A new policy package has been introduced to energize consumer activity in China's vast county-level regions. The Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, and the Ministry of Finance, among other departments, have jointly issued the "Opinions on Further Unleashing the Vitality of Lower-Tier Markets and Activating County-Level Consumption." The details were presented at a State Council Information Office press conference held on August 18th.
To understand the rationale behind invigorating county-level commerce, Assistant Minister of Commerce Yuan Xiaoming highlighted the significance of lower-tier markets. These markets bridge urban and rural areas, connect production with sales, and serve people's livelihoods, encompassing the nation's most extensive consumer base and holding the most promising consumption potential. County regions are a crucial part of this landscape. "County areas account for roughly 90% of the national territory, 50% of the permanent population, and 40% of the economic output. The share of county and township consumption in total retail sales of consumer goods is steadily increasing, making it the most important source of potential for expanding consumption," Yuan stated.
The "Opinions" focus on county-level areas and offline consumption, outlining 18 specific measures. To optimize the county-level business environment, the document proposes accelerating the renovation of existing commercial facilities, optimizing the layout of commercial networks, improving commercial service support, and revitalizing idle resources and assets. Simultaneously, it aims to enhance the efficiency of urban-rural logistics networks, smooth two-way distribution channels, and guide the coordinated development of online and offline models.
In terms of enriching consumption supply, the measures encourage chain enterprises to accelerate their expansion into lower-tier markets, promote the innovation of local brands, and develop new business models tailored to local conditions. There is also a push to expand the supply of high-quality, fairly-priced goods, accelerate the improvement of services for the elderly and young children, and promote the integrated development of commerce, agriculture, culture, and tourism.
To bolster consumption support capabilities, the document emphasizes promoting stable employment and increasing income channels, while also strengthening entrepreneurship and housing support to release consumption potential. It supports the strategic layout of enterprise headquarters and platform companies in county areas to create more job opportunities and foster new forms of employment rooted in these regions.
Li Jialu, Director of the Department of Circulation Industry Development at the Ministry of Commerce, noted the diverse conditions across China's 1,869 county-level administrative divisions outside municipal districts. "For counties with dense populations and strong economic strength, the focus is on 'quality improvement' and 'leadership'. For those with moderate populations and economic bases, the emphasis is on 'consolidating foundations, exploring potential, and leveraging unique characteristics'. For smaller, less economically robust counties, the priority is on 'basic safeguards' and 'ensuring security'." The next steps will fully consider practical factors like population distribution and market demand to develop county-level commerce with distinct local characteristics.
China's county-level commercial landscape is rapidly evolving, with more commercial complexes and branded stores appearing in county towns and township commercial centers offering richer product selections. This transformation is building a commercial network spanning urban and rural areas. Since 2021, China has built or renovated 3,159 comprehensive commercial service centers in county towns, 15,000 township commercial centers, and 168,000 village-level convenience stores, achieving basic coverage of the three-tier commercial network at county, township, and village levels. Furthermore, over 3,600 county and township logistics distribution points have been upgraded, with more than 100 million packages entering and leaving rural areas daily. Nearly 4,000 facilities for agricultural product sorting, pre-cooling, and primary processing have been supported for construction. During the "14th Five-Year Plan" period, rural online retail sales exceeded 3 trillion yuan, a cumulative increase of 1 trillion yuan, with over 20 million rural online merchants.
Addressing how to continue promoting county-level consumption market growth, Li Jialu shared findings from a recent survey: "49.4% of rural residents believe that the limited variety of goods is the most critical pain point for offline consumption." The Ministry of Commerce will work on both the sales and production fronts to enrich the supply of quality goods. On one hand, efforts will be intensified to promote the sale of new energy vehicles and green, smart products in rural areas, expand the coverage of rural charging facilities, and optimize the environment for their purchase and use. On the other hand, companies will be encouraged to develop high-quality products that meet the specific consumption characteristics of county-level markets, support commercial and trade circulation enterprises in creating more private labels, and build flexible supply chains based on demand.
Plans are also in place to create convenient living circles in county towns based on local conditions, expanding the supply of high-quality services in areas like accommodation, dining, leisure, entertainment, culture, and tourism. This includes adding service facilities and projects for the elderly and children, guiding more brand chain enterprises to expand into county markets, and supporting local shops, time-honored brands, and workshop-style businesses that carry local culture. Li Jialu emphasized that China will adapt to changing consumption needs in county areas by "addressing key points and shoring up weaknesses simultaneously" and "combining introduction with local cultivation" to adopt multiple measures to create a thriving consumer market.
Agricultural product consumption is a vital link that connects the dining table with agricultural production and plays a key role in activating county-level consumption. To help high-quality agricultural products sell well, Song Danyang, an official from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, outlined several initiatives. The ministry will continue to focus on brand cultivation, production-marketing alignment, and the creation of consumption scenarios. This involves deepening the plan for cultivating premium agricultural brands and telling brand stories through various platforms, promoting stable connections between major e-commerce platforms, wholesale markets, supermarket chains, and main production areas, and guiding e-commerce platforms to cultivate local farmer anchors. Additionally, efforts will guide urban and rural residents towards nearby and integrated consumption, integrating agricultural products into new business models.
In the service consumption sector, "county-town tourism" and rural tourism are emerging as new hot spots in lower-tier markets. Gu Kewei, an official from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, stated that the ministry will guide 113 counties in pilot projects for empowering rural revitalization through the cultural industry. This will involve guiding localities to explore unique cultural and tourism resources and enriching "small but beautiful" rural tourism formats such as homestays, farming study tours, self-driving camping, and folk custom experiences.
On the supply side, individual businesses represent the largest group of market operators in lower-tier markets. As of the end of July, the number of registered individual businesses in these markets exceeded 78 million, with 86% engaged in service-related industries. Institutional innovations such as "one-license-multiple-locations" and streamlined procedures for converting individual businesses to enterprises are set to bring tangible benefits. Du Linya, an official from the State Administration for Market Regulation, noted that since the issuance of guiding opinions on this matter last July, 380,000 individual businesses have directly transitioned to enterprises thanks to the policy benefits of simplified "individual-to-enterprise" licensing. The "one-license-multiple-locations" policy allows individual businesses to register multiple physical business premises within their registration authority's jurisdiction, with all locations recorded on their business license. Since the implementation of the regulations last year, many business owners have moved from "one license for one location" to "one license for multiple locations," achieving greater business reputation accumulation and operational expansion.