The new policy to boost consumption targets three trillion-yuan‑scale consumer sectors.

On November 26, reporters learned that the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Commerce, and four other departments jointly issued the “Implementation Plan for Enhancing the Alignment Between Supply and Demand for Consumer Goods and Further Boosting Consumption” (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”). The Plan sets out that by 2027, the structure of consumer‑goods supply will be significantly optimized, with three trillion‑yuan‑scale consumption sectors and ten hundred‑billion‑yuan‑scale consumption hotspots emerging. By 2030, a high‑quality development pattern characterized by positive interaction and mutual reinforcement between supply and consumption will be essentially in place, and consumption’s contribution to economic growth will continue to rise steadily.

  Notably, this is the first policy document on boosting consumption issued since the Fourth Plenary Session of the 20th CPC Central Committee. Industry insiders believe that the Plan underscores the importance of aligning supply with consumer demand, leveraging high-quality offerings to better meet diverse needs and thereby unlocking new avenues for consumption growth. As favorable policies continue to take effect, sectors such as elderly‑care products, intelligent connected vehicles, consumer electronics, and smart home devices are poised to become trillion‑yuan‑scale markets.

  The Plan outlines 19 key tasks across five priority areas. In terms of expanding new growth drivers, it calls for accelerating the innovative application of new technologies and business models, including speeding up the development of emerging sectors and tracks, promoting new manufacturing paradigms that enable rapid response, and strengthening the integration and empowerment of artificial intelligence.

  Specifically, it calls for accelerating the development of new sectors and growth tracks, focusing on key industries such as intelligent connected new-energy vehicles, smart homes, consumer electronics, modern textiles, food, and green building materials. It also proposes launching a special initiative to promote 100 exemplary innovative applications, aiming to create 100 landmark products, 100 innovative enterprises, and a set of pilot demonstration scenarios for the first‑use of new products that can be experienced and widely replicated. Furthermore, it encourages the development of AI‑enabled end‑user devices, including household service robots, smart home appliances, and AI‑powered smartphones, computers, toys, smart glasses, and brain–computer interfaces.

  In terms of tapping into existing market potential, efforts will be stepped up to expand the supply of specialized and innovative products, including scaling up and upgrading green‑oriented offerings, enhancing the quality and sophistication of rural consumer goods, vigorously developing leisure and sports products, and fostering innovation in health‑related products. Specifically, priority will be given to areas such as high‑end medical devices, wearable technology, and advanced in‑vitro diagnostic equipment, with a focus on broadening the range of home‑based health‑management applications.

  In terms of market segmentation, the Plan specifies precise alignment with the needs of different consumer groups, including expanding the supply of infant and child products, strengthening the availability of high-quality school supplies, broadening the range of trendy “fashion‑forward” items, and optimizing the provision of age‑appropriate products.

  Analysts believe this will accelerate the emergence of trillion‑yuan‑scale consumer sectors, including senior‑care products, intelligent connected vehicles, consumer electronics, and smart home technologies.

  Taking senior‑care products as an example, the China Ageing Industry Association’s “China Senior‑Care Products Industry Development Report” shows that the size of China’s senior‑care market has grown from RMB 2.6 trillion in 2014 to RMB 5.4 trillion in 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 7.3%. “Population aging is a universal trend in human societal development and has generated substantial market demand,” said Guo Yongzhe, an analyst at the CCID Consulting Pharmaceutical and Health Industry Research Center. He noted that today, high‑quality medical and leisure needs are increasingly attracting market attention, while technology‑driven products such as age‑friendly smart wearables and remote health‑monitoring systems are emerging as new growth drivers.

  New technologies such as big data, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence have become “accelerators” of consumer innovation. For example, in the smart home sector, Haier Smart Home’s “AI Eye” oven can identify the material, volume, and quantity of ingredients, automatically selecting the optimal baking program; Midea’s “Cool‑Saving Air Conditioner” employs AI‑driven variable‑frequency control technology, achieving temperature‑control accuracy as precise as 0.1°C. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, China’s smart home market has grown from RMB 102.2 billion in 2012 to RMB 756 billion in 2024, with projections indicating that the market will surpass RMB 800 billion by 2025 and exceed RMB 1 trillion by 2027.

  “The widespread adoption of new technologies and innovative business models is profoundly reshaping industrial ecosystems and consumption patterns, serving as a crucial pathway to enhancing the alignment between supply and demand in the consumer goods sector,” said Dai Xiaoxia, deputy director of the Consumer Goods Industry Research Institute at the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology. She added that the integration and empowerment of artificial intelligence hinge on deep cultivation of specific application scenarios and seamless connectivity across value chains. In particular, in key industries such as automotive, home furnishings, consumer electronics, textiles and apparel, cosmetics, and healthcare, it is essential to develop and deploy large-scale domain-specific models and advance AI‑driven applications in representative use cases. By leveraging AI in conjunction with industrial Internet platforms, manufacturers can enable large‑scale personalized customization, transforming data into tailored models or products through flexible, modular production lines.

  Beauty products, jewelry, and infant‑and‑toddler goods are emerging as consumption hotspots worth hundreds of billions of yuan. According to the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, in 2024, China’s retail sales of cosmetics above the designated size totaled RMB 435.65 billion. Driven by the rise of domestic brands, the country’s beauty industry has maintained steady progress and sustained growth. Meanwhile, in 2024, the total retail value of infant‑and‑toddler products (excluding food) in the domestic market reached RMB 565.33 billion. With ongoing socioeconomic development and growing health awareness, China’s infant and toddler health‑care product sector is poised for structural growth opportunities.

  Meanwhile, in terms of scenario‑driven empowerment, the Plan explicitly outlines the cultivation of new consumption scenarios and business models, including actively promoting the launch of new consumer products, fostering the orderly development of platform‑based consumption, and regulating the growth of sharing‑economy‑based consumption.

  “New scenarios represent the systematic integration of new technologies, new products, new business formats, and new models. They are far more than mere consumption settings or contexts; they encompass a multidimensional convergence of business formats, products, services, and environmental factors, playing a crucial role in boosting new supply and generating new demand,” said Wang Chenwei, Director of the Research Office at the Institute for Economic Systems and Management of the National Development and Reform Commission, to reporters. Looking ahead, it will be essential to foster a favorable ecosystem that aligns with evolving consumption trends. For instance, in the orderly development of platform-based consumption, we must strengthen platform governance responsibilities, guide and regulate online practices such as “community product recommendations” and “recommendation algorithms,” and continuously enhance the overall consumer experience. (Reporter: Guo Qian)

[Editor-in-charge: Wang Mengmeng]

Source: Economic Information Daily