China’s leading social e-commerce platform Pinduoduo’s average monthly active users in the first quarter of 2021 was 724.6 million, an increase of 49% YoY, according to its quarterly earnings report. See a comparison with Alibaba’s MAU here.
The number of annual active buyers on Pinduoduo in the 12-month period ended March 31, 2021, was 823.8 million, an increase of 31% YoY. Compare with Alibaba marketplace and JD here.
Pinduoduo has direct access to consumers and over 8.6 million merchants.
Duo Duo Grocery, its next-day pickup service, is seeing strong demand from consumers, who now have the chance to buy a wider range of perishables directly from farmers and agri-merchants in the region.
Pinduoduo announced a research partnership with Singapore’s Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) to conduct a study examining the health impact of substituting animal proteins with plant-based proteins.
Last year, the two partners embarked on a project to develop a low-cost and portable way to test for pesticide residues, which when commercialized would improve food safety and quality.
Pinduoduo is also developing logistics info system and agri-focused infrastructure solutions that are suited to the future. The company has “some advantages” as it originated over a third of daily parcels in China last year and has expertise in complex technological system design.
Pinduoduo’s total revenues in the quarter were RMB22,167.1 million (US$13,383.4 million), an increase of 239% YoY.
Net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders in Q1 was RMB2,905.4 million (US$443.5 million), compared with RMB4,119.3 million in the same quarter of 2020. Non-GAAP net loss attributable to ordinary shareholders in the quarter was RMB1,890.3 million (US$288.5 million), compared with RMB3,169.6 million in the same quarter of 2020.
Basic and diluted net loss per ADS were RMB2.33 (US$0.36), compared with RMB3.54 in the same quarter of 2020. Non-GAAP basic and diluted net loss per ADS were RMB1.52 (US$0.23), compared with RMB2.73 in the same quarter of 2020.