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A breathtaking rise for a group founded as recently as 2015 in Shanghai by the son of a factory worker who previously worked at Google. He embodies a new generation of Chinese ‘serial entrepreneurs’ for whom the world’s largest online market is no longer enough, and who are unashamedly setting out to conquer the world. At 44, Huang Zheng, alias Colin, looks like the twin brother of the self-taught Jack Ma; like him, he hails from Hangzhou, in the heart of the enterprising central province of Zhejiang. An enhanced version for the age of online video and gaming. , making those who rode the first wave of the internet, driven by Yahoo at the turn of the century, look outdated. It is as if the baton has been passed from the era of China’s take-off, with its boundless growth accelerated by the advent of the web, to the era of the smartphone and social media in a China that is tightening its belt amid a slowdown in growth.
A clever mix of low prices and entertainment. The two billionaires have never officially met, but Colin Huang, whose fortune is estimated at $45 billion according to Forbes, admits that he has learnt lessons from his visionary elder, who is now in Beijing’s sights. “ “Thanks to the experience of others, we can move a little faster,” said the forty-something with geeky glasses, who cautiously stepped down as chairman in 2021 – amidst the Party’s regulatory crackdown on the tech sector – but remains the holding company’s largest shareholder. The man is keeping a low profile at a time of President Xi Jinping’s ideological crackdown, cultivating an image as a philanthropist. Pinduoduo’s success rests on a clever mix of low prices and entertainment designed to appeal to younger generations who have grown up in the smartphone era, addicted to screens and video games, but facing a bleak economic outlook. Like Douyin (TikTok’s parent company), the other rising star of e-commerce, PDD has ‘perfectly understood the expectations of this young generation, their need for entertainment, and their addiction to constant attention in this economic climate’ “Gloomy. And the products aren’t expensive!”, Sandrine Zerbib, co-author of *Dragon Tactics: The Tactics of Chinese Entrepreneurs for Better Leadership in Uncertain Times* (Dunod, 2022), explains. To win over ‘the smartphone generation’, PDD slashes prices by cutting out the middlemen and promoting group purchases amongst ‘friends’, capitalising on the social bandwagon effect. “More than just the price, Pinduoduo’s appeal lies in offering the feeling of having unearthed a rare bargain,” explained Huang. Faced with Alibaba’s Taobao and Tmall platforms, PDD wins over the hesitant by promising an immediate, free return should buyers have second thoughts. There are no longer any barriers to impulse buying. “ “I prefer Pinduoduo because it refunds me very quickly when I return the goods, and there are no delivery charges,” explains one user on Weibo. Its deliberately low-cost strategy is in tune with a China plagued by deflation (consumer prices fell by 0.8 per cent in January) and ravaged by a property crisis that has inevitably impoverished many households and is weighing on their spending. ‘The deterioration Economic factors are the real reason behind PDD’s success. Its popularity means that we are “the poor,” sneers another internet user. Temu is unapologetically rolling out this model on a global scale, forming an aggressive Chinese digital trio alongside TikTok and Shein, appealing to Gen Zers worldwide, in both developed and emerging markets. Founded as recently as 2022 to emulate the fast-fashion platform, PDD’s international arm has already snapped up more than 17 per cent of the US low-cost online market and seems insatiable, sponsoring the Super Bowl and investing heavily in all-out marketing campaigns across Europe and Asia. This international shift – as early as it is dizzying – also sets this new powerhouse apart from Jack Ma, who devoted most of his energy to the Middle Kingdom before looking beyond the Great Wall. “Our generation of entrepreneurs has a more global outlook, with access to more international insights to capitalise on globalisation. If you succeed on a “Globally speaking, you’ll be more at ease in China,” said Huang, a computer science graduate from the University of Wisconsin who returned to China with Google. This choice was driven as much by the opportunities to be seized in a world hyper-connected by the digital revolution as by the need to reduce dependence on a slowing market, one at the mercy of the dictates of Communist strategists. PDD, TikTok and Shein are making the most of the lessons learnt from the ultra-competitive ecosystem of the world’s leading online market to win over the ‘smartphone generation’ across every continent, whilst concealing their origins. “Many entrepreneurs feel it is absolutely essential to go elsewhere, as the domestic market is running out of steam. Nothing will be able to stop them, apart from geopolitical factors or “questions of values”, says Sandrine Zerbib. Whilst TikTok is in the hot seat, accused of spreading disinformation from Beijing, Temu hopes to navigate the new Cold War by hiding behind the playful façade of its borderless app.