China's online retail sales up 4% in 2022

BEIJING -- China's online retail sales expanded 4 percent year-on-year in 2022 to nearly 13.8 trillion yuan ($2 trillion), the National Bureau of Statistics said on Tuesday.

In breakdown, online retail sales of physical goods climbed 6.2 percent year-on-year, NBS data showed.

The country's total retail sales of consumer goods last year dipped 0.2 percent over the previous year, but December data showed a recovery trend in consumption.

Consumption contributed 32.8 percent to China's 3 percent GDP growth in 2022. "China is still the world's second-largest consumption market and the top online retail market on earth," said NBS director Kang Yi.

Kang expressed "full confidence" in the consumption market in 2023, citing the vast community of consumers, the recovery of offline spending activities, the emergence of new consumption patterns, and the steady income increase with stable employment.