Aterian (ATER) Risk Factors

Our future success depends on our continuing ability to attract, motivate and retain well qualified employees. Competition for well-qualified employees in all aspects of our business is intense globally. The loss of one or more of our key personnel or our inability to promptly identify a suitable successor to a key role, including through a succession plan, could have an adverse effect on our business. Each of our executive officers, key personnel and other employees could terminate their employment relationship with us at any time. Moreover, we rely on stock-based compensation as a method to attract, retain and motivate our employees. If our common stock continues to be volatile or depressed, we may be unable to attract, retain and motivate employees, and if this occurs, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition, and cash flows. We do not currently maintain key person life insurance policies on any member of our senior management team or any other key employees.

We cannot assure you that our products will continue to compete favorably or that we will be successful in the face of increasing competition and from new products and enhancements introduced by existing competitors or new companies entering the markets in which we operate. We sell our products primarily on marketplaces and primarily on Amazon in the U.S. Unlike traditional brick and mortar retailers, the customer who is shopping on marketplaces has a significant number of competing products to select from as there are limited barriers to entry. In addition, the Internet facilitates competitive entry and comparison shopping, which enhances the ability of new and existing businesses to compete against us. A number of our current and potential competitors have greater resources, longer histories, and/or greater brand recognition. As a result, they may be able to secure better terms from vendors and devote more resources to technology, infrastructure, fulfillment, and marketing than we may be able to. In addition, some of our competitors aggressively discount their products in order to gain market share, which has resulted in pricing pressures, reduced profit margins and lost market share. Further, social proof for products sold on marketplaces in the form of product ratings and reviews is highly important to our success. In certain instances, we have been unable to maintain such social proof, and we may be unable to maintain such social proof in the future, or competitors may be able to attain better social proof for their products which could have a material impact on our operating results. For certain significant products in our portfolio such as certain of the dehumidifiers we sell, we compete directly with our contract manufacturer who sells its own competing private label products on the marketplaces we sell and who has a lower cost structure and significantly better R&D capabilities. These manufacturers could take aggressive actions against us including limiting the availability of productive capacity or limiting our access to newer, more innovative models, which we have experienced from time to time. For other certain products, due to our inventory long position and other factors we continued to sell our older versions of SKUs rather than order newer versions with innovations that some of our competitors are currently selling, which has had and may continue to have a material impact on our business. In the interim we have lost and may continue to lose market share for such SKUs. As a result of competition, our product offerings, whether in new or existing markets, may not be successful, we may fail to gain or may lose business, and we may be required to increase our marketing spending or lower prices, either of which could materially impact our operating results.

We are subject in the ordinary course of our business, in the U.S. and internationally, to many statutes, ordinances, rules and regulations that, if violated by us or the third parties we work with, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition, and cash flows. These laws and regulations include but are not limited to accounting and financial reporting, advertising, anti-bribery and anti-corruption, consumer protection, data security and privacy, electronic commerce, employment, intellectual property, product liability, and trade (including tariffs). In addition, increasing governmental and societal attention to environmental, social and governance (ESG) matters, including expanding mandatory and voluntary reporting, diligence and disclosure on topics such as climate change, waste production, water usage, human capital, labor and risk oversight, could expand the nature, scope and complexity of matters that we are required to control, assess and report, each of which can be challenging given our reliance on third party suppliers. These and other rapidly changing laws, regulations, policies and related interpretations as well as increased enforcement actions by various governmental and regulatory agencies, create challenges for us, including our compliance and ethics programs, may alter the environment in which we do business and may increase the ongoing costs of compliance, which could adversely impact our business, operating results, financial condition, and cash flows. If we are unable to continue to meet these challenges and to comply with all laws, regulations, policies and related interpretations, it could negatively impact our reputation and our business, operating results, financial condition, and cash flows. Additionally, we may in the future be subject to inquiries, investigations, claims, proceedings and requests for information from governmental agencies or private parties, the adverse outcomes of which could harm our business. Failure to successfully manage these new or pending regulatory and legal matters and to resolve such matters without significant liability or damage to our reputation may materially adversely impact our operating results, financial condition, and cash flows. Furthermore, if new legal or regulatory matters result in fines or costs in excess of the amounts accrued to date, that may also materially impact our operating results and financial position.

