East China’s Jiangsu province reported increasing retail sales of consumer goods in the first four months of this year with a total amount of 1.41 trillion yuan, the provincial department of commerce said on Sunday.
From January to April, Jiangsu recorded 1.416 trillion yuan of retail sales, up 35.2% year on year and 15% from the same period of 2019, averaging a 7-percentage-point growth in two years.
The province’s retail sales of consumer goods accounted for 10.2% of the national total during the four-month period, a gain of 0.4 percentage points from a year ago and continuing to rank second in the country.
The upgrading of residents' consumption and the improvement of the market environment have obvious effects on the consumer market.
From January to April, the annual growth rate of retail sales of the large-scale retailers was 4 percentage points higher than the provincial average. 16 of the 18 major consumer goods reported positive sales growth while the retail sales of new energy vehicles maintained a strong growth momentum.
Since 2020, Jiangsu has vigorously promoted the construction of special parking spaces and the installation of charging facilities for new energy vehicles, extended the purchase subsidy and tax exemption period, and actively promoted the sales of new energy vehicles in rural areas.
Jiangsu recently abolished the 5-year restriction on the transfer of ownership of new energy vehicles in a bid to further smooth the transaction of new energy vehicles.
From January to April, Jiangsu reported a year-on-year growth of 202% in the retail sales of new energy vehicles.
In order to further optimize the layout of commerce circulation planning and create a new platform for promoting circulation and expanding consumption, the Provincial Department of Commerce recently issued the "Opinions on Accelerating the Construction of a Modern Commerce Circulation System".
According to this opinion, Jiangsu will promote the development of urban commercial centers, regional commercial centers, and characteristic commercial blocks with Nanjing, Suzhou, Wuxi and Changzhou, and Xuzhou taking the lead so as to facilitate people’s life.
Jiangsu will also support Nanjing and some other cities to create international consumption centers, develop cross-border e-commerce and international large-scale commodity trading platforms, and promote the transformation and upgrading of national and provincial pedestrian streets.
In the meantime, the province will launch more than 500 consumption promotion activities and create a series of "one theme for one city" activities in 13 prefecture-level cities based on their respective industrial advantages to further release the vitality of consumption.
