The rise of Pinduoduo and Temu: profits and secrets | FT Film

[@yuweiduan6272]

Me as a former PDD employee gotta say, PDD is really secretive even for its own employee

[@infoseeker1187]

If I run business in China, I'd be secretive too, because many Chinese staff are entreprenurial. They work for you for a while, and then will try to start their own venture copying many of your way of business. The turnover for China business is high, so unless you're member of the core team, I'd not want to teach you to compete with me.

[@aliasoma]

@@infoseeker1187 This has happened everywhere throughout history. It's people learning, then competing.

[@MohammadAbbas-qr3bh]

Hi! can you please tell how it is secretive? and have you seen colin huang when you worked there? That guy amazes me

[@yuweiduan6272]

@@MohammadAbbas-qr3bh yea, but only saw him twice for the whole two years there...

[@chanagen4865]

dude your company's book is fake. you will know from the news soon. :)

[@whitemerlin5737]

I think the realproblem is the price in US is too high. Indonesia also have temu, but the price is not much different with another local online shopping applications. That's why temu isn't growing rapidly here. But US is crazy, once i tried to buy an LED for 4x4 RV in amazon, it cost almost 30 x from my local online aplications

[@pohanlee1902]

Fun fact, around one-third of Amazon GMV are made by China-based sellers😃

[@xfactor6099]

A lesson of how the USA over inflates her GDP

[@marktn9851]

Imagine collecting taxes from a $1 item and from a $30 item. Government should be happy to tax a $30 item.

[@dumabel3351]

As a customer, I think the most important thing is price, if I can buy something more cheaper, I can live a more easy life, it is wonderful

[@hh0686]

American too greedy

[@vjstylo123]

I saw the entire story, it started with we know nothing about PDD and ends with we know nothing about PDD. Holy cow, the story was 30 minutes long !

[@NEONNOONE]

That’s why I only watch these stories on double the speed. Just 15 minutes went down the drain.

[@wulixiaodesesun2884]

You said what I exactly wanna say, hahaha😄

[@jonatanrullman]

Same reason I only read the first and last chapter of a book. I already know the protagonists are going to get through and win. Why waste time on reading like 300 pages of faffing about just to get to the inevitable end.

[@candiceevawilliams6]

😂

[@whartanto2]

Everything mentioned here is pretty common for a start up with like 3 people (you use registered address of your company secretary, because the "CEO" is sleeping on his mate's couch and working from home. Cycling through VP of Finance may indicate they don't have strong internal control on their finance (expected, given their CEO is ex Google dev, not an accountant). But to say they have 13,000 employees and still run like a 3 person start up is impossible. This smells like FTX where a small group of people make a software that automatically trade billions of dollars without much internal control, running on quickbook as their accounting system. Which is although possible, not very probable, assuming you outsource EVERYTHING other than the website / platform generation. No internal customer service, no internal logistic, no internal HR team, all you do is self serve connection of C2M (Customer to Manufacturer) platform - basically an Amazon site exclusive to chinese factory owners to remove all the middle person re-sellers and their need to advertise. And saying they are founded in Boston... well that is probably knee jerk reaction to Tik Tok ban - this sounds like a company that does not have an internal legal team or any corporate advisors.

[@Emc2Eggs]

The real mystery has always been why we pay 10-20 times the manufacturing costs of most everything

[@joewolfmedia]

Labor cost is inflated

[@vonoxid]

Intermediaries, tariffs Exploitative arbitrators, buying a bicycle saddle for $10 from manufacturer, importing, selling for 7x markup True story, naive Amazon customers baited and looted Also Amazon UX sucks, with intent

[@weird-guy]

rental costs,labor costs,insurance,electricity,water,taxes ect i´m not a defender of corporation but lets not act ignorant, also temu isn´t profitable and pdd has probably fake profits, amazon is only alive because of the cloud (aws)

[@d1p70]

Branding

[@incomingincoming1133]

Exactly. I said it before. The real mystery of Temu etc is the mystery of why you were paying so much before...and it's getting clearer that these aren't similar products to what we are used to. They are the same products.

[@nicolasbenson009]

In these uncertain times, it's more important than ever to have a solid understanding of how to manage your finances, invest wisely and navigate economic downturns. But my primary concern is how to grow my reserve of $240k which has been sitting duck since forever with zero to no gains, sure I'm all in on the long term game, but with my savings are lying waste to inflation and my portfolio losing gains everyday, I need a remedy.

[@TinaJames222]

If you need advice, consider speaking with a financial advisor. Don't get me wrong, you can do it on your own, but financial advisors have a lot more knowledge and expertise in this area.

[@tatianastarcic]

you are completely right, Advisors have information and paths that are not disclosed to the public.. I profited £560k in 2022 under the tutelage of my Fiduciary-counselor. Am I selling? Absolutely not.. I am going to sit back and observe how this all plays out.

[@Vincent-j8u]

That's impressive! I could really use the expertise of this manager for my dwindling portfolio. Who’s the professional guiding you?

