New Trends and New Growth 2024 China Consumer Development Forum was held during the Consumer Expo.
On April 14th, 2024, during the 4th China International Consumer Goods Expo, the 2024 China Consumer Development Forum, jointly sponsored by Southern Newspaper Media Group and China (Hainan) Reform and Development Research Institute and hosted by Southern Weekend Newspaper, was held in Haikou, Hainan. With the theme of "grasping the pulse of consumption and gaining insight into development opportunities", this forum invited representatives from politics, academia and business circles to discuss the new consumption trends in China and explore the potential opportunities for high-quality development.
Wang Wei, vice president and deputy editor-in-chief of Southern Newspaper Media Group, Party Secretary and editor-in-chief of Southern Weekend Newspaper, said in his speech that as a well-known media group in China, Southern Newspaper Media Group has been paying close attention to the progress of the times, economic development and Hainan’s construction achievements. As a well-known media at home and abroad, Southern Weekend insists on focusing on economic development, and has always been sensitive and concerned about the consumption issues as one of the troika driving the economy, and has made many influential reports in all walks of life. In addition, in recent years, Southern Weekend has vigorously promoted the development of media integration and actively promoted the construction of new mainstream media, among which the construction of media think tanks is an important part. At present, Southern Weekend Research Institute has built 10 research centers, continuously produced think tank products such as in-depth research, policy consultation and various lists, fully participated in the modernization of national governance capacity, and helped economic and social development.
Vice President and Deputy Editor-in-Chief of Southern Newspaper Media Group, Wang Wei, Party Secretary and Editor-in-Chief of Southern Weekend Newspaper.
Wang Wei said that Southern Weekend will base itself on the three-dimensional communication matrix of Southern Newspaper Media Group, tell the story of the Expo, sort out the achievements of the construction of the free trade port, and spread the voice of China’s economic development to the world. He also looked forward to working with experts from all walks of life and the public to grasp the pulse of consumption trends and explore the economic trend in 2024.
Consumption is the key engine to drive economic growth and the great potential of China’s economic development. How can new quality productivity and new consumption promote each other and promote each other circularly? Zhao Baige, Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress and Chairman of the Expert Committee of Landy International Think Tank, delivered a speech on the topic of "New Quality Productivity Promotes New Consumption Change". She believes that new consumption is the inevitable result of economic and social development, and it is also a vivid portrayal of new quality productivity promoting consumption change. On the surface, it is manifested in the rapid development of supply quantity, price, quality and technical content, as well as the more detailed consumption scene of demand, more convenient consumption channels and more innovative consumption experience; The connotation shows that the new quality productivity has promoted the innovative allocation of production factors and the deep transformation and upgrading of the industry, and improved the quality and efficiency of the consumer market.
Zhao Baige, Vice Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the 12th National People’s Congress and Chairman of the Expert Committee of Landy International Think Tank.
Consumer demand will continue to evolve, and the space for consumption mining is still huge. The key lies in how to release market kinetic energy and use new quality productivity to stimulate new consumption. Zhao Baige believes that we should adhere to the consumer demand-oriented, attach importance to the innovation ability of private enterprises, release the potential of digital and green consumption, accelerate the cultivation of key areas of new consumption, expand international cooperation, and shape the positive cyclical momentum of new quality productivity and new consumption.
At present, China’s consumption structure is undergoing profound changes. What impact has this brought to the economy and society? How to achieve structural reform to adapt to the general trend of consumption structure upgrading? Chi Fulin, president of China (Hainan) Reform and Development Research Institute, believes that the contribution rate of consumption to economic growth has been increasing since entering a new stage of development. In 2023, the contribution rate of final consumption expenditure to economic growth reached 82.5%, an increase of 32.3 percentage points over 2013, which became the first driving force for economic growth. He analyzed that China is still a big country in transition, and the upgrading of consumption structure of urban and rural residents is at an important stage. In 2023, the contribution rate of service consumption of urban and rural residents to consumption growth reached 67.5%. If the proportion of service-oriented consumption of urban and rural residents in China increases from about 45% in 2023 to more than 50% in 2030, it is expected to boost economic growth by at least 2 percentage points. Chi Fulin believes that the upgrading of consumption structure faces structural contradictions. "Establish first and then break" focuses on solving the structural contradictions faced by the upgrading of consumption structure with structural reforms.
