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，歡迎參加截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的季度 MercadoLibre 收益電話會議。感謝您加入我們。我是理查德‧卡思卡特 (Richard Cathcart)，MercadoLibre 的投資者關係官員。今天，我們將透過影片分享我們的季度亮點，之後我們將開始與我們的執行長 Marcos Galperin 進行現場問答環節；財務長;馬丁·德洛斯桑托斯；金融科技總裁 Osvaldo Gimenez；商務執行副總裁 Ariel Szarfsztejn。

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.

在我們繼續討論 2023 年第四季的業績之前，我提醒您，管理階層可能會做出或參考，本簡報可能包含前瞻性陳述和非公認會計準則措施。因此，請參閱螢幕上的免責聲明，該免責聲明也可在我們的投資者關係網站上的收益資料中找到。

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

首先，我們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。我很高興與大家分享，MercadoLibre 在第四季度取得了堅實的業績，為出色的一年畫上了圓滿的句號。總體而言，2023 年凸顯了我們財務模式的優勢及其未來潛力，以及數年技術投資的複合效應的強大影響。對於我們的商務業務來說，這是加速成長和大多數國家市場份額增加的一年。我們透過不斷改進市場上買家和賣家的價值主張來實現這一目標。

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.

我想強調三項有助於我們在商業領域取得成功的重要措施。我們繼續投資於擁有最廣泛的產品性能，以便為消費者提供最佳的買家體驗。實現這一目標的關鍵因素是我們第一方業務的加速發展，特別是在巴西，該業務在2023 年增長了81%。我們繼續擴大我們的物流網絡，履約滲透率創歷史新高，接近50 %，這為客戶提供了更好的用戶體驗我們的買家。這使得運輸速度加快，延遲交貨的情況減少，尤其是在聖誕節期間。

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業績，營收加速成長。 2023 年，我們招募了近 50,000 名新廣告商，他們認識到在我們的泛區域平台上推廣其產品的價值。在金融科技方面，隨著用戶和商家繼續採用我們的服務，Mercado Pago 保持了強勁的勢頭。

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 TPV 的穩健成長，並在我們開展業務的大多數國家/地區（無論是在線支付還是店內支付）都獲得了市場份額。我們提高了批准率，並部署了新功能，使我們能夠向高端市場邁進，增強對中小企業的價值主張。在金融科技服務方面，我們擴大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.

我們產品的參與度不斷提高，Mercado Pago 實現了單季活躍用戶數首次超過 5,000 萬的里程碑。信貸業務仍然是我們金融科技策略的重要組成部分，隨著我們繼續謹慎管理風險，信貸業務又一個季度取得了強勁的業績，成長加速，利差穩定。

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。由於旺季期間的強勁執行力以及我們全年的投資，金融科技和商業領域的收入成長了 42%。正如致股東的信中所解釋的，本季我們的息稅前利潤率為 13.4%，不包括前幾年的一次性費用。這表明利潤率較 2022 年第四季度有所改善，同時我們將繼續投資建設物流基礎設施、支持我們的 Meli+ 忠誠度計劃以及擴大我們的信用卡產品。

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，現在是回顧過去 6 年歷程的好時機。在此期間，我們的收入成長了10 倍，同時獲利能力顯著提高，最終在2023 年實現了近20 億美元的營業收入。近年來，我們增加了對科技的投資，這使我們能夠推出多種產品和技術服務並顯著改善用戶體驗。僅在過去 3 年裡，我們的開發團隊就增加了 10,000 多人，目前擁有 16,000 名工程師，他們不斷努力為我們的用戶創造最佳體驗。我們仍然致力於以技術為主導的策略，以便繼續為 MELI 提供可持續的成果。

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，我們對成長機會持樂觀態度，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 Richard 來分享一些 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，隨著我們不斷創新，推出新產品和功能是我們業務的核心。創新涉及新產品和新業務，但也涉及對細節的關注和熱情，以及解決多個小客戶痛點，這些痛點組合成良好的客戶體驗。 2023 年也不例外。我們推出了多項新產品和服務，例如 Meli+ 忠誠度計劃、MELI 送貨日、墨西哥消費者和巴西企業的信用卡等等。隨著我們繼續努力為用戶提供最佳體驗，我們也透過基於我們的價值主張的多種新體驗極大地改進了我們的核心產品。今天，我們想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.

在商務方面，我們繼續關注每個垂直領域的具體需求，以改善使用者體驗，因為我們相信這將推動線下消費線上化。 2023 年，我們透過跨品牌和賣家的標準化過濾器顯著改進了時尚、服裝和運動領域的導航。這使得消費者能夠更快找到他們需要的東西。在產品頁面上，用戶還可以看到「更多類似此」部分，以查找與用戶點擊的產品類似的商品，而不是簡單地返回搜尋結果。此功能由人工智慧提供支援。

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.

