Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

3 Months Ended

Mar. 31, 2024

Accounting Policies [Abstract]

Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

NOTE 1 - Nature of Operations and Summary of Significant Accounting Policies

Hour Loop, Inc. (“Hour Loop” or the “Company”) is a technology-enabled consumer products company that uses machine learning and data analytics to design, develop, market and sell products. Hour Loop predominantly operates through online retail channels such as Amazon, Walmart, and Hourloop.com. The Company, as an Internet marketplace seller, sells products in multiple categories, including home/garden décor, toys, kitchenware, apparel, and electronics. The Company has only one segment, which is online retail (e-commerce).

The Company was incorporated on January 13, 2015 under the laws of the state of Washington. On April 7, 2021, the Company was converted from a Washington corporation to a Delaware corporation.

In 2019, Hour Loop formed Flywheel Consulting Ltd. (“Flywheel”), a wholly owned subsidiary located in Taiwan, to provide business operating consulting services exclusively to Hour Loop.

Basis of Presentation - The unaudited consolidated financial statements and accompanying notes of the Company have been prepared in accordance with the accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America (“U.S. GAAP”).

These unaudited consolidated financial statements have been prepared in accordance with rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) and U.S. GAAP for interim financial information and with the instructions to Form 10-Q and Regulation S-X. Accordingly, the unaudited consolidated financial statements do not include all of the information and footnotes required by generally accepted accounting principles for complete financial statements. In the opinion of management, we have included all adjustments considered necessary for a fair presentation and such adjustments are of a normal recurring nature. These unaudited consolidated financial statements should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements for the year ended December 31, 2023 and notes thereto and other pertinent information contained in our Annual Report on Form 10-K as filed with the SEC on March 26, 2024.

HOUR LOOP, INC.

NOTES TO UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Principles of Consolidation - The unaudited consolidated financial statements include the accounts of Hour Loop and Flywheel. All material inter-company accounts and transactions were eliminated in consolidation.

Foreign Currency and Currency Translation - The assets and liabilities of Flywheel, having a functional currency other than the U.S. dollar, are translated into U.S. dollars at exchange rates in effect at period-end, with resulting translation gains or losses included within other comprehensive income or loss. Revenues and expenses are translated into U.S. dollars at average monthly rates of exchange in effect during each period. All of the Company’s foreign operations use their local currency as their functional currency. Currency gains or losses resulting from transactions executed in currencies other than the functional currency are included in General and administrative in the consolidated statement of operations and other comprehensive income.

The relevant exchange rates are listed below:

	March 31, 2024		December 31, 2023		March 31, 2023
Period NTD: USD exchange rate	$	31.950	$	30.655	$	30.400
Period Average NTD: USD exchange rate	$	31.641	$	31.221	$	30.507

Use of Estimates - The preparation of financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires management to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities at the date of the financial statements and the reported amounts of revenues and expenses during the reporting period. Actual results could differ from these estimates.

Significant estimates, include but not limited to, estimates associated with the collectability of accounts receivable, useful life of property and equipment, impairment of long-lived assets, valuation allowance for deferred tax assets, inventory valuation and inventory provision.

Reclassification - Certain amounts in the consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31, 2023 have been reclassified to conform to the current interim review presentation. These reclassifications had no impact on consolidated net earnings, consolidated financial position, or consolidated cash flows. Proposed changes involve presenting foreign currency gain or loss as a General and administrative expense, accrued interest as a current liability, segregating accounts payable into separate categories: accounts payable and credit cards payable and reclassifying inventory allowance, deferred tax assets in the consolidated cash flows.

Cash and Cash Equivalents - The Company considers all highly liquid financial instruments purchased with original maturities of three months or less to be cash. Our cash is held in the bank and covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (“FDIC”), subject to applicable limits. Deposits are insured up to $250,000 per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank, per ownership category. Cash equivalents and marketable securities are comprised of time deposits, money market funds, highly liquid government bonds, corporate debt securities, mortgage-backed and asset-backed securities, and marketable equity securities. Our cash and cash equivalents primarily consisted of cash and money market funds. Such amounts are recorded at fair value.

HOUR LOOP, INC.

