Newegg Commerce (NEGG) 20-F2023 FY Annual report (foreign)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

WASHINGTON, D.C. 20549

FORM 20-F

(Mark One)

☐ REGISTRATION STATEMENT PURSUANT TO SECTION 12(b) OR (g) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

☒ ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

For the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023

OR

☐ TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

OR

☐ SHELL COMPANY REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934

Date of event requiring this shell company report

For the transition period from ______ to ______

Commission file number 001-34661

Newegg Commerce, Inc.
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

British Virgin Islands

(Jurisdiction of incorporation or organization)

Newegg Commerce, Inc.
17560 Rowland Street
City of Industry, CA 91748
(Address of principal executive offices)

Christina Ching

Chief Accounting Officer

Newegg Commerce, Inc.

17560 Rowland Street

City of Industry, CA 91748

Telephone: (626) 271-9700
(Name, Telephone, Email and/or Facsimile number and Address of Company Contact Person)

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act.

Securities registered or to be registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act. None.

Securities for which there is a reporting obligation pursuant to Section 15(d) of the Act. None.

Indicate the number of outstanding shares of each of the issuer’s classes of capital or common stock as of the close of the period covered by the annual report.

As of December 31, 2023, there were 380,413,497 shares of the registrant’s Common Shares outstanding.

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act. ☐ Yes ☒ No

If this report is an annual or transition report, indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. ☐ Yes ☒ No

Note – Checking the box above will not relieve any registrant required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 from their obligations under those Sections.

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. ☒ Yes ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files). ☒ Yes ☐ No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or an emerging growth company. See definition of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

If an emerging growth company that prepares its financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards† provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report. ☐  

If securities are registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act, indicate by check mark whether the financial statements of the registrant included in the filing reflect the correction of an error to previously issued financial statements. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether any of those error corrections are restatements that required a recovery analysis of incentive based compensation received by any of the registrant’s executive officers during the relevant recovery period pursuant to §240.10D-1(b). ☐

Indicate by check mark which basis of accounting the registrant has used to prepare the financial statements included in this filing:

If “Other” has been checked in response to the previous question, indicate by check mark which financial statement item the registrant has elected to follow. ☐ Item 17 ☐ Item 18

If this is an annual report, indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act). ☐ Yes ☒ No

Background and Certain Defined Terms

As used in this annual report, unless otherwise specified, the terms “we,” “our,” “us,” the “Company” and “Newegg” refer to the registrant, Newegg Commerce, Inc. (previously known as “Lianluo Smart Limited” or “LLIT”).

References to the “Merger” refer to the merger of Newegg Inc. with Lianluo Smart Limited, which subsequently changed its name to Newegg Commerce, Inc.

Hangzhou Liaison Interactive Information Technology Co., Limited (“Hangzhou Lianluo”), is a publicly traded company in China and a majority owner of Newegg Commerce, Inc. through a wholly-owned subsidiary, Digital Grid (Hong Kong) Technology Co., Limited (“Digital Grid”).

TABLE OF CONTENTS

DISCLOSURE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This annual report contains forward-looking statements that reflect our current expectations and views of future events, all of which are subject to risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements give our current expectations or forecasts of future events. You can identify these statements by the fact that they do not relate strictly to historical or current facts. You can find many (but not all) of these statements by the use of words such as “approximates,” “believes,” “hopes,” “expects,” “anticipates,” “estimates,” “projects,” “intends,” “plans,” “will,” “would,” “should,” “could,” “may” or other similar expressions in this annual report. These statements are likely to address our growth strategy, financial results and product and development programs. You must carefully consider any such statements and should understand that many factors could cause actual results to differ from our forward-looking statements. These factors may include inaccurate assumptions and a broad variety of other risks and uncertainties, including some that are known and some that are not. No forward-looking statement can be guaranteed and actual future results may vary materially. Factors that could cause actual results to differ from those discussed in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to:

We describe material risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could affect our business, including our financial condition and results of operations, under “Risk Factors.” We base our forward-looking statements on our management’s beliefs and assumptions based on information available to our management at the time the statements are made. We caution you that actual outcomes and results may, and are likely to, differ materially from what is expressed, implied or forecast by our forward-looking statements. Accordingly, you should be careful about relying on any forward-looking statements. Except as required under the federal securities laws, we do not have any intention or obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statements after the distribution of this annual report, whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in assumptions, or otherwise.

PART I

Item 1. Identity of Directors, Senior Management and Advisers

Not applicable.

Item 2. Offer Statistics and Expected Timetable

Not applicable.

Item 3. Key Information

A. [Reserved]

B. Capitalization and Indebtedness

Not applicable.

C. Reasons for the Offer and Use of Proceeds

Not applicable.

D. Risk Factors

An investment in the Company’s securities involves a high degree of risk. You should carefully consider the risks and uncertainties described below together with the other information set forth in this annual report. If any of the following risks or uncertainties actually occurs, our business, financial position and results of operations could be materially and adversely affected. In such case, the trading price of our securities could decline and you may lose all or part of your investment. Our business, financial condition, prospects, results of operations or cash flows could also be harmed by risks and uncertainties not currently known to us or that we currently do not believe are material. We cannot assure you that any of the events discussed in the risk factors below will not occur. The risks described below are organized by risk type and are not listed in order of their priority to us.

Summary of Factors That May Affect Our Future Results

The following summarizes the principal factors that make an investment in the Company speculative or risky. This summary should be read in conjunction with the remainder of this “Risk Factors” section and should not be relied upon as an exhaustive summary of the material risks facing our business. The occurrence of any of these risks could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations or cause our actual results to differ materially from those contained in forward-looking statements we have made in this annual report. You should consider all of the risk factors described in our public filings when evaluating our business, including risks relating to:

Risks Relating to Our Business

Global macroeconomic conditions and the effect of economic pressures and other business factors on discretionary consumer spending and consumer preferences may have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Uncertainties in global macroeconomic conditions that are beyond our control have in the past impacted our business and may in the future materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and stock price. These adverse economic conditions include inflation, slower growth or recession, new or increased tariffs and other changes to fiscal and monetary policy, higher interest rates, high unemployment, decreased consumer confidence in the economy, armed hostilities, foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, conditions affecting the retail environment for products we sell, and other matters that influence consumer spending and preferences.

In addition, consumer confidence and spending can be materially adversely affected in response to financial market volatility, negative financial news, conditions in the real estate and mortgage markets, including home equity loans and consumer credit, changes in net worth based on market changes and uncertainty, energy shortages and cost increases, labor and healthcare costs, government actions and general uncertainty regarding the overall future economic environment. Some consumers view a substantial portion of the products we offer as discretionary items rather than necessities. As a result, our operating results are sensitive to changes in macroeconomic conditions that impact consumer spending, including discretionary spending. Declines in consumer spending have resulted, and in the future may result, in decreased demand for our products and services which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations.

A downturn in the economic environment can also lead to financial instability; increased credit and collectability risk on our receivables; the failure of important partners, including suppliers, logistics providers, and financial institutions; limitations on our ability to issue new debt; reduced liquidity and declines in the fair value of our financial instruments. These and other economic factors can materially adversely affect our business, results of operations, financial condition and stock price.

Our business faces intense domestic and international competition.

The e-commerce market is intensely competitive with limited barriers to entry. Our current and potential competitors include retailers, manufacturers and distributors that offer a wide range of similar product categories and companies that provide Direct-to-Consumer (“D2C”) platform services, fulfillment and logistics services and other e-commerce related services. It is expected that the competition in this market will intensify in the future as companies develop new business models and enhanced technologies, new competitors enter the market, competitors forge new business combinations or alliances, and established companies in other market segments expand to become competitive with our business.

Many of our current and potential online and brick-and-mortar competitors have larger bases of customers or third-party sellers, better brand recognition and greater financial, marketing, technical, management and other resources than we do. In addition, some of our competitors have used and may continue to use aggressive pricing or promotional strategies, may have stronger supplier relationships with more favorable terms and inventory allocation and may devote substantially greater resources to their online platforms and system development than we do. Increased competition may result in reduced operating margins, reduced profitability, loss of market share and diminished brand recognition for Newegg.

We compete with online retailers such as Amazon and traditional retailers like Best Buy and Walmart, who sell through brick-and-mortar stores and their online websites. In addition, we also face competition in the international markets in which we participate or may enter in the future. Certain other competitors in countries where we operate are subsidiaries of e-commerce competitors in the United States with established local operations and brands and with greater experience and resources than we have. In other countries that we may enter, there may be incumbent online and multi-channel online or brick-and-mortar competitors presently selling Information Technology/Consumer Electronic (“IT/CE”) products. These incumbents may have advantages that could impede our expansion and growth in these markets.

We could also experience significant competitive pressure if any of our manufacturers or distributors were to initiate or expand their own online or brick-and-mortar retail operations. Because our manufacturers and distributors have access to merchandise at a lower cost than we do, they could sell products at lower prices and maintain a higher gross margin on their product sales than we can, and they may have the ability to directly connect with buyers at relatively low cost. This could result in our current and potential buyers deciding to purchase directly from these manufacturers and distributors instead of from Newegg. Increased competition from any manufacturer or distributor capable of maintaining high sales volumes and acquiring products at lower prices than we can, could significantly reduce our market share and adversely impact our operating results.

There is no assurance that we will be able to compete successfully against current and future competitors. Competitive pressures may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

A decline in demand for IT/CE products could adversely affect our operating results.

We and our Marketplace sellers primarily sell IT/CE products that are often discretionary purchases rather than necessities for consumers. Consequently, our results of operations tend to be sensitive to changes in macroeconomic conditions and their impact on consumer spending. Factors including customer confidence, employment levels, conditions in the residential real estate and mortgage markets, access to credit, interest rates, tax rates, customer debt levels and fuel and energy costs could reduce customer spending or change customer purchasing habits in ways that materially and adversely affect demand for the products that we and our Marketplace sellers offer.

There could be declines in the sales of the products offered by us and our Marketplace sellers due to several factors, including:

Additionally, it is expected that some of our future growth should be driven by product releases or upgrades that may occur in the near future. If such product releases do not occur or do not drive sales of IT/CE products to the extent expected, our future sales may be less than predicted, negatively impacting our net sales and net income.

Newegg’s reputation and business may be harmed if Newegg or the Newegg Marketplace sellers sell pirated, counterfeit, illegal or “gray market” items.

We receive from time to time, and may receive in the future, communications alleging that Newegg or the Newegg Marketplace sellers sold pirated, counterfeit, illegal or “gray market” items. These and future claims could increase our cost of doing business as a result of legal expenses, adverse judgments or settlements, and reputational harm, and could require us to change our business practices in a way that would be less efficient and more costly. In addition, key manufacturers and vendors, for instance, may be less likely to offer us favorable terms or authorization to carry their products if we sell products of theirs purchased on the “gray market.” We currently do not have any insurance to cover the types of claims that could be asserted in such litigation or in legal or administrative actions initiated by customers of such products, or by government agencies. If a claim were brought against us successfully, it could expose us to significant liability, which could have a material adverse effect on our business and operations.

If we are unable to provide a satisfactory customer experience, our reputation would be harmed and we could lose customers.

The success of our business depends largely on our ability to provide a superior customer experience to maintain and grow our customer base and keep our customers highly engaged on our online platforms, which in turn depends on a variety of factors. These include our ability to continue to maintain a wide range of product offerings with attractive pricing, provide timely and reliable order fulfillment and provide high-quality customer support and service. If our customers are not satisfied with our platforms, products or services, or our online platforms are severely interrupted or otherwise fail to meet our customers’ requests, our reputation could be adversely affected.

As an e-commerce company, we have limited ability to allow buyers to touch, test and feel products, personally interact with sales and customer service representatives, and receive or return products without waiting or paying for the products to be shipped, like brick-and-mortar retailers or online retailers that have brick-and-mortar operations do. Therefore, it is important that we continue to improve our online platforms, including efforts to encourage the creation of more high-quality and useful user-generated content, such as reviews and commentary, on the products we and our Marketplace sellers offer. If we do not continue to make investments in the development of our online platforms and customer service operations and, as a result, or due to other reasons, fail to provide a high-quality customer experience, we may lose customers, which could adversely impact our operating results.

We currently operate customer service centers in California and Texas, focusing on serving North American buyers. Any material disruption or slowdown in our customer support services resulting from telephone or internet failures, power or service outages, natural disasters, labor disputes or other events could make it difficult or impossible for us to provide adequate customer support. In addition, the future volume of customer complaints and inquiries may exceed our present system capacities. If this occurs, we could experience delays in responding to customer inquiries and addressing customer complaints and concerns. Our current level of customer support may also fail to meet the expectations of customers. Failure to provide satisfactory levels of customer service may harm our reputation, causing potential loss of existing customers and difficulty in acquiring new customers.

Some of our software and systems contain open source software, which may pose particular risks to our proprietary software and solutions.

We have incorporated open source software code into some of our internal software and systems and expect to continue to use this open source software in the future. The licenses applicable to open source software typically require that the source code subject to the license be made available to the public and that any modifications or derivative works to open source software continue to be licensed under open source licenses. From time to time, we may face intellectual property infringement claims from third parties, demands for the release or license of the open source software or derivative works that we developed using such software (which could include our proprietary source code) or claims that otherwise seek to enforce the terms of the applicable open source license. These claims could result in litigation and could require us to purchase a costly license, publicly release the affected portions of our source code, be limited in the licensing of our technologies or cease offering the implicated solutions unless and until we can re-engineer them to avoid infringement or change the use of the implicated open source software. In addition to risks related to license requirements, use of certain open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties, indemnities or other contractual protections with respect to the software (for example, non-infringement or functionality). Our use of open source software may also present additional security risks because the source code for open source software is publicly available, which may make it easier for hackers and other third parties to determine how to breach our websites, mobile apps and systems that rely on open source software. Any of these risks could be difficult to eliminate or manage and, if not addressed, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We and our Marketplace sellers’ pricing strategy may not meet customers’ price expectations or result in profitability.

Demand for our products is generally highly sensitive to price. Our pricing strategies have had, and may continue to have, a significant impact on our net sales and net income. We often offer discounted prices, free or discounted shipping or bundled products as a means of attracting customers and encouraging repeat purchases. Such offers and discounts may reduce our margins. Moreover, our competitors’ pricing and marketing strategies are beyond our control and can significantly impact the results of our pricing strategies. If we fail to meet our customers’ price expectations in any given period, or if our competitors decide to engage in aggressive pricing strategies, our business and results of operations would suffer.

In addition, under applicable federal and state unfair competition laws, including the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and U.S. Federal Trade Commission regulations, we are required to accurately identify product offerings, not make misleading claims on our platforms, and use qualifying disclosures where and when appropriate. We are particularly subject to the risks associated with our discounting pricing practices as a result of the aggressive judicial interpretations of deceptive pricing laws, particularly in California, which has led to numerous class action settlements by online and brick-and-mortar retailers in the past. For example, Newegg was named as the defendant in a putative class action accusing it of violating the False Advertising Law, the Unfair Competition Law and the Consumer Legal Remedies Act by using allegedly deceptive list prices with allegedly overstated discounts for our products. This matter was dismissed by the court on September 18, 2023 for failure to prosecute. An adverse outcome in any other lawsuits challenging deceptive pricing against us could have a material adverse effect on our reputation, business and financial condition.

We generally are not able to control the pricing strategies of our Marketplace sellers, which could affect our net income and our ability to effectively compete on price with other e-commerce retailers and brick-and-mortar stores. Our inability to execute an effective pricing strategy, or a determination by our Marketplace sellers that they can more competitively price their products through other distribution channels could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and prospects.

Operational Risks

We face risks related to system interruption, including failures caused or experienced by third-party service providers, and lack of redundancy and timely upgrades.

