In 2020, the founder of PipeCandy asked if the e-commerce shift would last. The answer was yes. The same pace of online commerce growth that the world saw during the Pandemic will not be maintained.
Data began to show that the e-commerce boom was slowing as the year drew to a close. The question at that time was if we were seeing a return to growth norms from the pre-COVID era or if growth would slow even more, which would imply that future e- commerce activity was pulled forward, instead of the larger digital commerce pie growing thanks to long.
Money, markets and startups are explored by the Exchange.
You can get The Exchange newsletter every Saturday.
The pull-forward model of recent e- commerce growth is most likely to be the case, according to new data from Pinduoduo, a huge Chinese e- commerce company.
For startups, it’s somewhat mixed news. Certainly, any startup selling into the e-commerce market has more TAM than ever to, well, address.
It will be harder to grow at previous levels as it will be more difficult to beat the market segment to impress venture capitalists. Today's nine-figure CommerceIQ round makes clear that it is not impossible.
Let's look at some of the most recent data to understand where we are today.
In the fourth quarter of the year, the Chinese e-commerce giant grew 3% from a year ago. Pinduoduo barely shrunk compared to its late-2020 results.
Pinduoduo reported $4.3 billion in revenue. The figure in its local currency was under expectations. Pinduoduo's profits of more than $1 billion helped soothe the market, even though investors had expected more growth.
Pinduoduo is not an outlier.
All Rights Reserved © 2024
