Dada Nexus Limited

conference call is being recorded. I would now like to turn the meeting over to your host for today's call, Ms. Iris Liu from Investor Relations for Dada. Please proceed, Iris.

Thank you, operator. Hello, everyone, and welcome for joining our third quarter 2024 earnings conference call. On the call today from Dada, we have Mr. Henry G. Mao, CFO. Mr. Mao will talk about our operations, company highlights, and the financials. He will be available to answer questions during the Q&A session. Before we begin, I would like to remind you that this conference call contains forward-looking statements. Please refer to our latest safe harbor statement in the earnings press release on our IR website, which applies to this call. Also, during this call, we will discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures, Please also refer to our earnings press release, which contains a reconciliation of non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP measures. Finally, please note that unless otherwise stated, all figures mentioned during this conference call are in RMB. It is now my pleasure to introduce our CFO, Mr. Mao. Mr. Mao, please go ahead.

Thank you, Iris, and thank you all for joining us. In the third quarter of 2024, our high-quality growth accelerated further. For JDnow, year-on-year growth in monthly transacting users and orders through the JD app continued strong momentum, increasing by over 100% this quarter. JDnow continued to engage with more high-quality JD users, and its penetration rate among JD users continued to increase sequentially quarter over quarter. For DataNow, NetWeb News registered 46% year-on-year growth for the first nine months of the year. We continue to optimize our overall operating efficiency with long gap loss margin once again narrowed on a sequential basis in the third quarter. Data Group's total net revenues in the third quarter were RMB 2.4 billion. Net revenues from JDNOW were RMB 930 million. Net revenues from DataNOW increased by 39% year-on-year to RMB 1.5 billion, as we consistently strengthened partnerships with our chain merchants and further enhanced delivery service quality. Non-GAAP net loss in the third quarter was RMB 59 million. Non-GAAP net loss ratio was 2.4%, narrowing by 3.7 percentage points compared to the previous quarter, primarily due to the sequentially improved cost efficiency, as well as optimized consumer subsidy efficiency. Now let's turn to the operating highlights for our two platforms JD Now, and Data Now, starting with the JD Now first. In the third quarter, we remain focused on driving the growth of JD Now on the JD app, strengthening user mindshare and consistently enrich our offerings to better meet users' diversity needs in on-demand retail. We continue to provide quality products and instant delivery. to more and more JD users. And fueled by customer experience optimization, users' repurchase rates also register remarkable growth sequentially. It is worth noting that during the double-level shopping festival, JD Now's pick-day online order volume reached a new high. On the demand side, Following the launch of the new JDNOW section and the JDNOW tab on the JDF homepage in this May, we gradually expanded the service coverage of JDNOW to more cities nationwide, providing more users with the convenient JDNOW on-demand retail services with quality products and instant delivery rights to their doorsteps. With the enhancement of location-based service capabilities, We have recently launched JD Now Brand flagship stores, joined hands with more than 100 renowned brands from categories including food and beverages, personal care, consumer electronics, and more. This initiative connects brands and retailers directly with the most relevant customers, delivering authentic products to consumer store staff in as fast as nine minutes. Leveraging JD's superior technology-driven supply chain capabilities, JD Now Brand flagship stores emphasize brand value proposition and foster local user engagement to attract user traffic for online and offline retailers, boosting marketing effectiveness for brand owners. During this quarter, the number of cross-category visits by users in the JDNOW section on the JD app continued to increase sequentially as our category expansion brought diversified choices to consumers, further accelerating the year-on-year growth rate of orders placed through the JD app channel. In the meanwhile, we introduced exclusive benefits such as press discounts and coupons for JDplus members to attract them to experience JDnow's convenient on-demand retail services and capture their mindshare. The daily average transacting plus members for JDnow continued its growth momentum in the third quarter, increasing notably by more than 50% quarter over quarter. On the supply side, we continue to work on fly-from to comprehensively enhance our supply capabilities. In terms of stock coverage, we continue to enrich our product offerings in existing categories such as supermarkets, convenience stores, and consumer electronics. As of the end of September this year, the number of operating stores increased by over 70% year-on-year to more than 600,000 stores. In the supermarket category, JD&L deepended collaboration with major supermarket chains with average daily delivery order volumes continuing to grow during the quarter. In the convenience store category, we launched over 1,000 stores of internationally renowned brand Lawson in July. We also deepened collaboration with other leading domestic convenience store brands in terms of store counts. The product offerings from convenience stores ran well with our on-demand retail consumers. In the third quarter, the app's daily delivery order volume in the convenience store category increased by more than 50% year-on-year. In the consumer electronics category, we deepened our cooperation with existing brands and merchants. During the launch of new mobile phone models, we leveraged over 10,000 store coverage and provided the users with instant delivery service for new phones in as fast as nine minutes. On the date of the release of Apple iPhone 16 series, sales increased by double digits compared with the same period last year when the iPhone 15 series were released. Xiaomi, Huawei, and other mobile phone brands also experienced remarkable year-on-year growth in the quarter. Additionally, we also made progress in our Essential Accessories category to better address users' immediate needs. Year-to-date, we have added thousands of stores of brands such as Python and Ugreen. We further enhance price competitiveness. As of the end of September, the proportion of highly-priced competitive products increased by 3 percentage points as compared with June this year. We continue to optimize the top rent for RMB 1 yuan section on the landing page of the JDNOW tab, offering consumers various value-for-money products priced as low as RMB 1 yuan. In terms of inventory, we continue to expand our offerings in the supermarket brand promotion section, carefully selecting the flagship SKUs of the top supermarkets with differentiated price advantages, and providing users with a trusted and diverse section of products. On the accounting