(Yicai) May 13 -- Merchants selling their wares on the Chinese e-commerce platform Pinduoduo reaped big rewards during Shanghai’s annual May 5 Shopping Festival, several of them told Yicai.

Opening stores on Pinduoduo has enabled Shanlin Food to boost its sales outside of the city, in provinces such as Jiangsu, Zhejiang, and Guangdong, said Jiang Shiyuan, general manager of the Shanghai-based company.

Founded in 1949, Shanlin Food has mainly depended on real-world marketing and sales channels for more than 70 years, and still has hundreds of brick-and-mortar stores selling its cooked foods.

Daily sales at Shanlin Food have grown by 10 to 20 percent since it opened a store on Pinduoduo, one of a number of e-commerce platforms to subsidise vendors as a way to boost sales during the shopping fiesta, in March this year, Jiang said.

Pinduoduo also added the flower category to its subsidy coverage for the first time during this year’s May 5 Shopping Festival, allowing Shanghai consumers to buy blooms from other parts of China.

Yang Pan, a florist in China’s southwestern Yunnan province, told Yicai that in the past roses usually cost CNY5 to CNY6 (70 to 80 US cents) each. But now, thanks to the rise in sales since he opened a store on Pinduoduo, he can sell 10 roses for just CNY9.9, Yang said.

Yang’s offline business has shrunk compared with last year, but online trade has doubled. He believes his online business will keep on growing, and he has prepared rare and premium flower varieties for sale to consumers in China’s first-tier markets such as Shanghai.

Editor: Tom Litting