On March 20, before the U.S. stock market, Pinduoduo released its fourth-quarter and full-year results for the year ended December 31 last year.。

For the full year, Pinduoduo achieved revenue of 2,476.3.9 billion yuan (RMB, the same below), an increase of nearly 90% over the previous year;.2.7 billion yuan, up 90% year-on-year; adjusted net profit attributable to parent 678.9.9 billion, up 72% YoY; adjusted underlying earnings per ADS 46.51 yuan。

In the fourth quarter, Pinduoduo earned 888 revenue..8.1 billion yuan, up 123% year-on-year; net profit attributable to parent 232.8 billion yuan, up 146% YoY; adjusted net profit attributed to parent 254.7.7 billion yuan, up 110% year-on-year; adjusted underlying earnings per ADS 17.32 yuan。

After the financial results were released, Lei Chen, chairman and co-CEO of Pinduoduo, said: "2023 is a critical period for our transformation to high-quality development, and in 2024, Pinduoduo will continue to focus on further improving the consumer experience, enhancing technological innovation, and making a positive impact on our community.。"

The darling of the new consumption era: cost-effective

Specifically, the high growth of Pinduoduo's revenue and net profit cannot be separated from the pull of trading services and online marketing services.。For the whole of last year, Pinduoduo's trading services revenue increased 241% year-on-year to 940.$9.9 billion; online marketing services and other revenues of 1,535.4.1 billion yuan, up 49% year-on-year。

2023 is China's consumer boost year, and businesses are at the dawn of a performance recovery。For consumers, "cost performance" seems to have an eternal priority, but it is not firmly tied to income.。For example, developed countries such as Europe, America, Japan and South Korea, after the stage of consumption rationalization, will also turn to cost-effective consumption, and add personalized features.。

In this "new" consumption era, businesses and enterprises are facing the inevitable adjustment towards "fine" management - while ensuring the strength of research and development, but also taking into account the integration of production and supply chain.。While this shift has greatly tested the company's ability to manage costs, on the other hand, it has provided long-term growth momentum for the company.。

In view of this, Pinduoduo tried its best to fit the new consumption trend of "both upgrading and rational," and continuously provided users with a better and cheaper shopping experience, which eventually won the favor of consumers.。During the Double Eleven period, the number of "tens of billions of subsidies" users exceeded 6.200 million, orders also doubled year-on-year。

Zhao Jiazhen, senior vice president and co-CEO of Pinduoduo, said: "In recent years, domestic consumption has become more and more intense, but consumers have also begun to focus on how to get a higher quality of life in a more economical and convenient way.。Consumption upgrade is not high consumption, not overdraft demand, but to help users save money while providing better products and services.。"

In the past year, with the intensification of domestic e-commerce competition, Ali, Jingdong, tremolo and so on have followed its "high-quality development strategy," launched a series of subsidies, coupons and other activities, set off a wave of price wars.。Pinduoduo management responded to this, saying that in the context of consumer recovery, the e-commerce platform to see the opportunity to increase the promotion efforts, in the price of the article, is a very normal reaction.。

"Competition is the main theme of China's e-commerce industry。In the face of competition, to return to the essence, always from the needs of consumers, "Chen Lei said。

Multi-channel growth is rapid: high R & D investment accelerates science and technology to help farmers

Against the backdrop of high-quality development news, Pinduoduo launched a number of initiatives around this core strategy in 2023, consolidating the positive cycle of the platform ecology.。In the fourth quarter, the platform's global consumption was improving, and the demand for consumption upgrades pushed the supply and marketing of domestic goods and high-quality agricultural goods to flourish.。

During the "Double Eleven" period last year, the "Time-limited Seconds Kill" channel provided an incremental engine for more than 100,000 small and medium-sized merchants: more than 40 sub-categories such as agricultural goods, domestic goods and global good goods doubled; the number of agricultural goods and domestic goods merchants settled in the "10 Billion Subsidy" more than doubled year-on-year; in the "Global Purchase" business, 21 of the top 100 brands achieved year-on。

It is worth noting that as more and more merchants settle in, the reliability of the supply of goods has become one of the focuses of consumers' attention.。In response to the potential risk of counterfeiting, Pinduoduo responded positively that it would impose severe penalties on the sale of counterfeit goods, including but not limited to the removal of goods from the shelves, the removal of the entire store, and the removal of the goods.。

2023 is also the year when Pinduoduo is deeply engaged in technological innovation, with a full year of 109.5.2 billion yuan of research and development investment set a new record, the fourth quarter research and development costs increased by 19% year-on-year, to 28.6.4 billion yuan。Among them, agriculture is the key sector that Pinduoduo continued to invest in last year.。

Last year, Pinduoduo launched the "Agricultural Cloud Action," which went deep into Shaanxi, Sichuan, Shanxi, Yunnan, Hubei, Fujian, Shandong, Jiangsu and other agricultural belts to provide local businesses with special training on e-commerce operations and one-to-one directional operation guidance to help rural industry revitalization and employment growth.。In the fourth quarter, Pinduoduo deeply supported the holding of the "Second Science and Technology Academy Competition," and gave flow and subsidy support to agricultural universities and scientific research units to focus on research and development of scientific and technological agricultural products, enhance the transformation of agricultural scientific and technological achievements, and accelerate the development of new agricultural productivity.。

According to Zhao Jiazhen, this year, Pinduoduo will increase investment in agricultural cloud action, agricultural research competitions and other key agricultural projects, and continue to promote the creation of more resilient digital agricultural belts around the world to help rural revitalization and increase farmers' income.。Broadly speaking, Pinduoduo will continue to maintain investment, promote the application and transformation of cutting-edge technologies in agriculture and manufacturing, and support a higher level of high-quality development of the platform.。

Temu "Jiaolong" finally out to sea: compliance construction to deal with regulatory pressure

While the domestic market is booming, Pinduoduo has never let up on its grasp of overseas markets.。According to third-party data, Temu had 4 unique visitors as of December 2023..6.7 billion, the same as Aliexpress (Aliexpress), second only to Amazon, ranked second in the world。

Since its launch in September 2022, Temu's business scope has expanded to more than 50 countries and regions around the world.。And because the U.S. market occupies the largest volume, Pinduoduo continues to advertise in the region to expand its influence.。Earnings data show that Pinduoduo's full-year 2023 sales and marketing expenses were 821.8.9 billion yuan, up 51% from the previous year, with promotional and advertising campaign spending accounting for a large proportion.。

It follows news that Temu became the largest advertiser on the Meta platform last year, spending about $2 billion (about 143.9.6 billion yuan), but many parties denied the amount.。

However, in the face of rising political pressure in the United States, Temu is actively adjusting its strategy to reduce its dependence on the U.S. market, hoping to reduce it to 30 percent by 2025.。

At present, Temu is increasing its investment in Europe, Asia, Africa, the Middle East and South America, and is constantly strengthening overseas legal and compliance construction.。Last year, Pinduoduo set up a special legal and compliance committee; now, management is also learning from national laws and communicating and working with national regulators to further improve Temu's legal and compliance capabilities in each region.。

In response to the various challenges encountered in the sea business, Chen Lei said in a telephone conference that Pinduoduo's current sea business is still in the early stages, the company will implement the "high-quality development" strategy into the global business in the future, and always remain alert to unknown changes, modestly explore more technology and model innovation, ready for long-term investment.。

For investors concerned about the repurchase dividend issue, Liu Jun, vice president of finance, said the company is still in the development stage, so more concerned about the long-term value of the investment platform.。Considering that the business execution cycle is affected by various factors, it may not be consistent with the profitability of the financial reporting cycle.。