China Online Consumer Brand Index (CBI) (2026Q1)

Online Consumption Quality Steadily Rebounds, Emotional Consumption and Gold Jewelry Shine

Encouraging innovation and healthy competition is essential for achieving high-quality development. The “China Online Consumer Brand Index (CBI)” was jointly developed by the National School of Development at Peking University, the Digital Finance Research Center at Peking University, and the Business School of Sun Yat-sen University, with support from Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall Group. This index draws on online consumer big data to evaluate brand equity across dimensions including sales, prices, search volume, and customer reviews. It tracks changes in online consumption quality through the average score of a “basket” of consumer brands. Building on traditional macroeconomic indicators like total retail sales and the consumer price index (CPI), it offers a valuable reference for observing consumption upgrading, brand competition, and structural changes in the market.

Highlights of This Issue

 Online consumption quality continues to recover. In the first quarter of 2026, CBI stood at 64.68, representing a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 2.05% and a cumulative increase of 8.8% from the base period of 2023Q1.

 Industry performance continues to diverge. “Emotional consumption” categories such as beauty, collectible, and pet care maintained an upward trend; renovation materials were lifted by subsidy policies and demand for renovation of existing housing stock; the food industry recorded a relatively sharp overall decline, driven primarily by premium baijiu.

 Urban consumption vitality shows new highlights. Hefei continues to rank at the top of the CBI. Cities in central and northern Jiangsu including Huai’an, Yancheng, and Yangzhou delivered standout performance. Yichun and Daxing’anling rank in the top 10 for CBI.

 The brand rankings carry a distinctively Chinese New Year flavor. Leading 3C brands continue to dominate, while Laopu Gold (老铺黄金) entered the top 5 for the first time. Three Squirrels (三只松鼠), ROYAL CANIN (皇家), yuwell (鱼跃), and other brands in the festive, pet, and health categories performed strongly.

1. Online Consumption Quality Continues to Recover, CBI Rises 8.8% Cumulatively from Base Period

In the first quarter of 2026, CBI stood at 64.68, representing a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 2.05% and a cumulative increase of 8.8% from the base period of 2023Q1. Compared with the year-on-year growth of just 0.10% recorded in 2025Q4, the growth rate rebounded significantly this quarter, indicating that online consumption quality continues to advance steadily. Overall, consumer demand for quality brands remains resilient. Online consumption continues its shift away from a pure focus on low prices toward greater emphasis on brand, experience, and service.

Figure 1. Quarterly Year-on-Year Comparison of China’s Online Consumer Brand Index

Figure 2. CBI (Using Q1 2023 as the Base Period, Base Index = 100)

2. Industry Trends Diverge: Emotional Consumption Rises, Food Under Pressure, Renovation Materials Boosted by Policy

At the industry level, online consumption this quarter did not rise uniformly but showed clearer structural divergence. Industries centered on emotional value and lifestyle companionship, such as beauty, collectible, and pet care, continued to grow, reflecting consumers’ sustained willingness to pay for interests, aesthetics, and companionship. The food industry recorded a relatively sharp overall decline, driven primarily by weakness in premium baijiu. By contrast, mass-market baijiu and leading brands in premium snacks held up comparatively well. The renovation materials sector posted strong growth, indicating that the boost from consumer goods trade-in programs, home improvement subsidies, and renovation demand from existing housing stock is starting to take effect. Durable goods categories such as home appliances and 3C were generally soft, possibly related to demand pull-forward and the pace of trade-in cycles.

Figure 3. Comparison of CBI by Industry Category

3. Urban Consumption Vitality Spreads: Hefei Continues to Lead, Central and Northern Jiangsu and Heilongjiang Stand Out

At the city level, improvements in consumption quality are no longer concentrated solely in traditional tier-one cities. Hefei continues to rank at the top of the CBI, reflecting sustained strength in its online consumption quality and brand spending power. New entries to the city top 10 this quarter include Huai’an, Yancheng, and Yangzhou, indicating a growing vitality in quality consumption across cities in central and northern Jiangsu. Yichun and Daxing’anling in Heilongjiang Province enter the top 10, reflecting a rise in online consumption activity and brand spending enthusiasm in parts of northeastern China. Meanwhile, in the Brand Purchase Index (BPI), large cities like Shanghai, Shenzhen, Beijing, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Chengdu, Suzhou, and Chongqing remain top-ranked, underscoring the continued advantage of large cities in terms of consumption scale and brand purchasing power.

Table 1: Top Ten Cities in the Brand Index Series

4. Chinese New Year Consumption Characteristics Stand Out: 3C Brands Remain at the Top, Gold and Festive Consumption Brands Rise

The 2026Q1 CBI 500 reflects a clear Chinese New Year consumption profile. Apple (苹果), Huawei (华为), and Xiaomi (小米) retained the top 3 positions, reaffirming the status of leading brands in 3C digital as key representatives of quality online consumption. Laopu Gold (老铺黄金) entered the top 5 for the first time, reflecting the convergence of gold consumption spike and Chinese New Year gift demand. Three Squirrels (三只松鼠) moved into the top 50, driven by demand for snack gift sets and Chinese New Year grocery purchases. ROYAL CANIN (皇家) and yuwell (鱼跃) also broke into the top 50 for the first time, signaling a growing appetite for home-oriented, companionship-driven consumption in categories such as pet care and health devices.

Table 2: CBI500 (2026Q1 Top 50)

Attached：CBI500（2026Q1）, Quarter×Industry Consumer Brand Index.

The series of reports can be obtained from the following website:

https://www.nsd.pku.edu.cn/xzyj/kyfb/zsfb/cbi2025/index.htm

City-sector level CBI and BPI data are available upon request. To access the data, please contact the research team at cbi_pku@163.com. If you use this data, please cite it as follows: “China Online Consumer Brand Index (CBI)”, and reference the source: Yang Ji, Xun Wang, Yiping Huang, China Online Consumer Brand Index, 2026, National School of Development Series Report, Peking University.