Pinduoduo has gone from zero to almost 800 million customers in just six years, making it one of the fastest-growing consumer internet companies in the world.
Pinduoduo Inc., China’s largest agricultural platform, is deepening its efforts to transform the way food is grown, transported, and sold by connecting millions of farmers directly to consumers.
Pinduoduo has been able to aggregate demand and generate large volumes of orders for farmers by making recommendations to consumers based on the company’s understanding of their shopping preferences, the Nasdaq-listed company said in its annual 20-F filing covering the 2020 financial year. By facilitating direct sales by small-scale farmers to consumers, Pinduoduo helps the growers to reduce their dependence on distributors and increase their earnings, which can be reinvested in the farms and technology to improve productivity.
Pinduoduo has gone from zero to almost 800 million customers in just six years, making it one of the fastest-growing consumer internet companies in the world. The company has described its model as “Costco + Disney”, in reference to the combination of value-for-money offerings and entertainment. It is unique among other large internet companies to make digitizing the agriculture industry a core, strategic priority.
Under its “Internet + Agriculture” strategy, Pinduoduo coached farmers on setting up stores online, provided them with access to end demand, and helped them to increase their household income. By training young men and women from rural areas to become e-commerce savvy “New Farmers”, many of them became champions for digital inclusion, often catalysing a multiplier effect and wealth creation for their local communities.
Pinduoduo’s efforts in combating poverty through digital inclusion were recognized by China’s central government in February 2021, where it was one of three technology companies commended for their outstanding contributions to China’s poverty alleviation drive. Pinduoduo will deepen its efforts to promote digital inclusion of rural communities in 2021.
