May Day holiday gives boost to consumption

Consumption in Shanghai was off to a great start this month with both domestic and foreign visitors keeping sentiment strong during the May Day holiday.

Retail spending from both online and offline channels in the city totaled 53 billion yuan (US$7.3 billion) between April 30 to May 4, with online spending surging 8.3 percent from a year go to 23.5 billion yuan, the Shanghai Commerce Commission said on Sunday.

Foot traffic at 35 major commercial districts in the city was up 5.4 percent to 25.69 million between April 30 to May 4, and inbound travelers surged 62.2 percent to more than 100,000 over the period.

More than 200 promotional activities, street bazaar and leisure activities have been staged in the city every day, which are part of the Fifth Shanghai Double Five Shopping Festival that opened at the end of April.

According to UnionPay's offline payment data, nearly half of physical store spending was made by visitors from out of town, totaling 14.9 billion yuan.

The overall number of payment jumped 9.1 percent from the same period a year earlier to 14.49 million.

Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Anhui and Shandong are the top provinces in terms of the number of payments.

Major commercial areas and shopping centers such as the Cloud Nine Shopping Mall in Changning District, Jing'an's Plaza 66, The Hub in Hongqiao, the Joy City Shopping Mall in Jing'an and Panlong Tiandi in Qingpu District and Wanda Plaza in Songjiang District have recorded a more than 10 percent revenue increase.

Green and smart home appliance sales has been a highlight, with more than 16,000 transactions being made, and total sales value of 130 million yuan, jumping 40 percent from normal weekends.

The total amount of lifestyle service consumption in Shanghai topped other cities in the country during the vacation, according to Meituan data.

The number of orders for tourist attractions, accommodation and transportation service jumped 76 percent in the first three days of the Labor Day holiday, as the city attracted travelers from neighboring cities including Suzhou, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Jiaxing and Hefei.

The amount of spending from overseas travelers through Alipay jumped seven times from a year earlier, and the number of Chinese merchants having accepted foreign payments through digital wallets also surged 4.5 times.

In addition to online and offline payments, paying for metro rides and bus tickets, taxi-hailing, and food delivery are among the top functions adopted by these customers.

Following a series of unilateral visa-free policies for European and Asian nations since last year, inbound travel has been gradually picking up, and the number of inbound customers using Alipay from these countries jumped four times during the May Day holiday.