PDD - Q3 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to PDD Holdings Inc. third quarter 2023 earnings conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question-and-answer session, at which time if you wish to ask a question, you will need to press star then one on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today. Please go ahead.

Speaker 7

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. PDD Holdings earnings release was distributed earlier and is available on our website at investor.pddholdings.com, as well as through news, global newswire services. Before we begin, I would like to refer you to our safe harbor statement in our earnings press release, which applies to this call, as we will make certain forward-looking statements. Also, this call includes discussions of certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our earnings release, which contains a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to GAAP measures. Joining us today on the call are Mr. Chen Lei, our Chairman and Co-CEO, Mr. Zhao Jiazhen, our Executive Director and Co-CEO, as well as Ms. Liu Jun, our VP of Finance. Lei and Jiazhen will make some general remarks on our performance for the past quarter and our strategic focus.

Jun will then walk us through our financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023. During the Q&A session, Lei and Jiazhen will answer questions in Chinese, and we will help translate. Please note that the English translation is for reference only. In case of any discrepancy, management statements in the original language should prevail. Now it's my pleasure to introduce our Chairman and Co-CEO, Lei Chen. Lei, please go ahead.

Lei Chen (Chairman and Co-CEO)

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our earnings call for the third quarter of 2023. I will start by giving a brief overview of our third quarter results. In Q3, we achieved a total revenue of RMB 68.8 billion, representing a 94% year-on-year increase. This is a result of the improving consumer sentiment and our efforts to carrying out the high-quality development strategy. As one of the largest e-commerce platforms in China, we clearly felt a continuous recovery of the economy, as well as the potential and the resilience of the consumption market. With the introduction of a series of policies to support consumption, we are also seeing robust demand for consumption upgrades. Consumer behavior is telling us that consumption upgrade is not just about quality, but equally about price. It's the balance of quality and price that consumers care most about.

Recognizing this trend, we are more confident about our value proposition of more savings and better services. In Q3, we continued to invest platform resources to make it easier for our users to enjoy an ever greater selection of quality products at affordable prices and with great service satisfaction. In Q3, we continued exploring new ways to offer our users special promotions. Through a series of campaigns such as Duo Duo Harvest Festival, National Brands Festival, Duo Duo Reading Month, and National Day Sales, consumers get to enjoy attractive prices that are typically only available a few times a year during shopping festivals. We have always been confident in the vitality of China's consumer market. While we are laser-focused on the shopping experience, our efforts go beyond the surface. Investing in technology innovation is the key to achieving high-quality development.

In Q3, we continued to invest decisively in areas such as agritech, supply chain technology, and our core R&D capabilities. Our investment in R&D reached RMB 2.8 billion, setting a new high. Technology innovation is the core driving force behind our pursuit of high-quality development, and we will continue to step up investment in this area. At the same time, we are proactively taking on more social responsibilities. In August, the Jing-Jin-Ji area was hit by severe weather. We immediately went into action and donated RMB 30 billion to the China Charity Federation to support the affected region. At the same time, we launched dedicated relief campaigns and charity live streaming events to support affected companies.

For example, to help book merchants in the region resume normal operations, we set up a dedicated channel on our platform and provided relief measures such as traffic support and zero commission policy. In Q3, we went back to places in several provinces and hosted a series of Reading For You book donation events. We also donated food and helped build libraries for schools in Gansu and Hebei provinces. We are hopeful that through these efforts, we can do what we can to broaden the horizons of the young people and help them achieve a brighter future.

I'm pleased to report that we were awarded the 12th China Charity Award in September. This is in recognition of our efforts in rural revitalization, disaster relief, and knowledge sharing. Although our business outside of China is still at an early stage, it has made a meaningful progress since its launch a year ago.

Drawing on the supply chain capabilities we have accumulated over the years, we are able to assist many manufacturers in expanding their presence and to directly engage consumers. Through Temu, our cross-border services now help manufacturers reach consumers in over 40 countries. While we have broadened our reach, the business is still in its early stage and will face uncertainties. We are excited and intrigued by the opportunities and challenges that come with international development. We look forward to working with more manufacturers and all our partners, to create a next generation supply chain and shopping experience fit for the evolving trends of our times. Our mission is to serve all and benefit all, and to empower consumers all around the world to live their best lives. This year is a year of recovery, and also a year of heightened competition.

As always, we will maintain our strategic direction and focus on the execution of our high-quality development strategy. We will keep reminding ourselves of the day one mentality, and explore new and better ways to serve our users. Through rapid product iterations and feedback cycles, we will gain valuable insights that enable sustainable, high quality growth. Through our efforts, we hope we can better the lives of our users and bring about positive trends to the world as a whole. Towards this goal, we will move ahead steadily and tirelessly. And now, I will hand it over to Co-CEO Jiazhen. He will talk more about our high-quality development strategy.