[@tatianastarcic]

There are a handful of experts in the field. I've experimented with a few over the past years, but I've stuck with ‘’ Sophia Maurine Lanting” for about five years now, and her performance has been consistently impressive. She’s quite known in her field, look-her up.

[@sharonwinson-m8g]

She appears to be well-educated and well-read. I ran a Google search on her name and came across her website; thank you for sharing.

[@Strawberrycake951]

I agree that PDD/Temu is sus, but clarification on the employees not knowing coworkers' real names: In China it's VERY common for Millennials and GenZ's to go by a name that's not their birth name for business or personal reasons. Like if you do trade with foreigners often, you will use "Yasmina Chen" instead of "Chen MengYao." Or if you come from the countryside where it's the cultural norm to name your child terrible names (some believe bad names ward off bad luck, some have rules like "name the child the first thing the mom sees when she births the baby," etc.), you don't want your coworkers to call you PenJi (literally "Bucket Chicken", which is what happened to the popular Yunnan influencer DianXi XiaoGe) so you avoid giving your real name out.

[@johnpond3342]

It's common in Internet companys or entertainment business, I can hardly see anyone working in other filds using nickname as it may deemed inappropriate and disrespectful.

[@jeffjones114]

yeah cause on wechat everyone changes their names... totally normal but used as scare tactics in this hit piece

[@jont2576]

nuts,i do that online sure,everything is behind a moniker or pseudonym.....but imagine telling people in real life oh hi my name is "apimpnamedjagex" in case anyone from china doesnt know what that means, jagex is the name of a video game company, a pimp is a person man or woman, that owns or handles prostitudes.

[@SPECIALTRADER1]

Europeans are the only ones making up s*** about Temu

[@hazenetb]

This is originated from an alibaba company culture which in Chinese name of “花名“（sounds like "alias" in Mandarin too). E.g. Jack Ma called himself as 风清扬.

[@zakmorgan9320]

I got a TEMU ad before this video. The irony.

[@zakmorgan9320]

@AdoraTsang you would be correct if talking about verbal irony, however this would be a case of situational irony for example a fire station burning down. In this case it is the advertisement of a service and then what could only be described as a fairly negative source of information about said service.

[@Sanyu-Tumusiime]

@@zakmorgan9320damn homie you sound like my 7th grade english teacher

[@finn6492]

get an ad-blocker

[@-DeadChannel1982-]

bro i got one too

[@ef93781]

@@zakmorgan9320 bro: (1) targeted ads. (2) no such thing as bad advertisement

[@NanY224]

As a customer, I don’t care how the company structured. If they don’t have a CFO, perfectly, now I know they are helping me to save money as my money doesn’t use to pay a corporate executive. 😅 I like Temu’s business model and it really helps customers not paying unnecessary money out of our pocket..

[@JF-ml6lo]

The point here is more about investors than customers though. The question is where the market value is coming from.

[@weird-guy]

This is a finance channel

[@UKkenny]

you think ?@@weird-guy

[@sevenhenson3926]

temu is selling dirt cheap stuff. of course it wont affect most companies, except for amazon. cos a item on temu could be listed on amazon with 10 times its price. resellers cant compete with direct from factory sales

[@hathwayh3209]

It's just not really. They usually show a few items that are cheaper at the top of u were to search identical items prices are very similar. The extra price usually gets u better shipping.

[@jeffjones114]

@@hathwayh3209 yeah but are you really going to be pay 10 times more for better shipping times? for most items I personally can wait

[@ssuwandi3240]

Why need to see Temu in the report . they're just Contractors at best.

[@growtocycle6992]

Temu just got bought out. The prices are going to rise. Really, the prices already are almost no different than Amazon.

[@ssuwandi3240]

@@growtocycle6992 very. That's why it's Retail sacked 10,000 employees last Dec. They knew not going to make more esp w green warehouses 😂 Abs Joke Government

[@incomingincoming1133]

Stop manufacturing mysteries. Ppl can sense that you are getting the same items at literally 1/3 the price, and that is quite motivating. Temu etc causes you to question the whole world, and why you have been paying so much in the past. That is the real mystery. And no. These manufacturers did not just 'appear.' Which is more likely: that they rapidly appeared and acquired decades of modern manufacturing expertise, or we were already consuming their products through re-branders. Temu etc is not the rise of a new business. It is the cutting out of the middlemen we recognize.

[@Mister.Unknown]

Good Citizen 好公民 +1000 Social Credit (社会信用体系) to you ! ! !

[@alinaqirizvi1441]

Yh but existing stores like AliExpress have cheaper prices and better delivery timeframes (5-day delivery to Europe)

[@ethanwang3507]

Simply because, there was a large markup you paid than the manufacturer got paid. Heard about 'smiling curve'?

[@freetheworld2671]

Facts. P Diddy, I mean PDD was probably a huge company that was always handling logistics for Amazon and other online companies and decided to just move a player off the board.

[@inquisitorofthegodemperor8434]

Agree, no mystery - if anything I would posit it's a branding equation which has allowed them to attain sudden surge in market share through a marketing experiment gone extremely right, no corner of the internet is safe from Temu's ads - they've redefined themselves as the go-to for online shopping of cheap goods

[@5magpiesuk]

I'm in the UK and for poor people TEMU is a godsend, western high prices are just another TAX on poor people. JEALOUSY is what I'm hearing, nothing more.

