DIpil Das
China Retail Sales: May 2022
In May, China's total retail sales growth (ex. food service, incl. automobiles and gasoline) declined by 5.0% year over year, recovering from a steep decline of 9.7% in April 2022, when widening Covid-19 lockdowns took a heavy toll on consumption. We anticipate that retail sales will further recover in the coming months with loosening of Covid-19 restrictions in most areas and with the government aiming to resume normal production and life as soon as possible.Figure 1. Total China Retail Sales (ex. Food Service; incl. Automobiles and Gasoline): YoY % Change [caption id="attachment_149784" align="aligncenter" width="700"]
January and February figures are reported together Source: National Bureau of Statistics/Coresight Research [/caption] Retail Sales Growth by Sector Most sectors continue to witness year-over-year sales decline in May but improved from April 2022.
- Grocery demand remains positive in May as consumers continue to focus on necessary items. Food retailers saw year-over-year sales growth of 12.3% and beverage sector saw sales growth of 7.7% year over year.
- The alcohol and tobacco sector witnessed some improvement with year-over-year sales growth of 3.8% in May.
- In May, school, office supplies and computers specialists posted negative sales growth of 3.3% year over year, up from the 4.8% decline in April.
- The apparel and footwear sector posted double-digit sales declines of 16.2% in May; however, it improved from April’s 22.8% decline.
- Gold, silver and jewelry retailers continue their weak sales momentum with sales declines of 15.5% year over year but improved from the 26.7% decline in April.
- Auto retailers were significantly affected by the lockdowns in April 2022 with a 31.6% decline in sales year over year. However, in May 2022, auto sales have shown recovery with a decline of 16.0% compared to May 2021.
- Furniture specialists’ sales continue to decline in May, but they improved from the sales decline in April. Furniture sales declined by 12.2% year over year in May, up from the April 14.0% sales decline.
- The beauty sector continues to post negative sales growth, at 11.0%, but improved from the 22.3% decline in April.
- Construction and decoration sales declined by 7.8% compared to May 2021.
- Communication equipment retailers’ sales declined by 7.7% year over year.
Figure 2. China Retail Sales (ex. Food Service; incl. Gasoline and Automobiles), by Sector: YoY% Change [wpdatatable id=2059 table_view=regular]
The sector breakdown is based on surveys from enterprises with annual sales of ¥5 million (around $730,000) and above Source: National Bureau of Statistics Online Retail Sales Account for 32.5% of All Retail Sales In May, online retail sales in China grew 26.8% year over year. The channel accounted for 32.5% of total retail sales in the period, up from April 2022 online penetration of 29.1%. Online penetration in May remains strong, due to the lingering effects of Covid 19-induced lockdowns in many regions of the country. Online retail sales include food service, as the National Bureau of Statistics does not provide online data that exclude food service. In Figure 3, online sales are benchmarked to total retail sales.
Figure 3. Online Retail Sales (YoY % Change) as a Proportion of Total Retail Sales (%) (incl. Automobiles, Gas and Food Service) [caption id="attachment_149782" align="aligncenter" width="700"]
Online retail sales include food service January and February figures are reported together
Source: National Bureau of Statistics [/caption]