Launch a general attack on your wallet! Ten billion, have you spent it?

From April 30 to May 4, more than 20 provinces, autonomous regions, and dozens of cities in China launched a new round of consumer coupon issuance.

According to incomplete statistics from China News Service, the scale of consumer coupons issued this time exceeded 10 billion yuan, involving consumption areas including catering, tourism, home appliances, automobiles, entertainment, etc.

There is only one purpose, to launch a "general attack" on your wallet during the "May Day" holiday to stimulate the economy with consumption.

20 billion for the “May 5th Shopping Festival”

If you are looking for the most eye-catching event during the short holiday, Shanghai’s “May 5th Shopping Festival” is definitely a strong competitor .

Alibaba, Pinduoduo, Suning, Meituan, Bright Food, Bailian and other giants all issued consumer coupons and shopping coupons during this shopping festival. Each large company spent billions.

According to data from the Shanghai Commerce Commission, as of May 4, the cumulative amount of consumer vouchers committed by major companies has exceeded 20 billion yuan.

In Wuhan, at 12 noon on April 30, the day before the long holiday, the second batch of Wuhan consumer vouchers was officially issued. The vouchers released this time are valid from April 30 to May. June 6th.

But the people in Wuhan are very motivated to consume. From 12:00 to 12:20 that day, in just 20 minutes, the Alipay platform has written off 4,000 Wuhan consumer coupons, and the Meituan platform has written off 4,000 Wuhan consumer coupons. and WeChat platforms have also written off about 2,000 tickets respectively.

In Xiamen, during the May Day holiday, if you go shopping at outlets, RT-Mart, Xinlehai Department Store, Jinzhongyi Department Store and other places, you can get an instant discount of 200 yuan when you spend 500 yuan or more with UnionPay.

According to incomplete statistics, during the five-day holiday, various districts in Xiamen City prepared hundreds of millions of yuan in consumer coupons to boost consumption, which is expected to boost consumption by 1.6 billion yuan.

In Shenyang, citizens are enjoying "local one-day trips" during the short holiday, and major business districts have launched "holiday menus" to boost consumption.

From May 1st to 3rd, a total of 185,000 consumer coupons were canceled and used at 22,482 merchants in Shenyang City in three days. In the past three days, the total number of voucher consumption orders reached 15.204 million yuan, driving the transaction volume to 39.689 million yuan.

Consumer vouchers exert a multiplier effect

In 2019, consumer spending contributed 57.8% to GDP growth.

The importance of consumption is self-evident: it involves industries such as wholesale and retail, accommodation, catering, and culture and entertainment, and accommodates tens of millions of small and micro businesses and hundreds of millions of jobs for low- and middle-income people.

Consumption thrives and the economy thrives. Therefore, the current top priority is to quickly boost consumption and promote the recovery of the service industry as soon as possible. So, how effective is this round of consumer coupon craze across China?

A research report jointly released by Peking University Guanghua School of Management and Ant Financial Research Institute recently stated that by comparing daily consumption in Hangzhou when consumer vouchers were issued and when no consumer vouchers were issued, every 1 yuan (RMB, below) Same) Consumer vouchers can drive 3.5 yuan in new consumption, and this part of the new consumption further opens up space for consumption growth.

Research suggests that China will issue another 500 billion yuan in consumer coupons. If calculated based on the above-mentioned 3.5 times new consumption-driven effect, this will drive the total retail sales of consumer goods to increase by 4.25%.

This is the multiplier effect of consumer coupons.

Looking at Hangzhou, which issued consumer vouchers earlier nationwide, it began issuing consumer vouchers on March 27. As of 16:00 on April 6, Hangzhou electronic consumer vouchers had driven consumption of 2.226 billion yuan. . Among them, a government subsidy of 145 million yuan was paid in the first phase, driving consumption in Hangzhou to 1.805 billion yuan, with a boosting effect of more than 12 times.

Foshan, as a member of the “first echelon” of issuing consumer vouchers in Guangdong Province, has also tasted the “sweetness”. On May 3, Foshan officials announced that after market sampling surveys and data calculations, Foshan's actual consumption coupons totaling 100 million yuan drove consumption by more than 600 million yuan.

“Consumer vouchers are a short-term policy tool for the government to stimulate the economy.” Liu Qiao, dean of Peking University Guanghua School of Management, said that the government issues consumer vouchers, and the beneficiaries can purchase goods and services designated by the government within the validity period. Providers will deduct a certain amount when they consume, and the finance department will pay this part of the fee to the public service providers who have redeemed the consumption vouchers.

Consumer vouchers are mostly used when the economy is in rapid decline. The government increases residents’ consumption through transfer payments. Increased consumption drives corporate production. Increased production provides jobs, and employment promotes consumption. The whole process is not only a virtuous cycle but also has a multiplier. It can drive more consumption, investment and production activities, and produce macroeconomic expansion effects.

According to calculations by Zhongtai Securities Research Institute, consumer vouchers will increase the year-on-year growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods, and may increase consumption growth by more than 8%.

Weng Yi, a senior researcher at the Digital Economy Think Tank, believes that consumer vouchers have fully released suppressed consumer demand. At the same time, consumer vouchers in the digital era can be more accurately put into industries that the government wants to support, through high leverage Realize the effect of "four ounces can move a thousand pounds".

What are the ways to issue consumer coupons?

How to use consumer coupons to maximize their effectiveness and reduce negative impacts?

Zhao Ping, director of the International Trade Research Department of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, said bluntly that consumer vouchers must be used rationally and it is not recommended or advocated to issue consumer voucher subsidies for a long time.

“At present, it is not a universal distribution, but it is targeted at different industries, where they need to be replenished. Which industries have been greatly affected, consumer vouchers will be issued to these industries, so as to promote the recovery of these industries as soon as possible. Normal consumption level," Zhao Ping said.

She believes that for places where fiscal revenue is relatively difficult, it is not suitable to issue consumer vouchers. After all, consumer voucher funds come from fiscal revenue, and local fiscal affordability must be taken into consideration.

“To promote consumption growth, we must combine long-term arrangements with short-term measures.” Zhao Ping said that short-term goals mainly focus on consumption replenishment, while long-term consumption growth should focus on the continuous improvement of the consumption system and consumption environment. Start by establishing a more complete long-term mechanism for promoting consumption.

Liu Qiao hopes that in the future, the state will coordinate and determine the scale of issuance of consumer vouchers, and that there can be some coordination between central fiscal funds and local fiscal funds in terms of funding. In places with better economic conditions, local finances can bear a large part, while local governments in poorer conditions can implement it through transfer payments.

He also suggested that the design of consumer vouchers should be based entirely on policy objectives. A two-tier structure could be adopted. Some of the support would be in the form of cash vouchers, and the form of cash would not even be excluded. Income groups, unemployed groups and people severely affected by the epidemic.