On July 30, the commercial landscape of Linyi is undergoing a profound transformation as the e-commerce sector rapidly evolves into a new phase of integrated growth. The vibrant energy of the live-streaming economy and cross-border trade is permeating every corner, from urban markets to rural villages, fundamentally reshaping business models and industry trends. From young entrepreneurs to rural e-commerce practitioners, from tireless cross-border traders to supply chain architects, Linyi leverages its robust foundation in commerce and logistics to deeply integrate people, products, services, and the online ecosystem. This synergy is continuously unleashing the strong vitality of the e-commerce economy, injecting powerful momentum into the city's high-quality economic development.

Pioneering Entrepreneurship: The Fast Lane of E-commerce

The innovative and autonomous nature of e-commerce makes it a natural fit for young entrepreneurs. Zhang Dejin, a 90s-born entrepreneur from Linyi, exemplifies this trend. After gaining experience at a major company in 2015, he plunged into the e-commerce field. "I bought a computer, researched products, attended training, and finally established a company with the intention of building a long-term business," he recalls. Over the following years, Zhang moved between locations, eventually founding Chuanxi (Shandong) E-commerce Co., Ltd., launching an electric two-wheeler project, and starting research on electric wheelchairs, while mastering B2B and B2C operations. Just as his venture was thriving, Chuanxi established its base in Linyi on May 17, 2026, seeking new opportunities in the surging e-commerce wave. "Friends, take a look at this new electric four-wheeler. It's foldable and easy to take on a plane or train," Zhang says during a live stream from his newly opened store in Linyi, skillfully presenting his product's features and benefits. Within just half an hour, he attracts tens of thousands of viewers and buyers. Outside the studio, rows of electric vehicles, bicycles, and electric wheelchairs represent the supply chain he has built over years. "With these products, I feel a significant boost in strength, but I often ponder the core driving force of a business," Zhang reflects. After arriving in Linyi, he quickly found the answer: the "speed" and "efficiency" that e-commerce entrepreneurs dream of. Leveraging the "Logistics Capital of China" network, logistics costs are 30% lower than the national average, enhancing product price competitiveness and customer experience. The well-developed live-streaming e-commerce ecosystem enables seamless integration of warehousing, packaging, and shipping, significantly improving supply chain efficiency. As a catalyst for traditional commerce, e-commerce is driving business model innovation, creating new sales scenarios, and attracting a cluster of emerging industry talent. Entrepreneurs like Zhang are rapidly increasing in Linyi, now numbering over 210,000. This growth has led to the development of 60 e-commerce parks and two national e-commerce demonstration bases, with such "lightning-fast" expansion becoming the norm. Throughout Linyi's streets, signs for live-streaming bases and influencer hosts are ubiquitous. The city boasts over 500 influencers with more than a million followers, five with over ten million, and the highest number of Kuaishou user registrations in China, serving as a major driver for new economic and social progress.

