美卡多 (MELI) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and welcome to the MercadoLibre earnings conference call for the quarter ended December 31, 2023. Thank you for joining us. I'm Richard Cathcart, MercadoLibre's Investor Relations Officer. Today, we will share our quarterly highlights on video, after which we will begin our live Q&A session with our CEO, Marcos Galperin; Chief Financial Officer; Martin de los Santos; FinTech President, Osvaldo Gimenez; and Commerce EVP, Ariel Szarfsztejn.

大家好，歡迎參加MercadoLibre截至2023年12月31日的季度財報電話會議。感謝各位的參與。我是MercadoLibre的投資者關係負責人Richard Cathcart。今天，我們將透過影片分享本季的亮點，之後我們將與執行長Marcos Galperin、財務長Martin de los Santos、金融科技總裁Osvaldo Gimenez以及商務執行副總裁Ariel Szarfsztejn進行現場問答環節。

Before we go on to discuss our results for the fourth quarter of 2023, I remind you that management may make or refer to and this presentation may contain forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. So please refer to the disclaimer on screen, which will also be available in our earnings materials on our Investor Relations website.

在討論2023年第四季業績之前，我提醒各位，管理層可能會做出或提及前瞻性陳述和非GAAP財務指標，並且本次簡報可能包含此類陳述和非GAAP財務指標。因此，請參閱螢幕上的免責聲明，該聲明也可在我們投資者關係網站的獲利報告中查閱。

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

接下來，讓我們先來總結一下我們的結果。

Hello, everyone. I'm delighted to share that MercadoLibre delivered solid results in Q4, marking a strong conclusion to an outstanding year. Overall, 2023 highlighted the strength of our financial model and its future potential, as well as the powerful impact of compounding of several years of investment in technology. For our Commerce business, it was a year of accelerated growth and market share gains in most countries. We achieved this by continuing to make improvements in the value proposition to buyers and sellers in our marketplace.

大家好。我很高興地宣布，MercadoLibre第四季業績穩健，為這卓越的一年畫下了圓滿的句點。整體而言，2023年凸顯了我們財務模式的穩健性和未來潛力，以及多年來在技術方面持續投入所帶來的強大效益。對於我們的電商業務而言，這是快速成長的一年，我們在大多數國家都實現了市場份額的提升。我們之所以能夠取得這樣的成績，是因為我們不斷改進平台為買賣雙方提供的價值主張。

I would like to highlight 3 important initiatives that contributed to our success in Commerce. We continue to invest in having the widest product performance in order to offer the best buyer experience to consumers. A key contributor to this was the acceleration of our first-party business, particularly in Brazil, where it grew by 81% in 2023. We continue expanding our logistics network with record fulfillment penetration of almost 50%, which provided an improved user experience to our buyers. This resulted in faster shipping and fewer late deliveries, particularly around the Christmas season.

我想重點介紹三項對我們電商業務成功至關重要的措施。我們持續投資，力求打造最全面的產品效能，進而為消費者提供最佳的購物體驗。其中一項關鍵舉措是加速發展我們的自有業務，尤其是在巴西，2023 年巴西自有業務成長了 81%。我們不斷拓展物流網絡，履約率接近 50%，創歷史新高，這顯著提升了買家的用戶體驗。尤其是在聖誕節前後，物流配送速度更快，延遲送達的情況也更少。

Our Ads business continues to deliver impressive results, growing revenues at an accelerated pace. During 2023, we onboarded almost 50,000 new advertisers who appreciate the value of promoting their products on our pan-regional platform. On the FinTech front, Mercado Pago maintained strong momentum as users and merchants continue to adopt our services.

我們的廣告業務持續取得令人矚目的成績，營收成長速度加快。 2023年，我們新增了近5萬家廣告主，他們都認可在我們覆蓋整個區域的平台上推廣產品的價值。在金融科技領域，Mercado Pago也維持了強勁的發展勢頭，使用者和商家持續採用我們的服務。

In Acquiring business, we delivered solid TPV growth and gained market share in most countries where we operate, both in online as well as in- store payments. We made improvements in approval rates and deployed new features that enabled us to move up market, enhancing the value proposition to SMBs. In FinTech services, we have expanded our product offering and made improvements to user experience.

在收單業務方面，我們實現了穩健的交易總額成長，並在我們營運的大多數國家/地區（包括線上和線下支付）都獲得了市場份額。我們提高了交易審批率，並推出了新功能，從而成功拓展了市場，提升了對中小企業的價值主張。在金融科技服務方面，我們擴展了產品範圍，並改善了使用者體驗。

The increased engagement with our products resulted in Mercado Pago achieving the milestone of surpassing for the first time 50 million active users in a single quarter. The credit business continues to be an important piece of our FinTech strategy, and it delivered another quarter of strong results with accelerated growth and solid spreads as we continue to cautiously manage risk.

用戶對我們產品參與度的提升，使得 Mercado Pago 在單季內首次突破 5,000 萬活躍用戶大關。信貸業務依然是我們金融科技策略的重要組成部分，在持續謹慎管控風險的同時，該業務又迎來了一個強勁的季度業績，實現了加速增長和穩健的利差。

During Q4, MELI delivered strong financial results. Revenues grew by 42%, accelerating both in FinTech, as well as Commerce, due to the strong execution during the peak season and investments we made throughout the year. For the quarter, we delivered 13.4% EBIT margin, excluding one-off expenses from previous years, as explained in the letter to shareholders. This represents margin improvement from Q4 of 2022, while we continue to invest in building our logistic infrastructure, supporting our Meli+ loyalty program, as well as expanding our credit card offering.

第四季度，MELI取得了強勁的財務表現。營收成長42%，金融科技和電商業務均實現加速成長，這得益於旺季期間的出色執行以及我們全年持續的投資。本季度，我們實現了13.4%的息稅前利潤率（EBIT利潤率），該數據已剔除往年一次性支出，詳情請見致股東信。與2022年第四季相比，利潤率有所提升。同時，我們將繼續投資建設物流基礎設施，支持Meli+會員忠誠計劃，並拓展信用卡業務。

Following our strong financial performance in 2023, it's a good time to reflect on the journey over the past 6 years. During that time frame, we multiplied our revenues by 10x, while achieving significant improvements in profitability, culminating in nearly $2 billion of operating income in 2023. In recent years, we have increased our investment in technology, which enabled us to launch multiple products and services and make significant improvements in user experience. We have grown our development team by more than 10,000 in the last 3 years alone and currently have 16,000 engineers, who are constantly working to create the best experience for our users. We remain committed to our technology-led strategy in order to continue delivering sustainable results for MELI.

繼2023年強勁的財務表現之後，現在正是回顧過去六年發展歷程的好時機。在此期間，我們的收入成長了十倍，獲利能力也顯著提升，最終在2023年實現了近20億美元的營業收入。近年來，我們加大了對科技的投入，這使我們能夠推出多款產品和服務，並顯著改善用戶體驗。光是過去三年，我們的開發團隊就成長了超過1萬人，目前擁有1.6萬名工程師，他們正持續努力為使用者打造最佳體驗。我們將繼續堅持以技術為導向的策略，以持續為MELI帶來可持續的業績成長。

We entered 2024 with optimism about our growth opportunities and confidence in our capacity to continue to execute on our strategy.

進入 2024 年，我們對自身的成長機會充滿樂觀，並對繼續執行策略的能力充滿信心。

Now, back to Richard to share some product initiatives from 2023.

現在，讓我們把鏡頭切回理查德，讓他分享一些 2023 年的產品計劃。

As a technology company with more than 15,000 developers, launching new products and features is at the heart of our business, as we continue to innovate. Innovation is about new products and businesses, but it's also about being attentive to and passionate about detail, and solving multiple small customer pain points that compound into a great customer experience. 2023 was no different. We've launched several new products and services, such as the Meli+ loyalty program, MELI Delivery Day, credit card for consumers in Mexico and for businesses in Brazil, amongst many other things. We've also vastly improved our core products with several new experiences that build onto our value proposition, as we continue to strive to offer our users the best experience. Today, we want to share some of this year's highlights.

作為一家擁有超過 15,000 名開發人員的科技公司，推出新產品和新功能是我們業務的核心，我們始終致力於創新。創新不僅體現在新產品和新業務上，更體現在對細節的關注和精益求精，以及解決眾多細微的客戶痛點，最終打造卓越的客戶體驗。 2023 年也不例外。我們推出了多款新產品和服務，例如 Meli+ 會員計劃、MELI 送貨日、墨西哥消費者和巴西企業的信用卡等等。此外，我們也透過多項全新體驗大幅改善了核心產品，進一步提升了我們的價值主張，力求為使用者提供最佳體驗。今天，我們想與大家分享今年的一些亮點。

In Commerce, we continue to look at the specific needs of each vertical to improve the user experience, as we believe this will drive offline consumption online. In 2023, we considerably improved the navigation in fashion, apparel and sports, with standardized filters across brands and sellers. This enables consumers to find what they need more quickly. On the product page, users can also see the More Like This section to find similar items to a product that the user has clicked on, rather than simply going back to the search results. This feature is powered by artificial intelligence.