side, we further enrich product information and enhance product attractiveness. In the third quarter, to further facilitate the purchase decision-making process, we enrich product information for merchants listed in the JDML tab, including product description as well as applicable discounts and coupons. As a result, our click-through rate increased by 2 percentage points and our conversion rate increased by 5 percentage points sequentially. A clear sign that in reaching product information improves customer experience and enhances product appeal. Furthermore, we believe that providing most cost-effective services are key to winning more users and meeting the demand-driven nature of on-demand retail. As reported earlier, we lowered the delivery fee waiver threshold to RMB 29 at the end of this February. This initiative effectively enhanced user experience and strengthened user mindshare, contributing to the continued growth momentum in JD Now's order volume through the JD 8 app over the past few quarters. Additionally, We endeavored to provide users with shorter and more accurate estimated delivery time on the payment page through optimized algorithms and further accelerated the fulfillment process. The average fulfillment time for JDNA orders this quarter was shortened by more than 20% year-over-year. As a result of the above-mentioned measures, The penetration of JDnow among JD users continued to increase quarter over quarter. User mindshare was further enhanced, and the supply density and quality continued to improve, resulting in sequentially accelerated order volume growth in the third quarter. In terms of user scale, as the user mic share of on-demand retail through the JD app continued to increase, both our click-through rate and transaction conversion rates through the JD app increased in the third quarter, resulting in our overall user conversion rate more than doubling on a sequential basis. Shading now continued its strong growth momentum in average monthly transaction users on the JD app growing by more than 100% year-over-year, with high-frequency users growing even faster. The number of high-frequency users through the JD app more than doubled in this quarter. In terms of user stickiness, our 30-day repeat purchase rate of users of the JD Now section on the JD app experienced a significant increase from the previous quarter, with a repeat rate of new and existing customers both growing. Additionally, we continue to improve user satisfaction in the quarter, demonstrated by a decrease in cost per order by over 10% year-on-year, also continually optimized sequentially. On the supply side, we remain committed to expand product categories and store coverage. We believe that our quality-for-supply enrichment strategy will lay a solid foundation for our myShare gains in the long term. The daily average JDNOW orders through the JD app continue to grow by over 100% year-on-year, accelerating further from the previous quarter. This was mainly set to the growing user base, strengthening user market share, and continuous improvements in our service quality. Next, I would like to turn to DataNow, our local on-demand delivery platform. In the third quarter, DataNow continued to grow rapidly. Net revenues from DataNow increased by 39% year-on-year to RMB $1.5 billion, driven by our strengthened partnerships with chain merchants and the further enhanced delivery service quality. In the third quarter, driven by significant growth in the number of stores, our key accounts or chain merchants business saw overall revenue growth north of 30% year-on-year. with net revenues of restaurants and beverage KAs growing more than 100% year-on-year and over 40% quarter-over-quarter. When we reported earnings for the second quarter this year, we disclosed the number of orders delivered and gross billings of our on-demand delivery business for the first time. In the third quarter, The number of orders delivered by DataNow increased by 36% year-on-year to 648 million, and the gross billings of DataNow grew by 33% year-on-year to RMB 3.1 billion. Meanwhile, we continue to leverage technology to refine operations, optimize delivery routes, and dynamically adjust subsidies to further strengthen our price competitiveness and expand market share. This concludes our operational updates for the two platforms. In the third quarter, we continue to strengthen user stickiness by enhancing user mindshare, attracting more high-quality JD users to the JDNOW service. Both monthly transacting users and orders through the JDF maintained notably growth year-on-year, more than doubling in the quarter. Data now also continued its rapid growth momentum, driven by the share gains in merchant business, especially restaurant KAs, and order volume growth. Going forward, we will continue to focus and execute on our high-quality growth strategy. improve user experience across the board, enhance our efforts to increase the my share of our on-demand retail business, and further leverage the synergies between our on-demand retail and on-demand delivery platforms to drive longer term sustainable growth. With that, I will now go over our financials for this quarter. Before we go over the numbers, just a few housekeeping items. We believe year-on-year comparisons are the most useful way to evaluate our performance, and as a result, all percentage change that I'm going to give will be on year-on-year basis, and all figures are in RMB, otherwise noted. Total net revenues in the third quarter was $2.4 billion. Net revenues for JDNOW was $930 million, mainly due to a decrease in online advertising and marketing services revenues and a decrease in fulfillment services and other revenues as a result of the full rollout of delivery fee waiver program for orders existing RMB29 since February 2024. Net revenues from DataNOW increased by 39% to $1.5 billion, mainly driven by an increase in order volume of intra-city delivery services provided to various chain merchants. For the first nine months of 2024, our net revenues from DataNow increased by 46% to $4.1 billion. Specifically, revenues from intra-city delivery services and revenues from last-mile delivery services increased 5% and 76% in the first nine months of 2024, respectively. Moving over to cost and expense side, operations and support costs in the third quarter was $1.7 billion. The increase was primarily due to an increase in rider cost as a result of increasing order volume of our intra-city delivery services provided to various chain merchants, offset by a decrease in online advertising and marketing service costs. Selling and marketing expenses decreased to $717 million, primarily due to a decrease in promotional activities initiated by us on the JDNOW section. General and administrative expenses were $108 million. The increase was primarily due to an increase in provision for credit loss and litigation-related expenses. Research and development expenses were $90 million this quarter. Non-GAAP net loss was $59 million, and the non-GAAP net loss margin was $2.7 Sorry, it was 2.4%, sequentially narrowing by 3.7 percentage points. This concludes my prepared remarks. Operator, we are now ready to begin the Q&A session. Thank you.

