Pinduoduo to launch international e-commerce platform next month - source

BEIJING (Reuters) - Chinese e-commerce giant Pinduoduo plans to launch a cross-border e-commerce platform next month which will target the United States as its first market, a source with direct knowledge of the matter said.

The company, a rival of Alibaba Group and JD.com in China, has briefed its merchants but details have not yet been finalized, the source said, declining to be named as the information was not public.

Pinduoduo did not respond to a request for comment.

The move will mark the biggest push abroad for Pinduoduo, which was founded in 2015 and broke the dominance of Alibaba and JD with rock-bottom pricing and a group buying model that encourages users to share their purchases on messaging platforms to get cheaper prices.

However, growth at home in China has slowed amid a regulatory crackdown on Chinese tech firms and COVID curbs that have impacted the economy. Pinduoduo has in recent years touted an increased focus on agriculture.

Chinese news outlet LatePost, which first reported that Pinduoduo was planning an international e-commerce platform last week, said that the company planned to emulate the model of fast fashion company Shein, which has grown rapidly to become one of the world's largest fashion marketplaces.

Shein's success has already attracted a number of followers in China, with Alibaba last year launching cross-border online retailer allyLikes that is aimed at North American and European markets.

(Reporting by Sophie Yu, Brenda Goh; Editing by Christian Schmollinger)