National Day holiday spurs huge retail sales and recovery
Consumption in Shanghai grew significantly over the seven-day National Day holiday, with a recovery in offline shopping.
The city's total online spending between September 30 and October 6 approximated 25.48 billion yuan (US$3.58 billion), an increase of 2.9 percent year on year, according to data from the Shanghai Consumer Market Big Data Laboratory.
Offline spending during the period was 40.77 billion yuan, recovering to about 80 percent of the same period last year – before the COVID-19 resurgence in Shanghai.
Among them, offline consumption in the catering, auto, and home appliances sectors all posted robust growth, topping 6.96 billion yuan, 1.27 billion yuan and 470 million yuan, respectively, surging 18 percent, 76.3 percent and 300 percent year on year.
A busy Nanjing Road during the National Day holiday
Major commercial complexes in the city saw passenger flows increase 24.6 percent from the previous seven-day period.
Sales at commercial complexes, such as Shanghai Global Port, Grand Gateway 66, Wujiaochang Wanda Plaza, Bicester Village in Shanghai, Qibao Vanke Plaza, Baoshan Wanda Plaza, CITIC Pacific Wanda Plaza, Gala Mall and Qingpu Injoy Mall, meanwhile, achieved double-digit growth year on year.
It was highlighted that over 135 million yuan of e-vouchers, which were distributed by the city several days before the holiday, were used during the seven-day period, with a leverage ratio of 4 times.
Also of note, Shanghai launched policies on subsidies for green and smart home appliances for the first time just before the holidays, largely boosting both passenger flows and sales at home appliance and home improvement stores.
Between October 1 and October 6, 35 home appliance retailers in Shanghai which participated in the implementation of the policy, such as Suning.com, Gome, JD.com, Bailian, and Carrefour, sold 143 million yuan of green and smart home appliances in total, with 16,900 transactions and subsidies worth 12.735 million yuan.
