On March 20, Pinduoduo Group released its fourth quarter and annual results report for 2023 ended December 31. In the quarter, Pinduoduo Group's revenue was 88.9 billion yuan, up 123% year-on-year, and GAAP operating profit was 22.4 billion yuan. Last year's annual revenue was 247.6 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 90%.
Last year was the first year for Pinduoduo to actively embrace high-quality development. The series of measures to help businesses and benefit the people around this strategy have continuously received positive feedback and extensive support from users and merchants. In the context of the steady rebound in overall consumption, the platform's global consumption performance continued to improve in the fourth quarter, and the demand for consumption upgrades promoted the supply and marketing of domestic trendy products and high-quality agricultural goods.
"2024 will be an important year for Pinduoduo to deepen its high-quality development strategy. Zhao Jiazhen, Executive Director and Co-CEO of Pinduoduo Group, said, "This performance also encourages us to make long-term investment in high-quality development more actively and firmly, and continue to increase investment in terms of 'multi-affordability' and 'good service' to help consumers achieve high-quality consumption upgrades." ”
High-quality development is inseparable from the drive of new quality productivity. According to the financial report, Pinduoduo Group's R&D expenses in the fourth quarter of last year were 2.9 billion yuan, and the annual R&D expenses reached 11 billion yuan. Chen Lei, Chairman and Co-CEO of Pinduoduo Group, said, "This year, we will continue to invest in exploring and cultivating new quality productivity for high-quality development, and improving the support capacity of cutting-edge technologies in agriculture and manufacturing. ”
Helping businesses and benefiting the people has achieved remarkable results
Last year, Pinduoduo took high-quality development as the core work of the year, effectively helping consumers get benefits, and high-quality merchants selling more goods, consolidating the positive cycle of the platform ecology.
"The platform's revenue growth is the result of our effective pro-consumption initiatives and overall consumption recovery, as well as the result of creating more value for consumers and merchants. Zhao Jiazhen said.
2023 is the year of consumption boost, and all parts of the country are actively implementing policies to restore and expand consumption. In contact with platform users, the Pinduoduo team found that the demand for consumption upgrades is not only widespread and increasingly vigorous, but at the same time, consumers are also concerned about how to obtain a higher quality of life in a more economical and convenient way.
▲ In Danling, the "hometown of oranges in China", Zhao Gang, who once won the title of "King of Fruits" in the local Zhihuo Technology Competition, settled in Pinduoduo and sold high-quality oranges to all parts of the country with the help of live broadcasts. Photo by Zhao Ye▕
In view of this, Pinduoduo pays special attention to the supply of more abundant high-quality products, as well as a more matching subsidy resource tilt, to promote the two-way rush of high-quality goods and consumption upgrades. In the fourth quarter, through activities such as 11.11 and 12.12, the platform focused on people's livelihood and well-being, lowered the threshold for consumption upgrading, helped release consumption potential, and made it easier for more people to live a better life.
In addition to helping users save money, Pinduoduo also actively creates more opportunities for merchants to be seen and recognized by consumers. Taking 11.11 as an example, during the event, the flash sale channel provided an incremental engine for more than 100,000 small and medium-sized businesses, and more than 40 sub-categories such as agricultural goods, domestic products and global good products doubled. The number of agricultural and domestic merchants with subsidies of 10 billion yuan has increased by more than 2 times year-on-year, and 21 of the top 100 brands in the global shopping business have achieved a year-on-year growth of more than 300%, and 59 single products with single-day sales of more than one million yuan have reached 59.
In addition to the domestic market, the group also accelerated the promotion of Chinese manufacturing to the global market last year. At present, Duoduo cross-border has entered 50 countries and regions. "Our business is still very new, and we always have a sincere attitude to learn from consumers and the market, and explore more technology and model innovations. Chen Lei said.