[@TheHesseJames]

Much of the stuff sold in Western consumer markets is stuff you do not actually need. Most of the stuff sold over Temu is also unnecessary nonsense. That's where our incredible progress is reinvested: not in working less hours, not in conserving the environment but in the ability to buy ever more and more stuff. We are crazy!

[@vanessat9309]

Exactly! Who needs all this novelty plastic crap? @@TheHesseJames

[@SimonAlan-sm6vv]

your speech idioms don't sound like someone from the UK

[@jokersauce5100]

​@@SimonAlan-sm6vvI feel like a conspiracy theorists, but I swear few top-voted comments in this section sound like a Chinese person trying to pass for "western"

[@MohammadAbbas-qr3bh]

exactly! western media will never show the dirt their companies have

[@stormsake]

Amazon has been bothering me since 2 years for a package that I have returned but they lost it in the warehouse, they even sued me where they lost the case but obviously it was not enough them to stop asking me the fee for the lost product plus 2 times more fee for the time past. Temu on the other hand did not ask me to return some items I bought, besides not all their products are bad. Electronics are maybe skeptical, but jewellery, textiles like jackets, pants, blankets, house equipment are 8/10. It is certainly disrupting Amazon's monopoly in a good way.

[@SamvelRubinyan]

We are witnessing a scenario described in the book by Arthur Grandi. When the financial world is based on a weak currency like the dollar, chaos will continue and bubbles will enter the market duplicating the bubble of the financial system. The new formula described in the book "Grand Time" was created to strengthen the financial system and take it to a new level.

[@whyamiwastingmytimeonthis]

“Weak currency like dollar” lol ok, go ahead and peddle your yuan please😂

[@HM-hu4hu]

What does Temu have to do with how strong the dollar is? Geez...

[@jfrd-pw4hk]

"Weak currency like dollar" ---- You need to do your homework, boy.

[@SamvelRubinyan]

Скоро увидешь, чуточку терпения прояви и всё будет на лице​@@jfrd-pw4hk

[@djggl1337]

The direction of this video is trying to make people sus on temu and pdd for their company & owner structures which, no supprisingly, any listed international company is playing. Well, we are really stupid enough to believe that only chinese companies have bad intension to do this while others like goog, aapl, fb are doing this for good.😏

[@MrStarfishPrime]

Chinese are mastering now the same mechanisms the western corporations have been using in the last decades. Most of the SP500 are using complex corporate structures using offshoring facilities and tax havens crossing multiple regulators like those Chinese companies are using.

[@AskforQAli]

It's ok for western companies. But not for any other country. It must be corruption or govt backed.

[@choihang8584]

But the Chinese are not allowed to do things this way...dump reporters

[@OscarShu]

Many ask why the US price is so much higher? The real reason is the currency exchange rate, USD to CNY is ~1:7, the average monthly salary of after tax in the US is about 4000 USD , while in China, it is about 4000 RMB. Basic living things are about the same number, like If you try to buy a can of soda from vending machine, it is 1.5 USD in the US vs 2 RMB in China, a meal outside is about 20 USD vs 20 RMB. Given this background, then a 14 RMB phone case that totally makes sense in China suddenly becomes incredibly cheap for 2 USD. It is that simple. Previously, vendors in Amazon would buy the $2 phone case and mark it up to ~$10 which is still very cheap in the US but now PDD/Temu tries to let those factories sell that $2 phone case to you, just the shipping takes 2 weeks. Finally, the question is why the USD to CNY is ~1:7 in the first place?

[@MNTrader2012]

The exchange rate is decided by the Chinese government.

[@MeiinUK]

You guys are screwing up the world.... Even if the government set that rate for you. We have currency stock exchanges that exchange the volume and rates. So it is dynamic. It is not always 1 to 7..... Stupid... And it must not remain at 1 to 7..... You are making bank rubs. I.e. you are collapsing your own banks.....

[@swee78]

@user-yj8zw7hk6f chinese sellers sell to US customers and get US dollars. they then buy chinese yuan and sell those US dollars to repatriate these earnings. China has a trade surplus for many years (decades) with US. meaning they sell more goods to US than buy from them. economic theory suggests over time, the yuan should appreciate as there is naturally more demand to sell USD to buy yuan. The reason this hasn't happened is because the chinese yuan is not a freely traded currency. instead those surplus USD earnings are kept in USD and reinvested in US dollar assets.

[@malcolmliang]

#1 Because the buyer will pay anyway #2 They want US dollars - Even if you ask to pay in CNY it's scaled to equals. So USDCNY can be 1:18 today and they will still ask for the same amount of money.

[@SIXU-co6tr]

this is good question

[@anam.caballerowilson9421]

Actually all products in America is made in Asia. They just shove brands name. Even Apple 😅 costs dependent on type of materials but Temu really good. Surprisingly

[@salinadomingo8223]

That true

[@djggl1337]

because asian factories are burning their own profit and labor to keep their market shares, to serve us or eu consumers

[@EdwinaTS]

I was a customer of Amazon UK and I frequently wrote constructive reviews. This attracted many manufacturers to approach me for suggestions. I think Pinduoduo must have utilised this kind of customer-manufacturer feed back and recommendations to other people.

