Yiwu in Zhejiang province posted an online retail volume of 88.97 billion yuan ($13.75 billion) over the first six months of this year, a year-on-year increase of 19.8 percent from the previous year, according to the latest statistics from the Zhejiang Provincial Department of Commerce.

Yiwu's online retail volume ranked first among all county-level regions in Zhejiang for six consecutive months this year. The top 10 county-level regions in terms of online retail volume over the first half of this year made up nearly half of the provincial aggregate.

The top three sectors that contributed the most to Zhejiang's online retail volume in H1 were the clothing, shoes, and bags sector, the household supplies and decorations sectors, and the 3C (computer, communication, and consumer electronics) products sector, which respectively accounted for 30.3 percent, 18.3 percent, and 15.7 percent of the online retail sales.

Yiwu boasts particular strength in the aforementioned three sectors. The city's Huangyuan Clothing Market is the largest of its kind in central Zhejiang. Yiwu International Furniture City is the largest of its kind in the province. Both the No 2 Zone of the Yiwu International Trade Market and the Yiwu Digital Marketplace are well-known wholesale markets for 3C products.

"We receive a stable amount of purchase orders from the online shopping platforms of Tmall and Pingduoduo, and send out products, mostly jewel cases, for around 3,000 such orders every day. This year, we have been consistently intensifying our livestreaming e-commerce services. A five-hour livestream event usually leads to 30,000 purchase orders for us now," said Pan Zhenyi, a Yiwu-based manufacturer of bags and suitcases.

Pan added that Yiwu's online retailers greatly benefit from the city's unique advantages in product diversification and logistics infrastructure. The Yiwu market offers 2.1 million kinds of commodities, which can immediately match retailers' needs. As a national-level commercial logistics hub, Yiwu also boasts a sound logistic network reaching all over China and abroad, as well as highly affordable logistic transaction costs.

A livestream e-commerce activity is conducted by a Yiwu-based online retailer. [Photo/WeChat account: yiwufb]