CBI Index Released by the National School of Development, Peking University

China Online Consumer Brand Index (CBI) (2023-2025)

Encouraging innovation and healthy competition is essential for achieving high-quality development. The “China Online Consumer Brand Index” is the first online consumer index dedicated to benchmarking high-quality development. This index 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 comprehensively measures consumption quality and brand equity based on underlying metrics such as sales, prices, search volume, and customer reviews. Leveraging big data, it evaluates brands’ equity and tracks changes in consumption quality through the average score of a “basket” of consumer brands. It complements traditional macroeconomic metrics like total retail sales and the consumer price index (CPI) by adding the quality dimension of consumption. Additionally, it provides valuable insights to guide brand development and business strategies in the China market.

The CBI Index has three components:

(1)   China Online Consumer Brand Index (CBI): This captures the average consumption quality levels across different product categories in prefecture-level cities.

(2)   China Online Brand Purchase Index (BPI): This highlights the relative purchasing power for top-rated brands across prefecture-level cities.

(3)   China Top 500 Online Consumer Brands List (CBI500): This ranks the top 500 online consumer brands entirely based on actual consumer purchasing behaviors, intending to guide brand’s development and promote healthy competition in the e-commerce market.

Brand Rating and Index Methodology

As the world’s largest online retail market, China’s e-commerce market not only creates new opportunities for brand development but also serves as a dynamic basis for macroeconomic analysis.

The CBI leverages big data from online consumption. Brand ratings are derived from multiple online consumption metrics, with higher scores indicating better quality, stronger consumer preference, and growth potential. The top-performing brand in each product category is standardized to a score of 100, while unbranded products receive a score of 0. The CBI is the average rating of a “basket” of consumer brands, with higher scores indicating higher overall consumption quality. The total score of this same “basket” corresponds to another index, the BPI, where higher scores represent stronger purchasing power. By limiting the “basket” of brands to specific time frames, product categories, or regions, it becomes possible to generate indexes for particular time frames × product categories × region combinations.

The scoring system evaluates four key dimensions: Brand Awareness (32.5%), Brand Novelty (27.5%), Customer Loyalty (22.5%), and Customer Satisfaction (17.5%), encompassing a total of 12 underlying metrics. The relative weights of these dimensions are determined using a subjective weighting method, where an expert panel independently assigns weights, and the average of their evaluations is used as the final weighting. Within each dimension, the relative weights of individual metrics are calculated using the coefficient of variation method.

Brand Novelty is a metric typically not included in traditional rating systems but has the second-highest weighting in our brand rating system. This reflects a focus on identifying brands demonstrating rapid growth, strong appeal to younger consumers, and a commitment to product innovation. The approach is especially favorable to emerging brands that are creative, which resonates with the dynamic nature of China’s e-commerce market.

Trend Analysis

Based on data from 2023 to 2025, the CBI has exhibited a steady upward trend on a year-over-year basis each quarter, rising from 59.42 in Q1 2023 to 63.38 in Q1 2025. This reflects an improvement in the overall rating of the national “basket” of consumer brands, indicating stable growth in consumption quality. Consistent with online consumption patterns, the index shows upward fluctuations in the second and fourth quarters, driven by major shopping events such as the “6.18 Shopping Festival” and the “11.11 Global Shopping Festival.”

When Q1 2023 is set as the base period with an index of 100, subsequent indices are calculated relative to this base, as shown in Figure 1. The national CBI increased significantly compared to the base period, rising by 11.5% in Q4 2024 and 6.7% in Q1 2025.

Figure 1. CBI

(Using Q1 2023 as the Base Period, Base Index = 100)

Industry Comparison

The CBI shows significant differences in both absolute values and growth dynamics across industry categories. A higher CBI indicates a greater concentration of sales among leading brands and fewer unbranded products, while a lower CBI suggests an opportunity for brands to enter and compete. When an industry’s CBI shows an upward trend, it signals either the gradual formation of leading brands or sales consolidation among existing leading brands.

Consistent with public perception, 3C (mobile phones, smart devices, and other digital products) and home appliances exhibit higher CBI values. In these two categories, unbranded products are significantly less competitive, with most consumers opting for leading brands. Companies like Apple, Huawei, and Xiaomi dominate every subcategory. However, the 3C smart devices sector has witnessed the rise of several new brands, including iFLYTEK, imoo, DJI, and Unitree Robotics, showcasing the vitality of this emerging sub-industry.

