好市多 (COST) 2017 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon. My name is Frederica, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Costco Q2 earnings call and February sales conference call.

午安.我是弗雷德里卡，今天將擔任本次電話會議的接線生。現在，我謹代表大家歡迎各位參加好市多第二季財報電話會議暨二月銷售業績電話會議。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Thank you. Mr. Richard Galanti, CFO, sir, you may begin your conference.

謝謝。理查德·加蘭蒂先生，首席財務官，您可以開始您的會議了。

Thank you, Frederica, and good afternoon to everyone.

謝謝你，弗雷德里卡，大家下午好。

I'll start by stating that these discussions will include forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve risks and uncertainties that may cause several actual events, results, and/or performances to differ materially from those indicated by such statements. The risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to those outlined in today's call, as well as other risks identified from time to time in the Company's public statements, or reports filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and we do not undertake to update these statements except as required by law.

首先聲明，本次討論將包含1995年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》所界定的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致若干實際事件、結果和/或績效與此類陳述所指明的內容有重大差異。這些風險和不確定性包括但不限於本次電話會議中概述的風險和不確定性，以及公司不時在公開聲明或向美國證券交易委員會提交的報告中揭露的其他風險。前瞻性陳述僅代表其發布之日的觀點，除法律要求外，我們不承擔更新這些陳述的義務。

In today's press release, we have three things to discuss. We reported our second quarter and first half FY17 operating results for the 12 week and 24 week periods ended February 12. We also reported our monthly sales results for the four week reporting month of February, which ended this past Sunday, February 26. And we announced our plans for a membership fee increase in the US and Canada effective this coming June 1.

在今天的新聞稿中，我們有三件事要討論。我們公佈了截至2月12日的2017財年第二季和上半年（12週和24週）的營運表現。我們也公佈了截至上週日（2月26日）的2月（四週）的月度銷售表現。此外，我們也宣布了將於今年6月1日起提高美國和加拿大會員費的計畫。

For the 12 week fiscal second quarter, earnings came in at $1.17 a share or $0.07 below last year's earnings results of $1.24. Some items of note, first, our co-branded credit card, and how it impacts our results. Similar to what we reported in our first quarter results, the Citi Visa co-branded credit card program, which went live last June 20, positively impacted our margins by 16 basis points, our SG&A expenses by 24 basis points as compared to a year earlier, and our overall bottom line in Q2, benefiting earnings by $0.16 a share, more detail on that later in the call.

截至第二財季結束的12週內，每股收益為1.17美元，較去年同期的1.24美元下降0.07美元。首先，需要重點介紹我們的聯名信用卡及其對業績的影響。與我們在第一季財報中揭露的情況類似，去年6月20日正式推出的花旗Visa聯名信用卡項目，使我們的利潤率提高了16個基點，銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）較去年同期降低了24個基點，並最終使第二季度的整體淨利潤增加了0.16美元。更多詳情將在電話會議稍後部分進行闡述。

Second, gas profitability. Our profits from gasoline during the quarter as compared to last year's second quarter were lower by $42 million pretax or $0.06 a share, this primarily a function of last year's very strong second quarter gas profit results, and is consistent with the impact to gas profitability, that rises in gas prices will cause on our earnings of gas.

其次，是汽油業務的獲利能力。本季汽油業務利潤較去年同期下降了4,200萬美元稅前利潤，即每股下降0.06美元。這主要是由於去年同期汽油業務利潤表現強勁，同時也與汽油價格上漲對汽油業務獲利能力的影響相符。

Number three, IT expenses. Our IT activities impacted SG&A in Q2 on an incremental year-over-year basis by $26 million pretax or 7 basis points or to SG&A or $0.04 a share compared to last year. This reflects both the direct expenses for the quarter, as well as increasing levels of depreciation and amortization on major completed projects that are now in service.

第三，IT支出。第二季度，IT活動對銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）的影響較上年同期增加了2,600萬美元稅前支出，即7個基點，或每股增加0.04美元。這不僅反映了本季度的直接支出，也反映了已竣工並投入使用的主要項目折舊和攤銷水平的提高。

Number four, stock compensation expense. This one is getting less of a negative impact each year, so it's a little smaller than spend, it was 10% higher year-over-year, so $10 million higher, or about $0.015 impact to the P&L.

第四項是股權激勵費用。這項費用每年受到的負面影響都在減少，因此金額略低於支出，年增10%，即增加了1000萬美元，對損益表的影響約為0.015美元。

FX, number five. There are two FX items to point out. The first one, which I typically point out, is that what -- how the impact is to changes in foreign currencies, relative to the US dollar year over year. As compared to a year ago, during the second quarter, many of the foreign countries in locations where we operate began to strengthen during quarter versus the US dollar, most notably in Canada, resulting in our foreign earnings in Q2 when converted into US dollars, being slightly higher by about $4 million pretax or about $0.01 share, than if the exchange rates had been flat year over year.

外匯，第五點。有兩點需要指出。第一點，也是我通常會提到的，是外幣匯率變動對美元年比的影響。與去年同期相比，我們在第二季度營運所在地的許多外國貨幣對美元開始走強，其中以加拿大最為顯著。因此，如果將第二季的海外收益換算成美元，稅前收益將比去年同期高出約400萬美元，即每股收益高出約0.01美元（假設匯率與去年同期持平）。

But number two, as it relates to FX, is a much bigger impact to this quarter's P&L, had to do with FX losses related to forward contracts, and US dollar holdings by our international subsidiaries. These are used to pay US dollar-denominated merchandise payables in those countries, that those losses on those, exceeded the gains on the related US dollar-denominated payables.

但第二點，就外匯而言，對本季損益表的影響更大，這與遠期合約相關的外匯損失以及我們國際子公司持有的美元有關。這些美元用於支付在這些國家以美元計價的商品應付帳款，而這些損失超過了相關美元應付帳款的收益。

This year in the second quarter, it was roughly a $20 million pretax hit. Last year in Q2, the gains on those payables exceeded the net losses on forward contracts in US dollar holdings by [plus $6 million]. So year-over-year, a $26 million year-over-year swing or impact -- a negative impact to the P&L by $0.04 a share. I might add that, this year-over-year swing, it generally runs in the plus or minus zero to $0.02 a share range. With all of the volatility out there, it was a little bigger this quarter.

今年第二季度，稅前損失約2,000萬美元。去年第二季度，這些應付帳款的收益超過了美元遠期合約淨虧損600萬美元。因此，年比波動幅度為2,600萬美元，對損益表每股造成0.04美元的負面影響。需要補充的是，這種同比波動通常在每股正負0到0.02美元之間。由於市場波動較大，本季的波動幅度略大一些。

Number six, LIFO. There was no LIFO charge or credit in this year's second quarter results, whereas in last year's Q2 results, it had a LIFO credit of $15 million, reflecting deflation in our LIFO indices, and so positively impacted last year's Q2 by $0.02 a share.

第六，後進先出法（LIFO）。今年第二季業績中沒有後進先出法（LIFO）的費用或收益，而去年第二季度業績中，後進先出法（LIFO）產生了 1500 萬美元的收益，反映了我們後進先出法（LIFO）指數的通貨緊縮，因此對去年第二季度每股收益產生了 0.02 美元的積極影響。

While we did have some deflation in the quarter as we did in Q1, with the switch over to a new accounting system and platform at the beginning of the fiscal year, basically even though we've had deflation, we have no associated previous inflation or LIFO charges historically taken. And so, if you will, there's a build up of credit that will offset future LIFO charges, to the extent that there's inflation in the future. But again, year-over-year, that's a $0.02 hit to the quarter year-over-year swing.

雖然本季和第一季一樣，由於本財年初切換到新的會計系統和平台，我們確實出現了一些通縮，但基本上，即使出現了通縮，我們歷史上也沒有提列任何相關的通膨或後進先出法（LIFO）費用。因此，可以說，累積的信貸額度可以抵消未來的LIFO費用，以應對未來可能出現的通膨。但同樣，與去年同期相比，這只會對本季業績造成0.02美元的衝擊。

Number seven, income taxes. Last year in Q2, our effective income tax rate was right at 34%, due to a discrete tax item this year in Q2, as well as small changes in the profitability mix by country. Our effective rate this year came in rather at -- instead of the [34]%, it came in at 35.6%, effectively impacting our Q2 EPS by about $0.03 a share.

第七點，所得稅。去年第二季度，我們的實際所得稅率為34%，這是由於今年第二季度出現了一項特殊的稅務項目，以及各國獲利組成略有變化。而今年的實際所得稅率並非34%，而是35.6%，導致我們第二季的每股盈餘減少了約0.03美元。

Turning to our second quarter sales. Reported sales were up 6%, and our 12 week reported comparable sales figure was -- came in at up 3%. For the quarter, the 3%-plus comparable sales figure was helped by gasoline price inflation, to the tune of about 84 basis points, while the impact from FX was a very slight detriment, again, well, currency strengthened during the quarter, the net over the quarter was still a slight detriment of about minus 9 basis points. So together, about 3/4 of 1% hit.

接下來看看我們第二季的銷售情況。報告顯示銷售額成長了6%，而過去12週的同店銷售額成長了3%。本季超過3%的同店銷售成長主要得益於汽油價格上漲，漲幅約為84個基點；而匯率波動的影響則非常輕微，儘管本季匯率有所走強，但淨影響仍約為-9個基點。因此，綜合來看，匯率波動的影響約為0.75%。

Excluding gas price inflation, the reported plus 3% US comp remained at 3%. Our reported Canadian comp of plus 8%, was actually a plus 2%, excluding gas inflation and FX, mind you, that the Canadian dollar strengthened quite a bit. And the reported plus 2 -- the reported minus 2% other international comp, excluding gas and FX would have been a plus 3%. All told, total comps reported for the quarter at 3%-plus for the quarter. Excluding gas and FX, with the pluses and minus, still remained at plus 3%, ex gas and FX.

剔除汽油價格通膨後，美國同店銷售額成長3%仍為3%。加拿大同店銷售額成長8%，但實際上剔除汽油價格通膨和匯率因素後為2%（請注意，加幣大幅走強）。其他國際同店銷售額成長2%－剔除汽油價格通膨和匯率因素後為-2%－則為3%。總而言之，本季同店銷售額成長3%以上。剔除汽油價格通膨和匯率因素後，最終成長率仍為3%。

For our four week month of February, which included the last two weeks of the fiscal second quarter, the first two weeks of February did, comps came in at a plus 4% on a reported basis. And this consisted of a plus 5% reported in Canada, a plus 10% reported in -- or sorry, plus 5% reported in the US, a plus 10% reported in Canada, and a minus 2% reported for other international.

在我們為期四周的二月（包括第二財季的最後兩週，以及二月的前兩週），按報告數據計算，同店銷售額增長了4%。其中，加拿大報告的銷售額成長了5%，美國報告的銷售額成長了10%（抱歉，應該是美國報告的銷售額成長了5%，加拿大報告的銷售額成長了10%），其他國際地區的銷售額下降了2%。

As I discussed last month, actually as we discussed on our monthly sales call last month, the calendar shift of the Chinese lunar New Year, that was 11 days earlier versus last year. That positively benefited the January reporting period this year, and negatively impacted February. We estimated this shift was a detriment to February comps of about 3/4 of 1% on the total Company, and 6.5 percentage points, so 650 basis points to the other international segment.

正如我上個月所討論的，實際上也是我們在上個月的月度銷售電話會議上討論的，中國農曆新年比去年提前了11天。這對今年1月的報告期間有利，但對2月的報告期間不利。我們估計，這項變更使公司整體2月的同店銷售額下降了約0.75個百分點，對其他國際業務類股的同店銷售額下降了6.5個百分點，即650個基點。

Sales in February were positively impacted by both gasoline inflation, to the tune of a little over 200 basis points, and by overall strengthening in foreign currencies relative to the dollar, to the tune of about plus 60 basis points. Ex gas inflation in the US, the reported plus 5% would have been a plus 2%. Ex gas inflation and FX in Canada, the reported plus 10% would have been also plus 2%, and the minus 2% reported for international would have been minus 1%, ex gas FX and plus 5%, excluding the lunar New Year shift. Total Company comps, for the month reported at plus 4%, would have been a plus 2%, excluding gas, deflation and FX.

