Online retail sales of physical goods increased 8.3% year-on-year in July, 3.6 percentage points faster than the previous month

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the All-China Business Information Center released the “Analysis of the Operation of the Consumer Market in July 2025”. In July, online retail sales of physical goods increased 8.3% year on year, 3.6 percentage points faster than in June. In January-July, online retail sales of physical goods reached 7079 billion yuan, up 6.3%. The growth rate was 0.3 percentage points faster than in the first half of the year, accounting for 24.9% of total retail sales of social consumer goods, the same proportion as in the first half of the year. In January-July, online retail sales of physical goods increased by 14.7%, 1.7%, and 5.8%, respectively, for food, clothing, and consumer goods.

The growth rate of retail sales of offline products is slowing

According to estimates, retail sales of offline products increased 2.4% year-on-year in July, down 3.2 percentage points from June. In January-July, retail sales of offline products increased by 4.4%, down 0.4 percentage points from January-June.

According to data released by the Bureau of Statistics, in January-July, retail sales of convenience stores, supermarkets, department stores, specialty stores, and brand specialty stores among retail units above the limit increased by 7.0%, 5.2%, 1.1%, 5.8%, and 1.9%, respectively.

Market sales continue to grow

In July, under the influence of factors such as declining sales of some products such as petroleum, products, automobiles, etc., frequent extreme weather, and the offline consumer goods market entering the off-season, total retail sales of social consumer goods reached 3878 billion yuan, up 3.7% year on year. The growth rate fell 1.1 percentage points from June, but it was still 1.1 percentage points higher than the average growth rate for the same period in the past three years. In January-July, total retail sales of consumer goods amounted to 28423.8 billion yuan, up 4.8% year-on-year, and the growth rate fell 0.2 percentage points from the first half of the year.

The growth rate of the urban and rural consumer goods market is steady

Retail sales of urban consumer goods in July were 336.2 billion yuan, up 3.6% year on year, down 1.2 percentage points from June; retail sales of rural consumer goods reached 516 billion yuan, up 3.9%, down 0.6 percentage points from June.

In January-July, retail sales of urban consumer goods were 24666.9 billion yuan, up 4.8% year on year, down 0.2 percentage points from the first half of the year; retail sales of rural consumer goods were 3756.9 billion yuan, up 4.7% year on year, down 0.2 percentage points from the first half of the year.

The growth rate of retail sales has slowed

In July, retail sales of goods reached 3427.6 billion yuan, up 4.0% year on year, down 1.3 percentage points from June. Among them, retail sales of products per unit above the limit were 1390.5 billion yuan, up 3.1% year on year, and the growth rate fell 2.4 percentage points from June. The growth rate of retail sales of goods was 0.9 percentage points faster than the growth rate of retail sales per unit above the limit.

In January-July, retail sales of goods reached 25225.4 billion yuan, up 4.9% year on year, down 0.2 percentage points from the first half of the year. Among them, retail sales of products per unit above the limit were 10,494 billion yuan, up 5.8% year on year, and the growth rate fell 0.5 percentage points from the first half of the year. The growth rate of retail sales per unit above the limit was 0.9 percentage points faster than the growth rate of retail sales of goods.

Sales of trade-in and some upgraded products are growing well

As the effects of the consumer promotion policy continue to show, retail sales of over 70% of the product categories have increased among units above the limit. Among them, the trade-in policy continued to be effective and had an obvious driving effect on sales of related products. Retail sales of household appliances, audiovisual equipment, cultural and office supplies, furniture, and communication equipment in units above the July quota increased by 28.7%, 13.8%, 20.6%, and 14.9%, respectively, over the same period last year, all significantly faster than the retail sales rate of products.

As the quality of consumer consumption improves, demand for cultural, sports, and entertainment products expands, driving an increase in sales of related products, and retail sales of some upgraded products are growing rapidly. Among them, retail sales of sports and entertainment products and gold and silver jewelry products per unit above the July limit increased by 13.7% and 8.2%, respectively, and the growth rates were 4.2 and 2.1 percentage points faster than in June, respectively.

In July, sales growth of basic lifestyle products accelerated. Among them, the grain, oil, food, beverage, tobacco and alcohol categories, and daily necessities increased by 6.9% and 8.2%, respectively, and the growth rates were 1.5 and 0.4 percentage points faster than the previous month, respectively.

Retail sales of services continued to grow rapidly

As actions to improve the quality of service consumption and benefit the people advance steadily, more high-quality service products and new consumption scenarios continue to emerge. In particular, in the context of concentrated release of demand for summer travel, consumption related to culture, sports, tourism, transportation, etc. has achieved relatively rapid growth. In January-July, retail sales of services across the country increased by 5.2% year on year. The growth rate was 0.3 percentage points higher than retail sales of goods during the same period, achieving continuous rapid growth.

In July, food and beverage revenue was 45.4 billion yuan, up 1.1% year on year. The growth rate was 0.2 percentage points faster than in June. Among them, the food and beverage revenue of units above the limit was 13.9 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 0.3%, and the decline was 0.1 percentage points narrower than in June. Food and beverage revenue in January-July was 3198.4 billion yuan, up 3.8% year on year, down 0.5 percentage points from the first half of the year. Among them, the food and beverage revenue of units above the limit was 931.8 billion yuan, an increase of 3.1% over the previous year, and the growth rate fell 0.5 percentage points from the first half of the year.

The year-on-year increase in core CPI continues to expand

The CPI remained flat year on year in July, and the growth rate fell 0.1 percentage points from the previous month, mainly affected by lower food prices. Food prices fell 1.6% year on year, up 1.3 percentage points from the previous month, affecting the CPI decline by about 0.29 percentage points year on year. The core CPI, which excludes food and energy prices, rose 0.8% year on year, increasing for 3 consecutive months. The implementation of special actions to boost consumption has shown results. Consumption potential for goods and services has gradually been unleashed, and positive changes continue to show. Prices in the other seven categories rose and fell six times over the same period last year. Among them, prices of other goods and services, clothing, daily necessities and services increased by 8.0%, 1.7% and 1.2%, respectively; prices of education, culture and entertainment, medical care, and housing increased by 0.9%, 0.5% and 0.1%, respectively; and transportation and communication prices decreased by 3.1%.