基於人工智慧的功能已成為 MELI 體驗不可或缺的一部分，2023 年推出了許多創新，包括產品頁面上的客戶評論摘要，集中了該產品買家的主要回饋。美妝產品頁面會自動產生產品功能和特色匯總，方便買家選擇。有關購物車中未購買商品的推播通知現在高度個人化，並提醒用戶為什麼他們可能選擇購買特定產品。我們還添加了人工智慧功能，透過準備答案來幫助賣家回答問題，賣家可以立即發送或快速編輯答案。為了給我們的賣家更好的體驗，我們推出了新版本的賣家中心，他們可以在其中看到可供他們參與的所有促銷活動。新的定價工具還使賣家能夠輕鬆地與競爭對手進行價格比較和/或類似產品，並獲得有關如何提高銷售的見解和建議。

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. 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.

2023 年，我們也重新推出了廣告技術堆疊。推出了用於展示廣告的自動購買平台，並附有即時報告和獨特的洞察分析。我們增強了產品廣告的出價演算法，並在搜尋和產品頁面上引入了新的展示位置，以提高贊助產品的可見度。我們的品牌廣告解決方案也作為漏斗中部活動選項推出，以提高品牌的考量。我們的平台現在還包括一項功能，代理商可以透過該平台管理不同的品牌。品牌、賣家和官方商店可以將某些產品甚至整個品種委託給特定的代理商。這些機構現在能夠在一處管理委託給他們的所有帳戶。為了擴大廣告商的可能性，推出了一種新的自訂受眾工具，並在隨後進行了擴展，使廣告商能夠使用過濾器為其廣告活動創建無限的受眾組合。最後在廣告方面，MELI Play 以廣告為基礎的串流平台推出。透過與工作室的收入分成模式，我們能夠向該地區的用戶提供免費內容，使我們能夠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.

在物流領域，大部分的技術改進都是在幕後進行，對於幫助我們保持成本佔 GMV 的比例大致穩定、同時擴大履行滲透率至關重要。我們優化了從第一英里到最後一英里的路線、履行中心流程和需求預測。在用戶體驗方面，買家現在會收到包裹已送達的通知，並且可以透過他們的應用程式進行追蹤。對於採用履行方式的賣家來說，管理庫存的增強工具為流程帶來了更多技術，可以標記需要補充的產品、應向我們發送多少件商品等。

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，鞏固我們作為該地區領先金融科技公司之一的地位。在收單業務中，Mercado Pago Tap 的推出為商家提供了免費的 POS 選項，將他們的手機變成了透過 NFC 技術接收付款的工具。我們也改進了行動 POS 裝置與商家手機的配對流程，並在幕後工作以減少處理時間，這對 NPS 產生了積極影響，有助於改善商家和買家的體驗。隨著 Mercado Pago 應用程式更加個人化，我們的賣家主頁現在優先考慮商家日常最需要的功能。

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.

在金融科技服務方面，我們持續尋找促進金融普惠的方法。我們將信用卡業務擴展到了墨西哥，並在巴西推出了抵押信用卡解決方案，用戶收到的信用額度相當於存入其帳戶的資金價值。這些產品使消費者能夠開始建立信用評分，並首次利用信用卡為許多人帶來的可能性。信貸創新使我們能夠吸引新用戶。對於商家，我們現在提供商業信用卡，利用開放金融來幫助評分。對於風險較低的消費者來說，新產品使他們能夠在我們的應用程式中提供金額更大、期限更長的貸款，根據他們的需求個人化貸款，並擴大我們信貸產品的用例。

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.

隨著我們產品堆疊的擴展，我們致力於促進 Mercado Pago 上所有不同產品的簡化導航。我們的數位帳戶主頁結合了最常用的功能，例如轉帳、信用額度、投資頭寸和保險，以適應用戶的個人資料。結果，我們所有關鍵數位帳戶產品的流量都增加了。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摘要，這項增強功能可為用戶帶來更多有關其財務狀況的資訊。該報告還重點介紹了可能對使用者有用的新產品，例如我們的存款證和投資基金，以及信貸產品和我們的有酬帳戶。

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 提供的所有創新透過為企業家和個人帶來經濟和金融包容性，繼續對拉丁美洲產生深遠的內在影響。最近與 Euromonitor 合作的一份報告顯示，MercadoLibre 是該地區 180 萬個家庭的主要收入來源，對於該地區 54% 的用戶來說，Mercado Pago 是他們可用的第一種數位支付方式。

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 年提供的創新的快照。到 2024 年，我們的用戶可以期待更多，因為一如既往，MercadoLibre 最好的尚未到來。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from the line of Andrew Ruben of Morgan Stanley.

（操作員指示）我們的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的安德魯魯本（Andrew Ruben）。

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.

