China's Retail Sales +2.4% YoY in Q1 2026
China's consumer market maintained steady expansion in the first quarter of 2026, with social consumer goods retail sales totaling 127,695 billion yuan (approximately 12.77 trillion yuan), up 2.4% year-on-year. The growth rate accelerated by 0.7 percentage points compared with the fourth quarter of 2025, according to data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS). However, due to a high base in the same period last year, March retail sales grew by 1.7%, a slowdown from the 1–2 month period.
Urban and rural markets grew in tandem. Urban retail sales rose 2.3% year-on-year, while rural sales increased by 3.1%, both accelerating from the previous quarter. County and township market sales accounted for 40.3% of total retail sales, up 0.1 percentage point year-on-year, reflecting improved supply chains in rural areas.
Service consumption outperformed goods. The service retail turnover grew 5.5% year-on-year, 3.3 percentage points faster than goods retail (2.2%). Tourism, culture, and transportation-related retail accelerated compared to January–February. Digital integration boosted communication and information services retail, which posted a growth rate exceeding 10%. Healthcare and remote medical services saw robust expansion.
Nearly 80% of commodity categories recorded sales growth. Among businesses above a designated size, 78% of categories grew, an improvement of 11.1 percentage points from Q4 2025. Trade-in policies continued to drive sales: communication equipment +20.8%, office supplies +9.3%, and energy-efficient home appliances maintained high growth. Basic goods also performed well: food +11%, clothing +9.3%, and gold/jewelry +12.6% (double-digit since early 2026). Cosmetics retail rose 8.3% in March, accelerating from the first two months.
New business models and digital transformation flourished. Online retail of goods and services rose 8.0% year-on-year, with services online growing 8.8% (faster than overall service retail by 3.3 percentage points) and goods online up 7.5% (5.3 percentage points above physical goods retail). Live-streaming e-commerce exceeded 500 billion yuan in Q1, maintaining rapid expansion. Traditional retailers accelerated digital transformation: internet-based retail sales of above-designated-size units jumped 13.3%, boosting overall growth. Convenience stores and supermarkets saw retail increases of 8.3% and 5.1% respectively, both faster than in the first two months.
Despite the positive momentum, the NBS noted that consumer internal demand remains to be strengthened, and some areas face headwinds. Going forward, policies will focus on unleashing consumption potential, upgrading income levels, optimizing the consumption environment, and cultivating new growth points.
Source: National Bureau of Statistics of China. Original: https://www.stats.gov.cn/sj/sjjd/202604/t20260417_1963341.html