An item costing simply a couple of Singapore dollars can now be bought from China and provided to Singapore without a different shipping cost, even if it is the only product in the order. That is the proposal provided by Pinduoduo, a Chinese e-commerce platform run by PDD Holdings, which likewise runs Temu.
Pinduoduo reduced its complimentary shipping limit for markets consisting of Singapore from RMB 99 (USD 14.8) to simply one product, no matter cost, Lianhe Zaobao reported on August 16. That indicates consumers no longer require to include items to their carts merely to receive complimentary shipment.
The relocation might motivate more online shoppingespecially amongst price-conscious customers, stated Chua Yeow Hwee, an assistant teacher of economics at Singapore’s Nanyang Technological University. Such buyers might likewise want to accept longer shipment times in exchange for lower costs.
The appeal might exceed complimentary shipping. Pinduoduo’s items can likewise be less expensive than those on contending platforms. How does Pinduoduo keep costs so low, and who eventually bears the expense of getting those items to customers?
Is Pinduoduo more affordable than Taobao?
To learn, KrASIA compared costs for 2 items offered on both Pinduoduo and Taobao: a hair shampoo item from Head & & Shoulders and the JisuLife portable bladeless neck fan.
For the 670-gram hair shampoo, Pinduoduo’s overall rate was SGD 7.52 (USD 5.9), compared to an approximated SGD 9.93 (USD 7.8) on Taobao. Even before representing shipment, Pinduoduo’s market price was lower at SGD 1.03 (USD 0.8) per 100 grams, compared to SGD 1.30 (USD 1) on Taobao.
The JisuLife neck fan revealed a comparable distinction. The “Diamond Black” design with a 4,500 milliampere-hour battery expense SGD 26.09 (USD 20.4) on Pinduoduo, compared to SGD 34.20 (USD 26.8) on Taobao. Both listings provided totally free shipping, while Pinduoduo likewise had an RMB 3 (USD 0.4) platform discount coupon offered at the time of evaluation.
Pinduoduo provided lower rates in both cases. There are constraints to the contrast. Taobao’s shipment charges for the hair shampoo were approximated utilizing combined sea shipping rates, instead of validated at checkout. The last rates might likewise differ depending upon promos, vouchers, and seller discount rates.
Still, the hair shampoo contrast reveals that a minimum of part of the cost distinction existed before shipment charges were consisted of.
Just how much do aids add to reduce costs?
Like other e-commerce platforms, Pinduoduo provides vouchers, credits, and marketing rewards that can lower the quantity buyers pay at checkout. Some discount rates might be moneyed by the platform, while others might originate from merchants.
PDD Holdings’ monetary declarations reveal the scale of its marketing expense.
In 2025, the business’s sales and marketing expenditures increased 12.6%, from RMB 111.3 billion (USD 16.6 billion) to RMB 125.3 billion (USD 18.7 billion). PDD associated the boost partially to an extra RMB 13 billion (USD 1.9 billion) in marketing, promo, and voucher expenditures, according to its yearly report. These figures recommend that promos are an essential element of PDD’s company method. They do not, nevertheless, expose just how much it invests funding purchases.
There is another difference: PDD’s monetary declarations cover its broader service, consisting of Pinduoduo and Temu, instead of Pinduoduo’s cross-border operations alone. This makes it challenging to identify just how much of the cost distinction in between Pinduoduo and Taobao originates from platform-funded discount rates.
Alibaba, which runs Taobao, likewise invests in promos, however the 2 business do not divulge straight equivalent figures for the aids used to specific orders.
How making collaborations assist lower rates
Pinduoduo mostly runs as a market, linking customers with third-party merchants instead of buying and reselling items itself.
One component of its method includes working more carefully with producers to establish items around customer need. Frequently referred to as a consumer-to-manufacturer (C2M) design, this method utilizes details about what consumers desire, including their favored costs, to assist manufacturers choose what to produce. The objective is to establish items that much better match need, possibly lowering unneeded production expenses and getting rid of some layers of circulation.
Zhejiang Sanhe Kitchenware, which offers pots and pans under the Sanho brand name, uses an example of how this works.
In 2019, the producer took part in PDD’s “New Brand Initiative,” a program created to assist producers establish and market items for customers on the platform.
At the time, Sanho’s most inexpensive pots and pans item was priced at RMB 199 (USD 29.8). Sales information from Pinduoduo apparently suggested more powerful need for pots and pans priced listed below RMB 100 (USD 15). The 2 business collaborated to establish a nonstick pan priced at RMB 99, changing its style, products, and production to satisfy that target.
According to a report by the 21st Century Business Heraldthe pan had an ex-factory expense of RMB 93 (USD 13.9) before shipment expenditures. Regular monthly sales consequently surpassed RMB 2 million (USD 299,000).
