Bath & Body Works Inc (BBWI) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Christie, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Bath & Body Works First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

早上好。我叫克里斯蒂，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線員。此時，歡迎大家參加 Bath & Body Works 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

I will now turn the call over to Ms. Heather Hollander, Vice President, Investor Relations at Bath & Body Works. Heather, you may begin.

我現在將把電話轉給 Bath & Body Works 投資者關係副總裁 Heather Hollander 女士。希瑟，你可以開始了。

Good morning, and welcome to Bath & Body Works' First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call.

早上好，歡迎來到 Bath & Body Works 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。

Today's call may contain forward-looking statements related to future events and expectations. Please refer to this morning's press release and the risk factors in Bath & Body Works' 2022 Form 10-K for factors that could cause the actual results to differ materially from these forward-looking statements.

今天的電話會議可能包含與未來事件和預期相關的前瞻性陳述。請參閱今天上午的新聞稿和 Bath & Body Works 2022 年 10-K 表格中的風險因素，了解可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述存在重大差異的因素。

Today's call contains certain non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to this morning's press release and supplemental materials for important disclosures regarding such measures, including reconciliations to the most comparable GAAP financial measure.

今天的電話會議包含某些非 GAAP 財務指標。請參閱今天上午的新聞稿和補充材料，了解有關此類措施的重要披露，包括與最具可比性的 GAAP 財務措施的調節。

Joining me on the call today are Gina Boswell, Chief Executive Officer; Julie Rosen, President, Retail; and Wendy Arlin, Chief Financial Officer.

今天和我一起參加電話會議的是首席執行官 Gina Boswell；零售總裁 Julie Rosen；和首席財務官 Wendy Arlin。

I'll now turn the call over to Gina.

我現在將電話轉給吉娜。

Thank you, Heather, and good morning, everyone. We appreciate you all joining us today. I'll start this morning with a review of our first quarter results and then discuss the progress that our team has made so far in executing our strategy as well as some of the opportunities that we see ahead.

謝謝你，希瑟，大家早上好。感謝大家今天加入我們。今天早上我將首先回顧我們第一季度的業績，然後討論我們的團隊迄今為止在執行我們的戰略方面取得的進展以及我們看到的一些未來機會。

This quarter, we continue to leverage the agility of our vertically-integrated supply chain as well as our outstanding innovation capabilities, from product development through design and merchandising. We delivered newness and increased unit market share across our 3 major product categories.

本季度，我們繼續利用我們垂直整合供應鏈的靈活性以及我們出色的創新能力，從產品開發到設計和銷售。我們在 3 個主要產品類別中推出了新產品並增加了單位市場份額。

While home fragrance and soaps and sanitizers at an overall industry level, continue to contract, driven by post-pandemic normalization, we continue to gain unit share. Our customers remain highly engaged with the Bath & Body Works brand. A prime example of this is the excitement and strong sales of our single fragrance launches, including our new Gingham collection, which Julie will discuss in more detail.

雖然在大流行後正常化的推動下，整個行業的家用香水、肥皂和消毒劑繼續收縮，但我們繼續獲得單位份額。我們的客戶仍然高度關注 Bath & Body Works 品牌。一個典型的例子就是我們推出的單一香水的興奮和強勁的銷售，包括我們新的 Gingham 系列，Julie 將更詳細地討論。

This successful launch, once again, showcased our team's ability to read and react, that is to respond swiftly and effectively to customer signals. When we observed that Gingham's initial results exceeded our expectations, we quickly increased our supply to meet the heightened demand, fulfilling our commitments to the customer. It's this ability to adapt quickly, coupled with our intense focus on efficiency that helps us effectively manage the ongoing challenging macroeconomic environment.

這次成功的發布再次展示了我們團隊的閱讀和反應能力，即快速有效地響應客戶信號。當我們發現 Gingham 的初步結果超出了我們的預期時，我們迅速增加了供應量以滿足不斷增加的需求，履行了我們對客戶的承諾。正是這種快速適應的能力，加上我們對效率的高度關注，幫助我們有效地管理持續的具有挑戰性的宏觀經濟環境。

In the first quarter, net sales were in line with our expectations. Adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.33 were better than planned, driven by our efforts to improve average unit retails or AURs and the early benefits of our cost optimization initiative. Given that our earnings this quarter outperformed our expectations accordingly, we are increasing our EPS outlook for the full year, which Wendy will speak to in a moment. These results would not have been possible without our terrific team and their quick response to implement our plans to profitably grow sales and better serve our customers.

第一季度，淨銷售額符合我們的預期。調整後的攤薄每股收益為 0.33 美元，好於計劃，這得益於我們努力提高平均單位零售量或 AUR 以及成本優化計劃的早期效益。鑑於我們本季度的收益相應地超出了我們的預期，我們正在提高全年的每股收益預期，Wendy 稍後會談到這一點。如果沒有我們出色的團隊和他們快速響應以實施我們的計劃以實現銷售盈利增長和更好地為客戶服務，這些結果是不可能的。

Now I'd like to share an overview of the major elements of our strategy. Having spent my initial months at Bath & Body Works evaluating our business, I am confident that we have a diverse set of opportunities to grow the business and enhance profitability. Bath & Body Works has a highly differentiated business model, positioned at the intersection of consumer goods and retail, and we have a history of superior growth and free cash flow generation. The company has had a number of initiatives underway to drive top line growth and profitability, and I don't see a need for major shifts in strategy. Instead, I see ways to build on the strong foundation that exists today.

現在我想分享一下我們戰略的主要要素的概述。我在 Bath & Body Works 的最初幾個月對我們的業務進行了評估，我相信我們有各種各樣的機會來發展業務和提高盈利能力。 Bath & Body Works 擁有高度差異化的商業模式，定位於消費品和零售的交叉點，我們擁有卓越增長和自由現金流產生的歷史。該公司已經採取了許多舉措來推動收入增長和盈利能力，我認為沒有必要對戰略進行重大轉變。相反，我看到了在現有的堅實基礎上進行建設的方法。

Importantly, our path to $10 billion in sales and industry-leading operating margins of 20% is not predicated on any one opportunity. Rather, we have multiple levers that we can pull to achieve our goals, and we're pursuing them with focus and a sense of urgency. As we move forward, our team's efforts are centered on: elevating the Bath & Body Works brand and product; extending our reach; engaging with our customers; enabling a seamless omnichannel experience; and enhancing operational excellence and efficiency.

重要的是，我們實現 100 億美元銷售額和行業領先的 20% 營業利潤率的道路並不是基於任何一個機會。相反，我們有多個槓桿可以用來實現我們的目標，我們正在以專注和緊迫感追求這些目標。在我們前進的過程中，我們團隊的努力集中在：提升 Bath & Body Works 品牌和產品；擴大我們的影響力；與我們的客戶互動；實現無縫的全渠道體驗；並提高卓越運營和效率。

So touching on each of these and starting with elevating the Bath & Body Works brand and product, I can say, having been in the beauty and personal care industry for more than 30 years, I've never seen a more engaged fan base than what I've seen here at Bath & Body Works. Our loyal customers are highly engaged. Whether they're camping out for our semi-annual sale or celebrating International Fragrance Day or eagerly awaiting our next new mystery candle drop.

因此，從提升 Bath & Body Works 品牌和產品開始，我可以說，在美容和個人護理行業工作了 30 多年，我從未見過比這更投入的粉絲群我在 Bath & Body Works 見過。我們忠實的客戶參與度很高。無論他們是在參加我們的半年一次促銷活動、慶祝國際香水日，還是熱切期待我們的下一個新的神秘蠟燭滴。

However, there is opportunity to elevate the brand and product in a way that allows us to reach new customers, drive greater traffic, increase our pricing power and extend our position as a market leader. Our brand elevation efforts can be broken down into product, packaging and merchandising.

然而，我們有機會提升品牌和產品，使我們能夠接觸新客戶、吸引更多流量、提高我們的定價能力並擴大我們作為市場領導者的地位。我們的品牌提升工作可以分解為產品、包裝和營銷。

First, we will continue to optimize our core product offerings by leveraging and building on the company's rich history of innovation to introduce new products and formulations. An example of this is the expansion of our new soap formulation made without paraben, sulfates or dyes. This work has been underway and will continue.

首先，我們將繼續優化我們的核心產品系列，利用並鞏固公司豐富的創新歷史，推出新產品和新配方。這方面的一個例子是我們不含對羥基苯甲酸酯、硫酸鹽或染料的新肥皂配方的擴展。這項工作一直在進行，並將繼續進行。

Another innovation callout is our surprise and delight product launches. An example of this is our recent ice cream candle drop, which sold out in mere hours online and same day in store. We expect to increasingly leverage these types of events to drive traffic and generate brand excitement.

另一個創新亮點是我們驚喜和驚喜的產品發布。這方面的一個例子是我們最近的冰淇淋蠟燭滴，它在網上僅幾個小時就售罄，當天在商店售罄。我們希望越來越多地利用這些類型的活動來增加流量並產生品牌興奮度。

In addition, we're continuing to develop and introduce new types of packaging, while also staying true to the brand heritage. If you were to take a look at the product featured in our stores and online today, you would see items, such as our White Barn color run collection and our neutral assortment with elevated presentation and packaging. We see opportunities to bring this elevation to more of our products.

此外，我們將繼續開發和推出新型包裝，同時忠於品牌傳統。如果您今天查看我們商店和網上的特色產品，您會看到一些項目，例如我們的 White Barn color run 系列和我們具有高級展示和包裝的中性分類。我們看到了將這種提升帶入我們更多產品的機會。

And finally, merchandising, both in our stores and online. This will range from the look and feel of the floor sets in our stores to shop-in-shops and other enhancements. We'll extend our storytelling beyond our compelling seasonal experiences to broader inspirational product storytelling, including recommendations for selecting and using the product as well as creating the perfect gift.

最後，在我們的商店和網上進行商品銷售。這包括從我們商店中地板套裝的外觀和感覺到店中店和其他增強功能。我們將把講故事的範圍從引人入勝的季節性體驗擴展到更廣泛的鼓舞人心的產品故事，包括選擇和使用產品以及製作完美禮物的建議。

Second, we plan to extend our reach. As one of the leading fragrance companies in the world, we deliver customers their favorite fragrances in multiple forms and categories and bring affordable luxuries in personal care and home fragrance like no other company. We're focused on leveraging our core strengths in fragrance and innovation to extend our product leadership into adjacent categories. Julie will speak to our product expansion strategy and exciting upcoming tests and launches in a moment.

