Albertsons Companies Inc (ACI) 2025 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Albertsons Company's first-quarter 2025 earnings conference call, and thank you for standing by. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded. I would like to hand the call over to Cody Perdue, Senior Vice President, Treasury, Investor Relations and Risk Management. Please go ahead, sir.

您好，歡迎參加 Albertsons 公司 2025 年第一季財報電話會議，感謝您的支持。（操作員指示）此通話正在錄音。我想將電話轉給財務、投資者關係和風險管理高級副總裁 Cody Perdue。先生，請繼續。

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for the Albertsons Company's first-quarter 2025 earnings conference call. With me today are Susan Morris, our CEO and Sharon McCollam, our President and CFO. Today, Susan will recap the first quarter of 2025 and to update you on our progress against our strategic priorities.

早安，感謝您參加 Albertsons 公司 2025 年第一季財報電話會議。今天與我在一起的有我們的執行長蘇珊莫里斯 (Susan Morris) 和我們的總裁兼財務長莎倫麥科勒姆 (Sharon McCollam)。今天，蘇珊將回顧 2025 年第一季的情況，並向您通報我們在策略重點方面的進展。

Then Sharon will provide the details related to our first-quarter 2025 financial results and our outlook for the remainder of fiscal 2025 before handing it back to Susan for closing remarks. After management comments, we will conduct a Q&A session.

然後，莎倫將提供與我們 2025 年第一季度財務業績以及 2025 財年剩餘時間的展望相關的詳細信息，然後將其交還給蘇珊進行總結發言。管理層發表評論後，我們將進行問答環節。

I would like to remind you that management may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the factors identified in our filings with the SEC.

我想提醒您，管理層可能會根據聯邦證券法做出前瞻性陳述。這些聲明受風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期和預測有重大差異。這些風險和不確定性包括但不限於我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中確定的因素。

Any forward-looking statements we make today are only as of today's date, and we undertake no obligation to update or revise any such statements as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. Additionally, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in this morning's earnings release.

我們今天所做的任何前瞻性陳述僅截至今天有效，我們不承擔因新資訊、未來事件或其他原因更新或修改任何此類陳述的義務。此外，我們也將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。在今天早上的收益報告中可以找到這些財務指標與最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標的對帳表。

And with that, I will hand the call over to Susan.

說完，我會把電話交給蘇珊。

Thanks, Cody. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us today. In the first quarter, our teams delivered solid results with ID sales growth of 2.8%, adjusted EBITDA of $1.11 billion and adjusted earnings per share of $0.55. These results again demonstrate gradual and incremental progress against our five strategic priorities, which include driving customer growth and engagement through digital connection, growing our Media Collective, enhancing the customer value proposition, modernizing capabilities through technology and driving transformational productivity. Within these priorities, our four digital platforms continue to be the catalyst for customer growth and engagement.

謝謝，科迪。大家早安，感謝大家今天加入我們。第一季度，我們的團隊取得了穩健的業績，ID銷售額成長2.8%，調整後EBITDA達11.1億美元，調整後每股盈餘達0.55美元。這些業績再次證明了我們五大策略重點的穩步推進，這五大戰略重點包括：透過數位連接推動客戶成長和參與度、壯大我們的媒體集團、提升客戶價值主張、透過技術實現能力現代化以及推動轉型生產力。在這些優先事項中，我們的四個數位平台繼續成為客戶成長和參與的催化劑。

We continue to drive increased sales and to more deeply engage our most loyal customers, all while generating data and insights for the Media Collective. Our first digital platform is e-commerce, which grew 25% and reached 9% of total grocery revenue in the first quarter. This growth was again led by a strong performance in our first-party business, driven by award-winning capabilities and our fully integrated mobile app and supported by our five-star certification program.

我們繼續推動銷售成長並更深入地吸引我們最忠實的客戶，同時為媒體集體產生數據和見解。我們的第一個數位平台是電子商務，其第一季成長了 25%，佔食品雜貨總收入的 9%。這一增長再次得益於我們第一方業務的強勁表現，這得益於屢獲殊榮的功能和我們完全集成的移動應用程序，並得到了我們五星級認證計劃的支持。

Our focus on delivering exceptional customer service experience is fueling new customer acquisition and strengthening existing customer retention. To do this, we're continuing to enhance our digital shopping experience, including the introduction of AI and interactive features that deliver both ease and convenience.

我們專注於提供卓越的客戶服務體驗，以促進新客戶的獲取並加強現有客戶的保留。為此，我們將繼續增強我們的數位購物體驗，包括引入人工智慧和互動功能，以提供輕鬆和便利。

For example, we launched our new shop assist feature, which enables the connected shopping experience that allows customers to communicate back and forth with our in-store associates throughout their orders fulfillment process. We've also created more flexibility in our basket building.

例如，我們推出了新的商店協助功能，可實現互聯購物體驗，讓客戶在整個訂單履行過程中與店內員工進行溝通。我們還在籃子構建方面創造了更多的靈活性。

Customers can now add items to their orders up until picking has started, recognizing that shoppers often think of one more item they need just after an order is placed. While our e-commerce penetration is still below industry peers, it is one of our biggest growth customer acquisition and customer retention opportunities for 2025 and beyond. From a profitability perspective, our e-commerce business is near breakeven and improving.

現在，顧客可以在開始挑選之前將商品添加到訂單中，因為他們意識到購物者經常在下訂單後才想到他們需要的另一件商品。雖然我們的電子商務滲透率仍低於行業同行，但它是我們 2025 年及以後最大的成長客戶獲取和客戶保留機會之一。從獲利角度來看，我們的電子商務業務已接近損益兩平並且正在改善。

Our second digital platform is loyalty, which grew 14% to 47 million members in the first quarter as we capitalized on simplification of our program and further enhance the value the program offers. Members in the program today are engaging more frequently using more of our easy-to-understand and redeem features and spending more with us. A case in point, 30% of our engaged households are now electing the cash off option, reinforcing the customers' desire for immediate value.

我們的第二個數位平台是忠誠度平台，由於我們利用計劃的簡化並進一步提升計劃提供的價值，該平台在第一季度增長了 14%，達到 4700 萬會員。如今，該計劃的會員更頻繁地使用我們更多易於理解和兌換的功能，並在我們這裡消費更多。舉個例子，我們 30% 的參與家庭現在選擇現金折扣選項，這強化了客戶對即時價值的渴望。

As we did last quarter, loyalty is a key enabler of digital customer engagement and a rich source of data for our Media Collectives. Throughout 2025, we will continue to introduce compelling benefits that will attract new members improve share of wallet and further enable marketing and monetization opportunities for the Media Collective. We will also continue to simplify and expand the program to include strategic partnerships to offer even more value.

正如我們上個季度所做的那樣，忠誠度是數位客戶參與的關鍵推動因素，也是我們媒體集體的豐富數據來源。在整個 2025 年，我們將繼續推出引人注目的福利，以吸引新成員，提高錢包份額，並進一步為媒體集體提供行銷和貨幣化機會。我們也將繼續簡化和擴展該計劃，納入策略合作夥伴關係，以提供更多價值。

Our third digital platform in pharmacy and health, which grew 20% year-over-year, driven by industry-leading script and immunization growth. best-in-class customer satisfaction scores and the ongoing integration of pharmacy and Sincerely Health into our overall digital experience. Cross shoppers between grocery and pharmacy are exceptionally valuable. Over time, these customers visit the store 4 times more often and by significantly more groceries with us, resulting in outsized customer lifetime value across the entire store.

我們的第三個數位平台是藥房和健康平台，該平台同比增長 20%，這得益於行業領先的處方和免疫接種增長、一流的客戶滿意度評分以及藥房和 Sincerely Health 與我們整體數位體驗的持續整合。雜貨店和藥局之間的交叉購物者非常有價值。隨著時間的推移，這些顧客光顧商店的頻率增加了 4 倍，並且購買的雜貨數量也顯著增加，從而為整個商店帶來了超大的客戶終身價值。

For this reason, in addition to the market share opportunity, competitor closings are creating for us. We're also continuing to invest in our pharmacy and health digital platform. Through this platform, we're also launching customized omnichannel benefits that are not only attracting new customers but also converting an existing pharmacy and grocery only customers to become cross-shoppers.

因此，除了市場份額機會之外，競爭對手的關閉也在為我們創造機會。我們也將繼續投資我們的藥房和健康數位平台。透過這個平台，我們還推出了客製化的全通路優惠，不僅可以吸引新客戶，還可以將現有的藥局和雜貨店客戶轉變為交叉購物者。

It is also helping customers to find new and personalized ways to improve their health and well-being, consistent with evolving national trends. Our pharmacy and health platform is an integral part of our customers for life strategy and a significant growth and customer engagement opportunity. For this reason, leveraging our growing scale to improve pharmacy profitability over time is a key operational priority.

它還幫助顧客找到新的、個人化的方式來改善他們的健康和福祉，與不斷變化的國家趨勢保持一致。我們的藥局和健康平台是我們終身客戶策略不可或缺的一部分，也是一個重要的成長和客戶參與機會。因此，利用我們不斷增長的規模來逐步提高藥房的獲利能力是一項關鍵的營運重點。

To deliver this, we are continuing to pursue higher-margin service offerings and drive productivity through improved sourcing, increased automation and labor optimization. This quarter, we opened our third central fill processing facility, which is reducing our cost to serve while at the same time improving overall customer experience.

為了實現這一目標，我們將繼續追求更高利潤的服務產品，並透過改善採購、提高自動化和勞動力優化來提高生產力。本季度，我們開設了第三家中央填充處理設施，這降低了我們的服務成本，同時改善了整體客戶體驗。

The fourth digital platform is the integration of the mobile app for use in our stores. We're not just selling food or simplifying meal planning and making shopping easier and more convenient, both in-store and online. Our app has become the epicenter of the omnichannel experience with digital customers engaging nearly 3 times a week on average.

第四個數位平台是整合在我們的商店中使用的行動應用程式。我們不僅銷售食品或簡化膳食計劃，還使店內和網上購物變得更加輕鬆和方便。我們的應用程式已成為全通路體驗的中心，數位客戶平均每週參與近 3 次。

What began as a tool for enabling e-commerce and delivering great deals is now a swift [armaments] of tools that makes customers lives easier regardless of whether they're shopping in our stores or online. These tools include best-in-class list building and personalized meal planning capabilities, powerful search and product locating capabilities and an in-store mode that connects meal planning and other store-specific capabilities.

