Digital inclusion and sustainability have been central tenets for Pinduoduo since our founding in 2015. We strongly believe that by getting more people to take part in the digital economy, and equipping them with the necessary skills to actualize their entrepreneurial spirit, they will stand to share in the rewards that come with increased productivity and efficiency.
Pinduoduo has grown rapidly since 2015. As of March 2021, we counted 824 million active buyers and 724.6 million monthly active users. We have connected over 16 million farmers to the digital economy and recorded over 270 billion yuan worth of agriculture-related GMV in 2020.
At Pinduoduo, we see our scale as giving us a better chance and greater responsibility to take actions that “benefit all”. That is why we have agriculture at the center of our growth strategy. Agriculture touches the daily lives of everyone and yet this sector is severely under-digitized. We see great potential in making a real impact on this sector with technology and are pleased to have made headway here.
To fully understand our impact on agriculture and rural communities, you have to look beyond the numbers to look beyond the numbers and listen to the stories of farmers, merchants and customers.
New Farmers
groomed since 2015, with another 100,000 to come
Farmers
connected to over 800 million consumers nationwide
Products
received more than 100,000 orders
Pinduoduo’s ‘Help the Farmers’ initiative launched in response to COVID-19 lockdowns last year culminated in:
670 million orders &
over 2 million tonnes
of agricultural product sales as of end-2020.
Over 1.13 million
agricultural households benefited from this initiative which covered
more than 240
agricultural production areas.
By promoting products from impoverished areas through our ‘Livestreaming for Poverty Alleviation’ campaign launched in May 2020, we helped to spur sales in over 100 impoverished counties.
Pinduoduo was recognized by the central government for its efforts in alleviating rural poverty, one of three technology companies to receive the commendation.
Our initiatives include improving downstream market access for farmers and training younger talent, revamping midstream logistics infrastructure to reduce waste, lower costs and speed up the delivery of agricultural products. We also work with industry partners and universities to develop upstream technology to increase the resilience of the food supply chain.
In recognition of our efforts, in October 2020 Pinduoduo received the Organizational Innovation award for National Poverty Alleviation from the State Council’s Poverty Alleviation and Development Leading Group.
Pinduoduo has trained more than 100,000 “New Farmers” in how to operate e-commerce businesses. Many of these “New Farmers” are digitally savvy youths who have left their rural hometowns to work in cities.
Through the program, we have helped encourage more than 100,000 of them to return to the countryside and start businesses to help their communities to create brands and sell their local produce. In the process, they create jobs and stimulate the local economy by boosting demand for ancillary services like packaging and logistics. We are committed to training another 100,000 “New Farmers” to encourage rural entrepreneurship and contribute to the revitalization of rural communities.
Chen Zongyou quit his job as a programmer with an internet company in a big city to go home to his hometown of Pinghe County, Fujian province, to join the family business selling pomelos through e-commerce.
It was a prescient move as the shift in consumption behavior meant more people were buying fruit online. E-commerce opened up demand from all over the country with 1.4 billion people.
Last year, Chen’s store on Pinduoduo is expected to exceed 50 million yuan. Chen is now working on building an agricultural brand to promote the qualities of his hometown’s pomelos.
Pang Zhiyu gave up a small business in Guangdong province in 2017 to return to his hometown in Jiangxi to sell fruits on Pinduoduo, China’s largest agricultural platform.
Pang said, and his parents were not supportive initially. But he pushed ahead, believing that the future of fruit distribution lies in e-commerce.
Pang quickly picked up the necessary skills to run an e-commerce business from training courses provided by Pinduoduo. The company helped him with marketing, sent staff to inspect his orchards and warehouse, and even shared tips on saving on packaging costs, he said.
Pang chose to focus on passion fruit, which has gained in popularity in recent years. Business was good, and Pang saw steady revenue growth in 2018 and 2019. Even during the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, he maintained daily transactions of 2,000 to 3,000 orders with the help of Pinduoduo.
Younger, more educated youths like Pang are injecting new vitality into agriculture. They are crucial in helping more rural communities to participate in e-commerce and share in the benefits of the digital economy. According to a China Agricultural University report, the talent gap in the rural e-commerce sector is expected to rise to 3.5 million in 2025, from 2.1 million in 2021.
To address this shortage, Pinduoduo conducts courses through its Duo Duo Academy to train aspiring agriculture entrepreneurs on different aspects of running an e-commerce business.
As of June 2020, Pinduoduo has directly helped and encouraged more than 100,000 New Farmers to return to the countryside and start businesses, creating jobs and stimulating demand for ancillary services like packaging and logistics. The company has pledged to train another 100,000 e-commerce merchants to boost sales of farm produce through online channels.
