Mogu (MOGU) Risk Analysis

As the internet industry in China is still at a relatively early stage of development, new laws and regulations may be adopted from time to time to address new issues that come to the authorities' attention. Considerable uncertainties still exist with respect to the interpretation and implementation of existing and future laws and regulations governing our business activities. For example, in August 2018, the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress promulgated the E-Commerce Law, which became effective on January 1, 2019. The E-Commerce Law provides that e-commerce operators must obtain administrative licenses if the business activities conducted by the e-commerce operators are subject to administrative licensing requirements under applicable laws and regulations. See "Item 4. Information on the Company-B. Business Overview-Regulation-Regulations on E-commerce" for further details. As of the date of this annual report, no detailed interpretation and implementation rules have been promulgated. Thus, it remains uncertain as to how the newly adopted E-Commerce Law will be interpreted and implemented. We cannot assure you that we will not be found in violation of any future laws and regulations or any of the laws and regulations currently in effect due to changes in or discrepancies with respect to the relevant authorities' interpretation of these laws and regulations. We changed the website of Meilishuo from mogujie.com to mogu.com. We are now updating the related licenses and approvals pursuant to the relevant laws and regulations, and may be required to obtain additional license or approvals, and we cannot assure you that we will be able to timely obtain or maintain all the required licenses or approvals or make all the necessary filings in the future. For example, Beijing Meilishikong, one of our PRC consolidated affiliated entities and the operator of the mobile app and website of Meilishuo, has obtained a valid license for the provision of Internet information services, or ICP License, but does not hold a license for the provision of online data processing and transaction processing services (for-profit e-commerce), or EDI License. We do not believe that an EDI License is required for Beijing Meilishikong because Meilishuo is substantially a display platform and does not engage in any online data processing or transaction processing business that would otherwise require an EDI License. In addition, as advised by CM Law Firm, our PRC legal counsel, we do not believe that our provision of sales promotion activities through live video broadcasts will be viewed as provision of internet audio-visual programs to the public which would require a license for providing internet audio-visual program services. We cannot assure you that the relevant PRC government authorities would agree with our conclusions. As of the date of this annual report, we have obtained the License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs. We, however, cannot assure you that the scope specified in our License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs is able to cover all the needs that arise or will arise in our operations from time to time. We are currently applying to expand the scope of our License for Online Transmission of Audio-visual Programs. Should we be required to obtain additional licenses or approvals or be required to expand the scope of the licenses we currently hold, we may not be able to do so in a timely manner or at all. If we fail to obtain or maintain any of the required licenses or approvals or make the necessary filings, or fail to obtain required licenses or approvals in a timely manner, we may be subject to various penalties, such as confiscation of the net revenues that were generated through the unlicensed internet activities, the imposition of fines and the termination or restriction of our operations. Any such penalties may disrupt our business operations or materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

On March 15, 2019, the National People's Congress approved the Foreign Investment Law, which came into effect on January 1, 2020 and replace the trio of existing laws regulating foreign investment in China, namely, the Sino-foreign Equity Joint Venture Enterprise Law, the Sino-foreign Cooperative Joint Venture Enterprise Law and the Wholly Foreign-invested Enterprise Law, together with their implementation rules and ancillary regulations. The Foreign Investment Law embodies an expected PRC regulatory trend to rationalize its foreign investment regulatory regime in line with prevailing international practice and the legislative efforts to unify the corporate legal requirements for both foreign and domestic investments. However, since it is relatively new, uncertainties still exist in relation to its interpretation and implementation. The Foreign Investment Law does not touch upon the relevant concepts and regulatory regimes that were historically suggested relating to the regulating of VIE corporate structures. For instance, under the Foreign Investment Law, "foreign investment" refers to the investment activities directly or indirectly conducted by foreign individuals, enterprises or other entities in China. On December 26, 2019, the State Council issued the Implementation Regulations for the Foreign Investment Law of the People's Republic of China, or the Implementation Regulations, which became effective on January 1, 2020. Pursuant to the Implementation Regulations, in the event of any discrepancy between the Foreign Investment law and the Implementation Regulations and relevant requirements for foreign investment promulgated prior to January 1, 2020, the Foreign Investment Law and the Implementation Regulations shall prevail. The Implementation Regulations on the Foreign Investment Law does not stipulate whether contractual arrangements should be deemed as a form of foreign investment. Though it does not explicitly classify contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment, there is no assurance that foreign investment via contractual arrangement would not be interpreted as a type of indirect foreign investment activities under the definition in the future. In addition, the definition contains a catch-all provision which includes investments made by foreign investors through means stipulated in laws or administrative regulations or other methods prescribed by the State Council. Therefore, it still leaves leeway for future laws, administrative regulations or provisions promulgated by the State Council to provide for contractual arrangements as a form of foreign investment. In any of these cases, it will be uncertain whether our contractual arrangements will be deemed to be in violation of the market access requirements for foreign investment under the PRC laws and regulations. Furthermore, if future laws, administrative regulations or provisions prescribed by the State Council mandate further actions to be taken by companies with respect to existing contractual arrangements, we may face substantial uncertainties as to whether we can complete such actions in a timely manner, or at all. If the ownership structure, contractual arrangements and business of our company, our PRC subsidiaries or our variable interest entities are found to be in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations, or if we fail to obtain or maintain any of the required permits or approvals, the relevant governmental authorities would have broad discretion in dealing with such violation, including levying fines, confiscating our income or the income of our PRC subsidiaries or our variable interest entities, revoking the business licenses or operating licenses of our PRC subsidiaries or our variable interest entities, shutting down our servers or blocking our online platform, discontinuing or placing restrictions or onerous conditions on our operations, requiring us to undergo a costly and disruptive restructuring, restricting or prohibiting our use of proceeds from our initial public offering to finance our business and operations in China, and taking other regulatory or enforcement actions that could be harmful to our business. Failure to take timely and appropriate measures to cope with any of these or similar regulatory compliance challenges could materially and adversely affect our current corporate structure, corporate governance and business operations. If any of these occurrences results in our inability to direct the activities of any of our variable interest entities and/or our failure to receive economic benefits from any of them, we may not be able to consolidate their results into our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

