How Alibaba's Biggest Competitor Is Adopting Different Approach For Growth

Alibaba Group Holding Ltd's BABA most formidable rival Pinduoduo Inc PDD has adopted a different route for growth, TechCrunch reports.

• In 2015, Pinduoduo took off by selling fruit online before gradually broadening its product categories. 
• Pinduoduo's Q3 earnings call reflected how it is hugely investing in agriculture compared to Alibaba's cloud computing focus. Pinduoduo's initiatives perfectly align with China's call for "common prosperity."
• While Alibaba reported 863 million annual active consumers across its retail platforms in the twelve months ended September, Pinduoduo's monthly active users was 741.5 million in the quarter ended September.
• In August, Pinduoduo unveiled its 10 billion yuan ($1.57 billion) agriculture program to "face and address critical needs in the agricultural sector and rural areas," including possible equity funding for agritech startups and grants for fundamental research and talent training.
• Pinduoduo reiterated agriculture as its core business.
•  Pinduoduo has been waiving commissions to attract vendors of agricultural products.
• Once farmers sign up, the platform trains them to be savvy digital store operators and marketers. 
• The third-party logistics services transport the produce to consumers.
• Pinduoduo wants to go beyond selling like Alibaba's Taobao and help tackle farmers' production problems.
• Pinduoduo aims to explore technology solutions to implement across the agriculture supply chain.
• Pinduoduo is working with research institutes to implement industry standards for meat and crops.
• Related Content: Pinduoduo Shares Plunge On Revenue Miss, Allocates All Profits From Q3 To '10 Billion Agriculture Initiative.'
• Price Action: PDD shares traded lower by 6.60% at $55.37 on the last check Friday.