---
title: "PDD has taken action, a large number of merchants are affected"
type: "News"
locale: "zh-CN"
url: "https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/272924234.md"
description: "PDD quietly conducted internal testing of \"Billion Dollar Supermarket\" in early January 2026, attracting users through limited-time coupon grabs and low-price subsidies, mainly covering high-frequency essential categories such as fruits and maternal and infant products. This feature is embedded in the \"Billion Dollar Subsidy\" section on the app's homepage, which users must click to access. PDD's strategy is to guide users to form a \"supermarket-style\" shopping habit through coupon activities and restriction rules, enhancing traffic and repurchase rates"
datetime: "2026-01-19T01:38:11.000Z"
locales:
  - [zh-CN](https://longbridge.com/zh-CN/news/272924234.md)
  - [en](https://longbridge.com/en/news/272924234.md)
  - [zh-HK](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/272924234.md)
---

> 支持的语言: [English](https://longbridge.com/en/news/272924234.md) | [繁體中文](https://longbridge.com/zh-HK/news/272924234.md)


# PDD has taken action, a large number of merchants are affected

The instant retail battle of 2025 has accelerated the pace of the e-commerce industry. Alibaba, JD.com, and Meituan have shifted the battlefield from online shelves to offline fulfillment, engaging in close combat for users with continuous coupons and subsidies.

While competitors are ramping up their efforts, PDD appears to be quite "quiet." However, in January 2026, it quietly tested a new entry within the app—"Billion Dollar Supermarket." The gameplay is not complicated: relying on the billion-dollar subsidy system, it attracts users through limited-time coupon grabs and low-price subsidies, covering high-frequency essential categories such as fruits, vegetables, and maternal and infant products, currently open only to a select group of users.

Low prices remain PDD's most effective weapon. The "Billion Dollar Supermarket" is expected to precisely attract price-sensitive users in lower-tier markets, forming differentiated competition with traditional supermarkets and other e-commerce platforms.

What does the "Billion Dollar Supermarket" look like?

Currently, the "Billion Dollar Supermarket" is still in a small-scale gray testing phase. PDD has not set up an independent primary entry for it but has embedded it in the "Billion Dollar Subsidy" section on the app's homepage, requiring users to click on "Billion Dollar Subsidy" to find the page.

The "Billion Dollar Supermarket" continues PDD's consistent strategy—issuing coupons. The platform has launched a weekly coupon collection activity, starting every Monday at 00:00, including 20 yuan off 80% coupons, 50 yuan off 85% coupons, and combination coupon packs that require unlocking.

In terms of categories, the "Billion Dollar Supermarket" covers high-frequency essential categories pointing to daily consumption scenarios, such as fruits, vegetables, nuts, snacks, dairy drinks, maternal and infant products, and personal care, which differs from the "Billion Dollar Subsidy" that leans more towards low-frequency but high-ticket items like 3C and beauty products.

Opening the platform's rules explanation page shows that coupons are only applicable to products on the "Billion Dollar Supermarket" landing page and cannot be combined with other platform subsidies or discounts; if users request a full refund, the coupon will be returned through the original route, but if only a partial refund is requested, the coupon will not be returned.

From the perspective of the community, these rule restrictions aim to guide users to form a "supermarket-style" shopping habit on that page. On one hand, creating a sense of scarcity and ritual through timed coupon grabs drives traffic and repurchase rates; on the other hand, it isolates promotional activities from other channels, creating a relatively closed-loop consumption scenario in terms of experience, even though it has not independently formed a "terminal."

To align with this centralized purchasing scenario, the page has also made adjustments in purchasing methods. As is well known, PDD has long refrained from setting up a traditional "shopping cart" function to facilitate instant ordering, allowing users to purchase only one item at a time. The "Billion Dollar Supermarket" channel adopts a one-time addition format similar to a "shopping cart," supporting users to settle multiple items together, resembling the shopping experience of mature online supermarkets like Tmall Supermarket and JD Supermarket.

At this stage, the "Billion Dollar Supermarket" is not a new business starting from scratch; it is merely an operational page added within the billion-dollar subsidy system, currently not expanding supply or providing other more differentiated services.

200,000 merchants have joined the community, with options for "TikTok, Temu, Taobao, Douyin, PDD, Xiaohongshu," etc. Follow "Community Cross-Border" to join the group for free ↓ It seems to be a strong momentum, but in reality, it hasn't made a real move.

The phrase "100 billion supermarket" indeed easily stirs market imagination. Many media analysts suggest that PDD is finally going to directly engage in online supermarkets and fill the gap in instant retail business.

However, a calm examination of its current form may not warrant assigning it strategic significance too early. Industry observers point out that today's "100 billion supermarket" is more akin to a promotional page for coupon redemption, aggregating products to allow users to quickly reach the required amount and use the coupons, essentially aimed at increasing average transaction value and redemption rate.

Senior retail expert Zhang Weirong believes that the "100 billion supermarket" carries more of the platform's intention for "full-scenario coverage." PDD attempts to transfer the "subsidy to attract new users - conversion" model, which has been successfully validated in categories like 3C digital and beauty, to high-frequency essential categories like supermarkets, driving activity and retention through repurchase and tapping into the consumption potential of existing users.

