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Consumer spending grows apace
Print Edition
MINHANG’S consumer market expanded almost 13 percent in the first half of this year, but a new commercial activity report said residents here ranked fourth from the bottom in a survey of per-person spending in Shanghai districts.
RET Property Consultancy Ltd said low per-capita spending came despite the fact that Minhang ranked second among city districts in terms of overall consumer spending.
Although food and beverage retailers comprise about four-fifths of commercial businesses, many local people don’t eat out, and 80 percent of those who do spend less than 100 yuan (US$15) on a meal.
The report noted that Minhang is home to an increasing number of large shopping malls, but these shopping meccas are too heavily concentrated in areas like Xinzhuang, Qibao and Hongqiao.
As a result, other areas with large populations, such as Maqiao and Zhuanqiao, don’t have enough commercial facilities, and eateries and retail stores in those areas are more “basic,” the report said.
“We feel a little bit lost when we hear about big new malls opening in Qibao and Xinzhuang,” said Grace Duan, a resident living in the Daju neighborhood of Maqiao, home to more than 100,000 people. “We have a large population here but no mall near our homes.”
Another stumbling block in consumer spending growth is the repetition of the same brands from store to store, mall to mall. That limits healthy competition.
E-commerce threat
The Minhang Statistics Bureau said the district’s consumer market in the first six months of this year rose 12.7 percent from a year earlier, but sales in hypermarkets and supermarkets fell 6.3 percent because of the impact of online retailing.
Indeed, Hualian GMS and Tesco were among hypermarkets that recently closed, citing poor foot traffic.
Many shoppers prefer the ease and diversity of shopping online.
The balance sheets of shopping malls have been saved, for now, by booming trade during the New Year and Spring Festival seasons early each year, when hefty discounts lure in consumers. In ensuing months, trade slacks off.
In the first half, automobile sales and household electrical appliances led consumer spending categories.
Auto sales rose 6.4 percent and appliances were up 3.4 percent, the statistics bureau reported.
Most electrical appliance stores now operate online shops in addition to bricks-and-mortar outlets, which has helped them weather the trend toward e-tailing.
Auto sales were given a boost by district government subsidies on the purchase of green cars.
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