Organizing new energy vehicles to go to the countryside, issuing the third batch of funds for exchanging old for new consumer goods, and releasing a special action plan to boost consumption... Recently, the central and local governments have successively deployed a combination of policies to promote consumption. The interviewed experts generally believe that a series of policies can further stimulate consumption potential by enhancing residents' consumption ability, optimizing the consumption environment, and innovating consumption scenarios. Looking ahead to the second half of the year, consumer demand is expected to continue the growth trend of the first half. Among them, service consumption will still be one of the new driving forces for consumption growth. A package of measures to promote consumption has been continuously introduced recently, from the central to local levels, injecting strong momentum into the development of the consumer market. In late June, the central bank and six other departments jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Financial Support to Boost and Expand Consumption", introducing 19 new policies, including innovative financial products that meet the needs of household wealth management, regulating residents' investment and wealth management businesses, and increasing residents' property income. The General Office of the Ministry of Commerce recently issued a notice on organizing and carrying out the 2025 New Energy Vehicle Consumption Season activities in thousands of counties and towns. The activities will be held from July to December 2025, including deepening the promotion of automobile "energy exchange", innovating and creating diverse consumption scenarios, holding a series of consumption season activities, and continuously optimizing the purchasing and use environment. Locally, since the second quarter, Beijing, Shanghai, Chengdu and other places have successively released special action plans to boost consumption, launched characteristic consumption activities closely following hot topics, optimized consumption scenarios, and enriched consumer choices. In addition, the 2025 national summer cultural and tourism consumption season will be launched, and various regions will distribute over 570 million yuan in consumption subsidies around summer cultural and tourism consumption hotspots such as summer retreats, coastal vacations, and nighttime consumption. The underlying logic of this round of policy effects can be roughly summarized as three aspects: expanding domestic demand, adjusting industrial structure, and boosting market confidence. ”Bao Xiaohua, a professor at the Business School of Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, said that various subsidies and promotion measures can increase the total demand of the market and promote enterprises to increase production and service supply; Encouraging consumption in high-tech, new energy and other fields can help promote industrial upgrading and structural adjustment; The implementation of policies will enhance residents' expectations for sustained economic growth in the future, thereby promoting sustainable consumption recovery and economic growth. There is still significant policy space for expanding consumption. According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, the total retail sales of consumer goods in May amounted to 4132.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 6.4%. Industry experts analyze that driven by the policy of exchanging old for new consumer goods and promotional activities on online platforms, the consumption growth rate in May reached a new high since 2024, reflecting the good effect of fiscal expansion in boosting consumption and promoting effective investment. According to the established work arrangement, the National Development and Reform Commission will issue the third batch of funds for exchanging old for new consumer goods this year in July. At the same time, relevant parties will coordinate and adhere to the principles of "timeliness" and "balance", and formulate and implement monthly and weekly plans for the use of "national subsidies" funds in different fields to ensure the orderly implementation of the policy of exchanging old for new consumer goods throughout the year. Ma Hong, a senior researcher at Guangkai's Chief Industry Research Institute, stated that in order to continue implementing the "two new" policies, there will still be 138 billion yuan of funds to be invested in the second half of the year, which can drive the scale of residents' consumption expenditure to 700 billion to 900 billion yuan. At the same time, we will steadily expand the opening up of the service sector, further innovate diversified consumption scenarios, and boost the consumption of services such as telecommunications, healthcare, and elderly care. Service consumption will continue to be one of the new driving forces for consumption growth in the second half of the year. Song Xuetao, Chief Economist of Guojin Securities, believes that in terms of activating demand, restrictive policies in the real estate market are expected to be further relaxed. In addition, there is still policy space in various regions to increase housing subsidies and tax reductions, optimize housing provident fund loan policies, and so on. By providing greater support and subsidy intensity to durable consumer goods in areas such as automobiles, home appliances, communication equipment, and home furnishings, supplemented by special debt collection and storage activities, it is expected to be the main direction for policy reserves in the second half of the year. ”Qin Tai, Deputy Director of Huafu Securities Research Institute, said. Consumer demand is expected to continue the growth trend of the first half of the year. Looking ahead to the second half of the year, Ma Hong said that consumer demand is expected to continue the growth trend of the first half of the year. It is expected that the total retail sales of consumer goods will increase by about 6% year-on-year in 2025, with the growth rate in the second half of the year expanding by 1 percentage point compared to the first half, and the annual growth rate increasing by 2.5 percentage points compared to 2024. Experts say that in the short term, policies such as trade in of consumer goods will continue to play a role in driving sales growth of related products. At the same time, with the arrival of holidays such as summer and National Day, tourism, catering, entertainment and other service consumption will also usher in peak seasons. Stimulated by a series of policies to promote consumption, the future consumption situation is expected to further rebound, but it is necessary to pay attention to the long-term trend of changes in consumption structure and sustained strengthening of online consumption. ”Bao Xiaohua believes that with the advancement of technology and further transparency of market information, consumption will gradually develop towards green, intelligent, and personalized directions. New energy vehicles, smart homes, healthy consumption, and other fields will become hotspots for future growth. Wang Xiaosong, a professor at the School of Economics of Renmin University of China, said that with the continuous development of digital technology, the government and enterprises can cultivate new drivers of digital consumption, build smart business circles, develop intelligent consumption and customized consumption, create diversified, immersive and experiential consumption scenarios, make full use of digital technology upgrading, improve consumers' sense of experience and acquisition, and make consumption scenarios richer and consumption experiences more diversified. (New Society)