SHANGHAI, April 21 (Xinhua) -- China's fast-growing online group discounter Pinduoduo on Tuesday announced its plan of investing no less than 50 billion yuan (about 7 billion U.S. dollars) in the next five years to promote e-commerce in rural areas of the country.
The company expects to help cultivate 1 million rural e-shops each with an annual turnover of more than 1 million yuan on its platform in the next five years.
Pinduoduo saw its turnover of farm and sideline products totaled 136.4 billion yuan in 2019. The number of active buyers of agricultural products reached 240 million last year on its platform, with a repurchase rate of more than 70 percent.
The company also reported the opening of more than 270,000 new agriculture-related e-shops in the first quarter, close to the overall figure for the whole year of 2019, 60 percent among which are registered in rural areas.
Pinduoduo had nearly 590,000 active merchants supporting more than 12 million farmers nationwide as of the end of last year. It saw an annual gross merchandise volume of 1.01 trillion yuan in 2019, representing an increase of 113 percent year on year.
Founded in 2015, the e-commerce platform is known for offering bulk purchase deals with big discounts and enjoys a huge consumer base in rural areas and small cities. It started trading on the Nasdaq Stock Market in July 2018. Enditem