Speaker 8

Thank you, Lei. Hello, everyone. This is Zhao Jiazhen. Thank you all for joining this earnings call. In the first three quarters, market vitality has continued to improve. As the effect of consumption support policies gradually work its way into the economy, we are seeing stronger demand for consumption upgrades. Against this backdrop, in Q3, we launched a series of promotions such as the Summer Carnival, Duo Duo Harvest Festival, National Brands Festival, and Duo Duo Reading Month. Guided by our principle of serve all and benefit all, we stepped up our investment to offer more savings and better services. During this year's Singles' Day, we continued to simplify our promotions. For the first time, we offered direct price reduction on top of our Ten Billion Program.

We now also cover many imported goods under the Ten Billion Program, bringing our users a wider selection of quality products at reasonable prices. As a result of our efforts, we saw good momentum during Singles' Day, and over 620 million consumers benefited from the Ten Billion Program. The Singles' Day promotion is one aspect of our high-quality development strategy. With the goal of creating incremental value for the consumers and the society, we focus relentlessly on execution to deliver high-quality consumption, high-quality supply, and to improve platform governance and merchant ecosystem. Now, let me walk you through the key initiatives my team and I have worked on during Q3.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

Firstly, high quality consumption. Since the third quarter, we continue to focus on the two key areas of more savings and better services, by establishing long-term mechanisms to enhance the accessibility of savings and improve the stability of high-quality supply.

Speaker 8

Firstly, we focus on high quality consumption. Since Q3, we continue to work on improving our core capabilities in offering more savings and better services by adopting appropriate platform policies and incentives.

We are constantly making affordable quality products more accessible to the public.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

Taking the Duoduo Harvest Festival from the previous quarter as an example, in September, as the largest agricultural products online platform in China, Pinduoduo invested RMB 1 billion in resource packages, partnered with 300,000 agricultural merchants on the platform, and with over 1,000 agricultural production areas nationwide launched the Duoduo Harvest Pavilion. Our Ten Billion Program provided comprehensive coverage for resident rice, flour, grain, oil, meat, poultry, eggs, dairy, vegetables, fruits and other agricultural and sideline products in the Harvest Pavilion.

Speaker 8

Take the Duoduo Harvest Festival as an example, in September, as the largest agricultural platform in China, Pinduoduo invested 1 billion platform resources and partnered with over 300,000 agricultural merchants in more than 1,000 production regions across the country to launch the Duoduo Harvest Festival.

At the same time, we expanded the Ten Billion Program to cover the full selection of participating agricultural product categories.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

We selected high-quality agricultural products and applied real gold and silver subsidies. We help farmers directly face larger national markets and achieve both high yield and high harvest. And when consumers enthusiastically share to buy affordable and delicious farmer products, it also increases farmers' confidence and willingness to engage in planting and breeding.

Speaker 8

We continue to invest to support quality agricultural products, and in this process, we help farmers participate in the national market and grow their income.

Our farmer merchants are encouraged by the results they receive on our platform and are ever more committed to a career in agriculture.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

In addition to the Harvest Festival targeting agricultural products, in the previous quarter we also partnered with 100 national old brand products to launch a National Goods Festival promotion lasting more than one month. During the period, we collaborated with CCTV, inviting 58 high-quality national brand products to the Ten Billion Program live streaming room for team building, such as Shanghai Soap, 361, Kong Fengchun, Hongxing Erke, to introduce to the vast netizens the high-quality goods and the stories behind the brands.

Speaker 8

In addition to the Duoduo Harvest Festival, which was dedicated to agricultural products in Q3, we also collaborated with over 100 Chinese national brands to launch the National Goods Festival in partnership with CCTV. More than 50 top Chinese brands such as Shanghai Soap, Three Sixty One, Co Phoenix and Erke were invited to live streaming sessions hosted on our Ten Billion Program to showcase their products and tell their brand stories to a nationwide audience.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

Under the promotion of featured live streams, Ten Billion Program, and 10,000-person groups and other support resources, platform users voted for their favorite good products with orders. National brand products indicated that, benefiting from our measures to lead high-quality consumption, they achieved 40 times growth in the past 2 years, and this number is still in high-speed growth.

Speaker 8

The consumer demand was boosted by our various support measures, such as featured live stream events, Ten Billion Program, and large group buying.We are pleased to see that some national brands achieved rapid growth in partnership with us. Some even experienced a 40x growth in the past two years, and the business is still growing quickly.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

Consumption upgrading also cannot be separated from supply optimization. In the third quarter, starting from achieving high-quality supply, we continued to heavily invest in physical supply chain construction, letting more industrial and agricultural industry belts produce local leaders, leading local industries to the national and even global markets.

