Analysis of the Viral Network Effect of Pinduoduo’s Social E-commerce and the Dilemma of Counterfeit Goods Governance

DOI

10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_102How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Social E-Commerce; Fission-Type Network Effect; Lemon Market; Moral Hazard; Countermeasures for Counterfeit Goods

Abstract

Pinduoduo has achieved explosive growth in user base and transaction volume by relying on the “social + e-commerce” viral model. Due to information asymmetry and lagging regulation, platforms have rapidly seized the lower-tier markets. Due to the emergence of the “lemon market” and the increasing pressure to combat counterfeit goods. This paper is based on the lemon market theory and risk theory, and combines Python experience for modeling, to construct a multiple linear regression model. The research has revealed that the average transaction price is significantly negatively correlated with the proportion of false complaints, and the type of merchant has a restraining effect on false complaints. Meanwhile, this study reveals that the core governance challenges faced by Pinduoduo present a complex and intertwined situation: The market for lemons forms a self-reinforcing closed loop, wherein the prevalence of low-priced goods invalidates price signals. Branded stores, facing high compliance costs, continue to exist in the market, while low success rates in consumer rights claims further exacerbate the trust deficit. There is an inherent contradiction between the split incentive and the governance of counterfeit goods. Furthermore, insufficient investment in platform supervision, the fact that merchants’ profits from selling counterfeit goods are higher than the costs of penalties, and the high cost for consumers to seek redress have led to a passive acceptance of the situation.The mutual reinforcement of the moral hazards among the three parties has jointly created an intractable systemic governance problem that is difficult to solve.

Copyright

© 2026 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Download article (PDF)

TY  - CONF
AU  - Shuyu Liu
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/23
TI  - Analysis of the Viral Network Effect of Pinduoduo’s Social E-commerce and the Dilemma of Counterfeit Goods Governance
BT  - Proceedings of the 2026 2nd International Conference on Financial Innovation and Marketing Management (FIMM 2026)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 979
EP  - 989
SN  - 2352-5428
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_102
DO  - 10.2991/978-94-6239-801-6_102
ID  - Liu2026
ER  -