We are, from time to time, involved in various claims, litigation matters and regulatory proceedings that could have a material adverse effect on us. These matters may include personal injury and other tort claims, deceptive trade practice disputes, intellectual property disputes, product recalls, contract disputes, employment and tax matters and other proceedings and litigation, including class actions lawsuits. It is not possible to predict the outcome of pending or future litigation and any such claims, with or without merit, could be time consuming and expensive, and may require the Company to incur substantial costs and divert the resources of management. We face exposure to product liability and other claims in the event that one of our products is alleged to have resulted in property damage, bodily injury or other adverse effects. In addition, if we are required to, or voluntarily, repair, replace or refund one or more of our products, it could have a material impact on our business, operating results, financial condition and reputation. In the summer of 2021, the Company received informal notice from a third-party alleging patent infringement with respect to certain transfer paper products sold by the Company. In February 2022, the Company received a notice disputing the Company's calculation of the earn-out payment to be paid to the prior owners of a transfer paper business acquired by the Company. A motion to compel arbitration was filed in the Southern District of New York on September 14, 2022, which was granted on May 18, 2023. The parties engaged an independent accountant to resolve the dispute, as required by the PPD Stock Purchase Agreement and the Southern District of New York. In February 2024, the independent accountant ruled in favor of the Company and determined that the Company owes no earn-out. Therefore, the Company believes it has no liability to the sellers. Determining legal reserves or possible losses from claims against us involves judgment and may not reflect the full range of uncertainties and unpredictable outcomes. Until the final resolution of such matters, we may be exposed to losses in excess of the amount recorded, and such excess amounts could have a material effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition, and cash flows. In addition, it is possible that a resolution of any claim, including as a result of a settlement, could require us to make substantial future payments, prevent us from offering certain products or services, or require us to change our business practices each of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition, and cash flows.

We have $222.2 million net operating loss carryforwards as of December 31, 2023, which have a full valuation allowance against them. In general, under Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the "Code"), a corporation that undergoes an ownership change, which is generally defined as a greater than 50-percentage-point cumulative change by value in the equity ownership of certain stockholders over a rolling three-year period, is subject to limitations on its ability to utilize its pre-change net operating losses ("NOLs") to offset post-change taxable income. Our existing NOLs may be subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes, and if we undergo an ownership change, our ability to utilize NOLs could be further limited by Section 382 of the Code and similar state provisions. Future changes in our stock ownership, some of which may be outside of our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code. Furthermore, our ability to utilize NOLs of companies that we may acquire in the future may be subject to limitations. There is also a risk that due to regulatory changes, such as limitations on the use of NOLs, our existing NOLs could expire, decrease in value or otherwise be unavailable to offset future income tax liabilities. For example, the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act resulted in a reduction in the economic benefit of the NOLs and other deferred tax assets available to us. For these reasons, we may not be able to realize a tax benefit from the use of our NOLs, even if we attain profitability. We have not performed a detailed analysis to determine whether an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code has occurred. The effect of a Section 382 ownership change would be the imposition of an annual limitation on the use of net operating loss carryforwards attributable to periods before the change. Any limitation may result in expiration of all, or a portion of the NOLs or other tax attributes, such as research and development credit carryforwards, before utilization.

