City designated international consumption center

Shanghai, along with four other major cities, is taking the lead in developing international consumption centers in China.

China's Ministry of Commerce on Monday announced that Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Tianjin and Chongqing will be the first batch of cities to be cultivated as international consumption centers.

Approved by the State Council, the move is a key national strategy to serve the new development pattern, promote high-quality economic development and to meet people's needs for a better life, according to Wang Wentao, minister of commerce.

Shanghai, in response, pledged to make every effort to develop a "central node" in domestic circulation and serve as a junction for the dual-circulation strategy.

Being listed among the cities to be cultivated into international consumption centers is a boost for Shanghai's future development, which will provide an important power source, a growth pole and supporting point for the city to entice and gather global consumption resources, upgrade the consumption function and capacity, and accelerate the construction of a modern metropolis with global influence, according to Shanghai's Vice Mayor Chen Yin.

The consumer market in Shanghai is huge, the city's Commission of Commerce said.

In the first half of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods in the city reached 904.8 billion yuan (US$139.68 billion), an increase of 30.3 percent year on year and 7.3 percentage points higher than the national figure.

The commission highlighted that the city has attracted more than 90 percent of global high-end brands, luring international brands to make Shanghai the stage for their new products' debuts. The number of first and flagship stores doing business in Shanghai both ranked first in the country.

Focusing on the strategic goal of building an international consumption center city, Shanghai recently issued a new round of the three-year action plan (2021-2023). 

It proposed to leverage innovation as a major driving force, and use high-quality supply to lead and create new demand. 

It will cultivate more consumption landmarks, optimize the environment for consumption and shopping, and improve supplier quality to unleash the potential of high-end, online, service, external and nighttime consumption.