我想深入了解物流網絡。我們看到淨運費和部分運費 COGS 看起來比最近幾季的拖累更大。因此，我想知道您是否可以幫助解決連續變化的問題，無論是季節性變化，還是投資領域（例如本季度的運輸活動或 DC 建設）發生了連續變化。然後，也許稍微縮小一下物流網絡，你如何看待網絡的狀態，你對運輸速度、運輸費用的看法，以及你如何看待未來一年在這些領域的投資強度與'23？任何顏色都會非常有幫助。

(technical difficulty)

（技術難度）

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，延遲率更低，履行滲透率更高（尤其是在巴西），Meli+ 提供更多免費送貨服務，以及全年（尤其是第三季）擴張的網路。因此，關於您關於利潤壓縮或連續利潤壓縮的具體問題，我們在第四季度也經歷了一些成本壓力，您將在第一季初看到這些壓力的恢復。基本上，第四季的這些不利因素主要有以下原因。第一，這是 Meli+ 全面運營的第一季度，這意味著我們提高了巴西和墨西哥的免費送貨水平。正如我認為我們之前討論過的那樣，Meli+ 是一項策略性長期投資，我們認為它將繼續提高忠誠度並推動增量訂單和 GMV。所以這是我們有意識的投資。

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 three, 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. 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.

其次，我認為我們業務中 1P 的成長（以美元計算，其 GMV 比上一季高出 50%）也起到了逆風的作用，基本上是因為沒有賣家支付運費收入，因為我們是1P的情況。我認為第三點，在前幾個季度，我們指出，在接受率方面的一些運輸收益是由於我們的供應商在已經將更高的價格傳遞給賣方之後協商的成本增加[表現]。今年年初，這些成本現在正影響我們的損益，正如我們所預期的。第四，我認為阿根廷也增加了一些壓力，因為我們決定在通膨加速和市場存在許多不確定性的環境下，不將通膨完全轉嫁到我們的價格上。當然，接下來就是旺季，這是運輸成本連續壓縮的最大組成部分。為了能夠滿足買家的需求，產能增加。勞動時間、貨車和卡車司機等因素也導致單位成本增加。這是順序壓縮的最大組成部分，您可能會在 2024 年第一季初看到它的恢復。

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，為了結束問題的第一部分，還需要注意的是，我們預計大部分成本都會增加，這就是我們決定增加固定費用的原因之一，因此收費當賣家銷售低於免費送貨門檻的商品時，我們向賣家支付。如果你還記得，我們​​大約在 7 月或 8 月提高了巴西的費用，並在第三季末在墨西哥提高了費用。這也是我們用來管理運輸損益的槓桿之一，它是我們如何以合併方式而不是逐行管理公司損益的一個很好的例子。

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.

因此，對於問題的第二部分，我認為，正如我們多次說過的那樣，從長遠來看，我們將有機會繼續將我們的物流網絡貨幣化。我們對此並不絕望。我們著眼長遠，不僅在貨幣化方面，而且在對買家和賣家的價格方面保持競爭力，並且我們意識到如何圍繞這一機會執行。

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 Irma Sgarz。

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，在墨西哥，第四季的利潤率連續下降，考慮到季節性因素，這顯然是可以預料的。但我認為 1P 在這裡發揮的作用較小。所以我想知道您是否可以在這裡詳細說明驅動程式。我想一些能力──物流能力的提升與此有關。但我們還有什麼需要注意的嗎？

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.

然後，就商務採取率而言，這在先前的問題上有所建樹，但我們也注意到季度環比連續下降。這基本上是一種反映——我在這裡排除了 1P。但這主要是品類組合和物流的反映嗎？在您剛才描述的收入和運輸收入動態方面，還有其他我們應該注意的事情嗎？特別是當我們展望 2024 年並思考這條線時，[是否]應該進一步壓縮商務部的拿貨率。也許，抱歉，如果您還可以添加利率較低融資成本的影響，這應該對採取率有利，但如果我沒有記錯的話，我認為我們沒有看到太大的影響。所以如果你也能把它擠進去的話。

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. 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.

愛麗兒又來了。所以關於墨西哥，順序壓縮，我認為你的一些假設是正確的，它與我之前解釋的內容有關。因此，我剛才描述的有關在旺季運營、賽事前建設容量和增加單位成本的所有內容，在墨西哥實際上更加複雜，原因有兩個。一方面，在墨西哥，第四季度，我們開設了3個履行中心和1個越庫站，大型越庫站。正如我們在過去幾個季度中指出的那樣，我們需要解決產能限制。當然，每當你開設像這樣的新倉庫時，啟動過程的成本都會有點高，而這就是本季發生的情況的一部分。其次，我們現有的倉庫已滿載運轉。這也為我們的履行營運的生產力帶來了一些額外的壓力。所以最後，沒有什麼讓我們感到驚訝的。我們正在管理網路的成本和效能。但我們認為我們的未來狀況良好。因此，對於問題的第二部分，您應該期待或我們應該在那裡指出的一些事情沒有評論。

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.

