Recently, the Ministry of Commerce and nine other departments jointly issued "Several Policy Measures on Expanding Service Consumption," which for the first time proposed the establishment of pilot cities for new consumption business models, new modes, and new scenarios. This represents not only a proactive response to current economic conditions, but also a strategic deployment to optimize supply, accelerate industrial upgrading, and achieve transformation between old and new growth drivers. A series of measures including actively developing first-launch economy, promoting consumption scenario innovation, and supporting cross-sector cooperation between high-quality consumption resources and well-known intellectual properties will help further unlock consumption potential, inject new momentum into urban development, open new pathways for high-quality consumption development, and enrich people's quality of life experiences.
The core of pilot city construction lies in innovation-driven development. Currently, new forms of consumption such as digital, green, intelligent, and health-oriented consumption are showing rapid development trends. It is necessary to accelerate the application of new technologies including Internet of Things, big data, green low-carbon technologies, virtual reality, and embodied intelligence, promote cross-sector integration and multi-format aggregation, reconstruct consumption value chains, and build more flexible, efficient, and sustainable business models. Additionally, by closely combining technological innovation with cultural creativity and promoting deep integration between physical spaces and virtual experiences, more attractive and influential consumption scenarios can be created.
Among these, the first-launch economy, as a concentrated manifestation of a city's ability to lead consumption trends, can not only effectively drive urban commercial prosperity but also help enterprises strengthen innovation and promote industrial upgrading. Cross-sector cooperation between high-quality consumption resources and well-known IP can open new pathways for consumption growth. The deep integration of cultural IP, animation characters, artistic elements with commerce can break down industry barriers and achieve multiplier effects in value creation. Whether it's the first-launch economy or the "IP + consumption" model, both require support from specific consumption carriers, while new consumption scenarios represent systematic integration of new consumption business formats, new models, and new products. New consumption scenarios represented by the integrated mutual promotion of commerce, tourism, culture, sports, and health are gradually shaping new landmarks for future urban life.
Currently, China's per capita GDP has exceeded $13,000, placing the country in a critical period of upgrading from goods consumption to service consumption. In 2024, China's service retail sales grew 6.2% year-on-year, with growth rates 3 percentage points higher than goods retail sales. Per capita service consumption expenditure among residents increased 7.4% year-on-year, contributing 63% to the growth of per capita consumption expenditure. These data indicate that service consumption has become the main driving force for consumption growth. The establishment of pilot cities for new consumption business models, new modes, and new scenarios is precisely a strategic move that aligns with this trend.
Adhering to innovation-driven development means treating innovation as the core driving force for consumption upgrading. Against the backdrop of China's vigorous development of new quality productive forces, consumption innovation is no longer just a technological breakthrough, but systematic transformation encompassing business models, consumption scenarios, and policy systems. Only through innovation, promoting the transformation of consumption from quantitative accumulation to qualitative leap, can consumption experiences be enhanced and consumption potential be continuously released. Whether through digital technology empowering physical commerce, promoting deep integration of online and offline channels, building smart commercial districts and immersive experience scenarios, or developing high-quality supply such as smart homes, green food, and personalized customization, all can help cities and enterprises seize new consumption tracks, shape new competitive advantages, drive collaborative innovation throughout upstream and downstream industrial chains, and promote the transformation of scientific and technological achievements and industrial transformation and upgrading. This depends on comprehensive efforts in policy guidance, platform construction, enterprise cultivation, and other aspects to create an institutional environment and social atmosphere that encourages and excels at innovation, truly making innovation the core driving force for consumption quality improvement and expansion.
Emphasizing cultural empowerment allows excellent traditional Chinese culture and consumption promotion to mutually reinforce each other. By deeply exploring the value connotations of time-honored brands, cultural heritage, intangible cultural heritage crafts, local customs, and classic IP, and creatively transforming them into products, services, and experiences in new consumption scenarios, the cultural added value of goods and services can be significantly enhanced, achieving a win-win situation for cultural dissemination and consumption stimulation. For example, developing cultural and creative products in collaboration with museums and intangible cultural heritage projects, enhancing attractiveness through storytelling marketing and aesthetic design; or using digital technology to expand the boundaries of cultural consumption, leveraging virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and other technologies to recreate traditional cultural scenarios, creating new business formats such as online intangible cultural heritage performances and digital art exhibitions, enabling cultural consumption to transcend temporal and spatial limitations. Cultural empowerment of consumption not only helps inherit and promote excellent traditional Chinese culture and strengthen cultural identity and confidence, but also stimulates new consumption intentions through differentiated supply, reduces homogeneous competition, and achieves sustainable commercial and cultural value enhancement. How to systematically construct mechanisms for cultural exploration, transformation, and promotion, and improve IP licensing and intellectual property protection systems, all require our active exploration and innovative practice.
Ensuring that pilot results better benefit and serve the broad masses of people. Consumption is directly related to people's welfare. Expanding service consumption requires always adhering to people-centered development thinking, making consumption innovation truly serve the improvement of people's quality of life, promoting social equity and inclusive growth, and ensuring that development achievements benefit all people more extensively and fairly. In specific practice, attention should be paid to fully exploring the service potential of venues such as science museums, museums, and cultural centers, filling supply gaps for residents' spiritual and cultural needs; providing loan interest subsidies for service industry operators and service consumption, reducing financing costs for small and medium enterprises, creating more employment opportunities, and enhancing residents' sustainable consumption capacity. In pilot programs, benefiting and serving the people should always be the starting point and ultimate goal of policy formulation, guiding enterprises to pay more attention to people's livelihood needs and develop more cost-effective products and services with excellent experiences.
Looking ahead, as pilot city construction advances further, China's consumption market will become more diversified, personalized, and quality-oriented. Through pilot demonstrations, forming replicable and scalable experience and practices will provide more reference and assistance for high-quality consumption development across various regions.