Our success depends on our ability to successfully receive and fulfill orders and to promptly deliver such orders to our customers. We could lose existing customers or fail to attract new customers, potentially resulting in a decline in net sales, if our online platforms are inaccessible or if our transaction processing systems, order fulfillment processes or network infrastructure are not operational or performing to our customers’ satisfaction.

Any internet network interruptions, latency or problems with our online platforms’ availability could prevent customers from accessing, browsing and placing orders on our online platforms, and impact our ability to fulfill orders or bill customers, which may cause customer dissatisfaction and damage our reputation and brand. We have experienced brief computer system interruptions in the past and believe that others will occur from time to time in the future. Our systems and operations potentially are vulnerable to damage or interruption from a number of sources, including the following:

We have not yet created sufficient redundancy for our information technology systems and data, and we do not presently maintain backup copies of all of its data. Newegg has a limited disaster recovery plan in effect and may not have sufficient insurance for losses that may occur from natural disasters, catastrophic events or the resulting business interruption. Any substantial damage to, or disruption of, our technology infrastructure could cause interruptions or delays, loss of data, or reduced system availability, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We may be unable to accurately project the rate or timing of traffic flow, including any traffic increases, or successfully and cost-effectively upgrade our systems and infrastructure in a timely manner to accommodate higher traffic levels on our online platforms. If the volume of traffic on our online platforms or the number of purchases made by our customers increases substantially, we may experience unanticipated system disruptions, slower response times, reduced levels of customer service and impaired quality and delays in reporting accurate financial information. For example, we experience surges in online traffic and orders associated with promotional activities and holiday seasons, especially during Black Friday and the Christmas holiday season, which can put additional demands on our technology platform at specific times.

Additionally, we must continue to upgrade and improve our technology and infrastructure to support our business growth, and failure to do so could impede our growth. However, we cannot assure you that we will be successful in executing these system upgrades and improvement strategies. Any such upgrades to our systems and infrastructure could require substantial investments. In particular, our systems may experience interruptions during upgrades, and the new technologies or infrastructures may not be fully integrated with the existing systems on a timely basis, or at all. If our existing or future technology and infrastructure do not function properly, it could cause system disruptions and slow response times, affecting data transmission, which in turn could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on third-party payment processors to process deposits and withdrawals made by users of our Marketplace, and if we cannot manage our relationships with such third parties and other payment-related risks, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

We rely on a limited number of third-party payment solutions to process deposits and withdrawals made by users of our Marketplace. If any third-party payment solution terminates its relationship with Newegg or refuses to renew its agreement with Newegg on commercially reasonable terms, we would need to find an alternate payment solution, and may not be able to secure similar terms or replace such payment solution in an acceptable time frame. Further, the software and services provided by our third-party payment solutions may not meet our expectations, contain errors or vulnerabilities, be compromised or experience outages. Any of these risks could cause us to lose our ability to accept online payments or other payment transactions or make timely payments to users of our Marketplace, any of which could make our Marketplace less trustworthy and convenient and adversely affect our ability to attract and retain our users.

Nearly all of our users’ payments are made by credit card, debit card or through other third-party payment services, which subjects Newegg to certain regulations and to the risk of fraud. We may in the future offer new payment options to users that may be subject to additional regulations and risks. We are also subject to a number of other laws and regulations relating to the payments we accept from our users, including with respect to money laundering, money transfers, privacy and information security. If we fail to comply with applicable rules and regulations, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties, fines and/or higher transaction fees and may lose our ability to accept online payments or other payment card transactions, which could make our Marketplace less convenient and attractive to our users. If any of these events were to occur, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected.

Additionally, card organizations, including Visa, require Newegg to comply with payment card network operating rules, which are set and interpreted by the payment card networks. The payment card networks could adopt new operating rules or interpret or reinterpret existing rules in ways that might prohibit us from providing certain offerings to some users, be costly to implement or difficult to follow. We have agreed to reimburse our payment processors for fines, penalties or assessments that are assessed by card organizations if we or the users on our Marketplace violate these rules, and as a result we may be subject to fines, penalties or assessments assessed by card organizations against us from time to time. Any of the foregoing risks could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

The loss of key employees or the failure to attract or retain qualified personnel can have a material adverse effect on our ability to run our business.

The loss of any of our current executives, key employees or key advisors, or the failure to attract, integrate, motivate and retain additional key employees, can have a material adverse effect on our business. Competition for well-qualified and skilled employees has been increasingly intense, and our future success also depends on our continuing ability to attract, develop, motivate and retain highly qualified and skilled employees, including, in particular, software engineers, data scientists and technology and fulfillment professionals. Although we have employment agreements with our executive officers, all of our executive officers are employed “at-will” and could terminate their employment at any time. If we lose one or more of our executive officers or other key employees, our ability to implement our business strategy successfully can be seriously harmed. Furthermore, replacing executive officers or other key employees with other highly skilled and qualified candidates has been and may continue to be difficult, taking an extended period of time. For example, as previously announced, our Chief Financial Officer, Robert Chang, is retiring effective May 17, 2024. While the search for a permanent replacement is ongoing, these processes can be time-consuming and disruptive to our business, and we cannot guarantee that a suitable candidate will be identified in a timely manner. Recruiting skilled personnel is highly competitive. The increased availability of flexible or remote work arrangements has both intensified and expanded competition for qualified personnel. There can be no assurance that we will continue to attract and retain the personnel needed for our business. The failure to attract or retain qualified personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business.

A significant inadvertent disclosure or breach of confidential or personal information we hold could be detrimental to our business, reputation and results of operations.

Our business requires the storage, transmission and utilization of data, including personal information, much of which must be maintained on a confidential basis. These activities have made, and may in the future make, us a target of cyber-attacks by third parties seeking unauthorized access to the data we maintain, including our customer data, or to disrupt our ability to provide service. As a result of the types and volume of personal data on our systems, we believe that we are a particularly attractive target for such breaches and attacks. For example, in 2018, Newegg suffered an intrusion of a portion of its network, as a result of which access was gained to a limited amount of credit card information.

In recent years, the frequency, severity and sophistication of cyber-attacks, computer malware, viruses, social engineering, and other intentional misconduct by computer hackers has significantly increased, and government agencies and security experts have warned about the growing risks of hackers, cyber criminals and other potential attackers targeting information technology systems. Such third parties could attempt to gain entry to our systems for the purpose of stealing data or disrupting the systems. In addition, our security measures may also be breached due to employee error, malfeasance, system errors or vulnerabilities, including vulnerabilities of our vendors, suppliers, their products, or otherwise. Third parties may also attempt to fraudulently induce employees or customers into disclosing sensitive information such as usernames, passwords or other information to gain access to our customers’ data or our data, including intellectual property and other confidential business information.

While we have implemented security measures designed to protect against security breaches, these measures could fail or may be insufficient, particularly as techniques used to sabotage or obtain unauthorized access to systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, resulting in the unauthorized disclosure, modification, misuse, destruction, or loss of our or our customers’ data or other sensitive information. Any failure to prevent or mitigate security breaches and improper access to or disclosure of the data we maintain, including personal information, could result in litigation, indemnity obligations, regulatory enforcement actions, investigations, fines, penalties, mitigation and remediation costs, disputes, reputational harm, diversion of management’s attention, and other liabilities and damage to our business.

We believe we have taken appropriate measures to protect our systems from intrusion, but we cannot be certain that advances in criminal capabilities, discovery of new vulnerabilities in our systems and attempts to exploit those vulnerabilities, physical system or facility break-ins and data thefts or other developments will not compromise or breach the technology protecting our systems and the information we possess.

We may incur significant costs in protecting against or remediating cyber-attacks. Any security breach could result in operational disruptions that impair our ability to meet our customers’ requirements, which could result in decreased revenue. Also, whether there is an actual or a perceived breach of our security, our reputation could suffer irreparable harm, causing our current and prospective customers to reject our products and services in the future, deterring data suppliers from supplying us data or customers from uploading their data on our platform, or changing consumer behaviors and use of our technology. Further, we could be forced to expend significant resources in response to a security breach, including those expended in notifying individuals and providing mitigating services, repairing system damage, increasing cybersecurity protection costs by deploying additional personnel and protection technologies, and litigating and resolving legal claims or governmental inquiries and investigations, all of which could divert the attention of our management and key personnel away from our business operations. Federal, state and foreign governments continue to consider and implement laws and regulations addressing data privacy, cybersecurity, and data protection laws, which include provisions relating to breaches. In any event, a significant security breach could materially harm our business, operating results and financial condition.

We may not succeed in promoting and strengthening the Newegg brand, which may materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Brand recognition is a primary competitive factor in the e-commerce market and will be a key factor in maintaining and expanding our customer base, market position and bargaining power with vendors. Any loss of trust in our brand could harm our reputation and result in consumers, sellers, brands, vendors and other participants reducing their activity level in our business, which could materially reduce our profitability.

If we do not, or are unable to continue to, promote and strengthen the Newegg brand, or if the brand fails to continue to be viewed favorably, we may not be successful in attracting new customers and Marketplace sellers, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, we compete not only for customers and Marketplace sellers, but also for favorable product allocations and cooperative advertising support from our vendors. If we fail to maintain favorable recognition of our brand, we may not be successful in maintaining and strengthening our relationships with vendors in existing and new product categories or in maintaining existing offerings and sourcing new products at competitive prices and with adequate levels of inventory.

Adverse publicity about Newegg may arise from time to time. Negative comments about our online platforms, the products and services offered by us and our Marketplace sellers or our management may appear in internet postings and other media sources from time to time, and there is no assurance that other types of negative publicity of a more serious nature will not arise in the future. For example, if our customer service representatives fail to satisfy the individual needs of the customers, the customers may become disgruntled and disseminate negative comments about our customer service. In addition, our Marketplace sellers and brand partners may also be subject to negative publicity for various reasons, such as customers’ complaints about the quality of their products and related services or other public relations incidents, which may adversely affect the sales of their products through Newegg and indirectly affect our reputation. Moreover, negative publicity about other online retailers or the e-commerce industry in general may arise from time to time and cause customers to lose confidence in the products and services Newegg offers. Any such negative publicity, regardless of veracity, may have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation and financial condition.

Our business, operating results, and cash flows may be adversely impacted by inflation.

Due to labor and supply chain constraints, there has been a volatile inflationary environment resulting in significant increases to the cost of components, labor and freight costs and other expenses. Recent inflationary pressures have affected, and may continue to affect, wages, the cost and our ability to obtain products, the price of our goods and services, our ability to meet customer demand, discretionary consumer spending that may lead to lesser demand for our products, our gross margins and operating profit. If we are unable to successfully manage the effects of inflation, our business, operating results, cash flows and financial condition may be adversely affected. In addition, inflation may amplify or exacerbate many of the other risks discussed in this “Risk Factors” section.   

We previously identified material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting which, although currently remediated, could recur and affect the reliability of our consolidated financial statements and have other adverse consequences.

As a public company, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”), the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, as amended (the “Sarbanes-Oxley Act”). The Sarbanes-Oxley Act requires, among other things, that we maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports. Nevertheless, all internal control systems, no matter how well designed, have inherent limitations. Even those systems determined to be effective can provide only reasonable assurance with respect to financial statement preparation and presentation.

As described in Item 15 of our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2022, we previously determined that we had material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2022. During the year ended December 31, 2023, we implemented enhanced procedures to remediate the deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that resulted in the material weaknesses. Based on the results of our remediation plan and assessment, we have concluded that the material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting previously identified have been successfully remediated as of December 31, 2023. However, completion of remediation for these material weaknesses does not provide assurance that our remediated controls will continue to operate properly and as a result, that our financial statements will be free from material error. 

Although currently remediated, previously existing material weaknesses could recur, or other material weaknesses could arise, and result in material misstatements to our annual or interim consolidated financial statements that might not be prevented or detected on a timely basis or result in delayed filing of required periodic reports. If we are unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, investors may lose confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, the market price of our Common Stock could be adversely affected and we could become subject to additional litigation, investigations or inquiries by Nasdaq, the SEC, or other regulatory authorities, which could require additional financial and management resources.

We are, or may become, subject to risks associated with our international operations, principally in Canada, which may harm our business.

Newegg began operations on our Canadian retail website, www.newegg.ca, in October 2008. We also have a physical presence in China and Taiwan. While we may invest in building our business in other markets, we may not be able to successfully manage the challenges associated with our current and future international operations due to risks, such as:

Any one of the foregoing factors could cause our business, financial condition and results of operations to suffer.

Any future expansion into new product categories, services, technologies and geographic regions may subject us to additional business, legal, financial and competitive risks.

Any future expansion into new product categories, services, technologies and regions, such as our expansion into Canada and our third-party service offerings under Newegg Partner Services (“NPS”), is subject to risk. In directing our focus into new areas, we face numerous risks and challenges, including alienating our core customer base, facing new competitors, having the increased need to develop new strategic relationships and straining our management, personnel, operations, systems, technical performance, financial resources, and internal financial control and reporting functions. There is no assurance that our strategy will result in increased net sales or net income. Furthermore, growth into new business areas may require changes to our existing business model and cost structure, modifications to our infrastructure, and exposure to new regulatory and legal risks related to operating in new jurisdictions, any of which may require expertise in areas in which we have little or no experience. These risks may pose a material adverse risk to our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Any interruption in our fulfillment operations may have an adverse impact on our business.

Our ability to process and fulfill orders accurately and provide high-quality customer service depends on the smooth operation of our fulfillment infrastructure, including our warehouses and order processing centers. If we do not optimize and operate our fulfillment infrastructure successfully and efficiently, it could result in excess or insufficient fulfillment capacity, an increase in costs or impairment charges and a reduction in our gross profit margin, or harm our business in other ways. If we do not have sufficient fulfillment capacity or experience a problem fulfilling orders in a timely manner or if certain products are out of stock, our customers may experience delays in receiving their orders, which could harm our reputation and our relationship with our customers.

Our fulfillment infrastructure may be vulnerable to damage caused by fire, floods, power outages, telecommunications failures, break-ins, earthquakes, human error and other events. For example, our warehouse located in Indianapolis experienced a significant fire in January 2019, causing damage to our inventory. In addition, in May 2022, our warehouse located in Toronto, Canada experienced a break-in and theft of approximately $3.4 million of inventory. Our fulfillment infrastructure and processes may also contain undetected errors or design flaws that may cause our fulfillment operations to fail and materially impact our business and results of operations. If, for example, any of our warehouses were rendered incapable of operations, we may be unable to fulfill any orders in areas that rely on that warehouse. While we maintain property and business interruption insurance to protect against losses of this nature, we cannot guarantee that such insurance will be available in the future at terms and rates acceptable to us, nor can we guarantee that any related insurance claims will be paid out in a timely manner, or at all. The occurrence of any of the foregoing risks could have a material adverse effect on our business, prospects, financial condition and results of operations.

We rely on a limited number of third-party courier service providers to deliver our products, and their failure to provide high-quality courier services in a timely manner, if at all, to our customers may negatively impact the procurement experience of our customers, damage our market reputation and materially and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

We rely on a limited number of third-party courier service providers to deliver products to our customers. For the periods of the fiscal years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, approximately 85.3% and 78.2%, respectively, of our total packages were shipped by our top three third-party courier service providers. Interruptions to or failures in these couriers’ shipping services could prevent the timely or successful delivery of our products. These interruptions may be due to unforeseen events that are beyond our control or the control of these third-party couriers, such as inclement weather, natural disasters or labor unrest. If our products are not delivered on time or are delivered in a damaged state, customers may refuse to accept our products and have less confidence in our services. As a result, we could lose customers, and our financial condition and market reputation could suffer.

