Amazon may be the e-commerce leader in Europe, but Chinese companies like Pinduoduo and Temu are rapidly closing the gap. By 2024, Pinduoduo is projected to be just 13% behind Amazon in gross merchandise volume, a significant shift from 2019 when Amazon’s volume was more than double that of Pinduoduo. The Temu app, launched in the U.S. in 2022, quickly rose to the top of the download charts, and PDD Holdings, which oversees both platforms, reported a staggering 90% sales growth in 2023. As these competitors surge, the future of e-commerce could look very different.

Amazon leads the European e-commerce market, but Chinese companies entering the global e-commerce space, including AliExpress and, more recently, Temu, have gained traction.

The infographic that follows, courtesy of Statista’s Anna Fleck, examines the Chinese startup Pinduoduo in particular and uses data from the eCommerceDB.

Based on these statistics, Pinduoduo’s gross merchandise volume in 2024 will only lag by 13% behind that of Amazon. To put this in context, consider that Pinduoduo’s gross merchandise volume was less than half that of Amazon in 2019.

Temu is an online marketplace owned by Pinduoduo as well.

When the Temu app launched online in the United States in the fall of 2022, it immediately shot to the top of the download charts.

Sales projections are improving, even though Temu’s global goods volume of about $30 billion is still very tiny in comparison to Amazon.com’s $389 billion.

Pinduoduo rebranded as PDD Holdings shortly after the launch of the shopping app Temu in the fall of 2022, and it has since functioned as the parent business for both platforms.

PDD Holdings achieved record sales of $34.9 billion in 2023.

This translates to an approximately ninety percent rise in sales over the prior year, which the company attributes to higher revenue from online marketing services and transaction services.

Recently, GreatGameInternational reported that China has launched anti-dumping investigations into European Union imports of brandy and pork, escalating tensions following the EU’s imposition of provisional tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles.