Vroom, Inc. (VRM) FY 2021 MD&A
This page reproduces the company's own Item 7 MD&A text from the linked SEC filing. It is filer text, not grepcent analysis, scoring, or investment advice.
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read in conjunction with our consolidated financial statements and related notes appearing elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. As discussed in the section titled "Special Note Regarding Forward-Looking Statements," the following discussion and analysis contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions that, if they never materialize or prove incorrect, could cause our results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those identified below and those incorporated by reference into the section titled "Risk Factors" in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. Additionally, our historical results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for any period in the future.
A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operation for the year ended December 31, 2021 compared to the year ended December 31, 2020 is presented below. A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operations for the year ended December 31, 2020 compared to the year ended December 31, 2019 is included under “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.
Overview
Vroom is an innovative, end-to-end ecommerce platform that is transforming the used vehicle industry by offering a better way to buy and a better way to sell used vehicles. We are deeply committed to creating an exceptional experience for our customers.
We are driving enduring change in the industry on a national scale. Leveraging the benefits of national scale and local efficiency, we take a vertically integrated, hybrid asset-light approach, that is reinventing all phases of the vehicle buying and selling process, from discovery to delivery and everything in between. Our platform encompasses:
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Ecommerce: We offer an exceptional ecommerce experience for our customers. In contrast to legacy dealerships and the peer-to-peer market, we provide consumers with a personalized and intuitive ecommerce interface to research and select from thousands of fully reconditioned vehicles. Our platform is accessible at any time on any device and provides transparent pricing, real-time financing and nationwide contact-free delivery right to a buyer’s driveway. For consumers looking to sell or trade in their vehicles, we provide attractive market-based pricing, real-time price quotes and convenient, contact-free at-home vehicle pick-up.
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Vehicle Operations: Our scalable and vertically integrated operations underpin our business model. We strategically source inventory from consumers, auctions, rental car companies, OEMs, and dealers. We improve our ability to acquire high-demand vehicles through enhanced supply science across all our sourcing channels and we have expanded our national marketing efforts to drive consumer sourcing. In our reconditioning and logistics operations, we deploy a hybrid asset-light strategy that optimizes a combination of ownership and operation of assets by us with strategic third-party partnerships. As we scale nationally, we continue to leverage our expanding last mile logistics operations and geographically dispersed network of reconditioning centers to further develop our regional operating model designed to improve our operating leverage, drive stronger unit economics and enhance our customer experience.
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Data Science and Experimentation: Data science and experimentation are at the core of everything we do. We rely on data science, machine learning and A/B and multivariate testing to continually drive optimization and operating leverage across our ecommerce and vehicle operations. We leverage data to increase the effectiveness of our national brand and performance marketing, enhance our customer experience, analyze market dynamics at scale, calibrate our vehicle pricing and optimize our overall inventory sales velocity. On the operations side, data science and experimentation enables us to fine tune our supply, sourcing and logistics models and to streamline our reconditioning processes.
Based on data from Cox Automotive, there were an estimated 40.5 million used vehicle transactions in 2021. The U.S. used automotive market is also highly fragmented, with over 42,000 dealers as of 2020 and millions of peer-to-peer transactions across the country. It also is ripe for disruption as an industry that is notorious for consumer dissatisfaction and has one of the lowest levels of ecommerce penetration. Industry reports estimate that ecommerce penetration will grow to as much as half of all used vehicle sales by 2030. Our platform, coupled with our national presence and brand,
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provides a significant competitive advantage versus local dealerships and regional players that lack nationwide reach and scalable technology, operations and logistics. The traditional auto dealers and peer-to-peer market do not and cannot offer consumers what we offer.
Our Model
We generate revenue through the sale of used vehicles and value-added products. We sell vehicles directly to consumers primarily through our Ecommerce segment as a licensed dealer. As the largest segment in our business, Ecommerce revenue grew 166.8% from 2020 to 2021, and we expect Ecommerce to continue to outgrow our other segments as it is the core focus of our growth strategy.
We also sell vehicles through wholesale channels, which provide a revenue source for vehicles that do not meet our Vroom retail sales criteria. Additionally, we generate revenue through the retail sale of used vehicles and value-added products at Houston-based Texas Direct Auto, or TDA.
For the year ended December 31, 2021, our Ecommerce, Wholesale and TDA segments represented 76.7%, 15.7% and 7.2% of our total revenue, respectively.
Our retail gross profit consists of two components: Vehicle Gross Profit and Product Gross Profit. Vehicle Gross Profit is calculated as the aggregate retail sales price for all vehicles sold to customers along with delivery fee revenue and document fees received from customers, less the aggregate cost to acquire such vehicles, the aggregate cost of inbound transportation for such vehicles to our vehicle reconditioning centers, which we refer to as VRCs, and the aggregate cost of reconditioning such vehicles for sale. Product Gross Profit consists of fees earned on any finance and protection products sold as part of a vehicle sale. Because we are paid fees on the value-added products we sell, our gross profit on such products is equal to the revenue we generate. See “—Key Operating and Financial Metrics.”
Below is an explanation of how we calculate vehicle gross profit per unit and product gross profit per unit:
Our profitability depends primarily on increasing unit sales and operating leverage, as well as improving unit economics. We deploy a hybrid asset-light strategy that optimizes a combination of ownership and operation of assets by us with strategic third-party partnerships. Our hybrid approach also applies to the third-party value-added products we sell to customers. Currently, we generate additional revenue streams without directly underwriting vehicle financing or protection products; however, our acquisition of UACC accelerates our strategy to develop a captive financing arm and underwrite vehicle financing for our customers. As we scale, we expect to benefit from efficiencies and operating leverage across our business, including our marketing and technology investments, and our inventory procurement, logistics, reconditioning and sales processes.
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Inventory Sourcing
We source our vehicle inventory from a variety of channels, including consumers, auctions, rental car companies, OEMs and dealers. Because the quality of vehicles and associated gross margin profile vary across each channel, the mix of inventory sources has an impact on our profitability. We continually evaluate the optimal mix of sourcing channels to generate the highest sales margins and shortest inventory turns, both of which contribute to increased gross profit per unit. We generate a vast set of predictive data derived from market demand, pricing dynamics, vehicle acquisitions and subsequent sales, and we leverage that data to optimize future vehicle acquisitions, which we believe has been enhanced by the acquisition of CarStory and integration of its advanced data analytics. As we scale, we expect to continue to leverage the data at our disposal to optimize and enhance the volume and selection of vehicles in our inventory and, in turn, drive revenue growth and profitability. We are also exploring and testing third party inventory strategies, which offers the possibility of expanding our sourcing channels through third party sellers while offering us attractive revenue models in an asset light, debt free structure. See “—Other Key Factors and Trends Affecting our Operating Results—Ability to utilize data science to drive revenue growth by cost effectively increasing the volume and selection of vehicles in our inventory.”
Vehicle Reconditioning
Before a vehicle is listed for retail sale on our platform, it undergoes a thorough reconditioning process in order to meet our Vroom retail sales criteria. The efficiency of this reconditioning process is a key element in our ability to profitably grow. To recondition vehicles, we rely on a combination of our Vroom VRC along with a network of VRCs owned and operated by third parties. Utilizing this hybrid approach, we have increased our total reconditioning capacity to approximately 3,400 units per week as of December 31, 2021, with approximately three-fourths from our 37 third-party VRCs. One of our third party VRC providers, Adesa U.S., which also hosts a number of our last-mile hubs, recently announced a change of control transaction pursuant to which Adesa is being acquired by a competitor of Vroom. Adesa has communicated its intent to discontinue its third-party reconditioning serves, which will require us to replace Adesa's capacity with increased capacity at our other existing providers, new providers, or additional proprietary VRCs, and relocate the affected last-mile hubs. Going forward, as we continue to scale our business, we intend to add additional proprietary VRCs to our integrated hybrid network to ensure adequate capacity and support our regional operating model. As we are increasing the number of vehicles in our inventory and expanding our reconditioning capacity, we expect that reconditioning costs and inbound shipping costs per unit will continue to decrease as we benefit from economies of scale and operating leverage in reconditioning costs. See “—Other Key Factors and Trends Affecting our Operating Results—Ability to expand and optimize our reconditioning capacity to satisfy increasing demand.”
Logistics Network
For our logistics operations, we historically used primarily national third-party carriers, which allowed us to efficiently deliver vehicles to customers throughout the United States while focusing on expanding other critical components of our business, such as the volume and selection of vehicles in our inventory. We optimized our third-party logistics network nationally through the development of strategic carrier arrangements with national haulers and consolidated our carrier base into dedicated operating regions. This strategy enhanced the flexibility, agility and speed of our growth while reducing the need for additional capital commitments as we scaled our business. We have been accelerating our strategy to optimize our hybrid approach by expanding our proprietary logistics networks due to a confluence of factors, including increased shipping prices and delays during the COVID-19 pandemic from a reduced supply of carriers and increased demand for carriers from competitors, as well as our desire to improve the quality and reliability of our logistics operations and enhance our customer experience. We have been prioritizing investment in our last mile delivery operations, where we can have the greatest impact on the customer experience, and also are investing in short-haul vehicles to make regional deliveries from our last mile hubs, many of which are located at our third-party VRCs, and line-haul vehicles for hub-to-hub shipments on high-volume routes. Consistent with our hybrid approach and the continued development of our regional operating model as we continue to scale our business, we will strategically combine the operation of our expanded proprietary fleet with the use of third-party carriers, which will enable us to accommodate our rapid growth, improve our operating leverage and provide the highest level of customer service. See “—Other Key Factors and Trends Affecting our Operating Results—Ability to expand and develop our logistics network.”
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Value-Added Products
We generate revenue by earning fees for selling value-added products to customers in connection with vehicle sales. Currently, our third-party value-added product offerings consist of finance and protection products, such as financing from third-party lenders for our customers’ vehicle purchases, as well as sales of vehicle service contracts, GAP protection and tire and wheel coverage. As we scale our business, we intend to introduce additional value-added products that will be attractive to our customers and drive revenue and profitable growth. We expect that both expanded product offerings and increased attachment rates in value-added product sales will have a positive impact on our profitability. As a first step in our integration plan, UACC has joined the existing lineup of lenders available on our ecommerce platform as we work to integrate UACC’s services and develop our captive financing operation, which will enable us to provide our customers with automotive financing solutions across the credit spectrum and an enhanced customer experience. See “—Other Key Factors and Trends Affecting our Operating Results—Ability to increase and better monetize value-added products.”
