Jinjiang shoe industry making tracks to the Web and e-retail

Jinjiang, widely known as China's footwear capital, is turning to e-commerce in hopes of turning around a slump marked by high inventory and closing stores, the city's mayor said.

Mayor Liu Wenru said the shoe industry has been consolidating and updating and that more than 70 percent of enterprises have built and are using their own websites for trade, especially in light of high rent and the cost of maintaining inventories at physical stores.

Last year, Internet transactions in the industry exceeded 38 billion yuan, the mayor said.