[@user-be1jx7ty7n]

Great film as always FT, very grateful for the quality material put out for free.

[@Western_Decline]

it’s just propaganda designed to make you hate China

[@dxd42]

Protectionist American Propaganda 😂

[@Sprcd]

Seeing this video made me install Temu

[@Americunts123]

Read the reviews half are fake, reason to get 100 $ reward, other half are bad reviews.

[@ginnox2049]

How is that different than Amazon? A lot of Amazon sellers bought reviews making fake positive claims...some sellers don't even deliver the item after payment, or ship fake or unrelated items.

[@homodeus8713]

😂😂😂

[@Abodytube2]

me too hahaha

[@Abodytube2]

@@Americunts123 false i have ordered from their website and products are very worth the prices

[@MarkG-h2y]

The financial secrecy behind TEMU is likely to prevent the company from being fined for "dumping". Most countries have "anti-dumping" laws which prevent companies from selling merchandise far below market value just to gain market share. Chinese companies are notorious for doing this in the West to drive competitors out of markets and even out of business in some cases. An additional twist here is that the products are only "below market value" when you factor in the shipping costs to the West which are often more than the product itself. Once they can establish local warehousing in the West those shipping costs will drop dramatically.

[@deezeed2817]

This is a lie. Chinese production lines are cheap and efficient, It has nothing to do with "dumping".

[@MarkG-h2y]

@@deezeed2817 It has everything to do with "dumping" Yes, Chinese products are cheap and for the Chinese market where shipping is less than $1 they are able to make a profit. But shipping costs to the US are typically more than the product cost so for those products they are taking a loss. This is revealed in the profit-loss graphs presented in the video. That may be dumping since they are taking a loss when shipping costs are taken into account.

[@chunyuenlau56]

But don't you still have to pay shipping cost to ship those products to the warehouse in the first place ?

[@quentinwilliams1650]

TEMU will never warehouse in the West because then they loose their de minimis exception on imports.

[@MarkG-h2y]

@@chunyuenlau56 Local shipping costs WITHIN the US will be a FRACTION of what it costs to ship from China to the US so costs will be much lower.

[@azioprism3635]

*People want something faster and even cheaper than TEMU, it seems the cycle never ends until everything is free and instant :3*

[@yanglinluo]

I live in NZ and used Temu a few times. Some were fantastic some where average. Still a whole lot cheaper than nz. So no regrets.

[@Brodragon2225]

use costco as temu is scammy some times and sell even data of credit cards

[@CarlosCampbell-e8v]

HIT 10K TODAY. I'M REALLY GRATEFUL FOR ALL THE KNOWLEDGE AND NUGGETS YOU HAD THROWN MY WAY OVER THE LAST MONTHS.

[@AntonOfTheWoods]

While the actual details of Temu sound fishy, the principle sounds very much like we might finally be getting to something reasonably approaching a proper free market. Producers are in direct contact with consumers, and signals between mean near real-time, near optimal outcomes. While we obviously need accountability, the notion that we have proper accountability with Seychelles-based companies is also pretty silly... Advertising and brands are a bug in the capitalist system, not a feature. If only we could regulate and give transparency/accountability without immediately corrupting the entire system, we might be able to dramatically decrease prices for the masses.

[@ldon4002]

It is no longer low price and low quality. With the 7 day no-condition return policy, the quality has become much better. If you do not like what you receive, do not pay and just return with no charge. It is becoming the ideal place for shopping.

[@shasan2393]

Temu makes my “too good to be true” sensors go off

[@igorberezin856]

Yet, delivers on its promise every time.

[@CommonSense-uj9ip]

It set up its store like a game or slot machine haha

[@ariellubonja7856]

@@igorberezin856not really. Can find basically the same prices on Walmart. Don’t let those $1 backpack welcome offers fool you

[@weird-guy]

flood the market by undercutting the competion, gain market, increase price,profits is nothing new unless you are a very young person.

[@SPECIALTRADER1]

​@@CommonSense-uj9ipAnd they're selling at the highest levels.

[@RachelDerGolem]

I would like to thank the Uyghur People for working so hard to provide the western world with such great values.

[@coolinspirefunnybook1289]

China people thank indian apache people for let china open it eye about the dangerous of western influence and mentallity of invading other nation.

[@jovoateljevic1828]

what this guy is talking about..., it's a simple business model...efficient, chipper for users...very competitive in the marketplace

[@MrCalls1]

17:54 this” had maybe one or two more middle layer”s shows an object with a single middle flap, therefore she recieved half the product, 4 sides, if she received those 2 more layers she would have 8sides of ‘activities’ for her Montessori kid. That sort of falling short of description seems substantial to me.

[@shinyshinythings]

This is very similar to the way TEMU clothing is made, from what I’ve seen on comparison videos showing what was ordered vs what arrived in the mail. Typically they will copy the image of a dress or other clothing item, often from an independent designer/maker, and display that photo in the ads, while shipping an extremely shoddy copy of the item. The business model seems to rely on everything being so cheap that people won’t bother to return anything, even if it’s completely substandard.

