Pinduoduo
Pinduoduo Inc. (Chinese: 拼多多; Pinyin: Pīn duōduō) is a Chinese online retailer with a focus on the traditional agriculture industry.[2][3][4][5]
Pinduoduo's headquarters are inside the Jin Hongqiao International Center, Shanghai. | |
Native name | 拼多多 |
|---|---|
| Company type | Public |
| |
| Industry | |
| Founded | 2015 |
| Founder | Colin Huang Zheng |
| Headquarters | , China |
Key people | Lei Chen[1] |
| Products | |
| Parent | PDD Holdings |
| Website | www |
Pinduoduo generated RMB 2.44 trillion (US$383 billion) gross merchandise value (GMV) in 2021.[6][7] The business is the largest product of PDD Holdings, which also owns the U.S. based online market place Temu.[8][9]
History edit
Pinduoduo was founded in 2015 by Chinese businessman and software engineer Colin Huang.[10]
On 7 June 2018, Legal Evening News reported that Pinduoduo investigated and shut down stores and removed listings that violated its platform policy against pornography and violence, following an earlier report by the newspaper.[11]
On 20 January 2019, Pinduoduo reported to the police theft by hackers that exploited a loophole in his system and stole tens of millions of Yuan worth of vouchers.[12]
During the initial COVID-19 lockdown in China in 2020, Pinduoduo started a program to assist rural Chinese farmers with selling their produce to customers online instead of relying on traditional in-person marketplaces.[13] In August 2020, Pinduoduo launched Duo Duo Maicai, a service which enables consumers to preorder groceries for pickup at designated locations.[14]
On 5 July 2022, a Shanghai court dismissed a local resident's lawsuit accusing Pinduoduo of cheating in a promotional event.[15]
In September 2022, Pinduoduo's sister's company, Temu, was launched in the U.S. by PDD Holdings.[16][17][18] In 2023, PDD Holdings changed its legal domicile from Shanghai to Dublin.[19]
Counterfeit products edit
In 2018, Pinduoduo came under scrutiny following a spate of negative press calling the company out for inferior and imitation of products.[20] The company responded with an open letter stating that it had, in a single week in August, shut down 1,128 stores, taken down more than 4 million listings, and blocked 450,000 suspected counterfeit goods listings from being published.[21] The company also disclosed that it had removed 500,715 items and closed more than 40 stores as of February 4, 2020, to protect consumers from counterfeit and substandard masks being sold by merchants hoping to profit amid the COVID-19 pandemic.[22]
In April 2019, Pinduoduo was first named in the Office of the United States Trade Representative's list of Notorious Markets for Counterfeit Products and Piracy.[23][24][25] As of 2023[update], Pinduoduo remains listed as a notorious market.[26]
Malware concerns edit
In 2023, Google removed Pinduoduo's app from the Play Store after a Chinese cybersecurity firm found malware in app versions carried in Chinese app stores.[27][28][29] Two days after releasing an update to address concerns, Pinduoduo disbanded the team of engineers and product managers who had developed the exploits. A majority of the team was transferred to Temu, working in various departments.[29]
Six cybersecurity teams interviewed by CNN – including Finnish, Russian, US, and Israeli firms – as well as Chinese cybersecurity firm DarkNavy, all labeled Pinduoduo as malware or potential malware.[29] In a report by Bloomberg News, a researcher from Kaspersky Labs stated the following: "Some versions of the Pinduoduo app contained malicious code, which exploited known Android vulnerabilities to escalate privileges, download and execute additional malicious modules, some of which also gained access to users' notifications and files".[30]
Surveillance of former employees edit
In 2024, the Financial Times and The Wall Street Journal reported that Pinduoduo uses surveillance and non-compete lawsuits against former employees who leave to work for rivals.[31][32]
References edit
- ^ Bera, Ayanti (1 July 2020). "China's Pinduoduo appoints Lei Chen as chief executive officer". Reuters. from the original on 1 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- ^ Kharpal, Arjun (22 April 2020). "Everything you need to know about Pinduoduo, the fast-growing rival to Alibaba and JD in China". CNBC. from the original on 3 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- ^ "The incredible rise of Pinduoduo, China's newest force in e-commerce". TechCrunch. from the original on 23 July 2020. Retrieved 1 July 2020.
- ^ Jingli, Song (15 December 2020). "Pinduoduo unveils payment service Duoduo Pay for its 731 million users". KrASIA. from the original on 25 January 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
- ^ Liao, Rita (17 March 2021). "Pinduoduo steals Alibaba's crown with 788M annual active users". TechCrunch. from the original on 17 March 2021. Retrieved 17 March 2021.
