Pinduoduo cuts ceremonial goods sales by 40% with up to 50% price cuts

KUALA LUMPUR, 17 AUGUST 2026 —

Pinduoduo has cut ceremonial goods sales by up to 40% since entering Malaysia in late 2025 by undercutting local merchants by as much as 50% on joss sticks, prayer paper and incense.

The impact was sharpest during the Hungry Ghost Festival, a peak trading period for Chinese sundry shops. Penang merchant Lee Chuan Wei reported festive sales at 60% of the previous year’s level. The Federation of Sundry Goods Merchants Associations of Malaysia recorded sales declines of up to 30% among members in Johor and Kuala Lumpur.

A joss stick bought from Pinduoduo and one from a local provision shop perform the same function, but the platform’s factory-direct model allows it to charge up to half the local wholesale price.

Cross-border shipments from China can take up to ten days to reach Port Klang, and the parcels may then sit at the port for an unknown period. For a festival tied to a fixed lunar date, consumers are willing to accept the delay if the savings are immediate.

PKR MP Tan Kar Hing said Pinduoduo competes from outside the regulatory perimeter while local platforms such as Shopee, Lazada and TikTok Shop maintain local entities, physical presence and domestic supply chains. “The platform is not competing on unequal terms,” he said. “It is competing from outside the regulatory perimeter entirely.”

Eugene Sing, president of the Association of Praying Material Traders Malaysia, urged the government to follow Indonesia’s policy model. Indonesia required TikTok Shop to register locally and forced it into a structural merger with Tokopedia in 2023.

The sectors most exposed to factory-direct cross-border pricing—sundry goods, provision shops and prayer-material traders—are low-margin businesses that cannot absorb a prolonged price war. Micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) employ nearly half of Malaysia’s workforce and contribute about 40% to gross domestic product.

Domestic Trade and Cost of Living Minister Datuk Armizan Mohd Ali confirmed that a new law is being drafted to regulate eCommerce platforms. Deputy Finance Minister Liew Chin Tong said engagement with major platforms is underway to establish a level playing field for domestic businesses.

The Hungry Ghost Festival runs until 11 September.

For local merchants, price is the only variable left unmatched. A joss stick bought from Pinduoduo costs less than one bought from a provision shop, and the provision shop has no answer. The platform cannot offer faster delivery, but consumers have shown they will wait if the savings are large enough.

One tracking log circulating on social media showed a Pinduoduo order taking ten days at sea from Dongguan to Port Klang, then going silent at the port. The tolerance for that wait extends to everything on the platform, users suggest.

Business groups say Pinduoduo’s pricing power comes from operating without the costs that local merchants bear—taxes, rent, wages—and without the regulatory obligations local platforms meet. They argue the platform should be regulated or suspended unless it establishes a local presence and pays local taxes.

The forthcoming legislation will determine whether local merchants can survive the price pressure or whether the market will shift further toward factory-direct imports.

Related: Kuala Lumpur