On October 8, the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce shared some impressive retail figures from this year’s National Day holiday. The city’s 39 key retail enterprises generated around 6.28 billion yuan (about $870 million), showing a striking 58.7% increase compared to the same period in 2019.
To encourage spending during the holiday, local government officials rolled out a variety of initiatives, including trade-in programs, international shopping festivals, and multiple promotional activities. The outcome? A notable boost in the overall consumer market. Between October 1 and 6, these enterprises reported an 8% year-over-year growth in retail sales.
Looking into specific sectors, the automotive, petroleum, sports and entertainment, and clothing industries all exceeded 400 million yuan in retail sales. They demonstrated year-on-year growth rates of 13.8%, 1.6%, 12%, and 13.7%, respectively. Furthermore, essential categories such as grains, oils, food, beverages, tobacco, and home appliances experienced nearly 20% growth rates.
The Guangzhou International Shopping Festival, organized by the Tianhe District Government in collaboration with the Guangzhou Municipal Bureau of Commerce, featured around 300 themed events that highlighted key aspects of “eat, live, travel, shop, play, and entertain” during the holiday. The Tianhe Road shopping district welcomed about 13.12 million visitors, marking a 10.7% increase compared to last year, while the Beijing Road area brought in around 3.35 million visitors, an increase of 11.1%. Combined revenue in these districts reached approximately 800.5 million yuan, reflecting a 6% year-on-year growth. The Changlong Wanfeng area saw a remarkable rise in visitors by 26.9%, totaling 2.57 million.
Guangzhou also leveraged trade-in programs to stimulate further spending. According to independent monitoring, from October 1 to 6, consumption of building and decoration materials, home appliances, audio-visual equipment, furniture, and communication devices increased dramatically—by 2.9 times, 2.8 times, 1.2 times, and 1.1 times, respectively. Sales of home appliances alone are estimated to have surpassed 500 million yuan.
The automotive market in Guangzhou is also showing signs of recovery. Guangdong Automobile Trade has integrated trade-in subsidies with manufacturer replacement programs to launch targeted marketing campaigns. Between October 1 and 6, over 3,300 orders were processed, leading to nearly 700 million yuan in sales, which represents a year-on-year increase of 30% and 38%, respectively.
Additionally, spending in restaurants during the National Day holiday in Guangzhou is projected to reach around 4 billion yuan, indicating over 4% growth compared to last year. Notably, five monitored restaurants—inclusive of Garden Hotel, Guangzhou Restaurant, China Hotel, Tao Tao Ju, and McDonald’s—reported a combined revenue increase of 10.9%, alongside an impressive 41.6% growth compared to 2019.
