With China's multiple measures to promote the continuous recovery and expansion of consumption, the "4.0" version of the China International Consumer Products Expo (hereinafter referred to as the "Expo") has made its debut.
From April 13th to 18th, the 4th CICGF was held in Hainan with the theme of "Sharing Open Opportunities and Creating a Better Life". This year's CICGF is the first of its kind to hold an island-wide exhibition, bringing together more than 4,000 consumer boutique brands from 71 countries and regions. Compared with the first CICGF, the 4th CICG has greatly increased its exhibition area, the number of participating brands, and the number of buyers and visitors.
On April 16, the National Bureau of Statistics released China's economic data for the first quarter. In the first quarter, consumption contributed 73.7% to economic growth, and consumption showed a pattern of stronger consumption of services than consumption of goods. In the future, it is still necessary to further resolve challenges such as insufficient effective demand and weak social expectations, and China's consumption potential needs to be further tapped.
Sheng Qiuping, Vice Minister of Commerce, said that we will focus on "focusing on expanding domestic demand and stimulating potential consumption", highlight the advantages of the largest consumer boutique exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region, and the superposition effect of the "platform + policy" of the Consumer Expo and offshore duty-free activities, give full play to the leading role of the Consumer Expo in new consumption, and continue to promote consumption upgrading and potential release.
How do you view the "effect of the Expo"? How can China's economy lay a good foundation for expanding domestic demand? In the context of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, how to build new quality productivity? How should enterprises embrace the opportunity of green transformation? With a series of questions, the 21st Century Business Herald reporter recently interviewed Bi Shunjie, the head of Ernst & Young Greater China Business.
Bi Shunjie. Data map
How to win the "tough battle" to expand domestic demand?
21st Century: From April 13th to 18th, the 4th CICG was held in Hainan, how do you view the "CICGF effect"? What changes have you observed in the past few years?
Bi Shunjie: In the past few years, we have witnessed the vigorous development of the Expo. The "four-year-old" CICG has become the largest consumer goods exhibition in the Asia-Pacific region, and its scale, quality, effectiveness and influence have been significantly improved. The "Consumer Expo Effect" is manifested in all aspects, not only as an important platform for displaying global consumer products, but also as an important force for enriching domestic consumption supply and leading the consumption trend, which is conducive to stimulating consumption potential and expanding domestic demand.
This year, the CICGF also adopted the "1+N" island-wide exhibition model for the first time, setting up duty-free shopping and international health sub-venues outside the main venue, making full use of the policy dividends of the Hainan Free Trade Port to showcase new consumption scenarios, new fields and new highlights. We look forward to further stimulating consumer enthusiasm through this event, and accelerating the formation of a new development pattern in China's economy, with the domestic cycle as the mainstay and the domestic and international cycles reinforcing each other, so as to achieve more stable and sustainable development.
"21st Century": Consumption is the key force to promote China's economic growth, and at the same time, residents' income and confidence are facing challenges, how to lay a good foundation for expanding domestic demand? How can China's economy get out of the situation of insufficient effective demand and weak social expectations?
Bi Shunjie: In order to win the "tough battle" of expanding domestic demand, it is suggested that we can start from multiple dimensions. First of all, promoting employment and household income growth is the key. By deepening the reform of the income distribution system, we will ensure that the income of urban and rural residents will increase steadily, so as to enhance their consumption capacity and confidence. Second, to optimize the implementation of pro-consumption policies, we should not only encourage enterprises to increase investment and innovation, but also strengthen policy guidance on the demand side, gradually release consumption potential, and make consumption a stabilizer of economic growth. In addition, deepening supply-side reforms, increasing investment in public services, and comprehensively promoting rural revitalization are also effective ways to promote consumption growth.
We firmly believe that through the comprehensive application of these strategies, we can effectively respond to the current challenges and fight the tough battle of expanding domestic demand. The advantages of China's super-large market are still obvious, coupled with the integrated development of urban and rural areas and the continuous upgrading of consumption structure, which provides a broad space for consumption growth.
The new quality of productivity has profoundly changed the industrial structure and business model
"21st Century": In the context of a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation, the great power game is becoming increasingly fierce. How can China build new productive forces and promote high-quality industrial development, and what role can the capital market play in this?
Bi Shunjie: Artificial intelligence is the key driving force of new quality productivity, and it is necessary to accelerate the integration of artificial intelligence into various industry scenarios, vigorously promote the development model of "artificial intelligence +", and build a large-scale model industrial ecology from infrastructure, algorithm tools, intelligent platforms to solutions. At the same time, in order to create a good innovation ecosystem, it is necessary to do a good job in forward-looking research, establish and improve relevant laws, regulations and institutional systems, and escort the healthy development of artificial intelligence.
