In previous years, tobacco, alcohol, sugar and tea were popular New Year's goods. This year, a new three-piece set of New Year’s goods has become popular: mobile phones, tablets and smartwatch bracelets.

The addition of new subsidies for purchasing digital products is a highlight of the increased expansion of the policy of exchanging consumer goods trade-in policies this year, allowing real money to reach consumers directly.

A visit to Sanlihe found that when the national subsidy discount meets the Spring Festival, consumers' enthusiasm for "going away from old phones and welcoming new phones" was ignited, and mobile phones became the main force in the Spring Festival trend of changing new things.

According to data released by the Ministry of Commerce on January 24, since the implementation of the policy on January 20, 7.92 million consumers have applied for new subsidies for purchase of 10.786 million mobile phones and other digital products.

Why is it so popular to replace mobile phones?

Dong Ximiao, chief researcher of China Merchants Union and deputy director of Shanghai Financial and Development Laboratory, told Sanlihe that the newly included consumer electronic products this year are more closely integrated with daily life, and the replacement cycle is relatively short. Mobile phones are inseparable from work and social interaction, so there are naturally more needs.

Real discounts are the biggest consumption motivation. After the national supplementary measures were introduced, a formula began to spread: "500÷15%≈3333 yuan". In theory, when the mobile phone price is 3333 yuan, you can get a full subsidy.

"The main models in our store are within the range of the national subsidy sales price of no more than 6,000 yuan. The best seller is a mobile phone with a price of 3,000 yuan to 4,500 yuan, and you can basically enjoy a full discount of 500 yuan." A mobile phone salesperson told Sanlihe that the store sells up to 10 mobile phones a day on weekdays, and nearly 20 units are sold per day during the Spring Festival.

Online exchange and new consumption is also in full swing. According to data from a certain online shopping platform, since the twelfth lunar month, the search volume of "national subsidies" and "old trade-in" has exceeded 20 million times. In terms of order transaction volume, products such as mobile phones, washing machines, refrigerators, etc. are favored.

The simplicity of the process further amplifies the enthusiasm for consumption. A relevant official from the Ministry of Commerce previously introduced that subsidies for purchasing new products such as mobile phones are implemented, not for exchanging old for new products, nor for exchanging old for old products.

"We are using the form of subsidy qualification coupons for APP. When consumers purchase products such as mobile phones, as long as they purchase products from sales companies participating in the event, whether through online platforms or offline physical stores, they can pay for immediate reductions and enjoy the benefits of subsidies as soon as possible." The above-mentioned salesperson said that this greatly improves consumers' shopping experience.

Dong Ximiao believes that the next step can also promote the organic integration of relevant measures with consumer credit products, and include diversified consumer installment and payment tools to improve merchant operational efficiency and consumer experience, and maximize the driving role of consumption.

The hot sales during the Spring Festival have set a good start for this year's vigorous boost to consumer work. In the long run, stepping up efforts to expand the implementation of the "two new" policies will be a work that will run through the whole year of 2025.

Last year, the old-for-new consumer goods sales led to sales of related products exceeding 1.3 trillion yuan, increasing the growth rate of the total retail sales of consumer goods for the whole year by 1 percentage point. This year, the first batch of 81 billion yuan of support funds of the central government has been pre-issued, and the government also requires the joint cooperation of enterprises while taking measures.

In addition to stimulating consumers' enthusiasm for purchasing, from the demand side to the supply side, the old-for-new policy has also effectively promoted industrial upgrading and green transformation, bringing new opportunities and challenges to enterprises.

Many foreign media reported that China's "two new" policies have promoted the upgrading of the industrial chain and the improvement of terminal product quality. Bloomberg said the trade-in will encourage Chinese companies to adopt cleaner technologies, a policy that will eliminate old machines that consume high energy or are heavily polluted and boost commercial investment in the process.

Consumption is connected to production on one end and people's livelihood on the other end. At present, my country's consumer goods trade-in potential remains huge. As the trend of multi-party joint efforts and multi-level guarantees of old-in new is gradually formed, it will promote the main consumer engine to continue to release strong momentum.

("Sanlihe" Studio)