The “Twenty Measures” to Boost Consumption Have Been Released, with a Comprehensive Package of Policies Aimed at Expanding Domestic Demand.

　　On July 31, the “Measures for Restoring and Expanding Consumption” (hereinafter referred to as the “Measures”) were recently released. Centered on six key areas—stabilizing bulk‑goods consumption, expanding service‑sector consumption, boosting rural consumption, fostering new forms of consumption, upgrading consumer infrastructure, and improving the consumption environment—the Measures set out 20 policy initiatives. Together with other recently issued priority policies across various sectors and product categories, these Measures constitute a comprehensive policy framework aimed at stimulating consumption and expanding domestic demand. At the State Council’s regular policy briefing held that day, multiple ministries, including the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, further clarified the next steps for advancing these efforts.

　　 Boosting the supply side to enhance consumer willingness to spend.

　　Li Chunlin, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated that in the first half of the year, China’s domestic consumer market has been on a general recovery trajectory. Offline sectors such as catering, cultural tourism, and movie theaters have rebounded rapidly, shopping malls and commercial streets have regained their vibrancy, and sporting events and concerts have resumed one after another, often seeing tickets in high demand. “However, growth momentum remains fragile in some product categories; consumer confidence among certain households remains weak, with lingering concerns; and in some areas, the overall consumption experience falls short, leaving much to be desired—calling for further, more robust policy support.”

　　Li Chunlin stated that consumption‑stimulating policies are not about “emptying people’s wallets” or “overextending demand”; on the contrary, their aim is to help households cut costs, enabling them to purchase high‑quality, affordable goods and access new products and services that are more technologically advanced and better aligned with their needs, while safeguarding them against illegal schemes and counterfeit or substandard offerings. When government measures are more effective and truly benefit the public, both consumer spending and overall welfare can rise in tandem.

　　This calls for further strengthening supply-side measures to enrich the range of high-quality products and services and meet consumer demand. To this end, the Measures propose seamlessly integrating the strategy of expanding domestic demand with deepening supply-side structural reform, enhancing the adaptability and flexibility of the supply structure to changing demand, opening up new avenues for consumption, creating innovative consumption settings, and enriching the overall consumer experience—thereby leveraging high‑quality supply to lead and generate new market demand.

　　“If the supply side remains unreformed and the products it delivers fail to meet market demand, consumers will not pay for them,” said Li Chunlin. He added that supply-side structural reform must be pursued to adapt to shifting demand and to create new demand.

　　Among these measures, Li Chunlin stated that, with regard to the automotive consumption segment, they will study and refine additional mass‑market, universally beneficial support policies to better meet the public’s multi‑tiered and diversified consumption needs and to promote high‑quality development of related industries.

　　Regarding the home appliance sector, He Yaqiong, Director-General of the Consumer Goods Industry Department of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, stated that the next steps will focus on expanding and enhancing product offerings, with a greater emphasis on more diverse, higher‑quality, and more large‑scale product transformations. At the same time, the ministry will continue to implement the “Three‑Product” initiative—increasing product variety, improving quality, and building strong brands—in the consumer electronics field; accelerate the global launch of innovative products; support enterprises in pursuing high‑end development; and cultivate well‑known, reputable brands. Furthermore, the ministry will promote health‑oriented, energy‑efficient, and environmentally friendly solutions, ensuring that consumers have access to more high‑quality, affordable products.

　　 Strengthen regulation and optimize the consumer environment.

　　While bolstering the supply side, the Measures address issues of poor consumer experiences and dissatisfaction in certain sectors by introducing targeted initiatives aimed at improving the consumption environment and encouraging residents to “dare to spend.” The Measures propose such measures as “launching a comprehensive ‘Peace-of-Mind Consumption’ campaign and refining service standards in key consumer‑service sectors,” “cracking down on counterfeit and substandard goods in accordance with the law,” and “expediting the establishment of a closed-loop system for peace-of-mind consumption that covers returns and exchanges, quality traceability, transparent pricing, regulatory oversight, and consumer feedback.”

