China's retail sales of goods, services up 2.6% in first three quarters

A customer selects goods at a supermarket in Renhuai, southwest China's Guizhou Province, Sept. 9, 2026. [Photo/Xinhua]

China's total retail sales of goods and services, a major indicator of the country's consumption strength, increased by 2.6 percent year on year in the first three quarters of this year, official data showed Monday.

The retail sales of services increased by 5 percent in the period from a year ago, and those of goods increased by 1 percent, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS).

In terms of services consumption, the categories of communication and information services, tourism consulting and leasing services, and cultural, sports and leisure services saw fast growth, the NBS data showed.

In the first three quarters of this year, the total retail sales of consumer goods, which include the sales of physical consumer goods plus the income generated from the catering services, exceeded 37 trillion yuan (about 5.51 trillion U.S. dollars), up by 1.1 percent year on year, the data showed.

In September alone, the total retail sales of consumer goods grew at the fastest pace in six months, rising 1.1 percent year on year and up 0.7 percentage points from the previous month, according to the NBS.

Retail sales of consumer goods in urban areas rose 0.9 percent while those in rural areas increased 2.3 percent.

Online retail sales of goods and services surpassed 15.1 trillion yuan, up 4.4 percent year on year. Of the total, online goods sales rose 3.8 percent year on year, while online service sales increased 5.3 percent year on year.