AI assistant
MERCADOLIBRE INC — Call Transcript 2026
Feb 24, 2026
Hello everyone, welcome to the MercadoLibre Earnings Conference Call for the quarter ended December 31, 2025. Thank you for joining us. I'm Richard Cathcart, MercadoLibre's Investor Relations Officer. Today, we will share our quarterly highlights on video, after which we will begin our live Q&A session with our management team. Before we go on to discuss our results for the fourth quarter of 2025, I remind you that management may make or refer to, and this presentation may contain, forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. Please refer to the disclaimer on screen, which will also be available in our earnings materials on our investor relations website. Please note that this call is being recorded and a replay will be made available on our IR website also. With that, let's begin with a short message from our CFO. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to report that we ended 2025 with robust operating trends that reinforce the strength of the MercadoLibre ecosystem. Our relentless focus on customer experience translated directly into strong financial performance, with fourth quarter net revenues growth of 45% year-over-year. Our performance is supported by two primary growth drivers: the acceleration of our commerce business and the rapid adoption and structural expansion of our fintech services. Crucially, both of these are increasingly supported by the tangible impact of our investments in artificial intelligence. Turning to commerce, in Brazil, our largest market, GMV grew an impressive 35% year-over-year, alongside a 45% increase in sold items. This acceleration is the result of our strategic investments to enhance the value proposition, most notably the decision to lower the free shipping threshold. More free shipping is driving higher purchase frequency and bringing new buyers into the ecosystem. This volume is translating directly into efficiency. Our logistics network absorbed the increase in volumes while driving productivity gains, proving our ability to scale effectively. Our value proposition is generating traction in Mexico, too, where GMV also grew 35%. Across our ecosystem, we are seeing clear evidence that our investments in artificial intelligence are accelerating revenue. In advertising, AI is powering our bidding algorithms, and automated campaign tools are generating better returns for sellers. This improved performance is driving higher adoption and capturing a larger share of advertisers' wallet, propelling the business to grow 67%. AI is also transforming the effectiveness of our acquiring sales force. In Brazil, these tools helped identify high-value merchants faster, resulting in higher TPV per merchant and shortened payback periods. This contributed to acquiring TPV, growing 25% in Brazil and 50% in Mexico. Our Mercado Pago AI assistant is solving 87% of interactions without the need of human support. Millions of users already adopt this conversational tool to manage their credit card, make transfers, and understand their credit offerings. In fintech services, we reached a historic milestone. Mercado Pago now holds the leading net promoter score in Brazil and Mexico, Argentina and Chile. Monthly active users are growing close to 30% for 10 consecutive quarters. Our credit portfolio nearly doubled year-over-year to $12.5 billion, including almost 3 million new credit cards issued in Q4 alone. Assets Under Management are close to $19 billion, growing at 78% year-over-year. This is helping us to increase principalship amongst our users. Regarding our financial performance, our revenues full-year growth was an impressive 39%. Income from operations grew 22% for the full-year. The margin compression reflects our decision to invest in the areas of the business with the greatest long-term growth opportunity, especially shipping and credit card expansion. We remain confident these investments strengthen our ecosystem, deepen our competitive advantages, and expand the long-term growth runway in a region where both e-commerce and financial services remain meaningfully underpenetrated. We enter 2026 in a position of strength. All our business units are growing at a fast pace, demonstrating that these investments are already generating results and unlocking long-term value. We are as excited as always with the opportunities ahead. Now, we open up to your questions. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please limit yourself to one question. If you have additional questions, you may re-enter the queue. Our first question today is from Andrew Ruben with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. Hey, congratulations on the growth this quarter, thanks for the question. It was helpful, your mention in the release of the 5 to 6 percentage point margin impact from, you mentioned free shipping, 1P cross-border credit card investments. Maybe it involves taking these one by one when considering cross-border, could be a newer call-out than, say, credit card. I'd like to understand where you are in this investment cycle. We understand the disciplined approach, my question is: Where could these investments already be at peak intensity versus where we could expect a more elongated cycle? Thank you. Hey, Andrew, it's Martin here. How are you? Thank you for your question. First, let me clarify. You know, we've been talking about the investments that we are doing. We've talked a lot about the results of those investments, but we wanted to give a sense of what those investments were in terms of margin compression. What we did here is we basically, we look at the main areas of investment, like you said, the lowering of the shipping threshold that we did last year in Brazil. The credit card, we're investing in Brazil, Mexico, and now Argentina. 1P, which is continues its path to profitability, but still not profitable on its own. The same thing with CBT, which we are expanding now to China and U.S. corridor. We also added the smaller countries where we continue to invest as we reach scale in those countries. When we put all that together, we wanted to give you a sense of the pressure that that generated on our margins, and that gives you a range of between 5 and 6 points. That's the intention of putting it on the letter. In terms of the trajectory, I think it's in line with what we have been talking about this in the past. CBT is a business that, you know, when it's locally fulfilled, is profitable. International fulfillment needs to continue scaling and is moving in the right direction, but it will continue to scale and it will put some pressure on margins because of that. When you look at our 1P, I think we talked a lot about 1P, it continues to be profitable on a variable basis level, and before allocating central cost, direct, indirect cost, is profitable. The scale will play in our favor in terms of continuing to improve profitability. I think the credit card, Osvaldo will talk about this, I'm sure, in some of the questions, but the credit card continues to improve its profitability, in particular in Brazil, where we're seeing already a significant part of the portfolio, the older cohorts being profitable. I think a lot of moving parts, right? The individual businesses are moving in the right direction. You have a shift issue because some of these are growing at a faster pace. The bottom line is that we're very confident that the investments that we're making on our platform are addressing long-term, you know, the long-term opportunities that we see ahead of us, and we're also improving user experience in our platform. You know, this particular quarter, we mentioned that we have the highest NPS level in commerce and fintech in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. That's a consequence of the investments that we have been doing, and we're very comfortable with these levels of investments in our, in our ecosystem. The next question is from Irma Sgarz with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. Yes. Hi, thank you for taking my question. Quick question on the direct contribution margin in Argentina, which was down a little bit quarter-over-quarter. I know there was some specific pressures last quarter that perhaps you managed to address this quarter in terms of repricing of the credit spreads, whereas others may have still lasted, especially on the logistics and shipping side, and then all fourth quarter is also more promotional in general. I was just hoping if you could break it down for us a little bit more and how we should think about this margin going into 2026, just in terms of some of those pressure points rather than a specific guidance. The other question I had was just as you had some very interesting comments around how you deploy AI across the demand and search side, as well as the supply side for merchants. However, one of the debates around agentic commerce obviously relates to the long-term opportunity for ad monetization. I was hoping you could perhaps share some of your thoughts about or early initial thoughts about how you think about the risks and preparing for some of those risks of ad monetization moving further up the funnel. Hi, Irma. Martin here. I'll take the first part. We see, as you mentioned, some compression in Argentina. Keep in mind, Argentina continues to be the highest profitability market in terms of spread, in terms of margins. We did see some compression, mostly coming from fulfillment. As you know, we opened a couple of new fulfillment centers recently, so that generated some year-on-year compression on costs. Also provisions for bad debt because of the credit card. We launched the credit card in the middle of last year, so we're seeing some compression because of that. As you know, the credit card requires investments upfront, and there is some year-on-year increase on funding costs. It's true what you said. Sequentially, quarter-over-quarter, the funding cost of our credit portfolio was lower in Q4 relative to Q3, but it still was higher relative to a year ago. Those are the main reasons for the compression that we saw in this quarter. Hi, Irma. Ariel here. Let me try to take a step back in answering your question on AI and the impact of our revenues. Let me start with the idea of agentic commerce and how that will play out for us and potentially disintermediating, which is something that I've been asked over and over. I think it's still a bit early in the game, but we don't think that solving one part of the value chain will actually change the rules of the game. Meaning that we still think that the key is to provide the best end-to-end experience for our customer. We know that searching for an item is one important task, but reading reviews, making sure the package arrives on time, offering the widest selection, having the best prices, the best financing, preventing fraud, having the best customer support, and so on, are also key parts of the end-to-end job. That we need to solve and that drive the decisions on where buyers will end up buying, right? And by the way, to complement this comment, I would say that the part where we're putting most of our efforts is in developing our own agentic experience inside MercadoLibre. We think, and we are convinced that we have the first-party data to create the best search, best recommendation, best discovery engine, on which we can personalize, and, you know, lay over the agentic experience that the new technology drives. And by the way, if you believe that there is a world of agentic commerce, that could mean that, you know, retail will move even faster from the offline to the online world. All this to say that I do think that we are well-positioned to actually capturing ads revenues in the future, because we still think that MercadoLibre will be the go-to place for demand to do shopping online. On top of that, there's an issue on what happens with all the agentic commerce that will occur outside of MercadoLibre, because for sure, we will not have 100% market share. We think that that also represents an incremental opportunity for Meli, right? Today, we are providing with our tech stack, advertising services to third parties. We do that with Google Ad Manager, we do that with Disney, we do that with Roku, with HBO Max. The reason behind that is that we have a unique set of data, customer knowledge, attribution capabilities that we think are very hard to match. Eventually, what I'm trying to convey is that on the one hand, we are confident on MercadoLibre's own ability to capture traffic through its own agentic experience, and on top of that, we do think that advertising represent an additional revenue opportunity in a world in which there is agentic commerce. By the way, the agentic world can also imply a faster shift of advertising dollars moving from traditional offline channels into digital advertising, which generates the opportunity to be even bigger. We remain positive, we remain focused. The only thing that we know for sure is that we need to put our developers to work to have the best tech stack for advertising and the best agentic experience inside MercadoLibre. The next question is from Robert Ford with Bank of America. Please go ahead. Hey, thank you for taking my question. Good evening, everybody. Just to expand on the discussion on agentic solutions. The, the press release comments on the agentic solution for Mercado Pago in terms of handling queries without human intervention, you know, but the functionality appears to be far more sophisticated than that. You know, I was curious, you know, how is that Mercado Pago agent increasing engagement, impacting borrowing or savings behavior, or promoting the, the adoption of new financial products? Ariel, maybe, you know, you could comment about how you're thinking about a personal agentic solution or solutions, you know, for the marketplace and the functionality and time to deploy that you're anticipating. Hi, Bob. We are very excited by Mercado Pago's A-AI assistant, and it is already helping mostly with solving questions and concerns from our users. We have built a lot of functionality into our agent. Basically, you can do pretty much everything you do with Mercado Pago with the agent. For example, You can tell him, "Please tell me all of the invoices I have that are due in the next week," and then it will bring them on, and you can say, "Pay all of them." The functionality is really impressive already. So far, we have been mostly dealing with these interactions that are initiated by users, and the vast majority of them are responded by the agent without any kind of human intervention. I would say, so far, we have not yet started using the agent for cross-sell, but it's something that we will start doing. Given that you are in a conversation, you can, for example, tell the consumer that she has a credit offer or a credit card offer and the benefits of the credit card. We are not doing that yet, we believe the opportunity there is significant, the system will become more proactive. Beyond cross-sell, it will also become more proactive in terms of acting like a personal banker. Helping you, I don't know, allocate your portfolio or make recommendations of what kind of credit is better for you. We believe here the opportunity is significant, and also, we also see an opportunity in terms of on the other side of Mercado Pago, on the acquiring side of Mercado Pago, in helping merchants deal with pre-sales and post-sales, and also in integrating with typical platforms that then will be able eventually to use Mercado Pago credentials to complete payments. We're very excited about opportunities with AI at Mercado Pago. Just to complement Osvaldo here, on the marketplace side, while we have many features that are powered by AI, starting with our search algorithm, our recommendation, and so on, I think it's worth highlighting the fact that we have a seller assistant today running in our platform.20% of our GMV is somehow advised by our assistant. It's actually proving to be pretty successful in helping sellers improve their live listing, reduce their lead times to get better reputation in our platform, capture some of their questions and requirements in terms of customer support. Very positive on the progress in that regards as well. The next question is from Marcelo Santos with JP Morgan. Please go ahead. Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to discuss about advertising. You had some good growth, accelerating penetration. Could you discuss what are the main products that are driving these, or regions, or if there's any particular driver behind the acceleration? Thank you very much. Hey, Marcelo. Ariel here. Yeah, to your point, we are very pleased with the performance we had in ads this quarter. Revenue accelerated to 67%, if on an FX-neutral, with higher adoption and spend, basically driven by improvements in our tech stack. It's broad-based, so there's no one silver bullet. Basically, we are attaching our product in the different parts of the value chain, right? Auction, bidding, placement optimization, demand generating initiatives, and all that powered by an improved and easy-to-use platform in terms of front end for our customers. Extremely satisfied with that. Just to give you some color on a few of the initiatives, our Budget Orchestrator allowed sellers to reallocate unused budgets across campaigns that were capping the use of dollars previously, and that happened, of course, within the same advertiser, and that was positive. We also scaled a budget boost for seasonal campaigns with recommendations powered by predictive signals in order to make sure that advertisers had the right budget in place in order to deal with all the demand that was coming during peak season. We have performance-driven recommendations based on insights that our technology is capturing. We have AI agents supporting our advisors and engaging directly with sellers in order to accelerate, you know, the penetration of ads for mid and long-tail sellers. Many tools being deployed and scaled, many of which are using AI. I would say in all, great progress from the team, but still lots of things to do. Penetration of ads with revenue as a % of GMV is still small compared to its potential. Very happy with the results so far, but even more encouraged with the potential looking ahead. The next question is from Rodrigo Gastim with Itaú BBA. Please go ahead. Yeah, good evening, everyone. I just would like to double-click here on these margin investments in Brazil. Just wondering, you know, how do you see this balance of keeping up with this strong GMV growth above 30% in Brazil, and eventually dealing with this margin pressure in 2026? In other words, with the market share you've been able to clearly capture over the last couple of quarters, do you already believe we should start, you know, to see further operating leverage in Brazil going forward? Just to see how you're thinking this balance. Thank you very much. Hi, Rodrigo, it's Martin here. You know, first, it's important to put in context when we talk about margins, the growth that we're delivering. You know, most of the margin pressure comes from deliberate decisions that we're making in terms of pursuing investments that are generating tremendous growth and improving user experience. As you mentioned, in Brazil in particular, we have been growing our GMV and gaining market share, mainly because of these investments. Our top line grew by 45% year-on-year. As I mentioned earlier, our NPS is at record levels, and that's because of the investments that we have been doing. You mentioned CBT, 1P, the lowering of free shipping threshold, expanding more free shipping, increasing fulfillment capacity. We feel very comfortable with these investments and the current margin levels because we are seeing the results in terms of growth, market share gains, and improvements in user experience and engagement. As I said in the past, our main focus is on capturing the large opportunities in front of us in commerce, fintech, and advertising. We will not hesitate to invest in order to capture those opportunities as we have done in the past, even if that puts some short-term margin pressure. We're not trying to optimize short-term margin. We manage the business from a long-term perspective. We believe these investments are creating foundation for future growth. We remain confident in our long-term margin trajectory. Again, we are confident in the investments that we're doing in credit card and commerce, and we are seeing already the results. That's our strategy, and that's the way for us to create long-term value for our shareholders. The next question is from Josh Beck with Raymond James. Please go ahead. Thank you for taking the question. I'm kind of curious where maybe the business plan shook out versus your expectation with respect to the lower shipping threshold. Certainly, it seems like there's been a very nice frequency lift. You know, is that pretty much what you had anticipated or modeled? You know, related to the improvement in unit cost, I believe it was 11% decline in unit costs in Brazil, is that something that is sustainable as you build out this parallel slow delivery network? Or how should we think about the prospects there? Thank you. Hey, Josh. How are you? Ariel here. Indeed, we are very pleased with the results of our lower free shipping threshold in Brazil. This is the third time that we have lowered the threshold, and the results we're seeing now are no different from the results we've seen in the past. Growth has accelerated, frequency has accelerated, we are at record conversion rates, record retention rates for new and existing buyers. We are having more new buyers. Our NPS in Brazil is at its peak. We have more sellers, more live listings per sellers. We are expanding market share and reaching our record levels. Yes, indeed, we are pleased and this is very much aligned to what we were planning for. Items sold, growth accelerated from 26% year-over-year in Q2 to 42% in Q3 to 45% in Q4. I think that is huge, considering the size of MercadoLibre The same happened with GMV, from 29% to 34%, now to 35%. Of course, this on top of all the growth and the size that we've achieved after 