The case shows 2 sides of Pinduoduo’s rates technique:
- For customers, producers can establish items at lower cost points by changing specs and production around need.
- For producers, access to a big client base can create greater sales volumes, although lower rates might leave less space for earnings on each product.
PDD likewise gains from scale. Greater sales volumes might permit merchants to spread out particular production and operating expense throughout more orders, making competitive rates more sustainable.
PDD’s merchant base grew from 15.8 million active merchants in 2024 to 16.8 million in 2025, according to its yearly report.
How does PDD earn money?
PDD does not require to obtain an item and resell it for a greater rate to make earnings from a deal. Rather, its Pinduoduo company relies mostly on supplying services to merchants.
The business has 2 primary income streams: deal services and internet marketing services. Deal services produce charges from services associated with merchants’ sales. Internet marketing services enable merchants to spend for higher item direct exposure, consisting of positionings in search engine result and searching pages. Some marketing charges depend upon the variety of views or clicks a listing gets.
In 2025, PDD reported RMB 431.8 billion (USD 64.6 billion) in overall income, divided nearly equally in between the 2 classifications. Internet marketing services and others produced RMB 217.8 billion (USD 32.6 billion), while deal services generated RMB 214.1 billion (USD 32.0 billion).
That balance continued into the 2nd quarter of 2026. For the 3 months ended June 30, PDD taped RMB 112.4 billion (USD 16.8 billion) in income, making up RMB 57.6 billion (USD 8.6 billion) from internet marketing services and others, and RMB 54.7 billion (USD 8.2 billion) from deal services.
The business’s growing merchant base likewise supports these income streams. PDD associated part of the development in deal service profits to more merchants utilizing its platforms and more powerful need for extra services.
This organization design indicates PDD can make earnings from merchant activity without depending on a markup on every item offered.
These are companywide figures, covering more than Pinduoduo’s cross-border company. They might demonstrate how PDD creates profits throughout its platforms, however not just how much it makes from a specific order.
Who spends for the discount rates and shipment?
An item selling for SGD 3 (USD 2.3) does not always cost SGD 3 to produce, market, procedure, and provide. Those costs need to be borne someplace along the chain, whether by merchants, PDD, logistics service providers, or some mix of them.
For merchants, providing items at lower margins can be a method to reach more consumers and produce sales volume. The Sanho example highlights how producers might change expenses and accept reasonably tight margins to complete on rate.
PDD can soak up part of the expense through discount coupons, promos, and other customer rewards. It does not reveal how much of its marketing expense goes towards funding private purchases.
There is shipment. PDD’s expense of earnings increased from RMB 153.9 billion (USD 23.0 billion) in 2024 to RMB 188.8 billion (USD 28.2 billion) in 2025. The business stated the boost was generally due to greater satisfaction costs, bandwidth and server expenses, and payment processing costs.
These expenditures are sustained throughout its service. PDD does not reveal the satisfaction expense of a single cross-border order or how those expenditures are divided in between the platform, merchants, and logistics service providers.
KrASIA Called sellers on Pinduoduo to much better comprehend the economics behind these low rates, however those who reacted decreased to comment.
Is Pinduoduo’s cross-border service lucrative?
PDD Holdings pays in general.
In 2025, it reported RMB 97.8 billion (USD 14.6 billion) in earnings. In the 2nd quarter of 2026, its earnings attributable to regular investors was RMB 27.2 billion (USD 4.1 billion), down 12% from the very same duration a year previously.
Success at the group level does not inform us whether its cross-border service makes cash. The business does not independently divulge income, shipping expenses, rewards, or success for particular abroad markets. Nor does it release the economics of private orders. This matters as a platform can make income from deal services and marketing throughout countless merchants even if particular orders bring greater satisfaction or advertising expenses than the earnings they create.
PDD’s more comprehensive success for that reason can not show that every low-priced order pays. Similarly, the low cost and lack of a different shipping charge do not show that the business loses cash on each purchase.
The proof indicates numerous possible descriptions for Pinduoduo’s low rates: promos that lower consumers’ expenses, producer collaborations that assist establish competitively priced items, and scale that can support greater sales volumes.
While the contrast with Taobao discovered lower rates for 2 items, it is not possible to identify which aspect contributed most without similar information on aids, merchant expenses, and shipment expenditures.
What can be developed is how PDD produces profits beyond the cost of a specific product. What stays unidentified is whether a specific cross-border order covers all its associated expenses.
For consumers, the cost might be all that matters. For the merchants, platform, and shipment suppliers included, the economics are significantly more complex.
Keep in mind: RMB, SGD figures are transformed to USD at rates of RMB 6.69=USD 1 and SGD 1.28=USD 1 based upon quotes since October 23, 2026, unless otherwise specified. USD conversions are approximate and, where proper, rounded for ease of referral. They might not completely match dominating currency exchange rate.
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