Pandemics or other public health crises, natural disasters, climate change, terrorist activities, and political unrest could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Global pandemics, epidemics or other public health crises, or natural disasters such as hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, fire, drought, rising sea levels, or other severe weather events, whether as a result of climate change or otherwise, could disrupt our business operations, reduce or restrict our operations and services, incur significant costs to protect our employees and facilities, or result in regional or global economic distress, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations. For example, the COVID-19 pandemic and the various responses to it negatively impacted the global economy, disrupted consumer spending and global supply chains and created significant volatility and disruption of financial markets. Any future outbreaks or emergence of new strains of the virus may have an adverse effect on the results of our future operations. Additionally, actual or threatened war, terrorist activities, political unrest, civil strife, and other geopolitical uncertainty could have a similar adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Additionally, the long-term effects of global climate change are expected to be widespread and unpredictable. The potential impacts of climate change present a variety of risks. The physical effects of climate change, such as severe weather conditions, tsunamis, fire, drought, and rising sea levels, could adversely affect our results of operations, including by increasing our energy costs, disrupting our supply chain, negatively impacting our workforce, damaging our distribution centers and inventory, causing disruptions or the complete shutdown of our operations and facilities, and threatening the habitability of the locations in which we operate. In addition to physical risks, the potential impacts of climate change also present transition risks, including regulatory and reputational risks. For example, we use commodities and energy inputs in our operations that may face increased regulation due to climate change or other environmental concerns. Such policies could result in increased production costs including higher energy and raw materials prices, which could negatively impact our financial condition and results of operations. New and evolving regulations on climate and emissions disclosures could cause our expenses to increase.

It is difficult to assess the likelihood of such threat and any potential impact at this time. Any one or more of these events may impede our operation and delivery efforts and adversely affect our sales results, or even for a prolonged period of time, which could materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

We depend on our vendors to source sufficient quantities of merchandise on favorable terms. If we fail to maintain strong vendor relationships or if our vendors are otherwise unable to supply products that meet our standards in a timely manner, our net sales and net income could suffer.

Our contracts or arrangements with vendors generally do not guarantee the availability of merchandise or provide for the continuation of particular pricing or other practices. Our vendors may not continue to sell their inventory to us on current terms or at all, and, if the terms are changed, we may not be able to establish new supply relationships on similar or better terms. In most cases, our relationships with our vendors do not restrict them from selling their products through our competitors. Newegg competes with other retailers for favorable product allocations and vendor incentives from product manufacturers and distributors, including but not limited to marketing dollars and volume-based sales incentive programs. Some of our competitors could enter into exclusive or favorable distribution arrangements for certain products with our vendors, which would deny us complete or partial access to those products and marketing and promotional resources. In addition, some vendors whose products are offered on our online platforms also sell their products directly to customers. If we are unable to develop and maintain relationships with vendors that permit us to obtain sufficient quantities of desirable merchandise on favorable terms, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted.

Our relationship with any particular vendor is dependent on our sales of products manufactured or distributed by that vendor. For certain products, we do not currently, and in the future may not be able to, meet the sales volumes or other requirements necessary to receive favorable treatment from the manufacturer of that product. As a result, we may not receive favorable pricing, vendor incentives or other considerations from those vendors. During times of short supply for highly desirable products, we may not receive adequate, or any, allocation of a popular product, leading to lost sales and customer dissatisfaction.

Certain products help create and maintain customer loyalty to the Newegg brand. Failing to maintain an adequate supply of these products could damage our ability to retain customers. We currently do not carry the full product portfolio of, and in some cases do not carry any products of, certain well-known brands. As a result, consumers who are searching for those brands may not be able to purchase products from us or purchase them at the most favorable prices, leading to potentially reduced net sales and net income.

Certain vendors provide a significant portion of our merchandise. In the United States and Canada, for the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, our ten largest suppliers accounted for approximately 71% of the merchandise we purchased. Three of our ten largest suppliers, ASI Corporation, MSI Computer Corporation, and TD Synnex, accounted for approximately 38% of our purchases for the same period. Failure to maintain a positive relationship with these key suppliers could impact our ability to sell to customers the products they want.

Our vendors’ financial performance, liquidity and access to capital may be materially adversely affected by many factors, including, but not limited to: general economic factors, such as a continued slowdown in the U.S. or global economy or an uncertain economic outlook; political or financial instability; merchandise quality issues; product safety concerns; trade restrictions; work stoppages; tariffs; international trade war; foreign currency exchange rates; transportation capacity and costs; inflation; or outbreak of pandemics. These and other issues may affect their ability to maintain their inventories, production levels and/or product quality and could cause them to raise prices, lower production levels or cease their operations, all of which may in turn materially adversely affect our net sales and net income.

We conduct marketing activities to help attract visitors to our online platforms, and if we are unable to attract these visitors or convert them into customers in a cost-effective manner, our business and results of operations could be harmed.

Our success depends on our ability to attract visitors to our online platforms and convert them into customers in a cost-effective manner. We rely on search engines, social media, shopping comparison sites and other affiliate networks to provide content, advertising banners and other links that direct visitors to our online platforms. As of December 31, 2023, approximately 24% of our website and mobile app visitors were referred to us through paid and unpaid search engine listings, shopping comparison sites and other affiliate networks that provide links to our online platforms. In particular, we rely on search engines, such as Google and Microsoft Bing and social media platforms, such as TikTok, Facebook and Instagram, as important marketing channels. Some of these marketing channels, most notably TikTok, have been subject to various forms of data privacy, regulatory and national security scrutiny, as well as mounting political pressure to potentially limit or restrict the use of such channels. If such efforts to limit or restrict these channels are successful, our ability to engage and interact with existing and potential customers could be significantly limited, which could in turn have a material adverse impact on our business results. Further, if search engines or social media platforms change their search engine algorithms periodically or penalize us for non-compliance with their guidelines while using their algorithms, terms of service, or display and featuring of search results, or if competition increases for advertisements, we may be unable to cost-effectively drive visitors to our websites and mobile apps. We also sometimes pay these third parties to include or highlight our websites in their search results. If such third parties modify or terminate their relationship with us or increase the price they charge to us, if our competitors offer them greater fees for traffic, or if any free third-party platforms on which we rely begin charging fees for listing or placement, our expenses could rise and traffic to our websites could decrease, resulting in harm to our operations.

Our success also depends on our ability to convert visitors to our websites and mobile apps into paying customers, a process which is partially reliant upon our ability to identify and purchase relevant keyword search terms, provide relevant content on our online platforms and effectively target our other marketing programs, such as internet portal referrals, email campaigns and affiliate programs. If we are unable to attract visitors to our websites and mobile apps and convert them into customers cost-effectively, our business and financial results may be harmed.

Because many of the products that we sell are manufactured abroad, we may face delays, increased cost or quality control deficiencies in the importation of these products, which could reduce our net sales and profitability.

Many of the products that we purchase for direct sale on our online platforms are manufactured in countries outside the United States. These imported products subject us to the risk of changes in import duties or quotas, new restrictions on imports, work stoppages, delays in shipment, freight cost increases, product cost increases due to foreign currency fluctuations or revaluations and economic uncertainties (including the imposition of antidumping or countervailing duty orders, safeguards, remedies or compensation and retaliation due to illegal foreign trade practices) and instability in the political and economic environments of the countries in which the manufacturers of these products operate. If any of these or other factors were to cause a disruption of trade from these countries, we may be unable to obtain sufficient quantities of these imported products to satisfy our requirements or our cost of obtaining such products may increase. Historically, instability in the political and economic environments of the countries in which our suppliers operate has not had a material adverse effect on our operations. However, the effect that future changes in economic or political conditions in the foreign countries where our supplying manufacturers are located may have on our operations cannot be predicted. Potential disruptions or delays in supply due to economic or political conditions in foreign countries could adversely affect our results of operations unless and until alternative supply arrangements are made.

We are partially dependent on third parties to perform a number of our e-commerce functions. If such third parties are unwilling or unable to continue providing these services, our business could be harmed.

As of December 31, 2023, approximately 8.6% of our gross merchandise value (“GMV”) was generated by the sale of products fulfilled through third parties. These third parties provide various services on our behalf, including inventory maintenance and order processing. We have no effective means to ensure that these third parties will continue to perform these services to our satisfaction, in a manner satisfactory to our customers or on commercially reasonable terms. Our customers may become dissatisfied and cancel their orders or decline to make future purchases if these third parties fail to deliver products on a timely basis. If our customers become dissatisfied with the services provided by these third parties, our reputation and brand could suffer.

If we fail to manage our inventory effectively, our financial condition, results of operations and liquidity may be materially and adversely affected.

Our scale and business model require us to manage a large volume of inventory effectively. If we expand our product offerings and include more SKUs in our inventory, it could make it more challenging for us to manage our inventory effectively and put more pressure on our warehousing system.

We purchase most of the merchandise that we sell directly to customers on our online platforms from manufacturers or distributors. We assume inventory damage, theft, obsolescence, and price erosion risks for our inventory. These risks are especially significant as most of the merchandise sold on our online platforms is characterized by rapid technological change, obsolescence and price erosion. For the year ended December 31, 2023, we recorded inventory write-offs or write-downs totaling $5.0 million, or 0.4% of our cost of goods sold. We may sell obsolete or dated merchandise at a discount or loss. If there were unforeseen product developments or if vendors were to change their terms and conditions, our inventory risks could increase. We also periodically take advantage of cost savings associated with certain opportunistic bulk inventory purchases offered by our vendors. These bulk purchases increase our exposure to inventory obsolescence. Our success depends on our ability to sell our inventory rapidly, purchase inventory at attractive prices relative to our resale value and manage customer returns and the shrinkage resulting from theft, loss, and misrecording of inventory. If we are unsuccessful in any of these areas, we may be forced to write down or write off substantial amounts of inventory, or sell it at a discount or loss, which could materially and adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We depend on our demand forecasts for various kinds of products to make purchase decisions and to manage our inventory. We are exposed to inventory risks as a result of seasonality, new product launches, rapid changes in product cycles and pricing, defective merchandise, changes in consumer demand, tastes and spending patterns, and other factors. While we endeavor to accurately predict these trends and avoid overstocking or understocking products we sell, the demand for products can change significantly between the time inventory is ordered and the date of sale, and we may be unable to sell products in sufficient quantities as we expect. Furthermore, we may in the future open additional warehouses and duplicate part of the inventory for our direct sales business that is stored at our current warehouses to increase our overall fulfillment efficiency as we grow our business, which will also increase the inventory risks our direct sales business faces. Failure to effectively manage our inventory risk could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We have incurred net losses in the past and may experience losses in the future.

We incurred net losses of $59.0 million and $57.4 million in 2023 and 2022, respectively, and reported net income of $36.3 million and $30.4 million in 2021 and 2020, respectively. We cannot assure you that we will be able to generate net profits or positive cash flow from operating activities in the future. Our ability to achieve and maintain profitability will depend in large part on our ability to, among other things, source and sell higher margin products, grow and diversify our supplier base, and optimize our cost structure. We may not be able to achieve any of the above. If we grow and expand our business, our operating expenses may increase further. As a result of the foregoing, we may incur net losses in the future. 

If we fail to adopt new technologies or adapt our websites, mobile apps and systems to changing customer requirements or emerging industry standards, our business may be materially and adversely affected.

To remain competitive, we must continue to enhance and improve the responsiveness, functionality and features of our online platforms, including our websites and mobile apps. The internet and the e-commerce industry are characterized by rapid technological evolution, such as emerging artificial intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning technologies, frequent introductions of new products and services embodying new technologies and the emergence of new industry standards and practices, and changes in customer requirements and preferences, any of which could render our existing technologies and systems obsolete. We may be required to devote substantial resources to developing proprietary technologies or license technologies, enhancing our existing websites and mobile apps, developing new services and technology such as AI and machine learning that address the increasingly sophisticated and varied needs of our current and prospective customers and adapting to technological advances and emerging industry and regulatory standards and practices in a cost-effective and timely manner. The development of proprietary technology entails significant technical and business risks. There can be no assurance that our efforts to develop proprietary technologies will succeed or that any technology licenses will be available on commercially reasonable terms. Substantial investments will be required to remain technologically competitive, and our failure to do so may harm our business and results of operations.

The seasonality of our business places increased strain on our operations.

Newegg historically experiences higher sales in the fourth quarter due to the holiday season. If we do not stock or restock popular products in sufficient amounts such that we fail to meet customer demand, it could significantly affect our revenue and future growth. If we overstock products, we may be required to take significant inventory markdowns or write-offs and incur commitment costs, which could reduce profitability. We may experience an increase in our net shipping cost due to complimentary upgrades, split-shipments and additional long-zone shipments necessary for timely delivery for the holiday season. If too many customers access our online platforms within a short period of time due to increased holiday demand, we may experience system interruptions that make our online platforms unavailable or prevent us from efficiently fulfilling orders, which may reduce the volume of goods sold through our online platforms and the attractiveness of our products and services. In addition, we may be unable to adequately staff our fulfillment and customer service capability during these peak periods.

As we tend to experience higher sales in the fourth quarter, we generally experience an increase in our cash position at year-end, as compared to the first, second and third quarters when sales are lower. Historically, our cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities balances typically reach their highest level (other than as a result of cash flows provided by or used in investing and financing activities) at December 31 of each year. In anticipation of higher sales during the holiday season, we typically begin building up inventory levels in the later part of the third quarter. As a result of this inventory build-up and faster inventory turnover during the fourth quarter, our accounts payable are typically at their highest levels at year-end. As sales begin to slow in the first and second quarters, inventory levels decrease, inventory turnover lengthens, and accounts payable and cash balances decrease as we pay our vendors. As of the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, accounts payable amounted to approximately $206.6 million and $207.1 million, respectively.

Many of the products we sell are highly susceptible to technological advancement, product life cycle fluctuations and changes in consumer preferences.

We operate in a highly and increasingly dynamic industry sector fueled by constant technology innovation and disruption. This manifests itself in a variety of ways: the emergence of new products and categories, the often rapid maturation of categories, cannibalization of categories, changing price points and product replacement and upgrade cycles.

This rapid pace of change can be hard to predict and manage, and there is no guarantee we can effectively do so all the time. If we fail to interpret, predict and react to these changes in a timely and effective manner, the consequences can include: failure to offer the products and services that our customers want; excess inventory, which may require heavy discounting or liquidation; inability to secure adequate access to brands or products for which consumer demand exceeds supply; delays in adapting our merchandising, marketing or supply chain capabilities to accommodate changes in product trends; and damage to our brand and reputation. In addition, consumer preferences may be influenced even further as the social and economic environment navigates through the post-pandemic environment. These and other similar factors could have a material adverse impact on our revenue and profitability.

The successful operation of our business depends upon the performance, reliability and security of the internet infrastructure in the countries where we operate.

Our business depends on the performance, reliability and security of the telecommunications and internet infrastructure in the countries where we operate. We have several servers located in China that provide development, testing and quality control services. Almost all access to the internet in China is maintained through state-owned telecommunication operators under the administrative control and regulatory supervision of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of the People’s Republic of China. In addition, the national networks in China are connected to the internet through state-owned international gateways, which are the only channels through which a domestic user can connect to the internet outside China. We may face similar or other limitations in other countries in which we operate. We may not have access to alternative networks in the event of disruptions, failures or other problems with the internet infrastructure in China or elsewhere. In addition, the internet infrastructure in the countries in which we operate may not support the demands associated with continued growth in internet usage.

The failure of telecommunications network operators to provide Newegg with the requisite bandwidth could also interfere with the speed and availability of our websites and mobile apps. If the prices that we pay for telecommunications and internet services rise significantly, our net income could be adversely affected. In addition, if internet access fees or other charges to internet users increase, our user traffic may decrease, which in turn may significantly decrease our revenues.

