Big Lots Inc (BIG) 2020 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, good morning, and welcome to the Big Lots Fourth Quarter 2020 Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. On the call today are Bruce Thorn, President and CEO; and Jonathan Ramsden, Executive Vice President, Chief Financial and Administrative Officer.

女士們，先生們，早上好，歡迎參加 2020 年第四季度的 Biglots 電話會議。 （操作員說明）作為提醒，本次會議正在錄製中。今天的電話會議是總裁兼首席執行官 Bruce Thorn；以及執行副總裁兼首席財務和行政官 Jonathan Ramsden。

Before starting today's call, the company would like to remind you that any forward-looking statements made on the call involve risks and uncertainties and are subject to the company's safe harbor provisions, as stated in the company's press release and SEC filings, and that actual results can differ materially from those described in forward-looking statements. The company would like to also point out, where applicable, commentary today is focused on adjusted non-GAAP results. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP adjusted results are available in today's press release.

在開始今天的電話會議之前，公司想提醒您，在電話會議上做出的任何前瞻性陳述都涉及風險和不確定性，並受公司新聞稿和 SEC 文件中所述的公司安全港條款的約束，並且實際結果可能與前瞻性陳述中描述的結果大不相同。該公司還想指出，在適用的情況下，今天的評論側重於調整後的非公認會計原則結果。今天的新聞稿中提供了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調整結果的對賬。

I will now turn the call over to Bruce Thorn, President and CEO of Big Lots. Mr. Thorn, please go ahead.

我現在將把電話轉給 Biglots 總裁兼首席執行官 Bruce Thorn。索恩先生，請繼續。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. 2020 was a remarkable year for Big Lots, and I am proud of our strong finish, which is reflected in the results we reported this morning. Comparable sales for the fourth quarter increased 7.9%, and our diluted earnings per share were $2.59. This resulted in our strongest ever sales and earnings for fiscal year , with a comp of 16.1% and $7.35 per share in adjusted earnings.

謝謝大家，大家早上好。 2020 年對 Big Lot 來說是非凡的一年，我為我們的出色成績感到自豪，這反映在我們今天上午報告的結果中。第四季度的可比銷售額增長了 7.9%，我們的攤薄後每股收益為 2.59 美元。這導致了我們本財年有史以來最強勁的銷售額和收益，調整後收益為 16.1% 和每股 7.35 美元。

Along with these results, I've been amazed by the evolution of our entire organization, which has been strongly aligned around our Operation North star Goals while working extremely hard to navigate what has been a very difficult external environment. For that, I want to say a big thank you to all of our associates across our stores, distribution centers and corporate headquarters. Our accomplishments in 2020, which I will talk more about in a moment, were truly a team effort.

除了這些結果，我還對我們整個組織的發展感到驚訝，這與我們的“北極星行動”目標緊密結合，同時非常努力地應對非常困難的外部環境。為此，我要非常感謝我們商店、配送中心和公司總部的所有員工。我們在 2020 年取得的成就，我稍後會詳細介紹，這確實是團隊的努力。

As we enter 2021, there are reasons to be hopeful that the global pandemic that has upended so many things will recede and that we will be on a path to greater stability as the year progresses. However, we will not take our eye off the ball with regard to making our stores and workplaces as safe as possible, and we will continue to work with clear and rigorous safety standards, social distancing and cleaning protocols in all of our stores and workplaces.

隨著我們進入 2021 年，我們有理由相信，這場顛覆了這麼多事情的全球大流行病將會消退，並且隨著這一年的進展，我們將走上更加穩定的道路。但是，我們不會把注意力放在使我們的商店和工作場所盡可能安全的事情上，我們將繼續在我們所有的商店和工作場所遵守明確和嚴格的安全標準、保持社交距離和清潔規程。

During the course of 2020, we incurred more than $50 million in COVID-related expenses, including health and safety measures as well as incremental pay and bonuses to stores and distribution center associates. We expect to incur further expense in 2021, albeit at a lower level. In addition, we are encouraging, supporting and facilitating our associates to get vaccinated as soon as they have the opportunity.

在 2020 年期間，我們發生了超過 5000 萬美元的與 COVID 相關的費用，包括健康和安全措施以及商店和配送中心員工的增薪和獎金。我們預計 2021 年將產生更多費用，儘管水平較低。此外，我們鼓勵、支持和協助我們的員工一有機會就接種疫苗。

Coming back to the fourth quarter. We saw 2 distinct levels of performance: strong performance in November and in January when we had more appropriate inventory levels; and what I would refer to as a solid performance in December, where we continue to see underlying strength in our business but were too sold through on our Christmas seasonal assortment to maintain the double-digit comps that marked the balance of the year. Traffic was also clearly softer in December, driven by COVID-19-related stay-at-home orders and different consumer shopping patterns caused by the pandemic.

回到第四季度。我們看到了兩個不同的表現水平：11 月和 1 月的強勁表現，當時我們有更合適的庫存水平；以及我所說的 12 月份的穩健表現，我們繼續看到我們業務的潛在實力，但在我們的聖誕節季節性品種中銷售過旺，無法維持標誌著今年平衡的兩位數業績。受與 COVID-19 相關的居家訂單和大流行引起的不同消費者購物模式的推動，12 月的客流量也明顯疲軟。

However, our core business continued to perform well, and following Christmas, for the balance of the quarter, comp growth returned to double-digit levels, benefiting from broad-based category strength and new stimulus payments that began to flow in early January. As our inventory levels were sold through, we were able to navigate through the holiday period with fewer promotions than last year. This reduction in markdowns significantly mitigated the pressure felt from increased spot freight rates and higher supply chain charges we incurred.

然而，我們的核心業務繼續表現良好，聖誕節後，本季度餘下時間，複合增長率恢復到兩位數水平，這得益於廣泛的類別實力和 1 月初開始流動的新刺激支付。隨著我們的庫存水平售罄，我們能夠以比去年更少的促銷活動度過假期。降價幅度的減少顯著減輕了我們因現貨運費上漲和供應鏈費用增加所帶來的壓力。

Across all categories other than food and seasonal, we saw double-digit comps for the quarter as a whole. Furniture sales increased 15% versus last year with strong growth in upholstery, ready-to-assemble and mattresses. The home office trend continued throughout Q4, doubling year-over-year. Upholstery delivered a 20% increase, and mattresses grew 11%. The Broyhill brand had a strong impact on furniture, representing 17% of total furniture sales in the quarter. Upholstery was particularly strong for Broyhill, driving 30% of total upholstery sales.

在除食品和季節性以外的所有類別中，我們看到整個季度的兩位數組合。家具銷售額與去年相比增長了 15%，室內裝潢、組裝和床墊的強勁增長。在家辦公的趨勢在整個第四季度都在持續，同比翻了一番。室內裝潢增長了 20%，床墊增長了 11%。 Broyhill 品牌對家具產生了巨大影響，佔本季度家具總銷售額的 17%。 Broyhill 的室內裝潢特別強勁，佔室內裝潢總銷售額的 30%。

Soft Home had a double-digit comp increase, led by strong trends within the window, home organization and basic bedding categories. Window continued strong performance for the year and was up over 35% for the quarter, with curtains up over 40%, driven by incremental Broyhill and national brand offerings. Home organization saw 25% growth, driven by plastic storage and closet organization. Basic bedding was driven by strong performance in throws, pillows and mattress toppers, all delivering 20% comp or greater. Broyhill bedding, bath, window and decor also delivered strong results, delivering 20% of division sales in the quarter.

在櫥窗、家居組織和基本床上用品類別的強勁趨勢的帶動下，Soft Home 實現了兩位數的複合增長。 Window 在本年度繼續保持強勁表現，本季度增長超過 35%，窗簾增長超過 40%，這得益於 Broyhill 和國家品牌產品的增加。在塑料存儲和壁櫥組織的推動下，家庭組織增長了 25%。基本床上用品是由被褥、枕頭和床墊罩的強勁性能推動的，所有這些都提供了 20% 或更高的補償。 Broyhill 床上用品、浴室、窗戶和裝飾也取得了強勁的業績，佔本季度部門銷售額的 20%。

Our seasonal business started the quarter off with strong double-digit comps. However, given a reduced buy of Christmas merchandise and the strong early sell-through, we saw a lack of inventory to drive sales during the key selling weeks leading up to Christmas, resulting in a sales decline versus last year for the quarter of 12%. This negatively impacted the sales growth, but we saw a quick rebound in our spring/summer and patio businesses in late January and early February.

我們的季節性業務以強勁的兩位數業績在本季度開始。然而，鑑於聖誕節商品的購買減少和早期的強勁銷售，我們看到在聖誕節前的關鍵銷售週內缺乏庫存來推動銷售，導致該季度的銷售額與去年相比下降了 12% .這對銷售增長產生了負面影響，但我們看到我們的春夏和露台業務在 1 月下旬和 2 月初快速反彈。

Apparel continued to grow in sales penetration with nearly a 50% comp, fueled by recognizable branded closeouts and key value items throughout the season. We saw strong sell-through in graphic tees, fashion tops, cold-weather fleece and sports apparel. As our customer is responding strongly to our well-curated assortment, we will continue to lean into apparel, a category that is margin accretive and highly productive. We are targeting another year of strong double-digit apparel growth in 2021.

服裝的銷售滲透率繼續增長，接近 50%，這得益於整個季節可識別的品牌收尾和關鍵價值項目。我們看到圖形 T 卹、時尚上衣、寒冷天氣抓絨和運動服裝的銷售強勁。由於我們的客戶對我們精心策劃的分類反應強烈，我們將繼續向服裝傾斜，這是一個利潤增長和高產的類別。我們的目標是在 2021 年再次實現兩位數的服裝強勁增長。

Hard Home comps were up nearly 20% to last year, with all departments delivering double-digit increases. Key areas such as kitchen appliances, cookware, dinnerware and drinkware delivered over 30% comps, in part due to the cook and dine at home trend. With this trend, we saw excellent performance from our Keurig pods and Keurig brewers, and momentum has clearly continued into 2021.

Hard Home comps 比去年增長了近 20%，所有部門都實現了兩位數的增長。廚房用具、炊具、餐具和飲料等關鍵領域的銷售額超過 30%，部分原因是在家做飯和就餐的趨勢。在這一趨勢下，我們看到了 Keurig 豆莢和 Keurig 啤酒機的出色表現，而且這種勢頭顯然會持續到 2021 年。

We launched pantry optimization in third quarter of 2020. As a reminder, this involved repositioning footage from food staples to food entertainment as well as expanded space for consumables, including cleaning products and health and beauty, combining competitively priced national brands with an expanding assortment of closeouts. This creates a significant value differentiation from the competition.

我們在 2020 年第三季度啟動了食品儲藏室優化。提醒一下，這涉及將鏡頭從主食重新定位到食品娛樂，並擴大消耗品的空間，包括清潔產品、健康和美容產品，將具有競爭力價格的民族品牌與不斷擴大的品種相結合收尾。這在競爭中創造了顯著的價值差異。

With the increased intensity of the pandemic during the colder winter months, this strategy outperformed our expectations. Customers were surprised and delighted to find more items on their shopping list at tremendous values. These categories drove repeat traffic and conversion, lifting total sales productivity for food and consumables while driving margin dollar expansion.

