Total retail sales of consumer goods in China increased to US$1,457 billion in Q1 2019 and roughly 85.3% came from urban areas. Online retail sales of goods and services totaled US$333.45bn, representing 22.9% of the total.
In March 2019, retail sales of consumer goods grew by 8.7% year-on-year to 3,172.6 billion yuan (US$472.73bn).
- About 85.7% of that came from urban areas (2,719.2 billion yuan, up 8.5%), and 14.3% from rural areas (453.4 billion yuan, up 9.4%).
- Grouped by consumption patterns, around 10.7% were from the catering services (339.3 billion yuan, up 9.5%) and 89.3% from retail sales of goods (2,833.3 billion yuan, up 8.6%)
China Retail Overview in Q1 2019
In China, retail sales of consumer goods totaled 9,779 billion yuan (US$1,457.10bn) for Q1 2019, up 8.3% from the prior year period, according to the National Bureau of Statistics of China.
- About 85.3% came from urban areas (8,340.2 billion yuan, up 8.2%) and over 14.7% from rural areas (1,438.8 billion yuan, up 9.2%).
- Grouped by consumption patterns, around 10.9% were from the catering services (1,064.4 billion yuan, up 9.6%) and 89.1% from retail sales of goods (8,714.6 billion yuan, up 8.2%)
Of the total retail sale, the supermarket, department store, and specialty store of units above-designated size went up by 7.5%, 0.9%, and 3.9% year-on-year, respectively; the exclusive shop of units above designated size declined by 0.9% year-on-year.
Online retail sales of goods and services in China amounted to 2,237.9 billion yuan (US$333.45bn) (around 22.9% of the total), increased by 15.3% year-on-year.
Specifically, the online retail sales of physical goods reached 1,777.2 billion yuan (US$264.81bn) with an increase of 21%, accounting for 18.2% of the total retail sales of consumer goods. Food, clothing, and other commodities went up by 24.6%, 19.1%, and 21.3%, respectively.
E-commerce companies investment in retail: China vs. the U.S.