If we are unable to manage our growth or execute our strategies effectively, our business and prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

Our success depends upon our ability to manage the growth of our operations effectively. We anticipate expanding further as we pursue our growth strategies. Our expansion increases the complexity of our business and places a significant strain on our management, operations, technical systems, financial resources and internal control over financial reporting functions. Our current and planned personnel, systems, procedures and controls may not be adequate to support and effectively manage our future operations, especially as we employ personnel in several geographic locations. In addition, our growth will require us to improve our operational and financial systems, procedures and controls, successfully manage international operations and hire additional personnel. These efforts may not be successful, and we may be unable to improve our systems, procedures and controls in a timely manner.

Delays or problems associated with any of these initiatives could harm our business and operating results. These initiatives will also cause our operating expenses to increase. If we fail to accurately estimate and assess our growth or fail to increase net sales to match our increased operating expenses, our financial condition and results of operations could suffer.

An adverse change in our vendor payment terms and conditions may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

We purchase our inventory from vendors on trade accounts typically requiring payment between 30 and 60 days after the date the inventory is shipped to us. As of December 31, 2023, our accounts payable balance was $206.6 million with 56 days of payables outstanding. Our accounts payable balances as of December 31, 2023 represented 41.4% of our liabilities and shareholders’ equity. An adverse change in our vendors’ payment terms and conditions would significantly increase our working capital requirements and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Our disclosure controls and procedures may not prevent or detect all errors or acts of fraud.

Since the Merger, we have implemented a variety of measures designed to comply with the rules applicable to public companies in the United States. To the extent these new procedures and policies have not changed historical behaviors that might be inconsistent with the rules and practices regulating a U.S. public company, we could be at risk of violation or poor reporting as a public company. If our directors or executive officers inadvertently fail to identify, review or disclose a new relationship or arrangement causing the Company to fail to properly disclose any related party transaction or in the event that we fail to comply with SEC reporting and internal controls and procedures, we may be subject to securities laws violations that may result in additional compliance costs or costs associated with SEC judgments or fines, both of which will increase our costs and negatively affect our potential profitability and our ability to conduct our business. These public reporting requirements may require us to obtain outside assistance from legal, accounting or other professionals that may increase our costs of doing business. 

We and certain of our subsidiaries are parties to a revolving credit agreement, which contains a number of covenants that may restrict our current and future operations and could adversely affect our ability to execute business needs.

We and certain of our subsidiaries have entered into certain credit agreements with financial institutions which contains a number of covenants that limit our ability and our subsidiaries’ ability to, among other things, incur indebtedness, create liens, make investments, merge with other companies, dispose of our assets, prepay other indebtedness and make other distributions. The obligations under the credit agreements are also guaranteed by our assets or those of our subsidiaries.

The terms of these credit agreements may restrict our current and future operations and could adversely affect our ability to finance our future operations or capital needs or to execute business strategies in the means or manner desired. In addition, complying with these covenants may make it more difficult to successfully execute our business strategy, invest in our growth strategy and compete against companies who are not subject to such restrictions. The credit agreement also contains financial covenants that require us to maintain certain minimum financial ratios and maintain an operating banking relationship with the financial institutions. Although we are currently in compliance with the financial covenants, we cannot guarantee that we will continue to be able to generate sufficient cash flow or sales to meet the financial covenants or pay the principal or interest under the credit agreements.

If we are unable to comply with our payment requirements, the financial institutions may accelerate our obligations under the credit agreement and foreclose upon the collateral, or we may be forced to sell assets, restructure our indebtedness or seek additional equity capital, which would dilute shareholders’ interests. If we fail to comply with any covenant it could result in an event of default under the agreement and the lenders could make the entire debt immediately due and payable. If this occurs, we might not be able to repay the debt or borrow sufficient funds to refinance it. Even if new financing is available, it may not be on terms that are acceptable to us. See “Note 8 - Line of Credit” to our consolidated financial statements for more information.

Our international sales and operations require access to international markets and are subject to applicable laws relating to trade, export and import controls and economic sanctions, the violation of which could adversely affect our operations.

Newegg must comply with all applicable U.S. export and import laws and regulations. Such laws and regulations include, but are not limited to, the Export Administration Act and the Export Administration Regulations. Newegg must also comply with U.S. sanctions laws and regulations, which are primarily administered by the U.S. Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, as well as other U.S. government agencies. U.S. sanctions generally prohibit transactions by U.S. persons, including us, involving sanctioned countries, entities and persons, without U.S. government authorization (which will rarely be granted). Non-U.S. subsidiaries of U.S. companies are required to comply with U.S. sanctions against Cuba and Iran.

Violations of U.S. laws and regulations relating to trade, export and import controls and economic sanctions could result in significant civil and/or criminal penalties on us or on our foreign subsidiaries, including fines, prohibitions on exporting and importing, prohibitions on receiving government contracts or other government assistance and other trade-related restrictions. U.S. enforcement of such laws and regulations continues to increase.

We must also comply with applicable foreign laws relating to trade, export and import controls and economic sanctions. We may not be aware of all of such laws applicable in the markets in which we do business, which subjects us to the risk of potential violations.

We may need additional capital and failure to raise additional capital on terms favorable to us, or at all, could limit our ability to grow our business and develop or enhance our service offerings to respond to market demand or competitive challenges.

We believe that our current cash, cash flow from operations and borrowings are sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for at least the next 12 months. We may, however, require additional cash resources due to changed business conditions or other future developments, including any investments or acquisitions we may decide to pursue. If these resources are insufficient to satisfy our cash requirements, we may seek to sell additional equity or debt securities, or draw from or refinance our credit facilities. The sale of additional equity securities could result in dilution to our shareholders. The incurrence of indebtedness would result in increased debt service obligations and could require us to agree to operating and financing covenants that would restrict our operations. Our ability to obtain additional capital on acceptable terms is subject to a variety of uncertainties, including:

In addition, adverse developments that affect financial institutions, or concerns about such developments, have in the past and may in the future lead to market-wide liquidity problems and disruptions in the financial services industry. For example, in March 2023, the closure of Silicon Valley Bank and Signature Bank destabilized many financial institutions and created uncertainty across the industry. Although we did not have any funds in Silicon Valley Bank or Signature Bank, future defaults or other similar destabilizing events could impact the credit markets and adversely impact our ability to access our capital and to obtain debt financing on favorable terms.

Financing may not be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. Any failure by us to raise additional funds on terms favorable to us, or at all, could limit our ability to grow our business and develop or enhance our product and service offerings to respond to market demand or competitive challenges.

Legal and Regulatory Risks

Claims, Litigation, Government Investigations, and Other Proceedings May Adversely Affect Our Business and Results of Operations

We are, or may be, subject to actual and threatened claims, litigation, investigations, and other proceedings, involving a wide range of issues, including patent and other intellectual property matters, taxes, labor and employment, privacy, data use, data protection, data security, network security, consumer protection, product liability, commercial disputes, and other matters. Any of these types of proceedings can have an adverse effect on us because of legal costs, disruption of our operations, diversion of management resources, negative publicity, and other factors. The outcomes of these matters are inherently unpredictable and subject to significant uncertainties. Determining legal reserves or possible losses from such matters involves judgment and may not reflect the full range of uncertainties and unpredictable outcomes. Until the final resolution of such matters, we may be exposed to losses in excess of the amount recorded, and such amounts could be material. Should any of our estimates and assumptions change or prove to have been incorrect, it could have a material effect on our business or results of operations.

We may not be able to adequately protect our intellectual property rights.

We rely on trademark and copyright law, trade secret protection and confidentiality or licensing agreements with employees, buyers, third-party sellers, brand partners and others to protect our proprietary rights. These steps may be inadequate, agreements may be violated or there may be inadequate remedies for a violation of such agreements. Our competitors may independently develop equivalent proprietary information and rights or may otherwise gain access to our trade secrets or proprietary information, which could affect our ability to compete in the market. There is no assurance that the steps that we have taken will adequately protect our proprietary rights, especially in countries where the laws or enforcement of the laws may not protect our rights to the same extent or in the same way as in the United States.

In addition, third parties may infringe or misappropriate our proprietary rights, and we could be required to enforce our intellectual property rights, which could require expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources. We have registered and common law trademark rights in the United States and certain foreign jurisdictions, as well as pending trademark applications for a number of marks and associated domain names. Such pending applications are not certain to be approved, and even if we obtain approval for such pending applications, the resulting registrations may not adequately cover our trademarks or protect us against infringement or dilution by others. Effective trademark, service mark, copyright, patent and trade secret protection may not be available in every country or jurisdiction in which our products may be made available online, which may cause our business and operating results to suffer. In addition, we may be unable to acquire or protect relevant domain names in the United States and in other countries. If we are not able to acquire or protect our trademarks, domain names or other intellectual property, we may experience difficulties in achieving and maintaining brand recognition and customer loyalty.

Assertions, claims and allegations, even if not true, that we have infringed or violated intellectual property rights could harm our business and reputation.

Third parties have, and likely will in the future, assert allegations and claims of intellectual property infringement against us on the items or their descriptions listed on our websites and mobile apps. Any such claims, disputes or litigation, even if resolved in our favor or not true, could be time-consuming and costly to defend, and could divert our management’s efforts from growing our business. We have intellectual property complaint and take-down procedures in place to address communications alleging that items listed on online platforms, including the Newegg Marketplace, infringe third-party copyrights, trademarks or other intellectual property rights. We follow these procedures to review complaints and relevant facts to determine the appropriate action, which may include removal of the item from our online platforms and, in certain cases, discontinuing our relationship with a Marketplace seller or brand partner who violates our policies. However, these rules and procedures may not effectively reduce or eliminate our liability. In particular, Newegg may be subject to civil or criminal liability for activities carried out, including products listed, by sellers or brands on our online platforms.

If any third parties prevail in their intellectual property rights claims against Newegg, we may be required to pay significant licensing fees, damages and attorney’s fees, and may even be liable for punitive damages if Newegg is found to have willfully infringed third parties’ proprietary rights. We may have to stop using certain technology or solutions and need to develop or acquire alternative, non-infringing technology or solutions, which could require significant time and resources. We could even be required to obtain a license to use certain technologies, although such licenses may not be available on reasonable terms or at all, which may result in substantial payments and royalties and significantly increase our operating expenses. If we cannot develop non-infringing technology or license the appropriate technology at commercially reasonable rates, an intellectual property claim successfully asserted against us could cause significant business interruptions in our operations, which could restrict our ability to compete effectively and have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

Newegg may be subject to product liability claims, which could be costly and time-consuming to defend.

The majority of the products sold on our online platforms are manufactured by third parties, and some of them may be defectively designed or manufactured. If any product we sell were to cause physical injury or injury to property, an injured party could bring claims against us as the retailer of the product. Furthermore, we also offer computer systems, IT components, peripherals, household appliances and other goods under our private labels, Rosewill and ABS, on our platforms or through other e-commerce platforms, such as eBay, which could potentially create more exposure for Newegg with respect to product liability than if we had simply acted as a retailer of third-party products. Our insurance coverage may not be adequate against such product liability claims. If a successful claim were brought against Newegg in excess of our insurance coverage, it could adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. Even unsuccessful claims could result in the expenditure of significant funds and management time in defending them and could have a negative impact on our reputation and business.

We may incur additional costs due to tax assessments resulting from ongoing and future audits by tax authorities.

In the ordinary course of business, Newegg is subject to tax examinations by various governmental tax authorities. The global and diverse nature of our business means that there could be additional examinations by governmental tax authorities and the resolution of ongoing and other probable audits which could impose a future risk to the results of our business. For example, in February 2018, we received from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Revenue a notice of intent to assess sales and use taxes relating to a prior tax period, which subsequently resulted in an assessment of approximately $0.3 million, plus penalties and interest. In May 2020, we received from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Revenue another notice of assessment for sales and use taxes for additional prior tax periods in the amount of a total assessment of $2.7 million, including penalties and interest. We appealed these assessments, and ultimately prevailed. However, any similar future matters that are not resolved in our favor could have a material impact on our consolidated financial position, cash flows, and results of operations.

Significant developments stemming from recent U.S. government actions and proposals concerning tariffs and other economic proposals could have a material adverse effect on us. 

As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, approximately 65% and 71% of our products that were sold through our platforms, both direct sales and marketplace, were manufactured in China, respectively. U.S. government actions since 2018 have imposed greater restrictions and economic disincentives on international trade impacting imports and exports. The U.S. government has adopted changes, and may adopt further changes, to trade policy and in some cases, to renegotiate, or potentially terminate, certain existing bilateral or multi-lateral trade agreements. It imposed additional tariffs on certain foreign goods, including steel and aluminum, semiconductor manufacturing equipment and spare parts thereof, and has amended export regulations regarding sales to companies on the U.S. Entity List, and the export of semiconductor manufacturing equipment and advanced semiconductor technology and commodities to a range of countries, including China. These changes prohibit the sale and other transfers of U.S. origin and foreign produced direct products that are manufactured using controlled U.S.-origin and controlled equipment, technology, and software located outside the United States to certain companies on the U.S. Entity List and to targeted companies. These regulations continue to evolve and have impacts on international supply chains that Newegg relies on for some of its products.

Examples of other actions include tariffs on steel and aluminum product imports announced by the U.S. Department of Commerce in March 2018, the scope of which increased in February2020. Despite agreements reached with the European Union and other steel exporters, the steel and aluminum tariffs remain in place with respect to imports from China. Additional actions include tariffs between 7.5% and 25% on certain products that originate in China announced by the United States Trade Representative (“USTR”) between June 2018 and September 2019 following an investigation under Title III of the Trade Act of 1974, 19 U.S.C. §§2411-2420 (“Section 301”). These Section 301 tariffs cover over $350 billion worth of goods imported from China, including certain semiconductor equipment and parts originating in China that are sold by Newegg or used in our business in the United States.

In 2020, a group of importers challenged a portion of these tariffs on the basis that the USTR was acting outside of its statutory authority when it increased the scope of the tariffs. On March 17, 2023, the U.S. Court of International Trade upheld the List 3 and List 4a tariffs and rejected statutory and administrative arguments brought by plaintiff importers. The litigation is on appeal before the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit and a final decision is expected in late 2024 or early 2025. Separately, in September 2022, the USTR renewed the tariffs after receiving requests for extension from representatives of domestic industries in favor of retaining the tariffs. USTR is currently considering public comments on the impact and effectiveness of the tariffs as part of a statutorily-required review process.

In 2022, the U.S. Congress enacted the CHIPS and Science Act, Pub. L. No. 117-167 (“CHIPS Act”). The CHIPS Act may increase costs for Newegg in several ways. First, the law prevents CHIPS Act funding recipients from using the funds to engage in any joint research or technology licensing efforts with foreign entities of concern, which may increase the costs of certain products. The CHIPS Act also may also cause China to take retaliatory action against the United States, which could disrupt supply chains or increase the costs of certain products.

For the last several years, the U.S. Department of Commerce has issued a large and evolving set of amendments to its Export Administration Regulations that have (1) expanded the list of parties with whom we cannot do business, (2) eliminated the applicability of certain license exceptions for exports to countries we do business in, (3) imposed significant licensing requirements on the exports of some of our products to others, and (4) imposed new restrictions on the export of commodities and technology used in development, production, and use of certain semiconductor manufacturing equipment, advanced integrated circuits, and advanced computing applications. These changes have significantly expanded export license requirements for U.S. companies that sell certain advanced computing and related equipment to counterparties located in or headquartered in China and other countries. They have also impacted from where and from which suppliers companies like Newegg can source different inputs for its products.  

