NASDAQ:PDD PDD Q4 2023 Earnings Report $110.92 +4.95 (+4.67%) Closing price 05/2/2025 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$111.20 +0.28 (+0.26%) As of 05/2/2025 07:59 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast PDD EPS ResultsActual EPS$2.23Consensus EPS $1.42Beat/MissBeat by +$0.81One Year Ago EPSN/APDD Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$12.52 billionExpected Revenue$11.80 billionBeat/MissBeat by +$714.51 millionYoY Revenue GrowthN/APDD Announcement DetailsQuarterQ4 2023Date3/20/2024TimeN/AConference Call DateWednesday, March 20, 2024Conference Call Time7:30AM ETUpcoming EarningsPDD's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Tuesday, May 20, 2025, with a conference call scheduled on Wednesday, May 21, 2025 at 7:30 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Annual Report (20-F)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by PDD Q4 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrMarch 20, 2024 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to PDD Holdings, Inc. 4th Quarter and Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Operator00:00:26I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today. Sir, please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:33Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. TDD Holdings' earnings release was distributed earlier and is available on our website at investor. Tddholdings.com as well as through the GlobeNewswire services. Before we begin, we would like to refer you to our Safe Harbor statement in the earnings press release, which applies to this call as well. Speaker 100:00:55We will make certain forward looking statements. Also, this call includes discussions of certain non GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our earnings release, which contains a reconciliation of non GAAP measures to GAAP measures. Joining us today on the call are Mr. Chen Lei, our Chairman and Co Chief Executive Officer Mr. Speaker 100:01:15Zhao Jiajun, our Executive Director and Co Chief Executive Officer as well as Ms. Liu Jing, our VP of Finance. Lei and Jiajun will make some general remarks on our performance for the past quarter and our strategic focus. Jun will then walk us through our financial results for the Q4 and the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. During the Q and A session, Lei and Jiajun will answer questions in Chinese and will help translate. Speaker 100:01:43Please kindly note that English translation is for reference only. In case of any discrepancy, statements in the original language should prevail. Now it's my pleasure to introduce our Chairman and Co Chief Executive Officer, Chen Lei. Lei, please go ahead. Speaker 200:02:01Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our earnings call for the Q4 and the fiscal year of 2023. 2023 was an important year for TDG Holdings. We began a journey dedicated to high quality development. Aligned with our strategy, we rolled out a series of initiatives to empower businesses and enhance consumer value. Speaker 200:02:30This effort has resonated well with our users and merchants, earning their positive feedback and support. Driven by a rebounding consumer market, our total revenue in the 4th quarter was 88,900,000,000, which represents a 123% year on year increase. GAAP net income for this quarter was RMB 23,300,000,000. Over the past year, our revenue was RMB 247.6 billion, which represents a 90% year on year increase. In 2023, amid a positive consumer sentiment, our platform saw a healthy resurgence in demand. Speaker 200:03:21In the Q4, we focused on improving consumer well-being by making higher quality products more accessible. This was achieved through a series of events such as the Double 11 and Double 12 Shopping Festival. Our goal has always been clear to unlock unrealized consumer potential and empower individuals to achieve higher quality of life. As a result of these efforts, we have seen sustained growth in consumer engagement in our platform throughout the Q4. In 2024, we will continue to ramp up our support for high quality supply and enhance our ability to deliver good value and excellent service. Speaker 200:04:12We will refine our supply chain insight and technology capabilities to help manufacturers reduce costs, increase efficiency and develop more products that resonate deeply with consumers. Our support for a new generation of farmers and merchants skilled in both agriculture and e commerce is unwavering. This is part of our ongoing effort to boost local employment and increase farmers' income. Through our $10,000,000,000 ecosystem initiative, we grow alongside our high quality merchant, brands and small to medium sized businesses to build a more sustainable ecosystem. R and D is at the core of our growth as a technology company. Speaker 200:05:06And last year, we continue to invest in technology innovation with R and D expense reaching RMB11 1,000,000,000. This is the 2nd consecutive year that our R and D expense has surpassed RMB10 1,000,000,000. In the 4th quarter, R and D expenses grew by 19%, reaching RMB2.9 billion. This year, we continue to channel investments into new drivers of high quality development. We are dedicated to advancing the role of cutting edge technology in agriculture and in manufacturing. Speaker 200:05:48In the Q4, we reinforced our agricultural strategy through supporting projects such as the Agricultural Cloud Initiative and the Tindudu Academy growing competition. We hope to encourage the development of more resilient digital agriculture regions to further revitalize rural communities. Take Latino Academy growing competition as an example. It provides a platform for college students to showcase the agricultural innovation. Pinduoduo has been an active supporter for this event for the past year running And we also pay close attention to a development of agriculture products driven by technology. Speaker 200:06:37For instance, Pinduoduo offers support for specialty agricultural products through initiatives such as 0 commission and $10,000,000,000 program for agriculture producers such as orange, tangerine, grapefruit, etcetera. We formed a strategic partnership with certain producers to broaden their market reach and provided continuous platform support. We also actively fulfill our social responsibility. In December last year, as earthquake struck Gansu province, we promptly donated RMB20 1,000,000. The donation will aid in purchase of reduced prices and post disaster reconstruction. Speaker 200:07:25We held ourselves accountable for making positive contributions to our communities. As for our global operation, since launching in September 2022, we have expanded into 50 countries and regions. As a newcomer, we are excited to learn from our diverse global consumers and market as we explore technology innovation. With our supply chain expertise, we are dedicated to helping each consumer live a more fulfilling life and we remain committed to this mission. 2023 marks the 8th year since the founding of PDD Holdings. Speaker 200:08:13Since our inception, we have always stayed closely to our focus on e commerce. We have always put consumers first and embrace innovation with an open mind. Throughout this journey, our team has experienced remarkable growth and development and we have seen ambitious young leaders emerge ready to take on greater responsibilities. Our company's drive home creativity and energy of the younger generation, giving us the confidence to create unique value for our growing consumer base. And now, I will hand it over to our Co CEO, Charles Zhang to further talk about our high quality development strategy. Speaker 100:09:11Thank you, Lei, and hello, everyone. This is Xiaojiazheng. Thank you all for joining the Q4 and full year 2023 earnings call. 2023 is a year of recovery, guided by the key principles of recovery, benefit all and innovation, we proactively responded to the consumption recovery policies. By bringing together the supply of quality products and the demand of consumption upgrade, we played our part in releasing consumption potential. Speaker 100:10:01We achieved decent growth in 2023, which we believe is the combined result of our effective promotional activities and the overall recovery of consumption. Pinduoduo is built to serve the needs of a vast and diverse consumer base. In recent years, through interactions with our users, we are observing a growing demand of consumption upgrades. But at the same time, we also noticed that our consumers are looking for ways to upgrade in a more rational manner. Consumption upgrade is not about high consumption or overspending. Speaker 100:10:59It is more about offering our users better products and services at more accessible prices to bring more savings. Seeing this trend, we paid special attention to broadening selection of quality products sold on our platform and focused our promotional efforts on premium consumer goods such as trendy national brands, imported goods and high quality produce. For example, through our RMB10 billion program, we are making it increasingly easy to enjoy imported products. And we are also investing firmly to support national brands. During the Singles Day last year, we helped our merchants sell more and our users save more. Speaker 100:12:32Our flash sale channel acted as a growth engine for over 100,000 SME merchants and by the end of the event, more than 40 product categories saw their sales double. These included agricultural products, national branded products and quality imported goods. The number of merchants selling agricultural products and national branded goods that benefited from our RMB10 1,000,000,000 program more than doubled. In our total growth worldwide channel dedicated to imported products, 21 out of the top 100 brands achieved a year on year growth of over 300%. 