SZ consumer market recovers growth in H1

Writer: Zhang Yu  |  Editor: Holly Wang  |  From: Shenzhen Daily  |  Updated: 2020-08-10

A scene at the Hongshan 6979 shopping center in Longhua District. DT News

With foot traffic rising steadily in key business circles, Shenzhen’s consumer market has gradually warmed up and demonstrated obvious momentum of growth, Shenzhen Special Zone Daily reported yesterday.

In the first half of 2020, total retail sales of consumer goods in Shenzhen reached 364 billion yuan (US$52 billion), down 14.8 percent year on year, but increased by 8.1 percentage points compared with the first quarter of the year, according to official statistics.

Shenzhen has introduced a broad swath of measures to boost consumer spending and foster steady growth in the economy since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Various districts across the city have issued a total of 550 million yuan of electronic consumer vouchers to attract residents to dine out and increase spending on retail, accommodation, dining and automobiles.

According to statistics, in the first half of the year, Shenzhen registered 325.62 billion yuan in retail sales, accounting for 89.5 percent of the total retail sales of consumer goods, down 13.8 percent year on year, but 8.1 percent higher than in the first quarter.

The city’s top 100 retail enterprises have showcased strong resilience. In the first half of 2020, the growth rate of Shenzhen’s top 100 retail enterprises in retail sales was 3.8 percentage points higher than that of the total retail sales of consumer goods, and nearly 40 percent of the enterprises maintained positive growth.

The dining sector has also accelerated recovery, with the number of dine-in customers rising steadily.

In the first half of the year, Shenzhen recorded 38.39 billion yuan in food expenses, a year-on-year decline of 22.6 percent. In June, the turnover of the dining industry had recovered to about 90 percent of that in the same period of last year.

Residents’ restrained consumption has been further unleashed with the epidemic under control in the city. Statistics showed that since the first quarter, the growth rate of retail sales of automobiles, daily necessities, gold and silver jewelry, and cosmetics has risen by 17.4 percent, 15.2 percent, 15.3 percent and 11.4 percent, respectively.