Changes in U.S. trade policy could result in one or more U.S. trading partners adopting responsive trade policy making it more difficult or costly for us to source certain inputs for our products and to export our products to certain countries. Any of the measures outlined above can result in increased costs for goods imported into the U.S. This in turn could require us to increase prices to our customers, which may reduce demand or, if we are unable to increase prices, result in lowering our margin on goods and services sold. To the extent that trade tariffs and other restrictions imposed by the U.S. increase the price of semiconductor equipment and related parts imported into the U.S., the cost of our materials may be adversely affected and the demand from customers for products and services may be diminished, which could adversely affect our revenues and profitability. See “— Newegg’s Business Model” for more information about direct sales and marketplace.

We cannot predict future trade policy, the terms of any renegotiated trade agreements or additional imposed tariffs and their impact on our business. Moreover the evolving nature of trade restrictions, the occurrence of a trade war, or other governmental action related to tariffs or trade agreements or policies, have the potential to adversely impact demand for our products, our costs, our customers, our suppliers, and the U.S. economy, which in turn could adversely impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.

Changes in U.S. social, political, regulatory and economic conditions or in laws and policies governing foreign trade, manufacturing, development and investment in the territories and countries where we currently develop and sell products, and any negative sentiments towards the United States as a result of such changes, could adversely affect our business. In addition, negative sentiments towards the United States among non-U.S. customers and among non-U.S. employees or prospective employees could adversely affect sales or hiring and retention, respectively.

Employment laws in some of the countries in which we operate are relatively stringent.

As of December 31, 2023, we had 932 full-time employees, of whom approximately 61% were located in the United States, 32% in China, 5% in Taiwan, and 2% in Canada and other countries and regions. In some of the countries in which we operate, employment laws may grant significant job protection to employees, including rights on termination of employment and setting maximum number of hours and days per week that a particular employee is permitted to work. In addition, in certain countries in which we operate, Newegg is or may be required to consult and seek the advice of employee representatives and/or unions. These laws, coupled with the requirement to consult with any relevant employee representatives and unions, could impact our ability to react to market changes and the needs of our business.

Our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and certain other tax attributes may be limited and could adversely impact our business, financial condition and operating results.

Under Sections 382 and 383 of the Code, if a corporation undergoes an “ownership change,” the corporation’s ability to use its pre-change net operating loss carryforwards and other pre-change tax attributes to offset its post-change income and taxes may be limited. In general, an “ownership change” occurs if there is a cumulative change in our ownership by one or more “5% shareholders” (as defined under U.S. income tax laws) that exceeds 50 percentage points over a rolling three-year period. Similar rules apply under state tax laws. We believe it is possible that we may experience an ownership change in the future as a result of shifts in our stock ownership, some of which are outside our control, in which case we may be limited in our ability to use our net operating loss carryforwards and other tax assets to reduce taxes owed on the net taxable income that we earn. If finalized, Treasury Regulations currently proposed under Section 382 of the Code may further limit our ability to utilize our pre-change net operating losses and tax credit carryforwards if we undergo such an ownership change.

We are treated as a U.S. corporation for all U.S. federal tax purposes.

We believe that we are an inverted corporation for U.S. federal tax purposes. This means that, notwithstanding that we are a company incorporated in the BVI, we will be treated for all U.S. federal tax purposes as if we are a U.S. corporation and you will be treated for all U.S. federal tax purposes as holding the stock of a U.S. corporation. See “Item 10. Additional Information – E. Taxation” for additional detail.

Risks Related to our Common Shares

A majority of Newegg’s capital shares are pledged as collateral to support delinquent indebtedness of our parent company and could be sold to satisfy that indebtedness or other delinquent indebtedness of our parent company.

The shares of our common stock owned by Digital Grid have been pledged to Bank of China Limited Zhejiang Branch, or BOC, as collateral to support working capital loans and letters of credit provided by BOC to Hangzhou Lianluo. The loans have been guaranteed jointly and severally by Beijing Digital Grid Technology Co., Ltd., a subsidiary of Hangzhou Lianluo, and by Mr. Zhitao He. The total principal amount owed under these loans as of March 31, 2024 was RMB150 million in RMB-denominated loans plus USD$66.5 million in U.S. dollar-denominated loans. In May 2020, BOC filed several lawsuits against Hangzhou Lianluo, Digital Grid, Beijing Digital Grid Technology Co., Ltd. and Mr. Zhitao He in the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in China alleging that Hangzhou Lianluo has failed to repay the loans when due and is in breach of the loan agreements. The court has ruled that the loans are in default in a final, non-appealable judgment. On December 19, 2022, Digital Grid, BOC, Newegg, and Hangzhou Lianluo entered into a supplemental agreement (the “Supplemental Agreement”) to agree upon procedures to temporarily remove BOC’s lien on Digital Grid’s Newegg Common Shares to enable their sale and use of proceeds to repay BOC.

In addition, on April 11, 2023, the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (“ICBC”) filed a lawsuit against Hangzhou Lianluo in the Hangzhou Intermediate People’s Court in China alleging that Hangzhou Lianluo failed to repay when due three separate loans, provided by ICBC to Hangzhou Lianluo, and was in breach of the related loan agreements. The estimated total amount owed under the loans, including interest, fees, expenses and penalties, as of December 31, 2023 was approximately RMB485 million. Hangzhou Lianluo did not pledge any Common Shares owned by it or Digital Grid as collateral to support the ICBC loans. As disclosed by Hangzhou Lianluo on February 26, 2024, the court has ruled in a court judgment that Hangzhou Lianluo owed ICBC RMB332 million (including interest) under one of such loans.

As of the date hereof, to the best of our knowledge, no Common Shares have been sold by Hangzhou Lianluo in connection with the repayment of the BOC or ICBC loans.

Sales of the Common Shares owned or pledged by Digital Grid or Hangzhou Lianluo, including for the payment of financial or settlement obligations to BOC or ICBC, could cause the market price of the Common Shares to drop significantly.

BOC could sell, or force Digital Grid to sell, some or all of its shares while the BOC loans remain delinquent.  Digital Grid could also choose to voluntarily sell some or all of its shares at any time to satisfy the BOC or ICBC loans.  Any such sale or attempted sale could:

Each of these risks could cause our share price to fall significantly and is described further below.

The market price of our common shares has been extremely volatile and may continue to be volatile due to numerous circumstances beyond our control.

The market price of our common shares has fluctuated, and may continue to fluctuate, widely, due to many factors, some of which may be beyond our control. These factors include, without limitation:

Stock markets in general and our share price in particular have experienced price and volume fluctuations that have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of those companies and our company. These broad market fluctuations may adversely affect the trading price of our common shares. In particular, a large proportion of our common shares has been and may continue to be traded by short sellers which has put and may continue to put pressure on the supply and demand for our common shares, further influencing volatility in its market price. Additionally, these and other external factors have caused and may continue to cause the market price and demand for our common shares to fluctuate, which may limit or prevent investors from readily selling their common shares and may otherwise negatively affect the liquidity of our common shares.

Mr. Zhitao He (as the Chairman and CEO of Hangzhou Lianluo and in his own capacity) and Mr. Fred Chang control approximately 58.7% and 32.9%, respectively, and 91.6%, collectively, of the voting power of our issued and outstanding common shares. They will exert significant influence on our business and operations and may have a conflict of interest with our other shareholders. 

Mr. Zhitao He (as the Chairman and CEO of Hangzhou Lianluo and in his own capacity) and Mr. Fred Chang control approximately 58.7% and 32.9%, respectively, of the voting power of our issued and outstanding common shares, and 91.6%, collectively, as of December 31, 2023. Additionally, Mr. Zhitao He and Mr. Fred Chang, both of whom serve as our directors, will be able to exercise substantial influence over our business and operations. They may also have a conflict of interest with our other shareholders. Where such a conflict exists, our other shareholders will be dependent upon Mr. He, Mr. Chang, and other directors exercising, in a manner fair to all of our shareholders, their fiduciary duties. Also, Mr. He and Mr. Chang will have the ability to control the outcome of most corporate actions requiring shareholder approval, including the sale of all or substantially all of our assets and amendments to our Memorandum and Articles of Association. Moreover, such concentration of voting power could have the effect of delaying, deterring, or preventing a change of control or other business combination, which may, in turn, have an adverse effect on the market price of our shares or prevent our shareholders from realizing a premium over the then-prevailing market price for their shares.

We are a “controlled company” within the meaning of the Nasdaq Listing Rules and, as a result, qualify for exemptions from certain corporate governance requirements. You will not have the same protections afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to such requirements.

Mr. Zhitao He, through Hangzhou Lianluo, Hyperfinite Galaxy Holding Limited, and Digital Grid, controls a majority of the voting power of our outstanding common shares. As a result, we are a “controlled company” within the meaning of Nasdaq’s corporate governance standards. Under these rules, a company of which more than 50% of the voting power is held by an individual, group or another company is a “controlled company.” For so long as we remain a controlled company under this definition, we are permitted to elect to rely on certain exemptions from corporate governance rules, including:

As a result, you will not have the same protection afforded to shareholders of companies that are subject to these corporate governance requirements.

The Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association limit your ability to appoint directors and influence corporate matters and could discourage others from pursuing any change of control transactions that minority holders of common shares may view as beneficial.

Digital Grid and Mr. Fred Chang, who beneficially own approximately 58.7% and 32.9%, respectively, of our total voting power, have the right to appoint four directors and three directors, respectively, with Mr. Fred Chang acting as a “Minority Representative” selected by a majority of the Legacy Shareholders (as defined in the Company’s Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association), who collectively own approximately 34.5% of our total voting power as of December 31, 2023. The number of directors that Digital Grid and the Minority Representative are entitled to appoint will decrease proportionately with the decrease of the respective voting power of Digital Grid and the Legacy Shareholders. Any director positions which neither Digital Grid nor the Minority Representative is entitled to appoint shall be appointed by the remaining directors, or by any other means allowed under the Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association.

The Amended and Restated Memorandum and Articles of Association limit your ability to appoint or elect persons for service on our board and may discourage proxy contests for the election of directors and purchases of substantial blocks of shares by making it more difficult for a potential acquirer to gain control of our board.

Certain provisions of Newegg’s Amended Shareholders Agreement may delay or prevent us from raising funding in the future and may have an adverse impact on us and the liquidity and market price of our common shares.

We are party to an amended and restated shareholders agreement (the “Amended Shareholders Agreement”) with Digital Grid, Mr. Fred Chang and certain other shareholders (the “Principal Shareholders”).

Under the Amended Shareholders Agreement, the Principal Shareholders have pre-emptive rights to acquire additional shares when the Company issues or sells additional securities in the future, except for “excluded issuances” as defined in the Amended Shareholders Agreement or common shares offered pursuant to a registration statement filed with the SEC.

In addition, the Company and the Principal Shareholders also have rights of first refusal over certain transfers of the common shares by the Principal Shareholders, pursuant to the Amended Shareholders Agreement, as amended, and subject to compliance with applicable laws and Nasdaq’s Listing Rules. If any Principal Shareholder receives a bona fide offer from any person other than its affiliate to acquire any of the Principal Shareholder’s common shares (the “ROFR Shares”), then the Company has a right of first refusal, but not the obligation, to elect to purchase all (and not less than all) of the ROFR Shares, at the same price, and on the same terms and conditions offered by the purchaser (the “ROFR Terms”). In the event the Company does not decide to purchase all such ROFR Shares, then each of the Principal Shareholders other than the selling Principal Shareholder shall have a right of first refusal to elect to purchase all (and not less than all) of its Pro Rata Share of the ROFR Shares on the ROFR Terms; provided, however, that notwithstanding anything to the contrary, twenty percent (20%) of Company common shares collectively held by each Principal Shareholder and its affiliates, calculated as of May 19, 2021, that are subject to any ROFR Rights shall be exempt from any ROFR Rights. For the purpose of the Amended Shareholders Agreement, “Pro Rata Share” means the percentage which corresponds to the ratio which each selling Principal Shareholder’s “Percentage Interest” (which is calculated by dividing (i) the number of the common shares owned by such Principal Shareholder, by (ii) total number of the then outstanding shares of the common shares held by all Principal Shareholders) bears to the total Percentage Interests of all Principal Shareholders exercising their right of first refusal. In the event that the ROFR Shares are in exchange for non-cash consideration, then such right of first refusal shall be exercisable based on the fair market value determined in good faith by the board of such non-cash consideration.

We may be subject to shareholder litigation due to the volatility in the price of our common shares, which may result in substantial costs and a diversion of our management’s attention and resources.

In the past, shareholders of a public company often brought securities class action suits following periods of instability in the market price of a company’s securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

If we fail to maintain compliance with Nasdaq Listing Rules, we may be delisted from Nasdaq, which would result in a limited public market for trading our shares and make obtaining future debt or equity financing more difficult for us.

Our common shares are traded and listed on Nasdaq under the symbol “NEGG.” However, there is no assurance that we will be able to continue to maintain compliance with Nasdaq continued listing requirements. The Nasdaq Listing Rules require, among other things, that listed securities maintain a minimum bid price of $1.00 per share (the “Minimum Bid Price Requirement”), and failure to meet the Minimum Bid Price Requirement within specified compliance periods following receipt of a deficiency notice may result in delisting. For example, on November 6, 2023, we received a letter from Nasdaq notifying us that we were not in compliance with the Minimum Bid Price Requirement, which was subsequently cured on December 12, 2023. As of December 31, 2023, our common stock closed at a price of $1.26 per share. If we fail to comply with this, or any other, Nasdaq Listing Rule, our common shares may lose their status on Nasdaq and they would likely be traded on the over-the-counter market, including the Pink Sheets market. As a result, selling our common shares could be more difficult because smaller quantities of shares would likely be bought and sold, transactions could be delayed, and security analysts’ coverage of us may not arise. In addition, in the event our common shares are delisted, broker dealers would bear certain regulatory burdens which may discourage broker dealers from effecting transactions in our common shares and further limit the liquidity of our shares. These factors could result in lower prices and larger spreads in the bid and ask prices for our common shares. Such delisting from Nasdaq and continued or further declines in our common share price could also greatly impair our ability to raise additional necessary capital through equity or debt financing and could significantly increase the ownership dilution to shareholders caused by our issuing equity in financing or other transactions.

We and our directors and officers may be involved in investigations or other forms of regulatory or governmental inquiry which may cause reputational harm to the Company, result in additional expenses, and distract our management from our day-to-day operations.

From time to time, we and our directors and officers may be involved in investigations or other forms of regulatory or governmental inquiry covering a range of possible issues including but not limited to securities laws compliance.  See “Item 6.C. Board Practices – Involvement in Certain Legal Proceedings” for a discussion of current legal proceedings.

These inquiries or investigations could lead to administrative, civil or criminal proceedings involving us and could result in fines, penalties, restitution, other types of sanctions, or the need for us to undertake remedial actions, or to alter our business, financial or accounting practices. Our practice is to cooperate fully with regulatory and governmental inquiries and investigations.

Legal proceedings, inquiries and regulatory investigations are often unpredictable, and it is possible that the ultimate resolution of any such matters, if unfavorable, may be material to our results of operations in any future period, depending, in part, upon the size of the loss or liability imposed and the operating results for the period, and could have a material adverse effect on our business. In addition, regardless of the ultimate outcome of any such legal proceeding, inquiry or investigation, any such matter could cause us to incur additional expenses, which could be significant, and possibly material, to our results of operations in any future period.

Any of these factors may result in large and sudden changes in the volume and price at which the common shares will trade.

Shareholders of a public company often bring securities class action suits against the company following periods of instability in the market price of that company’s securities. If we were involved in a class action suit, it could divert a significant amount of our management’s attention and other resources from our business and operations, which could harm our results of operations and require us to incur significant expenses to defend the suit. Any such class action suit, whether or not successful, could harm our reputation and restrict our ability to raise capital in the future. In addition, if a claim is successfully made against us, we may be required to pay significant damages, which could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and results of operations.

