China launches new online retail sales indicator

Total online sales now reported higher due to added services.

China has introduced a new indicator tracking online retail sales of goods and services, replacing its previous online retail sales measure, National Bureau of Statistics spokesperson Fu Linghui announced Monday.

The new indicator expands coverage to include more online service platforms and better captures service sales, resulting in a higher total than the previous indicator, Fu said.

Previously, the online retail sales indicator focused on online sales of physical goods and online sales of non-physical goods, which primarily captured services on major platforms.

The new measure now incorporates additional online service retail activity, resulting in a higher total volume than the earlier indicator.

Fu said that the bureau will continue to strengthen statistical monitoring of market sales to better reflect consumption trends and provide high-quality data to the public.