The eighth China International Import Expo was held in Shanghai from 5 to 10 November 2025. This year's event featured online national exhibitions from 58 countries and three international organisations, alongside corporate exhibitions showcasing nearly 3,000 exhibitors from 127 countries and regions. On 8 November, Professor Yina ZHANG, Director of the Ministry of Commerce's Big Data Laboratory for Consumption and Professor at Fudan University School of Social Development and Public Policy, was interviewed by CCTV-13's programme ‘Guests from Across the Seas’. She discussed shifts in China's consumer market through changes in the Expo's consumer goods exhibition area. Professor Zhang highlighted that this CIIE exemplifies China's consumer market ‘embracing innovation’, manifested in three key aspects: firstly, the innovation of driving forces, shifting from functional satisfaction towards fulfilment of emotional value ; secondly, the innovation of consumption models, where digital technology enables consumption to transcend temporal and spatial constraints, giving rise to ‘new formats, new models, and new scenarios’; and thirdly, the innovation of supply, witnessing a transition from international brands towards the rise of domestic trends. The expo left her with two key impressions: firstly, technology empowering physical consumption, such as low-altitude economy and humanoid robotics sectors, which are likely to become crucial drivers of future physical consumption growth in China; secondly, market segmentation invigorating service consumption, exemplified by the silver economy segment catering to ageing trends and the winter sports economy segment reflecting consumption upgrades, which represent new highlights and emerging trends at this expo.

Translated by Mingduo QU

Full text in Chinese available at:

https://fddi.fudan.edu.cn/89/1e/c18965a755998/page.htm