BJ's Wholesale Club Holdings Inc (BJ) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Hello, everyone, and a warm welcome to BJ's Wholesale Club Q3 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Emily, and I'll be coordinating your call today. (Operator Instructions) I will now turn the call over to Cathy Park. Please go ahead, Cathy.

大家好，熱烈歡迎參加 BJ's Wholesale Club 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。我叫艾米麗，今天我將協調您的電話。 （接線員指示）我現在將呼叫轉給 Cathy Park。請繼續，凱茜。

Good morning, and welcome to BJ's Third Quarter Fiscal 2023 Earnings Call. On the call with me today are Bob Eddy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Laura Felice, Chief Financial Officer; and Bill Werner, Executive Vice President, Strategy and Development. Please remember that during this call, we may make forward-looking statements within the meaning of the federal securities laws. These statements are based on our current expectations and involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations described on this call. Please see the Risk Factors section of our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filed with the SEC for a description of those risks and uncertainties.

早安，歡迎參加 BJ 2023 財年第三季財報電話會議。今天與我通話的是董事長兼執行長鮑伯艾迪 (Bob Eddy)；勞拉‧菲利斯，財務長； Bill Werner，策略與發展執行副總裁。請記住，在本次電話會議中，我們可能會做出聯邦證券法含義內的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述是基於我們目前的預期，涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與我們在本次電話會議中描述的預期有重大差異。請參閱我們向 SEC 提交的最新 10-K 表格和 10-Q 表格中的「風險因素」部分，以了解這些風險和不確定性的描述。

Finally, please note that on today's call, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial measures that we believe will provide useful information for investors. The presentation of this information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for the financial information presented in accordance with GAAP. Please refer to today's press release and the latest investor presentation posted on our Investor Relations website for a reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most comparable measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. And now I'll turn the call over to Bob.

最後，請注意，在今天的電話會議上，我們將提及某些非公認會計準則財務指標，我們相信這些指標將為投資者提供有用的信息。此資訊的呈現不應被孤立地考慮或作為根據 GAAP 呈現的財務資訊的替代品。請參閱今天的新聞稿和我們投資者關係網站上發布的最新投資者演示文稿，以了解這些非公認會計原則財務指標與根據公認會計原則制定的最具可比較指標的對帳情況。現在我將把電話轉給鮑伯。

Good morning, everyone. Thanks for joining us today. As I reflect on our business this year, I am proud of how our team has remained focused on executing our long-term priorities, and serving our members in an extremely dynamic macro environment. During these times, our advantaged business model and strong value proposition continue to resonate with our members who know they will always get great value at BJ's. During the third quarter, we posted accelerating membership growth, robust traffic and continued increases in market share. These gains reinforce the underlying strength of our business, and we remain confident in the long-term prospects of the company.

大家，早安。感謝您今天加入我們。當我回顧今年的業務時，我為我們的團隊如何繼續專注於執行我們的長期優先事項並在極其動態的宏觀環境中為我們的會員服務而感到自豪。在此期間，我們優勢的商業模式和強大的價值主張繼續引起我們的會員的共鳴，他們知道他們將永遠在 BJ's 獲得巨大的價值。第三季度，我們的會員成長加速，流量強勁，市佔率持續增加。這些收益增強了我們業務的潛在實力，我們對公司的長期前景仍然充滿信心。

In the third quarter, we reported net sales growth of approximately 3%. Our merchandise comparable sales, which exclude gas sales were flat year-over-year. We were pleased with our traffic trends, which grew from last year and were consistent with our second quarter levels. Critically, we are consistently gaining market share. Third-party data shows that in the third quarter, we once again gained share over each of the prior 2 quarters as well as the last 3 years. This is an important marker of member value perception and loyalty.

第三季度，我們報告淨銷售額成長約 3%。我們的商品可比銷售額（不含天然氣銷售額）較去年同期持平。我們對我們的流量趨勢感到滿意，流量趨勢比去年有所增長，並且與我們第二季度的水平一致。至關重要的是，我們不斷獲得市場份額。第三方數據顯示，在第三季度，我們的份額再次比前兩個季度以及過去三年有所增長。這是會員價值感知和忠誠度的重要指標。

Our 52-week share is approximately 60 basis points above pre-COVID levels. We're taking share at the pump, too. In the third quarter, we grew comp gallons by nearly 3% at our gas stations on retail prices that were about flat year-over-year. Industry volumes are still down double digits versus pre-pandemic levels, and our share gains are a testament to the value that members gain from our low-priced gas offering. Our consumables business remains very healthy, delivering a 2% comp in the third quarter as members continue to rely on BJ's as a valuable destination for their grocery shopping. We see this in our volume trends for key categories such as fresh produce, milk, paper and laundry, where units have trended up year-over-year for us in the third quarter, unlike the rest of the market.

我們的 52 週份額比新冠疫情前的水平高出約 60 個基點。我們也正在分享加油站的份額。第三季度，我們加油站的零售加侖數成長了近 3%，而零售價與去年同期基本持平。與大流行前的水平相比，行業銷量仍下降了兩位數，我們的份額增長證明了會員從我們的低價天然氣產品中獲得的價值。我們的消費品業務仍然非常健康，第三季度實現了 2% 的成長，因為會員繼續依賴 BJ's 作為他們的雜貨購物的有價值的目的地。我們從新鮮農產品、牛奶、紙張和洗衣等關鍵類別的銷售趨勢中看到了這一點，與市場其他產品不同，第三季度我們的這些類別的銷量同比呈上升趨勢。

As expected, inflationary trends, while still present, were significantly lower than last year and second quarter levels. We experienced more disinflation during the quarter than we expected, particularly in our perishable food business. For example, take a category like eggs, which has been on a wild ride. In the first quarter of the year, prices were 50% above the prior year. In the third quarter, we saw double-digit percentage deflation in eggs year-over-year. We sell a lot of eggs and we aim to offer the best value so that we can take the ups and the downs on the commodity and pass on the best value to our members. Lower inflation is a headwind to our reported comp, but it helps our members who have coped with higher prices for the better part of the last 2 years.

如預期，通膨趨勢雖然仍然存在，但明顯低於去年和第二季的水平。本季我們經歷的通貨緊縮程度超出了我們的預期，特別是在我們的易腐食品業務領域。以雞蛋這樣的品類為例，該品類一直在瘋狂成長。今年第一季，價格比去年同期上漲50%。第三季度，雞蛋較去年同期出現兩位數的通貨緊縮百分比。我們出售大量雞蛋，我們的目標是提供最佳價值，以便我們能夠承受商品的漲跌，並將最佳價值傳遞給我們的會員。較低的通貨膨脹對我們報告的比較來說是一個阻力，但它有助於我們的會員在過去兩年的大部分時間裡應對較高的價格。

We also regularly invest in our pricing to ensure that our members are getting amazing value. Our pricing index against our grocery competitors improved by a -- about 100 basis points in the third quarter when compared against the same index a year ago. We continue to deliver best-in-market pricing every day and save our members' money and time. That's why they buy memberships and visit us so often, and our focus on value will not change. Also as expected, our general merchandise and services comps improved as we saw a mix shift away from summer seasonal categories and the beginnings of gains associated with our new assortments.

我們也定期對定價進行投資，以確保我們的會員獲得驚人的價值。與一年前的同一指數相比，第三季我們的雜貨競爭對手定價指數提高了約 100 個基點。我們每天繼續提供市場最佳的定價，並節省會員的金錢和時間。這就是為什麼他們會購買會員資格並經常拜訪我們，而我們對價值的關注不會改變。同樣正如預期的那樣，我們的一般商品和服務比較有所改善，因為我們看到了夏季季節性類別的混合轉變以及與我們的新品種相關的收益的開始。

If you'll permit me, I will simplify the story a bit and just talk about our general merchandise business, leaving aside the other components of this division. Third quarter GM comps improved by almost 500 basis points over Q2 levels, getting better as the quarter progressed. October GM comps improved by nearly 800 basis points over Q2 levels. We're encouraged by the early wins in a handful of important categories such as toys, TVs and apparel. In apparel, we further refreshed our presentation, showcasing a curated collection of national brands, such as Carter's, Levi's, Skechers, Champion and Nautica, which contribute to our positive 5% comp in the third quarter.

如果您允許的話，我將稍微簡化一下故事，只談論我們的百貨業務，而忽略該部門的其他組成部分。第三季通用汽車的業績比第二季的水準提高了近 500 個基點，並且隨著季度的進展而變得更好。 10 月通用汽車的業績比第二季水準提高了近 800 個基點。我們對玩具、電視和服裝等少數重要類別的早期勝利感到鼓舞。在服裝方面，我們進一步更新了展示方式，展示了一系列精選的國內品牌，例如 Carter's、Levi's、Skechers、Champion 和 Nautica，這些品牌為我們第三季度的 5% 正收益做出了貢獻。

Our TV sales also improved through the quarter, performing better than the industry with comp units growing in the third quarter by about 3%. With all of that said, members continue to be cautious in their discretionary spending and big ticket items remained particularly pressured. We are making tangible progress on our GM transformation, offering an elevated assortment at compelling price points. Our holiday gifting set is fantastic. This progress gives us confidence that we remain on the right path longer term to improve this segment of our business.

我們的電視銷量在整個季度也有所改善，表現優於行業，第三季度的同類產品銷量增長了約 3%。儘管如此，會員們仍然對可自由支配的支出持謹慎態度，而大件商品仍面臨特別的壓力。我們在通用汽車轉型方面正在取得實際進展，以極具吸引力的價格提供更豐富的產品系列。我們的節日禮品套裝非常棒。這項進展讓我們相信，從長遠來看，我們將繼續走在改善這一業務領域的正確道路上。

While our overall consumer remains very healthy, growing macro challenges continue to pressure broader consumer sentiment. In the third quarter, our mid- and higher-income members continued to increase both spend and trips as they have likely been more insulated from these pressures. Waning government aid has been a strain on our lower income members this year. These members continue to exhibit similar shopping behavior, maintaining trip frequency versus last year as well as using other forms of tender to supplement their purchases. However, despite these underlying good behaviors, third quarter sales from our lower income cohort dipped below last year levels.

