Pinduoduo connects farmers with consumers in rural e-commerce push

Xu Yang, a resident in Beijing, likes to search for local agricultural specialties on Pinduoduo to discover the different “treasures” that China has to offer.

The main reasons are provenance and price. By connecting consumers directly with farmers through its online marketplace, Pinduoduo enables cheaper direct-to-consumer sales from the farm. 

“I like to find those stores that only sell one or two items, because it’s more likely that such stores are operated by the local farmers themselves,” said Xu, who has purchased everything from pepino from Yunnan to strawberries from Shandong to pineapples from Guangdong. 

Xu is one of the over 850 million customers who shop regularly on Pinduoduo, China’s largest agricultural platform. The company has connected more than 16 million farmers directly to consumers, giving even growers from the most remote corner of the country access to a national market. 

The e-commerce company reported a 59 percent gain in annual orders to 61 billion in 2021, driven by surging agricultural demand. In a statement, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Chen Lei said the company would continue to invest in research and development and support investments in agriculture. 

“In 2021, we made the strategic shift from sales and marketing toward research and development.” said Chen Lei, Pinduoduo Chairman and CEO. “We see ourselves making more long-term investment, especially in agriculture and R&D.”

Besides improving market access for farmers and consumers, Pinduoduo’s other initiatives include investing in training farmers, e-commerce merchants to take part in the digital economy.

To support these efforts, Pinduoduo announced a 10 Billion Agriculture Initiative last August to promote the adoption of agritech and encourage agriculture sector workers. The initiative would be funded by profits from the company and tackle critical issues facing the sector. 

Last year, Pinduoduo organized a series of agriculture-themed shopping festivals to promote local produce and agricultural brands. One such promotion, dubbed the “Orange Festival,” featured rock sugar oranges and helped the specialty from the Mayang Miao Autonomous County in Hunan gain national prominence. 

Through e-commerce, the orange farmers of Mayang are freed from the constraints of having to sell only to local wholesalers. Enabled by Pinduoduo, they can now sell directly to consumers residing in different parts of the country, giving them more stability of demand.