City organizing more events for shoppers

Shanghai is organizing activities to further promote consumption, aiming for a new round of spending in the second half of the year, the Shanghai Commission of Commerce said on Monday.

"The first Double Five Shopping Festival quickly activated the city's consumer market, and played a very positive role in continuously promoting the recovery of consumption and the release of market potential," said Liu Min, deputy director of the commission.

In July, the city realized a total of 129.72 billion yuan (US$18.92 billion) in retail sales of social consumer goods, an increase of 5.9 percent year on year, which was 7 percentage points higher than the national average. 

"For the next several months until the Spring Festival, we will launch four major themed consumer activities in collaboration with various government authorities and market entities," Liu said.

For instance, the Ministry of Commerce is due to hold "Consumption Promotion Month" from September 9 to October 8, in line with which Shanghai will launch a series of events. September also sees the annual Shanghai Tourism Festival.

Meanwhile, Nanjing Road E., originally built in 1851 as one of the city’s first modern roads, is being extended eastward to Zhongshan Road E1 from its current end at Henan Road M to accommodate a growing number of visitors. The work is due be completed in September, and activities will be held to boost consumer spending.

During the one-month period, 77 events held by over 2,000 enterprises have been included in the country's list of key events.

From mid-October to early November, with the third China International Import Expo from November 6 to 10, to turn more exhibits into commodities, Shanghai will launch a series of events on new product releases, as well as exhibitions and cultural weeks for featured goods from various countries.

From early November to mid-December, the city will focus on online shopping, offer more support and organize activities to give full play to the Double 11 and Double 12 online shopping sprees.

After that there will be another shopping season around the New Year and before Spring Festival, during which more sales promotions and discounts are planned.

The commission also pledged to work with relevant departments to optimize the consumption environment and release the dividends of consumption policies, to provide a more reassuring and comfortable shopping environment for consumers.