Beyond Food: Sports +23.3% and Tablets +88.6% Win China's National Day Non-Food Surge

Introduction#

China's National Day Golden Week (October 1-7) is less a food-gifting event than a moment for lifestyle upgrades and recreational spending. According to Moojing Market Intelligence's H2 2025 analysis of transaction data from two leading Chinese marketplaces, the non-food data from the combined Q3 2024 Mid-Autumn and National Day period shows where discretionary consumer spending is concentrating. Tablets grew 88.6% YoY, large home appliances grew 44% on the back of government subsidy policy, and the "sports triangle" of athletic shoes, sportswear and sports bags delivered annual growth of 23.3%. Contact lens care solutions grew 41% over Mid-Autumn and 13.3% annually, and festival goods and gifts grew 25.1%, while beauty devices came under pressure and kitchen appliances and men's shoes remained subdued. We believe this pattern reflects two broad forces in Chinese consumer behaviour, namely household quality investment accelerated by policy and the lasting adoption of healthier lifestyles.

Two Demand Engines: Policy and Lifestyle#

The non-food performance data for Q3 2024 is best understood as the result of two independent sources of demand that operated at the same time during the festival window.

The first is government subsidy policy. Large home appliances grew 44% YoY over Mid-Autumn and 12.6% annually, growth that follows the central government's consumer goods trade-in subsidy programme (以旧换新), which subsidised purchases of qualifying home appliances, electronics and consumer goods. The 88.6% growth of tablets during the Mid-Autumn period is the clearest single-category example of how strongly subsidy policy can change the direction of demand in a category, and smart devices, digital cameras and smaller appliances in the home upgrade segment also benefited. This policy context matters for 2025 planning. If subsidy programmes continue or expand, as official signals suggest, we believe the electronics and major appliance categories will again see raised demand during the H2 2025 festival window.

The second is the lasting adoption of healthy, active lifestyles, a change in behaviour since the pandemic that has now held for more than three years. Sports bags and hats grew 54.1% during Mid-Autumn 2024 and 20.8% on a moving annual basis, while the broader "sports triangle" of athletic shoes, sports bags and sportswear delivered annual growth of 23.3%. Outdoor and travel products grew 17.6% over Mid-Autumn and 5.5% annually. We believe these figures reflect a lasting change in how consumers see themselves, which now extends to the daily commute and weekend activities as well as to gifting, and that they are more than a promotional surge.

Sports Bags and Hats: The Crossbody Surge#

Sports bags and hats are the clearest example of the healthy-lifestyle trend turning into sustained sales. The category grew 54.1% YoY in Mid-Autumn 2024 and maintains annual growth of 20.8%, which makes it one of the highest-growth non-food categories in the Moojing Market Intelligence dataset for this period.

Within sports bags, the crossbody and tote sub-segment grew fastest, at 70.4% YoY. The idea behind this growth is "sportswear for everyday commuting", in which functional athletic bags become part of everyday urban dress and replace traditional briefcases and messenger bags. It suits consumers who increasingly express an active lifestyle through what they wear and carry. MLB's soft-crown baseball cap, launched with a Yu Shuxin celebrity collaboration, and Adidas's cloud denim sports crossbody bag are product-level examples of this positioning.

Consumers are choosing brands associated either with an upscale athletic lifestyle, such as Lululemon, or with outdoor-professional authenticity, such as Arc'teryx with its Granville 10 courier messenger bag, while OSPREY brings outdoor technical credibility into the urban carry category. For retailers curating sports bag assortments for H2 2025, the practical implication is to give prominence to products that combine function and design, such as Lululemon, Arc'teryx's urban pieces, OSPREY and the Adidas cloud bag.

Sports bags also carry a strong festival gifting signal that most festival product selection frameworks overlook. A high-quality crossbody bag or technical backpack in the CN¥ 200-600 range sits at a gifting price point that is practical and suits any gender. It also fits the healthy-lifestyle values that matter increasingly to the 21-35 age group, which accounts for most online festival gifting.

Outdoor and Travel: Domestic Brands Invest in Technical Performance#

Outdoor and travel products grew 17.6% in Mid-Autumn 2024 and 5.5% annually, which is slower than sports bags but still positive, and the category is broadening in scope. Outdoor apparel accounts for the largest share, at 31.3% of the category, and grew 21.5%, led by hard shell jackets, down jackets and performance insulation layers. Outdoor footwear grew 27.7% and ski equipment 19.5%, which shows growth in professional niche segments beyond casual camping.