2月的銷售額受到汽油價格上漲（略高於200個基點）和外幣兌美元匯率整體走強（約60個基點）的雙重正面影響。剔除美國汽油價格上漲的影響，報告的5%的銷售額成長將為2%。剔除加拿大汽油價格上漲和匯率波動的影響，報告的10%的銷售額成長也將為2%。國際市場報告的-2%的銷售額成長，剔除汽油匯率波動的影響後將為-1%，剔除農曆新年期間的匯率波動影響後將為5%。當月公司同店銷售額報告成長4%，剔除汽油價格上漲、通貨緊縮和匯率波動的影響後將為2%。

I'll also point out cannibalization, we do that every quarter, and typically it's somewhere in the 0.5% range or a little less. Cannibalization has become a little bigger of a factor to our comp sales results in the last couple months. The cannibalization impact on February was approximately 90 basis points to the negative for the total Company, and it was actually minus 75 in January.

我還要指出內部蠶食效應，我們每季都會進行這項分析，通常在0.5%左右或略低。但在過去幾個月裡，內部蠶食效應對我們的同店銷售業績影響有所增大。 2月份，內部蠶食效應對公司整體績效的影響約為90個基點的負面影響，而1月的影響則高達75個基點。

For February, it was minus 300 basis points in Canada -- mind you, we, this year we're opening seven (sic--"8"), I believe, seven (sic --"8") new warehouses on a base of 91 up there. So a lot of relative cannibalization from Canada, and minus 180 basis points on the other international segment in February. I'd mentioned that the minus 70 -- the minus 90 basis points in February for the total Company, by comparison for all of FY15 and FY16, total Company cannibalization averaged a little under 40 basis points to the negative, so again, it's picked up of late, with some of the openings.

二月份，加拿大市場的虧損為-300個基點－請注意，今年我們在加拿大開設了7個（原文誤寫為「8個」）新倉庫，而該地區的基數為91個。因此，加拿大市場存在相當大的相對蠶食效應。二月份，其他國際業務板塊的虧損為-180個基點。我之前提到過，二月公司整體的虧損為-70--90個基點。相較之下，2015財年和2016財年公司整體的虧損平均略低於-40個基點，所以近期隨著一些新倉庫的開業，虧損有所加劇。

We estimate weather had a negative impact on February comps, as we had snow in the East, and heavy rains in the West. The estimated impact in that was about 50 basis points to the US, about 75 in Canada, and to the total Company, also about 50.

我們估計天氣對二月的業績造成了負面影響，因為東部地區下雪，西部地區下大雨。據估計，這對美國市場造成了約50個基點的影響，對加拿大市場造成了約75個基點的影響，對公司整體市場也造成了約50個基點的影響。

Regarding deflation overall, and primarily in the US, we've seen deflation in the 1%, 1.5% range in February. Departments such as foods, sundries, frozen foods, liquor, meat, deli showed most deflation on the foods and sundry side. On the non-food side, consumer electronics continued to be deflationary, primarily in the TV category.

就整體通貨緊縮而言，尤其是在美國，2月的通縮幅度在1%到1.5%之間。食品、日用品、冷凍食品、酒類、肉類和熟食等品類的通貨緊縮最為明顯，其中食品和日用品類的通貨緊縮最為顯著。在非食品類商品方面，消費性電子產品，特別是電視類商品，持續呈現通貨緊縮趨勢。

In terms of new openings, our opening activities, we planned -- we opened a net of eight new locations during the first quarter, nine less one relo. In Q2, we opened four new locations. Those included our 13th unit in each of Korea and Taiwan, as well as two new locations in Florida, in the Tampa, Florida area.

就新店開業而言，我們的開幕活動按計劃進行——第一季淨增八家門市（減去一家搬遷門市後為九家）。第二季度，我們新開了四家門市。其中包括我們在韓國和台灣的第13家門市，以及在佛羅裡達州坦帕地區的兩家新店。

For all of FY17, we have current plans of 29 net new locations, so 17 additional openings during the third and fourth quarters of FY17 are planned. Of the 29 for the year, 14 in the US, 8 in -- I'm sorry, 8 in Canada. I mentioned 7 earlier, it's actually 8 on a base of 91 in Canada. And one each in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Mexico and Australia, as well as our first openings in France and Iceland, most likely in mid to late May.

2017財年，我們計劃淨增29家門市，其中17家計劃在2017財年第三季和第四季開業。這29家門市中，14家位於美國，8家位於加拿大－抱歉，是8家。我之前提到過7家，實際上是在加拿大91家門市的基礎上新增8家。此外，日本、韓國、台灣、墨西哥和澳洲各有一家新店，我們在法國和冰島的首家門市也即將開業，預計將於5月中下旬開業。

This afternoon, I'll also review with you, membership trends and renewal rates, our membership plans in terms of increases in June, an update on the Citi Visa Anywhere card, an update on our multi-vendor mailer promotional activities, additional discussion, of course, on margins and SG&A, and a little bit about e-commerce results, and some initiatives there as well.

今天下午，我也會和大家一起回顧會員趨勢和續費率、我們六月的會員成長計畫、花旗Visa Anywhere卡的最新情況、我們多供應商郵件促銷活動的最新情況，當然還會進一步討論利潤率和銷售、一般及行政費用，以及電子商務的業績和一些相關舉措。

In terms of second quarter results. Quickly on the sales, for the quarter, sales were up 6% to $29.13 billion. On a reported comp basis, they were up 3%, and again, ex gas and FX, they still remained up 3%. For the quarter, the plus 3% reported comp was a combination of an average transaction increase of a little over 1%, and an average shopping frequency increase of 2% for the quarter. That's company-wide, the frequency in the quarter for the US was a 3%.

就第二季業績而言，銷售額方面，本季成長6%，達到291.3億美元。以同店銷售額計算，成長3%；剔除汽油和匯率因素後，仍維持3%的成長。本季3%的同店銷售額成長主要得益於平均交易量略高於1%的成長以及平均購物頻率2%的成長。這是公司整體的數據，而美國地區的購物頻率在本季成長了3%。

In terms of geographic sales by geographic regions, the Midwest, Texas, and Northwest regions were strongest, with California not far behind. Internationally, in local currencies, better performing countries were Mexico, UK and Korea.

從地理區域的銷售來看，中西部、德州和西北部地區表現最為強勁，加州緊隨其後。從國際市場來看，以當地貨幣計算，墨西哥、英國和韓國的銷售表現較佳。

In terms of merchandise category sales for the quarter, for the second quarter within food and sundries, overall flattish year-over-year, liquor or spirits, and foods were the leaders. Tobacco continues to be a negative, and actually in the high teens, as we've mentioned, that we look to cycle the majority of that tobacco sales losses by the end of June.

就本季商品類別銷售額而言，食品和日用品類整體較去年同期持平，酒類和食品是主要成長點。菸草銷售持續下滑，跌幅高達十幾個百分點。正如我們之前提到的，我們預計到六月底，大部分菸草銷售損失將得以彌補。

For hardlines, overall in the low to mid single-digits. The strongest department results were tires, hardware, and seasonal, with consumer electronics down in the low singles. Softlines were also up in the low to mid single-digit range, with apparel and home furnishings showing the strongest results.

硬線商品整體增幅在個位數低至中等程度。其中，輪胎、五金和季節性商品表現最強勁，而消費性電子產品則略有下降。軟線商品增幅同樣在個位數低至中等水平，服裝和家居用品表現最為突出。

In fresh foods, comp sales were also in the low to mid single-digits. And lastly, in the second quarter overall, again in terms of deflation, for the second quarter was in the 1.5% to 2% range. Similar departments on the foods and sundries side, non-foods again, saw a little deflation in consumer electronics, primarily TVs.

生鮮食品的同店銷售額也僅略低於個位數。最後，就第二季整體而言，通貨緊縮幅度在1.5%至2%之間。食品和日用品等非食品類部門也出現了類似的通貨緊縮，消費電子產品，尤其是電視機，也略有下降。

For February, traffic was up approximately 2% and 3% in the US -- including 3% in the US. While average transaction was up a little under 2.5%, most of this was due to gas inflation and FX. In terms of geography, for February, Midwest, Texas, San Diego region, which also in our case includes Arizona and Colorado and New Mexico, were the strongest as well as the Bay Area. Internationally, in local currencies, UK, Mexico and Canada were at the top of the list.

二月份，美國境內的交通流量增加了約2%至3%，其中美國本土成長了3%。雖然平均交易額成長略低於2.5%，但這主要是由於汽油價格上漲和匯率波動造成的。從地理來看，二月中西部、德州、聖地牙哥地區（包括亞利桑那州、科羅拉多州和新墨西哥州）以及舊金山灣區的交通流量最為強勁。從國際層面來看，以當地貨幣計算，英國、墨西哥和加拿大的交通流量位居前列。

From a merchandise category standpoint excluding FX, food and sundries and hardlines, including the consumer electronics were up low single-digits, softlines up mid single, and fresh foods slightly negative for the February reporting period. Again, a little deflation is impacting these numbers.

從商品類別來看，剔除外匯、食品雜貨和五金製品（包括消費性電子產品）後，2月份報告期間的銷售額實現了低個位數增長，紡織品銷售額實現了中等個位數增長，而生鮮食品則略有下降。同樣，輕微的通貨緊縮也影響了這些數據。

Before moving to the income statement, a few comments about our multi-vendor mailer, the coupon booklets that we send out and have online, what we call the MVMs, these promotional activities, and a few changes we've recently implemented. As most of you know -- as most of you know for many, many years ago, the MVMs have grown and evolved over 22 years, from one six week summer coupon booklet back in 1995, to generally year-around promotional price pieces with great values on items being offered in each mailer. Over the years, we've expanded the mailers, and have continued to tweak them.

在查看損益表之前，我想先簡單介紹一下我們的多供應商郵件促銷活動（MVM），也就是我們郵寄和線上提供的優惠券手冊。 MVM 指的是這些促銷活動以及我們最近實施的一些變更。正如大家所知——事實上，大家可能很多年前就都知道了——MVM 在過去的 22 年裡不斷發展壯大，從 1995 年最初為期六週的夏季優惠券手冊，發展到如今幾乎全年都有促銷活動，每次郵件中都會提供超值商品。多年來，我們不斷擴大郵件的覆蓋範圍，並持續進行調整改進。

More recently, we've revamped the MVM program, creating it some newness, enhancing values -- member values on some of the items -- many of the items, and created a little bit more merchandising excitement. We've eliminated a few of the MVMs over the course of the year, and also there will be fewer days.

最近，我們對會員價值提升計畫（MVM）進行了全面升級，使其煥然一新，提升了部分商品的會員價值，並增強了商品的銷售吸引力。我們已在年內取消了一些會員價值提升活動，活動天數也將減少。

We've reduced the number of items per mailer, but we've overall increased the offering in terms of total savings of those items. And we're also moving in some cases, to every day low pricing, EDLP, where we can drive higher over sales, and show better every day pricing and value.

我們減少了每份郵件中的商品數量，但總體而言，我們增加了這些商品的總優惠。此外，在某些情況下，我們還將採用天天低價（EDLP）策略，以提升銷量，並展現更優惠的日常價格和價值。

In terms of second quarter of 2017, it was really the transition fiscal quarter for these MVM changes, if you will. The first revamped MVM ran in December, and which is near the beginning of Q2.

就2017年第二季而言，它實際上是MVM系統變更的過渡季度。第一版改版後的MVM系統於12月運行，接近第二季初。

Overall, in the second quarter, we had 17 fewer MVM promotional days. Mind you, the quarter itself is 7 weeks -- 12 weeks times 7 is 84, a couple days closed for the holidays, but basically 17 out of those 84. 71 fewer items offered in those MVMs, but again, higher overall sales compared to last year in the MVMs.

整體而言，第二季我們的MVM促銷日減少了17天。請注意，第二季本身有7週——12週乘以7等於84週，加上假日休息幾天，實際上只有17天。 MVM促銷活動中提供的商品數量減少了71種，但與去年同期相比，MVM促銷活動的整體銷售額仍然更高。

Overall, so far, we like what we see. We continue to tweak it a little, but remember, we're still in the early stages of this. We know that 17 fewer MVM days in our 84 day second quarter, and 10 fewer MVM days in our 28 day month of February, probably hurt traffic a little. But we shouldn't see that latter aspect in Q3, as there are the same number of MVM days year-over-year in the third quarter. So again, Q2 is really the transition of that.

總的來說，目前為止，我們對現狀感到滿意。我們會繼續進行一些微調，但請記住，我們仍處於早期階段。我們知道，第二季（84天）的MVM活動日減少了17天，2月（28天）的MVM活動日減少了10天，可能會對流量造成一定影響。但我們應該不會在第三季看到後一種情況，因為第三季的MVM活動日數量與去年同期持平。所以，第二季其實是過渡階段。

Now moving on to the line items in the income statement. In terms of membership fees, coming in at $636 million, up 5% or $33 million versus last year, or down 1 basis point. Minimal impact from FX, because again, while they were increasing over the course of the year, they started off lower in the beginning of the second quarter.

