China’s online retail growth in April falls to a new low of 17.8%: report

China’s online retail sales increased 17.8% year on year in the first four months of 2019, a significant deceleration compared with the 32.4% year-on-year jump in the same period last year, according to data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics.

China’s online retail sales totaled RMB 3.04 trillion (around $422 billion) in the first four months of this year, RMB 2.93 trillion of which were physical goods, which increased 22.2% year on year, the report said.

Online sales for top product categories pointed to significant slowing compared with the same period a year ago: growth in food sales fell to 26.7% compared with 44.9% in 2018, apparel weakened to 23.7% from 28.0% in 2018, and daily product sales rose 21.2% year on year compared with 31.1% year on year in 2018.

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