艾爾瑪，我是馬丁。至於融資成本較低，當然應該有利於信貸業務，因為它降低了該業務的融資成本。因此，這應該會改善 NIMAL，而且它也應該在商業方面以及金融科技方面對我們有所幫助，因為它降低了折扣優惠券的成本。因此，這應該會導致利潤率的提高。

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，也許──讓我以此為基礎，馬丁。也許，您會在市場上看到更多的影響，我們收取的分期付款費用是固定的。在金融科技業務方面—在業務收單方面，很多時候當融資成本較低時，我們最終會將其中一些節省的費用轉嫁給消費者，而這在市場上並不那麼簡單。

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。我很好奇，我們應該如何考慮服務轉移定價和經常性稅收對獲利能力的影響？說到廣告，我們應該如何考慮 2024 年的廣告滲透率以及大型展示廣告商對產品堆疊的接受程度，因為他們已經有時間真正了解產品，並且可能會在今年制定預算？

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，我認為你指的是預扣稅——我們本季開始預訂的增量預扣稅，正如我們在股東信中所解釋的那樣。我認為，如果你——顯然，這是一個很大的費用，這就是我們將其從結果中排除的原因——[相同的]結果，因為它在第四季度的結果中產生了很大的扭曲。客觀地說，總費用約為 3.5 億美元，其中只有 6% 對應於該特定季度。我想說，從現在開始，我們將開始提供的增量稅收將導致每季增加 2000 萬美元的增量成本。作為補充，請記住，3.5 億美元的一次性費用已全額資助，因為在過去 10 年中，我們用這些金額為司法帳戶提供資金。因此，如果我們輸掉了這個案子——我們將繼續爭論。如果我們失去它，不會對我們的業績產生重大現金影響。因此，總而言之，我認為每季的影響約為 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，這是愛麗兒。因此，回到您關於廣告的問題，我想我首先要說的是，我們對本季的廣告業績非常滿意。在匯率中立的基礎上，我們的營收年增 72%。這是連續第七個季度超過 70%，這主要是由巴西和墨西哥推動的。我認為，正如我們在股東信中提到的，今年我們增加了 53,000 個新廣告商。這是一項偉大的成就，顯示人們對我們產品的興趣有多麼強烈，我們希望在未來幾季在此基礎上再接再厲。

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.

就連續滲透率而言，我認為雖然廣告繼續以非常快的速度成長，但本季 GMV 的成長速度甚至更快。事實上，廣告收入並不一定遵循我們的 GMV 的一一對應的成長模式。特別是在第四季度，我們的 GMV 成長從第三季的 59% 加速到第四季的 79%。也許值得強調的是阿根廷的案例，它占我們 GMV 的 20%，但只占我們廣告收入的 10% 左右。這是順序滲透的主要罪魁禍首。在如此高的通貨膨脹背景下，賣方手中缺乏庫存抑制了一些廣告投資。同時，廣告商不一定會更新他們的投資金額以及商品價格。為此，我們確實已經部署了一些功能，可以在任何時候自動更新我們的預算——商品價格存在通膨背景。因此，正如我之前所說，我們對我們的產品堆疊仍然非常有信心，我們看到未來幾年有充足的成長機會。

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，我們目前的產品格式上線的時間並不長，我們正在經歷進入市場策略的學習曲線，以及仍在學習 MercadoLibre 中品牌推廣可能性的品牌。因此，我們相信我們擁有的產品，並相信我們透過展示廣告作為拉丁美洲最大受眾之一的認知工具所提供的價值主張。但我們需要保持耐心，我們認為我們可以繼續開發我們必須獲得更多吸引力的產品，並使展示成為 MercadoLibre 和我們的賣家更大的業務。

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.

我有一個關於信貸投資組合的問題。我看到你這個季度的起源要高得多。您提到您自己的信用卡是您平台上最常用的信用卡之一，我認為是最常用的 5 張信用卡之一。所以我只是想了解一下，這種來源有多少來自信用卡，以及您如何看待信用卡在我們今天的 GMV 中的具體貢獻？換句話說，今天的 GMV 滲透率與一年前相比是多少？最後，是什麼讓您對今天的信用卡發行感到滿意？因為我們已經看到短期不良貸款增加，這歸因於這些產品。

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，讓我從最後開始，然後我會回到第一個問題。至於什麼讓我們更舒服，我們三年前在巴西首先推出了信用卡，我們一直在迭代——我們用來評分的模型，我們每年都會做很多迭代（聽不清楚）。我們所做的每一次迭代，都會得到更好的結果。我們看到巴西的整體信貸狀況比1.5年前、2年前更差。因此，我們更加謹慎。現在，去年全年，我們開始感覺越來越舒服，我們一直在增加巴西的起源數量。此外，我們也在墨西哥推出了信用卡。我想說，我們一直在積極推動這項進程。正如我們在股東信中所說，當我們查看信用卡的總支付量時，同比增長遠高於 100%。所以我們在這方面一直很積極。

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.

