The Rise of Pinduoduo: Rapid Growth Leveraging Social E-Commerce

Executive Summary

• Pinduoduo, roughly translated as “buy more together,” is the fastest-growing app for social e-commerce in China. It enables users to receive steep discounts of as much as 90% off on certain products if they invite enough friends to buy together. This feature has made it popular amongst budget shoppers in lower-tier cities in China, and the app is scaling up rapidly.
• In less than three years, Pinduoduo has grown to take 5.2% share of the e-commerce market in China (latest as of April 2018), according to eMarketer. Pinduoduo’s business model is attractive to consumers in lower-tier cities who are price-sensitive and looking for a bargain.
• We view the expected growth in spending through to 2030 in lower-tier cities, where Pinduoduo is popular, as a major growth driver for the company