Press Release for Media Briefing of the Shanghai Municipal Government on April 24, 2025

2025.04.24

On the morning of today (April 24), the Information Office of Shanghai Municipality held a press briefing. Liu Min, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce, outlined the plans for the 6th Shanghai Double Five Shopping Festival. Cheng Meihong, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Culture and Tourism, Xu Qi, deputy director of the Shanghai Municipal Administration of Sports, Liu Yun, second-level inspector of the Publicity Department of the CPC Shanghai Municipal Committee, Shen Danna, deputy chief of Huangpu District, Hu Yong, deputy chief of Jing’an District and Lin Tingjun, director of the Pudong New Area Commission of Commerce attended the briefing and answered questions from reporters.In recent years, the Double Five Shopping Festival has introduced a variety of new formats, brands, products, and landmark experiences, solidifying its status as a signature initiative in Shanghai’s journey toward becoming an international consumption hub. The city will continue this momentum by launching the 6th edition of the festival.I. Overall Considerations for the 6th Shanghai Double Five Shopping FestivalRunning from late April through the end of June, this year’s festival will emphasize a dual engine of “policy + activity,” guided by the theme of “quality consumption, driving demand.” It will showcase the synergies between signature IP events, supportive policy measures, and innovative incentives, aimed at unlocking consumption potential, energizing market participants, and amplifying the impact of policy tools. The festival is expected to serve as a key driver of consumption, economic stability, and market confidence, while reinforcing Shanghai’s strategy to build itself into an international consumption center and promote its “Four Brands.”The key features of this year’s Double Five Shopping Festival are as follows.First, market mobilization. We have strengthened interdepartmental coordination, enhanced collaboration between the city and districts, and encouraged the active participation of associations and enterprises. More than 1,000 companies and thousands of brands are involved, hosting over 1,000 special activities. Together, they have fostered a vibrant consumption atmosphere characterized by city-wide synergy, broad-based benefits, and extensive media coverage.Second, integration of preferential policies. Multiple levels of government — national, municipal, and district — along with participating businesses, have introduced a wide range of subsidies and incentives. These span products and services, commercial districts and shopping streets, and both online and offline channels, creating a robust system of benefits. Activities will leverage the state and city’s trade-in programs for home appliances, furniture, home renovation, and automobiles. Automotive consumption clusters will be encouraged to roll out new car purchase subsidies, while key business districts will be supported in organizing “Boutique Promotion Festival.” Qualified districts will also be encouraged to provide additional support. Various consumption expansion initiatives — such as debut events, integration of business, travel, culture, sports and exhibitions, live-streaming commerce, and service consumption drives — will be fully utilized.Third, integration of consumption scenes. Across the city, business districts, shopping streets, and malls will create new consumption experiences centered around a better quality of life by blending commerce with culture, tourism, sports, landscaping, and lighting design. Activities will focus on enhancing the quality and capacity of service consumption, tapping into the economic potential of “ticket stubs” from performances, sports events, and exhibitions. Special emphasis will be placed on holiday consumption, capitalizing on the dense holiday periods during the festival to craft cultural and leisure experiences that attract domestic and international tourists. Meanwhile, efforts will also be made to help foreign trade enterprises expand into the domestic market, leveraging domestic circulation advantages and further integrating domestic and foreign trade.II. Main Activities of the 6th Shanghai Double Five Shopping FestivalThis year’s Double Five Shopping Festival will spotlight four key consumption sectors —service consumption, big-ticket consumption, foreign-related consumption, and emerging consumption — as well as four dynamic economic drivers: the debut economy, the silver economy, the night-time economy, and the ticket-based economy. Together, these form the festival’s “1+15+16+X” activity framework: 1 flagship event, the Business District Boutique Promotion Festival; 15 major IP events; 16 districts each hosting activities under a unique theme; and X representing a diverse range of online and offline special events led by key enterprises.