Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods Went down by 7.5 percent in April 2020

In April, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 2,817.8 billion yuan, down 7.5 percent year on year (the actual decline was 9.1 percent, after deducting the price factor, and the following are nominal growth except for special instructions), with the decrease of 8.3 percentage points over last month. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles reached 2,509.5 billion yuan, down 8.3 percent.

From January to April, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 10,675.8 billion yuan, down 16.2 percent year on year in nominal growth. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles reached 9,735.7 billion yuan, down 15.5 percent.

According to the location of business units, in April, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 2,455.8 billion yuan, down 7.5 percent year-on-year, 8.4 percentage points lower than that of last month; the retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 362 billion yuan, down 7.7 percent, 7.4 percentage points lower than that of last month. From January to April, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 9,241.3 billion yuan, down 16.3 percent year on year; the retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 1,434.5 billion yuan, down 15.4 percent.

According to consumption types, the retail sales of goods reached 2,587.1 billion yuan, down 4.6 percent, 7.4 percentage points lower than that of last month; catering revenue was 230.7 billion yuan, down 31.1 percent year on year, 15.7 percentage points lower than that of last month. From January to April, the retail sales of goods reached 9,842.5 billion yuan, down 13.1 percent; catering revenue was 833.3 billion yuan, down 41.2 percent year on year.

From January to April, the national online retail sales reached 3,069.8 billion yuan, up 1.7 percent year on year, which was 0.8 percent from January to March. Among them, online retail sales of physical goods reached 2,575.1 billion yuan, an increase 8.6 percent, accounting for the proportion of total retail sales of consumer goods 24.1 percent. Among the online retail sales of physical goods, food and use goods increased respectively by 36.7 and 12.4 percent, while clothing goods decreased by 12 percent.

Annotations:

1. Revision Description

According to the results of the fourth national economic census, the total retail sales of consumer goods in 2019 are revised, and the monthly growth rate in 2020 is calculated according to the comparable caliber.

2. 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.

3. 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).

4. Survey Methods

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

5. 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 April 2019 was revised. The revised figures and figures in April 2020 are as follows: