美卡多 (MELI) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the MercadoLibre Earnings Conference Call for the quarter ended December 31, 2022. Thank you for joining us. I'm Richard Cathcart, Investor Relations Officer at MercadoLibre.

大家好，歡迎參加截至 2022 年 12 月 31 日的季度的 MercadoLibre 收益電話會議。感謝您加入我們。我是 MercadoLibre 的投資者關係官 Richard Cathcart。

Today, we will share our quarterly highlights on video, after which we'll begin our live Q&A session with our Chief Financial Officer, Pedro Arnt; and President of our FinTech business, Osvaldo Gimenez.

今天，我們將通過視頻分享我們的季度亮點，之後我們將開始與我們的首席財務官 Pedro Arnt 進行現場問答環節；以及我們金融科技業務的總裁 Osvaldo Gimenez。

Before we go on to discuss our results for the fourth quarter of 2022, I remind you that management may make and this presentation may contain forward-looking statements. So please refer to the disclaimer on screen, which will also be available in our earnings materials on our Investor Relations website and our Form 10-K for the year ended 2022.

在我們繼續討論我們 2022 年第四季度的業績之前，我提醒您管理層可能會做出並且本演示文稿可能包含前瞻性陳述。因此，請參閱屏幕上的免責聲明，該聲明也將在我們投資者關係網站上的收益材料和 2022 年底的 10-K 表格中提供。

With that, let's begin with a summary of our results.

有了這個，讓我們從我們的結果總結開始。

Hi, everyone. I'm happy to share the key messages about MercadoLibre's performance during the fourth quarter of 2022 and the year as a whole. We're particularly pleased to have been able to deliver an attractive combination of growth and profitability throughout the year, alongside strong operational KPIs and market share gains all while sustaining a high level of investment in products and technologies. We've successfully navigated a challenging environment, and we've reached new records across the business despite uncertainty around consumer spending, interest rates and inflation.

大家好。我很高興分享有關 MercadoLibre 在 2022 年第四季度和全年業績的關鍵信息。我們特別高興能夠在全年實現有吸引力的增長和盈利能力組合，以及強勁的運營 KPI 和市場份額增長，同時保持對產品和技術的高水平投資。我們成功地度過了一個充滿挑戰的環境，儘管消費者支出、利率和通貨膨脹存在不確定性，但我們在整個業務領域都創下了新紀錄。

With a strong fourth quarter, we end 2022 with record results in GMV, TPV, item shipped and net revenue as well as EBIT. Revenues, for example, for the first time ever, surpassed the $10 billion mark for the year, quite a milestone for our company. EBIT also came in at a new landmark level, surpassing $1 billion while delivering margin expansion. And perhaps even more unique is the combination of record EBIT and margin expansion while still growing revenues at roughly 50% year-on-year. During 2022, MercadoLibre strengthened its leadership of the e-commerce market in Latin America. As our data indicates that we achieved market share gains across the entire region with Brazil and Mexico standing out. These market share gains are grounded in our consistent investment and execution around all aspects of our commerce value prop and also an extended period of time.

憑藉強勁的第四季度，我們在 GMV、TPV、出貨商品和淨收入以及 EBIT 方面取得了創紀錄的業績，到 2022 年結束。例如，今年的收入有史以來第一次超過 100 億美元大關，這對我們公司來說是一個里程碑。息稅前利潤也達到了新的里程碑水平，超過 10 億美元，同時實現了利潤率增長。也許更獨特的是創紀錄的息稅前利潤和利潤率擴張的結合，同時收入仍以大約 50% 的同比增長速度增長。 2022 年期間，MercadoLibre 加強了其在拉丁美洲電子商務市場的領導地位。正如我們的數據所示，我們在整個地區實現了市場份額增長，其中巴西和墨西哥脫穎而出。這些市場份額的增長是基於我們圍繞商業價值支柱的各個方面以及長期的持續投資和執行。

Our ability to offer a very broad product assortment from sellers of all sizes at competitive prices and with fast deliveries continues to be a key differentiator for the company. The profitability of our commerce business also improved substantially year-on-year during the fourth quarter, helped by the expansion of Mercado Ads revenues, better management of promotional budgets, a healthier margin on 1P merchandise sales and the continued overall scaling of our business.

我們能夠以具有競爭力的價格和快速交貨的方式從各種規模的賣家那裡提供非常廣泛的產品種類，這仍然是公司的一個關鍵差異化因素。我們商業業務的盈利能力在第四季度也同比大幅提高，這得益於 Mercado Ads 收入的擴大、促銷預算的更好管理、1P 商品銷售的更健康利潤率以及我們業務的持續整體擴展。

Development of technology for Mercado Ads has been a major focus during 2022, increasing presence of ads and their monetization as well. Ads penetration, for example, grew another 10 basis points in the fourth quarter, despite strong growth of GMV, while maintaining its attractive EBIT margins. We still see plenty of opportunities for ads growth ahead of us as we continue to improve technology to better serve our advertisers.

Mercado Ads 技術的開發一直是 2022 年的主要焦點，它增加了廣告的出現及其貨幣化。例如，儘管 GMV 強勁增長，但廣告滲透率在第四季度又增長了 10 個基點，同時保持了具有吸引力的息稅前利潤率。隨著我們繼續改進技術以更好地為我們的廣告商服務，我們仍然看到很多廣告增長的機會。

2022 was also a fantastic year for Mercado Pago, with TPV growth exceeding our expectations while delivering take rate expansion on a year-over-year basis. On the acquiring business, first of all, we maintained our strong growth and margin performance, driven by QR payments and our POS business in Brazil, Mexico and Chile. On the other side of Pago, the digital accounts business, both payments and cards TPV continued to grow at triple digits in 2022, highlighting the traction in becoming the digital account of choice for many of our users.

2022 年對於 Mercado Pago 來說也是精彩的一年，冠捷的增長超出了我們的預期，同時實現了同比增長。在收單業務方面，首先，在二維碼支付和我們在巴西、墨西哥和智利的 POS 業務的推動下，我們保持了強勁的增長和利潤率表現。在 Pago 的另一邊，數字賬戶業務，包括支付和卡 TPV 在 2022 年繼續以三位數的速度增長，凸顯了成為我們許多用戶的首選數字賬戶的吸引力。

Mercado Credito performed well in the fourth quarter once again and in the year as a whole, positively contributing to our profit growth despite tougher economic conditions. Throughout the year, we were able to manage the performance of our book closely and adjust to the changing realities. These effective risk controls resulted in record profits. We remain optimistic about the positive ecosystemic effects of Mercado Credito as well going forward.

Mercado Credito 在第四季度和全年表現良好，儘管經濟形勢嚴峻，但仍為我們的利潤增長做出了積極貢獻。全年，我們能夠密切管理圖書的性能並適應不斷變化的現實。這些有效的風險控制帶來了創紀錄的利潤。我們對 Mercado Credito 的積極生態系統影響以及未來的發展保持樂觀。

2022 has been a year of adjustments on the other hand for the credit card product. But with improvements to the underwriting models, we've seen a much improved performance from the most recent cohorts on the credit cards. That leaves us encouraged by the performance of that product, which will remain a key element of the wider Mercado Pago value proposition and strategy going forward. All of these credit products complement our wider Mercado Pago offering, for which 2022 has been an important years in terms of broadening the scope of financial services we're able to offer.

2022年是信用卡產品調整的一年。但隨著承保模式的改進，我們看到最近一批信用卡的表現有了很大改善。這讓我們對該產品的表現感到鼓舞，這將仍然是更廣泛的 Mercado Pago 價值主張和未來戰略的關鍵要素。所有這些信貸產品都補充了我們更廣泛的 Mercado Pago 產品，2022 年是擴大我們能夠提供的金融服務範圍的重要年份。

We think we now have a product stack in place that is sufficient to meet our users core day-to-day needs, which will enable us to accelerate our efforts to achieve principality within that user base. All of these strong results have been made possible by top-notch execution from the team and discipline in leveraging our scale to deliver continued cost dilution. You have a much more detailed review of all of these fourth quarter operational and financial results made available to you both in our shareholder letter and also presentation, which are published on our Investor Relations website.

我們認為我們現在擁有的產品堆棧足以滿足我們用戶的核心日常需求，這將使我們能夠加快努力在該用戶群中實現主導地位。所有這些強勁的結果都是通過團隊的一流執行力和利用我們的規模來持續稀釋成本的紀律性實現的。您可以在我們的股東信函和演示文稿中對所有這些第四季度的運營和財務結果進行更詳細的審查，這些報告發佈在我們的投資者關係網站上。

With that, before turning to the live Q&A section, I'd like to hand it back to Richard to go through some of the latest business and product updates of the quarter and year. Thank you.