現在來看損益表中的各項數據。會員費收入為 6.36 億美元，較去年同期成長 5%（即 3,300 萬美元），下降 1 個基點。匯率波動的影響微乎其微，因為儘管會員費在年內呈上升趨勢，但第二季初的水平較低。

In terms of membership, we continue to enjoy strong renewal rates, coming in a little over 90% in the US and Canada, and 87.7% worldwide on a fully captured basis. And we continue to see increasing penetration of the Executive Membership program in the countries where we offer it.

會員方面，我們的續會率依然強勁，美國和加拿大的續會率略高於90%，全球的續會率（以完整數據計算）為87.7%。此外，我們在提供高級會員計劃的國家也持續看到該計劃的滲透率不斷提高。

In terms of number of members at Q2 end, at Q2 end, primary Gold Star came in at 37.5 million, up from 12 weeks earlier at 37.1 million. Primary business, 7.4 million up from 7.3 million 12 weeks earlier. Business add-on, 3.4 million, down from 3.5 million. That has to do with some of those people converting into their own membership, as generally as they become Executive Members. So total card holders, 48 -- I'm sorry, total accounts, 48.3 million compared to 47.9 million, a quarter, a fiscal quarter earlier.

截至第二季末，會員總數方面，金星主卡會員人數為3,750萬，高於12週前的3,710萬。企業主卡會員人數為740萬，高於12週前的730萬。企業附加卡會員人數為340萬，低於12週前的350萬。這主要是因為部分企業附加卡會員升級為高級會員。因此，持卡人總數為4830萬——抱歉，是帳戶總數，高於上一季的4790萬。

Total card holders, 88.1 million at second quarter end, up from 87.3 million 12 weeks earlier. As of Q2 end, our paid Executive Memberships stood at 17.9 million, which is an increase of about 200,000 from 12 weeks earlier, or about 17,000 additional per week. Executive Members represented a little over one-third of our member base, and about two-thirds of our sales.

截至第二季末，持卡人總數為8,810萬，高於12週前的8,730萬。截至第二季末，我們的付費高級會員人數為1,790萬，較12週前增加約20萬，即每週新增約1.7萬。高級會員占我們會員總數的略高於三分之一，約占我們銷售額的三分之二。

In terms of renewal rates, again, overall, in the US and Canada 90.2%, down 1/10 from 90.3% at the end of the quarter, which was also 90.3% at the end of the fiscal year back in late August. Business within that remained at 94.3%, in both fiscal one and two quarters end. And Gold Star, primary Gold Star at 89.5%. Again, it probably a little rounding, just pushed it down, instead of up, that 1/10 of 1 percentage point. Worldwide, it actually picked up a little, at Q2 end, it was 87.7% up from 87.5% at Q2 end, and 87.6% at fiscal year end.

就續保率而言，美國和加拿大的整體續保率為90.2%，較上季末的90.3%下降了0.1個百分點，而上一財年末（8月底）的續保率也為90.3%。其中，企業續保率在第一財季和第二財季末均維持在94.3%。金星保險（Gold Star）的主要續保率為89.5%。同樣，由於四捨五入，實際數值下降了0.1個百分點，而不是上升了0.1個百分點。全球續保率實際上略有回升，第二季末為87.7%，高於上一季末的87.5%，也高於上一財年末的87.6%。

We feel these are pretty good numbers, and don't really see a lot of impact. We believe a lot of it has to do with the conversions in credit cards. If you'll recall, me talking, probably a year, a year and a half ago, about some of this stuff we saw in Canada as we transitioned the Canadian credit card program, a year and a half or so earlier, than we did in last June here in the US. And if I look back, as an example, just a year ago in Q3, the Canadian renewal rate was 90.6%. For this quarter, it was a 91.6%, so it's come back -- so it started to come back, as we would expect.

我們認為這些數據相當不錯，並沒有看到太大的影響。我們相信這很大程度上與信用卡轉換有關。您可能還記得，我大概在一年半前談到我們在加拿大看到的一些情況，當時我們正在過渡加拿大信用卡項目，比我們去年六月在美國過渡的時間早了一年半左右。例如，回顧一下，就在一年前的第三季度，加拿大的續卡率是90.6%。而本季是91.6%，所以正如我們預期的那樣，續卡率已經開始回升了。

Again, in the US, we're still seeing some of that auto bill impact that we believe is a big piece of it. Back in Q3, a year ago, we were 90.3%, and actually 90.4% the prior quarter, down to 90.1% at the end of the year. And we're 89.9% at Q2 2017 end. So again, pretty much the kind of impact that we would have expected to see, and I'm not really terribly concerned about that at all.

同樣，在美國，我們仍然看到汽車保險帳單的影響，我們認為這是造成經濟衰退的主要原因之一。一年前的第三季度，這一比例為90.3%，前一季為90.4%，到年底下降到90.1%。而2017年第二季末，這一比例為89.9%。所以，這基本上符合我們的預期，我對此並不太擔心。

I want to spend a minute, regarding our announcement on the increases of fees this morning, which will be effective June 1. First, the planned increases relate to our US and Canadian operations. Recall that fee increases, membership fee increases took place in several other countries effective this past September 1 at the beginning of the fiscal year.

我想花一點時間談談我們今天上午宣布的費用上調計劃，該計劃將於6月1日生效。首先，此次費用上調計畫僅針對我們在美國和加拿大的業務。需要說明的是，其他幾個國家的會員費已於去年9月1日（新財政年度開始時）上調。

In both, the US and Canada, which by the way, represents just under 90% of our Company's fees, about 87% or 88%, the current annual fee for our individual Gold Star business and business add-on memberships, what we refer to as our primary memberships is currently $55 a year, and has been at that level since November of 2011, about 5 1/2 years ago. The annual fees for these memberships will go to $60 effective June 1.

在美國和加拿大（順便一提，這兩個地區的會員費占我們公司總收入的近90%，約87%或88%），我們目前針對個人金星企業會員和企業附加會員（即我們所說的主要會員）的年費為55美元，自2011年11月以來一直維持在這個水平，至今已有約5年半的時間。這些會員的年費將於6月1日起上漲至60美元。

Also in the US and Canada, our $110 per year Executive Membership fee, which has been at that level also since November of 2011 is being increased by $10 to $120. Also with regard to Executive Membership, the 2% reward associated with the Executive Membership will increase. Currently, the annual reward is capped at $750, that will be increased to $1,000. So while there is an increase in the annual fee, the reward goes up to $1,000, and that's based on eligible purchases. That, of course, is in addition to the 2% reward that one gets, if they use the Citi Visa Anywhere card at Costco, or the 4% when they buy gas at Costco.

在美國和加拿大，我們的高級會員年費（自2011年11月以來一直維持在110美元）將上調10美元至120美元。同時，高級會員的2%獎勵也將提高。目前，年度獎勵上限為750美元，調漲後將提高至1000美元。因此，雖然年費有所上漲，但獎勵也提升至1000美元，且該獎勵基於符合條件的消費。當然，這還不包括在Costco使用Citi Visa Anywhere卡消費可獲得的2%獎勵，以及在Costco加油可獲得的4%獎勵。

In all, approximately 35 million member households will be impacted by this increase, approximately half of whom are Executive Members, and half of whom are primary Gold Star business and business add-on members. Note that the membership fees are accounted for on a deferred basis. So in terms of how it hits our P&L, our membership income line, approximately 1/12 if you will, or one month worth of the increase in fees from the June renewers, that will be the first group that gets this fee increase, approximately 1/12 of the increase will be booked to the income statement in that first month of June, with an additional 1/12 being booked in each of the succeeding 11 months.

總計約有3500萬會員家庭將受到此會費上漲的影響，其中約一半是高級會員，另一半是金星主會員和附加會員。請注意，會員費採用遞延計入的方式。因此，就其對損益表和會員收入的影響而言，約1/12（即一個月的會費漲幅）將計入6月份續費會員的損益表。這部分會員將是首批受到此次會費上漲影響的族群。 6月份的會費漲幅將計入當月的損益表，之後11個月每月再計入1/12。

Next, the increased fees from our July renewals, those will be booked starting in July,1/12, and following through to the following June, and so on. So the full P&L impact of these increases will be over a 23 month time line, such that the last group of members to be billed at these new levels will be next May of 2018, with a booking if you will, of those $5 and $10 increases being recorded over that month, and its succeeding 11 months, i.e. 23 months out.

接下來，7 月續費增加的費用將從 7 月 1 日（12 月 1 日）開始計入，一直持續到隔年 6 月，以此類推。因此，這些費用增加對損益表的最終影響將持續 23 個月，也就是說，最後一批以新費率計費的會員將在 2018 年 5 月收到帳單。屆時，5 美元和 10 美元的增費將計入當月及其後的 11 個月，即 23 個月內。

Before continuing down the income statement line items, a quick update, and a few updated stats on the Citi Visa card offering. Again, this began last June 20, early in our fourth quarter of 2016. Recall that we began last June 20, with approximately 11.4 million co-branded cards, or about 7.4 million accounts being transferred to Citi for a conversion to the new Citi Visa Anywhere card.

在繼續分析損益表項目之前，先簡要更新一下花旗Visa卡業務的最新情況和一些統計數據。這項業務始於去年6月20日，也就是2016年第四季初。回顧一下，截至去年6月20日，我們大約有1,140萬張聯名卡，其中約740萬個帳戶被轉移到花旗銀行，以轉換為新的花旗Visa Anywhere卡。

As of Q2 end, just under 90% of these accounts transferred -- of the accounts transferred have been activated, recognizing all accounts transferred to begin with, were not activated. And I think, it was down in the low 80%s at the time -- low to mid 80%s. And in fact, that just under 90% activated as of Q2 end. That's up a few percentage points from Q1 end, 12 weeks earlier.

截至第二季末，這些轉移的帳戶中，近90%已經啟動——需要注意的是，所有最初轉移的帳戶都未啟動。我記得當時激活率在80%左右。事實上，截至第二季末，啟動率已接近90%。這比12週前的第一季末提高了幾個百分點。

Also we now have about 1.2 million new approved member accounts, representing about 1.6 million new Citi Visa cards out there, since the June 20 conversion. Again, this is also up about 200,000 accounts, over the past 12 weeks during fiscal second quarter.

此外，自6月20日系統轉換以來，我們新增了約120萬個核准會員帳戶，相當於新增了約160萬張花旗Visa卡。同樣，在過去12週的第二財季期間，帳戶數量也增加了約20萬個。

Lastly, we are seeing Citi Visa co-brand portfolio total spend higher year-over-year, both organically from the cards converted last June, as well as from these new accounts. We'll see what the next few quarters bring. Overall, in terms of conversion, usage, and new sign-ups for the card, we feel it's going pretty well so far.

最後，我們看到花旗Visa聯名卡組合的總消費額年增，這既包括去年6月轉換的卡片帶來的自然成長，也包括這些新開帳戶帶來的成長。我們將觀察未來幾季的情況。整體而言，就卡片的轉換率、使用率和新用戶註冊量而言，我們認為目前為止進展相當順利。

Going down to the gross margin line, our gross margin in second quarter was lower on a reported basis, was lower year-over-year by 24 basis points, coming in at 11%, compared to last year's 11.24%. Now as usual, there's a lot of moving parts here, gas inflation and the impact of the credit card, some of that benefit goes to the sales line, which therefore improves the reported margin.

從毛利率來看，我們第二季的毛利率按報告數據計算下降，年減24個基點，為11%，去年同期為11.24%。當然，這裡面有很多變數，例如汽油價格上漲和信用卡消費的影響，部分利多因素會反映在銷售額上，從而提高報告的毛利率。

I'll let your do -- I'll ask you to do my little matrix here. We'll do it for first and second quarters. There will be four columns, reported Q1 2017, without gas deflation in Q1 2017 is the second column, third column is reported Q2 2017, and the last column would be without gas inflation in Q2 2017.

我交給你來做──我請你幫我做這個小矩陣。我們分別計算第一季和第二季的數據。矩陣共有四列，第一列是2017年第一季的數據，第二列是2017年第一季未考慮天然氣價格下跌的數據，第三列是2017年第二季的數據，最後一列是2017年第二季未考慮天然氣價格上漲的數據。

The first line item would be core merchandise. In Q1, reported, plus 19 basis points year-over-year, without gas deflation, plus 16 basis points. For Q2, reported plus 1 basis point, and without gas inflation, plus 9 basis points. Ancillary businesses, minus 5 and minus 6 in the two Q1 columns. In Q2 2017, in the two columns, minus 20 basis points and minus 18 basis points, again, reflecting lower margins in gas year-over-year, while increasing the penetration of gas sales.

