Chico's FAS Inc (CHS) 2019 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and welcome to Chico's FAS Third Quarter 2019 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

美好的一天，歡迎參加 Chico 的 FAS 2019 年第三季度收益電話會議。（操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the conference over to Jennifer Ellis, Senior Vice President, Finance. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給財務高級副總裁詹妮弗·埃利斯 (Jennifer Ellis)。請繼續。

Thanks, Elissa, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to Chico's FAS Third Quarter 2019 Earnings Conference Call and Webcast.

謝謝艾麗莎，大家早上好。歡迎參加 Chico 的 FAS 2019 年第三季度收益電話會議和網絡廣播。

Joining me today are Bonnie Brooks, our CEO and President; Mary van Praag, President Intimates Group; and Todd Vogensen, CFO.

今天加入我的是我們的首席執行官兼總裁邦妮·布魯克斯 (Bonnie Brooks)； Mary van Praag，內衣集團總裁；和首席財務官托德·沃根森。

Our earnings release issued today can be found on our website at www.chicosfas.com under Investor Relations, Press Releases.

我們今天發布的收益報告可以在我們的網站 www.chicosfas.com 的“投資者關係、新聞稿”下找到。

Let me caution you that today's comments will include forward-looking statements about our current expectations, assumptions, plans, estimates, judgments and projections about our business and our industry, which speak only as of today's date. You should not unduly rely on forward-looking statements. Important factors that could cause actual results or events to differ materially from those projected or implied by our forward-looking statements are included in our earnings release issued this morning, in our SEC filings and in the comments that are made on this call. We disclaim any obligation to update or revise any information discussed in this call, except as maybe otherwise required by law.

讓我提醒您，今天的評論將包括有關我們當前對我們的業務和行業的預期、假設、計劃、估計、判斷和預測的前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅截至今天。您不應過度依賴前瞻性陳述。可能導致實際結果或事件與我們的前瞻性陳述中預測或暗示的結果或事件存在重大差異的重要因素包含在我們今天上午發布的收益報告、我們向 SEC 提交的文件以及本次電話會議中發表的評論中。我們不承擔更新或修改本次電話會議中討論的任何信息的義務，除非法律另有要求。

In addition, our comments and discussion of third quarter financial results will be on an adjusted or non-GAAP basis. You will find the GAAP and non-GAAP reconciliation schedules included with our press release issued this morning, which is available on our website.

此外，我們對第三季度財務業績的評論和討論將基於調整後或非公認會計準則的基礎上。您可以在我們今天上午發布的新聞稿中找到 GAAP 和非 GAAP 調節表，該新聞稿可在我們的網站上找到。

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Bonnie.

然後我會把電話轉給邦妮。

Thank you, Jennifer, and good morning, everyone. As you saw, we delivered strong results for the third quarter. Comparable sales improved sequentially, almost 400 basis points in Q3 over Q2, with both Chico's and White House Black Market driving significant improvements.

謝謝你，詹妮弗，大家早上好。正如您所看到的，我們第三季度取得了強勁的業績。可比銷售額環比增長，第三季度比第二季度增長了近 400 個基點，奇科和白宮黑市都推動了顯著的增長。

Soma's growth continued, delivering another quarter of double-digit increases. This is Soma's fifth consecutive quarter of positive comp growth.

Soma 的增長仍在繼續，又實現了四分之一的兩位數增長。這是 Soma 連續第五個季度實現正增長。

While work remains, these strong results demonstrate that we are executing on our 3 strategic priorities: first, across the organization, our teams are beginning to understand and align on the importance of being product and customer-obsessed. We have a firm focus on driving stronger sales through improved products, stronger marketing and customer engagement. Action and progress in all these areas contributed to this quarter's performance. In September, Chico's FAS had its first positive comp sales month in 42 months.

雖然工作還有待完成，但這些強勁的成果表明我們正在執行 3 個戰略重點：首先，在整個組織中，我們的團隊開始理解並調整以產品和客戶為中心的重要性。我們堅定地致力於通過改進產品、加強營銷和客戶參與來推動更強勁的銷售。所有這些領域的行動和進展為本季度的業績做出了貢獻。9 月份，Chico 的 FAS 迎來了 42 個月以來第一個月銷售正增長的月份。

At Chico's, the sequential improvement reflects the focus on key items and a more balanced inventory position between basics and fashion product. In September, the biggest month of the quarter for Chico's, they delivered an increase in lapsed customer reactivation and had a positive comp sales month. We reassorted our fashion product and reworked marketing plans to deliver the aesthetic and value our customers love and expect. Additionally, we revisited our customer feedback and research around fit and quality and began making adjustments. As you know, we have an incredibly loyal customer base and they respond enthusiastically when we pivot into what they want.

在 Chico's，連續的改善反映了對關鍵商品的關注以及基本款和時尚產品之間更加平衡的庫存狀況。9 月份是 Chico's 本季度業績最大的一個月，他們的流失客戶重新激活量有所增加，並且該月的銷售量也實現了積極增長。我們重新組合了我們的時尚產品並重新制定了營銷計劃，以提供客戶喜愛和期望的美感和價值。此外，我們重新審視了客戶的反饋以及有關合身性和質量的研究，並開始進行調整。如您所知，我們擁有非常忠誠的客戶群，當我們轉向他們想要的產品時，他們會熱情回應。

As you may recall, White House Black Market had a tough second quarter. Changes made in talent, merchandising and product design enabled a meaningful course correction. We were able to quickly edit the assortment, add a new product and affect cancellations for the third quarter, driving a 10-point swing improvement in comp sales from Q2 to Q3. A large part of the improvement at White House Black Market came from traffic and average unit retail in stores. These results indicate that the significant changes we made in product and also in visual presentation are resonating with customers.

您可能還記得，白宮黑市第二季度表現不佳。人才、營銷和產品設計方面的變化實現了有意義的方向修正。我們能夠快速編輯品種、添加新產品並影響第三季度的取消訂單，從而推動第二季度到第三季度的可比銷售額提高 10 個百分點。白宮黑市的改善很大一部分來自於商店的客流量和平均零售量。這些結果表明我們在產品和視覺呈現方面所做的重大改變引起了客戶的共鳴。

At Soma, the momentum is unwavering. Soma's growth continues to be driven by product innovation and investments in inventory and marketing. In addition, customer acquisition in the quarter was fueled by their 15th-anniversary event offered in stores and online. Mary van Praag will be joining us on today's call and speaking in more detail on how she is driving their results, which we believe are one of the best, if not the best in the industry.