它最初是用於實現電子商務和提供優惠的工具，現在已成為一套快速的工具，使客戶無論在我們的商店還是在網上購物，都能享受到更輕鬆的生活。這些工具包括一流的清單建立和個人化飲食計劃功能、強大的搜尋和產品定位功能以及連接膳食計劃和其他商店特定功能的店內模式。

In our Media Collective in the first quarter, we significantly increased the high-impact digital inventory, and our digital platforms work together to enrich our data and generate deeper customer engagement to accelerate growth and deliver superior return on ad-spend. We'll continue to invest in building industry-leading integrated solutions that will support both endemic and non-endemic partners.

在第一季的媒體集體中，我們大幅增加了高影響力的數位庫存，我們的數位平台共同努力豐富我們的數據，並產生更深入的客戶參與，以加速成長並提供卓越的廣告支出回報。我們將繼續投資建構業界領先的整合解決方案，為地方性和非地方性合作夥伴提供支援。

These solutions include refining shopper audiences, running targeted media campaigns with compressed measurement timelines and delivering consistent omni-execution to develop a personalized relationships for our collective partners with our customers.

這些解決方案包括優化購物者受眾、進行具有壓縮測量時間的有針對性的媒體活動以及提供一致的全方位執行，從而為我們的合作夥伴與客戶建立個性化的關係。

These same solutions are also providing benefits for our internal loyalty and marketing initiatives. As we look forward, we expect the collective to grow faster than the retail media market and ultimately be one of the largest sources of fuel for reinvestment into our core business over time.

這些相同的解決方案也為我們的內部忠誠度和行銷計劃帶來了好處。展望未來，我們預期集體的成長速度將超過零售媒體市場，並最終成為我們核心業務再投資的最大動力來源之一。

To improve our customer value proposition, we intentionally invested in value in both loyalty and promotional offerings, as well as by partnering with strategic investors to invest in price in certain categories in certain markets. We also surgically manage through the pass through of cost inflation to further invest in the customer's needs for immediate value.

為了改善我們的客戶價值主張，我們有意在忠誠度和促銷產品方面進行價值投資，並與策略投資者合作，對某些市場某些類別的價格進行投資。我們也巧妙地管理成本膨脹的轉嫁，進一步投資於客戶的即時價值需求。

While it is early, these investments did deliver a sequential quarterly unit sales improvement, and over time they're expected to drive greater existing and new customer engagement across our banners.

雖然還處於早期階段，但這些投資確實帶來了季度單位銷售額的連續成長，隨著時間的推移，預計它們將推動我們旗下品牌的現有客戶和新客戶參與度的提高。

We additionally amplified our Own Brand's presence to drive further value for our customers. Own brand sales penetration finished the quarter at 25.7% as we launched new offerings across multiple categories. We also expanded the assortment in our recently introduced Overjoyed brand and launched our newest brand, Chef Counter, a chef inspired meal solution targeting foodies seeking fast and easy restaurant quality choices at affordable prices.

我們也擴大了自有品牌的影響力，為客戶創造更多價值。由於我們推出了多個類別的新產品，本季自有品牌銷售滲透率達到 25.7%。我們還擴大了最近推出的 Overjoyed 品牌的品種，並推出了最新品牌 Chef Counter，這是一款由廚師啟發的膳食解決方案，專門針對尋求以實惠的價格快速輕鬆地獲得餐廳品質選擇的美食家。

These launches, coupled with greater prominence and better value in Own Brand merchandizing, is expected to drive greater loyalty, increased digital and omnichannel household engagement, and higher transaction accounts over time.

這些產品的推出，加上自有品牌商品的更大知名度和更好的價值，預計將隨著時間的推移推動更高的忠誠度、更高的數位和全通路家庭參與度以及更高的交易帳戶。

Our next priority is the modernization of our capabilities through technology. As we said last quarter, our North Star is to use technology in everything we do, and we are energized by the progress we are making towards this aspiration.

我們的下一個優先事項是透過科技實現我們的能力現代化。正如我們上個季度所說，我們的北極星是在我們所做的每一件事中運用技術，而我們在實現這一願望方面所取得的進展也讓我們充滿活力。

Our technology first focus is positioning us to make a greater impact faster allowing us to drive greater innovation at a lower cost. Our advanced technology platform on which we are continuing to innovate, powers our e-commerce store, pharmacy, supply chain, merchandising and Media Collective operations and is allowing us to leverage emerging AI technologies to accelerate our operational transformation going forward.

我們以技術為先，致力於更快地產生更大的影響，從而以更低的成本推動更大的創新。我們不斷創新的先進技術平台為我們的電子商務商店、藥局、供應鏈、商品銷售和媒體集體營運提供支持，並使我們能夠利用新興的人工智慧技術來加速我們未來的營運轉型。

We are also using our advanced capabilities to use AI agents to enhance many business functions, including pricing and promotions, personalization, customer care and cogeneration, among others. Driving transformational productivity is our next priority, which is an imperative to fuel our growth. Our productivity engine continues to reduce costs, offset headwinds and fund our growth priorities.

我們還利用我們的先進能力，使用人工智慧代理來增強許多業務功能，包括定價和促銷、個人化、客戶服務和熱電聯產等。推動轉型生產力是我們的下一個優先事項，這是推動我們成長的必要條件。我們的生產力引擎持續降低成本、抵消不利因素並為我們的成長重點提供資金。

They work hand-in-hand with our technology modernization, including our initiatives to leverage AI and data analytics, optimize supply chain costs through automation and build up shrink and labor management tools, to name a few. In addition, the largest of our opportunities continues to be the leveraging of our consolidated scale to buy goods for resale through national buying and more efficient supplier relationships.

它們與我們的技術現代化齊頭並進，包括利用人工智慧和數據分析、透過自動化優化供應鏈成本以及建立收縮和勞動力管理工具等措施。此外，我們最大的機會仍然是利用我們的綜合規模，透過全國採購和更有效的供應商關係來購買商品進行轉售。

As we previously shared from fiscal year 2025 through 2027, we expect our productivity engine to deliver $1.5 billion in savings which we plan to reinvest in growth and our customer value proposition as well as to offset other inflationary headwinds. Before I hand the call over to Sharon for an overview of our first quarter and to provide an update to our 2025 outlook, I'd like to give you an update on recent labor negotiations.

正如我們之前分享的，從 2025 財年到 2027 年，我們預計我們的生產力引擎將節省 15 億美元，我們計劃將這些資金再投資於成長和我們的客戶價值主張，並抵消其他通膨阻力。在我將電話交給莎倫，讓她概述我們的第一季情況並提供我們 2025 年展望的最新情況之前，我想向大家介紹一下最近的勞資談判的最新情況。

In fiscal '25, we have negotiations covering approximately 120,000 associates. As of today, we've reached agreements covering nearly half of these associates with two pending ratifications in Colorado and Southern California. We appreciated at value our associates. And in these contracts, we are meaningfully improving wages and benefits.

在 2025 財年，我們的談判涉及約 12 萬名員工。截至今天，我們已經達成了涵蓋近一半員工的協議，科羅拉多州和南加州還有兩項協議有待批准。我們非常重視我們的同事。在這些合約中，我們正在大幅提高工資和福利。

At the same time, we're working to negotiate contracts that are not only financially viable but also provide the operational flexibility the company needs to streamline operations, manage costs and offer affordable prices in a rapidly changing grocery landscape.

同時，我們正在努力協商不僅在財務上可行的合同，而且還要提供公司所需的營運靈活性，以便在快速變化的食品雜貨市場中簡化營運、管理成本和提供實惠的價格。

Sharon, over to you.

莎倫，交給你了。

Thank you, Susan, and good morning, everyone. It's great to be here with you today. As Susan shared, the investments we are making are delivering value to our customers and adding breadth to the capabilities we need to drive future growth. During the quarter, we saw early wins from these investments, affirming our confidence in our strategic priorities and our customers for life strategy. Included in these wins was identical sales growth this quarter of 2.8% driven by 20% growth in pharmacy and a 25% increase in digital sales.

謝謝你，蘇珊，大家早安。今天能和你們在一起真是太好了。正如蘇珊所說，我們正在進行的投資正在為我們的客戶創造價值，並增強我們推動未來成長所需的能力。在本季度，我們看到了這些投資的早期收益，堅定了我們對策略重點和終身客戶策略的信心。這些勝利包括本季相同的銷售額成長 2.8%，這得益於藥局銷售額成長 20% 和數位銷售額成長 25%。

We also saw a sequential improvement in core grocery units. To drive this growth, our gross margin rate of 27.1% was lower than last year by 85 basis points, excluding fuel and LIFO expense. Incremental investments in our customer value proposition and the mix shift impact related to the strong growth in our pharmacy and digital businesses drove this decrease but was partially offset by benefits driven by our productivity initiatives, including improved shrink expense.

我們也看到核心食品雜貨部門的連續改善。為了推動這一成長，我們的毛利率為 27.1%，比去年低 85 個基點（不包括燃料和後進先出費用）。我們對客戶價值主張的增量投資以及與我們的藥房和數位業務的強勁增長相關的組合轉變影響推動了這一下降，但部分被我們的生產力舉措帶來的好處所抵消，包括改善收縮費用。

Offsetting this gross margin investment was a 63-basis point improvement, excluding fuel and our selling and administrative expense rate. This decrease was primarily driven by the leveraging of employee costs reflecting the positive benefits from our ongoing productivity initiatives and lower merger-related costs.

抵銷這項毛利率投資的是 63 個基點的改善，不包括燃料和我們的銷售及管理費用率。這一下降主要是由於員工成本的利用，反映了我們正在進行的生產力措施和較低的合併相關成本所帶來的正面效益。

Interest expense in Q1 '25 decreased $4 million to $142 million compared to $146 million last year due to lower average borrowings. Income tax expense in the first quarter totaled $75 million or 24.1% compared to $69 million or 22.3% in Q1 last year. This tax rate increase was primarily driven by a reduction of an uncertain tax position last year that did not recur in 2025. Adjusted EBITDA was $1.11 billion in the first quarter compared to $1.184 million last year. Adjusted EPS was $0.55 per diluted share compared to $0.66 per diluted share last year.