有了這個，在轉向現場問答部分之前，我想把它交還給理查德，讓他了解一下本季度和年度的一些最新業務和產品更新。謝謝。

2022 was another important year for investments in technology at MercadoLibre. And today, we want to share some of the key impacts these investments have delivered to our ecosystem as we continue on our mission to democratize commerce and financial services in Latin America. We're now able to offer a full stack of day-to-day financial services and products to our millions of Mercado Pago users after 18 months of intense technology deployment. We are leveraging our data in order to cross-sell new products and services to our users.

2022 年是 MercadoLibre 技術投資的又一個重要年份。今天，我們希望分享這些投資對我們的生態系統產生的一些關鍵影響，因為我們將繼續履行在拉丁美洲實現商業和金融服務民主化的使命。經過 18 個月的密集技術部署，我們現在能夠為數百萬 Mercado Pago 用戶提供全套日常金融服務和產品。我們正在利用我們的數據向我們的用戶交叉銷售新產品和服務。

Users of our digital account have access to debit and credit cards, along with QR code payments and an online transfers, making Mercado Pago more useful for their day-to-day needs. This is an important step in building towards achieving principality. Mercado Pago also offer saving buckets dedicated to our users' specific objectives and they are able to choose from different risk profiles with a minimum investment of just BRL 1 in Brazil.

我們數字賬戶的用戶可以使用借記卡和信用卡，以及二維碼支付和在線轉賬，使 Mercado Pago 對他們的日常需求更有用。這是實現公國的重要一步。 Mercado Pago 還提供專門針對我們用戶特定目標的儲蓄桶，他們能夠從不同的風險狀況中進行選擇，在巴西的最低投資僅為 BRL 1。

Users can now also make investments in a quick and simple process by the Mercado Pago app. This includes banking deposit certificates from our financial institution with a fixed rate and more recently, users in Brazil have access to 3 simple investment funds. Mercado Pago also offers different insurance options to suit our users' needs with life, personal accident and online transactions insurance. This offers protection against uncertainties that many of our customers may face in their daily lives.

用戶現在還可以通過 Mercado Pago 應用程序快速簡單地進行投資。這包括我們金融機構的固定利率銀行存款證明，最近，巴西的用戶可以使用 3 種簡單的投資基金。 Mercado Pago 還提供不同的保險選項以滿足用戶對人壽、人身意外和在線交易保險的需求。這為我們的許多客戶在日常生活中可能面臨的不確定性提供了保護。

Now with a complete product stack, Mercado Pago is well positioned to become a leading financial services provider in the region, enabling us to foster financial inclusion across the region. Our commerce platform currently serves millions of buyers and sellers by offering a world-class experience we've surpassed the mark of 1.1 billion items sold in 2022. We are investing in technology to continue to improve the online shopping experience of our users as we believe this will drive more retail spend online, particularly in categories where e-commerce penetration is low.

現在，Mercado Pago 擁有完整的產品組合，有望成為該地區領先的金融服務提供商，使我們能夠促進整個地區的金融普惠。我們的商務平台目前通過提供世界一流的體驗為數百萬買家和賣家提供服務，我們在 2022 年售出了超過 11 億件商品。我們正在投資技術，以繼續改善用戶的在線購物體驗，因為我們相信這將推動更多的在線零售支出，尤其是在電子商務滲透率較低的類別中。

We deployed improvements to several categories in 2022, including home and decor, fashion and beauty and autoparts. For example, in the autoparts category, we have simplified the search and filters in order to create a more specialist experience whilst in the home and decor category, we've further developed our discovery lab navigation experience.

我們在 2022 年對多個類別進行了改進，包括家居和裝飾、時尚和美容以及汽車零部件。例如，在汽車零件類別中，我們簡化了搜索和過濾器，以創造更專業的體驗，而在家居和裝飾類別中，我們進一步開發了我們的發現實驗室導航體驗。

New features have enabled sellers to promote their products in different formats. Short videos recorded by sellers to promote their products have reached millions of monthly views. And improvements in our advertising platform have increased the presence of ads in product pages. MercadoLibre continues to have the fastest delivery times in all of our key geographies. We're also investing in technology to improve the efficiency of our logistics network. And in 2022, we were able to deliver significant improvements in the productivity of our fulfillment centers, which means that even with a higher penetration of fulfillment deliveries, our overall net shipping cost as a percentage of GMV remained broadly flat year-on-year.

新功能使賣家能夠以不同的形式推廣他們的產品。賣家為宣傳自己的產品而錄製的短視頻已經達到了數百萬的月瀏覽量。我們廣告平台的改進增加了產品頁面中的廣告。 MercadoLibre 在我們所有的主要地區繼續擁有最快的交貨時間。我們還投資於技術以提高我們物流網絡的效率。到 2022 年，我們能夠顯著提高履行中心的生產力，這意味著即使履行交付的滲透率更高，我們的總體淨運輸成本佔 GMV 的百分比仍與去年同期基本持平。

Our MELI Places network grew to over 7,000 locations with over half of the returns already done through places. These returns have a higher NPS than other options, such as the local postal service. For buyers that choose to pick their items up from the MELI Places network, the NPS is the same, the deliveries made to the buyer's homes. We also delivered improvements in lead times with the MELI Air operations, reducing over 1 day in lead times as well as optimizing costs.

我們的 MELI Places 網絡發展到 7,000 多個地點，其中超過一半的退貨已經通過地點完成。這些回報比其他選擇（例如本地郵政服務）具有更高的淨推薦值。對於選擇從 MELI Places 網絡取貨的買家，NPS 是相同的，即送貨到買家家中。我們還改進了 MELI Air 運營的交貨時間，縮短了 1 天以上的交貨時間並優化了成本。

We ended 2022 with a stronger ecosystem and great opportunities ahead of us, and we are as confident as ever that the best is yet to come.

我們以更強大的生態系統和巨大的機遇結束了 2022 年，我們一如既往地相信最好的還在後頭。

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from Andrew Ruben from Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的安德魯魯本。

You made a comment in the release about operating in a fast-changing competitive landscape in Brazil. I'm curious if you could elaborate and specifically in that type of competitive environment, as you run your business, what changes and what doesn't?

您在新聞稿中發表了關於在巴西瞬息萬變的競爭格局中開展業務的評論。我很好奇您是否可以詳細說明在那種類型的競爭環境中，在您經營業務時，哪些會發生變化，哪些不會？

So in general, I think the area we operate in, both consumer commerce and FinTech and specifically the technology areas are low barrier of entry, high competitive markets which generate extremely dynamic market situations and structures. And I think one of our characteristics over the last 20 years has been speed to adapt and speed to change course, while at the same time, having a very clearly defined long-term focused strategy. And that's what we consistently refer to when we talk about how dynamic the segment is. Our long-term vision for what we're building is very consistent. The areas we focus on our consumers, our merchants, the quality of our products and our technology has remained incredibly consistent over time. And tactically, we try to adapt very quickly to changing market dynamics, to changing technological dynamics and consumer habits. And we think that we've served our consumers and shareholders well because of that speed of adaptation that we've built into our culture and how we operate.

因此，總的來說，我認為我們經營的領域，包括消費者商務和金融科技，特別是技術領域，都是低門檻、競爭激烈的市場，這些市場會產生極具活力的市場狀況和結構。我認為我們過去 20 年的特點之一是適應速度和改變路線的速度，同時擁有非常明確的長期重點戰略。當我們談論細分市場的動態時，這就是我們一貫提到的。我們對我們正在建設的東西的長期願景是非常一致的。隨著時間的推移，我們關註消費者、商家、產品質量和技術的領域始終保持一致。在戰術上，我們試圖快速適應不斷變化的市場動態、不斷變化的技術動態和消費者習慣。我們認為，由於我們在文化和運營方式中融入的適應速度，我們為消費者和股東提供了很好的服務。

Great. And if I could just follow up quickly, in terms of how you're thinking about the 1P business. I know it was an area that slowed down a bit in the past year, but you've talked about a greater opportunity over time. Any updated thoughts about how you're feeling about that business, the economics, et cetera?

偉大的。如果我能快速跟進，就你如何看待 1P 業務而言。我知道這是一個在過去一年中放緩的領域，但隨著時間的推移，你談到了更大的機會。關於您對那項業務、經濟等方面的看法的任何最新想法？

So we've continued to see improvements, first and foremost, in capabilities, how we operate the technology that we've built in-house to run that business, in terms of pricing, buying and promoting. And a consequence of those improvements and capabilities has been improved PPMs and better economics coming out of the 1P business. So that bodes well in terms of our expectations going forward for the 1P business and that we feel we are closer and closer to the point where the combination of capabilities and also what those P&Ls look like allow us to reaccelerate that business again sometime over the next few quarters.