其次，我們計劃擴大我們的影響範圍。作為世界領先的香水公司之一，我們以多種形式和類別為客戶提供他們最喜歡的香水，並在個人護理和家庭香水方面帶來價格合理的奢侈品，這是其他公司所無法比擬的。我們專注於利用我們在香水和創新方面的核心優勢，將我們的產品領導地位擴展到相鄰類別。 Julie 稍後將介紹我們的產品擴展戰略以及令人興奮的即將進行的測試和發布。

We're also committed to extending our reach geographically and we have an opportunity to drive significant growth in our international business through market expansion, new stores and digital growth with our partnership-based asset-light model.

我們還致力於擴大我們在地理上的影響力，我們有機會通過我們基於合作夥伴關係的輕資產模式通過市場擴張、新店和數字增長來推動我們國際業務的顯著增長。

Next, the tremendous opportunity that we have to better engage with our customers. Bath & Body Works has a long history of connecting with the customer through fragrance, high-quality products and a terrific store experience and we now plan to deepen our connection across the entire customer journey. This represents a significant unlock for us that we expect will benefit, both the top line and operating margin.

接下來，我們必須更好地與客戶互動，這是一個巨大的機會。 Bath & Body Works 長期以來一直通過香水、高品質產品和出色的商店體驗與客戶建立聯繫，我們現在計劃在整個客戶旅程中加深我們的聯繫。這對我們來說是一個重要的解鎖，我們預計這將受益，包括收入和營業利潤率。

To drive this effort, we started by analyzing our core customer segments and developing a better understanding of their unique needs and desires and identifying the discrete customer segments that present the biggest growth opportunities. For example, we know that the customer that we've identified as a fragrance fashionista, she considers scent to be essential part of their identity and a form of self-expression. The fragrance fashionista values quality over quantity and are immersed in the world of fragrance.

為了推動這一努力，我們首先分析了我們的核心客戶群，更好地了解他們的獨特需求和願望，並確定了提供最大增長機會的離散客戶群。例如，我們知道我們認定的一位香水時尚達人，她認為香味是他們身份的重要組成部分，也是一種自我表達方式。香水時尚達人重視質量而不是數量，並沉浸在香水的世界中。

Because they're extremely invested in newness, they buy, on average, more than 30 uniquely fragranced items from us annually and are more likely to purchase our core fragrance categories as well as our newer categories.

由於他們極力追求新鮮感，他們平均每年從我們這裡購買 30 多種獨特香味的產品，並且更有可能購買我們的核心香水類別以及我們的新類別。

Their motivations are different, for example, from the customer that we've identified as a casual fragrance explorer who enjoys fragrance and the experience of shopping for new products, and it's drawn to products that connect them to experiences and seasons, but does not necessarily consider fragrance to be part of their identity.

例如，他們的動機與我們確定的休閒香水探索者不同，他們喜歡香水和購買新產品的體驗，並且被將他們與體驗和季節聯繫起來的產品所吸引，但不一定將香水視為他們身份的一部分。

Our customer segmentation analysis is informing our innovation, our merchandising and our marketing to build deeper connections that drive more profitable customer relationships. Further, as we customize our merchandise and marketing to specific customer segments, we can be more effective and efficient in reaching them.

我們的客戶細分分析正在為我們的創新、推銷和營銷提供信息，以建立更深層次的聯繫，從而推動更有利可圖的客戶關係。此外，當我們針對特定客戶群定製商品和營銷時，我們可以更有效地接觸他們。

As we've discussed previously, we're also building our technology capabilities to engage with individual customers through more personalized targeted marketing. By leveraging data and analytics, we expect to induce trial, encourage cross-channel and cross-category shopping, increase trips, build the customer basket and deliver a more targeted promotion strategy to reduce our reliance on broad-based promotions.

正如我們之前所討論的，我們還在構建我們的技術能力，以通過更加個性化的針對性營銷來吸引個人客戶。通過利用數據和分析，我們希望引導試用、鼓勵跨渠道和跨類別購物、增加旅行、建立客戶購物籃並提供更有針對性的促銷策略，以減少我們對廣泛促銷的依賴。

Though promotions will still be a traffic driver for our business, we're working to sharpen our approach, make it more targeted to the individual customer and drive incremental sales at a higher margin. With our IT separation from Victoria's Secret expected to be substantially complete this summer, we will begin testing personalized marketing and optimize promotions. Our loyalty program is, of course, another critical tool to engage with our customer and meet them where they are. As you know, our loyalty program launched nationwide in August with one of the fastest enrollment speeds in the industry. We've enrolled a total of 37 million members to date, and our loyalty sales represent approximately 2/3 of our U.S. sales since launch.

雖然促銷活動仍將是我們業務的流量驅動因素，但我們正在努力改進我們的方法，使其更有針對性地針對個人客戶，並以更高的利潤推動增量銷售。隨著我們與 Victoria's Secret 的 IT 分離預計將在今年夏天基本完成，我們將開始測試個性化營銷並優化促銷活動。當然，我們的忠誠度計劃是與客戶互動並在他們所在的地方與他們會面的另一個重要工具。如您所知，我們的忠誠度計劃於 8 月在全國推出，註冊速度是業內最快的之一。迄今為止，我們已經註冊了 3700 萬名會員，自推出以來，我們的忠誠度銷售額約占我們美國銷售額的 2/3。

Our loyalty customers also have, on average, higher spend, greater retention rates and they make more trips. And while we're very pleased with our speed of enrollment, we are still only in the early stages of deriving value from this program. We're testing new loyalty capabilities in the second half of the year and focused on fully integrating our loyalty experience throughout our channels.

我們的忠誠客戶平均也有更高的消費、更高的保留率並且他們進行更多的旅行。雖然我們對我們的註冊速度感到非常滿意，但我們仍處於從該計劃中獲得價值的早期階段。我們正在今年下半年測試新的忠誠度功能，並專注於在我們的整個渠道中全面整合我們的忠誠度體驗。

Working in concert with more personalized marketing, we're exploring future program enhancements like accelerators and flexible rewards.

與更加個性化的營銷協同工作，我們正在探索未來的計劃增強功能，例如加速器和靈活的獎勵。

Next is enabling a seamless omnichannel experience. Though we have a strong digital business, we have a significant opportunity to drive future growth by moving from a largely transactional website and app to more experiential platforms. Our stores and our talented associates deliver an engaging shopping experience, and we expect it to leverage our digital assets, along with customer data and analytics, to expand that experience, both inside and beyond the walls of our stores.

接下來是實現無縫的全渠道體驗。儘管我們擁有強大的數字業務，但我們有一個重要的機會來推動未來的增長，方法是從一個以交易為主的網站和應用程序轉向更具體驗性的平台。我們的商店和我們才華橫溢的員工提供引人入勝的購物體驗，我們希望它能夠利用我們的數字資產以及客戶數據和分析來擴展我們商店內外的體驗。

We're working over the longer term to drive discovery and inspiration through personalized landing pages, video content, and product recommendations that result in more exploration, increased basket size and ultimately more purchases.

從長遠來看，我們致力於通過個性化的登陸頁面、視頻內容和產品推薦來推動發現和靈感，從而帶來更多的探索、更大的購物籃規模並最終帶來更多的購買。

Beauty and personal care customers value a seamless omnichannel experience. We are pleased to have completed our national rollout of Buy Online Pickup In Store or BOPIS capabilities to our U.S. stores this quarter. And we're focused on better connecting our stores and digital channels and eliminating friction in the customer journey. We know this is a significant growth opportunity because dual channel customers spend 3x more than single-channel customers, yet dual-channel customers currently represent less than 15% of our customer base.

美容和個人護理客戶重視無縫的全渠道體驗。我們很高興本季度完成了在全國范圍內向我們的美國商店推出在線購買店內取貨或 BOPIS 功能。我們專注於更好地連接我們的商店和數字渠道，並消除客戶旅程中的摩擦。我們知道這是一個重要的增長機會，因為雙渠道客戶的支出是單渠道客戶的 3 倍，但雙渠道客戶目前只占我們客戶群的不到 15%。

Finally, we are enhancing our operational excellence and efficiency by continuing our top to bottom review of the business to identify opportunities for margin expansion. As you know, we are targeting $200 million of annual cost savings across the company and are well on track to delivering over half of those savings in 2023.

最後，我們通過繼續對業務進行自上而下的審查來確定擴大利潤的機會，從而提高我們的卓越運營和效率。如您所知，我們的目標是在整個公司每年節省 2 億美元的成本，並且有望在 2023 年實現其中一半以上的節省。

We recently announced changes to our leadership team, which support our strategy to accelerate our growth and improve profitability. Thilina Gunasinghe joined us last month as our Chief Digital and Technology Officer, and he has hit the ground running, leading our digital and technology strategy, our digital operations and data and analytics.

我們最近宣布了領導團隊的變動，以支持我們加速增長和提高盈利能力的戰略。 Thilina Gunasinghe 上個月加入我們，擔任我們的首席數字和技術官，他已經開始運作，領導我們的數字和技術戰略、我們的數字運營以及數據和分析。

Also, Maurice Cooper will be joining us next week as our Chief Customer Officer. Maurice will be responsible for elevating the brand and developing a personalized and compelling end-to-end customer experience. As we recently announced, Wendy Arlin will be stepping down as CFO by the end of July, and we have initiated a search for her successor. On behalf of the entire Bath & Body Works team, I want to reiterate our sincere thanks to Wendy for her significant contributions to the company as well as her commitment to making this a seamless transition process.

此外，Maurice Cooper 將於下週加入我們，擔任我們的首席客戶官。 Maurice 將負責提升品牌並開發個性化且引人注目的端到端客戶體驗。正如我們最近宣布的那樣，Wendy Arlin 將於 7 月底卸任首席財務官一職，我們已經開始尋找她的繼任者。我想代表整個 Bath & Body Works 團隊再次衷心感謝 Wendy 對公司做出的重大貢獻以及她致力於使這一無縫過渡過程的承諾。

Looking ahead, we are moving with purpose, focused on taking actions and building the capabilities that will drive profitable growth. Despite the current macroeconomic pressures, I continue to be confident in our ability to reach our $10 billion sales target and deliver industry-leading operating margins of 20%, over time.