Indeed, from the current actions, PDD seems to be testing at a low cost in the form of an entry point, indicating a desire to evaluate the results before deciding whether to continue investing further.

But this does not mean PDD lacks a sense of urgency. Since 2025, the offensive posture of JD, Alibaba, and Meituan in high-frequency instant retail scenarios has become increasingly clear. JD Supermarket proposed a new strategy in September 2025, aiming to grow its user base from 300 million to 500 million in the next three years, and its Seven Fresh Supermarket is also expanding; Alibaba has integrated Tmall Supermarket, Hema, and Taobao flash purchase businesses, publicly stating it will continue to increase investment in flash purchases to compete for absolute market leadership; Meituan's Little Elephant Supermarket's front warehouse network has covered over thirty cities, with plans to accelerate city and warehouse openings in the future.

In the instant retail battlefield, where competitors are heavily armed, PDD's traditional advantages in fast-moving consumer goods and lower-tier markets are facing direct impacts. Launching the "100 billion supermarket" at this time may serve as a defensive layout to buffer the pressure from Taobao flash purchases, Meituan, and JD in user competition within the instant retail sector.

From the current situation of the "100 billion supermarket," its core selling point remains low prices. In contrast, the barriers constructed by several major competitors are more solid.

Alibaba's greatest confidence lies in its ecosystem integration, where Tmall Supermarket, Hema, and Taobao flash purchases have achieved interconnectivity of traffic and scenarios, directly accommodating the massive user base of Taobao and Tmall, thus occupying a high traffic position from the starting line.

JD's foundation is its supply chain and warehousing capabilities, with strong self-operated warehousing, procurement, and fulfillment systems, combined with the user perception of "genuine products, fast delivery," making it easier to establish user trust in the supermarket category.

Meituan's Little Elephant Supermarket follows a front warehouse model, already possessing a significant capacity for city and warehouse openings, being closer to users and responding faster, thus better capturing "temporary replenishment" and "immediate needs."

PDD's entry this time seems more like using "coupons" as bait to first capture the mindset of price-sensitive users, without making systematic investments in the hardcore aspects of instant retail such as supply chain, warehousing, and immediate fulfillment.

Still refining, it may become a new variable in the supermarket track.

Currently, PDD's biggest leverage remains low prices. Regarding the "100 billion supermarket," it can at least continue to target price-sensitive groups in lower-tier markets and leverage the consumer base in first and second-tier cities that pursue extreme cost-performance ratios, seeking some incremental space in the existing market However, PDD's shortcomings in the supermarket sector are also evident. Zhuang Shuai, an expert in "retail e-commerce" from the Pai Dai Think Tank and founder of Bailian Consulting, pointed out that PDD's current issues lie in insufficient product richness, deep entry points, and the fact that the "supermarket category mindset" has not yet been established. In other words, in the perception of many people, PDD is still a platform for "buying hot items and competing on low prices," rather than an online supermarket that can restock at any time and ensure stable repurchase.

Zhuang believes that the current competition in the supermarket sector has shifted from traffic subsidies to a comprehensive comparison of supply chains, fulfillment efficiency, and service quality. JD's warehousing and distribution network, Alibaba's instant delivery system, and Hema's offline scene coverage all constitute strong barriers, and these "hard strengths" cannot be quickly replicated solely through subsidies.

For merchants participating in the test, attention must also be paid to operational details in the new scenario: the discounts at the 10 billion supermarket cannot be combined with other subsidies and full reduction offers, full refunds do not return coupons, and partial refunds do not return coupons. Therefore, merchants need to be more meticulous in activity stacking, communication regarding returns and exchanges, and after-sales processing, learning to distinguish which products are suitable for coupon-driven volume in this channel and which are not; if users experience partial refunds, there may be misunderstandings such as "why the coupon was not refunded," so after-sales communication should be preemptively set; at the same time, it should be avoided to treat it as a universally applicable promotional channel, otherwise, it is easy to encounter issues in pricing systems and after-sales experiences.

Additionally, some users have reported that this entry point has disappeared after appearing. In response, PDD's customer service stated that the activity would be randomly opened to some users, and the entry point might be closed during the upgrade period. This indicates that the entry point is still in the polishing and adjustment stage, and if the verification results are not ideal, the entry point may be withdrawn at any time.

Currently still in the trial phase, the "10 billion supermarket" may not cause a significant stir in the short term, but in the long run, a platform that always holds the weapon of low prices, is well-versed in operating in sinking markets, and has carved a bloody path in the e-commerce red sea, if determined to systematically combine the subsidy model with high-frequency essential scenarios, may very well become an important variable in the supermarket sector.

References:

\[1\] PDD internal test "10 billion supermarket," low prices expand new scenarios, Tech Planet

\[2\] PDD internal test "10 billion supermarket"? It's actually just a group purchase page, Lin Ke

\[3\] PDD internal test "10 billion supermarket," New Consumption Daily

\[4\] PDD can't sit still, starting to spend money on new businesses, E-commerce Headlines

\[5\] PDD internal test "10 billion supermarket," embedded with a 10 billion subsidy section without an independent entry point, PDD responded that it is randomly opened to some users, New Knowledge Research Institute

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