在電商領域，我們持續關注各個垂直行業的具體需求，以提升用戶體驗，因為我們相信這將推動線下消費向線上轉移。 2023年，我們大幅改進了時尚、服裝和運動類商品的導航，實現了跨品牌和賣家的標準化篩選。這使得消費者能夠更快找到所需商品。在商品頁面，使用者還可以查看「更多類似商品」版塊，尋找與已點擊商品相似的商品，而無需返回搜尋結果頁面。此功能由人工智慧驅動。

AI-based features are already an integral part of the MELI experience, with many innovations launched in 2023, including a summary of customer reviews on the product pages that concentrates the main feedback from buyers of that product. On beauty product pages, a summary of product functions and characteristics is automatically created to facilitate buyers' choices. Push notifications about items left unpurchased in shopping carts are now highly personalized and remind users why they may have chosen to buy a particular product. We have also added an AI feature that helps sellers to respond to questions by preparing answers that sellers can send immediately or edit quickly. To deliver a better experience for our sellers, we launched a new version of the seller hub, where they can see all of the promotional campaigns available for them to participate in. A new pricing tool also enables sellers to easily compare prices with competitors and / or similar products and receive insights and recommendations on how to boost the sales.

以人工智慧為基礎的功能已成為 MELI 體驗不可或缺的一部分，2023 年我們推出了多項創新功能，包括在產品頁面上集中展示買家對該產品的主要回饋，並提供客戶評價摘要。在美妝產品頁面上，系統會自動產生產品功能和特性的概要，方便買家選擇。購物車中未購買商品的推播通知現在高度個人化，提醒用戶可能選擇購買特定產品的原因。我們還新增了人工智慧功能，可以幫助賣家預先準備好答案，賣家可以立即發送或快速編輯這些答案。為了提升賣家的體驗，我們推出了新版賣家中心，賣家可以在這裡查看所有可參與的促銷活動。此外，全新的定價工具使賣家能夠輕鬆地將產品價格與競爭對手和/或類似產品進行比較，並獲得有關如何提升銷售的洞察和建議。

In 2023, we also relaunched our Ads tech stack. An automated buying platform was launched for display ads, accompanied by live reports and unique insight analysis. We enhanced our bidding algorithm for product ads and introduced new placements on search and product pages that give more visibility to sponsored products. Our brand ads solution was also launched as a mid-funnel campaign option to enhance consideration for brands. Our platform also now includes a feature for agencies to be able to manage different brands through the platform.

2023年，我們也重新推出了廣告技術堆疊。我們推出了展示廣告自動化購買平台，並配備了即時報告和獨特的洞察分析功能。我們優化了產品廣告的競價演算法，並在搜尋結果和產品頁面上新增了展示位置，從而提升了贊助產品的曝光度。此外，我們也推出了品牌廣告解決方案，作為漏斗中段的推廣選項，旨在提升品牌的品牌認知。我們的平台現在也新增了一項功能，方便代理商透過該平台管理不同的品牌。

Brands, sellers and official stores can delegate certain products, or even the whole assortment, to a specific agency. The agencies are now able to manage all accounts delegated to them in one place. And to expand the possibilities given to advertisers, a new tool of custom audiences was launched and later expanded, enabling advertisers to use filters to create an infinite combination of audiences for their campaigns. Finally in advertising, MELI Play was launched as an ads-based streaming platform. Through a revenue share model with studios, we are able to offer free content to our users across the region, enabling us to explore a new revenue stream for Ads.

品牌、賣家和官方商店可以將特定產品，甚至全部產品，委託給特定的代理商。代理商現在可以在一個平台上管理所有委託給他們的帳戶。為了拓展廣告主的投放管道，我們推出了自訂受眾工具，並隨後對其進行了擴展，使廣告主能夠使用篩選器為廣告活動創建無限的受眾組合。最後，在廣告方面，我們推出了基於廣告的串流平台 MELI Play。透過與工作室的收益分成模式，我們能夠為整個地區的用戶提供免費內容，從而探索新的廣告收入來源。

In Logistics, most of the technological improvements were behind the scenes and were crucial in helping us to maintain costs broadly stable as a percentage of GMV, whilst expanding fulfillment penetration. We optimized routes from first to last mile, fulfillment center processes and demand prediction. On the UX front, buyers are now notified that their package is being delivered and can follow it through their app. And for sellers that adopt fulfillment, an enhanced tool to manage inventory brings more technology to the process, flagging products that need to be replenished, how many units should be sent to us, among other things.

在物流方面，大部分技術改進都發生在幕後，但對於我們保持成本佔商品交易總額 (GMV) 的比例基本穩定，同時擴大履約覆蓋率至關重要。我們優化了從始發站到收貨站的路線、履約中心流程以及需求預測。在用戶體驗方面，買家現在可以收到包裹派送通知，並透過應用程式追蹤包裹狀態。對於採用履約服務的賣家，我們改進了庫存管理工具，將更多技術融入流程，例如標記需要補貨的產品、需要向我們發送的商品數量等等。

At Mercado Pago, we continue to innovate as we consolidate our position as one of the region's leading FinTechs. In the Acquiring business, the launch of the Mercado Pago Tap brings a free POS option to merchants by turning their cellphones into a tool to receive payments via NFC technology. We have also improved the pairing process of mobile POS devices with merchants' cellphones and worked behind the scenes to reduce processing times, which had a positive impact on NPS and helped to improve the experience for merchants and buyers. With more personalization in the Mercado Pago app, our seller homepage now prioritizes the features that merchants most need on a day-to-day basis.

在 Mercado Pago，我們不斷創新，鞏固自身作為區域領先金融科技公司之一的地位。在收單業務方面，Mercado Pago Tap 的推出為商家提供了一個免費的 POS 解決方案，他們可以透過 NFC 技術將手機變成收款工具。我們也改進了行動 POS 裝置與商家手機的配對流程，並在後台努力縮短了處理時間，這顯著提升了淨推薦值 (NPS)，並改善了商家和買家的體驗。此外，Mercado Pago 應用的個人化功能也得到了增強，我們的賣家主頁現在優先展示商家日常營運中最需要的功能。

In FinTech Services, we continued to search for ways to facilitate financial inclusion. We expanded our credit card offer to Mexico and launched our collateralized credit card solution in Brazil, where the user receives credit limits equivalent to the value of funds deposited into their accounts. These products enable consumers to start building a credit score and take advantage of the possibilities that a credit card brings for many for the first time ever. Innovations in credit enabled us to attract new users. For merchants, we now offer a business credit card, using open finance to contribute to scoring. For consumers in our lower risk cohorts, the new product enables them to offer larger, longer duration loans in our app, personalizing the loan to their needs and expanding the use cases of our credit product.

在金融科技服務領域，我們持續探索促進普惠金融的途徑。我們將信用卡業務拓展至墨西哥，並在巴西推出了抵押信用卡解決方案。在該方案下，用戶可獲得與其帳戶存款金額等值的信用額度。這些產品使消費者能夠開始建立信用評分，並首次體驗信用卡為許多人帶來的便利。信貸領域的創新幫助我們吸引了新用戶。對於商家，我們現在提供企業信用卡，利用開放金融科技協助其信用評分。對於低風險族群，新產品使他們能夠透過我們的應用程式申請更大額度、更長期限的貸款，從而根據自身需求客製化貸款方案，並拓展我們信貸產品的應用場景。

As our product stack expands, we have focused on facilitating a simplified navigation around all of the different products available on Mercado Pago. Our digital account homepage combines the most used features such as transfers, credit limits, investment positions and insurance, adapting to the user's profile. We have seen increased traffic to all of our key digital account products as a results. Digital account users in Brazil can now see a summary of their monthly activity on a personalized report, an enhancement that brings more information to the user about their finances. The report also highlights new offerings that may be useful to the user such as our certificates of deposit and investment funds, alongside credit products and our remunerated accounts.

隨著產品線的不斷擴展，我們致力於簡化使用者在Mercado Pago平台上瀏覽所有產品的流程。我們的數位帳戶主頁整合了最常用的功能，例如轉帳、信用額度、投資和保險，並根據使用者的個人資料進行個人化。因此，我們所有主要數位帳戶產品的訪問量均有所提升。巴西的數位帳戶用戶現在可以在個人化報告中查看其每月活動匯總，這項改進使用戶能夠更清晰地了解自己的財務狀況。該報告還會重點介紹可能對使用者有用的新產品，例如我們的定期存款和投資基金，以及信貸產品和收益帳戶。

All of the innovations offered by MercadoLibre and Mercado Pago continue to have a deep intrinsic impact in Latin America by generating economic and financial inclusion for entrepreneurs and individuals. A recent report, in partnership with Euromonitor, shows that MercadoLibre is the main source of income for 1.8 million families in the region, and that for 54% of users in the region, Mercado Pago was the first digital payment method available to them.

MercadoLibre 和 Mercado Pago 的所有創新措施持續對拉丁美洲產生深遠的內在影響，為企業家和個人創造了經濟和金融包容性。近期與歐睿國際合作發布的報告顯示，MercadoLibre 是該地區 180 萬個家庭的主要收入來源，而對於該地區 54% 的用戶來說，Mercado Pago 是他們使用的第一個數位支付方式。

This was just a snapshot of the innovations delivered by our teams in 2023. In 2024, our users can expect even more because, as always at MercadoLibre, best is yet to come.