59 items recorded daily sales of over RMB1 1,000,000 during single stay. Speaker 100:13:43These numbers also show that the growth of our platform is the result of the value we create for our consumers and merchants. 2024 will be a year of consumption promotion. As always, guided by the principle of consumer first, we'll continue to improve the variety of products and services offered on our platform, deepen our value for money mind share, upgrade our shopping experience and enhance user activity. And as a result, we'll be able to offer more visibility and sales opportunities for quality merchants, thereby strengthening the positive feedback loop on our platform. 2023 proved to be a pivotal year for us as we embark on the journey towards high quality development. Speaker 100:14:44And 2024 will be another critical year to implement this strategy to every part of our operations. We will step up our investments in the 3 key areas of high quality consumption, supply and platform ecosystem to further optimize our capabilities in offering more savings and better services. In terms of high quality consumption, we will continue to put ourselves in consumers' shoes and adjust our product offerings, following closely the changes in consumer demand. With tailored promotional events featuring holidays, seasons and special product categories, we will make it easier for consumers to fulfill their demand for high quality products at attractive prices. In addition to more savings, we'll also continue to upgrade our services. Speaker 100:16:05We'll roll out a series of initiatives that benefit consumers, strengthen consumer protection and further improve the shopping experience for remote areas and underprivileged groups. In terms of high quality supply, since Q4, we have been allocating platform resources such as traffic support and coupons to help manufacturing brands expand their influence through a series of promotional activities such as dedicated live streaming sessions and the National Goods Festival, our merchants made great progress on our platform. The rise of national brands to industry leading positions requires the joint efforts from both the brands and our platform. This year, in partnership with new and established national brands, we will continue to explore new market opportunities and bring to our consumers better products and a high quality shopping experience. Agriculture is the foundation of Pinduoduo. Speaker 100:17:50As the largest agricultural platform in China, in Q4, we continued our support for the Pinduoduo Academy growing competition. Also provided ongoing traffic support and other platform resources for agu tech enabled products backed by participating teams. By doing so, our goal is to promote a real world application of research findings and to accelerate the improvement in farming productivity. Last year, our agricultural cloud initiative went into production regions in Shanxi, Sichuan, Shanxi, Yunnan, Hubei, Fujian, Shandong and Jiangsu, bringing e commerce training and 1 on 1 consultation to local agriculture merchants. This year, we have increased our investments in agriculture through projects such as the agriculture cloud initiative and the smart agriculture competition to continue to bring digitization solutions to local producers to improve the resilience and the competitiveness of the local supply chain, thereby supporting rural revitalization and increasing farmers' income. Speaker 100:19:43Building a high quality platform ecosystem will remain our top priority this year. Through the RMB10 billion ecosystem initiative and platform governance policies, we will continue to foster an environment that encourages high quality supply and services, advancing a green, healthy and modern platform ecosystem. Now let me hand it over to Jun. She will provide you with an update on our financial performance. Speaker 300:20:19Thank you, Jiajun. Hello, everyone. Now let me walk you through our financial performance in the 4th quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. In terms of income statement, in Q4, our total revenues increased 123% year over year to RMB88.9 billion and 90% year over year to RMB247.6 billion for full year 2023. This was mainly driven by an increase in revenues from online marketing services and transaction services. Speaker 300:20:57Revenues from online marketing services and others were rmb48.7 billion this quarter, up 57% compared to the same period of 2022. Our transaction services revenue this quarter were RMB40.2 billion, up 3 57% versus the same period of 2022. Moving on to costs and expenses. Our total cost of revenues increased to 293% from RMB8.9 billion in Q4 2022 to RMB35.1 billion this quarter. For the full year, our total cost of revenues increased 192 percent to RMB91.7 billion, mainly due to increased fulfillment fees, payment processing fees, maintenance costs and call center expenses. Speaker 300:21:58On a GAAP basis, total operating expenses this quarter increased 44 percent to rmb31.4 billion from rmb21.8 billion in the same quarter of 2022. On a non GAAP basis, our total operating expenses increased to RMB29.3 billion this quarter from RMB19.3 billion in Q4 2022. During the Q4, we continued to focus on key areas critical to the high quality development of our platform, such as investing in our more savings smart share, our brands and our R and D capabilities. Our total non GAAP operating expenses as a percentage of total revenues was 33% in Q4 compared to 48% same quarter 2022. For full year 2023, total non GAAP operating expenses were RMB90.3 billion, up from RMB61 1,000,000,000 in 2022. Speaker 300:23:11Looking into specific expense items. Our non GAAP sales and marketing expenses this quarter were RMB26.2 billion, up 53% versus the same quarter of 2022. During Q4, we stepped up our investment in series of year end promotion wins to give up to give back to consumers and increase in advertising to promote our brands. On a non GAAP basis, our sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of our revenue this quarter was 30% versus 43% for the same quarter in 2022. For full year, non GAAP sales and marketing expenses increased from RMB52.2 billion to RMB79.8 billion in 2023. Speaker 300:24:08Our non GAAP G and A expenses were RMB674.5 million in Q4 versus RMB360.8 million in the Q2 of 2022. Our annual non GAAP G and A expenses were rmb1.8 billion in 2023 versus rmb1 1,000,000,000 last year. Our research and development expenses were rmb2.4 billion in the 4th quarter on a non GAAP basis and RMB2.9 billion on a GAAP basis. For full year 2023, our annual GAAP R and D expenses surpassed RMB10 1,000,000,000 for the 2nd consecutive year. Technology is at the core of everything we do. Speaker 300:25:01We will continue to build on our R and D capabilities to promote tech adoption in agriculture and manufacturing sectors to improve supply chain efficiency and in turn over our consumers' growing selection of quality products at attractive prices. On a GAAP basis, operating profit for the quarter was RMB 22,400,000,000 versus RMB 9,100,000,000 in the same quarter 2022. Non GAAP operating profit was RMB24.6 billion versus RMB11.6 billion in the same quarter 2022. Non GAAP operating profit margin was 28% this quarter compared with 29% for the same quarter 2022. For full year, non GAAP operating profit increased from RMB38.1 billion to RMB65.8 billion in 2023. Speaker 300:26:07Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB 23,300,000,000 for the quarter and RMB60 1,000,000,000 for the full year. In the 4th quarter, base earnings per ADS was RMB17, and diluted earnings per ADS was RMB 15.83 versus basic earnings per ADS of RMB 7.42 and diluted earnings per ADS of RMB6.52 in the same quarter of 2022. Non GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB25.5 billion for the quarter and RMB67.9 billion for the full year. In the 4th quarter, non GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB17 