Recently, Wang Changrong, Director of Yunhe Bureau of Economy and Commerce in Zhejiang Province, rushed to Alibaba’s headquarters in Hangzhou to finalize the details of the official launch of the Yunhe Wooden Toy Industrial Belt on Alibaba Platform. Led by the government, this Alibaba Wooden Toy Industrial Belt planned to attract 150 wooden toy enterprises to settle in by the end of 2015.

"All wooden toy enterprises can go online with zero hassle. The government covers all costs, ranging from webpage design for individual settled stores to introducing over 1.3 million daily page views to the industrial belt," said Wang Changrong. He mentioned that the strategic cooperation with Alibaba was finalized last November, and Yunhe has now completed enterprise surveys and the overall page design for the Alibaba Wooden Toy Industrial Belt.

Statistics show that Yunhe already has more than 250 wooden toy e-commerce merchants active on major platforms such as Taobao, JD.com, Paipai and AliExpress. In the recently released county-level e-commerce development index across China, Yunhe once again ranked among the nation’s top 100 e-commerce counties thanks to the outstanding performance of its wooden toy online business.

For Yunhe’s wooden toy enterprises that used to rely heavily on exports, "Internet + Wooden Toys" has become a key initiative of the "E-commerce Market Transformation" strategy. Mark Shun, who first tested the waters of e-commerce in 2011, quickly established the Qiaozhimu Wooden Toy Flagship Store on Taobao. The store generated over 50 million yuan in annual turnover last year. He confidently stated that riding on the fast-developing online economy, he aims to lift the enterprise’s annual output value above 200 million yuan in the future.

The integration of the Internet has driven strong growth in the wooden toy industry. As a leading enterprise, Zhejiang Xinyun Group used to focus solely on overseas exports. It stepped into e-commerce two years ago. Although its domestic wholesale brand "Yidian" and high-end brand "Little Red Bird" are still in the initial stage, they have developed rapidly with an annual output value exceeding ten million yuan. Liao Fuxin, Chairman of the Group, said that previously over 90% of local enterprises focused on foreign trade. With the sluggish global market and huge potential in the domestic market, it is essential to seize the opportunity of e-commerce transformation, accelerate domestic market expansion, and seize the commanding height of future development.

Yunhe is home to more than 700 wooden toy manufacturers. Its products sell well in over 70 countries and regions worldwide, accounting for nearly 50% of China’s total output and 70% of Zhejiang’s output in the same category. The launch of the Alibaba Wooden Toy Industrial Belt will open up a broader blue ocean of online development for Yunhe’s wooden toy industry.