Nine departments including the Ministry of Commerce issue the "Opinions on Accelerating the Advancement of Commerce through Science and Technology": 18 measures covering goods consumption, services consumption, the circulation chain, and future business scenarios

On October 19, 2026, the "Opinions on Accelerating the Advancement of Commerce through Science and Technology" (hereinafter referred to as the "Opinions") was publicly released. As the first comprehensive and systematic document issued under the theme of "advancing commerce through science and technology," the core of the Opinions is to make scientific and technological innovation an important driving force running through the entire commerce chain and to promote the deep integration of science and technology with commerce.

At present, a new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation is accelerating, and new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, embodied intelligence, and digital twins are rapidly iterating, profoundly changing the organizational methods and operating models of commerce and improving the consumer experience. Through scientific and technological empowerment, it is possible to increase the supply of goods and services and improve supply quality on the supply side, enrich consumption scenarios and reduce consumers' decision-making costs on the demand side, and improve operational efficiency and reduce logistics costs on the circulation side, thereby promoting a dynamic balance between supply and demand at a higher level.

Assistant Minister of Commerce Yuan Xiaoming introduced that the Opinions take advancing commerce through science and technology as the main line and put forward 18 specific measures, mainly covering four aspects. First, science and technology empower the quality improvement of goods consumption. Focusing on the precise alignment of goods supply and consumer demand, it promotes the iterative upgrading of goods supply and, by developing flexible manufacturing and personalized customization, among other things, facilitates the matching of supply and demand in goods consumption. Second, science and technology promote the expansion of service consumption. Closely following the trend of consumption upgrading, it improves the service level of basic-demand categories such as domestic services and catering, expands the supply of upgrading categories such as culture and tourism and sports, refines the quality of personalized services, and enhances the service consumption experience. Third, science and technology smooth the commerce circulation chain. Centering on improving circulation quality and efficiency, it accelerates the implementation of a special action for the development of digital and intelligent supply chains, promotes the transformation and upgrading of wholesale and retail, and builds a quality-oriented e-commerce ecosystem. Fourth, science and technology shape future commercial scenarios. In line with commercial development trends, it creates and cultivates intelligent, green, and integrated scenarios. At the same time, it optimizes the development environment and strengthens support and safeguards in six aspects: standards systems, infrastructure, safety supervision, research and development transformation, talent cultivation, and fiscal and financial support.

The Opinions is a comprehensive and systematic document issued for the first time under the theme of "advancing commerce through science and technology" based on the new development stage. It puts forward 18 specific measures, mainly covering four aspects: science and technology empowering the quality improvement of goods consumption, science and technology promoting the expansion of service consumption, science and technology smoothing the commerce circulation chain, and science and technology shaping future commercial scenarios.

The main features of the policy can be summarized as "new," "comprehensive," and "practical."

"New" means highlighting scientific and technological innovation and adapting to new trends and new changes in consumption. The Opinions closely follows the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. It is based both on the current practical need to expand consumption, focusing on activating the consumer market, and on long-term development, using scientific and technological innovation to transform and upgrade traditional commerce and cultivate and strengthen new business forms, thereby injecting lasting momentum into the high-quality development of commerce.

"Practical" means highlighting a problem-oriented approach and ensuring that policies can be implemented and tested. The Opinions focuses on prominent problems in the commerce sector and takes precise measures.

"Comprehensive" means highlighting a two-way effort and covering the entire commerce chain and all business forms. Vertically, from product research and development, manufacturing, and service provision on the supply side, to wholesale, logistics, and e-commerce on the circulation side, and then to consumption scenarios, scientific and technological innovation is integrated into all links of commerce. Horizontally, it uses new technologies to transform and upgrade traditional business forms such as retail, catering, and domestic services, giving traditional consumption new vitality; at the same time, it also cultivates new business forms and new models such as commercial agents and green circular consumption, enabling new consumption to release new momentum and forming a complete policy system that coordinates both supply and demand and develops both traditional and new consumption.

Commerce big data from the Ministry of Commerce show that from January to September this year, sales of smart glasses on key platforms increased by 1.1 times. New technologies such as artificial intelligence, the Internet of Things, and blockchain are widely used in the consumption field, and scientific and technological innovation is increasingly becoming an important measure for promoting the expansion and upgrading of consumption. The Opinions closely follows the new round of scientific and technological revolution and industrial transformation. It is based both on the current practical need to expand consumption, focusing on activating the consumer market, and on long-term development, using scientific and technological innovation to transform and upgrade traditional commerce and cultivate and strengthen new business forms, thereby injecting lasting momentum into the high-quality development of commerce.

