PDD Holdings may not be a household name, but the Chinese firm’s discount e-commerce platforms Temu and Pinduoduo have become retail juggernauts, helping PDD nearly double its revenue to $35 billion in 2023. Temu, the international platform popular in the U.S., attracts tens of millions of users outside China hunting for bargains on clothing, electronics, and home goods. In China, Pinduoduo has become a formidable rival to dominant JD.com and Alibaba. Temu attracts tens of millions of users with shockingly low prices, helped by a trade rule that allows it to avoid paying certain taxes on goods entering the U.S. Its success has attracted intense scrutiny, including accusations by U.S. lawmakers that it sells products made by forced labor; the company has called them “completely ungrounded.”
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