point 32 versus RMB 8.34 in the same quarter of 2022. As Lei mentioned, 2023 is the 1st year on our path towards high quality development, and we're encouraged by early results. Speaker 300:27:13Looking ahead, while we are excited about the new journey, there are challenges and uncertainties along the way, and we need to be prepared to invest decisively for the long term value of our platforms. Our financial results may continue to fluctuate, and past performance may not serve as a benchmark for future quarters. That completes the income statement. Now let me move on to cash flow. Our net cash flow generated from operating activities was RMB 36 point 9 billion in Q4 and RMB94.2 billion for the full year of 2023, compared with RMB26.6 billion in the same quarter of 2022 and RMB48.5 billion in 2022. Speaker 300:28:07As of December 31, 2023, the company had RMB217.2 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short term investments. Thank you. This concludes my prepared remarks. Speaker 100:28:23Thank you, Jun. Next, we will move on to the Q and A session. Today's Q and A session, Lei, Jiajun and Jun will take questions from analysts. We could take a maximum of 2 questions from each analyst. Lei and Jiajun will answer in Chinese and will help translate for convenience purposes. Speaker 100:28:41Operator, we are open for questions. Operator00:28:44Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer Participants are requested to restrict to 2 questions at each Your first question comes from Joyce Ju with Bank of America. Speaker 400:29:05Good evening, Lei, Ziajun, Jun and I have two questions today. Firstly, as management mentioned in the opening remarks, 2023 was a very important year for PDD from the strategic perspective. Looking back at the Q4 and the full year 2023, could the management share how you would evaluate your executions of the past year strategies? And how does the actual results are compared against the team's original expectations? For 2024, will there be any like major change in your strategic focus? Speaker 400:29:41And my second question was actually about the 4th quarter promotions. We all know the 4th quarter is the peak season for the e commerce platforms. How would management assess PDD's performance in the 4th quarter shopping fasteners? Are there any interesting trends of consumers, merchants, platforms can be shared with us? Also, could you also help us a little bit in terms of understanding the relationship between the promotional season seasonality and your very strong Q4 results? Speaker 400:30:14Thanks a lot. Speaker 500:31:29Hi, Joyce. This is Chen Lei. Let me take your question on strategy. As mentioned in our remarks, 2023 marks the beginning of our high quality development strategy. After a year of dedicated execution, we have seen positive outcomes on the consumption side, supply side and within our platform ecosystem. Speaker 500:32:20This further reaffirms our lasting commitment in high quality development. As we expanded into multiple countries and regions, we encountered diverse consumer habits, cultures and rapidly evolving market landscape. We firmly believe that the consumers' demand for more savings and better services is universal. Therefore, in Q4, we continue our investment in alignment with our high quality development strategy. 1st, from the consumer side, our top priority has always been to understand and meet consumer needs. Speaker 500:34:15During the peak season in Q4, we introduced tailored promotional activities across different markets, featuring innovative, direct and engaging campaigns. These initiatives allow consumers to improve their quality of life with ease and great savings, making it easier for our consumers to achieve high quality consumption. The response to these promotions has been positive. On the supply side, we continue to allocate platform resources towards high quality products and reputable merchants to offer consumers more quality products. In addition, we also help merchants drive volume, improve turnover efficiency, reduce operating costs, minimize product waste and consequently lower product prices, forming a virtuous cycle. Speaker 500:36:28A healthy ecosystem is the fundamental for the sustainable growth of the platform and we are determined to put more efforts in this area. We continue to make forward looking investment in platform governance, employing technology to identify risk early and respond quickly. We carry out product screening and merchant review on issues such as safeguarding minors, IP protection and product compliance and achieved favorable outcome. Moving ahead, we will continue to take on social responsibilities, fostering a favorable environment for both consumers and merchants. After a year of execution, we're delighted to see the positive changes brought about by our high quality development strategy. Speaker 500:37:43Going forward, we'll stick to our strategic focus, deepen and strengthen our strategy, further refine platform capabilities and deliver our unique value to consumers and society. Thank you. Speaker 100:38:02This is As always, during last year's Singles' Day and Double 12, we provided consumers with straightforward price discount to strengthen our more savings mindshare. For example, during the Double 11 last year, for the first time, we introduced direct price reduction on top of our RMB10 billion program for the so we also expanded the brand and products covered by our promotions. This is to meet the growing demand for upgrades. We received positive feedback from our continued efforts. And during Singles' Day, over 620,000,000 consumers benefited from the 10,000,000,000 program with other work volume more than doubled. Speaker 100:39:37At the same time, we are happy to see that the value of our platform has been increasingly recognized by our merchants. The number of merchants, brands and products participating in our promotional activities reached a new height. Our merchants are growing together with our platform. And while we are very pleased to see the results from our shopping festivals, our team actually chose to pay more attention to the ongoing improvement in our platform's capabilities and how we can better meet consumers' demand for quality products at attractive prices all year Speaker 600:40:29round. Speaker 100:40:47Since the founding of Pinduoduo 8 years ago, we have always kept our focus on our core e commerce business. By patiently giving back to the consumers we serve, we have gradually earned a positive user mind shift. I think the results we have today is not only brought by the promotions in the past quarter, but also the return on the investments we made in the past. From the consumer side, we continue to see the growing trust from our users. And in addition to serving more new users, we are also expanding the wallet share of our existing users. Speaker 100:41:46We believe it's the result of our growing capabilities in offering more savings and better services. This very encouraging trend strengthens our confidence in the overall direction of the high quality development strategy. And from the supply side, we leverage our technology and scale to provide differentiated services for our SME merchants. And through these services, we help SME merchants expand their market reach and at the same time, broadening the product selection available on our platform. And by doing so, we create a virtuous cycle. Speaker 100:42:57And looking ahead, will continue to invest firmly and patiently to create long term value for our consumers and merchants and also to build a solid foundation for the next journey next phase of our journey. Thank you. Operator, we are ready for the next question. Operator00:43:18Your next question comes from Kenneth Fong with UBS. Speaker 600:44:29Thanks management for taking my question. My first question is regarding Pinduoduo domestic business. Can management share your view on the overall consumption market in the upcoming year? What are the new trend that you are seeing in the Q1? My second question is on the shareholder return and margin. Speaker 600:44:48In Q4, the company achieved a decent profitability against a backdrop of intensified competition and rapid growth of your global business. Can management share your view of how we should think about the margin in 2024 and going forward? And meanwhile, on shareholder return, we saw that we have a very strong balance sheet and cash flow, given peers have announced large increase in share buyback and dividends. Do we have similar plans? Thank you. Speaker 100:45:26Hi, this is Xiaojiazheng. Let me take your question on the consumption market. In the past year, we actually clearly felt the depth with and also the resilience of the China's consumer market. And we are very confident in its future. And also from the activities we see on our platform, we clearly feel the improving consumer sentiment