Yiwu in Zhejiang province saw its online retail sales rise 2 percent year-on-year to 106.23 billion yuan ($15.41 billion) from January to July this year, ranking first in the province, according to local media outlets.

The top three industries in online retail sales were clothing, shoes and bags, home furnishings, and 3C digital products - namely computer, communications and consumer electronics, accounting for 26 percent, 18.9 percent, and 17.1 percent of total sales, respectively.

Yiwu boasts significant advantages in the three industries. The Huangyuan Clothing Market is the largest professional clothing market in central Zhejiang. The Yiwu International Trade Market is the procurement base for household and 3C digital products.

Yiwu is an important hub for Chinese manufacturers and global small commodity consumption. The city has implemented various measures to help local merchants get more orders on online e-commerce platforms amid the epidemic while carrying out epidemic prevention and control measures.

As an e-commerce heartland in East China, the online retail sales of Zhejiang province in the period reached 1.28 trillion yuan, up 6.5 percent from the same period last year, data from the provincial department of commerce showed.