In July, China’s Retail Industry Prosperity Index (CRPI) was 49.6%, down 0.5 percentage points from the previous month.
According to a report by China News Service, the China General Chamber of Commerce announced the above data on Saturday (July 5).
The China Retail Industry Prosperity Index is a composite index that reflects changes in the business expectations of the retail industry for the current period. In terms of industry sub-categories, the three major sub-indices in July showed notable divergence.
The commodity operation sub-index was 48.7%, down 0.8 percentage points from the previous month and falling for two consecutive months. Analysis indicates that July marks the beginning of the summer holiday, which is an off-season for offline goods retail, resulting in persistently weakening expectations for commodity operation enterprises.
The leasing operation sub-index was 52.4%, up 1.1 percentage points from the previous month, remaining in the expansion zone. The main reasons for the index’s rise are the diversification of business scenarios and the increase in summer holiday service consumption projects. With families traveling mainly in the summer, leasing operation enterprises anticipate an uptick in customer flow, boosting shop occupancy rates and sales growth.
The e-commerce operation sub-index was 50.2%, down 0.6 percentage points from the previous month. As the “618” promotion season ended, the total physical sales index for e-commerce fell to 49.5%, down 2.3 percentage points from last month, entering the contraction zone. This indicates that after the concentrated promotion season ended, the intensity of promotions weakened and the growth expectation for online goods retail sales dropped significantly. The total number of online e-commerce goods index was 51.0%, down 0.3 percentage points from the previous month.