Surge in spending over the 5-day holiday

Consumption in Shanghai saw vigorous growth during the five-day Labour Day holiday, boosted by Double Five Shopping Festival promotions.

The city's offline spending between April 30 and May 4 totalled 19.65 billion yuan (US$3.04 billion), surging 30.4 percent from a year earlier and 9.6 percent higher than in the same period in 2019 before COVID-19, according to data from the Shanghai Consumer Market Big Data Laboratory.

Nanjing Road W, Nanjing Road E and Lujiazui were the top three commercial districts in terms of money spent. 

Shanghai welcomed 4.47 million visitors from outside the city, up 64.4 percent year on year. They spent some 6.85 billion yuan offline, accounting for 34.9 percent of the city's overall offline consumption. 

Data from the city's Business Development Research Center, meanwhile, showed that 210 large commercial enterprises in Shanghai achieved a total operating income of 7.38 billion yuan between May 1 and 5, an increase of 18.6 percent compared with last year. Catering enterprises saw a year-on-year leap of 49.8 percent.

The six-week Shanghai's Global Products Debut Season kicked off on April 30 as part of the Double Five Shopping Festival.

More than 2,800 products from over 550 brands will make their debut during the campaign, with over a hundred of the brands from abroad, further stimulating market vitality, the city's Commission of Commerce said.

Meanwhile, China’s first CIIE-themed commodity market on Nanjing Road Pedestrian Mall had nearly 40 million imported goods on offer, attracting 40,000 visits over the three days before the holiday.

During the holiday, luxury goods, cosmetics and automobiles posted the most significant growth. 

Key luxury goods companies saw sales rise 62.8 percent over the holiday period compared with last year. 

Car sales rose 23.9 percent between May 1 and 3, with sales of new energy vehicles up by 159 percent.