在 Soma，勢頭堅定不移。Soma 的增長繼續受到產品創新以及庫存和營銷投資的推動。此外，在商店和網上舉辦的 15 週年紀念活動也推動了本季度的客戶獲取。瑪麗·範·普拉格 (Mary van Praag) 將參加今天的電話會議，並更詳細地介紹她如何推動他們的成果，我們認為，即使不是業內最好的，也是最好的之一。

Our second strategic priority is optimizing the customer journey by simplifying, digitizing and extending our unique and personalized service. The digital channel is continuing its growth and momentum. This growth is driven by improvements in product and marketing as well as advancements in our omnichannel capabilities. More growth opportunities are on the horizon as we plan to launch our new digital platform across 2020, which will offer our customers a more intuitive and user-friendly navigation and enable a personalized online experience equivalent to the best-in-class online site.

我們的第二個戰略重點是通過簡化、數字化和擴展我們獨特的個性化服務來優化客戶旅程。數字渠道正在繼續其增長和勢頭。這種增長是由產品和營銷的改進以及我們全渠道能力的進步推動的。隨著我們計劃在 2020 年推出新的數字平台，更多的增長機會即將到來，該平台將為我們的客戶提供更直觀、用戶友好的導航，並實現相當於一流在線網站的個性化在線體驗。

As discussed previously, establishing a Buy Online Pick Up in Store capability has been an important initiative in helping us to better serve our customer with more options and in a way that is more convenient for her. In October, we completed the implementation of BOPIS across all banners and stores. Early results indicate a strong sales attachment rate on pickup.

如前所述，建立在線購買店內提貨功能是一項重要舉措，可以幫助我們為客戶提供更多選擇並以更方便的方式更好地為他們服務。10 月份，我們完成了所有橫幅和商店的 BOPIS 實施。早期結果表明，提貨的銷售依戀率很高。

Our proprietary client telling tool, called Style Connect, it's having a phenomenal impact in stores as we deepen our personal connection with our customers. In Q4, we are launching a major new function to the tool, which we will discuss more on the next call.

我們專有的客戶告知工具稱為 Style Connect，隨著我們加深與客戶的個人聯繫，它對商店產生了顯著的影響。在第四季度，我們將為該工具推出一項重要的新功能，我們將在下次電話會議中對此進行更多討論。

We continue to explore ways to create meaningful selling tools and service innovation. We are pleased that both Chico's and Soma were recognized in October by Newsweek for America's Best Customer Service in the brick-and-mortar retailers category.

我們不斷探索創造有意義的銷售工具和服務創新的方法。我們很高興 Chico's 和 Soma 於 10 月份被《新聞周刊》評為實體零售商類別的美國最佳客戶服務。

Our third strategic priority is transforming our sourcing and supply chain operations. Our sourcing group is actively diversifying our country of origin mix and reducing our manufacturing penetration in China. By the end of 2020, we believe we will be in the low 30% range as we shift our sourcing to Vietnam, Indonesia and India.

我們的第三個戰略重點是轉變我們的採購和供應鏈運營。我們的採購團隊正在積極實現原產國組合多元化，並減少我們在中國的製造滲透率。到 2020 年底，我們相信，隨著我們將採購轉移到越南、印度尼西亞和印度，我們將處於 30% 的低水平。

We continue to place emphasis on optimizing our vendor base as we seek more strategic vendor relationships that provide long-term economies of scale and elevated product quality. We will see an even greater impact on product quality and cost efficiencies as we move into 2020.

我們繼續重視優化我們的供應商基礎，尋求更具戰略性的供應商關係，以提供長期的規模經濟和提高的產品質量。進入 2020 年，我們將看到產品質量和成本效率受到更大的影響。

On a final note, as we take important steps to improve our business, we are also taking important steps to ensure the right resources and people are in place to support our strategic goals and future success.

最後一點，在我們採取重要步驟來改善我們的業務的同時，我們也在採取重要步驟來確保合適的資源和人員到位，以支持我們的戰略目標和未來的成功。

When I joined the company in Q2, we committed to making the company both product and customer-obsessed and bringing in people with proven track records in apparel merchandising. At the beginning of Q3, Molly Langenstein joined the team in the newly created role of President of the Apparel Group. With over 30 years at Macy's, where her positive track record included leading all womenswear and also leading their most successful private label brands, Molly has brought tremendous value to many different aspects of the organization and is already having a positive impact on our results, in both Chico's and White House Black Market.

當我在第二季度加入公司時，我們致力於讓公司以產品和客戶為中心，並引進在服裝營銷方面擁有良好記錄的人才。第三季度初，Molly Langenstein 加入團隊，擔任新設立的服裝集團總裁一職。Molly 在梅西百貨工作了 30 多年，她的良好業績記錄包括領導所有女裝以及領導他們最成功的自有品牌品牌，Molly 為該組織的許多不同方面帶來了巨大價值，並且已經對我們的業績產生了積極影響，奇科和白宮黑市。

After careful analysis of our brand's product team, it became apparent that our structures to be improved to reduce the risk and volatility of the product as well as achieve our goals to drive the elevations, styling and quality. We decided to change the structure, and now all 3 brands have a new Senior VP role to oversee the design and merchandising functions, which formerly reported to the brand presidents. And we are very excited to announce that we have already hired 3 new team members into these key roles during Q3, each with proven track records in driving success through product. These senior leaders, Kirsten Bowen, Vanessa Dusold and Kelly Cooper, have a combined wealth of relevant experience from the Gap Athleta, J. Jill, Anthropologie, HSN and high-end designer buying expertise, previously unprecedented at Chico's FAS. And they provide a new layer of top management, not only driving the elevation of product but also accelerating improvement in speed to market, cost efficiencies and in creating compelling, competitive advantages in our assortments.

在對我們品牌的產品團隊進行仔細分析後，很明顯我們的結構需要改進，以降低產品的風險和波動性，並實現我們提升高度、造型和質量的目標。我們決定改變結構，現在所有 3 個品牌都設立了一個新的高級副總裁職位，負責監督設計和銷售職能，而該職能以前向品牌總裁匯報。我們非常高興地宣布，我們已經在第三季度聘請了 3 名新團隊成員擔任這些關鍵角色，每名成員在通過產品推動成功方面都有著良好的記錄。這些高級領導者 Kirsten Bowen、Vanessa Dusold 和 Kelly Cooper 擁有來自 Gap Athleta、J. Jill、Anthropologie、HSN 的豐富相關經驗以及高端設計師採購專業知識，這在 Chico's FAS 中是前所未有的。他們提供了一個新的高層管理階層，不僅推動了產品的提升，而且加速了上市速度、成本效率的提高，並在我們的品種中創造了引人注目的競爭優勢。

Aligned to the structure and strengthening of our product teams, we have consolidated some departments, repositioned others and believe we can operate more efficiently with fewer resources. Todd will speak to the recent expense reductions in his comments.