隨著寒冷冬季大流行病強度的增加，這一策略的表現超出了我們的預期。顧客在他們的購物清單上發現更多物超所值的商品時，既驚訝又高興。這些類別推動了重複流量和轉化率，提高了食品和消耗品的總銷售效率，同時推動了利潤增長。

Consumables have 15% sales growth with key changes in laundry/household chemicals and health and beauty. These departments grew at 23% and 19%, respectively. Food was up 1% in the quarter, a very good result considering we reduced and redistributed space in September. Our holiday gift sets helped drive a 6% comp increase in the candy gift area. We also saw a nice 6% increase across our beverage, baking and coffee departments, thanks to the new assortments implemented during the pantry optimization initiative.

隨著洗衣/家用化學品以及健康和美容的重大變化，消耗品的銷售額增長了 15%。這些部門分別增長了 23% 和 19%。食品在本季度增長了 1%，考慮到我們在 9 月份減少和重新分配空間，這是一個非常好的結果。我們的節日禮品套裝幫助推動了糖果禮品領域 6% 的收入增長。由於在食品儲藏室優化計劃期間實施的新品類，我們的飲料、烘焙和咖啡部門也增長了 6%。

Across all categories, closeout sales in the fourth quarter were up 50% over the same quarter in 2019. Closeouts are an important part of our heritage and a significant reason why she shops us. In the quarter, she was able to find closeouts, including brands such as Reebok's, Black & Decker, Nautica, Scott Brothers bedding, Ann Taylor and Sealy. Given our expanding range of closeouts and strong heritage, we see continued growth here as a clear opportunity, especially as we strengthen our buying relationships and take advantage of space made available through our queue line project identified through space planning and optimization in store.

在所有類別中，第四季度的收尾銷售額比 2019 年同期增長了 50%。收尾是我們傳統的重要組成部分，也是她購買我們的重要原因。在本季度，她能夠找到清倉，包括 Reebok's、Black & Decker、Nautica、Scott Brothers 床上用品、Ann Taylor 和 Sealy 等品牌。鑑於我們不斷擴大的收尾範圍和強大的傳統，我們認為這裡的持續增長是一個明顯的機會，特別是當我們加強我們的購買關係並利用通過我們通過空間規劃和優化確定的排隊項目提供的空間時。

Our active rewards membership reached an all-time high in Q4, with positive 9.5% growth year-over-year. Rewards customers spent 21% more than last year in Q4 and 11% more per customer. Big Heroes continued in Q4 with our now always-on 10% discount for military and veterans. 25% of participants were new Big Rewards members. We also successfully ran a targeted campaign to reactivate lapsed customers and at-risk-of-lapsing shoppers.

我們的活躍獎勵會員在第四季度創下歷史新高，同比增長 9.5%。獎勵客戶在第四季度的支出比去年增加了 21%，每位客戶的支出增加了 11%。 Big Heroes 在第 4 季度繼續提供我們現在為軍人和退伍軍人提供的 10% 折扣。 25% 的參與者是新的 Big Rewards 會員。我們還成功開展了有針對性的活動，以重新激活流失的客戶和有流失風險的購物者。

Enrollment was another great growth story, up 38% to Q4 2019. We enrolled 9 million customers to Big Rewards for the full year, our biggest enrollment year ever. With all of these strong drivers, rewards attached sales exceeded 70% of our total sales for the quarter, representing more than 700 basis points in penetration expansion to last year. Rewards has been on an incredible trend, up around 10% per year for each of the past 3 years.

註冊人數是另一個巨大的增長故事，到 2019 年第四季度增長了 38%。我們全年為 Big Rewards 註冊了 900 萬客戶，這是我們有史以來註冊人數最多的一年。憑藉所有這些強大的驅動力，獎勵附加銷售額超過了我們本季度總銷售額的 70%，比去年的滲透率擴大了 700 多個基點。獎勵一直呈令人難以置信的趨勢，過去 3 年每年增長約 10%。

Throughout the quarter, we saw significant benefits from our Operation North Star strategies. These include our expanded e-commerce capabilities, Broyhill, The Lot and our front-end queue line initiative. All of these initiatives have been successful and position us well to drive further gains in 2021, as we also accelerate additional closeout investments and depth in our apparel assortment.

在整個季度中，我們看到了北極星運營戰略帶來的顯著收益。其中包括我們擴展的電子商務功能、Broyhill、The Lot 和我們的前端排隊計劃。所有這些舉措都取得了成功，並為我們在 2021 年進一步增長做好了準備，因為我們還加快了額外的收尾投資和對我們的服裝分類的深度。

Our e-commerce business was a huge success story throughout 2020, with the pandemic increasing customer expectations to be able to shop how, when and where they want. To that end, we have focused heavily on removing purchase friction and creating better customer experiences. During 2020, we introduced curbside pickup, same-day delivery in partnership with Instacart and same-day delivery with biglots.com with pickup, allowing customers to order any item available at their local Big Lots store. Our Instacart and pickup delivery services continue to accelerate during the fourth quarter, making a significant contribution to our overall e-commerce-driven growth. As we detailed in our third quarter call, we now have ship from store capabilities in 47 stores, strategically identified to ensure 2-day delivery to 90% of our customers across the country.

我們的電子商務業務在整個 2020 年取得了巨大的成功，隨著大流行病增加了客戶的期望，使他們能夠以他們想要的方式、時間和地點購物。為此，我們將重點放在消除購買摩擦和創造更好的客戶體驗上。在 2020 年，我們推出了路邊取貨、與 Instacart 合作的當日送達以及與 biglots.com 合作的當日送達和取貨服務，允許客戶在當地 Biglots 商店訂購任何商品。我們的 Instacart 和提貨服務在第四季度繼續加速，為我們的整體電子商務驅動增長做出了重大貢獻。正如我們在第三季度電話會議中詳述的那樣，我們現在擁有 47 家商店的門店發貨能力，戰略性地確定了確保 2 天送達給全國 90% 的客戶。

Last, over the past year, we have expanded payment type choices available on site to now include gift cards; the Big Lots credit card; and lease online, pick up in store, each of which have driven incremental volume. As you know, all of these achievements resulted in us being ranked #1 in Total Retail's top omnichannel retailers report.

最後，在過去的一年裡，我們擴大了現場可用的支付類型選擇，現在包括禮品卡；大批量信用卡；和在線租賃，到店取貨，每一項都推動了銷量的增長。如您所知，所有這些成就使我們在 Total Retail 的頂級全渠道零售商報告中排名第一。

In total, e-comm and omnichannel sales grew over 130% versus Q4 last year, contributing close to 300 basis points to the overall company comp. KPIs were strong across the business, with site traffic up close to 40% and conversion more than doubling. Even with our increased demand, we were able to offer improved delivery times through 2-day shipping, same-day delivery and curbside pickup, all new compared to holiday 2019. While we are pleased with e-comm success in 2020, we still have a long way to go on our omnichannel journey, and this will be a key area for our future investment, as I will detail in a moment. We believe there is a tremendous runway as we reach new customers and drive incremental growth beyond 2020's performance.

總體而言，電子商務和全渠道銷售額與去年第四季度相比增長了 130% 以上，為公司整體業績貢獻了近 300 個基點。整個業務的 KPI 都很強勁，網站流量接近 40%，轉化率增加了一倍以上。即使我們的需求增加，我們仍能夠通過 2 天發貨、當日送達和路邊取貨來縮短交貨時間，與 2019 年假期相比，這些都是全新的。雖然我們對 2020 年的電子商務成功感到滿意，但我們仍然有我們的全渠道之旅還有很長的路要走，這將是我們未來投資的一個關鍵領域，我稍後會詳細介紹。我們相信，隨著我們接觸新客戶並推動超過 2020 年業績的增量增長，我們將有一條巨大的跑道。

Our Broyhill line, which launched in the spring, far outperformed our expectations in 2020. The line expanded beyond core home furniture to include area rugs, bedsheets and decorative pillows. The customer reaction to the entire offering of this iconic brand remains very favorable, and we remain extremely excited about our 2021 extension of Broyhill into housewares and kitchen textiles.

我們在春季推出的 Broyhill 系列產品在 2020 年的表現遠遠超出了我們的預期。該系列產品已擴展到核心家居家具之外，包括地毯、床單和裝飾枕頭。客戶對這個標誌性品牌的整個產品的反應仍然非常好，我們仍然對 2021 年將 Broyhill 擴展到家庭用品和廚房紡織品感到非常興奮。

Broyhill generated over $400 million in first year sales, and we firmly believe it is on track to being a $1 billion brand. Broyhill customers spend twice as much as non-Broyhill customers and 10x as much as non-furniture customers. This dynamic is driven both by basket size and visit frequency. 1/3 of Broyhill customers are new to Big Lots, and 50% of Broyhill's customers have already returned to make a second purchase, either in stores or through biglots.com.

Broyhill 第一年的銷售額超過 4 億美元，我們堅信它有望成為 10 億美元的品牌。 Broyhill 客戶的花費是非 Broyhill 客戶的兩倍，是非家具客戶的 10 倍。這種動態是由購物籃大小和訪問頻率共同驅動的。 1/3 的 Broyhill 客戶是 Biglots 的新客戶，50% 的 Broyhill 客戶已經返回進行第二次購買，無論是在商店還是通過 biglots.com。

Likewise, The Lot and the queue line strategies were very successful in 2020. We rolled these strategies out to 750 stores, which performed well upon launch and accelerated in the fourth quarter, driving close to 3 incremental comp points across these stores. Based on this success, we are now increasing our anticipated Lot and queue line conversions to 550 additional stores in 2021, most rolling out in spring; meaning that by midyear, over 90% of our stores will feature The Lot and queue line footprint, features and assortments.

同樣，The Lot 和排隊策略在 2020 年也非常成功。我們將這些策略推廣到 750 家門店，這些策略在推出後表現良好，並在第四季度加速，推動這些門店增加了近 3 個積分點。基於這一成功，我們現在將預計到 2021 年的 Lot 和排隊轉換數量增加至 550 家商店，其中大部分在春季推出；這意味著到年中，我們 90% 以上的商店將採用 The Lot 和排隊線的足跡、功能和分類。

Another key aspect of Operation North Star has been a keen focus on our expense architecture. Through our fund the journey initiative, I am proud to announce that we have secured $130 million of SG&A reductions to date, including savings baked into our 2021 operating plan. Additionally, through partnerships with our vendor base and through more thoughtful in-store markdown activities, we've expanded margins by approximately $30 million. Our efforts to drive more savings will continue in 2021 and beyond.

北極星行動的另一個關鍵方面是對我們的費用架構的高度關注。通過我們的基金旅程計劃，我很自豪地宣布，迄今為止，我們已獲得 1.3 億美元的 SG&A 削減，其中包括我們 2021 年運營計劃中的節省。此外，通過與我們的供應商合作以及通過更周到的店內降價活動，我們將利潤擴大了大約 3000 萬美元。我們將在 2021 年及以後繼續努力推動更多儲蓄。

As we turn to 2021, a key focus will be to make investments in our supply chain to increase throughput, improve efficiencies and support omnichannel demand. Late this summer, we will open 2 third-party operated forward distribution centers, one in the Northeast and one in the Southeast, to help process bulk items, primarily our furniture offerings and palletized goods such as bottled water. In addition, we will invest in centralized repacking capabilities at our DC in Columbus that will allow for more efficient and cost-effective picking on a per-store basis of less than a full case of items even as our store count and demand grow. These capabilities will help make our other regional distribution centers more efficient as they can focus on case picking.