第一項為核心商品。第一季報告顯示，年增19個基點；若不計入汽油價格下跌，則較去年同期成長16個基點。第二季報告顯示，年增1個基點；若不計入汽油價格上漲，則較去年同期成長9個基點。輔助業務方面，第一季兩列分別下降5個基點和6個基點。 2017年第二季度，兩列分別下降20個基點和18個基點，再次反映出汽油利潤率年減，但汽油銷售滲透率卻有所提高。

2% reward, minus 2 basis points and minus 1 in columns 1 and 2, and in columns 3 and 4, 0 and minus 1. LIFO, minus 2 and minus 2 in Q1, and minus 5 and minus 5 in Q2. Again, recognizing that the year ago, we had deflation and therefore LIFO credits. This year, while we had deflation, we can't take them, since there's nothing to take them against -- from prior offsetting LIFO charges.

2%的獎勵，第1列和第2列分別減去2個基點和1個基點，第3列和第4列分別減去0個基點和1個基點。採用後進先出法（LIFO），第一季減去2個基點和2個基點，第二季減去5個基點和5個基點。再次強調，去年我們經歷了通貨緊縮，因此獲得了後進先出法的收益。今年雖然也出現了通貨緊縮，但由於先前已抵銷了後進先出法的費用，所以無法獲得這些收益。

Other, last year there was, I believe, a one-time legal settlement that added 19 basis points to the first two columns here, and 0 and 0 in columns three and four. You add all that up, last year in the first quarter, year-over-year margins were up 29 basis points on a reported basis, and up 26 basis points ex gas deflation. I also mentioned last year, that within those numbers, the Citi Visa impact to margins within that 29 and 26, was plus 13.

此外，去年還有一項一次性法律和解協議，使前兩列的利潤率增加了19個基點，第三列和第四列的利潤率均為0。綜合所有因素，去年第一季度，按報告數據計算，同比利潤率增長了29個基點，剔除天然氣價格下跌的影響後增長了26個基點。我去年也提到過，在這29個基點和26個基點中，花旗Visa卡對利潤率的影響為13個基點。

In the next two columns, the reported Q2 2017. Again, margins on a reported basis came in 24 basis points lower year-over-year, and ex gas and FX came in 15 basis points lower than last year. Now mind you, both of those numbers still include, do include the benefit from the Citi Visa program, to the tune of about 16 basis points to the positive. So again, taking those out, the reported minus 24, adding the 16 in, that would be a minus 40. And adding 16 to the minus 15, it would be a minus 31 on an adjusted basis, if you will [using] Citi Visa.

接下來的兩列是2017年第二季的報告數據。同樣，以報告基準計算，利潤率較去年同期下降24個基點，剔除汽油和外匯因素後，利潤率較去年同期下降15個基點。需要注意的是，這兩個數字仍然包含了花旗Visa卡計畫帶來的約16個基點的正面收益。因此，如果扣除這些收益，報告的-24，加上16，則為-40。如果將16加到-15上，則調整後的利潤率（使用花旗Visa卡）為-31。

Now the core merchandise component of gross margin was higher by 1, as you see in the chart, and plus 9 excluding gas. Excluding the benefits of Citi Visa, it was minus 15, and minus 7 excluding gas deflation -- gas inflation.

如圖表所示，核心商品毛利率提高了1%，剔除汽油因素後提高了9%。剔除花旗Visa卡的優惠後，毛利率為-15%，剔除汽油價格下跌（即汽油價格上漲）後為-7%。

As I always mention, sub categories within the margin, our core sub categories, food and sundries, hardlines, softlines and fresh foods, as a percent of their own sales were positive year-over-year by 7 basis points. But with the declining sales penetration of that, given the inflation in gas, the contribution is a minus 7.

正如我一直提到的，利潤率內的子類別，也就是我們的核心子類別——食品和日用品、五金製品、紡織品和生鮮食品——其各自銷售額佔比同比增長了7個基點。但考慮到汽油價格上漲所導致的銷售滲透率下降，其貢獻值變為-7。

Food and sundries and hardlines were both slightly higher year-over-year on their own sales. Softlines was up about 60 basis points, and fresh foods was lower year-over-year by about 10 basis points. Ancillary and other business gross margin, I mentioned was down 20 in the quarter. Most of the year-over-year decrease was due to lower gas profits, as I mentioned earlier in the call. 2% reward, 1 basis point of negative impact to ex gas, just implying a slightly higher sales penetration, ex gas inflation on a year-over-year basis and I already mentioned LIFO, that was about $0.02 a share as well.

食品雜貨和五金類商品的銷售額均略高於去年同期。軟線類商品銷售額成長約60個基點，而生鮮食品銷售額較去年同期下降約10個基點。正如我之前提到的，輔助業務和其他業務的毛利率在本季下降了20%。年比下降的主要原因是汽油利潤下降，正如我在電話會議中提到的。 2%的利潤成長，對剔除汽油利潤的影響為1個基點，這意味著銷售滲透率略有提高，剔除汽油利潤後的同比通膨（我之前已經提到過）約為每股0.02美元。

Overall, our margins ex the Citi Visa credit card benefit, were most negatively impacted by lower gas margins. Somewhat negatively impacted by 5 basis points from LIFO year-over-year, with slightly lower year-over-year sales penetration in the quarter also hurting it a little bit, even though core margins on the core sales were up 7 basis points. I might also mention, that the plus 7 basis points core margin improvement year-over-year, this is notwithstanding some of the pricing initiatives that I mentioned earlier like EDLP that we've been taking these last couple months.

整體而言，剔除花旗Visa信用卡優惠後，我們的利潤率受汽油利潤率下降的影響最大。此外，由於後進先出法（LIFO）年減5個基點，以及本季銷售滲透率較去年同期略有下降，也對利潤率造成了一定程度的負面影響，儘管核心銷售利潤率提高了7個基點。需要指出的是，儘管我們採取了一些定價措施，例如過去幾個月實施的「天天低價」（EDLP）計劃，但核心利潤率仍實現了7個基點的同比增長。

Moving to reported SG&A. Our SG&A percentage in second quarter year-over-year was lower or better by 5 basis points, but higher or worse by 4 ex gas inflation, coming in at 10.23% this year, compared to 10.28% last year, on a reported basis. Again, excluding the benefits of the Citi Visa program, which clearly helped SG&A by lowering merchant charges, that was a 19 basis -- excluding benefits from that, year-over-year SG&A was higher by 19 basis points, and 28 basis points ex gas inflation.

接下來來看已報告的銷售、管理及行政費用 (SG&A)。今年第二季度，我們的 SG&A 佔比年減或降低 5 個基點，但剔除天然氣通膨因素後則上升或上升 4 個基點，按報告基準計算，今年為 10.23%，而去年同期為 10.28%。同樣，如果剔除花旗 Visa 卡計畫帶來的收益（該計畫透過降低商家費用顯著降低了 SG&A），則 SG&A 佔比上升 19 個基點；剔除天然氣通膨因素後，SG&A 佔同比上升 28 個基點。

In terms of the performance year-over-year, and SG&A operations component, as I mentioned was lower or better by 8 basis points year-over-year, and plus 1 excluding the impact of gas. You see that in the chart we just drew. The plus 8 basis point improvement consists again, of much lower Citi Visa merchant fees and related fees, somewhat offset primarily by higher payroll and employee benefits costs. And again, that has to do with the underlying sales being a little lower, and a few other things.

就同​​比業績而言，正如我之前提到的，銷售、一般及行政費用（SG&A）同比下降或改善了8個基點，剔除天然氣的影響後則改善了1個基點。您可以在我們剛才繪製的圖表中看到這一點。這8個基點的改善主要得益於花旗Visa商家手續費及相關費用的大幅降低，但部分被更高的薪資和員工福利成本所抵銷。此外，這與基礎銷售額略有下降以及其他一些因素有關。

Central expense was higher year-over-year in Q2 by 2 basis points, 3 without gas. Again, IT was a 7 or 8 without gas of that, and offset by a couple things that went our other way. Stock compensation expense, again 1 to 2 basis points, not a big amount.

第二季中心營運費用較去年同期上升2個基點，若不計入天然氣費用則上升3個基點。其中，IT費用（若不計入天然氣費用）佔7%或8%，但被其他一些利多因素所抵銷。股權激勵費用也只上升1%至2個基點，金額不大。

Moving down to pre-opening expense. Pre-opening expense was higher by $5 million, coming in at $15 million in Q2 of 2017, versus $10 million a year earlier.

接下來是開業前費用。 2017年第二季的開業前費用為1,500萬美元，比去年同期的1,000萬美元增加了500萬美元。

Pre-opening relates, not only to the actual openings in that quarter, but also some of the ones leading up to it, or getting ready to be open rather. That was four openings in Q2 this year, only one opening last year. There's also higher year-over-year pre-opening expenses related to our entrance into two new countries, France and Iceland, as we already have people on the ground.

開業前準備工作不僅包括當季實際開業的門市，還包括開業前的準備工作，或者更確切地說，是為開業所做的準備。今年第二季共有四家門市開業，而去年同期只有一家。此外，由於我們已在法國和冰島這兩個新市場設立了辦事處，因此與去年同期相比，開業前準備費用也更高。

Operating income in Q2, all told, came in at $844 million, 1% lower or $12 million lower from last year's $856 million. Below operating income line, reported interest expense, came in at $31 million, in both this and last year's fiscal second quarters.

第二季營業收入總計為 8.44 億美元，比去年同期的 8.56 億美元下降 1%，即減少了 1,200 萬美元。營業收入下方的利息支出為 3,100 萬美元，與去年同期持平。

Interest expense -- I might mention that interest expense, beginning part way through Q3 -- I believe the middle of March, will improve quite a bit, with the scheduled March 15, $1.1 billion debt repayment. This is a 10 year fixed rate debt instrument, I believe, at 5.5% -- about 5.5% fixed rate interest. Net, we'll save about $50 million a year pretax, about $[60] million of reduced interest expense on that pretax, offset by cutting a check for the $1.1 billion if you will, and losing some interest income on that, to the tune of roughly $10 million and that's just a simple guesstimate.

利息支出——我想提一下，從第三季中期開始——我認為是三月中旬——利息支出將會大幅改善，這主要得益於3月15日預定償還的11億美元債務。這是一筆10年期固定利率債務，利率約5.5%。淨收益方面，我們每年稅前可節省約5,000萬美元，其中約6,000萬美元來自稅前利息支出的減少。但需要支付這筆11億美元的債務，並因此損失約1,000萬美元的利息收入，這只是一個簡單的估計。

Interest income and other was lower year-over-year by $20 million in the quarter -- I was just informed that I skipped the SG&A chart. So why don't we go back and write that, just so it's easier for those of you, that put it down. Thank you.

本季利息收入及其他收入年減了2,000萬美元－我剛剛得知我漏掉了銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）圖表。所以我們不妨回去把那部分補上，這樣方便各位記錄。謝謝。

Again, four columns for SG&A, reported, and without gas deflation Q1 2017 and Q1 2017, and reported or without gas inflation Q2 2017 and Q2 2017. I think these numbers that I just read, will make a little more sense. Operations, Q1 2017 reported minus 8 basis points or higher by 8 basis points, and minus 6 without gas deflation, plus 8 and plus 1 in columns 3 and 4, central, minus 9 and minus 9. And in Q3 and Q2, those columns 3 and 4, minus 2 and minus 3. Stock compensation, minus 7 and minus 6, and then minus 1 and minus 2 in Q2. Mind you, it's always higher in Q1, because we do our big total Company, total employee, those that get RSUs grant in October.

同樣，這裡列出了四列銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A），分別對應2017年第一季（已報告）和未考慮天然氣通膨因素的情況，以及2017年第二季（已報告）和未考慮天然氣通膨因素的情況。我認為我剛才看到的這些數據應該更容易理解。營運費用方面，2017年第一季已報告的數值為-8個基點或更高，未考慮天然氣通膨因素時為-6個基點，第3列和第4列分別為+8和+1，中間列分別為-9和-9。第三季和第二季度，第3列和第4列分別為-2和-3。股票薪酬方面，第一季分別為-7和-6，第二季分別為-1和-2。請注意，第一季的數值總是較高，因為我們會在10月份進行公司總額、員工總數以及獲得限制性股票單位（RSU）的員工總數的總計計算。

Other, plus 8 and plus 8 last year, again, that was a year-over-year unusual item, I believe, and zero and zero in columns 3 and 4. You add it all up, on a reported basis in Q1 2017, it was higher year-over-year on a reported basis by 16 basis points, and without gas deflation by 13. On a reported basis, in Q2 2017, we were lower or better by 5, and higher or slightly worse by 4 basis points, without gas inflation.