因此，我們繼續看到改進，首先是能力方面的改進，我們如何在定價、購買和促銷方面運營我們內部構建的技術來運營該業務。這些改進和功能的結果是提高了 PPM，並且 1P 業務帶來了更好的經濟效益。因此，就我們對 1P 業務的預期而言，這是個好兆頭，我們覺得我們越來越接近能力組合以及這些 P&L 看起來允許我們在下一個某個時候再次加速該業務的地步幾個季度。

And our next question comes from Irma Sgarz from Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 Irma Sgarz。

The CapEx for the year came in just a bit lower -- actually quite a bit lower than we had maybe imagined at the outset of the year. And obviously, no negative impact to the overall results there, but I was just trying to think a little bit how you would characterize maybe the path for CapEx going forward, just in terms of what you still have to deploy specifically on the fulfillment of the technology side within those fulfillment centers and automation equipment, et cetera, as you take your logistics network to the next level.

今年的資本支出略低——實際上比我們年初可能想像的要低很多。顯然，對那裡的整體結果沒有負面影響，但我只是想稍微考慮一下你將如何描述資本支出前進的道路，就你仍然需要專門部署的內容而言當您將物流網絡提升到一個新的水平時，這些履行中心和自動化設備等的技術方面。

And then shifting to payments in the release, you point to share gains that you've been driving in the MPOS business in Brazil as you've been shifting little bit more upmarket. Can you talk about what -- how your offering is different from the competitors? And how crowded you see that space? And as a function of that, sort of how you're seeing -- how you're thinking about room for pricing adjustments? And how you expect churn to develop?

然後在發布中轉向支付，你指出分享你在巴西 MPOS 業務中推動的收益，因為你一直在轉向更高端的市場。你能談談什麼——你的產品與競爭對手有何不同？你看到那個空間有多擁擠？作為一個功能，你是如何看待的——你是如何考慮定價調整的空間的？您預計客戶流失將如何發展？

Irma, so let me take the CapEx one first. If you look at the cash profile that we delivered both in the fourth quarter and full year 2022, I think '22 was a stellar year in many aspects. Cash generation was one of them, both from an operational cash flow, but also some of the disclosures we offer in the PowerPoint around available cash and change in free cash generation. Part of that cash generation was because we are operating close to peak utilization in some of our geographies in terms of our logistics and CapEx -- logistics fulfillment centers and sortation centers. So we do anticipate some incremental investments when we look at '23 versus '22 in terms of CapEx primarily on the logistics front, as we build incremental capacity that we are needing in some markets, primarily in Mexico.

Irma，所以讓我先談談資本支出。如果您查看我們在第四季度和 2022 年全年提供的現金概況，我認為 22 年在許多方面都是輝煌的一年。現金產生是其中之一，既來自運營現金流，也來自我們在 PowerPoint 中提供的一些關於可用現金和自由現金產生變化的披露。產生現金的部分原因是，就我們的物流和資本支出——物流履行中心和分揀中心而言，我們在一些地區的運營接近峰值利用率。因此，當我們主要在物流方面的資本支出方面看 23 年與 22 年時，我們確實預計會有一些增量投資，因為我們在某些市場（主要是墨西哥）建立了我們需要的增量能力。

In terms of the other big CapEx item, which is developers and capitalized product development, I think what you're seeing going forward is a bit of a slowdown in the pace of net new adds of developers. I think we're still going against most others in that we continue to hire, but probably at a somewhat more measured pace than we had been adding engineers over the past few years. So that will also, in a way, generate a lower cadence of capitalized R&D when we look into the future years. But net-net, '23 should come in higher than '22 did in terms of CapEx, at least, as we see it right now.

就另一個大的資本支出項目而言，即開發人員和資本化產品開發，我認為你看到的未來是開發人員淨新增速度的放緩。我認為我們在繼續招聘方面仍然與大多數其他公司背道而馳，但可能比過去幾年我們增加工程師的步伐更為謹慎。因此，在某種程度上，當我們展望未來幾年時，這也會降低資本化研發的節奏。但是，至少就資本支出而言，'23 應該比'22 更高，正如我們現在所看到的那樣。

With regards to the payment question regarding our POS and our move up market in Brazil, in Brazil and in all of the regions, it's something we are very excited about. When we look at how we have been able to grow TPV, it's not because we are selling a whole lot more devices than we were a year ago, but rather because we have been able to significantly increase the TPV per device. And this has been driven by rolling out and deploying larger pulling out if the products that we believe are more robust that have better connectivity, better approval rates and better NPS than we had in the past, and that is recognized by some of our users. And so what we are seeing is a significant increase in (inaudible) device. And also, we are deploying a larger the sales force than we did in the past. Most of it is a third-party, sales force is not our own, but nonetheless, they enable us to scale in the SMB segment.

關於我們的 POS 和我們在巴西、巴西和所有地區的升級市場的支付問題，這是我們非常興奮的事情。當我們審視我們如何能夠增長 TPV 時，並不是因為我們銷售的設備比一年前多得多，而是因為我們能夠顯著增加每台設備的 TPV。如果我們認為比過去更強大的產品具有更好的連接性、更好的批准率和更好的 NPS，並且我們的一些用戶認可這一點，那麼這是通過推出和部署更大的退出來推動的。因此，我們看到的是（聽不清）設備的顯著增加。而且，我們正在部署比過去更大的銷售隊伍。其中大部分是第三方，銷售人員不是我們自己的，但儘管如此，它們使我們能夠在 SMB 領域進行擴展。

And our next question comes from Marcelo Santos from JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的馬塞洛桑托斯。

The question is about the provisioning on the credit business. I think in the presentation, you mentioned that the provisioning went down partially because of better credit quality. Does this mean that you reduce the amount that you provision for -- in terms of like late past to payments? So I think in the previous quarter, you showed a range of how much you provision per cohort. Did that change because you improved the quality or it didn't change?

問題是關於信貸業務的撥備。我想在演講中，你提到撥備下降部分是因為信用質量更好。這是否意味著你減少了你準備的金額——就像過去的付款一樣？所以我認為在上一季度，你展示了每個隊列的供應量範圍。那改變是因為你提高了質量還是沒有改變？

Marcelo, I think let me describe in more detail what has happened over the last few quarters. As you recall, during the second quarter -- towards the end of the second quarter, as we saw that market conditions were worsening. We decided to be more restrictive and to lower our exposure to higher-risk segments. That has been the case for the third and fourth quarter, and we're in each of the countries and each of the businesses, we lower our exposure to the higher risk segment.

馬塞洛，我想讓我更詳細地描述一下過去幾個季度發生的事情。正如您所記得的那樣，在第二季度 - 接近第二季度末，我們看到市場狀況正在惡化。我們決定更加嚴格，並降低我們對高風險細分市場的敞口。第三和第四季度就是這種情況，我們在每個國家和每個業務中，都降低了對較高風險部分的敞口。

As a consequence of that, we had lower NPLs and that reduction in NPLs drove a reduction in provisions. But nonetheless, as we are originating loans that are less risky, the new provisions have slowed down proportionally. Nonetheless, they accurately reflect our best estimate of what the risk is. So we are comfortable with the level of provisions we have. It's just reflecting an improvement in the risk we are taking.

因此，我們的不良貸款率較低，不良貸款率的下降推動了準備金的減少。但是儘管如此，由於我們發起的貸款風險較低，因此新撥備已按比例放慢。儘管如此，它們準確地反映了我們對風險的最佳估計。因此，我們對現有的規定水平感到滿意。這只是反映了我們所承擔風險的改善。

And our next question comes from Robert Ford from Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的羅伯特福特。

Congratulations on the quarter. Pedro, how are you thinking about the disruption to Americans, relative competitive advantage and near-term market share opportunities. And is that dislocation having any impact on the promotional support from suppliers in 1P categories?

祝賀這個季度。佩德羅，你如何看待對美國人的破壞、相對競爭優勢和近期市場份額機會。這種錯位是否對 1P 類別供應商的促銷支持有影響？

Bob, thanks. So in a way, it's a continuation of the answer to Andrew's question at the beginning. Our strategy has never been driven by what competitors are doing or not doing, but much more focused on what we're doing and our consumers. On a tactical level, I think if there are market share opportunities that become available, then without changing strategy, we will see how we can potentially lean into those and try to take advantage, and gain some of those shares -- or gain some of those share gains that are being lost potentially by our competitors. So we are seeing the market being disrupted in some ways positive, in some ways negative. And we do have short-term tactical plans to see how we can potentially take advantage of that. But again, I think much more importantly, from a strategy perspective from the business lines that we're trying to develop, nothing changes as a consequence of what might or might not happen going forward with Americans.