Figure 2. Comparison of CBI by Industry Category

Beauty products rank the highest in the daily necessities category in the CBI, where international brands continue to hold a decisive advantage. In the fashion category, sports and outdoor apparel demonstrate a relatively high CBI due to their functional nature, as consumers tend to place greater emphasis on brands in this segment. The CBI for men’s wear is higher than that of women’s wear, as the women’s wear industry is more competitive, with more fragmented sales distribution.

Pet care has grown significantly in the culture & entertainment category, reflecting a growing consumer preference for quality and branded products, with domestic brands holding a competitive edge. Home furnishing, on the other hand, has a relatively low CBI but has experienced rapid growth since 2023. High delivery and service costs have kept the furniture category predominantly regional, with leading national brands not yet to dominate. However, with the rise of e-commerce consumption and advancements in logistics services, the furniture sector has seen the emergence of several national brands, which have achieved notable development in the online market.

Regional Analysis

The top ten cities in CBI are all second and third-tier cities with significant potential, including Hefei in Anhui Province, Zhengzhou in Henan Province, Huai'an in Jiangsu Province, and Nanchang in Jiangxi Province. The BPI aligns closely with the distribution of China’s population and GDP. First-tier cities, such as Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, and Shenzhen, remain at the top of the list, while other top ten cities are mostly emerging first-tier cities, such as Hangzhou, Chengdu, Suzhou, and Wuhan.

Table 1: Top Ten Cities in the Brand Index Series

Figure 3. Brand Purchase Index (BPI) and Consumer Brand Index (CBI)

Regarding regional distribution, there are correlations and divergences between the CBI and the BPI. Figure 3 compares the two indices, with the horizontal axis representing the CBI and the vertical axis representing the BPI. Overall, the two indices exhibit a similar trend, which aligns with economic intuition—regions with stronger purchasing power tend to have higher-quality consumption. However, there are deviations in specific cities between the two indices. Regression analysis indicates that the proportion of migrant workers in the total population affects the degree of deviation. Regions with more migrant worker inflows tend to exhibit lower average consumption quality and greater inclusiveness toward brands at various levels.

Top Brands Analysis

We analyzed the top 1,000 brands based on brand origins, innovation characteristics, and others. Regarding the birthplace of domestic brands by region, as shown in Figure 4, the number of ranked brands is influenced by regional GDP and industrial structure factors. Guangdong province ranked first nationwide by GDP in 2024 and had the most listed brands. The number of consumer brands founded in Zhejiang, Shanghai, and Beijing also ranked high. While Jiangsu province ranked second by GDP, the number of ranked brands was only fifth in the country. This is because Jiangsu’s competitive industries are not in the consumer retail sector but upstream industries such as advanced equipment, electronic information, and biopharmaceuticals. At the city level, Shanghai, Hangzhou, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, and Beijing are home to the most ranked brands. Leveraging their advanced manufacturing industries, Foshan, Ningbo, Quanzhou, Jinhua, and Suzhou also ranked among the top ten cities by the number of brands listed.

Figure 4. Regional Distribution of Domestic Brands List

     Emerging brands on the list generally focus on niche market needs and show strong product innovation capabilities. For example, in the jewelry category, Laopu Gold (老铺黄金)specializes in premium craftsmanship gold jewelry; in the 3C category, iQOO (艾酷)focuses on mobile phones for gaming; and in the personal care category, Hi!papa（海龟爸爸）specializes in children’s sunscreen. In the 3C smart devices category, Unitree Robotics (宇树科技), the fastest-growing brand, showcases strong product innovation by focusing on AI smart robots. Among the 100 fastest-growing brands in terms of gross merchandise value, the majority are domestic brands.  These local brands thrive by addressing domestic needs and focusing on targeted product development, which gives them a distinct advantage.

Table 2: CBI500 (Top 50)

（Note：The highest performing brand of the list is standardized to a score of 100.）

This index series reveals the following: From a trend perspective, consumption quality of China’s e-commerce market has steadily improved. From a category perspective, the 3C digital and home appliance sectors have established consumption patterns dominated by leading brands. Meanwhile, categories such as pet care, collectibles, and personal care and beauty are still seeing the emergence of new brands. From a regional perspective, first-tier cities have an absolute advantage in brand purchasing power. However, due to the economic diversity of their population and consumption bases, their average consumption quality is not significantly higher than that of other cities. On the other hand, new first-tier or second-tier cities, such as Hefei, Zhengzhou, and Nanchang, demonstrate relatively high average consumption quality. These findings hold great significance for boosting consumer confidence, strengthening quality competition, and promoting the development of China’s e-commerce market.

Attached：China Online Consumer Brand Index（2023-2025）Full Report

Attached：CBI500