Head of the Department of E-Commerce of the Ministry of Commerce introduces the development of China's e-commerce from January to April 2026.

From January to April 2026, China's e-commerce continued to play an enabling role, promoting industry upgrading through digital transformation, stimulating consumption vitality through scenario-based approaches, expanding cooperation opportunities globally, and helping to consolidate and strengthen the foundation of the real economy. E-commerce empowered industrial transformation and upgrading. Implementing the "Guiding Opinions on Better Serving the Real Economy and Promoting the High-Quality Development of E-commerce", e-commerce significantly promoted the digital transformation and upgrading of industries. According to the monitoring data of commerce, the online retail sales of agricultural products in the country increased by 12.2% from January to April, and the transaction volume of e-commerce in key monitored industries such as metal products and chemical products increased by 34.8% and 12.2%, respectively. The draining effect of e-commerce is strong, driving rapid development in the tourism and catering industries. According to the commerce big data monitoring, online sales channels for tourism and catering increased by 33.2% and 20% in January-April. Digital consumption drives the growth of quality consumption. The 8th Double Quality Online Shopping Festival promotes "shopping in China" and releases the vitality of quality consumption in diverse scenarios. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, online retail sales of goods and services in China grew by 6.6% from January to April, and the contribution rate of online retail sales to total retail sales of consumer goods reached 72.2%. Consumer scenes such as intelligent travel drive the growth of digital products, with the zero sales of smart travel exoskeleton increasing by 785.5% from January to April. Recently, consumer-grade intelligent devices have been growing rapidly, with smart glasses and humanoid robots online sales increasing by 175.2% and 20.6% in April. "Silk Road e-commerce" deepens international cooperation. The themed activity "Silk Road E-commerce Benefits the World" promotes the export of high-quality goods to China globally. According to commerce big data monitoring, from January to April, the sales of global goods on key monitored cross-border e-commerce import platforms increased by 4.3%. The online sales of Thai durian, UAE beverages, and Italian leisure pants increased by 344.8%, 78.6%, and 22.8% respectively, enriching domestic consumer choices with popular imported goods and promoting partner countries of the "Silk Road e-commerce" to share the huge Chinese e-commerce market. According to preliminary estimates by the General Administration of Customs, China's cross-border e-commerce import and export amounted to 618.46 billion yuan in the first quarter of the year, including exports of 473.55 billion yuan and imports of 144.91 billion yuan.