Recently, at the Yiwu Global Digital Trade Center in Jinhua, Zhejiang, shops selling AI large-model companion toys have drawn heavy foot traffic. Relying on Yiwu's mature small-commodity supply chain, merchants are integrating large-model technology into plush dolls, pushing toys from a "manufacturing" model toward a "technology-enabled" one.
Compared with ordinary plush toys, AI companion toys carry a higher average order value. Foreign-trade orders continue to grow, with products selling to multiple countries across Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe, where overseas buyers are placing orders eagerly.
The trend reflects how Yiwu's traditional commodity categories are being upgraded with artificial intelligence. By embedding conversational and emotional-interaction capabilities into familiar plush formats, merchants are opening a higher-value export segment and reaching global consumers through the same supply-chain advantages that made Yiwu the "world supermarket."
Observers noted that the entry barrier to this kind of business has fallen sharply, as supply chain, AI tools and logistics can all be borrowed in Yiwu, leaving merchants to supply only the idea of combining beauty in a particular way.
Source: People's Daily Zhejiang Channel