Our Segments
We manage and report operating results through three reportable segments:
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Ecommerce (76.7% of 2021 revenue; 67.4% of 2020 revenue): The Ecommerce segment represents retail sales of used vehicles through our ecommerce platform and fees earned on sales of value-added products associated with those vehicle sales.
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Wholesale (15.7% of 2021 revenue; 18.1% of 2020 revenue): The Wholesale segment represents sales of used vehicles through wholesale channels.
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TDA (7.2% of 2021 revenue; 14.4% of 2020 revenue): The TDA segment represents retail sales of used vehicles from TDA and fees earned on sales of value-added products associated with those vehicle sales.
Gross profit is defined as revenue less cost of sales for each segment. Reflected below is a summary of segment revenue and segment gross profit for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019:
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 (1) | 2019 (1) | |||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||
| Revenue: | |||||||||||
| Ecommerce | $ | 2,442,369 | $ | 915,451 | $ | 588,114 | |||||
| Wholesale | 498,981 | 245,580 | $ | 213,464 | |||||||
| TDA | 229,872 | 195,295 | $ | 388,504 | |||||||
| All Other | 13,033 | 1,374 | $ | 1,739 | |||||||
| Total revenue | $ | 3,184,255 | $ | 1,357,700 | $ | 1,191,821 | |||||
| Gross profit: | |||||||||||
| Ecommerce | $ | 164,746 | $ | 60,861 | $ | 32,127 | |||||
| Wholesale | 18,120 | (1,432 | ) | 340 | |||||||
| TDA | 11,907 | 11,677 | 24,661 | ||||||||
| All Other | 7,326 | 439 | 731 | ||||||||
| Total gross profit | $ | 202,099 | $ | 71,545 | $ | 57,859 |
(1)
We reclassified other revenue and other gross profit related to the vehicle repair service at TDA from the TDA reportable segment to the “All Other” category to conform to current year presentation.
Key Operating and Financial Metrics
We regularly review a number of metrics, including the following key operating and financial metrics, to evaluate our business, measure our performance, identify trends in our business, prepare financial forecasts and make strategic decisions. We believe these operational measures are useful in evaluating our performance, in addition to our financial results prepared in accordance with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting Principles, or U.S. GAAP. You should read the key operating and financial metrics in conjunction with the following discussion of our results of operations and together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We
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focus heavily on metrics related to unit economics as improved gross profit per unit is a key element of our growth and profitability strategies.
The calculation of our key operating and financial metrics is straightforward and does not rely on significant projections, estimates or assumptions. Nevertheless, each of our key operating and financial metrics has limitations because each focuses specifically on only one standard by which to evaluate our business, without taking into account other applicable standards, performance measures or operating trends by which our business could be evaluated. Accordingly, no single metric should be viewed as the bellwether by which our business should be measured. Rather, each key operating and financial metric should be considered in conjunction with other metrics and components of our results of operations, such as each of the other key operating and financial metrics and our revenues, inventory, loss from operations and segment results.
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |||||||||
| Ecommerce units sold | 74,698 | 34,488 | 18,945 | ||||||||
| Vehicle Gross Profit per ecommerce unit | $ | 1,108 | $ | 869 | $ | 1,109 | |||||
| Product Gross Profit per ecommerce unit | 1,098 | 896 | 587 | ||||||||
| Total Gross Profit per ecommerce unit | $ | 2,206 | $ | 1,765 | $ | 1,696 | |||||
| Average monthly unique visitors | 1,968,656 | 969,890 | 653,216 | ||||||||
| Listed vehicles | 20,686 | 15,963 | 4,956 | ||||||||
| Ecommerce average days to sale | 74 | 66 | 68 |
Ecommerce Units Sold
Ecommerce units sold is defined as the number of vehicles sold and shipped to customers through our ecommerce platform, net of returns under our Vroom 7-Day Return Program. Ecommerce units sold excludes sales of vehicles through the TDA and Wholesale segments. As we continue to expand our ecommerce business, we expect that ecommerce units sold will continue to be the primary driver of our revenue growth. Additionally, each vehicle sale through our ecommerce platform also creates the opportunity to leverage such sale to sell value-added products. Continued ecommerce growth will also increase the number of trade-in vehicles acquired from our customers, which we can either recondition and add to our inventory or sell through wholesale channels.
Vehicle Gross Profit per Ecommerce Unit
Vehicle Gross Profit per ecommerce unit, which we refer to as Vehicle GPPU, for a given period is defined as the aggregate retail sales price and delivery charges for all vehicles sold through our Ecommerce segment less the aggregate costs to acquire those vehicles, the aggregate costs of inbound transportation to the VRCs and the aggregate costs of reconditioning those vehicles in that period, divided by the number of ecommerce units sold in that period. As we continue to expand our ecommerce business, we believe Vehicle GPPU will be a key driver of our long-term profitability.
Product Gross Profit per Ecommerce Unit
Product Gross Profit per ecommerce unit, which we refer to as Product GPPU, for a given period is defined as the aggregate fees earned on sales of value-added products in that period, net of the reserves for chargebacks on such products in that period, divided by the number of ecommerce units sold in that period. Because we are paid fees on the value-added products we sell, our gross profit is equal to the revenue we generate from the sale of value-added products. We plan to continue to introduce initiatives to increase the attachment rates of value-added products and expand our offerings of value-added products which will grow our Product GPPU. The acquisition of UACC accelerates our strategy to develop a captive financing arm and will enable us to expand our automotive financing solutions across the credit spectrum to support sales growth, improve unit economics and create long-term value for our shareholders. With the captive financing offered by UACC, we will begin to generate product gross profit through the sales of finance receivables we originate and sell in securitization transactions or forward flow arrangements.
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Total Gross Profit per Ecommerce Unit
Total Gross Profit per ecommerce unit, which we refer to as Total GPPU, for a given period is calculated as the sum of Vehicle GPPU and Product GPPU. We view Total GPPU as a key metric of the profitability of our Ecommerce segment.
Average Monthly Unique Visitors
Average monthly unique visitors is defined as the average number of individuals who access our ecommerce platform within a calendar month. We calculate the average monthly unique visitors over any period by dividing the aggregate monthly unique visitors during such period by the number of months in that period. We use average monthly unique visitors to measure the quality of our customer experience, the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns and customer acquisition as well as the strength of our brand and market penetration.
Average monthly unique visitors is calculated using data provided by Google Analytics. The computation of average monthly unique visitors excludes individuals who access our platform multiple times within a calendar month, counting such individuals only one time for purposes of the calculation. If an individual accesses our ecommerce platform using different devices or different browsers on the same device within a given month, the first access through each such device or browser is counted as a separate monthly unique visitor.
Listed Vehicles
We define listed vehicles as the aggregate number of vehicles listed on our platform at any given point in time. Listed vehicles includes vehicles that are available for sale, pending sale and “coming soon”. Listed vehicles is a key indicator of our performance because we believe that the number of vehicles listed on our platform is a key driver of vehicle sales and revenue growth. Increasing the number of vehicles listed on our platform results in a greater selection of vehicles for our customers, creating demand and increasing conversion.
Ecommerce Average Days to Sale
We define ecommerce average days to sale as the average number of days between our acquisition of vehicles and the final delivery of such vehicles to customers through our ecommerce platform. We calculate average days to sale for a given period by dividing the aggregate number of days between the acquisition of all vehicles sold through our ecommerce platform during such period and final delivery of such vehicles to customers by the number of ecommerce units sold in that period. Ecommerce average days to sale excludes vehicles sold through the TDA and Wholesale segments. Ecommerce average days to sale is an important metric because a reduction in the number of days between the acquisition of a vehicle and the delivery of such vehicle typically results in a higher gross profit per unit.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to our results determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP, we believe the following non-GAAP financial measures are useful in evaluating our operating performance: EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted loss from operations, Non-GAAP net loss, Non-GAAP net loss per share and Non-GAAP net loss per share, as adjusted. These non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as analytical tools in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with our results of operations as determined in accordance with U.S. GAAP. Because of these limitations, these non-GAAP financial measures should be considered along with other operating and financial performance measures presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. The presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for, or superior to, financial information prepared and presented in accordance with U.S. GAAP. We have reconciled all non-GAAP financial measures with the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP financial measures.
EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted loss from operations, Non-GAAP net loss, Non-GAAP net loss per share and Non-GAAP net loss per share, as adjusted are supplemental performance measures that our management uses to assess our operating performance and the operating leverage in our business. Because EBITDA, Adjusted EBITDA, Adjusted loss from operations, Non-GAAP net loss, Non-GAAP net loss per share and Non-GAAP net loss per share, as adjusted facilitate internal comparisons of our historical operating performance on a more consistent basis, we use these measures for business planning purposes.