[@FenrirRobu]

Except that's not what she said. She compared it to a local product of unnamed price (which is strange why the price was left out, mind you) to what she got for 11 EUR on TEMU. This sort of mishearing seems suspicious to me.

[@MobbJusticeTV]

This is all just capitalism at the end of the day. Films like this do a good job of showing how uncomfortable Western players are when players from other parts of the world play the capitalist game better than them. All the inferences of underhanded behaviour by the company in this film could easily be made/transferred onto a number of US and European operators

[@UKkenny]

well said 👍👍

[@jooky87]

These guys just figuring out the basics of e-commerce, wow

[@MeiinUK]

We know e-commerce. But we are saying, you are not doing European e-commerce. Because we have actual laws to stop the format that you do inside China... Nobody sells it this way in Europe.... Cos it violates supplier chain laws too....

[@Rvtccc]

Wild conspiracy theory, partly a joke and half serious: If you ever read the book "Life 3.0" the introduction begins with a story about a group of data engineers building an AI who starts building a lot businesss with shell companies and shell employees. And ends up running the whole. Maybe it finally happend in real life. Maybe Temu is the AI's first project? 😅

[@Kalinskiya]

It could be.

[@imnothat2185]

No AI is far more kind and generous than pinduoduo. Pinduoduo is very harsh to its employee and sellers.

[@brightlight3520]

​@imnothat2185 one could say " cold and efficient " like a machine

[@blablah9938]

I dont understand, did north American peope never heard of alibaba/aliexpress before? Because in Europe its normal way of buying extra cheap for YEARS so nobody cares about Temu, because its nothing new for us.

[@oscarwang1000]

TEMU, based on geopolitical tensions, should try to avoid mentioning its Chinese background as much as possible, and many enterprises are also doing the same.

[@vonoxid]

Justified, otherwise they get ridiculed by some brain-dead and senile senate committee on what is the internet and Singapore is in China…

[@vonoxid]

Justified, otherwise they get harassed be some senile senate committee seeking tech support

[@toneyeye]

I am a buyer from Temu and I have a million questions about the business. I think the people who should be doggedly seeking answers are the SEC in the United States and businesses like Amazon, which may become irrelevant if the current trend continues.

[@TZ-pm8ws]

As long as Temu prices are still significantly lower than Amazon prices (of products that are likely produced in the very same factory), so much lower that I am willing to wait a few more days, and to take the risk that it might arrive slightly damanged, they will thrive. And apparently they know this well.

[@GiZeeGis]

FT should instead do a documentary to investigate why things in the west cost so much while these companies van make them at a fraction of the cost. Yes the quality of the finished product are poor after sale service, but why do these stuff cost so much in the west?

[@jacobs8102]

Because it is not about what something costs but how much we want to sell it for. In the model of C2M, the only brand is Temu, which is much cheaper. So the competition is on utility, not the perceived value through branding. I remember the same phenomenon in Poland when I was young, and Russians were coming to Poland selling cheap Russian products. If you needed a Philips screwdriver, a French key, or cloth for your kitchen, you could get it from there. They were well-made products for a fraction of the cost. The main reason was that there was overproduction in Russia. I believe the same situation exists in China now. Just delivery method changed as the market now is in your phone.

[@shinyshinythings]

@@jacobs8102And these products are the opposite of well-made.

[@anjelaselezneva8593]

Yes, everything is clear, professionally competent, accessible! Well done!! Thank you!!! Respect

[@a675432100]

As long as prices are 20x or 30x higher on Amazon, any claim can be placed on Temu, even accusing it of connection to the Chinese government but the regular customer does not care about such propaganda when the products safely arrives and saves them thousands of dollars per year.

[@TheHesseJames]

Temu products do not save you a cent. You buy it because it is cheap and not because you need the stuff.

[@ryanpeters3289]

Metrics: - Gross Merchandise Value (GMV) -Competition w/ Amazon My prediction is that Amazon’s e-commerce business will go in the way of Dell, where companies like Temu, Shein, TikTok Shop with cheaper products will eventually beat them. I also suspect that this might be a partial hit piece by China hawks

[@victorianiu7135]

headquarter of PDD is in Shanghai. Everyone knows in China

[@SpaceWalker2013]

Oh, no, they are now coming after the Pinduoduo after they take down Tiktok……

[@J20666]

They are very confident that they will be successful in western countries as was in China. The similar story is of the success of TikTok(Chinese version: Douyin) in the west.

[@hh0686]

As an investor, I only care whether I can make a profit out of my investment. I don’t care about Pinduoduo being secretive. Did anyone care about Apple being secretive? I don’t think so.

[@Paolo040]

How exactly is Temu different from Wish or Aliexpress - solely from a shopper perspective?

