PDD Holdings Inc. operates as a multinational commerce group that owns and operates a portfolio of businesses.
Platforms
The Pinduoduo Platform
Founded in 2015, the Pinduoduo platform provides buyers with a comprehensive selection of value-for-money merchandise and fun, interactive shopping experiences. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of product categories, including agricultural produce, apparel, shoes, bags, mother and childcare products, food and beverages, consumer electronics,...
PDD Holdings Inc. operates as a multinational commerce group that owns and operates a portfolio of businesses.
Platforms
The Pinduoduo Platform
Founded in 2015, the Pinduoduo platform provides buyers with a comprehensive selection of value-for-money merchandise and fun, interactive shopping experiences. The platform offers a comprehensive suite of product categories, including agricultural produce, apparel, shoes, bags, mother and childcare products, food and beverages, consumer electronics, electronic appliances, furniture and household goods, cosmetics, and other personal care items, sports and fitness, and auto accessories.
Pinduoduo pioneered an innovative ‘team purchase’ model. Buyers are encouraged to share product information on social networks, and invite their friends, family, and social contacts to form shopping teams to enjoy the more attractive prices available under the ‘team purchase’ option. The act of sharing is then rewarded by the more attractive purchase price offered through the team purchase option. The embedded social element helps foster a highly engaged user base.
Pinduoduo launched its proprietary e-waybill system to efficiently integrate merchants with third-party logistics service providers, and provide buyers real-time visibility on the delivery status of their purchase orders. Once an order is placed on the Pinduoduo platform and confirmed with the applicable merchant, the merchant handles fulfillment, selects the most suitable third-party logistics service provider, and arranges for the delivery of the products to the buyers.
Pinduoduo requires merchants to strictly abide by the return policy for products they sell on the Pinduoduo platform. In accordance with the policy, buyers can return the products within the return period, so long as the products are in their original condition, and any usage of such products does not affect the merchants’ ability to resell. Once a buyer submits a return request, the merchant will first review and process the request. In the event that the request is not resolved within a certain amount of time, or a dispute escalates, the platform will be involved to resolve the request or dispute.
As a natural extension of the Pinduoduo platform, the company launched Duo Duo Grocery, a next-day grocery pick-up service, in 2020. The service caters to the rising consumer demand for more timely turnaround and better value-for-money goods without home delivery requirements. Duo Duo Grocery connects local farmers and distributors directly to local consumers on a daily basis, and provides supporting services on the delivery of such goods to consumers. Each day, consumers place their orders with merchants through the Duo Duo Grocery channel, which is integrated within the Pinduoduo mobile app. The merchants supply the ordered items overnight to regional warehouses. The sorted goods are then delivered from regional warehouses to designated pickup points the next day, where consumers can pick up their purchases.
The Temu Platform
Temu was founded in September 2022 in Boston, Massachusetts, the United States. Following its initial launch in North America in September 2022, Temu expanded to Oceania in March 2023, and Europe in April 2023, and then to other countries and regions worldwide. As of the end of 2024, Temu was serving consumers in various countries and regions, including the United States, Japan, Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Canada, and Italy, which are among the world’s largest economies. Although at an early stage of development, Temu aspires to become a global online platform dedicated to providing quality products to consumers at attractive prices. In partnership with a global network of logistics vendors and fulfillment partners, Temu brings together buyers, merchants, manufacturers, and brands from around the world, offering a growing selection of merchandise in product categories, such as apparel, electronic appliances, household goods, sports and fitness, tools and home improvement, and pet supplies.
Temu empowers merchants with value-added services that enable a broader market reach. Merchants provide product listings that buyers can browse and order on the Temu mobile app or website. Temu enables merchants to streamline their manufacturing and commercial operations, leading to lower prices and reduced waste.
Buyers and Merchants
The company’s key ecosystem partners are the buyers and merchants who transact on its platforms. These ecosystem partners add value for each other in a virtuous cycle. The buyer base attracts more merchants. As the number of merchants increases, the company is able to offer even more competitive prices and customized products and services, attracting more buyers, thus creating a virtuous cycle.
Buyers browse, explore, and purchase attractive value-for-money merchandise from third-party merchants. Direct buyer traffic to the company’s platforms is generated from word-of-mouth referrals by existing buyers, as well as the effect of marketing campaigns.
Merchants are drawn by the scale of the sales volume. This scale encourages merchants to join the company and to offer more competitive prices and customized products and services to its buyers. Many merchants set aside exclusive product supplies and offer competitive prices to buyers.
The company offers merchants multiple features and value-added services to enhance their transaction efficiency, to help merchants promote their merchandise and handle transactions more effectively, including online marketing services and transaction services. The company also offers merchants additional training resources and merchant support, which are easily accessible through the main merchant dashboard and are frequently updated to guide merchants through the various tools available to them on the company’s platforms.
Trust and Safety
The company implements strict policies and control measures aimed at ensuring the accuracy of product descriptions. In general, merchant registration starts with an identity verification process.