Speaker 8

The high quality supply is the foundation for high quality consumption. In Q3, we continue to invest in our supply chain capabilities, which in turn enable more local manufacturing and agricultural product producers to emerge as leaders of certain product categories and expand international and even global markets.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

In the third quarter, our Agricultural Cloud initiative successively entered Jiangsu hairy crabs, Northwest fruits and other production areas, helping local areas build more resilient and competitive digital agricultural belts.In recent years, under Pinduoduo's support, these production areas have already emerged with a batch of new farmers such as the post-90s finance master's who doesn't love investment banking but loves agriculture, returning home to sell to hairy crabs, the post-85 village director who helped villagers sell 8 million jin of sweet potatoes in 3 years, they are playing a key role on the front line of rural revitalization.

Speaker 8

In the third quarter, our team returned to key agricultural production areas such as Jiangsu for hairy crabs and Northwest for fruits. Under our agricultural cloud initiative, we brought digital solutions to local producers to improve the resilience and competitiveness of the local supply chain. In recent years, with the help of Pinduoduo, we are happy to see that a new generation of growers and farmers is emerging in these regions. Among them are post-90s finance master degree holder, who said no to investment banking and devoted himself to the hairy crabs trade, and a post-85 village director who helped farmers sell 4 million kilograms of sweet potatoes over 3 years. They are playing a vital role in driving rural revitalization. Technology innovation is an important part of agricultural industrialization.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

In order to help advanced technology descend, scientific research results transform, and high-quality agricultural products go upstream, this quarter we deeply supported the second Science and Technology Backyard Competition, conducting selection and competition of excellent agricultural technology cases nationwide. The competition has already attracted 96 graduate teams nationwide to participate, the platform also combined with local focus on supporting tech agricultural products from Science and Technology Backyards to increase exposure and subsidy investment, including Yunnan Gucheng, Sichuan Danleng tangerines, Ningxia Tan Sheep, Shaanxi Meixian kiwifruit, promoting the standardization, branding, and digitalization development of agricultural specialties.

Speaker 8

Innovation is a crucial element of the agricultural value chain. In Q3, we continue to promote digital inclusion and technology adoption in agriculture. .To this end, we hosted the Pinduoduo Academy Growing Competition for the second year, which serves as a platform to bring wider recognition for innovative tech-driven agricultural practices across the nation.

This year's event attracted 96 research teams. At the same time, our platform also provided strong traffic support and coupons for agritech-enabled products, championed by participating teams. This is to promote the standardization, brand building, and digitization in agriculture. Our support covered a wide range of products, including oranges, citruses, lamb, and kiwi fruits from top production regions.

In the third quarter, we continued the rapid business model iteration for our global initiative. We made it easier than ever for manufacturers to reach consumers in over 40 countries and regions worldwide. We now serve more than 10,000 manufacturers from over 100 industrial belts across Guangdong, Zhejiang, Shandong, and Anhui provinces. In our pursuit of high quality development, a high quality ecosystem is the foundation that nurtures a mutually beneficial environment that supports the growth of the platform and its participants.

In the past quarter, we improved the protection mechanism for minors that now covers account verification, search and browsing, order restriction, and content management. In addition, we also deepened our commitment to copyright protection through a series of dedicated campaigns. We are proactively looking for areas where we can take on more social responsibilities as we strive for a greener and healthier platform ecosystem. Last month, Pinduoduo celebrated its eighth anniversary. Looking back on the journey, we sincerely thank the consumers, farmers, merchants, investors, and other stakeholders for all the support we received. Looking ahead, we'll move forward with a relentless focus on execution of a high-quality development strategy. On the demand side, we'll continue to be consumer oriented to provide more savings and better services. On the supply side, we'll remain firmly rooted in the real economy, driving industrial modernization through innovation.

On platform ecosystem, we'll allocate more resources to upgrade platform governance, support quality SME merchants, and foster a healthy and mutually beneficial environment. Now, let me hand it over to Jun. She'll provide you with an update on our financial performance.

Jun Liu (VP of Finance)

Thank you, Jiazhen. Hello, everyone. Let me walk you through our financial performance for the third quarter ending September 30, 2023. In terms of income statements, in the third quarter, our total revenues increased 94% year-over-year to RMB 68.8 billion. This was mainly driven by the continued recovery in consumer sentiment and encouraging results from executing our high-quality development strategy. Revenues from online marketing services and others were RMB 39.7 billion this quarter, up 39% from the same quarter of 2022. Revenues from transaction services were RMB 29.1 billion, up 315% from the same quarter last year. Moving on to costs and expenses.

