Aterian, Inc. (NASDAQ:ATER) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Joe Risico: Yes, I would just add that it’s the way to think about it, it’s — even though you’re selling on one platform, it’s almost like you’re selling on different platforms when you’re operating out of different seller accounts. The way you look at data — just even a basic example from a planning perspective, when you have inventory now you don’t just send it to Amazon. Now you’re shipping it into almost like four different channels, one account, two account, 30 accounts, right? It just — there’s so much efficiencies that come from narrowing down the accounts, right? So it’s a powerful move for us, even though, as already pointed out, it’s not something that’s immediately quantifiable. So hopefully, that helps.

Mike Zabran: Yes. Okay. So it’s providing more of operational line of sight versus quantifiable impact. Is that the right way to think about it?

Joe Risico: Correct. Correct. I would say, for the most part, that’s true.

Mike Zabran: Okay. Got it. Okay. Last one for me. Maybe just speak to the overall demand environment that we’re seeing, are there certain product categories that’s that are requiring deeper discounting than others or certain products showing strength? Maybe just elaborate on any new or persistent trends we’re seeing from that consumer?

Joe Risico: Yes. I’ll take this one, Arty, and you could jump in. So I would say, overall, what we’re seeing, right, and the way we use it, the way we think about it is through search on platforms, right? We see that overall, it’s down across the categories that we operate in, right? Having said that, the demand environment is still there. They’re buying in the categories that we’re in. So the demand is down, but it’s still there. I would say, we have — again, as I pointed out, we struggled a little bit in the home appliance space. Do you humidifiers had pressure. Air conditioners had a lot of pressure. Certain of our kitchen appliances had pressure — probably the area that had the least pressure is Squatybody, right? It’s a very strong brand. I think we gained share in our oil business, right? The peers demand there. And that category for us has started to improve. But that sort of the analysis from a demand perspective across our business.

Mike Zabran: Got it. Makes sense. Thanks, guys. That’s it for me.

Joe Risico: You’re welcome.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Brian Kinstlinger with Alliance Global Partners. Your line is open.

Brian Kinstlinger: Great. Thanks so much. You’ve talked about losing some share just now in your response as well as your prepared remarks. I’m wondering, is there anything changed in a product reviews that impacted it — or is it maybe Amy is proving not to be as effective in a shrinking demand environment? I mean, there are several categories you just mentioned. So I’m just trying to understand what you think is driving that? Is it increased competition?

Joe Risico: Yes, yes, no worries. So Brian, it’s like when — just looking at the dehumidifiers, and I talked about this on the last earnings call, right? I think there’s — we were the best-selling dehumidifier for quite some time. And then we lost the best seller tag — and that — like when you lose that best seller tag, it has an immediate impact on demand, right? And now we think we can get that back, but that has an immediate impact. It’s not really an anything. It’s simply competition on marketplaces is extremely intense. So even if you have a best-selling product in a category you kind of have a bull’s eye on your back and people are coming for you. I think today, even in the toilet stool category, I searched for a toilet tool, and I think there were thousands of results that came back for that product category.