Beidian

About Beidian

Beidian operates as a social e-commerce platform in China, enabling users to establish their own online shops and sell products directly to consumers. The company was founded in August 2017 by Allen Zhang, an alumnus of Alibaba, as a subsidiary of the maternal and child care shopping conglomerate, Beibei Group. Zhang's background as a former product manager at Alibaba provided him with relevant experience in the e-commerce sector.

The platform functions as an online marketplace connecting resellers and individual sellers with brands and end customers. Beidian's business model is centered on social commerce, where users, a large segment of whom are housewives, can buy, share, and sell products, earning commissions from sales. This approach encourages users to act as product ambassadors, promoting goods within their social networks. The company partners with brands and manufacturers to create a centralized supply chain, verifying the authenticity and quality of products before stocking and shipping them to customers. Revenue is generated through commissions on sales, with the company reportedly taking a 25% commission from merchants.

The product catalog is diverse, including food and beverages, home furnishing items, beauty and health products, and apparel and accessories, with a particular focus on mother and infant goods, leveraging its parent company's specialty. In May 2019, Beidian announced it had raised approximately $126-129 million in a Series A funding round from prominent investors such as Sequoia Capital, Hillhouse Capital, and Sinovation Ventures. By early 2019, the company reported having over 50 million registered users, with 10 million being monthly active users. However, in August 2021, reports emerged that Beidian was facing financial difficulties, allegedly owing millions to merchants and planning to shift its business model to a shopping guide site that redirects shoppers to other e-commerce platforms.