由於平均借款額較低，2025 年第一季的利息支出較去年的 1.46 億美元減少了 400 萬美元，降至 1.42 億美元。第一季所得稅支出總計 7,500 萬美元，佔 24.1%，而去年第一季為 6,900 萬美元，佔 22.3%。此稅率上調主要是由於去年不確定稅收狀況的減少，且該狀況在 2025 年不會再次出現。第一季調整後 EBITDA 為 11.1 億美元，去年同期為 118.4 萬美元。調整後每股收益為 0.55 美元，而去年每股收益為 0.66 美元。

Now I'd like to discuss capital allocation, the balance sheet and cash flow. Consistent with our capital allocation priorities during the first quarter, we invested $585 million in capital expenditures, including the opening of three new stores and the completion of 36 remodels as well as the ongoing modernization of our digital and technology capabilities.

現在我想討論資本配置、資產負債表和現金流。與第一季的資本配置重點一致，我們投資了 5.85 億美元的資本支出，包括開設三家新店、完成 36 處改造以及持續推進數位和技術能力的現代化。

We also returned $401 million to our shareholders, including $86 million in quarterly dividends and $315 million in share repurchases leaving approximately $1.5 billion in our existing multiyear $2 billion share repurchase authorization. At the end of the first quarter, our net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 1.96. Now let me walk you through our updated 2025 outlook.

我們也向股東返還了 4.01 億美元，其中包括 8,600 萬美元的季度股息和 3.15 億美元的股票回購，而我們現有的多年期 20 億美元股票回購授權中還剩下約 15 億美元。截至第一季末，我們的淨負債與調整後EBITDA比率為1.96。現在，我來為您介紹我們最新的2025年展望。

As Susan said, we remained focused on our five strategic priorities. Through the balance of fiscal '25, we will continue to invest in our customer value proposition, customer experience, digital growth and Media Collective and health and pharmacy.

正如蘇珊所說，我們仍然專注於我們的五大戰略重點。在 25 財年餘下時間裡，我們將繼續投資於我們的客戶價值主張、客戶體驗、數位成長、媒體集體以及健康和藥房。

These investments are expected to drive outsized growth in digital and pharmacy, both of which drive our higher future customer lifetime value but create near-term margin headwinds. We will also continue to drive our productivity agenda to fuel this growth and offset inflationary headwinds. With that backdrop, we are updating our outlook as follows: we expect identical sales growth in the increased range of 2% to 2.75%, up from 1.5% to 2.5% last quarter.

這些投資預計將推動數位和藥局領域的超額成長，這兩者都將推動我們未來客戶終身價值的提高，但在短期內會產生利潤阻力。我們還將繼續推動生產力議程，以促進成長並抵消通膨阻力。基於此背景，我們更新了我們的展望：我們預期銷售額成長率將在 2% 至 2.75% 之間，高於上一季的 1.5% 至 2.5%。

This assumes continuing growth in pharmacy and digital sales as well as gradually increasing units in grocery. From a cadence perspective, we expect the second quarter ID sales to be towards the lower end of our guidance range with gradual acceleration in the back half of the year. We expect adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $3.8 billion to $3.9 billion, unchanged from last quarter.

這意味著藥局和數位銷售將持續成長，雜貨店的銷售單位也將逐漸增加。從節奏的角度來看，我們預計第二季的 ID 銷售額將接近我們指引範圍的低端，並在下半年逐步加速。我們預計調整後的 EBITDA 將在 38 億美元至 39 億美元之間，與上一季持平。

As a reminder, this includes approximately $65 million in adjusted EBITDA in the fourth quarter related to our 53rd week. We expect adjusted EPS to be in the range of $2.03 to $2.16, unchanged from last quarter and including $0.03 related to the 53rd week.

提醒一下，這包括與我們第 53 週相關的第四季度約 6500 萬美元的調整後 EBITDA。我們預計調整後的每股盈餘將在 2.03 美元至 2.16 美元之間，與上一季持平，其中包括與第 53 週相關的 0.03 美元。

The effective income tax rate is expected to be in the range of 23.5% to 24.5%, unchanged from last quarter. And capital expenditures are expected to be unchanged in the range of $1.7 billion to $1.9 billion. Looking beyond 2025, as we capitalize on the investments we are making behind our strategic priorities, we continue to expect fiscal 2026 to coincide with our long-term growth algorithm of 2%-plus identical sales and adjusted EBITDA growth higher than that.

預計有效所得稅率在23.5%至24.5%之間，與上一季持平。預計資本支出將保持不變，介於 17 億美元至 19 億美元之間。展望 2025 年以後，隨著我們利用在戰略重點方面所做的投資，我們繼續預計 2026 財年將與我們的長期增長演算法相一致，即 2% 以上的相同銷售額和高於此的調整後 EBITDA 增長。

I will now hand the call back to Susan for closing comments.

我現在將電話交還給蘇珊，請她發表最後評論。

In closing, our customers for life strategy is working. We're investing in our core operations and improving our customer value proposition. These investments are driving increased traffic and growing digitally engaged customers, omnichannel households and loyalty members. To fuel these initiatives, we are driving productivity and leveraging new technologies to drive efficiencies across our operations. As Sharon said, we continue to expect 2025 to be a year of investment, including enhancing our customer value proposition.

最後，我們的終身客戶策略正在發揮作用。我們正在投資我們的核心業務並改善我們的客戶價值主張。這些投資正在推動流量的成長，並增加數位化客戶、全通路家庭和忠誠會員。為了推動這些舉措，我們正在提高生產力並利用新技術來提高整個營運的效率。正如莎倫所說，我們仍然期望 2025 年成為投資的一年，包括提升我們的客戶價值主張。

As a result, we expect gradual and incremental improvement in top line trends at our grocery business in the second half of 2025 and ultimately driving growth in line with our long-term algorithm of 2% plus identical sales and adjusted EBITDA growing higher than that in fiscal year 2026. With just over two months as CEO of Albertsons Companies, let me say that I am more confident in our strategy with each day.

因此，我們預計 2025 年下半年食品雜貨業務的營收趨勢將逐步改善，並最終推動成長符合我們的長期演算法，即 2% 以上的銷售額和調整後的 EBITDA 成長高於 2026 財年。擔任 Albertsons Companies 執行長只有兩個多月，我可以說，我對我們的策略一天比一天更有信心。

I'm energized by the work our teams are progressing and excited to continue building on our strong foundation. To our 285,000 great associates, I am more inspired than ever by you and all that you make possible for our customers and our communities each day. No matter where you are across our business, you make a difference. To keep our systems running, ensure our products are in stock and delight our customers.

我對我們團隊正在取得的進展感到振奮，並很高興繼續鞏固我們堅實的基礎。對於我們 285,000 名出色的員工，你們以及你們每天為我們的客戶和社區所做的一切讓我比以往任何時候都更加鼓舞。無論您在我們的業務中身處何處，您都會帶來改變。為了保持我們的系統正常運行，請確保我們的產品有庫存並讓客戶滿意。

We will now open the call for questions.

我們現在開始提問。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員指示）

Paul Lejuez, Citi.

花旗銀行的 Paul Lejuez。

Thanks, guys. Curious if you could talk about the drivers of the gross margin decline this quarter, maybe size them for us and how we should think about each of them remaining for the rest of the year, which might go away, which become less of a headwind, maybe that you could start with that. And then also curious how you would characterize the pricing environment around you in the competitive landscape? Thank you.

謝謝大家。我很好奇，您是否可以談談本季毛利率下降的驅動因素，也許可以為我們分析一下這些因素，以及我們應該如何看待這些因素在今年剩餘時間內持續存在，哪些因素可能會消失，哪些因素不再是阻力，也許您可以從這個開始。而您也好奇在競爭格局中您如何描述周遭的定價環境？謝謝。

Thanks, Paul. As I think about gross margins, so we've been very clear that our top priority is driving sales and specifically driving an increase in units. And we're investing in that and remain true to that. We expect to continue that, by the way, throughout the rest of the year. As we think about Q1, it was actually one of our largest overlaps year-over-year, and thus the compare that you're seeing from the gross margin investment.

謝謝，保羅。當我考慮毛利率時，我們非常清楚，我們的首要任務是推動銷售，特別是推動單位數量的成長。我們正在對此進行投資，並將繼續堅持這一點。順便說一句，我們預計在今年剩餘時間內將繼續保持這種勢頭。當我們考慮第一季時，它實際上是我們同比最大的重疊之一，因此您可以從毛利率投資中看到比較。

That said, as I mentioned before, we're going to continue to invest in margin, but we also expect our productivity to begin to provide a tailwind as our national buying gradually kicks in as the year progresses. Also keep in mind, our focus is on gross margin dollars, on EBITDA dollars and not on rate.

話雖如此，正如我之前提到的，我們將繼續投資於利潤，但我們也預計，隨著我們國家購買力隨著時間的推移逐漸增強，我們的生產力將開始提供順風。也要記住，我們的重點是毛利率、EBITDA，而不是利率。

You had a second question about the pricing environment. And I might have missed a question in the middle. And what we're seeing is continued promotional investment from the competitive set, of course, in our own operations. We're also leaning in more heavily on loyalty personalized deals. I would say that the pricing environment is rational. So we've not seen any broad swings across the industry at this point in time.

您有第二個問題，關於定價環境。我可能錯過了中間的問題。我們看到競爭對手在我們自己的營運中持續進行促銷投資。我們也更傾向忠誠度個人化交易。我想說定價環境是合理的。因此，目前我們還沒有看到整個產業出現任何大的波動。

And I would just add to that you're continuing to see pressure from mass club stores and the value players.

我想補充的是，你會繼續看到來自大眾俱樂部商店和價值玩家的壓力。

Thank you, guys. Good luck.

謝謝你們。祝你好運。

Leah Jordan, Goldman Sachs.

高盛的利亞喬丹 (Leah Jordan)。

Good morning and thank you for taking my question. You made an interesting comment that e-com profitability is near breakeven and improving. Just seeing if you could provide more detail on the key drivers supporting that improvement. How much is Albertsons Media Collective factor at this point? And what's your line of sight into reaching breakeven in that business?