Our total cost of revenues increased 262% from RMB 7.4 billion in Q3 2022 toRMB 26.8 billion this quarter, mainly due to increase in fulfillment fees, payment processing fees, maintenance costs, and call center expenses. On a GAAP basis, total operating expenses increased 44% to RMB 25.4 billion, from RMB 17.7 billion in the same quarter of 2022. On a non-GAAP basis, total operating expenses increased to RMB 23.9 billion this quarter, from RMB 15.8 billion in Q3 2022. In the past quarter, guided by our high-quality development strategy, we invested decisively and responsibly in key strategic initiatives. Our total non-GAAP operating expenses as a percentage of our total revenue this quarter was 35%, compared to 44% in the same quarter last year.

Looking to specific expense items. Our non-GAAP sales and marketing expenses this quarter were RMB 21.3 billion, up 58% versus the same quarter last year. On non-GAAP basis, our sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of our revenue this quarter was 31%, versus 38% for the same quarter last year. Throughout the past quarter, we continued to give back to consumers and rolled out a series of promotional campaigns. We have seen good consumer feedback to our efforts. Our non-GAAP general and administrative expenses were RMB 403.3 million, versus RMB 226.3 million in the same quarter of 2022. Our research and development expenses were RMB 2.2 billion this quarter on a non-GAAP basis, and RMB 2.8 billion on a GAAP basis, hitting a new high.

Technologies are at the heart of our value creation and will be a long-term focus for us. We're committed to stepping up our investment in areas such as agriculture technology, supply chain, and our core R&D capabilities. Operating profit for the quarter was RMB 16.7 billion on a GAAP basis, compared with RMB 10.4 billion in the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP operating profit was RMB 18.1 billion, versus RMB 2.3 billion in the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP operating profit margin was 26% this quarter, compared with 35% for the same quarter last year. Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB 15.5 billion for the quarter, compared to RMB 10.6 billion in the same quarter last year.

Basic earnings per ADS was RMB 11.38, and diluted earnings per ADS was RMB 10.50, versus basic earnings per ADS of RMB 8.38, and diluted earnings per ADS of RMB 7.34 in the same quarter of 2022. Non-GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB 17 billion, versus RMB 12.4 billion in the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB 11.61, versus RMB 8.62 in the same quarter of 2022. We delivered solid financial results in the past quarter. Looking ahead, we will continue to invest patiently to execute our high-quality development strategy. That completes the income statement. Now let me move on to cash flow.

Our net cash generated from operating activities was RMB 32.5 billion, compared with RMB 11.7 billion in the same quarter last year. As of September 30, 2023, we had RMB 202.8 billion in cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments. Thank you. This concludes my prepared remarks.

Speaker 7

Thank you, Jun. Next, we'll move on to the Q&A session. Today's Q&A session, Lei, Jiazhen, and Jun will take questions from analysts on the line. We could take a maximum of two questions from each analyst. Lei and Jiazhen will answer questions in Chinese, and we'll help translate for convenience purposes. Operator, we're open for questions.

Operator (participant)

Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer session. If you wish to ask a question, please press star then one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you wish to cancel your request, please press star then two. Participants are requested to restrict themselves to two questions at a time. Your first question will come from Natalie Wu of Haitong International. Please go ahead.

Natalie Wu (Managing Director, Internet Analyst)

Thanks for taking my question. I have two here. First one is regarding the company strategy. How does management think about your strategic priorities? The business showed very strong momentum in the past quarter. So from a forward-looking perspective, just wondering what, what are the key strategies on the top of the mind of management? And then my second question is regarding the agriculture. We understand that agriculture has always been a core, a merchandise category for Pinduoduo, so just wondering, can management elaborate on why this category is key to your platform?

We recently learned that after so many years of efforts in this sector, this product category has continued to perform well and booked a meaningful growth in the past quarter. Can management give us some color on what are some of the key initiatives you have implemented in agriculture so as to achieve that growth? Thank you.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

你好，我是赵长江啊，我来回答一下你刚才问到的这个战略的问题。

Speaker 8

Hi, this is Jiazhen Zhao, let me take this question on strategy.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

我们上次季度有提到呢，从今年起，其实我们已经进入了质量优先的高质量发展阶段，那高质量发展呢，不是一句空话啊，而是体现在了平台生态发展的方方面面。

Speaker 8

And as we mentioned last quarter, starting this year, we are entering a stage of high quality development. And for us, this is not an empty catchphrase. We are implementing it in every aspect of our business.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

从供给端来说呢，一方面我们在已有强的领域，也就是我的老本行农业领域呢，进一步深耕，我们要加大农业科技以及配套的投入，帮助去提升我们农产品的整体的品质和科技的含量。

Speaker 8

And first, on the supply side, on the one hand, we are strengthening our capabilities in agriculture, and going forward, we will continue to invest in agritech and in supporting infrastructure. This is to improve the overall quality of the agricultural products that are sold on our platform.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