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EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA
We calculate EBITDA as net loss before interest expense, interest income, income tax expense and depreciation and amortization expense and we calculate Adjusted EBITDA as EBITDA adjusted to exclude the one-time, IPO related acceleration of non-cash stock-based compensation expense, the one-time, IPO related non-cash revaluation of a preferred stock warrant, and acquisition related costs. The following table presents a reconciliation of EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA to net loss, which is the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (370,911 | ) | $ | (202,799 | ) | $ | (142,978 | ) | |||
| Adjusted to exclude the following: | ||||||||||||
| Interest expense | 21,948 | 9,656 | 14,596 | |||||||||
| Interest income | (10,341 | ) | (5,896 | ) | (5,607 | ) | ||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 754 | 84 | 168 | |||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization expense | 13,215 | 4,654 | 6,157 | |||||||||
| EBITDA | $ | (345,335 | ) | $ | (194,301 | ) | $ | (127,664 | ) | |||
| One-time IPO related acceleration of non-cash stock-based compensation | — | 1,262 | — | |||||||||
| One-time IPO related non-cash revaluation of preferred stock warrant | — | 20,470 | — | |||||||||
| Acquisition related costs | 5,090 | 2,080 | — | |||||||||
| Adjusted EBITDA | $ | (340,245 | ) | $ | (170,489 | ) | $ | (127,664 | ) |
Adjusted loss from operations
We calculate Adjusted loss from operations as loss from operations adjusted to exclude the one-time, IPO related acceleration of non-cash stock-based compensation expense and acquisition related costs. The following table presents a reconciliation of Adjusted loss from operations to loss from operations, which is the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measure:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||
| Loss from operations | $ | (358,615 | ) | $ | (178,599 | ) | $ | (133,148 | ) | |||
| Add: One-time IPO related acceleration of non-cash stock based compensation | — | 1,262 | — | |||||||||
| Add: Acquisition related costs | 5,090 | 2,080 | — | |||||||||
| Adjusted loss from operations | $ | (353,525 | ) | $ | (175,257 | ) | $ | (133,148 | ) |
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Non-GAAP net loss, Non-GAAP net loss per share and Non-GAAP net loss per share, as adjusted
We calculate Non-GAAP net loss as net loss adjusted to exclude the one-time, IPO related acceleration of non-cash stock-based compensation expense, the one-time, IPO related non-cash revaluation of a preferred stock warrant, and acquisition related costs. We calculate Non-GAAP net loss per share as Non-GAAP net loss divided by weighted average number of shares outstanding. The following table presents a reconciliation of Non-GAAP net loss and Non-GAAP net loss per share to net loss and net loss per share, which are the most directly comparable U.S. GAAP measures:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||
| (in thousands, except share and per share amounts) | ||||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (370,911 | ) | $ | (202,799 | ) | $ | (142,978 | ) | |||
| Accretion of redeemable convertible preferred stock | — | — | (132,750 | ) | ||||||||
| Net loss attributable to common stockholders | $ | (370,911 | ) | $ | (202,799 | ) | $ | (275,728 | ) | |||
| Add: One-time IPO related acceleration of non-cash stock based compensation | — | 1,262 | — | |||||||||
| Add: One-time IPO related non-cash revaluation of preferred stock warrant | — | 20,470 | — | |||||||||
| Add: Acquisition related costs | 5,090 | 2,080 | — | |||||||||
| Non-GAAP net loss | $ | (365,821 | ) | $ | (178,987 | ) | $ | (275,728 | ) | |||
| Weighted-average number of shares outstanding used to compute net loss per share, basic and diluted | 136,429,791 | 73,345,569 | 8,605,962 | |||||||||
| Net loss per share, basic and diluted | $ | (2.72 | ) | $ | (2.76 | ) | $ | (32.04 | ) | |||
| Impact of one-time IPO related acceleration of non-cash stock based compensation | — | 0.02 | — | |||||||||
| Impact of one-time IPO related non-cash revaluation of preferred stock warrant | — | 0.28 | — | |||||||||
| Impact of acquisition related costs | 0.04 | 0.03 | — | |||||||||
| Non-GAAP net loss per share, basic and diluted | $ | (2.68 | ) | $ | (2.43 | ) | $ | (32.04 | ) | |||
| Non-GAAP net loss per share, as adjusted, basic and diluted(a) | $ | (2.68 | ) | $ | (1.37 | ) | $ | (1.11 | ) |
(a)Non-GAAP net loss per share, as adjusted has been computed to give effect to, as of the beginning of each period presented, (i) the shares of common stock issued in connection with our IPO (ii) the automatic conversion of all outstanding shares of redeemable convertible preferred stock into shares of common stock that occurred upon the consummation of our IPO and (iii) the shares of common stock issued in connection with our follow-on public offering. The computation of Non-GAAP net loss per share, as adjusted is as follows:
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | ||||||||||
| (in thousands, except share and per share amounts) | ||||||||||||
| Non-GAAP net loss | $ | (365,821 | ) | $ | (178,987 | ) | $ | (275,728 | ) | |||
| Add: Accretion of redeemable convertible preferred stock | — | — | $ | 132,750 | ||||||||
| Non-GAAP net loss, as adjusted | $ | (365,821 | ) | $ | (178,987 | ) | $ | (142,978 | ) | |||
| Weighted-average number of shares outstanding used to compute net loss per share, basic and diluted | 136,429,791 | 73,345,569 | 8,605,962 | |||||||||
| Add: unweighted adjustment for common stock issued in connection with IPO | — | 24,437,500 | 24,437,500 | |||||||||
| Add: unweighted adjustment for conversion of redeemable convertible preferred stock in connection with IPO | — | 85,533,394 | 85,533,394 | |||||||||
| Add: unweighted adjustment for common stock issued in connection with follow-on public offering | — | 10,800,000 | 10,800,000 | |||||||||
| Less: Adjustment for the impact of the above items already included in weighted-average number of shares outstanding for the periods presented | — | (63,865,903 | ) | — | ||||||||
| Weighted-average number of shares outstanding used to compute net loss per share, as adjusted, basic and diluted | 136,429,791 | 130,250,560 | 129,376,856 | |||||||||
| Non-GAAP net loss per share, as adjusted, basic and diluted | $ | (2.68 | ) | $ | (1.37 | ) | $ | (1.11 | ) |
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Recent Events
Acquisition of UACC
On February 1, 2022, we completed the acquisition of 100% of Unitas Holdings Corp., the parent corporation of UACC, a leader in automotive finance, for a cash purchase price of approximately $300.0 million, subject to customary purchase price adjustments. This acquisition accelerates our strategy of establishing a captive financing arm and underwriting vehicle financing for our customers.
We believe that, over time, the UACC platform will unlock the benefits of our captive finance strategy and enable us to increase ecommerce unit sales, expand our penetration of sales to customers across the credit spectrum, accelerate total revenue growth, enhance aggregate gross profit and GPPU, and leverage our fixed cost base. In addition, utilizing UACC’s securitization expertise, we expect loans originated by UACC post-closing to be funded through existing warehouse lines and sold via forward flow arrangements and off-balance sheet securitization transactions. This originate-to-sell strategy is designed to achieve the benefits of a captive financing operation while maintaining an asset-light funding strategy.
UACC intends to originate and sell finance receivables in securitization transactions and forward flow arrangements for both Vroom automotive customers and its existing network of dealership customers. We will begin to generate ecommerce product revenue on the sale of the finance receivables with Vroom automotive customers. UACC will continue its current operations with the network of dealership customers, which will constitute a separate reporting segment.
Update on the Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic and measures implemented by governmental authorities around the world to reduce the spread of COVID-19 disrupted our operations and adversely affected our financial performance beginning late in the first quarter of 2020. After the initial disruption, the used vehicle market began to recover and consumer demand for used vehicles increased and now exceeds pre-pandemic levels. This recovery has been bolstered by the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines nationwide.
We believe the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic have reinforced our business model. However, the future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our operational and financial performance is currently uncertain and will depend on many factors outside our control, including the severity and duration of the COVID-19 pandemic and the effectiveness of actions taken to contain the spread of COVID-19 or treat its impact. While all of our offices were open and available through most of 2021, we generally discouraged in-person work for any roles where an in-person presence was not critical in an effort to maximize space and prioritize safety for those who did require a physical presence. We are now beginning to encourage a broader return to the office for employees who have selected to work in a hybrid or in-person model. All actions will be taken in accordance with updated state and local health and safety guidance and requirements for in-office work. Nevertheless, the unpredictable nature of the virus, its treatment and worker sentiment may further delay routine in-person work and reduce the effectiveness of efforts aimed at improving employee retention; there can be no assurance that there will not be future material disruptions in our workforce. The various workforce health and safety measures we have taken have led to increased operating expenses and future health and safety measures may lead to further increases. We will continue to monitor and assess the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and our results of operations and financial condition as the pandemic continues to evolve.
See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to the COVID-19 pandemic—The full extent of the future impact of the COVID-19 pandemic is uncertain and may have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.”
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Other Key Factors and Trends Affecting our Operating Results
Our financial condition and results of operations have been, and will continue to be, affected by a number of factors and trends, including the following:
Ability to utilize data science to drive revenue growth by cost effectively increasing the volume and selection of vehicles in our inventory
Our growth is primarily driven by vehicle sales. Vehicle sales growth, in turn, is largely driven by the volume of inventory and the selection of vehicles listed on our platform. Accordingly, we believe that having the appropriate volume and mix of vehicle inventory is critical to our ability to drive growth.
The continued growth of our vehicle inventory requires a number of important capabilities, including the ability to finance the acquisition of inventory at competitive rates, source high quality vehicles across various acquisition channels nationwide, secure adequate reconditioning capacity and execute effective marketing strategies to increase consumer sourcing. In addition, our ability to accurately forecast pricing and consumer demand for specific types of vehicles is critical to sourcing high quality, high-demand vehicles, as well as lower-price-point vehicles to take advantage of the expanded sales opportunities to customers across the credit spectrum enabled by the acquisition of UACC. This ability is enabled by our data science capabilities that leverage the growing amount of data at our disposal and generate predictive data analytics that fine-tune our supply and sourcing models. We believe the acquisition of CarStory has enhanced our predictive market data capabilities. As we continue to invest in our operational efficiency and data analytics, we expect that we will continue to cost effectively increase the volume and optimize the selection of our ecommerce inventory. Our data analytics are complex models that incorporate numerous assumptions and predictions about consumer and industry dynamics. As with all predictions, the output of our data analytics is subject to inherent uncertainty and reflects judgment and expertise when providing data-driven decisions based on those analytics.
Ability to capitalize on the continued migration of vehicle purchasers to ecommerce platforms through data-driven marketing efforts
While the overall ecommerce penetration rate in used vehicle sales remains low, over the last several years, ecommerce used vehicle sales have experienced significant growth. There has been a shift in consumer buying patterns towards more convenient, personalized, and on-demand purchases, as well as a demand for ecommerce across more diverse categories, including the used vehicle market. We expect that the ecommerce model for buying and selling used vehicles will continue to grow and such growth may be accelerated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our ability to continue to benefit from this trend will be an important driver of our future performance.