Chi Fulin, Dean of China (Hainan) Reform and Development Research Institute.
Chi Fulin believes that structural reforms should be used to solve the structural contradictions between investment and consumption, growth and distribution, and urban and rural areas. Therefore, it is necessary to accelerate the opening of the service market, promote structural reform and policy adjustment, optimize the pattern of national income distribution, adjust the structure of national income distribution, improve the urbanization rate of registered population, get rid of the dual household registration system in urban and rural areas, and strengthen the construction of rural public service system.
Chi Fulin pointed out that in the next 5-10 years, the upgrading of urban and rural residents’ consumption structure will show an accelerating trend. Economic certainty depends largely on the certainty of consumption structure upgrading; The focus of high-quality development is to form a new growth model led by consumption. Adapting to the upgrading trend of urban and rural residents’ consumption structure and intensifying structural reform will continuously release the potential of economic growth and realize sustainable growth.
Double blessing of practice and theory
New thoughts on the development of the new era of consumption
In this forum, many experts, scholars, business representatives and other guests discussed the new development path in the new era of consumption from different dimensions.
Distinguished professor of Tongji University and Liu Xinghua, director of China Economic Research Center of China National Innovation and Development Strategy Research Association, delivered a speech on "New Pattern, New Consumption and New Growth". He said that consumption is not only created by consumers, but also guided and stimulated by enterprises, and encouraged and protected by the government. Through further deepening reform and high-level opening-up, we should strive to increase employment and residents’ income, improve the supply structure, improve the supply level, effectively meet the multi-level and diversified consumption demand of the whole society, fully release the consumption potential of China in the era of urbanization 2.0, and create new vitality for national economic development.
Distinguished professor of Tongji University and Liu Xinghua, Director of China Economic Research Center of China National Innovation and Development Strategy Research Association.
From 2023 to 2024, the success of "Erbin" has provided new enlightenment for urban development. Zhou Wei, deputy secretary of the Party Committee and general manager of Harbin Madiel Cultural Tourism Investment Group, took Harbin as an example and shared new ideas about "consuming new ecology and empowering new development of urban cultural tourism". He believes that core IP creation+emotional value provision+consumption scene construction is the closed loop of Harbin ice and snow tourism. Harbin provides all tourists with full emotional value and dignity protection, which stimulates consumers’ desire for consumption. Sincerity is Harbin’s "killing skill". There is a world of ice and snow in winter and a big stage on the river in summer.
Zhou Wei, Deputy Secretary of the Party Committee and General Manager of Harbin Madiel Cultural Tourism Investment Group
Lan Zhenzhen, president of L ‘Oré al’s public affairs in North Asia and China, interprets the new strategy of enterprise development under the new consumption ecology with L ‘Oré al’s practical experience. She said that we can transform the new potential energy of beauty into new quality energy, and further lead the new trend of beauty, further stimulate the new vitality of beauty, further promote the new prosperity of the market and further promote the new concept of development at the levels of concept, industry, market and society.
Lan Zhenzhen, President of L ‘Oré al North Asia and China Public Affairs
Zhang Yu, Minister of Public Relations and Communication Department of Fangtai Group, pointed out that where is the imagination space of China kitchen in the future? First, the consumer level presents consumption upgrading and demand diversity; Second, the fourth industrial revolution, represented by AI, 5G, big data, etc., accelerated the development of intelligent home appliances and promoted the home appliance kitchen appliance industry to enter an intelligent era; Third, the function and importance of kitchen are constantly improving in home scenes and space redistribution.