另一方面呢，我们也启动了百亿生态的建设，帮助扶持商品品质好，同时服务好的这个商家和生态的合作伙伴，从正向地进一步地激励生态的高质量发展。同时呢，我们也持续地推进我上任以来的这个平台治理一号工程，在青少年保护、商品安全等方面，我们会持续地用力，扎实稳步地推向纵深。

Speaker 8

At the same time, we launched the ten billion ecosystem earlier this year to support the high quality merchants and other ecosystem partners doing business with us. This is to provide the right kind of incentives to facilitate the high quality development of the whole ecosystem. At the same time, we are working very hard on improving our platform governance efforts, which is one of our top priorities since I took office. We are making steady progress in areas such as minor protection and also product safety.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

从消费端来说呢，一方面我们通过百亿补贴，让原有的这个高质量高价的商品变得更加平易近人，触手可及。在刚刚过去的双十一的大促中啊，拼多多的百亿补贴用户的规模已经突破了6.2亿。那好的用户心智呢，我们认为是我们最宝贵的资产，它也需要长年累月的努力，也需要通过一笔笔的订单让用户满意，但是呢，却有可能在很短的时间内毁于一旦。所以在这一方面我们不会松懈。

Speaker 8

From the consumer side, first, I want to say that our Ten Billion Program is making some of the higher ticket items more accessible to our consumers. During the most recent Singles' Day, the number of users who benefited from the Ten Billion Program went over 620 million. A positive user mind share is our most valuable asset, and it takes years of efforts to build up one order at a time, but could be easily destroyed very quickly. We will not relax in this area.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

另一方面呢，我们正在全力推进好服务能力的建设，也取得了不错的反馈。长期来看呢，我们希望通过持续稳定的服务升级，进一步地增进用户对平台的信任，完善平台好服务的这个用户心智，让消费者呢乐于在平台去尝试更多新的商品品类，服务好用户多元化和多层次的消费需求。

Speaker 8

From the consumer side, secondly, we have been improving our capabilities to provide better services to our users since the beginning of this year. So far, we've received positive feedback. In the long run, through better service satisfaction, we hope to strengthen users trust in our platform and deepen the better services mind share. By doing so, consumers will be more likely to try new product categories on the platform, so we can also better serve their diverse needs.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

我们下了很大的决心，准备长期奋斗，走向高质量发展。可喜的是呢，这个战略的回报当前看起来比我们想的还要来得更快一点。

Speaker 8

We are prepared to work long and hard for the high quality development of our business and our platform. We are very pleased to see that the strategy is starting to deliver results, even sooner than we had hoped for.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

你刚才问我们的接下来战略侧重，这个在我们，我上任同时呢，董事会和管理层就已经明确了高质量发展战略。

这个战略呢，至少在我的任上是不会变的。谢谢。

Speaker 8

And also coming back to your question on our strategic priority, the board and management team adopted the high-quality development strategy when I took office earlier this year, and this will continue to be our focus during my tenure. Thank you.

Lei Chen (Chairman and Co-CEO)

Hello, I am Lei Chen. So I will answer your second question about the agricultural strategy.

Speaker 9

Hi, this is Chen Lei. I will answer this question on your agricultural strategy.

Lei Chen (Chairman and Co-CEO)

正如你提到的，农产品呢，对于我们拼多多来说呢，是具有战略意义的。我们是做农产品起家的，我们有很多用户最初是从农产品开始接触拼多多这个平台，而我们是通过农产品服务好一批的用户呢，把他们最终留在了平台上。那直到今天，整体来看呢，农产品的线上化率仍然比较低，未来这个品类还是具有巨大的潜力。

Speaker 9

As you mention, agriculture is of strategic importance to us. We started out in agriculture, and that's how many users first came to know us. We are able to retain those users by serving them well through our agricultural offerings. Today, the online penetration of agricultural products is still relatively low, so there remains huge potential in this product category.

Lei Chen (Chairman and Co-CEO)

那么上个季度呢，我们上线了多多丰收馆这样特色活动，我们把一千多个产区的农产品直连给了全国的消费者，通过加大平台的资源投入，提升平台农产品的品质和消费体验，并且呢，为农产品的商家呢对接合适的物流资源。通过这样的方式呢，我们把许多区域特色的农货首次送到了全国消费者的餐桌上，我们更好地满足了消费者对于优质、新鲜与健康农产品的需求。那么这些呢，都是我们在整个农产品流通领域呢提质增效方面呢，不断地尝试的一些措施。

Speaker 9

Last quarter, we launched the Duo Duo Harvest Festival and brought agricultural products directly from more than 1,000 product regions to consumers across the country. We allocated more platform resources to improve the quality of agricultural products and shopping experiences on our platform. We also brought many regional specialties to the national market for the first time by connecting farmers with suitable logistics resources. In doing so, we were able to better address consumers' demand for high quality, fresh and healthy agricultural products. That's what we have been doing to improve the quality and efficiency of the supply chain for agricultural products.