這只是我們團隊在 2023 年所取得創新成果的縮影。 2024 年，我們的用戶可以期待更多，因為正如 MercadoLibre 一貫的作風，最好的還在後頭。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Ruben of 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。

I'd like to dig in a bit on the logistics network. We see that the net shipping fees and some of the shipping COGS, looks like it was a bit more of a drag than in recent quarters. So I was wondering if you could help with what changed sequentially, whether it was more seasonality or if there's been, let's say, sequential changes in investment areas such as shipping campaigns or DC builds in the quarter. And then, perhaps zooming out a bit on the logistics network, how you think about the state of the network, where you are for shipping speed, shipping fees, and how you think about the intensity of investment in those areas for the year ahead versus '23? Any color there would be very helpful.

我想深入探討一下物流網絡的情況。我們發現，淨運費和部分運輸成本似乎比最近幾季略微拖累了業績。所以我想請教一下，是什麼因素導致了環比變化？是季節性因素造成的，還是像本季在運輸推廣活動或配送中心建設等投資領域出現了環比變化？另外，能否從更宏觀的角度分析一下物流網絡的現況？您如何看待目前的運輸速度和運費水平？以及您如何看待未來一年（與2023年相比）在這些領域的投資力道？任何相關資訊都將非常有幫助。

(technical difficulty)

（技術難題）

Compared to last year, lower delay rates, more fulfillment penetration, particularly in Brazil, and more free shipping coming from Meli+, together with a network that has expanded over the year and particularly in Q3. So, going to your specific question about margin compression or sequential margin compression, we also experienced some cost pressures during Q4 that you will see reverted in early Q1. And basically, those headwinds in Q4 come mainly for the following reasons. Number one, this is the first quarter in which Meli+ has been fully operating, and that means that we have increased the level of free shipping offered in Brazil and Mexico. As I think we've discussed before, Meli+ is a strategic and long-term investment that we think will continue increasing loyalty and driving incremental orders and GMV. So it's a conscious investment on our part.

與去年相比，延遲率降低，履約滲透率提高（尤其是在巴西），Meli+ 提供的免運費服務也更多，加上網路在過去一年，特別是第三季度的擴張，使得我們的業績有所提升。至於您提到的利潤率壓縮或環比利潤率壓縮的問題，我們在第四季度也遇到了一些成本壓力，但預計在第一季初會有所緩解。第四季的這些不利因素主要源自於以下幾點。首先，這是 Meli+ 全面營運的第一個季度，這意味著我們在巴西和墨西哥提高了免運費的覆蓋範圍。正如我們之前討論過的，Meli+ 是一項策略性的長期投資，我們相信它將持續提升客戶忠誠度，並推動訂單量和商品交易總額的成長。因此，這是我們經過深思熟慮的投資。

Second, I think the growth of 1P in our business, whose GMV was 50% higher Q-over-Q in dollars, also acts as a headwind, basically because there are no sellers paying for shipping revenues, given that we are the sellers in the case of 1P. I think that going to point number 3, in previous quarters, we flagged that some of the shipping gains in terms of take rate were due to the negotiated [performance] of cost increases from our suppliers after already having passed through higher prices to seller at the start of the year, and those costs are now hitting our P&L as we were expecting.

其次，我認為我們業務中1P業務的成長（其GMV環比成長50%）也構成了一種不利因素，主要是因為在1P模式下，賣家無需支付運費，因為我們本身就是賣家。關於第三點，我們在前幾個季度已經指出，部分運費收入的成長（以佣金率衡量）是由於我們在年初已經將更高的價格轉嫁給賣家之後，與供應商協商提高了成本，而這些成本現在正如我們預期的那樣，正在影響我們的損益表。

And on the fourth, I think Argentina also added some pressure as we decided not to fully pass inflation through to our prices on the spot in an environment with accelerated inflation and a lot of uncertainty in the market. Of course, then you have peak season, which is the biggest component of the sequential compression of shipping costs. There is a ramp-up in capacity as to be able to attend demand coming from our buyers. There is also an increase in unit costs coming from labor hours and vans and truck drivers, et cetera. And that is the biggest component of the sequential compression, which you will see probably reverted in early Q1 in 2024.

第四點，我認為阿根廷也給我們帶來了一些壓力，因為我們決定在通膨加速且市場充滿不確定性的環境下，不立即將通膨完全轉嫁到價格上。當然，還有旺季，這是運輸成本較上季下降的最大因素。為了滿足買家的需求，運力需要提升。此外，由於工時、貨車和卡車司機等成本的增加，單位成本也會上升。這是環比下降的最大因素，預計到2024年第一季初，這種趨勢可能會有所逆轉。

Finally, and just to wrap up on the first part of the question, it's also important to note that we were expecting most of these increases in costs, and that is one of the reasons why we decided to increase our flat fees, so the charge that we make to the sellers when they sell items below the free shipping threshold. If you recall, we increased that fee in Brazil approximately in July or August, and with the same in late Q3 in Mexico. And this is one of the levers we have used to manage our shipping P&L as well, and it's a good example of how we manage the profit and loss of the company in a consolidated manner and not on a line-by-line basis.

最後，為了總結問題的第一部分，需要指出的是，我們預料到了大部分成本的成長，這也是我們決定提高固定費用的原因之一。固定費用是指賣家銷售低於免運費門檻的商品時所收取的費用。您可能還記得，我們​​在巴西大約在7月或8月提高了這項費用，並在第三季末在墨西哥也進行了同樣的調整。這也是我們用來管理運輸損益的手段之一，並且很好地體現了我們如何以合併的方式而非逐項分析的方式來管理公司的損益。

So, to your second part of the question, I think, as we've been saying many times, in the long run, there will be opportunities for us to continue monetizing our logistics network. We are not desperate for that. We think long term, not only in monetization, but also in remaining competitive in terms of prices to our buyers and to our sellers, and we are conscious on how to execute around that opportunity.

關於您問題的第二部分，我認為，正如我們多次強調的，從長遠來看，我們仍有機會繼續實現物流網絡的盈利。我們並不急於求成。我們著眼於長遠，不僅關注盈利，也關注如何在價格方面保持對買家和賣家的競爭力，並且我們始終牢記如何把握這一機會。

Our next question comes from the line of Irma Sgarz of Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的伊爾瑪·斯加茲。

I have 2 very quick questions. Firstly, on Mexico, sequentially, the margin was a little bit lower into the fourth quarter, which is obviously to be expected, given the seasonality. But 1P, I think, plays less of a role here. So I was wondering if you could just elaborate on the drivers here. I imagine like some of the capacity -- logistics capacity ramp-up has to do with that. But is there anything else that we should be mindful of?

我有兩個非常簡短的問題。首先，關於墨西哥市場，第四季利潤率環比略有下降，考慮到季節性因素，這當然在意料之中。但我認為1P在這裡的影響較小。所以我想請您詳細解釋背後的驅動因素。我猜想部分原因在於產能——物流產能的提升肯定與此有關。但除此之外，還有其他需要注意的因素嗎？

And then, on the Commerce take rate, this builds a little bit on the earlier question, but we also noticed that there was a sequential decline quarter-over-quarter. And is this just basically sort of a reflection of -- and I'm excluding 1P here. But is that just mostly really a reflection of category mix and logistics? And is there anything else at play that we should -- in revenues and shipping revenue dynamics that you just described that we should be mindful of? Especially as we look into 2024 and think about this line, [whether] there should be further compression coming into the Commerce take rate. And maybe, sorry, if you can also add to that the influence at lower funding cost of rates that should be positive for the take rate, but I don't think we saw much of an effect, if I'm not mistaken. So if you could just also squeeze that in.

關於電商佣金率，這與先前的問題略有相關，但我們也注意到，該佣金率出現了環比下降。這是否主要反映了──我這裡不考慮1P──品類組合和物流方面的變化？除了您剛才提到的收入和運輸收入動態之外，是否還有其他因素需要考慮？尤其是在展望2024年並考慮這條線時，電商佣金率是否應該進一步下降？另外，如果您能補充一下，較低的融資成本對佣金率的影響應該會是正面的，但我認為我們並沒有看到太大的影響，如果我沒記錯的話。所以，如果您能也補充一下就更好了。

Ariel here again. So on Mexico, sequential compression, I think you are spot on with some of your hypotheses, and it relates to what I was explaining before. So, everything that I just described about operating in peak season with building capacity before the events and increase in unit cost, it's actually more complex in Mexico for 2 reasons. On the one hand, in Mexico, during Q4, we opened 3 fulfillment centers and 1 cross-docking station, big cross-docking station. As we've been pointing out over the last few quarters, we have a capacity constraint there that we need to fix.

我是Ariel。關於墨西哥的順序壓縮，我認為你的一些假設非常正確，這與我之前解釋的內容有關。我剛才提到的在旺季營運、提前擴容以及單位成本增加等問題，在墨西哥其實更為複雜，原因有二。一方面，我們在墨西哥第四季開設了3個物流中心和1個大型轉運站。正如我們過去幾季一直強調的，我們在墨西哥存在產能瓶頸，需要解決。

And of course, whenever you open new warehouses such as these ones, the ramp-up process is a bit costly, and that's part of what has happened over the quarter. Secondly, our existing warehouses were operating at maximum capacity. And that also put some extra pressure in terms of productivity for our fulfillment operations. So in the end, there's nothing that we were surprised about. We are managing the cost and the performance of the network. But we think we are in good shape for the future. So, no comments on the second part of the question on some things that you should expect or that we should call out there.

