Wei Jun, a trader in Yiwu, Zhejiang Province (eastern China), is still amazed at how quickly he recently closed a deal for 1,000 star‑projector lamps, assisted by an artificial intelligence (AI) agent.
While his Kenyan buyer was inspecting samples in Yiwu—a city known as the “world’s supermarket”—an automated workflow was triggered: an AI agent instantly transmitted the specifications to research and development teams and the supply chain, avoiding tedious exchanges.
This seamless transaction offers a glimpse into a broader transformation unfolding on the supply side. Whether it is individuals leading teams of AI agents to manage cross‑border businesses or autonomous matching of transactions between buyer and seller agents, AI is rewriting the rules of international trade.
Yiwu is one of the places where this transformation is most visible. It hosts the world’s largest wholesale market for small commodities, supplying everything from Christmas decorations to World Cup souvenirs. Through this market, an astonishing 2.1 million varieties of small products have been sold to 233 countries and regions. In 2025, Yiwu’s export value ranked first among all county‑level regions in China.
“The latest sales boom in Yiwu,” a viral topic on social media, is not just a stroke of luck. Behind these hits lies rigorous research into emerging trends by local merchants and precise judgment based on quantitative analysis. They closely track the next popular category by analyzing short‑video trends and popular keywords in comment sections.
This trend is not limited to experienced merchants. AI has also lowered barriers to entry for entrepreneurship, creating opportunities for individual businesses.
Zhang Qianchao, a novice with no prior experience in cross‑border e‑commerce, successfully entered foreign markets with customized baseball caps. He relies solely on himself and eight AI agents on Accio Work, Alibaba’s AI agent platform, for market research, product design, and trade policy analysis.
For example, every two weeks, the market research agent generates a detailed report on overseas social media trends in the baseball cap sector. Once the report highlights rising demand for a specific style, it automatically triggers the product design agent to take over.
AI agents have compressed into a single day what used to be a two‑to‑three‑week cycle of selection and design. This accelerated pace delivered quick results: two months after launching his online store, Zhang Qianchao sold more than 3,000 caps across Europe, the United States, and Africa.
According to Hong Yong, Associate Researcher at the Chinese Academy of International Trade and Economic Cooperation under the Ministry of Commerce, AI is transforming “business experience” into an on‑demand service and providing small and medium‑sized enterprises with a “commercial operating system.”
Today, China’s AI strategy is entering a more global phase. Rather than focusing mainly on technological advances, policymakers now emphasize integrating AI into the real economy—from manufacturing and agriculture to public services and consumer markets.
Source : People's Daily