We seek to improve our brand awareness among consumers through national marketing campaigns in order to strengthen our customer acquisition funnel. We also use digital performance marketing such as search engine marketing, automotive aggregator sites and social media to acquire customers more cost effectively. Our aggregate marketing spend has significantly increased over time, and we expect to continue to invest in both national brand marketing and performance marketing efforts. As we leverage our national brand, we believe this investment in marketing spend will drive additional demand and sales. We also believe that we have the ability to drive down the cost of acquisition per unit sold by increasing the efficiency of our marketing spend.
Ability to convert visitors to our platform into customers and source vehicles from consumers
The quality of the customer experience on our ecommerce platform is critical to our ability to attract new visitors to our platform, convert such visitors into customers and increase repeat customers, as well as our ability to acquire vehicles directly from consumers. Our ability to drive higher customer conversion and increased consumer sourcing depends on our ability to make our platform a compelling choice for consumers based on our functionalities and consumer offerings.
Data analytics and experimentation drive decision making across all of our conversion and sourcing efforts. By analyzing the data generated by the millions of visitors and tens of thousands of transactions on our platform, and continually testing strategies to maximize conversion rates, we form a better understanding of consumer preferences and try to create a more tailored ecommerce experience for consumers looking to purchase vehicles. Similarly, for consumers looking to sell vehicles to us, we use a vast set of data and data analytics, including the advanced data capabilities from our acquisition of CarStory, to provide an automated pricing platform that delivers real time, market-driven appraisals, and
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continually experiment and test in order to further refine our approach to enhance the customer experience and drive increased vehicle purchases.
Increased conversion and consumer sourcing also depends on our ability to provide the necessary customer service and sales support to respond to increased demand. Our ongoing investment in our sales and sales support operations includes investments in people, processes and technology. We are continuing to invest in our processes, to remove friction and increase transaction flow and in technology, to automate and improve our customer experience and drive conversion and consumer sourcing. As we continue to invest in our brand and improve the customer experience, we expect that we will attract more visitors, improve conversion, drive greater sales and increase the percentage of vehicles sourced from consumers.
Total Ecommerce transactions, defined as ecommerce vehicle purchases directly from consumers, including both trade-ins and straight buys, plus ecommerce units sold, increased over 170% in 2021 as compared to 2020. Total Ecommerce transactions represented approximately 143,500 for 2021 compared to 53,000 for 2020 and 26,000 for 2019. The increase was driven by the increase in the percentage of vehicles sourced from consumers, which was driven primarily by expanded Sell Us Your Car® marketing campaigns, and the increase in ecommerce unit sales, which was driven primarily by increased inventory listings, amplified marketing campaigns and expanded reconditioning capacity.
Ability to optimize the mix of inventory sources to drive increased gross profit and improvements to our unit economics
We strategically source inventory from consumers, auctions, rental car companies, OEMs and dealers. For the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021, vehicles sourced from consumers represent approximately 76% and 69% of our retail inventory sold, respectively. Because the quality of vehicles and associated gross margin profile vary across each channel, the mix of inventory sources has an impact on our profitability. We continually evaluate the optimal mix of sourcing channels and strive to source vehicles in a way that maximizes our average gross profit per unit and improves our unit economics. For example, purchasing vehicles at third-party auctions is competitive and, consequently, vehicle prices at third-party auctions tend to be higher than vehicle prices for vehicles sourced directly from consumers. Accordingly, as part of our sourcing strategy, we have strategically increased the percentage of vehicle sales that we source from consumers. Throughout 2021, we have experienced unprecedented market conditions, caused in part by supply chain dislocations, a shortage of microchips and associated delays in new car manufacturing, which increased demand for used vehicles, putting downward pressure on supply and upward pressure on used vehicle pricing, and making consumer sourcing even more favorable.
In order to continue to source vehicles directly from consumers, we continue to expand our national marketing efforts that are focused on our Sell Us Your Car® proposition. In the future, we expect to have the ability to begin inspecting consumer sourced vehicles and making real time adjustments to acquisition pricing as a result of our scaling proprietary logistics operation, which will provide improvements to our overall gross profit per unit over time.
We are also exploring and testing third-party inventory strategies, which offers the possibility of expanding our sourcing channels through third-party sellers while offering us attractive revenue models in an asset light, debt free structure.
Ability to expand and optimize our reconditioning capacity to satisfy increasing demand
Our ability to recondition purchased vehicles to our quality standards is a critical component of our business. Historically, we have successfully increased our reconditioning capacity as our business has grown, and our future success will depend on our ability to continue to expand and optimize our reconditioning capacity to satisfy increasing customer demand. We employ a hybrid approach that combines the use of our proprietary VRC and third-party VRCs to best meet our reconditioning needs.
As we continue to grow our business, we intend to continue to increase reconditioning capacity and operational efficiency through third-party VRC locations and additional proprietary VRCs. Our use of third-party VRCs to recondition vehicles allows us to avoid additional capital expenditures, quickly increase capacity, maintain greater operational flexibility and broaden our geographic footprint to drive lower logistics costs. However, we are currently experiencing reconditioning and logistics constraints due to labor shortages and elevated demand at third-party supply chain partners, which negatively affects our cost structure and throughput. Additionally, one of our third party VRC providers, Adesa U.S., which also hosts a number of our last-mile hubs, recently announced a change of control transaction pursuant to which
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Adesa is being acquired by a competitor of Vroom. Adesa has communicated its intent to discontinue its third-party reconditioning serves, which will require us to replace Adesa's capacity with increased capacity at our other existing providers, new providers, or additional proprietary VRCs, and relocate the affected last-mile hubs. Proprietary VRCs will enable us to have increased control over our reconditioning operations, increase capacity as we scale, and support our regional operating model. As we scale, we will seek to optimize the combination of strategic, geographically dispersed, proprietary and third-party VRCs and intend to add additional proprietary VRCs into our integrated hybrid network.
We have continued to expand our third-party VRC operations and, as of December 31, 2021, have a total of 37 third-party VRCs throughout the U.S. We leverage our data analytics and deep industry experience to strategically select VRC locations where we believe there is the highest supply and demand for our vehicles. We expect that the continued increase in reconditioning capacity and investment in technology will drive greater operational efficiency, higher gross profit per unit and improved unit economics over time.
Ability to expand and develop our logistics network
We historically used primarily national third-party carriers and have optimized our third-party logistics network nationwide through the development of strategic carrier arrangements with national haulers and the consolidation of our carrier base into a smaller number of carriers in dedicated operating regions. We expect that these enhanced logistics operations, combined with the expansion of strategically located VRCs, will drive efficiency in our logistics operations. Our VRCs also serve as pooling points to aggregate acquired vehicles and we are using certain VRCs as hubs for staging vehicles for last mile delivery to customers, which we expect to provide an improved experience for customers. As of December 31, 2021, we had 31 hubs and we delivered 61% and 36% of our ecommerce units sold with our proprietary last mile service during the three and twelve months ended December 31, 2021, respectively. We have been accelerating our strategy to optimize our hybrid approach by expanding our proprietary logistics networks due to a confluence of factors, including increased shipping prices and delays during the COVID-19 pandemic from a reduced supply of carriers and increased demand for carriers from competitors, as well as our desire to improve the quality and reliability of our logistics operations and enhance our customer experience. We have been prioritizing investment in our last mile delivery operations, where we can have the greatest impact on the customer experience, and also are investing in short-haul vehicles to make regional deliveries from our last mile hubs, many of which are located at our third-party VRCs, and line-haul vehicles for hub-to-hub shipments on high-volume routes. As we invest in our expanded logistics operations, we expect to incur increased operating expenses and capital expenditures associated with purchasing or leasing fleet vehicles, leasing space for delivery hubs, hiring qualified drivers, and operating and maintaining fleet vehicles, offset in part by reduced third-party logistics expense. Consistent with our hybrid approach and the continued development of our regional operating model as we continue to scale our business, we will strategically combine the operation of our expanded proprietary fleet with the use of third-party carriers, which will enable us to accommodate our rapid growth, improve our operating leverage and provide the highest level of customer service. Over time, as our business scales, we expect that optimizing our logistics network through this hybrid approach will result in improved unit economics, increased profitability and an enhanced customer experience.
Ability to leverage a regional operating model
As we have scaled our business, we have achieved a national presence and brand that provides a significant competitive advantage versus local and regional dealers, and has enabled us to take advantage of efficiencies and lower costs of national brand advertising. Our national vehicle operations enable us to leverage a regional operating model, which is designed to reduce our operating expenses, increase our operating leverage and improve our unit economics, while also enhancing our customer experience. The regional operating model will increasingly enhance our approach to each component of our vehicle operations. We believe the efficiencies and cost savings expected to be achieved through the regional operating model will be important components of our path to profitability.
Ability to expand and develop our financing capabilities
Fees earned on vehicle financing, both through our continued partnerships with third-party lenders and the development of our captive financing capabilities, present an opportunity to grow our business and drive profitability. Strategic partnerships with lenders such as Chase, Ally Financial and Santander provide enhanced revenue streams for us, as well as offering convenience, assurance and efficiency for our customers and have contributed to improvements in Product GPPU. In addition, our recent acquisition of UACC enables us to accelerate the establishment of our captive financing capabilities. We expect that with further investment and our continued integration efforts, the acquisition of UACC will allow us to increase ecommerce unit sales, expand our penetration of sales to customers across the credit
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spectrum, and accelerate total revenue growth. In addition, we expect captive financing for our customers to lead to improved unit economics, which will accelerate our path to profitability.
Ability to increase and better monetize other value-added products
Our offering of value-added products in addition to vehicle financing is an integral part of providing a seamless vehicle-buying experience to our customers. We sell our protection products through our strategic relationships with third parties who bear the incremental risks associated with the underwriting of such protection products. Additionally, through our on-going data analytics, experimentation and further development of our ecommerce technology, we expect to increase attachment rates of our existing protection products while finding new opportunities to include additional protection products, as well as other value-added products. Because we are paid fees on value-added products we sell, our gross profit is equal to the revenue we generate on such sales. As a result, such sales help drive total gross profit per unit. As we scale our business, we intend to increase the breadth and variety of value-added products offered to customers and improve attachment rates to our vehicle sales.
