This year's CCTV Spring Festival Gala, the Yiwu branch venue in Zhejiang Province made a stunning appearance, featuring elements such as "chicken feathers for sugar" and "tambourine" to showcase Yiwu's development history and "international style" throughout the performance. At the same time, Yiwu Global Data Trade Center has also entered the sight of billions of viewers through its identity as the main stage of the sub venue. As a landmark project of the sixth generation market in Yiwu, the Global Data Trade Center officially opened and operated on October 14, 2025, welcoming global merchants. Faced with this' new face ', many people cannot help but wonder: what is the difference between the sixth generation market and the traditional trade market we are familiar with? Why is Yiwu, the 'world supermarket', launching a new round of market upgrading? With these questions in mind, the author conducted an interview. If the numerous roadside trade stalls that emerged on the streets of Yiwu in the 1980s were the first generation of markets, then the subsequent construction of large sheds opened up the second and third generation markets. Later on, individual commercial buildings rose up one after another, and the commercial district of the building group continued to expand and upgrade, giving rise to the fourth generation market. The well-known "Yiwu International Trade City" is the fifth generation market that promotes Yiwu's trade to the world. Unlike the previous five generation market, the sixth generation market is more like a multifunctional "complex". It is reported that the global data trade center has a construction area of 1.25 million square meters, with five functional areas including markets, data trade ports, commercial office buildings, commercial districts, and apartments. Among them, the construction area of the market sector reaches 410000 square meters, and the standard area of a single commercial space is about 30 square meters. The experience of opening a store in a global digital trading center is great, with a better market environment and a larger storefront. ”Chen Meijun, the general manager of Yiwu Litian Toys Co., Ltd., said that she is still buying properties in the office building sector. "We display transactions downstairs and negotiate designs upstairs, and no longer need to run around from 'store exhibition hall factory'." Not only does it focus on expanding and upgrading physical space, but the global data trade center also takes the lead in launching a new round of "market regulation" from the perspective of industry heat and growth. The market sector focuses on popular tracks such as intelligent equipment, creative trendy toys, and fashionable jewelry, accurately aligning with new trends in global demand. The Yiwu market has developed for over 40 years and has formed a gathering foundation of more than 40 industries. The layout change of this new market is to select and upgrade the existing industries, promote industry segmentation and upgrading, and develop towards a higher end, more IP attributes, and more international direction. ”Zhu Xingping, Deputy General Manager of Yiwu Mall Group Global Digital Trade Center Branch, told me. If there were no intelligent equipment blocks, we would most likely not have come to Yiwu. ”Wang Yuxiang, the regional head of Kenqi Technology in Zhejiang, frankly stated. This Shenzhen company, which focuses on the research and development of exoskeleton robots, used to do more factory orders and is now targeting more consumers. Before entering the Global Digital Trade Center, Wang Yuxiang inspected multiple traditional markets and found that the problem of scattered distribution of similar merchants was quite common. In contrast, the Global Digital Trade Center has chosen to cluster similar merchants, helping them complete precise customer screening. The customers who come here to purchase are originally looking for high-tech products, which saves us a lot of time in finding target users. ”Wang Yuxiang said. It is reported that the Intelligent Equipment Zone has gathered nearly 200 advanced domestic enterprises, with products covering multiple fields such as intelligent drones and unmanned equipment, making it easier to "go global together". The Global Digital Trade Center also focuses on creating a scenario based and one-stop exhibition and trade model. Centered around consumption themes such as fashion and maternal and child care, we will concentrate on the layout of relevant sub categories and promote the shift from traditional single category wholesale to multi category combination wholesale guided by new consumption scenarios. For example, customers who purchase maternal and child products can find toys, toiletries, and maternity products associated with them in adjacent stores after purchasing children's clothing. ”Zhu Xingping said. Based on the industrial space planning logic of "upstream and downstream are just up and down the stairs and next door", the market organically integrates related categories, making it convenient for customers to purchase in one stop, and greatly improving the efficiency of product selection. Zhu Xingping pointed out that with the improvement of living standards, consumers are increasingly focusing on environmental experience when making purchases, pursuing a reasonable match between product quality and price, rather than blindly pursuing low prices. This change is one of the important reasons for the Yiwu market to achieve another iteration. Reshaping core products to enter new markets and upgrading, the people in the market are also changing. According to relevant data, among the merchants who have settled in the Global Digital Trade Center, the proportion of new generations such as "Business Second Generation" and "Creative Second Generation" has reached 52%. The new generation of entrepreneurs is reshaping the temperament and core of the Yiwu market from a perspective and path different from their predecessors. In a store called "Yu Ji", there is a dazzling array of fashionable silver jewelry, and customers flock to fill the vast space. The shop owner Ji Ruixin is a post-95s who has been engaged in jewelry trading at home for more than 30 years. Compared to the traditional concept of wholesale goods, she prefers to refer to the accessories in the store as "products" with unique creativity and aesthetic pursuits. The older generation values regularity, but I prefer designing irregularly shaped accessories. I want to create my own style. ”As an independent manager of the store, she did not follow the traditional wholesale model of the older generation of "bulk orders and quantity", but took a different approach by combining traditional ethnic crafts with modern fashion creativity, focusing on creating personalized items that young people love. After continuous exploration, Ji Ruixin gradually established the "Yu Ji" brand. Currently, her store showcases over 4000 original design