Starting from March, Pang began to try out livestreaming, showing consumers his orchards and explaining how he cultivates the organic passion fruit. By giving him access to a potential pool of 850 million consumers, Pang has the opportunity to sell his passion fruit to a national market. He now receives about 4,000 daily orders and is one of the top 10 passion fruit vendors on Pinduoduo, with annual revenues of 70 million yuan ($10.8 million).
Pang is paying it forward by training other farmers in the area on e-commerce. In turn, many of these farmers will rope in their families to join the e-commerce wave. In this way, more rural communities can enjoy the fruits of online commerce.
Last year, as Covid-19 disrupted food supply chains and threatened farmer livelihoods, Pinduoduo created a dedicated “Help the Farmers” channel to showcase fresh produce from affected areas.
By promoting products from impoverished areas through our “Livestreaming for Poverty Alleviation” campaign launched in May 2020, we have helped to spur sales in over 100 impoverished counties.
The initiative culminated in 670 million orders and agricultural sales of over 2 million tons as of end-2020. Over 1.13 million agricultural households benefited from this initiative, which covered more than 240 agricultural production areas.
Last year, during the Covid-19 lockdowns, lily bulb farmers in Lintao County in Gansu province were left with a stockpile of highly perishable crops as their traditional distribution channels were blocked with transportation restrictions and market closures. Being located in a remote area at 2,000 meters above sea level added to the challenge.
Pinduoduo, China’s largest agricultural marketplace, liaised with local authorities to help the farming communities market their agricultural produce to consumers nationwide, connecting the so-called “first mile” and “last mile” of the supply chain. Three tons of lily bulbs sold out quickly on a Pinduoduo livestream, with 1.2 million team purchase orders.
At the same time, consumers in the biggest cities are no longer limited to the selection in their local supermarkets and have a wide array of options to buy agricultural produce from various parts of the country through e-commerce.
Recognizing the importance and potential of building both physical and digital connections, Pinduoduo entered a strategic partnership with China Post in Sept. 2020 to improve rural e-commerce, increase agricultural sales from remote sales, and alleviate poverty.
As part of the cooperation, China Post will set up 150 bases within three years to help Pinduoduo improve sourcing of quality agricultural products for its more than 800 million users. With its capillary-like coverage of the country, it is said that no other company has as fine an understanding of local conditions as the postal service. By tapping onto China Post’s network coverage, we are giving those in the most remote areas access to a wider market and greater visibility of income.
As part of the cooperation, China Post will set up 150 bases within three years to help Pinduoduo improve sourcing of quality agricultural products for its more than 800 million users. With its capillary-like coverage of the country, it is said that no other company has as fine an understanding of local conditions as the postal service. By tapping into China Post’s network coverage, we are giving those in the most remote areas access to a wider market and greater visibility of income.
Gulu village sits on the edge of a precipitous cliff above the Dadu River Canyon in Ya’an, Sichuan province, home to about five hundred Yi people. The village came into existence hundreds of years ago during a time of turmoil. The founders settled in the remote location to escape the fighting.
Until 2018, when a cable car system was built to connect the village to the town of Yong Li across the 750-meter-wide canyon, it took hours to traverse the gorge and steep cliffs to reach Gulu on the other side of the river. The year before, the extension of a highway to Yong Li further cut travel time to the nearest city. The cable car and smartphones proved transformative.
It may not seem like much, but after centuries of isolation where getting basic goods involved a perilous trek, being able to order simple items through an e-commerce app and having it delivered in a matter of days has been life-changing. Simple things like baby chairs, food skewers, chopsticks, plastic bags, and clothes are now easy and convenient to obtain.
The new connectivity has also given the villagers of Gulu new business opportunities. Products can be sold over the internet, and instead of a six-hour round trip with goods carried by person or mule, they can cross the canyon in minutes to the post office. Local products such as walnuts and Sichuan pepper are incredibly popular. Thanks to the increase in tourism due to the cable car, locals can also connect with tourists directly and post products all over China and beyond.
Consumers can place their orders through Pinduoduo’s mobile app and have their orders fulfilled on a rolling 24-hour basis. For example, orders placed before dinner time can generally be collected up the following day around noon. By amassing orders online and matching them to local farms, Duo Duo Grocery has made it possible for more perishable produce to be sold locally via e-commerce.
Duo Duo Grocery has catalyzed the creation of millions of new jobs, in warehousing, logistics fulfillment and customer service. The service has also sparked an increase in demand for ancillary services such as marketing, product and packaging design, to name a few, creating new jobs in the process. At the same time, Duo Duo Grocery has created new streams of income for existing businesses that act as collection points for the groceries.
Bao Caicai, a former teacher, runs a shop selling tea leaves in Kunming, Yunnan province. Business was bad and she was on the verge of winding it up to prevent further losses when the opportunity arose to run a collection point for Duo Duo Grocery.