The Opinions highlights a two-way effort and covers the entire commerce chain and all business forms. Vertically, from product research and development, manufacturing, and service provision on the supply side, to wholesale, logistics, and e-commerce on the circulation side, and then to consumption scenarios, scientific and technological innovation is integrated into all links of commerce. Horizontally, it uses new technologies to transform and upgrade traditional business forms such as retail, catering, and domestic services, giving traditional consumption new vitality; at the same time, it also cultivates new business forms and new models such as commercial agents and green circular consumption, enabling new consumption to release new momentum and forming a complete policy system that coordinates both supply and demand and develops both traditional and new consumption.

The Opinions focuses on prominent problems in the commerce sector and takes precise measures. For example, in response to the problem of matching goods supply and demand, it proposes developing flexible manufacturing, promoting on-demand production and other models, and cultivating a group of customized brands with industry influence. Around enriching the supply of high-quality services, it proposes promoting the digital and intelligent transformation of livelihood services such as domestic services, medical care, and elderly care and childcare, and expanding service upgrades such as smart education, smart culture and tourism, and smart sports. In response to e-commerce quality issues, it proposes carrying out actions to cultivate quality e-commerce and strengthening networked verification of key products on e-commerce platforms.

[Issuing Authority] Department of Market Construction, Ministry of Commerce

[Document Number] Shang Jian Han [2026] No. 551

[Date of Drafting] October 13, 2026 Opinions of the Ministry of Commerce and 9 Other Departments on Accelerating the Advancement of Commerce through Science and Technology

Shang Jian Han [2026] No. 551

In order to thoroughly implement the decisions and arrangements of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on developing new quality productive forces in light of local conditions, building a modern industrial system, and expanding domestic demand, implement the Outline of the 15th Five-Year Plan for National Economic and Social Development of the People's Republic of China, better leverage the leading and supporting role of science and technology in the innovative development of commerce and trade, and accelerate the building of a strong domestic market, the following opinions are hereby put forward.

I. General Requirements

Guided by Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era, thoroughly implement the spirit of the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China and the plenary sessions of the 20th Central Committee, earnestly implement the arrangements of the Fourth Plenary Session, fully, accurately and comprehensively implement the new development philosophy, uphold high-quality development as the primary task, take scientific and technological innovation as the driving force, and take meeting the people's ever-growing needs for a better life as the starting point and ultimate goal. We will coordinate efforts to improve the quality of commodity consumption, expand service consumption, enhance circulation efficiency, and promote integrated innovation in consumption scenarios; raise the level of application of new technologies such as artificial intelligence, big data, the Internet of Things, cloud computing, blockchain, digital twins, and embodied intelligence; and drive the intelligent, green, and integrated development of the entire commerce and trade chain, providing strong support for building a strong domestic market.

II. Science and Technology Empowering Higher-Quality Commodity Consumption

(1) Promote the iterative upgrading of commodity supply. Deeply implement the "AI + Manufacturing" special action, accelerate the deep integration of AI technology with product R&D, design, manufacturing, and marketing, and enrich the supply of smart goods such as smartphones, computers, home appliances, wearable devices, and robots. Encourage the R&D and application of smart products based on secure and reliable open-source operating systems. Accelerate the transformation and upgrading of historical classic industries and develop classic famous products and premium goods. Build a matrix of Chinese consumer famous brands and identify consumer famous brands featuring independent innovation and high quality. Vigorously develop science and technology agriculture and promote the quality and efficiency improvement of high-quality specialty agricultural products. Promote the integrity-based innovative development of time-honored brands and support time-honored brand enterprises in using modern production technologies for product innovation.

(2) Promote the matching of supply and demand in commodity consumption. Develop flexible manufacturing, encourage enterprises to apply technologies such as industrial large models and edge intelligence to build adaptive flexible production systems, and promote new models such as on-demand production and consumer-to-manufacturer (C2M). Vigorously develop AI-based personalized customization, cultivate a number of customization brands with industry influence, and meet personalized consumer needs.