Seasonality
Used vehicle sales have historically been seasonal. The used vehicle industry typically experiences an increase in sales early in the calendar year and reaches its highest point late in the first quarter and early in the second quarter. Vehicle sales then level off through the rest of the year, with the lowest level of sales in the fourth quarter. This seasonality has historically corresponded with the timing of income tax refunds, which are an important source of funding for vehicle purchases. Additionally, used vehicles depreciate at a faster rate in the last two quarters of each year and a slower rate in the first two quarters of each year. Given the current strong market demand for used vehicles and our rapid growth, our gross profit per unit has not been in line with these macro trends in the most recent historical periods. See “Risk Factors—Risks Related to Our Financial Condition and Results of Operations—We may experience seasonal and other fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations, which may not fully reflect the underlying performance of our business.”
Inflation, Changing Prices, and Labor Shortages
We have recently experienced unprecedented market conditions and inflationary pressures, caused in part by supply chain dislocations, a shortage of microchips and associated delays in new car manufacturing, which increased demand for used vehicles, putting downward pressure on supply and upward pressure on used vehicle pricing. This volatility creates risks around our ability to appropriately price our vehicles and maintain our sales margins and may cause our results of operations to fluctuate significantly. We have also experienced reconditioning and logistics constraints due to labor shortages and elevated demand at third-party supply chain partners, which negatively affects our cost structure and throughput. We will continue to actively monitor and develop responses to these disruptions, but depending on duration and severity, these trends could continue to negatively impact our business in 2022.
Components of Results of Operations
Revenue
Retail vehicle revenue
We sell retail vehicles through both our ecommerce platform and TDA. Revenue from vehicle sales, including any delivery charges, are recognized when vehicles are delivered to the customers or picked up at our TDA retail location, net of a reserve for estimated returns. The number of units sold and the average selling price (“ASP”) per unit are the primary factors impacting our retail revenue stream.
The number of units sold depends on the volume of inventory and the selection of vehicles listed on our ecommerce platform, our ability to attract new customers, our brand awareness and our ability to expand our reconditioning operations and logistics network.
ASP depends primarily on our acquisition and pricing strategies, retail used vehicle market prices, our average days to sale and our reconditioning and logistics costs.
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As a data-driven company, we acquire inventory based upon demand predicted by our data analytics. Our ASP increased significantly during 2021 primarily due to market appreciation, and we expect ASP to fluctuate in the short-term as a result of market conditions. However, our long-term strategy continues to move us towards lower-priced inventory, which we expect will result in a lower ASP. The acquisition of UACC will enable us to expand our automotive financing solutions across the credit spectrum and we expect to increase our offering of lower-price-point vehicles to take advantage of those capabilities.
Wholesale vehicle revenue
We sell vehicles that do not meet our Vroom retail sales criteria through wholesale channels. Vehicles sold through wholesale channels are acquired from customers who trade-in their vehicles when making a purchase from us, from customers who sell their vehicle to us in straight-buy transactions, and from liquidation of vehicles previously listed for retail sale. The number of wholesale vehicles sold and the ASP per unit are the primary drivers of wholesale revenue. The ASP per unit is affected by the mix of the vehicles we acquire and general supply and demand conditions in the wholesale market.
Product revenue
We generate revenue by earning fees on sales of value-added products to our customers in connection with vehicle sales, such as fees earned on customer vehicle financing from third-party lenders and fees earned on sales of other value-added products, such as vehicle service contracts, GAP protection and tire and wheel coverage. We earn fees on these products pursuant to arrangements with the third parties that sell and administer these products. For accounting purposes, we are an agent for these transactions and, as a result, we recognize fees on a net basis when the customer enters into an arrangement to purchase these products or obtain third-party financing, which is typically at the time of a vehicle sale. Our gross profit on product revenue is equal to the revenue we generate.
Product revenue is affected by the number of vehicles sold, the attachment rate of value-added products and the amount of fees we receive on each product. Product revenue also consists of estimated profit-sharing amounts to which we are entitled based on the performance of third-party protection products once a required claims period has passed.
A portion of the fees we receive is subject to chargeback in the event of early termination, default, or prepayment of the contracts by our customers. We recognize product revenue net of reserves for estimated chargebacks.
With the captive financing offered by UACC, we will begin to generate product revenue through the sales of finance receivables UACC originates and sells in securitization transactions or forward flow arrangements.
We plan to sell the finance receivables UACC originates to securitization trusts they sponsor and establish, which will issue asset-backed securities. We also plan to sell the finance receivables UACC originates to third parties under forward-flow arrangements. The revenue we are able to generate from these sales will be dependent on the number of finance receivables UACC originates, the average principal balance of the finance receivables, the credit quality of the portfolio, and the price at which they are able to sell them in securitization transactions or to financing partners.
Other revenue
Other revenue consists of labor and parts revenue earned by us for vehicle repair services at TDA and, commencing in the first quarter of 2021, revenue from CarStory.
See “Note 3—Revenue Recognition” to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
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Cost of sales
Cost of sales primarily includes the costs to acquire vehicles, inbound transportation costs and direct and indirect reconditioning costs associated with preparing vehicles for sale. Costs to acquire vehicles are primarily driven by the inventory source, vehicle mix and general supply and demand conditions of the used vehicle market. Inbound transportation costs include costs to transport the vehicle to our VRCs. Reconditioning costs include parts, labor and third-party reconditioning costs directly attributable to the vehicle and allocated overhead costs. Cost of sales also includes any accounting adjustments to reflect vehicle inventory at the lower of cost or net realizable value.
Total gross profit
Total gross profit is defined as total revenue less costs associated with such revenue.
Selling, general and administrative expenses
Our selling, general, and administrative expenses, which we refer to as SG&A expenses, consist primarily of advertising and marketing expenses, outbound transportation costs, employee compensation, occupancy costs of our facilities and professional fees for accounting, auditing, tax, legal and consulting services.
We expect that our SG&A expenses will increase in the future as we expand our operations, including our proprietary logistics and reconditioning operations, integrate and invest in UACC, hire additional employees and continue to increase our marketing spend. However, we believe these increases will be partially offset by operating leverage as our business continues to scale and we gain efficiencies from our investments in technology and process improvements.
Depreciation and amortization
Our depreciation and amortization expense primarily includes: depreciation related to our leasehold improvements and company vehicles; amortization related to intangible assets in acquired businesses; and capitalized internal use software costs incurred in the development of our platform and website applications. Depreciation expense related to our Vroom VRC and the portion of depreciation expense for our proprietary logistics vehicles related to inbound transportation is included in cost of sales in the consolidated statements of operations.
Interest expense
Our interest expense includes interest expense related to our vehicle floorplan facility with Ally Bank and Ally Financial (the "2020 Vehicle Floorplan Facility"), as discussed below, which is used to finance our inventory, as well as interest expense on our term loan facility, which was repaid in full in December 2019, and interest expense on our Notes.
Interest Income
Interest income primarily represents interest credits earned on cash deposits maintained in relation to our 2020 Vehicle Floorplan Facility as well as interest earned on cash and cash equivalents.
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Results of Operations
The following table presents our consolidated results of operations for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, | Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | % Change | 2020 | 2019 | % Change | |||||||||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Revenue: | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Retail vehicle, net | $ | 2,583,417 | $ | 1,072,551 | 140.9 | % | $ | 1,072,551 | $ | 952,910 | 12.6 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Wholesale vehicle | 498,981 | 245,580 | 103.2 | % | 245,580 | 213,464 | 15.0 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Product, net | 88,824 | 38,195 | 132.6 | % | 38,195 | 23,708 | 61.1 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Other | 13,033 | 1,374 | 848.5 | % | 1,374 | 1,739 | (21.0 | )% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total revenue | 3,184,255 | 1,357,700 | 134.5 | % | 1,357,700 | 1,191,821 | 13.9 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Cost of sales | 2,982,156 | 1,286,155 | 131.9 | % | 1,286,155 | 1,133,962 | 13.4 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Total gross profit | 202,099 | 71,545 | 182.5 | % | 71,545 | 57,859 | 23.7 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Selling, general and administrative expenses | 547,823 | 245,546 | 123.1 | % | 245,546 | 184,988 | 32.7 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Depreciation and amortization | 12,891 | 4,598 | 180.4 | % | 4,598 | 6,019 | (23.6 | )% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Loss from operations | (358,615 | ) | (178,599 | ) | 100.8 | % | (178,599 | ) | (133,148 | ) | 34.1 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Interest expense | 21,948 | 9,656 | 127.3 | % | 9,656 | 14,596 | (33.8 | )% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Interest income | (10,341 | ) | (5,896 | ) | 75.4 | % | (5,896 | ) | (5,607 | ) | 5.2 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Revaluation of stock warrant | — | 20,470 | (100.0 | )% | 20,470 | 769 | 2,561.9 | % | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Other income, net | (65 | ) | (114 | ) | (43.0 | )% | (114 | ) | (96 | ) | 18.8 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Loss before provision for income taxes | (370,157 | ) | (202,715 | ) | 82.6 | % | (202,715 | ) | (142,810 | ) | 41.9 | % | ||||||||||||||||
| Provision for income taxes | 754 | 84 | 797.6 | % | 84 | 168 | (50.0 | )% | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Net loss | $ | (370,911 | ) | $ | (202,799 | ) | 82.9 | % | $ | (202,799 | ) | $ | (142,978 | ) | 41.8 | % |
Segments
We manage and report operating results through three reportable segments:
•
Ecommerce (76.7% of 2021 revenue; 67.4% of 2020 revenue): The Ecommerce segment represents retail sales of used vehicles through our ecommerce platform and fees earned on sales of value-added products associated with those vehicle sales.
•
Wholesale (15.7% of 2021 revenue; 18.1% of 2020 revenue): The Wholesale segment represents sales of used vehicles through wholesale channels.
•
TDA (7.2% of 2021 revenue; 14.4% of 2020 revenue): The TDA segment represents retail sales of used vehicles from TDA and fees earned on sales of value-added products associated with those vehicle sales.
