BEIJING - China's retail activity flatlined in August, with e-commerce demand especially weak, according to satellite data, suggesting that consumer caution due to the ongoing Covid Zero policy and elevated unemployment remain major drags on the world's second-largest economy.
That weakness also extended to brick-and-mortar retailers, with the change in the number of cars in shopping mall parking lots in August well below the same month in 2021. The lockdowns and the broader economic slowdown severely damaged Chinese households' outlook on the future and undermined their willingness to spend.
"The decline in activity at distribution centres happened before the decline in consumer confidence," SpaceKnow said in a research note.
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