其他項目，加上去年同期的8個基點，我認為這是同比異常項目，而第3列和第4列均為0。總而言之，以報告數據計算，2017年第一季較去年同期上升16個基點，若不計天然氣價格下跌，則上升13個基點。以報告數據計算，2017年第二季年減或略為上升，若不計天然氣價格上漲，則上升或略為下降4個基點。

As I mentioned the Citi Visa impact to SG&A in Q1 was 25 basis points -- that's in those numbers, and 24 basis points in Q2. I won't go through the numbers, I just mentioned. My apology for doing that in reverse order.

正如我之前提到的，花旗Visa卡在第一季對銷售、管理及行政費用的影響為25個基點——這些數字已經包含在內了，第二季為24個基點。我就不贅述具體數字了，剛才已經提過了。很抱歉我把順序弄反了。

Below the operating income line, reported interest expense came in, I mentioned at $31 million. And I also mentioned that, come March 15, we're going to save about $0.08 a share or $50 million pretax net, $60 million reduced interest expense, and roughly about $10 million pretax reduced interest income.

在營業收入項下，報告的利息支出為3,100萬美元，我之前提到過。我還提到，到3月15日，我們將節省每股約0.08美元，或稅前淨節省5000萬美元，減少6000萬美元的利息支出，以及減少約1000萬美元的稅前利息收入。

I was just getting ready to talk about the next line item on the income statement, the interest income and other, it was lower year-over-year by $20 million in the quarter. This year in the quarter, it was a minus $4 million number. Needless to say, it's the other, not the interest income, and last year, it was plus $[16] million.

我正準備談談損益表上的下一項——利息收入及其他收入，這項收入本季年減了2,000萬美元。今年同期，這項收入為負400萬美元。不用說，這裡指的是其他收入，而不是利息收入，而去年同期這項收入為正1,600萬美元。

Actual interest income and other, other than the FX that I talked about earlier for the quarter, were better year-over-year by $6 million. Offsetting this, of course, was that $26 million in charges related to various FX items that I discussed at the beginning of the call.

本季實際利息收入和其他收入（不包括我之前提到的外匯影響）年增600萬美元。當然，這被我在電話會議開始時提到的與各種外匯項目相關的2600萬美元費用所抵消。

Overall pretax income was lower by 4% or $32 million in the quarter, coming in at $809 million, versus $841 million a year ago.

本季稅前總收入下降 4% 或 3,200 萬美元，為 8.09 億美元，而去年同期為 8.41 億美元。

I mentioned earlier in the call, income taxes, a little higher rate, coming in at 35.6% this fiscal quarter, versus 34% last year. We think for the year, our current best guess for a effective rate for the year is actually lower than that -- a little lower than that 35.6% that we recorded in Q2, probably somewhere more likely in the 35.3% or 35.4%. That's our best guess. Overall, reported net income came in at $515 million, compared to $546 million net income last year in the same quarter.

我之前在電話會議中提到過，所得稅稅率略有上升，本財季為35.6%，去年同期為34%。我們認為，就全年而言，目前我們對全年實際稅率的最佳估計實際上會低於這個數字——略低於我們在第二季度記錄的35.6%，可能更接近35.3%或35.4%。這是我們目前的最佳估計。總體而言，報告的淨利潤為5.15億美元，而去年同期為5.46億美元。

A quick rundown of other topics. The balance sheet is included in the morning's press -- in this afternoon's press release, and a couple of balance sheet items that we try to give out. Depreciation and amortization for Q2 totaled $312 million for the quarter, and $609 million for the first half of the fiscal year.

簡要概述其他事項。資產負債表已包含在上午的新聞稿中，並在今天下午的新聞稿中發布，此外，我們也嘗試公佈一些資產負債表項目。第二季折舊和攤提總額為3.12億美元，上半年為6.09億美元。

In terms of AP ratio, accounts payable as a percent of merchandise -- as a percent of inventories, 92% reported, both this year and last year. If you take out non-merchandise payables for construction and other things, this year it came in at 82% AP ratio, and last year it was 83%, I was just rounding down a little there.

就應付帳款比率而言，應付帳款佔商品總額（即庫存總額）的百分比，今年和去年均為92%。如果剔除建築和其他非商品應付帳款，今年的應付帳款比率為82%，去年為83%，我這裡只是略微向下取整了一下。

Average inventory per warehouse came in at $13.1 million, compared to $12.8 million a year ago, or up about $350,000. Variances, about a little over $100,000 of it's health and beauty aids and the like, over-the-counter items. And some of that has to do with the timing of our MVM build up in February. Others are mostly non-foods, majors about $100,000, small electrics about $75,000, and hardware about $50,000 to $60,000, so nothing terribly out of pocket there.

每個倉庫的平均庫存為 1,310 萬美元，高於去年同期的 1,280 萬美元，增加了約 35 萬美元。其中約 10 萬美元的差異主要來自保健美容用品等非處方商品。部分差異與我們二月 MVM 的庫存擴充時間有關。其他差異主要來自非食品類商品，包括約 10 萬美元的大件商品、約 7.5 萬美元的小型電器以及約 5 萬至 6 萬美元的五金配件，因此這部分支出並不算太大。

In terms of CapEx, first quarter, we spent $670 million. In the second -- I'm sorry, in the second quarter, we spent $515 million. In the first quarter, we spent $670 million, so total year-to-date, $1.185 billion. We estimate for the year, CapEx will still be in the range of $2.7 billion to $2.8 billion. So $1.5 billion to go if you will, a $1.5 billion-plus to go.

就資本支出而言，第一季我們花了6.7億美元。第二季度——抱歉，是第二季度，我們花了5.15億美元。第一季我們花了6.7億美元，所以今年迄今的總支出為11.85億美元。我們預計全年資本支出仍將在27億至28億美元之間。也就是說，還剩下15億美元，超過15億美元。

Next, Costco online, we're in the US, Canada, UK, Mexico, Korea and Taiwan, Korea and Taiwan being the most recent additions, about a year ago. For Q2, sales and profits were up, of course. Total online sales were up 12%, and up 11% on a comp basis.

接下來是Costco線上業務，我們目前在美國、加拿大、英國、墨西哥、韓國和台灣地區開展業務，其中韓國和台灣地區是最近新增的，大約在一年前上線。第二季度，銷售額和利潤自然都有成長。線上總銷售額成長了12%，同店銷售額成長了11%。

As I spoken about a little bit, probably in Q4 last year, in October, and then in -- a fiscal quarter ago, back in early December, we continue to improve our offerings, merchandise offerings, and enhance our member experience online. In terms of improving merchandise, we continue to add new and exciting merchandise, and we continue to improve in-stocks on high velocity items.

正如我之前略微提到的，大概在去年第四季度，也就是十月份，以及上個財季，也就是十二月初，我們一直在不斷改進產品和服務，提升會員的線上體驗。在商品方面，我們持續推出新品，並不斷增加暢銷商品的庫存。

In terms of recent initiatives, and recent online additions include Samsung appliances, and a variety of added apparel brands, both direct and indirectly purchased, with additional offerings in various non-food categories in the coming months. These would include Kohler bath and kitchen, Reebok mens and women's active wear and footwear, and Spyder Ski and outerwear, to name a few. We've also continued to add various health and beauty aids, both regular ones and upscale ones, and sundries items to our online offerings, increasing both online page viewing, and member shopping frequency as well.

就近期的措施而言，我們新增了三星家電等線上商品，以及許多服飾品牌（包括直接採購和間接採購），未來幾個月也將推出更多非食品類商品。這些商品包括科勒衛浴和廚房用品、銳步男女運動服飾和鞋履、Spyder滑雪服和外套等等。此外，我們也持續增加各類健康美容用品（包括一般產品和高端產品）以及其他日用品，從而提升了線上頁面瀏覽量和會員購物頻率。

One recent fun item to note, leading up to Valentine's Day, we offered online 50 long stem roses for $49.99, and that included delivery. We had sales in those three days of over $2 million, it represented over two cargo planes, and most important, that $49.99 price point for 50 long stem roses is $30 less than what we sold the same item for just a year ago and if you're late to getting those roses, we are now offering them at $39.99 including shipping.

最近有個有趣的促銷活動值得一提：在情人節前夕，我們在線上推出了50支長莖玫瑰，售價49.99美元，包郵。短短三天內，銷售額就超過了200萬美元，相當於兩架貨機的運載量。更重要的是，49.99美元的50支長莖玫瑰比一年前同款玫瑰的價格便宜了30美元！如果您錯過了之前的優惠，現在只需39.99美元即可購買，同樣包郵。

In terms of improving experience and functionality of the site, we've improved search, we've shortened the check-out process, and we've improved our member's ability to track their orders, and we'll continue to do some more of that. Just recently, we automated much of our returns process, not only providing members a much better quality of service, but also reducing by more than 20%, in just the first couple of months, our call center volume related to returns. There will be more to come, over this coming calendar year in several of these things, and we're finally getting around to doing some of those.

為了提升網站體驗和功能，我們改進了搜尋功能，縮短了結帳流程，並增強了會員追蹤訂單的能力，我們也會繼續在這方面進行改進。就在最近，我們實現了退貨流程的大部分自動化，這不僅為會員提供了更優質的服務，而且在短短幾個月內，就將與退貨相關的呼叫中心工作量減少了 20% 以上。在接下來的幾年裡，我們還將在多個方面進行更多改進，並且正在逐步實施其中的一些項目。

Lastly, we continue to improve our distribution logistics. For example, in the US and Canada, we now fulfill online orders from 11 depot distribution points, which, of course, allows for closer and fast delivery of online orders. Overall, as I mentioned, we have plenty of online initiatives going on, both in terms of member experience and service, expanded products, and services offerings, and a greater value to the member.

最後，我們持續改善配送物流。例如，在美國和加拿大，我們現在透過11個配送中心處理線上訂單，這無疑能夠實現更快捷、更貼近客戶的配送。總而言之，正如我之前提到的，我們正在進行多項線上舉措，涵蓋會員體驗和服務、拓展產品和服務範圍，以及為會員創造更大價值等各個方面。

Finally, a quick update on other home and office delivery sales channels. As you know, we partner with Google Express in five cities, operating out of 15 of our Costco US warehouses. In addition, we're working with Google Express on a new service offering one to three day shipping of products throughout the Continental United States.

最後，簡單報告一下其他家庭和辦公室配送銷售管道的情況。如您所知，我們已與 Google Express 在五個城市合作，營運管道為 15 家 Costco 美國倉庫。此外，我們正在與 Google Express 合作推出一項新服務，為美國大陸地區提供一至三天的商品配送服務。

We also continue to work with Instacart. Instacart currently operates in 26 US cities, in our case utilizing 132 of our US locations, and we are either testing or getting ready to test two other third-party delivery services within the next month or so.

我們也繼續與 Instacart 合作。 Instacart 目前在美國 26 個城市運營，在我們這裡，他們與我們合作的門市佔 132 個。此外，我們正在測試或準備在未來一個月左右測試另外兩家第三方配送服務。

In terms of expansion, in FY16, last year, we opened 29 net units, about 4.5% square footage growth. This year, it looks like it's going be also 29 net new units, so about 4.25% square footage growth. The planned FY17 locations, these 29 locations by country, would be 14 in the US, 8 in Canada, and 1 each in Taiwan, Korea, Japan, Australia, Mexico, and then the new ones in France and Iceland.

就擴張而言，在2016財年（即去年），我們淨增了29家門市，面積成長約4.5%。今年預計也將淨增加29家門市，面積成長約4.25%。 2017財年計畫開設的這29家門市，依國家劃分，將包括美國14家、加拿大8家、台灣、韓國、日本、澳洲、墨西哥各1家，以及法國和冰島的兩家新店。

As of Q2 end, total warehouse square footage stood at 105.1 million square feet. Next in terms of stock buybacks, as you recall, in Q1 we repurchased $122 million or 809,000 shares of Costco stock for an average price of right around $151 a share. In Q2, we repurchased $66 million or 411,000 shares at an average price of just under $160: $159.86, I believe. In terms of dividends, our current recorded dividend continues to stand at $0.45 a share and on a quarterly basis, this $1.80 per share annualized, represents a total cost to the Company of right at $800 million.