If securities or industry analysts do not publish research or reports about our business, or if they adversely change their recommendations regarding the common shares, the market price for the common shares and trading volume could decline.

The trading market for the common shares could be influenced by research or reports that industry or securities analysts may publish about our business in the future. Currently we have one security analyst covering our company. If any additional analysts cover us in the future and downgrade the common shares, the market price for the common shares would likely decline. If no additional analysts initiate coverage of us or fail to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause the market price or trading volume for the common shares to decline.

Techniques employed by short sellers may drive down the market price of our common shares.

Short selling is the practice of selling securities that the seller does not own but rather has borrowed from a third party with the intention of buying identical securities back at a later date to return to the lender. The short seller hopes to profit from a decline in the value of the securities between the sale of the borrowed securities and the purchase of the replacement shares, as the short seller expects to pay less in that purchase than it received in the sale. As it is in the short seller’s interest for the price of the security to decline, many short sellers publish, or arrange for the publication of, negative opinions and allegations regarding the relevant issuer and its business prospects in order to create negative market momentum and generate profits for themselves after selling a security short. These short attacks appear to have, in the past, led to selling of our shares in the market. If we were to become the subject of any unfavorable allegations, whether such allegations are proven to be true or untrue, we could have to expend a significant amount of resources to investigate such allegations and/or defend ourselves. We may not be able to defend against any such short seller attacks and may be constrained in the manner in which we can proceed against the relevant short seller by principles of freedom of speech, applicable state law or issues of commercial confidentiality.

Investors may have difficulty enforcing judgments against us, our directors and management.

We are incorporated under the laws of the BVI and many of our directors reside outside the United States. Moreover, many of these persons do not have significant assets in the United States. As a result, it may be difficult or impossible to effect service of process within the United States upon these persons, or to recover against us or them on judgments of U.S. courts, including judgments predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws.

The courts of the BVI would not automatically enforce judgments of U.S. courts obtained in actions against us or our directors and officers, or some of the experts named herein, predicated upon the civil liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws, or entertain actions brought in the BVI against us or such persons predicated solely upon U.S. federal securities laws. Further, there is no treaty in effect between the United States and the BVI providing for the enforcement of judgments of U.S. courts in civil and commercial matters, and there are grounds upon which BVI courts may decline to enforce the judgments of U.S. courts. Some remedies available under the laws of U.S. jurisdictions, including remedies available under the U.S. federal securities laws, may not be allowed in the BVI courts if contrary to public policy in the BVI. Because judgments of U.S. courts are not automatically enforceable in the BVI, it may be difficult for you to recover against us or our directors and officers based upon such judgments.

In addition, under PRC law, a foreign judgment, which does not otherwise violate basic legal principles, state sovereignty, safety or social public interest, may be recognized and enforced by a PRC court, based either on treaties between China and the country where the judgment is made or on principles of reciprocity between jurisdictions. As currently there exists no treaty or other form of reciprocity between China and the United States or the BVI governing the recognition and enforcement of judgments, including those predicated upon the liability provisions of the U.S. federal securities laws, there is uncertainty whether and on what basis a PRC court would enforce judgments rendered by courts in the United States or the BVI. In addition, Taiwan does not have treaties providing for the reciprocal recognition and enforcement of judgments of courts with the United States and the BVI. Therefore, recognition and enforcement in Taiwan of judgement of United States and BVI courts in relation to any matter not subject to a binding arbitration provision would need to be enforced in accordance with common law principles.

Certain types of class or derivative actions generally available under U.S. law may not be available as a result of the fact that we are incorporated in the BVI. As a result, the rights of shareholders may be limited.

Shareholders of BVI companies may not have standing to initiate a shareholder derivative action in a court of the United States. The BVI courts are also unlikely to recognize or enforce against us judgments of courts in the United States based on certain liability provisions of U.S. securities law or to impose liabilities against us, in original actions brought in the BVI, based on certain liability provisions of U.S. securities laws that are penal in nature.

You may have more difficulty protecting your interests than you would as a shareholder of a U.S. corporation.

Our corporate affairs will be governed by the provisions of our memorandum and articles of association, as amended and restated from time to time, and by the provisions of applicable BVI law. The rights of shareholders and the fiduciary responsibilities of our directors and officers under BVI law are not as clearly established as they would be under statutes or judicial precedents in some jurisdictions in the United States, and some states (such as Delaware) have more fully developed and judicially interpreted bodies of corporate law.

These rights and responsibilities are to a large extent governed by the Companies Act and the common law of the BVI. The common law of the BVI is derived in part from judicial precedent in the BVI as well as from English common law, which has persuasive, but not binding, authority on a court in the BVI. In addition, BVI law does not make a distinction between public and private companies and some of the protections and safeguards (such as statutory pre-emption rights, save to the extent expressly provided for in the memorandum and articles of association) that investors may expect to find in relation to a public company are not provided for under BVI law.

There may be less publicly available information about us than is regularly published by or about U.S. issuers. Also, the BVI regulations governing the securities of BVI companies may not be as extensive as those in effect in the United States, and the BVI law and regulations regarding corporate governance matters may not be as protective of our shareholders as state corporation laws in the United States. Therefore, you may have more difficulty protecting your interests in connection with actions taken by our directors and officers or our Principal Shareholders than you would as a shareholder of a corporation incorporated in the United States.

The laws of BVI provide limited protections for our shareholders, so our shareholders will not have the same options as to recourse in comparison to the United States if the shareholders are dissatisfied with the conduct of our affairs.

Under the laws of the BVI there is limited statutory protection of our shareholders other than the provisions of the Companies Act dealing with shareholder remedies. The principal protections under BVI statutory law are derivative actions, actions brought by one or more shareholders for relief from unfair prejudice, oppression and unfair discrimination and/or to enforce the Companies Act or the memorandum and articles of association. Shareholders are entitled to have the affairs of the company conducted in accordance with the Companies Act and the memorandum and articles of association, and are entitled to payment of the fair value of their respective shares upon dissenting from certain enumerated corporate transactions.

There are common law rights for the protection of shareholders that may be invoked, largely dependent on English company law, since the common law of the BVI is limited. Under the general rule pursuant to English company law known as the rule in Foss v. Harbottle, a court will generally refuse to interfere with the management of a company at the insistence of a minority of its shareholders who express dissatisfaction with the conduct of the company’s affairs by the majority or the board of directors. However, every shareholder is entitled to seek to have the affairs of the company conducted properly according to law and the constitutional documents of the company. As such, if those who control the company have persistently disregarded the requirements of company law or the provisions of the company’s memorandum and articles of association, then the courts may grant relief. Generally, the areas in which the courts will intervene are the following: (i) a company is acting or proposing to act illegally or beyond the scope of its authority; (ii) the act complained of, although not beyond the scope of the authority, could only be effected if duly authorized by more than the number of votes which have actually been obtained; (iii) the individual rights of the plaintiff shareholder have been infringed or are about to be infringed; or (iv) those who control the company are perpetrating a “fraud on the minority.”

These rights may be more limited than the rights afforded to our shareholders under the laws of states in the United States.

Under the Companies Act, members of the general public, on payment of a nominal fee, can obtain copies of the public records of a company available at the office of the Registrar which will include the company’s certificate of incorporation, its memorandum and articles of association (with any amendments) and records of license fees paid to date and will also disclose any articles of dissolution, articles of merger and a register of charges if the company has elected to file such a register.

A member of a company is entitled, on giving written notice to the company, to inspect:

Subject to the memorandum and articles of association, the directors may, if they are satisfied that it would be contrary to the company’s interests to allow a member to inspect any document, or part of a document, specified in (b), (c) or (d) above, refuse to permit the member to inspect the document or limit the inspection of the document, including limiting the making of copies or the taking of extracts from the records. Where a company fails or refuses to permit a member to inspect a document or permits a member to inspect a document subject to limitations, that member may apply to the BVI Court for an order that he or she should be permitted to inspect the document or to inspect the document without limitation.

This may make it more difficult for you to obtain the information needed to establish any facts necessary for a shareholder motion or to solicit proxies from other shareholders in connection with a proxy contest.

As a result of all of the above, our public shareholders may have more difficulty in protecting their interests in the face of actions taken by our management, members of the Board or controlling shareholders than they would as public shareholders of a company incorporated in the United States. For a discussion of significant differences between the provisions of the Companies Act and the laws applicable to companies incorporated in the United States and their shareholders, see “Description of Shares — Differences between the Law of Different Jurisdictions.”

Because we do not expect to pay dividends in the foreseeable future, you must rely on a price appreciation of the common shares for a return on your investment.

We currently intend to retain most, if not all, of our funds and any future earnings to fund the development and growth of our business. As a result, we do not expect to pay any cash dividends in the foreseeable future. Therefore, you should not rely on an investment in the common shares as a source for any future dividend income.

Our Board has complete discretion as to whether to distribute dividends, subject to certain requirements of BVI law. In addition, our shareholders may by ordinary resolution declare a dividend, but no dividend may exceed the amount recommended by our directors. Under BVI law, a BVI company may pay a dividend out of either profit or share premium account, provided that in no circumstances may a dividend be paid if this would result in the company being unable to pay its debts as they fall due in the ordinary course of business. Even if our Board decides to declare and pay dividends, the timing, amount and form of future dividends, if any, will depend on our future results of operations and cash flow, our capital requirements and surplus, the amount of distributions, if any, received by us from our subsidiaries, our financial condition, contractual restrictions, and other factors deemed relevant by our Board. Accordingly, the return on your investment in the common shares will likely depend entirely upon any future price appreciation of the common shares. There is no guarantee that the common shares will appreciate in value or even maintain the price at which you purchased the common shares. You may not realize a return on your investment in the common shares and you may even lose your entire investment in the common shares. Additionally, because we are a holding company, our ability to pay dividends on our common shares may be limited by restrictions on the ability of our subsidiaries to pay dividends or make distributions to us, including restrictions that are imposed under the terms of the agreements governing our subsidiaries’ loan and credit facilities. There is no assurance that future dividends will be paid, and if dividends are paid, there is no assurance with respect to the amount of such dividend.

As a company incorporated in the British Virgin Islands, we are permitted to adopt certain home country practices in relation to corporate governance matters that differ significantly from Nasdaq’s corporate governance listing standards. These practices may afford less protection to shareholders than they would enjoy if we complied fully with Nasdaq’s corporate governance listing standards.

As a BVI company listed on Nasdaq, we are subject to Nasdaq’s corporate governance listing standards. However, Nasdaq rules permit a foreign private issuer like us to follow the corporate governance practices of its home country. Certain provision in the Companies Act relating to corporate governance in the BVI, which is our home country, may differ significantly from Nasdaq’s corporate governance listing standards. We intend to follow the relevant provisions in the Companies Act in lieu of the following corporate governance requirements of Nasdaq that listed companies must have for as long as we qualify as a foreign private issuer: (i) a majority of independent directors; (ii) a nominating/corporate governance committee composed entirely of independent directors; and (iii) a compensation committee composed entirely of independent directors.  To the extent we choose to follow home country practice in the future, our shareholders may be afforded less protection than they otherwise would enjoy under Nasdaq’s corporate governance listing standards applicable to U.S. domestic issuers.

We are a foreign private issuer within the meaning of the rules under the Exchange Act, and as such we are exempt from certain provisions applicable to U.S. domestic public companies.

Because we qualify as a foreign private issuer under the Exchange Act, we are exempt from certain provisions of the securities rules and regulations in the United States that are applicable to U.S. domestic issuers, including:

We are and will continue to be required to file an annual report on Form 20-F within four months of the end of each fiscal year. In addition, we intend to publish our results on a semi-annual basis as press releases, distributed pursuant to the rules and regulations of Nasdaq. Press releases relating to financial results and material events will also be furnished to the SEC on Form 6-K. However, the information we are required to file with or furnish to the SEC will be less extensive and less timely compared to that required to be filed with the SEC by U.S. domestic issuers. As a result, you may not be afforded the same protections or information that would be made available to you were you investing in a U.S. domestic issuer.

Item 4. Information on the Company 

Newegg Commerce, Inc. (previously known as “Lianluo Smart Limited”) was incorporated as an international business company under the International Business Companies Act, 1984, in the British Virgin Islands on July 22, 2003. The Company’s registered office is located at 17560 Rowland Street, City of Industry, CA 91748 and its telephone number is (626) 271-9700, and its website address is www.Newegg.com. The address of the Company’s registered agent is Vistra License Holdings (BVI) Limited, Vistra Corporate Services Centre, Wickhams Cay II, Road Town, Tortola, VG1110, British Virgin Islands. The SEC maintains an internet site that contains reports, proxy information, and other information regarding issuers that file electronically with the SEC at www.sec.gov.  

We are a leading technology-focused e-commerce company in North America and ranked No. 1 as the global top electronics online Marketplace according to Web Retailer’s report as of April 2023, as measured by an average of 16.9 million visits per month in 2023. Since 2005, we have recognized GMV of approximately $42 billion and have processed over 193 million orders. In 2023, 2.5 million buyers purchased over 436,000 items from us, making us one of the largest e-commerce businesses in the United States. In 2023, we offered more than 6 million SKUs for sale on our platform, representing over 35,000 brands in the IT, consumer electronics and other related categories. We offer brands and sellers a wide range of options to sell through our platform, as well as services that we offer to help make their online businesses more efficient and effective. Our Direct offering allows brands to sell directly to us and we manage the inventory and transaction directly with our consumers. Our Marketplace offering allows brands to leverage our platform, buyer audience and e-commerce solutions in order to generate sales on the Newegg platform.

The Newegg Ecosystem 

Founded in 2001, we have developed a technology-focused e-commerce ecosystem that enables all of our participants to discover, engage and transact with each other. We take pride in connecting customers to a wide and increasing selection of technology products and a large range of brands, sellers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors and third-party service providers.

We have developed a powerful online marketplace that delivers value to consumers, brands and sellers in the technology products sector. Our new product and service introductions are aimed at continually improving our value proposition to these key constituents of our ecosystem and marketplace. For consumers, on the demand side, we provide access to a vast, yet curated selection of technology products sourced globally. On the supply side, we create value for brand partners, Marketplace sellers and suppliers by connecting them to one of the largest audiences of technology product consumers online. Additionally, our platforms offer a comprehensive suite of e-commerce solutions, including product listing, fulfillment, marketing, customer service and other value-added tools and services.

Key Ecosystem Participants and How We Create Value for Them

There are three key participants of our ecosystem: customers, Marketplace sellers, and brand partners.

Customers

We have built a large, highly engaged and loyal customer base. As of December 31, 2023, we had over 2.5 million active customers, defined as a unique customer ID with at least one item purchased on our platforms in the past 12 months.

Our core customers include both our business-to-consumer (“B2C”) customers and our business-to-business (“B2B”) customers. See “Our Business Models” for more information about our B2C and B2B businesses.

We believe that we offer the following compelling value propositions to our customers:

Marketplace Sellers

On our Newegg Marketplace, third-party sellers offer their products to our customers through our platforms and pay us commissions on their sales. See “— Our Business Models — Marketplace” for more details. Our Newegg Marketplace has over 8,000 sellers, approximately 6.1 million SKUs and over 1,500 categories as of December 31, 2023.

We are a business enabler for our Newegg Marketplace sellers in many ways. We believe that our Marketplace sellers choose to partner with us not just because we offer a large online sales channel, but also because we deliver the following additional value:

Brand Partners

We are a trusted partner and a go-to channel for many leading technology product brands and are increasingly establishing partnerships with brands in a growing number of adjacent product categories. As of December 31, 2023, we sourced merchandise from over 2,580 brand partners for our direct sales business, and featured the official online stores of a number of brand partners, including some of the most well-known brands such as AMD, Asus, Gigabyte, HP, Intel, Lenovo, Meta Quest, Microsoft, MSI, Nvidia, and Samsung.