NOTES TO UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Accounts Receivable and Allowance for Doubtful Accounts - Accounts receivable are stated at historical cost less allowance for credit loss. On a periodic basis, management evaluates its accounts receivable and determines whether to provide an allowance for credit losses in accordance with the Financial Accounting Standards Board’s (“FASB”) Accounting Standards Codification (“ASC”) Topic 326. Credit losses are provided based on a past history of write-offs, collections, current credit conditions, current economic conditions, reasonable and supportable forecasts of future economic conditions. The evaluation is performed on a collective basis where similar characteristics exist, primarily based on similar services or products offerings. We adopted the standard effective January 1, 2023. The impact of the adoption was not considered material to the financial statements and primarily resulted in new/enhanced disclosures only. A receivable is considered past due if the Company has not received payments based on agreed-upon terms. The Company generally does not require any security or collateral to support its receivables. The collection is primarily through Amazon and the collection period is usually less than 7 days. The Company performs on-going evaluations of its customers and maintains an allowance for credit losses as the Company deems necessary or appropriate. As of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company did not deem it necessary to have an allowance for credit loss.

Inventory and Cost of Goods Sold - The Company’s inventory consists mainly of finished goods. Inventories are stated at the lower of cost or net realizable value. Cost is principally determined on a first-in-first-out basis. The Company’s costs include the amounts it pays manufacturers for product, tariffs and duties associated with transporting product across national borders, and freight costs associated with transporting the product from its manufacturers to its warehouses, as applicable. The merchandise with terms of FOB shipping point from vendors was recorded as the inventory-in-transit when inventory left the shipping dock of the vendors but not yet reached the receiving dock of the Company. Management continually evaluates its estimates and judgments including those related to merchandise inventory.

The “Cost of revenues” line item in the unaudited consolidated statements of operations is principally inventory sold to customers during the reporting period.

Policy for inventory allowance: The Company writes down the cost of obsolete and slow-moving inventories to the estimated net realizable value, based on inventory obsolescence trends, historical experience, forecasted consumer demand and application of the specific identification method. As of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, $637,058 and $675,886, respectively, was written down from the cost of inventories to their net realizable values. Full inventory allowance is recorded for the inventory SKU not sold for more than one year.

Property and Equipment - Property and equipment are recorded at cost and depreciated or amortized over the estimated useful life of the asset using the straight-line method. The Company elected to expense any individual property and equipment items under $2,500.

The majority of the Company’s property and equipment is computers, and the estimated useful life is 3 years.

Impairment of Long-lived Assets- In accordance with ASC 360-10-35-17, if the carrying amount of an asset or asset group (in use or under development) is evaluated and found not to be fully recoverable (the carrying amount exceeds the estimated gross, undiscounted cash flows from use and disposition), then an impairment loss must be recognized. The impairment loss is measured as the excess of the carrying amount over the asset’s (or asset group’s) fair value. The Company did not record any impairment charges for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023.

HOUR LOOP, INC.

NOTES TO UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Leases - Leases are classified at lease commencement date as either a finance lease or an operating lease. A lease is a finance lease if it meets any of the following criteria: (a) the lease transfers ownership of the underlying asset to the lessee by the end of the lease term, (b) the lease grants the lessee an option to purchase the underlying asset that the lessee is reasonably certain to exercise, (c) the lease term is for the major part of the remaining economic life of the underlying asset, (d) the present value of the sum of the lease payments and any residual value guaranteed by the lessee that is not already reflected in the lease payments equals or exceeds substantially all of the fair value of the underlying asset or (e) the underlying asset is of such a specialized nature that it is expected to have no alternative use to the lessor at the end of the lease term. When none of the foregoing criteria is met, the lease shall be classified as an operating lease.

The Company typically utilizes operating leases for its office space requirements. This means that the Company leases office space, categorizing the lease arrangement as an operating lease. Under this arrangement, The Company does not hold ownership of the leased assets but instead pays rent for the right to use them.

For a lessee, a lease is recognized as an operating lease right-of-use asset with a corresponding liability at lease commencement date. The lease liability is calculated at the present value of the lease payments not yet paid by using the lease term and discount rate determined at lease commencement. The operating lease right-of-use asset is calculated as the lease liability, increased by any initial direct costs, and prepaid lease payments, reduced by any lease incentives received before lease commencement. The operating lease right-of-use asset itself is amortized on a straight-line basis unless another systematic method better reflects how the underlying asset will be used by and benefits the lessee over the lease term.

Fair Value Measurement - Fair value is defined as the exchange price that would be received for an asset or paid to transfer a liability (an exit price) in the principal or most advantageous market for the asset or liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. The carrying amounts reported in the consolidated balance sheets for cash and cash equivalents, accounts receivable, accounts payable, due to related parties and short-term debt at fair value or cost, which approximates fair value because of the short period of time between the origination of such instruments and their expected realization and their current market rates of interest As of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company held cash equivalents in a money market fund, Dreyfus Government Cash Management. The value of the money market fund was $1,677,426 and $101,510 as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, respectively. These funds were classified as Level 1 assets within the fair value hierarchy and accounted for at fair value.