The company screens and verifies the product listings posted by merchants. After merchants post product information on its platforms, the company leverages an artificial intelligence-based screening system to identify potential issues and subject questionable merchandise to further review and verification. After products are listed, the company continues to monitor and conduct semantic analysis on buyer reviews, the results of which are used to evaluate the associated merchant’s compliance with its policies.
The company invests in technical capabilities relating to keyword identification, filtering images, text and video recognition, and a blacklisting mechanism. The company also encourages and supports merchants who sell high-quality products and provide superb services, as part of its continued efforts to improve user experience, thereby creating a virtuous cycle that attracts high-quality merchants and weeds out counterfeit and infringing goods. The company will continue to invest in the long-term sustainable development of its platform ecosystems.
Payment
To enable a safe and seamless payment experience, the company’s platforms provide buyers with a number of payment options, including credit cards, debit cards, and methods provided through reputable third-party payment service providers, such as mobile wallets or buy now, pay later solutions. The company cooperates with most leading third-party payment service providers and is not dependent on any particular provider for these services.
Data Security and Protection
The company’s comprehensive security systems are supported by network situational awareness and risk management systems designed to protect individual end users and ensure the security of the data and services of its platforms. The company’s back-end security systems are designed to be capable of withstanding a large number of cybersecurity attacks at any given time, and designed to enable the company to safeguard its platforms and protect the privacy of its buyers and merchants.
Marketing
The company has built up its brand awareness and its large base of loyal buyers by leveraging word-of-mouth referrals on social networks, as well as online and offline marketing and brand promotion activities, such as online advertisements and television commercials. From time to time, the company also offers coupons and credits to consumers on its platforms. The company continues to invest significantly in marketing activities to promote its brands and the products and services offered on its platforms.
Seasonality
The company experiences seasonality in its business, reflecting a combination of seasonal fluctuations in internet usage and traditional retail seasonality patterns. For example, the company generally experiences less buyer traffic and purchase orders in the first quarter of each year (year ended December 31, 2024). Furthermore, sales are generally higher in the fourth quarter of each calendar year than in the preceding three quarters, as e-commerce companies typically hold special promotional campaigns in the fourth quarter that boost sales.
Intellectual Property
As of December 31, 2024, the company had 187 registered computer software copyrights relating to various aspects of its operations. As of December 31, 2024, the company had approximately 2,667 trademark registrations and 1,019 trademark applications in China, the United States, and other jurisdictions. The company’s registered domain names include www.pddholdings.com, www.pinduoduo.com, and www.temu.com, among others.
Regulations in the PRC
The company’s consolidated affiliated entity, Shanghai Xunmeng, the main operating entity which provides platform service to third-party merchants for their sales of products, has obtained the VATS Licenses covering online data processing and transaction processing business (operating e-commerce), internet content-related services, call center business within mainland China, and information services from Shanghai Communications Administration. Certain of Shanghai Xunmeng’s VATS Licenses will expire in 2029, while the remaining licenses will expire in 2027. Another consolidated affiliated entity, Hangzhou Aimi, has obtained a VATS License for online data processing and transaction processing business (operating e-commerce) and internet content-related services. Hangzhou Aimi’s VATS License will expire in 2025.
The company is subject to the PRC Civil Code, the PRC Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, the Regulations for the Implementation of the PRC Consumer Rights and Interests Protection Law, and the Measures for the Supervision and Administration of Online Transactions as an e-commerce platform service provider, and it is in compliance with these regulations in all material aspects.
The principal regulations governing the distribution of dividends paid by the company’s mainland China subsidiaries include the PRC Company Law and the PRC Foreign Investment Law.
In February 2015, SAFE further promulgated the Circular on Further Simplifying and Improving the Administration of the Foreign Exchange Concerning Direct Investment, or SAFE Circular 13. SAFE Circular 37 is applicable to the company’s shareholders who are mainland China residents and may be applicable to any acquisitions conducted outside of mainland China that the company makes in the future. All of the company’s shareholders who, to its knowledge, are subject to the above SAFE regulations have completed the necessary registrations with the local SAFE branch or qualified banks as required by SAFE Circular 37.
In the European Union and the United Kingdom, the company is also subject to laws and regulations regarding data privacy and protection. These include the European Union General Data Protection Regulation, known as the EU GDPR. In the United Kingdom, the company is subject to the United Kingdom General Data Protection Regulation and Data Protection Act 2018, known as the UK GDPR, which is substantially similar to the EU GDPR. These laws establish requirements applicable to the processing of personal data, create data protection rights for individuals, and impose penalties for serious data breaches.
Research and Development Expenses
The company’s research and development expenses amounted to RMB12,659.4 million (US$1,734.3 million) in 2024.
History
The company was founded in 2015. It was incorporated under the laws of the Cayman Islands in 2015. The company was formerly known as Walnut Street Group Holding Limited and changed its name to Pinduoduo Inc. in 2018. Further, the company changed its name to PDD Holdings Inc. in February 2023.