Chinese sock entrepreneur finds her feet in the new frontier of WeChat business

 

(Voiceover)

00:00 If innovation is defined as rolling out new technologies to a mass market as the world watches on, then China is certainly an innovation economy. This business logic is based on the strong relationship between friends. Consumer trust is converted into commercial value, in what is essentially an online sales agent model. 

 

00:22 A State Council executive meeting, chaired by Premier Li Keqiang decided on policy support including rising the credit ceiling of value added tax exemption for interest derived from bank loans to small and WeChat businesses from US$15,800 to US$157,800 between December 2017 and December 2019.

 

00:46 One Chinese entrepreneur who worked in the traditional clothing manufacturing industry before starting out her own innovative company model knows this all too well.  Fu Yuling began working in the sock manufacturing industry in 1990. Seeing traditional store sells stutter under the onslaught of ecommerce, she adopted the so-called WeChat-business model in 2015. She created her own brand "Element Socks". Weishang, or WeChat business, is a feature of WeChat that allows users to sell goods and services to their personal contacts.

 

01:22 Because of WeChat's enormous advantage as an incredibly popular messaging system between friends and coworkers, its traffic and social advantage has made it Alipay's top competitor. "With the China sock market worth 60 billion yuan (US$9.5 billion) and the market for deodorant socks at 18 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion), we are creating a broader outlook with our own product advantages and brand advantages." Fu Yuling says. She believes that the internationalization of China has contributed to a more open business environment. Under these conditions, people have an expectation for a more convenient lifestyle. And the WeChat business industry has emerged as a new mode of social commerce.

 

02:08 The rise of mobile internet platforms, lower barriers for everyday people to create their own small businesses and entrepreneurs who find their niche can be very successful. Fu Yuling is now a leader in the call for online enterprise tutor to open up markets, taking her Element Socks to new heights. It's for these entrepreneurs Fu Yuling wrote her story in a book "Pioneers", to encourage them to work hard for their goals and to create quality products.  "The direction of WeChat business in the future will be towards a trust economy," she says.