Zhang Yu, Minister of Public Relations and Communication Department of Fangtai Group
In recent years, Zibo, Harbin and other cities have emerged in succession, and quickly "exploded" on the Internet. For these cities, how to turn the contingency of popularity into the inevitability of sustainable development is a problem worth thinking about. Dai Chunchen, Deputy Secretary-General of Southern Weekend Research Institute and Director of Urban (Regional) Research Center, interprets the logic and driving force behind urban development around the city’s face value, speech value and research value. He shared that a new paradigm of experiential consumption and emotional economy was born in Xi ‘an, and the "going out of the circle" of Litang, Zhanjiang and other small towns reflected the spread of the new paradigm in space, while Jiangmen and Zibo explored the experience of deepening the co-governance of emotional economy, while Harbin pushed the "China service" to a new peak with a comprehensive attitude.
Dai Chunchen, Deputy Secretary-General of Southern Weekend Research Institute and Director of Urban (Regional) Research Center
In addition, Kuang Xianming, vice president of China (Hainan) Reform and Development Research Institute and director of RCEP Research Institute, released "Unleashing the Great Potential of Service-oriented Consumption: China Consumption Research Report in 2024" on behalf of the research group of China Reform Institute. The report reviewed the progress of China’s consumption structure transformation in 2023, analyzed the structural contradictions faced by consumption structure upgrading, and put forward relevant suggestions for deepening structural reform to release the great potential of service-oriented consumption.
Kuang Xianming, Vice President of China (Hainan) Institute of Reform and Development and Director of RCEP Institute.
Kuang Xianming believes that it is necessary to focus on the medium and long term, base on the short term, grasp the general trend of consumption structure upgrading, and focus on deepening demand-side structural reform. To this end, he suggested: release the service-oriented consumption potential with structural reform; Optimize the national income distribution structure with the priority of the people’s wealth; Stabilize employment with the focus on stabilizing enterprises; Using digital consumption to promote the development of new service-oriented consumption formats; Promote the transformation and upgrading of trade services with a high level of openness; Strengthen the important role of the government in releasing the service-oriented consumption potential.
Shaping the new ecological synergy of consumption
Co-construction and sharing help economic growth
2024 is the year of consumption promotion, and the concept of co-construction and sharing plays an important role in building a new consumption ecology and helping economic growth. How to make co-construction and sharing a new ecological synergy of consumption and promote high-quality economic development? The forum held two round-table dialogues on the topic of "China’s consumption and economic growth" and "Building and sharing a new consumption ecology".
The round-table dialogue on the theme of "China’s consumption and economic growth" was presided over by Kuang Xianming, and guests such as Zhang Jianping, deputy director of the Academic Committee of the Institute of International Trade and Economic Cooperation of the Ministry of Commerce, Liu Xinghua, distinguished professor of Tongji University, Su Jun, chief growth officer of Longteng Group and president of China District, and Jiang Yulan, brand operating officer of Xuetian Salt Industry, participated in the discussion around the dimensions of China’s economic growth, such as consumption role, consumption structure and consumption release.
Roundtable Dialogue on the Theme of "Consumption and Economic Growth in China"
With the upgrading of China residents’ consumption structure, regarding the service trade, especially the service import, Zhang Jianping believes that China is now the largest trading country in the world, and the trade in goods is our advantage, but the service trade has always been in a deficit state. China’s consumption potential is huge, but it still needs to open wider to the outside world through supply-side structural reform, and strive to make our service trade in China bigger, more competitive and achieve a trade surplus through open competition.
Liu Xinghua emphasized the importance of innovation for economic development. He said that in the history of world economic development, every important technological innovation will give birth to new products and trigger a consumer revolution. In today’s era, people’s demand for digital intelligence, green, low-carbon and more humanized consumption is increasing. The products and services provided by enterprises should be more safe, convenient, healthy, comfortable and novel, and at the same time, they should be conducive to the harmonious coexistence between man and nature. To meet such consumption demand and development demand, we should not only realize subversive scientific and technological innovation, but also realize corresponding business model innovation and management model innovation.
