Coronavirus: China’s traders at famed Yiwu market turn to e-commerce, WeChat, TikTok in bid to survive

Long-time customers are negotiating deals with traders at Yiwu International Trade Market via WeChat, but new customers are hard to find online

Traders have turned to live streaming via TikTok with the help of social media influencers as foreign buyers are absent from the world’s largest small commodities market

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Last year, Yiwu’s total trade value of 296.7 billion yuan (US$42 billion) was around double its gross domestic product, implying a high dependence on trade to drive growth. Photo: Thomas Yau

Published: 3:47pm, 16 Apr 2020Updated: 10:37pm, 16 Apr 2020

Faced with the threat of closure because of an absence of foreign buyers, traders at one of the main showcases for thousands of goods manufactured in China have turned to e-commerce, with mixed results.

Some vendors at Yiwu International Trade Market are even using social media influencers to help them improve their live streaming sales pitches. But new customers have been slow to appear.

“Business has been slow since the coronavirus outbreak, but our beautiful sisters remain vibrant every day,” said Lu Jing, a Yiwu-based trader, in a video she posted on social media last week showing her colleagues dancing in front of the store logo and contact phone numbers in attempt to lure buyers.

Before the coronavirus pandemic hit China and then spread to the rest of the world, Lu had not given much thought to selling goods on social media as she had plenty of customers.

Xuping Jewelry has sold its inexpensive products to dozens of countries around the world, but Lu has seen few foreign buyers in the market since it reopened on February 18 after the end of the nationwide work suspension to contain the spread of the deadly virus.