展望未來，我們正朝著目標前進，專注於採取行動和培養推動盈利增長的能力。儘管當前面臨宏觀經濟壓力，但我仍然相信我們有能力實現 100 億美元的銷售目標，並隨著時間的推移實現行業領先的 20% 營業利潤率。

We have a diverse set of opportunities and multiple strategic initiatives to support long-term top line growth and margin expansion with 5 key areas of focus: first, elevating the brand by optimizing our core through innovation and upgrades to our forms, packaging and merchandising; second, extending our reach through adjacencies and international growth; third, engaging with our customers by fully leveraging the strength of our loyalty program, enhanced technology and more personalization; fourth, enabling a seamless omnichannel experience by elevating our digital platform, and better connecting them with our stores; and finally, enhancing operational excellence to drive efficiency.

我們有多種機會和多項戰略舉措來支持長期的收入增長和利潤率擴張，重點關注 5 個領域：首先，通過創新和升級我們的形式、包裝和商品來優化我們的核心品牌，從而提升品牌；第二，通過鄰接和國際增長擴大我們的影響力；第三，通過充分利用我們的忠誠度計劃、增強的技術和更多的個性化來吸引我們的客戶；第四，通過提升我們的數字平台並更好地將他們與我們的商店聯繫起來，實現無縫的全渠道體驗；最後，加強卓越運營以提高效率。

Bath & Body Works has a strong foundation with leading market share, a top brand awareness in our industry, and customers indicating a strong propensity to recommend our brands. Once our categories normalize and return to a growth path, we are confident our strategic initiatives will position us well for consistent above-industry growth.

Bath & Body Works 擁有領先的市場份額、業內一流的品牌知名度以及客戶強烈推薦我們品牌的強大基礎。一旦我們的品類正常化並回到增長軌道，我們相信我們的戰略舉措將使我們處於領先地位，實現持續高於行業的增長。

Our team continues to leverage the key competitive advantage of our vertically-integrated supply chain, which allows us to respond quickly to changing customer and macro trends and fulfill our promise to the customer by bringing products to market with industry-leading speed. We're moving forward through the remainder of the year with a clean inventory position, a strong balance sheet, a favorable debt maturity schedule and very strong free cash flow generation. We're confident that we have the financial strength and the strategic capabilities to manage through a rapidly evolving environment.

我們的團隊繼續利用我們垂直整合供應鏈的關鍵競爭優勢，這使我們能夠快速響應不斷變化的客戶和宏觀趨勢，並通過以行業領先的速度將產品推向市場來履行我們對客戶的承諾。在今年餘下的時間裡，我們將以乾淨的庫存狀況、強勁的資產負債表、有利的債務到期時間表和非常強勁的自由現金流生成向前邁進。我們相信，我們擁有應對快速變化的環境的財務實力和戰略能力。

As we strengthen our position as a leading global omnichannel home and personal care brand, we are prioritizing actions which will deliver long-term shareholder value.

隨著我們鞏固我們作為全球領先的全渠道家庭和個人護理品牌的地位，我們正在優先考慮能夠帶來長期股東價值的行動。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Julie, who will review our category performance and product expansion strategy.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給朱莉，她將審查我們的品類表現和產品擴張戰略。

Thank you, Gina. In the first quarter, customers responded well to our spring assortment and our promotions. In early spring, it is always important for us to connect with our customers' varied mindsets of either wanting to be transported away to the tropics, cocooning at home or spending time on self-care and relaxation. We also celebrate holidays such as Valentine's Day and Easter and important cultural heritage moments like Black History Month.

謝謝你，吉娜。第一季度，客戶對我們的春季系列和促銷活動反應良好。早春時節，了解客戶的不同心態始終很重要，他們要么想遠走熱帶，要么想在家安頓下來，要么花時間自我保健和放鬆。我們還慶祝情人節和復活節等節日以及黑人歷史月等重要的文化遺產時刻。

We began the quarter with a customer pleasing Among the Clouds product launch followed by Coco Paradise, which met the customer mindset at the right time and finished with our Gingham olfactive collection. The speed and agility of our vertically integrated, predominantly domestic supply chain was critical in chasing these winners to deliver additional inventory and meet customer demand.

本季度伊始，我們在 Among the Clouds 產品發布後推出了令客戶滿意的產品，隨後推出了 Coco Paradise，它在正確的時間滿足了客戶的心態，並以我們的 Gingham 嗅覺系列收尾。我們垂直整合的主要國內供應鏈的速度和敏捷性對於追逐這些贏家以提供更多庫存和滿足客戶需求至關重要。

In fact, we were able to react quickly as initial customer response to our Gingham collection exceeded our expectations, and we produced significantly more units in the outperforming forms and fragrances for our national launch. These fragrances became customer favorites and fresh packaging that spans multiple categories in forms, offering new products in multiple forms continues to be a competitive differentiator for us, and we find that it drives our strong customer loyalty and repeat purchases.

事實上，我們能夠迅速做出反應，因為最初客戶對我們的 Gingham 系列的反應超出了我們的預期，並且我們為全國推出生產了更多表現出色的產品和香水。這些香水成為了客戶的最愛，並且在形式上跨越多個類別的新鮮包裝，提供多種形式的新產品仍然是我們的競爭優勢，我們發現它推動了我們強大的客戶忠誠度和重複購買。

Our men's business continues to be one of the fastest-growing categories in body care as we test new forms and merchandising ideas. At the beginning of the quarter, we launched 2 new fragrances, Smooth Amber and Gingham Legend, both of which performed well and exceeded our expectations. We continue to gain significant insights in this rapidly growing business that will guide our future innovation.

隨著我們測試新形式和營銷理念，我們的男士業務仍然是身體護理領域增長最快的類別之一。本季度初，我們推出了 2 款新香水，Smooth Amber 和 Gingham Legend，兩者都表現出色，超出了我們的預期。我們繼續在這個快速發展的業務中獲得重要的見解，這將指導我們未來的創新。

Our wellness category resonated with the customer and outperformed the shops this quarter. Our curated collection and products for body and home are centered on self-care mindset and aimed at elevating our customers' daily wellness routines, with fragrances such as Winter Bliss, Unwind and Fresh Start. These products were previewed during the holiday season and performed well this quarter, resulting in our decision to expand this assortment for spring and beyond.

我們的健康類別引起了客戶的共鳴，本季度的表現優於商店。我們精選的身體和家居系列和產品以自我保健的心態為中心，旨在提升客戶的日常健康習慣，其中包括 Winter Bliss、Unwind 和 Fresh Start 等香水。這些產品在假期期間進行了預展，並在本季度表現良好，因此我們決定在春季及以後擴大這一品種。

So men's and wellness posted positive growth for the quarter. Sales of our broader body care category declined. We gained unit share even as the category units declined at an industry level. Home fragrance also declined versus last year's first quarter as expected, driven by pressure in candles. This is an industry-wide trend as the category continues to normalize post-pandemic. However, we are still the market leader in this category and continue to gain unit share even as the category experiences broader pressure.

因此，男士和保健品在本季度實現了正增長。我們更廣泛的身體護理品類的銷售額有所下降。即使類別單位在行業水平上下降，我們也獲得了單位份額。與去年第一季度相比，家用香水也如預期的那樣下降，這是受蠟燭壓力的推動。這是整個行業的趨勢，因為該類別在大流行後繼續正常化。然而，我們仍然是該類別的市場領導者，並且在該類別面臨更廣泛壓力的情況下繼續獲得單位份額。

We remain focused on innovating and optimizing our assortment to position for future growth. We've seen our Wallflowers outperform Candles as customers are spending less time at home, and we're responding by continuing to increase our assortment of scent control Wallflowers Heaters that offer our customers a choice and how much scent to enjoy in each room of their home.

我們仍然專注於創新和優化我們的產品組合，為未來的增長做好準備。我們已經看到我們的 Wallflowers 優於蠟燭，因為客戶花在家裡的時間越來越少，我們通過繼續增加氣味控制 Wallflowers 加熱器的種類來做出回應，為我們的客戶提供選擇以及在他們的每個房間享受多少香味家。

We're also pleased to see the customer responding positively to our White Barn color run collection and our neutral assortment. We plan to lean into this demand by expanding our home experience in a similar product aesthetic, Fragrance in 4 ways. Fragrance in 4 ways includes Candles, Wallflowers, Room Spray and Soaps, and we believe this expansion will fuel growth. As we work to elevate our brands and optimize the core business, we remain focused on newness and innovation as our key drivers.

我們也很高興看到客戶對我們的 White Barn 彩色系列和我們的中性系列做出積極回應。我們計劃通過以 4 種方式擴展我們在類似產品美學 Fragrance 中的家居體驗來滿足這一需求。香水有 4 種方式，包括蠟燭、壁花、室內噴霧和香皂，我們相信這種擴張將推動增長。在我們努力提升我們的品牌和優化核心業務的過程中，我們始終將創新和創新作為我們的主要驅動力。

Earlier, I mentioned our Gingham olfactive collection launch. This collection featured new product extensions to our heritage Gingham fragrance and included 4 new scents, Vibrant, Gorgeous, Fresh and Legend for men. These products, which were introduced in preparation for Mother's Day and Father's Day, exceeded our expectations.

早些時候，我提到了我們的 Gingham 嗅覺系列發布。該系列以我們的傳統 Gingham 香水為特色的新產品擴展，包括 4 種新的男士香水，Vibrant、Gorgeous、Fresh 和 Legend。這些為母親節和父親節而推出的產品超出了我們的預期。

Looking ahead to summer, we're focused on delivering fresh and compelling new sets, such as our new and elevated Pride collection, Love Always Wins and our Hello Summer collection that is bright, fun and energetic. We're also introducing a home fragrance launch of Sweet Tea & Lemonade just in time for summer.

展望夏季，我們專注於提供新鮮和引人注目的新套裝，例如我們全新升級的 Pride 系列、Love Always Wins 和我們明亮、有趣和充滿活力的 Hello Summer 系列。我們還推出了 Sweet Tea & Lemonade 家用香氛，正好趕上夏季。

As we continue our sustainability initiative, later this year, we will be offering soap decanters and recyclable cartons, which will enable customers to refill their soap containers and minimize waste. In addition, we continue to expand our new soap formulation that is made without paraben, sulfates or dyes to include the entire soap assortment this quarter. As Gina shared, we're also working to extend the reach of our brand and accelerate our growth. This includes leveraging our core strength in fragrance and innovation to expand into adjacent categories.