當我們轉向 2021 年時，重點將是對我們的供應鏈進行投資，以增加吞吐量、提高效率並支持全渠道需求。今年夏末，我們將開設 2 個第三方運營的前沿配送中心，一個在東北部，一個在東南部，以幫助處理大宗物品，主要是我們的家具產品和瓶裝水等托盤商品。此外，我們將在我們位於哥倫布的配送中心投資於集中重新包裝能力，即使我們的商店數量和需求增長，這也將允許在每家商店的基礎上進行更高效和更具成本效益的揀選，即使我們的商店數量和需求都在增長。這些功能將有助於提高我們的其他區域配送中心的效率，因為它們可以專注於分揀。

These investments will enable us to get merchandise to our stores more quickly, efficiently and responsibly, improving our in-stocks in many items. In addition, forward distribution centers will provide a scalable platform to support our future growth, and we expect to stand up additional FDC locations beyond 2021.

這些投資將使我們能夠更快、更有效、更負責任地將商品送到我們的商店，從而改善我們許多商品的庫存。此外，前向配送中心將提供一個可擴展的平台來支持我們未來的增長，我們預計在 2021 年之後建立更多的 FDC 地點。

Another 2021 prioritization is to enhance the customer experience in our stores, particularly those stores that did not go through a full remodel under our Store of the Future program. Starting in 2021 and extending over the next few years, we will invest in a store refresh program encompassing new exterior signage, internal repainting and updated floors and bathrooms. This program will be much less expensive on a per-store basis than our prior Store of the Future program that will deliver a more consistent brand experience across our stores.

2021 年的另一個優先事項是提升我們商店的客戶體驗，特別是那些沒有在我們的未來商店計劃下進行全面改造的商店。從 2021 年開始並在未來幾年內，我們將投資於商店更新計劃，包括新的外部標牌、內部重新粉刷以及更新的地板和浴室。與我們之前的“未來商店”計劃相比，該計劃在每家商店的基礎上要便宜得多，該計劃將在我們的商店中提供更一致的品牌體驗。

We'll work in 2021 to further strengthen our e-commerce capabilities and customer data insights. We will invest to improve user experience, omnichannel capabilities with ship to store and personalization capabilities through expanded use of customer data platforms, online customer panels and more advanced segmentation.

我們將在 2021 年努力進一步加強我們的電子商務能力和客戶數據洞察力。我們將通過擴大使用客戶數據平台、在線客戶面板和更高級的細分來改善用戶體驗、全渠道能力和個性化能力。

We are excited by new merchandising initiatives in 2021. These include the strengthening of our value-driving assortment with closeouts across our merchandise categories; the aforementioned apparel expansion; additional Broyhill growth into adjacent departments; expanding our pet offerings given the acceleration of pet adoptions during 2020 and the trend of the humanization of pet and the productivity of pet products; also, our big buy initiatives that will increase our value price impressions throughout the main aisles and featured end-cap presentations. Finally, Seasonal is a key area of opportunity for us as we know we left sales on the table with depleted inventory levels in 2020.

我們對 2021 年的新銷售計劃感到興奮。其中包括加強我們的價值驅動分類，對我們的商品類別進行清倉；上述服裝擴張；其他 Broyhill 增長到相鄰部門；鑑於 2020 年寵物收養的加速以及寵物人性化和寵物產品生產力的趨勢，擴大我們的寵物產品；此外，我們的大採購計劃將增加我們在主要過道和特色終端展示中的價值印象。最後，季節性對我們來說是一個關鍵的機會領域，因為我們知道，我們在 2020 年的庫存水平已經枯竭的情況下將銷售留在了桌面上。

We continue to enhance our value-focused proposition. Our newly launched [Wonderland program offers a selection of products priced at $1 to drive conversion and excitement. Additionally, we are transforming how we work. As an example, in 2021, we will launch data-driven space planning capabilities for the first time in the company's history.

我們繼續加強我們以價值為中心的主張。我們新推出的 [Wonderland 計劃提供一系列價格為 1 美元的產品，以推動轉化和興奮。此外，我們正在改變我們的工作方式。例如，2021 年，我們將在公司歷史上首次推出數據驅動的空間規劃能力。

Focusing on space productivity, we will have better analytical tools to impact future buy cycles, optimize floor plans per store, further optimize allocation and replenishment and improve store compliance for planogram execution. We expect that these capabilities will greatly enhance our productivity store by store and category by category, with a focus on shelf availability of relevant products. Most importantly, it will create a more relevant customer assortment to increase sales and increase customer satisfaction, fueling return visits. We are excited to be adding this tool to our merchandise program as we transform the way we work. As a result of all these initiatives, we are entering 2021 with momentum and excitement about the opportunities ahead of us this year.

專注於空間生產力，我們將擁有更好的分析工具來影響未來的購買週期，優化每家商店的平面圖，進一步優化分配和補貨，並提高商店在貨架圖執行方面的合規性。我們預計這些功能將極大地提高我們逐個商店和按類別分類的生產力，重點是相關產品的貨架可用性。最重要的是，它將創建更相關的客戶分類，以增加銷售額並提高客戶滿意度，從而促進回訪。隨著我們改變工作方式，我們很高興能將此工具添加到我們的商品計劃中。由於所有這些舉措，我們正在進入 2021 年，對今年擺在我們面前的機遇充滿動力和興奮。

While unusually cold and snowy winter weather impacted traffic trends mid-February, the year is off to a strong start. Comps will moderate in March as we lap the stock-up period during the first phase of the pandemic last year and again, from mid-April when we are up against the first stimulus-driven sales period. However, we expect to end with positive comps for the quarter and growth in EPS on top of a strong growth quarter last year. Overall, while comparatives will be challenging throughout this year and especially in Q2 and Q3, we expect to continue driving significant improvements in our underlying performance and shareholder value creation.

雖然異常寒冷和多雪的冬季天氣影響了 2 月中旬的交通趨勢，但今年開局良好。隨著我們在去年大流行的第一階段以及從 4 月中旬開始的第一個刺激驅動的銷售期開始，我們將在 3 月份進行備貨。然而，我們預計在去年強勁增長的季度基礎上，本季度的業績和每股收益將增長。總體而言，雖然今年全年，特別是第二季度和第三季度的比較將充滿挑戰，但我們預計將繼續推動我們的基本業績和股東價值創造的顯著改善。

Over the past year, we have clearly benefited from government stimulus and from the nesting trend that resulted from the pandemic. However, we are very confident that our performance is also being driven significantly by our Operation North Star strategies and that, week by week, we are becoming a stronger company.

在過去的一年裡，我們明顯受益於政府的刺激措施和疫情造成的築巢趨勢。然而，我們非常有信心，我們的業績也受到北極星運營戰略的顯著推動，並且每週都在成為一家更強大的公司。

I'll now turn the call over to Jonathan for more insight on our financial results for the quarter and our outlook for 2021.

我現在將把電話轉給喬納森，以更深入地了解我們本季度的財務業績和 2021 年的展望。

Thanks, Bruce, and good morning, everyone. I would like to add my heartfelt thanks to the entire Big Lots team for their amazing efforts and commitment over the past year. And the team is pulling together as we enter 2021 to continue the great progress we made in 2020.

謝謝，布魯斯，大家早上好。我要衷心感謝整個 Biglots 團隊在過去一年中所做的驚人努力和承諾。當我們進入 2021 年時，團隊正在齊心協力，繼續我們在 2020 年取得的巨大進步。

Net sales for the fourth quarter were $1.738 billion, an 8% increase compared to $1.607 billion a year ago. The growth was driven by a record fourth quarter comparable sales increase of 7.9%. Comps were driven by strong growth in basket across both channels.

第四季度淨銷售額為 17.38 億美元，比一年前的 16.07 億美元增長 8%。這一增長是由創紀錄的第四季度可比銷售額增長 7.9% 推動的。比較受到兩個渠道的籃子強勁增長的推動。

Transactions were down slightly, driven by store traffic which was impacted by stay-at-home orders, particularly on the West Coast; as well as the generally softer traffic we have seen on peak shopping days during the pandemic. As Bruce mentioned, in terms of cadence through the quarter, the underlying trend by month was strongest in November and January, with relative softness in December given slower traffic and lower levels of seasonal inventory. Our strong fourth quarter comps drove us to record annual sales of $6.2 billion, an increase of $876 million from 2019.

受居家訂單影響的商店客流量的推動，交易量略有下降，尤其是在西海岸；以及我們在大流行期間的購物高峰日看到的普遍疲軟的交通。正如布魯斯所說，就整個季度的節奏而言，按月計算的潛在趨勢在 11 月和 1 月最為強勁，由於交通放緩和季節性庫存水平較低，12 月相對疲軟。我們強勁的第四季度業績使我們的年銷售額達到創紀錄的 62 億美元，比 2019 年增加了 8.76 億美元。

Net income for the fourth quarter was $98 million compared to $93.8 million in Q4 of 2019. Diluted EPS for the quarter was $2.59, $0.09 above the high end of our guidance range provided in early January. As a reminder, we reported EPS of $2.39 last year. For the full year, we achieved adjusted diluted earnings per share of $7.35, more than twice what we reported for 2019 and resulting in record earnings on both a GAAP and adjusted non-GAAP basis.

第四季度的淨收入為 9800 萬美元，而 2019 年第四季度為 9380 萬美元。本季度的攤薄後每股收益為 2.59 美元，比我們在 1 月初提供的指導範圍的高端高出 0.09 美元。提醒一下，我們去年報告的每股收益為 2.39 美元。全年，我們實現了調整後的每股攤薄收益 7.35 美元，是我們 2019 年報告的兩倍多，並在 GAAP 和調整後的非 GAAP 基礎上實現了創紀錄的收益。

The gross margin rate for Q4 was 39.4%, down slightly from last year's fourth quarter rate, with freight headwinds offsetting a significant reduction in markdowns. Our gross margin rate was essentially in line with expectations at the beginning of the quarter, although the freight impact and markdown benefit were both somewhat greater than expected.

第四季度的毛利率為 39.4%，略低於去年第四季度的水平，貨運逆風抵消了降價幅度的顯著下降。我們的毛利率與季度初的預期基本一致，儘管運費影響和降價收益都略高於預期。

Total expense dollars for the quarter, including depreciation, were $554 million, up from $508 million last year, again, essentially in line with beginning-of-quarter expectations. Drivers of the increase were $12 million of additional expense from sale and leaseback of our distribution centers, $11 million of additional store and corporate bonus expense, $6.5 million of higher noncash equity comp expense, ongoing COVID-related cleaning cost and supplies of approximately $5 million and some expense flex on higher sales.

