Recently, China’s National Bureau of Statistics released the latest data on retail sales of consumer goods.
The data shows that in January–February 2026, China’s total retail sales of consumer goods reached RMB 8.61 trillion, representing a year-on-year increase of 2.8%. Among them, retail sales of cosmetics totaled RMB 75.3 billion, up 4.5% year-on-year, marking six consecutive periods of growth since 2021 and continuing to outperform the overall retail market.
According to analysis by CHAILEEDO, a review of April cosmetics retail sales over the past decade (2016–2025) indicates that from 2017 to 2019, cosmetics retail sales in January–February showed consistent growth each year, until the first decline occurred in 2020, with a drop of 14.1%.
However, in 2021, China’s cosmetics retail sales rebounded strongly, surging by 40.7%. After 2022, the growth rate declined significantly and gradually stabilized, remaining in the single-digit range.
In addition, by retail format, among enterprises above the designated size, retail sales of convenience stores, supermarkets, department stores, and specialty stores increased by 6.4%, 4.9%, 1.0%, and 0.2% year-on-year, respectively, in January–February. This highlights the core advantage of proximity-based retail formats in meeting high-frequency, immediate consumer needs. Meanwhile, retail sales of brand-exclusive stores fell by 2.3%, reflecting the structural adjustment pressures faced by traditional single-brand channels in the current market environment.
At the same time, online consumption continues to show strong momentum and remains an important driver of overall consumption growth.
In January–February, China’s national online retail sales of goods and services reached RMB 3,254.6 billion, up 9.2% year-on-year. Of this, online retail sales of goods amounted to RMB 2,081.2 billion, increasing by 10.3% and accounting for 24.2% of total retail sales of consumer goods. Within online goods retail, sales of food, apparel, and daily-use products grew by 20.7%, 18.0%, and 4.7%, respectively. Online services retail sales reached RMB 1,173.4 billion, up 7.3%.