We provide the following benefits for our brand partners:

Our Business Models

Our primary business model is to help customers find and purchase their desired products through our platforms. From a customer base and target audience perspective, we categorize our business model into B2C and B2B operations. We strive to offer a compelling online shopping experience, reliable and timely order fulfilment and superior customer service across our B2C and B2B operations through our Direct sales, Marketplace and NPS platforms.

The following chart sets forth our business models:

B2C

We have maintained a B2C business since launching our e-commerce platform in 2001. With a focus on selling IT/CE products, our B2C business has expanded to include an increasingly wide range of products. Our selection spans emerging technology categories such as virtual reality, video game consoles and digital games catering to the e-sports segment, wearable devices for health and fitness enthusiasts, home appliances and smart home automation solutions, as well as software, networking equipment, gaming accessories, home office furniture, headphones and portable devices, home video systems, cell phones, home audio, and surveillance products.

Our B2C customers consist primarily of sophisticated IT professionals, gamers, do-it-yourself technology enthusiasts and early technology adopters who generally occupy a well-educated, affluent, and IT trendsetting demographic with relatively high purchase frequency and strong willingness to embrace technology trends and try new products. We believe our success is built upon our ability to cater to the preferences, tastes and habits of this demographic. As of December 31, 2023, we served customers in the United States, Canada and over 20 additional countries and regions through our Newegg.com, Newegg.ca and Newegg Global platforms. For details of these platforms, see “— Our Platforms — B2C Platforms.” Our B2C operations generated GMV of $1.4 billion and $1.7 billion for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

B2B

With a focus on providing office and IT equipment, NeweggBusiness.com offers our B2B customers access to our extensive product assortment and account managers with expertise in sourcing technology for business and processing industry specific requirements. Our B2B operations generated GMV of $325.6 million and $379.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively.

Our B2B customers span across a range of verticals, including healthcare providers, K-12 and higher educational institutions, government agencies, and businesses of all sizes, and our B2B operations have been focused on providing specialized support for their industry- and business-specific needs.

Currently, while we position NeweggBusiness.com as our dedicated B2B website, a significant number of our B2B customers also shop via our account managers, or on our flagship retail platform, Newegg.com. See “— Our Platforms — B2B Platforms” for more information about these platforms.

How We Deliver Our Service

We sell products to our B2C and B2B businesses through direct sales and Marketplace.

We believe that the integration of our direct sales and Marketplace operations has created a virtuous, self-reinforcing cycle. Our Marketplace is built on the success of our direct sales business, and we believe that many sellers are attracted to our Marketplace by our direct sales credentials. On the other hand, as we continue to source new products and recruit quality sellers, the choices available to customers also should increase, generating momentum for our growth. We believe that this self-reinforcement, coupled with our reliable logistics network, has made it a top online destination for IT/CE products.

Direct Sales

We acquire products directly from our partners that consist of manufacturers, distributors and wholesalers, and sell them directly to our B2C and B2B customers. For our direct sales, we generally source the products, take inventory risk, process customer payments, prepare packages for shipment and delivery, and provide customer service and support. We stock and ship from our own warehouses, and also drop-ship directly to customers from our partners’ warehouses.

Direct sales is a significant driver of our business, generating approximately 74.2% of our GMV for the year ended December 31, 2023. The success of our direct sales business depends largely upon our ability to secure a broad selection of products from suppliers at competitive costs. Since the commencement of our operations, we have sought and cultivated deep, longstanding relationships with some of the biggest IT brands in the world and many of the largest, most important IT distributors. We continuously seek to build similar relationships with suppliers in new and emerging categories and geographies. Due to our strong supplier relationships and our purchasing volume, we are able to obtain favorable pricing, early allocation of new products, preferential allocation of products in shortage, and funding for product promotion and cooperative marketing. We also enjoy exclusive arrangements with certain suppliers where we are able to offer highly demanded products exclusively on our platforms. For more information about merchandise sourced for direct sales, see “— Merchandise Sourcing.”

Marketplace

Our Marketplace operations enable customers to discover and purchase products from qualified third-party sellers from over 40 countries and regions globally as of December 31, 2023. As of December 31, 2023, our Marketplace consisted of over 3,100 active sellers based in the United States, over 3,900 active sellers based in China, and over 900 active sellers coming from other countries. Our Marketplace sellers pay us commissions on their sales, with published commission rates varying from 8% to 15% according to product category. We also charge membership fees for the additional value-added services and tools that we provide to sellers based on their enrollment.

Our Marketplace operations consist of the Newegg Marketplace that launched in 2010, the Newegg B2B Marketplace, and the Newegg Canada Marketplace that launched in 2014. As of December 31, 2023, our Marketplace connected B2C and B2B customers to over 8,000 third-party sellers offering approximately 6.1 million SKUs. Our Marketplace offers a variety of product categories, including emerging smart home automation, VR, lifestyle electronics, health and beauty technology products and houses online stores of some of the most well-known brands in the technology industry, such as Dyson and Lenovo.

While we encourage Marketplace sellers to offer the most attractive prices, they have the flexibility to price the products sold through our Marketplace. Due to our partnership, unique customer base, scale and large visitor traffic, some of the Marketplace sellers also set aside exclusive offers, promotion, and product supplies for us and offer some of the best offers tailored specifically to our customers. We have a rigorous process in place to assess our Marketplace sellers. We select Marketplace sellers based on a number of factors, including service level, logistics capability, operational efficiency, category focus, sales volume, brand assortment, customer rating and market reputation. We also require third-party sellers to meet our strict standards and protocols in terms of product authenticity, customer service, and delivery and fulfillment so that customers are confident that they receive the same level of buying experience and customer service that they expect when buying directly from us. To help deliver a high-quality customer experience, we utilize a variety of quality control and fraud prevention techniques in order to identify and remove non-conforming products and sellers from our Marketplace. See also “— Customer Service and Support — Marketplace monitoring.”

Merchandise Sourcing

As of December 31, 2023, we offered approximately 6.2 million SKUs across our platforms, consisting of over 103,100 direct sales SKUs sourced from at least 330 suppliers globally and approximately 6.1 million SKUs on our Marketplace from over 8,000 third-party sellers globally. As of December 31, 2023, approximately 60.6% of our direct sales inventory was purchased directly from manufacturers, 36.7% from distributors and 2.7% from other sources. As of December 31, 2023, the 10 largest suppliers, whom we have worked with for over a decade, accounted for 71% of the merchandise we purchased for direct sales.

The table below shows our major product categories offered through our platforms and their selected featured brands:

We strive for a steady supply of products and optimized pricing and allocation, and as a result, we maintain multiple sourcing arrangements for most of our products. Leveraging our scale, brand and global footprint, we seek to enter into exclusive agreements with selected suppliers and third-party distributors for some or all of their products with favorable terms.

We deploy a flexible sourcing model, utilizing different distribution channels when economically and logistically beneficial while maintaining our reseller authorizations and relationships with our brand partners. As we increase in scale in new or emerging product categories, we endeavor to increase our purchases directly from manufacturers and, where appropriate, to become an authorized reseller, which we believe provides improved product pricing and better access to preferred product allocation.

Our technology savvy customer base, our online marketing and merchandising expertise and our ability to quickly and efficiently launch new products make us the go-to channel for many manufacturers and distributors. We are particularly strong in the components categories where we are one of the largest channels online or offline and we continue to gain significant traction with suppliers in other categories, such as desktop PCs, laptops, and input/output devices.

We maintain extensive and longstanding relationships with many of the biggest technology product brands and distributors globally. We employ a team of merchandising professionals specifically trained to cultivate and manage relationships with large international IT brands, such as AMD, Asus, Intel, Lenovo, Microsoft, MSI, Nvidia, and Samsung. Our merchandising professionals review our product categories and brands on a regular basis to assess demand and trends so that we offer our customers access to the most current and desirable products.

Private Labels

We currently offer two private label brands on Newegg.com: Rosewill, which is focused on offering computer components and accessories, gaming peripherals and home electronics, and ABS, which offers high-end gaming PCs for consumers, on Newegg.com. We leverage our data and insights from customers and activity on the platform to determine products and features to focus our investment. Our private label assortment is primarily focused around categories where we believe that we can compete at higher than average margins while delivering cost effective, high quality options to our customers. We offer our Rosewill and ABS products across our platforms and on other e-commerce platforms, such as Walmart, Amazon, and eBay.

Other Services and Solutions

In addition to online retail sales, we also generate revenues from a range of ancillary value-added partner services. We believe by providing these services, we create additional value for our business partners and customers and ultimately benefit our ecosystem and all its participants.

Supply Chain Third-party (3PL) Services

Marketing Services

In 2020, we began rolling out the first of our marketing services for Newegg Marketplace sellers. We offer flexible marketing packages consisting of advertising sales, event organization, and other marketing campaigns to our brand partners. We help brands reach a potential audience by leveraging our online portals, marketing affiliates and promotional emails. We help our brand partners and Marketplace sellers design marketing activities with highly effective cost of sales. In addition, our Newegg Media team also provides social media and video content service offerings to market our brand partners to millions of social fans across various internet platforms, including Facebook, TikTok, X, YouTube and Instagram through live stream shopping, video content, and engaging social posts by offering promotions, sweepstakes, and reviews in order to maximize our brand partners’ exposure.

Our Platforms

Our websites and mobile applications, which we refer to as the “Newegg platforms,” are the foundation of our ecosystem. While each Newegg platform is strategically focused on different market segments, customers and/or product categories, the platforms share a common Newegg brand and are supported by our integrated logistics and fulfillment capability, operational expertise and technology infrastructure, and we offer the same level of customer service and dedication across all these platforms.

B2C Platforms

B2B Platforms

In 2009, we launched NeweggBusiness.com, a site that currently supports substantially all of our B2B operations. Over the years, we have built NeweggBusiness.com into a dedicated B2B e-commerce platform offering a full range of IT, office and industrial products and solutions with a wide customer base ranging from government agencies, healthcare institutions, and education institutions to other businesses of all sizes. NeweggBusiness.com supports both direct sales and a B2B Marketplace that connects our B2B customers with over 1,680 third-party sellers globally.

Other Platforms

In addition to the major Newegg platforms discussed above, we also operate Newegglogistics.com, a platform dedicated to providing reliable logistics and supply chain solutions through 3PL operations. For details of Newegg’s 3PL services, see “— Our Business Models — Supply Chain Third-party (3PL) Services.”

Logistics and Fulfillment

We have a reliable logistics network and infrastructure designed to prioritize timely and accurate shipment of large quantities of orders. This has allowed us to deliver over 22,850 parcels per day on average, with an average accuracy rate of over 99.9%, a 95.8% one-business day fulfillment rate in the United States and Canada if ordered prior to our 2:00 p.m. local time order cut-off and a 98.8% two-business day fulfillment rate in the United States and Canada, as of December 31, 2023.

We stock and ship the vast majority of our direct sales products. Fulfillment of orders from our Marketplace is executed by the sellers except for orders shipped through our Shipped by Newegg services, where the items will be shipped from one of our warehouses.

Our logistics and fulfillment infrastructure and capabilities include:

Our logistics and fulfillment focus on reliable, efficient, and flexible delivery.

Customer Service and Support

We have built our brand on the principle of superior customer service. We provide high-quality customer service and support throughout our customers’ entire engagement with us, from purchase to returns.

From a customer service perspective, in addition to customers, we broadly define our customers to also include our Marketplace sellers, from whom we earn commissions, and purchasers of our 3PL services and other ancillary e-commerce solutions and services. See “— The Newegg Ecosystem — Key Ecosystem Participants and How We Create Value for Them — Marketplace Sellers” and “— Our Business Models — Supply Chain Third-party (3PL) Services” for more information about our engagement with these customers.

Payment

We provide our customers with the flexibility to choose from a number of traditional online payment options, along with certain alternative payment solutions that are popular with our predominantly technology-enthusiast customers.

Sales and Marketing

Our marketing strategy includes generating customer traffic, increasing our brand recognition, acquiring customers cost-efficiently, building customer loyalty and maximizing repeat purchases. Our integrated marketing framework represents a core competency that we regard as essential to the success of our platforms. We are focused on continuing to enhance our brand awareness through a variety of online and offline marketing and brand promotion activities, while leveraging technology to drive scalability and sustainability and eventually achieve optimal return on investment and highly effective cost of traffic as well as sales.

Referral

We benefit significantly from word-of-mouth referrals and positive product reviews, and we believe our reputation as a one-stop–technology shop has led to strong word-of-mouth promotion, especially among the technology-savvy. We have efficient customer acquisition strategies, because the majority of our web traffic is free. Free traffic includes mobile apps, email & SMS, social media, and brand mentions, reviews and shares. Paid traffic includes affiliate marketing, sponsorships, influences, connected TV, and paid searches. In 2023, 90% of traffic was free, as compared to the paid traffic of 10%.

Online Marketing

We conduct the majority of our marketing efforts online through targeted marketing via affiliates, search engines, promotional emails, social media traffic, targeting and personalization, and online promotion campaigns.

Offline Marketing

We also devote marketing resources to various offline formats, including hosting or exhibiting at live events, including trade shows, conferences and various industry and consumer networking events.

Technology

Our technology systems are a critical component of our success and designed to enhance efficiency and scalability. Our research and development team, coupled with our proprietary technology infrastructure and the large volume of data generated and collected on our platforms, has created opportunities for continuous improvements in our technology capabilities, empowering reliability, scalability, and flexibility. Our technology strategy is to develop our own proprietary software and license technologies from third parties as appropriate in order to simplify and improve the shopping experience, as well as facilitate our fulfillment, financial and customer service operations.

IT Infrastructure

We have built our technology platform by relying primarily on software and systems that we have developed in-house and, to a lesser extent, on third-party software. Our technology infrastructure is designed for scalability and reliability to support business growth. We utilize high-availability clusters comprising groups of servers to provide sufficient redundancy and maintain continued service in the event of single point server failure due to hostile attacks, systematic errors or other reasons. Our high-availability data system is designed so that back-up servers instantly connect to our network once master servers experience technical difficulties.

We currently have one company-owned data center in City of Industry, California and three co-location data centers at facilities in Los Angeles, California, and New Jersey to provide redundancy for our e-commerce data. We maintain approximately 1,242 servers stored in our data centers and approximately 268 network devices. Our IT infrastructure enables us to support over 90 million page views per day and provides the capability to process up to 0.93 million orders per day. Our platform obtained PCI Level 1 certification in 2010.

Our IT Capability

Research & Development Team

Our global research and development team is focused on innovation through software development, algorithm design and development, and IT infrastructure design and maintenance. Our research and development personnel continually upgrade our platforms and test new features to improve our customer experience. Our research and development team also develops custom-built proprietary systems and engages third-party solutions to support our specific customer, vendor and Marketplace seller requirements, including handling heavy traffic on our platforms, and providing quick and efficient fulfillment services to meet customer expectations.

Security and Privacy Policy

We are committed to protecting information security across all Newegg platforms. We use a variety of techniques to protect the integrity of our networks and the confidential data we collect and store. Confidential information concerning our customers, sellers and suppliers is encrypted and protected using SSL encryption software. In addition, we use multiple layers of network segregation and hierarchical levels of firewall technology to protect against attacks or unauthorized access to our networks, servers, and databases. We also continue to build new procedural safeguards as part of our comprehensive privacy program. We operate in a secured and locked facility that requires all of our employees to check in and wear valid ID badges.