As a “team leader” for Duo Duo Grocery, she is responsible for receiving the grocery orders placed by customers in the vicinity. She also promotes the groceries to people in her network and earns a commission for each order. To ensure the freshness of the groceries, she installed shelving and a refrigerator at her tea shop, which now doubles up as a pick-up point and store for the groceries. Bao now earns 20,000 yuan a month and handles about 300 orders a day for Duo Duo Grocery.
Buying daily necessities used to entail a time-consuming transit by ferry and car. Nowadays, island residents can order products easily through Duo Duo Grocery and receive them the next day. Local logistics operator Jiang Fuchong has seen explosive growth in his business, delivering as many as 4,000 orders daily to the island for Duo Duo Grocery. “The logistics industry has become the most busy and hectic industry on this island thanks to e-commerce, but I’m glad to be a part of something that helps the community shop fresher and eat better,” he said.
The Lujiangba valley in China’s southwestern Yunnan province produces top-quality Arabica coffee. Many of the growers are from the Lisu ethnic group, who made their way down from the mountainous region and settled in the gentler and more fertile lands of the valley.
The area has a significant advantage. Located at an altitude of 3,000 to 4,000 meters, with a dry climate and average annual temperatures of 21 Celsius, the Lujiangba valley is perfect for growing coffee.
As the biggest agricultural e-commerce platform in China, Pinduoduo stepped in to help boost the region’s coffee industry. It established a series of rural coffee initiatives in the region to help the farmers improve their livelihoods.
En Huilan, 14, is one of several children in a Lisu coffee-farming family. In 2006, the family arrived in the Lujiangba valley. They cleared some land, cutting down trees and clearing brush by hand. At first, the family tried to grow and sell corn, but the business wasn’t doing well. As the family grew, so did their financial burden.
As the area was known for its high-quality coffee beans, the family switched from corn to coffee. It was an immediate improvement. Soon, they were making enough money to send their children to the local school. En Huilan has excelled at basketball and is one of the best players in her school.
Now, thanks to a new initiative by Pinduoduo to improve the valley’s coffee-growing capabilities, their future is looking even better.
Pinduoduo’s development of the area as a high-quality coffee-producing region is helping locals learn new skills and improve their products. Pinduoduo worked with the Yunnan Institute of Tropical Cash Crops to select high-quality coffee varieties suitable for the climate and soil conditions.
The farmers at the inaugural Duo Duo Farm in Baoshan, Yunnan, received training from agronomists on how to change their coffee variety with minimal disruption. They also learned about different methods for the initial processing of coffee beans.
At the same time, Pinduoduo facilitated these coffee farmers' partnerships with nearby coffee processors and provided data and marketing support to help them kickstart their sales on the platform. The company also brought many of the area’s sellers to coffee conventions in Shanghai to learn about the sale and marketing of coffee.
By connecting these sellers to its pool of more than 800 million customers, Pinduoduo is helping to introduce the area’s coffee to new consumers across China. As the coffee becomes more well-known and sought after, the higher demand translates to more sales and better incomes for the farmers. The consumers in turn, benefit from receiving high-quality coffee at an affordable price.
The rural coffee programs are part of a larger initiative to get younger generations interested in agriculture. It is common for young people from poorer families to leave rural areas and head to cities for work. Pinduoduo wants to reverse this trend by helping them return and set up businesses.
By mid-2020, the company had helped over 100,000 New Farmers to start farming businesses, assisting with logistics and providing a marketplace for produce. It has since pledged to train another 100,000 e-commerce merchants to boost sales from farms through online channels.
Initiatives like coffee production in Yunnan are part of a much bigger effort to stimulate agricultural sales. More than 16 million farmers across the country have sold through Pinduoduo’s platform, with 2,645 different types of agricultural products registering more than 100,000 orders.
In addition, Pinduoduo set up an online helpline to respond to requests for assistance. The company mobilized its Duo Duo Grocery operations in Zhengzhou, with its almost 20,000 distribution points, to deliver basic necessities to affected residents and communities. Duo Duo Grocery also coordinated with suppliers to ensure that the supply of basic necessities remained uninterrupted. Pinduoduo also organized deliveries of relief supplies to the town of Mihe, one of the badly affected areas in Henan province.
Pinduoduo made further donations of books and school supplies to schools in regions including Sichuan, Hubei and Gansu. On these trips, Pinduoduo was accompanied by leading authors who held special reding sessions with the students to further nurture their love for language and literature.
To promote reading, Pinduoduo on 15 April joined the Shanghai Library Industry Association among the founding members of The Shanghai National Reading Alliance.
Read about how our efforts to sow the seeds of growth through technology have impacted the lives of our farmers, merchants and other stakeholders.
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