Digital economy observers outside of China can be forgiven for missing the meteoric rise of Pinduoduo. In this way, Pinduoduo is more like a social sharing driven version of Costco or Dollar General. Pinduoduo started by targeting price-conscious (as opposed to brand-conscious) buyers in third and fourth tier Chinese cities – an underserved market. WeChat’s parent company Tencent, recognized Pinduoduo’s potential and became an investor in 2016, promoting Pinduoduo and turbocharging its user acquisition. None of these promotional hooks and viral strategies would work if the fundamental user experience wasn’t itself engaging.

Source: Forbes December 04, 2019 15:22 UTC