本季度的總支出（包括折舊）為 5.54 億美元，高於去年的 5.08 億美元，基本符合季度初的預期。增長的驅動因素是我們配送中心的售後回租增加了 1200 萬美元，商店和公司獎金增加了 1100 萬美元，非現金股權補償費用增加了 650 萬美元，持續的與 COVID 相關的清潔成本和大約 500 萬美元的供應一些費用會因更高的銷售額而有所變化。

Interest expense for the quarter was $2.6 million, down from $3.2 million in Q4 last year, primarily as a result of paying off the balance on our unsecured line of credit earlier in 2020, partially offset by notional interest associated with the gain deferral on our sale-leaseback transactions. The income tax rate in the fourth quarter was 24.6% compared to last year's adjusted rate of 23.2%, both impacted by the resolution of discrete items. The impact of favorable discrete items was similar in value in 2020 compared to 2019, but the impact on the tax rate was less significant due to much higher pretax income. Prior to discrete items, this year's income tax rate was 25.9% compared to last year's adjusted rate of 26%.

本季度的利息支出為 260 萬美元，低於去年第四季度的 320 萬美元，主要是由於我們在 2020 年初償還了我們的無擔保信用額度餘額，部分被與我們的銷售收益遞延相關的名義利息所抵消-回租交易。第四季度的所得稅率為 24.6%，而去年調整後的稅率為 23.2%，均受到離散項目解決方案的影響。與 2019 年相比，2020 年有利離散項目的價值影響相似，但由於稅前收入高得多，對稅率的影響較小。在離散項目之前，今年的所得稅率為 25.9%，而去年調整後的稅率為 26%。

Moving on to the balance sheet. Inventory on hand was down mid-single digits, but total inventory was up 2.1% to $940.3 million, driven by higher in-transit inventory as we work to have product shipped prior to Lunar New Year, drive replenishment after strong fourth quarter sell-throughs and to match underlying stronger business trends versus the close of 2019.

轉到資產負債表。現有庫存下降了個位數中位數，但總庫存增加 2.1% 至 9.403 億美元，原因是我們努力在農曆新年之前發貨，在途庫存增加，在第四季度強勁銷售後推動補貨並與 2019 年底的潛在強勁業務趨勢相匹配。

During Q4, we had no new store openings and closed 3 stores, leaving us with 1,408 stores and total selling square footage of 32 million. For the full year, we opened 24 stores and closed 20. Our new store openings were impacted by decisions we made at the beginning of the pandemic to defer some openings into 2021, but we were pleased to still achieve net store count growth. This was aided by our new store performance intervention program, along with successful lease renewal negotiations which reduced the number of store closures. We expect to accelerate net store count growth in 2021 and more significantly beyond and continue to believe that unit growth can be a major driver of our performance.

第四季度，我們沒有開新店，關閉了 3 家門店，剩下 1,408 家門店，總銷售面積為 3,200 萬平方英尺。全年，我們開設了 24 家門店，關閉了 20 家。我們的新店開業受到了我們在大流行開始時做出的將一些開業推遲到 2021 年的決定的影響，但我們很高興仍然實現了淨門店數量的增長。這得益於我們新的門店績效干預計劃，以及成功的租約續約談判，減少了門店關閉的數量。我們預計 2021 年及以後將加速淨門店數量增長，並繼續相信單位增長可能是我們業績的主要推動力。

Capital expenditures for the quarter were $32 million compared to $33 million last year. Full year CapEx was $135 million versus $265 million last year, with the reduction driven by our evolution away from Store of the Future as well as fewer new store openings and lapping investments in our new California distribution center. Depreciation expense in Q4 was $33.6 million, approximately $3.8 million lower than the same period last year.

本季度的資本支出為 3200 萬美元，而去年為 3300 萬美元。全年資本支出為 1.35 億美元，而去年為 2.65 億美元，這是由於我們從“未來商店”的演變以及新開店和在我們新的加利福尼亞配送中心的投資減少所推動的。第四季度折舊費用為 3360 萬美元，比去年同期減少約 380 萬美元。

We ended the fourth quarter with $560 million of cash and cash equivalents and $36 million of long-term debt. This represents a $750 million year-over-year increase in our net cash position, driven both by tremendous free cash flow and the net proceeds from sale and leaseback of our distribution centers completed in June. As a reminder, at the end of 2019, we had $53 million of cash and cash equivalents and $279 million of long-term debt.

我們在第四季度結束時擁有 5.6 億美元的現金和現金等價物以及 3600 萬美元的長期債務。這意味著我們的淨現金頭寸同比增加了 7.5 億美元，這得益於巨大的自由現金流和 6 月份完成的配送中心的售後回租淨收益。提醒一下，到 2019 年底，我們有 5300 萬美元的現金和現金等價物以及 2.79 億美元的長期債務。

We repurchased 1.6 million shares during the quarter for $73 million at an average cost per share of $46.38 under our previously announced $500 million share repurchase authorization, with $327 million remaining as of the end of the quarter. Share repurchases remain an important part of our capital allocation strategy going forward, in particular given our significant excess liquidity. In total, we returned $219 million to shareholders during 2020.

根據我們之前宣布的 5 億美元股票回購授權，我們在本季度以 7,300 萬美元的平均每股成本 46.38 美元回購了 160 萬股股票，截至本季度末剩餘 3.27 億美元。股票回購仍然是我們未來資本配置策略的重要組成部分，特別是考慮到我們的流動性顯著過剩。 2020 年，我們總共向股東返還了 2.19 億美元。

As announced in a separate release, our Board of Directors declared a quarterly cash dividend for the first quarter of 2021 of $0.30 per common share. This dividend is payable on April 2, 2021, to shareholders of record on the close of business on March 19, 2021.

正如在另一份新聞稿中宣布的那樣，我們的董事會宣布 2021 年第一季度的季度現金股息為每股普通股 0.30 美元。該股息將於 2021 年 4 月 2 日支付給在 2021 年 3 月 19 日營業結束時登記在冊的股東。

Turning to 2021. Based on currently available information, for the first quarter, the company expects to achieve diluted earnings per share in the range of $1.30 to $1.45 compared to $1.26 per diluted share in 2020. This guidance is based on a low single-digit comparable sales increase and a total sales increase of approximately 80 basis points higher than the lift in comparable sales. This guidance considers our strong start to 2021 but anticipate comp pressure as we lap strong stock-up comps from the first phase of the pandemic in March of last year and particularly from mid-April when government stimulus significantly accelerated sales in 2020. The guidance does not incorporate any share repurchases we may complete in the first quarter.

轉向 2021 年。根據目前可用的信息，公司預計第一季度的攤薄後每股收益將在 1.30 美元至 1.45 美元之間，而 2020 年每股攤薄收益為 1.26 美元。該指導基於低個位數可比銷售額增長，總銷售額比可比銷售額增長高出約 80 個基點。該指導考慮了我們在 2021 年的強勁開局，但預計會面臨壓力，因為我們從去年 3 月大流行的第一階段開始，特別是從 4 月中旬開始，當時政府的刺激措施顯著加速了 2020 年的銷售。該指導確實不包括我們可能在第一季度完成的任何股票回購。

We expect gross margin rate for the first quarter to be flat to slightly up to last year, as the year-over-year markdown benefit earlier in the quarter is largely offset by continued higher freight costs and the mix impact of pantry optimization, which launched in Q3 of last year. From an SG&A perspective, at our projected sales levels, we expect some deleverage in the quarter. However, excluding approximately $12 million of expense impact from the sale and leaseback in June 2020, expenses would lever slightly.

我們預計第一季度的毛利率將與去年持平至略高於去年，因為本季度早些時候的同比降價收益在很大程度上被持續上漲的運費成本和食品儲藏室優化的混合影響所抵消去年第三季度。從 SG&A 的角度來看，在我們預計的銷售水平上，我們預計本季度會出現一些去槓桿化。但是，排除 2020 年 6 月售後回租帶來的約 1200 萬美元的費用影響，費用將略有槓桿作用。

With regard to the full year, we expect that our financial performance will be significantly affected by the ongoing pandemic, including the continued evolution of consumer shopping behaviors, potential additional stimulus and other macro-driven factors. As a result, at this point, we do not believe we have sufficient visibility to provide full year guidance on sales or EPS. We do expect to face ongoing pressure from higher freight costs through the year as well as some adverse mix impact from our pantry optimization strategy. This will be partially offset by lower shrink and other mix effects, but with the net result that our gross margin rate is likely to be slightly down.

就全年而言，我們預計我們的財務業績將受到持續流行病的顯著影響，包括消費者購物行為的持續演變、潛在的額外刺激和其他宏觀驅動因素。因此，在這一點上，我們認為我們沒有足夠的知名度來提供全年的銷售或每股收益指導。我們確實預計將面臨全年運費上漲的持續壓力，以及我們的食品儲藏室優化策略帶來的一些不利組合影響。這將被較低的收縮率和其他混合效應部分抵消，但最終結果是我們的毛利率可能會略有下降。

We expect SG&A expense dollars for the year to be down, with benefits from lower COVID-related expense, normalization of bonus expense and structural expense savings, offset by incremental expense from sale leaseback, higher noncash equity comp expense, higher new store expense due to increased openings, higher wage levels and investments in our new forward deployment centers and other strategic investments. The forward deployed center investment for this year will add approximately $10 million to SG&A beginning mid-summer.

我們預計今年的 SG&A 費用美元將下降，受益於 COVID 相關費用降低、獎金費用正常化和結構性費用節省，但被銷售回租的增量費用、更高的非現金股權補償費用、更高的新店費用所抵消增加職位空缺、更高的工資水平以及對我們新的前沿部署中心的投資和其他戰略投資。從仲夏開始，今年的前沿部署中心投資將為 SG&A 增加約 1000 萬美元。

Our SG&A expectations for the full year incorporate around $30 million of incremental structural expense savings across store labor, our supply chain and general office. On the close of 2021, we will have reduced SG&A by at least $130 million versus the start of 2019, and supported by our ongoing culture of frugality, we expect to drive this figure higher.

我們對全年 SG&A 的預期包括在商店勞動力、供應鍊和一般辦公室中增加約 3000 萬美元的結構性開支節省。到 2021 年底，與 2019 年初相比，我們將 SG&A 減少至少 1.3 億美元，在我們持續的節儉文化的支持下，我們預計這一數字會更高。

Capital expenditures for 2021 are expected to be in the range of $180 million to $190 million, with a focus on strategic investments to strengthen and accelerate the business. These investments include the aforementioned Lot and queue line store conversions, omnichannel capabilities, space planning technology and customer analytics capabilities. In addition, we expect to open 50 to 60 stores in 2021, of which around 20 will be relocations.

2021 年的資本支出預計在 1.8 億美元至 1.9 億美元之間，重點是加強和加速業務的戰略投資。這些投資包括前面提到的批次和排隊商店轉換、全渠道能力、空間規劃技術和客戶分析能力。此外，我們預計 2021 年將開設 50 至 60 家門店，其中約 20 家將搬遷。

As we think about inventory levels throughout 2021, it is important to note that we will be up against some very depleted 2020 inventory levels, which we know cause us to miss sales and adversely impact our customers' in-store experience. In addition, we expect to flow some receipts earlier to mitigate freight costs. As a result, we expect headline inventory levels to be up significantly over 2020, especially at the end of Q2 and Q3.