We rely heavily on information technology systems to operate our business and we collect, maintain, transmit and store sensitive data including data about our consumers. We also engage and rely upon third parties who engage in the same activities on our behalf. Accordingly, it is vital to maintain constant operation of these systems and to maintain cybersecurity. Our systems and those of third parties that we use in our operations are vulnerable to security risks, including from viruses and worms, phishing attacks, social engineering, hacking, distributed denial-of-service attacks, ransomware, and similar disruptions from the unauthorized tampering with our servers and computer systems or those of third parties that we use in our operations, which could lead to interruptions, delays, loss of critical and sensitive data, and loss of consumer confidence. In addition, insider actors-malicious or otherwise-could cause technical disruptions and/or confidential data leakage. In addition, if a ransomware attack or other cybersecurity incident occurs, either internally or at our third-party technology service providers, we could be prevented from accessing our data or systems, which may cause interruptions or delays in our business operations, cause us to incur material remediation costs, and could subject us to demands to pay a ransom or damage our reputation. Our failure to prevent or mitigate data loss, theft, misuse, or other security breaches or vulnerabilities affecting our or our vendors' technology and systems, could: expose us or our customers to a risk of loss, disclosure, or misuse of such information; result in litigation, fines, liability, or regulatory action (including under laws related to privacy, data use, data protection, data security, network security, and consumer protection); deter customers from using our stores to buy our products; and harm our business, operating results, financial condition and reputation. We use third party technology and systems for a variety of reasons, including, without limitation, encryption and authentication technology, employee email, content delivery to customers, back-office support, hosting, payment processing and other functions. Despite our security efforts, some of our systems have experienced past security breaches, and, although they did not have a material adverse effect on our operations or financial results, there can be no assurance that future incidents, which we expect to have, will not have material adverse effects on our business, operating results or financial condition. For example, on April 25, 2022 we were alerted by a payment processor of a data security incident regarding one of our UK websites. This has not resulted in a material impact on our business. In addition, because the techniques, tools and tactics used in cyber-attacks frequently change and may be difficult to detect for periods of time, we may face difficulties in anticipating and implementing adequate preventative measures or fully mitigating harms after such an attack. It is possible for security vulnerabilities to remain undetected for an extended time period, up to and including several years as was the case in the prior non-material security breach identified in April 2022. The Company's adoption of remote working, initially driven by the pandemic, may also introduce additional threats or disruptions to our information technology networks and infrastructure. Although we have developed systems and processes that we believe are reasonably designed to protect customer data and prevent such incidents, including systems and processes designed to reduce the impact of a security breach at a third-party vendor or customer, such measures cannot provide absolute security and may fail to operate as intended or be circumvented. In addition, our insurance may not provide sufficient coverage to compensate for related losses. Additionally, we use open source software in our technology platform and our other sophisticated information technologies and systems, and we expect to continue to use open source software in the future. In addition to risks related to license requirements, use of certain open source software can lead to greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties, indemnities or other contractual protections with respect to the software (for example, non-infringement or functionality). Our use of open source software may also present additional security risks because the source code for open source software is publicly available, which may make it easier for hackers and other third parties to determine how to breach our sites and systems that rely on open source software. Our information technology systems and those of our third parties may be vulnerable from time to time to damage, interruptions and other technical malfunctions including but not limited to breaches, human error, power outages, telecommunication or utility failures, systems failures, natural disasters or other catastrophic events. In addition, growth in our transaction volume or surges in online traffic place additional demands on our systems and could cause or exacerbate slowdowns or interruptions. If any such systems are damaged, or fail to function properly, we may have to make monetary investments to repair or replace the systems and could endure delays in operations. From time to time, we have experienced disruptions to our systems and we expect to continue to experience disruptions. Any material disruption or slowdown of such systems, including the failure to successfully upgrade systems, could have a material impact on many aspects of our operations including our ability to operate on e-commerce marketplaces. Such a loss or delay could have a material adverse impact on our business, operating results, financial condition, and cash flows. Our systems are not fully redundant and our disaster recovery planning may not be sufficient.

Over the past several years, the U.S. government has taken a number of trade actions that impact or could impact our operations, including imposing tariffs on certain goods imported into the United States. As the majority of our products are imported into the United States from China, many of our products are subject to the tariffs imposed under Section 301 of U.S. trade law that have been applied to separate lists of Chinese goods imported into the United States, beginning during the Trump Administration and continuing in the Biden Administration. A number of lawsuits and other legal challenges with respect to the Section 301 tariff actions have been filed and remain pending, which could result in changes to the tariffs. To date, the Biden Administration has effectively maintained and has continued to defend and to enforce these particular trade actions. Changes in U.S. trade policy have created ongoing uncertainties in international trade relations, and it is unclear what future actions governments will or will not take with respect to tariffs or other international trade agreements and policies. During his campaign, President-Elect Trump expressed various intentions to impose tariffs on imports, including 60% tariffs on goods imported from China, 25% tariffs on goods imported from Mexico and between 10% and 20% tariffs on other imports. It is unclear what action the next presidential administration or Congress will take with respect to these proposals. Ongoing or new trade wars or other governmental action related to tariffs or international trade agreements or policies could reduce demand for our products and services, increase our costs, reduce our profitability, adversely impact our supply chain or otherwise have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. We are continually evaluating the impact of the current and any possible new tariffs on our supply chain, costs and sales and are considering strategies to mitigate such impact, including reviewing sourcing options, filing requests for exclusion from the tariffs for certain product lines and working with our suppliers. We can provide no assurance that any strategies we implement to mitigate the impact of such tariffs or other trade actions will be successful. Given the uncertainty regarding the scope and duration of these trade actions by the U.S. government or other countries, as well as the potential for additional trade actions, the impact on our operations and results remains uncertain.