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Year Ended December 31, 2021 and 2020
Ecommerce
The following table presents our Ecommerce segment results of operations for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | Change | % Change | ||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands, except unit data and average days to sale) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Ecommerce units sold | 74,698 | 34,488 | 40,210 | 116.6 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Ecommerce revenue: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Vehicle revenue | $ | 2,360,368 | $ | 884,560 | $ | 1,475,808 | 166.8 | % | |||||||||||
| Product revenue | 82,001 | 30,891 | 51,110 | 165.5 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Total ecommerce revenue | $ | 2,442,369 | $ | 915,451 | $ | 1,526,918 | 166.8 | % | |||||||||||
| Ecommerce gross profit: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Vehicle gross profit | $ | 82,745 | $ | 29,970 | $ | 52,775 | 176.1 | % | |||||||||||
| Product gross profit | 82,001 | 30,891 | 51,110 | 165.5 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Total ecommerce gross profit | $ | 164,746 | $ | 60,861 | $ | 103,885 | 170.7 | % | |||||||||||
| Average vehicle selling price per ecommerce unit | $ | 31,599 | $ | 25,648 | $ | 5,951 | 23.2 | % | |||||||||||
| Gross profit per ecommerce unit: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Vehicle gross profit per ecommerce unit | $ | 1,108 | $ | 869 | $ | 239 | 27.5 | % | |||||||||||
| Product gross profit per ecommerce unit | 1,098 | 896 | 202 | 22.5 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Total gross profit per ecommerce unit | $ | 2,206 | $ | 1,765 | $ | 441 | 25.0 | % | |||||||||||
| Ecommerce average days to sale | 74 | 66 | 8 | 12.1 | % |
Ecommerce units
Ecommerce units sold increased 40,210, or 116.6%, from 34,488 in 2020 to 74,698 in 2021. This increase was driven by higher inventory levels, strong national brand recognition driven by our national advertising campaign and increased marketing spend, and growing consumer acceptance of our business model. The increase was also attributable to strong market demand generally for used vehicles, caused in part by the shortage of microchips and delays in new car manufacturing. Average monthly unique visitors to our website grew from 969,890 in 2020 to 1,968,656 in 2021, representing year over year growth of 103.0%. We expect ecommerce units sold to continue to grow in the future as we increase our inventory selection and marketing efforts, improve conversion and broaden our customer base by expanding our product offerings across the credit spectrum.
Ecommerce average days to sale increased from 66 days in 2020 to 74 days in 2021. The increase was primarily driven by constraints experienced in sales support in response to accelerating demand and the sale of aged inventory during the first quarter of 2021.
Vehicle Revenue
Ecommerce vehicle revenue increased $1,475.8 million, or 166.8%, from $884.6 million in 2020 to $2,360.4 million in 2021. The increase in ecommerce vehicle revenue was primarily attributable to the 40,210 increase in ecommerce units sold, which increased vehicle revenue by $1,031.3 million, as well as ASP per unit, which increased from $25,648 in 2020 to $31,599 in 2021 and increased vehicle revenue by $444.5 million. The increase in ASP per unit was primarily attributable to market appreciation due to increased demand. Although we expect ASP to fluctuate in the short-term as a result of market conditions, our long-term strategy continues to move us toward lower-priced inventory, which we expect will result in a lower ASP. The acquisition of UACC will enable us to expand our automotive financing solutions across the credit spectrum, and we expect to increase our offering of lower-price-point vehicles to take advantage of those capabilities.
Product Revenue
Ecommerce product revenue increased $51.1 million, or 165.5%, from $30.9 million in 2020 to $82.0 million in 2021. The increase in ecommerce product revenue was primarily attributable to the 40,210 increase in ecommerce units sold, which increased product revenue by $36.0 million and a $202 increase in product revenue per unit, which increased
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product revenue by $15.1 million. Product revenue per unit increased from $896 in 2020 to $1,098 in 2021, primarily due to an increase in the average loan size as a result of higher ASP, as well as higher attachment rates on other value added products. We expect ecommerce product revenue will continue to grow driven by the captive financing offered by UACC and the sales of finance receivables we originate and sell in securitization transactions or forward flow arrangements. Additionally, we expect increases in ecommerce units sold, introduction of new value-added products and increased attachment rates will continue to positively affect our product revenue.
Vehicle Gross Profit
Ecommerce vehicle gross profit increased $52.7 million, or 176.1%, from $30.0 million in 2020 to $82.7 million in 2021. The increase in vehicle gross profit was primarily attributable to the 40,210 increase in ecommerce units sold, which increased vehicle gross profit by $34.9 million and a $239 increase in vehicle gross profit per unit, which increased vehicle gross profit by $17.8 million. Vehicle gross profit per unit increased from $869 in 2020 to $1,108 in 2021, primarily attributable to improvements in reconditioning costs and higher sales margins (sales price less purchase price of vehicles sold). Strong sales margin per unit was driven by a record retail pricing environment during 2021 as well as an increase in vehicles sourced directly from consumers and further improvements in our pricing methodologies, partially offset by high acquisition costs for premium vehicles in the third quarter, combined with the retail depreciation for these vehicles during the fourth quarter of 2021. In the fourth quarter of 2021 we also experienced higher reconditioning costs due to labor shortages and elevated demand at third-party reconditioning partners.
As we continue to mature our infrastructure and increase and optimize our hybrid network of VRCs, we expect ecommerce vehicle gross profit per unit to increase in the future driven by reduced costs across acquisitions, logistics and reconditioning. However, these improvements may be partially offset by macroeconomic factors, which can lead to rising prices within the used car market and increased logistics and reconditioning costs.
Product Gross Profit
Ecommerce product gross profit increased $51.1 million, or 165.5%, from $30.9 million in 2020 to $82.0 million in 2021. The increase in ecommerce product gross profit was primarily attributable to the 40,210 increase in ecommerce units sold, which increased product gross profit by $36.0 million and a $202 increase in product gross profit per unit, which increased product gross profit by $15.1 million. Product gross profit per unit increased from $896 in 2020 to $1,098 in 2021, primarily due to an increase in the average loan size as a result of higher ASP, as well as higher attachment rates on other value added products. We expect ecommerce product gross profit will continue to grow driven by the captive financing offered by UACC and the sales of finance receivables we originate and sell in securitization transactions or forward flow arrangements. Additionally, we expect increases in ecommerce units sold, introduction of new value-added products and increased attachment rates will continue to positively affect our product gross profit.
Wholesale
The following table presents our Wholesale segment results of operations for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | Change | % Change | ||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands, except unit data) | |||||||||||||||||||
| Wholesale units sold | 37,163 | 21,108 | 16,055 | 76.1 | % | ||||||||||||||
| Wholesale revenue | $ | 498,981 | $ | 245,580 | $ | 253,401 | 103.2 | % | |||||||||||
| Wholesale gross profit (loss) | $ | 18,120 | $ | (1,432 | ) | $ | 19,552 | 1,365.4 | % | ||||||||||
| Average selling price per unit | $ | 13,427 | $ | 11,634 | $ | 1,793 | 15.4 | % | |||||||||||
| Wholesale gross profit (loss) per unit | $ | 488 | $ | (68 | ) | $ | 556 | 817.6 | % |
Wholesale Units
Wholesale units sold increased 16,055, or 76.1%, from 21,108 in 2020 to 37,163 in 2021, primarily driven by an increase in wholesale units purchased from consumers, a higher number of trade-in vehicles associated with the increase in the number of ecommerce units sold and strong wholesale market demand for used vehicles.
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Wholesale Revenue
Wholesale revenue increased $253.4 million, or 103.2%, from $245.6 million in 2020 to $499.0 million in 2021. The increase was primarily attributable to the 16,055 increase in wholesale units sold, which increased wholesale revenue by $186.8 million, as well as a higher ASP per wholesale unit, which increased from $11,634 in 2020 to $13,427 in 2021 and increased wholesale revenue by $66.6 million. The increase in ASP per unit was primarily attributable to market appreciation.
Wholesale Gross Profit (Loss)
Wholesale gross profit increased $19.5 million from gross loss of $1.4 million in 2020 to gross profit of $18.1 million in 2021. The increase was primarily attributable to a $556 increase in wholesale gross profit per unit as a result of favorable wholesale market conditions.
TDA
The following table presents our TDA segment results of operations for the periods indicated:
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 (1) | Change | % Change | ||||||||||||||||
| (in thousands, except unit data and average days to sale) | |||||||||||||||||||
| TDA units sold | 7,212 | 7,385 | (173 | ) | (2.3 | )% | |||||||||||||
| TDA revenue: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Vehicle revenue | $ | 223,049 | $ | 187,991 | $ | 35,058 | 18.6 | % | |||||||||||
| Product revenue | 6,823 | 7,304 | (481 | ) | (6.6 | )% | |||||||||||||
| Total TDA revenue | $ | 229,872 | $ | 195,295 | $ | 34,577 | 17.7 | % | |||||||||||
| TDA gross profit: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Vehicle gross profit | $ | 5,084 | $ | 4,373 | $ | 711 | 16.3 | % | |||||||||||
| Product gross profit | 6,823 | 7,304 | (481 | ) | (6.6 | )% | |||||||||||||
| Total TDA gross profit | $ | 11,907 | $ | 11,677 | $ | 230 | 2.0 | % | |||||||||||
| Average vehicle selling price per TDA unit | $ | 30,927 | $ | 25,456 | $ | 5,471 | 21.5 | % | |||||||||||
| Gross profit per TDA unit: | |||||||||||||||||||
| Vehicle gross profit per TDA unit | $ | 705 | $ | 592 | $ | 113 | 19.1 | % | |||||||||||
| Product gross profit per TDA unit | 946 | 989 | (43 | ) | (4.3 | )% | |||||||||||||
| Total gross profit per TDA unit | $ | 1,651 | $ | 1,581 | $ | 70 | 4.4 | % | |||||||||||
| TDA average days to sale | 46 | 46 | — | 0.0 | % |
(1)
We reclassified other revenue and other gross profit related to the vehicle repair service at TDA from the TDA reportable segment to the “All Other” category to conform to current year presentation.
TDA units
TDA units sold decreased 173, or 2.3%, from 7,385 in 2020 to 7,212 in 2021. Despite the strong market demand for used vehicles, the decrease in units is a result of reduced inventory at the TDA location as the ecommerce business continues to scale.