As an important platform for resource allocation, the capital market plays an important role in supporting the development of new productive forces. In recent years, through systematic reforms, the capital market has guided a large number of medium and long-term capital to invest in new fields and new forms of business such as scientific and technological innovation, digital economy, and green development, which has played an important role in cultivating emerging industries, promoting green development, and promoting the transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and has also provided strong support for Chinese enterprises to participate in international competition. In the future, the capital market should further increase its service capacity for new quality productivity, especially give full play to the leading role of the Science and Technology Innovation Board and the Growth Enterprise Market, and strengthen the deep integration of capital elements, technology and digital elements.
"21st Century": Enterprises are the main force in the development of new quality of productive forces, how to shape the production relations that adapt to the new quality of productive forces, and how to form and develop new quality of productive forces?
Bi Shunjie: As a new engine for economic growth, new quality productivity is profoundly changing China's industrial structure and business model. As the main force in the development of new quality productivity, enterprises need to actively explore the road of transformation and reshape the new momentum of development. At the technical level, enterprises should first do a good job of "upgrading", accelerate breakthroughs in cutting-edge technologies such as 5G, artificial intelligence, blockchain, and digital twins according to actual application scenarios, attach importance to general technologies, and create an internationally advanced, safe and controllable technology system.
Second, we must accelerate the development of the digital economy. The digital economy has become an important engine and booster for the development of the world economy, and enterprises should rationally lay out the digital industry, promote the development of e-commerce, data asset operation, platform services, new retail and other businesses, create the comparative advantages of enterprises in the subdivided industrial track, meet the needs of consumers to keep pace with the times, and form a virtuous circle of consumption and investment.
In addition, for enterprises, cultivating and expanding new quality productivity is a systematic project that requires long-term investment. Due to the company's own scale, IT experience, and employees' lack of digital skills, the digital practice of retail consumption still faces many challenges, so it cannot bring about a real productivity change. Therefore, enterprises should also vigorously cultivate key talents, promote the formation of a technology-driven innovation culture by building mature digital transformation teams, and accelerate the integration of business, data and technology.
Embrace green development opportunities in multiple dimensions
"21st Century": The Organizing Committee of the CICGF has issued guidelines for green exhibitions, and has taken corresponding measures in all aspects of exhibition, construction, travel, catering, logistics and other aspects to fully create a green and low-carbon exhibition atmosphere. How do enterprises balance the costs and benefits of green development?
Bi Shunjie: As green and low-carbon has become the background color of China's current high-quality development, more and more consumers have higher requirements and expectations for the green environmental protection attributes of products. At the fourth edition of the Expo, EY also saw more and more "greenness", and the world's leading brands brought sustainable development products to Hainan, creating a green and low-carbon exhibition atmosphere and promoting the Expo to become an important platform to promote the new development of green consumption.
On the whole, the CICGF has created a "Hainan model" for green exhibitions, and also serves as an innovation test site to help more domestic and foreign exhibitors gain insight into trends and accelerate transformation. The green transformation of enterprises is a complex and long-term process, which needs to find a balance between product cost and consumer acceptance, not only to ensure the quality and performance of green products, but also to take into account consumers' willingness to buy; enterprises also need to maintain consistency between green image and practical actions, and also face the balance between short-term benefits and long-term impacts, internal and external interests. ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) can help companies address these balancing issues. Through ESG strategies, companies can drive business model changes, enhance sustainability and social responsibility, and meet the expectations of investors and stakeholders, so as to obtain better financial support and social recognition.
"21st Century": New quality productivity itself is green productivity, taking consumer goods enterprises as an example, how to run the concept of green development through the whole process of production and operation and empower development?
Bi Shunjie: The "Implementation Plan for Promoting Green Consumption" issued by the National Development and Reform Commission and other departments has made comprehensive arrangements for promoting green consumption. Cultivating green consumption and establishing a sustainable consumption concept is an intrinsic requirement for promoting high-quality economic development, and it is also of great significance to achieve the goals of carbon peak and carbon neutrality. In order to better meet the needs of consumers, the consumer goods industry should focus on increasing investment in R&D and innovation, improving the supply capacity of green products, and at the same time effectively using its own brand influence to spread green concepts, drive green consumption, and create a beautiful green ecology with consumers in multiple ways such as consumer environmental protection behavior incentives and public welfare projects.
The green development of the consumer goods industry is not only reflected in the production end, but also in the comprehensive decarbonization of the entire value chain. Studies have pointed out that 80% of the carbon emissions of the consumer goods industry come from the supply chain, and how companies cooperate with the supply chain is the top priority to achieve carbon neutrality. Companies should manufacture, deliver, use and recycle products responsibly, work with suppliers to reach a broad consensus on energy conservation and carbon reduction, and work together to build a green supply chain.
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