儘管我們的整體消費者仍然非常健康，但日益嚴峻的宏觀挑戰繼續給更廣泛的消費者情緒帶來壓力。第三季度，我們的中等收入和高收入會員繼續增加支出和旅行，因為他們可能更能免受這些壓力的影響。今年政府援助的減少給我們的低收入成員帶來了壓力。這些會員繼續表現出類似的購物行為，與去年相比保持旅行頻率，並使用其他形式的招標來補充他們的購買。然而，儘管有這些潛在的良好行為，我們較低收入群體的第三季銷售額仍低於去年水準。

Overall, our bottom line results in the third quarter landed slightly better than our expectations, driven by continued margin improvement and strong gas performance. We reported third quarter adjusted EBITDA of approximately $275 million and adjusted earnings per share of $0.98. Laura will walk through more of the details on the quarter later. As I step back and think more strategically about our business, I remain confident in our growth longer term. We continue to make meaningful progress on our key priorities. These 4 priorities are improving member loyalty, driving an unbeatable shopping experience, delivering value conveniently through digital and growing our footprint.

整體而言，在利潤率持續改善和天然氣表現強勁的推動下，我們第三季的淨利潤略優於我們的預期。我們報告第三季調整後 EBITDA 約為 2.75 億美元，調整後每股收益為 0.98 美元。勞拉稍後將詳細介紹本季的更多細節。當我退後一步，從策略角度思考我們的業務時，我對我們的長期成長仍然充滿信心。我們繼續在關鍵優先事項上取得有意義的進展。這 4 個優先事項是提高會員忠誠度、推動無與倫比的購物體驗、透過數位化便利地傳遞價值以及擴大我們的足跡。

Let me spend a few moments on each. I'm incredibly pleased with the progress that our teams are making in strengthening the size and quality of our membership. We currently serve over 7 million members with member counts growing nearly 6% year-over-year in the third quarter. In fact, new paid enrollments in the third quarter were the highest we've delivered since the height of the pandemic with successful acquisition efforts across our new and existing markets as well as our digital platforms, which now contribute to half of our acquisition.

讓我花一些時間來討論每個問題。我對我們的團隊在加強會員規模和品質方面所取得的進展感到非常高興。目前，我們為超過 700 萬會員提供服務，第三季會員數量較去年同期成長近 6%。事實上，第三季的新付費註冊人數是自疫情最嚴重以來我們實現的最高水平，我們在新市場和現有市場以及數位平台上成功進行了收購，目前這些平台佔了我們收購量的一半。

Our co-brand credit card, which presents an outstanding way for members to get even more value is also attracting new members and incenting existing ones to upgrade into higher tiers. We're pleased to have maintained our higher tier penetration at 38% in the third quarter with pronounced growth in our One+ tier. Members in this highest tier have historically exhibited the greatest spend and strongest loyalty, which we believe will contribute to us holding our record 90% renewal rate this year. We will continue to invest into our membership value prop to further strengthen member loyalty and lifetime value going forward.

我們的聯名信用卡為會員提供了獲得更多價值的絕佳方式，也吸引了新會員並激勵現有會員升級到更高級別。我們很高興第三季保持了 38% 的較高層級滲透率，其中 One+ 層級實現了顯著成長。這一最高級別的會員歷來表現出最高的消費額和最強的忠誠度，我們相信這將有助於我們今年保持創紀錄的 90% 續訂率。我們將繼續投資於我們的會員價值支柱，以進一步增強會員忠誠度和未來的終身價值。

Member loyalty is dictated by the quality of the experience we provide. As such, we are continually working to improve the member experience through our merchandising, digital and in-club conveniences and, of course, great value. Getting these elements right is crucial to our success year round, and it's especially important as we head into the holidays.

會員忠誠度取決於我們提供的體驗品質。因此，我們不斷努力透過我們的行銷、數位和俱樂部內便利設施以及巨大的價值來改善會員體驗。正確掌握這些要素對於我們全年的成功至關重要，在我們即將迎來假期時尤其重要。

During our Investor Day earlier this year, you heard us talk about our member-centric approach to last year's Thanksgiving shop. We built our strategy around presenting seasonally relevant merchandise in our high-value space for an easier shopping experience, leveraging our data to identify the most compelling offers and marketing these offers in an impactful way. A great example is our Turkey promotion. Members love the way that this program stretches their dollars, and we are continuing the tradition this year. Members who spend $150 or more in early November, receive a bounce-back offer to get a free turkey before the Thanksgiving holiday.

在今年早些時候的投資者日期間，您聽到我們談論我們去年感恩節商店以會員為中心的方法。我們制定的策略是在高價值空間中展示季節性相關商品，以提供更輕鬆的購物體驗，利用我們的數據來識別最引人注目的優惠，並以有影響力的方式行銷這些優惠。一個很好的例子是我們的土耳其促銷活動。會員們喜歡這個計劃，讓他們節省開支，今年我們將繼續這項傳統。 11 月初消費滿 150 美元或以上的會員可在感恩節假期前獲得免費火雞的反彈優惠。

Between our usual 25% savings on their basket and the free turkey, they can save the equivalent of their entire membership fee with this one promotion alone. As you know, general merchandise transformation is what's especially new and exciting this holiday season. I previously mentioned that GM is an area where we can make a profound impact in showcasing value to our members, yet it's less than 15% of our business today. We believe we have significant opportunity to profitably grow this division over the next few years. We are early in this journey, but I believe we have the right talent, strategy and focus to drive this growth.

在我們通常為他們的購物籃節省 25% 的折扣和免費火雞之間，僅透過這項促銷活動，他們就可以節省相當於全部會員費的費用。如你所知，百貨商品轉型是這個假期特別新鮮和令人興奮的事情。我之前提到過，通用汽車是一個我們可以在向會員展示價值方面產生深遠影響的領域，但它目前只占我們業務的不到 15%。我們相信，我們有重大機會在未來幾年內實現該部門的獲利成長。我們正處於這趟旅程的早期階段，但我相信我們擁有正確的人才、策略和重點來推動這一成長。

I'd encourage you to walk our clubs this holiday season and see the changes. It's meaningfully different and a better experience from prior years. Nearly 90% of our toy offering is completely new this year. This is a category that we typically set earlier than the rest of holiday and early reads have shown that 8% more members are shopping the toy category at BJ's this year. We're seeing great reactions to our featured brands, which include LEGO, Disney, Hot Wheels and Barbie.

我鼓勵您在這個假期去我們的俱樂部散步，看看發生的變化。與前幾年相比，這是有意義的不同和更好的體驗。今年我們有將近 90% 的玩具都是全新的。這是我們通常比其他假期更早設定的類別，早期的數據顯示，今年在 BJ's 購買玩具類別的會員增加了 8%。我們看到我們的特色品牌反應熱烈，其中包括樂高、迪士尼、風火輪和芭比娃娃。

Approximately 80% of our holiday home assortment is also new, where we've invested in quality and enhance the value. We're making our treasure hunt stronger, too, with highly curated trend-driven giftable items such as retro video game station, Sur La top Kitchenware and a home movie theater pop-up kit.

我們大約 80% 的度假屋品種也是新的，我們在品質和價值方面進行了投資。我們還透過精心策劃的潮流驅動禮品，例如復古電玩站、Sur La 頂級廚房用具和家庭劇院彈出套件，讓我們的尋寶活動變得更加強大。

Finally, we are enhancing the way our general merchandise is marketed and presented in our clubs for a better member experience. We've taken the member mindset to deliver cohesive storytelling across our marketing platforms, cleaner pathways in our clubs and the right timing of offers throughout the holiday season. This holiday season marks an important step forward in building our credibility in this space. These efforts remain a crucial part of our long-term growth strategy, and we will continue to innovate to realize the significant potential we see in GM.

最後，我們正在改進我們的一般商品在俱樂部中的行銷和展示方式，以提供更好的會員體驗。我們以會員的心態在我們的行銷平台上提供連貫的故事，在我們的俱樂部中提供更乾淨的路徑，並在整個假期期間提供正確的優惠時機。這個假期標誌著我們在該領域建立信譽方面向前邁出了重要一步。這些努力仍然是我們長期成長策略的重要組成部分，我們將繼續創新，以實現我們在通用汽車中看到的巨大潛力。

Our own brands, Wellsley Farms and Berkley Jensen, provide our members with high-quality products at meaningful value. Members who engage in our own brands spend more, visit us more often and are better members. We are strengthening our offering and our members are taking notice. We've previously discussed the profound impact that it's had on our paper category.

我們的自有品牌 Wellsley Farms 和 Berkley Jensen 為我們的會員提供有意義價值的高品質產品。參與我們自有品牌的會員消費更多，訪問我們的次數更多，並且是更好的會員。我們正在加強我們的產品和服務，我們的會員正在註意到這一點。我們之前已經討論過它對我們的紙張類別的深遠影響。

In the third quarter, our own brand sales and sundries were up 20% year-over-year, led by Paper. Our own brand strategy is also playing a key role in our general merchandise transformation as well. In apparel, we cleaned up the assortment, upgraded the quality and expanded into children's and women's. We also put extra care into the presentation highlighting key features and making the items more appealing for our members. These efforts resulted in a 700 basis point increase in own brands apparel sales penetration in the third quarter.

第三季度，我們自有品牌的銷售額和雜貨年增20%，其中以Paper為首。我們的自有品牌策略也在我們的百貨轉型中發揮關鍵作用。在服裝方面，我們清理了品種，提升了質量，並擴展到童裝和女裝。我們也特別注重演示，突顯關鍵功能，使產品對我們的會員更具吸引力。這些努力使第三季自有品牌服飾銷售滲透率提高了 700 個基點。

We believe our own brand sales penetration is on pace to grow to 25% for the full year and remain confident in our goal of reaching 30% over time. Our digital comp sales have grown double digits all year, up 16% in the third quarter alone. And digital now comprises over 10% of our business. This holiday season, we've made it even more convenient than ever to shop with us, reducing friction and applying greater personalization in our approach. We're making progress on our automation efforts as well. By the end of this month, we will have our fully autonomous AI-powered robots in all of our clubs. The benefits of this automation include in-club inventory tracking, pricing precision, faster restocking and more efficient and accurate buy online, pick up in club and curbside orders.

我們相信我們的自有品牌銷售滲透率全年將增長至 25%，並對隨著時間的推移達到 30% 的目標充滿信心。我們的數位產品銷售額全年實現兩位數成長，光是第三季就成長了 16%。現在，數位化業務占我們業務的 10% 以上。這個假期，我們讓購物比以往任何時候都更加方便，減少了摩擦，並在我們的方法中應用了更大的個人化。我們的自動化工作也取得了進展。到本月底，我們所有的俱樂部都將擁有完全自主的人工智慧機器人。這種自動化的好處包括俱樂部內庫存追蹤、定價精確、更快的補貨以及更有效率和準確的線上購買、俱樂部提貨和路邊訂單。

We will continue to lean into investments that make our business more efficient and convenient while delivering outsized value to our members. Finally, we remain pleased with the performance of our newer clubs, and we are further growing our footprint. The clubs that we've opened in the last 12 months are ramping nicely with LTM sales collectively running over 30% ahead of our plan on the back of strong membership growth.