Fair value is defined as the price that would be received to sell an asset or paid to transfer a liability in an orderly transaction between market participants at the measurement date. To increase the comparability of fair value measures, the following hierarchy prioritizes the inputs to valuation methodologies used to measure fair value:

i.	Level 1 — Valuations based on quoted prices for identical assets and liabilities in active markets.
ii.	Level 2 — Valuations based on observable inputs other than quoted prices included in Level 1, such as quoted prices for similar assets and liabilities in active markets, quoted prices for identical or similar assets and liabilities in markets that are not active, or other inputs that are observable or can be corroborated by observable market data.
iii.	Level 3 — Valuations based on unobservable inputs reflecting our own assumptions, consistent with reasonably available assumptions made by other market participants. These valuations require significant judgment.

HOUR LOOP, INC.

NOTES TO UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Revenue Recognition - The Company accounts for revenue in accordance with ASC Topic 606, Revenue from Contracts with Customers (“ASC Topic 606”). The Company adopted ASC Topic 606 as of January 1, 2019. The standard did not affect the Company’s consolidated financial position, or cash flows. There were no changes to the timing of revenue recognition as a result of the adoption.

The Company recognizes revenue in accordance with ASC Topic 606, which provided a five-step model for recognizing revenue from contracts with customers as follows:

● Identify the contract with a customer.

● Identify the performance obligations in the contract.

● Determine the transaction price.

● Allocate the transaction price to the performance obligations in the contract.

● Recognize revenue when or as performance obligations are satisfied.

The Company evaluated principal versus agent considerations to determine whether it is appropriate to record platform fees paid to Amazon as an expense or as a reduction of revenue. Platform fees are recorded as sales and distribution expenses and are not recorded as a reduction of revenue because the Company as principal owns and controls all the goods before they are transferred to the customer. The Company can, at any time, direct Amazon, similarly, other third-party logistics providers (“Logistics Providers”), to return the Company’s inventories to any location specified by the Company. It is the Company’s responsibility to make any returns made by customers directly to Logistics Providers and the Company retains the back-end inventory risk. Further, the Company is subject to credit risk (i.e., credit card chargebacks), establishes prices of its products, can determine who fulfills the goods to the customer (Amazon or the Company) and can limit quantities or stop selling the goods at any time. Based on these considerations, the Company is the principal in this arrangement.

The Company derives its revenue from the sale of consumer products. The Company sells its products directly to consumers through online retail channels. The Company considers customer order confirmations to be a contract with the customer. For each contract, the promise to transfer products is identified as the sole performance obligation. Transaction prices are evaluated for potential refunds or adjustments, determining the net consideration expected. Revenues for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023 were recognized at a point in time. Customer confirmations are executed at the time an order is placed through third-party online channels. For all of the Company’s sales and distribution channels, revenue is recognized when control of the product is transferred to the customer (i.e., when the Company’s performance obligation is satisfied), which typically occurs at shipment date. As a result, the Company has a present and unconditional right to payment and record the amount due from the customer in accounts receivable.

HOUR LOOP, INC.

NOTES TO UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

The customer can return the products within 30 days after the products are delivered and estimated sales returns are calculated based on the expected returns. The rates of sales returns were 5.53% and 7.25% of gross sales for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

From time to time, the Company offers price discounts on certain selected items to stimulate the sales of those items. Revenue is measured as the amount of consideration for which the Company expects to be entitled in exchange for transferring goods. Consistent with this policy, the Company reduces the amount of these discounts from the gross revenue to calculate the net revenue recorded on the statement of operations.

A performance obligation, defined as the promise to transfer a distinct good, is the unit of account in ASC Topic 606. The Company treats shipping and handling as fulfillment activities, not separate performance obligations. Costs for shipping and handling were $5,705,385 and $5,037,251 for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively, recorded as selling and marketing expenses.

Segment Information – The Company has only one segment, which is online retail (e-commerce).

The Company uses the “management approach” in determining reportable operating segments. The management approach considers the internal organization and reporting used by the Company’s chief operating decision maker for making operating decisions and assessing performance as the source for determining the Company’s reportable segments. The Company’s chief operating decision maker has been identified as the chief executive officer of the Company who reviews financial information of separate operating segments based on U.S. GAAP. The chief operating decision maker now reviews results analyzed by customers. This analysis is only presented at the revenue level with no allocation of direct or indirect costs. Consequently, the Company has determined that it has only one operating segment.

Income Taxes - Income tax expense includes U.S. (federal and state) and foreign income taxes.

The Company also complied with state tax codes and regulations, including with respect to California franchise taxes. Management has evaluated its tax positions and has concluded that the Company had taken no uncertain tax positions that could require adjustment or disclosure in the financial statements to comply with provisions set forth in ASC section 740, Income Taxes.