為了適應產品團隊的結構和加強，我們整合了一些部門，重新定位了其他部門，並相信我們可以用更少的資源更有效地運營。托德將在評論中談到最近的費用削減。

In summary, we are making significant progress on our identified strategic priorities. I am pleased with our progress this quarter as evidenced by our results. I firmly believe the company is on the right course. And the changes we are making to the business overall will reposition Chico's FAS for sustainable, profitable financial performance, not just for the short term, but the longer-term future, and deliver enhanced shareholder value.

總之，我們在確定的戰略重點方面正在取得重大進展。我對本季度的進展感到滿意，我們的結果證明了這一點。我堅信公司正走在正確的道路上。我們對整體業務所做的改變將重新定位 Chico 的 FAS，以實現可持續、盈利的財務業績，不僅是短期的，而且是長期的未來，並提高股東價值。

I'd like to now turn this morning's call over to Mary van Praag, President of the Intimates Group, for a few remarks on how she is driving the terrific performance at Soma. And on our next call, we plan to have Molly speak to the Apparel brands results and additional significant role. Mary, over to you.

我現在想把今天早上的電話轉給內衣集團總裁瑪麗·範·普拉格 (Mary van Praag)，請她談談她如何推動 Soma 的出色表現。在我們的下一次電話會議上，我們計劃讓莫莉談論服裝品牌的業績和其他重要角色。瑪麗，交給你了。

Thanks, Bonnie. I'm delighted to be speaking with all of you about the great things happening at Soma. As Bonnie mentioned, the third quarter marks 5 straight quarters of positive comp growth and record Q3 sales. Positive comp growth coming in all channels and particularly strong in our DCOM business.

謝謝，邦妮。我很高興能與大家談論 Soma 發生的偉大事情。正如邦妮提到的，第三季度標誌著連續 5 個季度的正增長和創紀錄的第三季度銷售額。所有渠道均出現積極的業績增長，尤其是我們的 DCOM 業務。

Highlights for this quarter included our very successful 15th-anniversary bra event, which attracted a record of 60,000 new customers to the brand in just 2 days.

本季度的亮點包括我們非常成功的 15 週年文胸活動，該活動在短短 2 天內吸引了 60,000 名新顧客，創紀錄。

Also during the quarter, we launched the first style of our innovative new Vanishing 360 collection, building on our largest and most successful franchise, more styles and extended sizing are coming in the spring.

同樣在本季度，我們推出了創新的全新 Vanishing 360 系列的第一個款式，以我們最大、最成功的特許經營權為基礎，更多款式和更多尺碼將於春季推出。

Our Pajama business driver, Soma Cool Nights, is growing beyond our expectations. Our elevated prints, details and mix and match are just what she desires. We recently initiated a study on sleep habit that details the benefits of a cooler night sleep. We'll continue to leverage insights like these to grow this business on a foundation of both innovation and differentiation.

我們的睡衣業務推動者 Soma Cool Nights 的增長超出了我們的預期。我們的高級印花、細節和混搭正是她想要的。我們最近發起了一項關於睡眠習慣的研究，詳細介紹了涼爽的夜間睡眠的好處。我們將繼續利用這些見解，在創新和差異化的基礎上發展這項業務。

We also continue to drive growth through our focus on solution-based products that we believe are the most comfortable and innovative in the industry. During the year, we launched several new innovative products, including the already mentioned Vanishing 360, Lightest Lift, The Cooling Bra and extension to our highly successful Enbliss franchise, just to name a few. These have resulted in improved engagement from our existing customers and given prospective new customers, compelling reasons to enter the brand.

我們還通過專注於基於解決方案的產品來繼續推動增長，我們認為這些產品是業內最舒適和創新的。在這一年中，我們推出了幾款新的創新產品，包括已經提到的 Vanishing 360、Lightest Lift、The Cooling Bra 以及我們非常成功的 Enbliss 特許經營權的擴展，僅舉幾例。這些提高了我們現有客戶的參與度，並為潛在的新客戶提供了進入該品牌的令人信服的理由。

We also delivered improvements to our customer experience. We are invested in our bra fit expertise training, enhance our satisfaction guarantee and developed a first of its kind fit tool, SOMAINNOFIT.

我們還改善了客戶體驗。我們投資於文胸貼合專業培訓，增強滿意度保證，並開發了首個同類貼合工具 SOMAINNOFIT。

And finally, we have strategically invested in marketing, at Soma, which has helped generate growth in both new and existing customers. In particular, we've been very successful with our digital, paid social and public relations efforts to build the awareness of the brand in the minds of consumers.

最後，我們對 Soma 的營銷進行了戰略投資，這有助於新客戶和現有客戶的增長。特別是，我們通過數字化、付費社交和公共關係努力在消費者心目中建立品牌知名度，取得了巨大成功。

We have a lot to celebrate at Soma, and we're equally excited about our future.

在 Soma，我們有很多值得慶祝的事情，我們對未來同樣感到興奮。

I'll now pass to Todd to discuss the financials.

我現在將請託德討論財務問題。

Thanks, Mary, and good morning, everyone. Before we begin, our comments and discussion of the third quarter financial results will be on an adjusted or non-GAAP basis. This excludes the impact of accelerated depreciation charges related to our retail fleet optimization plan and the impact of severance and other related net charges from the optimization of our organization structure. You'll find the GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation schedule included with our press release issued this morning.

謝謝瑪麗，大家早上好。在我們開始之前，我們對第三季度財務業績的評論和討論將基於調整後或非公認會計準則的基礎上。這不包括與我們的零售車隊優化計劃相關的加速折舊費用的影響，以及因我們的組織結構優化而產生的遣散費和其他相關淨費用的影響。您會發現我們今天早上發布的新聞稿中包含了 GAAP 與非 GAAP 調節表。

With that, we reported consolidated comparable sales for the third quarter that were above our outlook down 2.2%, reflecting a better trend compared to the second quarter across all of our brands. We continued to drive growth in digital commerce and believe our ongoing investments in digital capabilities and customer journey will continue to fuel healthy growth in this channel.

因此，我們報告第三季度的綜合可比銷售額比我們的預期下降了 2.2%，反映出我們所有品牌的趨勢比第二季度更好。我們繼續推動數字商務的增長，並相信我們對數字能力和客戶旅程的持續投資將繼續推動該渠道的健康增長。

Moving to the bottom line. We reported third quarter adjusted earnings of a $0.04 loss per diluted share. Merchandise margin was down 110 basis points, which includes a partial quarter of tariff impact of approximately $2 million or 40 basis points, and also includes the clearance of seasonal merchandise. We exited the quarter with total inventory up 4.3% compared to last year, primarily due to investments in Soma to support momentum in the business and fuel continued growth.

