Explanatory Notes on Main Statistical Indicators

Total Retail Sales of Consumer Goods   refer to the sum of retail sales of commodities sold by wholesale, retail, hotel and catering and other service industries to urban and rural households for private consumption and to social institutions for public consumption. Retail sales of consumer goods for households:refer to the sum of retail sales of commodities sold to urban and rural households for life and consumption.Retail sales of consumer goods for social institutions:refer to the sum of retail sales of commodities sold to government agencies,social organizations,military and armed police units,school,institutions,neighborhood committees,village committees and so on,and commodities purchased by public money and used for non-production purpose,public consumption.

Retail sales of consumer goods include: consumer goods sold to urban and rural households,commodities used for construction and commodities sold to foreigners, overseas Chinese and Chinese compatriots from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan visiting in China.

Retail sales of consumer goods exclude:commodities sold between urban households,commodities sold by the trust shops which is commissioned by residents,and commodities sold to agriculture,industrial and construction for production.

Total Sales of Commodities   refer to selling (including value-added tax) of commoditiesby the establishments and individuals. The total sales include the sales of wholesale and retail trades.The sales of retail trade include: commodities sold to urban and rural residents and social groups for their consumption;The sales of wholesale include:commodities sold to enterprises for production and management and commodities exported.This indicator is used to show the total value of sales of commodities at domestic markets and export.The total sales include: 1) commodities sold to urban and rural residents and social groups for their consumption; 2) commodities sold to establishments for their production and operation; 3) commodities sold to wholesale and retail establishments for re-selling, with or without further processing; 4) commodities for direct export to other countries.The total sales exclude:1)commodities transferred without buying or selling procedures, such as commodities gift to other units and so on.2)commission income from brokerage in transactions whose settlement is directly handled by buyers and sellers;3)rejected commodities in the purchase;4)loss in commodities;5)selling of waste and old materials.

Business Revenue of Hotels and Catering Services   refer to the total turnover of hotels and restaurants that obtain by service offering or commodity sales. It includes room income, catering service income, commodity sales(including value-added tax) and other income.

(I) Room income: refer to the turnover of hotels and restaurants that obtain by offering accommodation service.

(II) Catering service income: refer to the turnover of hotels and restaurants that obtain by offering catering service for customers, including sales of various foods which are sold after cooking and processing, such as staple food, cooked dishes, cold and dressed dishes and so on.

(III) Commodity sales: refer to the turnover(including value-added tax) of hotels and restaurants that obtain by selling commodities.

(IV) Other income: refer to the part of business income except for room income, catering service income and commodity sales, such as entertainment, exercise and commercial service and so on.

Chain Enterprises (also called chain stores or chain corporations)   refer to a form of joint economic entities under which scattered enterprises or establishments engaged in providing homogeneous commodities or services, with the central leadership of core enterprise or headquarters and guided by common policies, conduct centralized purchase and distributed selling of commodities, in order to gain better efficiency through standardized operation. Consisting of a number of branch stores, the chain stores have in general following features: 1) homogeneous commodities, 2) unique name of stores, 3) centralized purchase and delivery which is separated from distributed selling operation (most commodities are delivered from the headquarters except some items which, from logistics, quality or freshness considerations, might be delivered by the suppliers directly).

The modes of chain operation include have two categories:

(a)Regular Chain: refers to chain that are invested or controlled by the headquarters. They operate under direct and unified management from the headquarters. A chain headquarter store or a central store is statistics as a directed store.

(b)Franchise Operation includes Franchise Chain and Voluntary Chain.

Franchise Chain: Through contracts, chain stores (or their owners) obtain licenses from the headquarters (franchisee) to use designated trade marks, names, operation know-how, and to sell commodities developed by the headquarters. Under this arrangement, each store in the chain is an independent legal entity and operates under the guidance from the headquarters.

Voluntary Chain: Under this arrangement, all stores operate together under the guidance of the headquarters, while maintaining their status of independent legal entities with full ownership of their assets. They use the same store name and sign contracts with the headquarters concerning purchase, sale, and promotion. They will operate under the contracts. They are free to engage in other activities which are not bounded in the contract. They are free to join in or leave the chain.