Tourists enjoy themselves at a cultural and gourmet block in Liupanshui, Southwest China's Guizhou Province on July 30, 2026. Leveraging diverse offerings including nighttime dining, evening performances and nightscape leisure activities, the ancient town has become an integrated multi-format block, continuously unleashing consumption vitality. Photo: VCG

China has unveiled a package of new policy measures to energize lower tier markets and boost county-level consumption, according to a document released on Tuesday by the Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM) and eight other central government departments.

The guideline targets consumption channel upgrading, business model innovation, brand building, and better supply of goods and services for rural residents. To enrich product and service offerings, authorities encourage enterprises to bring high-quality, cost-effective goods to county-level markets and launch new products in eligible counties. 

Strong support will be given to new-energy vehicles (NEVs) and smart green products for rural households, together with expanded rural charging infrastructure. The policy also promotes integrated development of commerce, agriculture, culture, tourism and sports. It calls for extending consumption chains around performances and sporting-event tickets, improving nighttime cultural tourism consumption and building distinctive rural tourism destinations.

On consumption channel upgrades, the document supports the renovation of traditional department stores and old shopping malls, and the optimized layouts for chain stores, discount retailers and fresh food e-commerce outlets. For business innovation, the guideline streamlines the approval procedures of store openings. Local authorities are encouraged to foster virtual reality experiences, "AI powered consumption," second-hand trading and rental-based green consumption.

Efforts will also modernize county level logistics systems. Authorities will push ahead with integrated passenger, cargo postal services in rural areas to better connect commercial and express delivery networks across counties.

To raise residents' spending capacity, the policy also seeks to expand local jobs by encouraging corporate branches and platform businesses to set up operations in counties, and bolster employment for migrant workers returning to their rural homes.

Boosting domestic consumption is critical for China's economic growth, and tapping rurual market potential forms a key part of this strategy, analysts said.

Rural consumption has consistently grown faster than urban consumption. Huge new‑consumption demand remains untapped in counties and rural areas, leaving plenty of room for consumption expansion, Tian Yun, a veteran economist told the Global Times on Tuesday.

As China continues its supply‑side industrial upgrading, many categories — ranging from various service‑based consumption to physical goods such as electronic products and automobiles — offer new consumer experiences for residents in the countryside, Tian noted.

"Against this backdrop, well‑targeted policy support can unlock rural consumption potential and provide strong backing for overall consumption growth in the country," he said.

For many sectors and enterprises, counties represent sizable incremental markets, in contrast to saturated mature markets marked by fierce red‑sea competition, Liu Dingding, a veteran industry analyst told the Global Times on Tuesday.

By providing high‑quality yet affordable goods and services to rural consumers, enterprises can achieve win‑win results for both supply and demand. This injects fresh momentum into China's economic growth and helps improve the well‑being of rural residents, Liu said.

According to MOFCOM, consumption at county‑township levels has steadily risen as a share of China's total retail sales, and become a key source of potential for expanding domestic consumption.

Since 2021, the county‑level commercial system initiative has driven growth in both rural residents' income and consumption. Continuous upgrades to circulation infrastructure have largely achieved full coverage of commercial outlets across counties, townships and villages, with over 100 million parcels flowing in and out of rural areas daily to bring greater convenience to local residents, according to MOFCOM.

Official data from the National Bureau of Statistics shows total retail sales of consumer goods reached 28.77 trillion yuan ($4.26 trillion) from January to July, rising 1.2 percent year-on-year. Urban retail sales gained 1.1 percent, while rural consumption outpaced it with a 2.4 percent increase.