Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods Went Up by 12.4 percent from January to May 2021

In May, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 3,594.5 billion yuan, up 12.4 percent year on year; It was 9.3 percent higher than that in May 2019, with an average growth rate of 4.5 percent in two years. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods other than automobiles reached 3,225.7 billion yuan, an increase of 13.2 percent. Excluding price factors, the total retail sales of consumer goods in May actually increased by 10.1 percent, with an average growth of 3.0 percent in two years. From a month-on-month basis, the total retail sales of social consumer goods increased by 0.81 percent in May.

From January to May, the total retail sales of social consumer goods amounted to 17,431.9 billion yuan, an increase of 25.7 percent year-on-year, and an average growth rate of 4.3 percent in two years. Among them, the retail sales of consumer goods other than automobiles reached 15,630.4 billion yuan, an increase of 24.4 percent.

According to the location of the business unit, in May, the retail sales of urban consumer goods amounted to 3,131.3 billion yuan, an increase of 12.3 percent year-on-year, with an average growth of 4.5 percent in two years; the retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 463.2 billion yuan, an increase of 13.2 percent and an average growth of 4.7 percent in two years. From January to May, the retail sales of urban consumer goods reached 15,154.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 26.0 percent and an average growth of 4.4 percent in two years; the retail sales of rural consumer goods amounted to 2,277.2 billion yuan, an increase of 23.5 percent, and an average growth of 3.7 percent in two years.

According to the type of consumption, in May, commodity retail reached 3,212.9 billion yuan, an increase of 10.9 percent year-on-year, and an average growth of 4.9 percent in two years; catering revenue was 381.6 billion yuan, up 26.6 percent, with an average growth of 1.4 percent in two years. From January to May, the retail sales of commodities reached 15,652.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 22.9 percent and an average growth of 4.8 percent in two years; the catering revenue was 1,778.9 billion yuan, an increase of 56.8 percent, and an average decline of 0.3 percent in two years.

From January to May, the national online retail sales volume was 4,823.9 billion yuan, an increase of 24.7 percent year-on-year, and an average growth of 14.2 percent in two years. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 3,937.7 billion yuan, an increase of 19.9 percent, with an average growth of 15.6 percent in two years, accounting for 22.6 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 24.2, 28.2 and 17.0 percent respectively, with an average growth of 30.5, 9.3 and 15.9 percent in the two years.

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