This year will be an important year for Pinduoduo to deepen its high-quality development strategy. In addition to continuing to improve the platform capability of "more affordable + good service", Chen Lei also said, "We will improve our supply chain insight and technical capabilities, help manufacturing factories reduce costs and increase efficiency, and create more popular products; vigorously support new farmers and new agricultural businesses who understand both agriculture and e-commerce, so as to drive local employment and farmers' incomes; and give full play to the positive incentive role of the '10 billion ecology' special project to support and help high-quality merchants, brands and small and medium-sized enterprises." ”
▲As a typical case of national county revitalization, Pinduoduo's agricultural cloud action was selected into the "Research Report on the Practice of Chinese-style Modern Counties". Photo by Xiao Gonghao
R&D investment exceeded 10 billion again
Under the guidance of the high-quality development strategy, Pinduoduo's key investment last year focused on technological innovation and agricultural strategy.
Science and technology enterprises, R&D-oriented. After the R&D expenditure exceeded 10 billion yuan in 2022, Pinduoduo Group's R&D investment in 2023 exceeded 10 billion yuan again, hitting a record high. This year, Pinduoduo will continue to "focus on R&D" and explore technological innovation for high-quality development.
Agriculture is the chassis of Pinduoduo, and it is also the focus of its continuous investment last year. In the fourth quarter, Pinduoduo deeply supported the holding of the second Science and Technology Academy Competition, and gave flow and subsidy support to agricultural universities and scientific research units to focus on the research and development of scientific and technological agricultural products, so as to enhance the transformation of agricultural scientific and technological achievements and accelerate the development of new agricultural productivity.
▲In Zhangzhou, Fujian, Liu Yedong (right) of Fujian Agriculture and Forestry University is resident in the Science and Technology Courtyard to help farmers "lose weight" for the land, save fertilizer costs, and improve the sweetness of pomelo. This kind of pomelo is one of the agricultural products that Pinduoduo has focused on supporting in recent years. Photo by Ran Zhenghong
Last year, Pinduoduo also launched the Agricultural Cloud Initiative, which went deep into Shaanxi, Sichuan, Shanxi, Yunnan, Hubei, Fujian, Shandong, Jiangsu and other agricultural belts to provide local merchants with special training on e-commerce operation and one-on-one directional operation guidance, helping rural industry revitalization and employment growth. At the end of last year, the initiative was rated as a "Typical Case of National County Revitalization" by the China Center for Urban and Small Town Reform and Development of the National Development and Reform Commission.
"This year, we will increase investment in key agricultural projects such as the Agricultural Cloud Action and the Agricultural Research Competition, and continue to promote the creation of more resilient digital agricultural belts in various regions to help rural revitalization and increase farmers' income. Zhao Jiazhen said.
High-quality domestic products are another focus of Pinduoduo's support in recent years. Since the fourth quarter of last year, Pinduoduo has invested a lot of traffic and real money subsidies to help manufacturing brands expand their influence with the help of a number of live broadcasts with the theme of "domestic product team building" and domestic product festivals. For example, during the National Goods Festival, the average daily sales of a brand's laundry soap products increased by more than ten times, the factory capacity increased from 4 tons to 40 tons per day, and the number of workers on the shop tripled.
Zhao Jiazhen said, "This year, we will continue to broaden the new track for new and old domestic products, grow together with Chinese brands, and jointly provide consumers with better products and high-quality consumption experience." ”
In addition to the construction of the platform, Pinduoduo also took the initiative to invest in social relief, and donated 20 million yuan to the Gansu Charity Federation for the purchase of cold protection, disaster relief materials and post-disaster reconstruction work as soon as the 6.2 magnitude earthquake occurred in Jishishan County, Linxia Prefecture, Gansu Province in December last year.
▲ In order to help the post-earthquake reconstruction of Jishishan, in addition to donations, Pinduoduo also donated coal, folding beds and other materials to the Qinghai disaster area. Photo by Zhang Zhouzheng
"Since our establishment eight years ago, we have been focusing on e-commerce, and we have the courage to try innovative business forms to meet diversified consumer needs. During this period, the team grew rapidly, and young and daring leaders continued to emerge and gradually took on greater responsibilities. "Our organization is thriving because of the creativity and vitality of young people, and we are confident that we will continue to create unique value for the largest number of consumers." ”