Foreign ownership of telecommunication businesses and certain other businesses, such as provision of internet video and online games, is subject to restrictions under current PRC laws and regulations. Specifically, foreign ownership of an internet information service provider may not exceed 50%, and the major foreign investor is required to have a record of good performance and operating experience in managing value-added telecommunications business. We are a company registered in the Cayman Islands. Hangzhou Shiqu is our PRC subsidiary and a wholly foreign-owned enterprise under PRC laws. To comply with PRC laws and regulations, we conduct our business in China mainly through Hangzhou Juangua and Beijing Meilishikong, our consolidated affiliated entities, and their respective subsidiaries, based on a series of contractual arrangements by and among Hangzhou Shiqu, our consolidated affiliated entities and their respective shareholders. For a description of these contractual arrangements, see "Item 4. Information on the Company-C. Organizational Structure." As a result of these contractual arrangements, we exert control over our consolidated affiliated entities and consolidate their financial results in our financial statements under U.S. GAAP. In the opinion of CM Law Firm, our PRC legal counsel, (i) the ownership structure of Hangzhou Shiqu and our consolidated affiliated entities in China does not result in any violation of PRC laws and regulations currently in effect; and (ii) the contractual arrangements between Hangzhou Shiqu, our consolidated affiliated entities and their respective shareholders governed by PRC law will not result in any violation of PRC laws or regulations currently in effect. However, we have been further advised by our PRC counsel that there are substantial uncertainties regarding the interpretation and application of current or future PRC laws and regulations. Thus, the PRC government may ultimately take a view contrary to the opinion of our PRC counsel. If the PRC government otherwise find that we are in violation of any existing or future PRC laws or regulations or lack the necessary permits or licenses to operate our business, the relevant governmental authorities would have broad discretion in dealing with such violation, including, without limitation: -   revoking the business licenses and/or operating licenses of such entities;-   imposing fines on us;-   confiscating any of our income that they deem to be obtained through illegal operations;-   terminating or placing restrictions or onerous conditions on our operations;-   placing restrictions on our right to collect revenues; and -   shutting down our servers or blocking our mobile apps and websites. Any of these events could cause significant disruption to our business operations and severely damage our reputation, which would in turn materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. If occurrences of any of these events results in our inability to direct the activities of our consolidated affiliated entity in China that most significantly impact their economic performance, and/or our failure to receive the economic benefits from our consolidated affiliated entities, we may not be able to consolidate the entities in our consolidated financial statements in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

The PRC legal system is based on written statutes and court decisions have limited precedential value. The PRC legal system is evolving rapidly, and the interpretations of many laws, regulations and rules may contain inconsistencies and enforcement of these laws, regulations and rules involves uncertainties. From time to time, we may have to resort to administrative and court proceedings to enforce our legal rights. However, since PRC judicial and administrative authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contractual terms, it may be more difficult to predict the outcome of a judicial or administrative proceeding than in more developed legal systems. Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based, in part, on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published in a timely manner, or at all, but which may have retroactive effect. As a result, we may not always be aware of any potential violation of these policies and rules. Such unpredictability towards our contractual, property (including intellectual property) and procedural rights could adversely affect our business and impede our ability to continue our operations. Furthermore, the PRC legal system is based in part on government policies and internal rules, some of which are not published on a timely basis and may have retroactive effect. As a result, we may not be aware of our violation of any of these policies and rules until sometime after the violation. In addition, any administrative and court proceedings in China may be protracted, resulting in substantial costs and diversion of resources and management attention.