鮑勃，謝謝。所以在某種程度上，這是安德魯一開始的問題答案的延續。我們的戰略從來沒有受到競爭對手在做什麼或沒有做什麼的驅動，而是更加關注我們正在做的事情和我們的消費者。在戰術層面上，我認為如果有可用的市場份額機會，那麼在不改變戰略的情況下，我們將看到我們如何能夠潛在地利用這些機會並嘗試利用，並獲得其中的一些份額 - 或者獲得一些我們的競爭對手可能失去的那些份額收益。因此，我們看到市場在某些方面受到積極影響，在某些方面受到負面影響。我們確實有短期戰術計劃，看看我們如何利用它。但同樣，我認為更重要的是，從我們正在努力開發的業務線的戰略角度來看，美國人未來可能發生或可能不會發生的事情並沒有改變。

That makes sense. And in terms of the Ad business, can you provide a little bit more color in terms of the incremental functionality on the ad server and the demand side platform, as well as any expected timing of improvements?

這就說得通了。就廣告業務而言，您能否在廣告服務器和需求方平台上的增量功能以及任何預期的改進時間方面提供更多顏色？

Yes. So I think over the last probably 2 or 3 quarters, we've been very consistent about talking about the new product deployment and how we've accelerated our focus and investments on technology and ad tech business. We've doubled the engineering headcount there -- probably half a year.

是的。因此，我認為在過去的 2 或 3 個季度中，我們一直非常一致地談論新產品部署以及我們如何加速對技術和廣告技術業務的關注和投資。我們在那裡的工程人員人數翻了一番——大概是半年。

We also, I think, have been very consistent in saying that between the product launches and the technology improvements and when we actually see the results coming in, there is a lag, and it's hard for us to predict how long that lag might take. And so we'll need to see how that plays out throughout most of this year. We've continued to push significant product enhancements in the advertising business in Q4, and into the beginning of '23. And so we remain optimistic about eventually being able to reap the returns of those improved investments in the ad stack and hopefully, we'll be able to report something over the next few quarters. We continue to see constant penetration gains from advertising revenues as a percentage of GMV, and that continues to be one of the most attractive revenue streams when we look at the margin structure there. So I guess we all are very focused on this, and let's keep you posted as we go forward into the year and how the results begin to flow in.

我認為，我們也一直非常一致地說，在產品發布和技術改進之間以及當我們實際看到結果出現時，存在滯後，我們很難預測這種滯後可能需要多長時間。因此，我們需要看看今年大部分時間的情況如何。我們在第四季度和 23 年初繼續推動廣告業務的重大產品改進。因此，我們對最終能夠在廣告堆棧中獲得這些改進投資的回報保持樂觀，並希望我們能夠在接下來的幾個季度中報告一些事情。我們繼續看到廣告收入在 GMV 中所佔百分比的持續增長，並且當我們查看那裡的利潤率結構時，這仍然是最具吸引力的收入來源之一。所以我想我們都非常關注這一點，讓我們在進入這一年時隨時通知您，以及結果如何開始流入。

And our next question comes from Thiago Macruz from Itaú.

我們的下一個問題來自 Itaú 的 Thiago Macruz。

First, congratulations on the quarter. Two questions from us. First, regarding the Mercado Credito business, I think that achieving a lower cost of funding is key here. And I just want to understand if that is entirely dependent on the e-wallet, reaching further users and principality, or if there's another avenue to that end?

首先，祝賀本季度。我們有兩個問題。首先，關於 Mercado Credito 業務，我認為實現較低的融資成本是這裡的關鍵。我只是想了解這是否完全依賴於電子錢包，以達到更多的用戶和公國，或者是否有其他途徑可以達到這個目的？

And a follow-up on the ads question just a few minutes ago. Is it fair to say that technology is not a restriction for the marginal growth of the business and rather generating further demand by eventually showcasing the economics of what you guys are offering from the seller standpoint? Those are my 2 questions.

以及幾分鐘前對廣告問題的跟進。可以公平地說，技術不是對業務邊際增長的限制，而是通過最終從賣方的角度展示你們所提供產品的經濟性來產生進一步的需求嗎？這是我的兩個問題。

Thiago, I would say we have started to grow the CDBs we offer to users. And we, in the past, used to do this through third parties and it's something that we have done more and more throughout the -- since we launched it in the fourth quarter. Still, I don't think has had yet relevant impact in the overall cost of funding because we are paying -- since we are promoting the growth of CDBs at Mercado Pago, the cost we have is similar to the one we are getting from third parties. But as we expand this, this could be relevant in the future. But so far, I think it's still early days of our funding with CDB.

Thiago，我想說我們已經開始增加我們提供給用戶的 CDB。我們過去常常通過第三方來做到這一點，而且自從我們在第四季度推出以來，我們在整個過程中所做的越來越多。儘管如此，我認為還沒有對整體融資成本產生相關影響，因為我們正在支付——因為我們正在促進 Mercado Pago 的 CDB 的增長，我們的成本與我們從第三方獲得的成本相似派對。但隨著我們擴大這一點，這在未來可能是相關的。但到目前為止，我認為我們與國開行的融資仍處於早期階段。

There was a second part to the previous question. On the ads piece, Thiago, if I understood the question correctly, we do think that technology is not just a nice to have or an additional benefit. It is a core necessity of being able to scale out the advertising business and have it reach the long-term size that we would like to reach. So the improvements we've made in terms of incremental positions and inventory for advertising. The improvements in the ad server technology that delivers display advertising throughout the platform. The launch of a self-service DSP platform for ad displays.

上一個問題還有第二部分。關於廣告片，Thiago，如果我沒有正確理解這個問題，我們確實認為技術不僅僅是擁有的好處或額外的好處。能夠擴展廣告業務並使其達到我們希望達到的長期規模是核心必要條件。因此，我們在增量位置和廣告庫存方面所做的改進。廣告服務器技術的改進，可在整個平台上投放展示廣告。推出用於廣告展示的自助式 DSP 平台。

The improvements in self-service reporting for advertisers to be able to see their results in near real time and react to that quickly. And equally important, the ability to better target audiences within the -- So all of the focus in terms of technology over the last few quarters, probably begins to put us on equal footing with some of the largest and most successful technology platforms whereas before we simply weren't there. So this really is, I would say, a necessity to have launched this technology and get it right. We're very encouraged by the fact that it's now out there. And hopefully, we'll see over if there's adoption of all these different pieces of the stack deliver the kind of results that we (inaudible).

自助服務報告的改進使廣告商能夠近乎實時地查看他們的結果并快速做出反應。同樣重要的是，能夠更好地定位受眾 - 所以過去幾個季度在技術方面的所有焦點，可能開始讓我們與一些最大和最成功的技術平台處於平等地位，而在我們之前根本不存在。所以我想說，這真的是啟動這項技術並把它做好的必要條件。它現在就在那裡，我們感到非常鼓舞。希望我們會看到是否採用了所有這些不同的堆棧部分來提供我們（聽不清）的那種結果。

And our next question comes from Geoffrey Elliott from Autonomous.

我們的下一個問題來自 Autonomous 的 Geoffrey Elliott。

The release talks about a sequential increase in fulfillment penetration, looks like in Brazil, Mexico, Chile, kind of across the board. Can you give us a bit more detail on that and update on where we stand on charging for fulfillment?

該新聞稿談到了履行滲透率的連續增加，看起來像在巴西、墨西哥、智利，有點全面。您能否向我們提供更多詳細信息，並更新我們對履行收費的立場？

So in terms of the model, we charge for both rental space, and we charge for inventory that doesn't rotate quickly enough and generates inefficiencies in terms of floor space. What we've been saying over the last few quarters is that we have dual objectives of introducing monetization behind fulfillment, yet at the same time, still push adoption and usage of that service, primarily outside of Mexico to Mexico-like levels are in the direction of Mexico-like levels. And in a way, those 2 levers are opposing levers. And so we've introduced the full model, but we've kept pricing relatively low. If you look at the fourth quarter results, the monetization overall in the logistics operation in Mercado Envios was actually higher. .

因此，就模型而言，我們對租賃空間收費，我們對周轉速度不夠快且在佔地面積方面效率低下的庫存收費。我們在過去幾個季度一直在說的是，我們有雙重目標，即在履行背後引入貨幣化，但與此同時，仍在推動該服務的採用和使用，主要是在墨西哥以外的地區，以達到類似墨西哥的水平類似墨西哥水平的方向。在某種程度上，這兩個槓桿是相反的槓桿。所以我們推出了完整的模型，但我們保持相對較低的定價。如果你看一下第四季度的結果，Mercado Envios 物流業務的整體貨幣化實際上更高。 .