25, 26 years of existence and after a pandemic in which we accelerated growth a lot. I think that, as we mentioned in our shareholder letters, new buyers that have come to MercadoLibre since June, when we launched the new value prop, are buying more items across a larger number of categories with higher retention rates that compared to cohorts of new buyers prior to that change. We are very encouraged by the impact that we've seen, and this gives us great optimism about the foundations we are building as we look to be the driving force for e-commerce or for commerce shifting from the offline into the online, which is, at the end of the day, the goal that we are pursuing, right? Serving our customers better, providing the best value proposition out there. In terms of shipping costs, I would say we are pleased with the performance that we are having. The cost improvements come from several parts of the equation. On the one hand, of course, more volume is diluting, you know, more cost. We are taking advantage of idle capacity through our slow shipping network, meaning that we are able to ship items whenever we see a space in the value chain. Of course, we continue working on technology and productivity in order to make our operation even more efficient and more sustainable. We don't see a reason for this not to change or not to continue, right? We are positive. I think the team has done a tremendous job, but we still think we have more things to do. The next question is from Geoffrey Elliott with Autonomous. Please go ahead. Oh, hello, thanks very much for taking the question. Can you discuss the changes that you announced to the shipping model in Brazil, I believe, on January 20th, and getting a little bit more variable around different shipping rates for different types of shipments? Then high level, how do you see that impacting financials, impacting margins? Basically, we are trying to de-average, a bit, the way we charge merchants, and we think shipping costs do correlate a lot with measurements and weight. For that reason, we decided to move to a different type of table in which we are able to charge merchants, in a much more correlated way, to the cost structure that we have based on actual dimensions and weights of the items. I think it's early to make comments on impacts on financials. As you know, we don't guide, so probably at the end of Q1, with our results at the time, we will be able to share more details and color. ... on impact. Again, as always, we continue to evolve, and sophisticate the way we manage the business, and what we've done with the shipping tables is no different from that. The next question is from Kaio Prato with UBS. Please go ahead. Hello, good evening, everyone. I have two quick questions on my side, please, on Mercado Pago. First, specifically on Brazil, we are seeing a really solid growth on your deposit franchise, basically the double year-on-year, looking to the central bank data. Can you please verify if these deposits are now being used for funding to your credit business or not? If so, how much of that? I would like to understand how do you see this usage going forward, and what type of impact it may bring to your NIM as well. Quickly, the second is in terms of your NPL ratio. The early NPL ratio between 15 and 90 days, it increased a little bit. Can you walk us through the impact of that, as extra seasonality is usually positive in the fourth Q and expectation going forward. Thank you. Hi, Kyle. Let me start with the first question regarding deposits. Today, mostly, we are not using deposits for funding. We're not doing fractional banking. Nonetheless, we are very happy with the growth in those deposits. Last year, a year ago, basically, when we introduced pots and a higher interest rate on pots, we saw a significant increase in the deposit rate. What we saw is that those users that use pots and in general have more money with us, we see a significantly higher level of engagement. We see that across the board on Mercado Pago and also MercadoLibre We see these users doing more transactions, using our credit products more often, being more likely to using our debit cards or getting a credit card. We see it as a significant driver of engagement and a driver of NPS, of Net Promoter Score, that is. As you know, this is a metric we follow closely, and we are very happy to have finished the year leading the Net Promoter Score tables for financial institutions in Brazil. The second part of the question, if I got it right, was regarding NPLs and the impact of a little bit, a slight deterioration in NPLs from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. That is so. I would say that in general, NPLs of the credit card book fell to an all-time low of 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Nonetheless, the increase in NPL was mostly related to the consumer and merchant books. Having said that, I think that more important than NPLs are NIMs, and those improved, meaning we are more profitable than we were a quarter before. What we did was, we increased the number of people and the riskier number of people we gave credit to, but we priced that risk accordingly, and therefore, we ended up having a significant, a larger spread than we did on the prior quarter. I think this was a calculated risk, and it worked out well. The next question is from Neha Argawala with HSBC. Please go ahead. Hi, thank you for taking my question. I'd like to follow up on the last question. We have certainly seen a pickup in loan yields quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, and as you mentioned, you're taking more risk, which is resulting in the early delinquencies going up in fourth quarter, despite positive seasonality. Does this mean that maybe in the next quarter or two, we will start seeing an impact on 90-day NPLs, and they will start going up again, since you're taking more risk? Although I understand that you're pricing for it, is this a trend that we should continue to see going forward? Just to confirm, the increase in loan yields was just from taking higher risk in Brazil and Mexico, and not coming from an increase in the share of the portfolio in Argentina. Thank you so much. Neha, as you know, we don't guide. We are very comfortable with the amount of risk we are taking. We have seen our models improving and having good spreads. When we expect a loss, we book that in advance. We don't believe there will be any surprises there. I would say that we don't see an increase in loan yields coming. I'd say we are growing in all three countries in a very similar fashion. We were more cautious in the fourth quarter in Argentina because of the election and because of we saw some macro instability because of the election. We were a little more cautious. There was a spike in interest rates prior to the election, and then they came down, and therefore, being interest rates higher, there was less demand for credit. Beyond that, we did not see any significant change in the other markets in terms of demand for credit or change in loan yields. Maybe to complement Martin here, I think the philosophy on credit has always been that we will grow our credit book so long as we have a healthy book. As Osvaldo mentioned, you're seeing only part of the equation on the NPLs, but obviously we are pricing those ahead of time. The margins in Argentina and Mexico are extremely high. I mean, they're much better than last quarter. In fact, when you look at NIM, that looks at the whole equation, because not only looks at bad debt and provisions, but also the revenues that are generated on that portfolio, you can see that NIM improved quarter-on-quarter. We feel very, very comfortable about the quality and the health of our portfolio, and that's the reason why you see our credit book growing at 90%, because we are confident on our models and our collection. The next question is from Dannie Tiger with XP. Please go ahead. Hi, thanks for taking my question. I would like to explore a little bit the sales and marketing and provision of doubtful accounts dynamics. Firstly, regarding sales and marketing, we see an increase Q on Q in terms of investments as a percentage of sales. You also mentioned on the release some tactical investments being done because of seasonality. It would be interesting for you to share with us some color around how we should think about these investments going forward, especially as we see a lower intensity coming from competition, especially in Brazil, in the beginning of the year. Also regarding the acceleration of consumer books that you mentioned in Brazil and Mexico, and that being the key lever for this doubtful accounts not improving Q and Q. You also mentioned that you are benefiting from a higher cross-selling with your marketplace, while you, as you mentioned, overall metrics remain healthy. Should we think that maybe this pressure is a consequence of you guys capturing this opportunity of kind of increasing the overlap between the two platforms? Since you have strong momentum in commerce that is fueling the consumer book growth? Thanks. Hi, Danny, Martin here. I think the first part of the question related to sales and marketing, I think is consistent what we have been saying over the past couple of quarters. Specifically this quarter, if you see sequentially, we increased our spending by 60 basis points and year-on-year by 1.4 basis points on marketing. For the most part, is a result of expansion of our social channels. As we mentioned in the past, we are scaling our affiliate program with very positive results. In Brazil, for instance, the number of affiliates almost doubled in Q4 relative to Q3, and year-on-year we have 6x the number of affiliates that are selling and promoting products to MercadoLibre. We see as a very, very positive and very... It's a channel that should help us drive growth in the future, we are investing in that particular channel. That explains most of the increase in investments and marketing. The rest of the lines remain the same. There might be some seasonality in Q4, but for the most part, is the affiliate program. Just to put it in perspective, if you look at the past several years, the range of investments in sales and marketing is between 11% and 12%. We are on the upper range of that level, but it's within those lines that we have been investing over the past several years. Second part of the question? I think the second part of the question was if there was an acceleration of credit driven by the momentum of e-commerce. I would say to some degree that could be the case, but I would say it's mostly that we have been mostly on the. Let's split this answer into two main areas. On the one hand, I would say that the yielding account, we have been advertising it strongly last year, and that has been the main driver, where we pay a larger return in the super-yielding account, and that has been the main driver for the acceleration. I would not say that is necessarily related to the extra activity in the marketplace. On the credit card front, I would say it's a combination of two things. One, definitely we have been improving the integration of the offer of the credit card in the checkout and also offering more installments in the checkout. Definitely the marketplace is a big driver for the growth of the use of the credit card. On top of that, we have continuously been improving the quality of our models. As we improve our credit models, we feel more comfortable issuing more cards, and therefore, I would say the main driver for issuing more cards, I would say, has been the increase in the accuracy of these credit models, but also definitely the integration with the checkout of the marketplace is also a big driver. The next question is from Craig Moore with FT Partners. Please go ahead. Yeah. Hi, thanks for taking the question. I'd like to ask the flip side of the prior question, which is, you know, if you look over time, concerning the investments you've made in provisions, as well as growing out the credit book through credit cards and other types of loans, I was wondering if you could dimensionalize the lift that you get on a basket size or a GMV spend basis for those that have the credit card or are borrowing versus those that are not, and perhaps also the degree of retention that you see in those customers versus those that don't? Hi, Craig. Look, we have not disclosed a specific number in terms of a lift we see, neither spend or retention, but definitely is, I would say, significant. We measure several things. One of them is how much interactions they have with the marketplace, also Net Promoter Scores. There's a significant lift when someone start using our credit products, or they get a credit card and Net Promoter Score. I would say on top of those two things, we do see a higher engagement and higher net spend. When we look at each of the main countries, I'm talking about Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, and we look at what % of mix of all of the GMV is paid with Mercado Pago products, that those lines have been growing steadily in all three markets. If you combine buy now, pay later, credit card, store balance, and so on, that is growing and is becoming a more significant part of GMV in each of the market. Those transactions are great because typically they have a significantly higher approval rate and a lower cost, and many times we are double dipping because we have some income also on the Mercado Pago side, or at least a lower cost. I think there is really a big synergy going on between the marketplace and Mercado Pago there. The next question is from Marvin Fong with BTIG. Please go ahead. Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking my questions. Two quick ones also on credit card. I believe you mentioned in prepared remarks, you issued +$3 million in the fourth quarter. I believe that's substantial. I think the last time you mentioned in the second quarter, you issued $1.5 million. Well, it didn't sound like Argentina was the main driver of that, but could you just kind of break out, you know, is the growth in Brazil and Mexico, you know, dramatically higher compared to the second quarter? The second part of the question, you know, as the NPL performance in credit card continues to get better, are you or is there an opportunity in the future to kind of take a lower provision in the upfront and make it more margin attractive at an earlier stage? Thank you. Hi, Marvin. Let me take the first question with regards to number of credit cards we issued. In the fourth quarter, we issued nearly 3 million cards, versus, as you said, 1.5 million in the second quarter and 2 million in the third quarter. I would say from the second quarter to the third quarter, the main increase came from Brazil, where improvements in our models meant that we were able to find more users that fit into our payback targets. That was from the second quarter into the third one. From the third quarter to the fourth quarter, there were two drivers. One of them was Argentina, as you mentioned, we started issuing cards in, let's say, halfway through the third quarter, but significantly sped up through the fourth quarter, and we issued a few, I'd say, 100,000 cards as we begin to ramp up our surge in that country. Early results are promising, cards are being issued to lower-risk users and the typical ones that could use our consumer loans. We are excited with how Argentina is going, and we are just getting started. In Mexico, I would say that better-than-expected payback periods enabled us to pick up the pace also of issuance, and we are comfortable with the pace we're taking. I would say, the first, we have an acceleration in the third quarter in Brazil, then in the fourth quarter in Mexico and Argentina. Now we're working with the three countries at full speed, I would say. In terms of the profitability of a product, if you look at Brazil, which is the oldest cohort, we have been issuing credit cards in Brazil since 2021. Cohorts that are older than two years are already profitable at a NIMAL level. That gives us a lot of encouragement to continue expanding the user base. Obviously, as we incorporate a large number of new users, the average is still not profitable, but we are seeing, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel, right? It should be a profitable business. It should add profitability when it comes to maturity, but still we are at a stage where we are growing the user base, so on average, it's not profitable yet. Just to put it in perspective, we have three books of credit. We have consumer credit, which is a relatively high-margin business in terms of NIM. If you look at NIM, is in the 30s, in the high 40s, merchant credits. The credit card at this point is not NIM positive on average, but the half of the portfolio is already NIM on average in Brazil. We are seeing positive trends also in Mexico, and Argentina is too early to tell. The next question is from Jamie Friedman with Susquehanna International Group. Please go ahead. Hi. Thank you. Can you hear me okay? Hello? Maybe we can hear you. Okay, great. Sorry. I had a question about the acquiring TPV. In terms of the mix of on and off-platform acquiring TPV, how does that mix impact, say, the consolidated take rate of acquiring? If it does, is the interchange component of that now facing the regulatory caps that I think are underway in Mexico? Thank you very much. Hi, Jamie. Let me clarify on acquiring. We have, if you want, three segments. You mentioned on-platform and off-platform, but basically all of what is on-platform, we are measuring straight away on the marketplace economics, so you don't see that on the acquiring side. However, we do see on the acquiring side, both online and offline, so that is typically POSs, and we provide merchant services for other merchants. There, typically, since there is higher risk and it's more complex to do online transactions, we have a higher take rate in online transactions and a lower take rate in POS transactions, because in many cases, there is really no risk in those kind of transactions. I would say the higher margin is on the online transactions. Offline is growing a lot, and we see a lot of potential because we have a lower market share in the, in the, in that part of the business. With regards to the interchange cap in Mexico, that did not go through. The regulator decided to postpone that or to put that on hold. There will be no change in interchanges in Mexico for the time being. The next question is from Joao Soares with Citigroup. Please go ahead. Thank you. I appreciate the broader strategic upside you've outlined on agentic commerce, I fully agree with the merits of the driving online retail penetration and digital advertising. What I want to hear is your thoughts on the risk component. Essentially how these independent agentic systems could introduce new forms of disintermediation and engage the clients directly, right? Leading to potential changes in monetization. The most obvious one, I, we can think of and discuss a lot is the dollar flow of advertising. Really wanted to hear how you view these risks and how you're approaching them strategically. Thank you. Yeah. Thank you, Joao. Let me try to rephrase what I meant earlier, as I try to address your point. I think there are things that we know, and there are things that we don't know. We don't know which hardware people will use in 10 years to buy. We don't know whether the winning model will be X, Y or Z, and so on. We do know that consumers do value or do look for the best end-to-end experience. We do know, and that means not only searching for products, but also getting products fast, having the widest selection, pricing, the best financing alternatives, post-purchase support, and so on. We also know that there's a technology today that can dramatically improve the product discovery process. For that reason, we are putting all of our efforts and deploying lots of engineers in building our own agents and our own shopping assistant within MercadoLibre. It's early to know what will happen with other shopping assistants. I take your point that it might present a risk. I understand where you're coming from, but we are confident that we are playing this one from a position of strength. That we have the relationship with consumers, we have a brand that Latin America loves. We have information and data about past purchases that allow us to offer them a great shopping assistant, and we are betting and putting our efforts on what we can control, which is building the best assistant possible. Then we'll see, right? Time will tell, it's a bit early in the process, but once again, I think that MercadoLibre is well positioned to capture this technology transformation, which, as I said before, I think will accelerate the migration from offline retail into online retail. Will be particularly relevant in a geography like Latin America, where we are somehow like 10 years before where the U.S., the U.K., or Asia is today. This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Martín de los Santos for any closing remarks. Thank you all for joining the call and for your questions. We are very excited with the results that we're seeing across our ecosystem. In 2025, we achieved record market share gains in commerce in Brazil and Mexico. In intech, we also saw important market share gains in our acquiring business, and we continue to scale our credit portfolio, which is very profitable, as we discussed earlier. This resulted in Q4 revenues growing at 45% year-over-year, marking the 28th consecutive quarter of growth above 30%, which is another sign of the effectiveness of the long-term investment and customer focus that we have within our ecosystem and the way we manage our ecosystem. In 2025, we reached a record NPS in commerce and fintech in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, which is a great achievement, that should enable us to sustain future growth, as we look into 2026. I look forward to talking to you again in May, when we disclose Q1 results. In the meantime, the investor relations team is available for any further questions. Thank you again, and good evening. The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.