我們將繼續進行投資，使我們的業務更加高效和便捷，同時為我們的會員提供巨大的價值。最後，我們對新俱樂部的表現仍然感到滿意，我們正在進一步擴大我們的足跡。我們在過去 12 個月內開設的俱樂部發展勢頭良好，在會員強勁增長的背景下，LTM 銷售額總計比我們的計劃提前了 30% 以上。

Just last week, we entered our 20th state in Madison, Alabama. I love the energy and the enthusiasm both from the community and our team members. We expect to open 5 more clubs in the fourth quarter, bringing us to 9 new clubs for the fiscal year. I'd like to close my remarks with sincere gratitude for our team members who remain dedicated to our members and our communities, especially as we head into the busiest time of the year. I'm especially proud of the work our team has done to partner with local food banks and schools in both new and existing markets to help our communities thrive. To our team members who are listening in today, thank you for your hard work.

就在上週，我們進入了阿拉巴馬州麥迪遜的第 20 州。我喜歡社群和我們團隊成員的活力和熱情。我們預計第四季將再開設 5 個俱樂部，使本財年新俱樂部數量達到 9 個。在結束演講時，我要對我們的團隊成員表示誠摯的謝意，他們仍然致力於為我們的會員和社區服務，特別是在我們進入一年中最繁忙的時期時。我對我們的團隊在新市場和現有市場與當地食物銀行和學校合作以幫助我們的社區蓬勃發展所做的工作感到特別自豪。對於今天收聽的我們的團隊成員，感謝你們的辛勤工作。

I'll now turn it over to Laura to provide more details on our results and outlook for the rest of the year.

現在我將把它交給勞拉，以提供有關我們今年剩餘時間的業績和前景的更多詳細資訊。

Thank you, Bob. I'd like to start by also thanking our team members across our clubs, club support center and distribution centers for their commitment to our members and to the company. Let's dig in to our third quarter results. Net sales in the third quarter were approximately $4.8 billion, growing nearly 3% over the prior year. Total comparable club sales in the third quarter, including gas sales, increased by 0.3% year-over-year. Merchandise comp sales, which exclude gas sales, decreased by 0.1% year-over-year, an increase by over 5% on a 2-year stack.

謝謝你，鮑伯。首先，我還要感謝我們俱樂部、俱樂部支援中心和配送中心的團隊成員對我們的會員和公司的承諾。讓我們深入了解第三季的業績。第三季淨銷售額約 48 億美元，較上年成長近 3%。第三季可比俱樂部總銷售額（包括瓦斯銷售額）年增 0.3%。商品銷售（不包括天然氣銷售）年減 0.1%，連續 2 年成長超過 5%。

As Bob mentioned, we delivered positive traffic gains year-over-year, which were offset by lower basket due to continued disinflation. Our third quarter comp in our grocery, perishables and sundry division grew by 2% year-over-year and 7% on a 2-year stack. We drove strong gains in market share in the third quarter, which supports our belief in a healthy, growing and loyal member base that relies on BJ's for its shopping needs. Our general merchandise and services comp decreased by 11% in the third quarter. As Bob noted, GM performance strengthened over the second quarter as sales skewed away from weather-sensitive categories, and we made further progress on our GM improvement efforts.

正如鮑勃所提到的，我們比去年同期實現了積極的流量增長，但由於持續通貨緊縮導致的購物籃下降抵消了這一增長。我們的雜貨、易腐食品和雜貨部門的第三季業績年增 2%，兩年成長 7%。我們在第三季度推動了市場份額的強勁增長，這支持了我們對依賴 BJ's 滿足購物需求的健康、不斷增長和忠誠的會員基礎的信念。第三季我們的一般商品和服務比較下降了 11%。正如鮑勃所指出的那樣，隨著銷售偏離對天氣敏感的類別，第二季度通用汽車的業績有所增強，並且我們在通用汽車改進工作方面取得了進一步進展。

While members remain selective in their discretionary shopping, we believe we are well positioned to capture share this holiday season. Digitally enabled comp sales in the third quarter grew 16% year-over-year reaching over 10% of our net merchandise sales. Approximately 90% of our digitally enabled sales are fulfilled by our clubs with services like BOPIC and same-day delivery, which remain the primary drivers of our digital growth. We believe that digital convenience is a key advantage for us, and we will continue to lean into driving better digital engagement over time.

儘管會員在自行購物時仍然有選擇性，但我們相信我們有能力在這個假期季節佔據市場份額。第三季數位化產品銷售額年增 16%，占我們商品淨銷售額的 10% 以上。我們大約 90% 的數位化銷售是由我們的俱樂部透過 BOPIC 和當日送達等服務完成的，這仍然是我們數位成長的主要驅動力。我們相信數位便利性是我們的關鍵優勢，隨著時間的推移，我們將繼續致力於推動更好的數位參與。

In our gasoline business, we delivered comp gallon growth of nearly 3% in the third quarter which compares to the industry running negative in the same period. Our third quarter profit per gallon, while lower than last year, came in above our expectations, resulting in upside to our bottom line. Membership fee income, or MFI, grew nearly 7% to approximately $106.1 million in the third quarter and we remain pleased with our membership trends, including an overall member counts, higher tier penetration as well as first year and tenured renewal rates.

在我們的汽油業務中，第三季我們實現了近 3% 的複合加侖成長，而同期產業則出現負成長。我們第三季的每加侖利潤雖然低於去年，但超出了我們的預期，導致我們的利潤上升。第三季會員費收入(MFI) 成長了近7%，達到約1.061 億美元，我們對我們的會員趨勢仍然感到滿意，包括整體會員數量、更高的會員滲透率以及第一年和終身續約率。

Moving on to gross margin. Excluding the gasoline business, our merchandise gross margin rate improved by 30 basis points year-over-year as we lapped the tail end of last year's supply chain headwinds in the third quarter. We also continue to manage our inventory well with our general merchandise mix skewing towards margin-accretive sales. SG&A expenses for the quarter were $697.1 million. The year-over-year increase was primarily attributable to our new unit growth and other investments to drive strategic priorities.

轉向毛利率。不包括汽油業務，我們的商品毛利率比去年同期提高了 30 個基點，因為我們在第三季度克服了去年供應鏈逆風的尾聲。我們也繼續管理好我們的庫存，我們的一般商品組合偏向於利潤增值的銷售。本季的 SG&A 支出為 6.971 億美元。同比成長主要歸因於我們的新單位成長和其他推動策略重點的投資。

Our net interest expense in the quarter was approximately $18 million and included $1.8 million of charges related to fees and the write-off of prior deferred fees, which have been adjusted for in our adjusted EBITDA. We reported third quarter adjusted EBITDA of $274.9 million and adjusted EPS of $0.98, which reflects our sales and margin growth bolstered by membership strength and healthy fuel profits.

本季我們的淨利息支出約為 1,800 萬美元，其中包括 180 萬美元的與費用相關的費用以及先前遞延費用的沖銷，這些費用已在我們調整後的 EBITDA 中進行了調整。我們公佈的第三季調整後 EBITDA 為 2.749 億美元，調整後每股收益為 0.98 美元，這反映了我們的銷售和利潤增長得益於會員實力和健康的燃油利潤。

Moving on to our balance sheet. Our merchandising, finance and planning and allocation teams remain diligent in optimizing our inventory for the current environment, and we continue to feel good about our position today. We ended the third quarter with inventory up about 10% year-over-year, which is driven by inflation and strategic investments in our business including supporting new clubs and in-stock improvements in our consumable categories.

繼續我們的資產負債表。我們的銷售、財務、規劃和分配團隊仍然努力根據當前環境優化我們的庫存，我們仍然對我們今天的狀況感到滿意。截至第三季末，我們的庫存年增約 10%，這是由通貨膨脹和我們業務的策略性投資（包括支持新俱樂部和消耗品類別的庫存改進）推動的。

Turning to our capital structure. We ended the third quarter with $832.3 million of debt and 0.7 turns of net leverage, which remains consistent with our long-term target of sub-1 turn. In October, we amended our term loan opportunistically repricing and reducing our interest spread by 75 basis points. We also simultaneously repaid $50 million through a partial drawdown on our ABL, resulting in approximately $3.5 million of collective annual interest savings.

轉向我們的資本結構。截至第三季末，我們的債務為 8.323 億美元，淨槓桿率為 0.7 倍，這與我們低於 1 倍的長期目標保持一致。 10 月份，我們適時修改了定期貸款重新定價，並將利差降低了 75 個基點。我們也同時透過部分提款 ABL 償還了 5,000 萬美元，從而每年節省了約 350 萬美元的利息。

Our capital allocation strategy is consistent with the framework we set forth on our Investor Day. We believe the best use of our cash is applying it towards profitably growing the business. As such, investments to support membership, merchandising, digital and real estate initiatives will continue to be funded by our cash flows and enabled by our strong balance sheet. We also continue to return excess cash to shareholders through our share repurchases. Year-to-date, we bought back nearly 1.2 million shares for approximately $77 million. and we have approximately $242 million remaining under our current authorization.

我們的資本配置策略與我們在投資者日制定的框架一致。我們相信現金的最佳用途是將其用於盈利性的業務成長。因此，支持會員資格、商品推銷、數位和房地產計劃的投資將繼續由我們的現金流提供資金，並由我們強大的資產負債表支持。我們也繼續透過股票回購向股東返還多餘現金。今年迄今為止，我們以約 7,700 萬美元的價格回購了近 120 萬股股票。我們目前的授權剩餘約 2.42 億美元。

Let me now address our outlook for the rest of the year. Our business and the broader industry continue to navigate high levels of uncertainty in an environment influenced by disinflation, geopolitics and high interest rates as well as government aid and discretionary demand that is still normalizing from the pandemic. As members become more resourceful on tighter budgets, they are increasingly turning to BJ's due to our strong value prop, and this continues to show in our traffic counts and market share. We don't see that changing.

