East China’s Jiangsu province has taken various measures to boost spending growth amid post-pandemic recovery so as to ensure the fulfillment of this year’s goals for social and economic development.
The city of Suzhou launched in April a consumption incentive campaign entitled satisfactory consumer spending in the Yangtze River Delta to ensure that tourists can demand their money back within 30 days after they make offline purchase in Suzhou.
The city has also taken the lead in the country to allocate 40 million yuan from government expenditures to ensure that the refund will be finalized for applicants who meet the criteria. The retailers will repay the government the compensation sometime later.
As of the end of July, 9112 items of goods had been returned with 4.75 million yuan refunded.
"The tourists can claim the refund as soon as they submit the application and the money is refunded at original price.In the next half of this year, Suzhou will expand the scope of refunding of goods to include services by reaching out to 61 scenic spots and museums in early August with more scenic areas and resorts to be included before October 1st,"said Ding Yue, Deputy Director, Suzhou Tiger Hill Scenic Area Administration.
"The refunding of goods looks trivial but is conducive to the stimulation of the business environment as this innovative measure safeguards the legitimate rights and interests of consumers and encourages businesses to improve quality and service,"said Qian Ling, Deputy Director of Suzhou Market Regulatory Administration.
The market regulatory administration in Changzhou has joined hands with courts and consumers’ rights association to forge a tripartite cooperation mechanism in a bid to reduce the cost of consumer rights protection, create a good consumption environment, and keep the entire consumption chain unblocked.
"Judicial institutions, social organizations and lawyers groups work together to protect consumers' rights and provide more convenient and professional solutions,"said Yang Chunjie, Secretary General of Changzhou Consumer Rights Protection Committee.
In the second half of the year, Jiangsu will continue to cultivate consumption hotspots, further tap rural consumption potential, encourage convenience stores to enter communities, parks, and scenic spots, and open 24-hour convenience stores so as to bridge the last mile of consumption.
According to Zhou Rui, Associate Research Fellow in Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences, consumption needs to be upgraded in quality and capacity, and policy adjustments should be made in areas with strong economic driving forces, such as the automotive tourism sector, so as to give full play to the role of the digital economy in the consumer sector, and promote online and offline integration. In addition, consumption is an important focus for expanding domestic demand. To promote consumption, we must improve the business environment and consumption environment. By expanding terminal consumption, we will force the transformation and upgrading of the industry and promote the high-quality development of the manufacturing sector.
