On 21 November, two stories rocked China’s ecommerce scene, with global implications.

(In the previous episode, we discussed the first story: Alibaba’s merger of its domestic Chinese and international ecommerce businesses.)

In this episode, we dive into the second story—PDD Group’s Q3 earnings miss. But was the ‘miss’ engineered deliberately because all the merchant support costs were planned, or was it a lapse in execution?

Tune in as we explore:

Pinduoduo’s ¥10 billion merchant subsidies;
Why PDD or Temu seems to choose to directly engage rather than hire lobbyists;
Temu's opening of a full marketplace mode in the United States;
Pinduoduo’s focused operations, and its similarity to global retail giants like Walmart

The ecommerce competition in China and globally is entering a very interesting and probably even more intensified phase now.

Chapters:

00:00:45: Pinduoduo’s stock price falls 10%?

00:03:45 PDD’s frank earnings spook investors

00:06:45: Was the miss deliberate?

00:12:20: Temu launched a marketplace model

00:14:45 Intensifying ecommerce landscape - how are players adapting?

E102: Behind Pinduoduo’s ¥10 billion merchant subsidies