Local govt looks to build on consumer sentiment

With pandemic prevention and control measures optimized in late 2022, Beijing's consumption is recovering and even more vigorous than that of 2019.

According to a news conference held in Beijing on April 27, the city's total market consumption and service consumption in the first quarter increased by 14.7 percent and 25.6 percent, respectively, compared with the same period of 2019.

The major trading areas received 530 million visits in the first three months, a year-on-year rise of more than 10 percent.

Beijing saw three shopping malls, including DT51, open for business and 223,000 square meters of commercial facilities were created in the first quarter. The city plans to offer 23 large commercial facilities covering a combined area of about 2.4 million sq m this year. Of the new projects, some 80 percent are located in districts such as Haidian, Fengtai, Changping and Daxing.

Beijing is expediting development of new business models such as livestreaming e-commerce and cross-border e-commerce. Currently, there are 1,020 tax refund stores in the city, of which seven are cross-border e-commerce experience stores.

Six city-level policies on aspects such as new energy vehicles, secondhand cars and online retailing were released in the first quarter. These drove the sales of green and smart products to reach 740 million yuan ($106.88 million). The city's retail sales of NEVs increased by 36.9 percent year-on-year.

The 2023 Beijing Consumption Season, hosted by the Beijing government, kicked off on Qianmen Street on Feb 28 and will last through to December. Beijing is to conduct 25 citywide symbolic events among the business, travel, culture, sports and technology sectors, through Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei collaboration, and combined action among districts and characteristic business areas.

The events aim to combine international and Chinese trends, create a prosperous consumption atmosphere and better meet customers' diverse, quality and personalized demands, and support the development of Beijing into an international consumption hub.

Beijing plans to speed up the opening of some commercial centers in the districts of Shijingshan and Tongzhou, and improve the quality of key business areas such as Chongwenmen and Wukesong.

Wanda Plaza has planned to hold promotional activities and allow consumers to join in group purchases where they can spend 100 yuan and get a 150-yuan voucher.

This year, the Beijing Bureau of Commerce is co-hosting a festival on the theme of car buying with the Beijing Bureau of Economy and Information Technology and the Chaoyang district government, which will continue to November this year. It involves new car exhibitions and releases, discounts and promotions as well as test-drives.

Beijing has also planned to organize a livestreaming e-commerce shopping festival comprising livestreaming promotions, livestreaming host competitions and talent training. More enterprises will be assisted to expand their online sales channels through "live plus", bringing more goods to consumers.

During the event, Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei will cooperate to launch special live activities to increase the promotion of locally characteristic products. Companies are encouraged to independently conduct livestreaming activities characteristic of Beijing and improve the online consumption experience through new live scenes and technologies.

songmengxing@chinadaily.com.cn