China's 2025 consumption keywords highlight fresh upgrading in super-large market

From coffee plantations in Yunnan to creative blends in Shanghai cafes, from precisely controlled roasting lines in Kunshan to coffee content surging across Gen Z social platforms, the once foreign drink has become part of everyday life in China.

Since 2010, China's coffee consumption has grown at an average annual rate of more than 15 percent, with new flavors tailored to local tastes, from tom yum Americano to black truffle Dirty.

"The potential of China's coffee market is huge. If you can gain a firm foothold here, you will have more chances to be seen by the world," a Brazilian coffee trader said recently at the 8th China International Import Expo in Shanghai.

The coffee story reflects a broader consumption upgrade unfolding in China in 2025, as new scenarios and business models generate fresh demand, a quality-for-value mindset reshapes choices, and service spending takes a larger share.

New scenarios

If coffee's integration into daily routines is no longer surprising, the low-altitude economy's entry into everyday life has become a vivid example of how new scenarios and business models are generating fresh demand.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China forecasts the low-altitude economy's market size to reach 1.5 trillion yuan (about 213 billion U.S. dollars) in 2025, with the figure expected to exceed 3.5 trillion yuan by 2035.

Drones are increasingly taking on the role of "delivery runners," carrying freshly brewed coffee across buildings and delivering it within minutes. Meanwhile, helicopter sightseeing is giving travelers a new aerial perspective on mountains and rivers.

Data showed that the civilian drone market is projected to grow 15 percent year on year in 2025, while the eVTOL annual orders exceeded 30 billion yuan as of November this year.

There were 801 manned-aircraft operators and more than 19,900 drone operators by the end of July, with drones logging 24.47 million flight hours in the first half of the year.

The same "new scenario" momentum is evident in the ice-and-snow economy, where winter sports are expanding beyond seasonal recreation into a broader spending chain.

In Chongli, Hebei Province, ski resorts reported near-full weekend capacity, and since November, orders at the Wanlong and Fulong ski resorts rose 257 percent and 210 percent year on year, respectively.

Research also indicates strong spillover effects. A report on China's ice-and-snow industry estimated ski resort consumption reached 78.61 billion yuan in the 2024-2025 snow season, while consumption within two kilometers of ski resorts rose 27.97 percent year on year, boosting surrounding retail, transport and catering.

In its latest effort to tap the potential of its super-large market, China unveiled a comprehensive plan to better align the supply and demand of consumer goods.

The plan includes measures to foster new consumption sectors, such as smart homes and green construction materials, promote the upgrading of consumer goods in rural areas, and expand the supply of specific items, from winter sports gear and popular toys to products for infants and the elderly.

Quality for value

As new scenarios expand the space for consumption, a parallel shift is taking place on the demand side, with "quality-for-value" increasingly shaping what consumers choose and how brands compete.

The trend reflects a more selective willingness to pay for products that offer tangible improvements in functionality, efficiency, and user experience, all while remaining attentive to price.

In China's fast-moving consumer goods market, offline channels such as membership-based retailers, snack-collection chains and discount formats have expanded rapidly, reflecting consumers' heightened focus on value, convenience and experience, according to a recent report by the consulting firm Bain & Company.

In October, the offline consumption activity index rose 17.3 percent year on year, and the average transaction value for offline spending increased 6 percent.

Domestic brands have largely outpaced international rivals this year, driven less by price than by stronger product performance and localized storytelling that delivers emotional value and cultural resonance.

The Chinese fragrance brand To Summer epitomizes this shift by leveraging unique Chinese aesthetics to transform its products and retail spaces into immersive carriers of cultural empathy and emotional healing, according to a report from consultancy firm Accenture.

The country has expanded the scope of its consumer goods trade-in program this year as it steps up efforts to boost domestic demand and help people upgrade to higher-quality big-ticket items.

By taking advantage of government subsidies and "Double 11" discounts, a Beijing resident surnamed Zhang replaced a decade-old refrigerator with an AI-powered model. "It manages food freshness and sends grocery notifications to my phone," Zhang said.

Official data showed that the program -- covering a wide range of products from home appliances and e-bikes to new energy passenger cars -- spurred cumulative sales exceeding 2.4 trillion yuan during the first 10 months of 2025.

The policy-driven momentum helped retail sales, a major barometer of consumption strength, maintain a stable year-on-year rise of 4.3 percent over the same period.

Rising service consumption

As products become smarter and channels more competitive, services are absorbing more household spending, especially among younger consumers seeking experience and emotional value.

Research findings show that more than 90 percent of young people recognize emotional value and nearly 60 percent say they are willing to pay for it.

Related industries have recorded an average annual compound growth rate of 12 percent since 2013, with the market size in 2025 expected to exceed 2 trillion yuan.

The structural shift is visible in household spending, with the share of per capita service consumption expenditure rising to 46.1 percent in 2024, up 5 percentage points from 2015, according to official data.

The figure edged further up to 46.8 percent in the first three quarters of 2025.

Since the start of this year's "Double 11" shopping season, emotion-driven purchases linked to animation, gaming and comics intellectual property have climbed markedly, with strong growth in related merchandise, said Li Chao, an official with the National Development and Reform Commission.

Li said lifestyle services now span education and training, health, elderly care, childcare, culture and entertainment, tourism, sports, on-demand home services, mobility, catering and accommodation, and retail services.

On-demand services are expanding from cleaning and repairs to organizing and storage services and pet care, while many localities are linking cultural and sports events with commerce through ticket-based discounts that connect dining, hotels and shopping, turning foot traffic into sales.

Yi Xin, a researcher at the Chinese Academy of Macroeconomic Research, said the country's demand for service consumption will continue to be released, and deeper integration of consumption with modern technologies and new modes of production is driving relatively rapid growth in emerging forms of consumption.