The business district has a strong sense of "newness" and a high level of "quality" consumption. A surge of customers during the Mid-Autumn Festival holiday has given business districts across the country a vivid consumer response sheet. The passenger flow of distinctive pedestrian streets and commercial streets in various places has increased significantly, and the introduction of new scenes and new business formats has also accelerated. From urban business districts to county business districts, a variety of new consumption scenarios have appeared one after another, and the market is booming. A consumer revolution led by experience is transforming from "buying goods" to "focusing on experience", steadily driving new increases in the domestic demand market.
The first visible changes in business districts are in the core neighborhoods of the city. Many old commercial streets no longer just rely on store shelves to attract customers, but have come up with new technologies and new concepts to reshape the experience of shopping. Shanghai Yuyuan uses digital light and shadow to build a water stage, and artificial intelligence empowers lighting and sound effects, changing the ancient Mid-Autumn Festival folk customs into a modern look. A customized consumption space has been launched on Nanjing Road. The time-honored brand Pipa Guzheng can be made on demand, and skin care products can be customized according to skin quality. Many first robot stores on Huaihai Road opened to welcome customers, and many young people came here to check in and experience them. Commodity buying and selling gradually took a backseat, and emotional feelings and fresh experiences became important reasons for people to enter the business district.
Technology empowers business and allows consumption to break out of the single-shopping framework. But innovation has never been exclusive to big cities. Chengdu has moved mountain green plants into shopping malls to create a park-like consumption scene. When visitors are in the mall, they feel as if they have entered a secret city, where they can enjoy dining, leisure, and hand-made experiences all in one place. The average daily passenger flow of shopping malls during holidays can reach 60,000 people. Going to the mall for a mini vacation has become a leisure choice for local residents. Trendy cultural and creative and second-hand recycling stores have settled in one after another, constantly adapting to the contemporary young people's consumption concept of simplicity and low carbon. Each commercial space is no longer just a trading place, but has gradually become a gathering place for citizens' daily leisure and social interaction.
The changes in county business districts are an easily visible surprise in this round of consumption upgrades. For a long time, the impression given by shopping malls in county towns was mostly the same store layout, with very few leisure items to choose from. Now this situation is rapidly changing. The renovated shopping mall in Huaxian County, Anyang, Henan Province integrates Chinese-style amusement park and technological experience. The VR experience hall and flyover theater bring immersive fun to tourists, and interesting activities such as rolling mooncakes during the Mid-Autumn Festival have attracted a lot of popularity. The commercial complex in Gong'an County, Jingzhou, Hubei Province breaks away from the traditional supermarket model. The 8,000-square-meter integrated business area is full of hot food, cooked food, stir-fried dishes, and desserts. Among the more than 120 merchants, nearly 20% are service experience stores. Online orders are delivered within the same city, allowing people in counties and villages to enjoy commercial services that are in sync with cities at their doorsteps.
A set of macro data confirms the huge potential contained in the county market. As of the end of August, the cumulative year-on-year growth rate of rural consumer goods retail sales in my country has been higher than that in urban areas or basically the same as in urban areas for 56 consecutive months. From January to August this year, county and township retail sales of consumer goods accounted for 39% of the country’s total retail sales of consumer goods, an increase of 0.3 percentage points compared with the same period last year. Behind the numbers is the huge vitality that is being released in the vast county and township markets. If the domestic demand market wants to continue to expand, it cannot just focus on first-tier cities. The blue ocean of counties has room for growth that cannot be ignored.
The trade-in policy for home appliances continues to expand, adding another boost to the consumer market. Each locality flexibly adjusts subsidy categories based on its own regional characteristics. Hunan has included more than ten categories of aging-friendly smart homes in its subsidy catalog, and many middle-aged and elderly consumers in Xiangtan County have taken the initiative to purchase smart door locks and dishwashers. In response to the cold weather in autumn and winter, Guizhou has added clothes dryers and electric heaters to the subsidy list. Merchants have simultaneously expanded their after-sales teams to ensure delivery and installation within 24 hours. A total of 27 regions across the country have launched independent category subsidies, driving a total of 2.286 million product sales. Policies are implemented accurately to break up the bottlenecks in the replacement of home appliances and release the consumer demand hidden in households.
We must also clearly understand that new scenes do not mean simple hardware stacking. Some business districts follow the trend and create check-in spots for internet celebrities, blindly pursuing visual effects and lacking long-term considerations in business planning. After the popularity subsided, the store quickly became deserted, and the money invested was difficult to recover. The core of truly viable business district renewal lies in understanding the real needs of local people. Young people in first-tier cities prefer technology customization, families in county towns pay more attention to convenience and affordability, and southern regions need home appliances that are suitable for humid weather. Every business district must find its own positioning and refine its business formats according to local conditions, rather than copying other people's popular templates.
Domestic demand growth is never an empty slogan. It is hidden in every business district renovation, every theme event, and every convenient service. In the past, people went shopping for a very straightforward purpose, buying all the goods they needed and leaving in a hurry. Nowadays, more and more people go to commercial streets to spend some relaxing and leisure time. Consumption logic has undergone fundamental changes, and market supply must naturally keep pace. Merchants no longer just compete on product prices, but on services, creativity, environment and personalized choices. Only through continuous optimization and adjustment on the supply side can we continue to awaken the public's willingness to consume.
The fireworks in the market continue to rise, and the potential of domestic demand is waiting to be tapped. The continuous updating and iteration of business districts is an important piece in activating the domestic cycle. With urban business districts striving for excellence, county business districts accelerating to make up for their shortcomings, supporting policies accurately supporting them, and multiple forces gathering together, the domestic consumer market will be able to continuously develop new momentum. As new business formats and new scenarios continue to take root, people will have more choices in their lives, and China's domestic demand market will also usher in a broader space for growth.
