Pinduoduo, one of China’s big three e-commerce giants, plans to launch an international trading platform next month that will initially target buyers in the United States, a source revealed.
Pinduoduo has briefed its merchants on its plans but details have not yet been finalized, the source said, declining to be named as the information was not public.
The company did not respond to a request for comment.
The company – a rival of Alibaba and JD.com – has seen its growth at home slow amid the regulatory crackdown on tech firms as well as Covid mobility restrictions.
The move will mark the biggest push abroad for Pinduoduo, which was founded in 2015 and broke the dominance of Alibaba and JD with rock-bottom pricing and a group buying model that encourages users to share their purchases on messaging platforms to get cheaper prices.
However, Pinduoduo has in recent years touted an increased focus on agriculture, while the Chinese economy has slowed down dramatically amid the zero-Covid strategy and a prolonged debt crisis in the property sector.
Chinese news outlet LatePost, which first reported that Pinduoduo was planning an international e-commerce platform last week, said that the company planned to emulate the model of fast fashion company Shein, which has grown rapidly to become one of the world’s largest fashion marketplaces.
Shein’s success has already attracted a number of followers in China, with Alibaba last year launching cross-border online retailer allyLikes that is aimed at North American and European markets.
- Reuters with additional editing by Jim Pollard
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