Organization and Description of Business

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2021

Organization Consolidation And Presentation Of Financial Statements [Abstract]

Organization and Description of Business

1. ORGANIZATION AND DESCRIPTION OF BUSINESS

Aterian, Inc. and its subsidiaries, formerly known as Mohawk Group Holdings, Inc, (“Aterian” or the “Company”), is a technology-enabled consumer products platform that builds, acquires and partners with e-commerce brands. The Company’s proprietary software and highly agile supply chain helps creating for a growing base of data empowered e-commerce consumers. Aterian predominantly operates through online retail channels such as Amazon and Walmart, Inc.  The Company owns and operates twelve brands, which were either incubated or purchased, selling products in multiple categories, including home and kitchen appliances, kitchenware, heating, cooling and air quality appliances (dehumidifiers, humidifiers and air conditioners), health and beauty products and essentials oils.

Headquartered in New York, Aterian’s offices can be found in China, Philippines, Israel and Poland.

Healing Solutions Acquisition—On February 2, 2021, the Company acquired certain of Healing Solutions, LLC (“Healing Solutions”) related to its retail and ecommerce business under the Healing Solutions’ brands, Tarvol, Sun Essential Oils and Artizen (among others), which primarily sells essential oils primarily through Amazon and other marketplaces (see Note 10).

COVID-19 Pandemic—On January 30, 2020, the World Health Organization (the “WHO”) announced a global health emergency because of a new strain of coronavirus (“COVID-19”) originating in Wuhan, China and the risks to the international community as the virus spreads globally beyond its point of origin. In March 2020, the WHO classified COVID-19 as a pandemic, based on the rapid increase in exposure globally. The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, including the impact associated with preventative and precautionary measures that the Company, other businesses and governments are taking, continues to evolve as of the date of this report. As such, the future impact on the Company’s personnel, business and global operations, and on the Company’s suppliers, logistics providers, marketplaces and other business partners is uncertain and cannot be reasonably estimated at this time. Given the nature of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is possible that any and every aspect of the Company’s value chain could be disrupted, and such impact could have a material adverse impact on the Company’s business, financial condition, operating results and prospects. For example, with respect to certain products, the Company has been unable to replenish inventory or, ship into or receive inventory in its third-party warehouses, in each case on a timely basis. Further, in certain instances of the Company has had to delay the launch of new products due to sourcing and other supply chain constraints. The Company may also be unable to forecast demand for its products during the pendency of this pandemic and the Company may experience a substantial decrease in the demand for its products, most of which are considered not essential. In addition, the majority of the Company’s personnel are currently working remotely, which creates challenges in the way the Company operates its business, including, but not limited to, the manner in which the Company tests products and its ability to meet its reporting obligations. The Company’s ability to execute its operations could be further impacted if any of the Company’s key personnel contracts COVID-19. While the potential economic impact brought by, and the duration of, COVID-19 may be difficult to assess or predict, the continued widespread pandemic could result in significant disruption of global financial markets, reducing the Company’s ability to access capital, which could in the future negatively affect its liquidity.  Due to the uncertainty as to the severity and duration of the pandemic, the impact on the Company’s future revenues, profitability, liquidity, financial condition, business and results of operations is uncertain at this time.

The COVID-19 pandemic began to have an unfavorable impact on the Company, including its key manufacturing partners, in January 2020. Substantially all of the Company’s products are sourced and manufactured in China, including new products that the Company expects to launch during 2021. In addition, the Company relies on its team in Shenzhen for a number of functions relating to product sourcing and development, among other things. The Company’s key manufacturing partner in China re-opened its facilities as of February 10, 2020 and reached and maintained over 90% capacity since early March 2020.

During the second quarter of 2020, the Company preserved its liquidity and capital resources through various actions, which included delaying and negotiating the delay of payments to certain vendors, and the effect of such actions did not have an adverse impact on the Company’s business, including its relationships with these vendors. The Company’s operations rely on third-parties to manufacture its products, to provide logistics and warehousing services and to facilitate sales of its products, and accordingly the Company relies on the business continuity plans of these third parties to operate during the pandemic and has limited ability to influence their plans.

To date the Company has had few material overall negative impacts to its business and operations from the COVID-19 pandemic. The Company has seen 87.8% growth in its net revenue for the quarter ended March 31, 2021 versus the corresponding period of the prior year. The shift of consumer spending from traditional retail to online spending has increased dramatically due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This has benefited the Company as historically over 90% of its net revenue comes from the sale of products online in the

U.S. and it believes this shift to increased online consumer spending will continue even after the COVID-19 pandemic ends. The Company’s investments in its infrastructure and software and the expansion of its third-party warehousing network have also allowed the Company to continue to deliver its products, even when Amazon itself limited its delivery services. The Company has had no material impacts to its vendor or other business relationships to date and in certain circumstances it has been able to negotiate improved credit and other terms. Further, to date, none of the Company’s key operations vendors has had any material negative impacts related to COVID-19 or changes that have negatively affected the Company’s business, borrowing capabilities or financial covenants. During the first quarter of 2021, we have experienced some impacts to our margins as it relates to increased international freight demands, lack of ship containers and general international freight congestion due to the continued increase demand of goods being sold on ecommerce marketplaces. Further, we expect to see increases in last mile shipping costs as shipping providers continue to see increased demand due to the increase of goods sold on ecommerce marketplaces which stresses their delivery networks. We believe these short-term increases in cost to be primarily related to COVID-19 pandemic. Though the COVID-19 pandemic is fluid, the Company believes at this time that its business may continue to minimize the impact from this current pandemic given the Company’s ability to work remotely, continued consumer demand for products on e-commerce channels and the business continuity plans of its key manufacturing partners and other vendors. The Company believes this combination of factors may help to mitigate risk from the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Company continues to consider the impact of COVID-19 on the assumptions and estimates used when preparing these consolidated financial statements including inventory valuation, and the impairment of long-lived assets. These assumptions and estimates may change as the current situation evolves or new events occur and additional information is obtained. If the economic conditions caused by COVID-19 worsen beyond what is currently estimated by management, such future changes may have an adverse impact on the Company's results of operations, financial position, and liquidity.