Lightspeed Commerce Inc. (NYSE:LSPD) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Jean Paul Chauvet: Look, that’s why in my mind, I distinguish what we can control versus what we can’t control. And on what we can’t control, the biggest driver €“ and I’m just going to try and give you a few numbers that are in my mind. Last year, if you look at GTV growth from Q1 to Q3, it was about 25%. And if you look at this year, GMV growth from Q1 to Q3 was zero. We were $22 billion, $22 billion, $22 billion. So I think just there, this is for me the biggest headwind that is not related to Lightspeed is just spending is not what it was. And so you compare to last year, 25% growth on two quarters versus this year flat, there’s not much you can do against that. And so, I think, for me, the macro is confirming that our strategy is the right one, the strategy of profitable growth is the right one, the strategy on focusing on the larger customers is the right one because that’s how we’ve been pairing well in a market that’s been very difficult when you look at the consumer spend.

And I think that’s why I look at the €“ it is a tough year for restauranters and retailers, no doubt, when you look at GMV globally. Yet, we can help them. And so that’s why we’re focusing on the higher GMV merchants and doing everything we can to help them automate and do more with less. I think that’s the main answer.

Clarke Jeffries: Just a follow up, as we think through the implied guide for Q4, Asha, could you just help us think through the different offsets? I think you mentioned a catch up payment. There’s a currency headwind here. And so, when you think about the items that would grow sequentially versus being flat and potentially offsets, that mean that the underlying growth may be up sequentially, but the reported number maybe still flat. Could you help us think through the factors there to consider?

Asha Bakshani: The one time, as you mentioned, is something that we saw in Q3. That was about a $3 million one-time catch-up from a payment processor, which we don’t see in Q4. But I think what’s also important to keep in mind is that Q4 is seasonally our weakest quarter. And even in years where there are no macro headwinds, we typically see about a 20% decline from Q3 to Q4 in overall GMV. And so, as we enter our seasonally slowest quarter of the year, that’s what we’re contemplating in terms of the Q4 guidance. We expect FX to remain around the same in terms of Q3 levels. But I think it’s really more the GMV decline and the one time, those are the two biggest items that we’re expecting to affect the sequential Q3 to Q4 revenue.

Operator: Your next question is from the line of Richard Tse with National Bank Financial Markets.

Richard Tse: As you sort of move up market with these larger merchants, like how’s the competitive environment changed with respect to how you sort of go after those markets?

Jean Paul Chauvet: I think that’s the good news. And that’s why store count is growing well. And as you go up, there’s fewer competition. And I’m just going to give you a few examples here. If I’m a coffee shop, I have no real value in understanding Lightspeed’s analytics that gives you a magic quadrant of your menu items. Yet, if I’m a Michelin Star, I see tons of value in this. If I’m a retailer and there’s no value in our advanced analytics if you’re only selling a couple of 100 SKUs, yet if I have 10,000 SKUs, that’s where I see. So I think as we go up market, to simply answering the question, it is a much better landscape for us where we provide a ton of value to customers.

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