The Chinese platform known for fake products now has a clone
Pinduoduo has run into an unlikely competitor, which is cloning its ecommerce strategy
When Chinese social ecommerce platform Pinduoduo exploded in popularity this year it wasn’t just because it encourages sharing group buys on social media. It’s also because it offers a bunch of cheap stuff – among which are clones of well-known brands as well as outright forgeries.
But now the seller of clones itself is being cloned. It has almost the same name, logo, and business model. It also plans to sell almost the exact same types of products. It’s Pinshaoshao.
However, this reputation is hard to lose, especially since you can still buy goods on Pinduoduo that might not be outright fakes... but they’re very close. This includes Supremeis sports shoes, Schwarbstrong hairspray (inspired by German brand Schwartzkopf), and more versions of Pampers than you would dare to imagine.
The reason behind blatant rip-offs is that China’s intellectual property legal regulations are lacking. Although times are changing, there are still few legal means to protecting intellectual property in cases where one brand simply copies the designs of another brand.