Lei Chen (Chairman and Co-CEO)

同时呢，我们也认识到，流通只是整个农业现代化的一个环节，那么我们还需要呢加速农业科技创新的实际落地，只有这样呢，才能从源头上提高农业的生产率，提高农产品的质量。

Speaker 9

At the same time, we understand that improving supply chain is just one aspect of agricultural modernization. We also need to accelerate the adoption of agritech innovation to improve productivity and product quality.

Lei Chen (Chairman and Co-CEO)

那么今年以来呢，我们举办了第三届多多农业科技大赛，第二届拼多多杯科技小院大赛，持续地推动前端的农业科技创新与普惠，赋能农业领域的人才。那么在科研成果转化的过程中呢，也做出了我们的贡献，为农民提高产量，减少消耗和浪费。那么此外呢，我们也深知基础研究的重要性，因此，在今年的五月份，我们向中国农业大学捐赠了RMB 100 million，设立专项研究基金，那么旨在解决农业领域的关键需求。

Speaker 9

This year, we hosted the third Smart Agriculture Competition and the second Pinduoduo Academy Growing Competition to promote agritech innovation and adoption. We also supported talents specializing in agricultural areas and help farmers increase productivity and reduce losses. Meanwhile, we recognize the importance of fundamental research. In May, we donated RMB 100 million to establish a dedicated research fund at China Agricultural University to address critical needs in agricultural research.

Lei Chen (Chairman and Co-CEO)

那么今年的8月份，我们也有幸地邀请到了，国际农业和食品安全领域的专家Ivonne，成为我们的独立董事。随着她的加入，我们在农业科技方面的投入呢，能够更加有机地，更加地贴近世界先进研究和中国的实际的结合。

Speaker 9

In August, we were pleased to welcome Ivonne to our Board as an Independent Director. Ivonne is an expert in agriculture and food safety. With her on board, we will be more targeted in our investment in agricultural research. Our goal is to utilize cutting edge research to solve practical problems in China.

Lei Chen (Chairman and Co-CEO)

那么未来呢？农业仍然是平台高质量发展的重点，我们会继续地运用自身独特的科技优势以及平台资源，助力农产品的流通效率的提升，促进农业科技创新的实际落地转化。那么把更优质农产品呢，从产地直接消费者，那么为农业生产者呢，带来实实在在的收入的增加。好，谢谢。

Speaker 9

Going forward, agriculture will remain a cornerstone of our high-quality development strategy. We will continue to leverage our advantages in technology and platform resources to streamline the supply chain of agricultural products, promote agritech innovation and adoption, and bring more quality products directly from farm to table, thereby creating tangible benefits to our farmer merchants. Thank you all.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

Thank you, Natalie. Operator, we can move on to the next analyst on the line.

Operator (participant)

The next question comes from Ronald Keung of Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead.

Ronald Keung (Managing Director)

谢谢管理层。我的第一个问题是关于竞争的，那今年以来看到你们竞争对手都在高性价比的商品类别上下了很大的功夫，同时也让工厂在他们的平台上开店更加容易。那在这些推出这些举措以后，他们也看到不错的用户和商家的一些趋势。那想问管理层如何评估行业竞争的格局？也想请管理层分享一下，在这个竞争环境下来，管理层采取了哪些措施来应对这个竞争？那我第二个问题是关于全球化的业务，那自从公司推出这个全球化业务以后，市场也非常关注。那我们也注意到，过去一年的这个时间里，这项新业务的发 展非常非常快，那可不可以请管理层分享一下这个全球化业务方面最新的的一些进展，那背后，对这个业务未来的的一些战略的思考，以及管理层中短期对这个全球化业务有什么样的展望？那我翻译一下。

Speaker 8

Thank you, management, for taking my question.

So my first question is that since the beginning of this year, many of your competitors have been putting more emphasis on value for money merchandise, and made it easier for manufacturers to set up storefronts on those platforms. And some of your PSFs observe some strong user and merchant momentum. So how do you evaluate the competitive landscape? And what are some of the key initiatives to defend your competitive position in this environment? And my second question is that we've seen your global business gather good, strong momentum since launch a little over a year ago. So may you share with us the latest development, your strategy for this business going forward, and what's your vision for the business in the near to medium term? Thank you.