(3) Stimulate the vitality of the commodity consumption market. Relying on exhibitions such as the China International Consumer Products Expo, the Global Digital Trade Expo, and the China Agricultural Trade Fair, build platforms for displaying, exchanging, and trading scientific and technological achievements. Cultivate segmented consumption hotspots, create consumption scenarios for new technology products, and unleash consumption potential in segmented fields. Promote the extension of smart consumption facilities and services to counties, improve county-level smart product service networks, and stimulate the vitality of lower-tier markets.

III. Science and Technology Promoting the Expansion of Service Consumption

(4) Improve service levels for basic needs. Innovate domestic service models, support domestic service enterprises in cooperating with science and technology enterprises, and build smart domestic service platforms. Accelerate the digital transformation of the catering industry and release a batch of typical cases of catering digitalization. Support qualified localities in exploring the inclusive application of AI technology in scenarios such as health management, pharmaceutical services, and rehabilitation care, and expand the supply of high-quality medical and health services. Improve the quality of elderly care and childcare services, encourage qualified regions to build smart elderly care service institutions, and accelerate the development of new forms of smart elderly care and childcare.

(5) Expand the supply of upgrading-type services. Upgrade the national smart education platform, open high-quality educational resources to society, and enrich educational service scenarios. Carry out "AI + Culture and Tourism" application pilots, promote the integrated application of AI and technologies such as extended reality, develop distinctive cultural and tourism products and smart services, and enhance the supply of cultural and tourism service consumption. Advance the "Data Elements × Sports" action and develop new sports consumption models such as immersive and interactive spectating. Accelerate the promotion and popularization of convenient television terminals such as integrated televisions and plug-in micro set-top boxes, and promote the expansion and quality improvement of audio-visual electronic consumption.

(6) Improve the quality of personalized services. Adhere to science and technology for good and cultivate healthy and standardized new forms of smart services such as robots and virtual digital human companionship. Support the R&D and industrialization of ultra-high-definition audio-visual technology and promote the application of immersive audio-visual in multiple fields such as business districts, cultural entertainment, tourism, and education and training. Use technologies such as AI and digital twins to optimize IP R&D and design in fields such as culture, tourism, sports, China-chic, and historical classic industries, and promote cross-sector integration.

IV. Science and Technology Unblocking the Commerce and Trade Circulation Chain

(7) Improve the integrated efficiency of supply chains. Implement the special action to accelerate the development of digital and intelligent supply chains and deepen collaborative innovation in technologies such as the Internet of Things, cloud computing, and blockchain. Promote facilities and equipment such as intelligent stereoscopic warehouses, intelligent logistics equipment, and unmanned delivery, and advance the intelligent integration of warehousing, distribution, and transportation. Develop green supply chains and promote green technology, green procurement, green products, and green packaging. Cultivate a number of leading digital and intelligent supply chain enterprises and empower small and medium-sized enterprises in the chain.

(8) Promote the digital and intelligent upgrading of wholesale and retail. Deepen the digital collaborative development of the wholesale industry and industries, and promote the integrated online and offline development of wholesale enterprises. Accelerate the digital and intelligent transformation of agricultural product wholesale markets and improve the efficiency of agricultural product collection, distribution, and circulation. Implement the retail industry innovation and improvement project. Encourage enterprises to apply digital technologies to optimize links such as store layout, purchase-sales-inventory management, logistics distribution, anti-counterfeiting traceability, and after-sales management.

(9) Build a quality-oriented e-commerce ecosystem. Carry out actions to cultivate quality e-commerce, promote the "authenticate before shipping" model, and improve the full-chain quality management level of platforms. Strengthen quality standards, inspection, and brand building for online-sold goods in key areas such as home appliances, home decoration and furnishings, and electronic products. Strengthen networked verification on e-commerce platforms of compulsory product certification (CCC certification). Advance the pilot reform of CCC certification marks for products in key areas and add CCC traceability QR codes.

V. Science and Technology Shaping Future Commercial Scenarios

(10) Create intelligent scenarios. Cultivate new business forms of commercial agents, and develop specialized agents such as intelligent shopping guides, intelligent operations, and intelligent logistics. Promote the application of embodied intelligence technology in the commerce field, and expand application scenarios such as home services and commercial logistics. Develop intelligent consumption scenarios such as cloud shopping and cloud display, and support the application of technologies such as digital twins in consumption scenarios.

