Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods Went Up by 34.2 percent from January to March 2021

In March, the total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 3,548.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.2 percent; it was 12.9 percent higher than that in March 2019, with an average growth rate of 6.3 percent in two years. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods other than automobiles reached 3,155.4 billion yuan, an increase of 32.5 percent. After deducting price factors, the total retail sales of social consumer goods in March 2021 increased by 33 percent in real terms, with an average growth of 4.4 percent in two years. On a month-on-month basis, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 1.75 percent in March.

From January to March, the total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 10,522.1 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 33.9 percent, with an average growth rate of 4.2 percent in two years; after seasonal adjustment, it increased by 1.86 percent compared with October to December last year. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods other than automobiles reached 9,461.2 billion yuan, an increase of 31.2 percent.

In March, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 3,079.4 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.0 percent and an average increase of 6.2 percent in two years; the retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 469 billion yuan, an increase of 34.9 percent and an average increase of 7.1 percent in two years. From January to March, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 9,134.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 34.6 percent and an average growth of 4.3 percent in two years; the retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 1,387.5 billion yuan, an increase of 29.4 percent and an average growth of 3.2 percent in two years.

By consumption type, in March, the retail sales of goods reached 3,197.4 billion yuan, up 29.9 percent year on year, with an average growth of 6.9 percent in two years; the catering revenue reached 3511.1 billion yuan, up 91.6 percent, with an average growth of 0.9 percent in two years. From January to March, retail sales reached 9,462.5 billion yuan, up 30.4 percent year on year, with an average growth of 4.8 percent in two years; catering revenue reached 1,059.6 billion yuan, up 75.8 percent, with an average decline of 1.0 percent in two years.

From January to March, the retail sales of supermarkets, convenience stores, department stores, professional stores and specialty stores increased by 7.2, 26.8, 47, 40 and 62.7 percent respectively.

From January to March, China's online retail sales reached 2,809.3 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 29.9 percent and an average growth of 13.5 percent in two years. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 2,306.7 billion yuan, an increase of 25.8 percent, with an average growth of 15.4 percent in two years, accounting for 21.9 percent of the total retail sales of social consumer goods; among the online retail sales of physical goods, the sales of food, clothing and consumer goods increased by 30.5, 39.6 and 21.4 percent respectively, with an average growth of 31.6, 8.9 and 15.6 percent in two years.

Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods in March 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 March 2020 was revised. The revised figures and figures are as follows: