Shanghai launches the second May 5 Shopping Festival. [Photo provided to chinadaily.com.cn]

Since the launch of the second Shanghai May 5 Shopping Festival on May 1, 265 key events and more than 1,100 special activities had been held as of May 21, according to local media reports in the city of Shanghai in East China.

Data showed the huge potential and strong dynamics of Shanghai's consumer market, a spokesman from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce said.

Statistics showed that from May 1 to 15, Shanghai's online retail sales reached 61.69 billion yuan ($9.62 billion), a 12.8 percent increase on the same period last year, while offline spending totaled 121.05 billion yuan, up 10.4 percent.

According to the commission, from late May to early June, more than 400 activities are expected to be launched to further boost spending.