(11) Expand green scenarios. Develop new green and low-carbon business models, support enterprises in using blockchain technology to carry out product carbon footprint accounting, and create low-carbon product consumption scenarios. Promote the application of advanced biofuels, new bio-based materials, and biodegradable plastics, cultivate benchmark entities such as green shopping malls, green restaurants, and green logistics parks, and advance green consumption. Promote the intelligent upgrading of second-hand goods circulation and renewable resource recycling, and create a green circular commercial ecosystem.

(12) Cultivate integrated scenarios. Relying on pilots of new consumption forms, new models, and new scenarios, promote the integrated application of technologies such as virtual reality and digital twins in fields such as culture and entertainment, tourism, health, and sports, and create a batch of new consumption scenarios integrating commerce, tourism, culture, sports, and health. Guide localities to focus on key venues such as pedestrian streets, business districts, and tourist attractions, build a batch of consumption scenarios integrating the digital and the real, and continuously enrich diverse applications of new technologies.

VI. Optimize the Environment for Commercial Science and Technology Development

(13) Improve the commercial science and technology standards system. Promote the implementation of the series of national standards of "Intelligence Grading of Artificial Intelligence Terminals," and accelerate the construction of a unified standards system covering various terminal forms. Implement the action to upgrade standards in the commerce field. Carry out national standardization pilots in the commerce field, and explore effective ways to support innovative commercial development through standardization.

(14) Consolidate the foundation of digital and intelligent infrastructure. Promote the upgrading and transformation of commercial infrastructure, and accelerate the application of the industrial internet and cloud computing platforms in the commerce field. Deeply implement the support plan for artificial intelligence startups among small and medium-sized enterprises, and promote inclusive computing power to empower artificial intelligence startup enterprises in the commerce field. Establish a batch of high-quality datasets and trusted data spaces in the commerce field, and promote the integrated application and value release of commercial data and public data.

(15) Improve the security supervision and governance system. According to different application scenarios, prudently and steadily carry out tiered governance of commercial agents. Clarify the boundaries and norms for the collection, use, and sharing of commercial data, explore the release of a negative list for data applications, establish a data security risk monitoring and early warning system, and enhance security protection and governance capabilities. Implement inclusive and prudent regulation, allow new technologies and new models to carry out stress tests and sandbox pilots within a controllable range, and improve the level of refined regulation.

VII. Strengthen Support and Safeguards

(16) Strengthen scientific and technological research and development and transformation application. Accelerate key technology research and development in fields such as new displays and intelligent terminals, expand typical application scenarios and feasible business models, and strengthen demonstration and promotion. Cultivate and build commercial technology application innovation centers. Focus on the consumer goods field to cultivate a batch of technology transfer and transformation institutions, and accelerate the market transformation of cutting-edge scientific and technological achievements such as brain-computer interfaces and embodied intelligence. Support commercial enterprises in fields such as intelligent warehousing and digital and intelligent supply chains in applying for specialized, refined, distinctive, and innovative enterprises.

(17) Strengthen talent cultivation in the commerce field. Increase efforts to cultivate composite talents in commercial science and technology, support regular higher education institutions, research institutes, and vocational schools in jointly building training bases and practical training platforms with commercial enterprises, support qualified regions in establishing city-level industry-education consortia oriented to the commerce field, encourage leading enterprises to take the lead in establishing industry-education integration communities related to commerce, and promote integrated work-study cultivation, order-based customized cultivation, and direct-to-position cultivation. Promote the establishment of related new occupations (job types) such as logistics robot application technology and intelligent system management.

(18) Increase fiscal and financial support. Coordinate the use of existing funding channels to promote the popularization and application of emerging technologies in the consumption field. Encourage financial institutions, in accordance with market-based and law-based principles, to increase financial support for new consumption scenarios and provide diversified financial products and services. Guide financial institutions to increase financial support for technological transformation and equipment renewal in the field of consumer commercial facilities, and improve service quality and efficiency.

All localities and relevant departments should fully understand the important role of science and technology in innovative commercial development, strengthen organizational leadership and comprehensive coordination, strengthen the principal position of enterprises in innovation, and improve long-term promotion mechanisms. The Ministry of Commerce, together with relevant departments, should strengthen overall coordination, do a good job in policy publicity, promptly summarize and promote typical experiences and results of invigorating commerce through science and technology, create a good atmosphere, and promote the effective implementation of various measures.

October 13, 2026 www.smartcity.team

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