早上好，感謝您回答我的問題。您提出了一個有趣的評論：電子商務盈利能力已接近盈虧平衡並且正在改善。只是想看看您是否可以提供支持這項改進的關鍵驅動因素的更多詳細資訊。目前 Albertsons Media Collective 因素有多大？您對於該業務實現損益平衡的期望是什麼？

So Leah, I think it's really important to recognize that different companies are calling e-commerce, different things in their P&L. When we are talking about e-commerce that is specifically our e-commerce business. There is nothing in our e-commerce P&L related to the Media Collective from a financial point of view.

所以 Leah，我認為認識到不同的公司在損益表中對電子商務的稱呼不同非常重要。當我們談論電子商務時，具體指的是我們的電子商務業務。從財務角度來看，我們的電子商務損益表中沒有任何內容與媒體集體相關。

Of course, it creates data for the Media Collective, and it is a major provider of information for the media collected, but from a P&L point of view, it's pure. What is driving that is volume, first and foremost, leveraging the fixed cost of the operations of that business, also labor efficiency in the business.

當然，它為媒體集體創建數據，並且它是所收集媒體的主要資訊提供者，但從損益表的角度來看，它是純粹的。推動這一成長的首先是產量，其次是利用企業營運的固定成本以及企業的勞動效率。

We've invested in tools and systems in order to drive efficiency in labor and then we are also very much focused on continuing to leverage transportation costs in that process. So it's across the P&L, where we're seeing improvement. But in that type of a business where you've got fixed costs that put the space in the stores, the real estate because all that's allocated to that business. We are continuing to lever that. So we are getting very close to breakeven in our e-com business.

我們投資了工具和系統來提高勞動效率，我們也非常注重在過程中繼續利用運輸成本。因此，我們看到了整個損益表的改善。但是在這種類型的業務中，您需要固定成本來投入商店空間、房地產，因為所有這些都分配給了該業務。我們將繼續利用這一點。因此，我們的電子商務業務已經非常接近損益平衡。

And Sharon, if I could just add to that as well. And you touched on this, a reminder that the -- our fulfillment model is through our stores, and our stores are already in the neighborhoods that are serving our customers, so that creates efficiencies for us perhaps versus some others out there. I think that.

莎倫，我也可以補充一點。您提到了這一點，提醒一下——我們的履行模式是透過我們的商店，而且我們的商店已經在為我們的客戶提供服務的社區，因此與其他一些商店相比，這可能為我們創造了效率。我認為如此。

That's very helpful. Thank you. And then I just had a quick follow-up on the ID sales guidance. I mean, just if you could comment on the cadence of ID sales throughout the quarter. And then with the deceleration that you're guiding in 2Q, just what are the key drivers of that? Are you seeing something change with the consumer? Is this related to the pharmacy business. Anything there would be helpful. Thank you.

這非常有幫助。謝謝。然後我只是對 ID 銷售指導進行了快速跟進。我的意思是，如果您能評論一下整個季度 ID 銷售的節奏的話。那麼，您預測第二季經濟將減速，那麼，其主要驅動因素是什麼呢？您是否發現消費者發生了一些變化？這與藥局業務有關嗎？那裡的任何東西都會有幫助。謝謝。

Leah, there's a couple of things First and foremost, the compares on pharmacy. You have to look at pharmacy growth last quarter, which we disclosed. So if you take a look at that, that has a major swing impact on the comp each quarter. So look at that.

利亞，有幾件事首先，就是對藥房的比較。你必須看看我們披露的上個季度藥局的成長情況。因此，如果你看一下，你會發現這對每季的業績都有重大的影響。看看這個。

Secondly, from a cadence point of view, we feel pretty confident that as we progress through the year, we expect to see our -- on the grocery side of the business, we talked about the fact that we're expecting to see progressive units as we go through the back half of the year as the price investment that we have spoken about.

其次，從節奏的角度來看，我們非常有信心，隨著我們在今年的進展，我們預計會看到我們的——在雜貨業務方面，我們談到的事實是，我們預計在下半年會看到漸進式的單位增長，正如我們談到的價格投資一樣。

So in Q2, we do need to keep in mind that there will be an impact from the strike that we had during the quarter. So that will have an impact, but we quantified that for you in order for you to help model. We said in our prepared remarks that we expected in the second quarter to be at the low end of our guidance range. So hopefully, that will be helpful, and we continue to expect to see strong pharmacy in the numbers going into Q2.

因此，在第二季度，我們確實需要記住本季罷工將帶來影響。所以這會產生影響，但我們為您量化了影響，以便您可以幫助建模。我們在準備好的發言中表示，我們預計第二季的業績將處於指導範圍的低端。所以希望這會有所幫助，並且我們繼續期待在第二季度看到藥房業績的強勁增長。

Very helpful. Thank you.

非常有幫助。謝謝。

Edward Kelly, Wells Fargo.

愛德華凱利，富國銀行。

Hi. Good morning, everyone. I was hoping that you could maybe take a step back and update us on your price investment goals. Just kind of given what you have seen so far, customer response does that give you any confidence maybe to lean in a little bit more?

你好。大家早安。我希望您能退一步並向我們介紹一下您的價格投資目標。就您目前所看到的情況來看，客戶的反應是否會給您一些信心，讓您更進一步？

And then as you think about productivity initiatives rolling in and then you think about returning to your algo next year, is it your expectation that eventually gets to the point where you will continue to invest in price, productivity offsets, gross margin is a bit more stable. Just curious as to how we should be thinking about all that. Thank you.

然後，當您考慮生產力計劃的實施，然後考慮明年返回到您的演算法時，您是否期望最終達到繼續投資於價格、生產力補償、毛利率更穩定的程度。只是好奇我們該如何思考這一切。謝謝。

Sure. Thanks, Ed, for the question. So as we think about price, just a reminder, as we went into the year, we have an incredible amount of data, and our price investments are very surgical. We know the categories and the markets where we need to make those investments and we've begun that process. And also keeping in mind, too, that as we talk about investing in price, it's really investing in the total value proposition.

當然。謝謝 Ed 提出這個問題。因此，當我們考慮價格時，需要提醒的是，隨著我們進入新的一年，我們擁有大量的數據，我們的價格投資非常精準。我們知道需要進行投資的類別和市場，我們已經開始了這個過程。也要記住，當我們談論投資價格時，實際上是投資整體價值主張。

So yes, some of it's based pricing, it's promotional. It's investing in our loyalty programs as well and of course, focusing on own brands. To date, it's still early in the investment process. So we'll be able to understand a little bit more. This is certainly a journey, not something that is a one and done.

是的，其中一些是基於定價，是促銷。它也投資於我們的忠誠度計劃，當然，也專注於自有品牌。到目前為止，投資過程仍處於早期階段。這樣我們就能理解得更多。這當然是一段旅程，而不是一次完成的事。

It will be an iterative process with multiple phases launching throughout the year. Right now, we've seen sequential improvements in our unit trajectory, which is what we expected to see. We have been tracking our CPI versus the competitive set and are generally pleased with what we see. But once again, it's quite early in the process. You asked about productivity.

這將是一個迭代過程，全年將啟動多個階段。目前，我們已經看到我們的單位軌跡連續改善，這正是我們所期望看到的。我們一直在追蹤我們的 CPI 與競爭對手的對比情況，總體上對所看到的結果感到滿意。但再次強調，這個過程還處於相當早期的階段。您詢問的是生產力。

And what I would say here is, as I mentioned a moment ago, there will be a tailwind from a gross margin perspective. as we implement our NASH combining processes. But keeping in mind, too, that, that is a process. We're working closely with our vendor partners, category by category, vendor by vendor. So we expect to see that start to show through towards the second half of the year and expect to leave 2025 going into 2026, delivering on the long-term algorithm.

我想說的是，正如我剛才提到的，從毛利率的角度來看，隨著我們實施 NASH 合併流程，將會出現順風。但也請記住，這是一個過程。我們正與供應商合作夥伴密切合作，逐一類別、逐一供應商合作。因此，我們預計這一趨勢將在下半年開始顯現，並預計在 2025 年至 2026 年期間實現長期演算法。

And then just maybe a follow-up on the pharmacy and grocery cross-shopping momentum. I mean, pharmacy growth has obviously been very impressive. But the grocery business has lagged. And I'm just curious as to what's happening with the momentum of that cross-shopping activity?

然後也許只是對藥局和雜貨店交叉購物勢頭的跟進。我的意思是，藥局的成長顯然非常令人印象深刻。但食品雜貨業務卻落後了。我只是好奇交叉購物活動的動能如何？

What you're doing to get those customers to engage more in a store. And over time, I mean, it seems like we should expect the grocery ID to respond to all this. I'm just kind of curious as to how you are thinking about the momentum there and when that really begins to improve.

您正在採取什麼措施來讓這些顧客更多地參與商店活動？我的意思是，隨著時間的推移，我們似乎應該期待雜貨店 ID 能夠對這一切做出反應。我只是有點好奇，您如何看待那裡的發展勢頭以及何時真正開始改善。

So as we've shared before, it does take time for the cross-shopping to begin between pharmacy and grocery customers. That said, we know what they do -- they also visit the store 4x more frequently. They drive outsized customer lifetime value. And they -- one of our goals with all of this is, of course, getting engaged in both center store and pharmacy. -- recognizing that if they're engaging in the pharmacy side of the business, we are working to increase their engagement with higher service offerings, test and treat as one example, immunization is another.

正如我們之前所分享的，藥局和雜貨店顧客之間的交叉購物確實需要時間。話雖如此，我們知道他們在做什麼——他們訪問商店的頻率也高出 4 倍。它們推動了超大的客戶終身價值。當然，我們的目標之一就是同時涉足中心商店和藥房。我們認識到，如果他們參與藥房業務，我們將努力透過提供更優質的服務來提高他們的參與度，例如檢測和治療，免疫接種等。

From a grocery perspective, we did see positive growth in grocery in the first quarter, exclusive of our pharmacy business. So we were pleased to see that happening there. As I mentioned before, two words, focused on creating critical amount of productivity in our pharmacy business, including improving our sourcing, buying better, increasing automation, creating solutions for our pharmacy techs and teams to make their roster efficient.

