This Day, That Year: Consumption

Item from Aug 1, 1993, in China Daily: Gao Xing and her classmates from the Beijing No 1 School for Deaf-Mutes enjoy drinks at the invitation of McDonald's in downtown Beijing. The fast-food outlet has been offering gifts, from coupons to bicycles, as a sales gimmick.

Times have changed in China and so has shopping. ...

Today, new services, such as door-to-door sales, TV shopping and radio shopping are springing up around the country.

Customers shop at a cross-border O2O experience center in Yiwu, Zhejiang province, on May 15, 2016. [Photo/VCG]

The retail industry is undergoing a major transformation. Online business is no longer limited to ordering goods and getting them delivered at homes or offices. It has expanded rapidly to the service sector－your personal chef and hairdresser are just a click away.

Last year, the value of the country's e-commerce transactions reached 16.4 trillion yuan ($2.5 trillion). The value is expected to increase to 43.8 trillion yuan by 2020, according to the Ministry of Commerce.

E-commerce juggernaut JD.com debuted in the latest Fortune Global 500 list, reflecting China's fast-growing online business.

While e-commerce is reshaping China's retail landscape with shrinking retail sales at physical stores, large retailers are rethinking their costly real-estate assets and merchandising formats.

China's largest home appliances retailer, Suning, is just one example－the company has diversified into e-commerce, real estate, culture, finance and investments.