East China’s Jiangsu province has seized the opportunity of the booming consumer demand in the wake of the easing of the covid-19 epidemic and make comprehensive measures to support the development of automobiles and home appliances, and promote the accelerated recovery of the consumer market.
"I feel that many new appliances are very novel now. For example, this air conditioner with wifi function makes me very excited. It's hot now, as long as you control it with your mobile phone on the road, you can enjoy the coolness immediately when you get home," said Gong Jiani, a resident of Nanjing.
"Such high-quality new appliances have stimulated the consumer market with sales increasing by nearly 30%," said Tian Zhendong, Manager of Jingdong Electric City Flagship Store Nanjing Xinjiekou.
At the same time, Jiangsu has also increased subsidies for residents to purchase smart, green home appliances and furniture. Affordable and convenient, new home appliances have gained instant popularity in the market.
From January to July, the sales of smart home appliances and audio-visual equipment increased by 133.5% year-on-year.
In July alone, the sales of products with energy efficiency grades 1 and 2, smart home appliances and audio-visual equipment increased by 37.3% and 39.9% compared with June, further highlighting the effect of green energy-saving home appliance sales.
From January to July, Jiangsu reported public online retail sales of 155.55 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 15.0%.
This year, the central government has successively introduced purchase tax reductions and a new round of rural sales of new energy vehicles. Jiangsu issued auto consumption coupons and increased subsidies for charging facilities to boost consumer confidence.
From January to July, Jiangsu reported a significant year-on-year increase of 171.1% in new energy vehicles, and achieved rapid positive growth in the retail sales of automotive commodities for two consecutive months.
"We delivered nearly 700 vehicles last year and 800 in the first half of this year," said Wu Qiang, General Manager of Sales of a New Energy Vehicle Brand in Suzhou.
Since the beginning of this year, Jiangsu has also issued more than 220 million yuan of consumer coupons, and further activated the consumer market through more than 1,100 series of promotional activities.
"Every day, many people use coupons to buy seafood and the market management has reduced or exempted the rent for the vendors for half a year," said Dong Zhixian, a seafood seller in Lianyungang.
Tu Jun, Deputy Director of the Commercial District Development Center of Haizhou District, Lianyungang City
Retailers can settle in Minzhu Road Old Street for free. Our per capita traffic has reached 60 thousand and consumption has increased by nearly 40%
New policies, new products, new scenarios, new formats, and new activities have also brought a new atmosphere to the consumer market in Jiangsu.
From January to July, Jiangsu reported that the total retail sales of consumer goods was 2,438.5 billion yuan, continuing to maintain the second place in China.
In July, the total retail sales of consumer goods increased by 2.4% year-on-year,up by 1.8 percentage points from June, indicating that the province’s consumer market is showing a steady recovery.
"With the implementation of some specific targeted measures, Jiangsu reported significantly stabilized recovery of consumption. To further release consumption potential, the focus rests with optimizing the consumption environment and improving the quality of supply. To this end, we must encourage production enterprises to base themselves on the domestic market and increase support for product innovation so that production and services can meet the needs and preferences of the people, enrich new business formats and models and enhance the experience and satisfaction of people’s consumption," said Cheng Junjie, Deputy Dean and Associate Researcher of the Regional Modernization Research Institute of Jiangsu Academy of Social Sciences.