and we look forward to seeing that trend continue into this year with the support of more macro policies. Speaker 100:46:57We see many long term driving forces behind the positive consumption trends. And first of all, consumers have desires for a better life, which lays a solid foundation for consumption growth. And secondly, we see new retail formats and business models emerge with the technology innovations, which also drives online penetration of retail sales. This supports the industry's long term prospects as well. And thirdly, we see tremendous potential in a large number of quality national brands and agricultural products. Speaker 100:47:30And this also offers further opportunities for our platform. And in this favorable consumption environment, we will continue our investment to enhance our service capabilities, collaborate with more merchants to serve our consumers well and also improve the platform ecosystem. And by doing so, we hope we can create greater value for our society. Thank you. Speaker 300:48:07Hi, Kenneth. This is Jun. Let me take your question about the profitability and shareholder return. Well, regarding profitability, we always emphasize that we are still in the development stage. Profitability in the short run is not our priority. Speaker 300:48:27Considering our current stage of development, our strategic focus remains on the high quality development of the platform. So we are focused on building the platform's long term value, which is consistent with the interest of our investors. Over the past years, guided by our strategy of high quality development, We have made firm investments in a few key areas. For example, we have continued to give back to consumers to deepen our share. We also remained committed to R and D, with R and D exceeding RMB10 1,000,000,000 for the 2nd consecutive year. Speaker 300:49:16This investment have yielded favorable initial returns. Moving forward, we will continue to make decisive and patient investments where we see long term ROI potential. And our business execution cycle is affected by various factors and may not align with our financial reporting cycle. Profitability on a quarterly basis will in outably fluctuate based on the different investment opportunities we identify. So the financial results in Q4 may not serve as a benchmark for future quarters. Speaker 300:49:57And regarding the share repurchase and dividends, you're basically asking about our overall capital allocation, which is also affected by this stage of our development. Each company is at a different stage of development. And for us, we are still in the investment phase. So we our current focus is still to invest in our long term value. Thank you. Speaker 100:50:27Okay. Operator, let's move on to the next question. Operator00:50:31Your next question comes from Thomas Chong with Jefferies. Speaker 700:51:32Thanks management for taking my questions. My first question is that we saw your Google business has gained good momentum in the past year. Could you please share any of your view on the future plan for global business? Moreover, the market also pays attention to the company's position on compliance. How would the company balance legal and compliance with your business development? Speaker 700:51:56My second question is about domestic competition. In the past year, many of your major competitors have pivoted in their strategies, putting more emphasis on price competitiveness. How does the management view the repositioning of your competitors? Are you concerned that it might impact the market share of Pinduoduo? How do you adjust your own strategy in such a fitting competition? Speaker 700:52:22Thank you. Speaker 500:53:12Hi, Thomas. This is Chen Lei. Let me take your question on global business. Our vision for global business is to utilize our supply chain and technological capabilities to bring outstanding merchants and high quality products all over the world to global consumers, helping consumers from all backgrounds to achieve their dreams. Currently, the business is at a relatively early stage, facing many uncertainties and challenges ahead. Speaker 500:54:04To address these uncertainties, we must constantly improve ourselves. With a genuine desire to learn from consumers and the market, we actively seek more innovations in technology and operation models to embrace market competition and overcome challenges. As I mentioned earlier, despite shift in the market environment and competitive landscape, consumers' demand for more savings and better services is universal. Therefore, we will be dedicated to integrating our high quality development strategy into our global operations and be prepared for long term investments. We have confidence in the unique value of our platform and welcome like minded partners to join us in creating more value for consumers globally. Speaker 500:56:18You also mentioned compliance. Legal and compliance has always been fundamental to our business. It's a big part of our strategic planning, and the management team has put in extensive efforts in this area. Last year, we established the Legal and Compliance Committee chaired by myself to reinforce our legal and compliance capabilities across regions. Through our continued efforts, we enhanced our internal compliance mechanism and process. Speaker 500:57:12With a humble attitude, we strive to stay abreast of the latest industry laws and regulations and maintain communication and cooperation with regulatory bodies in the countries where we operate. We aim to align with high industry standards in the field of legal and compliance. We will continue to conduct research and investment in invest in this area to lay a solid foundation for our long term healthy development. Thank you. Speaker 100:58:09This is Zhangjiajun. Let me take your question on competition. As we mentioned earlier on this call, in 2023, we saw a sustained recovery in consumer sentiment and at the same time consumers start to care more and more about achieving upgrade at attractive prices. And in this background, we think it is normal to see e commerce platforms increase promotional efforts and also focus more on And competition is inevitable in our in the face of competition, we always focus on understanding and meeting the needs of consumers and keep working on our own capabilities. Over the past year, we have built good momentum on our high quality development strategy, and we are confident in the overall strategic direction. Speaker 100:59:56And moving ahead, we'll be focusing on implementing our strategy in every aspect of our platform operations. And first, we'll continue to deepen our consumer mind share and we do so by offering more savings to our users. We are very closely following consumer needs and launched very simple and direct promotional activities, targeting the most desirable product categories and price ranges. This is the foundation that we need to keep investing. And of course, a good consumer experience is not only about price. Speaker 101:01:14In terms of services, we're also continuing to refine our entire shopping experience from presale consultation, fulfillment, after sales services to consumer protection. Our goal is to offer a safe and enjoyable shopping experience for our users. And at the same time, as a tech company, we will increase our investment in R and D and we are guided by the principle of tech for good and we will continue to strengthen our capabilities to empower a wide range of SMEs, promote the digitization of the various industries and also introduce more popular products to the market. And high quality supply is a key component of the platform ecosystem and is essential to serving our users well. And from this angle, we hope that R and D will further drive the positive development of our ecosystem. Speaker 101:02:54We believe that by focusing on these areas that's critical to long term value creation, we can remain calm in a fiercely competitive environment and continue to improve ourselves and create greater value for the consumers and the society. Thank you. Okay, operator, it's about time. And I want to thank you all again for joining us today. And if you have any further questions, please reach out to our team. Speaker 101:03:17And thank you. I'll see you next quarter. Operator01:03:21Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallPDD Q4 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Annual report(20-F) PDD Earnings HeadlinesTemu Stops Shipping Products From China Directly to US ConsumersMay 2 at 10:02 PM | pymnts.comTemu Ditches Chinese Imports Model To Avoid Trump's TariffsMay 2 at 8:22 PM | msn.comU.S. Stock Market Now on Verge of CollapseThe last time the U.S. economy looked like this, stocks didn't move for 16 years... And many investors lost 80% of their wealth in real terms. But before you touch any of your holdings – or buy anything – please review my latest warning about the U.S. stock market. It's free to watch.May 3, 2025 | Stansberry Research (Ad)Temu Just Pulled the Plug on China--Here's What It Means for U.S. E-Commerce StocksMay 2 at 8:22 PM | finance.yahoo.comChina's Temu Stops Shipments to US Amid Trump Trade WarMay 2 at 8:22 PM | msn.comPDD Holdings Inc. (PDD): Among the Best NASDAQ Stocks to Buy According to BillionairesMay 2 at 7:39 PM | insidermonkey.comSee More PDD Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like PDD? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on PDD and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About PDDPDD (NASDAQ:PDD), a multinational commerce group, owns and operates a portfolio of businesses. It operates Pinduoduo, an e-commerce platform that offers products in various categories, including agricultural produce, apparel, shoes, bags, mother and childcare products, food and beverage, electronic appliances, furniture and household goods, cosmetics and other personal care, sports and fitness items and auto accessories; and Temu, an online marketplace. It focuses on bringing businesses and people into the digital economy. The company was formerly known as Pinduoduo Inc. and changed its name to PDD Holdings Inc. in February 2023. 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There are 8 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to PDD Holdings, Inc. 4th Quarter and Fiscal Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen only mode. There will be a presentation followed by a question and answer session. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. Operator00:00:26I would now like to hand the conference over to your host today. Sir, please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:33Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. TDD Holdings' earnings release was distributed earlier and is available on our website at investor. Tddholdings.com as well as through the GlobeNewswire services. Before we begin, we would like to refer you to our Safe Harbor statement in the earnings press release, which applies to this call as well. Speaker 100:00:55We will make certain forward looking statements. Also, this call includes discussions of certain non GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our earnings release, which contains a reconciliation of non GAAP measures to GAAP measures. Joining us today on the call are Mr. Chen Lei, our Chairman and Co Chief Executive Officer Mr. Speaker 100:01:15Zhao Jiajun, our Executive Director and Co Chief Executive Officer as well as Ms. Liu Jing, our VP of Finance. Lei and Jiajun will make some general remarks on our performance for the past quarter and our strategic focus. Jun will then walk us through our financial results for the Q4 and the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. During the Q and A session, Lei and Jiajun will answer questions in Chinese and will help translate. Speaker 100:01:43Please kindly note that English translation is for reference only. In case of any discrepancy, statements in the original language should prevail. Now it's my pleasure to introduce our Chairman and Co Chief Executive Officer, Chen Lei. Lei, please go ahead. Speaker 200:02:01Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining our earnings call for the Q4 and the fiscal year of 2023. 2023 was an important year for TDG Holdings. We began a journey dedicated to high quality development. Aligned with our strategy, we rolled out a series of initiatives to empower businesses and enhance consumer value. Speaker 200:02:30This effort has resonated well with our users and merchants, earning their positive feedback and support. Driven by a rebounding consumer market, our total revenue in the 4th quarter was 88,900,000,000, which represents a 123% year on year increase. GAAP net income for this quarter was RMB 23,300,000,000. Over the past year, our revenue was RMB 247.6 billion, which represents a 90% year on year increase. In 2023, amid a positive consumer sentiment, our platform saw a healthy resurgence in demand. Speaker 200:03:21In the Q4, we focused on improving consumer well-being by making higher quality products more accessible. This was achieved through a series of events such as the Double 11 and Double 12 Shopping Festival. Our goal has always been clear to unlock unrealized consumer potential and empower individuals to achieve higher quality of life. As a result of these efforts, we have seen sustained growth in consumer engagement in our platform throughout the Q4. In 2024, we will continue to ramp up our support for high quality supply and enhance our ability to deliver good value and excellent service. Speaker 200:04:12We will refine our supply chain insight and technology capabilities to help manufacturers reduce costs, increase efficiency and develop more products that resonate deeply with consumers. Our support for a new generation of farmers and merchants skilled in both agriculture and e commerce is unwavering. This is part of our ongoing effort to boost local employment and increase farmers' income. Through our $10,000,000,000 ecosystem initiative, we grow alongside our high quality merchant, brands and small to medium sized businesses to build a more sustainable ecosystem. R and D is at the core of our growth as a technology company. Speaker 200:05:06And last year, we continue to invest in technology innovation with R and D expense reaching RMB11 1,000,000,000. This is the 2nd consecutive year that our R and D expense has surpassed RMB10 1,000,000,000. In the 4th quarter, R and D expenses grew by 19%, reaching RMB2.9 billion. This year, we continue to channel investments into new drivers of high quality development. We are dedicated to advancing the role of cutting edge technology in agriculture and in manufacturing. Speaker 200:05:48In the Q4, we reinforced our agricultural strategy through supporting projects such as the Agricultural Cloud Initiative and the Tindudu Academy growing competition. We hope to encourage the development of more resilient digital agriculture regions to further revitalize rural communities. Take Latino Academy growing competition as an example. It provides a platform for college students to showcase the agricultural innovation. Pinduoduo has been an active supporter for this event for the past year running And we also pay close attention to a development of agriculture products driven by technology. Speaker 200:06:37For instance, Pinduoduo offers support for specialty agricultural products through initiatives such as 0 commission and $10,000,000,000 program for agriculture producers such as orange, tangerine, grapefruit, etcetera. We formed a strategic partnership with certain producers to broaden their market reach and provided continuous platform support. We also actively fulfill our social responsibility. In December last year, as earthquake struck Gansu province, we promptly donated RMB20 1,000,000. The donation will aid in purchase of reduced prices and post disaster reconstruction. Speaker 200:07:25We held ourselves accountable for making positive contributions to our communities. As for our global operation, since launching in September 2022, we have expanded into 50 countries and regions. As a newcomer, we are excited to learn from our diverse global consumers and market as we explore technology innovation. With our supply chain expertise, we are dedicated to helping each consumer live a more fulfilling life and we remain committed to this mission. 2023 marks the 8th year since the founding of PDD Holdings. Speaker 200:08:13Since our inception, we have always stayed closely to our focus on e commerce. We have always put consumers first and embrace innovation with an open mind. Throughout this journey, our team has experienced remarkable growth and development and we have seen ambitious young leaders emerge ready to take on greater responsibilities. Our company's drive home creativity and energy of the younger generation, giving us the confidence to create unique value for our growing consumer base. And now, I will hand it over to our Co CEO, Charles Zhang to further talk about our high quality development strategy. Speaker 100:09:11Thank you, Lei, and hello, everyone. This is Xiaojiazheng. Thank you all for joining the Q4 and full year 2023 earnings call. 2023 is a year of recovery, guided by the key principles of recovery, benefit all and innovation, we proactively responded to the consumption recovery policies. By bringing together the supply of quality products and the demand of consumption upgrade, we played our part in releasing consumption potential. Speaker 100:10:01We achieved decent growth in 2023, which we believe is the combined result of our effective promotional activities and the overall recovery of consumption. Pinduoduo is built to serve the needs of a vast and diverse consumer base. In recent years, through interactions with our users, we are