(I) Business District Boutique Promotion FestivalBusiness districts are vital hubs for hosting events and driving consumer activity. This year’s Business District Boutique Promotion Festival is a signature initiative specially curated by Shanghai. It spans nine major commercial zones — Nanjing Road East, Huaihai Road Middle, Yuyuan Garden, Nanjing Road West, Lujiazui, Xujiahui, Zhongshan Park, Wujiaochang, and the Hongqiao International Central Business District. Nearly 100 shopping malls and around 3,600 brands will take part, offering high-quality, affordable boutique products. These districts will also present vibrant new consumption experiences featuring floral installations, sustainability-themed flash events, displays of intangible cultural heritage, anime exhibitions, and AI-powered smart living showcases.(II) Key IP EventsThis year’s Double Five Shopping Festival will feature six emerging IP events, including the Shanghai ACGN City Walk Festival, Home Renewal Festival, Cute Pets Joy Festival, Dragon Boat Festival Celebration, Silver Lifestyle Festival, and the launch of the 2025 Shanghai International Cruise Festival. Meanwhile, a series of established IP events will return with fresh highlights. These include the Shanghai International Cosmetic Festival, Shanghai Auto Quality Consumption Carnival, Shanghai International Coffee Culture Festival, Shanghai Community Lifestyle Festival, Diamond and Jewelry Culture Festival, 2025 Made in Shanghai Fair, Shanghai Sports Consumption Festival, Shanghai Digital Life Festival, and Meet in Shanghai Art Festival, among others. The arrangements for some of the key IP activities are as follows.1. Inaugural Silver Lifestyle Festival. The first Silver Lifestyle Festival is organized by the Shanghai Municipal Bureau of Civil Affairs and held in conjunction with the 2025 International Exhibition of Senior Care, Rehabilitation Medicine and Healthcare Shanghai Assistive Devices and Rehabilitation. A wide range of activities will revolve around the daily needs of senior citizens — food, living, and travel. In terms of food, the Exhibition will feature showcases and sales of healthy local agricultural products and nutritious meals from both domestic and international sources, focusing on improving cognitive function and cardiovascular health in the elderly. The festival will also be linked with community elderly canteens citywide, where special themed food events will be held. In terms of living, an aging-friendly home renovation model room will be set up to showcase, demonstrate, and sell age-friendly and smart home products. These displays will be supported by relevant subsidy policies. In parallel, similar activities will take place in existing showroom spaces and aging-friendly model rooms in home furnishing stores across the city. In terms of travel, the festival will highlight joyful travel experiences for seniors by showcasing the city’s silver-friendly tourism routes. Premium tour packages tailored for senior citizens will be exhibited and available for purchase at the Exhibition.2. Inaugural Cute Pets Joy Festival. The first Cute Pets Joy Festival will be launched in Changning District, with Arch Walk serving as the main venue. The festivities included the world-class Purple Ring Shanghai Championship, a Pet Adoption Day, and a vibrant Pet-Themed Market. Additional venues such as C·PARK and Bailian Xijiao joined in by fostering pet-friendly environments and creating unique consumption experiences centered on pet culture. Highlights included pet fashion shows, art exhibitions, themed markets, and fun sporting games, all contributing to a lively and engaging atmosphere for pet lovers.3. Inaugural Dragon Boat Festival Celebration. The first Dragon Boat Festival Celebration was held in Putuo District, recreating the bustling commercial scenes reminiscent of Along the River During the Qingming Festival. Centered around Dragon Boat culture, the event leveraged interactive light and shadow installations along both banks of the Suzhou Creek to showcase Putuo’s distinctive commercial landscape. An immersive check-in route was designed, connecting riverside attractions and integrating indoor and outdoor spaces at 1000 Trees. The celebration also incorporated Suzhou Creek cruises to create a large-scale, interactive cultural experience, blending tradition with modernity.4. 2025 Shanghai Digital Life Festival. The 2025 Shanghai Digital Life Festival will spotlight emerging digital consumption trends, services, models, and brands by launching a series of promotional activities under themes such as Digital Life, Premium Livestreaming, Digital Business Districts, Digital Culture & Tourism, and Digital Commerce for Agriculture. These initiatives aim to cultivate diverse new consumption scenarios, including AI-powered retail, livestream e-commerce, and instant delivery platforms. A major highlight of this year’s festival is the focus on “Expanding Domestic Sales of High-Quality Foreign Trade Products”, which adds fresh momentum to the Digital Life Festival’s IP. This will be achieved through three key strategies: 1). Leveraging e-commerce channels to drive foreign trade sales — such as establishing a “Foreign Trade Select” zone offering services like digital warehousing, supply chain sourcing, and product showcasing; 2). Empowering digital marketing for foreign trade goods — by providing platform traffic support, appointing "Foreign Trade Product Ambassadors", organizing special livestream events, and offering tailored marketing plans; and 3). Enhancing supply chain services by helping foreign trade enterprises boost their domestic sales and circulation capabilities, including co-developing proprietary brands with them.