The most notable development within outdoor is the rise of domestic brands that combine genuine gains in technical capability with strong value-for-money positioning. Beixi (北溪) has built its offer around a 3-in-1 hard shell jacket, Kolon (可隆) around a waterproof outdoor down jacket and Kailas (凯乐石) around an all-weather hard shell jacket.

The consumer insight behind this shift goes beyond price. Beixi's full-garment seam-taping and Kailas's trail shoe grip technology are genuine functional advances. Because these products sell at average prices substantially below equivalent international products (Moojing Market Intelligence estimate), they offer strong value to emerging outdoor enthusiasts who are upgrading from casual camping gear to technical performance equipment.

The post-pandemic enthusiasm for camping is settling: camping and picnic equipment holds a 15.2% share of the category and was almost flat over the year. This suggests that the phase of impulse buying has passed and the market is settling around committed outdoor participants instead of one-time occasion buyers. For H2 2025, we believe camping accessory assortments should be reduced in favour of the higher-growth technical categories, such as hard shells, trail footwear and ski equipment, which serve committed outdoor participants.

Tablets and Consumer Electronics: Subsidy-Driven Scale#

The 88.6% Mid-Autumn growth of tablets in 2024 is the largest single-category figure in the non-food dataset. Its main driver is clear, since China's government subsidy programme for consumer electronics brought forward demand as qualifying households used subsidy vouchers to upgrade their devices during the festival shopping window. The 44% growth of large home appliances reflects the same mechanism applied to refrigerators, washing machines and air conditioners.

The strategic question for H2 2025 is whether subsidy programmes will continue at a comparable scale. Policy signals from early 2025 indicate that the programme will be maintained, probably with some changes in qualifying product categories. We therefore believe retailers and brands should plan their tablet and home appliance selection on the assumption that subsidy support continues, while preparing for possible changes to the programme.

Beyond the subsidy, tablets have a lasting source of demand in the National Day window, because they make a practical household gift for extended family gatherings. A tablet positioned as a family entertainment hub, used for streaming, video calls with distant relatives and gaming, is a useful gift for both urban and semi-urban families during the seven-day Golden Week holiday. Smartwatches, with annual growth of 20.3%, and digital cameras add further volume in tech gifts for personal interests, serving the 25-40 age group, which values precision and lifestyle appeal alongside function.

Personal Care: The Return-to-Essentials Pattern#

Within non-food personal care, the data shows clear polarisation. Contact lens care solutions grew 41% in Mid-Autumn 2024 and 13.3% annually, which places them in the segment of essential, high-frequency purchases that consumers make consistently whatever the wider pressure on spending. High-priced beauty devices, by contrast, came under pressure, as discretionary budgets put off upgrades that can wait and favour daily necessities. For festival product selection, we believe the personal care portfolio should give more weight to high-frequency essentials in combo-pack formats than to beauty devices.

Festival goods and gifts grew 25.1% in Mid-Autumn, including lanterns, decorative items, aroma diffusers and cultural products that add to the experience of the occasion, and a curated assortment with a guofeng (国风) aesthetic can complement the food gifting range.

Cross-Category Opportunity: Building the National Day Non-Food Bundle#

In order of confidence, the highest-priority non-food categories for National Day 2025 are tablets and smart devices, which are supported by subsidies; sports bags and crossbody styles at CN¥ 200-600, which suit any gender and fit an active lifestyle; outdoor hard shells and trail footwear from domestic brands; smartwatches and digital cameras for the 25-40 age group with "professional interest" hobbies; and contact lens care combo packs. What connects them is an identity built around the quality of an active life, since National Day consumers are investing mainly in how they live and exercise, and less in obligatory gifting.

Conclusion#

The non-food data from Q3 2024 makes a strong case for widening the Mid-Autumn and National Day product selection brief beyond food and mooncakes. The 88.6% growth of tablets, the 44% of large home appliances, the 54.1% Mid-Autumn growth of sports bags and the 23.3% annual growth of the "sports triangle" are the non-food signals that should anchor H2 2025 planning. The rise of domestic outdoor brands such as Beixi, Kolon and Kailas, built on technical hard shells and value for money, also has long-term implications for category assortment strategy. We believe the data shows clearly that non-food categories belong in the festival selection mix, so the question for H2 2025 is which sub-segments within those categories deserve the most buying depth and promotional prominence.