隨著我們繼續我們的可持續發展計劃，今年晚些時候，我們將提供肥皂瓶和可回收紙盒，這將使客戶能夠重新裝滿他們的肥皂容器並最大限度地減少浪費。此外，我們繼續擴展不含對羥基苯甲酸酯、硫酸鹽或染料的新肥皂配方，以涵蓋本季度的整個肥皂品種。正如 Gina 分享的那樣，我們也在努力擴大我們品牌的影響力並加速我們的增長。這包括利用我們在香水和創新方面的核心優勢擴展到相鄰類別。

To that end, we're building on the success of our men's business and expanding our portfolio to include grooming. The first stage of our expansion focuses on face and beard care, just launched in advance for Father's Day. We'll follow with the expansion into men's hair and shaving later in the year.

為此，我們在男士業務的成功基礎上再接再厲，並將我們的產品組合擴展到美容產品。我們擴張的第一階段專注於面部和鬍鬚護理，剛剛為父親節提前推出。我們將在今年晚些時候擴展到男士頭髮和剃須領域。

As we discussed last quarter, we rolled out men's anti-perspirant deodorant to our entire chain, and we continue to see promising results. We plan to launch additional fragrances in the coming months, reaching a total of 9 in store, and 10 online by the fourth quarter. Following the successful launch of our men's shop, which includes men's skincare grooming products and body care, we're excited to roll this offering out to all of our stores this month.

正如我們在上個季度所討論的那樣，我們在整個連鎖店推出了男士止汗除臭劑，我們繼續看到有希望的結果。我們計劃在未來幾個月推出更多香水，到第四季度，店內總數達到 9 款，網上銷量達到 10 款。繼成功推出包括男士護膚美容產品和身體護理產品的男士商店後，我們很高興能在本月將此產品推廣到我們所有的商店。

As part of our continuous innovation cycle, we tested haircare products last summer, and we are pleased with the customer response. We're excited to launch haircare in approximately 560 stores and online in July. With shampoo and conditioner and 5 of our signature scents and dry shampoos in 3. And knowing that our customers want to experience their favorite fragrances in multiple forms, we're looking forward to the launch of our laundry line with many of our best-selling fragrances across approximately 80 stores and online, which we anticipate will occur this fall.

作為我們持續創新周期的一部分，我們在去年夏天測試了護髮產品，我們對客戶的反應感到滿意。我們很高興 7 月在大約 560 家商店和網上推出護髮產品。洗髮水和護髮素以及我們的 5 種標誌性香味和 3 種干洗香波。我們知道我們的客戶希望以多種形式體驗他們最喜歡的香水，因此我們期待推出我們的洗衣系列，其中包含我們的許多暢銷產品大約 80 家商店和網上的香水，我們預計將在今年秋天出現。

Then in the back half of the year, we plan to expand our wellness category to include an ingredient-led collection, focusing on shea butter, hyaluronic acid and colloidal oatmeal. These products are intended to provide the additional moisture, hydration and sensitive skin solutions that our customers are seeking.

然後在今年下半年，我們計劃擴大我們的健康類別，包括一個以成分為主導的系列，重點是乳木果油、透明質酸和膠體燕麥片。這些產品旨在為我們的客戶提供額外的水分、保濕和敏感肌膚解決方案。

The customer is always at the center of our innovation process and we are excited to anticipate, meet and even exceed their expectations as we continue to add new, compelling products and packaging to our portfolio, extending Bath & Body Works' global brand potential.

客戶始終處於我們創新過程的中心，我們很高興能夠預測、滿足甚至超越他們的期望，因為我們將繼續為我們的產品組合添加新的、引人注目的產品和包裝，從而擴展 Bath & Body Works 的全球品牌潛力。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Wendy.

有了這個，我會把它交給溫迪。

Thank you, Julie. Starting with our first quarter results. We reported adjusted diluted earnings per share of $0.33, exceeding our guidance of $0.17 to $0.27 per diluted share. Our adjusted results exclude the gain on the early extinguishment of debt associated with our debt repurchases in the first quarter. We were pleased to deliver this outperformance, which was driven by better-than-expected merchandise margin rate and store selling expenses during the quarter.

謝謝你，朱莉。從我們的第一季度業績開始。我們報告調整後的攤薄每股收益為 0.33 美元，超出了我們 0.17 美元至 0.27 美元的每股攤薄收益指導。我們調整後的結果不包括與第一季度債務回購相關的提前清償債務的收益。我們很高興能夠實現這一出色表現，這是由本季度好於預期的商品利潤率和商店銷售費用推動的。

We expect to realize increased savings from our cost optimization initiatives as we move through the year, including savings in freight and store selling expenses as well as in home office and indirect spend. We are on track to meet our savings targets of over $100 million in 2023, and we expect that the savings will be fairly balanced between gross profit and SG&A.

我們希望在這一年中通過我們的成本優化計劃實現更多的節省，包括運費和商店銷售費用以及家庭辦公室和間接支出的節省。我們有望在 2023 年實現超過 1 億美元的節省目標，我們預計節省的費用將在毛利潤和 SG&A 之間保持平衡。

Net sales for the first quarter were $1.4 billion, a decline of 4% compared to last year, reflecting a decrease in both transactions and average dollar sale. When looking at the first quarter net sales compared to the same period in 2019, our top line grew 46%. First quarter sales were in line with our expectations. The quarter began as expected before sales softened in mid-March, amidst a weaker macro backdrop.

第一季度的淨銷售額為 14 億美元，與去年同期相比下降 4%，反映出交易和平均美元銷售額均有所下降。與 2019 年同期相比，第一季度淨銷售額增長了 46%。第一季度的銷售額符合我們的預期。在宏觀背景疲軟的情況下，該季度如期開始，但在 3 月中旬銷售疲軟之前。

Sales improved in late April as our customers responded to traffic-driving events. In U.S. and Canadian stores, first quarter sales totaled $1 billion, a decrease of 2% versus the prior year. Store sales increased 45% compared to 2019. First quarter direct sales of $280 million decreased 12% compared to last year. Adjusted for BOPIS, direct demand decreased 4% in the first quarter. As a reminder, BOPIS sales are recognized as store sales.

由於我們的客戶對交通擁堵事件做出反應，4 月下旬的銷售額有所改善。在美國和加拿大商店，第一季度銷售額總計 10 億美元，比上年下降 2%。門店銷售額與 2019 年相比增長 45%。第一季度直接銷售額 2.8 億美元，與去年同期相比下降 12%。根據 BOPIS 調整後，第一季度直接需求下降 4%。提醒一下，BOPIS 銷售額被視為商店銷售額。

We fully completed our rollout of BOPIS capabilities to U.S. stores this quarter.

我們在本季度全面完成了向美國商店推出 BOPIS 功能。

For the first quarter, international sales were $82 million and grew 13% versus last year, with all of our partners posting positive retail sales growth. Our international operations are conducted through franchise, license and wholesale partners and our recognized sales include royalties and wholesale product sales. Our international business continues to provide healthy and margin accretive growth, and we are forecasting double-digit international net sales growth in 2023.

第一季度，國際銷售額為 8200 萬美元，比去年增長 13%，我們所有的合作夥伴都實現了零售額的正增長。我們的國際業務是通過特許經營、許可和批發合作夥伴進行的，我們認可的銷售額包括特許權使用費和批發產品銷售額。我們的國際業務繼續提供健康和利潤增長，我們預計 2023 年國際淨銷售額將實現兩位數增長。

Our gross profit rate for the first quarter decreased 340 basis points to 43%. Roughly half of the decline was driven by buying and occupancy expense deleverage, due primarily to lower sales, costs associated with our new direct-to-consumer fulfillment center as it ramps up operations in the spring season and increased occupancy expense from new store growth. Gross profit was also pressured by a decline in the merchandise margin rate, primarily driven by continued inflationary pressure in raw materials and investments in product formulations and packaging innovation.

我們第一季度的毛利率下降了 340 個基點至 43%。大約一半的下降是由於購買和入住費用去槓桿化造成的，這主要是由於銷售額下降、與我們新的直接面向消費者的履行中心相關的成本，因為它在春季增加了運營，以及新店增長帶來的入住費用增加。毛利潤也受到商品利潤率下降的壓力，這主要是由於原材料的持續通脹壓力以及對產品配方和包裝創新的投資。

Inflationary pressures totaled approximately $13 million in the first quarter, with the greatest pressure coming from raw materials. Our mix-adjusted AUR was flat, better than expected and an improvement versus what we experienced in the fourth quarter.

第一季度的通貨膨脹壓力總計約為 1300 萬美元，其中最大的壓力來自原材料。我們的混合調整後 AUR 持平，好於預期，與我們在第四季度的經歷相比有所改善。

Though we added Flex promotions to drive traffic, we balance AURs by increasing prices in other areas, such as our everyday deal. Given sales trends and macroeconomic uncertainty, we continue to focus on disciplined expense management, which resulted in SG&A expenses below our expectations for the quarter. Total SG&A deleveraged by 290 basis points, with technology accounting for approximately half of the pressure. The remaining deleverage resulted from lower sales combined with store wage rate increases and other corporate expenses, partially offset by efficiency in store labor hours.

雖然我們增加了 Flex 促銷來增加流量，但我們通過提高其他領域的價格來平衡 AUR，例如我們的日常交易。鑑於銷售趨勢和宏觀經濟的不確定性，我們繼續專注於嚴格的費用管理，這導致 SG&A 費用低於我們對本季度的預期。總 SG&A 去槓桿化了 290 個基點，其中技術約佔壓力的一半。剩餘的去槓桿化是由於銷售額下降加上商店工資率上漲和其他公司費用，部分被商店工作時間的效率所抵消。

Taking all of this into consideration, first quarter total company operating income was $181 million or 13% of net sales.

考慮到所有這些因素，第一季度公司總營業收入為 1.81 億美元，占淨銷售額的 13%。

Turning to the balance sheet. We repurchased $84 million in principal amount of our senior notes for $76 million in the quarter. With our disciplined inventory management, we ended the quarter with inventory levels below last year. Finished goods retail units were down 10% and total inventory dollars were down 6% compared to last year. The difference between the dollar decrease of 6%, and the unit decline of 10% is primarily due to inflationary pressures in product cost.