Speaker 17: Hello everyone, welcome to the MercadoLibre Earnings Conference Call for the quarter ended December 31, 2025. Thank you for joining us. I'm Richard Cathcart, MercadoLibre's Investor Relations Officer. Today, we will share our quarterly highlights on video, after which we will begin our live Q&A session with our management team. Before we go on to discuss our results for the fourth quarter of 2025, I remind you that management may make or refer to, and this presentation may contain, forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. Please refer to the disclaimer on screen, which will also be available in our earnings materials on our investor relations website. Please note that this call is being recorded and a replay will be made available on our IR website also. With that, let's begin with a short message from our CFO. Hello everyone, welcome to the MercadoLibre Earnings Conference Call for the quarter ended December 31, 2025. hello everyone welcome to the mercadolibre earnings conference call for the quarter ended december 31 2025 Thank you for joining us. thank you for joining us I'm Richard Cathcart, MercadoLibre's Investor Relations Officer. i'm richard cathcart mercadolibre's investor relations officer Today, we will share our quarterly highlights on video, after which we will begin our live Q&A session with our management team. today we will share our quarterly highlights on video after which we will begin our live q&a session with our management team Before we go on to discuss our results for the fourth quarter of 2025, I remind you that management may make or refer to, and this presentation may contain, forward-looking statements and non-GAAP measures. before we go on to discuss our results for the fourth quarter of 2025 i remind you that management may make or refer to and this presentation may contain forward-looking statements and non-gaap measures Please refer to the disclaimer on screen, which will also be available in our earnings materials on our investor relations website. please refer to the disclaimer on screen which will also be available in our earnings materials on our investor relations website Please note that this call is being recorded and a replay will be made available on our IR website also. please note that this call is being recorded and a replay will be made available on our ir website also With that, let's begin with a short message from our CFO. with that let's begin with a short message from our cfo
Speaker 12: Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us. I'm pleased to report that we ended 2025 with robust operating trends that reinforce the strength of the MercadoLibre ecosystem. Our relentless focus on customer experience translated directly into strong financial performance, with fourth quarter net revenues growth of 45% year-over-year. Our performance is supported by two primary growth drivers: the acceleration of our commerce business and the rapid adoption and structural expansion of our fintech services. Crucially, both of these are increasingly supported by the tangible impact of our investments in artificial intelligence. Turning to commerce, in Brazil, our largest market, GMV grew an impressive 35% year-over-year, alongside a 45% increase in sold items. This acceleration is the result of our strategic investments to enhance the value proposition, most notably the decision to lower the free shipping threshold. Good evening, everyone, and thank you for joining us. good evening everyone and thank you for joining us I'm pleased to report that we ended 2025 with robust operating trends that reinforce the strength of the MercadoLibre ecosystem. i'm pleased to report that we ended 2025 with robust operating trends that reinforce the strength of the mercadolibre ecosystem Our relentless focus on customer experience translated directly into strong financial performance, with fourth quarter net revenues growth of 45% year-over-year. our relentless focus on customer experience translated directly into strong financial performance with fourth quarter net revenues growth of 45% year-over-year Our performance is supported by two primary growth drivers: the acceleration of our commerce business and the rapid adoption and structural expansion of our fintech services. our performance is supported by two primary growth drivers the acceleration of our commerce business and the rapid adoption and structural expansion of our fintech services Crucially, both of these are increasingly supported by the tangible impact of our investments in artificial intelligence. crucially both of these are increasingly supported by the tangible impact of our investments in artificial intelligence Turning to commerce, in Brazil, our largest market, GMV grew an impressive 35% year-over-year, alongside a 45% increase in sold items. turning to commerce in brazil our largest market gmv grew an impressive 35% year-over-year alongside a 45% increase in sold items This acceleration is the result of our strategic investments to enhance the value proposition, most notably the decision to lower the free shipping threshold. this acceleration is the result of our strategic investments to enhance the value proposition most notably the decision to lower the free shipping threshold More free shipping is driving higher purchase frequency and bringing new buyers into the ecosystem. This volume is translating directly into efficiency. Our logistics network absorbed the increase in volumes while driving productivity gains, proving our ability to scale effectively. Our value proposition is generating traction in Mexico, too, where GMV also grew 35%. Across our ecosystem, we are seeing clear evidence that our investments in artificial intelligence are accelerating revenue. In advertising, AI is powering our bidding algorithms, and automated campaign tools are generating better returns for sellers. This improved performance is driving higher adoption and capturing a larger share of advertisers' wallet, propelling the business to grow 67%. AI is also transforming the effectiveness of our acquiring sales force. In Brazil, these tools helped identify high-value merchants faster, resulting in higher TPV per merchant and shortened payback periods. More free shipping is driving higher purchase frequency and bringing new buyers into the ecosystem. more free shipping is driving higher purchase frequency and bringing new buyers into the ecosystem This volume is translating directly into efficiency. this volume is translating directly into efficiency Our logistics network absorbed the increase in volumes while driving productivity gains, proving our ability to scale effectively. our logistics network absorbed the increase in volumes while driving productivity gains proving our ability to scale effectively Our value proposition is generating traction in Mexico, too, where GMV also grew 35%. our value proposition is generating traction in mexico too where gmv also grew 35% Across our ecosystem, we are seeing clear evidence that our investments in artificial intelligence are accelerating revenue. across our ecosystem we are seeing clear evidence that our investments in artificial intelligence are accelerating revenue In advertising, AI is powering our bidding algorithms, and automated campaign tools are generating better returns for sellers. in advertising ai is powering our bidding algorithms and automated campaign tools are generating better returns for sellers This improved performance is driving higher adoption and capturing a larger share of advertisers' wallet, propelling the business to grow 67%. this improved performance is driving higher adoption and capturing a larger share of advertisers' wallet propelling the business to grow 67% AI is also transforming the effectiveness of our acquiring sales force. ai is also transforming the effectiveness of our acquiring sales force In Brazil, these tools helped identify high-value merchants faster, resulting in higher TPV per merchant and shortened payback periods. in brazil these tools helped identify high-value merchants faster resulting in higher tpv per merchant and shortened payback periods This contributed to acquiring TPV, growing 25% in Brazil and 50% in Mexico. Our Mercado Pago AI assistant is solving 87% of interactions without the need of human support. Millions of users already adopt this conversational tool to manage their credit card, make transfers, and understand their credit offerings. In fintech services, we reached a historic milestone. Mercado Pago now holds the leading net promoter score in Brazil and Mexico, Argentina and Chile. Monthly active users are growing close to 30% for 10 consecutive quarters. Our credit portfolio nearly doubled year-over-year to $12.5 billion, including almost 3 million new credit cards issued in Q4 alone. Assets Under Management are close to $19 billion, growing at 78% year-over-year. This is helping us to increase principalship amongst our users. This contributed to acquiring TPV, growing 25% in Brazil and 50% in Mexico. this contributed to acquiring tpv growing 25% in brazil and 50% in mexico Our Mercado Pago AI assistant is solving 87% of interactions without the need of human support. our mercado pago ai assistant is solving 87% of interactions without the need of human support Millions of users already adopt this conversational tool to manage their credit card, make transfers, and understand their credit offerings. millions of users already adopt this conversational tool to manage their credit card make transfers and understand their credit offerings In fintech services, we reached a historic milestone. in fintech services we reached a historic milestone Mercado Pago now holds the leading net promoter score in Brazil and Mexico, Argentina and Chile. mercado pago now holds the leading net promoter score in brazil and mexico argentina and chile Monthly active users are growing close to 30% for 10 consecutive quarters. monthly active users are growing close to 30% for 10 consecutive quarters Our credit portfolio nearly doubled year-over-year to $12.5 billion, including almost 3 million new credit cards issued in Q4 alone. our credit portfolio nearly doubled year-over-year to $12.5 billion including almost 3 million new credit cards issued in q4 alone Assets Under Management are close to $19 billion, growing at 78% year-over-year. assets under management are close to $19 billion growing at 78% year-over-year This is helping us to increase principalship amongst our users. this is helping us to increase principalship amongst our users Regarding our financial performance, our revenues full-year growth was an impressive 39%. Income from operations grew 22% for the full-year. The margin compression reflects our decision to invest in the areas of the business with the greatest long-term growth opportunity, especially shipping and credit card expansion. We remain confident these investments strengthen our ecosystem, deepen our competitive advantages, and expand the long-term growth runway in a region where both e-commerce and financial services remain meaningfully underpenetrated. We enter 2026 in a position of strength. All our business units are growing at a fast pace, demonstrating that these investments are already generating results and unlocking long-term value. We are as excited as always with the opportunities ahead. Now, we open up to your questions. Regarding our financial performance, our revenues full- year growth was an impressive 39%. regarding our financial performance our revenues full- year growth was an impressive 39% Income from operations grew 22% for the full- year. income from operations grew 22% for the full- year The margin compression reflects our decision to invest in the areas of the business with the greatest long-term growth opportunity, especially shipping and credit card expansion. the margin compression reflects our decision to invest in the areas of the business with the greatest long-term growth opportunity especially shipping and credit card expansion We remain confident these investments strengthen our ecosystem, deepen our competitive advantages, and expand the long-term growth runway in a region where both e-commerce and financial services remain meaningfully underpenetrated. we remain confident these investments strengthen our ecosystem deepen our competitive advantages and expand the long-term growth runway in a region where both e-commerce and financial services remain meaningfully underpenetrated We enter 2026 in a position of strength. we enter 2026 in a position of strength All our business units are growing at a fast pace, demonstrating that these investments are already generating results and unlocking long-term value. all our business units are growing at a fast pace demonstrating that these investments are already generating results and unlocking long-term value We are as excited as always with the opportunities ahead. we are as excited as always with the opportunities ahead Now, we open up to your questions. now we open up to your questions
Speaker 15: We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. To withdraw your question, please press star then two. Please limit yourself to one question. If you have additional questions, you may re-enter the queue. Our first question today is from Andrew Ruben with Morgan Stanley. Please go ahead. We will now begin the question and answer session. we will now begin the question and answer session To ask a question, you may press star, then one on your telephone keypad. to ask a question you may press star then one on your telephone keypad If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys. if you are using a speakerphone please pick up your handset before pressing the keys To withdraw your question, please press star then two. to withdraw your question please press star then two Please limit yourself to one question. please limit yourself to one question If you have additional questions, you may re-enter the queue. if you have additional questions you may re-enter the queue Our first question today is from Andrew Ruben with Morgan Stanley. our first question today is from andrew ruben with morgan stanley Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 1: Hey, congratulations on the growth this quarter, thanks for the question. It was helpful, your mention in the release of the 5 to 6 percentage point margin impact from, you mentioned free shipping, 1P cross-border credit card investments. Maybe it involves taking these one by one when considering cross-border, could be a newer call-out than, say, credit card. I'd like to understand where you are in this investment cycle. We understand the disciplined approach, my question is: Where could these investments already be at peak intensity versus where we could expect a more elongated cycle? Thank you. Hey, congratulations on the growth this quarter, thanks for the question. hey congratulations on the growth this quarter thanks for the question It was helpful, your mention in the release of the 5 to 6 percentage point margin impact from, you mentioned free shipping, 1P cross-border credit card investments. it was helpful your mention in the release of the 5 to 6 percentage point margin impact from you mentioned free shipping 1p cross-border credit card investments Maybe it involves taking these one by one when considering cross-border, could be a newer call-out than, say, credit card. maybe it involves taking these one by one when considering cross-border could be a newer call-out than say credit card I'd like to understand where you are in this investment cycle. i'd like to understand where you are in this investment cycle We understand the disciplined approach, my question is: Where could these investments already be at peak intensity versus where we could expect a more elongated cycle? we understand the disciplined approach my question is where could these investments already be at peak intensity versus where we could expect a more elongated cycle Thank you. thank you
Speaker 12: Hey, Andrew, it's Martin here. How are you? Thank you for your question. First, let me clarify. You know, we've been talking about the investments that we are doing. We've talked a lot about the results of those investments, but we wanted to give a sense of what those investments were in terms of margin compression. What we did here is we basically, we look at the main areas of investment, like you said, the lowering of the shipping threshold that we did last year in Brazil. The credit card, we're investing in Brazil, Mexico, and now Argentina. 1P, which is continues its path to profitability, but still not profitable on its own. Hey, Andrew, it's Martin here. hey andrew it's martin here How are you? how are you Thank you for your question. thank you for your question First, let me clarify. first let me clarify You know, we've been talking about the investments that we are doing. you know we've been talking about the investments that we are doing We've talked a lot about the results of those investments, but we wanted to give a sense of what those investments were in terms of margin compression. we've talked a lot about the results of those investments but we wanted to give a sense of what those investments were in terms of margin compression What we did here is we basically, we look at the main areas of investment, like you said, the lowering of the shipping threshold that we did last year in Brazil. what we did here is we basically we look at the main areas of investment like you said the lowering of the shipping threshold that we did last year in brazil The credit card, we're investing in Brazil, Mexico, and now Argentina. 1P, which is continues its path to profitability, but still not profitable on its own. the credit card we're investing in brazil mexico and now argentina 1p which is continues its path to profitability but still not profitable on its own The same thing with CBT, which we are expanding now to China and U.S. corridor. We also added the smaller countries where we continue to invest as we reach scale in those countries. When we put all that together, we wanted to give you a sense of the pressure that that generated on our margins, and that gives you a range of between 5 and 6 points. That's the intention of putting it on the letter. In terms of the trajectory, I think it's in line with what we have been talking about this in the past. CBT is a business that, you know, when it's locally fulfilled, is profitable. International fulfillment needs to continue scaling and is moving in the right direction, but it will continue to scale and it will put some pressure on margins because of that. The same thing with CBT, which we are expanding now to China and U.S. corridor. the same thing with cbt which we are expanding now to china and u.s corridor We also added the smaller countries where we continue to invest as we reach scale in those countries. we also added the smaller countries where we continue to invest as we reach scale in those countries When we put all that together, we wanted to give you a sense of the pressure that that generated on our margins, and that gives you a range of between 5 and 6 points. when we put all that together we wanted to give you a sense of the pressure that that generated on our margins and that gives you a range of between 5 and 6 points That's the intention of putting it on the letter. that's the intention of putting it on the letter In terms of the trajectory, I think it's in line with what we have been talking about this in the past. in terms of the trajectory i think it's in line with what we have been talking about this in the past CBT is a business that, you know, when it's locally fulfilled, is profitable. cbt is a business that you know when it's locally fulfilled is profitable International fulfillment needs to continue scaling and is moving in the right direction, but it will continue to scale and it will put some pressure on margins because of that. international fulfillment needs to continue scaling and is moving in the right direction but it will continue to scale and it will put some pressure on margins because of that When you look at our 1P, I think we talked a lot about 1P, it continues to be profitable on a variable basis level, and before allocating central cost, direct, indirect cost, is profitable. The scale will play in our favor in terms of continuing to improve profitability. I think the credit card, Osvaldo will talk about this, I'm sure, in some of the questions, but the credit card continues to improve its profitability, in particular in Brazil, where we're seeing already a significant part of the portfolio, the older cohorts being profitable. I think a lot of moving parts, right? The individual businesses are moving in the right direction. You have a shift issue because some of these are growing at a faster pace. When you look at our 1P, I think we talked a lot about 1P, it continues to be profitable on a variable basis level, and before allocating central cost, direct, indirect cost, is profitable. when you look at our 1p i think we talked a lot about 1p it continues to be profitable on a variable basis level and before allocating central cost direct indirect cost is profitable The scale will play in our favor in terms of continuing to improve profitability. the scale will play in our favor in terms of continuing to improve profitability I think the credit card, Osvaldo will talk about this, I'm sure, in some of the questions, but the credit card continues to improve its profitability, in particular in Brazil, where we're seeing already a significant part of the portfolio, the older cohorts being profitable. i think the credit card osvaldo will talk about this i'm sure in some of the questions but the credit card continues to improve its profitability in particular in brazil where we're seeing already a significant part of the portfolio the older cohorts being profitable I think a lot of moving parts, right? i think a lot of moving parts right The individual businesses are moving in the right direction. the individual businesses are moving in the right direction You have a shift issue because some of these are growing at a faster pace. you have a shift issue because some of these are growing at a faster pace The bottom line is that we're very confident that the investments that we're making on our platform are addressing long-term, you know, the long-term opportunities that we see ahead of us, and we're also improving user experience in our platform. You know, this particular quarter, we mentioned that we have the highest NPS level in commerce and fintech in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. That's a consequence of the investments that we have been doing, and we're very comfortable with these levels of investments in our, in our ecosystem. The bottom line is that we're very confident that the investments that we're making on our platform are addressing long-term, you know, the long-term opportunities that we see ahead of us, and we're also improving user experience in our platform. the bottom line is that we're very confident that the investments that we're making on our platform are addressing long-term you know the long-term opportunities that we see ahead of us and we're also improving user experience in our platform You know, this particular quarter, we mentioned that we have the highest NPS level in commerce and fintech in Argentina, Brazil, and Mexico. you know this particular quarter we mentioned that we have the highest nps level in commerce and fintech in argentina brazil and mexico That's a consequence of the investments that we have been doing, and we're very comfortable with these levels of investments in our, in our ecosystem. that's a consequence of the investments that we have been doing and we're very comfortable with these levels of investments in our in our ecosystem