從食品雜貨的角度來看，除了藥局業務外，我們確實看到第一季食品雜貨業務實現了正成長。所以我們很高興看到那裡發生這樣的事情。正如我之前提到的，兩個詞，專注於在我們的藥房業務中創造關鍵的生產力，包括改善我們的採購，更好的購買，提高自動化程度，為我們的藥房技術人員和團隊創造解決方案，使他們的名冊更有效率。

We've invested in three central fill facilities in our Southwest division, in Dallas and in Southern Washington state, which are also helping our productivity. So again, we like the total value equation when our customers engage with us in-store in pharmacy online. That's a virtuous flywheel for us that drives ongoing growth and productivity, by the way. So we're very excited about the future and believe in the priorities that we've paid for.

我們在西南分部、達拉斯和華盛頓州南部投資了三個中央填充設施，這也有助於提高我們的生產力。因此，當我們的客戶在網路藥局與我們進行實體店互動時，我們再次喜歡總價值等式。順便說一句，這對我們來說是一個良性的飛輪，可以推動持續的成長和生產力。因此，我們對未來感到非常興奮，並相信我們所付出的優先努力。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Rupesh Parikh, Oppenheimer & Company.

魯佩什·帕里克 (Rupesh Parikh)，奧本海默公司。

Good morning and thanks for taking my question. Just going back to Retail Media, I was just curious how that ramp is going versus expectations so far? And just anything surprising at this point?

早上好，感謝您回答我的問題。回到零售媒體，我只是好奇到目前為止這種成長與預期相比如何？此時還有什麼令人驚訝的事嗎？

Hi, Rupesh. We are very pleased with the progress that we're seeing on Media Collective. Our growth is outpacing the industry. Our team has done a phenomenal job of condensing the amount of time that it takes for us to be able to give feedback to our vendor partners on the performance of their investments. They're enhancing our digital properties so that we have more inventory to be able to sell.

你好，Rupesh。我們對 Media Collective 所取得的進展感到非常高興。我們的成長速度超過了整個產業。我們的團隊在縮短向供應商合作夥伴提供有關其投資表現的回饋時間方面做得非常出色。他們正在增強我們的數位資產，以便我們有更多的庫存可供銷售。

And we are also working on really creating more streamlined personalization opportunities so that our vendor partners can have direct connection with the customers that they're serving. So we feel good about our progress there. But we also see that as some blue sky ahead. We recognize that we're catching up in some ways, and our goal is to lead forward, but there's great progress there from the team.

我們也致力於創造更簡化的個人化機會，以便我們的供應商合作夥伴能夠與他們所服務的客戶直接聯繫。因此，我們對在那裡取得的進展感到滿意。但我們也看到前方有一片藍天。我們認識到我們在某些​​方面正在迎頭趕上，我們的目標是領先，但團隊在這方面已經取得了巨大的進步。

Great. And then maybe just one follow-up question. Just on the consumer. Just curious what you guys are seeing right now? And with the recently passed legislation, just any thoughts on SNAP impacts.

偉大的。然後也許只有一個後續問題。只針對消費者。只是好奇你們現在看到了什麼？並且根據最近通過的立法，對 SNAP 的影響有任何想法。

I'll start with the SNAP impact. So for us, we have a lower penetration of SNAP than the majority of the competitive set that we have. That said, that customer is very important to us. They typically have a larger basket. They're very loyal. And we'll work or hard to make sure that they have the communication and information they need to get access to those resources when available.

我先從 SNAP 的影響說起。因此，對我們來說，SNAP 的滲透率低於我們大多數的競爭對手。也就是說，那個客戶對我們來說非常重要。他們通常有一個更大的籃子。他們非常忠誠。我們將盡力確保他們能夠獲得所需的溝通和訊息，以便在這些資源可用時能夠獲得它們。

I would also add to that, that there -- when you look at the new legislation, there is a very long ramp to implementation of many of the things within that legislation. So in the short term, we don't anticipate that being a headwind of any material amount in the short term.

我還要補充一點，當你看到新立法時，你會發現其中的許多內容都需要很長的時間才能實施。因此，從短期來看，我們預計這不會成為任何實質的阻力。

Thanks, Sharon. And on the consumer side, we continue to see the customers seeking value. We're selling more on promotion. That's been happening for quite some time now. We're leaning heavily into Own Brands, understanding that. And as we mentioned before, we're proud of our own brands program that we have, but we're not satisfied with the penetration that we have. So we're really leaning in for the Q2 and the rest of the year. that's upside potential for us moving ahead.

謝謝，莎倫。在消費者方面，我們持續看到客戶尋求價值。我們透過促銷銷售了更多產品。這種情況已經發生了一段時間。我們非常依賴自有品牌，我們明白這一點。正如我們之前提到的，我們為擁有的自有品牌計劃感到自豪，但我們對現有的滲透率並不滿意。因此，我們確實傾向於第二季和今年剩餘時間的表現。這對我們未來發展有上行潛力。

As I think about the customer, we were looking at some category information. And it's been interesting, some of our top-performing categories -- in the first quarter, it was kind of a tale of two cities. We absolutely saw increases in the shift into pork and ground beef as one example, again, indicating that the customer is looking for value. We also saw strong growth in our deli chicken business as an example, knowing that I think customers are always looking for quick and easy meal solutions. And with the increase of food away from home, I think inflation was almost 4% and we're absolutely providing value there.

當我想到客戶時，我們正在查看一些類別資訊。有趣的是，我們的一些表現最好的類別——在第一季度，就像是兩個城市的故事。例如，我們確實看到豬肉和碎牛肉的銷量增加，這再次表明客戶正在尋求價值。以熟食雞肉業務為例，我們也看到了強勁的成長，因為我知道顧客總是在尋找快速、簡單的用餐解決方案。隨著外出用餐的增加，我認為通貨膨脹率接近 4%，我們絕對能提供價值。

Great. Thank you for all the color.

偉大的。謝謝你帶來的所有色彩。

John Heinbockel, Guggenheim Partners.

古根漢合夥公司的約翰·海因博克爾。

Hey, guys. I want to start with -- I think you said -- maybe I heard wrong, food volumes were positive in the quarter, grew. Was that right? If so, is that predominantly traffic or items per basket? And then I think your goal -- a couple of quarters ago, you talked about 50 basis points. Is that still a fair goal you think you can do better than that?

嘿，大家好。首先我想說的是──我想你說過──也許我聽錯了，本季的食品產量是正成長的。是嗎？如果是這樣，那主要是流量還是每個購物籃的商品數量？然後我認為你的目標是——幾個季度前，你談到了 50 個基點。您認為您可以做得更好嗎？這仍然是一個公平的目標嗎？

Yeah. So John, traffic and the AIV were positive on the units. It is a sequential improvement in units from Q4 to Q1, and that is not yet to positive.

是的。因此，約翰、交通和 AIV 對這些單位持積極態度。從第四季度到第一季度，單位數量一直在不斷改善，但還沒有達到積極的水平。

Okay. And then my follow-up is if you think about -- you referenced technology, where do you think the most fruitful labor productivity opportunities are, right? I think about -- it gives you guys a promotional electronic shelf labels, thinking about that, thinking about automation back into the warehouses, where are the biggest opportunities to move the needle on cost per unit?

好的。然後我的後續問題是，如果你想想──你提到技術，你認為最有成效的勞動生產力機會在哪裡，對嗎？我在想——它給你們提供了一個促銷電子貨架標籤，考慮到這一點，考慮到倉庫的自動化，哪裡是提高單位成本的最大機會？

John, thanks for the question. So you actually touched on a few that are very important to us today, one of which is DC automation. We've had some great success with recent launches and look forward to accelerating that agenda for a variety of reasons, efficiency being one of them.

約翰，謝謝你的提問。所以您實際上談到了對我們今天非常重要的幾個方面，其中之一就是 DC 自動化。我們在最近的發布中取得了巨大的成功，並期待著出於各種原因（效率就是其中之一）加速這項議程。

With regards to store labor, we are -- so we have an incredible amount of data, and I think about e-commerce as one example where we've actually been able to enhance productivity because we're able to get the data that we need to create more predictive scheduling. That's really helping us create efficiencies there.

關於商店勞動力，我們擁有大量的數據，我認為電子商務就是一個例子，我們實際上能夠提高生產力，因為我們能夠獲得創建更具預測性的調度所需的數據。這確實有助於我們提高效率。

That's already underway in the rest of the store. And where the process is actually fairly robust in center store. We're working through the fresh departments. So all the walls forecasting is what we call it, and that's going to be a big amount for us. We are currently in pilot on ESL and I think it's 40 stores at this moment in time, seeing great results there.

商店的其他地方已經開始實施這項措施。而中心商店的流程其實相當完善。我們正在透過新部門開展工作。所以所有牆壁的預測就是我們所說的，這對我們來說將是一筆很大的數目。我們目前正在對 ESL 進行試點，我認為目前已經有 40 家商店，並且取得了很好的效果。

But to your point, we're absolutely leaning in heavily on technology and automation test where we can, eliminating pain points across the organization in the existing tasks. And looking forward to what we're going to learn from our experiments on AI across the company because we see further opportunity there for efficiency.

但正如您所說，我們絕對會盡力依靠技術和自動化測試，以消除整個組織現有任務中的痛點。我們期待從整個公司的人工智慧實驗中學到什麼，因為我們看到了進一步提高效率的機會。

Thank you.

謝謝。

And also have that over the last several years, we've invested heavily in our stores in several technologies that are used by a very large number of people in our stores. We implemented Atrush. We've implemented ordering and other types of technologies. And one of the big opportunities that every retailer has is the utilization of that technology. And there is a full court press within the company

此外，在過去的幾年中，我們對我們的商店進行了大量投資，開發了多種技術，這些技術被我們商店中的大量顧客所使用。我們實施了 Atrush。我們已經實施了訂購和其他類型的技術。每個零售商面臨的一大機會就是利用這項技術。公司內部也採取了全場緊迫盯人的措施

Forward, but there's great progress there from the team on execution in the stores and elevating that in our stores. So we are expecting to see changes in continued improvement in the stores in the utilization of the tools we currently have. Another area that we continue to invest in, and you have to invest in it from two perspectives.

