BEIJING, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- For years, China's consumption story was told through shopping bags. Now, it is increasingly measured via concert tickets, travel itineraries, health services and smart devices. More than a change in taste, this shift amounts to a structural turning point that is reshaping how household spending is understood.
In the first three quarters of 2026, China's total retail sales of goods and services rose 2.6 percent year on year. Notably, retail sales of services grew 5 percent, 4 percentage points faster than sales of goods.
Experts said, while the growth pace may look moderate, its scale and quality are significant. Domestic consumption contributed nearly half of economic growth, driving GDP growth up by 2.1 percentage points.
In particular, the engine is switching. Traditional high-consumption drivers, namely demographic dividends, housing-related spending and durable goods, are giving way to new ones: service consumption, upgraded consumer goods, and green and smart products.
That is why, in June this year, the National Bureau of Statistics unveiled a new indicator -- total retail sales of goods and services, a telling marker of consumption trends.
The deeper impetus stems from a historic leap in the development stage. International experience shows that once per-capita gross domestic product (GDP) approaches the 15,000-U.S.-dollar benchmark, consumption structures typically shift from goods-led to service-oriented patterns, said Wang Yiming, former vice president of the Development Research Center of the State Council, who noted that China is at a key phase of this transition.
Holiday spending has highlighted the trend. During the seven-day National Day holiday this year, domestic tourist trips and total spending rose 6.3 percent and 4.3 percent year on year, respectively.
Even birdwatching is contributing to this momentum. At the Yellow River estuary in east China's Shandong Province, visitors flock there each year during the migratory season for the spectacular "bird waves."
Local birdwatching sites have received about 400,000 visitors each year during the season, according to local authorities, generating more than 300 million yuan (about 44.7 million U.S. dollars) in revenue from accommodation, catering, and cultural and creative products, while hotel occupancy has risen by more than 10 percent year on year.
Service consumption is not simply replacing goods spending but rebalancing the consumption basket at a higher level. Travel, culture, sports, health and information services are growing faster, while demand for outdoor gear, smart wearables and health-related products is being stimulated as a result.
International sports brands are also benefiting. Amer Sports' revenue in China climbed 35.5 percent year on year in the second quarter of 2026, while direct-to-consumer sales surged 52 percent. Executives said the Chinese market remains one of the company's most productive and profitable markets, supported by demand across performance running, trail running and lifestyle footwear.
With a population of more than 1.4 billion and increasingly segmented demand, China's market provides ample room for service supply to expand, iterate and improve, reflecting the upgrading of people's needs.
China has consciously rejected the playbook of "helicopter money," which temporarily inflates consumer data but triggers severe long-term inflationary hangovers and fiscal degradation, a commentator, Bi Jianlu, wrote in an article carried by the Foreign Policy in Focus website.
Instead, the country has laid out its first five-year plan dedicated solely to expanding consumption. The blueprint made "enhancing consumption capacity" a standalone chapter, with systematic arrangements for employment, income growth, social security and public services.
The aim is not only to encourage people to spend today but also to build an institutional architecture in which they feel secure enough to spend tomorrow, analysts said.
When incomes are supported, safety nets are in place and the business environment improves, consumption growth follows in a natural way.
Meanwhile, China's efforts such as consumer goods trade-in programs are gaining traction. Since the beginning of 2026, the trade-in program has supported 250 million purchases, creating product sales worth a total of 2 trillion yuan.
However, challenges still remain. The pace of household consumption recovery remains to be seen, while it takes time for improvements in income expectations to translate into stronger willingness to spend. Another key issue is whether the quality of service can keep pace with upgrading demand.
The friction between robust supply and lackluster demand is, in essence, not one of absolute oversupply or insufficient demand, but a mismatch caused by the transition in the development stage and model, reads a commentary in Qiushi Journal, a flagship magazine of the Communist Party of China Central Committee.
"By persistently deepening reform and fostering more domestic demand-led, consumption-driven and endogenous growth, this mismatch can be fundamentally resolved," it said. ■