Speaker 15: The next question is from Irma Sgarz with Goldman Sachs. Please go ahead. The next question is from Irma Sgarz with Goldman Sachs. the next question is from irma sgarz with goldman sachs Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 6: Yes. Hi, thank you for taking my question. Quick question on the direct contribution margin in Argentina, which was down a little bit quarter-over-quarter. I know there was some specific pressures last quarter that perhaps you managed to address this quarter in terms of repricing of the credit spreads, whereas others may have still lasted, especially on the logistics and shipping side, and then all fourth quarter is also more promotional in general. I was just hoping if you could break it down for us a little bit more and how we should think about this margin going into 2026, just in terms of some of those pressure points rather than a specific guidance. Yes. yes Hi, thank you for taking my question. hi thank you for taking my question Quick question on the direct contribution margin in Argentina, which was down a little bit quarter-over-quarter. quick question on the direct contribution margin in argentina which was down a little bit quarter-over-quarter I know there was some specific pressures last quarter that perhaps you managed to address this quarter in terms of repricing of the credit spreads, whereas others may have still lasted, especially on the logistics and shipping side, and then all fourth quarter is also more promotional in general. i know there was some specific pressures last quarter that perhaps you managed to address this quarter in terms of repricing of the credit spreads whereas others may have still lasted especially on the logistics and shipping side and then all fourth quarter is also more promotional in general I was just hoping if you could break it down for us a little bit more and how we should think about this margin going into 2026, just in terms of some of those pressure points rather than a specific guidance. i was just hoping if you could break it down for us a little bit more and how we should think about this margin going into 2026 just in terms of some of those pressure points rather than a specific guidance The other question I had was just as you had some very interesting comments around how you deploy AI across the demand and search side, as well as the supply side for merchants. However, one of the debates around agentic commerce obviously relates to the long-term opportunity for ad monetization. I was hoping you could perhaps share some of your thoughts about or early initial thoughts about how you think about the risks and preparing for some of those risks of ad monetization moving further up the funnel. The other question I had was just as you had some very interesting comments around how you deploy AI across the demand and search side, as well as the supply side for merchants. the other question i had was just as you had some very interesting comments around how you deploy ai across the demand and search side as well as the supply side for merchants However, one of the debates around agentic commerce obviously relates to the long-term opportunity for ad monetization. however one of the debates around agentic commerce obviously relates to the long-term opportunity for ad monetization I was hoping you could perhaps share some of your thoughts about or early initial thoughts about how you think about the risks and preparing for some of those risks of ad monetization moving further up the funnel. i was hoping you could perhaps share some of your thoughts about or early initial thoughts about how you think about the risks and preparing for some of those risks of ad monetization moving further up the funnel
Speaker 12: Hi, Irma. Martin here. I'll take the first part. We see, as you mentioned, some compression in Argentina. Keep in mind, Argentina continues to be the highest profitability market in terms of spread, in terms of margins. We did see some compression, mostly coming from fulfillment. As you know, we opened a couple of new fulfillment centers recently, so that generated some year-on-year compression on costs. Also provisions for bad debt because of the credit card. We launched the credit card in the middle of last year, so we're seeing some compression because of that. As you know, the credit card requires investments upfront, and there is some year-on-year increase on funding costs. It's true what you said. Hi, Irma. hi irma Martin here. martin here I'll take the first part. i'll take the first part We see, as you mentioned, some compression in Argentina. we see as you mentioned some compression in argentina Keep in mind, Argentina continues to be the highest profitability market in terms of spread, in terms of margins. keep in mind argentina continues to be the highest profitability market in terms of spread in terms of margins We did see some compression, mostly coming from fulfillment. we did see some compression mostly coming from fulfillment As you know, we opened a couple of new fulfillment centers recently, so that generated some year-on-year compression on costs. as you know we opened a couple of new fulfillment centers recently so that generated some year-on-year compression on costs Also provisions for bad debt because of the credit card. also provisions for bad debt because of the credit card We launched the credit card in the middle of last year, so we're seeing some compression because of that. we launched the credit card in the middle of last year so we're seeing some compression because of that As you know, the credit card requires investments upfront, and there is some year-on-year increase on funding costs. as you know the credit card requires investments upfront and there is some year-on-year increase on funding costs It's true what you said. it's true what you said Sequentially, quarter-over-quarter, the funding cost of our credit portfolio was lower in Q4 relative to Q3, but it still was higher relative to a year ago. Those are the main reasons for the compression that we saw in this quarter. Sequentially, quarter-over-quarter, the funding cost of our credit portfolio was lower in Q4 relative to Q3, but it still was higher relative to a year ago. sequentially quarter-over-quarter the funding cost of our credit portfolio was lower in q4 relative to q3 but it still was higher relative to a year ago Those are the main reasons for the compression that we saw in this quarter. those are the main reasons for the compression that we saw in this quarter
Speaker 2: Hi, Irma. Ariel here. Let me try to take a step back in answering your question on AI and the impact of our revenues. Let me start with the idea of agentic commerce and how that will play out for us and potentially disintermediating, which is something that I've been asked over and over. I think it's still a bit early in the game, but we don't think that solving one part of the value chain will actually change the rules of the game. Meaning that we still think that the key is to provide the best end-to-end experience for our customer. Hi, Irma. hi irma Ariel here. ariel here Let me try to take a step back in answering your question on AI and the impact of our revenues. let me try to take a step back in answering your question on ai and the impact of our revenues Let me start with the idea of agentic commerce and how that will play out for us and potentially disintermediating, which is something that I've been asked over and over. let me start with the idea of agentic commerce and how that will play out for us and potentially disintermediating which is something that i've been asked over and over I think it's still a bit early in the game, but we don't think that solving one part of the value chain will actually change the rules of the game. i think it's still a bit early in the game but we don't think that solving one part of the value chain will actually change the rules of the game Meaning that we still think that the key is to provide the best end-to-end experience for our customer. meaning that we still think that the key is to provide the best end-to-end experience for our customer We know that searching for an item is one important task, but reading reviews, making sure the package arrives on time, offering the widest selection, having the best prices, the best financing, preventing fraud, having the best customer support, and so on, are also key parts of the end-to-end job. That we need to solve and that drive the decisions on where buyers will end up buying, right? And by the way, to complement this comment, I would say that the part where we're putting most of our efforts is in developing our own agentic experience inside MercadoLibre. We know that searching for an item is one important task, but reading reviews, making sure the package arrives on time, offering the widest selection, having the best prices, the best financing, preventing fraud, having the best customer support, and so on, are also key parts of the end-to-end job. we know that searching for an item is one important task but reading reviews making sure the package arrives on time offering the widest selection having the best prices the best financing preventing fraud having the best customer support and so on are also key parts of the end-to-end job That we need to solve and that drive the decisions on where buyers will end up buying, right? that we need to solve and that drive the decisions on where buyers will end up buying right And by the way, to complement this comment, I would say that the part where we're putting most of our efforts is in developing our own agentic experience inside MercadoLibre. and by the way to complement this comment i would say that the part where we're putting most of our efforts is in developing our own agentic experience inside mercadolibre We think, and we are convinced that we have the first-party data to create the best search, best recommendation, best discovery engine, on which we can personalize, and, you know, lay over the agentic experience that the new technology drives. And by the way, if you believe that there is a world of agentic commerce, that could mean that, you know, retail will move even faster from the offline to the online world. All this to say that I do think that we are well-positioned to actually capturing ads revenues in the future, because we still think that MercadoLibre will be the go-to place for demand to do shopping online. We think, and we are convinced that we have the first-party data to create the best search, best recommendation, best discovery engine, on which we can personalize, and, you know, lay over the agentic experience that the new technology drives. we think and we are convinced that we have the first-party data to create the best search best recommendation best discovery engine on which we can personalize and you know lay over the agentic experience that the new technology drives And by the way, if you believe that there is a world of agentic commerce, that could mean that, you know, retail will move even faster from the offline to the online world. and by the way if you believe that there is a world of agentic commerce that could mean that you know retail will move even faster from the offline to the online world All this to say that I do think that we are well-positioned to actually capturing ads revenues in the future, because we still think that MercadoLibre will be the go-to place for demand to do shopping online. all this to say that i do think that we are well-positioned to actually capturing ads revenues in the future because we still think that mercadolibre will be the go-to place for demand to do shopping online On top of that, there's an issue on what happens with all the agentic commerce that will occur outside of MercadoLibre, because for sure, we will not have 100% market share. We think that that also represents an incremental opportunity for Meli, right? Today, we are providing with our tech stack, advertising services to third parties. We do that with Google Ad Manager, we do that with Disney, we do that with Roku, with HBO Max. The reason behind that is that we have a unique set of data, customer knowledge, attribution capabilities that we think are very hard to match. On top of that, there's an issue on what happens with all the agentic commerce that will occur outside of MercadoLibre, because for sure, we will not have 100% market share. on top of that there's an issue on what happens with all the agentic commerce that will occur outside of mercadolibre because for sure we will not have 100% market share We think that that also represents an incremental opportunity for Meli, right? we think that that also represents an incremental opportunity for meli right Today, we are providing with our tech stack, advertising services to third parties. today we are providing with our tech stack advertising services to third parties We do that with Google Ad Manager, we do that with Disney, we do that with Roku, with HBO Max. we do that with google ad manager we do that with disney we do that with roku with hbo max The reason behind that is that we have a unique set of data, customer knowledge, attribution capabilities that we think are very hard to match. the reason behind that is that we have a unique set of data customer knowledge attribution capabilities that we think are very hard to match Eventually, what I'm trying to convey is that on the one hand, we are confident on MercadoLibre's own ability to capture traffic through its own agentic experience, and on top of that, we do think that advertising represent an additional revenue opportunity in a world in which there is agentic commerce. By the way, the agentic world can also imply a faster shift of advertising dollars moving from traditional offline channels into digital advertising, which generates the opportunity to be even bigger. We remain positive, we remain focused. The only thing that we know for sure is that we need to put our developers to work to have the best tech stack for advertising and the best agentic experience inside MercadoLibre. Eventually, what I'm trying to convey is that on the one hand, we are confident on MercadoLibre's own ability to capture traffic through its own agentic experience, and on top of that, we do think that advertising represent an additional revenue opportunity in a world in which there is agentic commerce. eventually what i'm trying to convey is that on the one hand we are confident on mercadolibre's own ability to capture traffic through its own agentic experience and on top of that we do think that advertising represent an additional revenue opportunity in a world in which there is agentic commerce By the way, the agentic world can also imply a faster shift of advertising dollars moving from traditional offline channels into digital advertising, which generates the opportunity to be even bigger. by the way the agentic world can also imply a faster shift of advertising dollars moving from traditional offline channels into digital advertising which generates the opportunity to be even bigger We remain positive, we remain focused. we remain positive we remain focused The only thing that we know for sure is that we need to put our developers to work to have the best tech stack for advertising and the best agentic experience inside MercadoLibre. the only thing that we know for sure is that we need to put our developers to work to have the best tech stack for advertising and the best agentic experience inside mercadolibre
Speaker 15: The next question is from Robert Ford with Bank of America. Please go ahead. The next question is from Robert Ford with Bank of America. the next question is from robert ford with bank of america Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 18: Hey, thank you for taking my question. Good evening, everybody. Just to expand on the discussion on agentic solutions. The, the press release comments on the agentic solution for Mercado Pago in terms of handling queries without human intervention, you know, but the functionality appears to be far more sophisticated than that. You know, I was curious, you know, how is that Mercado Pago agent increasing engagement, impacting borrowing or savings behavior, or promoting the, the adoption of new financial products? Ariel, maybe, you know, you could comment about how you're thinking about a personal agentic solution or solutions, you know, for the marketplace and the functionality and time to deploy that you're anticipating. Hey, thank you for taking my question. hey thank you for taking my question Good evening, everybody. good evening everybody Just to expand on the discussion on agentic solutions. just to expand on the discussion on agentic solutions The, the press release comments on the agentic solution for Mercado Pago in terms of handling queries without human intervention, you know, but the functionality appears to be far more sophisticated than that. the the press release comments on the agentic solution for mercado pago in terms of handling queries without human intervention you know but the functionality appears to be far more sophisticated than that You know, I was curious, you know, how is that Mercado Pago agent increasing engagement, impacting borrowing or savings behavior, or promoting the, the adoption of new financial products? you know i was curious you know how is that mercado pago agent increasing engagement impacting borrowing or savings behavior or promoting the the adoption of new financial products Ariel, maybe, you know, you could comment about how you're thinking about a personal agentic solution or solutions, you know, for the marketplace and the functionality and time to deploy that you're anticipating. ariel maybe you know you could comment about how you're thinking about a personal agentic solution or solutions you know for the marketplace and the functionality and time to deploy that you're anticipating
Speaker 16: Hi, Bob. We are very excited by Mercado Pago's A-AI assistant, and it is already helping mostly with solving questions and concerns from our users. We have built a lot of functionality into our agent. Basically, you can do pretty much everything you do with Mercado Pago with the agent. For example, You can tell him, "Please tell me all of the invoices I have that are due in the next week," and then it will bring them on, and you can say, "Pay all of them." The functionality is really impressive already. So far, we have been mostly dealing with these interactions that are initiated by users, and the vast majority of them are responded by the agent without any kind of human intervention. Hi, Bob. hi bob We are very excited by Mercado Pago's A-AI assistant, and it is already helping mostly with solving questions and concerns from our users. we are very excited by mercado pago's a-ai assistant and it is already helping mostly with solving questions and concerns from our users We have built a lot of functionality into our agent. we have built a lot of functionality into our agent Basically, you can do pretty much everything you do with Mercado Pago with the agent. basically you can do pretty much everything you do with mercado pago with the agent For example, You can tell him, "Please tell me all of the invoices I have that are due in the next week," and then it will bring them on, and you can say, "Pay all of them." The functionality is really impressive already. for example you can tell him "please tell me all of the invoices i have that are due in the next week," and then it will bring them on and you can say "pay all of them." the functionality is really impressive already So far, we have been mostly dealing with these interactions that are initiated by users, and the vast majority of them are responded by the agent without any kind of human intervention. so far we have been mostly dealing with these interactions that are initiated by users and the vast majority of them are responded by the agent without any kind of human intervention I would say, so far, we have not yet started using the agent for cross-sell, but it's something that we will start doing. Given that you are in a conversation, you can, for example, tell the consumer that she has a credit offer or a credit card offer and the benefits of the credit card. We are not doing that yet, we believe the opportunity there is significant, the system will become more proactive. Beyond cross-sell, it will also become more proactive in terms of acting like a personal banker. Helping you, I don't know, allocate your portfolio or make recommendations of what kind of credit is better for you. I would say, so far, we have not yet started using the agent for cross-sell, but it's something that we will start doing. i would say so far we have not yet started using the agent for cross-sell but it's something that we will start doing Given that you are in a conversation, you can, for example, tell the consumer that she has a credit offer or a credit card offer and the benefits of the credit card. given that you are in a conversation you can for example tell the consumer that she has a credit offer or a credit card offer and the benefits of the credit card We are not doing that yet, we believe the opportunity there is significant, the system will become more proactive. we are not doing that yet we believe the opportunity there is significant the system will become more proactive Beyond cross-sell, it will also become more proactive in terms of acting like a personal banker. beyond cross-sell it will also become more proactive in terms of acting like a personal banker Helping you, I don't know, allocate your portfolio or make recommendations of what kind of credit is better for you. helping you i don't know allocate your portfolio or make recommendations of what kind of credit is better for you We believe here the opportunity is significant, and also, we also see an opportunity in terms of on the other side of Mercado Pago, on the acquiring side of Mercado Pago, in helping merchants deal with pre-sales and post-sales, and also in integrating with typical platforms that then will be able eventually to use Mercado Pago credentials to complete payments. We're very excited about opportunities with AI at Mercado Pago. We believe here the opportunity is significant, and also, we also see an opportunity in terms of on the other side of Mercado Pago, on the acquiring side of Mercado Pago, in helping merchants deal with pre-sales and post-sales, and also in integrating with typical platforms that then will be able eventually to use Mercado Pago credentials to complete payments. we believe here the opportunity is significant and also we also see an opportunity in terms of on the other side of mercado pago on the acquiring side of mercado pago in helping merchants deal with pre-sales and post-sales and also in integrating with typical platforms that then will be able eventually to use mercado pago credentials to complete payments We're very excited about opportunities with AI at Mercado Pago. we're very excited about opportunities with ai at mercado pago