現在讓我談談我們對今年剩餘時間的展望。我們的業務和更廣泛的行業繼續在通貨緊縮、地緣政治和高利率以及政府援助和仍在因疫情而正常化的可自由支配需求影響的環境中應對高度不確定性。隨著會員在預算緊張的情況下變得更加足智多謀，由於我們強大的價值支撐，他們越來越多地轉向 BJ's，這繼續體現在我們的流量計數和市場份額中。我們認為這種情況不會改變。

We are also confident in our long-term plans for general merchandise and are excited about our holiday strategy. While we continue to drive improvements in key categories, we also recognize that near-term trends are uncertain and are planning our business accordingly. Finally, year-over-year inflation moderated faster than anticipated in the third quarter. As we think about the fourth quarter, a reminder that the comparison is much easier.

我們對日用百貨的長期計劃也充滿信心，並對我們的假期策略感到興奮。在我們繼續推動關鍵類別改進的同時，我們也意識到近期趨勢不確定，並正在相應地規劃我們的業務。最後，第三季年比通膨的放緩速度快於預期。當我們思考第四季時，提醒我們比較要容易得多。

Last year, inflation remained flat between Q3 and Q4. And while we expect some continued disinflation, we are maintaining our expectation of net year-over-year inflation, not deflation in the fourth quarter of this year.

去年第三季和第四季通膨保持穩定。儘管我們預期通膨會持續回落，但我們仍維持對今年第四季同比淨通膨而非通貨緊縮的預期。

Starting at the top of the P&L, we now expect our fourth quarter comp sales, excluding gas, to range from down 2% to positive 1%, which equates to comp growth of approximately 1% to 1.8% for the full fiscal year 2023. Our expectations reflect a wider range of outcomes given the near-term retail environment and continued disinflation. Our expectations to deliver fiscal 2023 GAAP and adjusted EPS of $3.80 to $3.92 remain unchanged with the fourth quarter benefiting from a 53rd week.

從損益表頂部開始，我們現在預計第四季的公司銷售額（不包括天然氣）將下降2% 到正成長1%，這相當於2023 年整個財年的公司銷售額將成長約1% 至1.8% 。鑑於近期零售環境和持續通貨緊縮，我們的預期反映了更廣泛的結果。我們對 2023 財年 GAAP 和調整後每股收益 3.80 美元至 3.92 美元的預期保持不變，第四季度將受益於第 53 週。

In our gas business, we continue to expect growth in comp gallons for the full year. We have embedded slightly higher profit per gallon expectations in the fourth quarter given current trends. Longer-term assumptions for normal gas profit per gallon remain in the low-teens range. Longer term, we remain confident in the underlying strength of our business and believe we are well positioned to deliver sustainable growth to maximize shareholder value. With that, I will turn it back over to Bob for closing remarks.

在我們的天然氣業務中，我們繼續預計全年的複合加侖數將會成長。鑑於當前趨勢，我們對第四季度每加侖利潤的預期略有提高。每加侖正常天然氣利潤的長期假設仍處於十幾歲的範圍內。從長遠來看，我們對業務的潛在實力仍然充滿信心，並相信我們有能力實現永續成長，從而最大限度地提高股東價值。至此，我將把它轉回給鮑伯進行結束語。

Thanks, Laura. In closing, our team executed well this quarter and our growth in membership traffic and market share caused me to continue to be optimistic about the long-term trajectory of our company. The operating environment continues to be incredibly dynamic and challenging to predict, but we will focus on controlling what we can control, investing in the long term and managing the short term.

謝謝，勞拉。最後，我們的團隊本季表現良好，會員流量和市場佔有率的成長使我繼續對我們公司的長期發展軌跡保持樂觀。營運環境仍然非常動態且難以預測，但我們將專注於控制我們可以控制的事情，進行長期投資並管理短期。

We've considerably improved our business over the years and we will keep that momentum going. We will not lose sight of our strategic growth priorities, which are inspired by our purpose of taking care of the families who depend on us. We will work to grow the size and quality of our membership. We will work to offer an unbeatable member experience through our merchandising improvements. We will work to grow our digital business and profitably expand our footprint. Above all, we will not compromise delivering the best value for our members. I'm proud of our entire team, and I'm excited for our future. Thanks again for joining us today and for your support of BJ's Wholesale Club. I'll now turn it back over to the operator to take your questions.

多年來，我們的業務取得了顯著改善，我們將繼續保持這一勢頭。我們不會忽視我們的策略性成長優先事項，這些優先事項的靈感來自於我們照顧依賴我們的家庭的目標。我們將努力擴大會員規模並提高會員品質。我們將努力透過改善行銷來提供無與倫比的會員體驗。我們將努力發展我們的數位業務並以盈利方式擴大我們的足跡。最重要的是，我們不會妥協為我們的會員提供最佳價值。我為我們整個團隊感到自豪，我對我們的未來感到興奮。再次感謝您今天加入我們並感謝您對 BJ's Wholesale Club 的支持。我現在將其轉回接線員以回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) We'll start with our first question, which comes from the line of Mike Baker with D.A. Davidson. Mike, please go ahead. Your line is now open.

（操作員說明）我們將從第一個問題開始，該問題來自 Mike Baker 和 D.A.戴維森。麥克，請繼續。您的線路現已開通。

Okay. Great. So I'll jump. And I think with a question that's on everyone's mind, and you alluded to it a little bit, but -- forget about inflation, let's talk about deflation. That's going to be the new theme. I think you talked about your expectations for the fourth quarter, not being deflationary, but what happens next year if we continue down this road, do we see deflation next year? How does your business react in that environment? And I guess one more as part of that, what are you seeing in terms of general merchandise pricing, inflation, deflation, disinflation.

好的。偉大的。那我就跳吧我認為每個人都在思考一個問題，你也提到了一點，但是——忘記通貨膨脹，讓我們談談通貨緊縮。這將是新的主題。我想你談到了對第四季度的預期，不是通貨緊縮，但如果我們繼續沿著這條路走下去，明年會發生什麼，明年我們會看到通貨緊縮嗎？您的企業在這種環境下有何反應？我想，作為其中的一部分，你在一般商品定價、通貨膨脹、通貨緊縮、通貨緊縮方面看到了什麼。

Mike, thanks for your question and for your time this morning. We're pretty proud of the quarter we put up from a number of angles. We're in the lifetime value business. So we look at it from a long-term perspective. All the things from that perspective went well during the quarter, membership traffic, market share all those things augur to the benefit of our company over the long term.

麥克，感謝您的提問和今天早上的時間。我們對從多個角度發布的季度報告感到非常自豪。我們從事終身價值業務。所以我們從長遠的角度來看它。從這個角度來看，本季所有事情都進展順利，會員流量、市佔率所有這些都預示著我們公司的長期利益。

As we think about comps, right, traffic was very strong. Unit trends are stable. We saw a nice improvement in our general merchandise business. But certainly, we did see increasing disinflation during the quarter as we predicted, in fact, a little stronger than what we predicted. I think as we said in the prepared remarks, we expect some more disinflation as we go through the rest of this fiscal year and probably into the front part of next fiscal year. I really sort of thrown out the crystal ball at this point on what's going to go on. We focus really on taking care of our members every single day. Value wins. And as I said, we operate in the long term. So no matter what happens from a pricing perspective, we will always do the right thing for our member from a value perspective. We want to grow our membership, we want to grow the size and quality of that membership and grow our renewal rate. We've been focused on doing that from a long time from a long-term perspective, have been very successful, and it starts with that value. So no matter what happens in the commodity market, we will always make the right long-term decision for our members.

當我們考慮比較時，流量非常強勁。單位趨勢穩定。我們看到我們的百貨業務有了很大的改善。但當然，我們確實看到本季通貨緊縮加劇，正如我們預測的那樣，事實上，比我們預測的要強一些。我認為，正如我們在準備好的發言中所說，我們預計在本財年剩餘時間，甚至可能進入下一財年前半段時，將會出現更多通貨緊縮。在這一點上，我真的對即將發生的事情扔掉了水晶球。我們每天都專注於照顧我們的會員。價值取勝。正如我所說，我們的經營是長期的。因此，無論從定價角度來看發生什麼，從價值角度來看，我們始終會為我們的會員做正確的事情。我們希望擴大我們的會員數量，我們希望提高會員資格的規模和質量，並提高我們的續約率。從長遠的角度來看，我們長期以來一直致力於做到這一點，並且非常成功，而這正是從這種價值開始的。因此，無論商品市場發生什麼，我們始終會為我們的會員做出正確的長期決策。

As you think about general merchandise, it's really a category-by-category perspective. And some categories are typically deflationary like TVs and electronics are always typically deflationary. So it's a little bit hard to answer in the general merchandise business because it's category by category. But again, even there, as we remake that business we will -- we are really dramatically focused on getting the right items on the shelf at compelling values and doing that over and over and over again to build the credibility in those categories for our members, again, for the long-term value of their memberships.

當你考慮一般商品時，這實際上是一個逐個類別的觀點。有些類別通常是通貨緊縮的，例如電視和電子產品總是典型的通貨緊縮。因此，在百貨業務中回答這個問題有點困難，因為它是按類別分類的。但即使在那裡，當我們重塑該業務時，我們也會非常專注於以令人信服的價值將合適的商品放在貨架上，並一遍又一遍地這樣做，為我們的會員建立這些類別的信譽再次強調其會員資格的長期價值。

Okay. Makes sense. If I could ask one more follow-up on the same subject. Have you seen -- you said units stable. Any examples or how do you think elasticity works as price disinflates or maybe deflates -- any examples or any signs of units potentially getting better in any areas?

好的。說得通。如果我能就同一主題再問一個後續問題。你看到了嗎——你說單位穩定。有沒有例子，或者您認為彈性如何隨著價格通膨或通貨緊縮而發揮作用？有任何例子或任何跡象表明單位在任何領域可能會變得更好嗎？

Yes. Certainly some categories have more elasticity than others, right? We talked in the prepared remarks about eggs as an example. As the prices there came down, certainly, units went up in that category. So we don't just take all the downside as prices go down. We get unit traction as well. We saw nice unit gains in many categories and most of the critical categories that we care about. So think about the stock up categories, paper and laundry detergent and some of the other ones we mentioned, we saw nice unit increases and we've seen some nice unit increases in general merchandise categories as well as we've remade those. So we're pretty pleased with what we saw in the things that matter in our business.