移動到底線。我們報告第三季度調整後每股攤薄收益虧損 0.04 美元。商品利潤率下降了 110 個基點，其中包括約 200 萬美元或 40 個基點的關稅影響的部分季度，還包括季節性商品的清關。本季度末，我們的總庫存比去年增加了 4.3%，這主要是由於對 Soma 的投資支持了業務勢頭並推動了持續增長。

Overall, gross margin was only down 30 basis points better than the outlook that we provided on our second quarter call. The better-than-expected performance was primarily due to meaningful leverage in store occupancy costs largely offsetting the lower merchandise margin.

總體而言，毛利率僅比我們在第二季度電話會議中提供的前景好 30 個基點。業績好於預期主要是由於商店佔用成本的有效槓桿在很大程度上抵消了較低的商品利潤率。

Moving to SG&A expenses. Third quarter SG&A dollars were approximately flat compared to last year, in line with expectations as we continue to closely manage our overall cost structure. As Bonnie mentioned, we took action in the third quarter to realign our organization structure to operate more efficiently and to allocate resources where we need them most. This reduces our ongoing costs, and we expect to generate meaningful SG&A savings.

轉到SG&A 費用。第三季度的銷售、管理及行政費用與去年同期基本持平，符合預期，因為我們繼續密切管理整體成本結構。正如邦妮提到的，我們在第三季度採取了行動，重新調整我們的組織結構，以提高運營效率，並將資源分配到最需要的地方。這降低了我們的持續成本，並且我們預計會產生有意義的銷售管理費用節省。

Our balance sheet remains strong, and we ended the quarter with $127 million in cash and short-term investments and $46 million in debt. We continue to focus our capital expenditures on investments in technology and existing store remodels and refreshes. For 2019, our outlook for capital expenditures is in the range of $40 million to $45 million. Year-to-date, through the third quarter, we've invested $22 million in our business. We closed 18 stores in the third quarter and 49 year-to-date, and we opened 4 new stores during the quarter. We are on track to deliver net closures of approximately 75 stores in fiscal 2019.

我們的資產負債表依然強勁，本季度末我們擁有 1.27 億美元的現金和短期投資以及 4600 萬美元的債務。我們繼續將資本支出集中在技術投資以及現有商店改造和更新上。2019 年，我們的資本支出預期在 4000 萬美元至 4500 萬美元之間。今年迄今為止，截至第三季度，我們已在業務上投資了 2200 萬美元。我們在第三季度關閉了 18 家商店，今年迄今關閉了 49 家商店，並在本季度開設了 4 家新店。我們有望在 2019 財年淨關閉約 75 家門店。

In the third quarter, we returned $10 million to shareholders in the form of dividends. On a trailing 4-quarter basis, we have returned approximately $92 million to shareholders in the form of dividends and share repurchases. And we currently have approximately $55 million outstanding under our existing share repurchase authorization.

第三季度，我們以股息的形式向股東返還了1000萬美元。在過去的 4 個季度中，我們以股息和股票回購的形式向股東返還了約 9200 萬美元。目前，根據我們現有的股票回購授權，我們尚有約 5500 萬美元的未償資金。

Turning now to our financial outlook for the fourth quarter and full year of 2019. We've updated our outlook to include the incremental cost of tariffs and consistent with the rest of our script, the outlook excludes net charges related to the retail fleet optimization plan as well as severance and other related costs. So for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019 compared to last year's fourth quarter, we expect continued improvement in the company's sales trends relative to the first half, resulting in a low single-digit decline in total net sales and consolidated comparable sales.

現在轉向我們對 2019 年第四季度和全年的財務展望。我們更新了我們的展望，以包括關稅的增量成本，並且與我們腳本的其餘部分一致，展望不包括與零售車隊優化計劃相關的淨費用以及遣散費和其他相關成本。因此，與去年第四季度相比，2019財年第四季度，我們預計該公司的銷售趨勢相對上半年將持續改善，從而導致總淨銷售額和合併可比銷售額出現低個位數下降。

Gross margin as a percent of net sales is expected to be down 100 to 150 basis points, which now includes a tariff impact of approximately $5 million or 100 basis points. Our SG&A expenses are expected to be down in the range of $5 million to $7 million, reflecting cost reduction actions that I mentioned earlier in addition to ongoing cost management.

毛利率占淨銷售額的百分比預計將下降 100 至 150 個基點，其中目前包括約 500 萬美元或 100 個基點的關稅影響。我們的 SG&A 費用預計將下降 500 萬至 700 萬美元，這反映了我之前提到的除了持續成本管理之外的成本削減行動。

For the full fiscal year of 2019 compared to last year, we expect a mid-single-digit decline in total net sales and consolidated comparable sales, which is in line with our previous guidance. This outlook takes into consideration our first half performance, and it also reflects improved sales trends across all brands in the second half as our initiatives gain traction.

與去年相比，我們預計 2019 財年的總淨銷售額和合併可比銷售額將出現中個位數下降，這與我們之前的指導一致。這一展望考慮到了我們上半年的業績，也反映了隨著我們的舉措獲得牽引力，下半年所有品牌的銷售趨勢有所改善。

Non-GAAP gross margin as a percent of net sales is expected to be down 150 to 200 basis points. This is in line with our previous guidance and takes into account the improved result from Q3 offset by the incremental cost of tariffs in the fourth quarter. SG&A is expected to be down approximately $10 million, reflecting the savings actions that we discussed earlier. And lastly, we expect fiscal 2019 tax expense in the range of $2 million to $3 million on a non-GAAP basis.

非 GAAP 毛利率占淨銷售額的百分比預計將下降 150 至 200 個基點。這與我們之前的指導一致，並考慮到第三季度業績的改善被第四季度關稅增量成本所抵消。SG&A 預計將減少約 1000 萬美元，反映了我們之前討論的節省行動。最後，我們預計 2019 財年按照非公認會計原則 (Non-GAAP) 計算的稅務費用將在 200 萬至 300 萬美元之間。

Now I'll turn the call back over to Jennifer for Q&A.

現在我將把電話轉回給詹妮弗進行問答。

Thank you, Todd. At this time, we would be happy to take your questions. (Operator Instructions) I'll turn the call back over to Elissa.

謝謝你，托德。目前，我們很樂意回答您的問題。（接線員指示）我會將電話轉回給 Elissa。

(Operator Instructions) The first question today comes from Susan Anderson of B. Riley FBR.

（操作員說明）今天的第一個問題來自 B. Riley FBR 的 Susan Anderson。

Nice job on the improvement in the quarter. Bonnie, maybe if you could talk a little bit about the improvement in comps you're seeing at White House and Chico's. Maybe if you could give some more color on what you're doing at each brand? What products are working and are resonating with customers? And then also maybe the areas that you feel still need to be touched and the improvement we could see going forward?