當我們考慮整個 2021 年的庫存水平時，重要的是要注意，我們將面臨 2020 年一些非常枯竭的庫存水平，我們知道這會導致我們錯過銷售並對客戶的店內體驗產生不利影響。此外，我們預計將提早發放一些收據以降低運費。因此，我們預計整體庫存水平將在 2020 年大幅上升，尤其是在第二季度和第三季度末。

However, on a 2-year basis, inventory levels will reflect strong turn improvement. For Q1, including in transit, our ending inventory will be up around 15% as we lap depleted inventories at the end of the first quarter last year, but approximately flat to 2019 against a 2-year double-digit sales increase. We expect that inventories will continue to run close to flat on a 2-year basis through the balance of the year. We expect interest expense for the year to be approximately flat, with lower interest on borrowings offset by notional interest expense related to the sale leaseback gain deferral.

然而，在 2 年的基礎上，庫存水平將反映強勁的轉向改善。對於第一季度，包括在途，我們的期末庫存將增加約 15%，因為我們在去年第一季度末庫存耗盡，但與 2019 年大致持平，而兩年的銷售額增長為兩位數。我們預計到今年餘下時間，庫存將在兩年內繼續接近持平。我們預計本年度的利息支出將大致持平，較低的借款利息被與銷售回租收益遞延相關的名義利息支出所抵消。

Overall, 2021 headline numbers will reflect challenging comparisons to 2020, but we believe will reflect strong underlying performance and excellent growth versus 2019. We have great momentum coming into the year and a strong plan guided by Operation North Star.

總體而言，2021 年的總體數據將反映與 2020 年的具有挑戰性的比較，但我們認為將反映與 2019 年相比強勁的基本表現和出色的增長。我們今年勢頭強勁，並且在北極星行動的指導下制定了強有力的計劃。

I'll now turn the call back over to our moderator so that we can begin to address your questions.

我現在將把電話轉回給我們的主持人，以便我們開始解決您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question today is coming from Greg Badishkanian from Wolfe Research.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Greg Badishkanian。

This is Spencer Hanus on for Greg. Can you talk about what gets you comfortable with the low single-digit comp for the first quarter? And then how are you guys thinking about the benefit from stimulus during 1Q?

這是格雷格的斯賓塞漢努斯。你能談談是什麼讓你對第一季度的低個位數收入感到滿意嗎？那麼你們如何看待第一季度刺激措施的好處？

And then I guess on a 2-year stack basis, it implies comps up roughly low teens. Is that a good way to think about comps for the full year or good starting point?

然後我猜以 2 年的籌碼量為基礎，這意味著可以彌補大約低青少年。這是考慮全年補償的好方法還是好的起點？

Yes. Spencer, I'll be happy to take that. And then maybe Bruce will want to add a couple of comments.

是的。斯賓塞，我很樂意接受。然後也許布魯斯會想要添加一些評論。

So obviously, Q1 is a very complex quarter because there are a lot of moving parts and we're up against some significant variability by week as we went through Q1 last year when February started off fairly soft and then we saw the stock-up benefit in March, then had a little bit of a dip before we saw the first benefit of the stimulus in mid-April, which drove comps a lot higher. So we're modeling against that, and we're looking at each of those weeks. We're factoring in the impact of the timing of tax refunds, which are coming out later this year; the stimulus effect from the December stimulus, which is still having some impact and there's still some dollars to drop on that.

很明顯，第一季度是一個非常複雜的季度，因為有很多活動部件，而且我們每週都面臨著一些顯著的變化，因為我們經歷了去年第一季度，當時 2 月份開始相當疲軟，然後我們看到了庫存收益在 3 月，然後在 4 月中旬看到刺激措施的第一個好處之前略有下降，這推動了薪酬大幅上漲。因此，我們正在對此進行建模，並且我們正在研究每一周。我們正在考慮今年晚些時候推出的退稅時間的影響； 12 月刺激措施的刺激效果，仍然有一些影響，並且仍有一些美元可以下跌。

We haven't at this point baked in the next stimulus, which appears likely to pass in the near future. I would say what we've seen over time is a little bit of a diminishing return on those stimulus injections. The benefit we got from the December stimulus was less than the April stimulus. And we're assuming that will probably go a little further, partly because people are saving more of the stimulus payments than they were at the beginning of the pandemic with the first round.

我們目前還沒有製定下一個刺激措施，這似乎可能在不久的將來通過。我想說的是，隨著時間的推移，我們看到這些刺激注射的回報有點遞減。我們從 12 月的刺激計劃中獲得的好處少於 4 月的刺激計劃。我們假設這可能會走得更遠，部分原因是與第一輪大流行開始時相比，人們節省了更多的刺激支付。

So there's a lot of moving parts. We're modeling it out based on all those moving parts. And we're obviously close to 5 weeks into the quarter so we've seen where we've been quarter-to-date, and that gives us some comfort about where we're trending for the quarter as a whole.

所以有很多活動部件。我們正在根據所有這些移動部件對其進行建模。而且我們顯然已經接近本季度的 5 週，所以我們已經看到了本季度迄今為止的情況，這讓我們對整個季度的趨勢感到有些安慰。

I think the key point is our underlying business is very strong. When you sort of bracket out some of those timing and stimulus-driven differences, we're seeing really strong comps across most of our categories. Not surprisingly, food and consumables is a little light right now given where we're starting to come up against. But we feel good about the trend, and we feel that the guidance we've given on comps makes sense given everything we're seeing.

我認為關鍵是我們的基礎業務非常強大。當您排除一些時間和刺激驅動的差異時，我們會看到我們大多數類別的對比非常強勁。毫不奇怪，鑑於我們開始遇到的問題，食品和消耗品現在有點輕。但我們對這一趨勢感覺良好，並且我們認為我們給出的關於比賽的指導是有道理的，因為我們所看到的一切。

And Spencer, I'll just add to what Jonathan said. Q1 definitely is off to a good start. We think the customer is healthy. She's still valuing value home, e-commerce and shopping on her terms. I think our Operation North Star initiatives are proving very well to be what she wants in Q1. And we're entering 2021 with more reward customers than ever before. So we feel good about how we're starting the year.

斯賓塞，我將補充喬納森所說的內容。 Q1 絕對是一個良好的開端。我們認為客戶是健康的。她仍然按自己的條件看重物超所值的房屋、電子商務和購物。我認為我們的北極星行動計劃在第一季度被證明是她想要的。進入 2021 年，我們將迎來比以往更多的獎勵客戶。所以我們對我們如何開始新的一年感覺很好。

And then, Spencer, just coming back to the last point of your question about 2-year comps. Yes, I agree with your math on Q1. I wouldn't necessarily take that as a kind of hard and fast guide to where we're going to be. Every quarter is different this year.

然後，Spencer，回到你關於 2 年補償的問題的最後一點。是的，我同意你在第一季度的數學。我不一定會把它當作一種硬性和快速的指南來指導我們將要去的地方。今年每個季度都不一樣。

In Q1, we are still getting some benefit from the December stimulus. As we get to the latter part of the year, we're assuming there will be little or no stimulus or unemployment benefit that we are currently benefiting from. But there are lots of puts and takes in every quarter, including the fact, when we get to Q4, we don't have the -- we'll be lapping a seasonal headwind. So I think you have to look at every quarter differently, but I wouldn't count on the 2-year comp being the same for the balance of the year.

在第一季度，我們仍然從 12 月的刺激計劃中獲得了一些好處。隨著我們進入今年下半年，我們假設我們目前受益的刺激或失業救濟金將很少或沒有。但是每個季度都有很多看跌期權，包括事實上，當我們進入第四季度時，我們沒有 - 我們將遇到季節性逆風。所以我認為你必須以不同的方式看待每個季度，但我不會指望 2 年的薪酬與今年的餘額相同。

That's really helpful. And then on your inventory, how comfortable are you with what -- where inventory levels are today? And do you feel a little bit light or are you good today?

這真的很有幫助。然後在您的庫存中，您對今天的庫存水平有多滿意？你感覺有點輕鬆還是今天過得還好？

Yes. I think we feel pretty good. We have -- our on hand has remained in negative territory, and we are working to get that back to something that makes us more comfortable, closer to flat, a little bit higher on hand at the end of Q1. We've had some processing challenges, as we talked about, getting inventory through our DCs, which has impacted the on-hand levels.

是的。我覺得我們感覺很好。我們有 - 我們的手頭一直處於負數區域，我們正在努力讓它回到讓我們更舒適，更接近平坦，在第一季度末手頭更高一點的東西。正如我們所說，我們遇到了一些處理挑戰，通過我們的 DC 獲取庫存，這影響了現有水平。

But we are on track. We are hopeful that we're going to be back in a good position. Obviously, sales is an important dynamic in that. But we feel good about where we're tracking to at the end of Q1.

但我們正在走上正軌。我們希望我們能回到一個好的位置。顯然，銷售是其中的一個重要動力。但我們對第一季度末的追踪目標感覺良好。

And then you talked about 50 to 60 new stores in 2021. How should we think about where those new stores will be located? Are they going to be in your core markets? Are they going to be in new markets? And then how does the store format differ from what your existing store looks like today?

然後你談到2021年要開50到60家新店。我們應該如何考慮這些新店的位置？他們會進入你的核心市場嗎？他們會進入新市場嗎？那麼商店格式與您現有商店的樣子有何不同？

Yes. These -- Spencer, these are mostly conventional stores, pretty much all, in fact, consistent with our existing store format. Some of -- about 20 of them are relos, where we are, in many cases, taking more space, moving from a store where there was limited furniture penetration, for example, to a bigger store where we can have a full furniture assortment. But other than that, they're generally consistent with our existing boxes.

是的。這些——Spencer，這些大多是傳統的商店，幾乎所有的，事實上，與我們現有的商店格式一致。其中一些 - 其中大約 20 個是 relos，在許多情況下，我們佔據了更多的空間，例如，從家具滲透有限的商店搬到更大的商店，在那裡我們可以擁有完整的家具分類。但除此之外，它們通常與我們現有的盒子一致。

In terms of the geography, they're pretty diverse in terms of where they are across the country. I wouldn't say there's any particular call-out there. But to your point, we are continuing to explore different formats for the stores going forward. Our priority this year is to return to healthy store count growth. We were slightly positive the last 2 years, but we want to accelerate.

就地理位置而言，他們在全國各地的位置非常多樣化。我不會說那裡有任何特別的呼籲。但就您而言，我們將繼續為未來的商店探索不同的格式。我們今年的首要任務是恢復健康的門店數量增長。過去 2 年我們略微樂觀，但我們希望加快步伐。

But we do think there are a lot of interesting opportunities going forward. And that's both with our existing format, where there are fill-in opportunities in existing markets where we do well, as well as a lot of white space in markets where we aren't penetrated. And then there is an opportunity for different formats that we're spending a lot of time evaluating right now.

但我們確實認為未來會有很多有趣的機會。這既是我們現有的格式，在我們做得好的現有市場中存在填補機會，以及在我們沒有滲透的市場中存在大量空白空間。然後是我們現在花費大量時間評估的不同格式的機會。

Our next question today is coming from Joe Feldman from TAG.