當然，像這樣新建倉庫，初期投入營運總會有些成本，這也是本季成本上升的部分原因。其次，我們現有的倉庫已經滿載運轉，這也對我們的物流配送效率帶來了額外的壓力。所以總的來說，沒有什麼讓我們感到驚訝的。我們正在努力控製成本並提升網路績效。我們認為未來發展前景良好。因此，對於問題的第二部分，也就是您應該預期或需要特別說明的事項，我們沒有什麼要補充的。

Irma, it's Martin here. Regarding the funding costs being lower, it should benefit the credit business, of course, because it lowers the cost of funding for that operation. So, that should improve NIMAL, and it also should help us on the -- on both the Commerce side, as well as the FinTech side, because it lowers the cost of discounting coupons. So, that should result in improvements in margins.

伊爾瑪，我是馬丁。關於融資成本降低的問題，這當然有利於信貸業務，因為它降低了該業務的融資成本。因此，這應該會改善淨利潤率（NIMAL），而且對我們——無論是在商業領域還是金融科技領域——都有幫助，因為它降低了優惠券折扣的成本。所以，這應該會提高利潤率。

So, probably -- let me build on that, Martin. Probably, you will see more of an impact with regards to -- on the marketplace, where the fee we charge for including installments is fixed. On the FinTech side of business -- on the Acquiring side of business, many times when the funding cost is lower, we end up passing some of those savings to consumers, and that is not as straightforward in the marketplace.

所以，馬丁，讓我再補充一點。你可能會看到，在市場層面，分期付款手續費是固定的，因此影響會更大。但在金融科技業務方面——也就是收單業務方面，很多時候，當融資成本降低時，我們會將部分節省下來的成本讓利給消費者，而這在市場層面就沒那麼直接了。

Our next question comes from the line of Robert Ford of 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. I was curious, how should we think about service transfer pricing and the recurring tax impact on profitability? And when it comes to advertising, how should we think about ad penetration rates in 2024 and the receptiveness of the product stack with larger display advertisers, now that they've had time to really understand the product and maybe build their budgets coming into this year?

恭喜本季業績！我很好奇，我們應該如何看待服務轉移定價以及經常性稅收對獲利能力的影響？另外，在廣告方面，鑑於大型展示廣告商已經有足夠的時間真正了解產品，並且可能在今年年初就制定了預算，我們應該如何看待2024年的廣告滲透率以及他們對產品組合的接受度？

Bob, I think you're referring to the withholding -- the incremental withholding tax that we started booking this quarter, as we explained on the shareholders letter. I think if you -- obviously, it's a big charge, and this is the reason why we excluded it from the results -- [the same] results because it generated a big distortion in Q4 results. Just to put in perspective, the full charge of roughly $350 million, only 6% of that corresponds to this particular quarter. The way to look at that is by roughly, I would say, $20 million incremental cost per quarter will result for this incremental tax that we're going to be starting to provision from now on. To complement that, keep in mind that the $350 million of one-off charge were fully funded because throughout the last 10 years, we're funding a judiciary account with those amounts. So if in the event that we lose this case -- we will continue disputing it. In the event that we lose it, it will not have a material cash impact on our results. So, in summary, I think it's about $20 million per quarter, the impact going forward.

鮑勃，我想你指的是預扣稅——也就是我們本季開始提列的新增預扣稅，正如我們在致股東信中解釋的那樣。顯然，這是一筆數額巨大的支出，這也是我們將其從業績中剔除的原因——因為它對第四季度的業績造成了很大的扭曲。為了便於理解，這筆約3.5億美元的支出中，只有6%與本季相關。也就是說，從現在開始提列這筆新增稅款，每季大約會增加2,000萬美元的成本。此外，需要注意的是，這3.5億美元的一次性支出已經得到了全額資金支持，因為在過去的十年裡，我們一直用這筆錢來支付一個司法帳戶。所以，即使我們敗訴──我們會繼續抗辯──也不會對我們的業績產生重大的現金影響。總而言之，我認為未來每季的影響約為 2000 萬美元。

Bob, this is Ariel. So, going back to your question on advertising, I think I'll start by saying that we are extremely pleased with the Ads results from the quarter. Our revenues grew 72% year-over-year on an FX-neutral basis. It's the seventh consecutive quarter going above 70%, and that's driven mainly by Brazil and Mexico. I think, as we mentioned in our shareholder letter, we added 53,000 new advertisers this year. And this is a great achievement and shows how strong the level of interest in our product it is today, and we expect to build on that in the coming quarters.

鮑勃，我是艾瑞爾。回到你關於廣告的問題，我想先說，我們對本季的廣告表現非常滿意。我們的營收年增了72%（以固定匯率計算）。這已經是連續第七個季度成長超過70%，主要得益於巴西和墨西哥市場的成長。正如我們在致股東信中所提到的，今年我們新增了53,000家廣告客戶。這是一個了不起的成就，也顯示了目前市場對我們產品的濃厚興趣，我們預計在接下來的幾個季度裡，這股勢頭將更加強勁。

On the sequential penetration, I think while Ads continue to grow at a very fast pace, GMV accelerated at an even faster pace this quarter. And it is the case that Ads revenue does not necessarily follow one-to-one the growth pattern of our GMV. Particularly during Q4, our GMV accelerated from 59% growth in Q3 to 79% in Q4. And it's worth maybe highlighting the case of Argentina, which represents 20% of our GMV but only around 10% of our Ads revenue. And that's the main offender for sequential penetration. In such a high inflation context, the lack of stocks in the seller hands disincentivized some of the Ads investments. And simultaneously, advertisers were not necessarily updating their investment amounts, together with their item prices. And for that, we did already deploy some features that automatically update us budget whenever they are -- there is an inflationary context in item prices. So, as I was saying before, we remain extremely confident in our product stack, and we see ample opportunities for growth in the coming years.

關於季度滲透率，我認為雖然廣告收入持續高速成長，但本季GMV的成長速度更快。廣告收入的成長模式與GMV的成長模式並非完全一致。尤其是在第四季度，GMV的成長率從第三季的59%飆升至第四季的79%。值得一提的是阿根廷的情況，其GMV佔比高達20%，但廣告收入僅佔10%左右。這正是導致季度滲透率偏低的主要原因。在高通膨環境下，賣家庫存不足抑制了部分廣告投入。同時，廣告主也未必會及時更新其廣告投入，以配合商品價格的上漲。為此，我們已經部署了一些功能，可以在商品價格上漲時自動更新預算。正如我之前所說，我們對我們的產品組合充滿信心，並看到了未來幾年巨大的成長潛力。

Regarding display, it's been not so long for our current product format to be live, and we are going through the learning curve in terms of go-to-market strategies, as well as the brands that are still learning about branding possibilities in MercadoLibre. So we believe in the product that we have, in the value proposition we are offering with display ads as an awareness tool for one of the largest audiences in Latin America. But we need to be patient, and we think that we can continue building on the product we have to gain even more traction and make a display an even bigger business for MercadoLibre and for our sellers.

關於展示廣告，我們目前的產品形式上線時間不長，在市場推廣策略方面，我們仍在摸索學習階段，品牌方也仍在探索MercadoLibre平台上的品牌推廣可能性。因此，我們對現有產品充滿信心，相信展示廣告作為提升品牌知名度的工具，能夠觸及拉丁美洲最大的受眾群體之一。但我們需要保持耐心，並相信我們可以繼續完善現有產品，從而獲得更大的市場認可，使展示廣告成為MercadoLibre和我們賣家更有價值的業務。

Our next question comes from the line of Kaio Prato of UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Kaio Prato。

So I have one question on the credit portfolio, please. I saw your origination was much higher this quarter. And you mentioned that your own credit card is one of the most used in your platform, I think among the 5 most used. So I just would like to have a sense about how much of this origination is coming from the credit card and how are you seeing the contribution specifically of the credit card in our GMV today? In other words, what's the level of GMV penetration today versus 1 year ago? And finally, what makes you comfortable with the credit card origination today? Because we are already seeing some spike in short-term NPLs, which is attributed to these product.

我有一個關於信貸組合的問題。我注意到本季的貸款發放量大幅成長。您提到您自己的信用卡是平台上使用率最高的信用卡之一，我記得好像是前五名。所以我想了解一下，這些新增貸款中有多少是來自信用卡，以及您如何看待信用卡目前對我們GMV的貢獻？換句話說，與一年前相比，目前的GMV滲透率是多少？最後，您對目前的信用卡貸款發放有何看法？因為我們已經看到短期不良貸款率上升，這似乎與信用卡產品有關。

Kaio, let me start by the end, and then I'll go back to the first questions. With regards to what makes us more comfortable, we first launched credit cards in Brazil 3 years ago, and we have been iterating -- the models we use to score credit, we have done many iterations (inaudible) every year. And each iteration we do, we get better results. We saw the credit situation overall in Brazil worse than 1.5 years ago, 2 years ago. And so, we were more cautious. And now, throughout last year, we started feeling more and more comfortable, and we have been increasing the amount of origination in Brazil. And also, we launched a credit card in Mexico. And we've been, I would say, aggressive in rolling it up. When we look at, as we say, in the shareholder letters, when we look at total payment volume for our credit card, year-over-year, it has grown well above 100%. So we have been aggressive with regards to that.