Vehicle Revenue
TDA vehicle revenue increased $35.0 million, or 18.6%, from $188.0 million in 2020 to $223.0 million in 2021. The increase in TDA vehicle revenue was primarily due to a higher ASP per unit, as a result of market appreciation, which increased from $25,456 in 2020 to $30,927 in 2021 and increased revenue by $39.5 million, partially offset by the 173 decrease in TDA units sold, which decreased TDA vehicle revenue by $4.5 million.
Product Revenue
TDA product revenue decreased $0.5 million, or 6.6%, from $7.3 million in 2020 to $6.8 million in 2021.
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Vehicle Gross Profit
TDA vehicle gross profit increased $0.7 million, or 16.3%, from $4.4 million in 2020 to $5.1 million in 2021. The increase in vehicle gross profit was primarily attributable to an increase in TDA vehicle gross profit per unit.
Product Gross Profit
TDA product gross profit decreased $0.5 million, or 6.6%, from $7.3 million in 2020 to $6.8 million in 2021.
Selling, general and administrative expenses
| Year Ended December 31, | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | Change | % Change | |||||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | ||||||||||||||||||
| Compensation & benefits | $ | 204,913 | $ | 92,205 | $ | 112,708 | 122.2 | % | ||||||||||
| Marketing expense | 125,481 | 62,393 | 63,088 | 101.1 | % | |||||||||||||
| Outbound logistics (1) | 85,788 | 30,262 | 55,526 | 183.5 | % | |||||||||||||
| Occupancy and related costs | 17,448 | 10,784 | 6,664 | 61.8 | % | |||||||||||||
| Professional fees | 24,386 | 10,560 | 13,826 | 130.9 | % | |||||||||||||
| Other | 89,807 | 39,342 | 50,465 | 128.3 | % | |||||||||||||
| Total selling, general & administrative expenses | $ | 547,823 | $ | 245,546 | $ | 302,277 | 123.1 | % |
(1)
Outbound logistics primarily includes third-party transportation fees as well as cost related to operating our proprietary logistics network, including fuel, tolls, and maintenance expenses. Inbound transportation costs, from the point of acquisition to the relevant reconditioning facility, are included in cost of sales.
SG&A expenses increased $302.3 million, or 123.1%, from $245.5 million in 2020 to $547.8 million in 2021. The increase was primarily due to:
•
a $112.7 million increase in compensation and benefits as a result of an increase in headcount and an increase in variable fees for third-party sales and sales support providers as a result of an increase in units sold;
•
a $63.1 million increase in marketing expense as we expanded our national broad-reach brand advertising, aired our first Super Bowl commercial, produced new commercials, and increased performance and online marketing as we continue to grow our listed inventory;
•
a $55.5 million increase in outbound logistics costs attributable to the growth in ecommerce units sold, which increased outbound logistics costs by $35.3 million, and increases in market rates of logistics providers, which increased outbound logistics costs by $20.2 million;
•
a $13.8 million increase in professional fees primarily related to acquisition related costs incurred in connection with the acquisition of UACC and increased consulting expenses primarily in the corporate, marketing and engineering departments as well as increased legal fees; and
•
a $50.5 million increase in other SG&A expenses primarily related to volume-based fees for software licenses and other variable expenses as our business continues to scale as well as additional insurance costs associated with being a publicly traded company and growing inventory.
Total SG&A expenses per total ecommerce transaction, defined as ecommerce vehicle purchases directly from consumers plus ecommerce units sold, decreased from $4,633 for the year ended December 31, 2020 to $3,818 for the year ended December 31, 2021, primarily due to operating leverage as our business continues to scale, partially offset by increases in market rates of logistics providers and acquisition related costs incurred in connection with the acquisition of UACC.
We expect SG&A expenses to increase in the future as we continue to scale our business, integrate and invest in UACC, invest in and improve our customer experience, and continue expanding our proprietary logistics and reconditioning hybrid networks. However, we believe these increases will be partially offset by operating leverage as our
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business continues to scale and we gain efficiencies from our investments in technology and process improvements. SG&A expenses may also continue to be negatively impacted by macroeconomic factors such as rising prices particularly within compensation and benefits and outbound logistics costs.
Depreciation and amortization
Depreciation and amortization expenses increased $8.3 million, or 180.4%%, from $4.6 million in 2020 to $12.9 million in 2021. The increase was primarily due to amortization expense of intangible assets acquired as part of the acquisition of the CarStory business on January 7, 2021, depreciation of short-haul and line-haul vehicles acquired for our proprietary logistics network and increased depreciation expense as we continue to develop our internal use software.
Interest expense
Interest expense increased $12.2 million, or 127.3%, from $9.7 million in 2020 to $21.9 million in 2021. The increase was primarily attributable to a higher outstanding balance of the 2020 Vehicle Floorplan Facility due to the increase in vehicle inventory levels as the business continues to scale, which increased interest expense $7.9 million and interest expense incurred on the Notes, which increased interest expense $4.3 million. Interest expense may increase in the future as a result of the Federal Reserve's plans to raise interest rates throughout 2022.
Interest income
Interest income increased $4.4 million, or 75.4%, from $5.9 million in 2020 to $10.3 million in 2021. The increase in interest income was primarily driven by higher cash and cash equivalent balances as a result of the issuance of the Notes.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of December 31, 2021, we had cash and cash equivalents of $1.1 billion. Our primary source of liquidity is cash generated through financing activities. On February 1, 2022 we completed the acquisition of UACC for a cash purchase price of approximately $300.0 million, subject to customary purchase price adjustments.
On June 11, 2020, we completed our IPO in which we sold 24,437,500 shares of our common stock for proceeds of $504.0 million, net of the underwriting discount and before deducting offering expenses. On September 15, 2020, we completed our follow-on public offering in which we sold 10,800,000 shares of common stock for proceeds of $569.5 million, net of the underwriting discount and before deducting offering expenses. On June 18, 2021, we issued $625.0 million aggregate principal amount of the Notes for net proceeds of $608.9 million.
We anticipate that our existing cash and cash equivalents and the 2020 Vehicle Floorplan Facility will be sufficient to support our working capital and capital expenditure requirements for at least the next twelve months from the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We intend to use cash flows provided by UACC's operations to reinvest in the development of UACC into a full captive financing arm.
We have experienced a continued increase in the use of cash as our business scaled and we continue to expand our operations. Our future capital requirements will depend on many factors, including our rate of revenue growth, our efforts to reduce costs per unit, integration and investment costs for the acquisition of UACC, the expansion of our inventory, sales and marketing activities, and investment in our reconditioning, logistics and customer experience operations. To finance our long term growth and capital expenditures, we expect to use our cash and cash equivalents, borrowings under our vehicle floorplan facilities and debt and equity financing. Currently, we finance approximately 25% of our retail inventory with our cash and cash equivalents. We expect this percentage to decrease as we intend to utilize more of the capacity of our vehicle floorplan facility to finance the expansion of our retail inventory. We have no significant debt maturities due until 2026. We may be required to seek additional equity or debt financing in the future to fund our operations or to fund our needs for capital expenditures, however, there can be no assurance that such financing will be available in amounts or on terms acceptable to us, if at all. Failure to generate sufficient revenues, raise additional capital through debt or equity financings, and/or reduce operating costs could have a material adverse effect on our ability to meet our short and long-term liquidity needs and achieve our intended long-term business objectives.
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Convertible Senior Notes
On June 18, 2021, we issued $625.0 million aggregate principal amount of the Notes pursuant to an indenture between us and U.S. Bank National Association, as trustee (the “Indenture”).
The Notes bear interest at a rate of 0.75% per annum, payable semiannually in arrears on January 1 and July 1 of each year, beginning on January 1, 2022. The Notes will mature on July 1, 2026, subject to earlier repurchase, redemption or conversion. The total net proceeds from the offering, after deducting commissions paid to the initial purchasers and debt issuance costs paid to third-parties, were approximately $608.9 million.
Each $1,000 principal amount of the Notes will initially be convertible into 17.8527 shares of our common stock, which is equivalent to an initial conversion price of approximately $56.01 per share, subject to adjustment upon the occurrence of specified events. The Notes are convertible, at the option of the noteholders, on or after April 1, 2026. Prior to April 1, 2026, the Notes are convertible only under certain circumstances:
•
During any fiscal quarter commencing after the fiscal quarter ending on September 30, 2021 (and only during such fiscal quarter), if the last reported sale price of our common stock for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) during a period of 30 consecutive trading days ending on the last trading day of the immediately preceding fiscal quarter is greater than or equal to 130% of the conversion price of the Notes on each applicable trading day;
•
During the five consecutive business day period after any ten consecutive trading day period in which the trading price per $1,000 principal amount of the Notes for each day of that ten consecutive trading day period was less than 98% of the product of the last reported sale price of our common stock and the conversion rate of the Notes on such trading day;
•
If we call any or all of the Notes for redemption; or
•
Upon the occurrence of specific corporate events such as a change in control or certain beneficial distributions to common stockholders (as set forth in the Indenture).
We may settle conversions by paying or delivering, as applicable, cash, shares of our common stock or a combination of cash and shares of our common stock, at our election.
We may not redeem the Notes prior to July 6, 2024. On or after July 6, 2024, we may redeem all or any portion of the Notes for cash equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes being redeemed plus any accrued and unpaid interest if the last reported sale price of our common stock has been at least 130% of the conversion price then in effect for at least 20 trading days (whether or not consecutive) during any 30 consecutive trading day period.
If we undergo a fundamental change (as defined in the Indenture), subject to certain conditions, holders of the Notes may require us to repurchase for cash all or any portion of their Notes at a repurchase price equal to 100% of the principal amount of the Notes plus any accrued and unpaid interest. In addition, if specific corporate events occur prior to the maturity date or if we issue a notice of redemption, we will increase the conversion rate by pre-defined amounts for a holder who elects to convert their Notes in connection with such a corporate event. During the year ended December 31, 2021, the conditions allowing holders of the Notes to convert were not met.
Vehicle Financing
As of December 31, 2021, we finance our inventory primarily through the 2020 Vehicle Floorplan Facility with Ally Bank and Ally Financial (together, "Ally"), which was amended in December 2021 and provides a committed credit line of up to $700.0 million.