是的。當然，某些類別比其他類別具有更大的彈性，對嗎？我們在準備好的評論中以雞蛋為例。當然，隨著價格的下降，該類別的單位數量有所增加。因此，我們不會僅僅承受價格下跌所帶來的所有不利影響。我們也獲得了單位牽引力。我們在許多類別以及我們關心的大多數關鍵類別中都看到了不錯的單位收益。因此，考慮一下庫存類別、紙張和洗衣粉以及我們提到的其他一些類別，我們看到了不錯的單位增長，並且我們看到一般商品類別中出現了一些不錯的單位增長，並且我們已經重新調整了這些類別。因此，我們對我們在業務中所看到的重要事物感到非常滿意。

Our next question comes from Robbie Ohmes with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Robbie Ohmes。

Bob and Lauren, I was wondering if you could talk about the acceleration in the membership dollar growth. I don't think we were expecting that. It looks really strong. And also, we've seen -- I think, at least on digital, we've seen some discounting in the membership down to $20 from the $55. Can you kind of walk through what drove that acceleration in membership growth? And should we expect that to continue in 4Q and into next year?

鮑伯和蘿倫，我想知道你們是否可以談談會員美元成長的加速。我認為我們並沒有預料到這一點。看上去確實很強。而且，我們也看到——我認為，至少在數位領域，我們已經看到會員資格從 55 美元降至 20 美元。您能否介紹一下是什麼推動了會員數的加速成長？我們是否應該預期這種情況會在第四季持續到明年？

Robbie, thanks for your question. We're delighted with the progress in membership this quarter, much stronger than the internal plans that we had much stronger than the performance we put up in Q2 that seemed to surprise everybody. Our team did a great job really managing the flow of offers out into the market, figuring out and iterating on what we're doing and driving quality memberships as well. So as we look at the membership performance during the quarter. Really, everything that we care about was strong. The number of bodies was great. The dollars per member, we are happy with. The higher tier penetration at 38% was great. Within that number, we saw a big shift into the highest tier, as we talked about in the prepared remarks. That's our one-plus tier. So folks that pay $110 and have our co-brand and Mastercard product. Those folks tend to be our best members. They visit us the most. They spend the most. They renew well north of 95% on average. So even underneath, the covers of that number was very strong. and we continue to project hitting a 90% renewal rate for this year again. So we are very pleased, the team did a wonderful job really getting after it. I don't think they were happy with the Q2 performance, even though it was just slightly below our plans in Q2. So they hit the gas nicely in the third quarter, and I would hope that we can continue to put up good numbers there.

羅比，謝謝你的問題。我們對本季會員資格的進展感到高興，這比我們在第二季度的表現要強得多，內部計劃似乎讓所有人都感到驚訝。我們的團隊在管理市場報價流、弄清楚並迭代我們正在做的事情以及推動優質會員方面做得非常出色。因此，當我們查看本季的會員表現時。確實，我們關心的一切都很強大。屍體的數量非常多。每位會員的美元，我們很滿意。 38% 的較高層級滲透率非常高。正如我們在準備好的發言中談到的那樣，在這個數字中，我們看到了向最高層的重大轉變。這是我們的一加層。因此，那些支付 110 美元並擁有我們的聯合品牌和萬事達卡產品的人。這些人往往是我們最好的成員。他們拜訪我們最多。他們花費最多。他們的平均更新率遠高於 95%。所以即使在底層，這個數字的掩護也非常堅固。我們繼續預計今年的續訂率將再次達到 90%。所以我們非常高興，團隊做得非常出色，並且真正做到了這一點。我認為他們對第二季的表現並不滿意，儘管它略低於我們第二季的計劃。所以他們在第三季度很好地發揮了作用，我希望我們能夠繼續在那裡取得好成績。

As you know, that's the lifeblood of our business and something that we've been working very hard on. As I think about the last 5, 6, 7 years here, it was not exactly a given that we would grow our membership quarter-to-quarter or year-to-year in comp clubs and in the full chain with new clubs 6 or 7 years ago, and we are routinely growing the membership every quarter in new members, in new markets, in existing markets. So it's quite a neat dynamic, quite a neat marker of our progress as a company over a big chunk of time that we've been working on.

如您所知，這是我們業務的命脈，也是我們一直在努力的方向。當我想到過去 5、6、7 年時，我們並不一定會在競爭俱樂部和新俱樂部的整個鏈條中逐季度或逐年增加會員數量 6 或7 年前，我們每季都會例行增加新會員、新市場和現有市場的會員數。因此，這是一個非常簡潔的動態，非常清楚地標誌著我們作為一家公司在我們一直在努力的大部分時間裡所取得的進步。

As you -- to get to your question on discounting, I don't know that really matters to us, Robbie. Really, we're trying to find the right members with the right offer. And the fact of the matter is we have a bunch of different offers out in the market at any 1 point in time. We are trying to target different segments with different offers. We are trying to find the right portfolio of members. And I guess I would point you back to the fact that we have grown our dollars per member consistently over the past several years. Really, you've heard us talk about a fee increase without a fee increase our dollars per member is up well over $5 over the last 5 years and continues to be even as we try different offer structures out there in the market.

至於你——關於折扣的問題，我不知道這對我們來說真的很重要，羅比。事實上，我們正​​在努力尋找合適的會員並提供合適的優惠。事實上，我們在任何一個時間點都會在市場上提供大量不同的報價。我們正在嘗試針對不同的細分市場提供不同的優惠。我們正在努力尋找合適的成員組合。我想我想向您指出這樣一個事實：在過去的幾年裡，我們的每位會員的收入持續成長。確實，您已經聽到我們談論在不增加費用的情況下增加費用，在過去5 年裡，我們每個會員的費用增長了5 美元以上，並且即使我們在市場上嘗試不同的報價結構，這種情況仍然會持續下去。

So again, we're very pleased with our membership. It was the highlight of the quarter in our view because it will drive long-term health of the business.

再說一遍，我們對我們的會員資格感到非常滿意。我們認為這是本季的亮點，因為它將推動業務的長期健康發展。

And Bob, maybe just a quick follow-up. Can you remind us on a member that you bring in on a discount, if you bring somebody into a $20 special off instead of $55 million or $65 instead of $110. What's the -- is the renewal rate dramatically different for someone brought in that way? Can you remind us what you guys have said about that?

鮑勃，也許只是一個快速的跟進。您能否提醒我們，如果您為某人帶來 20 美元的特別折扣（而不是 5500 萬美元）或 65 美元的特別折扣（而不是 110 美元），您可以提醒我們為會員提供折扣嗎？對於以這種方式帶來的人來說，續約率是否有顯著差異？您能提醒我們一下你們對此說過什麼嗎？

Yes. Look, I guess I would answer this way, Robbie. Everybody that comes in on a discount is put into our automatic renewal program in the renewal. And so they renew through that function at full rates in the second year. And we continue to have about 80% of our entire portfolio in easy renewal and that grew a little bit during the quarter, and we'll continue to try and grow that piece as well. It's a nice piece of bedrock underneath the membership and obviously, the cash flows of the company.

是的。聽著，我想我會這樣回答，羅比。每個享受折扣的人都會在續訂中加入我們的自動續訂計劃。因此，他們在第二年透過該功能全額續約。我們整個投資組合的約 80% 仍然可以輕鬆更新，並且在本季度略有增長，我們也將繼續嘗試擴大該部分。這是會員資格和公司現金流下方的一塊很好的基石。

Our next question comes from Peter Benedict with Baird. Peter, please go ahead. Your line is open.

我們的下一個問題來自彼得·本尼迪克特和​​貝爾德。彼得，請繼續。您的線路已開通。

Talk a little bit more about the general merchandise and services category down 11% in the third quarter, a little better than 2Q. Of course, it sounds like the general merchandise component, and that got better sequentially. Just maybe talk a little bit more about what your view is there as you head into the fourth quarter. How you're thinking about grocery versus general merchandise in that comp view that you guys laid out for the fourth quarter? That's my first question.

多談談第三季一般商品和服務類別下降 11%，比第二季好一點。當然，這聽起來像是一般商品部分，而且逐漸好轉。當你進入第四季時，也許可以多談談你的看法。從你們為第四季制定的比較角度來看，你們如何看待雜貨與百貨？這是我的第一個問題。

Peter, thanks for the question. It's a good one. We tried to -- so as I said, simplify the story line a little bit because there's a bunch of stuff in that GM services comp of down 11% that we that we talked about. The general merchandise business, as you know, is one of our big strategic focus points for this year and the next several years. It's a place that we are definitely underpenetrated in. We can considerably grow that business, we believe, and it will be key to the lifetime value equation to our members as we go forward.

彼得，謝謝你的提問。這是一件好事。正如我所說，我們試圖稍微簡化故事情節，因為我們談論的通用汽車服務公司下降了 11%，其中有很多內容。如您所知，百貨公司是我們今年和未來幾年的重大策略重點之一。這是一個我們肯定還沒有充分滲透的地方。我們相信，我們可以大幅發展這項業務，隨著我們的前進，它將成為我們會員終身價值方程式的關鍵。

It's very much the treasure hunt aspect, the emotional aspect of shopping in our clubs is finding a great general merchandise item when you're in shopping for something a little less exciting like paper towels or laundry detergent. Our team has done an astounding amount of work to really start the process of reinvigorating our general merchandise business. We've reset the talent. We've reset many of the categories. The way that we design assortments, design the value proposition to the members and deliver it in the clubs.

這很大程度上是尋寶方面，在我們的俱樂部購物的情感方面是，當您購買紙巾或洗衣粉等不太令人興奮的東西時，會找到很棒的日用品。我們的團隊已經做了大量的工作來真正開始重振我們的百貨業務。我們已經重置了天賦。我們重置了許多類別。我們設計品種、為會員設計價值主張並在俱樂部中傳遞的方式。

As I walk our buildings in the last few weeks and months, I see a dramatic transformation. I don't know how you could see it any other way. The quality of the products we have on the floor is compelling. The values are fantastic, the way that our operations team members are putting them on the floor for our members to see has dramatically improved over prior years. And our members are reacting in the categories that we have really redone, and we talked about TVs and toys and apparel and gift wear. Those are the ones that are most visible to me when I walk the clubs.