[@GreatTaiwan]

nothing i guess being that a direct competitor to amazon the US is afraid so it will send it's propaganda machines

[@ronaldomike]

And it ships faster than AliExpress, or how long it used to take AliExpress. Temu use air mail, I think AliExpress now uses more air mail

[@tdtm82]

Temu's advertising campaign is ruthless. They do have a strategic PR on advertising absolutely nailed. However I'm too skeptic to order anything. You guys interviewed me in your magazine and I was and still am very proud of that feature. Keep up with the exceptional work.

[@havencat9337]

if you dont have money you will be happy to knw they exist. poor people need low prices

[@tdtm82]

@monipenny408 What an odd and incredibly judgemental and wrong statement which does not understand at all my context. Please read again. They have an excellent PR strategy. No way was I being negative to China or making comparisons to us brands. Please learn to read before making stupid assumptions. When something is too cheap I am generally skeptical. I know how hard international distribution is.

[@DJ_POOP_IT_OUT_FEAT_LIL_WiiWii]

it's a dollar store, everything is crap. I rather go to a local dollar store to see just how bad it is before I take a chance on one item.

[@tdtm82]

@@DJ_POOP_IT_OUT_FEAT_LIL_WiiWiiExactly. I couldn't have put it better myself. Making x on a £1 item which costs 30p to make is just a lot of profit. They are based in China and I suspect use third-party warehouses. China has labour laws which are not as good as the EU; US or UK. The Chinese economy is currently in an interesting place.

[@DJ_POOP_IT_OUT_FEAT_LIL_WiiWii]

@@tdtm82 It's a little hands operation. They operate from a thousands warehouses. I'm not saying they're bad morally. Just that they would need to up the level of quality significantly to get my purchase. On their website I can't find a single item I'd want.

[@robbrand922]

PDD is definitely beating BABA in Chinese market.

[@jeffjones114]

not really they are not directly competing... PDD is more downmarket, like the lady said in the video, for some items she would never use PDD for

[@djggl1337]

I'd say for common products they're very alike in price now unless some big saling activities running

[@SPECIALTRADER1]

China... jlJust building and moving on.

[@igorberezin856]

I have noticed that temu items quality is higher that of usa retail brand name items and is ten times less through temu

[@slypear]

Finally, a wumao commenter!

[@NormaDibonaventura]

your video is what makes me understand the market more each day, and change from my emotion involved to be a signal and reason for point of entering than I was before thanks to you

[@drsu5638]

Something shady brewing below the surface. Great reporting from Dan McCrum as always, thanks FT for making this publicly accessible.

[@BBshark000]

Yet ANOTHER reason why the West is increasingly more fearful of China - it subverts a lot of what the West has established or believes in. Now the only thing the West has to do is demonise China and hope for the best.

[@Paula49419]

Like Amazon, but better 😊

[@Monique097]

A new Wirecard case?

[@jayceh]

Kaifu Lee explained years ago, the Chinese strategy is build the biggest, bloodiest, no-holds-barred arena for competition, and throw a thousand companies in there and let the best ones emerge Those are the national champions. When they go abroad, like Ctrip, Pingduoduo, BYD, etc, they'll find the completion...lacking. US and EU companies are simply not used to the intense levels of competition in China.

[@aryammansahlot4415]

Amazing film , deserves wayyyy more views please keep making these

[@SPECIALTRADER1]

Why does this video deserve more views?? Because Europeans are questioning Chinese businesses??🤡🥸

[@bambinaforever1402]

Fake chinese propaganda. I figured that out after 50 seconds and stopped watching. Also i NEVER endorse anything chinese or made by elon musk

[@bambinaforever1402]

@@SPECIALTRADER1ooo, chinese bot is working for food

[@GreatTaiwan]

@@bambinaforever1402 with same logic should we do anything against amazon bannign their own employee from using the bathroom i guess that's much worse thou

[@KJ-js7pi]

LOL everyone I know who shops at Temu knows its Chinese, consumers are not dumb and the Financial Times is dumb for for thinking we check a company HQ's by looking at the website's About page.

[@swillmerchant9886]

i honestly believe by the tonal vehemence of judgement by the team working on this story, that they had bought loads of puts on PDD or have naked shorts on the stock..and it's paying off. it's intended to spook investors really not customers.

[@KJ-js7pi]

@@swillmerchant9886 Exactly. Least obvious hit piece.

[@lmc2664]

It seems to me that PDD and Temu are either owned or subsidized by their government.

[@bernadettritah2188]

Do you know..Bitcoin is on its way to breaking records, getting closer to hitting new high prices, showing that it's gaining more value and could go even higher than we've seen before. This could mean great things for people looking to invest, suggesting now might be a good time to get involved before it jumps even higher. It's an exciting moment that could change the game in general...managed to grow a nest egg of around 1.2Biitcoin to a decent 6.4Biitcoin. At the heart of this evolution is indeko Glenn, whose deep understanding of both cryptocurrency and traditional trading has been instrumental. Her holistic approach to investment and commitment to staying abreast of market trends make her an invaluable ally in navigating this new era in cryptocurrency investment....

[@대성-黄]

Bitcoin is moving crazy these few days but if you are smart then you should know the best thing to do is exchange especially with the right guidance.

[@대성-黄]

Mind if I ask you to recommend this particular professional you use their service?

