Yiwu’s market bounces back after three difficult years

Orders from all over the world     1     (flood) into Yiwu factories since earlier this month, a snapshot of global trade in the post-pandemic era     2     indicates a strong recovery for foreign trade in Zhejiang province in early 2023.

Statistics show that on Feb 2, 75,000 merchants     3     (participate) in the opening ceremony at Yiwu International Trade City — the world’s largest     4     (distribute) center for small commodities — placing orders on-site after almost three years of being unable to do so     5     person since the COVID-19 epidemic began.

Lu Qingrong, manager of the Jingrong Toy Company, said that orders have already been scheduled for May and June,     6     that this year’s sales are expected to be 30 percent     7     (high) than the previous two years.

For the past three years, Yiwu’s manufacturing companies     8     (devote) more energy to innovation and quality as they have upgraded, in a bid to underpin steady and accelerated growth.

Lu added that Jingrong will focus on strengthening innovation and research     9     (satisfy) increasing demands and plans to launch at least 10 new products every week.

In addition, the company is currently adding more production lines, which will raise     10     (efficient) and is expected to increase production by 50 percent.

9 . “One, two, three, post the product links!” “Please press the button and give us a thumb-up” “exactly!” the “vibe group,” which means a group of people who are pumping some life into live-streaming and coordinating with live streamers to help steer customers to buy products. The group, also referred to as the “E-commerce straight man/crosstalk” by Chinese users, has stirred a craze in recent weeks on Chinese media platforms.

For the “E-commerce crosstalk” or people who help live streamers to sell their merchandise, it is their specialization. However, others believe that this is confusing to consumers.

The “E-commerce crosstalk” is also known as the center control of the live stream. The work of the center control spans across the pre, mid and post-stage of the live stream, and needs to be responsible for equipment debugging (调试), backstage operation, maintenance of the live stream order, data review and other contents.

They usually create a warming vibe to help live streamers sell products such as “I want 100k likes, could you guys help me to get them, please”, “Post product links!”, “Repost!” or “Let’s join the fan club”. These are normal psychological suggestions for customers which don’t break any of the rules of how to conduct business.

While the “E-commerce crosstalk” group doesn’t just control tempo, they also have another important role — they create a sense of exigency for customers, making them buy now, such as “My friends, the last one! Hurry, buy it now!” “How many are left? No, almost out of stock, only 30 left!” “Buy more today! Hurry up my friends! Go to the yellow cart, find the 1st link! Great price, great quality!”

“These practices are creating an illusion (错觉) of inventory constraints to mislead customers,” Fan Xiaolin, a Beijing-based lawyer told us. The unrealistic atmosphere created by the “E-commerce crosstalk” can easily mislead consumers, causing them to make irrational purchases. The 2020 China Live E-commerce Industry Research Report shows that the average return rate of live e-commerce is as high as 30 percent to 50 percent, which is much higher than the traditional e-commerce return rate of 10 percent to 15 percent.