Offline consumer commercial facility updates accelerate; multiple commercial complexes debut during the Spring Festival holiday

Our reporter, Du Yumeng

As the equipment renewal of offline commercial facilities has been included in the “Two New” (large-scale equipment updates and replacement of consumer goods) policy for the first time, during the 2026 Spring Festival holiday, a number of commercial complexes in Shanghai, Zhejiang, Sichuan, and other regions that have completed equipment upgrades will debut anew: outdated electronic screens in shopping malls are replaced with new LED screens, restrooms and passenger elevators have been made accessible, and ventilation, lighting, and power distribution equipment have been completely renewed. These upgrades allow consumers to truly feel the visible improvements.

“Compared to before, the 2026 ‘Two New’ policy further optimizes the scope of support. Its core logic is to focus on people’s livelihood pain points, unblock consumption bottlenecks, and achieve a dual-driven cycle of investment and consumption, deeply linking equipment updates with social security and consumption stimulation,” said Fu Yifu, a special researcher at the China Merchants Bank Research Institute, in an interview with Securities Daily. This year, the newly added equipment update areas precisely cover three major needs: aging population, urban renewal, and quality improvement of offline commerce, reflecting a policy synergy of ‘filling gaps, benefiting people’s livelihood, and promoting consumption.’ Among them, equipment updates in offline commercial facilities have a medium-term sustained effect on boosting offline consumption. The core driving cycle is expected to span the entire policy implementation period and continue into the next year, forming a phased effect of “immediate renewal—mid-term industry iteration—long-term habit formation.”

Yuan Jianqin, deputy researcher at the Policy Simulation Research Office of the National Information Center’s Economic Forecast Department, further pointed out that from a direct effect perspective, supporting equipment updates in offline commercial facilities helps break physical and experiential bottlenecks in consumption, turning potential willingness into actual behavior. From an indirect effect perspective, promoting equipment updates in offline commercial facilities can improve the quality and efficiency of the consumption supply system, help cultivate new consumption formats, and facilitate the cycle of “investment optimizing supply—supply creating demand—consumption leading to new investment.”

The Central Economic Work Conference held at the end of last year placed “insisting on domestic demand-led growth and building a strong domestic market” as the top of eight key tasks for 2026, and made “optimizing the implementation of the ‘Two New’ policies” one of the important measures to promote this task. Against this backdrop, the 2026 ‘Two New’ policy’s optimization measures in the field of equipment updates not only add support scope for efficiency but also reduce investment thresholds, further lowering the investment requirements for project applications, increasing support for small and medium-sized enterprises, and expanding the policy’s coverage.

“SMEs are the ‘capillaries’ of the economy. They are numerous, flexible in mechanism, and important sources of technological innovation and employment. Lowering the investment threshold for equipment update projects can not only expand the policy’s benefits but also enhance the momentum of effective investment,” said Yuan Jianqin.

Fu Yifu also believes that lowering the investment threshold for equipment update projects will enable targeted empowerment for SMEs, helping solve their pain points such as insufficient upgrade funds and difficulty in application, thus activating their motivation for technological transformation. At the same time, this will also transmit a large demand for intelligent and green equipment upstream and generate more innovative consumption scenarios downstream.

Currently, the first batch of 93.6 billion yuan in ultra-long-term special national bonds supporting equipment updates has been allocated. Fu Yifu said that the leverage effect of fiscal funds will be further released, attracting more social capital to participate. From the perspective of stabilizing investment, this move will strengthen the role of investment in supporting the economy; from expanding domestic demand, industry upgrades will boost demand across the supply chain, and optimized social security supply will release residents’ consumption potential, forming a dual cycle of investment and consumption; from stabilizing growth, since the funds target both industrial upgrading and green low-carbon transformation, this will promote continuous economic structural optimization, create jobs through project implementation, and stabilize residents’ income expectations, laying a solid foundation for the economy’s steady operation throughout the year.

(Edited by: Wen Jing)

Keywords: Business