Seven government bodies, including the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, recently released a joint implementation plan to boost commodity consumption. The policy document, published on August 31, aims to expand and upgrade consumer goods spending during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, with the stated goal of driving brand leadership, raising standards, and accelerating new technology adoption.
The plan sets a target of reaching approximately 60 trillion yuan in total retail sales of consumer goods by 2030. This comes after 2025 saw retail sales surpass the 50 trillion yuan threshold, with passenger vehicle sales reaching 23.744 million units and retail sales of home appliances and communication equipment each exceeding the 1 trillion yuan mark.
The Ministry of Commerce's consumer promotion division stated that commodity consumption plays a vital role in stimulating demand and improving people's livelihoods. The official noted that it provides key support for building a strong domestic market, developing new productive forces, and meeting the diverse needs of the population.
According to Hong Tao, a market operation and regulation expert at the Ministry of Commerce and director of the Commercial Economic Research Institute at Beijing Technology and Business University, retail sales reached 24.8 trillion yuan in the first half of 2026. He projects the full-year figure will once again exceed 50 trillion yuan, describing China as the world's most dynamic and resilient consumer market.
The implementation plan outlines four key priorities. The first is promoting spending on large durable goods, including deepening the pilot reform of automobile circulation and consumption, expanding auto purchases across the entire supply chain, and accelerating the adoption of smart home technologies.
The second priority focuses on improving daily consumer goods, encompassing food, beverages, textiles, clothing, and cultural and sporting products. Hong noted these items have broad coverage and high purchase frequency, making them essential to people's daily lives, while quality upgrades can activate high-frequency spending.
The third priority supports specialty goods consumption, targeting products for the elderly and infants, alongside domestic trend brands, premium foreign trade items, and international luxury goods. Hong views this as a precise response to demographic shifts and growing national confidence that converts potential weaknesses into growth opportunities.
The fourth priority involves cultivating upgraded consumer categories in green, smart, and health-oriented products. According to Hong, this strategy targets the next ten-trillion-yuan track, using technological iteration such as AI devices and embodied intelligence to shift from meeting existing demand to leading new demand creation.
Zhang Xinyuan, head of Kefangde Consulting, said the four priorities form a complete chain covering everything from basic to upgraded consumption and from mass to personalized demand. He highlighted that the measures address diverse consumer pain points, link supply and demand sides, and provide clear development expectations for the market.
Chai Guojun, a professor at Hebei University of Economics and Business, emphasized that these tasks strengthen brand leadership, upgrade standards, and promote new technology applications. He said this approach helps establish a tiered consumption upgrade pattern that can continuously release domestic demand potential and accelerate construction of the new dual-circulation development paradigm.