截至第二季末，倉庫總面積為1.051億平方英尺。接下來是關於股票回購，正如您所記得的，第一季我們回購了價值1.22億美元（約80.9萬股）的Costco股票，平均價格約為每股151美元。第二季度，我們回購了價值6,600萬美元（約41.1萬股）的股票，平均價格略低於每股160美元（我記得是159.86美元）。關於股息，我們目前的記錄股息仍為每股0.45美元，按季度計算，年化每股1.80美元，公司總支出約為8億美元。

Lastly, I want, before I turn it back to Frederica, our FY17 third quarter scheduled earnings release date for the 12 week period ending -- our third quarter ending May 7, will be -- we'll do that after the market close on Thursday, May 25, with the earnings call that afternoon at 2 PM again.

最後，在把話題轉回給弗雷德里卡之前，我想說明一下我們 2017 財年第三季（截至 5 月 7 日的 12 週期間）的預定收益發布日期——我們將在 5 月 25 日星期四股市收盤後發布收益，並在當天下午 2 點再次舉行收益電話會議。

With that, I'll be happy to open it up to Q&A. And Frederica, I'll turn it back over to you for that process.

接下來，我很樂意進入問答環節。弗雷德里卡，現在我把提問環節還給你。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

Your first question comes from the line of Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

你的第一個問題來自西蒙·古特曼在摩根士丹利的職位。

Richard, I think the big question that will come up a lot, it looks like -- I'm not in front of all of the numbers -- but margins in this quarter sequentially versus Q1 seemed like they got a little bit weaker? And I'm excluding some of the gasoline impact, which granted, I don't think was fully captured. Is there anything changing as far as investment back in the business, SG&A dollars, eCommerce, or just reinvesting back into price, that we aren't seeing?

理查德，我認為大家會經常問的一個問題是——我手頭上沒有全部數據——但看起來本季的利潤率環比第一季似乎略有下降？我這裡沒有考慮汽油價格上漲的影響，當然，我認為汽油價格上漲的影響並沒有完全反映出來。在業務投資、銷售、管理及行政費用、電子商務，或只是重新投入價格優化方面，是否有我們尚未看到的調整？

Well certainly, the gas inflation does have an impact, as well as the increasing sales penetration of gas. That's probably as much of an impact. Certainly, as some of the more promotional stuff we did with every day low pricing, had an impact.

當然，汽油價格上漲以及汽油銷售滲透率的提高確實會產生影響。這也是主要原因之一。此外，我們所進行的一些促銷活動，例如每日低價促銷，也確實扮演了一定的角色。

I didn't bother to try to quantify it because it's lots of different items and that's what we do. If anything, we did it a little more because we wanted to. There's been some other things going on, nothing major though.

我沒費心去量化，因為涉及的項目很多，而這正是我們所做的。如果非要說有什麼不同的話，那就是我們想多做一些。當然，也發生了一些其他的事情，不過都不算什麼大事。

We really -- I look at the numbers and I don't see a big change other than the things I mentioned, and perhaps what I mentioned about that. As Bob is reminding me, and getting back to the gasoline comment, a lot of it has to do with the contribution penetration of these areas. With gas inflation -- I think gas prices are up 29% over the year, and gallon comps were up higher as well because of that.

我仔細看了數據，除了我之前提到的那些，以及可能還有我之前提到的那些，我沒發現什麼重大的改變。正如鮑伯提醒我的，回到汽油的話題，很大程度取決於這些地區的貢獻滲透率。汽油價格上漲了——我認為汽油價格今年上漲了29%，因此每加侖汽油的銷量也相應上漲。

We're higher because of what we do, we have good prices, that had probably a bigger impact. Gas is typically, these are rough numbers, 800 or 900 basis points lower than the rest of the merchandise that we sell. It could be 700,000, but it's big and you have increasing penetration of that.

我們的業績之所以更高，是因為我們的經營模式，我們定價合理，這可能是主要原因。汽油價格通常比我們銷售的其他商品價格低800到900個基點（這只是個大概數字）。雖然可能高達70萬，但這仍然是一個很大的數字，而且汽油的滲透率還在不斷提高。

So not only were gas margins down with rising gas prices within the gasoline business, but the impact that it has -- and again if you get back to what I mentioned on the core margins, on their own sales, which is roughly 80% of our sales -- food and sundries hard lines, soft lines, and fresh foods. On core margins year over year in Q2, they were up seven basis points but the contribution, if you will, to the total here was minus seven.

因此，汽油價格上漲不僅導致汽油業務利潤率下降，而且其影響——再次回到我之前提到的核心利潤率，也就是食品雜貨、日用品和生鮮食品等核心銷售額（約占我們總銷售額的80%）——也同樣顯著。第二季核心利潤率年增了7個基點，但對總利潤率的貢獻卻是-7%。

That's helpful. I guess my follow-up -- just thinking about reinvestment rates in the business, you have a membership fee increase coming down the pike at some point, and now we know when and there's a lot of debate on how much flow through or not. I guess, maybe the way to ask it is, is there a natural run rate of reinvestment that you as managers of this business try to put back in?

這很有幫助。我想補充一點——關於業務的再投資率，你們遲早會提高會員費，現在我們知道具體時間了，但關於漲幅多少存在很多爭議。我想，或許應該這樣問：身為這家企業的管理者，你們是否會設定一個自然的再投資比例？

And where are we running relative to that? I'm trying to gauge when we get the membership fee increase, are we going to see that getting pushed back into price as well? Or some of that will come through to the bottom line?

那麼我們目前的進展如何呢？我想評估一下，會員費上漲後，這部分成本會不會也反映在產品價格上？還是說部分成本最終會轉嫁到利潤上？

My view is, I'm speaking historically here, that roughly we've done increases about every five years. And we're certainly not smart enough to figure out how to put it in over the five years. We know it hits the membership fee income line over about two years. We also know it hits very little in the first month, 1/12 of 1/12 of the renewals, if you will.

我的觀點是，就歷史數據而言，我們大約每五年漲一次價。我們當然沒有足夠的智慧來制定五年內逐步提高會員費的方案。我們知道，漲價會在大約兩年內影響會員費收入。我們也知道，漲價對第一個月的影響很小，大概只影響續費會員的十二分之一。

Historically, we've generally taken -- we've invested in a lot of things, including continuing to invest in price, which might even be a slight negative then. Arguably, we've chosen, with some of the revamping of the MVM and some other things we're doing with every day low pricing to, if you will, do some of that now. And that really is, in my view, not directly related to if, when, and now -- when not if -- a fee increase.

從歷史上看，我們通常會在許多方面進行投資，包括持續投資於價格，這在當時可能略有不利影響。可以說，我們選擇透過對MVM進行一些調整以及在每日低價策略方面所做的一些其他努力，來提前實施這些措施。在我看來，這與是否、何時以及現在——是「何時」而不是「是否」——提高費用並沒有直接關係。

But I would argue we probably did a little more now. Certainly the reduced number of (inaudible) days. Even in the MVM what we've done is basically gone out to vendors and worked with them. The goal for us, and them, is to drive sales. Basically, it's a better value to the member, which means it's a little more expensive both for the vendor and us.

但我認為我們現在可能做得更多了。當然，減少（聽不清楚）天數肯定是有原因的。即使在MVM（會員價值管理）模式下，我們所做的基本上是主動聯繫供應商並與他們合作。我們和他們的目標都是促進銷售。簡而言之，這對會員來說更有價值，這意味著對供應商和我們來說成本都會略高一些。

So I would say in some ways we've started that process, or we always do that process, and you'll see when you see. But generally speaking, in my view it historically goes in over a longer period of time, not just those two years -- the net of everything.

所以我覺得在某種程度上我們已經啟動了這個過程，或者說我們一直在進行這個過程，到時候你們就會明白了。但總的來說，在我看來，從歷史上看，這個過程通常需要更長的時間，而不僅僅是那兩年——是所有因素綜合起來的結果。

Okay thanks, Richard, good luck.

好的，謝謝你，理查德，祝你好運。

Your next question comes from the line of Michael Lasser with UBS.

你的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的麥可·拉塞爾。

Good evening, thanks a lot for taking my question. Richard, presumably you're investing in price because you're seeing a more competitive environment? Can you quantify or at least qualitatively comment on how much more promotionally and competitively intense it is now than when you've seen it in the past, particularly around the time when you've raised your fees?

晚上好，非常感謝您回答我的問題。理查德，想必您是因為看到了更激烈的市場競爭才選擇漲價吧？您能否量化一下，或至少定性地評價一下，現在的促銷和競爭強度比您過去遇到的情況要高多少，尤其是在您提高收費前後？

Well, do you know what? We have a couple of senior merchants in the room with me shaking their head, and I concur. This is really not terribly related to that, to the fact that there's increased levels of competition.

你知道嗎？房間裡有幾位資深商人也在搖頭，我也同意他們的看法。這其實和競爭加劇沒有太大關係。

When we look at our direct competitors -- notably direct warehouse clubs and certainly supermarkets on certain key fresh foods and sundries items -- a lot of what you read about were some of the big box discounters and their investment in price which is formidable. Our view is that impacts and the competitors have to deal with that more directly, or supermarkets in the case of Wal-Mart, or Target, or whatever else.

當我們審視直接競爭對手——尤其是倉儲式會員店，以及在某些關鍵生鮮食品和日用品方面佔據主導地位的超市——你會發現，很多報道都集中在大型折扣店及其在價格方面的投入上，而這些投入確實令人咋舌。我們認為，這種影響不容忽視，競爭對手必須更直接應對，例如沃爾瑪、塔吉特等超市。

We really haven't seen a big change there and certainly this was not motivated by that. I think it more has to do with is over the last few years, you'll see some of the sales lift in some of the things that the MVM has been great for us for so many years, changing and this is an iterative process.

我們確實沒有看到這方面發生太大變化，而且這肯定不是出於這個原因。我認為這更多是與過去幾年裡，你會看到一些產品的銷量有所增長，而這些產品多年來一直對我們非常有效，但隨著MVM（市場價值管理）的調整，銷量也在不斷提升，這是一個迭代的過程。

If anything, just like we are ultimately, we are going to do the right thing for the long term irrespective of how it impacts now. We knew and we chose, but we don't give direction, we knew this was going to have some impact. Not a big impact frankly, but with having less days by going to some EDLP, it's what it does to drive sales.

歸根究底，就像我們一貫的作風，我們會做對長遠發展有利的事情，無論它現在會產生什麼影響。我們早就知道這一點，也做出了選擇，但我們不會妄下斷言，我們知道這會帶來一些影響。坦白說，影響並不大，但減少天數，轉為天天低價促銷，確實能促進銷售。

I don't know where else you can get in the country a 40-pack of half-liter water bottles for $2.99, down from $3.49. And we're driving units and we're driving a little traffic. And that's what we do and it's not because somebody else went down to that price. We look at some key items and how do we do this.

我不知道全國其他地方還能在哪裡以2.99美元的價格買到40瓶半公升的瓶裝水，原價是3.49美元。我們不僅提升了銷量，也吸引了一些客流量。這就是我們所做的，並不是因為別人降價了。我們研究了一些關鍵因素，然後思考如何做到這一點。

And it has very little to do with either different -- a change in the level of competition, or the fact we're getting ready to do a fee increase. We do that really somewhat independently.

這與競爭格局的變化，或者我們即將提價這兩件事都關係不大。我們提價這件事本身就與我們無關。

And just to quantify the impact of pricing, you've got a 16 basis point benefit to your gross margin from the credit card transition? It sounds like you invested all of that and more back in the every day low price?

為了量化定價的影響，信用卡過渡為你們的毛利率帶來了 16 個基點的收益？聽起來你們把這筆錢甚至更多都投入了日常低價策略？

Again, I think the same comment. We didn't say, hey, we've got this much back let's use it all, or let's use any of it. We really look at those independently.

我再次強調，我們並沒有說“嘿，我們收回了這麼多錢，那就全用掉吧”，或者“那就用一部分吧”。我們確實是逐一分析的。

I think one of the comments I made on a Q1 call, which is the First Quarter that there was really some transparency of how big an impact and successful the new credit card has been, both in terms of improving, adding to our gross margin percentage and reducing our SG&A percentage in terms of lower fees. We really didn't say, wow, that's so big, let's use it.

我認為我在第一季財報電話會議上提到過，新信用卡的影響和成功程度確實非常顯著，無論是在提高毛利率方面，還是在降低銷售、管理及行政費用方面，都取得了顯著成效。我們當時並沒有說：“哇，這太棒了，我們一定要用它。”

We do what we are going to do on pricing and this is where the chips fell on that. I think one of the comments we made on the first quarter conference call is we're clearly -- we were more lucky than smart that, that helped to offset some of the reductions in things and this is what we do.