我們今天的下一個問題來自 TAG 的 Joe Feldman。

Wanted to ask -- on the e-commerce business, can you share a little more color on what's selling? Like are people starting to buy more of the furniture and bulky items? Is that kind of, I guess, sparking the -- those new 2 forward distribution centers? Or are people still buying smaller ticket? Maybe just any complexion you could share on that would be helpful.

想問一下——在電子商務業務上，你能分享更多關於賣什麼的顏色嗎？人們是否開始購買更多的家具和大件物品？我猜，這是否會引發——那些新的 2 個前沿配送中心？還是人們還在買小票？也許您可以分享的任何膚色都會有所幫助。

Yes. Joe, I'll start this one off. Thanks for the question.

是的。喬，我會開始這個。謝謝你的問題。

We're really pleased with our growth in e-commerce, as we stated before in our opening remarks. It's grown significantly, twice last year's volume in Q4, and Q4 was nearly 5% of sales. And it wasn't so long ago when we were under $50 million in sales total. That was back in 2018. And now this channel looks like it could grow to $1 billion in a handful of years. So we're really pleased with that.

正如我們之前在開場白中所說，我們對電子商務的增長感到非常滿意。它顯著增長，是去年第四季度的兩倍，第四季度佔銷售額的近 5%。不久前，我們的總銷售額還不到 5000 萬美元。那是在 2018 年。現在這個頻道看起來可以在幾年內增長到 10 億美元。所以我們對此非常滿意。

The type of items that are selling are anything from an Instacart order that will fit in the back of a trunk all the way up to a Broyhill sectional sofa that can be delivered same day through pickup or on a 2-day ship from store out of one of our 47 stores. So we're really pleased with that. We are seeing tremendous interest along with this home nesting trend to buy that furniture online. And so that's been a nice addition.

銷售的商品類型包括從 Instacart 訂單到行李箱後部的任何物品，到 Broyhill 組合沙發，可以在當天通過取貨或在 2 天的時間內從商店發貨我們的 47 家商店之一。所以我們對此非常滿意。隨著這種家庭嵌套趨勢，我們看到了在線購買家具的巨大興趣。所以這是一個很好的補充。

And we're seeing a tremendous amount of new customer through this e-com channel that we didn't have before. So conversion rates continue to grow, in fact, doubled over last year; very strong traffic, nearly 40% up year-over-year. We've made it easy to shop with Instacart pickup, ship from store and direct vendor shipments as well. So seeing a lot of home type of products being ordered through the e-com channel.

我們通過這個我們以前沒有的電子商務渠道看到了大量的新客戶。所以轉化率繼續增長，實際上比去年翻了一番；流量非常強勁，同比增長近 40%。我們通過 Instacart 取貨、從商店發貨和直接供應商發貨讓購物變得輕鬆。所以看到很多家庭類型的產品通過電子商務渠道訂購。

Got it. That's helpful. And then you mentioned new customers, and that was something else we wanted to ask you about. With -- I think you said with the reward program, you saw 9 million new customers for the year. And I was just wondering if what you're seeing -- are they behaving the same way as your historical customers?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後你提到了新客戶，這是我們想問你的另一件事。有了--我想你說過獎勵計劃，你一年看到了 900 萬新客戶。我只是想知道您所看到的是否-他們的行為方式與您的歷史客戶相同嗎？

Are they different at all, younger? Are they buying different things, spending more? And maybe if you could tie in the e-commerce new customers you're seeing to that too, that would be helpful.

他們有什麼不同嗎，年輕的？他們是否購買不同的東西，花費更多？也許如果您也可以將您所看到的電子商務新客戶與此聯繫起來，那將會很有幫助。

Yes. The first question -- first off, a lot of our -- in some months, half of our rewards customer sign-ups come through the e-commerce channel, and so that's a nice way to pick up new customers. But you're right, we added 9 million rewards customers. Our growth in rewards customers or new to our file has been roughly 10% for the last 3 years, so 21 million in total.

是的。第一個問題——首先，我們的很多——在幾個月內，我們一半的獎勵客戶註冊來自電子商務渠道，因此這是吸引新客戶的好方法。但你是對的，我們增加了 900 萬獎勵客戶。在過去 3 年中，我們的獎勵客戶或新客戶的增長大約為 10%，因此總計 2100 萬。

We're retaining these customers at a better rate than prior years. And these retained customers that we're getting are spending more than 25% more in 2020 than they did in 2019. And the satisfaction scores across our network in stores has never been higher from a Net Promoter Score. So we're happy to see that.

我們以比往年更好的速度留住這些客戶。我們獲得的這些留存客戶在 2020 年的支出比 2019 年增加了 25% 以上。我們在商店網絡中的滿意度得分從未高於淨推薦值。所以我們很高興看到這一點。

In terms of age, I can't comment on that right now. We'll look into that a little bit more and get back to you. But I do know that there's a lot of a nesting trend going on in that furniture. Improving the home space for work, for life is key. And we technically see a younger customer in that area so I'm sure there's some aging down, which is a good trend to have in that customer growth file. But this growth to 21 million and growing 10% a year is like a customer annuity pipeline for us and sets us up in a nice way for '21.

就年齡而言，我現在無法評論。我們將對此進行更多調查並回复您。但我確實知道這種家具有很多嵌套趨勢。改善工作、生活的家庭空間是關鍵。從技術上講，我們在該領域看到了一個年輕的客戶，所以我敢肯定會有一些老齡化，這是該客戶增長文件中的一個好趨勢。但是這種增長到 2100 萬並且每年增長 10% 對我們來說就像是一條客戶年金管道，並為 21 年奠定了良好的基礎。

Our next question today is coming from Chandni Luthra from Goldman Sachs.

我們今天的下一個問題來自高盛的 Chandni Luthra。

I'd like to talk about share repurchase a little bit. So you guys repurchased $73 million worth of shares at $46 in the quarter. Stock's obviously a bit higher than that right now, has been for the last couple of weeks.

我想談談股票回購。因此，你們在本季度以 46 美元的價格回購了價值 7300 萬美元的股票。股票顯然比現在高一點，過去幾週一直如此。

As we think about buyback going forward, could you perhaps throw some color as to how you think about it? Do you think about repurchase more opportunistically? Or is it based on a forward set plan typically?

當我們考慮未來的回購時，您能否就您的想法發表一些看法？您是否更機會主義地考慮回購？還是通常基於前瞻性計劃？

Chandni, thanks for the question. I'll be happy to take that one. So just as a reminder, we had a $500 million share repurchase authorized by the Board last August. We've done -- we did $173 million of that through the end of Q4, to the point of your question.

Chandni，謝謝你的提問。我很樂意接受那個。因此，提醒一下，我們在去年 8 月獲得了董事會授權的 5 億美元股票回購。我們已經完成了——到第四季度末，我們已經完成了 1.73 億美元，就您的問題而言。

When we authorize that amount, we felt confident that we would have, I would call it, excess liquidity available to fund that. And clearly, since then, we've continued to perform well so that picture hasn't changed. And we certainly think we have the liquidity to continue moving through that $500 million authorization.

當我們授權該金額時，我們相信我們將擁有（我稱之為）多餘的流動性來為其提供資金。顯然，從那時起，我們一直表現良好，所以情況沒有改變。我們當然認為我們有足夠的流動性繼續通過這 5 億美元的授權。

The specific decision on execution is one we make quarter by quarter. We review with our Board and capital allocation planning committee, and we certainly take into account where the stock is currently trading when we set the grid. Typically, we're doing a 10b5-1 plan we're locking in at the beginning of the quarter, and those plans are structured to become more aggressive at lower stock price levels but also to lock in a kind of base level of repurchases typically.

執行的具體決定是我們一個季度一個季度做出的決定。我們與我們的董事會和資本分配計劃委員會一起審查，我們在設置網格時當然會考慮股票當前的交易位置。通常情況下，我們正在製定一個我們在本季度初鎖定的 10b5-1 計劃，這些計劃的結構是在較低的股價水平下變得更加激進，但通常也會鎖定一種基本的回購水平.

So again, it's a quarter-by-quarter determination. We certainly don't intend to carry the excess liquidity we have on the balance sheet on a long-term basis, so we want to deploy that capital in a more productive way. And we expect that share repurchases will remain the key way that we will do that in the near term. And obviously, that takes into account the assumption that our capital expenditures in the business, which would be our top priority to invest within the business, are going to be fully funded from operating cash flow, which we certainly expect to be the case.

同樣，這是一個季度一個季度的決定。我們當然不打算長期持有資產負債表上的過剩流動性，因此我們希望以更高效的方式部署這些資本。我們預計股票回購仍將是我們在短期內實現這一目標的關鍵方式。顯然，這考慮到了我們在業務中的資本支出（這將是我們在業務中投資的首要任務）將完全由經營現金流提供資金的假設，我們當然希望如此。

Great. And if I could get a quick follow-up on gross margins for next year. Especially as we think about the promotional environment that most retailers have talked about as we go beyond the first quarter, how do you think about the promotional backdrop vis-à-vis freight charges? And how do you think that sort of flows through the balance of 2021?

偉大的。如果我能快速跟進明年的毛利率。尤其是當我們考慮到大多數零售商在第一季度之後談論的促銷環境時，您如何看待促銷背景與運費？你認為這種情況如何在 2021 年的餘額中流動？

You want me to start?

你要我開始嗎？

Sure. Go ahead, Bruce, yes.

當然。繼續，布魯斯，是的。

Yes. No, it's a good question, Chandni. We expect that our promotional activity will be lower than 2019. We had a good lower promotional activity through 2020.

是的。不，這是個好問題，Chandni。我們預計我們的促銷活動將低於 2019 年。到 2020 年，我們的促銷活動較低。

With regard to freight impact, we're doing things to mitigate that. We're in negotiations. We've got a great ecosystem of vendors and freight carriers that we're working with, smoothing out volumes to lower those rates and then get the capacity. But overall, just tremendous good work with less markdowns in 2020. We expect that [to continue] in '21.

關於貨運影響，我們正在採取措施減輕這種影響。我們正在談判中。我們有一個由供應商和貨運公司組成的優秀生態系統，我們正在與之合作，通過調整數量來降低這些費率，然後獲得運力。但總體而言，2020 年降價幅度較小，工作非常出色。我們預計 21 年這種情況[將繼續]。

You cut out a little bit, Bruce.

你少了一點，布魯斯。

Go ahead, Jonathan.

來吧，喬納森。

Sorry. Yes. So yes, Chandni, I would just add that I think -- and sort of accurate is really what Bruce said, that we've got much more effective at deploying promotions, I think, during 2020. So we used to do a lot of those big whole-house Friends and Family events, which were a fairly blunt instrument. And as our rewards database has grown and we have more data and we learn more about what promos work, I think our ability to be much more targeted with our promotions has significantly improved.

對不起。是的。所以，是的，Chandni，我只想補充一點，我認為——布魯斯所說的有點準確，我認為，在 2020 年，我們在部署促銷活動方面變得更加有效。所以我們過去做了很多那些大型的全屋朋友和家庭活動，這是一個相當生硬的工具。隨著我們的獎勵數據庫不斷擴大，我們擁有更多數據，並且我們更多地了解促銷活動的作用，我認為我們在促銷活動中更有針對性的能力已經顯著提高。

And then you look at a month like January this year, where we were significantly less promotional and we still delivered a great comp. And we feel good about that. We made a lot more money in January than we have done in past years.

