A sock seller at the Yiwu International Trade Market arranges products. [Photo/zgyww.cn]

Sock producers and sellers in Yiwu, East China's Jiangsu province, have been making efforts to increase sales through intelligent manufacturing and e-commerce.

Manzi Group began working toward digital transformation in 2018. The company's smart factory has introduced a management system which can store the color, material and other information on new products in the database and share information among designers. The company is now able to develop 30 new products every day, with costs and time reduced by half.

"Faced with the epidemic, how to develop new products and open new markets have become a top priority," said Wang Yefei, the company's general manager.

Langsha Group, the first sock company in China to develop its own brand, has introduced 100 sets of the world's most advanced intelligent equipment to expand production capacity.

A digital workshop of Manzi Group. [Photo/zgyww.cn]

In addition, Langsha has jointly developed new products with first-class universities at home and abroad. The company now owns 12 invention patents, more than 300 utility model patents, and over 400 appearance patents.

Zhou Yaozhong, a sock seller at the Yiwu International Trade Market, has been used to making daily livestreams to promote his products, including their names, size, fabric, and color.

Zhou started to learn how to livestream about two years ago. As a seller in his 40s, it was hard for him at the beginning. He worked hard to communicate with processional hosts and spent days distilling characteristics of products.

"Livestreams can bring sellers closer to consumers to better understand their demands," said Zhou.