轉向資產負債表。我們在本季度以 7600 萬美元的價格回購了 8400 萬美元的優先票據本金。憑藉我們嚴格的庫存管理，我們在本季度結束時的庫存水平低於去年同期。與去年相比，製成品零售單位下降了 10%，總庫存美元下降了 6%。美元下降 6% 與單位下降 10% 之間的差異主要是由於產品成本的通脹壓力。

We have a very clean inventory position, agility in our supply chain to chase demand as needed.

我們的庫存狀況非常乾淨，我們的供應鏈可以根據需要靈活地追逐需求。

Looking now at real estate. We continue to be very pleased with the health of our store portfolio with approximately 99% of our store fleet profitable and stores continuing to significantly outperform pre-pandemic levels. In the first quarter, we continued to increase our off-mall penetration, opening 16 new off-mall North American stores and permanently closing 8 stores, principally in malls.

現在看房地產。我們繼續對我們商店組合的健康狀況感到非常滿意，我們大約 99% 的商店盈利，並且商店的表現繼續大大優於大流行前的水平。第一季度，我們繼續提高場外滲透率，在北美新開了 16 家場外門店，並永久關閉了 8 家門店，主要是在商場。

In our international business, our partners opened 9 new stores in the first quarter, ending the quarter with 436 stores.

在我們的國際業務中，我們的合作夥伴在第一季度開設了 9 家新店，本季度末共有 436 家門店。

Turning now to our fiscal 2023 financial outlook. We are providing our 2023 outlook with comparisons to 2022. As a reminder, fiscal '23 includes a 53rd week, so the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 will consist of 14 weeks. Our outlook includes the impact of the 53rd week estimated at $0.07 per diluted share.

現在轉向我們的 2023 財年財務展望。我們正在提供 2023 年展望，並與 2022 年進行比較。提醒一下，23 財年包括第 53 週，因此 2023 財年第四季度將包括 14 週。我們的展望包括第 53 週的影響，估計攤薄後每股收益為 0.07 美元。

Also, please note that our second quarter and full-year outlook excludes the impact of any future debt or share repurchase activity.

另外請注意，我們的第二季度和全年展望不包括任何未來債務或股票回購活動的影響。

For the full year, we are reaffirming our top line outlook for flat sales to mid-single-digit sales decline. Our forecast contemplates continued macroeconomic uncertainty, and a continuation of first quarter sales trends into the second quarter of 2023 with a moderate improvement in the back half of the year, as we anniversary softer sales trends experienced in the back half of 2022. To the extent that demand is higher than forecasted as we move through the year, we will leverage our vertically-integrated supply chain and industry-leading agility to respond to that demand.

對於全年，我們重申我們的頂線展望，即銷售額持平至中等個位數的銷售額下降。我們的預測考慮到宏觀經濟持續存在不確定性，第一季度的銷售趨勢將延續到 2023 年第二季度，下半年將適度改善，因為我們在 2022 年下半年經歷了周年紀念日的銷售趨勢疲軟。在某種程度上隨著我們今年的發展，這一需求高於預期，我們將利用我們垂直整合的供應鍊和行業領先的敏捷性來響應這一需求。

We continue to expect the full-year gross profit rate to be approximately 42%. We are forecasting AURs roughly flat for the year. We still expect merchandise margin to improve sequentially as we move through the year, supported by modest cost deflation benefits in Q2 and increasing deflation benefits in the second half of the year, partially offset by investments in formulation and packaging upgrades to reinforce our position as a market leader.

我們繼續預計全年毛利率約為42%。我們預測今年的 AUR 大致持平。我們仍然預計，在第二季度適度的成本通縮收益和今年下半年增加的通貨緊縮收益的支持下，我們仍然預計商品利潤率將在今年繼續改善，部分被配方和包裝升級投資所抵消，以鞏固我們作為市場領導者。

Overall, we expect merchandise margin rate to expand by approximately 100 basis points in the second half of the year versus the prior year, resulting in roughly flat merchandise margin rate for the full year. We still expect buying and occupancy expense to deleverage for the year, driven by sales levels and increased expense from new store growth. We expect less buying and occupancy deleverage for the remainder of the year versus the first quarter as our new direct-to-consumer fulfillment center is fully ramped up.

總體而言，我們預計下半年商品利潤率將比上年增長約 100 個基點，從而導致全年商品利潤率大致持平。我們仍然預計，在銷售水平和新店增長帶來的費用增加的推動下，今年的購買和入住費用將去槓桿化。由於我們新的直接面向消費者的履行中心已全面啟動，我們預計與第一季度相比，今年剩餘時間的購買和入住去槓桿化會有所減少。

Our plan still assumes a full-year SG&A rate of approximately 26%, with the deleverage driven by lower sales levels, technology expense and increased store wage rates. We expect that these pressures will be partially offset by the benefits of our cost optimization work, including efficiencies in store labor hours, indirect spend and home office expense. As benefits from the cost optimization work build, we expect less SG&A deleverage in the second half of the year.

我們的計劃仍假設全年 SG&A 率約為 26%，而去槓桿化是由較低的銷售水平、技術費用和更高的商店工資率驅動的。我們預計這些壓力將部分被我們成本優化工作的好處所抵消，包括商店工作時間、間接支出和家庭辦公費用的效率。隨著成本優化工作的建立，我們預計下半年 SG&A 去槓桿化會減少。

We now expect full-year adjusted net non-operating expense of approximately $310 million, reflecting interest expense favorability from debt repurchases in the first quarter. We continue to expect an effective tax rate of approximately 26%, and weighted average diluted shares outstanding of approximately $230 million.

我們現在預計全年調整後的淨非運營費用約為 3.1 億美元，反映出第一季度債務回購對利息費用的有利影響。我們繼續預計有效稅率約為 26%，加權平均稀釋流通股約為 2.3 億美元。

Considering all of these inputs, we are updating our full-year EPS outlook to reflect better-than-expected first quarter EPS results, while holding assumptions for the second quarter and the rest of the year, consistent with our previous guidance. For fiscal '23, we now expect adjusted earnings per share to be between $2.68 and $3.08. We plan to have $300 million to $350 million of capital expenditures in 2023, focused on investments to support long-term growth. We are prioritizing investments in select remodels and new off-mall store openings, including approximately 90 new off-mall stores and 30 remodels to our White Barn store design, offset by about 50 closures mostly in malls.

考慮到所有這些因素，我們正在更新我們的全年每股收益展望，以反映好於預期的第一季度每股收益結果，同時保持第二季度和今年剩餘時間的假設，與我們之前的指導一致。對於 23 財年，我們現在預計調整後的每股收益將在 2.68 美元至 3.08 美元之間。我們計劃在 2023 年有 3 億至 3.5 億美元的資本支出，重點用於支持長期增長的投資。我們正在優先投資於精選的改造和新的商場外商店開業，包括大約 90 家新的商場外商店和 30 家改造我們的 White Barn 商店設計，被主要在商場關閉的約 50 家所抵消。

In all, this results in square footage growth of approximately 4%. We are also investing in technology, distribution and logistics capabilities to better serve our customers. We now expect to generate free cash flow of $650 million to $725 million in fiscal '23.

總之，這導致建築面積增長約 4%。我們還投資於技術、分銷和物流能力，以更好地為我們的客戶服務。我們現在預計 23 財年將產生 6.5 億至 7.25 億美元的自由現金流。

Turning now to our second quarter '23 outlook. For the second quarter, we are forecasting low to mid-single-digit sales decline, a continuation of trends in the first quarter. We expect the second quarter gross profit rate to be approximately 39%. The decrease versus last year is principally driven by deleverage in buying and occupancy, driven by the sales decline and increased occupancy expense from new store growth. We are forecasting roughly flat AUR adjusted for mix. Our forecast includes modest cost deflation benefits in the second quarter, offset by investments in our product formulations and packaging innovation. We expect second quarter SG&A rate to be approximately 28% of sales, with the rate increase versus the prior year, driven largely by investments in technology and increased store associate wages, partially offset by the benefits of our cost optimization work.

現在轉向我們的 23 年第二季度展望。對於第二季度，我們預測銷售額將出現中低個位數下降，延續第一季度的趨勢。我們預計二季度毛利率約為39%。與去年相比下降的主要原因是購買和入住的去槓桿化，這是由銷售下降和新店增長帶來的入住費用增加所推動的。我們預測針對組合調整後的 AUR 大致持平。我們的預測包括第二季度適度的成本通縮收益，但被我們對產品配方和包裝創新的投資所抵消。我們預計第二季度 SG&A 率約為銷售額的 28%，與上一年相比有所增加，這主要是由於技術投資和商店員工工資增加，部分被我們的成本優化工作的好處所抵消。

We expect second quarter net non-operating expense of approximately $75 million, a tax rate of approximately 26%, and weighted average diluted shares outstanding of approximately $230 million. Considering all of these inputs, we are forecasting second quarter earnings per diluted share of $0.27 to $0.32.

我們預計第二季度淨營業外支出約為 7500 萬美元，稅率約為 26%，加權平均攤薄流通股約為 2.3 億美元。考慮到所有這些因素，我們預測第二季度每股攤薄收益為 0.27 美元至 0.32 美元。

Turning to inventory. We entered the second quarter with a very clean inventory position and expect to end the quarter with a high single-digit decrease in inventory dollars and units compared to the second quarter of 2022. With regard to capital allocation, we are committed to taking a balanced and disciplined approach. Our first priority is investing in the business to drive profitable growth. We are also committed to returning cash to our shareholders, and we plan to continue paying an annual dividend of $0.80 per share with an intention to increase the dividend, over time, as earnings increase.

轉向庫存。我們以非常乾淨的庫存狀況進入第二季度，預計本季度結束時，與 2022 年第二季度相比，庫存美元和單位將出現高單位數的下降。關於資本配置，我們致力於採取平衡的方式和紀律嚴明的方法。我們的首要任務是投資業務以推動盈利增長。我們還致力於向股東返還現金，我們計劃繼續支付每股 0.80 美元的年度股息，並打算隨著收益的增加而隨著時間的推移增加股息。

Turning to capital structure. We are targeting a leverage ratio of approximately 2.5x gross adjusted debt to EBITDA. We ended 2022 with a leverage ratio of 3.1x, and in the first quarter, we repurchased $84 million in principal on our senior notes in the open market. We are committed to returning to our target leverage ratio over time. We will continue to evaluate the best use of our cash as we go through the year and as we gain better visibility into market conditions, considering options such as additional debt and share repurchases.

