Customers select pet supplies at a duty-free shopping mall in Haikou, South China's Hainan Province on December 2, 2025. In the first month since the implementation of the expanded offshore duty-free policy, duty-free sales in Haikou amounted to 2.38 billion yuan ($337 million), a year-on-year increase of 27.1 percent, with 1.905 million items purchased, data released by Haikou Customs showed. Photo: VCG

China's consumption market is rapidly evolving. The commerce system is likely to accelerate the fostering of new growth points in services consumption and unlock greater consumption potential in 2026, according to a two-day national commerce work conference that closed on Sunday.

Services consumption has emerged as an increasingly important force in the expansion of China's consumer market, a dynamic that is also fostering international collaboration and driving higher-value services trade. The growth of the sector will knit China more deeply into the global economy and create shared opportunities worldwide.

According to the National Bureau of Statistics, services consumption accounted for 46.1 percent of China's per capita consumer spending in 2024, and the China Institute for Reform and Development forecasted that this share will exceed 50 percent by 2030 - signaling the steady arrival of a services-oriented consumption society. 

Services consumption covers traditional areas such as dining, lodging, caring, traveling, entertaining, and household services, while increasingly integrating with new technologies, typically, the ongoing digital and green transformation. 

The evolution can underpin established services while foster new growth drivers - for example, smart eldercare, online entertainment, and immersive tourism, generating fresh momentum and broadening the space for economic development.

In recent years, the vitality of China's services consumption in cultural tourism, sports, and related fields has become increasingly evident. From the "Village BA" sparking public enthusiasm for grassroots sports to the popular Su Super League - an amateur competition in East China's Jiangsu Province - stimulating spectator-driven economies, and the emergence of various types of new technology induced consumption, they indicate the vast market potential embedded in services consumption.

In the first 11 months of 2025, retail sales of services rose by 5.4 percent year-on-year, marking a three-month consecutive rebound in growth and outpacing retail sales of goods. Retail sales of cultural and sports leisure services and of communication and information services each increased by more than 10 percent year-on-year, demonstrating services consumption has become a strong pillar in expanding domestic demand.

Moreover, international trends suggest that when per capita GDP reaches around $15,000, countries generally undergo an accelerated transition from goods-based to services-driven consumption. With China's per capita GDP already surpassing $13,000, the country is entering a phase of rapid services consumption growth, offering extensive space for the expansion of developmental and experiential consumption in culture, entertainment, health, and other fields.

The expansion of China's services consumption has brought new opportunities to the world. 

First, the upgrading of China's consumption structure has opened up a vast market for global services providers. Whether it is international cultural and tourism brands continuously deploying in China, overseas education, medical, and sports institutions seeking deeper access to the Chinese market, or global performing arts groups putting China in their touring schedules, all reflect expectations for the upgrading of services in the Chinese market. 

At the same time, Chinese tourists now travel around the world, with their consumption model shifting from shopping to more in-depth cultural experiences.

Second, the practices and business models China has developed to stimulate services consumption - for example, using digital technology to lower access barriers and integrating culture and tourism to revitalize rural areas - offer valuable lessons for many developing countries. Through forming partnerships and other channels, China can help nurture services market demand and open up new sources of economic growth there

More importantly, services trade has also become a significant engine to rump up global trade growth. Analysis using the WTO Global Trade Model suggests that the share of services in global commerce could increase by 50 percent by 2040. 

As one of the services consumption markets with greater growth potential in the world, China's rapid development and ever-rising market demand will spur international efforts to improve rules for services trade, expand digital trade cooperation, and build a more open, fair, and transparent global framework for services trade. And, Chinese consumers' growing preference for higher-quality services - those emphasizing environmental sustainability, health, and cultural value - will lead to a wave of sustainable development of global services sector.