observing a growing demand of consumption upgrades. But at the same time, we also noticed that our consumers are looking for ways to upgrade in a more rational manner. Consumption upgrade is not about high consumption or overspending. Speaker 100:10:59It is more about offering our users better products and services at more accessible prices to bring more savings. Seeing this trend, we paid special attention to broadening selection of quality products sold on our platform and focused our promotional efforts on premium consumer goods such as trendy national brands, imported goods and high quality produce. For example, through our RMB10 billion program, we are making it increasingly easy to enjoy imported products. And we are also investing firmly to support national brands. During the Singles Day last year, we helped our merchants sell more and our users save more. Speaker 100:12:32Our flash sale channel acted as a growth engine for over 100,000 SME merchants and by the end of the event, more than 40 product categories saw their sales double. These included agricultural products, national branded products and quality imported goods. The number of merchants selling agricultural products and national branded goods that benefited from our RMB10 1,000,000,000 program more than doubled. In our total growth worldwide channel dedicated to imported products, 21 out of the top 100 brands achieved a year on year growth of over 300%. 59 items recorded daily sales of over RMB1 1,000,000 during single stay. Speaker 100:13:43These numbers also show that the growth of our platform is the result of the value we create for our consumers and merchants. 2024 will be a year of consumption promotion. As always, guided by the principle of consumer first, we'll continue to improve the variety of products and services offered on our platform, deepen our value for money mind share, upgrade our shopping experience and enhance user activity. And as a result, we'll be able to offer more visibility and sales opportunities for quality merchants, thereby strengthening the positive feedback loop on our platform. 2023 proved to be a pivotal year for us as we embark on the journey towards high quality development. Speaker 100:14:44And 2024 will be another critical year to implement this strategy to every part of our operations. We will step up our investments in the 3 key areas of high quality consumption, supply and platform ecosystem to further optimize our capabilities in offering more savings and better services. In terms of high quality consumption, we will continue to put ourselves in consumers' shoes and adjust our product offerings, following closely the changes in consumer demand. With tailored promotional events featuring holidays, seasons and special product categories, we will make it easier for consumers to fulfill their demand for high quality products at attractive prices. In addition to more savings, we'll also continue to upgrade our services. Speaker 100:16:05We'll roll out a series of initiatives that benefit consumers, strengthen consumer protection and further improve the shopping experience for remote areas and underprivileged groups. In terms of high quality supply, since Q4, we have been allocating platform resources such as traffic support and coupons to help manufacturing brands expand their influence through a series of promotional activities such as dedicated live streaming sessions and the National Goods Festival, our merchants made great progress on our platform. The rise of national brands to industry leading positions requires the joint efforts from both the brands and our platform. This year, in partnership with new and established national brands, we will continue to explore new market opportunities and bring to our consumers better products and a high quality shopping experience. Agriculture is the foundation of Pinduoduo. Speaker 100:17:50As the largest agricultural platform in China, in Q4, we continued our support for the Pinduoduo Academy growing competition. Also provided ongoing traffic support and other platform resources for agu tech enabled products backed by participating teams. By doing so, our goal is to promote a real world application of research findings and to accelerate the improvement in farming productivity. Last year, our agricultural cloud initiative went into production regions in Shanxi, Sichuan, Shanxi, Yunnan, Hubei, Fujian, Shandong and Jiangsu, bringing e commerce training and 1 on 1 consultation to local agriculture merchants. This year, we have increased our investments in agriculture through projects such as the agriculture cloud initiative and the smart agriculture competition to continue to bring digitization solutions to local producers to improve the resilience and the competitiveness of the local supply chain, thereby supporting rural revitalization and increasing farmers' income. Speaker 100:19:43Building a high quality platform ecosystem will remain our top priority this year. Through the RMB10 billion ecosystem initiative and platform governance policies, we will continue to foster an environment that encourages high quality supply and services, advancing a green, healthy and modern platform ecosystem. Now let me hand it over to Jun. She will provide you with an update on our financial performance. Speaker 300:20:19Thank you, Jiajun. Hello, everyone. Now let me walk you through our financial performance in the 4th quarter and fiscal year ended December 31, 2023. In terms of income statement, in Q4, our total revenues increased 123% year over year to RMB88.9 billion and 90% year over year to RMB247.6 billion for full year 2023. This was mainly driven by an increase in revenues from online marketing services and transaction services. Speaker 300:20:57Revenues from online marketing services and others were rmb48.7 billion this quarter, up 57% compared to the same period of 2022. Our transaction services revenue this quarter were RMB40.2 billion, up 3 57% versus the same period of 2022. Moving on to costs and expenses. Our total cost of revenues increased to 293% from RMB8.9 billion in Q4 2022 to RMB35.1 billion this quarter. For the full year, our total cost of revenues increased 192 percent to RMB91.7 billion, mainly due to increased fulfillment fees, payment processing fees, maintenance costs and call center expenses. Speaker 300:21:58On a GAAP basis, total operating expenses this quarter increased 44 percent to rmb31.4 billion from rmb21.8 billion in the same quarter of 2022. On a non GAAP basis, our total operating expenses increased to RMB29.3 billion this quarter from RMB19.3 billion in Q4 2022. During the Q4, we continued to focus on key areas critical to the high quality development of our platform, such as investing in our more savings smart share, our brands and our R and D capabilities. Our total non GAAP operating expenses as a percentage of total revenues was 33% in Q4 compared to 48% same quarter 2022. For full year 2023, total non GAAP operating expenses were RMB90.3 billion, up from RMB61 1,000,000,000 in 2022. Speaker 300:23:11Looking into specific expense items. Our non GAAP sales and marketing expenses this quarter were RMB26.2 billion, up 53% versus the same quarter of 2022. During Q4, we stepped up our investment in series of year end promotion wins to give up to give back to consumers and increase in advertising to promote our brands. On a non GAAP basis, our sales and marketing expenses as a percentage of our revenue this quarter was 30% versus 43% for the same quarter in 2022. For full year, non GAAP sales and marketing expenses increased from RMB52.2 billion to RMB79.8 billion in 2023. Speaker 300:24:08Our non GAAP G and A expenses were RMB674.5 million in Q4 versus RMB360.8 million in the Q2 of 2022. Our annual non GAAP G and A expenses were rmb1.8 billion in 2023 versus rmb1 1,000,000,000 last year. Our research and development expenses were rmb2.4 billion in the 4th quarter on a non GAAP basis and RMB2.9 billion on a GAAP basis. For full year 2023, our annual GAAP R and D expenses surpassed RMB10 1,000,000,000 for the 2nd consecutive year. Technology is at the core of everything we do. Speaker 300:25:01We will continue to build on our R and D capabilities to promote tech adoption in agriculture and manufacturing sectors to improve supply chain efficiency and in turn over our consumers' growing selection of quality products at attractive prices. On a GAAP basis, operating profit for the quarter was RMB 22,400,000,000 versus RMB 9,100,000,000 in the same quarter 2022. Non GAAP operating profit was RMB24.6 billion versus RMB11.6 billion in the same quarter 2022. Non GAAP operating profit margin was 28% this quarter compared with 29% for the same quarter 2022. For full year, non GAAP operating profit increased from RMB38.1 billion to RMB65.8 billion in 2023. Speaker 300:26:07Net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB 23,300,000,000 for