轉向資本結構。我們的目標是將調整後債務總額與 EBITDA 的槓桿比率控制在約 2.5 倍。到 2022 年年底，我們的槓桿率為 3.1 倍，第一季度，我們在公開市場上回購了 8400 萬美元的優先票據本金。我們致力於隨著時間的推移恢復到我們的目標槓桿率。我們將在這一年中繼續評估我們現金的最佳使用方式，因為我們對市場狀況有了更好的了解，並考慮增加債務和股票回購等選擇。

In planning for the year, we consider the macroeconomic backdrop and its impact on our customers as well as the trends we're seeing in the business. As we go through the year, our team will leverage the agility of our vertically-integrated supply chain, which allows us to respond quickly to changing customer trends and chase demand. We will also continue to build capabilities to drive future growth, while also identifying opportunities for expense reduction and profit expansion.

在今年的計劃中，我們考慮了宏觀經濟背景及其對我們客戶的影響以及我們在業務中看到的趨勢。在我們度過這一年的過程中，我們的團隊將利用我們垂直整合的供應鏈的敏捷性，這使我們能夠快速響應不斷變化的客戶趨勢和追逐需求。我們還將繼續培養推動未來增長的能力，同時尋找減少開支和擴大利潤的機會。

That concludes our prepared comments. At this time, we'd be happy to take any questions you may have. I will now turn it over to Heather for Q&A.

我們準備好的評論到此結束。目前，我們很樂意回答您的任何問題。我現在將其轉交給 Heather 進行問答。

Thanks, Wendy.

謝謝，溫迪。

(Operator Instructions).

（操作員說明）。

We'll now move to the Q&A session. Operator?

我們現在進入問答環節。操作員？

Our first question comes from Alex Straton of Morgan Stanley.

我們的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Alex Straton。

Gina, Wendy, congrats on a super great quarter. I just wanted to start with the AUR result, which is really nice at flat. It sounds like you guys were able to more effectively engage in select promotions and also lift price in some areas. Can you just give us additional color on what categories you did that in and then also, is there data driving kind of those decisions? Or how do you decide to kind of evolve those strategies?

吉娜，溫迪，祝賀一個超級棒的季度。我只想從 AUR 結果開始，它的平坦度非常好。聽起來你們能夠更有效地參與精選促銷活動，並在某些地區提高價格。你能不能給我們更多關於你在哪些類別中所做的顏色，然後還有，是否有數據驅動這些決定？或者您如何決定改進這些策略？

This is Julie, and I'll take that question. So from an AUR perspective, yes, our customer is very value conscious, and our AURs were flat this quarter and up significantly to 2019. The good news is we're not seeing our customer trade down. Our customers continue to be very selective in their purchases as evidenced by our lower UPTs and basket size with higher penetration in promotions and sharper price points. We saw softness and we were able to adjust promotions as needed and these events really resonated with our customers. So I would say from a pricing, we have a multipronged approach. So we basically raised prices this quarter in our products, adding $0.95 endings instead of $0.50 endings.

我是朱莉，我來回答這個問題。所以從 AUR 的角度來看，是的，我們的客戶非常注重價值，本季度我們的 AUR 持平，到 2019 年顯著上升。好消息是我們沒有看到我們的客戶交易減少。我們的客戶在購買時仍然非常挑剔，我們較低的 UPT 和購物籃規模、較高的促銷滲透率和更尖銳的價格點證明了這一點。我們看到了疲軟，我們能夠根據需要調整促銷活動，這些活動確實引起了我們客戶的共鳴。所以我想從定價上說，我們有一個多管齊下的方法。所以我們本季度基本上提高了我們產品的價格，增加了 0.95 美元的尾數而不是 0.50 美元的尾數。

We also have a differentiated good, better, best pricing in many of our forms and we've increased our everyday deals in soaps and Wallflowers from 5 for $25 from 5 for $27. We also continue to use our very robust testing agenda to continually test pricing to find out where we can garner more gross margin dollars.

我們還為我們的許多產品提供差異化的好、更好、最好的定價，並且我們將肥皂和 Wallflowers 的日常交易從 5 件 25 美元增加到 5 件 27 美元。我們還繼續使用我們非常強大的測試議程來不斷測試定價，以找出我們可以獲得更多毛利率的地方。

Maybe just one on the look forward. I know that the semiannual sale wasn't met with typical enthusiasm last year, a little bit more macro driven. So I'm just wondering, do you guys have any change to that strategically or timing-wise that we should be aware of?

也許只是一個期待。我知道去年半年一次的銷售沒有遇到典型的熱情，更多的是宏觀驅動。所以我只是想知道，你們有沒有我們應該注意的戰略或時間方面的變化？

Yes. So we are moving the sale up a bit, and we had a lot of learnings last year, and we are incorporating those learnings into our sales this year. We expect a better performance, keeping in mind that an -- industry level that 2 of our categories, home fragrance and soaps and sanitizers, they're still normalizing post-pandemic. I think the good news is that our beginning of sales inventory is positioned down to last year. So that really gives us an opportunity to manage markdown tightly, resulting in higher AURs. Additionally, we're also focusing, [this year], on selling non-sale go-forward full price assortment attached to all of our sales transactions.

是的。因此，我們將銷售額提高了一點，去年我們學到了很多東西，我們將把這些知識融入到今年的銷售中。我們期待更好的表現，記住我們的兩個類別的行業水平，家用香水、肥皂和消毒劑，它們仍在大流行後正常化。我認為好消息是我們的銷售庫存開始定位到去年。所以這真的給了我們一個機會來嚴格管理降價，從而產生更高的 AUR。此外，[今年]，我們還專注於銷售與我們所有銷售交易相關的非銷售前瞻性全價分類。

Our next question comes from Simeon Siegel, BMO Capital Markets.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Simeon Siegel。

So recognizing that if the answer is conservatism, that's always a good thing, but just any further thoughts on the 2Q GM drop. I guess just thinking about it sequentially and then maybe just looking at the pattern versus pre-COVID trends. It seems like inflation is working behind us, occupancy deleverage, maybe gets a little better with the ramping fulfillment and doesn't sound like promotions should get worse. So just curious about that. And then if you could remind us with the expected store opening and closure and remodel plans, what percent of the fleet should be on versus off-mall by year-end?

因此，認識到如果答案是保守主義，那總是一件好事，但只是對 2Q GM 下降的任何進一步想法。我想只是按順序考慮它，然後可能只是看看模式與 COVID 之前的趨勢。似乎通貨膨脹在我們身後起作用，入住率去槓桿化，可能會隨著履行率的提高而好轉，聽起來促銷活動不會變得更糟。所以只是好奇。然後，如果你能提醒我們預期的商店開張和關閉以及改造計劃，到年底，商場內和商場外的車隊比例應該是多少？

Simeon, I'll take that question. So in terms of Q2 and gross profit, we said a little bit in our prepared remarks, but we are starting to see some modest deflation in Q2 that will increase as we look at the back half. We, on the product side, are offsetting that deflation with restage and reformulation investment. So you heard both Gina and Julie talk about elevation of the product, and we're working very hard to continue that process. And we have those investments forecasted in our rate in Q2 and for the rest of the year.

西蒙，我來回答這個問題。因此，就第二季度和毛利而言，我們在準備好的評論中說了一點，但我們開始看到第二季度出現一些適度的通貨緊縮，當我們看後半部分時，通貨緊縮會加劇。在產品方面，我們正在通過重新規劃和重新制定投資來抵消通貨緊縮。所以你聽到 Gina 和 Julie 都談到了產品的提升，我們正在非常努力地繼續這個過程。我們在第二季度和今年剩餘時間的利率中預測了這些投資。

In terms of buying and occupancy, that is also resulting in deleverage in Q2. The biggest driver there for us is as we continue to open stores, we are seeing increased store occupancy and depreciation, and that given the sales guide, that results in deleverage on gross profit. We do anticipate, as we said in our remarks, that will improve as we look to the back half of the year.

在購買和入住方面，這也導致了第二季度的去槓桿化。對我們來說最大的驅動力是，隨著我們繼續開設商店，我們看到商店入住率和折舊率增加，並且根據銷售指南，這會導致毛利去槓桿化。正如我們在評論中所說，我們確實預計，隨著我們展望今年下半年，情況將會有所改善。

In terms of your question on real estate, right now, we're roughly 50-50 in terms of mall and off-mall, and we will be over that amount as we end the fiscal year. Our ultimate goal as we look through over a multiyear period, as we think that the right mix for our business is about 2/3 off-mall, 1/3 on-mall. So it will take us several years to get there. Every year, we evaluate the real estate landscape and make decisions based on what we see, but that ultimately is where we anticipate getting the business at end stage.

就你關於房地產的問題而言，目前，我們在購物中心和非購物中心方面大約是 50-50，我們將在本財政年度結束時超過這個數字。我們的最終目標是在多年的時間裡進行審視，因為我們認為適合我們業務的組合是大約 2/3 的商場外，1/3 的商場內。所以我們需要幾年時間才能到達那裡。每年，我們都會評估房地產格局並根據我們所看到的情況做出決策，但這最終是我們預期在結束階段開展業務的地方。

And just based on the leases, we have a lot of flexibility to do that.

僅基於租約，我們就有很大的靈活性來做到這一點。

And then just one quick clarification, really encouraging to hear about the mix-adjusted AUR being flat. I just wanted to confirm, is the flat AUR guide for the year reported AUR or the same mix-adjusted like-for-like?

然後只是一個快速的澄清，聽到混合調整後的 AUR 持平真的很令人鼓舞。我只是想確認一下，報告的 AUR 年度 AUR 指南是固定的還是相同的混合調整？

It's mix-adjusted AUR.

它是混音調整後的 AUR。

Our next question comes from Lorraine Hutchinson of Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Lorraine Hutchinson。

The robust new product pipeline for the remainder of the year allow for more ticket increases to offset some of the promotional activity?

今年剩餘時間強勁的新產品管道允許更多的票價增加以抵消一些促銷活動？

Yes. We have a lot of new adjacencies coming this year that we are super excited about. So as we've said, we're extending our men's portfolio to include grooming in advance of Father's Day. Following that with hair and shaving later this year. And we have hair care launching, which we are very excited about in about 560 stores and online in July as well as our wellness expansion. So we think that there is opportunity in these new categories to potentially promote less or promote higher. And we'll be testing that in our robust testing agenda to garner as much for margin dollars.

