China's Service Consumption Trends, Factors, and Future Directions
TapTechNews August 9th news. This morning (August 9th), the Information Office of the State Council held a press conference. Tang Wenhong, Assistant Minister of Commerce, and relevant officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism introduced the situation regarding the 'Opinions on Promoting High-Quality Development of Service Consumption' and answered reporters' questions.
Learned from the live record on the official website of the Information Office of the State Council, Chang Tiewei, the person in charge of the Employment, Income Distribution and Consumption Division of the National Development and Reform Commission, mentioned that in recent years, the models, business forms, and scenarios of service consumption have been continuously innovated. From the perspective of development opportunities and trends, there are generally three positive factors:
Firstly, people's aspiration for a better life brings the demand for upgrading service consumption. The transformation of residents' consumption from tangible consumption to service consumption is an important manifestation of consumption upgrading. In the first half of this year, the proportion of service consumption expenditure in per capita consumption expenditure in China reached 45.6%, an increase of 1.1 percentage points year-on-year. From the international experience, when the per capita gross domestic product exceeds the $10,000 mark, the process of consumption upgrading generally accelerates significantly. At present, China's per capita gross domestic product has exceeded $12,000. With the increase of income levels and the expansion of the middle-income group, the expansion and upgrading of service consumption are expected to further accelerate.
Secondly, changes in the population structure contain the innovative momentum of service consumption. Last year, China's permanent resident urbanization rate reached 66.2%, which is still in the rapid development period of urbanization. The citizenization of agricultural transfer population will bring consumption demands such as education and training, elderly care and child care, and residential services. The 'Generation Z' and other young consumers have gradually become the main consumers, and self-pleasing consumption and immersive experience consumption such as cycling, skiing, camping, and theater watching are increasingly favored. Service forms such as elderly meal assistance, home-based elderly assistance, and elderly care have also gradually enriched, which not only helps the elderly and their children solve urgent and difficult problems and improve the quality of life, but also breeds new opportunities for service consumption.
Finally, scientific and technological innovation creates new supply of service consumption. Currently, the scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation are accelerating, and new technical means are constantly emerging. Delivery, educational, and medical service robots are continuously upgraded, and the output of service robots in the first half of this year increased by 22.8% year-on-year. New models such as 'Internet +' medical services and digital education are steadily developing, and new business forms such as e-sports, social e-commerce, and live-streaming e-commerce are growing rapidly, providing consumers with more abundant, diverse, and convenient consumption choices.
Next, the National Development and Reform Commission will continuously enhance the innovative momentum of service consumption arou nd three key words.
The first key word is 'cultivation'. In June this year, the National Development and Reform Commission led the formulation and introduction of the 'Measures for Creating New Consumption Scenarios and Cultivating New Growth Points of Consumption', taking the digitization and intelligence of consumption scenarios as the key guidance and encouragement direction. While promoting the rapid implementation and effectiveness of these policies, we will also include the innovation and upgrading of service consumption scenarios in the next 'Top 100 New Consumption Scenarios' activity carried out jointly with relevant departments.
The second key word is 'integration'. It is necessary to promote the innovative integration of various service industry forms such as commerce, transportation, culture, tourism, and sports, promote the in-depth integration of advanced manufacturing and modern services, and promote the integrated development of the primary, secondary, and tertiary industries in rural areas to enhance the development momentum of service consumption.
The third key word is 'activation'. Continue to build a market-oriented, law-based, and international first-class business environment, improve the institutional mechanism for promoting the high-quality development of private enterprises, support service enterprises to innovate with ease and create brands with excellence, and better meet consumption demands in innovative development.