Southeast Asia Information Port News (www.dnyxxg.com) The "2026 National Online New Year Shopping Festival" was officially launched in Lanzhou recently. It is understood that this festival, held annually since 2021, has become a significant new consumption scenario with distinctive festive characteristics and a strong role in promoting consumption, continuously revitalizing the Spring Festival consumer market.
This year's festival adopts a "1+N" model. "1" refers to the national launch ceremony held in Lanzhou, where supporting activities from the five northwestern provinces and major e-commerce platforms were announced, creating a unique New Year shopping extravaganza that blends the ancient charm of the Silk Road with the vitality of e-commerce. "N" refers to the diverse supporting activities offered by various regions and platforms, focusing on the core needs of "eating, accommodation, transportation, travel, shopping, and entertainment" during the Spring Festival. These activities include "New Year's Flavor Maps," "New Year's Goods Lists," intangible cultural heritage performances, and cultural and creative product exhibitions, ensuring that Spring Festival consumption is both festive and culturally rich.
Vice Minister of Commerce Sheng Qiuping stated that in recent years, the Ministry of Commerce has fully leveraged the unique advantages of e-commerce in expanding consumption, facilitating circulation, and promoting openness. It has also implemented policies to promote digital consumption development and continuously conducted a series of consumption-boosting activities, such as the National Online New Year Shopping Festival, effectively releasing market consumption potential and providing strong support for the stable operation of the consumer market.
Data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows that in 2025, national online retail sales reached 15.9722 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 8.6%; among which, online retail sales of physical goods reached 13.0923 trillion yuan, an increase of 5.2%, accounting for 26.1% of total retail sales of consumer goods. Online retail has become an important force driving consumption.
Hong Yong, associate researcher at the Credit Institute of the Ministry of Commerce Research Institute, pointed out that online retail is playing an increasingly prominent supporting role in holiday consumption: on the one hand, it breaks through the limitations of time and space, extending holiday shopping from "a few days concentrated" to "several weeks," effectively smoothing out peak consumption and releasing potential demand; on the other hand, through new models such as live-streaming e-commerce, instant retail, and direct sourcing from production areas, it promotes the deep integration of traditional customs, local specialties, and modern consumption methods, expanding the scale of holiday consumption, boosting the upward flow of agricultural products, increasing the income of small and medium-sized businesses, and stimulating activity in lower-tier markets, providing important support for stabilizing consumption and expectations.
Regarding how to better leverage the online channels of the Spring Festival Shopping Festival and promote a shift in Spring Festival consumption from "stockpiling" to "experience" and "quality" consumption, Hong Yong suggested that the festival should transform from simply "running promotions" to "strengthening the system," making good use of online retail as a long-term tool for boosting consumption. He recommended focusing on three key areas: first, guiding platforms to enrich high-quality supply around the Spring Festival consumption scenario, promoting higher quality, branding, and innovation in domestic products; second, strengthening online-offline integration, linking physical commerce, logistics, and service industries to amplify the multiplier effect of consumption; and third, leveraging data to enhance the ability to analyze consumption trends and implement precise promotions, ensuring that online promotions better serve the overall goals of stabilizing growth, benefiting people's livelihoods, and expanding domestic demand.
It is worth noting that connecting domestic and international markets is one of the four major themes of this year's Spring Festival Shopping Festival. According to reports, the "Silk Road E-commerce Chinese New Year" event will be held during the festival to attract tourists from all over the world to China to experience the Spring Festival atmosphere. At the same time, the Ministry of Commerce will guide e-commerce platforms, major business districts, national pavilions of Silk Road e-commerce partner countries, and live-streaming e-commerce bases to carry out activities such as exporting New Year's goods and holding Spring Festival markets for Silk Road products, amplifying the effect of intangible cultural heritage during the Spring Festival, promoting the global sharing of Chinese New Year goods, and creating a joyful and festive Spring Festival atmosphere.
