Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods Went down by 1.8 percent in June 2020

In June, the total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 3,352.6 billion yuan, down 1.8 percent year-on-year (2.9 percent of decrease in real terms after deducting the price factor, and the followings are all nominal growth unless specifically explained), a decrease rate of 1.0 percentage point over the previous month. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles reached 2,991.4 billion yuan, down 1.0 percent.

From January to June, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 17,225.6 billion yuan, down 11.4 percent year on year. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles reached 15,586.9 billion yuan, down 10.9 percent.

According to the location of the business unit, in June, the retail sales of urban consumer goods were 2,905.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 2.0 percent, and the decline rate was 0.8 percentage point lower than that of the previous month; the retail sales of rural consumer goods were 447.4 billion yuan, down 1.2 percent, 2.0 percentage points lower than that of the previous month. From January to June, the retail sales of consumer goods in cities and towns reached 14,934.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 11.5 percent; the retail sales of consumer goods in rural areas were 2,291.1 billion yuan, a decrease of 10.9 percent.

According to consumption types, in June, the retail sales of goods were 3,026.3 billion yuan, down 0.2 percent year-on-year, and the decline rate was 0.6 percentage point lower than that of the previous month; the catering income was 326.2 billion yuan, down 15.2 percent, 3.7 percentage points lower than that of the previous month. From January to June, retail sales of goods reached 15,764.8 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 8.7 percent, and catering revenue was 1,460.9 billion yuan, a decrease of 32.8 percent.

According to the types of retail business, the retail sales of supermarkets in retail enterprises above designated size increased by 3.8 percent from January to June, while department stores, professional stores and exclusive stores decreased by 23.6, 14.1 and 14.4 percent respectively.

From January to June, China's online retail sales reached 5,150.1 billion yuan, an increase of 7.3 percent year-on-year, 2.8 percentage points higher than that of January to May. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods amounted to 4,348.1 billion yuan, an increase of 14.3 percent, accounting for 25.2 percent of the total retail sales of social consumer goods; among the online retail sales of physical goods, food and use goods increased by 38.8 and 17.3 percent respectively, while wearing goods decreased by 2.9 percent.

Notes:

1.The growth rate in this table are all nominal growth rate.

2.For parts of data, the total is not equal to the total of sub-items due to round-off.

Annotations:

1. Revision Description

According to the results of the fourth national economic census, the total retail sales of consumer goods in 2019 have been revised, and the growth rate from January to February 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: (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

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