Pursuant to SAFE Circular 37, PRC residents who participate in share incentive plans in overseas non-publicly-listed companies due to their position as director, senior management or employees of the PRC subsidiaries of the overseas companies may submit applications to SAFE or its local branches for the foreign exchange registration with respect to offshore special purpose companies. Our directors, executive officers and other employees who are PRC residents and who have been granted share-based awards may follow SAFE Circular 37 to apply for the foreign exchange registration before our company becomes an overseas listed company. In February 2012, SAFE promulgated the Notices on Issues Concerning the Foreign Exchange Administration for Domestic Individuals Participating in Stock Incentive Plans of Overseas Publicly-Listed Company, or SAFE Circular 7. Under SAFE Circular 7 and other relevant rules and regulations, PRC residents who participate in stock incentive plan in an overseas publicly-listed company are required to register with SAFE or its local branches and complete certain other procedures. Participants of a stock incentive plan who are PRC residents must retain a qualified PRC agent, which could be a PRC subsidiary of such overseas publicly listed company or another qualified institution selected by such PRC subsidiary, to conduct the SAFE registration and other procedures with respect to the stock incentive plan on behalf of its participants. Such participants must also retain an overseas entrusted institution to handle matters in connection with their exercise of share-based awards, the purchase and sale of corresponding shares or interests and fund transfers. In addition, the PRC agent is required to amend the SAFE registration with respect to the stock incentive plan if there is any material change to the stock incentive plan, the PRC agent or the overseas entrusted institution or other material changes. We and our PRC employees who have been granted share-based awards are subject to SAFE Circular 7 and other relevant rules and regulations these regulations. Failure of our PRC share-based award holders to complete their SAFE registrations may subject these PRC residents to fines and legal sanctions and may also limit our ability to contribute additional capital into our PRC subsidiary, limit our PRC subsidiary's ability to distribute dividends to us, or otherwise materially adversely affect our business.

The SAFE promulgated the Circular on Relevant Issues Relating to Domestic Resident's Investment and Financing and Round-Trip Investment through Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 37, in July 2014 that requires PRC residents or entities to register with SAFE or its local branch in connection with their establishment or control of an offshore entity established for the purpose of overseas investment or financing with such PRC residents or entities' legally owned assets or equity interests in domestic enterprises or offshore assets or interests. On February 13, 2015, SAFE issued SAFE Circular No. 13, which took effect on June 1, 2015, pursuant to which, the power to accept SAFE registration was delegated from local SAFE to local qualified banks where the assets or interest in the domestic entity was located. SAFE Circular 37 is issued to replace the Notice on Relevant Issues Concerning Foreign Exchange Administration for PRC Residents Engaging in Financing and Roundtrip Investments via Overseas Special Purpose Vehicles, or SAFE Circular 75. If our shareholders who are PRC residents or entities do not complete their registration with the local SAFE branches, our PRC subsidiaries may be prohibited from distributing their profits and proceeds from any reduction in capital, share transfer or liquidation to us, and we may be restricted in our ability to contribute additional capital to our PRC subsidiaries. Moreover, failure to comply with the SAFE registration described above could result in liability under PRC laws for evasion of applicable foreign exchange restrictions. We have used our best efforts to notify PRC residents or entities who directly or indirectly hold shares in our Cayman Islands holding company and who are known to us as being PRC residents to complete the foreign exchange registrations. However, we may not be informed of the identities of all the PRC residents or entities holding direct or indirect interest in our company, nor can we compel our beneficial owners to comply with SAFE registration requirements. We cannot assure you that all shareholders or beneficial owners of ours who are PRC residents or entities have complied with, and will in the future make, obtain or update any applicable registrations or approvals required by, SAFE regulations. Failure by such shareholders or beneficial owners to comply with SAFE regulations, or failure by us to amend the foreign exchange registrations of our PRC subsidiaries, could subject us to fines or legal sanctions, restrict our overseas or cross-border investment activities, limit our PRC subsidiaries' ability to make distributions or pay dividends to us or affect our ownership structure, which could adversely affect our business and prospects.