- ^ "In 2021, Q4 pinduoduo's revenue was 27.23 billion yuan, with a year-on-year increase of 3% From Pinduoduo". Fresh Research reports and Daily Fintech briefings. from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ "Pinduoduo Announces First Quarter 2023 Unaudited Financial Results". PinDuoDuo. from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ "PDD Holdings names Jiazhen Zhao co-CEO". Reuters. 2023-04-04. from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
- ^ "The mysterious rise of the Chinese ecommerce giant behind Temu". from the original on 2024-03-07. Retrieved 2024-03-07.
- ^ Liao, Rita. "Why Pinduoduo is putting all its profit into agriculture". TechCrunch. from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ "Why did Pinduoduo respond? Close the store involved and remove the illegal products from the shelves". Sohu (in Simplified Chinese). 2018-06-07. from the original on 2018-06-12. Retrieved 2018-09-20.
- ^ "Hackers Take Coupons Worth Tens of Millions of Yuan on Pinduoduo". Bloomberg. from the original on 2019-06-17. Retrieved 21 August 2020.
- ^ Mullin, Kyle (7 June 2021). "China's Quiet Ecommerce Giant Thrives on Fresh Produce". Wired. from the original on 10 March 2023. Retrieved 4 March 2023.
- ^ Bala, Sumathi (17 November 2020). "China's Pinduoduo expects online grocery sales to double this year". CNBC. from the original on 17 February 2021. Retrieved 13 January 2021.
- ^ Yuting, Zhu. "Pinduoduo escapes cheating verdict but told to pay compensation". SHINE. from the original on 27 August 2022. Retrieved 27 August 2022.
- ^ Fan, Cafe (10 November 2022). "Will battle for US consumer wallets intensify with latest contender Temu?". TechNode. from the original on 29 November 2022. Retrieved 29 November 2022.
- ^ Lu, Shen; Huang, Raffaele (2022-09-02). "China's Pinduoduo Quietly Launches U.S. E-Commerce Site Temu". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. from the original on 2022-09-03. Retrieved 2022-09-04.
- ^ Liao, Rita (20 September 2022). "Amazon's latest challenger is China's online dollar store Pinduoduo". TechCrunch. from the original on 22 September 2022. Retrieved 22 September 2022.
- ^ Maruf, Ramishah (2023-06-28). "Shein sent American influencers to China. Social media users are furious". CNN. from the original on 2023-06-29. Retrieved 2023-06-29.
- ^ Goh, Brenda (1 August 2018). "China to probe e-commerce firm Pinduoduo over reports of fake goods". Reuters. from the original on 6 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- ^ Soo, Zen (23 August 2018). "Pinduoduo removes millions of suspected fake listings after stock plunges". South China Morning Post. from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- ^ Lee, Emma (6 February 2020). "E-commerce firms cracking down on sellers of fake protective masks". TechNode. from the original on 7 July 2020. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
- ^ "USTR Releases Annual Special 301 Report on Intellectual Property Protection and Review of Notorious Markets for Piracy and Counterfeiting". United States Trade Representative. April 25, 2019. from the original on 2023-04-02. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
- ^ Singh, Kanishka (2022-02-18). "U.S. adds e-commerce sites operated by Tencent, Alibaba to 'notorious markets' list". Reuters. from the original on 2022-02-19. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
- ^ "USTR Releases 2021 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy". United States Trade Representative. from the original on 2022-02-19. Retrieved 2022-02-18.
- ^ "USTR Releases 2022 Review of Notorious Markets for Counterfeiting and Piracy". United States Trade Representative. January 31, 2023. from the original on 2023-09-04. Retrieved 2023-09-08.
- ^ Leong, Clarence; Purnell, Newley (2023-03-21). "Google Halts Download of Chinese App Pinduoduo Over Security Concerns". The Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. from the original on 2023-03-21. Retrieved 2023-06-25.
- ^ "Google Suspends Chinese E-Commerce App Pinduoduo Over Malware". Krebs on Security. 22 March 2023. from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
- ^ a b c Gan, Nectar; Xiong, Yong; Liu, Juliana (2023-04-02). "'I've never seen anything like this:' One of China's most popular apps has the ability to spy on its users, say experts". CNN. from the original on 2023-04-05. Retrieved 2023-04-05.
- ^ Zheng, Sarah (27 March 2023). "Pinduoduo App Malware Detailed by Cybersecurity Researchers". Bloomberg News. from the original on 2023-03-28. Retrieved 2023-09-28.
- ^ "Ex-workers at Temu owner PDD suffer surveillance and financial ruin over non-competes". Financial Times. March 11, 2024. from the original on 2024-03-11. Retrieved 2024-03-11.
- ^ Lu, Shen; Huang, Raffaele (April 1, 2024). "Ex-Workers at Temu Parent Say Noncompete Penalties Crush Their Finances". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
External links edit
- Official website
- Business data for Pinduo Inc.:
- Bloomberg
- Reuters
- SEC filings
- Yahoo!