Kaio，我先從最後說起，然後再回到前面的問題。關於是什麼讓我們更有信心，我們三年前首次在巴西推出信用卡，之後一直在不斷迭代——我們用於信用評分的模型，每年都會進行多次迭代（聽不清楚）。每次迭代，我們都能得到更好的結果。我們發現巴西的整體信貸狀況比一年半前、兩年前更糟。因此，我們當時更加謹慎。而現在，在去年，我們開始覺得越來越有信心，增加了在巴西的信用卡發放量。此外，我們也在墨西哥推出了信用卡。可以說，我們在推廣方面一直非常積極。正如我們在致股東信中提到的，當我們查看信用卡的總支付額時，年比成長率遠超過100%。所以，我們在這一方面確實採取了積極的策略。

And in terms of portfolio, there has been high origination. We have not disclosed the origination amount, but we have disclosed the total portfolio. And you can see how the chunk coming from the credit card is growing. It has reached $1.2 billion, which is over -- nearly 100% growth versus a year ago. And on top of that, I would say that the credit card is growing in exactly the way we expected it to grow. We are expanding in the lower segments and also starting to have a little more traction in the higher segments. And the penetration we see in the marketplace is growing in Brazil and in Mexico. And most importantly, when we look at the total penetration of credits in the marketplace, which adds our consumer loans, and our credit card is growing significantly. So it's not that we are cannibalizing consumer loans with the credit card, which has probably a lower profitability per transaction, but rather that we are adding to that number.

就投資組合而言，新增貸款金額一直很高。我們沒有揭露特定的新增貸款金額，但揭露了投資組合總額。您可以看到，信用卡業務的佔比正在不斷成長，已達到12億美元，較去年同期成長近100%。此外，我認為信用卡業務的成長完全符合我們的預期。我們在低端市場不斷擴張，在高端市場也開始取得一些進展。我們在巴西和墨西哥的市場滲透率也不斷提高。最重要的是，當我們審視市場整體信貸滲透率（包括消費貸款和信用卡）時，我們的信用卡業務正在顯著成長。因此，我們並沒有用信用卡蠶食消費貸款（消費貸款的單筆交易利潤可能較低），而是增加了消費貸款的比例。

Okay. Can you share the level of penetration nowadays in your platform?

好的。能分享一下您平台目前的滲透率嗎？

I would say this is -- we have not disclosed the precise level. But we can disclose that this is the largest means of payment we have today in Mexico. Credit, I mean, not total payments. All of the credit products available, our own credit -- and credit card is the largest one.

我想說的是——我們尚未透露具體金額。但我們可以透露的是，這是我們目前在墨西哥最大的支付方式。我指的是信貸，而不是全部支付。所有可用的信貸產品，包括我們自己的信貸——其中信用卡是最大的。

Our next question comes from the line of [Maria Infantes]. Pardon me, [Maria Clara Infantes].

下一個問題來自[Maria Infantes]這一系。請問，[Maria Clara Infantes]。

So I would like to explore the profitability of the 1P operations. In the release, you mentioned that you achieved better profitability trends despite the seasonality of the business in the fourth quarter. So can you please give us more granularity on how the contribution margin of the business has been evolving lately? Do you feel that the accelerated growth of the category has been allowing you to have better negotiation terms with suppliers? And how do you feel about the growth potential of the channel going forward? How far are we from reaching an optimum profitability level in the division?

因此，我想探討一下1P業務的獲利能力。您在新聞稿中提到，儘管第四季業務存在季節性波動，但獲利趨勢依然有所改善。能否請您更詳細地說明一下近期該業務的貢獻毛利率是如何變動的？您是否認為該品類的加速成長讓您在與供應商的談判中獲得了更有利的條件？您如何看待該通路未來的成長潛力？我們距離該部門達到最佳獲利水準還有多遠？

Yes, we have made significant progress in the 1P business throughout the year, and we feel that we are in much more sustainable footing today than we were maybe a year ago. As you say, we made improvements on margins. We look at -- our product purchase margin has improved a few percentage points in 2023, and we expect to continue improving that. That gave us confidence to grow our business, and we did grow it in Q4 by 60% year-on-year in dollars and 85% in local currency, taking advantage of the -- obviously, the peak season that we had on [El Buen Fin] in Mexico, as well as Black Friday. So we are making significant progress. As I mentioned, we -- one way of looking at the 1P business is -- obviously, we don't share the actual profitability.

是的，我們全年都在1P業務方面取得了顯著進展，我們感覺現在的狀況比一年前要好得多，也更永續。正如您所說，我們的利潤率有所提高。 2023年，我們的產品採購利潤率提高了幾個百分點，我們預計這一數字將繼續成長。這讓我們更有信心拓展業務，而我們在第四季度也確實實現了同比增長，以美元計算同比增長60%，以當地貨幣計算同比增長85%，這主要得益於我們在墨西哥的[El Buen Fin]購物節以及黑色星期五的銷售旺季。因此，我們取得了顯著進展。正如我之前提到的，我們——看待1P業務的一種方式是——顯然，我們不會公開實際的獲利情況。

I can give you some guidance in terms of how we're doing. If you were to look at the 1P business, now, it is profitable before considering fixed costs and including all variable costs, that is shipping, as well as financing. So one way to look at it is, the more volume we have, the better we dilute the fixed cost of that business. So we are at a point where we feel that we can scale the business. That should start to contribute to lower deficit that we have in terms of EBIT. Finally, we think we have plenty of room to continue to attach more advertising into that business, and that creates a big opportunity to continue improving profitability of 1P.

我可以就我們目前的營運情況提供一些指導。如果您看一下1P業務，目前它在未計入固定成本的情況下是盈利的，而所有可變成本，例如運輸和融資成本，都已計入在內。所以，我們可以這樣理解：銷售量越大，我們就能更好地分散這項業務的固定成本。因此，我們認為現在正處於可以擴大業務規模的階段。這應該有助於降低我們在息稅前利潤（EBIT）方面的虧損。最後，我們認為我們還有很大的空間繼續加大對這項業務的廣告投入，這將為持續提升1P業務的獲利能力創造巨大機會。

Ariel here. Just to complement Martin, so we continue to think that 1P is strategic in order for us to sustain our competitive position to gain market share, and more importantly, to satisfy customer demand through better selection and price competitiveness. So we continue to be strategic in deciding which categories and products we serve with 1P, while simultaneously optimizing our consolidated P&L. So while we don't have a specific target regarding 1P penetration for the future, we are encouraged by the progress we've made in terms of profitability, in terms of supplier relationships and operating processes. And the more confident we feel about that, the more confident -- the more probability that we could scale in the future. And the bigger we get, the more benefits of scale we will capture, as Martin was saying just before.

我是Ariel。我補充一下Martin的觀點，我們仍然認為1P模式對我們保持競爭優勢、擴大市場份額至關重要，更重要的是，它能透過更豐富的選擇和更具競爭力的價格來滿足客戶需求。因此，我們會繼續策略性地決定哪些品類和產品採用1P模式，同時優化我們的合併損益表。雖然我們目前沒有針對未來1P滲透率的具體目標，但我們在獲利能力、供應商關係和營運流程方面取得的進展令人鼓舞。我們越有信心，就越有信心——也越有可能在未來實現規模化。正如Martin剛才所說，我們的規模越大，就能獲得越多的規模經濟。

Having said that, there is seasonality in terms of category demand and the role that 1P plays in the different categories. Particularly, consumer electronics was a high demand category during peak season, and it's one category where 1P plays an even more strategic role for us. So to wrap up, we have many initiatives in place to continue improving our retail business, both in terms of economics, as well as in terms of selection, price management and supplier relationship, and we'll continue to work on that. Our next question comes from the line of Trevor Young of Barclays.

話雖如此，品類需求以及1P在不同品類中的作用都存在季節性差異。尤其是在消費性電子產品領域，旺季需求量很高，而1P在這個類別中對我們而言也扮演著更為重要的策略角色。總而言之，我們已推出多項舉措，旨在持續改善零售業務，包括經濟效益、產品選擇、價格管理和供應商關係等方面，我們將繼續努力。下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的特雷弗楊。

First one, just to build on the earlier question on advertising, can you remind us where we are in terms of penetration on a geographic basis? I think to your earlier comments, advertising may be remaining softer in Argentina and perhaps stronger in Mexico and Brazil. Just any numbers to help kind of frame the progression there, particularly as the GMV growth in Argentina is probably optically making that ad penetration look weaker. And then secondly, in Argentina, items growth accelerating for the second straight quarter, up 22%, I think. How much of that is related to kind of the worsening inflation dynamic in that market and more of that pull-forward of consumption versus maybe some improvement in consumer demand? And just appreciate that you don't give any guidance, but at a high level, do you think that degree of unit growth is durable?

首先，我想就之前關於廣告的問題做個補充，您能否介紹一下目前各地區的廣告滲透率情況？正如您之前提到的，阿根廷的廣告市場可能依然疲軟，而墨西哥和巴西的廣告市場則可能更強勁。能否提供一些具體數據來幫助我們了解這些地區的市場發展趨勢，尤其是在阿根廷，GMV的成長可能會使廣告滲透率看起來相對較低。其次，阿根廷的商品銷售成長連續第二季加速，增幅達22%。這其中有多少是由於該市場通膨情況惡化以及消費提前釋放所致，又有多少是由於消費者需求改善所致？我知道您沒有給出具體的業績指引，但您認為這種成長動能能否持續？

Trevor, Ariel here. I think we don't disclose specific numbers in terms of penetration by country, but we have shared that while the overall Ads revenue penetration as percentage of GMV was 1.6% in Q4, if you were to exclude Argentina from that equation, you would get something like 1.9%. So Argentina is definitely a big detractor in terms of measuring Ads revenue as a percentage of GMV.

