Yiwu's Global Digital Trade Center, which opened in October 2025, continues to evolve as the sixth-generation market of China's "World Supermarket." The center sees average daily foot traffic of 60,000 people, including nearly 5,000 foreign buyers, and two-thirds of merchants own their own brands.
Among them is He Tao, a third-generation Yiwu merchant in his 20s who runs a livestream showroom in the trendy-toy section. He is taking over from his grandmother and mother, leveraging the new market's digital advantages to transform his shop into a new-retail experience store where Chinese IP competes alongside international brands.
Other merchants have moved from product manufacturing toward brand building and creative exports. Yiwu's official Chinagoods platform now provides AI-enabled product discovery and multi-language site services, while Yiwu Pay handles cross-border settlement for overseas buyers from more than 230 countries and regions.
The market is part of Yiwu's broader "brand going global" program, which has deployed 97 overseas projects across 38 countries and regions, covering overseas sub-markets, warehouses, and showrooms.
Source: Xinhua News Agency / Hong Kong Daily