本季度的改進做得很好。邦妮，也許你能談談你在白宮和奇科看到的薪酬改善情況。也許您可以對您在每個品牌所做的事情提供更多的信息？哪些產品有效並引起客戶共鳴？也許您認為仍然需要觸及的領域以及我們未來可以看到的改進？

Thanks, Susan, and thanks for your comments. Product is definitely becoming better with each quarter. I would say it's not 100% yet, so it's not ideal, but moving in the right direction. And some of our businesses are performing better than others. But I firmly believe that we have our hands around all the reasons why certain businesses are not performing and that we have course correction in place for all of our businesses.

謝謝蘇珊，也感謝您的評論。每個季度產品肯定都在變得更好。我想說它還不是 100%，所以它並不理想，但正在朝著正確的方向前進。我們的一些業務表現優於其他業務。但我堅信，我們掌握了某些業務表現不佳的所有原因，並且我們對所有業務都進行了糾正。

There was a major editing process that took place in Q2 for Q3. And then with Molly arriving at the beginning of Q3, we were able to make some significant changes in Q3 for Q4, and so it continues. And now that we have the 3 new Senior Vice Presidents of Product and Design in place, we'll continue to see significant changes. So we're pretty excited about where we're headed. I would say, one thing we did in Q3 that we haven't really talked about is we cleared out a lot of old goods. In both Chico's and White House, we had goods that weren't selling, obviously, from Q1 and Q2. And in Chico's, we had some, I would say, old stock. And those were -- those units were really crowding the racks, crowding the stores. And we felt that it was imperative to move those units out and take them right out of stock. So those have been written off, and they are moved out of the company entirely and that freed up a lot of space in the stores to be able to present the new goods in a much better way and clearly, that has also helped. And that's included in our financials this quarter.

第二季度對第三季度進行了重大編輯過程。然後，隨著 Molly 在第三季度初的到來，我們能夠在第三季度為第四季度做出一些重大改變，如此下去。現在我們已經任命了 3 位新的產品和設計高級副總裁，我們將繼續看到重大變化。所以我們對我們的發展方向感到非常興奮。我想說，我們在第三季度做了一件我們沒有真正談論過的事情，那就是我們清理了很多舊貨。顯然，在奇科和白宮，我們的商品在第一季度和第二季度都沒有賣出去。在奇科，我們有一些，我想說，舊庫存。這些設備確實擠滿了貨架，擠滿了商店。我們認為必須將這些單位移出並立即脫銷。因此，這些都被註銷了，它們被完全移出公司，從而釋放了商店的大量空間，以便能夠以更好、更清晰的方式展示新商品，這也有所幫助。這已包含在我們本季度的財務數據中。

Great. That's very helpful. And then, Todd, maybe if I could ask one more. If you could talk about the drivers for gross margin in fourth quarter and the puts and takes there in terms of both margin and occupancy? Are you still expecting a clear -- are there still goods, I guess, that you need to clear in fourth quarter similar to what you had in the third quarter?

偉大的。這非常有幫助。然後，托德，也許我可以再問一個問題。您能否談談第四季度毛利率的驅動因素以及利潤率和入住率方面的看跌期權和期權？你是否仍然期待一個明確的——我想，你是否仍然需要在第四季度清理與第三季度類似的貨物？

We entered the quarter really clean on inventory. So we're feeling very good about how we're positioned going into the fourth quarter from an inventory perspective, from a presentation perspective and just generally, how we've set up the quarter to be even more relevant in the holiday season.

我們進入本季度時庫存非常乾淨。因此，從庫存角度、展示角度以及總體而言，我們對進入第四季度的定位感到非常滿意，我們如何將本季度設置為在假日季節更具相關性。

From a gross margin perspective, it's actually kind of a fairly simple formula for us in Q4, and that we have about 100 basis points of headwind from tariffs that's new into the guidance this quarter. And our overall outlook for the quarter is to be down 100 to 150 basis points. So the tariff is what really drives the headwinds for gross margin. In the fourth quarter, it's not particularly merchandise margin or any movements in other costs.

從毛利率的角度來看，這實際上對我們來說是一個相當簡單的公式，在第四季度，我們有大約 100 個基點的關稅阻力，這是本季度指導中新加入的。我們對本季度的總體預期是下調 100 至 150 個基點。因此，關稅才是真正影響毛利率的因素。在第四季度，主要不是商品利潤率或其他成本的任何變動。

The next question today comes from Janet Kloppenburg of JJK Research.

今天的下一個問題來自 JJK Research 的 Janet Kloppenburg。

I was just wondering if you could talk about the positioning of both Chico's and White House for the holiday season, maybe where you think merchandising execution has sharpened year-over-year. I think you had talked about gifting options. And Todd, you had said that the inventory was clean. So does that mean that the aging is lower year-over-year and that you have more fresh content to help comps improve further as we go through the season? It seems like your guidance might imply that you don't look for that much improvement in comps in the fourth quarter versus the third quarter.

我只是想知道您是否可以談談奇科和白宮在假日季節的定位，也許您認為銷售執行力逐年提高。我想你已經談到了送禮的選擇。托德，你說過庫存是乾淨的。那麼，這是否意味著老化程度同比較低，並且隨著我們整個賽季的進行，你們有更多新鮮內容來幫助比賽進一步提高？您的指導似乎意味著您並不希望第四季度的業績比第三季度有那麼大的改善。

Sure, I'll start that one. Thank you. In terms of holiday product, there is a little longer lead time on some of the holiday product. And I will say that the team -- the prior team had done a fantastic job of building some additional items that we haven't had in the past, particularly in Chico's. So you're going to see some depth of inventory around key items that are all really holiday focused, easy one for me, one for you kind of concept, the easy pick-up items, and we have quantified those pretty intently.

當然，我會開始那個。謝謝。就假日產品而言，部分假日產品的交貨時間稍長。我要說的是，之前的團隊在構建一些我們過去沒有的附加項目方面做得非常出色，尤其是在奇科的項目中。因此，您將看到圍繞關鍵物品的一定深度的庫存，這些物品都是真正以假期為中心的，對我來說簡單的，對你來說簡單的一種概念，容易拾取的物品，我們已經非常認真地量化了這些物品。

So we do believe that although history would say that Q4 is not a big season, a holiday is not a big season for -- particularly for Chico's and White House, certainly not the same degree it is for Soma. The new merchants and I believe strongly that, that can change in the years to come. And so we will be building far more holiday assortments into our plans in 2020. But there will be a significant improvement in the holiday goods themselves for Chico's this year. And as well at White House, the holiday dressing is significantly stronger this year than it was last year, and we have moved some of our dollars, we did that in Q2, moved some of the dollars from, what we would call, Polish career into special occasion and social for White House Black Market and, of course, at Soma. Holiday is a major piece of the business. But again, we're excited about the opportunity going forward for holiday. And Todd, do you want to pick up on the question about the number in the inventory?

