China consumer: Mass-market mall saw lukewarm sales in 2Q26 Sales performance of mass-market segments remains weak in 2Q26

Research evidence excerpt

China consumer: Mass-market mall saw lukewarm sales in 2Q26 Sales performance of mass-market segments remains weak in 2Q26

Global Markets Research

28 June 2026China consumer

EQUITY: CONSUMER RELATED

Mass-market mall saw lukewarm sales in 2Q26 Research Analysts

China Consumer Related

Sales performance of mass-market segments remains Jizhou Dong, CFA - NIHK

jizhou.dong@nomura.comweak in 2Q26

+852 2252 1554

We hosted a channel check call (25 June) with an expert with deep knowledge of China’s

Summer Qian - NIHKmass-market consumption trend, who provided observations on one of China’s biggest summer.qian@nomura.com

mass-market-targeted shopping mall networks. From the perspective of geographic/city- +852 2252 6220

tier, the expert’s observations were focused on Eastern China’s tier-2, 3 and 4 cities as

well as the remote areas of tier-1 cities. There are around 135-140 such mass-market-

targeted commercial malls under the expert’s monitoring. Our key takeaways from the call

are summarised below.

Overall sales momentum was still weak in 2Q26

• According to the expert, the overall sales performance of these commercial malls

continued to be weak in quarter-to-date (QTD) 2Q26, with total sales value down by

high-single-digit% (HSD%) y-y and foot traffic down by mid-single-digit% (MSD%) y-y.

The still-lukewarm sales momentum reflected both the softness of macroeconomic

demand and the low season of the second quarter in general, according to the expert.

• By monthly performance, the expert mentioned that April’s performance across the

mass-market malls was the weakest, with total sales/foot traffic down by low-

teens%/mid-teens% y-y. There was some recovery in sales momentum in May driven

by the Labor Day holiday. However, sales momentum remains sluggish in June, as