是的。今年我們有很多新的鄰接關係，我們對此感到非常興奮。因此，正如我們所說，我們正在擴展我們的男士產品組合，以包括父親節前的修飾。隨後是今年晚些時候的頭髮和剃須。我們推出了護髮產品，我們對 7 月份在大約 560 家商店和網上推出的產品以及我們的健康產品擴張感到非常興奮。因此，我們認為這些新類別有機會潛在地提升或提升。我們將在我們強大的測試議程中對其進行測試，以獲得盡可能多的保證金美元。

And then how does the men's product stand up to the rest of the assortment in terms of both pricing and margins?

那麼男士產品在定價和利潤方面如何經得起其他產品的考驗呢？

So men's stands up pretty much in line. I would say that the margin is where we are in body care, it's higher than the most of the assortment. And I will say that men's has been our fastest-growing category in body care and continues to be so. So we know men's is a $6 billion market. We did about $400 million last year, and we believe that we have a lot of opportunity here. We did go from the #6 market share to #3 in 1 year just by focusing on it. So we are very optimistic about this category.

所以男人的站起來幾乎是一致的。我會說利潤是我們在身體護理方面的優勢，它高於大多數產品。我要說的是，男士一直是我們在身體護理領域增長最快的類別，並將繼續如此。所以我們知道男裝是一個價值 60 億美元的市場。我們去年做了大約 4 億美元，我們相信我們在這裡有很多機會。僅僅通過專注於它，我們確實在 1 年內從#6 的市場份額上升到#3。所以我們非常看好這個品類。

And I'll just add, Lorraine, that we love the incrementality, obviously, of the customer as well.

洛林，我還要補充一點，顯然，我們也喜歡客戶的增量。

Our next question comes from Matthew Boss of JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Matthew Boss。

So Gina, could you speak to traffic versus basket, maybe as the first quarter progressed, just elaborate on any changes you've seen in customer behavior, maybe more recently or in May or anything you're expecting in the second quarter?

那麼吉娜，你能否談談流量與購物車的關係，也許隨著第一季度的進展，請詳細說明你在客戶行為中看到的任何變化，可能是最近或 5 月，或者你對第二季度的任何預期？

Yes. So traffic is -- it's been positive for us. And that is true in-mall, off-mall and actually exceeding the external mall lens that we look at. As far as, I think, the months go, we saw February strong, I think, in March, a bit of a falloff in -- and certainly consistent with what we're hearing from others. And that's where we're able to really use our agility as a company because we can use the promotions judiciously as a traffic driver to pull that back up and bring the customer back in increased trips, et cetera.

是的。所以交通是 - 這對我們來說是積極的。商場內、商場外都是如此，實際上超過了我們所看到的外部商場鏡頭。就我認為，幾個月過去了，我們看到 2 月份表現強勁，我認為 3 月份出現了一些下滑——當然與我們從其他人那裡聽到的一致。這就是我們能夠真正利用我們作為一家公司的敏捷性的地方，因為我們可以明智地利用促銷活動作為交通司機來拉動它並讓客戶回來增加旅行等等。

So we're pleased with that as well following the March drop, bringing them back in April. And then being able to pull that off with sort of AURs flat, I think, was a great success. So that's how the months ended up from a traffic point of view.

因此，我們對此以及 3 月下降後的情況感到滿意，並在 4 月將它們帶回。然後能夠以 AUR 平坦的方式實現這一目標，我認為，這是一個巨大的成功。從交通的角度來看，這就是幾個月的結局。

Great. And then maybe, Julie, where do you believe we stand today on the category normalization curve that you cited as it relates to candles and sanitizers or maybe what do you see as the time line for assortment mix stabilization?

偉大的。然後，朱莉，你認為我們今天在你引用的與蠟燭和消毒劑相關的類別標準化曲線上處於什麼位置，或者你認為分類混合穩定的時間線是什麼？

Yes, it's a great question, Matt, and I wish I had that silver ball, right? But I think when I think about our categories, just to give you some relativity, body care was our top-performing category this quarter. So with positive growth in men's and wellness, body care, in total sales, declined, but we gained unit share.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，馬特，我希望我有那個銀球，對吧？但我想當我考慮我們的類別時，為了給你一些相對性，身體護理是我們本季度表現最好的類別。因此，隨著男性和健康的積極增長，身體護理的總銷售額有所下降，但我們獲得了單位份額。

So from a home fragrance perspective, performance was in line with shop, with declines obviously driven by pressure in candles as expected. We are still the market leader here, and we continue to gain unit share. And then soaps and sanitizers, the categories that performed below the shop as the category continues to normalize post-pandemic.

因此，從家用香水的角度來看，業績與商店一致，正如預期的那樣，蠟燭的壓力明顯導致了下降。我們仍然是這裡的市場領導者，我們繼續獲得單位份額。然後是肥皂和消毒劑，隨著類別在大流行後繼續正常化，這些類別的表現低於商店。

I think the most important thing is that we continue to read our business daily and we use our vertically-integrated supply chain to really chase into fragrances and forms to meet customer demand. So we are watching it daily and reacting accordingly.

我認為最重要的是我們繼續每天閱讀我們的業務，並使用我們垂直整合的供應鏈真正追逐香水和形式以滿足客戶需求。所以我們每天都在觀察它並做出相應的反應。

The next question comes from Olivia Tong of Raymond James.

下一個問題來自 Raymond James 的 Olivia Tong。

My question is your view in terms of what's driving sales in terms of the lower value tier consumer versus the upper tier consumer? Because it seems like from others in retail that it's been the more value tier consumer that's driven some upside for them. So I just wanted to see what you thought in terms of drivers of your top line?

我的問題是，您認為是什麼推動了較低價值層消費者與較高層消費者的銷售？因為從零售業的其他人看來，是價值更高的消費者為他們帶來了一些好處。所以我只想看看你對你的頂線驅動因素有什麼看法？

From a customer's point of view, we are seeing certainly the value-conscious customer in our profile. But we're not seeing many differences in terms of the socioeconomic segments in terms of the impact. So yes, some pressures on basket sizes, for sure. But when we look at our large customer data profile, we did not see anything. As Julie mentioned, we didn't see trade down, but we also didn't see any behavior differences at the top end of our customer, nor the bottom. But a function of maybe the value-conscious customers that we have coming in and getting the value. And when I say value, I mean the price quality sort of proposition that we offer them.

從客戶的角度來看，我們肯定會在我們的資料中看到注重價值的客戶。但就影響而言，我們並沒有看到社會經濟領域的許多差異。所以是的，籃子尺寸肯定有一些壓力。但是當我們查看我們龐大的客戶數據檔案時，我們什麼也沒看到。正如 Julie 提到的，我們沒有看到交易下降，但我們也沒有看到客戶的高端和底層客戶有任何行為差異。但也許是我們進來並獲得價值的注重價值的客戶的功能。當我說價值時，我指的是我們為他們提供的價格質量主張。

And then great to hear loyalty continues to progress. Curious on your learning so far, whether the expansion of the program has impacted your view in terms of product assortment, promotion cadence, whether it's impacting your guide in any way for this year? And if you could elaborate on that, that would be great.

然後很高興聽到忠誠度繼續提高。好奇您到目前為止的學習情況，該計劃的擴展是否影響了您對產品分類、促銷節奏的看法，是否以任何方式影響了您今年的指南？如果你能對此進行詳細說明，那就太好了。

I'll start, and then I think Julie will add. I think the loyalty program is one of the best rollouts, as we said, it's got the fastest speed of enrollment in the industry. But as I said in the remarks, we're early stages in deriving the value. There's a long runway to really put this incredible tool to work going forward. We're testing these new capabilities in the second half of the year and then pulling that loyalty experience across the different channels. And that's where some of the personalized marketing, the flexible rewards will come to bear. So Julie, I think you wanted to add something around...

我會開始，然後我想 Julie 會補充。我認為忠誠度計劃是最好的推出之一，正如我們所說，它的註冊速度是業內最快的。但正如我在評論中所說，我們處於獲得價值的早期階段。要讓這個令人難以置信的工具真正發揮作用，還有很長的路要走。我們將在今年下半年測試這些新功能，然後將這種忠誠度體驗帶到不同的渠道。這就是一些個性化營銷、靈活的獎勵將發揮作用的地方。所以朱莉，我想你想補充一些東西......

I think that -- when I think about loyalty, we know that those customers make more trips, they spend more. They shop more cross category as well as more cross channel. And a meaningful number of our loyalty members are new to brand, which we're absolutely thrilled about. I think of 2022 was really the year of enrollment, and we're really thinking about '23 as enrollment and engagement.

我認為 - 當我想到忠誠度時，我們知道這些客戶旅行更多，他們花費更多。他們購買更多的跨品類以及更多的跨渠道。我們的忠誠會員中有相當數量是品牌的新手，我們對此感到非常興奮。我認為 2022 年確實是招生年，我們真的在考慮 23 年的招生和參與。

So there are many tests going on in the back half of the year. We just finished our first customer segmentation work, and we're using the advanced analytics with that, that will allow us to customize our loyalty offering, hopefully maximize enrollment and engagement. As Gina said, we're hoping to attract more customers by fully integrating our loyalty program across social, physical and digital interactions.

所以今年下半年有很多測試正在進行。我們剛剛完成了我們的第一個客戶細分工作，我們正在使用高級分析，這將使我們能夠定制我們的忠誠度產品，希望最大限度地提高註冊率和參與度。正如 Gina 所說，我們希望通過將我們的忠誠度計劃全面整合到社交、實體和數字互動中來吸引更多客戶。

And then we're really looking at the back half how we can influence member behavior. So we're going to be leveraging points-based incentives to drive incremental trips, we're pivoting to more member-only events and special products. We're looking to enhance our app to ensure a first frictionless experience. And then, of course, we have a 95% data capture rate. So we want to leverage that when the customer joins the program to enable a personalized and in the moment, marketing triggers to drive program engagement.

然後我們真的在看後半部分我們如何影響成員的行為。因此，我們將利用基於積分的激勵措施來推動增量旅行，我們將轉向更多僅限會員的活動和特殊產品。我們正在尋求增強我們的應用程序以確保首次無摩擦體驗。然後，當然，我們有 95% 的數據捕獲率。因此，當客戶加入該計劃時，我們希望利用這一點來實現個性化，並在當下觸發營銷以推動計劃參與。

I think at the end of the day, we're really looking to build a fully flexible loyalty program, really giving customers the ability to bank points and redeem them across all of our full suite of product offerings. So there's a lot of testing going on in the back half, and we think that this program is ultimately going to be a huge success for us.

