Shanghai-based online grocery platform Dingdong, which listed in the US last summer, trimmed losses by 12% in Q4 of 2021, as the firm battles with better-funded rivals, reports Caixin. In the last three months of 2021, Dingdong reported a net loss of RMB 1.1 billion yuan ($172 million), according to its earnings report released on Tuesday.
Dingdong, which is backed by big-name investors such as SoftBank and Sequoia Capital, said it ramped up efforts to rein in operating costs and improve gross margins. Operating expenses rose 48% year-on-year in the fourth quarter to RMB 6.5 billion, far slower than the 117% rise in those costs in the third quarter.
The company said in a separate statement that gross margins stood at 27.7% in the fourth quarter, 9.5% higher than in the prior quarter, which it put down to diversifying its broader product range and increasing sales of its own brands, which provide higher margins.