在投資組合方面，起源很高。我們尚未披露原始金額，但我們披露了總投資組合。你可以看到來自信用卡的金額是如何增長的。它已達到 12 億美元，與一年前相比增長了近 100%。最重要的是，我想說信用卡的成長方式正是我們預期的。我們正在向較低的細分市場擴張，並開始在較高的細分市場中獲得更多的關注。我們看到巴西和墨西哥的市場滲透率正在成長。最重要的是，當我們看到信貸在市場上的總滲透率時，這增加了我們的消費貸款，而我們的信用卡正在顯著增長。因此，這並不是說我們正在蠶食信用卡的消費貸款（信用卡每筆交易的盈利能力可能較低），而是我們正在增加這一數字。

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

好的。能分享一下您的平台目前的滲透程度嗎？

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——我們還沒有透露確切的水平。但我們可以透露，這是我們今天在墨西哥擁有的最大的支付方式。我的意思是信用，而不是總付款。在所有可用的信貸產品中，我們自己的信用卡是最大的一種。

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

我們的下一個問題來自[Maria Infantes]。請原諒我，[瑪麗亞·克拉拉·因方特斯]。

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?

所以我想探討一下1P業務的獲利能力。在新聞稿中，您提到儘管第四季度業務存在季節性，但您仍實現了更好的盈利趨勢。那麼，您能否更詳細地介紹一下該業務的邊際貢獻最近如何變化？您是否認為該類別的加速成長使您能夠與供應商獲得更好的談判條件？您對該頻道未來的成長潛力有何看法？我們距離該部門的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. 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.

是的，我們全年在 1P 業務方面取得了重大進展，我們認為今天的基礎比一年前更加永續。正如你所說，我們在利潤率方面取得了進步。我們的產品採購利潤率在 2023 年提高了幾個百分點，我們預計將繼續提高。這給了我們發展業務的信心，第四季度我們的業務確實以美元計算同比增長了 60%，以當地貨幣計算同比增長了 85%，充分利用了——顯然，我們在 [El] 的旺季。墨西哥的Buen Fin]以及黑色星期五。所以我們正在取得重大進展。正如我所提到的，我們——看待 1P 業務的一種方式是——顯然，我們不分享實際的獲利能力。我可以就我們的做法向您提供一些指導。如果你看看 1P 業務，現在，在考慮固定成本並包括所有可變成本（即運輸和融資）之前，它是有利可圖的。因此，一種看待它的方法是，我們擁有的數量越多，我們就越能稀釋該業務的固定成本。因此，我們認為我們現在可以擴大業務。這應該會開始有助於降低我們的息稅前利潤赤字。最後，我們認為我們有足夠的空間繼續在該業務中添加更多廣告，這為繼續提高 1P 的盈利能力創造了巨大的機會。

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.

艾瑞爾在這裡。只是為了補充馬丁，所以我們仍然認為1P是策略性的，以便我們維持我們的競爭地位，獲得市場份額，更重要的是，透過更好的選擇和價格競爭力來滿足客戶的需求。因此，我們繼續策略性地決定我們透過 1P 提供哪些類別和產品，同時優化我們的綜合損益。因此，雖然我們沒有關於未來 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我們感到鼓舞。我們對此越有信心，未來擴展的可能性就越大。正如馬丁之前所說，我們規模越大，我們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，類別需求以及 1P 在不同類別中扮演的角色都存在季節性。特別是消費性電子產品在旺季是需求量大的品類，1P 對我們來說在這一品類中發揮更具策略性的作用。總而言之，我們採取了許多措施來繼續改善我們的零售業務，無論是在經濟方面，還是在選擇、價格管理和供應商關係方面，我們將繼續努力。我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的特雷弗楊（Trevor Young）。

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?

第一個，以先前有關廣告的問題為基礎，您能否提醒我們在地理滲透率方面處於什麼位置？我認為根據您先前的評論，阿根廷的廣告可能會保持疲軟，而墨西哥和巴西的廣告可能會更強。只要有任何數字可以幫助確定那裡的進展，特別是考慮到阿根廷的 GMV 成長可能在視覺上使廣告滲透率看起來較弱。其次，在阿根廷，商品成長連續第二季加速，我認為成長了 22%。其中有多少與該市場不斷惡化的通膨動態以及更多的消費拉動與消費者需求的改善有關？只是感謝您沒有提供任何指導，但在高水準上，您認為單位成長的程度是否持久？

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.

特雷弗，艾瑞爾在這裡。我認為我們不會透露按國家/地區劃分的滲透率的具體數字，但我們已經分享過，雖然第四季度廣告收入佔GMV 的百分比為1.6%，但如果您將阿根廷排除在該等式之外，您將獲得大約1.9%。因此，在衡量廣告收入佔 GMV 的百分比方面，阿根廷絕對是一個很大的拖累者。

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的成功商品，正如您所說，我們看到今年上半年的商品同比持平，主要是因為我們在 2023 年上半年面臨經濟衰退。然後下半年，隨著政府向人們的口袋投入更多資金，我們看到成交量和商品銷售量均有所回升，第三季成長了12%，第四季加速至21%。其中一部分是通貨膨脹（聽不清楚）在年底預期貶值之前提前購買，最終在 12 月新政府上任後發生了貶值。到 12 月下半月，我們看到這些交易量有所放緩。但這是正確的，你對我們消費的假設。

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若昂·蘇亞雷斯。

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。我只想問一個問題。我只是想知道 - 我只是想了解您營業利潤率的不同變化因素，考慮到 2024 年。我認為您提到我們應該看到第一季物流成本壓力出現一些逆轉。當然，我們還有結構性成長。當然，1P 業務會受到季節性的影響，但從一年來看，我們應該會看到 1P 的滲透率增加。因此，我只是想嘗試了解不同的活動部分，同時考慮到您正在增加信用卡內的信用投資組合，這應該會增加準備金。所以我知道，我不想看到前瞻性陳述，只是想了解我們應該對不同的移動部件考慮什麼，以提高您的營業利潤率。

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. 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.

謝謝若昂的提問。首先，我將討論利潤率。讓我澄清一下，我將討論的所有數字都考慮了 3.51 億美元一次性費用的調整。考慮到它的規模，我們認為更容易解釋和採取這些一次性的措施，並且顯然包括與該特定季度相對應的適當成本。我想說，如果你看一下同比利潤率，排除我之前提到的一次性利潤，我們的利潤率提高了 270 個基點，因為業務擴大了，基本上是業務增長並稀釋了我們的固定成本同時，我們在眾多成長機會背後繼續進行投資。正如您所提到的，其中之一是信用卡，還有履行和我們在公司正在做的其他幾件事。這是我們計劃繼續進行的事情。我們認為，從長遠來看，我們經營的業務應該能夠很好地擴展。我將繼續專注於高效管理成本。隨著我們業務的不斷發展，從長遠來看，我們應該能夠繼續擴大規模。特別是第四季度，由於我們在商業領域的投資，特別是在黑色星期五和 El Buen Fin 的特殊活動之後，利潤率較低，因此是一個季節性季度。此外，在第四季度，我們加強了某些投資，正如 Ari 之前提到的，作為履行 1P 和免費送貨。如果您查看邊距的連續壓縮，我們會發現邊距壓縮了大約 4.5 個點。這種壓縮主要來自 1P 和運輸，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業務來說，2/3的壓縮來自於1P業務，如Ari所提到的。 1P 的收入佔總收入的比例從 9% 成長到 12%。您可以在我們的披露中看到這一點。如您所知，1P 的利潤結構與 3P 不同，因為與 3P 業務的拿取率相比，幾乎 100% 的 GMV 都計為收入。因此，儘管利潤率面臨壓力，但第一季1P 對EBIT 的增量負面影響僅為2000 萬美元。另一方面，我們從1P 產生了超過2.2 億美元的增量GMV，這導致市場份額增長了近消費性電子品類成長了10個百分點，正如阿里之前提到的。

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運輸。正如 Ari 所提到的，第四季的運輸存在季節性因素，旺季的成本較高。這種情況發生在本季度，我們預計這種趨勢將在接下來的幾季恢復正常。最後，我們正在進行的投資——過去幾季我們一直在向市場展示價值主張的投資，其中包括推出更多的履行中心。我們推出了 3 個——本季我們實施了 3 個新的履行中心。 Meli+ 的採用率不斷提高，從而帶來了更高水準的免費送貨服務。當你把所有這些放在一起時，這就解釋了你所看到的季度環比壓縮。

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.

讓我補充一下您關於信貸組合和準備金的問題。今年以來，我們擴大了信貸投資組合，並進一步擴大了信用卡市佔率。儘管如此，我們還是能夠提高虧損後的淨利差，並減少不良貸款，不良貸款在相當長一段時間內首次達到 30%。再說一次，我們不引導它，但我們對信貸業務的發展充滿信心。

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

我們的下一個問題來自沃爾夫研究中心的 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?

