Social consumption of goods and services increased by 2.8% in January-February, with catering revenue growing by 4.8%

From January to February, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 86.079 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.8%. Among them, retail sales of consumer goods excluding automobiles amounted to 79.827 billion yuan, an increase of 3.7%.

By the location of the business units, from January to February, urban retail sales of consumer goods totaled 74.449 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%; rural retail sales of consumer goods reached 11.63 billion yuan, an increase of 3.2%.

By consumption type, from January to February, retail sales of goods amounted to 75.815 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 2.5%; catering revenue was 10.264 billion yuan, an increase of 4.8%.

By retail format, from January to February, among retail units above designated size, convenience stores, supermarkets, department stores, and specialty stores saw retail sales increase by 6.4%, 4.9%, 1.0%, and 0.2% respectively; retail sales at brand specialty stores decreased by 2.3%.

From January to February, the nationwide online retail sales of goods and services totaled 32.546 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 9.2%. Of these, online retail sales of goods reached 20.812 billion yuan, an increase of 10.3%, accounting for 24.2% of total retail sales of consumer goods; within online retail sales of goods, food, clothing, and household items grew by 20.7%, 18.0%, and 4.7%, respectively. Online retail sales of services amounted to 11.734 billion yuan, an increase of 7.3%.

Notes

1. Indicator explanations

Total retail sales of consumer goods: The amount of physical goods sold by enterprises (units, individual businesses) to individuals and social groups for non-production and non-operational use, including revenue from catering services.

Online retail sales of goods and services: The total retail sales of goods and services achieved through online trading platforms (including self-built websites and third-party platforms).

2. Scope of statistics

Legal entities engaged in retail or catering services, industrial activity units, and individual businesses. Units above designated size refer to wholesale enterprises (units, individual businesses) with annual main business income of 20 million yuan or more, retail enterprises with 5 million yuan or more, and accommodation and catering enterprises with 2 million yuan or more.

3. Survey methods

Full surveys are conducted for units above designated size; sampling surveys are used for units below the threshold.

4. Calculation scope

Because the scope of wholesale, retail, accommodation, and catering enterprises (units, individual businesses) above designated size changes annually, to ensure comparability with last year’s data, the same period figures used to calculate year-on-year growth rates are consistent with the current enterprise scope, which may differ from last year’s published data. This is mainly due to some enterprises reaching the threshold and being included, others shrinking below the threshold and exiting, as well as new, bankrupt, or deregistered enterprises.

Similarly, the scope of platforms included in online retail of goods and services changes annually. To ensure comparability, the same period figures are used for growth rate calculations, which may differ from last year’s data due to new platforms being included or some platforms dropping out for not meeting statistical requirements.

5. Revision of month-on-month data

Based on seasonal adjustment models, the month-on-month growth rates of total retail sales of consumer goods from January to December 2025 have been revised. The revised results and the month-on-month data for January and February 2026 are as follows:

6. Indicator adjustment explanation

To better reflect the development of the online consumption market, the online consumption statistics indicators have been improved. Based on the trend of online consumption development, the scope of online service platforms has been expanded, and online service retail sales measurement has been strengthened. As a result, the original “online retail sales” has been adjusted to “online retail sales of goods and services,” with unchanged connotations but expanded scope; “physical goods online retail sales” has been adjusted to “online retail sales of goods,” with no change in definition or scope; and “online service retail sales” has been added. Data on online retail sales of goods and services are not directly comparable to online retail sales data.