We are an offshore holding company conducting our operations in China through our PRC subsidiaries, consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries. We may make loans to our PRC subsidiaries, consolidated affiliated entities and their subsidiaries, or we may make additional capital contributions to our PRC subsidiaries, or we may establish new PRC subsidiaries and make capital contributions to these new PRC subsidiaries, or we may acquire offshore entities with business operations in China in an offshore transaction. Most of these ways are subject to PRC regulations and approvals. For example, loans by us to our wholly owned PRC subsidiaries to finance their activities cannot exceed statutory limits and must be registered with the local counterpart of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, or SAFE. If we decide to finance our wholly owned PRC subsidiaries by means of capital contributions, these capital contributions are subject to the requirement of making necessary filings in the Foreign Investment Comprehensive Management Information System and registration with other governmental authorities in China. Any foreign loan procured by our PRC subsidiaries is required to be registered or filed with SAFE or its local branches or satisfy relevant requirements as provided in SAFE Circular 28. Any medium or long-term loan to be provided by us to our VIEs must be registered with the National Development and Reform Commission and SAFE or its local branches. We may not be able to obtain these government approvals or complete such registrations on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future capital contributions or foreign loans by us to our PRC subsidiaries. If we fail to receive such approvals or complete such registration or filing, our ability to use the proceeds of our initial public offering and to capitalize our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business. Due to the restrictions imposed on loans in foreign currencies extended to any PRC domestic companies, we are not likely to make such loans to our consolidated affiliated entities, which are PRC domestic company. Further, we are not likely to finance the activities of our consolidated affiliated entities by means of capital contributions due to regulatory restrictions relating to foreign investment in PRC domestic enterprises engaged in internet information services, online games, online audio-visual program services and related businesses. SAFE promulgated Circular on the Reforming of the Management Method of the Settlement of Foreign Currency Capital of Foreign-invested Enterprises, or SAFE Circular 19, effective June 2015, in replacement of the Circular on the Relevant Issues Concerning the Launch of Reforming Trial of the Administration Model of the Settlement of Foreign Currency Capital of Foreign-Invested Enterprises, the Notice from the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Relevant Issues Concerning Strengthening the Administration of Foreign Exchange Businesses, and the Circular on Further Clarification and Regulation of the Issues Concerning the Administration of Certain Capital Account Foreign Exchange Businesses. According to SAFE Circular 19, the flow and use of the RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company is regulated such that RMB capital may not be used for the issuance of RMB entrusted loans, the repayment of inter-enterprise loans or the repayment of banks loans that have been transferred to a third party. Although SAFE Circular 19 allows RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested enterprise to be used for equity investments within China, it also reiterates the principle that RMB capital converted from the foreign currency-denominated capital of a foreign-invested company may not be directly or indirectly used for purposes beyond its business scope. Thus, it is unclear whether SAFE will permit such capital to be used for equity investments in China in actual practice. SAFE promulgated the Notice of the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Reforming and Standardizing the Foreign Exchange Settlement Management Policy of Capital Account, or SAFE Circular 16, effective on June 9, 2016, which reiterates some of the rules set forth in SAFE Circular 19, but changes the prohibition against using RMB capital converted from foreign currency-denominated registered capital of a foreign-invested company to issue RMB entrusted loans to a prohibition against using such capital to issue loans to non-associated enterprises. Violations of SAFE Circular 19 and SAFE Circular 16 could result in administrative penalties. SAFE Circular 19 and SAFE Circular 16 may significantly limit our ability to transfer any foreign currency we hold, including the net proceeds from our initial public offering, to our PRC subsidiaries, which may adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business in China. On October 23, 2019, SAFE promulgated the Notice of the Administration of Foreign Exchange on Further Promoting the Convenience of Cross-Border Trade and Investment, or SAFE Circular 28, which, among other things, stipulates that non-investment foreign-invested entities may use foreign exchange capital or Renminbi funds converted from the foreign exchange capital to make domestic equity investments, provided that such investments should comply with the Negative List and other relevant PRC laws and regulations. Even though SAFE Circular 28 allows all foreign-invested enterprises (including those without an investment business scope) to utilize and convert their foreign exchange capital for making equity investment in China if certain requirements prescribed therein are satisfied, since it is relatively new, uncertainties still exist in relation to its interpretation and implementation. In light of the various requirements imposed by PRC regulations on loans to and direct investment in PRC entities by offshore holding companies, we cannot assure you that we will be able to complete the necessary government registrations or obtain the necessary government approvals on a timely basis, if at all, with respect to future loans by us to our PRC subsidiary or with respect to future capital contributions by us to our PRC subsidiary. If we fail to complete such registrations or obtain such approvals, our ability to use the proceeds we received from our initial public offering and to capitalize or otherwise fund our PRC operations may be negatively affected, which could materially and adversely affect our liquidity and our ability to fund and expand our business.

