Rover Group, Inc. (NASDAQ:ROVR) Q4 2022 Earnings Call Transcript

Andrew Boone: Just as a follow up to that, can we tie that into a little bit of Ralph’s question? So, new bookings. Looks like they kind of grew mid-single digits, if you go in the back half of 2022. As we think about the guide for 2023 and we think about the macro pressures that you guys have incorporated, is that then a step down in marketing efficiency in new bookings or should we think about that more on the repeat bookings line and the slowdown there? I’ll pass mike. Thanks so much.

Brent Turner : Can I take that last question? Yes. Andrew, let me pick that back up. It is worth remembering that it may, from a financial standpoint, look like a fall in efficiency, but it’s worth remembering that about half the bookings that we, new bookings that we drive every month are absolutely free. And so as we step up channels, that it is possible to step up channels that are performing quite well from an efficiency and from a unit economic standpoint, but for advertising expense divided by new bookings to also go up. So to appear that we’re falling in efficiency when we’re making sound marketing decisions on our side. One additional piece in terms of the second half impact, I think the question is a little bit about how we modeled it.

I would say we’re modeling it where it has an impact on both new and repeat, not dissimilar from like a COVID wave or something like that, where it has both an effect on the frequency going to see by which people come back to us as well as have some suppression of new demand.

Operator: Our next question comes from the line of Lamont Williams of Stifel.

Lamont Williams: Hi, thanks for taking the question. Just wanted to touch on the cancellation rate. I know we had some weather issues in December and there’s some seasonality, and we saw a little bit of an uptick in the cancellation rate. Have we seen that come off a little bit in the new year? And then how are you thinking about kind of the trend over?

Charlie Wickers : Hey, Lemon, it’s Charlie. With regards to the cancellation rate, we didn’t see that material of an impact from the weather event or the weather events that played out. What we did see was a little bit of trending down year-over-year, which we are anticipating. We had been at elevated levels for a while as it related to COVID. And so we’re starting to see that trend down a little bit. As we headed into Q1 of this year. And similar with our assumptions on the full year basis, we’re effectively thinking that we’re going to be flat plus or minus seasonality for Q4 levels with regards to the cancellation rate going forward.

Aaron Easterly: One additional comment on that to the longer term piece. We have over the past year; we have seen a reduction in the impact that a COVID wave has on our cancellation rates. So versus, compared to the prevalence of COVID and the population, the negative impact on our business has lessened. So if that trend were to continue, we’d view that as a positive thing in terms of cancellation rates a year out, half a year out. But we’ve been surprised a couple of times on the COVID front, so we’re taking more of a wait and see approach to that.

Lamont Williams: Okay, great. That’s helpful. And just secondly, is there anything to call out in terms of geographical differences domestically that you’ve seen? Urban, rural, anything of that sort.

Brent Turner : Hi, Lamont, it’s Brent. Not that we have noticed that is noticeably accelerating or decelerating the marketplace thus far.

Aaron Easterly: And with that, Lamont, was that question with regards to just the overall business or with cancellation rates specifically.

Lamont Williams: Oh, just with an overall business, sorry.