China's online retail sales log rapid expansion in Q1

BEIJING -- China's online retail market registered robust growth in the first quarter of this year, data from the Ministry of Commerce showed on Friday.

During the period, six out of 18 categories of goods monitored by the ministry reported double-digit growth, according to the ministry.

Specifically, sales of gold, silver and jewelry soared 28.1 percent year-on-year, and sales of communication equipment rose 18.5 percent.

The country's contact-based and travel-related consumption saw stronger recovery during the period. Online sales of tourism products and tickets soared 115.8 percent from the same period of 2022, and online catering sales jumped 17.1 percent, the data revealed.

New business forms and models of e-commerce also boomed in the first three months. The number of livestreaming shows on key e-commerce platforms monitored by the ministry exceeded 43 million, selling over 34 million products and attracting 360 billion viewers.

China's online retail sales rose 8.6 percent year-on-year to 3.29 trillion yuan ($478.53 billion) in the first quarter, earlier data showed.