While the COVID-19 pandemic has spurred some Chinese export-oriented companies to explore more the domestic market, for a major toy manufacturer in the southwestern city of Chongqing, this domestic market push came along even before the coronavirus outbreak and China-U.S. trade spat.

Liu Jingyong, deputy general manager of Topwin Toy (Chongqing) Limited, said the company had noticed that growth in the international market had slowed in the last two to three years.

"And so we began to focus on developing products for the domestic market, to make up for our export orders slowing down," Liu said.

There's a reason behind the company's bullish stance. According to the China Toy & Juvenile Products Association, the retail volume of China's toy market rose by 7.8 percent year on year in 2019 to hit 10.7 billion U.S. dollars.

"Chinese manufacturers account for about 75 percent of the global toy supply. In the face of globalization as well as rising labor and raw material costs, we have to make strategic adjustments," Liu said.

"We are gradually building our R&D team, with the aim of creating our own brand and IP. By having our own brand, we can have autonomy. We can then sell these products to both foreign and local end-customers."

Topwin Toy, which derives 95 percent of its sales from exports to 180 countries, saw its international orders fallen by some 20 percent due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"But domestic orders are still holding up. In fact, they are growing rapidly," Liu told CGTN.

"China is now the second largest toy market in the world after the U.S. Especially since the country opened up its two-child policy in 2016, demand for toys has further increased," he said.

Topwin Toy is one of the main mascot franchise suppliers for the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympic Games.

The company, which produces some 150 million toys a year and claims itself as the largest in western China, only started penetrating the local market and cooperating with Chinese customers in 2018.

It counts with global fast food chains, fast moving consumer goods and entertainment companies as its clients.

"Our goal is to have the domestic market constitute up to 30 percent of our total sales by 2021, and up to half of our total sales in the next five years," Liu said.

And in the horizon is already a new trend that will benefit the company. "Many large Chinese companies are now incorporating a corporate culture where they give gifts to employees during the holiday season - to spark a sense of belonging, so to speak," he added.