Thank you. If you'd like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. If you'd like to cancel your request, please press star 2. If you are on a speakerphone, please pick up the handset to ask your question. Your first question today comes from Thomas Chong from Jefferies. Please go ahead.

我們對只是零售業務的競爭格局有何看法? Hi, good morning. Thanks management for taking my question. My question is about the macro and industry landscape. How do we see the recent government support policies and consumer sentiment trend? What are our thoughts about the competitive landscape for the on-demand retail business? Thank you.

Thank you, Thomas, for that question. Well, we definitely believe that boosting consumer confidence is an important growth driver for China's economy. Also, we remain optimistic about the growth prospects of on-demand retail being one of the fastest-growing subsectors with China's consumption category. Well, in terms of consumer preference, we continue to observe that growing consumer demand for convenience across various categories. We believe that there is significant room for JDnow's on-demand retail to increase its penetration among JD users. Therefore, we are firmly committed to investing in our business. Our integration with the JD ecosystem still has huge upside, and user mindshare is gaining momentum. As you can see for the past quarters, to best serve the evolving needs of our users, As a platform providing both on-demand retail and delivery services, we are actively enriching high-quality supply across a wide range of categories to provide consumers with more choices. As I mentioned earlier, at the end of this September, the number of operating stores increased by over 70% year-on-year to more than 600,000 stores. And also, back in this summer, During the Paris Olympic Games period, jointly with brand owners and local retailers, we further enriched our product offerings, echoing users' game-watching and shopping enthusiasm. For instance, we launched a late-night feed channel, providing the nighttime audience with rich selections of snacks and beverages. And I think Dadao's unique competitive advantage is also lies in the synergies between the JDNOW and the DataNOW two platforms. In the first nine months this year, in terms of revenue growth, DataNOW significantly outperformed the on-demand delivery industry. This primarily is attributable to our share gains in restaurants and the Belvedere KA chain merchant business, contributing as another strong growth engine to our business. We believe that the two platforms will together fuel the growth in order volume and density, building up economies of scale and improve overall delivery efficiency. So this can be in turn shown in the constant enhanced fulfillment service quality of JDNOW and DataNOW this quarter. The average fulfillment time for JDNOW orders this quarter was shortened by more than 20% on a year-over-year basis, reinforcing our user mindset of quality products at instant delivery. So I would like to summarize that we believe that our competitive edge lies in the continually enriching product offerings on the supply side, the deep integration with JD.com on the demand side, and the logistically gains between JDNOW and DadaNOW. So these factors all together help us to increase our user mind share, our market share within the on-demand retail and delivery industry as we ride on the industry growth. Hope that answers questions.

