(Yicai) March 3 -- Almost all 30,000 merchants in China's Yiwu, known as the world's capital of small commodities, have started using artificial intelligence to create videos, images, and other promotional material in various languages and styles.

Sun Lijuan, the owner of Hongsheng Toy, told Yicai that she made an English video with the help of Yiwu Market's AI team, receiving more than 100,000 views on foreign social media and securing an order for 20,000 items from Poland. The team uses an AI model to translate merchants' Chinese promotional videos into 36 other languages, she said.

Sun was the first merchant to use AI tech in Yiwu International Trade City, the main wholesale market complex in the city, starting to convert videos into English, Arabic, Spanish, and Russian on Chinagoods, the market's official e-commerce platform, in October 2023, she noted. "AI perfectly replicates my voice and lip movement, making the videos incredibly lifelike."

AI tools provide Yiwu's nearly 30,000 merchants with powerful digital assistants, Guo Tao, angel investor and AI expert, said to Yicai. They can enhance client communication efficiency, enable personalized marketing, improve sales conversion rates, and help maintain a competitive edge, Guo added.

After first posting videos online, "many clients asked how I spoke Arabic so fluently, and some even inquired where I learned the language," Sun said.

AI tech not only solves language barriers but also helps bring tangible orders, Sun pointed out. "I receive dozens to hundreds of WeChat friend requests daily since starting to post AI-generated videos. Revenue jumped 10 to 20 percent in the second half of 2023 from the first half.

"AI tools are becoming increasingly powerful," Sun noted. Videos can be generated by just inputting text, eliminating the need for merchants to film, while the results remain very impressive, she said.

Chinagoods' AI innovation platform offers merchants more than 10 applications, including production design, product display, trade fulfillment, and financial services.

AI-generated images of products are nearly identical to real ones, Yamin, the owner of a small toy e-commerce store, told Yicai. AI tools have significantly boosted image creation speed as well as sales, but more importantly, they help clear inventory and revitalize cash flow, she noted.

AI tools also adapt the style of images to match that of different e-commerce platforms, including Amazon, TikTok, or Facebook, ensuring merchants receive platform-optimized visuals, Yamin pointed out.

Editor: Martin Kadiev