[@bernadettritah2188]

Find her online with her name

[@대성-黄]

Okay I will google her, thank you

[@ersoydede6561]

I have seen so many recommendations about indeko glenn, her strategy must be good for people to talk about her…

[@timbercladdingcn]

Chinese people can develop millions of TEMUs. This is good news, reducing monopolies.

[@30yearstockcycle]

When you add in the shipping cost, they (PDD, Temu) are not competitive in the North America market for the average consumer. For a business, maybe. But the quality of Chinese made products is dubious. They are fabulous for the home - Chinese market.

[@roxysponge3447]

I like temu. Good stuff they are selling.

[@myguyingoa2172]

Good to see Dan McCrum, the guy who uncovered German payment processing Wirecard skandal being the skillful investigative financial journalist, fearlessly going at it. Certainly going to keep tracking this companies, temu and pdd.

[@notabolished1331]

I love the secrecy. Let them keep it up!!!!!!😀

[@uni-kumMitsubishi]

A Trojan Horse then, impossible to sanction as basic shooping necessity. Aliexpress is alot cheaper in UK, how does that factor in?

[@djggl1337]

the profit they burn to serve uk. that's no trojan but self-deprecation as I see it

[@havencat9337]

its cheap, you should be happy for people struggling

[@uni-kumMitsubishi]

I am, use it myself! Doesn't mean I can't point out the obvious tho@@havencat9337

[@uni-kumMitsubishi]

I am, I use it all the time @@havencat9337

[@dcphillips1991]

The sorts of dirt cheap goods you get on Temu are those that you see in the news getting seized for containing illegal dangerous chemicals.

[@yoshyoka]

How a company with no financial or legal transparency can even be listed eludes my understanding.

[@LadyOrion2012]

One way the Chinese companies save money and make profit is likely by exporting the goods to one of several countries that are exempt from import taxes into the US. Then from those exempt countries the goods are imported to the US. Its also likely the Chinese have deals in place with those countries that absolves them from excessive tarriffs.

[@Pschokid]

I hate how platforms like these have made it so hard to find a trustworthy seller who; pays workers a living wage, who is producing quality goods and follows environmental regulations

[@alphaTrader.oo1]

I don't understand how OpenAI runs the LLM or the background works yet still using AI everyday

[@oksanatimofeeva9567]

Damn. Just found your channel and after watching the video, I knew I had to subscribe. Learned so many things from you than most if not all binary traders' content. Keep it up!

[@litewavve]

I guess we will need more regulations on restricting "unnecessary," "non-durable," and "low cost" goods. I wonder how you define each of the terms.

[@minhdinh3942]

I love temu and the comments are all positive on temu hahaha

[@xVincentxValentine]

"Toy Chinese online bargain store Temu a 'safety risk' for children" Toy Industries of Europe (TIE) concludes this after a sample test. Of the 19 toy products ordered from Temu, NOT A SINGLE ONE met European standards. According to TIE, 18 of them posed a safety risk to children.

[@NicolasTRANG]

PDD is clearly not the destination for children's goods. Serious parents in China are avoiding PDD.

[@brucewayne5916]

Never liked FT, but this is Great production keep up

[@TZ-pm8ws]

"lack of information... and can't understand it" are problems for FT investigative reporters for sure, but not really a problem for consumers. Our problem is high prices.

[@violate4265]

❤I learned a lot from this. Thank you for your story.

[@108u9]

The real identity of P.Diddy is Puff Daddy

[@greatwhiteswag]

Amazon isn't spending big to market their pretrademarked Scrabble brand names. They're just gobbling up and retaining as much of each product's rev as possible.

[@klarkewang]

Chinese big firms need to expand their business into developed market where middle classes have purchasing power. US domestic Amazon will do everything to stop them anyway. Is it a good or bad thing for US consumers, ur bet?

[@k.k.c8670]

Comparing it to Amazon that has its own warehouses, transportation fleet, expensive workforce etc etc is apples to oranges. Shein and Temu laid those costs on the manufacturers that probably also supply to the likes of Amazon. Could even be 'overflow' goods.

[@raymondcaylor6292]

Temu is Wish except it has profits behind it thanks to China Operations. What stockholders are buying is a Cayman based business that has no operational profits or assets. How do you think that'll end ? In the end PDD will have it's domestic business core and a huge list of foreign customers that in the end they paid nothing for. The stockholders will bear those costs.

[@silverdragon7952]

I don't think Temu is trying to hide. Companies would only provide information about themselves when they want to get investor company to fund it. And for really for sure profitable companies like Temu, they never lack investors to begin with, so Temu may not need to publicize their sales data.

[@geoms6263]

respect Temu for the courage to do things differently

[@Batman_akzo]

The actual benefactors of hyper consumption are not temu, wish or Shein but the US government and banks. The only way left for US to stay relevant is people loading up more and more debt and people consuming more.

[@picketf]

If there was anything to this theory why are 5 years investments into KBWD tanking? The banking sector is who's been footing the bill during this low interest period and the overconsumption is securing the future of producers in China. US relevance lies in attracting foreign residents and relying on their cheap labor, steadily increasing housing costs, threatening the world with its military and housing the world's tech companies.