因此，我們確實相信，儘管歷史會說第四季度不是一個重要的季節，但對於特別是奇科和白宮來說，假期並不是一個重要的季節，當然與索馬的程度不同。我和新商人堅信，這種情況在未來幾年可能會發生變化。因此，我們將在 2020 年的計劃中加入更多的假日品種。但今年 Chico's 的節日商品本身將會有顯著改善。同樣在白宮，今年的節日盛裝比去年明顯強勁，我們已經轉移了一些美元，我們在第二季度就這樣做了，從我們所說的波蘭職業轉移了一些美元參加白宮黑市的特殊場合和社交活動，當然還有索馬。假期是業務的主要部分。但我們再次對假期的機會感到興奮。托德，你想回答有關庫存數量的問題嗎？

Sure. So Janet, on inventory, you're right, we're clean heading into the quarter. And I think I paid a lot of attention to making sure that we had even more full-priced goods, more current goods as we went into the quarter than we've had in the past. So I think that sets us up well for the quarter. In terms of comps, I think we're well aware that fourth quarter is just a volatile quarter. And the impacts that we're having are growing over time, so we also don't want to get too far ahead of ourselves in a quarter that just is inherently not what traditionally has been the biggest quarter for Chico's and White House.

當然。所以珍妮特，在庫存方面，你是對的，我們在進入本季度時一切順利。我想我花了很多精力確保我們進入本季度時比過去有更多的全價商品、更多的當前商品。所以我認為這為我們本季度做好了準備。就比較而言，我認為我們很清楚第四季度只是一個不穩定的季度。隨著時間的推移，我們所產生的影響越來越大，因此我們也不希望在一個本質上不是奇科和白宮傳統上最大的季度的季度中走得太遠。

The interesting thing for us, while Q4 isn't necessarily the biggest quarter of the year for Chico's and White House, it certainly is for Soma. And I know Mary has been doing a lot on Soma. There hasn't -- meaningful impact on the business in Q4.

對我們來說有趣的是，雖然第四季度不一定是 Chico's 和 White House 一年中最大的季度，但對 Soma 來說肯定是。我知道瑪麗在索瑪身上做了很多事情。對第四季度的業務沒有產生重大影響。

Yes. Q4 is our #1 quarter, and we'd like to think of ourselves at Christmas or holiday gifting destination. And we just ran our first ever family P.J. Day, and we've really placed big bets on P.J. sets, coordinates, robes, slippers, coordinated all of our bras back to our various sleepwear patterns, so that there is a strong attachment rate, and we've added dressy sleepwear and have a predominant red story going on. So we feel like we're primed and ready to go to capture all of that additional traffic.

是的。第四季度是我們的第一季度，我們希望把自己想像成聖誕節或節日禮物的目的地。我們剛剛舉辦了我們的第一個家庭睡衣日，我們在睡衣套裝、套裝、長袍、拖鞋上下了很大的賭注，將我們所有的胸罩與我們各種睡衣圖案協調起來，這樣就有了很強的依戀率，我們還添加了考究的睡衣，並講述了一個以紅色為主的故事。因此，我們覺得我們已經準備好並準備好捕捉所有額外的流量。

Same way in the next few days.

接下來的幾天也是如此。

Yes.

是的。

And Todd, should we be incorporating tariff impact into our first and second quarter estimates for fiscal '20 as well?

托德，我們是否也應該將關稅影響納入 20 財年第一季度和第二季度的預測中？

We really should. So we are able to offset a lot of that tariff costs through the things we've talked about on sourcing. So we are looking more at those strategic partners in sourcing, which are enabling us to diversify our country of origin to make sure that we're partnering around how we can offset some of the tariff headwinds as well. Just generally making sure that we're getting the right quality into the product that we need with all of those parameters.

我們確實應該這樣做。因此，我們能夠通過我們在採購方面討論的事情來抵消很多關稅成本。因此，我們更多地關注採購方面的戰略合作夥伴，這些合作夥伴使我們能夠實現原產國多元化，以確保我們能夠圍繞如何抵消一些關稅阻力進行合作。一般而言，確保我們在所有這些參數的情況下獲得所需的產品的正確質量。

And then on the flip side, there's always things that we're looking at from a pricing perspective, particularly in areas that are, let's call it, less elastic. And so we're also looking at those and certainly we'll not offset all of the tariff headwinds, but we are looking to try to mitigate as much as we can. And yes, having an impact as we go into next year. We haven't given the guidance on that yet, but there will be an impact as we go through each quarter.

另一方面，我們總是從定價角度考慮一些事情，特別是在彈性較小的領域。因此，我們也在考慮這些問題，當然我們不會抵消所有關稅阻力，但我們正在尋求盡可能多地緩解。是的，在我們進入明年時會產生影響。我們尚未就此給出指導，但每個季度都會產生影響。

The next question today comes from Kimberly Greenberger of Morgan Stanley.

今天的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的金伯利格林伯格。

This is Cynthia on for Kimberly. We're wondering if you could talk a little bit about your free cash flow year-to-date. And what do you expect to end the year with. And how do you see free cash flow playing out in the next couple of years?

這是金伯利的辛西婭。我們想知道您是否可以談談您今年迄今為止的自由現金流。您希望以什麼結束這一年？您如何看待未來幾年的自由現金流？

Sure. So free cash flow is one of the things that's historically been a big strength of the company. We've had significant free cash flow for many, many years. Now this year, obviously, with where we've trended, and particularly with some of the investments we've made in inventory, it's lower than it has been in the past that was somewhat expected. But as we go into next year and the years in the future, we get back to a more normalized level and timing in our inventory investment. We're able to control that accounts payable leverage and make sure we continue to manage capital through the year. We feel good that we're going to be headed back in the direction of where we've been historically.

當然。因此，自由現金流一直是該公司的一大優勢。多年來我們一直擁有大量的自由現金流。顯然，今年我們的趨勢，特別是我們在庫存方面進行的一些投資，低於過去的預期。但當我們進入明年和未來幾年時，我們的庫存投資將回到更加正常的水平和時機。我們能夠控制應付賬款槓桿，並確保我們全年繼續管理資本。我們感覺很好，我們將回到歷史上的方向。

And then if I could just follow up with one more question. It seems that your inventory per store is up a little bit coming out of the quarter. Could you talk a little bit more on that, please?

