Dangdang's Marketplace Helps it Beat Earnings

E-Commerce China Dangdang saw shares rise upon beating Q4 expectations by $0.01.

Year over year, Dangdang drove a 31% increase in sales, to RMB1,614.8 million ($259.2 million), in the fourth quarter. Of that, media revenue represents 58% of those revenues; the media revenues segments saw an increase of 30% to RMB934.8 million ($150.0 million). Thanks to an increase in gross profit, the company only lost RMB122.1 million ($19.6 million) or a loss of $0.24 per share. Analysts estimated shares to lose $0.25.

For all of 2012, Dangdang saw a revenue increase of 44%, to RMB5,193.8 million ($833.7 million) compared to 2011. Media revenue represented 63% of total revenues. In all, that totaled RMB3,252.5 million ($522.1 million). The company saw a net loss of RMB443.9 million ($71.2 million), which worked out to a loss of $0.89. Analysts expected a loss of $0.91.

The numbers excited Executive Chairwoman Ms. Peggy Yu Yu as it signaled Dangdang's transition from an online bookstore to an integrated online shopping mall. This was the first quarter that sales from general merchandise, which includes both self-procurement and marketplace, exceeded sales from book and media. Dangdang's marketplace Gross Merchandise Value increase 169% year over year. In the future, Dangdang will continue to target mid to mid-to-high-end customers when considering marketplace strategy.

Jun Zou, Dangdang's Chief Financial Officer, added that Dangdang's inventory turnover days shortened from 134.5 days last quarter, to 97.4 days.

The article Dangdang's Marketplace Helps it Beat Earnings originally appeared on Fool.com.

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