前進，但團隊在商店的執行方面取得了巨大進步，並提升了我們商店的執行力。因此，我們期望看到商店在現有工具的利用率方面持續改善。我們繼續投資的另一個領域是，你必須從兩個角度進行投資。

One is the customer experience, and one of them is from a shrink perspective, but is in the self-checkout and the various things we can do with self-checkout from a customer experience point of view. Using Vision AI as part of that process, we saw, as you saw in our prepared remarks that we did have some favorability and shrink.

一個是客戶體驗，其中一個是從縮小角度來看的，但涉及自助結帳以及從客戶體驗的角度來看我們可以用自助結帳做的各種事情。透過使用 Vision AI 作為這個過程的一部分，我們看到，正如您在我們準備好的評論中所看到的那樣，我們確實有一些好感和縮減。

Part of that, we believe, is coming from the technology that we have invested in self-checkout. So that is another area that benefits you in labor in many different ways. But the key to self-checkout is making sure that, that customer experience is as great as it can be. and we're spending time on that and ensuring that, and I believe that will help us continue to take out checkout to the next level.

我們相信，部分原因在於我們在自助結帳技術方面的投資。因此，這是另一個可以在許多方面幫助您分娩的領域。但自助結帳的關鍵是確保客戶體驗盡可能好。我們在這方面投入了時間並確保這一點，我相信這將幫助我們繼續將結帳提升到一個新的水平。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的西蒙古特曼。

Hey, Susan. Hey, Sharon. How are you? I wanted to follow up on pricing. Susan, I ask you about where your head is on pricing. I think you've lived in the high-low environment for most of your career. So curious what this iteration looks like? Are you moving to part EDLP with high low.

嘿，蘇珊。嘿，莎倫。你好嗎？我想跟進定價情況。蘇珊，我想問你對定價的看法。我想您的職業生涯大部分時間都生活在高低起伏的環境中。那麼好奇這個迭代是什麼樣子的嗎？您是否要轉向高低部分 EDLP？

And you mentioned this -- is this a onetime catch-up? Or this is iterative and of course, open to changes down the road. And then I don't know what in the conversations with vendors, how you're communicating some of the changes as you try to work with them on the central buying.

您提到了這一點——這是一次性的追趕嗎？或者這是迭代的，當然，對未來的改變持開放態度。然後，我不知道在與供應商的對話中，當您嘗試與供應商就中央採購進行合作時，您如何傳達一些變化。

Simeon, thanks for the question. So first and foremost, I want to highlight the fact that and I've mentioned this a couple of times and we talked about this last time, we have an incredible opportunity with our own brands. Our penetration well, it's growing, it was 25.7% for the quarter, we should be at 30%-plus. So we are leaning into that from both ends, both from a price perspective but also from a cost of goods perspective so we can fuel our own growth there.

西緬，謝謝你的提問。因此，首先，我想強調的是，我已經提到過幾次了，上次我們也討論過，我們自己的品牌擁有難以置信的機會。我們的滲透率正在成長，本季為 25.7%，我們應該達到 30% 以上。因此，我們從價格和商品成本兩個角度來考慮這個問題，以便我們能夠推動自身的成長。

Going back to your price question in general, I would just -- yes, you're right. We've typically been a high low retailer. And if I had to describe our go-forward approach, I'd say we're more of a modified high level. That's where we're looking to achieve. And yes, it's iterative. This is absolutely not a one and done.

回到你關於價格的一般問題，我只是——是的，你是對的。我們通常是一家高價位零售商。如果我必須描述我們的前進方針，我會說我們更像是一種改良的高層。這就是我們想要實現的目標。是的，它是迭代的。這絕對不是一次性的事情。

And what the team has created, which is actually pretty fantastic. Internally, we've created a suite of tools that helps us utilize the data that we have to anticipate the changes that we're making based off of past performance of various price points. understand the customer elasticities and then feed us what those pricing changes should be to optimize unit growth, optimize profitability. And those tools are only becoming more and more robust -- we continue to add to the suite. So I guess to answer your question shortly, No, this is not a one and done.

這個團隊所創造的東西確實非常棒。在內部，我們創建了一套工具，幫助我們利用數據，根據過去各個價格點的表現預測我們所做的改變。了解客戶的彈性，然後告訴我們這些價格變化應該是什麼，以優化單位成長，優化獲利能力。而這些工具只會變得越來越強大——我們會繼續擴充其功能。所以我想簡短地回答你的問題，不，這不是一次性的事情。

This is a new go-to-market strategy. We are deeply engaging our vendor partners that takes time, by the way. So as we talk about our productivity as a tailwind that will come gradually over time as we're leaning into partnerships with our vendors to say, hey, how do we do this together. We want to move more units, we want to move them with you, how can we lean in and create the right opportunity to grow sales and share -- unit sales and share collectively.

這是一個新的市場進入策略。順便說一句，我們正在與供應商合作夥伴深入合作，這需要時間。因此，當我們談論我們的生產力時，它會像一股順風，隨著時間的推移逐漸出現，因為我們正傾向於與我們的供應商建立合作夥伴關係，並說，嘿，我們如何共同做到這一點。我們希望銷售更多單位，我們希望與您一起銷售，我們如何融入並創造合適的機會來增加銷售額和份額——單位銷售額和集體份額。

Okay. And then switching topics for a follow-up. SG&A run rate. Can you talk about -- I think it was up 3.5%--or so, union contracts, I'm sure was part of your plan at some point because you know when they come up and you have some expectation. Can you talk about how the union contract could or couldn't change that run rate?

好的。然後轉換話題進行後續跟進。銷售、一般及行政費用運行率。您能談談——我認為它上漲了 3.5% 左右——工會合同，我確信在某種程度上是您計劃的一部分，因為您知道它們何時出現並且您有一些期望。您能談談工會合約如何能夠或不能改變這一運作率嗎？

And any investments that come in? And then managing it relative to where you think comps can come in? Is it in the right range so that you could eventually leverage when you get some of the unit pick up in the back half?

有任何投資嗎？然後根據您認為可以獲得補償的位置來管理它？它是否在正確的範圍內，以便當您在後半部分獲得一些單位支援時，您最終能夠利用它嗎？

Simeon, yes. In our SG&A guidance that in our outlook for this year, we have anticipated what these increases could look like and that is incorporated in the adjusted EBITDA balance that we provided for the year. As it relates to other areas in this that you didn't ask about, Keep in mind this quarter, we were -- we had a year-over-year benefit of about 63 basis points. Take a look at how much of that is onetime cost. You can see the onetime costs in our reconciliations in the press release.

西緬，是的。在我們的銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A) 指南中，在我們對今年的展望中，我們預測了這些增長可能會是什麼樣子，並將其納入我們為今年提供的調整後 EBITDA 餘額中。至於您沒有詢問的其他領域，請記住本季度，我們的同比增長率約為 63 個基點。看看其中有多少是一次性成本。您可以在新聞稿中的對帳中看到一次性成本。

So about half of that comes from the elimination of merger cost, but the rest of that has been driven by productivity. One of the big areas of productivity that we expect to see this year, early in the year, particularly, is going to be in SG&A.

因此，其中約一半來自消除合併成本，其餘部分則由生產力推動。我們預計今年（尤其是年初）生產力提升的一大領域是銷售、一般及行政費用 (SG&A)。

emember, we are materially changing our ways of working. We've had several announcements on the opening of our new headquarters in India for technology, which we're very excited about. We are also transitioning many of our back and accounting functions to an existing location that we have in the Philippines.

請記住，我們正在實質地改變我們的工作方式。我們已多次宣布將在印度設立新的技術總部，對此我們感到非常興奮。我們也將許多後台和會計職能轉移到菲律賓現有的辦公地點。

And that transition is also happening. So we are making several -- we call them internally ways of working moves that are helping to offset some of the pressure that we're seeing in the wages. And when does it -- I don't want to specifically say union wages, but wages in general.

而這種轉變也正在發生。因此，我們正在採取一些內部工作措施，以幫助抵消我們在工資方面看到的一些壓力。什麼時候──我不想具體說工會薪資，而是一般的工資。

Thanks. Good luck.

謝謝。祝你好運。

Mark Carden, UBS.

瑞銀的馬克卡登。

Hey. Thanks so much for taking the questions. So on the pharmacy front, how does that contribution shake out from GLP-1s? And then for the growth outside of GLP-1s, is it being more driven by newer customers or more by your engaged existing customers?

嘿。非常感謝您回答這些問題。那麼在藥局方面，GLP-1 的貢獻如何呢？那麼對於 GLP-1 以外的成長，它更多是由新客戶推動還是更多地由現有客戶推動？

On the GLP-1 question, it's about past the pharmacy comps. So think about GLP-1 as half the comp. However, remember, it comes at an incredibly outsized average unit retail and script growth actual script growth outside of GLP-1 was also very strong. Susan, do you have something you'd like to add to that?

關於 GLP-1 問題，它是關於過去的藥房補償。因此，可以把 GLP-1 視為 comp 的一半。然而，請記住，它的平均單位零售量和腳本增長量非常大，GLP-1 以外的實際腳本成長也非常強勁。蘇珊，您還有什麼要補充的嗎？

Yeah. So as Sharon touched on it. Clearly, the profitability is quite different on the GLP-1 script itself, but the customer is quite valuable. What we found is there might be an initial dip when they start shopping with us in their grocery basket, but that quickly turns around and actually leads into items like supplements, lean proteins in our meat department categories that are actually quite profitable for us as a company. Sharon mentioned, our core script count ex GLP-1 is very strong.

是的。正如莎倫所談到的。顯然，GLP-1 腳本本身的獲利能力有很大差異，但客戶卻很有價值。我們發現，當他們開始在我們的購物籃裡購物時，可能會出現最初的下降，但這種情況很快就會好轉，實際上會轉向購買補充劑、肉類部門類別中的瘦肉蛋白等商品，這些商品實際上為我們公司帶來了相當可觀的利潤。Sharon 提到，我們的核心腳本計數 ex GLP-1 非常強大。

And we're -- that's again, exciting to us as customers continue to engage in our total ecosystem that adds profitability that has long-term lifetime value. So we feel very good about where we're at the pharmacy space. That said, and I mentioned this earlier, we are very focused on productivity there, improving sourcing, increasing automation and of course, the central sale that I focus.