The amount of credit available to us under the 2020 Vehicle Floorplan Facility is determined on a monthly basis based on a calculation that considers average outstanding borrowings and vehicle units paid off by us within the three immediately preceding months. Approximately $187.2 million was available under this facility as of December 31, 2021. In February 2022, we amended the 2020 Vehicle Floorplan Facility to extend the maturity date to March 31, 2023. We are required to pay an availability fee on the average unused capacity from the prior quarter if it was greater than 50% of the calculated floorplan allowance, as defined. We are subject to financial covenants that require us to maintain a certain level
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of equity in the vehicles that are financed, to maintain at least 7.5% of the credit line in cash and cash equivalents and to maintain 10% of the monthly daily floorplan principal balance outstanding on deposit with Ally Bank. We were required to pay an upfront commitment fee upon execution of the amendment.
Outstanding borrowings are due as the vehicles financed are sold, or in any event, on the maturity date. The amended 2020 Vehicle Floorplan Facility bears interest at a rate equal to the Prime Rate, announced per annum by Ally Bank, plus 105 basis points. We are party to a Credit Balance Agreement that permits us to deposit cash with Ally for the purpose of reducing the amount of interest payable for borrowings under the 2020 Vehicle Floorplan Facility.
Finance Receivables
We are planning to sell finance receivables originated by UACC through forward flow arrangements and asset-backed securitization transactions. In February 2022, we completed a securitization transaction of finance receivables originated by our wholly owned subsidiary UACC. The securitization has been structured as an off-balance sheet transaction in which UACC sold approximately $318.5 million in principal balance of auto loans to a securitization trust and received proceeds from the issuance and sale of rated notes and unrated residual certificates and retained a 5% vertical risk retention interest in each class of notes and certificates. The Company recognized a gain on the sale upon transfer in an amount equal to the fair value of the net proceeds received less the carrying amount of the finance receivables sold.
Operating Leases
We enter into various noncancelable operating lease agreements for office space, the Company’s reconditioning facility, the TDA retail location, the Company’s Sell Us Your Car centers, parking lots, other facilities, and equipment used in the normal course of business. Operating lease obligations were $16.5 million, with $7.3 million payable within 12 months. See "Note 12—Leases,” to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for further detail of our obligations and the timing of expected future payments.
Cash Flows from Operating, Investing, and Financing Activities
The following table summarizes our cash flows for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019:
| Year Ended December 31, | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | |||||||||||||
| (in thousands) | |||||||||||||||
| Net cash used in operating activities | $ | (568,688 | ) | $ | (355,254 | ) | $ | (215,636 | ) | ||||||
| Net cash used in investing activities | (104,288 | ) | (11,329 | ) | (3,528 | ) | |||||||||
| Net cash provided by financing activities | 797,712 | 1,237,035 | 275,242 | ||||||||||||
| Net increase in cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash | 124,736 | 870,452 | 56,078 | ||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at beginning of period | 1,090,039 | 219,587 | 163,509 | ||||||||||||
| Cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash at end of period | $ | 1,214,775 | $ | 1,090,039 | $ | 219,587 |
Operating Activities
Net cash flows used in operating activities increased $213.4 million, or 60.1%, from $355.3 million in 2020 to $568.7 million in 2021. The increase is primarily attributable to $167.8 million in incremental net loss after reconciling adjustments in 2021 as compared to 2020 as well as an increase in working capital, primarily related to higher inventory levels as we continue to scale our business, resulting in an increase in the use of cash of $45.6 million.
We finance substantially all our inventories with the Vehicle Floorplan Facility. In accordance with U.S. GAAP, we report all cash flows arising in connection with the Vehicle Floorplan Facility, as a financing activity in our consolidated statement of cash flows.
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Investing Activities
Net cash flows used in investing activities increased $93.0 million, from $11.3 million in 2020 to $104.3 million in 2021, primarily as a result of the acquisition of the CarStory business in January 2021 which resulted in cash outflow of $75.9 million, the acquisition of short-haul and line-haul vehicles for our proprietary logistics network and an increase in capitalized software development costs.
Financing Activities
Net cash flows provided by financing activities decreased $439.3 million from $1,237.0 million in 2020 to $797.7 million in 2021. The decrease was primarily related to net proceeds of $568.0 million received upon completion of the follow-on public offering, $497.2 million received upon completion of the IPO, and $21.7 million related to the net issuance of Series H preferred stock in 2020. The decrease was partially offset by net proceeds of $608.9 million received upon issuance of the Notes as well as a net increase of $30.2 million related to our Vehicle Floorplan in 2021.
Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates
Our consolidated financial statements are prepared in accordance with GAAP. The preparation of consolidated financial statements requires us to make estimates, assumptions and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, and expenses and related disclosures. On an ongoing basis, we evaluate our estimates, including, among others, those related to income taxes, the realizability of inventory, stock-based compensation, revenue-related reserves, as well as impairment of goodwill and long-lived assets. We base our estimates on historical experience, market conditions and on various other assumptions that are believed to be reasonable. Actual results may differ from these estimates.
Due to the evolving and uncertain nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is reasonably possible that it could materially impact our estimates, particularly those noted above that require consideration of forecasted financial information, in the near to medium term. The ultimate impact will depend on numerous evolving factors that we may not be able to accurately predict, including the duration and extent of the pandemic, the impact of federal, state, local and foreign governmental actions, consumer behavior in response to the pandemic and other economic and operational conditions we may face.
We believe that the accounting policies described below involve a significant degree of judgment and complexity. Accordingly, we believe these are the most critical to aid in fully understanding and evaluating our financial condition and results of operations. For further information, see “Note 2—Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Business Combinations
We account for business combinations using the acquisition method of accounting, which requires all assets acquired and liabilities assumed to be recorded at their respective fair values at the date of acquisition. Any excess consideration over the fair value of assets acquired and liabilities assumed is recognized as goodwill. The determination of the acquisition date fair value of the assets acquired and liabilities assumed requires significant estimates and assumptions, such as, if applicable, forecasted revenue growth rates and operating cash flows, royalty rates, customer attrition rates, obsolescence rates of developed technology, and discount rates. These estimates are inherently uncertain and subject to refinement. We use a discounted cash flow ("DCF") method under the income approach to measure the fair value of these intangible assets. Under this approach, the Company estimates future cash flows and discounts these cash flows at a rate of return that reflects the Company’s relative risk. When estimating the significant assumptions to be used in the valuation we include consideration of current industry information, market and economic trends, historical results of the acquired business and other relevant factors. These significant assumptions are forward-looking and could be affected by future economic and market conditions. We engage the assistance of valuation specialists in connection with determining fair values of assets acquired and liabilities assumed in a business combination.
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Goodwill
Goodwill represents the excess of the consideration transferred over the fair value of the identifiable assets acquired and liabilities assumed in business combinations. Goodwill is tested for impairment annually as of October 1, or whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that an impairment may exist.
We have three reporting units: Ecommerce, Wholesale and TDA. In performing our annual goodwill impairment test, we first review qualitative factors to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying amount. If, after assessing qualitative factors, we determine that it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit is more than its carrying amount, then performing the quantitative test is unnecessary and our goodwill is not considered to be impaired. However, if based on the qualitative assessment we conclude that it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit is less than its carrying amount, or if we elect to bypass the optional qualitative assessment as provided for under GAAP, we proceed with performing the quantitative impairment test.
When assessing goodwill for impairment, our decision to perform a qualitative impairment assessment for an individual reporting unit is influenced by a number of factors, inclusive of the carrying value of the reporting unit’s goodwill, the significance of the excess of the reporting unit’s estimated fair value over carrying value at the last quantitative assessment date, and the amount of time in between quantitative fair value assessments and the date of acquisition. If we perform a quantitative assessment of an individual reporting unit’s goodwill, our impairment calculations contain uncertainties because they require management to make assumptions and to apply judgment when estimating future cash flows and asset fair values. The quantitative goodwill impairment test requires a determination of whether the estimated fair value of a reporting unit is less than its carrying value. We estimate the fair value of our reporting units using an income valuation approach. The income valuation approach is applied using the discounted cash flow method which requires (1) estimating future cash flows for a discrete projection period (2) estimating the terminal value, which reflects the remaining value that the reporting unit is expected to generate beyond the projection period and (3) discounting those amounts to present value at a discount rate which is based on a weighted average cost of capital that considers the relative risk of the cash flows. The income valuation approach requires the use of significant estimates and assumptions, which include revenue growth rates, future gross profit margins and operating expenses used to calculate projected future cash flows, determination of the weighted average cost of capital, and future economic and market conditions. The terminal value is based on an exit revenue multiple which requires significant assumptions regarding the selection of appropriate multiples that consider relevant market trading data. We base our estimates and assumptions on our knowledge of the automotive and ecommerce industries, our recent performance, our expectations of future performance and other assumptions we believe to be reasonable. Actual future results may differ from those estimates. A material change in the underlying assumptions could result in an impairment of goodwill. We also make certain judgments and assumptions in allocating shared assets and liabilities to determine the carrying values for each of our reporting units.
As of October 1, 2021, the carrying value of goodwill was $158.8 million, of which $152.9 million is allocated to the Ecommerce reporting unit. In connection with the annual goodwill impairment test as of October 1, 2021, we performed a quantitative impairment assessment for the Ecommerce reporting unit. The results of the quantitative test indicated that the fair value of the Ecommerce reporting unit exceeded carrying value and that the Ecommerce reporting unit was not at risk of failing the quantitative impairment test. A 10% decrease in the estimated fair value would not have resulted in a different conclusion. Additionally, as of December 31, 2021, we performed an interim goodwill impairment assessment due to the decline in our and comparable companies’ stock prices. As a result of the interim goodwill impairment test, management determined that the estimated fair value of the Ecommerce reporting unit exceeded its carrying value by 50% and no impairment was recorded. The quantitative interim impairment test was performed utilizing the discounted cash flow method described above. A 10% decrease in the estimated fair value at December 31, 2021 would not have resulted in a different conclusion.
No goodwill impairment was determined to exist for the years ended December 31, 2021, 2020, and 2019.
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Recently Issued and Adopted Accounting Pronouncements
See “Note 2—Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” to our consolidated financial statements included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K for a discussion about new accounting pronouncements adopted and not yet adopted as of the date of this report.