Pinduoduo is heating up the price war during China’s 618 shopping festival by providing sellers with a tool to quickly adjust the cost of goods

Pinduoduo, the mainland budget shopping platform owned by PDD Holdings, has introduced an “automatic price tracking system” allowing sellers to quickly adjust prices online as Chinese e-commerce giants prepare for this year’s 618 shopping festival.

The innovative system that Pinduoduo rolled out on Wednesday gives sellers on the platform a quick and smart way to “keep pace (pricing strategy) with competitors,” according to a Thursday report by Chinese digital media DoNews.

For example, the report shows that the system will automatically adjust its user’s online prices whenever it finds a competitive seller offering lower prices.

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According to screenshots of the system posted by Pinduoduo sellers on Chinese social media, subscribers can set a specific range for the system to follow when adjusting the price of goods. The system will operate until June 21, i.e. until the end of the Pinduoduo 618 sales campaign.

Pinduoduo’s automatic price tracking system is expected to give sellers on the platform a competitive advantage during this year’s 618 shopping festival. Photo: Shutterstock alt=Pinduoduo’s automatic price tracking system is expected to give sellers on the platform a competitive advantage during this year’s 618 shopping festival. Photo: Shutterstock >

Pinduoduo’s latest initiative reflects a growing price war among Chinese e-commerce providers amid slowing retail sales.

ByteDance’s Douyin recently began internal testing of a similar smart pricing system for sellers, according to Chinese media reports.

The moves show how online shopping platform operators are looking to boost sales during the 618 shopping festival, after a relatively weak period in 2023. All major domestic e-commerce players are expected to offer deep discounts and cash subsidies.

The festival, which was launched by JD.com in 2010, began as a simple promotion to celebrate the company’s anniversary on June 18. The event has since become the second-largest shopping event in the country, after Singles’ Day in the fourth quarter.

Pinduoduo launched its 618-product sales campaign on May 19, but has yet to release any sales figures.

618 shopping festival promotion advertisement on Alibaba Group Holding’s Tmall platform at a Shanghai metro station. Photo: Bloomberg alt=Advertisement for the 618 Shopping Festival promotion on Alibaba Group Holding’s Tmall platform at a Shanghai metro station. Photo: Bloomberg>

Alibaba Group Holding, which launched its promotions on May 20, touted last week that the gross merchandise value (GMV) of each of the 59 brands on its platforms – the total amount of goods sold – had exceeded 100 million yuan ($13.8 million), while 376 products whose GMV exceeded 10 million yuan. Alibaba owns the South China Morning Post.

Meanwhile, JD.com launched its 618th promotion on Friday evening.

Alibaba-owned Taobao and Tmall Group have updated the price guarantee feature in their apps for this year’s event, allowing consumers to receive a refund on price differences until July 5 if they find further discounts online after making a purchase.

In 2021, Pinduoduo became the first major e-commerce platform to introduce a returns policy that allowed users to get their money back without returning goods that did not match the seller’s description. This policy is credited with helping Pinduoduo lure more price-sensitive Chinese consumers away from its competitors.

This article originally appeared on the South China Morning Post (SCMP), the most authoritative newspaper reporting on China and Asia for over a century. For more SCMP stories, visit the SCMP app or follow SCMP i on Facebook Twitter pages. Copyright © 2024 South China Morning Post Publishers Ltd. All rights reserved.