Few would have predicted at this time last year that e-commerce upstart Pinduoduo would become a competitor serious enough to warrant Alibaba’s attention.

But the Shanghai-based newcomer felt Alibaba was getting too big for its boots and was applying too stringent rules on merchants, forcing them to choose a single platform for selling or promoting their goods.

“Attempts to establish or prolong any monopolistic control are both wasteful and destructive,” Pinduoduo's founder and CEO said last month.

Read our in-depth analysis on how Pinduoduo has disrupted the online retail space and what Alibaba might do about it.