在過去幾週和幾個月裡，當我在我們的建築中行走時，我看到了巨大的變化。我不知道你怎麼能以其他方式看待它。我們的產品品質令人信服。這些價值觀非常棒，我們的營運團隊成員將這些價值觀擺在我們的會員面前的方式比前幾年有了顯著改善。我們的會員對我們真正重做的類別做出了反應，我們討論了電視、玩具、服裝和禮品裝。當我漫步在俱樂部時，這些是我最容易看到的。

As I said, we saw some nice results, again, a little bit under the covers in that business with comps in GM improving 500 bps quarter-to-quarter. And if you just looked at Q2 versus October 800 bps -- that gives us a lot of confidence in what we're doing because we're operating candidly in an environment that's a little tough to sell general merchandise at this point. It's a market where folks are buying a little bit closer to need. They are being particularly stubborn in buying big-ticket items still. But when they are faced with compelling assortments at great price points, they are certainly, certainly putting things in their basket. So we're pretty bullish on our long-term prospects from a general merchandise perspective within Q4, our compares get a little bit easier within general merchandise. And so we're hopeful from that standpoint, but we're operating in a pretty cautious consumer environment as well, and we recognize that.

正如我所說，我們再次看到了一些不錯的業績，但在該業務中，通用汽車的比較季度環比提高了 500 個基點。如果你只看第二季與 10 月 800 個基點的對比，這讓我們對自己正在做的事情充滿信心，因為我們在目前銷售一般商品有點困難的環境中坦誠地運營。在這個市場上，人們購買的商品更接近需求。他們仍然特別頑固地購買大件物品。但當他們面對價格實惠的各種令人信服的產品時，他們肯定會把東西放進籃子裡。因此，從第四季度普通商品的角度來看，我們非常看好我們的長期前景，我們在普通商品中的比較變得更容易一些。因此，從這個角度來看，我們充滿希望，但我們也在一個非常謹慎的消費者環境中運營，我們認識到這一點。

Our grocery business is running strong, right, plus 2 comps in the face of disinflation, traffic was great, unit trends were okay. Our members are continuing to come to us for that business. And if we can convince them to get into our GM categories as they're buying their groceries even better. We talked a lot about our market share already in the prepared remarks. And again, that's a pretty compelling data point, third-party data. So this is not our own data, but we continue to grow in the categories that we care about far in excess of what the rest of the market is growing.

我們的雜貨業務運作強勁，對吧，加上面對通貨緊縮的 2 個比較，流量很大，單位趨勢也不錯。我們的會員繼續向我們尋求這項業務。如果我們能夠說服他們進入我們的通用汽車類別，因為他們正在購買雜貨，那就更好了。我們在準備好的演講中已經談論了很多關於我們的市場份額的問題。再說一次，這是一個非常引人注目的數據點，第三方數據。所以這不是我們自己的數據，但我們在我們關心的類別中持續成長，遠遠超過市場其他部分的成長。

And so I think we'll see continued strength in our grocery business, even though we might see some more disinflation, and hopefully, we can see continued growth in the general merchandise business as we go forward. It's one of our biggest strategic initiatives, and it's critical to our long-term picture of our company.

因此，我認為我們的雜貨業務將持續強勁，儘管我們可能會看到更多的通貨緊縮，並希望隨著我們的前進，我們可以看到百貨業務的持續成長。這是我們最大的策略性舉措之一，對我們公司的長期發展至關重要。

That's helpful. And then my follow-up would be just around the merchandise margins up again in the third quarter. Maybe an update on 2 things. One, your CPI efforts that have been ongoing for a long time, but just what's the latest there? And then secondly, if we're in an environment where there is more deflation that sits in maybe across more categories, how do you think that impacts your merch margin going forward?

這很有幫助。然後我的後續行動將圍繞第三季的商品利潤率再次上升。也許有兩件事的更新。第一，你們長期以來一直在 CPI 所做的努力，但最新的情況是什麼？其次，如果我們所處的環境中可能存在更多類別的通貨緊縮，您認為這會如何影響您未來的商品利潤？

Yes, it's a great question. Thanks for bringing it up. This is a muscle that we have. We've developed several years ago. It's been critical in the reinvigoration of this company over the past 6 or 7 years, is really making sure that we are not only buying the right things but buying them at the right cost in the right margin profile. And that CPI effort has been going on since, about 2016 or '17 at this point. It ebbed and flowed. Certainly, we saw great initial games. And then in the midst of COVID. We're spending more time just trying to get inventory to satisfy the humongous growth that we've had rather than cost.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。感謝您提出來。這是我們擁有的肌肉。我們幾年前就已經開發了。在過去的六、七年裡，這對於這家公司的重振至關重要，真正確保我們不僅購買正確的東西，而且以正確的成本和正確的利潤率購買它們。自 2016 年或 17 年以來，CPI 的努力一直持續。它潮起潮落。當然，我們看到了很棒的初始遊戲。然後在新冠疫情期間。我們花費更多的時間只是為了獲得庫存來滿足我們已經實現的巨大成長，而不是成本。

But as we sit here in the market that we see today, it becomes more important that we manage our margins effectively. We've shown great capacity to do that over the past quarters and years with CPI as a great tool to deploy. We have a big effort underway right now to make sure that we do that. A number of our key categories go through the process every quarter. We have an aim to go through all the categories, all the consumable categories at least every year and make sure that we are designing the right assortment for our members, first and foremost, but also to get the right margin profile.

但當我們身處今天的市場時，有效管理利潤變得更加重要。在過去的幾個季度和幾年裡，我們已經展現出強大的能力來做到這一點，並將 CPI 作為一個強大的部署工具。我們現在正在付出巨大的努力來確保我們做到這一點。我們的一些關鍵類別每個季度都會經歷這個過程。我們的目標是至少每年檢查所有類別、所有消費品類別，並確保我們首先為我們的會員設計正確的品種，同時也獲得正確的利潤狀況。

So our merchandising team and our analytics team partner together on that effort. They've done a tremendous job. That's 1 of the reasons you saw the margin performance that we put up this quarter. That effort will continue. Deflation provides a little bit of -- a little bit more opportunity to do that. And we're certainly finding success in the categories that we've reviewed recently. So glad we developed this muscle several years ago. We are putting it out there at this point in time, and we're seeing some great results.

因此，我們的銷售團隊和分析團隊共同努力。他們做得非常出色。這是您看到我們本季公佈的利潤率表現的原因之一。這種努力將繼續下去。通貨緊縮提供了更多的機會來做到這一點。我們確實在最近審查的類別中取得了成功。很高興我們幾年前就開發了這塊肌肉。我們現在正在將其推出，並且我們看到了一些很好的結果。

Our next question comes from Edward Kelly with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的愛德華凱利。

Good morning, everyone. I wanted to ask you about just comp cadence. I wanted to ask you about the comp cadence. How did you see comps playing out during the quarter. We've heard about some choppiness elsewhere. I was curious as to how Q4 has started so far in November. And then within the guidance, you open the door to some potential reacceleration with the high end of the comp guide in Q4. I'm curious as to what's behind that and what you think could potentially drive that?

大家，早安。我想問你關於節奏的問題。我想問你關於節奏的事情。您如何看待本季的競爭情況？我們聽說其他地方有些不穩定。我很好奇 11 月第四季到目前為止是如何開始的。然後在指導範圍內，您可以透過第四季度的比較指南的高端來打開一些潛在的重新加速的大門。我很好奇背後的原因以及您認為可能推動這一趨勢的因素是什麼？

Yes. Ed, thanks for the question. It's a good one. I don't think my answer will surprise anybody. Some of the other participants in the market have talked about Q3 being a choppy quarter. For us, it was pretty stable in August and September and October was definitely choppy, particularly in the last couple of weeks in October. I don't think that statement will make any headlines given what's out in the market already. So we tended to see the same things that the others are seeing. Without getting into what we're seeing in Q4, our guide is a little bit lower than our previous guide for the quarter, and that's really reflective of the disinflation trends that we saw during third quarter and the recognition of the last couple of weeks in October, we are operating in a pretty cautious consumer environment, and we took the opportunity to put a little of that caution into our guidance.

是的。艾德，謝謝你的提問。這是一件好事。我認為我的回答不會讓任何人感到驚訝。市場上的一些其他參與者表示第三季是一個動盪的季度。對我們來說，八月和九月相當穩定，十月絕對是波動的，特別是十月的最後幾週。鑑於市場上已有的情況，我認為該聲明不會成為任何頭條新聞。因此，我們傾向於看到與其他人所看到的相同的東西。在不了解我們在第四季度看到的情況的情況下，我們的指南比我們之前的季度指南略低一些，這確實反映了我們在第三季度看到的通貨緊縮趨勢以及過去幾週的認識十月份，我們在一個相當謹慎的消費者環境中運營，我們藉此機會在我們的指導中加入了一點謹慎。

We're hopeful to perform to the high end of that guidance, that would -- that would really mean we need to improve our general merchandise business and continue to do that during the quarter and continue to have a good traffic trends in our grocery business. We're cautiously optimistic that we can make that happen. But obviously, the key word is cautious at this point. That's how our consumer is acting and given the importance of Q4 to the trend of the company. We're certainly operating in that environment. We're aiming to grow. We are doing the things that we need to do from a product selection, from a pricing, from a promotion standpoint to do so, but we can only control what we can control.

我們希望能夠達到該指導的高端，這實際上意味著我們需要改善我們的百貨業務，並在本季度繼續這樣做，並繼續在我們的雜貨業務中保持良好的流量趨勢。我們對實現這一目標持謹慎樂觀的態度。但顯然，此時的關鍵字是謹慎。這就是我們的消費者的行為方式，並考慮到第四季度對公司趨勢的重要性。我們當然是在那種環境下運作的。我們的目標是成長。我們正在做我們需要做的事情，從產品選擇、從定價、從促銷的角度來看，但我們只能控制我們能控制的事情。

So we'll continue to put a great assortment out in front of our members. We'll continue to price it effectively. Importantly, we're not pricing for comps or pricing for value and for market share and for the long term of the business. No matter what happens in Q4, we will always do that. We'd love to have a better company next year, 2 years, 3 years from now rather than just hit any 1 particular quarterly number. So I think you can call us cautiously optimistic on the fourth quarter and on the future.

因此，我們將繼續向我們的會員展示各種各樣的產品。我們將繼續有效定價。重要的是，我們不是根據比較或價值、市場佔有率以及業務的長期來定價。無論第四季發生什麼，我們都會這樣做。我們希望明年、兩年、三年後能有更好的公司，而不是只達到任何特定的季度數字。所以我認為你可以說我們對第四季和未來持謹慎樂觀態度。

Great. And then just a quick follow-up. Any early thoughts on 2024? I mean there's obviously growing uncertainty out there. I'm sure, as a company, you've got a lot of good underlying progress in the business, right? So I'm sure you don't want to cut corners around some temporary period of deflation. Just thoughts on how you're thinking about planning the year and how we should be thinking about your expectations. The Street is up about 5%, I think, next year with 1 less week, which looks a little high. But just any thoughts there?

