Chinese language ecommerce platform Pinduoduo , which is known for its cut-to-the-bone price offerings through social media discussing, has quietly expanded its presence in Hong Kong with new delivery and transaction services tailored meant for local consumers.
The Shanghai-based business, which takes advantage of users’ social networks to promote offers and woo brand new buyers, has proved to be a formidable participant in China’s “sink” market, referring to low-income consumers in countryside areas. But as consumer spending within China has destabilized, the platform, started simply by young Chinese billionaire Colin Huang within 2015, is now aiming to test its solutions outside the mainland, which includes Hong Kong.
The platform has recently started to acknowledge foreign payment methods, including Visa and Mastercard, in Hong Kong, making it possible for consumers with no mainland bank account to purchase goods on the platform. It also started an immediate delivery service to Hong Kong, meaning local consumers no longer require third-party freight forwarders to deal with customs – a common necessity just for cross-border ecommerce in the city.
This service puts it in direct competition to ecommerce players that already have such shipping options, including Alibaba Group Holding , owner of South China Early morning Post , which tightly integrates a good investee freight forwarder with its Taobao Marketplace .
The brand name recognition of Pinduoduo among Hong Kong consumers is limited compared with rivals partly because it has not widely marketed by itself in the city. And unlike rivals with public listings around the local bourse, Pinduoduo is only listed in New York.
For those acquainted with the platform, though, the particular cut-rate pricing could be irresistible.
Waiwai Lau, a local YouTuber, said that she turned to Pinduoduo to buy all of the balloons, toys plus pens for her son’s birthday party. The entire carry came in at about HK$400 (RM227), a deal that would be hard to match at a nearby bricks-and-mortar shop.
Lau tried the platform for the first time three years back and found a few of the deals attractive, including the additional incentives offered with group purchasing and writing comments that offer a money return.
Pinduoduo’s expansion of testing in the city has largely been the quiet effort. It has not conducted any kind of promotion of prolonged services outside the platform, only notifying users of the modifications through a banner for the app’s landing page. The organization did not respond to a request for comment on the plans in the city.
Still, the particular expansion is not a surprise, said Zhang Yi, chief analyst with Guangzhou-based iiMedia Analysis. Major rivals which includes Taobao and JD. com have also been expanding outside landmass China in recent years, this individual said, as overseas markets have become a brand new battleground for the country’s ecommerce platforms looking for new growth possibilities.
Success within Hong Kong specifically is just not a sure point, though. Some nearby consumers are still sceptical of new services, plus shopping on Pinduoduo appears to not yet be as smooth as in the landmass. In a Facebook group where community-buying enthusiasts share bargains, several users said these were still unable to link their credit cards towards the app. – Southern China Morning Publish