這再次讓我們感到興奮，因為客戶繼續參與我們的整個生態系統，這增加了具有長期終身價值的獲利能力。因此，我們對自己在藥局領域的現狀感到非常滿意。話雖如此，我之前提到過，我們非常注重那裡的生產力，改善採購，提高自動化程度，當然還有我關注的核心銷售。

Great. And then on tariffs, I know that indirect impacts were a big unknown from ingredient and a packaging standpoint in grocery and pharmacy. Now that we're a few months in, are you expecting this to be any more or less a contributor to inflation over the course of the next few quarters relative to what you're expecting last quarter? Thanks.

偉大的。關於關稅，我知道從食品雜貨和藥局的成分和包裝角度來看，間接影響是一個很大的未知數。現在我們已經過去幾個月了，相對於上個季度的預期，您是否預計這會在未來幾季中對通貨膨脹產生更大或更小的影響？謝謝。

Thank you. And yes, as we mentioned before, well over 90% of the goods we source are domestically based, but to your point, ingrains are certainly playing a factor in our CPG partners and their cost of goods. We're starting to see increases in cost of goods moving ahead. And we've got a very rigorous process of, first and foremost, quite frankly, just pushing back -- we worked hard, and it shows in our price position as well that we've not passed through all of the inflation that we're seeing from a cost of goods perspective.

謝謝。是的，正如我們之前提到的，我們採購的商品中有 90% 以上都是國內商品，但正如您所說，本土產品肯定是影響我們 CPG 合作夥伴及其商品成本的一個因素。我們開始看到商品成本的上漲。我們有一個非常嚴格的流程，首先，坦白說，只是推遲——我們努力工作，並且從我們的價格狀況也可以看出，從商品成本的角度來看，我們還沒有經歷我們看到的所有通貨膨脹。

Our first line of defense, though, is to push back with our vendor partners, deconstruct the cost increase and make sure that we're all in alignment of the back rationale behind it, looking for alternate sources of supply or other products that we can push if the tariffs become unwieldy and then finally in certain cases, if we have to, we'll pass them on to customers, but we're going to remain very close to the competitive set, especially on key items when I start to think about commodity items that come through, which is something we do every day. This is part of our DNA. We sell a lot of commodity driven items, and we are very agile in the pricing process there.

然而，我們的第一道防線是與我們的供應商合作夥伴一起反擊，解構成本增加，並確保我們都同意其背後的理由，尋找替代供應來源或其他產品，以便在關稅變得難以控制時我們可以推銷這些產品，最後在某些情況下，如果我們必須這樣做，我們會將它們轉嫁給客戶，但我們將保持非常接近的競爭力，特別是在關鍵項目上開始的事情。這是我們 DNA 的一部分。我們銷售許多商品驅動的物品，我們的定價流程非常靈活。

And Susan, I would just add to that, it is also having us take a look at what we are offering it on brand. So as we look forward and we look at the tariffs, it may be that there comes a point where we decide that an expansion in our certain owned brands is a great solution for our customer, and we're looking at that as well.

蘇珊，我還要補充一點，這也讓我們看看我們在品牌上提供什麼。因此，當我們展望未來並研究關稅時，可能會出現這樣的情況：我們決定擴大某些自有品牌，這對我們的客戶來說是一個很好的解決方案，我們也在考慮這一點。

Great. Thanks so much and good luck.

偉大的。非常感謝，祝你好運。

Kelly Bania, BMO Capital Markets.

凱利·巴尼亞（Kelly Bania），BMO 資本市場。

Hi, good morning, Susan and Sharon. Thanks fo much for taking the questions. I wanted to go back to the sequential improvement in grocery units. It sounds like you were pleased with that. Just want to clarify, would you expect that to continue into Q2 and it's just a pharmacy dynamic there -- just wanted to understand really what underpins that confidence regarding the stronger second half IDs? And what's the measure of that? Is that more of a grocery unit dynamic?

嗨，早上好，蘇珊和莎倫。非常感謝您回答這些問題。我想回顧一下食品雜貨單位的連續改善。聽起來你對此很滿意。只是想澄清一下，您是否預計這種情況會持續到第二季​​度，而且這只是藥房的動態——只是想真正了解是什麼支撐了對更強勁的下半年 ID 的信心？那麼，這個尺度是什麼呢？這是否更像是一個雜貨單位的動態？

Yeah. Kelly, first and foremost, in Susan's prepared remarks, her statements about the sequential improvement in units, that is -- and we were clear it is grocery. So when we are referring to the sequential improvement and what we expect for the balance of the year, what is important and one of our top priorities is growing units and grocery.

是的。凱利，首先，在蘇珊準備好的演講中，她談到了單位的連續改善，也就是說 - 我們很清楚這是雜貨店。因此，當我們提到連續的改善以及我們對今年餘額的預期時，重要的是增加單位和雜貨量，這也是我們的首要任務之一。

When you -- now as we look for the rest of the year, we said last quarter and we continue to believe that each quarter this year, we will continue to sequentially improve our 3 units. We're making the investment in the margin. We are focused on driving those units.

現在，當我們展望今年剩餘時間時，我們上個季度就說過，我們仍然相信，今年每個季度，我們都將繼續逐步改進我們的 3 個部門。我們正在進行保證金投資。我們專注於推動這些單位的發展。

And as we get towards the back half of the year, when you think about the margin, remember what Susan said, the productivity will start to provide a tailwind to the investment in order to drive the units but we are committed to driving units through the balance of the year. Susan, do you want to add to that?

當我們進入下半年時，當你考慮利潤時，請記住蘇珊所說的話，生產力將開始為投資提供順風，以推動單位增長，但我們致力於在全年剩餘時間內推動單位增長。蘇珊，你想補充一下嗎？

No, Sharon. I think you said it well. The primary purpose of the investments that we're making, yes in price, asset loyalty Yes, and own brands is literally all about driving that unit growth and driving those improvements. So we do expect it to continue. We will be funding it again over time. As we mentioned, the investment in the tails don't exactly line up, which, again, to fits the algorithm that we've shared.

不，莎倫。我覺得你說得很好。我們進行投資的主要目的，包括價格、資產忠誠度和自有品牌，實際上都是為了推動單位成長和推動這些改進。所以我們確實希望這種情況能夠持續下去。隨著時間的推移，我們將再次為其提供資金。正如我們所提到的，尾部的投資並不完全一致，這再次符合我們分享的演算法。

But that's what gives us the confidence. Your question was what gives us confidence. That is why we are confident.

但這正是我們充滿信心的原因。您的問題是什麼給了我們信心。這就是我們充滿信心的原因。

That's helpful. And is there anything that you've learned as you've had these discussions with vendors in terms of more of a national buying process that makes you think about the opportunity over time in any different way and sizing that up in terms of the impact that could have on productivity?

這很有幫助。當您與供應商就全國採購流程進行討論時，您是否學到了什麼，讓您以不同的方式思考長期的採購機會，並評估其對生產力的影響？

Yeah. So just what we're learning as we go through the process is there's an incredible opportunity for us, right? And as you think we own our own manufacturing plants. So we understand that the more information that we can get and the further out that we're out on forecasting for our own plants creates incredible efficiencies for production.

是的。因此，我們在經歷這個過程時了解到，這對我們來說是一個難以置信的機會，對嗎？正如您所想，我們擁有自己的製造工廠。因此，我們明白，我們獲得的資訊越多，對我們自己的工廠的預測就越深入，就能為生產帶來驚人的效率。

It's no different for our vendor partners who shared with us that their ability to forecast demand, which, by the way, we're also developing -- have developed and then there's more in development, various AI tools to help us create stronger and further out demand planning signals.

對於我們的供應商合作夥伴來說，他們與我們分享了預測需求的能力，順便說一句，我們也在開發這種能力——已經開發出來了，然後還有更多正在開發中的各種人工智慧工具，以幫助我們創建更強大、更遠的需求規劃訊號。

But it's just a complete unlock in terms of efficiencies for everybody. It also enables us to plan further ahead and align our Media Collective dollars along with our digital dollars. And of course, the cost of goods reductions that we'll see so that we can create a comprehensive program in-store online to drive more traffic and drive more units by creating this -- again, the total package for the customers that we serve.

但從效率角度而言，這對所有人來說都是一種徹底的解放。它還使我們能夠提前規劃，並將我們的媒體集體資金與數位資金結合起來。當然，我們將看到商品成本的降低，以便我們可以在線上店內創建一個全面的計劃，以透過創建這個計劃來吸引更多的流量並推動更多的單位——再次，為我們服務的客戶提供完整的套餐。

Our vendors, I think -- we are a large company, and there are times when it's very efficient and effective for us to act locally and be very agile. But our vendors clearly recognize that there is a significant change in our thought processes that we're committed to doing this. And I'm excited about what that brings for the future.

我認為，我們的供應商—我們是一家大公司，有時我們在本地採取行動非常有效率且非常靈活。但我們的供應商清楚地認識到，我們的思考過程發生了重大變化，我們致力於做到這一點。我對這將為未來帶來的一切感到興奮。

And in the conversations, the goals that we have about driving units are completely aligned with our vendors. So we are aligned -- when you're aligned on the same business objective, it's very helpful and very constructive in those conversations.

在對話中，我們關於驅動單位的目標與我們的供應商完全一致。因此，我們是一致的——當你們在同一個商業目標上保持一致時，這些對話就會非常有幫助，而且非常有建設性。

Yeah. And to your point, Sharon, we have joint business plan goals that we put in place with most of the major CPGs. So again, we're aligned on the same targets. We're leaning in together, and I really am excited about what will come in the second half of the year.

是的。正如您所說，莎倫，我們與大多數主要 CPG 制定了聯合業務計劃目標。所以，我們再次重申，我們的目標一致。我們齊心協力，我真的對今年下半年將要發生的事情感到興奮。

Michael Montani, Evercore ISI.

邁克爾·蒙塔尼，Evercore ISI。

Good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Just wanted to ask one on guidance and then one on the trends for the consumer. So on the guidance front, there was about a 40 or 50 bps increase in ID sales, but then obviously, EPS did not change. So I just wanted to confirm, is that due to the nature of the ID sales being stronger in pharma? Or was there incremental investments either in price or labor as you do the union contract negotiations that caused that?