我們在定價方面會堅持既定策略，而最終結果也正是如此。我認為我們在第一季財報電話會議上提到過，我們顯然是運氣好而非策略高，這在一定程度上抵消了部分成本削減的影響，而這就是我們目前的做法。

My follow-up question is, the assumption is because you tend to skew higher on the socioeconomic demographic, or your membership base does, that you were not impacted by the delayed tax refunds in February? Do you think that's right? Or do you think there was some impact, and if so could you quantify it?

我的後續問題是，之所以假設貴公司或貴公司會員的社經地位較高，是因為貴公司沒有受到二月延遲退稅的影響？您認為這種假設正確嗎？或者您認為貴公司受到了一定程度的影響，如果是的話，您能否量化一下？

Well I can't quantify it, certainly. Historically, when we've been asked a similar questions about when there was issues with food stamp programs or things like that, or this, we generally don't feel we're impacted a lot at all. It certainly is not a positive but my guess is it's not very much of a negative either. I would lean towards saying not really a big impact at all.

嗯，我當然無法量化。從歷史上看，當我們被問及類似的問題，例如食品券計畫或其他類似項目出現問題時，我們通常會覺得受到的影響並不大。這當然不是好事，但我估計也不算壞事。我傾向於認為影響微乎其微。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Your next question comes from the line of Christopher Horvers with JPMorgan Chase.

你的下一個問題來自摩根大通的克里斯多福霍弗斯。

We can move on.

我們可以繼續前進了。

Your next question comes from the line of John Heinbockel.

你的下一個問題源自約翰·海因博克爾的著作。

Richard, when you think about the executive increase in particular, how much discussion was there? What you should do with that, in light of where your club competitors are, where prime is?

理查德，你特別考慮高階主管加薪這件事，當時進行了多少討論？考慮到俱樂部競爭對手的處境，以及頂級俱樂部的現狀，你該如何處理這件事？

And then, when you think about where that goes over time, what kind of things can you add, [not that] the 2% is a big benefit, what can you add to the executive that might, people might want, that could allow that to continue to go up over time?

然後，當你思考隨著時間的推移，它的發展方向時，你可以添加哪些東西，（並不是說）2% 的好處很大，你可以為高階主管添加哪些人們可能想要的東西，從而使它隨著時間的推移繼續增長？

Again, first of all, what we do best is value to the member on products and services, and certainly that's going to be part of it. As it relates to enhancing both the primary membership, and more importantly the Executive Membership, I will say -- and not being cute -- stay tuned. We've got other things we're planning to do, nothing's Earth-shattering, but several things we'll do, including, I'm sure one late summer or early fall.

首先，我們最擅長的是為會員提供物超所值的產品和服務，這當然也是我們工作的一部分。至於如何提升一般會員，尤其是高級會員的體驗，我只能說──我可不是在開玩笑──敬請期待。我們還有其他計劃，雖然不是什麼驚天動地的大事，但我們會採取一些措施，包括，我確信會在夏末或初秋推出。

But so we'll continue to do that, and we'll continue to look at the value proposition on the credit card. As I mentioned -- I'm sure a year ago when it first transitioned to it -- whatever we do, and certainly the credit card profitability and success has been better than we and our partners have felt and originally planned, we'll look to enhance that value over time.

所以我們會繼續這樣做，也會繼續檢視信用卡的價值主張。正如我之前提到的——我相信一年前剛開始轉型的時候——無論我們做什麼，而且信用卡的盈利能力和成功程度確實超出了我們和合作夥伴的預期和最初計劃，我們都會努力隨著時間的推移提升其價值。

But that's not something you do until you're a couple years out to see where things trend out. We'll continue to be very good at driving value and getting you to say, wow.

但這種預測要等到幾年後才能進行，以便觀察市場趨勢。我們將繼續致力於創造價值，讓您發出「哇」的讚嘆。

Was there, again, when you think about what you could have done with Executive, was there any serious consideration to leave it alone, enhance the value proposition, and push more people toward Executive? Or you pretty much knew you wanted to do the $10 from the beginning?

再一次，當你思考如何改進 Executive 版本時，你是否認真考慮過保持現狀，提升其價值主張，並引導更多用戶升級到 Executive 版本？還是說你從一開始就決定推出 10 美元的版本？

Well, I think we always start with the premise that we pretty much knew that. We look at other things as well, and we'll see what happens in the future. Nothing will happen in the next year or so I'm sure, but there's some other reasons in the state of California that it makes sense as it relates to sales taxability.

嗯，我認為我們總是從「我們基本上了解這一點」這個前提出發。我們也會考慮其他因素，看看未來會發生什麼。我確信未來一年左右不會有任何變化，但在加州，就銷售稅而言，還有一些其他原因使得這樣做是合理的。

We're pretty simple and it works for us. We're pretty simple and pretty extreme in terms of value. And we always look at, we always talk about, what about another level of membership above that.

我們的模式很簡單，而且很適合我們。我們的模式很簡單，但價值卻非常高。我們一直在考慮，一直在討論，是否可以推出更高一級的會員制度。

If we ever figure out how to just offer only Executive, we aren't there yet. But rest assured there will be more value-oriented things coming to the Executive for sure over time, and more value to all members and general pricing and things.

如果我們最終能只提供行政會員服務，那目前還無法實現。但請放心，隨著時間的推移，行政會員肯定會獲得更多增值服務，所有會員也將獲得更多價值，價格也會更加優惠。

Just one last thing. When you look at KS, assortment over time here, so it's clearly grown, looks like maybe up 50% over the past five years or so? That's imperfect, because there's stuff that cycles in and out.

最後還有一點。你看KS的商品種類隨著時間推移明顯增加，過去五年左右似乎增加了50%左右？不過這個數據並不完全準確，因為有些商品會週期性地進出。

But when you think about where that ends up, three years from now, five years from now, obviously your total assortment is staying somewhat the same -- are we going to get a higher percentage of KS items, just continuously, almost forever?

但想想三年後、五年後，你的商品種類總量顯然會保持不變——我們是否會持續不斷地獲得更高比例的 KS 商品，幾乎永遠如此？

Sure. I think yes, but we also, our success has been based first by selling branded goods at the best value out there. Two reasons, one such sharp savings relative to everybody else and two, our KS -- if it's as good as, if not better quality, which is our starting point and even a greater savings versus what we sell the brand for, that's even better.

當然。我認為是的，但我們的成功首先在於以最具競爭力的價格銷售品牌商品。原因有二：一是相對於其他競爭對手而言，我們的價格優勢非常顯著；二是我們的KS產品－如果品質達到甚至超過品牌商品的水平（這是我們的出發點），而且價格比品牌商品更低，那就更好了。

And it keeps our members happy and it keeps us and our vendors honest. We'll continue to drive it. Recognizing there aren't a lot of $300 million and $500 million items out there, like the waters and the paper goods, and the K cups and whatever. But there's lots of $20 million and $30 million and $50 million items -- we get surprised every day.

這讓我們的會員滿意，也讓我們和供應商保持誠信。我們會繼續推進這項工作。我們意識到，像是瓶裝水、紙製品、咖啡膠囊之類的商品，市值3億美元、5億美元的並不多。但市值2000萬美元、3000萬美元、5000萬美元的商品卻很多——我們每天都會感到驚訝。

So yes, there will be a continued push for that, but there's also a continued push to add brands that historically haven't been prepared to sell us.

所以，是的，我們會繼續推動這方面的發展，但同時也會繼續推動引入那些歷史上不願向我們推銷產品的品牌。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Your next question comes from the line of Matt Fassler with Goldman Sachs.

你的下一個問題來自高盛的馬特法斯勒。

Good afternoon. A couple questions. First of all, just to make sure we understand the magnitude of the impact of the change in the MVM and the move to EDLP -- when you talk about EDLP, are you solely talking about stepping in and displacing the MVM?

午安.我有幾個問題。首先，為了確保我們理解MVM模式改變和轉向EDLP模式的影響程度──您所說的EDLP模式，是否只是指取代MVM模式？

And is there a way to estimate the impact that might have had on margin? And does that impact get -- grow or dissipate next quarter as the disparity for the MVM comes down?

有沒有辦法估算這可能對利潤率造成的影響？隨著MVM差異在下個季度縮小，這種影響會加劇還是減弱？

It really, yes and no to each of those parts of those questions. We've tried some items using the MVM as example. Some with vendors we've chosen to go to EDLP and get out of the item, get out of the MVM. Others we go the other way.

對於這些問題的每個部分，答案其實都是「是」和「否」。我們以MVM為例，並嘗試過一些產品。對於某些供應商，我們選擇採用EDLP模式，放棄產品，也放棄了MVM模式。而對於其他產品，我們則採取相反的做法。

Sometimes it works one way and sometimes it works the other way and that's how you figure that out. Again, not to be smug, but we really don't see it as, yes small basis points impact $25 billion, $29 billion quarterly sales figures by a lot. But we really -- as probably, we knew it was going to impact us this quarter.

有時候結果會是這樣，有時候結果會是那樣，這就是判斷的方法。再說一遍，我不是自誇，但我們真的不認為區區幾個基點會對250億美元、290億美元的季度銷售額產生太大影響。但我們確實——或許我們早就預料到這會對本季業績產生影響。

We don't provide direction, so we really can't say anything. It should improve a little in the next quarter, but it's not that's not based on, oh, my God let's change it. It's just that's what happens.

我們不提供指導，所以真的沒什麼好說的。下個季度情況應該會略有改善，但這並不是說「天哪，我們得改變一下」。只是實際情況就是這樣。

And is the improvement based on the better sales that you're likely to get from the MVMs year over year or some other element related to the change you're making?

這種改進是基於MVM（最小可行產品）帶來的逐年銷售成長，還是與你正在進行的變革相關的其他因素？

It's all of the above. Including -- as we've only done this for a couple of MVMs here -- so a subset of all of the vendors over the years that have participated in this with us. Some that participated with us all the time for 22 years, and some are in and out and seasonal and some are new. And as we see the things that work, we certainly don't keep that a secret, and we go to our vendors.

以上所有情況都包含在內。此外，由於我們目前只在少數幾屆MVM活動中這樣做過，所以也包括多年來與我們合作過的部分供應商。有些供應商已經與我們合作了22年，有些則是季節性的，有些則是新加入的。一旦我們發現哪些方法行之有效，我們當然不會秘而不宣，而是會與供應商分享。

And we have vendors in some examples that are wanting to do more for us, wanting to get those prices even lower because they see the lift impact on it. It really is all of the above, and I joke and use the word a little it's a little strategy, because we are merchants and we try a lot of different things, and we're pretty good at figuring out what works and what doesn't and working with our vendors to do that.

在某些情況下，我們的供應商希望為我們做更多的事情，希望進一步降低價格，因為他們看到了提升銷售量帶來的影響。這確實是以上所有因素共同作用的結果，我開玩笑說這有點像是一種策略，因為我們是商家，我們會嘗試很多不同的方法，我們很擅長找出哪些有效哪些無效，並與供應商合作來實現這些目標。

And one quick follow-up. Where are we right now in the credit card benefit cycle for you, are there elements associated with Citi Visa? Whether it's sign-ups, whether it's outside sales, and the financial benefits they have to you, that would lead to the financial benefit to you to ramp up? Or are we kind of leveling off at what's likely to be sustainable?

還有一個後續問題。目前，您的信用卡收益週期處於什麼階段？花旗Visa卡有哪些相關因素？例如，註冊量、外部銷售以及它們帶給您的財務收益，這些因素是否會促使您的收益進一步成長？或者，我們已經達到一個相對穩定的水平？

Well, I think there was some benefit in Q4, but not big enough to actually separate out. The Big Kahuna was in Q1, where we reported it, and now it's Q2. So again, very simply, my guess is sometime you'll get some benefit, incremental benefit in Q4 to get the other half, if you will -- it's not exactly half of that.

嗯，我認為第四季度確實有一些收益，但不足以單獨列出來。真正的大成長出現在第一季度，我們已經公佈了，現在是第二季度。所以，簡單來說，我的猜測是，第四季可能會有一些收益，一些增量收益，最終達到另一半——但不會正好是原來的一半。

In addition though, there's probably a little more in Q4 because of some of the challenges of the conversion itself. And then beyond that, I think I've said occasionally, that it should and hopefully will be the gift that keeps on giving a little, as we drive more penetration both in Costco with the 2% component reward on that, along with the 2% Executive Member reward.