偉大的。然後進行快速跟進。對 2024 年有什麼初步想法嗎？我的意思是，那裡的不確定性顯然正在增加。我確信，作為一家公司，您在業務方面已經取得了很多良好的基礎進展，對吧？所以我確信你不想在暫時的通貨緊縮時期走捷徑。只是想想您如何考慮今年的計劃以及我們應該如何考慮您的期望。我認為，明年華爾街將上漲約 5%，減少 1 週，看起來有點高。但只是有什麼想法嗎？

We are incredibly bullish on the long term of the company. I think next year, aside I think 3 or 5 years from now, we are -- we've been in a much better place than we are today as we continue to build our membership, capitalize on the market share gains, convert GM into a much better business and a lot of things we've talked about. As we get through this fourth quarter, we're concentrating on the right assortment at the right value and executing well every day to give our members what they're looking for.

我們非常看好公司的長期發展。我認為明年，除了我認為從現在開始的 3 到 5 年後，我們的處境比今天好得多，因為我們繼續建立我們的會員資格，利用市場份額的增長，將通用汽車轉變為更好的業務以及我們討論過的很多事情。當我們度過第四季度時，我們專注於以正確的價格提供正確的品種，並每天良好地執行，為我們的會員提供他們想要的東西。

As we think about next year, I think you're going to see a little bit of a continuation of some of these trends quite candidly. I think you'll see a little bit more disinflation. I'm not sure you get to net deflation in the business based on what we know today, but we haven't really finalized our plans for next year, our views for next year. We are really just focused on the long term of the business and the short term kind of takes care of itself. So I can't overstate how excited we are for the future and how bullish we are for the future.

當我們考慮明年時，我認為您將非常坦率地看到其中一些趨勢的延續。我認為你會看到更多的通貨緊縮。根據我們今天的了解，我不確定是否會出現業務中的淨通貨緊縮，但我們還沒有真正確定明年的計劃和對明年的看法。我們其實只關注業務的長期發展，而短期的發展則自然而然。因此，我無法誇大我們對未來的興奮和樂觀。

We really think we're doing the right things for the long term of the company. And in the short term, we'll manage through the dynamic environment that we're facing.

我們確實認為我們正在做正確的事情，以實現公司的長期發展。在短期內，我們將應對所面臨的動態環境。

Our next question comes from Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自魯佩什·帕里克和奧本海默。

So just going back to your commentary on new stores. You indicated that your new stores are 30% above plan in the last 12 months. Just curious what's contributing to that upside. And as you look at some of these newer states that you've entered, how those are performing versus expectations?

回到你對新店的評論。您表示您在過去 12 個月內的新店比計劃高出了 30%。只是好奇是什麼促成了這種好處。當您查看您已進入的一些新州時，這些州的表現與預期相比如何？

Yes. Thanks, Rupesh. Maybe I'll start it off and hand it over to Bill Werner, who's running that effort for us. I'm incredibly proud of what we've done in this area. Each new store that we open looks better and performs better than the last one. And the team has done a wonderful job getting great pieces of where to put boxes on in places that are growing. We just opened Madison, Alabama last week. It's done phenomenally well in its first week. And that's really because we opened a great-looking box with a tremendous amount of members, a fantastic team serving those members. And a great assortment on the floor when those new members walk in. We've built a lot of apparatus around this accelerated new club opening schedule that we have. We have an all-star team from around the chain that helps these new stores get ready to open and then and then come out of the box hot. We're very proud of that team as they help their new team members and these new stores open up. We've got 5 more to come in this year. We'll have a full slate for next year as well. We're just very pleased with what's going on. So Bill, what did I missed?

是的。謝謝，魯佩什。也許我會開始並把它交給比爾·維爾納，他正在為我們負責這項工作。我對我們在這一領域所做的一切感到無比自豪。我們開的每家新店都比上一家看起來更好、業績好。團隊做得非常出色，在正在生長的地方找到了放置盒子的好地方。我們上週剛在阿拉巴馬州麥迪遜開業。它在第一周就表現得非常好。這確實是因為我們打開了一個漂亮的盒子，裡面有大量的會員，一個出色的團隊為這些會員提供服務。當新會員走進來時，地板上會出現各種各樣的東西。我們圍繞著這個加速的新俱樂部開幕時間表建立了許多設備。我們擁有一支來自連鎖店的全明星團隊，幫助這些新店做好開幕準備，然後開箱即用。我們為這個團隊感到非常自豪，因為他們幫助新團隊成員和這些新商店開幕。今年我們還有另外 5 個項目。我們明年也會有完整的名單。我們對正在發生的事情感到非常滿意。那麼比爾，我錯過了什麼？

No. I would just reiterate what Bob said, we've spent the last 5 or 6 years now building the muscle on how to open up a club store in a new market. And as you think about the success that we've had in the national market earlier this year, and then as Bob mentioned, with our first state in Alabama now just a couple of weeks ago, we're starting membership from scratch in those new markets. And we've spent a lot of time over the past couple of years, learning how to do it right. And it's everything from how we sell memberships, how we tell people our story, how we build the team to make sure the members on day 1 have the experience as if they've been a member for 20 years, and we've done a great job with it. So we're excited about the future. We have 5 more clubs here in the next couple weeks and through the end of this year, and we're excited to get those underway too.

不，我只是重申鮑伯所說的話，我們花了過去五、六年的時間來增強如何在新市場開設俱樂部商店的實力。當你想到我們今年早些時候在全國市場取得的成功時，然後正如鮑勃所提到的，幾週前我們在阿拉巴馬州的第一個州，我們正在從頭開始成為這些新的會員市場。在過去的幾年裡，我們花了很多時間學習如何正確地做這件事。這包括我們如何銷售會員資格、如何向人們講述我們的故事、我們如何建立團隊以確保會員在第一天就擁有像會員 20 年一樣的體驗，我們已經做了乾得好。所以我們對未來感到興奮。在接下來的幾週內以及到今年年底，我們這裡還會有 5 個俱樂部，我們也很高興這些俱樂部能夠開始運作。

And then maybe just one follow-up question. Just given concerns on the top line for next year. In your current growth environment, what type of comp do you think you need to leverage expenses or SG&A?

然後也許只是一個後續問題。只是對明年的營收表示擔憂。在您目前的成長環境中，您認為您需要哪種類型的薪水來利用費用或 SG&A？

I think it's a little bit over 2% at this point, somewhere between 2 and 3 Rupesh, that's -- you think about our expense model, the biggest component of expenses after cost of goods sold is labor, and that's about what we average from a wage increase rate. So somewhere between 2% and 3% would be a good way to think about it.

我認為目前這個比例略高於2%，大約在2 到3 盧比之間，這就是——你想想我們的費用模型，除銷售商品成本之外的費用的最大組成部分是勞動力，這就是我們的平均費用工資增長率。因此，2% 到 3% 之間的某個值是一個很好的考慮方式。

Our next question comes from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·古特曼。

Bob, I wanted to follow up on general merchandise. So the rate of change -- rate of change sounds like it's improving. But overall, still I think, down in the high single-digits despite that. So I was trying to put the pieces together. I guess, when do we -- when does GM -- could we get to an inflection? I guess this backdrop may not get us there quick. But all the data points that you're citing, the sequential improvement, the change versus October sounds pretty good, but the overall rate is still not there. So what needs to change? And then what time frame does that happen in?

鮑勃，我想跟進一般商品的情況。所以變化率——變化率聽起來像是在改善。但總體而言，我仍然認為，儘管如此，還是下降了個位數。所以我試著把這些碎片拼湊起來。我想，我們什麼時候──通用汽車什麼時候──才能迎來轉折？我想這個背景可能不會讓我們很快到達那裡。但是您引用的所有數據點、連續改善、與 10 月相比的變化聽起來都不錯，但總體比率仍然不存在。那麼需要改變什麼？那麼這會發生在什麼時間範圍內？

Yes. It's a really good question, Simeon. I think what we're seeing in this consumer environment is certainly blunting the impact of what our team has done. We were very pleased with what we saw in Q3 in terms of the rate of change. It was just about what we were projecting maybe a tiny bit shy. And the places that it was shy, it was in our estimation just the consumer environment that was really getting in the way there.

是的。這是一個非常好的問題，西蒙。我認為我們在這種消費者環境中所看到的情況肯定會削弱我們團隊所做工作的影響。我們對第三季的變化率感到非常滿意。這只是我們所計劃的，也許有點害羞。在我們看來，它有些害羞的地方是消費者環境真正阻礙了它。

The team has done a fantastic job designing new assortments, getting them on the floor, getting compelling products and price points out there. I think if you think about it from a long-term perspective, the thing that we're looking for really is credibility in this business. There are places in GM that we have great credibility. One of those might be TVs and electronics. People know that we carry the right brands, we carry them at compelling prices. And that business has always been a pretty good business for us. There are many, many other categories where we've had confused assortments, not presented in the right way, not the right brands on the floor. And we've tried to, in the last few calls, give a lot of context around what we're trying to do there when we talk about categories like toys or home appliances or things like that.

團隊在設計新品種、將其推向市場、獲得引人注目的產品和價位方面做得非常出色。我認為，如果你從長遠的角度考慮，我們真正尋求的是這個行業的可信度。在通用汽車公司的某些地方，我們享有很高的信譽。其中之一可能是電視和電子產品。人們知道我們擁有正確的品牌，價格極具吸引力。這項業務對我們來說一直是一項非常好的業務。還有很多很多其他類別，我們的分類混亂，沒有以正確的方式呈現，也沒有正確的品牌。在過去的幾次通話中，當我們談論玩具或家用電器或類似物品等類別時，我們試圖提供大量有關我們正在嘗試做的事情的背景資訊。

It's something that we'll have to do over and over and over again. We are incredibly pleased with what we saw in Q3 because it tells us that our members will react when we put great assortments on the floor. I think we're at that point now where -- we have the stuff that we need in some of these categories, but we have to make our members, number one, understand that we have those things. They're not used to us having great assortments in general merchandise. And number two, we have to do it repetitively, right? We need to build that -- that appearance and that credibility with our members so that we become more of a destination from a general merchandise perspective, right? I would tell you, last year and the years before that, we were a grocery shop with some general merchandise that was really opportunistic. Our mission is to broaden our members' trip missions to include general merchandise destination trips, right, coming to us for GM and maybe getting some grocery while they're there. And we're finally starting to see the green shoots on that stuff. So we've talked a lot about toys. We talked a lot about home. Apparel is probably the thing that is most mature from that perspective. We've seen 2 or 3 new assortments there. The apparel sales were positive in Q3 as we continue to make that assortment better and gain that sort of repeat traffic and credibility factor from our members that's what we're after in all of these general merchandise categories.