早安.感謝您回答這些問題。我只是想問一個關於指導的問題，然後問一個關於消費者趨勢的問題。因此，在指導方面，ID 銷售額成長了約 40 或 50 個基點，但顯然 EPS 並沒有改變。所以我只是想確認一下，這是因為製藥業的 ID 銷售性質更強嗎？或者，在工會合約談判中是否存在價格或勞動力方面的增量投資，從而導致了這種情況？

Yes. So I think it's a blend of some of the things that you just described. Yes, some of the growth within our pharmacy growth continues to be outsized, right? And that's great because we love that customer. We will love that relationship, but there is an impact on profitability there.

是的。所以我認為它是您剛才描述的一些事物的混合。是的，我們的藥局成長中有一些成長仍然過大，對嗎？這很棒，因為我們喜歡那位顧客。我們喜歡這種關係，但這會對獲利能力產生影響。

Sharon, is there anything that you would add from --

Sharon，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？--

I think that throughout the year, we expect this in the total comp guidance for 2025, pharmacy is going to be the biggest driver of comp for sales growth for the year. They're continuing -- you know what that business is doing, Mike, and we continue to believe that we are going to continue to take share from pharmacy.

我認為，我們預計在 2025 年的整體業績指引中，藥局將成為全年銷售成長的最大推手。他們還在繼續——麥克，你知道那項業務在做什麼，我們仍然相信我們將繼續從藥局奪取市場份額。

On the grocery side, you will see that each quarter, we expect to see gradual and incremental improvement in units, and that will, through the year, bring the grocery comp as a slightly bigger percentage of the total. But on the top line, you're going to see a bit the increase that we put in the guidance for 2025, that is pharmacy.

在食品雜貨方面，您會看到，我們預計每季的銷售量都會逐步增加，而全年來看，食品雜貨在總銷量中所佔的比例將略有增加。但從最重要的方面來看，你會看到我們在 2025 年指導中所提出的略有增長，那就是藥房。

Got it. Okay. Thanks for clarifying that. And then just in terms of the consumer trends, as it relates to kind of better-for-you product, natural, organic and otherwise, what percent of the mix is that for you today? How is that trending? And I guess, is there any surprises that you're seeing with respect to GLP-1 absorption? And then how that's impacting consumer buying behavior.

知道了。好的。感謝您澄清這一點。那麼就消費者趨勢而言，因為它與對您更有益的產品（天然、有機和其他）有關，目前這些產品佔您的總消費量的百分比是多少？這種趨勢如何？我想，您是否發現 GLP-1 吸收方面有任何意外情況？以及這會如何影響消費者的購買行為。

Sure. So Mike, what we're seeing -- and we have -- we call it NOSHI, Natural, Organic, Specialty, Health and IEthnic products. And those categories are growing for us. And what we -- and it's interesting as you start to break it down, I think there's a few things in play. Certainly, trends for you -- sorry, certainly trends in better-for-you products are strong.

當然。所以麥克，我們所看到的——以及我們所擁有的——我們稱之為 NOSHI，即天然、有機、特色、健康和民族產品。而這些類別對我們來說正在不斷成長。而我們——當你開始分析它時，你會發現很有趣的是，我認為有幾件事在起作用。當然，對你來說，趨勢——抱歉，對你更有利的產品趨勢當然很強勁。

Also interesting, though, the influence that we see from specialty items like premium sparkling water is one of our top growth categories. It's fascinating to watch. This one -- I had to double check the numbers, but cottage cheese is actually a strong growth category. Yes, some of that's from the focus on protein, lower carbs, perhaps GLP-1 users, and then just being totally frank to talk, it is driving some of that. So we're leaning into those categories.

不過，同樣有趣的是，我們看到優質蘇打水等特色產品的影響是我們成長最快的類別之一。看起來很有趣。這個——我必須再檢查一下數字，但白軟乾酪實際上是一個增長強勁的類別。是的，其中一些原因是關注蛋白質、低碳水化合物，也許是 GLP-1 用戶，然後坦率地說，它正在推動其中的一些。所以我們傾向於這些類別。

do lend themselves, those categories pair well with some of what we see for GLP-1 customers. But it goes well beyond just the GLP user. We're definitely seeing overall trends focusing on health and well-being. And that works perfectly for us, as one of our five priorities is driving the customer value proposition and creating an environment, an ecosystem that brings customers into brick-and-mortar, into digital, into pharmacy and health.

這些類別確實適合我們為 GLP-1 客戶看到的一些情況。但它的適用範圍遠遠超出了 GLP 用戶。我們確實看到整體趨勢關注健康和福祉。這對我們來說非常有效，因為我們的五大優先事項之一就是推動客戶價值主張並創造一個環境、一個生態系統，將客戶帶入實體店、數位市場、藥局和醫療保健領域。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Robbie Ohmes, Bank of America.

羅比‧奧姆斯 (Robbie Ohmes)，美國銀行。

Hi. This is [Kendall Toscano] on for Robbie. Thanks for taking my questions. I just have a follow-up in terms of the percent of your customers that are cross shopping grocery and pharmacy today versus how much higher you think that number could go over time?

你好。我是 [Kendall Toscano]，代替 Robbie 上場。感謝您回答我的問題。我只是想問一下，目前在雜貨店和藥局購物的顧客比例是多少，以及您認為這個數字隨著時間的推移會增加多少？

And basically, just trying to get a sense of after four years of pharmacy growth in the double-digit range, which has obviously been a huge sales driver, but a headwind to profitability. Are we nearing a point where pharmacy could eventually start to normalize or the growth rate could start to normalize? Thanks.

基本上，我們只是想了解一下藥局在四年內以兩位數的速度增長的情況，這顯然是一個巨大的銷售驅動力，但卻是盈利能力的阻力。我們是否已經接近藥局最終開始正常化或成長率開始正常化的階段？謝謝。

Hi, Kendall. So what we're seeing is, yes, of course, the cross shopping between pharmacy and grocery is pivotal for us. We do have very strong pharmacy growth, and I mentioned a lot of that is core pharmacy business. Just a side out there as well. In that core pharmacy business, we continue to strive for profitability, stronger profitability, increasing our generics mix, improving offerings such as test and treat immunization, those kinds of things. And again, creating that linkage between store and pharmacy is critical.

你好，肯德爾。所以我們看到，是的，當然，藥局和雜貨店之間的交叉購物對我們來說至關重要。我們的藥局業務確實成長強勁，我提到其中許多都是核心藥局業務。也只是一面而已。在核心製藥業務中，我們將繼續努力提高盈利能力、增強盈利能力、增加仿製藥組合、改善檢測和治療免疫等服務。再次強調，建立商店和藥局之間的連結至關重要。

From a -- the pharmacy business, here's what I see. There's been a serious -- I mean, you guys do the information out there. There's been a serious decline in the availability of doors for customers to go to take care of their pharmacy needs. We think that's critical. And I believe that we're well positioned with the steps that we've made both from an acquisition perspective, meaning acquiring scripts from outside, hiring the amazing pharmacists and techs that are out there that are looking for work.

從藥房業務來看，我所看到的是這樣的。有一個嚴重的問題——我的意思是，你們確實在那裡發布資訊。可供顧客去藥局購買藥品的數量嚴重減少。我們認為這是關鍵。我相信，從收購的角度來看，我們所採取的措施已經為我們做好了準備，這意味著從外部獲取處方，聘請正在尋找工作的優秀藥劑師和技術人員。

We need more and more of that support. So we're leveraging that and becoming -- I think we're becoming -- that helps to become an essential choice for customers. I can get my notes there. I can't meet my pharmacy needs in an environment where the doors are shrinking, right? We have less and less opportunity in certain markets less choices for customers, we're happy to be there for them.

我們需要越來越多的這種支持。因此，我們正在利用這一點，並成為——我認為我們正在成為——有助於成為客戶的必不可少的選擇。我可以在那裡得到我的筆記。在門市不斷縮小的環境中，我無法滿足我的藥局需求，對嗎？在某些市場中，我們的機會越來越少，客戶的選擇也越來越少，我們很高興能為他們提供服務。

So I actually see it as a moat competitive advantage for us moving ahead with the investments that we've made in pharmacy and said it again, just I can't repeat also the -- enough the fact that we are striving to improve the profitability there. again, recognizing that, that customer's total value when we engage them in both center store as well as pharmacy is tremendous for us. We love those customers. We want to serve them.

因此，我實際上認為這是我們繼續在藥局投資的一項巨大的競爭優勢，我再說一遍，只是我不能重複——我們正在努力提高那裡的盈利能力。再次認識到，當我們在中心商店和藥局與客戶互動時，客戶的總價值對我們來說是巨大的。我們熱愛這些顧客。我們想為他們服務。

And Susan, I would only add also, we have invested significantly in the customer experience and pharmacy, integrating it into the total company at and being able to serve that customer, including we talked last quarter now being able to pick up your prescription at the same time that you're picking up your drive-up and go order -- and as we continue to create the linkage and the ease of shopping between the pharmacy customer and the grocery customer, we believe that, that does provide incremental opportunity for us.

蘇珊，我還要補充一點，我們在客戶體驗和藥房方面投入了大量資金，將其整合到整個公司中，並能夠為客戶提供服務，包括我們上個季度談到的，現在您可以在領取免下車訂單的同時領取處方藥——隨著我們繼續在藥房客戶和雜貨店客戶之間建立聯繫並簡化購物流程，我們相信，這確實為我們提供了增量機會。

As we move forward through the year and into next year. So these investments we're making on the digital side and linking them together with everything we're doing in pharmacy and health. And then mobile app for use in the stores. We think that, that is also going to make a significant difference with these cross-shopping customers.

隨著我們走過這一年並邁入明年。因此，我們在數位領域的投資與我們在製藥和健康領域所做的一切聯繫在一起。然後是可在商店使用的行動應用程式。我們認為，這也會對這些交叉購物的顧客產生重大影響。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our question-and-answer session. I'll turn the floor back to Ms. Morris for any final comments.

謝謝。女士們、先生們，我們的問答環節到此結束。我將把發言權交還給莫里斯女士，請她發表最後的評論。

Just thank you everybody for the time today. We're excited about the year to come, and thank you to our associates that make all of this happen.

非常感謝大家今天的抽出時間。我們對來年充滿期待，並感謝我們的同事讓這一切成為可能。

Thank you. This concludes today's conference call. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

謝謝。今天的電話會議到此結束。現在您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。