　　Kuang Xu, Director of the Enforcement and Inspection Bureau of the State Administration for Market Regulation, stated that, in order to strengthen the institutional foundation of the consumer environment, relevant authorities have formulated or revised a series of regulations and rules, including the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions and the Provisions on Clearly Marked Prices and the Prohibition of Price Fraud. Focusing on emerging business models such as blind-box sales, online duty-free shopping, and new-energy vehicles, they have issued regulatory guidelines, provided administrative guidance, and implemented recalls of defective products, while also guiding sectors like home appliances, automobiles, duty-free goods, blind boxes, and e‑commerce to enhance after-sales service.

　　Meanwhile, regulatory enforcement has been continuously strengthened, with market supervision authorities cracking down hard on issues that have drawn strong public concern, such as illegal food additives, counterfeit and substandard products, misleading “miracle doctor” and “miracle drug” advertisements, and irregularities in the medical aesthetics sector. Since the beginning of this year, more than 350,000 cases in areas vital to people’s livelihoods have been investigated and prosecuted. A nationwide “Peace-of-Mind Consumption” campaign has been launched, steadily promoting measures like no‑reason returns in physical stores, out‑of‑town returns for local purchases, and advance‑payment‑for‑rapid‑refunds; to date, 654,000 brick‑and‑mortar retailers across the country have processed returns totaling approximately RMB 5.38 billion. The online dispute‑resolution mechanism of the national 12315 platform has been refined, with 132,000 businesses now registered on the platform, enabling 16.5% of consumer disputes to be resolved directly at the source.

　　Going forward, to further refine the long-term mechanism for boosting consumption, the State Administration for Market Regulation and other relevant departments will issue guidelines to improve the consumer environment, launch a nationwide initiative to designate model cities for safe and trustworthy consumption, and leverage the catalytic effect of city‑wide efforts to drive continuous improvements and upgrades in consumer conditions across the country.

　　 Expand employment and boost incomes to strengthen consumers’ purchasing power.

　　The Measures also propose “optimizing the mechanisms that foster a virtuous cycle across the entire chain of employment, income distribution, and consumption, thereby enhancing consumers’ purchasing power.”

　　Li Chunlin stated that the next steps will focus on key priorities, implement targeted policies, and invigorate economic vitality; they will ensure the effective implementation of employment‑first policies, strengthen bottom-line support for vulnerable groups, uphold the principle of rewarding hard work, encourage people to become prosperous through diligence, and help more low‑income individuals move into the middle-income bracket. Additionally, policies and systems for factor‑based income distribution will be refined, with multiple channels used to increase factor incomes for low- and middle‑income households and to boost property‑related income for both urban and rural residents. The goal is to align growth in household incomes closely with economic expansion and, by enhancing purchasing power, to raise consumers’ willingness to spend.

　　In the view of Dong Ximiao, chief researcher at China Merchants Bank, consumer spending remains sluggish, particularly as both consumers’ willingness and ability to spend have weakened. From a short-term perspective, this stems largely from the initial pandemic shock, which left some businesses unable to operate normally, while households faced job and income instability and growing uncertainty, dampening their propensity to consume. From a longer-term standpoint, it is linked to the need for further improvements in the social safety net. In recent years, China has undertaken substantial reforms in areas such as education, healthcare, and elderly care; however, with the social security system still falling short of comprehensive coverage, households’ expectations of future income and expenditures have grown more uncertain, leading to a marked increase in precautionary saving and a corresponding restraint on further consumption expansion.

　　“The key is to stabilize residents’ expectations and confidence, further boosting their willingness and ability to consume,” said Dong Ximiao. He added that the Measures introduce a range of targeted policies that will effectively unlock consumption potential, drive structural upgrading, and help sustain the improvement in economic performance. (Reporters: Wang Wenbo, Wang Zixu; Intern: Wan Jingjing)

[Editor-in-charge: Wu Jingze]

Source: Economic Information Daily