Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods Went Up by 4.6 percent in December 2020

In December, the total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 4,056.6 billion yuan, up 4.6 percent year on year, and the growth rate was 0.4 percentage point lower than that of last month. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles reached 3,569.5 billion yuan, an increase of 4.4 percent.

In 2020, the total retail sales of social consumer goods will reach 39,198.1 billion yuan, a decrease of 3.9 percent over the previous year. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles amounted to 35,256.6 billion yuan, down 4.1 percent.

By location of business unit, in December, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 3,470.6 billion yuan, up 4.4 percent year on year, while that of rural consumer goods reached 586 billion yuan, up 5.9 percent. In 2020, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 33,911.9 billion yuan, a decrease of 4.0 percent over the previous year; the retail sales of rural consumer goods were 5,286.2 billion yuan, a decrease of 3.2 percent.

By consumption type, in December, the retail sales of goods were 3,561.6 billion yuan, up 5.2 percent year on year; the catering revenue was 495 billion yuan, up 0.4 percent, down 0.6 percent in November. In 2020, the retail sales of goods reached 35,245.3 billion yuan, down 2.3 percent compared with the previous year; the catering revenue was 3,952.7 billion yuan, down 16.6 percent.

By retail format, in 2020, the retail sales of supermarkets in retail units above designated size increased by 3.1 percent over the previous year, while department stores, specialty stores and specialty stores decreased by 9.8, 5.4 and 1.4 percent respectively.

In 2020, China's online retail sales was 11,760.1 billion yuan, an increase of 10.9 percent over the previous year, and the growth rate was 0.6 percent lower than that from January to November. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 9,759 billion yuan, an increase of 14.8 percent, accounting for 24.9 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 30.6, 5.8 and 16.2 percent respectively.

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