The Regulations on Mergers and Acquisitions of Domestic Companies by Foreign Investors, or the M&A Rules, adopted by six PRC regulatory agencies in 2006 and amended in 2009, and some other regulations and rules concerning mergers and acquisitions established additional procedures and requirements that could make merger and acquisition activities by foreign investors more time consuming and complex, including requirements in some instances that the anti-monopoly law enforcement agency be notified in advance of any change-of-control transaction in which a foreign investor takes control of a PRC domestic enterprise. Moreover, the Anti-Monopoly Law requires that the anti-monopoly law enforcement agency shall be notified in advance of any concentration of undertaking if certain thresholds are triggered. In addition, the security review rules issued by the Ministry of Commerce, or the MOFCOM, that became effective in September 2011 specify that mergers and acquisitions by foreign investors that raise "national defense and security" concerns and mergers and acquisitions through which foreign investors may acquire de facto control over domestic enterprises that raise "national security" concerns are subject to strict review by the MOFCOM, and the rules prohibit any activities attempting to bypass a security review, including by structuring the transaction through a proxy or contractual control arrangement. In the future, we may grow our business by acquiring complementary businesses. Complying with the requirements of the above-mentioned regulations and other relevant rules to complete such transactions could be time consuming, and any required approval processes, including obtaining approval from the MOFCOM or its local counterpart or anti-monopoly law enforcement agency may delay or inhibit our ability to complete such transactions, which could affect our ability to expand our business or maintain our market share.

Under the PRC Enterprise Income Tax Law and its implementation rules, an enterprise established outside of the PRC with its "de facto management body" within the PRC is considered a "resident enterprise" and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its global income at the rate of 25%. The implementation rules define the term "de facto management body" as the body that exercises full and substantial control and overall management over the business, productions, personnel, accounts and properties of an enterprise. In 2009, the State Administration of Taxation, or the SAT, issued a circular, known as SAT Circular 82, which provides certain specific criteria for determining whether the "de facto management body" of a PRC-controlled enterprise that is incorporated offshore is located in China. Although this circular only applies to offshore enterprises controlled by PRC enterprises or PRC enterprise groups, not those controlled by PRC individuals or foreigners, the criteria set forth in the circular may reflect the State Administration of Taxation's general position on how the "de facto management body" text should be applied in determining the tax resident status of all offshore enterprises. According to SAT Circular 82, an offshore incorporated enterprise controlled by a PRC enterprise or a PRC enterprise group will be regarded as a PRC tax resident by virtue of having its "de facto management body" in China and will be subject to PRC enterprise income tax on its global income only if all of the following conditions are met: (i) the primary location of the day-to-day operational management is in the PRC; (ii) decisions relating to the enterprise's financial and human resource matters are made or are subject to approval by organizations or personnel in the PRC; (iii) the enterprise's primary assets, accounting books and records, company seals, and board and shareholder resolutions, are located or maintained in the PRC; and (iv) at least 50% of voting board members or senior executives habitually reside in the PRC. We believe none of our entities outside of China is a PRC resident enterprise for PRC tax purposes. However, the tax resident status of an enterprise is subject to determination by the PRC tax authorities and uncertainties remain with respect to the interpretation of the term "de facto management body." If the PRC tax authorities determine that MOGU Inc. is a PRC resident enterprise for enterprise income tax purposes, we may be required to withhold a 10% withholding tax from dividends we pay to our shareholders that are non-resident enterprises, including the holders of the ADSs. In addition, non-resident enterprise shareholders (including our ADS holders) may be subject to PRC tax at a rate of 10% on gains realized on the sale or other disposition of ADSs or ordinary shares at a rate of 10%, if such income is treated as sourced from within the PRC. Furthermore, if PRC tax authorities determine that we are a PRC resident enterprise for enterprise income tax purposes, dividends paid to our non-PRC individual shareholders (including the ADS holders) and any gain realized on the transfer of ADSs or ordinary shares by such shareholders may be subject to PRC tax at a rate of 20% (which, in the case of dividends, may be withheld at source by us), if such dividends or gains are deemed to be from PRC sources. These rates may be reduced by an applicable tax treaty, but it is unclear whether non-PRC shareholders of MOGU Inc. would be able to claim the benefits of any tax treaties between their country of tax residence and the PRC in the event that MOGU Inc. is treated as a PRC resident enterprise. Any such PRC tax may reduce the returns on your investment in the ADSs.

