Online retail market Unleash consumption potential

Source: People's Daily Author: Wang Ke

Data source: Ministry of Commerce, National Bureau of Statistics Chart: Zhang Danfeng

"Before work, I place an order on my mobile phone, and when I get home, the goods are delivered, and I don't have to worry about buying vegetables anymore." Li Xiaoyang, an employee of an Internet company in Beijing's Haidian District, said that in the past, due to busy work, it was inconvenient to buy vegetables after work, so he could only take advantage of the weekend to purchase centralized procurement to fill the refrigerator. Now, ordering and buying vegetables through the mobile APP can be delivered to the door in half an hour, the ingredients are fresh and easy to buy. "The rapid development of e-commerce has brought more convenience to our people's eating and wearing." Li Xiaoyang said.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, in 2021, the national online retail sales reached 13.1 trillion yuan, an increase of 14.1% year-on-year, and the growth rate was 3.2 percentage points faster than that of the previous year. Among them, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 10.8 trillion yuan, exceeding 10 trillion yuan for the first time, an increase of 12.0% year-on-year, accounting for 24.5% of the total retail sales of social consumer goods, and the contribution rate to the growth of total retail sales of social consumer goods was 23.6%.

"In 2021, the mainland online retail market will maintain steady growth, becoming an important force for stable growth, employment protection and consumption promotion, and has made positive contributions to promoting the construction of a new development pattern." Ministry of Commerce spokesman Gao Feng said.

90.5%

Home smart device sales increased year-over-year

Consumption upgrades in the online shopping market

"Last year, I bought a full suite of smart home devices online. Online shopping services are getting better and better, and buying large goods is also very assured! Li Gaowei, a resident of Wangjing Street in Beijing's Chaoyang District, said.

According to Gao Feng, according to the monitoring of business big data, the consumption upgrade trend of the mainland online retail market in 2021 is obvious. Healthy, green and high-quality products are increasingly favored by consumers.

Smart home and smart wear showed a high-speed growth trend: sales of home smart devices increased by 90.5% year-on-year; sales of smart watches, smart glasses and other smart wearables increased by 36.3% and 26.8% respectively year-on-year. Sales of outdoor products increased by 30.8% year-on-year, and sales of tents, ski equipment, and surf diving products increased rapidly. Sales of organic vegetables, organic milk and organic edible oil increased by 127.6%, 24.1% and 21.8% year-on-year.

The popularity of personalized, new categories, environmental protection and energy-saving goods also reflects the consumption upgrade of the online shopping market. Jingdong data shows that the turnover of personalized products increased by more than 60% last year. Among the intelligent personality products, the turnover of the smart dining table increased by more than 10 times year-on-year, and the turnover of smart dolls and smart clothes dryers also reached 195% and 116% respectively; in the healthy personality products, the turnover of household scrubbers increased by 458% year-on-year, and the turnover of health scales also increased by 122% year-on-year.

30.1%

Online food and beverage sales increased year-over-year

The momentum of e-commerce innovation in the service industry is strong

"Through takeaway, we have changed the stereotypes that were previously in the minds of young consumers and found new growth points." Xu Dan, CEO of Xu Ji Seafood, said. In 2020, Xuji Seafood conformed to the consumer trend and launched a takeaway service. Last year, The takeaway revenue of Xuji Seafood's 45 stores nationwide reached 120 million yuan, an increase of more than 27% year-on-year.

Gao Feng said that last year, the innovation and development momentum of e-commerce in the mainland service industry was strong. The innovation of e-commerce model has promoted the universalization of high-quality service resources such as education and medical care, and the purchase of vocational training services online has continued to grow. The overall growth rate of online catering accelerated, with sales increasing by 30.1% year-on-year, an increase of 27.9 percentage points over the previous year.

Judging from the data released by the service industry e-commerce, last year, orders for small dishes, peripheral tours, and expansion courses increased significantly. Meituan data shows that in 2021, takeaway sales of small dishes merchants increased by 43.92% year-on-year, and the sales growth rate of related dishes reached 45.91%. Meituan ticket data shows that this year's Spring Festival, natural landscapes, ski resorts, cultural monuments and other scenic spots are hot bookings.

In response to the escalating needs of consumers, e-commerce companies in the service industry are also constantly optimizing their services. In order to meet people's demand for night drug purchase, Meituan Buy Drugs and pharmacies and pharmaceutical companies across the country launched a people's livelihood service plan to support 24-hour pharmacies, which increased the number of 24-hour pharmacies in the country from 2,000 to 8,000, and added nearly 40 million new users who bought drugs at night.

2.05 trillion yuan

National rural network retail sales in 2021

Rural e-commerce helps rural revitalization

"Hitching a ride on the express train of e-commerce, our Apple connects directly to consumers, not only selling more, but also selling faster." Zhou Jie, head of Pengkai Fruit Industry in Yuncheng, Shanxi, said. In October last year, fresh red Fuji was favored by consumers on major e-commerce platforms, and Pengkai Fruit and Cooperative achieved e-commerce sales of more than 120 million yuan, doubling year-on-year.

According to Gao Feng, rural e-commerce has effectively helped rural revitalization, and the national rural online retail sales will reach 2.05 trillion yuan in 2021, an increase of 11.3% over the previous year, and the growth rate will be accelerated by 2.4 percentage points. The retail sales of agricultural products in the country reached 422.1 billion yuan, an increase of 2.8% year-on-year. The "digital business to revitalize agriculture" has been deepened, and the "new infrastructure" of rural e-commerce has been continuously improved.

In terms of improving the supply chain of agricultural products and promoting the upward trend of agricultural products, various e-commerce platforms have actively acted and played a role. Since October 2020, Jingdong has docked more than 1,000 agricultural specialty areas and industrial belts across the country, directly connected more than 500 large-scale high-quality vegetable bases, and built more than 70 modern, standardized and intelligent farms; opened more than 700 agricultural assistance halls and specialty pavilions to help expand sales channels for agricultural products and handicraft products in remote and underdeveloped areas.