我是Ariel，Trevor。我們通常不會公佈各國具體的滲透率數據，但我們曾提到，第四季廣告收入佔GMV的整體滲透率為1.6%，但如果將阿根廷排除在外，這個數字會達到1.9%左右。因此，在衡量廣告收入佔GMV的百分比時，阿根廷無疑是一個很大的拖累因素。

Yes. On the successful items sold that you mentioned in Argentina, just like you said, we saw the first half of the year where items were flat year-on-year, mainly because of the recession that we faced in the first half of 2023. Then at the second half, as the government put more money in people's pocket, we saw a pickup in volume, both in terms of GMV and items sold, which increased 12% in Q3 and accelerated to 21% in Q4. And that's -- part of that is inflation (inaudible) advanced purchases ahead of expected devaluation towards the end of the year, which eventually happened in December with the new government. And towards the second half of December, we saw a slowdown of those volumes. But that's correct, your assumption about our consumption.

是的。關於您提到的在阿根廷銷售成功的商品，正如您所說，今年上半年商品銷售與去年同期持平，這主要是由於2023年上半年的經濟衰退。下半年，隨著政府增加財政收入，我們看到銷量回升，無論是商品交易總額還是商品銷量，第三季成長了12%，第四季加速成長至21%。這其中一部分原因是通貨膨脹（聽不清楚），人們提前購買以應對年底預期的貨幣貶值，而貨幣貶值最終在12月隨著新政府的上台而發生。到了12月下半月，我們看到銷量成長放緩。但您關於我們消費的假設是正確的。

Our next question comes from the line of Joao Soares of Citi.

我們的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Joao Soares。

Yes. Just one question on my end. I just wanted to get -- I'm just trying to understand the different moving parts for your operating profit margin, thinking about 2024. I think you mentioned that we should see some reversion in terms of the logistics cost pressure already in the first quarter. And of course, we have structural growth. The 1P business, of course, affected by -- naturally, there's going to be seasonality, but on a more -- on a year, we should see an increase in penetration of the 1P. So I just want to try to understand different moving parts, also taking into consideration that you're growing, again, your credit portfolio within credit cards, which should come with increase in provisions. So I know it's -- I don't want to see forward-looking statements, but just trying to understand what should we have in mind for different moving parts for your operating profit margin.

是的。我只有一個問題。我想了解影響您2024年營業利益率的各個因素。您提到過，物流成本壓力在第一季應該會有所緩解。當然，我們也有結構性成長。 1P業務自然會受到季節性因素的影響，但從全年來看，1P業務的滲透率應該會有所提高。所以我想了解影響營業利潤率的各個因素，同時也要考慮到您信用卡業務的信貸組合也在成長，這應該會帶來撥備的增加。我知道我不想看到任何前瞻性的預測，只是想了解影響您營業利潤率的各個因素有哪些。

Thank you, Joao, for your question. First of all, I'll discuss margins. Let me clarify that all the numbers I will be discussing contemplate the adjustment for the $351 million of one-offs. Given the size of it, we felt that it was easier to explain and taking those -- that one-off out and obviously including the appropriate cost corresponding to this particular quarter. I would say that if you look at margins on a year-on-year basis and excluding the one-off that I mentioned before, we improved margins by 270 basis points because of expanding the business and basically growing the business and diluting our fixed costs, while at the same time, we continue to invest behind the many growth opportunities. One of them is credit card, as you mentioned, but also fulfillment and several other things that we're doing at the company. This is something that we plan to continue.

Joao，謝謝你的提問。首先，我想談談利潤率。需要說明的是，我接下來要討論的所有數據都已考慮了3.51億美元的一次性專案調整。鑑於該項目金額較大，我們認為將其剔除（當然，會包含與本季對應的相應成本）更容易解釋。我想說的是，如果以同比計算利潤率，並剔除我之前提到的一次性項目，我們的利潤率提高了270個基點，這主要得益於業務擴張和增長，從而降低了固定成本。同時，我們也持續投資於眾多成長機會。正如你所提到的，其中之一是信用卡業務，此外還有物流配送以及公司正在進行的其他一些項目。我們計劃繼續推進這些投資。

We think that we run a business that should scale very nicely in the long term. I will continue to focus on managing costs very efficiently. And as we continue to grow the business, we should be able to continue scaling in the long term. Q4, in particular, is a quarter with seasonality in terms of lower margins because of the investments that we make in Commerce, particularly behind the special events of Black Friday and El Buen Fin. Furthermore, in Q4, we intensified certain investments, as Ari mentioned before, as a fulfillment 1P and free shipping. If you were to look at the sequential compressions of margins, we had roughly 4.5 points of compressions in margin. That compression comes mainly from 1P and shipping, which affects our cost of goods sold.

我們認為，我們經營的業務具有良好的長期擴展潛力。我將繼續專注於高效控製成本。隨著業務的持續成長，我們應該能夠長期維持規模化發展。第四季尤其具有季節性，利潤率會因我們在電商領域的投資而有所下降，尤其是在黑色星期五和El Buen Fin等促銷活動期間。此外，正如Ari先前所提到的，我們在第四季度加大了對某些領域的投資，例如1P物流和免運費。如果觀察利潤率的環比下降情況，我們會發現利潤率下降了約4.5個百分點。這種下降主要來自1P物流和運費，這會影響我們的銷售成本。

In terms of our 1P business, 2/3 of the compression comes from the 1P business, as Ari mentioned. The revenues from 1P grew from 9% to 12% of total revenues. You can see that in our disclosures. And as you know, 1P has a different margin structure than 3P because almost 100% of the GMV is booked as revenues compared to just the take rate of the 3P business. So although there was pressure on the margin, the incremental negative impact on EBIT due to 1P was only $20 million during the Q. On the other hand, we generated more than $220 million incremental GMV from 1P, which resulted in market share gains of almost 10 percentage points of consumer electronics category, as Ari was mentioning before.

就我們的1P業務而言，如Ari所提到的，三分之二的壓縮來自1P業務。 1P業務的收入佔總收入的比例從9%成長到12%。您可以在我們的揭露文件中看到這一點。您也知道，1P業務的利潤率結構與3P業務不同，因為1P業務幾乎100%的GMV都計入收入，而3P業務僅按佣金比例計入。因此，儘管利潤率面臨壓力，但1P業務在本季對EBIT的增量負面影響僅為2,000萬美元。另一方面，我們從1P業務中獲得了超過2.2億美元的增量GMV，正如Ari之前提到的，這使得我們在消費性電子產品類別的市佔率成長了近10個百分點。

The other part of the compression comes from shipping. As Ari mentioned, there is a seasonality factor in shipping during Q4, which comes with higher costs associated with peak season. It happened this quarter, and we expect this trend to revert back to normal in the following quarters. And then finally, investments that we're making -- we have been flagging over the last few quarters to the market, investments on a value proposition, which includes the launching of more fulfillment centers. We launched 3 -- we implemented 3 new fulfillment centers this quarter. The increased adoption of Meli+, which resulted in higher levels of free shipping. When you put all those together, that explains the compression that you see quarter-on-quarter.

壓縮的另一部分來自物流。正如Ari所提到的，第四季物流存在季節性因素，旺季成本較高。這種情況在本季出現，我們預計這一趨勢將在接下來的幾季恢復正常。最後，還有我們正在進行的投資——過去幾季我們一直在向市場強調，這些投資旨在提升價值主張，包括開設更多物流中心。本季我們新增了3個物流中心。此外，Meli+的普及也帶來了更高的免運費比例。所有這些因素綜合起來，就解釋了您看到的季度環比壓縮現象。

Let me add to that, your question regarding credit portfolio and provisions. Throughout this year, we have been able to expand our credit portfolio and furthermore gain share in credit cards. And despite that, we have been able to increase our net interest margin after losses and also decrease NPLs, which [appears] 30% for the first time in quite some time. So again, we don't guide it, but we are confident with how the credit business is evolving.

關於您提出的信貸組合和撥備問題，我補充一點。今年以來，我們成功拓展了信貸組合，並在信用卡業務中進一步提升了市場佔有率。儘管如此，我們仍實現了扣除損失後的淨利差增長，並降低了不良貸款率，不良貸款率近年來首次下降了30%。因此，我們不業績指引，但我們對信貸業務的發展前景充滿信心。

Our next question comes from the line of Deepak Mathivanan of Wolfe Research.

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

I apologize if this was asked already, but one big picture question and then kind of one tactical one. So if you think about logistics, what are the big initiatives for 2024? Maybe with respect to expanding the fulfillment centers or the middle mile and last mile operations, how should we think about the CapEx levels as we kind of progress through the year? And then, the second one on competition. E-commerce players from China have caused pretty significant shifts and move into the U.S., and it is anticipated in several LatAm markets. Can you share any color on your thoughts and how you're positioning the business for any sort of like a potential competitive intensity growing?