So we have gradually been dialing up monetization around the cost side of logistics services, in part to offset cost increases and also in part to better reflect the services we're offering. But it's still being done so at a very gradual pace. Again, repeating myself, bearing in mind that we still need to drive significant penetration growth in fulfillment, primarily in Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Argentina that are still 20-plus percentage points behind Mexico in terms of adoption.

因此，我們逐漸圍繞物流服務的成本方面進行貨幣化，部分是為了抵消成本增加，部分是為了更好地反映我們提供的服務。但它仍在以非常漸進的速度進行。再次重申我自己，請記住，我們仍然需要推動實現的顯著滲透增長，主要是在巴西、智利、哥倫比亞和阿根廷，這些國家在採用方面仍落後墨西哥 20 多個百分點。

So it will be a very gradual and steady process. It will be a gradual and consistent process over the next many years. But I wouldn't expect any significant step functions in terms of monetization, not anytime in the near future at least.

所以這將是一個非常漸進和穩定的過程。在接下來的許多年裡，這將是一個漸進和一致的過程。但我不希望在貨幣化方面有任何重要的步驟，至少在不久的將來不會。

And our next question comes from Jamie Friedman from Susquehanna International Group.

我們的下一個問題來自 Susquehanna International Group 的 Jamie Friedman。

So for Pedro or Osvaldo, two questions, so just asking upfront. How should we be thinking about the journey in the TPV between on and off platform? What would it -- I mean, obviously, off-platform number is great. What would it take to get even more ubiquitous acceptance off? That's the first one like the journey on, especially off platform. And then in terms of (inaudible) what is the current messaging and strategy of the company? Previously for Credito, I thought that the goal was to syndicate more and more of the credit. Is that still the approach? Or would you be comfortable if credit quality improved profitability was great today, taking some more on balance sheet? Those are my 2 questions.

所以對於 Pedro 或 Osvaldo，有兩個問題，所以只是提前問。我們應該如何考慮 TPV 在平台上和平台下的旅程？它會是什麼——我的意思是，顯然，平台外的數字很棒。要獲得更普遍的接受需要什麼？這是第一個像旅程一樣的旅程，尤其是在平台之外。然後就（聽不清）公司當前的信息和戰略而言是什麼？以前對於 Credito，我認為目標是聯合越來越多的信貸。這仍然是方法嗎？或者，如果今天的信貸質量提高了盈利能力，你會感到舒服嗎？在資產負債表上增加一些？這是我的兩個問題。

Jamie, let me start with the first one regarding TPV. I think that we are really happy with how TPV off-platform has been evolving. TPV on-platform basically now already tracks the gross merchandise volume we do in the marketplace, we're already at 100% -- we have been at 100% for a long time. So that tracks e-commerce marketplace growth. And with regards to TPV off-platform, I think there are several avenues for growth there. Probably the one that we have seen growth the most over the last few years is in Mexico and Brazil is the POS volume, which is growing nicely, and Argentina has been more related to the wallet, which is also growing very strongly.

傑米，讓我從關於 TPV 的第一個開始。我認為我們對 TPV 平台外的發展方式感到非常滿意。 TPV 平台上現在基本上已經跟踪了我們在市場上所做的商品總量，我們已經達到 100%——我們已經保持 100% 很長時間了。這樣就可以跟踪電子商務市場的增長。關於 TPV 平台外，我認為那裡有幾種增長途徑。在過去幾年中，我們看到增長最快的可能是墨西哥和巴西的 POS 數量，增長良好，而阿根廷與錢包的關係更為密切，增長也非常強勁。

There's also online payment, but online payments then is growing at a lower pace that in-store, basically because we already have a larger share online than we have in store. And because still in Latin America, e-commerce or all in payments is a relatively small fraction of total retail. The second one is -- I'm not sure I got it right. If you can repeat, that would be great as regarding the funding for Mercado Credito.

還有在線支付，但在線支付的增長速度低於實體店，主要是因為我們已經擁有比實體店更大的在線份額。而且因為仍然在拉丁美洲，電子商務或全支付在零售總額中所佔的比例相對較小。第二個是——我不確定我做對了。如果你能重複一遍，那就是關於 Mercado Credito 的資金。

So my understanding, (inaudible), it's on a dollar of origination $0.60, I may mess this up, I'm sorry, goes through the syndication of the (inaudible) and then 50-50 first 100 you own, and the next 100 gets syndicated out. My understanding was you were trying to push more through the (inaudible) when credit was deteriorating, but now credit looks like it's improving. So I'm just trying to figure out, would you balance sheet more of Credito.

所以我的理解是，（聽不清），它的原價是 0.60 美元，我可能會搞砸，對不起，通過（聽不清）的聯合組織，然後是你擁有的前 100 個 50-50，然後是下一個 100被聯合出去。我的理解是，當信用惡化時，你試圖通過（聽不清）推動更多，但現在信用看起來正在改善。所以我只是想弄清楚，你會在資產負債表上增加 Credito 嗎？

So no, the strategy remains unchanged. We continue, given the potential size of our credit books to increase the amount of (inaudible) so that we can off balance sheet the incremental growth that should come through while still retaining a subordinate tranche, which has been very profitable for us so far. The additional funding source that is becoming potentially more relevant going forward are the CDBs that Osvaldo mentioned in a previous question. So when we think of the capital structure around the credit business, there will be our own equity investments.

所以不，策略保持不變。我們繼續，考慮到我們的信用賬簿的潛在規模會增加（聽不清）的數量，這樣我們就可以在資產負債表外實現應該實現的增量增長，同時仍然保留次級部分，到目前為止，這對我們來說是非常有利可圖的。 Osvaldo 在上一個問題中提到的 CDB 是未來可能變得更加相關的額外資金來源。所以當我們想到圍繞信貸業務的資本結構時，就會有我們自己的股權投資。

The (inaudible) or the warehouses that should be growing with relationship to the equity piece. And then the third piece is taking advantage of the CDBs that we can now distribute ourselves in our own digital wallets in addition to doing so through banking partnerships as we had been in the past as the third very relevant window in terms of capital structure for the credit business. The CDBs in a way start to emulate not from a regulatory perspective, but from a business perspective, what a savings account potentially looks like, although at a higher cost. But it's essentially allowing our own users to have a savings product that's CDB that at the same time is an efficient funding source for us.

（聽不清）或倉庫應該隨著股權部分的關係而增長。然後第三部分是利用 CDB，我們現在可以在我們自己的數字錢包中分配自己，除了通過銀行合作夥伴關係這樣做之外，就像我們過去在資本結構方面的第三個非常相關的窗口一樣信貸業務。 CDB 在某種程度上開始效仿，不是從監管的角度，而是從商業的角度，儲蓄賬戶可能看起來像什麼，儘管成本更高。但它本質上是讓我們自己的用戶擁有一種儲蓄產品，即國開行，同時對我們來說也是一種有效的資金來源。

And our next question comes from Marvin Fong from BTIG.

我們的下一個問題來自 BTIG 的 Marvin Fong。

Congratulations also on the quarter. Two questions from me. So first one on Credito. Just at a high level, obviously, the profitability is become very strong, and you've gotten more conservative with your underwriting. Just curious on how you're thinking about the extension of credit and growing -- returning to growing the book a little bit more aggressively. In other words, are you waiting for the macro environment to get a little more favorable? Or do you believe that Credito is in such a strong position that maybe you can start kind of leveraging that strength to extend credit a little more aggressively?

也祝賀本季度。我有兩個問題。所以第一個關於 Credito。顯然，在高水平上，盈利能力變得非常強勁，而且你在承銷方面變得更加保守。只是好奇你是如何考慮信貸的擴展和增長的——回到更積極地增長這本書。換句話說，你是在等待宏觀環境變得更有利一點嗎？還是您認為 Credito 處於如此有利的地位，以至於您可以開始利用這種優勢更積極地擴大信貸？

And then second question, I saw on the e-commerce side that you partnered with Carrefour for delivering groceries. Just curious if you could kind of expand a little bit more on your strategy with grocery. Should we take this as a sign that you made a definitive decision to proceed with grocery and partnerships and you're not interested in handling that on a 1P basis?

然後是第二個問題，我在電子商務方面看到你們與家樂福合作提供雜貨配送服務。只是想知道您是否可以在雜貨店的策略上多一點擴展。我們是否應該將此視為您做出了繼續雜貨店和合作夥伴關係的明確決定並且您對在 1P 基礎上處理它不感興趣？

Marvin, let me start with the first one. And with regards to the outlook from credit, I'd say that as we -- as you mentioned over the last couple of quarters, as we saw market conditions worsened, we decided to be more cautious on the risk we're willing to take. And also, we decided to price our lines more expensively to make sure we had a better spread to be on the safe side. What ended up happening where that collections were better than we expected, and we ended up with very healthy spreads. Now we'll see when we deem that market conditions are improving. And when that is the case, probably then will be, again, more aggressive. And as we become more aggressive, probably we will allow for some compression in spreads. But we will be very dynamically and flexible regarding how we see the market evolving.