We have adopted a detailed privacy policy that describes in plain language our data use practices and how privacy is protected at Newegg, including the extent to which other Newegg users may have access to this information. We require users to acknowledge and expressly agree to this policy when registering with our platforms. For more information, see “Risk Factors — Risks Related to Newegg’s Business — A significant inadvertent disclosure or breach of confidential or personal information we hold could be detrimental to our business, reputation and results of operations.”

Intellectual Property

We rely on a combination of trademark, trade secret and other intellectual property laws as well as confidentiality agreements with our employees and suppliers for the purpose of protecting the proprietary rights associated with the products branded under our private labels. We control access to use and distribution of our intellectual property through license agreements, confidentiality procedures, non-disclosure agreements with third parties and our employment and contractor agreements.

Our intellectual property portfolio includes numerous domain names for websites that we use in our business. We have registered the domain names Newegg.com, Newegg.ca and NeweggBusiness.com and their variations. Our “Newegg” trademark and logo have also been registered with the relevant authorities in the United States, Canada and China (as well as in other regions, such as the European Union and Brazil). Furthermore, we have also registered the trademarks and logos of our private labels, such as Rosewill and ABS.

In addition to the protection of our intellectual property, we are focusing on ensuring that our product offerings (especially our private-label products) do not infringe on the intellectual property of others. Generally, our agreements with suppliers contain provisions to safeguard us against potential intellectual property infringement by our suppliers and impose penalties in the event of any infringement. We reserve the right to refuse to work with or terminate our relationship with suppliers where we become aware that they are violating the intellectual property rights of a third party.

Competition

The worldwide market in which we compete is evolving rapidly and intensely competitive, and we face a broad array of competitors from many different industry sectors around the world. Our current and potential competitors include: (i) online, offline and multichannel retailers, publishers, vendors, distributors, manufacturers, and producers of the products we offer and sell to customers; (ii) companies that provide ancillary D2C platform services and solutions, including website development, advertising, customer service and payment processing; (iii) companies that provide fulfillment and logistics services for themselves or for third parties, whether online or offline; and (iv) companies that design, manufacture, market, or sell consumer electronics, telecommunication, and electronic devices.

We believe the principal competitive factors in our market are:

Some of our current and potential competitors have greater resources, longer histories, more customers, greater brand recognition, and greater control over inputs critical to our various businesses. They may secure better terms from suppliers, adopt more aggressive pricing, pursue restrictive distribution agreements that restrict our access to supply, direct consumers to their own offerings instead of ours, lock-in potential customers with restrictive terms, and devote more resources to technology, infrastructure, fulfillment, and marketing. Each of our businesses is also subject to rapid change and the development of new business models and the entry of new and well-funded competitors. Other companies also may enter into business combinations or alliances that strengthen their competitive positions.

Our principal market is in the United States, where we compete with retail stores and resellers, including superstores such as Best Buy, Costco and Walmart, hardware and software vendors that sell directly to end users, online retailers such as Amazon, and other marketers and resellers of IT/CE products.

See also Item 3 under the heading “Risk Factors,” the subheading “Our business faces intense domestic and international competition.”

Seasonality

Our business performance is subject to seasonal fluctuations. We have undergone and expect to continue to undergo an increase in activity during the year-end holiday period. These seasonal effects cause differences in revenues and expenses among the various quarters of any financial year, which means that the individual quarters should not be directly compared with one another or be used to predict annual financial results. This intra-year seasonal fluctuation in demand is in accord with historic experience in the retail and e-commerce industries, with increased volumes during the fourth calendar quarter of the year.

Government Regulations

We are subject to U.S. federal and state consumer protection laws, including laws protecting the privacy of customer personal information and regulations prohibiting unfair and deceptive trade practices. Other existing and future laws cover issues such as user privacy, spyware and the tracking of consumer activities, marketing emails and communications, other advertising and promotional practices, money transfers, pricing, content and quality of products and services, taxation, electronic contracts and other communications and information security.

Particularly, under applicable federal and state laws and regulations addressing privacy and data security, we must provide notice to consumers of our policies with respect to the collection and use of personal information, and our sharing of personal information with third parties and notice of changes to our data handling practices. In some instances, we may be obligated to give customers the right to prevent sharing of their personal information with third parties. Under applicable federal and state laws, we also are required to comply with a number of requirements when sending commercial email to consumers, including identifying advertising and promotional emails as such, ensuring that subject lines are not deceptive, giving consumers an opportunity to opt out of further communications and clearly disclosing our name and physical address in each commercial email. Regulation of privacy and data security matters is an evolving area, with new laws and regulations enacted frequently. For example, California enacted legislation that, among other things, requires new disclosures to California consumers, and affords such consumers new abilities to opt out of certain sales of personal information, which was effective on January 1, 2020. In addition, under applicable federal and state unfair competition laws, including the California Consumer Legal Remedies Act, and U.S. Federal Trade Commission, regulations, we must accurately identify product offerings, not make misleading claims on our platforms, and use qualifying disclosures where and when appropriate.

There is also great uncertainty over whether or how existing laws governing issues such as property ownership, sales and other taxes, auctions, libel, and personal privacy apply to the Internet and commercial online services. For example, tax authorities in a number of states are currently reviewing the appropriate tax treatment of companies engaged in online commerce, and new state tax regulations may subject us to additional state sales and income taxes. Additionally, new state legislation may also subject us to other types of taxes. New legislation or regulation, the application of laws and regulations from jurisdictions whose laws do not currently apply to our business or the application of existing laws and regulations to the Internet and commercial online services could result in significant additional taxes or regulatory restrictions on our business or may necessitate changes to our business practices. These obligations or changes could have an adverse effect on our financial position and results of operations.

Our international operations are subject to foreign laws and regulations addressing topics such as customs duties and taxes, advertising and marketing practices, privacy, data protection and information security and consumer rights, as well as additional laws and regulations, including restrictions on imports from, exports to, and services provided to persons located in certain countries and territories, any of which might apply by virtue of our operations in foreign countries and territories or our contacts with consumers in such foreign countries and territories. For example, in Canada, we are subject to labor and employment laws, laws governing advertising, privacy and data security laws, safety regulations and other laws, including consumer protection regulations that apply to online retailers and/or the promotion and sale of merchandise and the operation of stores and warehouse facilities. We monitor changes in these laws, regulations, treaties, and agreements, and believe that we are in material compliance with applicable laws.

See Exhibit 8.1 for a list of our significant subsidiaries.

Our Facilities

As of December 31, 2023, we leased the following principal facilities:

As of December 31, 2023, Newegg owned the following principal facilities:

Our corporate headquarters is located in the City of Industry, California. In June 2023, we purchased a tenant-occupied office building in Diamond Bar, California, which we intend to utilize as our new headquarters beginning in the second half of 2024. We also lease additional corporate office facilities and fulfillment and warehouse operations throughout North America, principally in California, Indiana, and Georgia in the United States, and Toronto in Canada. Outside of North America, we also own or lease corporate office facilities principally in China and Taiwan. We own warehouse facilities in Shanghai, China that are currently leased to third party tenants. Our Asia headquarters is in Shanghai. We also periodically evaluate our facility requirements as necessary and believe our existing and planned facilities will be sufficient for our needs for at least the next 12 months.

Item 4A. Unresolved Staff Comments

None.

Item 5. Operating and Financial Review and Prospects 

You should read the following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and the related notes included elsewhere in this annual report. This discussion contains forward-looking statements that are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties. Actual results and the timing of events may differ significantly from those expressed or implied in such forward-looking statements due to a number of factors, including those set forth in the sections entitled “Risk Factors” and “Disclosure Regarding Forward-Looking Statements” and elsewhere in this annual report. We have prepared our financial statements in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP”).

Overview

Newegg is a leading technology-focused e-commerce company in North America, and ranked as the number one online marketplace in the electronics product category according to Web Retailer, based on an estimated 16.9 million website visits for the month of April 2023. Through Newegg.com, our flagship retail site, and other online platforms, we connect our global customer base to a wide and increasing assortment of tech products and a massive pool of brands, sellers, suppliers, manufacturers, distributors, and third-party service providers.

Headquartered in California, Newegg’s reach is global. Leveraging our extensive fulfillment and warehousing network and the global footprint of our suppliers and sellers, we are able to offer merchandise sourced from over 40 countries and regions to customers located in over 20 countries and regions and deliver customer services in multiple languages.

Newegg’s Business Model

GMV is the primary driver of our net sales, as we derive a significant majority of net sales from the GMV transacted on our online platforms, net of cancellations and returns. We define GMV as the total dollar value of products sold on our websites and third-party marketplace platforms, directly to customers and by our Marketplace sellers through Newegg Marketplace, net of returns, discounts, taxes, and cancellations. GMV also includes the services fees charged through our NPS in rendering services for our 3PL, SBN, SLS, staffing and media ad services, as well as the sales made by our Asia subsidiaries. We generate GMV and net sales primarily from the following sources:

Factors Affecting Newegg’s Results of Operations

Our financial condition and results of operations have been, and will continue to be, affected by a number of important factors, including the following:

Newegg’s ability to grow our customer base and increase their engagement level

We monitor the following key operating metrics to evaluate our user traffic and the engagement of our customer base.

Note:

We use the above operating metrics to measure our overall customer engagement with our platforms. Our operating metrics vary from time to time due to factors including economic trends, new product releases, the level of competition we face, and the purchase patterns of our customers. The number of active customers, repeat purchase rates, and average order value are indicators of the size and engagement of our customer base.

Newegg’s product mix

We offer a wide range of technology products from a broad mix of brands and sellers. As of December 31, 2023, we offered approximately 6.2 million SKUs across over 1,595 categories. Products are offered on our online platforms across a range of types, brands, and price points. We believe that customers are attracted to our online platforms primarily by the breadth and depth of our product offerings, a critical component of our ability to increase sales and drive long-term profitability.

Our results of operations are affected by our merchandise mix, as products of different categories, brands and price points have a range of margin and profitability profiles. For example, categories where we hold lower market share and we strive to grow at an accelerated rate over market may offer relatively lower margins. Our merchandise mix may shift over time due to the combination of a variety of factors, including consumer demands and preferences, average selling prices, our ability to maintain and expand our supplier relationships, our ability to forecast market trends, and our marketing and promotional efforts. We continuously monitor the GMV and margin mix of our product offerings and we seek to increase the percentage of GMV and net sales from categories and brands with attractive margin profiles.

Success of Newegg Marketplace

A key component of our long-term strategy is the success of our Newegg Marketplace, which we believe is an important driver of future profitable growth.

For the years ended December 31, 2023, 2022, and 2021, our Newegg Marketplace generated GMV of $369.7 million, $552.2 million, and $742.4 million, respectively, and accounted for approximately 20.4%, 25.1% and 24.5%, respectively, of our total GMV. During the same periods, our Newegg Marketplace generated net sales of $32.3 million, $47.0 million, and $63.5 million, respectively, and accounted for 2.2%, 2.7%, and 2.7%, respectively, of our total net sales. The decrease in GMV and net sales in our Marketplace business for the year ended December 31, 2023 versus prior years is primarily due to a decrease in consumer demand, but also partially attributable to a significant year-over-year reduction in the number of Marketplace sellers and SKUs due to quality control and fraud prevention initiatives, as well as category consolidation initiatives designed to streamline our Marketplace catalogue.

Our results of operations have been, and will continue to be, influenced by shifts over time in the GMV mix between direct sales and Marketplace. This is primarily due to the difference in revenue recognition — we recognize revenues from direct sales on a gross basis, while we recognize revenues from the Newegg Marketplace on a net basis. See “— Key Components of Results of Operations” for details. Accordingly, for the same amount of GMV, direct sales generates more net sales than Marketplace and, therefore, an increase in the GMV contribution of Marketplace as a portion of the total GMV would have a negative impact on our net sales.

Newegg’s ability to forecast consumer needs and preferences

The IT/CE e-commerce market in North America and globally is characterized by rapidly evolving technologies, fast-changing consumer requirements and preferences and frequent releases of new products and introductions of updated industry standards and practices. We must effectively respond to these changes to remain competitive. We may have difficulty anticipating consumer demand and preferences, and the goods offered on our online platforms may not be accepted by the market or may be rendered obsolete or uneconomical. Our inability to adapt to these developments may lead to excessive or deficient inventories or a failure to attract new customers and retain existing customers, which could materially and adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations.

Newegg’s ability to source products from key suppliers on favorable terms

As of December 31, 2023, we offered over 103,000 direct sales SKUs sourced from at least 325 suppliers globally. We maintain extensive, long-standing and mutually beneficial relationships with many of the biggest tech product brands and distributors globally. However, our contracts or arrangements with such suppliers generally do not guarantee the availability of merchandise or provide for the continuation of particular pricing or other practices. Our suppliers may not continue to sell their inventory to us on current terms or at all, and, if the terms are changed, we may not be able to establish new supply relationships on similar or better terms.

We compete with other retailers and direct marketers for favorable product allocations and vendor incentive programs from product manufacturers and distributors. Some of our competitors could enter into exclusive or favorable distribution arrangements for certain products with our vendors, which would deny us complete or partial access to those products and marketing and promotional resources. In addition, some vendors whose products are offered on our online platforms also sell their products directly to customers. If we are unable to develop and maintain relationships with suppliers that permit us to obtain sufficient quantities of desirable merchandise on favorable terms, our results of operations could be adversely impacted.

Segment Information

Our chief operating decision maker (i.e. chief executive officer) reviews financial information presented on a consolidated basis, accompanied by disaggregated information about revenue by countries or regions for purposes of allocating resources and evaluating financial performance. There are no segment managers who are held accountable for operations, operating results and plans for levels or components below the consolidated unit level. Based on qualitative and quantitative criteria established by Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) 280, “Segment Reporting,” we consider ourselves to be operating within one reportable segment.

Key Components of Results of Operations

Net Sales

Our net sales consist of direct sales revenues, Marketplace revenues and services revenues. See “— Newegg’s Business Model” for more information about these sources of net sales.

Our net sales are reported net of anticipated discounts, returns, allowances, sales tax and credit card chargebacks, which are all estimated from historical experience. We also offer customer promotional programs, which we record as reductions in sales based on anticipated redemption rates estimated from historical experience.

The following table sets forth the components of our net sales in absolute amounts and as percentages of total net sales, for the periods indicated.

Cost of Sales

The largest component of our cost of sales is the purchase price of goods that we directly sell to customers. Cost of sales also includes (i) costs relating to our service revenues, which include personnel expenses and other costs relating to our third-party logistics services; (ii) inbound and outbound freight costs; and (iii) inventory write-offs relating to refurbished, slow-moving and obsolete inventories and adjustments for vendor incentives related to inventory still on hand at the reporting date.

Cost of sales is partially offset by payments we earn under vendor incentive programs, or VIPs, such as purchase rebates, marketing development funds that vendors give us to advertise their products, cooperative marketing programs jointly funded with vendors, and price protection refunds to offset reductions in the manufacturer’s suggested retail price. These VIPs are sometimes tied to the volume of our purchases or sales and represent an indirect or effective reduction of the selling price of the suppliers’ products. Therefore, we treat these program payments as reductions to cost of sales.

The following table sets forth the components of our cost of sales, in absolute amounts and as percentages of total net sales, for the periods indicated.

Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

The largest component of our selling, general and administrative expenses (“SG&A expenses”), is salary and other compensation costs, consisting of expenses relating to the employment of our employees, as well as temporary personnel to meet our needs in areas such as customer service and fulfillment during seasonal peaks in orders.

Other significant components of SG&A expenses include advertising and marketing expenses, merchant processing fees, depreciation and amortization, rent expenses, warehouse costs, office expenses, professional fees, and other general corporate costs.

The following table sets forth the components of our SG&A expenses, in absolute amounts and as percentages of net sales, for the periods indicated.