如果這個問題之前有人問過，我先道個歉。我先問一個宏觀方面的問題，然後再問一個具體的問題。就物流而言，2024 年的重點措施是什麼？例如，在擴大配送中心、中端物流運作方面，我們該如何規劃資本支出水平，並隨著年度的發展逐步調整？第二個問題是關於競爭的。來自中國的電商企業已經對美國市場造成了相當大的衝擊，預計這種情況也會在拉丁美洲的多個市場出現。您能否分享一下您對未來競爭加劇的看法，以及貴公司將如何應對這種潛在的競爭？

Deepak, this is Ariel. So in terms of logistics, I think -- I mean, we don't guide, and you know we don't disclose future numbers in terms of performance, et cetera. But just to reiterate what I said and Martin tried to explain, so most of the sequential compression on logistics was coming from peak season costs, which have been reverting during early Q1. So that's important. Having said that, we have many, many projects on hand to execute during 2024, none of which we think should drastically change the way we manage our P&L. We will invest in faster deliveries. We will continue investing in slower deliveries simultaneously.

Deepak，我是Ariel。關於物流方面，我想說──我們不會給業績指引，你也知道，我們不會透露未來的績效數據等等。但我想重申一下我剛才說的，以及Martin試圖解釋的內容，物流方面的周期性壓縮主要來自旺季成本，這些成本在第一季初已經開始回落。這一點很重要。話雖如此，我們在2024年還有很多專案要執行，我們認為這些專案都不會大幅改變我們損益管理的方式。我們會投資加快交貨速度，同時也會繼續投資慢速交付。

We will continue testing more automation and robotics as we have been doing so over the last few years. We will continue working with our technology team. We have thousands of developers fully dedicated to improving the processes and the experience of our customers with logistics and the way we operate inside our warehouses and cross-docking stations. So, all in all, we will focus in becoming more efficient, in serving our customers better, in improving our delivery promises and execution, and to support the business of the marketplace with more categories and better services.

我們將像過去幾年一樣，繼續測試更多的自動化和機器人技術。我們將繼續與我們的技術團隊合作。我們擁有數千名開發人員，他們全心致力於改善物流流程，提升客戶體驗，優化倉庫和轉運站的營運方式。總而言之，我們將專注於提高效率，更好地服務客戶，提升交付承諾和執行力，並透過更多品類和更優質的服務來支持市場業務的發展。

Regarding the Asian competition, I'd say we've seen Temu, in particular, more present in Mexico over the last few months. But still, as you can see from our results, we grew 32% year-over-year in items sold in Mexico. So we are extremely pleased with how we are executing in the countries. All categories in Mexico are showing good year-over-year GMV growth. While we see some of the Asian players focused on apparel and home and mostly focused on low-ASP items, we see our growth in those segments extremely healthy. So in the end, we are confident that our competitive advantages, particularly logistics and payments, remain strong. We have a unique logistics network. We have a unique buy now, pay later, and credit card offering in Brazil, in Mexico, et cetera, which we think will continue helping us drive our business and our market share gains in those markets.

關於亞洲競爭對手，我想說的是，在過去幾個月裡，我們尤其註意到Temu在墨西哥的業務有所成長。但正如您從我們的業績報告中所見，我們在墨西哥的商品銷售額年增了32%。因此，我們對在各國的表現都非常滿意。墨西哥所有品類的商品交易總額（GMV）均實現了良好的年增長。雖然我們看到一些亞洲競爭對手專注於服裝和家居用品，並且主要銷售低平均售價（ASP）的商品，但我們在這些領域的成長依然非常強勁。因此，我們最終確信，我們的競爭優勢，特別是物流和支付優勢，仍然穩固。我們擁有獨特的物流網絡。我們在巴西、墨西哥等地提供獨特的「先買後付」和信用卡服務，我們相信這些優勢將繼續幫助我們在這些市場推動業務成長並提升市場份額。

So, to wrap up, in the past several years, we have been successful in competing against Asian players who were executing strategies similar to the ones that current players are executing. So we expect to continue doing so in the future, building on our strengths and successfully competing against whoever is operating in each of the markets where we are.

綜上所述，過去幾年，我們成功地與一些採用類似策略的亞洲競爭對手展開了競爭。因此，我們期望未來能夠繼續保持這種勢頭，充分發揮自身優勢，並在我們所處的各個市場中與所有競爭對手展開成功競爭。

Just on your question on CapEx, obviously, we don't guide future expenditures. But this year, 2023 was roughly $500 million invested on CapEx, which was fully funded with our own cash flow generation.

關於您提到的資本支出問題，顯然，我們不會對未來的支出進行預測。但今年，我們預計2023年將在資本支出方面投入約5億美元，這筆資金全部來自我們自身的現金流。

Our next question comes from the line of Marcelo Santos of JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的馬塞洛·桑托斯。

My first question is about Meli+. Is Meli+ a net negative in terms of P&L? I understand it has recurring benefits and has a lot of loyalty benefits. But when you think about the P&L impact, is it negative now? And should it remain negative in the future? That's the first question.

我的第一個問題是關於Meli+的。從損益表來看，Meli+是否會帶來淨負面影響？我知道它有持續性收益，並且能帶來很多忠誠度收益。但是，就損益表的影響而言，現在它是否是負面的？未來是否也會是負面的？這是我的第一個問題。

And the second question is, did you also see the seasonal -- this peak costs last year? Or was there something that you had stronger this year because you're running at fuller capacity?

第二個問題是，您是否也看到了去年的季節性高峰成本？或者今年因為產能利用率更高而出現了更嚴重的成本波動？

Thank you for your question. The first part of the question was related to Meli+. Okay, sorry. Meli+ -- we don't look at Meli+ as an individual P&L. We look at this as a way to generate incrementality in our marketplace. So if you break it down between content, content is basically cost-neutral because we pass on the benefits that we get. Basically the cost that we pay for the content, we pass it on to our consumers. And then the shipping, obviously, we'll provide more free shipping, but that generates incremental volume that then in turn should finance that operation. In the short term, we are investing behind these initiatives. Of course, we're also investing in advertising. But it shouldn't be looked at as an individual P&L and more so as part -- a critical part of our strategy for Commerce.

感謝您的提問。問題的第一部分與 Meli+ 有關。好的，抱歉。 Meli+－我們不將其視為獨立的損益項目。我們將其視為提升市場成長的一種方式。具體來說，內容方面，成本基本上持平，因為我們會將獲得的收益轉嫁給消費者。也就是說，我們為內容支付的成本最終會轉嫁給消費者。至於配送方面，我們當然會提供更多免運費服務，但這會帶來銷售成長，進而為配送營運提供資金。短期內，我們會加大對這些項目的投入。當然，我們也會投資廣告。但 Meli+ 不應被視為獨立的損益項目，而應被視為我們電商策略的重要組成部分。

And then regarding the peak season, if we saw a particular peak -- a special peak in terms of cost, yes, probably this quarter, the incrementality of cost due to peak season was a little bit higher than we saw last year. But again, as Ari mentioned, this is something that will revert in the following quarters. And it was expected to have a peak -- incremental cost during peak season.

至於旺季，如果說成本方面出現了一個特別高的峰值，那麼本季旺季帶來的成本增量可能略高於去年同期。但正如阿里所提到的，這種情況會在接下來的幾季有所回落。旺季期間成本增量達到高峰也是意料之中的。

Our next question comes from the line of Soomit Datta of New Street Research.

我們的下一個問題來自新街研究公司的 Soomit Datta。

Just one at this stage, please. On Argentina and the FinTech business, as we kind of contemplate entering a recessionary environment in Argentina, how should we think about the FinTech business? The e-commerce business is a bit more kind of logical to me in that sort of environment in terms of thinking about consumer demand, et cetera, units sold. But just on the FinTech side, it's not clear to me kind of what the drivers will be exactly under that scenario. So if you could kind of help me with that, that would be great.

目前我只問一個問題。關於阿根廷和金融科技產業，考慮到阿根廷可能進入經濟衰退期，我們該如何看待金融科技業？在這種環境下，從消費者需求、銷售等方面來看，電子商務產業對我來說似乎更有意義。但就金融科技而言，我不太清楚在這種情況下，究竟哪些因素會成為驅動因素。如果您能幫我解答一下，那就太好了。

I would say, let me try to split the question between the different businesses we have. With regards to Acquiring, I would say, it's a business that also is very much independent of there being a recession or not. Obviously, the volumes are impacted, but we are growing so much by gaining share and the impact tends to be -- could be smaller. Let us not get into what could happen in the future, but it's a business that people still continue to sell and process payments. So what can vary a little bit is basically the growth rate, but no more than that. Where we've been more cautious is on the FinTech services side of the business, on issuing credit.

我想，讓我嘗試把這個問題拆分成我們不同的業務來回答。就收單業務而言，我認為它很大程度上不受經濟衰退的影響。當然，交易量會受到影響，但我們透過市場份額的成長實現了快速發展，因此受到的影響相對較小。我們暫且不討論未來可能發生的情況，但這項業務仍需要人們繼續進行交易和支付處理。所以，可能略有波動的主要是成長率，僅此而已。我們更謹慎的是金融科技服務業務，也就是信貸發放方面。

We don't have yet a credit card in Argentina, and we have been more cautious throughout the fourth quarter, even before the elections, knowing that there could be a devaluation and there could be increased NPLs, and that's why we were already more cautious towards the end of last year. And most of the volume growth you saw is coming from Mexico and Brazil and not from Argentina. And then we'll see what happens with the other FinTech service products. What we're seeing today is an inflation there in Q4.