(III) Other Special ActivitiesShanghai’s counterpart support regions — Lu’an, Zhaotong, and Qinghai — have joined in the excitement of the Double Five Shopping Festival with a series of vibrant activities. During “Lu’an Week: Premium Goods Enter Shanghai”, exhibitions and sales will be held alongside the distribution of shopping vouchers and discounts for Shanghai residents purchasing featured products. Meanwhile, “Green Source · Qinghai-Shanghai Meet” will introduce Qinghai’s high-quality food products and host promotional tastings of the Qinghai Family Banquet, with local specialties showcased and sold via both online and offline channels in Shanghai.The Double Five Shopping Festival will officially launch in late April to early May with a grand opening ceremony. Following this, Dragon TV will host the "I GO Shanghai – The Sixth Double Five Shopping Festival Global Live Broadcast". Ten teams of “Scene Ambassadors” and “Product Promoters” will serve as urban explorers, riding the “I GO Magic Cube” live-streaming vehicle across the city. With immersive, themed segments and surprise-filled interactions, they will unveil a fresh vision of urban retail — bringing citizens an exciting new consumption journey filled with unexpected delights and joyful discoveries at every turn.III. Relevant Supporting PoliciesThis year’s Shanghai Double Five Shopping Festival introduces the city’s most robust and wide-reaching consumption subsidy policy in six years, offering comprehensive support that spans home appliances to automobiles, goods to services, and local residents to inbound tourists.(I) Commodity ConsumptionSubsidies for Home Appliance and Home Furnishing Trade-ins. The national subsidy program now covers a broader range of categories, including 12 types of home appliances and products with first- and second-level energy or water efficiency ratings, along with digital devices such as mobile phones and tablets. Shanghai’s local subsidy scheme focuses on seven major categories: home appliances, building materials and décor, sanitary ware, furniture and lighting, smart home devices, age-friendly home products, and home textiles. Notably, subsidies for age-friendly products can reach up to 30%.Subsidies for Vehicle Trade-ins. Under the national scrappage and renewal program, subsidies now apply not only to vehicles below National III emission standards, but also to selected National IV vehicles, expanding support for phasing out older models. Locally, Shanghai is introducing additional subsidies to encourage the replacement of fuel vehicles with new energy or hybrid vehicles. Eligible consumers replacing qualifying fuel vehicles can receive a subsidy of up to 13,000 yuan — an increase of 1,000 yuan from last year. New facilitation measures will also support the replacement of out-of-town licensed vehicles, in line with Shanghai’s license plate policies.Subsidies for Premium Product Categories. As part of the Business District Boutique Promotion Festival, a wide range of promotional campaigns will offer tiered discounts on premium goods, including apparel, cosmetics, footwear, accessories, luggage, eyewear, and jewelry. These campaigns will integrate mall- and brand-specific offers, with discounts of up to 45% available through stackable shopping vouchers and full-discount incentives.(II) Service Consumption
The “Happy Shanghai” service consumption vouchers will continue to be issued, with a focus on four key areas: dining, tourism, film, and sports. These efforts aim to enhance the synergy between service and goods consumption. During the Double Five Shopping Festival, consumers can participate in monthly lotteries for catering vouchers by logging into any of the three designated platforms — Union Pay QuickPass, WeChat, or Alipay — and selecting their preferred voucher.(III) Inbound ConsumptionShanghai will further optimize its departure tax refund environment to enhance the shopping experience for inbound tourists. Key measures include increasing the number of tax refund outlets, expanding the range of eligible goods, promoting instant refund services upon purchase, and streamlining procedures to improve overall convenience.Starting now, the full schedule of exciting activities for the sixth Double Five Shopping Festival is available via official platforms including Shanghai Fabu, Shanghai Shangwu, Shanghai Consumer Mobilization WeChat accounts, as well as “I GO Shanghai” WeChat Mini Program, Suishenban (digital public service platform), and Yiwangtongban (e-government initiative).