然後我能否再問一個問題。本季度以來，您每家商店的庫存似乎有所增加。您能再多談一點嗎？

Absolutely. So one area that we've made a fair amount of inventory investment in is Soma. So Soma is showing fantastic growth. They have a great pipeline of new products that are coming out. And the type of inventory that Soma has in their instruments just tends to be slower churn but profitable inventory, and it's basics that have long lives. So we're able to make that investment in a relatively low-risk way. It does show an increase probably on your inventory per store. Part of that is we are funding more inventory online, which you may not get the breakout on. And then the other part is that those Soma stores, just because of the highly intensive SKU nature of those stores, do tend to carry more relative to Chico's and White House. So all of that coming together to be what you see at the top level.

絕對地。因此，我們在 Soma 領域進行了大量庫存投資。Soma 正在呈現出驚人的增長。他們有大量即將推出的新產品。Soma 在其儀器中擁有的庫存類型往往是流失速度較慢但有利可圖的庫存，而且它是具有較長使用壽命的基本要素。因此，我們能夠以相對低風險的方式進行投資。它確實顯示每家商店的庫存可能有所增加。其中一部分原因是我們正在為更多的在線庫存提供資金，您可能無法獲得突破。另一方面，那些 Soma 商店，僅僅因為這些商店的 SKU 高度密集，相對於 Chico's 和 White House 來說，確實往往會銷售更多商品。所以所有這些結合在一起就是你在頂層看到的。

The next question today comes from Jennifer Trussell (sic) [Paul Trussell] of Deutsche Bank.

今天的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Jennifer Trussell（原文如此）[Paul Trussell]。

This is Gabby Carbone on for Paul Trussell. So nice job on the comp improvement. Our question is kind of bigger picture. What are your overall thoughts on the promotional environment? And what you're seeing in the mall and your position into holiday? And then just on gross margin, is there any impact now, now that your BOPIS is rolled out to the margin line there moving ahead?

我是加比·卡本 (Gabby Carbone)，替保羅·特魯塞爾 (Paul Trussel) 發言。在補償改進方面做得很好。我們的問題是更大的圖景。您對促銷環境的總體看法如何？您在商場看到了什麼以及您對假期的安排如何？那麼，就毛利率而言，既然您的 BOPIS 已向前推進至利潤線，那麼現在是否有任何影響？

Absolutely. So I can talk gross margin and maybe Bonnie can cover promotional environment. In terms of gross margin, we don't expect a meaningful impact from the gross margin rate on BOPIS with the possible exception that we are able to utilize our inventory more effectively, right? We're exposing more inventory to customers online, which should help overall that sell-through on the full-priced goods. So from a modeling perspective, I wouldn't necessarily build in a lot of extra costs for the gross margin on BOPIS. On our ship from store initiative, we've been talking through the year that the shipping is -- or has driven up a fair amount of cost in our gross margin just because we are taking that inventory in stores and shipping it to customers. We have wrapped around on that initiative really as we go into Q4 completely, we've wrapped around on it. So from a rate leverage year-over-year, that should put us back on more of a level playing field.

絕對地。所以我可以談談毛利率，也許邦妮可以談談促銷環境。就毛利率而言，我們預計毛利率不會對 BOPIS 產生有意義的影響，但可能的例外是我們能夠更有效地利用我們的庫存，對嗎？我們正在網上向客戶展示更多庫存，這應該有助於全價商品的整體銷售。因此，從建模的角度來看，我不一定會為 BOPIS 的毛利率增加大量額外成本。在我們的“從商店發貨”計劃中，我們這一年一直在談論運輸成本，或者說已經增加了我們毛利率的相當一部分成本，只是因為我們將庫存存入商店並將其運送給客戶。當我們完全進入第四季度時，我們實際上已經完成了該計劃，我們已經完成了它。因此，從逐年的利率槓桿來看，這應該會讓我們回到更加公平的競爭環境。

Okay. In terms of promotional levels, you're asking how we look at that and what we're thinking about the market in general. Yes, it is a heavy promotional time. There is no question that Q4 is exceptionally promotional in our world. I will say, though, that we are being a lot more strategic with the use of our promotional dollars, and our number of promotional days, and the way in which we are driving promotions in terms of total assortment versus specific assortments. And those are all -- all the testing that we're doing in those areas is proving very successful. So we are encouraged about being able to change our overall promotional activity going into 2020 and beyond. And that's one of our goals as well is to balance out the number of days on promotion and not on promotion.

好的。就促銷水平而言，您是在問我們如何看待這一問題以及我們對整個市場的看法。是的，這是一個促銷力度很大的時期。毫無疑問，第四季度在我們的世界中具有非凡的促銷作用。不過，我要說的是，我們在促銷資金的使用、促銷天數以及總品種與特定品種方面推動促銷的方式方面更具戰略性。這些就是我們在這些領域所做的所有測試都被證明是非常成功的。因此，我們對能夠改變 2020 年及以後的整體促銷活動感到鼓舞。這也是我們的目標之一，就是平衡促銷和非促銷的天數。

The other thing that we have done is that throughout this year, we have really distorted the marketing to digital. And our customers, even the Chico's customers that some may feel would not be as digital, certainly are very digital-savvy. So we are actually telling our customers a more cohesive story about what we stand for and what she can expect from us. So our holiday marketing is really significantly different than last year, not only in terms of the message, but the aesthetic look of the marketing, I would say, right across all brands.

我們所做的另一件事是，今年以來，我們確實扭曲了數字營銷。我們的客戶，甚至是 Chico 的客戶，有些人可能覺得他們不會那麼數字化，但他們肯定非常精通數字化。因此，我們實際上是在向客戶講述一個更有凝聚力的故事，講述我們的立場以及她對我們的期望。因此，我們的假日營銷與去年確實有很大不同，不僅在信息方面，而且在營銷的美學外觀方面，我想說，所有品牌都如此。

And we're really delivering a more clean and compelling presentation in the stores and online. So we were able to buy more deeply into key items for the season and have those also being driven online and supported in-stores strongly with marketing. So we feel our marketing approach is much stronger and moving in the direction that we want.

我們確實在商店和網上提供了更簡潔、更引人注目的展示。因此，我們能夠更深入地購買當季的關鍵商品，並將這些商品放在網上銷售，並通過營銷在店內提供大力支持。所以我們覺得我們的營銷方法更加強大並且正在朝著我們想要的方向發展。

Also, I would say that our Chico's e-mails this holiday season are best-in-class, and I urge you to take a look at them if you haven't, and you will see the direction that we're headed. So we're pretty excited and pumped about all of our marketing for Q4.

另外，我想說的是，我們 Chico 這個假期的電子郵件是同類中最好的，如果您還沒有看過，我強烈建議您看一下，您會看到我們前進的方向。因此，我們對第四季度的所有營銷活動感到非常興奮和興奮。

The next question today comes from Marni Shapiro of Retail Tracker.