Under applicable PRC laws and regulations, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audit or challenge by the PRC tax authorities within ten years after the taxable year when the transactions are conducted. We could face material and adverse tax consequences if the PRC tax authorities determine that the contractual arrangements in relation to our consolidated affiliated entities were not entered into on an arm's length basis in such a way as to result in an impermissible reduction in taxes under applicable PRC laws, rules and regulations, and adjust income of our consolidated affiliated entities in the form of a transfer pricing adjustment. A transfer pricing adjustment could, among other things, result in a reduction of expense deductions recorded by our consolidated affiliated entities for PRC tax purposes, which could in turn increase its tax liabilities without reducing our PRC subsidiary's tax expenses. In addition, the PRC tax authorities may impose late payment fees and other penalties on our consolidated affiliated entities for the adjusted but unpaid taxes according to the applicable regulations. Our financial position could be materially and adversely affected if our consolidated affiliated entities' tax liabilities increase or if it is required to pay late payment fees and other penalties.

The performance of our businesses is subject to seasonal fluctuations. For example, our revenues are relatively lower during the Chinese New Year period, which is typically in the fourth quarter of our fiscal year, when users tend to do less online shopping. Also, online sales in China are significantly higher in the fourth quarter of each calendar year than in the preceding three quarters. Such sales seasonality pattern generally make us experience the strongest sales in our third fiscal quarter ending December 31. As a significant portion of our GMV relates to the sales of apparel on our platform, changes in weather pattern may also affect users' needs in apparel and purchasing behaviors, and further lead to fluctuations in our revenues. As a result, we believe that comparisons of our operating results and net income over any interim periods in the past may not be an accurate indicator of our future performance.

We offer products and content with a primary focus on providing a superior shopping experience. Our future growth depends on our ability to continue to attract new users as well as these users' continued spending on our platform. The apparel market is cyclical and fashion trends and users' purchasing needs and personal preferences are changing frequently. Consequently, we must stay abreast of fashion and lifestyle trends and respond to changes in the market and user preferences. Since our inception, we have been focused on developing new features and offerings on our platform to satisfy the ever-changing needs of our users. We have been actively tracking user traffic and feedback to identify trending content and encourage our KOLs to create content and our merchants to supply products that cater to users' changing tastes. We have also been exploring new interfaces and functions of our mobile apps to prioritize fashion content offerings on our platform. However, these features and offerings are relatively new, do not have a long operating track record and may fail to be accepted by our users. They may also be rendered obsolete or unappealing by competition or developments in the industry. The long-term viability and prospects of our business model are subject to the changing user preferences and industry standards, making it difficult to assess our future prospects or forecast our future results. Any of these changes may require us to reevaluate our business model and adopt significant changes to our strategies and business plan. If we fail to adapt to these changes, continue to expand and diversify our content and product offerings, identify trends, or maintain the quality of our content and products, our users may lose interest in our platform and thus may visit our platform less frequently or even stop visiting our platform, which in turn may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.

Our business depends on our ability to attract quality merchants and brand partners. Maintaining strong relationships with these merchants and brand partners is important to the growth of our business. We cannot assure you that our current merchants and brand partners will continue to cooperate with us on commercially attractive terms to us, or at all, after the term of the current agreements expire. If we lose any of these important merchants or brand partners, or if GMV generated from a significant merchant is substantially reduced due to, for example, increased competition, ineffectiveness of our advertisement solutions, a significant change in the business policy or operation of the relevant merchants or brand partners, any deterioration in our relationship with such merchants or brand partners, or significant delays in payments for our services, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Even if we maintain good relationships with our merchants and brand partners, they may be unable to remain in business due to economic conditions, labor actions, regulatory or legal decisions, natural disasters or other causes, in which event our business and result of operations may be materially and adversely affected. Any negative developments in our relationships with merchants and brand partners could materially and adversely affect our business and growth prospects. If we fail to attract merchants and brand partners to offer products for users on our platform due to any reason, our business and growth prospects may be materially and adversely affected.

We generate a portion of our revenues from provision of marketing services to marketing services customers, including our merchants and brand partners. Our revenues from marketing services partly depend on the continual development of the online marketing industry in China and marketing services customers' willingness to allocate budgets to online marketing. In addition, marketing services customers that decide to market and promote online may utilize more established methods or channels, such as more established Chinese internet portals or search engines, over marketing on our platform. If any of our current marketing methods or promotion activities becomes less effective or efficient or if our marketing services are not as satisfactory as our marketing services customers expect, we may lose our existing or fail to attract new marketing services customers. As a result, our ability to increase our marketing service revenues and our margins and prospects may be materially and adversely affected. We recently embarked on a number of new business initiatives, including focusing our platform on the provision of fashion content in rich media formats and our emphasis on live video broadcasts and other engaging socially-oriented sales methods. Since these business initiatives have been implemented for a limited period of time and are not yet at scale, it is difficult for us to evaluate the effect, if any, they will bring to our financial prospects. As a result, we cannot reasonably predict the future trends of our marketing service revenues, our commission revenues or our total revenues.

