National Bureau of Statistics Releases "Online Retail Sales of Goods and Services" Indicator for the First Time

Xinhua News Agency, Beijing, March 16 (Reporter He Xiao, Wang Yuxiao) - At a press conference held by the State Council Information Office on the 16th, Fu Linghui, spokesperson for the National Bureau of Statistics, stated that there is an important change in the consumer-related indicators released this year. For the first time, the “Online Goods and Services Retail Sales” indicator has been published, and the “Online Retail Sales” indicator has been discontinued.

Fu Linghui explained that the “Online Goods and Services Retail Sales” is an optimized improvement based on the original “Online Retail Sales” indicator. The main difference is that the new indicator expands the scope of network service platform statistics and enhances the measurement of online service retail sales. Previously published “Online Retail Sales” mainly included two items: one is physical goods online retail sales, mainly reflecting online sales of goods; the other is non-physical goods online retail sales, mainly reflecting key platform service retail sales.

He added that in recent years, as online services have developed rapidly, the National Bureau of Statistics has strengthened the statistics on online service retail. Building on the original “Non-Physical Goods Online Retail Sales,” they have optimized and expanded the scope to include more online service retail platforms, and now publish the “Online Service Retail Sales” indicator. At the same time, the original “Physical Goods Online Retail Sales” indicator has been renamed “Online Goods Retail Sales,” with no change in its scope or content; the “Online Retail Sales” indicator has been renamed “Online Goods and Services Retail Sales.” After the adjustment, the total volume of online goods and services retail sales has increased compared to the previous online retail sales, mainly due to the increase in online service retail sales.

“Next, the National Bureau of Statistics will further strengthen market sales monitoring and other work to better reflect consumption development and provide high-quality statistical information for all sectors of society,” Fu Linghui said. (End)

【Source: Xinhua News Agency】