How to treat the trend and prospect of China service travel market? Su Jun said that in recent years, service-oriented consumption has been continuously upgraded and experiential consumption has continued to grow, which has brought new development opportunities to enterprises. Longteng Travel has grasped this trend, promoted the two strategies of internationalization and platformization, completed the transformation from a traditional travel service provider to a global quality life platform, and continuously cultivated new quality productivity with the goal of leading technology and improving experience, so as to better serve global members and member customers.
Facing the trend of upgrading the whole consumption structure, what is the future development plan of Xuetian Salt Industry? Jiang Yulan mentioned that the upgrading and adjustment of product structure and the upgrading of consumption structure are two-way empowerment. The market share of high-end salt in developed countries in Europe and America is 8%-10%, and the consumption of high-end salt in China is still in its infancy, so we think there is much to be done. As a leading brand of high-end salt in China, Xuetian Salt Industry insists on internalizing the development of new quality productivity into a conscious behavior of enterprises, optimizing resource selection, technological innovation, product structure, etc., planting a green background of the brand and building core competitiveness.
The round-table dialogue on the theme of "Building and Sharing a New Ecology of Consumption" was presided over by Dai Chunchen, with the participation of Sohail Shaikh, British Deputy Trade Envoy to China, Lu Wenlong, Executive Director of the International Communication Committee of China Advertising Association and Investment Partner of Guoguang Hui Neng, Mason Lee, Director of the Legal Research Center of Guo Hao Free Trade Port of China Reform, and Zhan Wenyu, General Manager of Consumer BG Strategy and Brand Department of Iflytek. Starting from their respective fields, they discussed topics such as brand building and brand going to sea.
Roundtable Dialogue on the Theme of "Building and Sharing a New Ecology of Consumption"
Shi Ruiyao said that when many British brands came to China for the first time, they would be deeply shocked by the rapid development of China today. Only when they come to China, will they know about the market and opportunities, cultural diversity, rich sales platforms and diverse customer needs. With the help of experts, foreign brands need to find resonance with China consumers, so as to further formulate business strategies and make good use of their experience in other overseas markets to help brands successfully achieve China localization.
In terms of brand spread to the sea, Lu Wenlong pointed out that everything is spread, no matter what you do, you need to spread it, from countries to enterprises and even personal IP. In recent years, some enterprises that have done well in the sea will continue to raise funds on the one hand, and penetrate their brands with the help of new forms of communication on the other. Combining the form of communication with the power of capital may produce some new species of consumption.
On the issue of brand going out to sea, Mason Lee also expressed his views. He believed that for some industries, there is no way out without going out to sea, but enterprises need to pay attention to three dimensions: first, we must make full use of multilateral policies and treaties between China and countries that go out to sea; Second, pay attention to the background investigation of overseas partners; Third, we must have the sense and ability of integration of supply chain, and building a competitive supply chain is the core and essence.
Zhan Wenyu shared Iflytek’s successful experience in expanding overseas markets. He shared that when promoting brands in the international market, enterprises should pay attention to technology research and development to ensure competitive advantage, at the same time show cultural self-confidence and respect the target market culture, and also follow international rules such as data and safety compliance; In addition, cooperation with local business partners can better understand local needs and integrate into the target market, and promote brand internationalization.
At the event site, the complete winners of the "Annual Consumption Influence" selection were also announced, as follows:
China Consumer Development Forum is a permanent annual think tank activity during the Consumer Expo, focusing on the kinetic energy and trends of consumption development under the new pattern. Since it was held in 2021, the forum has attracted great attention from all walks of life, attracting many representatives from the government, think tanks, universities and business circles to attend and share, injecting new impetus into building a new development pattern for services and promoting sustainable development in the consumption field.