Yiwu Merchants Deploy AI Avatars Across 230 Markets to Drive Global Trade
Updated
Updated · CGTN · Jun 8
Yiwu Merchants Deploy AI Avatars Across 230 Markets to Drive Global Trade
3 articles · Updated · CGTN · Jun 8
Summary
AI-powered digital avatars are becoming part of daily operations for Yiwu merchants, helping them sell small commodities to buyers in markets spanning more than 230 countries and regions.
Dozens of languages and product-specific sales demands make it impractical to hire enough multilingual staff with trade expertise, pushing merchants toward avatar-based customer communication.
Local authorities have built support around that shift, including the Yiwu Global Digital Trade Center, as market behavior drives institutional adaptation rather than the reverse.
Yiwu’s scale gives the change weight: the wholesale hub links more than 1.26 million market entities and over 2.1 million products, making it the world’s largest small-commodities market.
The adoption fits Yiwu’s longer trajectory from a poor inland county in the 1980s to a global trade center, underscoring how grassroots entrepreneurship and now AI tools can reshape local economies.
Are AI avatars truly replacing human traders in the world's largest wholesale market?
Is Yiwu's success a unique miracle or a state-guided blueprint for other cities?
With rising labor costs, can Yiwu's low-price wholesale empire survive the next decade?
From OEM to AI: Yiwu’s 25% Trade Growth and the Strategic Shift to Digital, Brand, and IP-Driven Global Trade
Overview
The opening of the Yiwu Global Digital Trade Center in October 2025 marked a pivotal moment in the city’s transformation, signaling its ambition to become a leading global digital trade hub. When the center officially opened to the public in February 2026, it received an overwhelmingly positive response, with nearly 62,000 visitors on the first day and generating close to 1 million yuan in sales. This immediate surge in activity highlights strong public interest and demonstrates the center’s potential to invigorate Yiwu’s economy and reshape its role in global trade.