Rooted in the Countryside: The Live-Streaming Stage on the Farm

Geng Quanjuan carries a "treasure chest" in the trunk of her car, filled with equipment like lighting, tripods, microphones, backdrops, turntables, tables, and decorations, along with her phone. Living in Xiguanzhuang Village, Xujiagou Town, Yishui County, she and her small team of four or five have been using this mobile setup to host live-streaming sales for years, primarily selling local produce like potatoes, garlic, garlic sprouts, and ginger from village fields. During the harvest season, vegetables are ripe, picked, and marketed, becoming her online offerings. She streams for two hours daily, sometimes extending to four or five hours during peak traffic. Now, Geng has expanded beyond her village, traveling to towns like Xiawei, Huangshanpu, Cuijiayu, and Gaoqiao, selling sweet peaches, apricots, and cherries. In April 2025, she was elected as the Party branch secretary of Xiguanzhuang Village, earning the nickname "Live-Streaming Village Secretary" as a rural e-commerce leader. Though her new role reduces her time for live-streaming and shifts her focus, it allows her to engage more deeply with villagers. "I've noticed many want to try live-streaming sales but lack skills," she says. After identifying rural e-commerce bottlenecks, Geng, with government support, has shared her experience across over a dozen townships, training more than 1,000 villagers. This year, she plans to organize free, phased training for locals in her and neighboring villages, helping more agricultural practitioners in the Yimeng region promote their hometowns and expand the reach of high-quality mountain products. As a major agricultural city, Linyi has seen rural e-commerce flourish across the board, supported by a complementary service system that brightens the prospects for rural economic development. In 2025, the city's rural e-commerce online retail sales reached 19.09 billion yuan, a 16.5% increase year-on-year. "E-commerce service points cover nearly 3,000 villages, with express delivery reaching every village, ensuring smooth logistics channels," explains a spokesperson from the Municipal Commerce Bureau's E-commerce Division. Last year, multiple live-streaming skill training sessions trained over 8,000 rural e-commerce personnel, directly helping nearly 30,000 villagers find local employment. Under the "One County, One Product" strategy, three distinctive industries—Yimeng peaches, grains, and seedlings—have emerged as million-level express delivery gold projects, successfully marketing local goods far and wide.

Paving the Way: A Collective Effort on the New Track

On April 20 this year, Hu Fangjun signed an agreement to set up his company at the Linyi Mall Cross-Border E-commerce Park, operated by Haitang Group. "The park hadn't opened yet, and my company was the first to move in and start working," he says. Since late last year, Hu had been searching for a suitable office to better develop his business. "Our work involves securing orders and then finding manufacturers. Currently, 80% of our partner factories are Linyi-based panel producers." Since entering the cross-border e-commerce sector in 2024, he has conducted thorough research and market analysis, concluding that Linyi's panels have strong demand in international markets, particularly in Europe and America. The explosive potential of cross-border e-commerce has been evident for Hu. "Last year, our sales reached around 20 million yuan," he notes. With most orders from European and American clients coming at night, Hu and his team often work through the night, managing inquiries, placing orders, receiving down payments, and then arranging for factory production. After securing orders and a reliable supply chain, Hu has moved his operations to a new park, expanding his office space from 118 square meters to 432 square meters, which better showcases his company's image and capabilities. Hu's success in cross-border e-commerce is not a solo effort; he benefits from strong support. On May 14, the Linyi Mall Cross-Border E-commerce Park officially opened, attracting suppliers, service providers, and foreign buyers. Hu found not just an office but a resource hub. "The park regularly holds training sessions, covering everything from concepts to practical operations, from policy interpretation to technical implementation, so enterprises can always find what they need," says Li Xiangyu, General Manager of the park's operations and Chairman of Haitang Group, who is well-prepared to address business inquiries. The park is surrounded by emerging business models like new markets, vertical e-commerce, and international trade, and crucially, just two blocks south, there are warehousing centers and logistics parks. Resident companies receive full lifecycle support, from zero to one and from one to infinity, making exporting seamless. In 2020, Linyi was approved as a China (Linyi) Cross-Border E-commerce Comprehensive Pilot Zone, a major policy opportunity. Over the years, companies have accelerated their global expansion, and the park has continuously filled gaps in the ecosystem. Leveraging its core advantages in "commerce plus logistics," Linyi's cross-border e-commerce is forging a development path characterized by deep industry integration, comprehensive digital empowerment, global overseas warehouse layout, and efficient, convenient policies. "With its trillion-level commercial logistics volume and logistics routes reaching the world, Linyi has formed a rare 'full-chain' cross-border e-commerce industry cluster in a single city. In the future, driven by AI technology applications and policy dividends, its development potential is immense," says a relevant official from the Linyi Mall Management Committee. The committee will deepen supply chain construction, cultivate regional specialty e-commerce brands based on local industry clusters, optimize the live-streaming e-commerce sector to solidify its leading position in northern China, and expand the scale of cross-border e-commerce. These efforts will guide traditional merchants and manufacturers to explore international markets, propelling the city's e-commerce industry toward a new stage of branding, internationalization, and standardization.