Speaker 2: Just to complement Osvaldo here, on the marketplace side, while we have many features that are powered by AI, starting with our search algorithm, our recommendation, and so on, I think it's worth highlighting the fact that we have a seller assistant today running in our platform.20% of our GMV is somehow advised by our assistant. It's actually proving to be pretty successful in helping sellers improve their live listing, reduce their lead times to get better reputation in our platform, capture some of their questions and requirements in terms of customer support. Very positive on the progress in that regards as well. Just to complement Osvaldo here, on the marketplace side, while we have many features that are powered by AI, starting with our search algorithm, our recommendation, and so on, I think it's worth highlighting the fact that we have a seller assistant today running in our platform. 20% of our GMV is somehow advised by our assistant. just to complement osvaldo here on the marketplace side while we have many features that are powered by ai starting with our search algorithm our recommendation and so on i think it's worth highlighting the fact that we have a seller assistant today running in our platform 20% of our gmv is somehow advised by our assistant It's actually proving to be pretty successful in helping sellers improve their live listing, reduce their lead times to get better reputation in our platform, capture some of their questions and requirements in terms of customer support. it's actually proving to be pretty successful in helping sellers improve their live listing reduce their lead times to get better reputation in our platform capture some of their questions and requirements in terms of customer support Very positive on the progress in that regards as well. very positive on the progress in that regards as well
Speaker 15: The next question is from Marcelo Santos with JP Morgan. Please go ahead. The next question is from Marcelo Santos with JP Morgan. the next question is from marcelo santos with jp morgan Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 11: Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking my question. I wanted to discuss about advertising. You had some good growth, accelerating penetration. Could you discuss what are the main products that are driving these, or regions, or if there's any particular driver behind the acceleration? Thank you very much. Hi, good evening. hi good evening Thanks for taking my question. thanks for taking my question I wanted to discuss about advertising. i wanted to discuss about advertising You had some good growth, accelerating penetration. you had some good growth accelerating penetration Could you discuss what are the main products that are driving these, or regions, or if there's any particular driver behind the acceleration? could you discuss what are the main products that are driving these or regions or if there's any particular driver behind the acceleration Thank you very much. thank you very much
Speaker 2: Hey, Marcelo. Ariel here. Yeah, to your point, we are very pleased with the performance we had in ads this quarter. Revenue accelerated to 67%, if on an FX-neutral, with higher adoption and spend, basically driven by improvements in our tech stack. It's broad-based, so there's no one silver bullet. Basically, we are attaching our product in the different parts of the value chain, right? Auction, bidding, placement optimization, demand generating initiatives, and all that powered by an improved and easy-to-use platform in terms of front end for our customers. Extremely satisfied with that. Hey, Marcelo. hey marcelo Ariel here. ariel here Yeah, to your point, we are very pleased with the performance we had in ads this quarter. yeah to your point we are very pleased with the performance we had in ads this quarter Revenue accelerated to 67%, if on an FX-neutral, with higher adoption and spend, basically driven by improvements in our tech stack. revenue accelerated to 67% if on an fx-neutral with higher adoption and spend basically driven by improvements in our tech stack It's broad-based, so there's no one silver bullet. it's broad-based so there's no one silver bullet Basically, we are attaching our product in the different parts of the value chain, right? basically we are attaching our product in the different parts of the value chain right Auction, bidding, placement optimization, demand generating initiatives, and all that powered by an improved and easy-to-use platform in terms of front end for our customers. auction bidding placement optimization demand generating initiatives and all that powered by an improved and easy-to-use platform in terms of front end for our customers Extremely satisfied with that. extremely satisfied with that Just to give you some color on a few of the initiatives, our Budget Orchestrator allowed sellers to reallocate unused budgets across campaigns that were capping the use of dollars previously, and that happened, of course, within the same advertiser, and that was positive. We also scaled a budget boost for seasonal campaigns with recommendations powered by predictive signals in order to make sure that advertisers had the right budget in place in order to deal with all the demand that was coming during peak season. We have performance-driven recommendations based on insights that our technology is capturing. We have AI agents supporting our advisors and engaging directly with sellers in order to accelerate, you know, the penetration of ads for mid and long-tail sellers. Just to give you some color on a few of the initiatives, our Budget Orchestrator allowed sellers to reallocate unused budgets across campaigns that were capping the use of dollars previously, and that happened, of course, within the same advertiser, and that was positive. just to give you some color on a few of the initiatives our budget orchestrator allowed sellers to reallocate unused budgets across campaigns that were capping the use of dollars previously and that happened of course within the same advertiser and that was positive We also scaled a budget boost for seasonal campaigns with recommendations powered by predictive signals in order to make sure that advertisers had the right budget in place in order to deal with all the demand that was coming during peak season. we also scaled a budget boost for seasonal campaigns with recommendations powered by predictive signals in order to make sure that advertisers had the right budget in place in order to deal with all the demand that was coming during peak season We have performance-driven recommendations based on insights that our technology is capturing. we have performance-driven recommendations based on insights that our technology is capturing We have AI agents supporting our advisors and engaging directly with sellers in order to accelerate, you know, the penetration of ads for mid and long-tail sellers. we have ai agents supporting our advisors and engaging directly with sellers in order to accelerate you know the penetration of ads for mid and long-tail sellers Many tools being deployed and scaled, many of which are using AI. I would say in all, great progress from the team, but still lots of things to do. Penetration of ads with revenue as a % of GMV is still small compared to its potential. Very happy with the results so far, but even more encouraged with the potential looking ahead. Many tools being deployed and scaled, many of which are using AI. many tools being deployed and scaled many of which are using ai I would say in all, great progress from the team, but still lots of things to do. i would say in all great progress from the team but still lots of things to do Penetration of ads with revenue as a % of GMV is still small compared to its potential. penetration of ads with revenue as a % of gmv is still small compared to its potential Very happy with the results so far, but even more encouraged with the potential looking ahead. very happy with the results so far but even more encouraged with the potential looking ahead
Speaker 15: The next question is from Rodrigo Gastim with Itaú BBA. Please go ahead. The next question is from Rodrigo Gastim with Itaú BBA. the next question is from rodrigo gastim with itaú bba Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 19: Yeah, good evening, everyone. I just would like to double-click here on these margin investments in Brazil. Just wondering, you know, how do you see this balance of keeping up with this strong GMV growth above 30% in Brazil, and eventually dealing with this margin pressure in 2026? In other words, with the market share you've been able to clearly capture over the last couple of quarters, do you already believe we should start, you know, to see further operating leverage in Brazil going forward? Just to see how you're thinking this balance. Thank you very much. Yeah, good evening, everyone. yeah good evening everyone I just would like to double-click here on these margin investments in Brazil. i just would like to double-click here on these margin investments in brazil Just wondering, you know, how do you see this balance of keeping up with this strong GMV growth above 30% in Brazil, and eventually dealing with this margin pressure in 2026? just wondering you know how do you see this balance of keeping up with this strong gmv growth above 30% in brazil and eventually dealing with this margin pressure in 2026 In other words, with the market share you've been able to clearly capture over the last couple of quarters, do you already believe we should start, you know, to see further operating leverage in Brazil going forward? in other words with the market share you've been able to clearly capture over the last couple of quarters do you already believe we should start you know to see further operating leverage in brazil going forward Just to see how you're thinking this balance. just to see how you're thinking this balance Thank you very much. thank you very much
Speaker 12: Hi, Rodrigo, it's Martin here. You know, first, it's important to put in context when we talk about margins, the growth that we're delivering. You know, most of the margin pressure comes from deliberate decisions that we're making in terms of pursuing investments that are generating tremendous growth and improving user experience. As you mentioned, in Brazil in particular, we have been growing our GMV and gaining market share, mainly because of these investments. Our top line grew by 45% year-on-year. As I mentioned earlier, our NPS is at record levels, and that's because of the investments that we have been doing. You mentioned CBT, 1P, the lowering of free shipping threshold, expanding more free shipping, increasing fulfillment capacity. Hi, Rodrigo, it's Martin here. hi rodrigo it's martin here You know, first, it's important to put in context when we talk about margins, the growth that we're delivering. you know first it's important to put in context when we talk about margins the growth that we're delivering You know, most of the margin pressure comes from deliberate decisions that we're making in terms of pursuing investments that are generating tremendous growth and improving user experience. you know most of the margin pressure comes from deliberate decisions that we're making in terms of pursuing investments that are generating tremendous growth and improving user experience As you mentioned, in Brazil in particular, we have been growing our GMV and gaining market share, mainly because of these investments. as you mentioned in brazil in particular we have been growing our gmv and gaining market share mainly because of these investments Our top line grew by 45% year-on-year. our top line grew by 45% year-on-year As I mentioned earlier, our NPS is at record levels, and that's because of the investments that we have been doing. as i mentioned earlier our nps is at record levels and that's because of the investments that we have been doing You mentioned CBT, 1P, the lowering of free shipping threshold, expanding more free shipping, increasing fulfillment capacity. you mentioned cbt 1p the lowering of free shipping threshold expanding more free shipping increasing fulfillment capacity We feel very comfortable with these investments and the current margin levels because we are seeing the results in terms of growth, market share gains, and improvements in user experience and engagement. As I said in the past, our main focus is on capturing the large opportunities in front of us in commerce, fintech, and advertising. We will not hesitate to invest in order to capture those opportunities as we have done in the past, even if that puts some short-term margin pressure. We're not trying to optimize short-term margin. We manage the business from a long-term perspective. We believe these investments are creating foundation for future growth. We remain confident in our long-term margin trajectory. We feel very comfortable with these investments and the current margin levels because we are seeing the results in terms of growth, market share gains, and improvements in user experience and engagement. we feel very comfortable with these investments and the current margin levels because we are seeing the results in terms of growth market share gains and improvements in user experience and engagement As I said in the past, our main focus is on capturing the large opportunities in front of us in commerce, fintech, and advertising. as i said in the past our main focus is on capturing the large opportunities in front of us in commerce fintech and advertising We will not hesitate to invest in order to capture those opportunities as we have done in the past, even if that puts some short-term margin pressure. we will not hesitate to invest in order to capture those opportunities as we have done in the past even if that puts some short-term margin pressure We're not trying to optimize short-term margin. we're not trying to optimize short-term margin We manage the business from a long-term perspective. we manage the business from a long-term perspective We believe these investments are creating foundation for future growth. we believe these investments are creating foundation for future growth We remain confident in our long-term margin trajectory. we remain confident in our long-term margin trajectory Again, we are confident in the investments that we're doing in credit card and commerce, and we are seeing already the results. That's our strategy, and that's the way for us to create long-term value for our shareholders. Again, we are confident in the investments that we're doing in credit card and commerce, and we are seeing already the results. again we are confident in the investments that we're doing in credit card and commerce and we are seeing already the results That's our strategy, and that's the way for us to create long-term value for our shareholders. that's our strategy and that's the way for us to create long-term value for our shareholders
Speaker 15: The next question is from Josh Beck with Raymond James. Please go ahead. The next question is from Josh Beck with Raymond James. the next question is from josh beck with raymond james Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 8: Thank you for taking the question. I'm kind of curious where maybe the business plan shook out versus your expectation with respect to the lower shipping threshold. Certainly, it seems like there's been a very nice frequency lift. You know, is that pretty much what you had anticipated or modeled? You know, related to the improvement in unit cost, I believe it was 11% decline in unit costs in Brazil, is that something that is sustainable as you build out this parallel slow delivery network? Or how should we think about the prospects there? Thank you. Thank you for taking the question. thank you for taking the question I'm kind of curious where maybe the business plan shook out versus your expectation with respect to the lower shipping threshold. i'm kind of curious where maybe the business plan shook out versus your expectation with respect to the lower shipping threshold Certainly, it seems like there's been a very nice frequency lift. certainly it seems like there's been a very nice frequency lift You know, is that pretty much what you had anticipated or modeled? you know is that pretty much what you had anticipated or modeled You know, related to the improvement in unit cost, I believe it was 11% decline in unit costs in Brazil, is that something that is sustainable as you build out this parallel slow delivery network? you know related to the improvement in unit cost i believe it was 11% decline in unit costs in brazil is that something that is sustainable as you build out this parallel slow delivery network Or how should we think about the prospects there? or how should we think about the prospects there Thank you. thank you