馬文，讓我從第一個開始。關於信貸前景，我想說的是，正如你在過去幾個季度提到的那樣，當我們看到市場狀況惡化時，我們決定對我們願意承擔的風險更加謹慎.而且，我們決定將我們的線路定價更高，以確保我們有更好的價差以確保安全。最終發生的事情比我們預期的要好，我們最終得到了非常健康的利差。現在我們將看到我們認為市場狀況正在改善的時間。在這種情況下，可能會再次變得更具侵略性。隨著我們變得更加激進，我們可能會允許利差有所壓縮。但對於我們如何看待市場的演變，我們將非常動態和靈活。

Could you please repeat the second part of the question? I think I lost you.

你能重複問題的第二部分嗎？我想我失去了你。

I believe you guys had entered into a distribution partnership on grocery with Carrefour in Brazil. I was just wondering if you could kind of expand on that and your -- how you're thinking about grocery right now?

我相信你們已經與巴西的家樂福建立了食品雜貨分銷合作夥伴關係。我只是想知道您是否可以對此進行擴展以及您 - 您現在如何考慮雜貨店？

Great. So we have a 3P partnership with Carrefour, meaning that they will be a merchant on our platform. I think they can bring very necessary and welcome head assortment to the CPG and supermarket category for us. Ideally, they are a key partner in terms of groceries as we experiment with that part of the supermarket offering, which is always one of the most challenging ones.

偉大的。所以我們和家樂福有3P合作關係，這意味著他們將成為我們平台上的商家。我認為他們可以為我們帶來非常必要和受歡迎的頭部分類到 CPG 和超市類別。理想情況下，他們是雜貨方面的關鍵合作夥伴，因為我們嘗試超市提供的那部分產品，這始終是最具挑戰性的部分之一。

And the model is one where their inventory will be sent to our fulfillment centers, and we will be able to deliver that through fulfilled by MELI which is always -- from a consumer perspective, the best user experience, the one where we have greatest control over logistics and the entire end-to-end purchasing process. So it's within the context of our continuous experimentation within supermarket. Again, I think we've continued to see improving economics within that subcategory, still a challenging category from a P&L perspective. It has huge potential in terms of repeat purchase behavior and loyalty of users. But on the flip side, I think for everyone, it's a challenging one from an economic perspective. And so there's a lot of experimentation and innovation going on there as we try to figure out what is the most appropriate model for our region, and with which partners it would make the most sense to do that.

在這種模式下，他們的庫存將被發送到我們的履行中心，我們將能夠通過 MELI 的履行來交付它——從消費者的角度來看，這是最好的用戶體驗，我們擁有最大的控制權物流和整個端到端的採購流程。因此，這是在我們在超市內不斷進行實驗的背景下進行的。同樣，我認為我們繼續看到該子類別的經濟狀況有所改善，從損益的角度來看仍然是一個具有挑戰性的類別。它在重複購買行為和用戶忠誠度方面具有巨大潛力。但另一方面，我認為對每個人來說，從經濟角度來看，這是一個具有挑戰性的問題。因此，在我們試圖找出最適合我們地區的模式以及與哪些合作夥伴一起這樣做時，那裡正在進行大量的實驗和創新。

And our next question comes from João Soares from Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 João Soares。

Just a very quick one on my side. I was just hoping to get Pedro on margins overall. I mean, 2022 was clearly a very impressive year in terms of margin expansion, just look at this fourth quarter. And so as you go into 2023, I mean there are a lot of moving parts advancing on the Ad business, which clearly has a very robust margins and also -- but at the same time, we're talking about reaccelerating the 1P business, which even though has a fairly better economics. It's a business that in the past, it was a bit of a margin drag. So I was just hoping to get your overall view in terms of how should we think about margins for 2023?

我這邊的速度非常快。我只是希望讓佩德羅總體上獲得利潤。我的意思是，就利潤率擴張而言，2022 年顯然是非常令人印象深刻的一年，看看這個第四季度就知道了。所以當你進入 2023 年時，我的意思是廣告業務有很多移動部分在推進，這顯然有非常強勁的利潤率而且 - 但與此同時，我們正在談論重新加速 1P 業務，即使具有相當好的經濟學。這是一項業務，在過去，這有點拖累利潤率。所以我只是希望就我們應該如何考慮 2023 年的利潤率獲得您的總體看法？

Sure. So as you know, we don't guide, but I still think it's a valid question. So directionally, we remain very consistent in saying that we try to manage the financial model for consistent sequential annual increase in EBIT dollars, ideally also modest, but consistent margin expansion. That depends a little bit on what happens in terms of mix shift, but we do try to manage the different businesses and the different sub business units to deliver margin expansion year-on-year-on-year going forward. Yet at the same time, we still continue to see ourselves as a company that wants to deliver market share gains, continue consolidating its leadership position. And as you mentioned in your question, have a lot of bets on many different future growth engines that today are, in many cases, negative EBIT businesses that we continue to see and we are committed to.

當然。如您所知，我們不提供指導，但我仍然認為這是一個有效的問題。因此，在方向上，我們仍然非常一致地說，我們試圖管理財務模型，以實現 EBIT 美元連續連續的年度增長，理想情況下也是適度但持續的利潤率擴張。這在一定程度上取決於混合轉變方面發生的情況，但我們確實試圖管理不同的業務和不同的子業務部門，以實現利潤率同比增長。但與此同時，我們仍然繼續將自己視為一家希望擴大市場份額、繼續鞏固其領導地位的公司。正如你在問題中提到的那樣，在許多不同的未來增長引擎上有很多賭注，在許多情況下，我們繼續看到並致力於實現負息稅前利潤業務。

So as always, I think it's consistent sequential increase in EBIT dollars, ideally margin expansion, but don't necessarily assume that the kind of leverage we deliver in 1 year, you can linearly extrapolate to the next year. I think if we do deliver on this consistency, when we look out 3 to 5 years, we have a very, very healthy P&L in our hands, primarily if many of these bets that today lose money begin to through scale and operational efficiencies become profitable business and then the mix in our portfolio between those that are early bets and don't have attractive EBIT generation capacity, and those that do get increasingly skewed more and more towards more consolidated scaled out positive margin businesses.

因此，與往常一樣，我認為這是 EBIT 美元的持續連續增長，理想情況下是利潤率擴張，但不一定假設我們在 1 年內提供的那種槓桿，你可以線性推斷到下一年。我認為，如果我們確實實現了這種一致性，那麼當我們展望 3 到 5 年時，我們將擁有非常非常健康的損益表，主要是如果今天虧損的許多賭注開始通過規模和運營效率變得有利可圖業務，然後是我們投資組合中那些早期押注且沒有有吸引力的 EBIT 生成能力的組合，以及那些確實越來越傾向於更整合的擴展正利潤率業務的組合。

And our next question comes from Kaio Prato from UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Kaio Prato。

I have one question about profitability as well, but specifically on the FinTech business. I know that you don't disclose exact numbers, but if you could please share with us how is the sort of the segment moving across your 3 main geographies today, is it moving (inaudible) were not and what is driving this? If you in the payments business? And finally, your expectations going forward (inaudible).

我也有一個關於盈利能力的問題，但特別是關於金融科技業務。我知道你沒有透露確切的數字，但如果你能與我們分享今天在你的 3 個主要地區移動的細分市場是如何移動的，它是否移動（聽不清），是什麼推動了這一點？如果您從事支付業務？最後，您對未來的期望（聽不清）。

Sure. So on a consolidated basis, and again, these are not reporting segments. So this is to give you directional understanding of the businesses on a consolidated basis. The credit portion within FinTech, we disclosed interest margins after losses. And I think we've discussed that the operational expenses there are relatively low given that there are low spend in acquisition. A lot of the distribution is done to our existing, either Mercado Pago or MercadoLibre users. So the credit business is a very profitable business. The online payments business which is the merchant acquisition business is also a profitable business with expanding and fairly attractive margin, still very directionally 150 basis points of TPV.

