On the
afternoon of today (March 12), the Information Office of Shanghai Municipality
held a press briefing. Zhu Min, director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission
of Commerce, presented the details of the Implementation Plan for Improving
Quality and Facilitating Expansion of Service Consumption in Shanghai. Zhang
Guohua, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, Cheng
Meihong, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture
and Tourism, Xu Qi, deputy director of the Shanghai Administration of Sports,
Yu Hongwei, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Postal Administration and
Ge Dongbo, chief engineer of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Economy and
Informatization, attended the press briefing and answered questions from
reporters.

On March 8,
the General Office of the Shanghai Municipal Government issued the
Implementation Plan for Improving Quality and Facilitating Expansion of Service
Consumption in Shanghai, which aims to accelerate the development of service
consumption, promote the improvement and upgrading of consumption, and better
leverage the fundamental role of consumption in economic development.

Ⅰ. Overall
considerations

Promoting service consumption stands as a
pivotal catalyst for the expansion of overall consumption, serving as a crucial
avenue to ignite latent consumer potential. It holds paramount significance as
Shanghai aspires to establish itself as an international consumption hub. The
Fourth Plenary Session of the 12th CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee has
emphatically mandated the enhancement and broadening of service consumption. In
2023, service consumption accounted for nearly 60% of total retail sales in
Shanghai, surpassing commodity retail sales by over 10 percentage points. This
trend aligns with the developmental trajectory observed in advanced economies,
where service consumption tends to dominate household expenditures once per
capita GDP surpasses the threshold of US$15,000. Presently, Shanghai boasts a
per capita GDP of US$27,000. Residents exhibit a continual evolution in
consumption attitudes and an expanding array of consumption patterns. Simultaneously,
the ongoing processes of urban digitalization, intelligence, and green
transformation in Shanghai are contributing to the burgeoning diversity of
products, scenarios, and platforms within the service consumption domain. The
corresponding consumption infrastructure has matured and become more comprehensive.
As service consumption propels onto a rapid growth trajectory, it necessitates
effective measures. Targeted policy guidance and the creation of an enabling
environment are imperative to elevate the qualitative essence of service
consumption, fostering an environment that encourages product innovation,
ensures a seamless supply chain, and fortifies institutional support.

Ⅱ. Main targets and work measures

The
Implementation Plan articulates a strategic focus on the overarching objective
of transforming Shanghai into a prominent international consumption hub. The
plan aims to position Shanghai as a hub for brand resources in service
consumption, an epicenter of model innovation, and a trendsetter in consumer
behavior. This vision is steered by market dynamism, standardized
collaboration, and innovative institutional frameworks, with the ultimate goal
of propelling Shanghai to the forefront as a leading domestic and world-class
benchmark city for service consumption. By 2027, the plan envisions the
emergence of new growth drivers across diverse service consumption sectors.
This comprehensive expansion is anticipated to significantly boost Shanghai’s
international acclaim, elevate brand concentration, enhance consumption
convenience, and solidify its policy leadership. As a tangible outcome, service
retail sales are projected to surpass the 50% mark of total retail sales. Looking
further ahead, the Implementation Plan sets its sights on 2035, envisioning the
establishment of a novel system characterized by high-quality, innovative,
digital, integrated, and green service consumption. This system is poised to
act as a global market nexus, radiating influence across the world. The
ambitious target is for service retail sales to constitute over 60% of total
retail sales. Notably, the Implementation Plan outlines specific objectives to
be achieved by 2027, spanning 11 key service consumption areas. These areas include
culture and tourism, sports, health, elderly care, information, finance,
education, catering, housekeeping, residence, and transportation.

Aligning with both overarching and specific
goals, the Implementation Plan introduces 37 targeted, innovative, and
pioneering measures across 12 distinct aspects. In the realm of cultural and tourism
service consumption, the emphasis is on three strategic measures: enhancing the
cultural service consumption experience, cultivating novel scenarios for
high-quality cultural and tourism experiences, and elevating the caliber of
cultural and tourism service for festive activities. Within the sphere of
sports service consumption, three key measures are outlined: fostering top-tier
sports events, generating fresh impetus for sports consumption, and refining
policies supporting sports service consumption. In health service consumption,
the focus shifts to three project initiatives: augmenting the availability of
rehabilitation services, establishing a Shanghai-style traditional Chinese
medicine service system, and crafting a distinguished medical service
consumption brand. In the domain of elderly care service consumption, two key
initiatives are identified: the development of community and home-based elderly
care services and the cultivation of personalized and diversified elderly care
service models. Information service consumption is addressed through four
measures: upgrading information consumption infrastructure, backing the growth
of online new economy headquarters enterprises, facilitating the export of
information service products overseas, and advancing research and development
in information service consumption products. Financial services consumption is
addressed with a three-pronged approach: enriching the supply of consumer
insurance products, optimizing the development environment for commercial
health insurance, and supporting financial institutions in innovating service
products. Education service consumption is tackled through three measures:
proactively developing international education services, vigorously expanding
lifelong education services, and fostering the growth of professional training
services. Catering service consumption is targeted through three key measures:
consolidating catering brand resources, establishing food landmarks, and
optimizing the development ecosystem of the catering service sector. Housekeeping
service consumption is approached with three measures: broadening the supply of
housekeeping services, enhancing the quality standards of such services, and
innovating the consumption scenarios for housekeeping services. Residential
service consumption involves three primary measures: supporting housing rental
companies, refining the supply of property management services, and
standardizing the development of real estate brokerage services. In the domain
of transportation service consumption, four key measures are delineated:
robustly developing cruise service consumption, enhancing railway and aviation
service consumption, innovating transportation-based consumption scenarios, and
refining the express delivery service consumption system. The plan also
advocates for three measures to establish an integrated service consumption
scenario, complemented by six supporting measures, covering working mechanisms,
supportive policies, talent teams, statistical monitoring, consumption
environment and opening-up.

Ⅲ. Ensuring the implementation



The
initiative to enhance the quality and foster the expansion of service
consumption has been seamlessly integrated into the operational framework of
the city’s leading group dedicated to establishing Shanghai as an international
consumption hub. Shanghai is committed to effectively implementing the “Five Priorities.”
First and foremost, there will be a concentrated effort to drive service
consumption by responding to emerging demands with a focus on high-quality
supply. This entails fostering innovation in service business models and
consistently upgrading functional quality through iterative processes. Secondly,
the strategy involves concentrating on amplifying the new driving forces
propelling service consumption through integrated development. This includes
deepening connections across product lines, fostering collaboration among
service-oriented industries, extending value chains, and integrating technology
to penetrate various facets of service consumption. The third priority centers
on creating a new digital ecosystem for service consumption, leveraging digital
development to empower service consumption through the infusion of digital
technology and participation in the digital economy. The fourth priority
emphasizes the establishment of new advantages in service consumption through
international development. This involves promoting a high-level opening-up of
the service industry, facilitating global collaboration, and aggregating
high-end service resources from around the world. The fifth priority focuses on
steering service consumption trends through green development. This entails
promoting the sustainable development of service consumption practices and
innovating scenarios to align with environmentally conscious principles.