今天的下一個問題來自 Retail Tracker 的 Marni Shapiro。

Congrats on all the improvements.

祝賀所有的改進。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Could you talk a little bit about -- you mentioned that the traffic was up at the White House stores. I'm curious if you can give us any insights about the traffic at Chico's because the assortment did look much better as the quarter progressed. And any insights as to what's happening at the outlets with the business there? Did you see the same types of improvements there?

你能談談——你提到白宮商店的客流量增加了。我很好奇您能否向我們提供有關 Chico's 客流量的任何見解，因為隨著本季度的進展，商品種類確實看起來好多了。對於商店裡的業務情況有什麼見解嗎？您在那裡看到了相同類型的改進嗎？

Thank you, Marni. We know you're in our stores a lot. We appreciate that, and thanks for your comment about noticing the improvement. I will say that in Q3, we changed the window presentation significantly at White House and worked on also changing the interiors. And that team really made the stores come to life in a new way. We are very excited about the results of that because we were able to actually change our own traffic pattern.

謝謝你，瑪尼。我們知道您經常光顧我們的商店。我們對此表示讚賞，並感謝您對注意到改進的評論。我想說的是，在第三季度，我們顯著改變了白宮的櫥窗展示，並致力於改變內部裝飾。這個團隊確實讓商店以新的方式煥發了生機。我們對此結果感到非常興奮，因為我們能夠真正改變我們自己的流量模式。

And at Chico's, we are doing the same exercise in terms of trying different things in the windows and in the interiors and making stronger statements. The benefits there not yet as significant as they have been at White House, but the mood and the customers' reaction to the way we are setting up the stores is definitely more positive.

在奇科，我們也在做同樣的練習，在窗戶和室內嘗試不同的東西，並做出更有力的陳述。那裡的好處還沒有在白宮那麼顯著，但情緒和顧客對我們設立商店的方式的反應肯定更加積極。

In terms of outlets, the business at outlets has not been as strong. However, the outlet business online is growing. So we have a little work to do at outlets, but outlet has traditionally been a very strong part of our -- I would say a strong part of our business but also very consistent performer in the business. So we're very confident that outlets will continue to perform for us going forward.

從奧特萊斯來看，奧特萊斯的生意並不那麼旺盛。然而，網上奧特萊斯業務正在增長。因此，我們在奧特萊斯還有一些工作要做，但奧特萊斯傳統上一直是我們業務的一個重要組成部分——我想說的是我們業務的一個重要組成部分，但也是業務中非常穩定的表現者。因此，我們非常有信心，門店未來將繼續為我們提供服務。

(Operator Instructions) The next question today comes from Dana Telsey of Telsey Advisory Group.

（操作員說明）今天的下一個問題來自 Telsey Advisory Group 的 Dana Telsey。

As you think about this third quarter, how did the cadence of the quarter go for each of the brands? Was September, October different than what you saw in August? And then, Todd, any update on the real estate rationalization plans as we head into 2020?

當您思考第三季度時，每個品牌的季度節奏如何？九月、十月與你在八月看到的有什麼不同嗎？然後，托德，在我們進入 2020 年之際，房地產合理化計劃有什麼更新嗎？

Sure. So first in terms of cadence, I think two things: one, in August, that was pretty quick after we'd had a lot of changes. You probably did not see as much of the change in presentation and product as you would have later in the quarter. So August was a little bit tougher of a month. As we went through the quarter, we did see a stronger and stronger product. In October, we were even able to pull back a little bit on promotions, which was a good thing to see. So really, as we went through the quarter, we were pleased with how everything moved along.

當然。首先就節奏而言，我認為有兩件事：第一，在八月份，在我們進行了很多更改之後，速度很快。您可能沒有看到像本季度晚些時候那樣多的演示和產品變化。所以八月是比較艱難的一個月。當我們經歷這個季度時，我們確實看到了越來越強大的產品。十月份，我們甚至能夠稍微縮減促銷活動，這是一件好事。事實上，當我們度過這個季度時，我們對一切的進展感到滿意。

And I'm sorry, your other question was on...

抱歉，您的另一個問題是...

Real estate rationalization.

房地產合理化。

Real estate. Yes. So real estate, we clearly have optimized through a number of stores over the course of this year, which tend to be the stores that were our toughest performers. And so we have taken that first pass. We're going to look for about 75 net closures this year.

房地產。是的。因此，在房地產方面，我們今年顯然已經通過許多商店進行了優化，這些商店往往是我們表現最差的商店。我們已經邁出了第一步。今年我們預計將有約 75 家淨關閉。

What I'd tell you as we get further into it and as we see performance better in some of our stores, we are continuing to look at it. If we have the opportunity to improve our performance in a store or work with the landlord to mitigate the rent risk, we are continuing to look at what the right answer is for those stores. We don't want to be stuck to a number that we feel like we have to hit. We're trying to make the right decisions. And so it will be one of those things we continue to update as we go along. And if we get the product front, if we get the progress we're looking for, sales will look great in stores, and then that will give us more opportunity.

我要告訴你的是，隨著我們進一步深入研究，當我們看到一些商店的表現更好時，我們將繼續關注它。如果我們有機會提高商店的業績或與房東合作降低租金風險，我們將繼續尋找適合這些商店的正確答案。我們不想被困在一個我們覺得必須達到的數字上。我們正在努力做出正確的決定。因此，這將是我們不斷更新的內容之一。如果我們把產品放在前面，如果我們取得了我們所尋求的進展，那麼商店裡的銷售量就會很大，然後這將為我們帶來更多機會。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn it back over to Bonnie for closing comments.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想將其轉回給邦妮以供結束評論。

Thank you very much. In conclusion, we believe we have the right people and plans in place to drive a strong fourth quarter performance and long-term value creation for our shareholders. The Board and I remain confident in our path forward and look forward to offering our customer the elevated, relevant and better quality product she expects and an exciting, seamless experience across all of our channels in every transaction at every step of her journey in each of our brands. Thank you for joining us today for this Q3 earnings call. On behalf of all of us at Chico's FAS, we wish you a Happy Thanksgiving.

非常感謝。總之，我們相信我們擁有合適的人員和計劃來推動第四季度的強勁業績並為股東創造長期價值。董事會和我對我們的前進道路仍然充滿信心，並期待為我們的客戶提供她所期望的更高、相關和更優質的產品，並在我們所有渠道的每筆交易、每一步旅程中提供令人興奮的、無縫的體驗。我們的品牌。感謝您今天參加我們的第三季度財報電話會議。我們謹代表 Chico's FAS 的全體員工祝您感恩節快樂。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。