We have incurred expenses on a variety of different marketing and brand promotion efforts designed to enhance our brand recognition and increase sales from our platforms. Our marketing and promotional activities may not be well received by users and may not result in the levels of product sales that we anticipate. We incurred RMB747.9 million, RMB743.7 million and RMB613.2 million (US$86.6 million) in sales and marketing expenses in fiscal years 2018, 2019 and 2020, respectively. Marketing approaches and tools in the consumer products market in China are evolving. This further requires us to enhance our marketing approaches and experiment with new marketing methods to keep pace with industry developments and user preferences, which may not be as cost-effective as our marketing activities in the past and may lead to significantly higher marketing expenses in the future. Failure to refine our existing marketing approaches or to introduce new effective marketing approaches in a cost-effective manner could reduce our market share, cause our net revenues to decline and negatively impact our margin.

Sales of substantial amounts of the ADSs in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, could adversely affect the market price of the ADSs and could materially impair our ability to raise capital through equity offerings in the future. We cannot predict what effect, if any, market sales of securities held by our shareholders or the availability of these securities for future sale will have on the market price of the ADSs.

We believe that the recognition and reputation of our brands among our users, KOLs and our merchants and brand partners are crucial to our business and competitiveness. Many factors, some of which are beyond our control, are important to maintaining and enhancing our brands and may negatively impact our brands and reputation if not properly managed. These factors include our ability to: -   maintain superior shopping experience, particularly as user preferences evolve;-   maintain and grow our user base and keep our users highly engaged;-   maintain and grow our content offering and ensure access to content creators, including KOLs;-   maintain the popularity, attractiveness and quality of the content and products we offer;-   enhance our reputation and goodwill generally and in the event of any negative publicity on product quality, customer services, internet security, or other issues affecting us or our industry in China; and -   maintain our relationships with merchants, brand partners and other service providers.

We cannot be certain that our operations or any aspects of our business do not or will not infringe upon or otherwise violate trademarks, patents, copyrights, know-how or other intellectual property rights held by third parties. We may be subject to legal proceedings and claims relating to the intellectual property rights of others. In addition, there may be other third-party intellectual property that is infringed upon by our products, services, merchants, the content displayed on our platform or other aspects of our business. There could also be existing patents or other intellectual property rights of which we are not aware that our products or content may inadvertently infringe. We cannot assure you that holders of the relevant intellectual property rights purportedly relating to some aspect of our technology platform or business, if any such holders exist, would not seek to enforce such intellectual property rights against us in China, the United States or any other jurisdictions. In addition, we strive to closely monitor the products offered on our platforms, and also require merchants on our platform to indemnify us for any losses we suffer or any costs that we incur in relation to the products offered by such merchants on our internet platform. However, we cannot be certain that these measures would be effective in completely preventing the infringement of trademarks, patents, copyrights, know-how or other intellectual property rights held by third parties. Further, the application and interpretation of China's intellectual property right laws and the procedures and standards for granting trademarks, patents, copyrights, know-how or other intellectual property rights in China are still evolving and are uncertain, and we cannot assure you that PRC courts or regulatory authorities would agree with our analysis. If we are found to have violated the intellectual property rights of others, we may be subject to liability for our infringement activities or may be prohibited from using such intellectual property, and we may incur licensing fees or be forced to develop alternatives of our own. In addition, we may incur significant expenses, and may be forced to divert management's time and other resources from our business and operations to defend against these third-party infringement claims, regardless of their merits. Successful infringement or licensing claims made against us may result in significant monetary liabilities and may materially disrupt our business and operations by restricting or prohibiting our use of the intellectual property in question.