Thank you.

Thank you. Once again, if you'd like to ask a question, please press star one on your telephone and wipe your name to be announced. Your next question comes from Alicia Yap from Citigroup. Please go ahead.

Hi, thank you, management. I have a couple questions. First is that can management elaborate a little bit the user profile that you acquire or use through the JD channels, given you have already deepened your collaborations recently. So just wondering if you can highlight a little bit what type of user profile that is successfully gathered from the JD channel. And then especially if you see any meaningful uptake in the recent single stage promotion period from the JD channel. And then overall, if you can also just comment a little bit on whether you have seen some improvement in consumption spending, especially on JDNOW business where if the macros actually drive a little bit of the confidence level in the consumer consumption. So let me translate very quickly. So, 早上好,管理层,谢谢接受我提问,我很快问一下就是,能不能就是介绍一下从京东取到过来的新用户的那个画像, 我知道我们跟京东这边其实整体合作有更多, Thank you, Alicia, for your question. As we all know, since the beginning of this year, we have continued to execute our strategy

focusing on user experience, fully embracing the JD.com app ecosystem. As we all remember, starting from this May, following our brand upgrade from JD DJ previously to JD Now, we have further increased touch points with the JD app, primarily by launching the JD Now section on JD app's homepage and adding a parallel tab for JD Now. So we believe the strategy paves the way for our sustainable growth in the future, given that the users from JD.com are highly relevant to the on-demand retail consumption scenarios. So they typically have stronger purchasing power, higher demands for quality and timeliness. Therefore, we have been endeavoring to provide quality services to engage more JD users and beyond. In the third quarter of this year, we see a strong trend of improvement in core operational metrics. First, thanks to the enriched product information and optimized operations, we have effectively converted more users' traffic with JD.com. The click-through rate of various major JD Now entry points within the JD app has increased significantly quarter-over-quarter. As I mentioned earlier in my prepared remarks, our average monthly transaction users and orders through the JD app grew by over 100% year-on-year, continuing the very strong growth momentum. It is also worth noting that the total number new transacting users of JDnow has also been growing at an increasing scale quarter-to-quarter, contributing to the continued, sequentially increased penetration rate on the broader JD user base. And JDnow users' repeat purchase rate within the JD app has also been fueled by the enriched product offerings and high-quality services. So the repeat purchase rate of JD Now consumers through the core JD channels sequentially increased by over 10 percentage points in the third quarter. And our continued efforts in serving the high-quality JD Plus members have also yielded measurable results this quarter. The daily average transacting JD Plus members For JD now, it's continued growth momentum going by high double digits quarter over quarter. Also, further investment in data by JD.com this quarter strongly reflected the unique role that data fulfills in on-demand retail and delivery industry within JD.com's broader ecosystem. So, well, I think we are very optimistic in that companies' long-term growth and development. And one more thing, I think as you may have probably already noticed, we have recently launched the JD Now Brand Flagship Store. Join hands with more than 100 renowned brands by offering authentic products deliverable in as fast as nine minutes. Emphasizing brand value, engaging consumers through membership, promotional activities, and more, JDnow brand flagship stores directly connect the consumption brand with the most relevant nearby on-demand retail consumers, and meanwhile provides retailers with more exposures. As we further integrate into JD.com, we believe that The brand flagship stores will harness the technology-driven supply chain advantages of JD.com in the longer term, and this enables us to provide our users with the right selection of products and also enables us to holistically allocate resources. I hope that answers questions. Thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you. As there are no further questions at this time, I'll now hand back to Ms. Liu for any closing remarks.

Thank you, Operator. In closing, on behalf of the Status Management Team, we would like to thank you for your participation in today's call. If you require any further information, please feel free to reach out to us directly. Thank you for joining us today. This concludes the call. Thank you.