.2 billion yuan, an increase of 15.2 percent, accounting for 23.6 percent of the total retail sales of social consumer goods; Among the online retail sales of physical goods, food, clothing and consumer goods increased by 20.2, 15.6 and 14.5 percent respectively.

Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods in September 2021

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