Speaker 2: Hey, Josh. How are you? Ariel here. Indeed, we are very pleased with the results of our lower free shipping threshold in Brazil. This is the third time that we have lowered the threshold, and the results we're seeing now are no different from the results we've seen in the past. Growth has accelerated, frequency has accelerated, we are at record conversion rates, record retention rates for new and existing buyers. We are having more new buyers. Our NPS in Brazil is at its peak. We have more sellers, more live listings per sellers. We are expanding market share and reaching our record levels. Yes, indeed, we are pleased and this is very much aligned to what we were planning for. Hey, Josh. hey josh How are you? how are you Ariel here. ariel here Indeed, we are very pleased with the results of our lower free shipping threshold in Brazil. indeed we are very pleased with the results of our lower free shipping threshold in brazil This is the third time that we have lowered the threshold, and the results we're seeing now are no different from the results we've seen in the past. this is the third time that we have lowered the threshold and the results we're seeing now are no different from the results we've seen in the past Growth has accelerated, frequency has accelerated, we are at record conversion rates, record retention rates for new and existing buyers. growth has accelerated frequency has accelerated we are at record conversion rates record retention rates for new and existing buyers We are having more new buyers. we are having more new buyers Our NPS in Brazil is at its peak. our nps in brazil is at its peak We have more sellers, more live listings per sellers. we have more sellers more live listings per sellers We are expanding market share and reaching our record levels. we are expanding market share and reaching our record levels Yes, indeed, we are pleased and this is very much aligned to what we were planning for. yes indeed we are pleased and this is very much aligned to what we were planning for Items sold, growth accelerated from 26% year-over-year in Q2 to 42% in Q3 to 45% in Q4. I think that is huge, considering the size of MercadoLibre The same happened with GMV, from 29% to 34%, now to 35%. Of course, this on top of all the growth and the size that we've achieved after 25, 26 years of existence and after a pandemic in which we accelerated growth a lot. I think that, as we mentioned in our shareholder letters, new buyers that have come to MercadoLibre since June, when we launched the new value prop, are buying more items across a larger number of categories with higher retention rates that compared to cohorts of new buyers prior to that change. Items sold, growth accelerated from 26% year-over-year in Q2 to 42% in Q3 to 45% in Q4. items sold growth accelerated from 26% year-over-year in q2 to 42% in q3 to 45% in q4 I think that is huge, considering the size of MercadoLibre The same happened with GMV, from 29% to 34%, now to 35%. i think that is huge considering the size of mercadolibre the same happened with gmv from 29% to 34% now to 35% Of course, this on top of all the growth and the size that we've achieved after 25, 26 years of existence and after a pandemic in which we accelerated growth a lot. of course this on top of all the growth and the size that we've achieved after 25 26 years of existence and after a pandemic in which we accelerated growth a lot I think that, as we mentioned in our shareholder letters, new buyers that have come to MercadoLibre since June, when we launched the new value prop, are buying more items across a larger number of categories with higher retention rates that compared to cohorts of new buyers prior to that change. i think that as we mentioned in our shareholder letters new buyers that have come to mercadolibre since june when we launched the new value prop are buying more items across a larger number of categories with higher retention rates that compared to cohorts of new buyers prior to that change We are very encouraged by the impact that we've seen, and this gives us great optimism about the foundations we are building as we look to be the driving force for e-commerce or for commerce shifting from the offline into the online, which is, at the end of the day, the goal that we are pursuing, right? Serving our customers better, providing the best value proposition out there. In terms of shipping costs, I would say we are pleased with the performance that we are having. The cost improvements come from several parts of the equation. On the one hand, of course, more volume is diluting, you know, more cost. We are very encouraged by the impact that we've seen, and this gives us great optimism about the foundations we are building as we look to be the driving force for e-commerce or for commerce shifting from the offline into the online, which is, at the end of the day, the goal that we are pursuing, right? we are very encouraged by the impact that we've seen and this gives us great optimism about the foundations we are building as we look to be the driving force for e-commerce or for commerce shifting from the offline into the online which is at the end of the day the goal that we are pursuing right Serving our customers better, providing the best value proposition out there. serving our customers better providing the best value proposition out there In terms of shipping costs, I would say we are pleased with the performance that we are having. in terms of shipping costs i would say we are pleased with the performance that we are having The cost improvements come from several parts of the equation. the cost improvements come from several parts of the equation On the one hand, of course, more volume is diluting, you know, more cost. on the one hand of course more volume is diluting you know more cost We are taking advantage of idle capacity through our slow shipping network, meaning that we are able to ship items whenever we see a space in the value chain. Of course, we continue working on technology and productivity in order to make our operation even more efficient and more sustainable. We don't see a reason for this not to change or not to continue, right? We are positive. I think the team has done a tremendous job, but we still think we have more things to do. We are taking advantage of idle capacity through our slow shipping network, meaning that we are able to ship items whenever we see a space in the value chain. we are taking advantage of idle capacity through our slow shipping network meaning that we are able to ship items whenever we see a space in the value chain Of course, we continue working on technology and productivity in order to make our operation even more efficient and more sustainable. of course we continue working on technology and productivity in order to make our operation even more efficient and more sustainable We don't see a reason for this not to change or not to continue, right? we don't see a reason for this not to change or not to continue right We are positive. we are positive I think the team has done a tremendous job, but we still think we have more things to do. i think the team has done a tremendous job but we still think we have more things to do
Speaker 15: The next question is from Geoffrey Elliott with Autonomous. Please go ahead. The next question is from Geoffrey Elliott with Autonomous. the next question is from geoffrey elliott with autonomous Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 5: Oh, hello, thanks very much for taking the question. Can you discuss the changes that you announced to the shipping model in Brazil, I believe, on January 20th, and getting a little bit more variable around different shipping rates for different types of shipments? Then high level, how do you see that impacting financials, impacting margins? Oh, hello, thanks very much for taking the question. oh hello thanks very much for taking the question Can you discuss the changes that you announced to the shipping model in Brazil, I believe, on January 20th, and getting a little bit more variable around different shipping rates for different types of shipments? can you discuss the changes that you announced to the shipping model in brazil i believe on january 20th and getting a little bit more variable around different shipping rates for different types of shipments Then high level, how do you see that impacting financials, impacting margins? then high level how do you see that impacting financials impacting margins
Speaker 2: Basically, we are trying to de-average, a bit, the way we charge merchants, and we think shipping costs do correlate a lot with measurements and weight. For that reason, we decided to move to a different type of table in which we are able to charge merchants, in a much more correlated way, to the cost structure that we have based on actual dimensions and weights of the items. I think it's early to make comments on impacts on financials. As you know, we don't guide, so probably at the end of Q1, with our results at the time, we will be able to share more details and color. Basically, we are trying to de-average, a bit, the way we charge merchants, and we think shipping costs do correlate a lot with measurements and weight. basically we are trying to de-average a bit the way we charge merchants and we think shipping costs do correlate a lot with measurements and weight For that reason, we decided to move to a different type of table in which we are able to charge merchants, in a much more correlated way, to the cost structure that we have based on actual dimensions and weights of the items. for that reason we decided to move to a different type of table in which we are able to charge merchants in a much more correlated way to the cost structure that we have based on actual dimensions and weights of the items I think it's early to make comments on impacts on financials. i think it's early to make comments on impacts on financials As you know, we don't guide, so probably at the end of Q1, with our results at the time, we will be able to share more details and color. as you know we don't guide so probably at the end of q1 with our results at the time we will be able to share more details and color ... on impact. Again, as always, we continue to evolve, and sophisticate the way we manage the business, and what we've done with the shipping tables is no different from that. ... on impact. on impact Again, as always, we continue to evolve, and sophisticate the way we manage the business, and what we've done with the shipping tables is no different from that. again as always we continue to evolve and sophisticate the way we manage the business and what we've done with the shipping tables is no different from that
Speaker 15: The next question is from Kaio Prato with UBS. Please go ahead. The next question is from Kaio Prato with UBS. the next question is from kaio prato with ubs Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 10: Hello, good evening, everyone. I have two quick questions on my side, please, on Mercado Pago. First, specifically on Brazil, we are seeing a really solid growth on your deposit franchise, basically the double year-on-year, looking to the central bank data. Can you please verify if these deposits are now being used for funding to your credit business or not? If so, how much of that? I would like to understand how do you see this usage going forward, and what type of impact it may bring to your NIM as well. Quickly, the second is in terms of your NPL ratio. The early NPL ratio between 15 and 90 days, it increased a little bit. Hello, good evening, everyone. hello good evening everyone I have two quick questions on my side, please, on Mercado Pago. i have two quick questions on my side please on mercado pago First, specifically on Brazil, we are seeing a really solid growth on your deposit franchise, basically the double year-on-year, looking to the central bank data. first specifically on brazil we are seeing a really solid growth on your deposit franchise basically the double year-on-year looking to the central bank data Can you please verify if these deposits are now being used for funding to your credit business or not? can you please verify if these deposits are now being used for funding to your credit business or not If so, how much of that? if so how much of that I would like to understand how do you see this usage going forward, and what type of impact it may bring to your NIM as well. i would like to understand how do you see this usage going forward and what type of impact it may bring to your nim as well Quickly, the second is in terms of your NPL ratio. quickly the second is in terms of your npl ratio The early NPL ratio between 15 and 90 days, it increased a little bit. the early npl ratio between 15 and 90 days it increased a little bit Can you walk us through the impact of that, as extra seasonality is usually positive in the fourth Q and expectation going forward. Thank you. Can you walk us through the impact of that, as extra seasonality is usually positive in the fourth Q and expectation going forward. can you walk us through the impact of that as extra seasonality is usually positive in the fourth q and expectation going forward Thank you. thank you
Speaker 16: Hi, Kyle. Let me start with the first question regarding deposits. Today, mostly, we are not using deposits for funding. We're not doing fractional banking. Nonetheless, we are very happy with the growth in those deposits. Last year, a year ago, basically, when we introduced pots and a higher interest rate on pots, we saw a significant increase in the deposit rate. What we saw is that those users that use pots and in general have more money with us, we see a significantly higher level of engagement. We see that across the board on Mercado Pago and also MercadoLibre We see these users doing more transactions, using our credit products more often, being more likely to using our debit cards or getting a credit card. Hi, Kyle. hi kyle Let me start with the first question regarding deposits. let me start with the first question regarding deposits Today, mostly, we are not using deposits for funding. today mostly we are not using deposits for funding We're not doing fractional banking. we're not doing fractional banking Nonetheless, we are very happy with the growth in those deposits. nonetheless we are very happy with the growth in those deposits Last year, a year ago, basically, when we introduced pots and a higher interest rate on pots, we saw a significant increase in the deposit rate. last year a year ago basically when we introduced pots and a higher interest rate on pots we saw a significant increase in the deposit rate What we saw is that those users that use pots and in general have more money with us, we see a significantly higher level of engagement. what we saw is that those users that use pots and in general have more money with us we see a significantly higher level of engagement We see that across the board on Mercado Pago and also MercadoLibre We see these users doing more transactions, using our credit products more often, being more likely to using our debit cards or getting a credit card. we see that across the board on mercado pago and also mercadolibre we see these users doing more transactions using our credit products more often being more likely to using our debit cards or getting a credit card We see it as a significant driver of engagement and a driver of NPS, of Net Promoter Score, that is. As you know, this is a metric we follow closely, and we are very happy to have finished the year leading the Net Promoter Score tables for financial institutions in Brazil. The second part of the question, if I got it right, was regarding NPLs and the impact of a little bit, a slight deterioration in NPLs from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. That is so. I would say that in general, NPLs of the credit card book fell to an all-time low of 4.4% in the fourth quarter. Nonetheless, the increase in NPL was mostly related to the consumer and merchant books. We see it as a significant driver of engagement and a driver of NPS, of Net Promoter Score, that is. we see it as a significant driver of engagement and a driver of nps of net promoter score that is As you know, this is a metric we follow closely, and we are very happy to have finished the year leading the Net Promoter Score tables for financial institutions in Brazil. as you know this is a metric we follow closely and we are very happy to have finished the year leading the net promoter score tables for financial institutions in brazil The second part of the question, if I got it right, was regarding NPLs and the impact of a little bit, a slight deterioration in NPLs from the third quarter to the fourth quarter. the second part of the question if i got it right was regarding npls and the impact of a little bit a slight deterioration in npls from the third quarter to the fourth quarter That is so. that is so I would say that in general, NPLs of the credit card book fell to an all-time low of 4.4% in the fourth quarter. i would say that in general npls of the credit card book fell to an all-time low of 4.4% in the fourth quarter Nonetheless, the increase in NPL was mostly related to the consumer and merchant books. nonetheless the increase in npl was mostly related to the consumer and merchant books Having said that, I think that more important than NPLs are NIMs, and those improved, meaning we are more profitable than we were a quarter before. What we did was, we increased the number of people and the riskier number of people we gave credit to, but we priced that risk accordingly, and therefore, we ended up having a significant, a larger spread than we did on the prior quarter. I think this was a calculated risk, and it worked out well. Having said that, I think that more important than NPLs are NIMs, and those improved, meaning we are more profitable than we were a quarter before. having said that i think that more important than npls are nims and those improved meaning we are more profitable than we were a quarter before What we did was, we increased the number of people and the riskier number of people we gave credit to, but we priced that risk accordingly, and therefore, we ended up having a significant, a larger spread than we did on the prior quarter. what we did was we increased the number of people and the riskier number of people we gave credit to but we priced that risk accordingly and therefore we ended up having a significant a larger spread than we did on the prior quarter I think this was a calculated risk, and it worked out well. i think this was a calculated risk and it worked out well
Speaker 15: The next question is from Neha Argawala with HSBC. Please go ahead. The next question is from Neha Argawala with HSBC. the next question is from neha argawala with hsbc Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 14: Hi, thank you for taking my question. I'd like to follow up on the last question. We have certainly seen a pickup in loan yields quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, and as you mentioned, you're taking more risk, which is resulting in the early delinquencies going up in fourth quarter, despite positive seasonality. Does this mean that maybe in the next quarter or two, we will start seeing an impact on 90-day NPLs, and they will start going up again, since you're taking more risk? Although I understand that you're pricing for it, is this a trend that we should continue to see going forward? Just to confirm, the increase in loan yields was just from taking higher risk in Brazil and Mexico, and not coming from an increase in the share of the portfolio in Argentina. Thank you so much. Hi, thank you for taking my question. hi thank you for taking my question I'd like to follow up on the last question. i'd like to follow up on the last question We have certainly seen a pickup in loan yields quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter, and as you mentioned, you're taking more risk, which is resulting in the early delinquencies going up in fourth quarter, despite positive seasonality. we have certainly seen a pickup in loan yields quarter-on-quarter in the fourth quarter and as you mentioned you're taking more risk which is resulting in the early delinquencies going up in fourth quarter despite positive seasonality Does this mean that maybe in the next quarter or two, we will start seeing an impact on 90-day NPLs, and they will start going up again, since you're taking more risk? does this mean that maybe in the next quarter or two we will start seeing an impact on 90-day npls and they will start going up again since you're taking more risk Although I understand that you're pricing for it, is this a trend that we should continue to see going forward? although i understand that you're pricing for it is this a trend that we should continue to see going forward Just to confirm, the increase in loan yields was just from taking higher risk in Brazil and Mexico, and not coming from an increase in the share of the portfolio in Argentina. just to confirm the increase in loan yields was just from taking higher risk in brazil and mexico and not coming from an increase in the share of the portfolio in argentina Thank you so much. thank you so much
Speaker 12: Neha, as you know, we don't guide. We are very comfortable with the amount of risk we are taking. We have seen our models improving and having good spreads. When we expect a loss, we book that in advance. We don't believe there will be any surprises there. I would say that we don't see an increase in loan yields coming. I'd say we are growing in all three countries in a very similar fashion. We were more cautious in the fourth quarter in Argentina because of the election and because of we saw some macro instability because of the election. We were a little more cautious. Neha, as you know, we don't guide. neha as you know we don't guide We are very comfortable with the amount of risk we are taking. we are very comfortable with the amount of risk we are taking We have seen our models improving and having good spreads. we have seen our models improving and having good spreads When we expect a loss, we book that in advance. when we expect a loss we book that in advance We don't believe there will be any surprises there. we don't believe there will be any surprises there I would say that we don't see an increase in loan yields coming. i would say that we don't see an increase in loan yields coming I'd say we are growing in all three countries in a very similar fashion. i'd say we are growing in all three countries in a very similar fashion We were more cautious in the fourth quarter in Argentina because of the election and because of we saw some macro instability because of the election. we were more cautious in the fourth quarter in argentina because of the election and because of we saw some macro instability because of the election We were a little more cautious. we were a little more cautious There was a spike in interest rates prior to the election, and then they came down, and therefore, being interest rates higher, there was less demand for credit. Beyond that, we did not see any significant change in the other markets in terms of demand for credit or change in loan yields. There was a spike in interest rates prior to the election, and then they came down, and therefore, being interest rates higher, there was less demand for credit. there was a spike in interest rates prior to the election and then they came down and therefore being interest rates higher there was less demand for credit Beyond that, we did not see any significant change in the other markets in terms of demand for credit or change in loan yields. beyond that we did not see any significant change in the other markets in terms of demand for credit or change in loan yields