然後你看看今年 1 月這樣的月份，我們的促銷活動明顯減少，但我們仍然提供了很好的補償。我們對此感覺良好。一月份我們賺的錢比過去幾年多得多。

Our next question today is coming from Peter Keith from Piper Sandler.

我們今天的下一個問題來自 Piper Sandler 的 Peter Keith。

I hope you're doing well. Maybe just a follow-on on that last question regarding gross margin. There's certainly a lot of investor concern around freight headwinds in ocean freight. And I was hoping you could provide maybe the shape of that headwind to your full year.

我希望你一切都好。也許只是關於毛利率的最後一個問題的後續。對於海運的貨運逆風，投資者肯定有很多擔憂。我希望你能為你的全年提供逆風的形狀。

Is that something that you think will run smoothly or equivalent across all quarters? Is it front-end loaded, back-end loaded? And maybe even any full year quantification of the impact would be helpful.

您認為這是否會在所有方面順利運行或等效？是前端加載還是後端加載？甚至可能對影響進行任何全年量化都會有所幫助。

Yes. I'll be able to -- Peter, I'll be able to kick off on that. Yes, I mean, we definitely think it's going to be a full year headwind. There's no reason at this point to think that it's going to kind of abate in 2021. It will probably be in '22 before we start to see year-over-year relief on that based on everything we're seeing and hearing and talking to our partners.

是的。我將能夠-- 彼得，我將能夠開始。是的，我的意思是，我們絕對認為這將是一整年的逆風。目前沒有理由認為它會在 2021 年有所減弱。根據我們所看到、聽到和與之交談的一切，它可能會在 22 年開始看到逐年緩解之前我們的同伴。

I would say in terms of the cadence through the year, probably relatively even at this point based on what we're seeing. And we haven't really quantified it, and it's continuing to evolve obviously. But it is a meaningful headwind throughout 2021.

我想說的是全年的節奏，根據我們所看到的情況，在這一點上可能相對均勻。而且我們還沒有真正量化它，而且它顯然還在繼續發展。但這在整個 2021 年都是一個有意義的逆風。

Okay. And -- but I guess -- I think in the prepared remarks, Jonathan, factoring that in, you would still expect gross margin just to be down slightly.

好的。而且 - 但我猜 - 我認為在準備好的評論中，喬納森，考慮到這一點，你仍然會預計毛利率會略有下降。

Exactly, yes. We think we'll make up some ground in other areas that will put us in that range.

沒錯，是的。我們認為我們將在其他領域取得一些進展，從而使我們處於該範圍內。

Okay. Great. Moving on to a different topic. You did mention this new capability with data-driven space planning capabilities. And I was hoping you could unpack that for us a little bit. Maybe give us a sense of the timing of when that starts to roll out and even qualitatively, what might we see at the store in terms of changes as this technology gets implemented.

好的。偉大的。轉到另一個主題。您確實提到了具有數據驅動空間規劃功能的新功能。我希望你能為我們解開一點。也許讓我們了解它開始推出的時間，甚至是定性的，隨著這項技術的實施，我們可能會在商店看到什麼變化。

I'll take that one, Jonathan. Good question, Peter. Space planning is something that -- under new leadership, Jack Pestello in merchandising, is something that we've already started working on. It's our first tool into better utilizing our space in our stores. So it's basically being able to planogram down to the store level and customize to every store because not all stores are equal, the space, so that we can get better allocation, we can get better planning, better sell-through and getting in and out of sets better. We can also increase our ability to customize assortments to a store localization.

我要那個，喬納森。好問題，彼得。空間規劃是——在新的領導下，Jack Pestello 負責商品銷售，我們已經開始著手進行。這是我們更好地利用商店空間的第一個工具。所以它基本上能夠將貨架圖細化到商店級別並為每個商店定制，因為並非所有商店都是平等的，空間，這樣我們可以獲得更好的分配，我們可以獲得更好的規劃，更好的銷售和進出套更好。我們還可以提高為商店本地化定制分類的能力。

And because of that, we believe we're going to get improved sales per square foot and margin dollars per square foot in our stores. And so this has already started. We -- this progress has been started. And by midyear, we should start seeing some rollout of this and then extend it to our entire fleet. So it's going to take some time, but we'll see benefit starting in back half '21 and then going into '22.

正因為如此，我們相信我們將在我們的商店中提高每平方英尺的銷售額和每平方英尺的利潤率。所以這已經開始了。我們——這個進展已經開始了。到年中，我們應該開始看到這一點，然後將其擴展到我們的整個機隊。所以這需要一些時間，但我們會看到從 21 年後半期開始到 22 年的收益。

Our next question today is coming from Anthony Chukumba from Loop Capital Markets.

我們今天的下一個問題來自 Loop Capital Markets 的 Anthony Chukumba。

Congratulations on a really strong year. Just wanted to -- I had 2 questions. I guess the first one is on lease to own and what you saw there in the fourth quarter and how much of a contributor that was to your strong furniture sales.

祝賀這一年真的很強大。只是想——我有兩個問題。我想第一個是出租的，你在第四季度看到了什麼，以及對你強勁的家具銷售有多大貢獻。

Yes. I'll be able to kick off on that, Anthony. Thanks for the congratulations.

是的。安東尼，我可以開始了。感謝您的祝賀。

Yes. What we see all year is that our leasing business has been down. Customers have had more cash available to purchase furniture. So year-over-year, the approval rates have been pretty consistent, but the leasing demand has been lower just because we've seen a tandem shift to other types of purchases.

是的。我們全年看到的是我們的租賃業務一直在下降。客戶有更多現金可用於購買家具。因此，與去年同期相比，批准率相當一致，但租賃需求較低，只是因為我們看到了向其他類型購買的串聯轉變。

Got it. And then I just wanted a little bit of clarification. Okay. So you said you're going to open 50 to 60 new stores, but 20 of those are going to be relocations. So in terms of just sort of completely new stores, you're talking 30 to 40. And I guess I was just wondering, what do you anticipate in terms of just sort of store closings?

知道了。然後我只想澄清一點。好的。所以您說您將開設 50 到 60 家新店，但其中 20 家將搬遷。所以就某種全新的商店而言，你說的是 30 到 40 家。我想我只是想知道，你對商店關閉的預期是什麼？

Yes. That's a key part of the equation here, Anthony. We're trying to get the closings down. So we're anticipating something in the region of 15 outright closings for the year to drive a meaningful net store count increase. And that's partly coming from what we refer to as our store performance intervention program, where we've spent a lot of time looking at underperforming stores, particularly those coming up for lease renewal, and really worked hard to improve their performance that we don't need to close them. And then also, we had some good productive negotiations with landlords in 2020 that have helped with -- from an occupancy standpoint to make it viable to keep more stores open. So it's a constant process.

是的。這是等式的關鍵部分，安東尼。我們正試圖關閉關閉。因此，我們預計今年將有 15 家徹底關閉，以推動有意義的淨商店數量增加。這部分來自我們所說的商店績效干預計劃，我們花了很多時間查看表現不佳的商店，尤其是那些即將續租的商店，並且確實努力提高他們的績效，而我們沒有這樣做。不需要關閉它們。此外，我們在 2020 年與房東進行了一些卓有成效的談判，從入住率的角度來看，這有助於保持更多商店的營業。所以這是一個持續的過程。

I guess the other key point, again, just to reiterate, is beyond '21, we do expect to continue to accelerate the openings. And we're hopeful that we can keep the closures at a -- the outright closures at a pretty low level so we can continue to grow that net store count impact to our overall sales growth.

我想另一個關鍵點，再次重申，是在 21 年之後，我們確實希望繼續加速開放。我們希望我們能夠將關閉率保持在一個非常低的水平，這樣我們就可以繼續增加淨商店數量對我們整體銷售增長的影響。

Our next question today is coming from Jason Haas from Bank of America.

我們今天的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Jason Haas。

Can you talk about what you're seeing with regards to closeout availability? We've heard some commentary from others that there may be some challenges just given how strong sales have been and the inventory shortages. So curious to know what you're seeing there.

你能談談你所看到的關於收尾可用性的情況嗎？我們從其他人那裡聽到了一些評論，鑑於銷售強勁和庫存短缺，可能存在一些挑戰。很想知道你在那裡看到了什麼。

And then also related to that, can you provide some more color on just what you're doing with regards to that department? Are you adding any sort of new merchants or any other sort of capabilities there?

然後也與此相關，您能否就您在該部門所做的工作提供更多顏色？您是否在其中添加任何類型的新商人或任何其他類型的功能？

Yes. Jason, thanks for the question. I'll tell you what, we're really pleased with our focus on closeout and getting back to our roots, our DNA, being the old place. But I'll tell you we grew 50% in terms of closeouts in Q4 across all categories.

是的。傑森，謝謝你的問題。我會告訴你什麼，我們真的很高興我們專注於收尾和回歸我們的根源，我們的 DNA，成為老地方。但我會告訴你，我們在第四季度所有類別的收尾都增長了 50%。

We continue to grow in these areas. We were trying to find the intersection where quality and price intersect and availability, and we haven't reached that yet. So it's good news. We still think there's good, strong availability.

我們繼續在這些領域發展。我們試圖找到質量、價格和可用性相交的交匯點，但我們還沒有達到。所以這是個好消息。我們仍然認為有良好的、強大的可用性。

It's a bit tougher in food and consumables, and that's where we've lagged a bit. Because of the pandemic, things are tighter there. But across all other categories, we're getting back into these things. So it's all growth, and it's all north, if you will, on that.

食品和消耗品方面的情況要困難一些，這就是我們落後的地方。由於大流行，那裡的情況更加緊張。但在所有其他類別中，我們正在回歸這些事情。所以這一切都是增長，如果你願意的話，一切都在北方。

We're at the old store closeouts. Like I said, that's our DNA. We're starting to see great penetration in areas like apparel, where we mentioned in the opening remarks having brands like Reebok's, Nautica, Ann Taylor, Scott Brothers in Soft Home and Hard Home deals as well. So we're excited about our growth in these areas, and we know our customers are as well. And the vendors that are supplying these closeouts are happy to see us back in the business.

我們在舊商店清倉。就像我說的，這是我們的 DNA。我們開始在服裝等領域看到巨大的滲透，我們在開場白中提到 Reebok's、Nautica、Ann Taylor、Scott Brothers 等品牌也參與 Soft Home 和 Hard Home 交易。因此，我們對我們在這些領域的增長感到興奮，我們知道我們的客戶也是如此。提供這些收尾服務的供應商很高興看到我們重返業務。

Year-over-year, our closeout growth grew over -- grew nearly 40%. So we see this as loads of opportunity as our team continues to reach out to our vendor base and grow. So food and consumables, lagging a bit. Everywhere else, it's green and growing.