products, not only appearing on the fashion week stage, but also successfully entering overseas markets. Previously, we often had to go to Japan, South Korea, Europe, and America to follow trends. Now, by researching the consumption changes of foreign businesses in Yiwu, we can lead the market with our own designs. ”Ji Ruixin said that nowadays many foreign businessmen come to Yiwu specifically to participate in exhibitions and watch the trend, and the local market is becoming a new direction for jewelry trends. Not only do young merchants pursue novelty in product design, but they have also changed their business model of "taking chances and waiting for customers" and started live streaming and filming videos, transforming from "sitting merchants" to "cloud merchants". Post-2000 merchant He Tao, whose family mainly engages in the production and sales of plush toys, chose to open a store in the sixth generation market to sell clothes for dolls and share his experience through short videos. He Tao believes that the competition in the plush toy business is fierce now, and a price war is definitely not feasible. Only by exploring new markets can there be a way out. I am the third generation operator of my family, and it is my responsibility to break out of the old ways and try new possibilities. In his opinion, Yiwu market and Yiwu small commodities are already hot topics on the internet, which is a good opportunity to leverage them. "I will share some interesting content on Tiktok and WeChat video accounts, such as talking about business experience, discussing market hotspots, introducing our own superior products, etc." He Tao revealed that in the past two years, he has created a personal IP "plush childe" on social media, and many merchants have come to admire him. A client from the Middle East came to me specifically to see the things of 'Plush Master' with their own eyes, "He Tao said. My experience is that when emotional value is provided properly, the product naturally sells well. Doll clothes like mine are doing well in both foreign and domestic sales, with some foreign merchants buying as many as 20000 pieces at once. ”He Tao shared that his store has also set up a dedicated DIY experience area to better cater to the consumption preferences of young people. It is reported that in order to better meet the needs of merchants, the Global Digital Trade Center has comprehensively upgraded its digital infrastructure construction, introducing communication technologies such as F5G and Wi Fi 7 to help merchants quickly, efficiently, and securely access global commercial websites and easily conduct international trade. Behind every order of digitally empowered trade updates, it cannot be separated from the update of the sixth generation market digital trade ecosystem. Ji Ruixin was deeply touched by this. Previously, in response to the personalized needs of foreign merchants, she had delayed many orders due to the fact that the custom sample making cycle for jewelry could take as fast as one week. Now we can directly use AI design, and within a few minutes, new design schemes and model fitting renderings will be automatically generated. ”Ji Ruixin said, "In the past, with seven or eight designers combined, an average of 100 new products could be launched in a month. Now, with the help of AI, the store can launch about 500 new products every month, reducing costs by half. ”Ji Ruixin is using the "World Yiwu" commercial model provided free of charge by the Global Digital Trade Center. It integrates AI design, AI multilingual translation, AI video creation and other tools, covering the entire process from design, production, marketing to final transaction completion. At present, these AI tools have already become the "all-in-one assistants" for merchants. At the "Golden Dream Beauty" jewelry store, I saw the main building of the store repeatedly reciting "12345" into my phone to collect voice. Then, I opened the "Small Business AI Visual Creation" section of the "World Yiwu" commercial model APP, imported the just filmed video materials, entered product keywords, and waited for a moment. After that, a short video for product promotion based on the original sound, automatically generated by AI and accompanied by music, was completed. Before, it used to take at least half an hour to make a video, but now it can be done in just a few minutes. It also supports one click automatic translation into multiple languages. Without leaving Yiwu, with AI, business can be done in more than 20 countries. ”Lou Yiyang said. The 'World Yiwu' Business Model currently has 14 AI applications covering six major application scenarios, with a cumulative call volume exceeding 1 billion times. ”Zhu Xingping told the author that in response to the problem of old merchants' inability to use and fear of using digital tools, the market has lowered the operating threshold, allowing merchants to get started without professional knowledge; On the other hand, we will regularly provide free training to help merchants learn how to use it and prevent technology from becoming a barrier. In addition to the deep empowerment of AI technology on the entire trade chain, the implementation and application of digital service platforms and intelligent devices have also improved the convenience of cross-border trade. At the Digital Trade Service Center, merchants can view the real-time exchange rates of RMB against currencies such as USD, EUR, GBP, etc. on the "YiPay" digital finance platform, register cross-border payment accounts, and also query route freight rates on the Zhijie Yuangang digital logistics platform; The "Scan and Scan" AI navigation for small businesses not only enables precise location navigation, but also combines functions such as product search, location query, and image recognition, greatly optimizing the purchasing experience; Embodied intelligence has also been applied in the market, for example, "intelligent quadruped robots" have been integrated into the daily safety inspection system, becoming an important component of the new defense line of intelligent fire protection. The Global Digital Trade Center showcases the new characteristics of China's commodity trading market, which are driven by digital intelligence and coordinated across all domains. ”Zhu Yongyi, Vice President of the China Marketing Association, commented that the digital new scene of the Global Digital Trade Center is a new footnote to the more than 40 years of iteration and upgrading of the Yiwu market. Speaking of the future, Zhu Xingping stated that the Global Digital Trade Center will always prioritize serving merchants, continuously optimize the user experience of artificial intelligence, and develop new application scenarios. We will focus on the entire process of exporting goods, integrate service functions and resources, promote digital trade to benefit more merchants, and help them better connect and explore overseas markets