E-commerce trade has been flourishing in Yiwu, East China's Zhejiang province, with turnover rising 8.95 percent from a year earlier to 263.99 billion yuan ($37.11 billion) in the first eight months of this year, according to official data released on Oct 8.

Yiwu, known as China's small commodity hub, saw its e-commerce and digital economy grow rapidly despite the COVID-19 epidemic.

Due to the epidemic, many people are choosing to spend more time at home, driving an increase in sales of kitchen utensils, as well as cleaning and storage facilities.

Many of Yiwu Suowu Household Products Co's products sell over 6,000 items per month, including its spatula rack, heat resistant gloves, and oil brush.

Chen Kai, head of the company, said that they are busy developing new products for the coming Double Eleven Shopping Festival. With the company's research and development center headquartered in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, many of its self-developed products have been well-received by customers.

Zheng Yusong, a shopkeeper at the Yiwu International Trade Market Area 5, said e-commerce platforms and live-steaming platforms such as Douyin have become important sales channels.

The city also made the list of the top 100 counties in China in terms of e-commerce competitiveness in 2021 by Xiaokang magazine, which conducted a comprehensive evaluation of China's county-level regions based on network big data, special county research, public attitudes and expert evaluations.