當然。因此，在合併的基礎上，這些又不是報告分部。因此，這是為了讓您在合併的基礎上對業務有方向性的了解。金融科技中的信貸部分，我們披露了虧損後的利差。而且我認為我們已經討論過，鑑於收購支出較低，運營費用相對較低。許多分發是針對我們現有的 Mercado Pago 或 MercadoLibre 用戶完成的。因此，信貸業務是一項非常有利可圖的業務。作為商戶收購業務的在線支付業務也是一項有利可圖的業務，利潤率不斷擴大且相當有吸引力，方向性仍為 TPV 的 150 個基點。

The MPOS business, which is also a merchant acquisition business is a profitable business with slightly lower margins than online payments, but still positive and a strong contributor of overall EBIT. And then when we look at the franchise, we're trying to build in terms of the consumer financial services business, so the digital wallet, the core digital banks, some of the savings text products, the consumer credit cards, those continue to be areas that do not have positive EBIT yet, but are very significant bets for the future and that have shown very consistent improvements on the economics over the last few years.

MPOS 業務也是一項商戶收購業務，是一項盈利業務，利潤率略低於在線支付，但仍然是積極的，並且是整體息稅前利潤的重要貢獻者。然後當我們看特許經營權時，我們正試圖建立消費者金融服務業務，所以數字錢包、核心數字銀行、一些儲蓄文本產品、消費者信用卡，這些繼續是這些領域的息稅前利潤還沒有正數，但對未來有著非常重要的賭注，並且在過去幾年中顯示出非常持續的經濟改善。

And then the final overlay on top of that, which is still fairly small in terms of volume, but very attractive from a margin perspective is the Insurtech business that continues to grow and is already on pace to deliver tens of millions of dollars of annualized EBIT.

然後最後疊加在其之上的保險科技業務在數量上仍然相當小，但從利潤率的角度來看非常有吸引力，該業務繼續增長並且已經有望實現數千萬美元的年化息稅前利潤.

And our next question comes from Neha Agarwala from HSBC.

我們的下一個問題來自匯豐銀行的 Neha Agarwala。

First question on your e-commerce business, which showed very strong trends during 2022 with strong market share gains also in some of the markets. What should we directionally expect in 2023? Any headwinds in the e-commerce business that we should be aware of or should be mindful of in any of the markets? And my second question is on the credit book. So the credit book growth has almost all for the last 2 quarters. Are you seeing improved or stable asset quality, at least in the beginning of 2023, which could encourage you to start picking up originations in the first or second quarter of this year? Or are you still going to be in a conservative mode? And why you are being conservative in unsecured lending products? Are there any new products that you are thinking about to propel growth in the current environment?

關於您的電子商務業務的第一個問題，該業務在 2022 年顯示出非常強勁的趨勢，並且在某些市場中也有強勁的市場份額增長。 2023年我們應該定向期待什麼？在任何市場中我們應該意識到或應該注意的電子商務業務中的任何逆風？我的第二個問題是關於學分簿。因此，過去兩個季度的信貸賬簿幾乎全部增長。您是否看到資產質量有所改善或穩定，至少在 2023 年初，這可能會鼓勵您在今年第一季度或第二季度開始採購？還是您仍將處於保守模式？為什麼您對無抵押貸款產品持保守態度？您是否正在考慮使用任何新產品來推動當前環境下的增長？

So let me take the first one. I think in terms of significant headwinds that we anticipate for the commerce business with the exception of whatever happens at a macro level, and that's information that's available to everyone. I don't think we're honing in on anything. We've seen some consistent take rate improvements in the fourth quarter, a lot of that driven by advertising revenues and the incremental monetization on shipping and logistics that I referred to earlier. And those are levers that if we execute accordingly should continue to be present.

所以讓我拿第一個。我認為，除了宏觀層面發生的任何事情外，我們預計商業業務將面臨重大逆風，這是每個人都可以獲得的信息。我認為我們沒有磨練任何東西。我們在第四季度看到了一些持續的採用率改善，其中很大一部分是由廣告收入和我之前提到的航運和物流的增量貨幣化推動的。如果我們相應地執行，這些槓桿應該繼續存在。

We did see some drag on take rate from reduced 1P sales in the fourth quarter of this year versus last year. And if anything, I've signaled that we feel we've hit a turning point in terms of the 1P business, and we can cautiously reaccelerate that again. And so that should also be incremental in terms of take rates. And as we aspire to continue gaining share, that should -- if we execute well again, maintain us on pace to continue to deliver strong GMV trends as well.

我們確實看到今年第四季度 1P 銷售額與去年相比有所下降，這對採用率造成了一些拖累。如果有的話，我已經表示我們覺得我們在 1P 業務方面已經達到了一個轉折點，我們可以謹慎地再次加速。因此，就採用率而言，這也應該是增量的。當我們渴望繼續獲得份額時，如果我們再次執行良好，那應該保持我們的步伐以繼續提供強勁的 GMV 趨勢。

With regards to the credit book, yes, we have -- we have seen good results in the last quarters, but again, we will wait until we see market conditions improving before we decide to be more aggressive again with regards to risk taking and to growth of the portfolio. We don't guide, and it's difficult to foresee exactly when that will happen. And when we see that happening, we will be more aggressive. And in terms of new products, the one product we are pilot testing by now is car loans. It's still very, very, very small. We're just pilot testing it in Brazil. We believe that it's a product that is interesting because it has a strong synergy with our marketplace.

關於信用賬簿，是的，我們已經 - 我們在過去幾個季度看到了良好的結果，但同樣，我們將等到我們看到市場狀況有所改善，然後再決定在冒險方面再次變得更加積極，並投資組合的增長。我們不提供指導，而且很難準確預測何時會發生。當我們看到這種情況發生時，我們會更加積極。在新產品方面，我們目前正在試點的一個產品是汽車貸款。它仍然非常非常小。我們只是在巴西進行試點測試。我們相信這是一種有趣的產品，因為它與我們的市場具有強大的協同作用。

The one thing that maybe I would highlight here is, I recall when we entered the credit business, one of the understandable concerns that existed was how would we deal as a growth company where most businesses are focused on growth with something like credit where risk management and caution many times are necessary. And if I look back at '22, and we need to reprove ourselves constantly in terms of our risk management capabilities, but I do think it's been very interesting in that the backdrop for credit has been extremely negative.

也許我要在這裡強調的一件事是，我記得當我們進入信貸業務時，存在的一個可以理解的擔憂是我們如何作為一家成長型公司來處理，因為大多數企業都專注於增長，比如風險管理的信貸多次謹慎是必要的。如果我回顧 22 年，我們需要在風險管理能力方面不斷地自責，但我確實認為這是非常有趣的，因為信貸的背景非常負面。

And when you look at how we managed it, the timing with which we slowed down originations and focused on higher-quality segments, and the kind of results that you've seen, I think, really gives that team a very strong grade in terms of how they've manage risk within a very tough macro. I think we've been through both a pandemic and now extremely challenging consumer credit environment, primarily in Brazil, and both of those have been managed from a risk perspective and a focus on profitability perspective, very, very successfully. And that's the way we'd like to continue to manage that going forward.

當你看看我們是如何管理它的，我們放慢起源並專注於更高質量細分市場的時間，以及你所看到的那種結果，我認為，真的給了那個團隊一個非常高的分數他們如何在非常艱難的宏觀環境中管理風險。我認為我們經歷了大流行和現在極具挑戰性的消費信貸環境，主要是在巴西，這兩種情況都從風險角度和對盈利能力的角度進行了管理，非常非常成功。這就是我們希望繼續管理未來的方式。

And our next question comes from Deepak Mathivanan from Wolfe Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Deepak Mathivanan。

Pedro, many companies here in the U.S. are very focused on improving efficiencies this year. How do you feel about the productivity at the company level at MercadoLibre? And then how should we think about headcount additions for this year in your plans? And then second question, on the competitive landscape in Brazil currently with all the recent developments, should we think about any strategy shifts on your side? Particularly with the 1P business, given all these developments?

佩德羅，今年美國的許多公司都非常注重提高效率。您如何看待 MercadoLibre 公司層面的生產力？那麼在您的計劃中，我們應該如何考慮今年的人員增加？然後是第二個問題，關於巴西目前的競爭格局以及最近的所有發展，我們是否應該考慮貴方的任何戰略轉變？考慮到所有這些發展情況，尤其是 1P 業務？

Sure. So I'll answer in reverse order. Our strategy does not change based on what is happening with competitors. I think our tactics do adapt at the margin. And as we mentioned earlier, we will lean into specific opportunities that may arise if market share becomes available given changes in market structure and competitive dynamics. But I wouldn't say our strategy changes one bit.

當然。所以我會按相反的順序回答。我們的戰略不會根據競爭對手的情況而改變。我認為我們的戰術確實在邊際上有所調整。正如我們之前提到的，如果市場份額在市場結構和競爭動態發生變化的情況下可用，我們將抓住可能出現的具體機會。但我不會說我們的戰略有一點改變。

On your first point, I think we've had a lot of conversations internally about this in that MELI in a way is -- in an island within the tech world and that no layoffs. If anything, we've said we will continue to increase the size of our engineering teams, we see that as a key competitive advantage. And one where because we were disciplined throughout the pandemic, I don't think we over-hired or we overspent on capacity by and large. That puts us in a unique position now where we can continue to hire.