如果已經有人問過這個問題，我深表歉意，但這是一個大局問題，也是一個戰術問題。那麼，如果您考慮一下物流，2024 年有哪些重大舉措呢？也許在擴大履行中心或中間一英里和最後一英里運營方面，隨著我們今年的進展，我們應該如何考慮資本支出水平？然後是第二個關於競爭的問題。來自中國的電子商務企業已經發生了相當大的轉變並進入了美國，預計也會在幾個拉丁美洲市場出現這種情況。您能否分享一下您的想法以及您如何定位業務以應對潛在競爭強度的成長？

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. 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.

迪帕克，這是愛麗兒。因此，在物流方面，我認為 - 我的意思是，我們不提供指導，而且您知道我們不會透露性能等方面的未來數據。但重申我所說的和馬丁試圖解釋的，因此物流的大部分連續壓縮來自旺季成本，這些成本在第一季初已經恢復。所以這很重要。話雖如此，我們手頭上還有很多很多項目要在 2024 年執行，我們認為這些項目都不應該徹底改變我們管理損益的方式。我們將投資於更快的交付。我們將同時繼續投資較慢的交付速度。我們將繼續測試更多的自動化和機器人技術，就像我們過去幾年所做的那樣。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，完全致力於改善客戶的物流流程和體驗以及我們在倉庫和交叉轉運站內的運作方式。因此，總而言之，我們將專注於提高效率，更好地為客戶服務，改善我們的交付承諾和執行力，並以更多的類別和更好的服務來支援市場業務。

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.

關於亞洲比賽，我想說的是，過去幾個月我們在墨西哥看到了 Temu，尤其是更多的選手。但正如您從我們的業績中看到的那樣，我們在墨西哥銷售的商品同比增長了 32%。因此，我們對我們在這些國家的執行情況感到非常滿意。墨西哥所有品類的 GMV 均呈現良好的年成長。雖然我們看到一些亞洲企業專注於服裝和家居，並且主要專注於低平均售價的商品，但我們認為我們在這些領域的成長非常健康。因此，最終，我們有信心我們的競爭優勢，尤其是物流和支付，仍然保持強勁。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，我們認為這將繼續幫助我們推動我們的業務並提高我們在這些市場的市場份額。

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.

因此，總而言之，在過去的幾年裡，我們在與亞洲玩家的競爭中取得了成功，他們所執行的策略與當前玩家所執行的策略類似。因此，我們希望在未來繼續這樣做，發揮我們的優勢，並成功地與我們所在每個市場的營運商競爭。

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.

關於你關於資本支出的問題，顯然，我們不指導未來的支出。但今年，也就是 2023 年，資本支出投資約為 5 億美元，完全由我們自己產生的現金流提供資金。

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。 Meli+ 的損益表是否為淨負值？我知道它有經常性的好處，並且有很多忠誠度好處。但當你考慮損益影響時，現在是負面的嗎？未來是否應該保持負面？這是第一個問題。

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，您是否也看到了季節性—去年的高峰成本？或者說，今年有什麼事情是因為你滿載運轉而變得更強的嗎？

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.

謝謝你的問題。問題的第一部分與Meli+有關。哦抱歉。 Meli+－我們不將 Meli+ 視為個人損益。我們將此視為在我們的市場中產生增量的一種方式。因此，如果你將其分解為內容，內容基本上是成本中立的，因為我們傳遞了我們所獲得的利益。基本上，我們為內容支付的成本，我們將其轉嫁給我們的消費者。然後是運輸，顯然，我們將提供更多的免費運輸，但這會產生增量數量，進而為該運營提供資金。短期內，我們正在對這些舉措進行投資。當然，我們也在廣告方面進行投資。但它不應該被視為個人損益表，而更應該被視為我們商務策略的關鍵部分。

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.

然後關於旺季，如果我們看到一個特定的高峰——成本方面的一個特殊高峰，是的，可能是這個季度，旺季導致的成本增量比我們去年看到的要高一些。但正如阿里所提到的，這種情況將在接下來的幾個季度內恢復。預計旺季期間成本增量將達到高峰。

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

我們的下一個問題來自 New Street Research 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.

請在此階段僅提供一份。關於阿根廷和金融科技業務，當我們考慮進入阿根廷的經濟衰退環境時，我們應該如何看待金融科技業務？在這種環境下，電子商務業務在考慮消費者需求等銷售單位方面對我來說更符合邏輯。但就金融科技而言，我不清楚在這種情況下驅動因素到底是什麼。因此，如果您能在這方面幫助我，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. 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. 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.

