Could online retail potentially be transformed?

The ex google engineer, Colin Haung has said he believes that "Pinduoduo, or PDD, is a kind of facebook - groupon mash up that could revolutionise e-commerce".
so whats the big idea? the majority of shoppers know what they want to get when they go online, when they find something they like they might look at the reviews and then possibly buy it or carry on to look for something else. This idea is to make the shoppers feel like they're shopping in a store with their pals, you'll be able to share what things you like, given feedback from the people that you trust as well as have a small gossip with a bonus of getting some discount if you were to purchase that item together.
Similar things have been attempted before and failed, what makes this so different and cool that hundreds of people are pushing forward on this idea?