From "Essential Needs Guarantee" to "Self-Enjoyment and Quality Improvement" - Innovation Accelerates

Securities Times reporter Cao Chen

With the disclosure of 2025 annual reports and the 2026 Q1 reports of listed companies in the consumer sector completed, the latest development trends in China’s consumer market have become clearly visible.

Under the multiple drivers of policies to boost consumption taking effect, the evolution of residents’ consumption concepts, and the deep empowerment of digital technology, domestic consumption has moved on from the extensive incremental growth stage dominated by rigid demand. On the demand side, upgrades toward personalization and higher quality are ongoing; new consumption formats are continuously emerging, propelling the large-consumption industry into a new stage of high-quality development characterized by quality upgrades, innovation in scenarios, and a two-way cycle.

Wang Peng, an associate research fellow at the Beijing Academy of Social Sciences, told Securities Times reporter that the significance of boosting consumption goes beyond the scope of short-term efforts to stabilize growth; it is also a key link in building the domestic “great circulation.” As the subsequent special actions to boost consumption deepen and take solid form, and the effectiveness of supply-side optimization continues to become evident, the consumer market is expected to sustain a long-term positive development trend.

Outstanding Performance in Service Consumption

Data released by the Ministry of Commerce shows that in 2025, the total retail sales of consumer goods for the whole society first exceeded 50 trillion, reaching 50.1 trillion, up 3.7%. The contribution rate of consumption to economic growth reached 52%, continuing to play the role of the main engine of economic development. In 2025, service retail sales grew 5.5% year on year, faster than merchandise retail sales by 1.7 percentage points; the share of service retail sales in total retail sales increased.

Judging from financial report data of listed companies, in 2025, nine major first-level “large consumer” industries classified under Shenwan’s industry categories in A-share (Agriculture, Forestry, Animal Husbandry and Fishery; Food and Beverage; Medical Biology; Home Appliances; Light Industry Manufacturing; Textiles and Apparel; Commercial Retail; Social Services; Beauty and Personal Care) collectively achieved total revenue of 9.21 trillion yuan, basically flat with the previous year. In terms of revenue growth rates, the social services industry recorded a year-on-year increase of 7.28% in 2025, ranking first.

Among them, service consumption has become the biggest highlight of the release of consumption vitality in this round. The heat of cultural and tourism consumption continues to rise, showing a distinct feature that off-peak seasons are not “off.” In 2025, the growth rate of domestic service retail sales continued to run ahead of merchandise retail sales, and residents’ experiential and leisure consumption demands were fully released.

Cultural and tourism listed companies saw a major rebound in revenue. In 2025, Shenwan Hongyuan (000166)’s A-share tourism and scenic spots sector achieved revenue of 40.3 billion yuan, up 8.12%, outperforming the social services sector. Specifically, Caesar Travel’s revenue in 2025 increased 22.35% year on year, and its net profit attributable to shareholders surged 127.18% year on year. In 2026 Q1, it continued its high-growth momentum, with year-on-year revenue growth nearing 40%, confirming that the recovery of cultural and tourism consumption has strong and sustainable continuity. Xiangyuan Cultural Tourism’s revenue in 2025 increased 34.71% year on year, with its growth rate ranking among the top tier among listed companies in the cultural and tourism industry. The company’s core scenic spots are performing well: both offline visitor traffic and per-capita spending increased, driving a significant growth in the main business revenue of scenic spots.

At the same time, revenue and net profit for leading OTAs (online travel platforms) generally achieved double-digit growth. Domestic short-distance travel, outbound travel, and high-end customized travel markets fully rebounded, and the trend toward upgrading service consumption has become even clearer.

Since 2025, the home appliance industry has shown a structural recovery trend, with leading enterprises’ advantages in risk resistance becoming more prominent. On the consumer side, stock renewal and quality upgrades are the main trends. Relying on China’s huge home appliance consumer market, industry leaders have achieved steady and robust performance growth. Midea Group (000333)’s total operating revenue in 2025 reached 458.5 billion yuan, up 12.1% year on year. Gree Electric (000651) saw both revenue and net profit grow positively in 2026 Q1; smart home appliances and energy-saving high-end products have become core growth drivers, with optimization of product mix.