Deferred tax assets represent amounts available to reduce income taxes payable in future periods. Deferred tax assets are evaluated for future realization and reduced by a valuation allowance to the extent we believe they will not be realized. We consider many factors when assessing the likelihood of future realization of our deferred tax assets, including recent cumulative loss experience and expectations of future earnings, capital gains and investment in such jurisdiction, the carry-forward periods available to us for tax reporting purposes, and other relevant factors.

Presentation of Sales Taxes - Governmental authorities impose sales tax on all of the Company’s sales to nonexempt customers. The Company collects sales tax from customers and remits the entire amount to the governmental authorities. The Company’s accounting policy is to exclude the tax collected and remitted from revenues and cost of revenues.

The Company assesses sales tax payable including any related interest and penalties and accrues these estimates on its financial statements. Pursuant to the Wayfair decision, each state enforces sales tax collection at different dates. The Company collects and remits sales tax in accordance with state regulations. The Company estimates that as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, it owed $288,466 and $288,466, respectively, in sales taxes along with penalties and interest resulting from late filings.

HOUR LOOP, INC.

NOTES TO UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Concentration of Credit Risks - Financial instruments that potentially subject the Company to concentrations of credit risk consist primarily of cash and cash equivalents and accounts receivable. The Company maintains cash and cash equivalents with various domestic and foreign financial institutions of high credit quality. The Company performs periodic evaluations of the relative credit standing of all of the aforementioned institutions.

The Company maintains reserves for potential credit losses on customer accounts when deemed necessary. Significant customers are those which represent more than 10% of the Company’s total net revenue or gross accounts receivable balance at the balance sheet date. During the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, the Company had no customer that accounted for 10% or more of total net revenues. In addition, as of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, the Company had no customer that accounted for 10% or more of gross accounts receivable. As of March 31, 2024 and December 31, 2023, all of the Company’s accounts receivable were held by the Company’s sales platform agent, Amazon, which collects money on the Company’s behalf from its customers. Therefore, the Company’s accounts receivable are comprised of receivables due from Amazon and the reimbursement from Amazon to the Company usually takes less than 7 days.

The Company’s business is reliant on one key vendor which currently provides the Company with its sales platform, logistics and fulfillment operations, including certain warehousing for the Company’s net goods, and invoicing and collection of its revenue from the Company’s end customers. During the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, approximately 99% and 100%, respectively, of the Company’s revenue was through or with the Amazon sales platform.

Foreign Currency Exchange Risk - The Company is exposed to foreign currency exchange risk through its foreign subsidiary in Taiwan. The Company does not hedge foreign currency translation risk in the net assets and income reported from these sources.

Advertising and Promotion Expenses – Our policy is to recognize advertising costs as they are incurred. Advertising and promotion expenses were $884,000 and $784,266 for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023, respectively.

Commitments and Contingencies - Liabilities for loss contingencies arising from claims, assessments, litigation, fines, penalties, and other sources are recorded when it is probable that a liability has been incurred and the amount can be reasonably estimated. Legal costs incurred in connection with loss contingencies are expensed as incurred.

Related Parties - The Company accounts for related party transactions in accordance with FASB ASC Topic 850 (Related Party Disclosures). A party is considered to be related to the Company if the party directly or indirectly or through one or more intermediaries, controls, is controlled by, or is under common control with the Company. Related parties also include principal owners of the Company, its management, members of the immediate families of principal owners of the Company and its management and other parties with which the Company may deal if one party controls or can significantly influence the management or operating policies of the other to an extent that one of the transacting parties might be prevented from fully pursuing its own separate interests. A party which can significantly influence the management or operating policies of the transacting parties or if it has an ownership interest in one of the transacting parties and can significantly influence the other to an extent that one or more of the transacting parties might be prevented from fully pursuing its own separate interests is also a related party.

HOUR LOOP, INC.

NOTES TO UNAUDITED CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

Earnings per Share - The Company computes basic earnings per common share using the weighted-average number of shares of common stock outstanding during the period. For the period in which the Company reports net losses, diluted net loss per share attributable to stockholders is the same as basic net loss per share attributable to stockholders, because potentially dilutive common shares are not assumed to have been issued if their effect is anti-dilutive. There were no dilutive securities or other items that would affect earnings per share for the three months ended March 31, 2024 and 2023. Therefore, the diluted earnings per share is the same as the basic earnings per share.

Shares Issued for Services – Stock-based compensation cost for all equity-classified stock awards expected to vest is measured at fair value on the date of grant and recognized over the service period.