the quarter and RMB60 1,000,000,000 for the full year. In the 4th quarter, base earnings per ADS was RMB17, and diluted earnings per ADS was RMB 15.83 versus basic earnings per ADS of RMB 7.42 and diluted earnings per ADS of RMB6.52 in the same quarter of 2022. Non GAAP net income attributable to ordinary shareholders was RMB25.5 billion for the quarter and RMB67.9 billion for the full year. In the 4th quarter, non GAAP diluted earnings per ADS was RMB17 point 32 versus RMB 8.34 in the same quarter of 2022. As Lei mentioned, 2023 is the 1st year on our path towards high quality development, and we're encouraged by early results. Speaker 300:27:13Looking ahead, while we are excited about the new journey, there are challenges and uncertainties along the way, and we need to be prepared to invest decisively for the long term value of our platforms. Our financial results may continue to fluctuate, and past performance may not serve as a benchmark for future quarters. That completes the income statement. Now let me move on to cash flow. Our net cash flow generated from operating activities was RMB 36 point 9 billion in Q4 and RMB94.2 billion for the full year of 2023, compared with RMB26.6 billion in the same quarter of 2022 and RMB48.5 billion in 2022. Speaker 300:28:07As of December 31, 2023, the company had RMB217.2 billion in cash, cash equivalents and short term investments. Thank you. This concludes my prepared remarks. Speaker 100:28:23Thank you, Jun. Next, we will move on to the Q and A session. Today's Q and A session, Lei, Jiajun and Jun will take questions from analysts. We could take a maximum of 2 questions from each analyst. Lei and Jiajun will answer in Chinese and will help translate for convenience purposes. Speaker 100:28:41Operator, we are open for questions. Operator00:28:44Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin the question and answer Participants are requested to restrict to 2 questions at each Your first question comes from Joyce Ju with Bank of America. Speaker 400:29:05Good evening, Lei, Ziajun, Jun and I have two questions today. Firstly, as management mentioned in the opening remarks, 2023 was a very important year for PDD from the strategic perspective. Looking back at the Q4 and the full year 2023, could the management share how you would evaluate your executions of the past year strategies? And how does the actual results are compared against the team's original expectations? For 2024, will there be any like major change in your strategic focus? Speaker 400:29:41And my second question was actually about the 4th quarter promotions. We all know the 4th quarter is the peak season for the e commerce platforms. How would management assess PDD's performance in the 4th quarter shopping fasteners? Are there any interesting trends of consumers, merchants, platforms can be shared with us? Also, could you also help us a little bit in terms of understanding the relationship between the promotional season seasonality and your very strong Q4 results? Speaker 400:30:14Thanks a lot. Speaker 500:31:29Hi, Joyce. This is Chen Lei. Let me take your question on strategy. As mentioned in our remarks, 2023 marks the beginning of our high quality development strategy. After a year of dedicated execution, we have seen positive outcomes on the consumption side, supply side and within our platform ecosystem. Speaker 500:32:20This further reaffirms our lasting commitment in high quality development. As we expanded into multiple countries and regions, we encountered diverse consumer habits, cultures and rapidly evolving market landscape. We firmly believe that the consumers' demand for more savings and better services is universal. Therefore, in Q4, we continue our investment in alignment with our high quality development strategy. 1st, from the consumer side, our top priority has always been to understand and meet consumer needs. Speaker 500:34:15During the peak season in Q4, we introduced tailored promotional activities across different markets, featuring innovative, direct and engaging campaigns. These initiatives allow consumers to improve their quality of life with ease and great savings, making it easier for our consumers to achieve high quality consumption. The response to these promotions has been positive. On the supply side, we continue to allocate platform resources towards high quality products and reputable merchants to offer consumers more quality products. In addition, we also help merchants drive volume, improve turnover efficiency, reduce operating costs, minimize product waste and consequently lower product prices, forming a virtuous cycle. Speaker 500:36:28A healthy ecosystem is the fundamental for the sustainable growth of the platform and we are determined to put more efforts in this area. We continue to make forward looking investment in platform governance, employing technology to identify risk early and respond quickly. We carry out product screening and merchant review on issues such as safeguarding minors, IP protection and product compliance and achieved favorable outcome. Moving ahead, we will continue to take on social responsibilities, fostering a favorable environment for both consumers and merchants. After a year of execution, we're delighted to see the positive changes brought about by our high quality development strategy. Speaker 500:37:43Going forward, we'll stick to our strategic focus, deepen and strengthen our strategy, further refine platform capabilities and deliver our unique value to consumers and society. Thank you. Speaker 100:38:02This is As always, during last year's Singles' Day and Double 12, we provided consumers with straightforward price discount to strengthen our more savings mindshare. For example, during the Double 11 last year, for the first time, we introduced direct price reduction on top of our RMB10 billion program for the so we also expanded the brand and products covered by our promotions. This is to meet the growing demand for upgrades. We received positive feedback from our continued efforts. And during Singles' Day, over 620,000,000 consumers benefited from the 10,000,000,000 program with other work volume more than doubled. Speaker 100:39:37At the same time, we are happy to see that the value of our platform has been increasingly recognized by our merchants. The number of merchants, brands and products participating in our promotional activities reached a new height. Our merchants are growing together with our platform. And while we are very pleased to see the results from our shopping festivals, our team actually chose to pay more attention to the ongoing improvement in our platform's capabilities and how we can better meet consumers' demand for quality products at attractive prices all year Speaker 600:40:29round. Speaker 100:40:47Since the founding of Pinduoduo 8 years ago, we have always kept our focus on our core e commerce business. By patiently giving back to the consumers we serve, we have gradually earned a positive user mind shift. I think the results we have today is not only brought by the promotions in the past quarter, but also the return on the investments we made in the past. From the consumer side, we continue to see the growing trust from our users. And in addition to serving more new users, we are also expanding the wallet share of our existing users. Speaker 100:41:46We believe it's the result of our growing capabilities in offering more savings and better services. This very encouraging trend strengthens our confidence in the overall direction of the high quality development strategy. And from the supply side, we leverage our technology and scale to provide differentiated services for our SME merchants. And through these services, we help SME merchants expand their market reach and at the same time, broadening the product selection available on our platform. And by doing so, we create a virtuous cycle. Speaker 100:42:57And looking ahead, will continue to invest firmly and patiently to create long term value for our consumers and merchants and also to build a solid foundation for the next journey next phase of our journey. Thank you. Operator, we are ready for the next question. Operator00:43:18Your next question comes from Kenneth Fong with UBS. Speaker 600:44:29Thanks management for taking my question. My first question is regarding Pinduoduo domestic business. Can management share your view on the overall consumption market in the upcoming year? What are the new trend that you are seeing in the Q1? My second question is on the shareholder return and margin. Speaker 600:44:48In Q4, the company achieved a decent profitability against a backdrop of intensified competition and rapid growth of your global business. Can management share your view of how we should think about the margin in 2024 and going forward? And meanwhile, on shareholder return, we saw that we have a very strong balance sheet and cash flow, given