This is Jiazhen Zhao, thank you for your question, and let me share my thoughts on competition.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

正如陈磊刚刚提到的呢，今年是这个消费提振年，也是电商行业竞争加剧的一年。随着促进消费的这个政策的落地，各家电商平台其实都加大了投入力度，也促进了消费潜力的释放。那对于行业竞争对手的举措呢，其实我们并不感觉到意外。

Speaker 8

As Lei just mentioned, this year is a year of recovery, but it's also a year of heightened competition. As the micro supportive policies are gradually rolled out, we are, we are not surprised that our industry peers have been increasing investments to boost consumption.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

我们所处的行业呢，本身就需要直接面对万千消费者不断变化的需求，那消费者有不同的平台可以选择，所以呢，竞争是不可避免的，它也是行业的主题。那面对竞争呢，其实是没有一劳永逸的对策。我们始终在思考的事情是呢，如何不断地提升自身的核心竞争力，与行业的生态伙伴一起，为消费者创造更大的价值。

Speaker 8

Our industry needs to face directly the constantly evolving consumer needs. And consumers nowadays have different platforms to choose from, so competition is inevitable. There's no permanent solution to dealing with competition. Instead, we are always thinking about how to improve our core competencies and work with ecosystem partners to create greater value for our consumers.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

我们在三季度呢，我们继续围绕着多实惠和好服务这两个重点来抓手，也推出了一系列的这个创新的举措，为消费者带来更多自由价优的产品，以及更好的购物体验。

Speaker 8

In the third quarter, we continue to be innovative in promoting more savings and better services, and to offer more quality and affordable products to our consumers, and at the same time, with great shopping experience.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

我们希望在这个不断夯实多实惠消费者信任的同时呢，通过升级好服务，增进消费者对于平台的信任，让用户更愿意的在平台尝试新的商品的品类，也服务好用户消费升级的诉求。

Speaker 8

While we are continuing to deepen the more savings mind share, which is our strong suit traditionally, we hope we can also deepen consumer's trust in our platform by providing better services. This will hopefully invite more users to explore new product categories on the platform, so we can better serve our users' demand for a consumption upgrade.

On the supply side, we continue to be rooted in real economy and to promote digital inclusion, agriculture and manufacturing sectors across the nation. By helping the producers sell their products directly to consumers, both in China and now globally, we enable more producers to enjoy the benefits of digital economy and at the same time broaden the merchandise selection on our platform. Our approach to competition has always been clear, which is we don't focus on what our competitors do, but on what our consumers need. We have been seeing a clear trend of consumption upgrade among our users.

Against this backdrop, we formulated the high-quality development strategy to better adapt to this trend.

The idea is very simple, but simple does not mean easy. There's both healthy and malicious competition. Sometimes competition can easily evolve into unhealthy market practices, and those who do well will always attract attacks. Like for example, we noted a short seller report on our company was issued in early September.

The allegations in the report are totally baseless, and the short seller has a spotty track record.

On its face, the report was published with the intent to create panic and to drive down stock prices, and enabling the firm to the short seller to profit from short positions.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

而且当我们进一步调查时呢，我们还发现报告背后的推手其实有更多过分的行为，他们的动机呢和异常的过度行为还是十分的明显的。不过呢，我们也很，很欣慰地看到，有大多数的投资者还是理解做空报告背后的动机，并且也看穿了毫无根据的指控.

Speaker 8

As we investigated further, we found out that there were actually more follow-up actions taken by the instigator behind the report.

Their motive and the unusual actions are quite apparent.

We are encouraged to see that most investors understood the underlying motive and saw through the groundless accusations.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

接下来呢，我们会继续地努力地聚焦在我们的消费者和我们的高质量发展的战略上，本着平常心，隔绝外力和干扰，心无旁骛地狠抓执行，认真地做实高质量发展战略。相信消费者会用真金白银的订单给我们最直接的反馈。以上呢，就是我对行业的一些看法，谢谢。

Speaker 8

Looking forward, we are continue to focus on our consumers and our high-quality development strategy.

With a clear and focused mind, we will relentlessly focus on execution. In the end, we believe consumers will vote with their wallets. This is our view on competition. Thank you.

Jun Liu (VP of Finance)

This is Jun. Thanks, Ronald. Let me take your question on global business. Well, for our global business, the idea is to leverage the supply chain expertise accumulated over the years to create a new form of channel and shopping experience, which directly connects the factories with consumers and is based on a flexible supply chain. Currently, consumers from over 40 countries with diverse cultural backgrounds are able to purchase directly from high quality factories through our services. However, this is still in a very early stage. Many of our initiatives are in the beta testing phase. Our team is actively learning about the different markets and consumer needs around the world. It will be iterative process that will be challenging, but at the same time interesting. We look forward to working with like-minded partners on this journey, to make the lives of consumers around the world more enjoyable. Thanks.

Speaker 7

Operator, I think we have time for one more analyst.

Operator (participant)

The next question comes from Ellie Jiang of Macquarie. Please go ahead.