我認為歸根結底，我們真的希望建立一個完全靈活的忠誠度計劃，真正讓客戶能夠在我們所有的全套產品中存入積分並兌換積分。因此，後半部分正在進行大量測試，我們認為該計劃最終將為我們帶來巨大的成功。

Our next question comes from Kate McShane of Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 Kate McShane。

We just have 2 kind of drill-down questions. You had mentioned that there seems to maybe be a little bit of shift from candles to Wallflowers as people go back to work and school. Is there a margin implication there between those 2 categories?

我們只有兩種向下鑽取的問題。你提到過，隨著人們重返工作和學校，似乎有一點點從蠟燭轉向壁花。這兩個類別之間是否存在邊際影響？

So actually, our Wallflower margin is higher than our candle margin. So it's a nice implication for us.

所以實際上，我們的 Wallflower 保證金高於我們的蠟燭保證金。所以這對我們來說是一個很好的暗示。

Okay. And then our second question was just around haircare. Could you tell us what fragrances you're leveraging for this of your existing fragrances? And is there a plan to get to the rest of the chain in fiscal year '23 with the launch?

好的。然後我們的第二個問題是關於護髮的。您能告訴我們您在現有香水中使用了哪些香水嗎？是否有計劃在 23 財年通過發布進入鏈條的其餘部分？

Say that again, the second part?

再說一遍，第二部？

Is there a plan to get to the rest of the chain in this fiscal year?

是否有計劃在本財政年度進入鏈條的其餘部分？

Yes. So we will be launching fragrances, such as A Thousand Wishes, Japanese Cherry Blossom, Champagne Toast, [Root Beer]. And we are planning, hopefully, in the back half of the year to roll out to the rest of the chain. So more to come on that. We did have a very successful test last summer, and that is what we are basing this off of.

是的。所以我們會推出香水，比如千願、日本櫻花、香檳吐司、[Root Beer]。我們希望在今年下半年計劃將其推廣到鏈條的其餘部分。所以還有更多的事情要做。去年夏天我們確實進行了一次非常成功的測試，這就是我們的基礎。

Our next question comes from Ike Boruchow of Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Ike Boruchow。

Just 2 quick questions. You talked about the business improving towards the end of the quarter, I guess, based on some promotions. Can you talk a little bit more about what you've seen so far in May? And then a bigger picture, when we think about the business and the investments needed to run the business, is there enough that's been done around systems upgrades, tech investments, the tech stack, drive digital. Just trying to think more larger picture into next year and beyond about what investments might still be needed to kind of sustain the growth of the business.

只需 2 個快速問題。我猜你談到了在本季度末業務有所改善，這是基於一些促銷活動。你能多談談你在 5 月份到目前為止所看到的情況嗎？然後從更大的角度來看，當我們考慮業務和運營業務所需的投資時，圍繞系統升級、技術投資、技術堆棧、驅動數字化所做的工作是否足夠。只是想從更大的角度考慮明年及以後可能仍需要哪些投資來維持業務增長。

I think I'll take the business questions, and we'll turn it over to Gina to talk about future tech investments and where we're going with that. Yes, so we mentioned some of this in my remarks, the quarter -- February started out in terms of being the best month for our quarter. In March, we saw some softening, as Gina mentioned, and then we were able to respond in April.

我想我會回答業務問題，然後我們將把它交給 Gina 來討論未來的技術投資以及我們的發展方向。是的，所以我們在我的評論中提到了其中的一些，這個季度 - 2 月開始是我們季度最好的月份。 3 月份，正如 Gina 提到的那樣，我們看到了一些軟化，然後我們能夠在 4 月份做出回應。

And specifically, one of the things we did in April, which we saw resonate with the customers, we added a very sharp price point soap event in April week 4 at the end of the quarter. And as we've talked about, our customers clearly are value conscious right now. And when we add those events like a sharp price point soap event, the customer responded. So we ended the quarter strong, and we were pleased to be able to deliver those compelling offers, while maintaining AUR flat. So I think overall positive story.

具體來說，我們在 4 月份所做的一件事引起了客戶的共鳴，我們在本季度末的 4 月份第 4 週增加了一個非常尖銳的價格點肥皂活動。正如我們所談到的，我們的客戶現在顯然具有價值意識。當我們添加這些事件時，比如一個尖銳的價格點肥皂事件，客戶做出了回應。因此，我們以強勁的勢頭結束了本季度，我們很高興能夠提供這些極具吸引力的報價，同時保持 AUR 持平。所以我認為整體積極的故事。

As we have started May. May -- the beginning of May is Mother's Day for us and a focus area, and we are pleased with our Mother's Day performance. Our May performance, to date, has been incorporated into the guide that we shared this morning. So that is incorporated. As you think about Q2 for us, and as we look at Q2 for us, June is by far the most important month in terms of top line size.

因為我們已經開始了五月。五月——五月初是我們的母親節，也是一個重點領域，我們對母親節的表現感到滿意。迄今為止，我們 5 月的表現已納入我們今天上午分享的指南中。這樣就合併了。當你為我們考慮第二季度時，當我們為我們考慮第二季度時，就收入規模而言，6 月是迄今為止最重要的月份。

And so June semiannual sale is an important event for us. We think, as Julie mentioned, we're well positioned, but that's really what we're looking to in terms of gauging performance in Q2. I'll turn it over to Gina on technology.

因此，6 月的半年度銷售對我們來說是一個重要事件。我們認為，正如朱莉提到的那樣，我們處於有利位置，但這正是我們在衡量第二季度業績方面所期待的。我會把它交給吉娜技術。

Yes. Thank you for the question. Thilina, who, as I said, just joined us as Chief Digital and Technology Officer, obviously, he's hit the ground running, but his remit is to certainly focus on standing up the capabilities from a technical point of view. And as you know, we've already invested in our separation from Victoria's Secret. So our model assumes that the technology costs will continue at the current levels. And so as we roll off that, establishing the stand-alone capabilities and we'll then be investing strategically to drive future growth.

是的。感謝你的提問。 Thilina，正如我所說，剛剛加入我們擔任首席數字和技術官，顯然，他已經開始運作，但他的職責當然是專注於從技術角度提升能力。如您所知，我們已經投資於與 Victoria's Secret 的分離。因此，我們的模型假設技術成本將繼續保持在當前水平。因此，隨著我們的推出，建立獨立的能力，然後我們將進行戰略投資以推動未來的增長。

What does that look like? You're absolutely right that the tech stack as it relates to MarTech and some of the things that will unlock the targeted marketing, the loyalty, the omnichannel seamlessness and all of that are those significant opportunities, and they all have a dependency on technology. So we're busy putting that roadmap together, and I'm sure we'll have more to share perhaps on our next call. He's only been here for 1 month, but we have been wasting no time getting to it.

那看起來像什麼？你是絕對正確的，因為它與 MarTech 相關的技術堆棧以及一些將解鎖目標營銷的東西，忠誠度，全渠道無縫性和所有這些都是重要的機會，它們都依賴於技術。因此，我們正忙於製定該路線圖，我相信我們可能會在下一次電話會議上分享更多內容。他來這裡才 1 個月，但我們一直在抓緊時間去做這件事。

Our last question comes from Mark Altschwager from Baird.

我們的最後一個問題來自 Baird 的 Mark Altschwager。

I wanted to follow up on products. You discussed a lot of product launches that are -- you're planning and are ongoing. Just curious if there's a way to frame up or quantify the level of newness you're planning in the assortment this year versus prior years and how you see that kind of changing into next year, if that's something that's even going to accelerate from here? And then relatedly, men's, it sounds like a big opportunity. Maybe touch on the marketing strategy there and what you're doing to target men directly versus your core customer?

我想跟進產品。你討論了很多產品發布——你正在計劃並且正在進行中。只是想知道是否有一種方法可以確定或量化您今年計劃的產品類別與往年相比的新穎程度，以及您如何看待這種變化到明年，如果這種變化甚至會從這裡加速？然後與此相關的是，男裝，這聽起來是一個很大的機會。或許可以談談那裡的營銷策略，以及你正在做什麼來直接針對男性而不是你的核心客戶？

Yes. So newness is an incredibly important part of our assortment, and we deliver new stories every 4 to 6 weeks. So our level of newness this year is pretty much in line with next year. We just have new and different ideas that we will be delivering. I would say for men's, we have a marketing strategy where we have launched men's influencers. We have used personalized marketing based on our segmentation where we've been able to tag the data and find our men.

是的。因此，新穎性是我們分類中非常重要的一部分，我們每 4 到 6 週發布一次新故事。因此，我們今年的創新水平與明年基本一致。我們只是有新的和不同的想法，我們將提供。我會說對於男裝，我們有一個營銷策略，我們推出了男裝影響者。我們根據我們的細分使用了個性化營銷，我們已經能夠標記數據並找到我們的人。

We're looking at look-a-like audiences and we also have a lot of women in our brands that actually buy for men. So quite frankly, we are targeting them as well. So we have some new things that we're doing that we haven't done before and again, continuing to target just our very core customer who right now today also we see buys a lot of men.

我們正在尋找看起來很像的觀眾，我們的品牌中也有很多女性實際上是在為男性買單。所以坦率地說，我們也以他們為目標。因此，我們正在做一些我們以前沒有做過的新事情，繼續只針對我們的核心客戶，我們今天也看到他們購買了很多男人。

The interesting thing about men's is one thing we've learned is that, the younger customer who seems to be coming to us has the TikTok strategy and influencer strategy, trying to go about it in different ways to get a younger customer. So more to come on men.

關於男裝的有趣之處在於，我們了解到的一件事是，似乎要來找我們的年輕客戶擁有 TikTok 策略和影響者策略，試圖以不同的方式來吸引年輕客戶。所以更多的人來了。

All right. We want to thank you for joining today's call. A replay will be available for 90 days on our website. Thank you for your interest in Bath & Body Works.

好的。我們要感謝您參加今天的電話會議。重播將在我們的網站上提供 90 天。感謝您對 Bath & Body Works 的關注。

Thank you. That does conclude today's conference. Thank you for your participation. You may disconnect at this time.

謝謝。今天的會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。此時您可以斷開連接。