We have experienced, and may in the future experience, service disruptions, outages and other performance problems due to a variety of factors, including infrastructure changes and cybersecurity related threats as follows: -   our technology, system, networks and our users' devices have been subject to, and may continue to be the target of, cyber-attacks, computer viruses, malicious code, phishing attacks or information security breaches that could result in an unauthorized release, gathering, monitoring, misuse, loss or destruction of confidential, proprietary and other information of ours, our employees or sensitive information provided by our users, or otherwise disrupt our, our users' or other third parties' business operations;-   the use of encryption and other security measures intended to protect our systems and confidential data may not provide absolute security, and losses or unauthorized access to or releases of confidential information may still occur;-   our security measures may be breached due to employee error, malfeasance or unauthorized access to sensitive information by our employees, who may be induced by outside third parties, and we may not be able to anticipate any breach of our security or to implement adequate preventative measures; and -   we may be subject to information technology system failures or network disruptions caused by natural disasters, accidents, power disruptions, telecommunications failures, acts of terrorism or war, computer viruses, physical or electronic break-ins, or other events or disruptions. Any disruption or failure in our services and infrastructure could also hinder our ability to handle existing or increased traffic on our platform or cause us to lose content stored on our platform, which could significantly harm our business and our ability to retain existing users and attract new users. As the number of our users increases and more content is generated on our platform, we may be required to expand and adapt our technology and infrastructure to continue to reliably store and analyze this content. It may become increasingly difficult to maintain and improve the performance of our services, especially during peak usage times, as our services become more complex and our user traffic increases. If our users are unable to access our online platform in a timely fashion, or at all, our user experience may be compromised and the users may seek other online fashion platforms to meet their needs, and may not return to us or use our platform as often in the future, or at all. This would negatively impact our ability to attract users and maintain the level of user engagement.

Labor costs in China have risen in recent years due to development of labor laws and regulations. Rising labor costs in China will increase costs of the merchants on our platforms and may cause the third-party logistics and delivery service providers engaged by our merchants to charge higher fees for their products and services, which will restrict our merchants' ability to offer attractive pricing for or maintain the quality of products offered on our platform, which in turn may cause us to lose users and negatively impact our margin. In addition, the PRC government and public advocacy groups have been increasingly focused on environment protection in recent years, making the apparel manufacturing and textile industries more sensitive to environmental issues and changes in governmental policies associated with environment protection laws. Our results of operations and financial condition are dependent upon whether the merchants on our platform can offer quality products at attractive price, which in turn depends on the costs and supply of the key main raw materials used in producing the products. There are comprehensive environmental regulations and policies governing textile and fabric production and printing, as well as the apparel industry in general. Any environmental concern or issue could suddenly increase the costs of the raw materials used in the products on our platform. If merchants on our platform lower the quality of products offered to our users due to increased costs of raw materials, fail to offer high-quality products at attractive prices, or reduce the volume of products offered on our platform, our platform may become less competitive or appealing to our users and our business and results of operations would be harmed. Finally, heightened regulatory and public concerns over consumer protection and consumer safety issues may subject us to additional legal responsibilities and increased scrutiny and negative publicity over these issues, due to the large number of transactions that take place on our platform on a daily basis and the increasing scope of our overall business operations. For example, our merchants are required to adhere to national health and safety standards in terms of the products offered on our platform. Failure to meet these standards could result in fines, suspension of operations, and in more extreme cases, criminal proceedings against our company and/or our merchants, and our business, results of operations and brand image would be negatively affected. Increasing public scrutiny over us, including complaints to regulatory agencies, negative media coverage, and malicious reports, may severely damage our reputation and materially and adversely affect our business and prospects.

We have relied and expect to continue to rely on contractual arrangements with consolidated affiliated entity and its shareholders to operate our business in China. These contractual arrangements may not be as effective as direct ownership in providing us with control over our consolidated affiliated entities. For example, our consolidated affiliated entities and their respective shareholders could breach their contractual arrangements with us by, among other things, failing to conduct their operations in an acceptable manner or taking other actions that are detrimental to our interests. If we had direct ownership of our consolidated affiliated entity in China, we would be able to exercise our rights as a shareholder to effect changes in the board of directors of our consolidated affiliated entities, which in turn could implement changes, subject to any applicable fiduciary obligations, at the management and operational level. However, under the current contractual arrangements, we rely on the performance by our consolidated affiliated entities and their respective shareholders of their obligations under the contracts to exercise control over our consolidated affiliated entities. The shareholders of our consolidated affiliated entities may not act in the best interests of our company or may not perform their obligations under these contracts. Such risks exist throughout the period in which we intend to operate certain portion of our business through the contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entities. If any dispute relating to these contracts remains unresolved, we will have to enforce our rights under these contracts through the operations of PRC law and arbitration, litigation and other legal proceedings and therefore will be subject to uncertainties in the PRC legal system. See "-Any failure by our consolidated affiliated entities or their shareholders to perform their obligations under our contractual arrangements with them would have a material and adverse effect on our business." Therefore, our contractual arrangements with our consolidated affiliated entity may not be as effective in ensuring our control over the relevant portion of our business operations as direct ownership would be.