Speaker 2: Maybe to complement Martin here, I think the philosophy on credit has always been that we will grow our credit book so long as we have a healthy book. Maybe to complement Martin here, I think the philosophy on credit has always been that we will grow our credit book so long as we have a healthy book. maybe to complement martin here i think the philosophy on credit has always been that we will grow our credit book so long as we have a healthy book As Osvaldo mentioned, you're seeing only part of the equation on the NPLs, but obviously we are pricing those ahead of time. The margins in Argentina and Mexico are extremely high. I mean, they're much better than last quarter. In fact, when you look at NIM, that looks at the whole equation, because not only looks at bad debt and provisions, but also the revenues that are generated on that portfolio, you can see that NIM improved quarter-on-quarter. We feel very, very comfortable about the quality and the health of our portfolio, and that's the reason why you see our credit book growing at 90%, because we are confident on our models and our collection. As Osvaldo mentioned, you're seeing only part of the equation on the NPLs, but obviously we are pricing those ahead of time. as osvaldo mentioned you're seeing only part of the equation on the npls but obviously we are pricing those ahead of time The margins in Argentina and Mexico are extremely high. the margins in argentina and mexico are extremely high I mean, they're much better than last quarter. i mean they're much better than last quarter In fact, when you look at NIM, that looks at the whole equation, because not only looks at bad debt and provisions, but also the revenues that are generated on that portfolio, you can see that NIM improved quarter-on-quarter. in fact when you look at nim that looks at the whole equation because not only looks at bad debt and provisions but also the revenues that are generated on that portfolio you can see that nim improved quarter-on-quarter We feel very, very comfortable about the quality and the health of our portfolio, and that's the reason why you see our credit book growing at 90%, because we are confident on our models and our collection. we feel very very comfortable about the quality and the health of our portfolio and that's the reason why you see our credit book growing at 90% because we are confident on our models and our collection
Speaker 15: The next question is from Dannie Tiger with XP. Please go ahead. The next question is from Dannie Tiger with XP. the next question is from dannie tiger with xp Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 4: Hi, thanks for taking my question. I would like to explore a little bit the sales and marketing and provision of doubtful accounts dynamics. Firstly, regarding sales and marketing, we see an increase Q on Q in terms of investments as a percentage of sales. You also mentioned on the release some tactical investments being done because of seasonality. It would be interesting for you to share with us some color around how we should think about these investments going forward, especially as we see a lower intensity coming from competition, especially in Brazil, in the beginning of the year. Also regarding the acceleration of consumer books that you mentioned in Brazil and Mexico, and that being the key lever for this doubtful accounts not improving Q and Q. Hi, thanks for taking my question. hi thanks for taking my question I would like to explore a little bit the sales and marketing and provision of doubtful accounts dynamics. i would like to explore a little bit the sales and marketing and provision of doubtful accounts dynamics Firstly, regarding sales and marketing, we see an increase Q on Q in terms of investments as a percentage of sales. firstly regarding sales and marketing we see an increase q on q in terms of investments as a percentage of sales You also mentioned on the release some tactical investments being done because of seasonality. you also mentioned on the release some tactical investments being done because of seasonality It would be interesting for you to share with us some color around how we should think about these investments going forward, especially as we see a lower intensity coming from competition, especially in Brazil, in the beginning of the year. it would be interesting for you to share with us some color around how we should think about these investments going forward especially as we see a lower intensity coming from competition especially in brazil in the beginning of the year Also regarding the acceleration of consumer books that you mentioned in Brazil and Mexico, and that being the key lever for this doubtful accounts not improving Q and Q. also regarding the acceleration of consumer books that you mentioned in brazil and mexico and that being the key lever for this doubtful accounts not improving q and q You also mentioned that you are benefiting from a higher cross-selling with your marketplace, while you, as you mentioned, overall metrics remain healthy. Should we think that maybe this pressure is a consequence of you guys capturing this opportunity of kind of increasing the overlap between the two platforms? Since you have strong momentum in commerce that is fueling the consumer book growth? Thanks. You also mentioned that you are benefiting from a higher cross-selling with your marketplace, while you, as you mentioned, overall metrics remain healthy. you also mentioned that you are benefiting from a higher cross-selling with your marketplace while you as you mentioned overall metrics remain healthy Should we think that maybe this pressure is a consequence of you guys capturing this opportunity of kind of increasing the overlap between the two platforms? should we think that maybe this pressure is a consequence of you guys capturing this opportunity of kind of increasing the overlap between the two platforms Since you have strong momentum in commerce that is fueling the consumer book growth? since you have strong momentum in commerce that is fueling the consumer book growth Thanks. thanks
Speaker 12: Hi, Danny, Martin here. I think the first part of the question related to sales and marketing, I think is consistent what we have been saying over the past couple of quarters. Specifically this quarter, if you see sequentially, we increased our spending by 60 basis points and year-on-year by 1.4 basis points on marketing. For the most part, is a result of expansion of our social channels. As we mentioned in the past, we are scaling our affiliate program with very positive results. In Brazil, for instance, the number of affiliates almost doubled in Q4 relative to Q3, and year-on-year we have 6x the number of affiliates that are selling and promoting products to MercadoLibre. We see as a very, very positive and very... Hi, Danny, Martin here. hi danny martin here I think the first part of the question related to sales and marketing, I think is consistent what we have been saying over the past couple of quarters. i think the first part of the question related to sales and marketing i think is consistent what we have been saying over the past couple of quarters Specifically this quarter, if you see sequentially, we increased our spending by 60 basis points and year-on-year by 1.4 basis points on marketing. specifically this quarter if you see sequentially we increased our spending by 60 basis points and year-on-year by 1.4 basis points on marketing For the most part, is a result of expansion of our social channels. for the most part is a result of expansion of our social channels As we mentioned in the past, we are scaling our affiliate program with very positive results. as we mentioned in the past we are scaling our affiliate program with very positive results In Brazil, for instance, the number of affiliates almost doubled in Q4 relative to Q3, and year-on-year we have 6x the number of affiliates that are selling and promoting products to MercadoLibre. in brazil for instance the number of affiliates almost doubled in q4 relative to q3 and year-on-year we have 6x the number of affiliates that are selling and promoting products to mercadolibre We see as a very, very positive and very... we see as a very very positive and very It's a channel that should help us drive growth in the future, we are investing in that particular channel. That explains most of the increase in investments and marketing. The rest of the lines remain the same. There might be some seasonality in Q4, but for the most part, is the affiliate program. Just to put it in perspective, if you look at the past several years, the range of investments in sales and marketing is between 11% and 12%. We are on the upper range of that level, but it's within those lines that we have been investing over the past several years. Second part of the question? It's a channel that should help us drive growth in the future, we are investing in that particular channel. it's a channel that should help us drive growth in the future we are investing in that particular channel That explains most of the increase in investments and marketing. that explains most of the increase in investments and marketing The rest of the lines remain the same. the rest of the lines remain the same There might be some seasonality in Q4, but for the most part, is the affiliate program. there might be some seasonality in q4 but for the most part is the affiliate program Just to put it in perspective, if you look at the past several years, the range of investments in sales and marketing is between 11% and 12%. just to put it in perspective if you look at the past several years the range of investments in sales and marketing is between 11% and 12% We are on the upper range of that level, but it's within those lines that we have been investing over the past several years. we are on the upper range of that level but it's within those lines that we have been investing over the past several years Second part of the question? second part of the question I think the second part of the question was if there was an acceleration of credit driven by the momentum of e-commerce. I would say to some degree that could be the case, but I would say it's mostly that we have been mostly on the. Let's split this answer into two main areas. On the one hand, I would say that the yielding account, we have been advertising it strongly last year, and that has been the main driver, where we pay a larger return in the super-yielding account, and that has been the main driver for the acceleration. I would not say that is necessarily related to the extra activity in the marketplace. I think the second part of the question was if there was an acceleration of credit driven by the momentum of e-commerce. i think the second part of the question was if there was an acceleration of credit driven by the momentum of e-commerce I would say to some degree that could be the case, but I would say it's mostly that we have been mostly on the. i would say to some degree that could be the case but i would say it's mostly that we have been mostly on the Let's split this answer into two main areas. let's split this answer into two main areas On the one hand, I would say that the yielding account, we have been advertising it strongly last year, and that has been the main driver, where we pay a larger return in the super-yielding account, and that has been the main driver for the acceleration. on the one hand i would say that the yielding account we have been advertising it strongly last year and that has been the main driver where we pay a larger return in the super-yielding account and that has been the main driver for the acceleration I would not say that is necessarily related to the extra activity in the marketplace. i would not say that is necessarily related to the extra activity in the marketplace On the credit card front, I would say it's a combination of two things. One, definitely we have been improving the integration of the offer of the credit card in the checkout and also offering more installments in the checkout. Definitely the marketplace is a big driver for the growth of the use of the credit card. On top of that, we have continuously been improving the quality of our models. As we improve our credit models, we feel more comfortable issuing more cards, and therefore, I would say the main driver for issuing more cards, I would say, has been the increase in the accuracy of these credit models, but also definitely the integration with the checkout of the marketplace is also a big driver. On the credit card front, I would say it's a combination of two things. on the credit card front i would say it's a combination of two things One, definitely we have been improving the integration of the offer of the credit card in the checkout and also offering more installments in the checkout. one definitely we have been improving the integration of the offer of the credit card in the checkout and also offering more installments in the checkout Definitely the marketplace is a big driver for the growth of the use of the credit card. definitely the marketplace is a big driver for the growth of the use of the credit card On top of that, we have continuously been improving the quality of our models. on top of that we have continuously been improving the quality of our models As we improve our credit models, we feel more comfortable issuing more cards, and therefore, I would say the main driver for issuing more cards, I would say, has been the increase in the accuracy of these credit models, but also definitely the integration with the checkout of the marketplace is also a big driver. as we improve our credit models we feel more comfortable issuing more cards and therefore i would say the main driver for issuing more cards i would say has been the increase in the accuracy of these credit models but also definitely the integration with the checkout of the marketplace is also a big driver
Speaker 15: The next question is from Craig Moore with FT Partners. Please go ahead. The next question is from Craig Moore with FT Partners. the next question is from craig moore with ft partners Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 3: Yeah. Hi, thanks for taking the question. I'd like to ask the flip side of the prior question, which is, you know, if you look over time, concerning the investments you've made in provisions, as well as growing out the credit book through credit cards and other types of loans, I was wondering if you could dimensionalize the lift that you get on a basket size or a GMV spend basis for those that have the credit card or are borrowing versus those that are not, and perhaps also the degree of retention that you see in those customers versus those that don't? Yeah. yeah Hi, thanks for taking the question. hi thanks for taking the question I'd like to ask the flip side of the prior question, which is, you know, if you look over time, concerning the investments you've made in provisions, as well as growing out the credit book through credit cards and other types of loans, I was wondering if you could dimensionalize the lift that you get on a basket size or a GMV spend basis for those that have the credit card or are borrowing versus those that are not, and perhaps also the degree of retention that you see in those customers versus those that don't? i'd like to ask the flip side of the prior question which is you know if you look over time concerning the investments you've made in provisions as well as growing out the credit book through credit cards and other types of loans i was wondering if you could dimensionalize the lift that you get on a basket size or a gmv spend basis for those that have the credit card or are borrowing versus those that are not and perhaps also the degree of retention that you see in those customers versus those that don't
Speaker 16: Hi, Craig. Look, we have not disclosed a specific number in terms of a lift we see, neither spend or retention, but definitely is, I would say, significant. We measure several things. One of them is how much interactions they have with the marketplace, also Net Promoter Scores. There's a significant lift when someone start using our credit products, or they get a credit card and Net Promoter Score. I would say on top of those two things, we do see a higher engagement and higher net spend. When we look at each of the main countries, I'm talking about Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, and we look at what % of mix of all of the GMV is paid with Mercado Pago products, that those lines have been growing steadily in all three markets. Hi, Craig. hi craig Look, we have not disclosed a specific number in terms of a lift we see, neither spend or retention, but definitely is, I would say, significant. look we have not disclosed a specific number in terms of a lift we see neither spend or retention but definitely is i would say significant We measure several things. we measure several things One of them is how much interactions they have with the marketplace, also Net Promoter Scores. one of them is how much interactions they have with the marketplace also net promoter scores There's a significant lift when someone start using our credit products, or they get a credit card and Net Promoter Score. there's a significant lift when someone start using our credit products or they get a credit card and net promoter score I would say on top of those two things, we do see a higher engagement and higher net spend. i would say on top of those two things we do see a higher engagement and higher net spend When we look at each of the main countries, I'm talking about Brazil, Mexico and Argentina, and we look at what % of mix of all of the GMV is paid with Mercado Pago products, that those lines have been growing steadily in all three markets. when we look at each of the main countries i'm talking about brazil mexico and argentina and we look at what % of mix of all of the gmv is paid with mercado pago products that those lines have been growing steadily in all three markets If you combine buy now, pay later, credit card, store balance, and so on, that is growing and is becoming a more significant part of GMV in each of the market. Those transactions are great because typically they have a significantly higher approval rate and a lower cost, and many times we are double dipping because we have some income also on the Mercado Pago side, or at least a lower cost. I think there is really a big synergy going on between the marketplace and Mercado Pago there. If you combine buy now, pay later, credit card, store balance, and so on, that is growing and is becoming a more significant part of GMV in each of the market. if you combine buy now pay later credit card store balance and so on that is growing and is becoming a more significant part of gmv in each of the market Those transactions are great because typically they have a significantly higher approval rate and a lower cost, and many times we are double dipping because we have some income also on the Mercado Pago side, or at least a lower cost. those transactions are great because typically they have a significantly higher approval rate and a lower cost and many times we are double dipping because we have some income also on the mercado pago side or at least a lower cost I think there is really a big synergy going on between the marketplace and Mercado Pago there. i think there is really a big synergy going on between the marketplace and mercado pago there
Speaker 15: The next question is from Marvin Fong with BTIG. Please go ahead. The next question is from Marvin Fong with BTIG. the next question is from marvin fong with btig Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 13: Hi, good evening. Thanks for taking my questions. Two quick ones also on credit card. I believe you mentioned in prepared remarks, you issued +$3 million in the fourth quarter. I believe that's substantial. I think the last time you mentioned in the second quarter, you issued $1.5 million. Well, it didn't sound like Argentina was the main driver of that, but could you just kind of break out, you know, is the growth in Brazil and Mexico, you know, dramatically higher compared to the second quarter? Hi, good evening. hi good evening Thanks for taking my questions. thanks for taking my questions Two quick ones also on credit card. two quick ones also on credit card I believe you mentioned in prepared remarks, you issued +$3 million in the fourth quarter. i believe you mentioned in prepared remarks you issued +$3 million in the fourth quarter I believe that's substantial. i believe that's substantial I think the last time you mentioned in the second quarter, you issued $1.5 million. i think the last time you mentioned in the second quarter you issued $1.5 million Well, it didn't sound like Argentina was the main driver of that, but could you just kind of break out, you know, is the growth in Brazil and Mexico, you know, dramatically higher compared to the second quarter? well it didn't sound like argentina was the main driver of that but could you just kind of break out you know is the growth in brazil and mexico you know dramatically higher compared to the second quarter The second part of the question, you know, as the NPL performance in credit card continues to get better, are you or is there an opportunity in the future to kind of take a lower provision in the upfront and make it more margin attractive at an earlier stage? Thank you. The second part of the question, you know, as the NPL performance in credit card continues to get better, are you or is there an opportunity in the future to kind of take a lower provision in the upfront and make it more margin attractive at an earlier stage? the second part of the question you know as the npl performance in credit card continues to get better are you or is there an opportunity in the future to kind of take a lower provision in the upfront and make it more margin attractive at an earlier stage Thank you. thank you