這是我們必須一遍又一遍地做的事情。我們對第三季所看到的情況感到非常滿意，因為它告訴我們，當我們在地板上放置各種各樣的產品時，我們的會員將會做出反應。我認為我們現在正處於這樣的階段——我們在某些​​類別中擁有我們需要的東西，但我們必須讓我們的會員，第一，並明白我們擁有這些東西。他們不習慣我們擁有種類繁多的日用商品。第二，我們必須重複這樣做，對嗎？我們需要在我們的會員中建立那種外觀和信譽，以便從一般商品的角度來看，我們更像是一個目的地，對嗎？我想告訴你，去年和前幾年，我們是一家雜貨店，出售一些日用百貨，這確實是機會主義的。我們的使命是擴大會員的旅行使命，包括一般商品目的地旅行，對吧，來我們這裡購買通用汽車，也許還可以在他們在那裡的時候購買一些雜貨。我們終於開始看到這些東西的萌芽。我們已經談論了很多關於玩具的話題。我們談了很多關於家的事情。從這個角度來看，服裝可能是最成熟的東西。我們在那裡看到了 2 或 3 個新品種。第三季的服裝銷售情況良好，因為我們繼續改進產品種類，並從我們的會員那裡獲得重複流量和可信度，這正是我們在所有這些一般商品類別中所追求的。

So the consumer environment makes it a little bit tough to tell you when we'll turn the corner. Again, with a long-term focus, we're incredibly pleased with what the team is doing, what our early reactions are. And we'll just keep our nose to the grindstone and keep pushing to try and get that credibility and get that destination factor.

因此，消費環境讓我們很難告訴你什麼時候會度過難關。再次強調，我們著眼於長期，對團隊正在做的事情以及我們的早期反應感到非常滿意。我們將埋頭苦幹，繼續努力，爭取可信度並獲得目的地因素。

And then a quick follow-up on what you're thinking, the latest thoughts on membership fee hikes, how you think about it. If sort of needed for the P&L given, I don't know, for various reasons, if SG&A is rising, do you use it as a lever? Or is it the consumer environment trumps everything else right now, the way you think about it?

然後快速跟進您的想法、關於會員費上漲的最新想法以及您的想法。如果給定的損益表需要的話，我不知道，出於各種原因，如果SG&A上升，你會用它作為槓桿嗎？還是按照您的想法，現在的消費環境勝過一切？

Yes. Look, I think, again, we're focused on doing the right thing for our members for the lifetime value. And I think there's a good case that our members save even more money today than they did several years ago. So you could think about us justifying a membership fee income hike with the fact that our members get more from us than they did 4 or 5 years ago. But we want to be very cognizant of the fact that, we are in an interesting consumer environment, and we don't want to derail the progress that we're making, right? And go back to some of the earlier comments that I made. We're thrilled with our progress in Q3 and over the last several years, we've had a fee increase without a fee increase. So I think we can keep up the momentum. I don't want to do anything to derail that. That's not saying I'll never do it, but we haven't given any thought to doing it in the very near term.

是的。我想，我們再次致力於為我們的會員做正確的事情，以實現終​​身價值。我認為有一個很好的例子，我們的會員今天節省的錢比幾年前還要多。因此，您可以考慮我們以會員從我們這裡獲得的收入比四五年前更多這一事實來證明會員費收入增加是合理的。但我們想要清楚地認識到這樣一個事實：我們正處於一個有趣的消費環境中，我們不想破壞我們正在取得的進展，對嗎？回到我之前發表的一些評論。我們對第三季的進展感到非常興奮，在過去的幾年裡，我們的費用在沒有增加的情況下增加了。所以我認為我們可以保持這種勢頭。我不想做任何事來破壞這一點。這並不是說我永遠不會這樣做，但我們沒有考慮在短期內這樣做。

Our next question comes from Mark Carden with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的馬克卡登。

So to start on fuel, you noted that profits came in higher than anticipated and that you're [boosting] your 4Q expectations. But at the same time, you're keeping your longer-term profitability expectations steady. And so just curious if you're seeing any signs that the industry may be getting structurally stronger from a profitability standpoint? Are you looking to lighten your gaps here at all? Or are you expecting price competition to basically just step back up as fuel prices normalize?

因此，從燃料開始，您注意到利潤高於預期，並且您正在[提高]第四季度的預期。但同時，您將維持長期獲利預期穩定。所以只是好奇您是否看到任何跡象表明從盈利角度來看該行業可能在結構上變得更強？您是否想縮小這裡的差距？或者您預計隨著燃油價格正常化，價格競爭基本上會加劇？

Mark, that's a great question. Certainly, gas was a good profit performer for us in the third quarter. We expect it to be in the remainder of the year as well. That really all is a function of 2 things. First and foremost, our gains and market share, we continue to grow our gallons. Our gallons are up 3% in Q3. And the market is double-digit down in our markets. So we are garnering tons of share. Part of that is just our low pricing. Part of it is our co-brand credit card that gives you another $0.15 off per gallon and is a really great way to show value to our members on an everyday basis on top of the already fantastic pricing that we have.

馬克，這是一個很好的問題。當然，天然氣在第三季為我們帶來了良好的利潤。我們預計今年剩餘時間也會如此。這其實是兩件事的函數。首先也是最重要的是，我們的收益和市場份額，我們繼續增加我們的加侖數。第三季我們的加侖成長了 3%。我們市場的市場價格出現了兩位數的下跌。所以我們正在獲得大量的份額。部分原因是我們的低價。其中一部分是我們的聯名信用卡，每加侖可再優惠 0.15 美元，這是在我們已經擁有的超值價格基礎上每天向我們的會員展示價值的絕佳方式。

Second, really, behind market share is just the volatility of the cost of the commodity. So with not 1 but 2 wars going on in the world that provided a little bit of sadly extra volatility. And that provides some extra profit for us. So I think that will continue through the fourth quarter. I don't think -- I think you can probably predict my answer on the long term. I don't think we're looking to widen any gaps here. We're not trying to make any extra money off of gas while acknowledging that we have gotten structurally more profitable and the market has gotten structurally more profitable, we're not trying to float that up overall.

其次，實際上，市佔率的背後只是商品成本的波動。因此，世界上發生的不是一場而是兩場戰爭，帶來了一點可悲的額外波動。這為我們提供了一些額外的利潤。所以我認為這種情況將持續到第四季。我不認為——我認為從長遠來看你可以預測我的答案。我認為我們並不想擴大這裡的任何差距。我們並不是試圖從天然氣中賺取額外的錢，同時承認我們已經獲得了結構性的利潤增長，並且市場也獲得了結構性的利潤增長，我們並不是試圖整體上提高這一點。

What we're trying to do is put great pricing on our fuel, build the lifetime value of our memberships, get people in our parking lots through the gas business, so they come in and buy some general merchandise and some grocery items from us. We'll continue to focus on that. It's a great way to build the membership, it's a great way to build traffic, and price perception. So our team has done a wonderful job operating the gas business in a quite dynamic environment, and it's a key to our long-term future of our company. So good performance. We're looking for some more good performance. And over the long term, it will continue to drive our business.

我們正在努力做的是為我們的燃料定價，建立我們會員的終身價值，透過天然氣業務讓人們進入我們的停車場，這樣他們就會進來從我們這裡購買一些日用商品和一些雜貨。我們將繼續關注這一點。這是建立會員資格、建立流量和價格認知的好方法。因此，我們的團隊在充滿活力的環境中出色地經營了天然氣業務，這是我們公司長期未來的關鍵。這麼好的表現。我們正在尋找更多更好的表現。從長遠來看，它將繼續推動我們的業務。

Got it. That's helpful. And then just as a quick follow-up. What are you guys anticipating on the labor front over the next few quarters? Do you see much of a risk for another round of investments?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後作為快速跟進。你們對未來幾季的勞工方面有何預期？您認為另一輪投資的風險很大嗎？

Look, Mark, I think labor is always on our mind. Our team is obviously a critical component of what we do every day. They do a great job taking care of our members. As part of our mission, taking care of the families that depend on us, obviously, our team members or some of those families that depend on us. We pay great wages. We made huge investments over the past few years. With that said, we are fully staffed today. We're seeing reduced turnover in the clubs, so that would tell me that we're in the right neighborhood from a labor pricing perspective. There are certain pockets that are harder than others. But overall, I don't see the need to make giant investments going forward. We will try to do the best thing to take care of our members by getting the team members that we need and take care of those team members so that they take care of our members. So we don't anticipate it being a larger-than-normal structural headwind going forward.

聽著，馬克，我認為勞動始終是我們的心事。我們的團隊顯然是我們日常工作的重要組成部分。他們在照顧我們的會員方面做得很好。作為我們使命的一部分，照顧那些依賴我們的家庭，顯然是我們的團隊成員或一些依賴我們的家庭。我們支付豐厚的工資。過去幾年我們進行了大量投資。話雖如此，我們今天的人員配備齊全。我們看到俱樂部的營業額減少了，所以這告訴我，從勞動力定價的角度來看，我們處於正確的位置。有些口袋比其他口袋更硬。但總的來說，我認為未來沒有必要進行巨額投資。我們將盡最大努力照顧我們的成員，找到我們需要的團隊成員，並照顧這些團隊成員，以便他們可以照顧我們的成員。因此，我們預期未來不會出現比正常情況更大的結構性阻力。

Those are all the questions we have time for today. So I'll turn the call over to Bob for closing remarks.

這些就是我們今天有時間討論的所有問題。因此，我將把電話轉給鮑勃，讓他作結束語。

Wonderful. Thank you so much for being with us this morning. Thanks for your interest and your support of BJ's Wholesale Club. Hope you all have a safe and happy holiday season, and we will talk to you soon. Thanks so much.

精彩的。非常感謝您今天早上和我們在一起。感謝您對北京批發俱樂部的關注與支持。希望大家度過一個安全、快樂的假期，我們很快就會與您聯繫。非常感謝。

Thank you, everyone, for joining us today. This concludes our call, and you may now disconnect your lines.

謝謝大家今天加入我們。我們的通話到此結束，您現在可以斷開線路了。