China’s Pinduoduo quietly expands ecommerce operations in Hong Kong, wooing consumers with bargains and direct shipping

Pinduoduo has started accepting Visa and Mastercard directly on its platform and now offers direct shipping to Hong Kong, bypassing freight forwarders. The social ecommerce platform is still largely unknown in the city, which it hopes to change as competition with Alibaba, JD.com and others ramps up overseas. — SCMP

Chinese ecommerce platform Pinduoduo, which is known for its cut-to-the-bone price offerings through social media sharing, has quietly expanded its presence in Hong Kong with new delivery and payment services tailored for local consumers.

The Shanghai-based company, which takes advantage of users’ social networks to promote deals and woo new buyers, has proven to be a formidable player in China’s “sink” market, referring to low-income consumers in rural areas. But as consumer spending in China has weakened, the platform, started by young Chinese billionaire Colin Huang in 2015, is now trying to test its services outside the mainland, including Hong Kong.