“Better Life for Yourself through Quality Improvement” Becomes a New Consumption Trend

The most core change in the domestic consumer market since 2025 lies in the deep iteration of consumption structure. The consumption logic is accelerating its shift from “rigid demand covering the basics” to “better life for yourself through quality improvement.” High-end, personalized, and health-oriented consumption has become the new trend.

Specifically, the rise of high-end domestic brands and strong growth in Eastern aesthetics-based consumption is gradually breaking the long-standing pattern of long-term dominance by foreign brands, with the beauty and cosmetics track showing particularly outstanding performance. In 2025, Mao Geping’s revenue and net profit both saw year-on-year increases of over 30%. By focusing on Eastern aesthetics-based makeup positioning and deepening its engagement in the high-end market, it has continuously enhanced its brand premium capability. Betainy’s non-GAAP net profit attributable to the parent increased 48.22% year on year in 2025, and non-GAAP net profit in 2026 Q1 surged by more than 94.81%, precisely meeting consumers’ needs for refined and quality-focused skincare.

Generation Z-led “better life for yourself” consumption and personalized consumption have fully taken off, driving rapid growth in niche tracks such as trendy toys. Pop Mart has benefited from the combined effect of a low base and the expansion of new IP offerings, with 2025 revenue soaring 184.7% year on year, and its performance entering explosive growth. With its rich matrix of trendy toy IPs, it precisely matches Generation Z’s preferences for collecting and demands for emotional expression, becoming a typical representative of this kind of “better life for yourself” consumption in China.

The leisure food industry is seeing a wave of consumption upgrading. Leading companies such as Salted Fish Shop (002847) and Weilong Delicious have achieved high growth by relying on high-end nuts, functional snacks, and scenario-based snacks. Consumer demand is also upgrading from basic satiety toward a comprehensive experience that emphasizes health attributes, taste and flavor, and visual appeal, continuously driving optimization and iteration of the industry’s structure.

Consumer Scenarios Continue to Be Innovated

Continuous innovation in consumer scenarios injects new momentum into market growth. Deep integration of online and offline, and normalized development of live-streaming e-commerce, are accelerating the formation of a new all-domain consumption pattern. In 2025, Urban Beauty’s e-commerce business GMV (Gross Merchandise Volume) increased 175% year on year to 4.31 billion yuan. Live-streaming e-commerce also quickly accelerated in scale; the full-year live-streaming GMV exceeded 1.1 billion yuan, becoming an important engine for channel growth.

While online channels are booming, offline channels are also accelerating their transformation toward experience-based and scenario-based directions. Leisure food companies such as Bestore and Weilong Delicious continue to deepen their presence in supermarket chains, wholesale stores, and convenience stores across all channels, continuously improving their offline network layout. The home appliance industry has formed an integrated model of online traffic attraction and offline experience, completing the restructuring of its channel system. Leading brands such as Gree and Midea continue upgrading offline smart stores, and by leveraging immersive consumption experiences, they effectively boost terminal conversion efficiency.

Wang Peng told reporters that today’s innovation in consumer scenarios is undergoing profound changes. Technology is empowering various consumption links deeply, continuously breaking down the boundaries between online and offline virtual-and-real integration, and continuously creating immersive, personalized new consumption experiences. Residents’ consumption is no longer only focused on satisfying material functional needs; instead, they increasingly pursue emotional “better life for yourself,” cultural identity, and the value of socializing within their social circles. Cross-sector integration among cultural tourism, commerce, sports, and health and wellness continues to generate new types of consumer scenarios. The overall market is also shifting step by step from past scale expansion to a stage of fine-tuning and cultivation of existing demand. Green and low-carbon development and quality upgrades will become the main line for future consumption supply upgrading and scenario innovation.

Looking at the financial performance of listed companies, China’s consumer market has bid farewell to extensive rigid-demand growth and has officially entered a new stage of refined, quality-driven growth. This is both a microcosm of the continuous upgrading of residents’ quality of life and a true reflection of China’s high-quality economic development. With consumption-boosting policies continuing to be implemented, residents’ incomes steadily increasing, and the core competitiveness of domestic brands continuously strengthening—together with the continuous expansion of diverse consumption scenarios—China’s consumer market is expected to keep releasing new drivers of long-term growth.

(Edited by: Zhang Xiaobo)

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