(Reuters) -China’s PDD Holdings (PDD) fell short of market estimates for third-quarter revenue on Thursday, a sign that promotional offers and discounts were not enough to lure price-conscious consumers to its e-commerce platform.
PDD’s U.S.-listed shares fell more than 10% in premarket trading.
A higher youth unemployment rate and a crisis in the real estate sector have taken a toll on consumer confidence, pushing down sales at PDD’s domestic online shopping site Pinduoduo, while e-commerce giants Alibaba and JD.com also posted tepid quarterly sales growth have reported.
While Pinduoduo has benefited from its focus on low costs, competitive pressure has increased as rivals have stepped up their own promotions and discounts, leading to a price war.
PDD’s revenue rose 44% to 99.35 billion yuan ($13.72 billion) for the three months ended September 30. That compared with the average of 102.65 billion yuan from 17 analyst estimates compiled by LSEG.
Net profit rose to 24.98 billion yuan from 15.54 billion yuan in the same period a year earlier.
($1 = 7.2409 Chinese Yuan Renminbi)
(Reporting by Deborah Sophia in Bengaluru and Casey Hall in Shanghai; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Anil D’Silva)