Ellie Jiang (Associate Director)

晚上好，感谢管理层接受我的提问。我第一个问题是想关于问一下关于增速的，那我们看到本季度公司的收入非常的喜人，上涨了94%，可否请管理层分享一下，目前取得这样的一个增速，主要是受到哪几个方面的一个因素来推动，啊或者说公司上个季度有做了什么比较好的地方，可以跟我们分享一下，那这个趋势我们应该怎么去看，延续到四季度和明年。第二个问题是关于利润率这边，我们是看到公司的利润率同比和环比都有一些下降，那么想看公司在过去这个季度主要在哪几个方面加大了投入，那利润率下降和竞争格局是否有关？也想请管理层分享一下对于未来利润率的展望。Let me translate myself.

Two questions, first is on the revenue. It seems the company achieved very robust revenue growth of 94% year-over-year. What do you think contributed to this growth? What do you think you have done right in the past quarter, and how do you think about the growth sustainability into the fourth and next year? And then the next is about the margin. We've noticed that your margin decreased on a year-over-year and quarter-over-quarter basis. What are some of the key investment areas that you are putting your resources into? Is this related to the competition? How is your global business impacting your profitability? And how should we think about the trend for the margin in the next few quarters? Thank you.

Speaker 8

Hi, this is Jiazhen Zhao, I'll start by addressing the question about growth. As Lei mentioned earlier, our financial performance this quarter is the combined result of improving consumer sentiment and the execution of our high-quality development strategy. And in the past quarter, driven by consumption recovery, the Chinese economy grew at a rate that went over market expectations, which demonstrates the resilience of the Chinese economy.

What we are seeing on our platform also confirms the potential of the consumer market. We have confidence in the Chinese consumption market.

There remains much to be done to better serve the consumer demands.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

从公司自身角度呢，三季度虽然没有年度大促，但是我们一如既往地秉承天天低价的这个理念，持续地在投入，不间断地为消费者带去价优质优的这个丰富产品的选择，把多实惠做到位。平台呢在服务好消费者基础需求的同时呢，我们与品牌商家的合作也取得了不错的成果。在为期一个多月的国货节的期间，我们投入了补贴、直播等等的平台资源，也推动了更多的国货迅速地出圈。那些老字号品牌呢，通过跟拼多多的合作焕发了新生，在过去一两年内取得了数十倍的增长。

Speaker 8

Although the industry players did not have any major promotions planned during Q3, we still practice everyday low price philosophy and worked hard to provide consumers with a wider selection of quality products at affordable prices.

This is to deepen our cost savings value proposition. While we serve the basic needs of our consumers, our cooperation with branded merchants also generated good results. During the National Goods Festival, we invested in coupons and also invested platform resources to help more national brands to quickly gain popularity.

In partnership with our platform, some brands were able to achieve multiple growth in the past year or two.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

我们也通过各类的这个激励的政策和平台资源的投入，也充分调动商家的积极性，与平台一起做好这个多实惠和好的服务。我们也很高兴看到用户呢对于平台越来越认可，活跃度也越来越高，这也反过来为商家提供了更多的销售的机会，那商家呢也更愿意在平台上加大投入。

Speaker 8

And we put in place the appropriate policies and offered platform resources to incentivize our merchants to work with us together on providing more savings and better services.

We are very pleased to see growing trust in our platform and higher user activities, which in turn provide more sales opportunities for the merchants, and merchants in turn are naturally more willing to increase the investment on our platform.

Jiazhen Zhao (Co-Chairman and Co-CEO)

我们一直强调，这营收呢，是平台为生态的参与者创造价值的自然结果。我们也会保持战略定力，把精力放在高质量发展战略的执行上，努力地提升服务商家和消费者的核心能力，我们不会过多地关注中短期的营收的趋势。谢谢。

Speaker 8

We have been saying that revenue is a natural outcome of the value we create for our ecosystem partners.

We will maintain our strategic direction and focus on the execution of the high-quality development strategy. Instead of paying too much attention to short-term revenue trends, we will direct our attention to work on improving our core capabilities for serving the consumers and our merchants. Thank you.

Jun Liu (VP of Finance)

This is Jun. Thanks, Ally, for your question. I will answer your question about profitability. First and foremost, we are still in a development phase. Profitability in the short run is not our priority. Instead, our team is like focused on executing our high-quality development strategy, which we hope will increase the value of the platform in the long run. In the past quarter, guided by the high-quality development strategy, we step up our investment in key areas such as promotion activities and service upgrades to deepen our more savings and better services market share. We also further build on our supply chain capabilities and ecosystem improvements. We are seeing encouraging results from our execution, and we will continue to invest heavily when we see good ROI potential.

In terms of future trends, we operate in a fast-paced market environment, where investment opportunities change on a daily basis. Because of this, our business execution will not match the financial reporting schedule, and in going forward, our profitability may continue to fluctuate on a quarterly basis. Thank you.

Speaker 7

Thank you all once again for joining us today. It's about time, and if you have any further questions, please reach out to our IR team. Thank you and see you next quarter.