Tianjin offers coupons worth over 60m yuan to boost consumption

The northern Chinese port city of Tianjin will provide customers with coupons worth more than 60 million yuan (US$8.46 million) to stimulate consumption, local authorities said.

Coupons worth 21 million yuan have been issued, and more will gradually be released. The coupons are for use in areas including catering, cars, home appliances and building materials businesses, according to the Tianjin Commission of Commerce.

The city will provide enterprises, which have online stores on major shopping platforms such as Tmall, JD.com and Suning.com, with corresponding financial subsidies to reduce their annual fees and commissions.

Enterprises are also encouraged to promote goods on video-sharing apps and develop markets by livestreaming to expand the integration of their online and offline sales efforts.

Many Chinese cities, including Nanjing in east China's Jiangsu Province and Ningbo in east China's Zhejiang Province, have launched coupons to encourage residents to dine out and shop, in an effort to boost consumption hit hard by the novel coronavirus outbreak.