PDD released its Q3 financial report, fully accelerating high-quality development and continuing to increase investment in agricultural research technology

Zhitong Finance learned that on November 21, PDD released its Q3 2024 financial report for the period ending September 30, benefiting from a steady recovery in macro consumption, PDD's performance remained robust, with revenue reaching 99.4 billion yuan this quarter.

In the third quarter, PDD's high-quality development strategy entered a phase of full acceleration, with increased investment in ecological construction. The platform launched several significant initiatives, including "100 Billion Subsidies," "E-commerce Westward," and "New Quality Merchant Support Program," enabling over 10 million merchants to reduce costs and increase efficiency, while also providing consumers with a richer supply of quality goods.

"In the past quarter, we launched a series of subsidy and support measures to promote cost reduction and revenue increase for merchants through cash refunds and reductions, pushing the industrial belt into a new stage of high-quality development," said Zhao Jiazhen, Executive Director and Co-CEO of PDD. Benefiting from firm investments on the supply side, the platform has provided users with a richer selection of agricultural products, domestic goods, and global quality items, further meeting the increasingly diversified consumption needs of users.

"As mentioned last quarter, we have increased our ecological investment this quarter and received positive feedback from both supply and demand sides," said Chen Lei, Chairman and Co-CEO of PDD. In the coming quarters, we will continue to firmly implement our high-quality development strategy, continuously improve the platform and industrial ecology, and bring long-term returns to users, merchants, and the industry.

"Support + Subsidies" Multiple Measures for Continuous Inclusive Supply and Demand

In the third quarter, PDD further increased its investment in the platform's ecology, launching a series of initiatives such as "100 Billion Subsidies," "E-commerce Westward," and "New Quality Merchant Support Program," deepening ecological construction from the platform level to the industrial level.

In mid-August, PDD intensively implemented the "100 Billion Subsidies" package, introducing multiple service fee refund rights, lowering the service fees for "pay later," merchants' store deposits, and withdrawal thresholds, comprehensively reducing merchants' operating costs. Many agricultural and domestic goods merchants can save hundreds of thousands of yuan annually just from the promotion service fee refunds, creating vitality and space for the transformation and upgrading of merchants and industrial belts.

To bring more inclusiveness to users in remote areas such as the West, PDD has also vigorously promoted the "E-commerce Westward" plan, waiving logistics transfer fees for orders from remote areas, fully borne by the platform, significantly reducing the express delivery costs for merchants sending orders to remote areas. The express delivery costs for agricultural products, fresh goods, and daily necessities have been reduced by about 70%, with a significant increase in express order volume in the western region, greatly stimulating merchants' enthusiasm to explore the western market and promoting economic vitality between the eastern and western regions.

▲During the Harvest Festival, PDD invested 1 billion yuan in subsidies and 2 billion yuan in traffic resources to support new quality merchants. Yang Wan|Photo Following the "100 billion reduction," PDD has fully launched the "New Quality Merchant Support Program," investing a resource package of 10 billion yuan to select new quality merchants and brands with product and technological innovation capabilities, providing full-chain support in product, marketing, operations, and supply chain. In just the "Harvest Festival" event at the beginning of September, PDD invested 1 billion yuan in subsidy funds and 2 billion yuan in traffic resources to support new quality agricultural merchants such as Wenxian yam and Pinghe honey pomelo, promoting seasonal agricultural products from rural areas to cities and helping agricultural regions increase production and income.

Currently, the "New Quality Merchant Support Program" has deeply penetrated dozens of industrial belts such as Cangzhou beauty brushes, Cixi small appliances, Pingdu false eyelashes, and Donghai wearable nails, leveraging the platform's digital technology to help local merchants move from primary processing to deep processing, from white-label products to new quality brands, leading industrial belts to accelerate high-quality development.

"Benefiting from the firm investment on the supply side, merchants have more motivation and space to innovate and upgrade products and technologies, further meeting the increasingly diversified consumption concepts of users," said Zhao Jiazhen. From the perspective of consumption trends, users in first- and second-tier cities have purchased more new mobile phones, major beauty brands, and healthy light meals, satisfying personalized consumption needs; users in third- and fourth-tier cities and counties have bought more high-end home appliances, maternal and infant products, and seafood, achieving consumption upgrades.

Continue to increase long-term investment and accelerate high-quality development comprehensively

As a platform that started in agriculture, PDD continued to increase its efforts to give back to agriculture in the third quarter, making multiple investments in agricultural research.

On September 19, on the eve of the Harvest Festival, PDD, in collaboration with representatives of teachers and students from 17 technology small courtyards across the country, showcased nearly 20 new agricultural research achievements to live-streaming audiences, including Northeast sea buckthorn health tea, Guangxi Beihai shrimp crisps, Sichuan Ebian fresh bamboo shoots, and Yunnan Erhai fragrant rice, attracting a total of 18.5 million online viewers and group purchases, achieving seamless integration of agricultural research and production practice, and industrial development.

Subsequently, the finals of the fourth "Duoduo Agricultural Research Technology Competition" opened as scheduled. In the first phase of the finals, six agricultural research teams utilized cutting-edge agricultural technology to complete the innovative transformation of a "plant factory" in a container, exploring new ideas for energy-saving and consumption reduction in scientific planting. Next, the final teams will enter the intelligent planting phase of the competition, continuing to explore cutting-edge agricultural planting technologies and scenario applications, injecting new vitality into agricultural research and development.

▲ At the agricultural research competition hosted by PDD, six teams explored the practice and application of agricultural research technology. Li Ao | Photo

On September 26, the finals of the "2024 Global Agri-Entrepreneur Competition," initiated by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and supported by PDD, also kicked off, showcasing innovative solutions from dozens of young agricultural research entrepreneurs from various countries around the world that utilize digital technology to solve global agricultural challenges. After the competition, PDD also led the winning teams to participate in the 2024 World Food Forum event hosted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations in Rome, promoting the innovative solutions of the contestants to global agricultural practitioners In addition to Agricultural Research Technology, PDD has also launched the "Spring Planting with You" rural public welfare activity. Not long ago, PDD donated an "Agricultural Museum" to Huangtuzui Primary School in Bishi Du Town, Ezhou City, Hubei Province, and collaborated with teachers and students from Huazhong Agricultural University to tailor a vivid agricultural practice course for local students. Through explanations of various agricultural tools, seeds, and biological knowledge, the course aims to inspire students' thoughts and explorations about nature and farming.

"In the past quarter, we have continuously increased our investment in agricultural research and ecological construction, consistently giving back to society, agriculture, and industry," said Chen Lei. "In the coming quarters, we will firmly make long-term investments and continue to focus on ecological construction such as 'new quality supply' and 'e-commerce westward expansion,' promoting the platform and industry to accelerate towards high-quality development."