關於你的第一點，我認為我們在內部就此進行了很多對話，MELI 在某種程度上是——在科技世界中的一個孤島，沒有裁員。如果有的話，我們已經說過我們將繼續增加我們的工程團隊的規模，我們認為這是一個關鍵的競爭優勢。還有一個地方，因為我們在整個大流行期間都受到紀律處分，所以我認為我們總體上沒有過度僱用或超支。這使我們現在處於一個獨特的位置，我們可以繼續招聘。

But having said that, I think the rate of hiring will slow down versus what it was over the last few years, but we will continue to grow the engineering team. And in terms of headcount across business and staff positions, again, there no downsizing necessary because we remain disciplined over the past few years. But the speed of incremental hires will probably decelerate even more so than the engineering talent. And then logistics and customer service are much more variable costs, and those are input output driven. So the growth there will reflect the growth in transactions and GMV that are really the KPI in determining how fast those organizations need to grow.

但話雖如此，我認為與過去幾年相比，招聘速度會放緩，但我們將繼續壯大工程團隊。就業務和員工職位的員工人數而言，同樣沒有必要裁員，因為我們在過去幾年保持紀律。但招聘增量的速度可能會比工程人才更慢。然後物流和客戶服務的可變成本要多得多，而且是輸入輸出驅動的。因此，那裡的增長將反映交易和 GMV 的增長，這實際上是決定這些組織需要多快增長的關鍵績效指標。

And our next question comes from Stephen Ju from Credit Suisse.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的 Stephen Ju。

So Pedro, just kind of building on one of the comments you made earlier. Can you talk about the adoption levels for your fulfillment services in Mexico? And why it has charged ahead there relative to the other markets? Is the profile of the seller different? Or are there other factors or products at play? And conceptually, are there any impediments for Brazil and some of the other markets to get to Mexico's level?

所以 Pedro，只是在你之前發表的其中一條評論的基礎上。你能談談你們在墨西哥的履行服務的採用水平嗎？為什麼它在那里相對於其他市場領先？賣家的個人資料不同嗎？還是有其他因素或產品在起作用？從概念上講，巴西和其他一些市場要達到墨西哥的水平是否有任何障礙？

So Mexico for the fourth quarter actually crossed the 70% mark for the first time ever in terms of the service mix within the different shipping types that we offer. So 70% of shipments in Mexico actually initiate in one of our fulfillment centers. I think there's a combination of market dynamics, merchant profiles and execution is always that has led Mexico to be so far ahead of the other markets. Brazil, if I can round, finally hit the 40% mark. So it has been growing over the past 4 quarters, at a slower pace, but continuing to grow and trend in the right direction. Chile is over 30%.

因此，就我們提供的不同航運類型的服務組合而言，墨西哥第四季度實際上首次突破 70% 大關。因此，墨西哥 70% 的發貨實際上是從我們的一個運營中心發起的。我認為市場動態、商家概況和執行力的結合始終使墨西哥遠遠領先於其他市場。巴西，如果我能圓的話，終於達到了 40% 的大關。因此，它在過去 4 個季度中一直在增長，雖然速度較慢，但仍在繼續增長並朝著正確的方向發展。智利超過30%。

Argentina and Colombia also continue to grow. So I don't think there are structural impediments to getting to Mexico levels or at least to continue to grow significantly. The pace at which we are able to grow the fulfillment service in the other markets clearly varies from geo to geo. If you consider that Chile was launched significantly after Brazil and is on its way to catch up to Brazil, I think is further indication of that. But no, we don't see any structural impediments to continue pushing the adoption of fulfillment. And the reason that, that is a desired outcome is because it delivers faster delivery times, greater control over the experience, higher Net Promoter Scores.

阿根廷和哥倫比亞也繼續增長。因此，我認為達到墨西哥水平或至少繼續顯著增長不存在結構性障礙。我們能夠在其他市場發展履行服務的速度因地域而異。如果你認為智利是在巴西之後推出的，並且正在趕上巴西，我認為這進一步表明了這一點。但不，我們沒有看到任何結構性障礙來繼續推動實現的採用。這是一個理想結果的原因是因為它提供了更快的交付時間、更好的體驗控制和更高的淨推薦值。

And our next question comes from John Colantuoni from Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 John Colantuoni。

So as you get closer to clean comparison periods, can you give us your perspective on the runway for e-commerce adoption across your key geographies? Certainly, the pandemic helped close the gap to other regions. So I'm curious if recent trends in customer adoption and trial still point to a long runway for adoption? And then secondly, sticking with customer behavior, can you just talk a little bit about how engagement, repeat rates of cohorts acquired in recent quarters compared to pre-pandemic cohorts?

因此，當您接近乾淨的比較期時，您能否向我們介紹一下您對關鍵地區採用電子商務的跑道的看法？當然，大流行有助於縮小與其他地區的差距。所以我很好奇最近的客戶採用和試用趨勢是否仍然指向採用的長跑道？然後其次，堅持客戶行為，你能談談與大流行前人群相比，最近幾個季度的人群參與度、重複率如何嗎？

So Latin America has been interesting in that. It doesn't seem to have had the effect as physical retail reopened of a return to physical retail to a point where the market began to shrink. The market has continued to grow. Obviously, it slowed down significant from pandemic type growth. But I think even if you look at a Mexico or Brazil, which are the most advanced markets, we still expect market growth to be somewhere in the mid- to high teens. And we do strive, as always, to gain share on top of that. So we still feel it's early days in terms of the shift from off-line to online retail. We think the pandemic accelerated that shift. And we also think that consumers have found in their online purchasing, a compelling enough value proposition that a lot of that gained consumer consumption has stayed online. And so we continue to be optimistic about the long-term prospects of e-commerce throughout the region.

所以拉丁美洲在這方面很有趣。它似乎並沒有隨著實體零售重新開放而恢復實體零售到市場開始萎縮的地步。市場繼續增長。顯然，它從大流行類型的增長中顯著放緩。但我認為，即使你看看墨西哥或巴西這些最先進的市場，我們仍然預計市場增長將處於中高水平。我們確實一如既往地努力在這之上獲得份額。因此，我們仍然認為從線下零售轉向線上零售還為時過早。我們認為大流行加速了這種轉變。我們還認為，消費者在他們的在線購買中發現了一個足夠引人注目的價值主張，以至於許多獲得的消費者消費都留在了網上。因此，我們繼續對整個地區電子商務的長期前景持樂觀態度。

In terms of cohorts, retention cohorts are certainly much higher than they were pre-pandemic. And frequency -- sorry, not frequency and average usage has been flattish over the last year or so, which means that it remains in line overall with where it went to throughout the pandemic. So we haven't been able to continue to grow unit usage since the pandemic, but we have been able to maintain it relatively in line with much better retention per user and higher engagement than pre-pandemic numbers.

就隊列而言，保留隊列肯定比大流行前高得多。頻率——抱歉，不是頻率，平均使用率在過去一年左右持平，這意味著它總體上與整個大流行期間的情況保持一致。因此，自大流行以來，我們無法繼續增加單位使用量，但我們能夠將其保持在相對一致的水平，與大流行前的數字相比，每個用戶的保留率和參與度要高得多。

And now I would like to turn the call back over to Pedro, MercadoLibre's Chief Financial Officer, for closing remarks.

現在我想將電話轉回給 MercadoLibre 的首席財務官佩德羅，以作結束語。

Great. So thank you, everyone. I think we've concluded a phenomenal 2022 with a very strong fourth quarter. It was a year where we hit 100, 10, 1, over $100 billion of payments processed, over $10 billion of revenue, and over $1 billion of EBIT. So congratulations to all the MercadoLibre team for the phenomenal work. And to our shareholders and stakeholders, rest assured that we're already back at work to ideally be able to deliver an equally successful 2023 on behalf of our consumers and our shareholders. Thank you, and we look forward to updating you on things once the first quarter is over.

偉大的。所以謝謝大家。我認為我們以非常強勁的第四季度結束了非凡的 2022 年。這一年我們達到了 100、10、1，處理的付款超過 1000 億美元，收入超過 100 億美元，息稅前利潤超過 10 億美元。因此，祝賀所有 MercadoLibre 團隊所做的出色工作。對於我們的股東和利益相關者，請放心，我們已經恢復工作，理想情況下能夠代表我們的消費者和股東實現同樣成功的 2023 年。謝謝，我們期待在第一季度結束後向您通報最新情況。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。