我想說，讓我嘗試在我們擁有的不同業務之間劃分問題。關於收購，我想說，這是一項與經濟衰退與否無關的業務。顯然，銷量受到了影響，但我們通過增加份額而增長如此之多，而且影響往往 - 可能會更小。讓我們不去討論未來會發生什麼，但人們仍然繼續銷售和處理付款。所以基本上可以有一點變化的是成長率，但僅此而已。我們在金融科技服務業務方面更加謹慎，即發放信貸。我們在阿根廷還沒有信用卡，我們在整個第四季度都更加謹慎，甚至在選舉之前，我們知道貨幣可能會貶值，不良貸款可能會增加，這就是為什麼我們已經更加謹慎了到去年年底。您看到的大部分銷售成長來自墨西哥和巴西，而不是阿根廷。然後我們將看看其他金融科技服務產品會發生什麼。我們今天看到的是第四季的通貨膨脹。即使在今天，它已經達到頂峰並且比以前更高，這是一個進一步的激勵，我們已經看到，人們從銀行將錢存入 Mercado Pago 帳戶，該帳戶目前的年報酬為 [8%]-與大多數銀行的0% 相比，這是一個巨大的優勢。因此，我們在整個第四季度看到管理資產增加。你看不到總數，因為年底貶值，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。所以我想說，我對去年年底看到的影響感到滿意。我們無法預測未來會發生什麼事。

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).

如果我可以補充一下，與所有其他市場相比，阿根廷的信貸業務仍然擁有最低的不良貸款，並且在（聽不清楚）方面仍然具有極高的利潤。

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.

快一點。我注意到各個細分市場的信用卡貸款金額一直在下降。這是一個有意識的決定嗎？或者這是基於您從客戶那裡看到的需求而形成的趨勢？墨西哥信貸吸收情況的任何顏色、墨西哥使用的產品類型、信用卡上的反應，這都會非常有幫助。

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.

讓我從問題的第一部分開始，然後討論第二部分。第一個，我想說的是，信用卡貸款一直在下降。這完全是一個有意識的決定。我們一直在做的就是透過微額度來接觸更多過去沒有信用卡的消費者，我們說它通常是400 雷亞爾或200 雷亞爾的額度，所以它真的是小額度，而且還有我們所說的擔保卡，我們要求人們在帳戶中存入 100 雷亞爾、200 雷亞爾或 300 雷亞爾，並提供按金額擔保的卡。因此，這肯定是我們策略的一部分，以便對於其中許多人來說，他們第一次獲得信用卡。

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—您提到了墨西哥的信用吸收。我想說，基本上我們已經成長了很多。首先是信用卡，這是我們最新推出的產品，推出得相當成功。當你看到我們向消費者提供的貸款總量（將消費者貸款添加到信用卡中）時，你會發現該業務也一直在良好成長。

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，您能重複這個問題嗎？

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?

您的資產品質趨勢—墨西哥的消費貸款和信用卡帳簿？比巴西好嗎？情況有改善嗎？還是你在那裡很謹慎？

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

它一直保持相當穩定。盈利能力持續良好。

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。

Two, 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?

如果可以的話，兩個。首先，我想您可能之前提到過這一點，但是金融科技的採用率，我認為存在一些壓縮，其中部分與融資成本有關。我認為在前幾個季度，我們曾認為採用率可能會與您的融資成本同步下降。那麼您是否看到了一些傳播壓縮？有沒有想過我們未來該如何思考這個問題？

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，再次觸及信貸組合，消費者貸款餘額較上季略有下降。那麼，這是否是您談論阿根廷並在此停留的結果？或者是否存在一些貨幣問題或任何亮點？您是否更關注信用卡，而消費者書籍暫時不會有那麼大的成長？

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.

我想說的是，就金融科技的採用率而言，部分影響是我們的信用帳簿中很大一部分來自信用卡，這些貸款中帶息的部分低於其他類型的貸款。這對此有一定影響。同樣在金融科技業務的另一部分，當你看看我們的收單業務時，當我們進入中小企業時，他們的接受率通常較低——略低，儘管交易量明顯更大。我想說這些都是有影響的——它們對整體的接受率產生了影響。

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?

您提到的第二個問題是，如果我沒猜錯的話，信貸投資組合是否會因為阿根廷貶值而受到影響，對吧？

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?

這是問題的一部分。我只是注意到消費貸款季度環比略有下降。我假設可能會對貨幣產生一些影響。或者只是——或者這背後還有其他什麼？

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，有一些影響有兩個原因。第一個是，在第四季度，選舉之前，我們在阿根廷發放信貸方面更加保守。而第二個就更直接了，就是貨幣貶值。由於我們在季度末採用投資組合，貶值發生在整個 12 月，因此我們在阿根廷展示的貸款投資組合已經貶值。

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.

我目前沒有提出任何進一步的問題。我想將電話轉回給財務長 Martin de los Santos，讓其發表結束語。

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.

嗯，謝謝大家。正如我們所提到的，我們對本季度的業績感到非常興奮，我們即將結束一個美好的 2023 年。我們期待在公佈 2024 年第一季業績時見到您。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。女士們、先生們，今天的會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連線。祝你有美好的一天。