peers have announced large increase in share buyback and dividends. Do we have similar plans? Thank you. Speaker 100:45:26Hi, this is Xiaojiazheng. Let me take your question on the consumption market. In the past year, we actually clearly felt the depth with and also the resilience of the China's consumer market. And we are very confident in its future. And also from the activities we see on our platform, we clearly feel the improving consumer sentiment and we look forward to seeing that trend continue into this year with the support of more macro policies. Speaker 100:46:57We see many long term driving forces behind the positive consumption trends. And first of all, consumers have desires for a better life, which lays a solid foundation for consumption growth. And secondly, we see new retail formats and business models emerge with the technology innovations, which also drives online penetration of retail sales. This supports the industry's long term prospects as well. And thirdly, we see tremendous potential in a large number of quality national brands and agricultural products. Speaker 100:47:30And this also offers further opportunities for our platform. And in this favorable consumption environment, we will continue our investment to enhance our service capabilities, collaborate with more merchants to serve our consumers well and also improve the platform ecosystem. And by doing so, we hope we can create greater value for our society. Thank you. Speaker 300:48:07Hi, Kenneth. This is Jun. Let me take your question about the profitability and shareholder return. Well, regarding profitability, we always emphasize that we are still in the development stage. Profitability in the short run is not our priority. Speaker 300:48:27Considering our current stage of development, our strategic focus remains on the high quality development of the platform. So we are focused on building the platform's long term value, which is consistent with the interest of our investors. Over the past years, guided by our strategy of high quality development, We have made firm investments in a few key areas. For example, we have continued to give back to consumers to deepen our share. We also remained committed to R and D, with R and D exceeding RMB10 1,000,000,000 for the 2nd consecutive year. Speaker 300:49:16This investment have yielded favorable initial returns. Moving forward, we will continue to make decisive and patient investments where we see long term ROI potential. And our business execution cycle is affected by various factors and may not align with our financial reporting cycle. Profitability on a quarterly basis will in outably fluctuate based on the different investment opportunities we identify. So the financial results in Q4 may not serve as a benchmark for future quarters. Speaker 300:49:57And regarding the share repurchase and dividends, you're basically asking about our overall capital allocation, which is also affected by this stage of our development. Each company is at a different stage of development. And for us, we are still in the investment phase. So we our current focus is still to invest in our long term value. Thank you. Speaker 100:50:27Okay. Operator, let's move on to the next question. Operator00:50:31Your next question comes from Thomas Chong with Jefferies. Speaker 700:51:32Thanks management for taking my questions. My first question is that we saw your Google business has gained good momentum in the past year. Could you please share any of your view on the future plan for global business? Moreover, the market also pays attention to the company's position on compliance. How would the company balance legal and compliance with your business development? Speaker 700:51:56My second question is about domestic competition. In the past year, many of your major competitors have pivoted in their strategies, putting more emphasis on price competitiveness. How does the management view the repositioning of your competitors? Are you concerned that it might impact the market share of Pinduoduo? How do you adjust your own strategy in such a fitting competition? Speaker 700:52:22Thank you. Speaker 500:53:12Hi, Thomas. This is Chen Lei. Let me take your question on global business. Our vision for global business is to utilize our supply chain and technological capabilities to bring outstanding merchants and high quality products all over the world to global consumers, helping consumers from all backgrounds to achieve their dreams. Currently, the business is at a relatively early stage, facing many uncertainties and challenges ahead. Speaker 500:54:04To address these uncertainties, we must constantly improve ourselves. With a genuine desire to learn from consumers and the market, we actively seek more innovations in technology and operation models to embrace market competition and overcome challenges. As I mentioned earlier, despite shift in the market environment and competitive landscape, consumers' demand for more savings and better services is universal. Therefore, we will be dedicated to integrating our high quality development strategy into our global operations and be prepared for long term investments. We have confidence in the unique value of our platform and welcome like minded partners to join us in creating more value for consumers globally. Speaker 500:56:18You also mentioned compliance. Legal and compliance has always been fundamental to our business. It's a big part of our strategic planning, and the management team has put in extensive efforts in this area. Last year, we established the Legal and Compliance Committee chaired by myself to reinforce our legal and compliance capabilities across regions. Through our continued efforts, we enhanced our internal compliance mechanism and process. Speaker 500:57:12With a humble attitude, we strive to stay abreast of the latest industry laws and regulations and maintain communication and cooperation with regulatory bodies in the countries where we operate. We aim to align with high industry standards in the field of legal and compliance. We will continue to conduct research and investment in invest in this area to lay a solid foundation for our long term healthy development. Thank you. Speaker 100:58:09This is Zhangjiajun. Let me take your question on competition. As we mentioned earlier on this call, in 2023, we saw a sustained recovery in consumer sentiment and at the same time consumers start to care more and more about achieving upgrade at attractive prices. And in this background, we think it is normal to see e commerce platforms increase promotional efforts and also focus more on And competition is inevitable in our in the face of competition, we always focus on understanding and meeting the needs of consumers and keep working on our own capabilities. Over the past year, we have built good momentum on our high quality development strategy, and we are confident in the overall strategic direction. Speaker 100:59:56And moving ahead, we'll be focusing on implementing our strategy in every aspect of our platform operations. And first, we'll continue to deepen our consumer mind share and we do so by offering more savings to our users. We are very closely following consumer needs and launched very simple and direct promotional activities, targeting the most desirable product categories and price ranges. This is the foundation that we need to keep investing. And of course, a good consumer experience is not only about price. Speaker 101:01:14In terms of services, we're also continuing to refine our entire shopping experience from presale consultation, fulfillment, after sales services to consumer protection. Our goal is to offer a safe and enjoyable shopping experience for our users. And at the same time, as a tech company, we will increase our investment in R and D and we are guided by the principle of tech for good and we will continue to strengthen our capabilities to empower a wide range of SMEs, promote the digitization of the various industries and also introduce more popular products to the market. And high quality supply is a key component of the platform ecosystem and is essential to serving our users well. And from this angle, we hope that R and D will further drive the positive development of our ecosystem. Speaker 101:02:54We believe that by focusing on these areas that's critical to long term value creation, we can remain calm in a fiercely competitive environment and continue to improve ourselves and create greater value for the consumers and the society. Thank you. Okay, operator, it's about time. And I want to thank you all again for joining us today. And if you have any further questions, please reach out to our team. Speaker 101:03:17And thank you. I'll see you next quarter. Operator01:03:21Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude our conference for today. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.Read morePowered by