Alibaba Rival Pinduoduo Says On Track To Double Online Grocery Sales This Year

Shanghai-headquartered e-commerce company Pinduoduo Inc PDD is anticipating its annual sales for grocery items to double year-over-year in 2020 on the back of increased domestic sales.

What Happened: Vice President David Liu, in an interview with CNBC, remarked that Pinduoduo's interactive online e-commerce platform not only offers the comfort of home-shopping but also gives users a variety of options to choose from.

E-commerce has become the new norm during the pandemic outbreak and the preventive lockdown measures. People in China are "looking for an alternative to the traditional wet markets and supermarkets that they normally have access to,” Liu commented during the Annual East Tech West Conference.

Why Does It Matter: Pinduoduo's immediate market rivals include Chinese e-commerce behemoths Alibaba Group Holdings BABA and JD.com Inc JD.

In August this year, the company launched Duo Duo Maicai, a self-pickup service for grocery shopping starting with Wuhan and Nanchang provinces. The company also plans to invest in logistics and delivery infrastructures as it expands services to other Chinese provinces.

Based on estimates derived from 2019 financials, the annual sales for the current year could be around $38 billion, if Pinduoduo's expectations realize.

Price Action: After a 6.12% dip during Monday’s trading hours, PDD ADRs declined by another 3.01% during extended trading hours to close at $137.76.