Speaker 12: Hi, Marvin. Let me take the first question with regards to number of credit cards we issued. In the fourth quarter, we issued nearly 3 million cards, versus, as you said, 1.5 million in the second quarter and 2 million in the third quarter. I would say from the second quarter to the third quarter, the main increase came from Brazil, where improvements in our models meant that we were able to find more users that fit into our payback targets. That was from the second quarter into the third one. From the third quarter to the fourth quarter, there were two drivers. Hi, Marvin. hi marvin Let me take the first question with regards to number of credit cards we issued. let me take the first question with regards to number of credit cards we issued In the fourth quarter, we issued nearly 3 million cards, versus, as you said, 1.5 million in the second quarter and 2 million in the third quarter. in the fourth quarter we issued nearly 3 million cards versus as you said 1.5 million in the second quarter and 2 million in the third quarter I would say from the second quarter to the third quarter, the main increase came from Brazil, where improvements in our models meant that we were able to find more users that fit into our payback targets. i would say from the second quarter to the third quarter the main increase came from brazil where improvements in our models meant that we were able to find more users that fit into our payback targets That was from the second quarter into the third one. that was from the second quarter into the third one From the third quarter to the fourth quarter, there were two drivers. from the third quarter to the fourth quarter there were two drivers One of them was Argentina, as you mentioned, we started issuing cards in, let's say, halfway through the third quarter, but significantly sped up through the fourth quarter, and we issued a few, I'd say, 100,000 cards as we begin to ramp up our surge in that country. Early results are promising, cards are being issued to lower-risk users and the typical ones that could use our consumer loans. We are excited with how Argentina is going, and we are just getting started. In Mexico, I would say that better-than-expected payback periods enabled us to pick up the pace also of issuance, and we are comfortable with the pace we're taking. One of them was Argentina, as you mentioned, we started issuing cards in, let's say, halfway through the third quarter, but significantly sped up through the fourth quarter, and we issued a few, I'd say, 100,000 cards as we begin to ramp up our surge in that country. one of them was argentina as you mentioned we started issuing cards in let's say halfway through the third quarter but significantly sped up through the fourth quarter and we issued a few i'd say 100,000 cards as we begin to ramp up our surge in that country Early results are promising, cards are being issued to lower-risk users and the typical ones that could use our consumer loans. early results are promising cards are being issued to lower-risk users and the typical ones that could use our consumer loans We are excited with how Argentina is going, and we are just getting started. we are excited with how argentina is going and we are just getting started In Mexico, I would say that better-than-expected payback periods enabled us to pick up the pace also of issuance, and we are comfortable with the pace we're taking. in mexico i would say that better-than-expected payback periods enabled us to pick up the pace also of issuance and we are comfortable with the pace we're taking
Speaker 2: I would say, the first, we have an acceleration in the third quarter in Brazil, then in the fourth quarter in Mexico and Argentina. Now we're working with the three countries at full speed, I would say. I would say, the first, we have an acceleration in the third quarter in Brazil, then in the fourth quarter in Mexico and Argentina. i would say the first we have an acceleration in the third quarter in brazil then in the fourth quarter in mexico and argentina Now we're working with the three countries at full speed, I would say. now we're working with the three countries at full speed i would say In terms of the profitability of a product, if you look at Brazil, which is the oldest cohort, we have been issuing credit cards in Brazil since 2021. Cohorts that are older than two years are already profitable at a NIMAL level. That gives us a lot of encouragement to continue expanding the user base. Obviously, as we incorporate a large number of new users, the average is still not profitable, but we are seeing, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel, right? It should be a profitable business. In terms of the profitability of a product, if you look at Brazil, which is the oldest cohort, we have been issuing credit cards in Brazil since 2021. in terms of the profitability of a product if you look at brazil which is the oldest cohort we have been issuing credit cards in brazil since 2021 Cohorts that are older than two years are already profitable at a NIMAL level. cohorts that are older than two years are already profitable at a nimal level That gives us a lot of encouragement to continue expanding the user base. that gives us a lot of encouragement to continue expanding the user base Obviously, as we incorporate a large number of new users, the average is still not profitable, but we are seeing, you know, the light at the end of the tunnel, right? obviously as we incorporate a large number of new users the average is still not profitable but we are seeing you know the light at the end of the tunnel right It should be a profitable business. it should be a profitable business It should add profitability when it comes to maturity, but still we are at a stage where we are growing the user base, so on average, it's not profitable yet. Just to put it in perspective, we have three books of credit. We have consumer credit, which is a relatively high-margin business in terms of NIM. If you look at NIM, is in the 30s, in the high 40s, merchant credits. The credit card at this point is not NIM positive on average, but the half of the portfolio is already NIM on average in Brazil. We are seeing positive trends also in Mexico, and Argentina is too early to tell. It should add profitability when it comes to maturity, but still we are at a stage where we are growing the user base, so on average, it's not profitable yet. it should add profitability when it comes to maturity but still we are at a stage where we are growing the user base so on average it's not profitable yet Just to put it in perspective, we have three books of credit. just to put it in perspective we have three books of credit We have consumer credit, which is a relatively high-margin business in terms of NIM. we have consumer credit which is a relatively high-margin business in terms of nim If you look at NIM, is in the 30s, in the high 40s, merchant credits. if you look at nim is in the 30s in the high 40s merchant credits The credit card at this point is not NIM positive on average, but the half of the portfolio is already NIM on average in Brazil. the credit card at this point is not nim positive on average but the half of the portfolio is already nim on average in brazil We are seeing positive trends also in Mexico, and Argentina is too early to tell. we are seeing positive trends also in mexico and argentina is too early to tell
Speaker 15: The next question is from Jamie Friedman with Susquehanna International Group. Please go ahead. The next question is from Jamie Friedman with Susquehanna International Group. the next question is from jamie friedman with susquehanna international group Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 7: Hi. Thank you. Can you hear me okay? Hello? Hi. hi Thank you. thank you Can you hear me okay? can you hear me okay Hello? hello
Speaker 15: Maybe we can hear you. Maybe we can hear you. maybe we can hear you
Speaker 7: Okay, great. Sorry. I had a question about the acquiring TPV. In terms of the mix of on and off-platform acquiring TPV, how does that mix impact, say, the consolidated take rate of acquiring? If it does, is the interchange component of that now facing the regulatory caps that I think are underway in Mexico? Thank you very much. Okay, great. okay great Sorry. sorry I had a question about the acquiring TPV. i had a question about the acquiring tpv In terms of the mix of on and off-platform acquiring TPV, how does that mix impact, say, the consolidated take rate of acquiring? in terms of the mix of on and off-platform acquiring tpv how does that mix impact say the consolidated take rate of acquiring If it does, is the interchange component of that now facing the regulatory caps that I think are underway in Mexico? if it does is the interchange component of that now facing the regulatory caps that i think are underway in mexico Thank you very much. thank you very much
Speaker 2: Hi, Jamie. Let me clarify on acquiring. We have, if you want, three segments. You mentioned on-platform and off-platform, but basically all of what is on-platform, we are measuring straight away on the marketplace economics, so you don't see that on the acquiring side. However, we do see on the acquiring side, both online and offline, so that is typically POSs, and we provide merchant services for other merchants. There, typically, since there is higher risk and it's more complex to do online transactions, we have a higher take rate in online transactions and a lower take rate in POS transactions, because in many cases, there is really no risk in those kind of transactions. I would say the higher margin is on the online transactions. Hi, Jamie. hi jamie Let me clarify on acquiring. let me clarify on acquiring We have, if you want, three segments. we have if you want three segments You mentioned on-platform and off-platform, but basically all of what is on-platform, we are measuring straight away on the marketplace economics, so you don't see that on the acquiring side. you mentioned on-platform and off-platform but basically all of what is on-platform we are measuring straight away on the marketplace economics so you don't see that on the acquiring side However, we do see on the acquiring side, both online and offline, so that is typically POSs, and we provide merchant services for other merchants. however we do see on the acquiring side both online and offline so that is typically poss and we provide merchant services for other merchants There, typically, since there is higher risk and it's more complex to do online transactions, we have a higher take rate in online transactions and a lower take rate in POS transactions, because in many cases, there is really no risk in those kind of transactions. there typically since there is higher risk and it's more complex to do online transactions we have a higher take rate in online transactions and a lower take rate in pos transactions because in many cases there is really no risk in those kind of transactions I would say the higher margin is on the online transactions. i would say the higher margin is on the online transactions Offline is growing a lot, and we see a lot of potential because we have a lower market share in the, in the, in that part of the business. With regards to the interchange cap in Mexico, that did not go through. The regulator decided to postpone that or to put that on hold. There will be no change in interchanges in Mexico for the time being. Offline is growing a lot, and we see a lot of potential because we have a lower market share in the, in the, in that part of the business. offline is growing a lot and we see a lot of potential because we have a lower market share in the in the in that part of the business With regards to the interchange cap in Mexico, that did not go through. with regards to the interchange cap in mexico that did not go through The regulator decided to postpone that or to put that on hold. the regulator decided to postpone that or to put that on hold There will be no change in interchanges in Mexico for the time being. there will be no change in interchanges in mexico for the time being
Speaker 15: The next question is from Joao Soares with Citigroup. Please go ahead. The next question is from Joao Soares with Citigroup. the next question is from joao soares with citigroup Please go ahead. please go ahead
Speaker 9: Thank you. I appreciate the broader strategic upside you've outlined on agentic commerce, I fully agree with the merits of the driving online retail penetration and digital advertising. What I want to hear is your thoughts on the risk component. Essentially how these independent agentic systems could introduce new forms of disintermediation and engage the clients directly, right? Leading to potential changes in monetization. The most obvious one, I, we can think of and discuss a lot is the dollar flow of advertising. Really wanted to hear how you view these risks and how you're approaching them strategically. Thank you. Thank you. thank you I appreciate the broader strategic upside you've outlined on agentic commerce, I fully agree with the merits of the driving online retail penetration and digital advertising. i appreciate the broader strategic upside you've outlined on agentic commerce i fully agree with the merits of the driving online retail penetration and digital advertising What I want to hear is your thoughts on the risk component. what i want to hear is your thoughts on the risk component Essentially how these independent agentic systems could introduce new forms of disintermediation and engage the clients directly, right? essentially how these independent agentic systems could introduce new forms of disintermediation and engage the clients directly right Leading to potential changes in monetization. leading to potential changes in monetization The most obvious one, I, we can think of and discuss a lot is the dollar flow of advertising. the most obvious one i we can think of and discuss a lot is the dollar flow of advertising Really wanted to hear how you view these risks and how you're approaching them strategically. really wanted to hear how you view these risks and how you're approaching them strategically Thank you. thank you
Speaker 2: Yeah. Thank you, Joao. Let me try to rephrase what I meant earlier, as I try to address your point. I think there are things that we know, and there are things that we don't know. We don't know which hardware people will use in 10 years to buy. We don't know whether the winning model will be X, Y or Z, and so on. We do know that consumers do value or do look for the best end-to-end experience. We do know, and that means not only searching for products, but also getting products fast, having the widest selection, pricing, the best financing alternatives, post-purchase support, and so on. We also know that there's a technology today that can dramatically improve the product discovery process. Yeah. yeah Thank you, Joao. thank you joao Let me try to rephrase what I meant earlier, as I try to address your point. let me try to rephrase what i meant earlier as i try to address your point I think there are things that we know, and there are things that we don't know. i think there are things that we know and there are things that we don't know We don't know which hardware people will use in 10 years to buy. we don't know which hardware people will use in 10 years to buy We don't know whether the winning model will be X, Y or Z, and so on. we don't know whether the winning model will be x y or z and so on We do know that consumers do value or do look for the best end-to-end experience. we do know that consumers do value or do look for the best end-to-end experience We do know, and that means not only searching for products, but also getting products fast, having the widest selection, pricing, the best financing alternatives, post-purchase support, and so on. we do know and that means not only searching for products but also getting products fast having the widest selection pricing the best financing alternatives post-purchase support and so on We also know that there's a technology today that can dramatically improve the product discovery process. we also know that there's a technology today that can dramatically improve the product discovery process For that reason, we are putting all of our efforts and deploying lots of engineers in building our own agents and our own shopping assistant within MercadoLibre. It's early to know what will happen with other shopping assistants. I take your point that it might present a risk. I understand where you're coming from, but we are confident that we are playing this one from a position of strength. That we have the relationship with consumers, we have a brand that Latin America loves. We have information and data about past purchases that allow us to offer them a great shopping assistant, and we are betting and putting our efforts on what we can control, which is building the best assistant possible. For that reason, we are putting all of our efforts and deploying lots of engineers in building our own agents and our own shopping assistant within MercadoLibre. for that reason we are putting all of our efforts and deploying lots of engineers in building our own agents and our own shopping assistant within mercadolibre It's early to know what will happen with other shopping assistants. it's early to know what will happen with other shopping assistants I take your point that it might present a risk. i take your point that it might present a risk I understand where you're coming from, but we are confident that we are playing this one from a position of strength. i understand where you're coming from but we are confident that we are playing this one from a position of strength That we have the relationship with consumers, we have a brand that Latin America loves. that we have the relationship with consumers we have a brand that latin america loves We have information and data about past purchases that allow us to offer them a great shopping assistant, and we are betting and putting our efforts on what we can control, which is building the best assistant possible. we have information and data about past purchases that allow us to offer them a great shopping assistant and we are betting and putting our efforts on what we can control which is building the best assistant possible Then we'll see, right? Time will tell, it's a bit early in the process, but once again, I think that MercadoLibre is well positioned to capture this technology transformation, which, as I said before, I think will accelerate the migration from offline retail into online retail. Will be particularly relevant in a geography like Latin America, where we are somehow like 10 years before where the U.S., the U.K., or Asia is today. Then we'll see, right? then we'll see right Time will tell, it's a bit early in the process, but once again, I think that MercadoLibre is well positioned to capture this technology transformation, which, as I said before, I think will accelerate the migration from offline retail into online retail. time will tell it's a bit early in the process but once again i think that mercadolibre is well positioned to capture this technology transformation which as i said before i think will accelerate the migration from offline retail into online retail Will be particularly relevant in a geography like Latin America, where we are somehow like 10 years before where the U.S., the U.K., or Asia is today. will be particularly relevant in a geography like latin america where we are somehow like 10 years before where the u.s the u.k or asia is today
Speaker 15: This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Martín de los Santos for any closing remarks. This concludes our question and answer session. this concludes our question and answer session I would like to turn the conference back over to Martín de los Santos for any closing remarks. i would like to turn the conference back over to martín de los santos for any closing remarks
Speaker 12: Thank you all for joining the call and for your questions. We are very excited with the results that we're seeing across our ecosystem. In 2025, we achieved record market share gains in commerce in Brazil and Mexico. In intech, we also saw important market share gains in our acquiring business, and we continue to scale our credit portfolio, which is very profitable, as we discussed earlier. This resulted in Q4 revenues growing at 45% year-over-year, marking the 28th consecutive quarter of growth above 30%, which is another sign of the effectiveness of the long-term investment and customer focus that we have within our ecosystem and the way we manage our ecosystem. Thank you all for joining the call and for your questions. thank you all for joining the call and for your questions We are very excited with the results that we're seeing across our ecosystem. we are very excited with the results that we're seeing across our ecosystem In 2025, we achieved record market share gains in commerce in Brazil and Mexico. in 2025 we achieved record market share gains in commerce in brazil and mexico In intech, we also saw important market share gains in our acquiring business, and we continue to scale our credit portfolio, which is very profitable, as we discussed earlier. in intech we also saw important market share gains in our acquiring business and we continue to scale our credit portfolio which is very profitable as we discussed earlier This resulted in Q4 revenues growing at 45% year-over-year, marking the 28th consecutive quarter of growth above 30%, which is another sign of the effectiveness of the long-term investment and customer focus that we have within our ecosystem and the way we manage our ecosystem. this resulted in q4 revenues growing at 45% year-over-year marking the 28th consecutive quarter of growth above 30% which is another sign of the effectiveness of the long-term investment and customer focus that we have within our ecosystem and the way we manage our ecosystem In 2025, we reached a record NPS in commerce and fintech in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, which is a great achievement, that should enable us to sustain future growth, as we look into 2026. I look forward to talking to you again in May, when we disclose Q1 results. In the meantime, the investor relations team is available for any further questions. Thank you again, and good evening. In 2025, we reached a record NPS in commerce and fintech in Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina, which is a great achievement, that should enable us to sustain future growth, as we look into 2026. in 2025 we reached a record nps in commerce and fintech in brazil mexico and argentina which is a great achievement that should enable us to sustain future growth as we look into 2026 I look forward to talking to you again in May, when we disclose Q1 results. i look forward to talking to you again in may when we disclose q1 results In the meantime, the investor relations team is available for any further questions. in the meantime the investor relations team is available for any further questions Thank you again, and good evening. thank you again and good evening
Speaker 15: The conference is now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect. The conference is now concluded. the conference is now concluded Thank you for attending today's presentation. thank you for attending today's presentation You may now disconnect. you may now disconnect