我們目前在阿根廷還沒有推出信用卡業務。在整個第四季度，我們一直保持謹慎，甚至在選舉之前就已如此，因為我們知道阿根廷貨幣可能會貶值，不良貸款率可能會上升。這也是為什麼我們在去年底就已經更加謹慎的原因。您看到的交易量成長主要來自墨西哥和巴西，而不是阿根廷。接下來，我們將觀察其他金融科技服務產品的發展。目前我們看到的是阿根廷第四季的通貨膨脹。

And even today, it has peaked and is higher than it was, and that is a further incentive, and we have seen that for people to bring money from their bank into the Mercado Pago account, which is currently remunerating [8%] year-on-year, and it's a huge advantage versus 0% at most banks. So we saw, throughout the fourth quarter, an increase in asset under management. You don't see that in total numbers because the devaluation at the end of the year, but in local currency, we grew assets in our account by 6x year-over-year. So I would say that I'm comfortable with the impact we saw towards the end of last year. We cannot predict what -- we don't forecast what will happen in the future.

即使到了今天，這個數字仍然達到了峰值，甚至高於先前的水平，這進一步激勵了人們將資金從銀行轉移到Mercado Pago帳戶。該帳戶目前的年利率為8%，與大多數銀行0%的利率相比，這是一個巨大的優勢。因此，在整個第四季度，我們看到資產管理規模有所成長。由於年底的貨幣貶值，您可能無法從總數字中看出這一點，但以當地貨幣計算，我們帳戶中的資產比去年同期增長了6倍。所以，我對去年年底我們所看到的成效感到滿意。我們無法預測未來會發生什麼，我們也不做預測。

And if I may complement, the credit business in Argentina continues to have the lowest NPLs compared to all other markets, and it continues to be extremely profitable in terms of (inaudible).

如果我沒理解錯的話，阿根廷的信貸業務不良貸款率仍然是所有市場中最低的，而且在（聽不清楚）方面仍然非常有利可圖。

Our next question comes from the line of Neha Agarwala of HSBC.

我們的下一個問題來自匯豐銀行的 Neha Agarwala。

A quick one. I noticed that the ticket size for your credit card loans across the segments have been coming off. Is this a conscious decision? Or is this a trend based on the demand that you're seeing from your clients? And any color on the credit uptake in Mexico, what kind of products are working in Mexico, wow is the response on the credit card, that would be very helpful.

問個小問題。我注意到你們各客戶群的信用卡貸款額度都在下降。這是你們有意為之嗎？還是根據客戶需求得出的趨勢？另外，能否分享一下墨西哥的信貸市場狀況？哪些產品在墨西哥比較受歡迎？信用卡市場反應如何？這些資訊對我很有幫助。

Let me start with the first part of the question, and then take on the second one. The first one, I would say, with regards to the credit card loans, they have been falling. It has been totally been a conscious decision. What we have been doing is reaching out to more consumers who did not have a credit card in the past with micro lines, where we say that it's typically BRL 400 or BRL 200 lines, so it's really small lines, and also with what we call warrantied cards, where we ask people to deposit BRL 100 or BRL 200 or BRL 300 in their account and offer a card that is warrantied by the amount. So definitely, that has been part of our strategy in order to be -- for many of these people, the first time they get a credit card.

讓我先回答問題的第一部分，然後再回答第二部分。關於信用卡貸款，我想說的是，貸款額度一直在下降。這完全是我們有意為之的。我們一直在努力拓展客戶群，尤其是那些過去沒有信用卡的消費者，我們推出了微型信用卡，額度通常為 400 或 200 雷亞爾，也就是非常小的額度。此外，我們還推出了所謂的“擔保卡”，要求用戶在帳戶中存入 100、200 或 300 雷亞爾，並提供一張額度與存入金額成正比的擔保卡。因此，這無疑是我們策略的一部分，目的是為了讓許多人第一次申請信用卡時就能輕鬆上手。

And with regards to -- you mentioned credit uptake in Mexico. I would say that basically we have been growing a lot. First, the credit card, which is the latest product we launched and has been a quite successful launch. And when you look at the combined volume we are loaning to consumers, adding the consumer loans to the credit cards, that business has also been growing nicely.

關於您提到的墨西哥信貸市場，我想說，整體而言，我們的信貸業務成長迅猛。首先，我們最新推出的信用卡產品取得了相當大的成功。其次，如果我們把消費貸款和信用卡貸款加起來，整體來看，消費貸款業務的成長也相當可觀。

Just in terms of the asset quality trends that you are seeing in Mexico?

僅就您在墨西哥看到的資產品質趨勢而言？

Sorry, could you repeat the question, please?

抱歉，請您再說一次問題好嗎？

Asset quality trends for your -- both the consumer lending and the credit card book in Mexico? Is it better than Brazil? Has it been improving? Or are you cautious there?

您認為墨西哥的消費貸款和信用卡資產品質趨勢如何？比巴西好嗎？情況是否有改善？或您對此持謹慎態度？

It has been -- remained fairly stable. The profitability has continued to be good.

一直以來，情況都相當穩定。盈利能力也持續良好。

Our next question comes from the line of Marvin Fong of BTIG.

我們的下一個問題來自 BTIG 的 Marvin Fong。

2, if I may. First, I think maybe you touched on this earlier, but the FinTech take rate, I think there was some compression there, part of which was related to financing costs. And I think in prior quarters, we had thought that perhaps the take rate would fall kind of in step with your funding costs. So are you seeing some spread compression there? And any thought about how we should think about that going forward?

2，如果可以的話。首先，我想您之前可能已經提到過，金融科技業的交易手續費率確實有所收窄，部分原因與融資成本有關。我認為在前幾個季度，我們曾預期交易手續費率會隨著融資成本的下降而同步下降。那麼，您是否觀察到利差收窄的情況？對於未來我們應該如何看待這個問題，您有什麼想法？

And then second question, just to touch again on the credit portfolio, the consumer loan balance fell a little bit quarter-over-quarter. So was that a function of what you were saying about Argentina and pausing there? Or was there some currency issues or any kind of highlight there? Is it sort of you're focusing more on a credit card and maybe the consumer book won't have as much growth for the time being?

第二個問題，再談信貸組合，消費貸款餘額較上季略有下降。這是否與您剛才提到的阿根廷市場有關，導致業務暫時停滯？還是說當時存在一些貨幣問題或其他特殊情況？您是否將更多精力放在信用卡業務上，因此消費貸款業務短期內成長可能會放緩？

I would say on the FinTech take rate, part of the impact is larger portion of our credit book coming from credit cards, which have -- the portion of those loans that are interest-bearing are lower than in the other kind of loans. That has some impact to that. Also on the other part of the FinTech business, when you look at our Acquiring business, as we move into SMBs, they typically have lower -- slightly lower take rate, albeit with significantly larger volume. I'd say those are to impact -- they have had an impact on the overall take rate.

我認為，就金融科技業務的成交率而言，部分原因是我們的信貸組合中信用卡所佔比例較高，而信用卡貸款的計息比例低於其他類型的貸款。這確實對成交率產生了一定影響。此外，就金融科技業務的另一部分而言，當我們審視收單業務時，隨著我們擴大到中小企業，儘管交易量顯著增加，但中小企業的成交率通常略低。我認為這些因素都對整體成交率產生了影響。

And the second one, you mentioned, if I got it right, was if there was an impact in the credit portfolio because of the Argentina devaluation, right?

第二個問題，你也提到了，如果我理解正確的話，是阿根廷貨幣貶值是否會對信貸組合產生影響，對嗎？

It's sort of a part of the question. I was just noticing the consumer loans kind of fell very slightly quarter-over-quarter. And I was hypothesis that perhaps there might be some currency impact. Or just -- or is there something else behind that?

這算是問題的一部分。我注意到消費貸款較上季略有下降。我猜測這或許與匯率有關。或者——或者背後有其他原因？

Yes, there was some impact for 2 reasons. The first one is, in the fourth quarter, before the elections, we were more conservative in issuing credit in Argentina. And the second one is more direct, which is the currency devaluation. Since we take the portfolios at the end of the quarter, the devaluation happened throughout December, and therefore the loans portfolio we're showing in Argentina is devalued already.

是的，這確實產生了一定的影響，原因有二。首先，在第四季度，也就是大選之前，我們在阿根廷發放信貸時採取了更保守的策略。其次，影響更為直接，那就是貨幣貶值。由於我們是在季度末統計貸款組合，而貶值發生在整個12月，因此我們目前顯示的阿根廷貸款組合實際上已經包含了貶值的影響。

I'm showing no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Martin de los Santos, CFO, for any closing remarks.

我目前沒有其他問題。現在我想把電話轉回給財務長馬丁·德洛斯·桑托斯，請他作總結發言。

Well, thank you, everybody. As we mentioned, we are super excited with the results of the quarter and we're closing a great 2023. And we look forward to seeing you when we present results for Q1 of 2024. Thank you very much.

謝謝大家。正如我們之前提到的，我們對本季的業績感到非常興奮，2023年也圓滿結束了。我們期待在2024年第一季業績發佈時與大家再次相聚。非常感謝。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's conference. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect. Have a great day.

謝謝大家。女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。現在可以斷開連線了。祝您有美好的一天。