[@bm8641]

People in US are asking why prices in US are higher. But they don't ask "why I have two cars on my driveway"? "Why I went in Carraibeans two times this year on vacation? "How come I afford this four bedroom house for a three person family?" Now answer these questions for the regular Chinese worker. Instead of supporting the fellow American worker, the US consumer prefer to send money to the Chinese, all in the name of " is a free world " crap.

[@AbulaSyllabus]

I love the take on the end... the face of those who "positively influence" the society with excellent behaviors that have a very positive impact on society (22:31)! Hahaha... and they get paid to do so by the same social engines that then donate much smaller amounts trying to fight the "problem"... You must be blind not to see the mess. And if you're not, you kinda "Wish".

[@orien2v2]

What?! How can something so big yet remain so mysterious and legally official? The lack of oversight and scrutiny in business is appalling. They could be a huge laundering scheme encompassing a range of illicit businesses in third world countries and they are getting away with it in broad daylight. Is there no investigation from any authorities?

[@miboxed]

The video delves into the enigmatic Pinduoduo and its global venture, Temu. While PDD has a strong foothold in China, its opacity and unconventional practices raise concerns. Temu's rapid expansion and aggressive marketing are notable, but its long-term impact remains uncertain. The video highlights the company's lack of transparency, questionable headquarters, and the founder's history of obfuscation. Despite these concerns, Temu's potential to disrupt the industry cannot be ignored. However, its business model raises ethical questions about sustainability and consumerism.

[@NeoThabo]

I hate when america cries foul when beats them at what their good at. Amazon can be pricey and Temu is cheap. In tough economic times like these, Temu is the way to go to satisfy our need for retail therapy. Other platforms must just suck it up and become more competitive otherwise they will continue to cry. Business is war. Adapt or lose.

[@elisedepaola4211]

Вот это был нереальный камбэк! Офигенно получилось! Лайк жмякнул))

[@shashankverma9512]

Why didn't anyone speak up that they are stealing or private data... the moment anyone downloads their app... why not just allow to buy in their portal with all those deals?

[@williamaseng]

lol stole data? most consumer datas are available through third party and being sold regularly to merchants. Social medias collect more data than e commerce like temu or amazon.

[@havencat9337]

i can give them data like i give to all ther apps! at least this guys give us low prices

[@BBshark000]

Don't tell me you're one of those brainwashed Westerner that believes that only the Chinese apps and products "steal" your data in the entire world....😂😂😂

[@CrisCheese_]

​@@BBshark000well, usa and eu countries at least got laws protecting our data to an extent, china doesnt have any data privacy laws

[@BBshark000]

@@CrisCheese_ Ever heard of Eric Snowden?

[@GiftBraundi]

I'd definitely run a business in this way where even the people who went to business school do not understand.

[@AlbertLai-f9s]

PDD is simply a china based company selling in overseas as a local company through shell companies & legal entities to pass all local regulations. they just simply follow & play the paperwork game very well. must have hired a very good local business consultants & lawyers to structure everything. The best thing abt this structure is they can close & shut it down anytime without affecting china headquarters and all its logistic operations. The truth is PPD don’t need your money or ur investment. They’re so big in china. It’s part of their strategy to address overseas business threat incase politics or video like this want to shut them down.

[@anj000]

So it is just another AliExpress or what? Why are you talking about it as something new? I was buying similar stuff from china, from small toy to smartphones, for 7 years already or something.

[@changedNameSorry]

Facebook is just another MySpace, Google just another Yahoo, TikTok just another Snapchat. The difference between huge success and failure lies in the details and is sometimes even a bit arbitrary. To start with AliExpress' search function was really not the best

[@jackjhmc820]

I thought the secret of new business model is asking buyers to take part of fulfilling huge orders? E.g manufacturers only give huge discount like 80% off at this price if they receive 10,000 orders ?

[@SR-pr2xz]

Aliexpress is registered in lux and collects vat based on delivery country within EU per the 2021 law. Other ali entities like 1688/taobao no longer deliver to Europe because of that. Taobao is significantly cheaper than Aliexpress. Is this a means to avoid complying with EU tax laws maybe?

[@godzillamothra5983]

PDD is cost cutting the extreme, not even spare cost to hire receptionist.

[@gevorggasparyan4257]

I love FT but honestly I am very dissapointed with this documentary. I was in China when Pinduoduo was getting into business back in 2018 or 19. They encouraged pople to share their products on social media platforms like wechat and earn coupons (red pockets in Chinese) to get cheap, free products. Somebody pured Billions of dollars into it to get it going. But if you guys are honest about it, this is the Amazon model. Remember how Amazon went years without any profits and Jeff Bezos even laughed about it when they asked him how the company survived while losing money? The same model is applied to Luckin coffee here in China too. You never see them bitching about Amazon lol

[@freescholar_familytree]

You can tell if a company is good for you by going to their privacy policy page and their terms page and doing an in page search for the words "third party" - then look at the text on either side of "third party", to see if it is something you agree with. It will let you know how they share your personal info.