As the traffic from the sink market, represented by young people in small towns and those living outside the Fifth Ring Road, is exhausted, Pinduoduo has begun to fall into traffic anxiety. This is not only reflected in Pinduoduo's attempts to recover traffic through platform governance but also in its shift of focus to the "Westward Movement," a new fertile ground for traffic.

If we consider the traffic from the sink market as the key to Pinduoduo's rise, then its "Westward Expansion" is an attempt to open the door to a new world of traffic.

Although the western region, which has not yet been fully internetized, can indeed bring some traffic to Pinduoduo, if the company still adheres to its previous traffic-oriented mindset, then the so-called "Westward Expansion" may only be a reluctant choice to cover up its own platform dilemma.

When such a choice fails to bring new traffic to Pinduoduo, it will still lead the company's development into the dilemma it currently faces.

As Pinduoduo begins to focus more and more on the western region, especially trying to break the embarrassment of traffic through "Westward Expansion," we need to see more that Pinduoduo is trying to rehash old content in this way and cover up the difficulties it encounters during its development process.

If Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion" fails to succeed, it will not only fail to become a new growth point for the company but may even become the last straw that crushes Pinduoduo.

The essence of Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion" is still traffic

Why is Pinduoduo moving westward?

One of the important reasons is that Pinduoduo is trying to obtain new traffic through "Westward Expansion."

On the one hand, many regions in the west have not yet been fully internetized, and Pinduoduo is trying to replicate its magical play in the sink market in this way; on the other hand, Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion" is more of an attempt to attract more western merchants to its platform in this way.

Whether from the consumer end or the merchant end, it is not difficult to see that Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion" is essentially a continuation of the traffic mindset, trying to obtain new development possibilities by expanding traffic to offset the embarrassment it currently faces.

Although Pinduoduo can indeed achieve certain results through this approach, if it still stubbornly adheres to the traffic mindset and regards traffic as the lifeblood of development, then "Westward Expansion" will not only fail to bring new growth to Pinduoduo but may even become its Waterloo.

The reason is that even in the vast western region, what users really need are still high-quality products and excellent services, not just subsidies in a simple sense and the traffic-harvesting mindset that extends from subsidies.

In addition, although the western region has not been transformed by the internet, the traffic it carries is not as large as that of the previous sink market.

When Pinduoduo fails to recreate its legend through "Westward Expansion," its development will inevitably fall into a new quagmire.

Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion" is still about disintermediation

Reviewing Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion," we can observe a very obvious phenomenon: it merely aims to shorten the distance between products on its platform and western users through disintermediation, and it merely aims to shorten the distance between products in the western region and platform users through disintermediation.

In the final analysis, Pinduoduo is trying to achieve new development through continued disintermediation.

If we summarize and define Pinduoduo's disintermediation development approach, it is not difficult to see that it is still centered around the efficiency of matching and connection and has not truly realized the iteration and upgrade of the industry itself.

From this perspective, if we summarize and define Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion," it is more like copying its previous efficiency-first model to the western market without making any changes to its previous business model.

It is conceivable that if Pinduoduo cannot find the right way and method to thoroughly cure its platform dilemma but simply copies and replicates its previous development model to achieve growth, it will not only fail to solve the problems encountered in its current development process but may even drag western users back into the quagmire of pain points and difficulties encountered by eastern users.

Currently, Pinduoduo is overly focused on efficiency while ignoring a series of problems caused by the industry side. If Pinduoduo ignores this issue and merely focuses on replicating traditional business models and efficiency, its own problems will not only fail to be completely resolved but may even bury greater hidden dangers for its development.

Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion" is still about pursuing scale

Increasing signs suggest that Pinduoduo's development is increasingly being coerced by capital and is increasingly continuing the internet era's approach of using capital to drive scale.

Currently, Pinduoduo's ongoing "Westward Expansion" is still, to some extent, continuing the approach of pursuing scale and still sees the western market as a lifeline for expanding its own scale.

Admittedly, Pinduoduo can indeed further expand its scale and platform through this approach. However, if it merely focuses its development efforts on scale effects without considering the problems inherent in this scale model or ignoring the development of new technologies and models, then Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion" is merely reheating the old scale model without any novelty.

Although the western market is indeed a large market, what the western region truly needs is a long-term, sustainable business model, not Pinduoduo's scale-driven development model.

If Pinduoduo merely views "Westward Expansion" as a way to expand its scale and as a means to achieve its capital-driven development model, then its "Westward Expansion" will not only harm the fragile market in the western region but may even drag Pinduoduo's development into a greater crisis.

In the final analysis, Pinduoduo must abandon the approach of merely pursuing scale and the development model driven primarily by capital.

When Pinduoduo truly stops using scale to find incremental growth and stops satisfying the demands of the capital market as its ultimate goal, its development can truly enter a new stage of growth.

Conclusion

Pinduoduo's ongoing "Westward Expansion" is not fundamentally different from the sink market that once propelled its rise.

Essentially, Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion" is still about pursuing traffic, still about disintermediation, and still about pursuing scale efficiency.

Admittedly, through this development model, Pinduoduo can achieve certain growth, but such growth is still ultimately driven by the demands of the capital market.

It is undeniable that Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion" can indeed achieve certain results, but whether such results can be sustained, especially whether they can truly cure Pinduoduo's ills, remains uncertain.

When Pinduoduo's "Westward Expansion" fails to achieve real results, especially when it fails to bring new hope to the capital market, "Westward Expansion" will not only fail to rescue Pinduoduo from its dilemma but may even become the "last straw" that crushes it.