China's private consumption to grow 7.5% in 2018

This is due to the rising e-commerce market.

BMI Research reported that China’s private consumption is likely to rise by 7.5% in 2018, which is highly driven by the increasing e-Commerce spending.

“The robust growth in online retail sales is a result of the rapidly growing e-commerce market in China, spurred by online platforms JD.com and Alibaba. We forecast e-Commerce spending in China to grow by an average of 18% annually between 2017 and 2021 as incomes rise, credit uptake grows and the internet becomes accessible for greater portions of the population,” BMI Research said.

Further, BMI Research added that online retail sales rose from 26.2% in December 2016 32.4% in December last year, whilst retail sales inched down from 10.9% to 9.4%. Personal care and effects category will boost retail sales by 28.4% to US$89.4b until 2022.

Consumer confidence in December rose from 108.4 to 122.6 in the same month of the previous year.

Here’s more from BMI Research:

Retail sales in rural areas have been surpassing the growth rates seen in urban areas with rural retail sales growing by 11.8% in December 2017 compared to 10.0% growth in urban areas. The difference in growth comes on the back of incomes rising from a lower base in rural areas which is allowing consumption and an increase in spending to rise at a faster rate than urban counterparts. Another factor contributing to this is the rising internet penetration in rural areas as infrastructure improves in rural areas. Rural Internet users increased by 2.6% y-o-y in 2016, reaching 201mn rural Internet users, a growing base which will see increased demand for e-Commerce services in these areas of the country.