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EnglishOctober in Haining brings a growing sense of autumn. Having just wrapped up the bustling season for merchant orders, Haining Leather City is quietly preparing to welcome the wave of individual shoppers that arrives with the cooler weather. On weekdays, the market is less noisy than usual, replaced by the constant sound of tape being wrapped—merchants are packing and shipping orders from across the country, creating a quiet yet productive atmosphere.
This is Haining Leather City, a national brand deeply embedded in the memories of Chinese consumers—a China's largest and most influential leather specialty market, established and opened in 1994, with a history spanning 31 years. It is not only an industrial landmark with annual transactions worth tens of billions but has also undergone a comprehensive digital transformation, evolving into a smart, data-driven marketplace.
In 2018, Haining Leather City officially embarked on its digital transformation, choosing DingTalk as its unified office platform and entry point. This move has enabled the city to efficiently serve more than 6,000 merchants and over 10,000 storefronts, marking its evolution from a traditional "landlord" to a "digital partner."
Three Flows in One: Integrating Business, Approval, and Data
Haining Leather City is massive, with seven branch markets nationwide and a total area exceeding 3.2 million square meters. Managing such a sprawling commercial empire has long outgrown the capabilities of traditional methods.
"As a business grows, the types of operations multiply, and processes become incredibly complex," says Yao Zhengyu, general manager of Haining Leather City Network Company, describing the challenges they once faced. "When we first started our digital journey, we had a choice: build a small, isolated system or take a holistic approach? We initially opted for the former, but quickly realized the system was too limited to support the group's overall business structure."
After deep reflection, Haining Leather City clarified its digital strategy: standardize processes, systematize rules, and digitize data. Any business, after a period of rapid growth, must be streamlined into standardized workflows so that data can be captured, analyzed, and leveraged effectively.
With this vision in mind, Haining Leather City deployed a customized DingTalk platform, launching a digital transformation focused on "three flows in one"—seamlessly integrating business workflows, approval processes, and data flows.
Contract Management: From Clunky to Efficient and Precise
For a state-owned, publicly listed company, contract approval is a core and highly regulated process. In the past, a contract—from drafting to signing—had to pass through multiple rounds of review involving business, finance, legal, and senior management teams. With so many versions circulating, errors were common.
"There were instances where the final contract sent to the client for signature was not the latest version approved in the DingTalk workflow," recalls Yao Zhengyu. "Because a contract went through multiple revisions, the file name might change to 'XX Contract_Manager Wang Review_Finance Review_Date.' As many as six or seven versions could exist in a single folder. An employee could easily send the wrong version, and since a signed contract carries legal weight, the risk was extremely high."
To address this pain point, Haining Leather City leveraged DingTalk's open integration capabilities to fully connect the DingTalk approval workflow with its in-house big data platform's business processes.
Now, once a contract is approved in DingTalk, the contract file attached to the approval form is automatically routed to the contract module on the big data platform. At the same time, the platform automatically populates the contract template with fixed rental terms, such as annual rent, leaving no room for manual input. The person handling the contract no longer needs to download or upload files; instead, they can directly send the "single, approved version" of the electronic contract to the client via the merchant portal for e-signature.
This "three flows in one" transformation has delivered immediate results:
◉ Efficiency doubled: The contract signing cycle has been reduced from an average of 1–7 days to as little as two hours or, at most, one day.
◉ Costs slashed: Based on 23,000 contracts signed annually, with each requiring at least six pages, the company saves over 100,000 yuan per year just in printing costs.
◉ Zero risk: Legal and compliance risks caused by version confusion have been completely eliminated. All processes are logged in the system, making them traceable and auditable.
Access Management: Automated Synchronization for Security and Efficiency
As a large corporate group, managing information security and business access rights during staff transfers and departures presents a significant challenge.
"State-owned enterprises see frequent personnel changes. When an employee moves from Company A to Company B, their access rights across all business systems must be updated accordingly," says Yao Zhengyu. "In the past, the HR department handled these changes manually, which was not only labor-intensive but also prone to interpersonal friction."
By leveraging DingTalk, Haining Leather City has solved this problem seamlessly. They use DingTalk's organizational structure as the sole standard. Whenever an employee's organizational relationship changes in DingTalk, the update is automatically synchronized across all integrated business systems—such as the big data platform and CRM—via an API.
This means that when an employee is transferred or leaves the company, their access rights in DingTalk and related business systems are updated instantly. Access to data in the original department is automatically revoked, while access to the new department is granted immediately. This ensures tight security control while eliminating the hassle and potential awkwardness of manual adjustments, achieving automated and precise access management.
Data Empowerment: From Landlord to Digital Service Provider
For Haining Leather City, the ultimate goal of digitalization is to better serve its merchants. The company has built a robust big data platform that enables comprehensive, analyzable management of more than 10,000 storefronts, with a "one record per storefront" approach.
Each storefront's profile includes not only fixed attributes like location and size but also operational data such as product categories, brands, annual rents, foot traffic heatmaps, and even consumer "bagging rates" (purchase conversion rates). This data is unified through the DingTalk workspace, providing powerful decision-support tools for both managers and merchants.
In asset management, the focus has shifted from simple record-keeping to precise valuation of each stall, providing data-driven insights for tenant pricing and helping the company move away from price-based competition.
In market operations, the establishment of a retail membership marketing center has transformed the traditional, "bus-tour and headcount" marketing model into a precision-driven approach based on customer profiles. This ensures that every marketing dollar is spent effectively.
In serving merchants, the company has integrated end-to-end services such as utility bill payments, contract signing, and logistics order placement, all accessible through the DingTalk portal. This has greatly improved the experience and efficiency for merchants.
"The fundamental change brought about by digital transformation is a complete shift in our operating model," concludes Yao Zhengyu. "We've moved from being a traditional 'landlord' to a 'digital enabler' that empowers merchants in their operations. This transformation has even given rise to our sixth business segment—the e-commerce division—which generated sales exceeding 2 billion yuan last year."
Going forward, in addition to serving its own merchants, Haining Leather City Network Company plans to extend its decade-long digital transformation expertise to other businesses in Haining, empowering local enterprises. At the same time, the company will collaborate with DingTalk to explore additional AI applications, paving the way for a new chapter in the AI era of transformation.
Since embarking on its digital journey in 2018, Haining Leather City has efficiently served more than 6,000 merchants and over 10,000 storefronts. By using DingTalk as its digital foundation, the company has embedded the "three flows in one" concept into its business processes, achieving a leap from operational efficiency to innovative business models.
The digital story of this national brand demonstrates that true digital transformation is not about technology for technology's sake—it's about using technology to solve real business problems and create tangible value. On this journey, DingTalk is becoming the ideal partner for pragmatic national brands like Haining Leather City as they pursue intelligent upgrades.
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