與去年同期相比，我們的收尾增長超過了——增長了近 40%。因此，隨著我們的團隊繼續接觸我們的供應商基礎並發展壯大，我們將其視為大量機會。所以食物和消耗品，有點滯後。在其他任何地方，它都是綠色的並且正在生長。

That's great. And then as a follow-up question, how are you thinking about the assortment as the country begins to reopen, vaccinations start to go out? Just what are you expecting in terms of how customer spending habits might shift? And any color on what you're doing to retain a lot of the new customers that you've gained over the past year?

那太棒了。然後作為一個後續問題，隨著國家開始重新開放，疫苗接種開始淘汰，您如何看待分類？您對客戶消費習慣可能發生的變化有何期待？您在過去一年中為留住大量新客戶所做的工作有何不同？

Yes, yes. And that's a great follow-up question. Our customer is all about value home and shopping on her terms. So e-commerce, being an omnichannel retailer and all the work we've done there is really playing out. As well as our assortment fits that need very well, and all the Operation North Star strategic work we've done is doing nicely.

是的是的。這是一個很好的後續問題。我們的客戶非常重視按她的條件購買房屋和購物。所以電子商務，作為一個全渠道零售商，我們所做的所有工作都在發揮作用。除了我們非常需要的產品組合外，我們所做的所有北極星行動戰略工作都做得很好。

So we can see -- we see even post COVID the home nesting trend to continue. We think we're well positioned with our growth in Broyhill and other brands in the home. Home office is going to continue to be a winner, and an area -- we're penetrating into that.

所以我們可以看到——我們甚至看到在 COVID 發布後家庭嵌套趨勢仍在繼續。我們認為我們在 Broyhill 和其他家居品牌的增長方面處於有利地位。家庭辦公室將繼續成為贏家，而且是一個領域——我們正在深入其中。

We do believe that she'll want to travel a bit more, so we're looking into all things that help travel, luggage and things like that. Our convenience, with e-commerce, we're going to continue to get better and better at that. Making it safe, easy, convenient, that's going to be a trend that's going to continue. And we're going to add a lot more personalization and services this year that remove friction through that channel, making it easy to shop, seeing bestsellers more, more types of payments and personalization to really reach her.

我們確實相信她會想多旅行一點，所以我們正在研究所有有助於旅行的東西，行李和類似的東西。我們的便利，通過電子商務，我們將繼續變得越來越好。讓它變得安全、簡單、方便，這將是一種持續的趨勢。今年我們將增加更多的個性化和服務，以消除通過該渠道的摩擦，使購物變得容易，看到更多暢銷書，更多類型的支付和個性化真正接觸到她。

Value is going to continue to be huge. It never goes out of style. And so we'll continue to grow our closeout deals, our engineered big buys, name brands like in our pantry optimization initiative that are competitively priced, but deals, deals, deals. So I think we're well positioned for post COVID-19. And I think the customer is healthy, and those trends on value home and e-commerce are going to stay and be strong.

價值將繼續巨大。它永遠不會過時。因此，我們將繼續增加我們的收尾交易、我們精心設計的大宗採購、知名品牌，例如我們的食品儲藏室優化計劃，這些品牌價格具有競爭力，但交易、交易、交易。所以我認為我們已經做好了應對 COVID-19 的準備。而且我認為客戶是健康的，價值家居和電子商務的趨勢將保持並保持強勁。

Ladies and gentlemen, in the interest of time, our final question today is coming from Brad Thomas from KeyBanc Capital Markets.

女士們先生們，由於時間關係，我們今天的最後一個問題來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Brad Thomas。

Congrats on a great year. I wanted to ask 2 questions about how to think about 2020 (sic) [2021] at a high level, knowing you haven't given full year guidance. The first, on sales.

祝賀偉大的一年。我想問 2 個關於如何從高層次上思考 2020 (sic) [2021] 的問題，因為我知道您還沒有給出全年指導。第一，關於銷售。

It seems to me you have a ton of opportunity still to grow on what you did last year, with elements like expanding Lot, things you're doing with merchandising and quarters where the inventory was lighter where you wanted it. Is there any ability to maybe quantify what that opportunity is just from the blocking and tackling and the initiatives being a bit better here this year?

在我看來，你還有很多機會在去年的基礎上繼續增長，包括擴大批次、你正在做的商品銷售和你想要的庫存更輕的宿舍等元素。是否有任何能力來量化這個機會是什麼，僅僅從阻擋和解決以及今年這裡的舉措變得更好一些？

Yes. I'll be happy to take a pass at answering that, Brad. Again, there are a lot of moving parts as we think about our comps. There were, quarter by quarter, many moving parts in 2020. And as we look to 2021, that will remain the case.

是的。布拉德，我很樂意回答這個問題。同樣，當我們考慮我們的組合時，有很多活動部件。 2020 年每季度都會有許多活動部件。展望 2021 年，情況仍將如此。

I think a key point though is when we came into 2020, we said we expected our comps to accelerate through the year; that in Q3, Q4, we would be posting pretty nice comps reflecting the benefit of all of the initiatives, pantry op, queue, Lot, Broyhill, e-com growth. And that's really what we believe happened. It's masked a little bit by the stimulus and the nesting trend. But underneath that, our data says that we really did get the benefits and more that we expected from those initiatives, and we expect to continue that into 2021.

我認為一個關鍵點是，當我們進入 2020 年時，我們說我們預計我們的比賽將在這一年加速；在第三季度，第四季度，我們將發布相當不錯的組合，反映所有舉措的好處，食品儲藏室操作、隊列、批次、布羅伊希爾、電子商務增長。這就是我們相信發生的事情。它被刺激和嵌套趨勢掩蓋了一點。但在此之下，我們的數據表明，我們確實從這些舉措中獲得了預期的收益和更多收益，我們預計這種情況將持續到 2021 年。

And then on top of that, you've got the kind of onetime effect of stimulus. And probably nesting will be a onetime effect eventually when things return to a level of normalcy. But we -- the important point for us is we believe our underlying strategies are working and that when we kind of get back to normalcy, they will continue to move us forward.

然後最重要的是，你得到了刺激的那種一次性效果。當事情恢復到正常水平時，嵌套可能最終會成為一次性的效果。但我們——對我們來說重要的一點是，我們相信我們的基本戰略正在發揮作用，當我們恢復正常時，它們將繼續推動我們前進。

That's helpful. And then regarding SG&A, Jonathan, can you give us any more help of how to think about modeling SG&A for the year? I think you mentioned $30 million savings, with a desire to get that higher for 2021 versus 2020. How should we think about where it might be if sales come on the stronger end of the spectrum versus if these prove to be tougher comps and you have a little bit more trouble against the really tough comparisons you're up against?

這很有幫助。然後關於 SG&A，喬納森，你能給我們更多的幫助，幫助我們思考如何為今年的 SG&A 建模嗎？我認為您提到了 3000 萬美元的節省，並希望在 2021 年與 2020 年相比節省更多。我們應該如何考慮如果銷售出現在更強勁的一端，而不是這些被證明是更艱難的組合，並且您有面對你所面對的真正艱難的比較，你會遇到更多麻煩嗎？

Yes. I think -- I'm probably starting to sound a bit like a broken record with this comment, but it's very complicated again in terms of expenses because of all the puts and takes year-over-year. I think what we learned in 2020 very clearly was that the expense flex, as we delivered higher sales, was very modest. So we got tremendous leverage from delivering higher sales. And again, over time, our objective is to grow our productivity significantly and harvest that leverage benefit.

是的。我認為 - 我可能開始聽起來有點像這個評論的破紀錄，但由於所有的看跌期權和年復一年的支出，在費用方面再次變得非常複雜。我認為我們在 2020 年非常清楚地了解到，隨著我們實現更高的銷售額，費用彈性非常有限。因此，我們從提供更高的銷售額中獲得了巨大的影響力。同樣，隨著時間的推移，我們的目標是顯著提高我們的生產力並收穫槓桿效益。

If you look at some of the other puts and takes in 2021, you've got the -- we had significant COVID expenses in 2020, a substantial proportion of which we don't expect to lap but we will continue to have some of those. We've had full stretch bonus payments pretty much in 2020, and that will normalize in '21. And then we've got the benefit of the structural savings you just talked about.

如果您查看 2021 年的其他一些看跌期權，您會發現 - 我們在 2020 年有大量 COVID 支出，其中很大一部分我們預計不會出現，但我們將繼續擁有其中的一些.我們在 2020 年幾乎已經全額支付了獎金，這將在 21 年正常化。然後，我們從您剛才談到的結構性節省中受益。

Against that, we've got the full year impact of he sale leaseback expense. We've also got strategic investments we're making, including with our new stores, with the forward distribution centers we talked about. And then there's a little bit of wage pressure we alluded to and then various other puts and takes, including equity comp.

與此相反，我們得到了銷售回租費用的全年影響。我們還進行了戰略投資，包括我們的新商店，以及我們談到的前沿配送中心。然後是我們提到的一些工資壓力，然後是其他各種看跌期權，包括股權補償。

So that's a fairly long-winded answer to say that there are a lot of moving parts. Our guidance for the year is that SG&A will be down in dollar terms. To the extent that sales are coming in higher than we are assuming in our internal plan, we wouldn't expect to be adding a lot of SG&A dollars. There are some investments we might choose to make at that point.

所以說有很多活動部件是一個相當冗長的答案。我們對今年的指導是，SG&A 將以美元計算下降。如果銷售額高於我們在內部計劃中的假設，我們預計不會增加很多 SG&A 美元。那時我們可能會選擇進行一些投資。

On the contrary, if sales come below our plan, we certainly have the ability to take expense out. But we do have a lot of fixed expense in there, which also, on the downside, limits our opportunity somewhat there. But again, we remain highly focused on trying to take structural costs out. We have savings opportunities which we believe are there beyond what we have baked into our internal plan and into that guidance, and we'll be working very hard to harvest those in 2021.

相反，如果銷售額低於我們的計劃，我們當然有能力承擔費用。但是我們確實有很多固定費用，這也限制了我們在那裡的機會。但同樣，我們仍然高度關注試圖消除結構性成本。我們有儲蓄機會，我們相信這些機會超出了我們在內部計劃和指導中的規定，我們將在 2021 年努力收穫這些機會。

We reached the end of our question-and-answer session. And ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's teleconference and webcast.

我們的問答環節結束了。女士們先生們，今天的電話會議和網絡直播到此結束。

A replay of this call will be available to you by 12 noon Eastern time this afternoon, December 4 -- I'm sorry, excuse me, March 5. The replay will end at 11:59 p.m. Eastern time. You can access the replay by dialing toll-free (877) 660-6853 and enter replay confirmation 13715962, followed by the #; toll number 1 (201) 612-7415 and enter replay confirmation 13715962, followed by the #.

您將在東部時間今天下午 12 點（12 月 4 日）之前重播本次通話 - 對不起，對不起，3 月 5 日。重播將在晚上 11:59 結束。東部時間。您可以撥打免費電話 (877) 660-6853 訪問重播，然後輸入重播確認 13715962，然後輸入#；收費號碼 1 (201) 612-7415 並輸入重播確認 13715962，後跟 #。

This does conclude today's teleconference. You may now disconnect, and have a great day. We thank you for your participation today.

今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接，並度過美好的一天。我們感謝您今天的參與。