Payment platform Square reported revenue of $3.1B, up 138% YoY for Q4 2020. Its overall revenue for 2020 increased to $9.5B, up from $4.7B in 2019. The company’s stock price fell by 12% on the earnings announcement.

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• The company’s gross profit for Q4 2020 increased by 52%, but net profit declined by 25% to $293M for Q4 2020. Square’s overall profit for 2020 declined by 42% to $213M.
• Square announced that it bought additional Bitcoin worth $170M, representing 5% of its assets. Last year, it purchased $50M worth Bitcoin, representing 1% of its assets. 
• Its revenue from Bitcoin increased by 10x for Q4 to $1.75B. Bitcoin contributed to a profit of $41M in Q4 and $97M in overall 2020.
• The company noted that in 2020, about 3 million customers either bought or sold Bitcoin on the platform, and in January 2021, nearly 1 million customers bought bitcoin for the first time.
• The Gross Payment Volume processed by Square reached $32B in Q4, up 10% YoY. In comparison, PayPal processed $277B in Gross Payment Volume last quarter. 
• As of Feb. 22, Square’s market cap was at $120B, ahead of Goldman Sachs’ $109B.

In other fintech news:

• "Buy Now Pay Later" (BNPL) firm Klarna is likely to go public via a direct listing this year. The company was last valued at $11B — a 2x increase within a year — when it raised $650M from Silver Lake in September.
• The company also plans to raise $500M in funding ahead of its public listing, as it doesn’t need to raise additional capital through IPO.
• Affirm, another BNPL firm, went public in January and its share prices have increased by 143% since the IPO.

This story first appeared in Inside Business. You can read the full issue here.

Walmart has opened its marketplace to BigCommerce merchants to sell through Walmart.com. The partnership will provide BigCommerce merchants with access to 120 million customers, and they can continue to manage their listing from the BigCommerce portal.

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• The Walmart Marketplace doesn’t charge a fee to list items or a monthly subscription. Instead, merchants will pay a “referral fee,” based on the product category, when an item is sold through the Walmart website.
• Walmart also announced a “New-Seller Savings program,” through which merchants who sign up by March 31 will be exempt from paying commission fees for the first month. 
• This is part of an effort to further Walmart's e-commerce presence, which grew by 79% last year. in 2020, the company started offering its fulfillment services to third-party merchants. It also partnered with Goldman Sachs to provide a line of credit to retailers using its online marketplace.
• Last June, Walmart partnered with Shopify to allow its merchants to sell through its website. 

The National Retail Federation said that U.S. retail sales will grow by 6.5% to 8.2% this year. Retail sales grew by 6.7% last year, amounting to $4.06T, driven by a 22% increase in e-commerce sales.

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• Last year’s growth rate was nearly twice the expected growth rate of 3.5%. This is the first time over the last decade that the growth rate has risen above 5%.
• In 2021, e-commerce is expected to grow between 18-23%, and contribute to a maximum of $1.19T in sales.
• As more people receive the COVID-19 vaccine and traveling and social gathering resumes, the services category, which accounts for 70% of spending, is expected to grow this year after being severely affected by the pandemic throughout 2020.
• In January, U.S. retail sales exceeded the estimated growth rate of 1%, increasing by 5.3%. January's growth also follows three months of contraction in sales.

Home Depot’s revenue increased by 20% last year to $132B, and its profit rose 15% to $2.8B. It posted $32B revenue for Q4, up 25% YoY. The company’s share price fell by 8% after the earnings announcement.

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• Home Depot's CFO Richard McPhail said that the demand for home goods and home improvement items fuelled by the pandemic has continued into 2021, but could change in the second half of the year.
• The company reported that customers are spending more on big-ticket items. The volume of transactions above $1,000 increased by 23% last year. 
• Its e-commerce sales increased by 83% in Q4 and 86% in overall 2020. 

Lowe’s Q4:

• Home Depot competitor Lowe’s Q4 earnings increased by 27% to $20.3B, and its profit increased by 92% to $978M in Q4 2020. For overall 2020, its revenue increased by 23% to $89.5B, and its profit surged by 38% to $5.8B.
• Lowe’s e-commerce sales increased by 121% in Q4. The company’s CEO Marvin Ellison said that “We believe that 2020 was not an anomaly” and he expects the demand for home improvement goods to continue in 2021.

This story first appeared in Inside Business. You can read the full issue here.

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• E-commerce shipping platform Shippo raised $45M in funding. It is now valued at $500M. 
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