此外，由於轉換過程本身存在一些挑戰，第四季度可能會略有增加。而且，我想我之前也說過，隨著我們在 Costco 和高級會員積分計劃中不斷擴大滲透率（Costco 提供 2% 的組件獎勵，高級會員積分也提供 2% 的獎勵），它應該而且希望能夠持續帶來收益。

And it will drive outside spend because of the fact the card is accepted at so many places. And if we can get you to use it everywhere or most everywhere, particularly those small merchants that generally pay higher fees to everyone, there's a component of that we benefit from. There's no way to predict what's going to happen.

而且由於這張卡在許多地方都能用，它會帶動外部消費。如果我們能讓你在幾乎所有地方都用它，尤其是在那些通常要支付較高手續費的小商家那裡，我們就能從中獲益。未來會發生什麼，誰也無法預測。

On a year-over-year comparison the biggest bang for this buck is over the first 12, maybe first 15 months, because the first 8 or 10 weeks had the challenges of the conversion. Beyond that there should be incremental benefits, but certainly not as big as the first year.

如果按年比較，這項投資的最大效益體現在在前12個月，或許是前15個月，因為最初的8到10週面臨轉型帶來的挑戰。此後收益會逐步增加，但肯定不如第一年顯著。

And by the way, at some point two or three years out, I'm guessing you're going to see -- when we get comfortable and see where it goes -- you're going to see enhanced improvement, because that's what we do, on even the reward proposition.

順便說一句，我猜在兩三年後的某個時候，當我們適應了現狀並看到事情的發展方向時，你會看到更大的進步，因為這就是我們所做的，即使在獎勵方案方面也是如此。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Both ours and our cards.

我們自己的和我們的卡片。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from the line of Paul Trussell with Deutsche Bank.

你的下一個問題來自德意志銀行的保羅‧特魯塞爾。

Hi, this is Tiffany Kanaga on for Paul. Thanks for taking our questions. I know you've gone through all of the numbers in quite some detail, but can you help us understand a little better as we're lapping quite a significant deleverage in core SG&A excluding gas, so we didn't see the leverage this quarter that we hoped for. Can you walk us through what might have held back the core SG&A line, ex-gas this quarter and how to think about it going forward as we continue to lap even greater deleverage?

您好，我是Tiffany Kanaga，代Paul提問。感謝您回答我們的問題。我知道您已經非常詳細地分析了所有數據，但能否請您幫我們更好地理解一下，因為我們在核心銷售、管理及行政費用（不含天然氣）方面已經進行了相當大幅度的去槓桿化，所以本季度的槓桿率沒有達到預期。您能否解釋一下本季核心銷售、管理及行政費用（不含天然氣）的下滑原因，以及隨著我們繼續進一步去槓桿化，未來應該如何看待這個問題？

Well, I mean, at the end of the day it's mostly, as it always is, payroll and benefits. Healthcare is inflationary. We still have bottom-of-scale increases that we've done. That was actually in March of last year, when that will anniversary, mid-March. So that hurt us a little bit. Again, we look to the numbers.

嗯，我的意思是，歸根結底，主要還是薪水和福利，一如既往。醫療保健成本會隨著通貨膨脹而上漲。我們仍然在進行一些小幅調整。那其實是在去年三月，也就是三月中旬，正好是調整週年紀念。所以那對我們造成了一些影響。總之，我們還是要看數據。

We always look in the mirror at each monthly budget meeting and say, could we have done a little better on controlling labor in the warehouses, controlling overtime hours -- sure. And there's probably a few basis points that we could do better on. But for the most part I think it's the underlying comp.

我們每次每月預算會議都會反思，在控制倉庫勞動成本和加班時間方面，我們是否可以做得更好——當然可以。而且可能還有一些基點可以改進。但總的來說，我認為關鍵在於基本的比較成本。

And mind you, using that, again, some of the example of the water going from $3.49 to $2.99 and sell a lot more units. The margin dollars are plus or minus the same, but there's more labor involved. Not a lot more but again all these things are incremental -- add a few basis points.

再舉個例子，例如水的價格從 3.49 美元降到 2.99 美元，但銷售量卻大幅提升。利潤額基本不變，但人工成本增加了。雖然增加的幅度不大，但這些都是增量——也就增加幾個基點而已。

So other than that, the big one of course is all of the modernization-related stuff as we've had these big systems come on -- it's like building a building. You build it and then you wait until you open it, if you will, or turn it on. And that's when you start to amortize it. In our case, typically over five and seven years. Sometimes three on a few things. And some of those big nuts, if you will, have occurred in the last year.

除此之外，當然，最大的問題在於所有與現代化相關的項目，因為我們投入使用了這些大型系統——這就像蓋房子一樣。你蓋好房子，然後就等到正式啟用的時候。那時才開始攤銷成本。就我們而言，通常是五年到七年。有時某些項目三年就能攤提完。而其中一些重大項目，如果你願意這麼說的話，就發生在過去一年。

Thank you so much.

太感謝了。

Your next question comes from the line of Brian Nagel with Oppenheimer.

你的下一個問題來自布萊恩·納格爾和奧本海默的對話。

Hi, good afternoon. I too, wanted to drill further into the margin. So just to be clear, and I know you discussed this a lot today, Richard. If I'm looking at my model, year on year gross margins were down, ex-membership fees down by 24 basis points.

您好，下午好。我也想進一步了解利潤率。為了確保我理解正確，我知道您今天已經多次討論過這個問題，理查德。根據我的模型，毛利率年減，扣除會員費後下降了24個基點。

So that's the first time in a while, at least in several quarters, that its been down. So the shift from MVM to EDLPs is a significant portion of that?

所以這是近幾季以來，至少是第一次下滑。那麼，從MVM（多商品銷售模式）轉向EDLP（每日特價商品模式）是造成下滑的主因嗎？

I'm sorry, ask the last part of the question -- somebody was saying something here.

抱歉，請問完問題的最後一部分——有人剛才在這裡說話了。

The question is, and I know this is a bit of a (inaudible) because others asked more questions. But if I look at -- the gross margin, ex-membership fees, here in the fiscal Q2 were down 24 basis points. And that's the first time, as I look back sequentially, I'm not saying now, but they were down.

問題是，我知道這個問題有點（聽不清楚），因為其他人問了更多問題。但如果我看一下──剔除會員費後的毛利率，第二財季下降了24個基點。這是我回顧過去以來第一次出現這種情況，我不是說現在才出現，但當時確實下降了。

And so how much of that, we look at the break in trend then, how much of that can be explained by this shift from the MVM to EDLP?

那麼，我們來看看這種趨勢的轉變，有多少可以解釋這種從 MVM 到 EDLP 的轉變呢？

I would say if there were five factors, I'm making this up, it's probably the third or fourth most impactful. And the biggest single factor, which is well more than half of the factors in total, is gasoline. Gasoline impacts it two ways. One, you have potentially lower margin on gasoline profits -- or gasoline sales, and two, you have increasing penetration of gas because of a 29% higher price per gallon.

如果非要列舉五個因素（我只是舉個例子），我認為它大概排在第三或第四位。而最重要的單一因素，佔所有因素總數的一半以上，就是汽油。汽油的影響體現在兩個方面：一是汽油利潤率（或汽油銷售）可能下降；二是汽油價格上漲29%，導致汽油滲透率上升。

And this is a business. I don't know the exact number in my head, but roughly 10% of our total Company sales. It's ranged from 9% to 12% or 13%. So that alone, again, if I go back to Q2, if we look again on a reported basis, lower by 24 basis points, ex-gas inflation minus 15, but that minus 15 includes minus 18 -- most of ancillary, most of which is gas. So that's where a lot of it is.

這是一項業務。我記不清確切數字了，但大約占公司總銷售額的10%。這個比例在9%到12%或13%之間波動。所以，僅此一項，如果我回到第二季度，如果我們再按報告數據來看，下降了24個基點（不計天然氣通膨），減去15個基點，但這15個基點包含了18個基點——大部分是輔助費用，其中大部分是天然氣。所以，很大一部分損失都在這裡。

Okay, and then just on the ship and EDLP, is it fair to assume that when this is implemented, it could have more of a near-term impact by margins than maybe, say it takes awhile for sales to catch up -- and I'm thinking because the MVM to a certain extent (inaudible) so if you shift to an EDLP, maybe you lose that caller to action over time that figures it out?

好的，那麼就船舶和EDLP而言，是否可以合理地假設，當這項措施實施時，它在短期內對利潤率的影響可能比銷售需要一段時間才能趕上更大——我想是因為MVM在某種程度上（聽不清），所以如果你轉向EDLP，隨著時間的推移，你可能會失去那些最終意識到這一點的潛在客戶？

Couple of things here. First of all, it's not like we've changed this thing from -- it's not binary, we aren't going from all this way to all another way. It is the transition quarter, and we did a bunch of stuff in that transition quarter. Again, that's in my view, one of the smallest factors relating to this decline in margins year over year.

這裡有幾點要說明。首先，我們並沒有徹底改變現狀──這不是非此即彼的，我們不會從一種狀態一下子變成另一種狀態。現在是過渡季度，我們在這個過渡季度做了很多事情。再次強調，在我看來，這只是導致利潤率年減的最小因素之一。

And the comment I made earlier to one of the questions on the call about what do we see going forward, I think Matt asked it, is that it should not be an issue. Yes, we'll see. But we don't believe it will be an issue in Q3 like it was in Q2. I wouldn't lose a lot of sleep at this juncture over that, and certainly not lose any sleep over the fact that we've made this major change.

我之前在電話會議上回答一個關於未來發展方向的問題時（我想是馬特問的），我的回答是這應該不會是個問題。是的，我們拭目以待。但我們認為第三季不會像第二季那樣出現問題。在這個階段，我不會為此過度擔憂，更不會因為我們已經做出了這項重大改變而感到不安。

The major change is, we've changed it. And we're seeing the things and components of it that work and seeing some of the things we're tweaking. I think one of the reports out there that I saw couple days ago, talked about adding some days into the thing. No doubt have some friends in the vendor business.

最大的改變就是，我們已經做了調整。我們正在觀察哪些部分和組件運作良好，以及哪些部分需要改進。我記得幾天前看到的一份報告提到要延長幾天。毫無疑問，我在供應商行業有一些朋友。

The comment I made earlier about Q3, whereas in Q2, on an 84-day quarter, there was 17 less MVM days. In the four-week month of February, 28 days, there were 11, 10 or 11 less MVM days. In Q3, and that 84-day month less a day or two for holidays, there are the same number of MVM days year over year.

我之前提到第三季的情況，第二季（84天）的MVM天數比第二季少了17天。二月（4週，28天）的MVM天數比第二季少了11天、10天或11天。而第三季（84天，減去一兩天的假日）的MVM天數則與去年同期持平。

So again, I can't overemphasize that this is -- EDLP is not a word we use a lot historically. We're trying a lot of different things and again, we think we feel pretty good about what we've got going forward here.

所以，我再次強調──EDLP這個字我們以前很少用。我們正在嘗試很多不同的方法，而且我們對目前為止的進展感到非常滿意。

Got it. Thank you.

明白了，謝謝。

And your next question comes from the line of Oliver Chen with Cowen & Company.

你的下一個問題來自 Cowen & Company 的 Oliver Chen。

Hi, Richard. Thanks for the details on the roses too, I like that. Regarding the mailer and the changes historically, what were you seeing with the consumer in terms of the consumer insights that kind of drove you to engage in testing and reacting on the changes to the MVM program? And what are you looking for as it gets tested? As we model the membership fee increases, how do you think that will interplay with store traffic? Do you feel like store traffic will continue in the nicely positive range? Or will there be some volatility and risk we should think about going forward?

嗨，理查德。謝謝你提供的玫瑰花細節，我很喜歡。關於電子郵件行銷和以往的調整，你從消費者洞察方面觀察到了哪些現象，促使你進行測試並對MVM專案做出相應的調整？在測試過程中，你關注的重點是什麼？我們模擬會員費上漲的情況，你認為這會對門市客流量產生怎樣的影響？你覺得門市客流量會持續保持良好的成長動能嗎？還是說未來會出現一些波動和風險，我們需要考慮？

First of all, as it relates to how and when we decide to change the MVM stuff. Not that we talk about this all the time, but for those who have known us, we talked the last few years about how we tweak it a little bit.

首先，這關係到我們如何以及何時決定更改 MVM 相關內容。雖然我們並非一直都在談論這個問題，但對於了解我們的人來說，過去幾年我們一直在討論如何對其進行一些微調。

Ultimately over time, there's items that don't get these same annual -- not only the same annual sales lift they historically have gotten, but also the additional incremental new potential customers to that given item, from the vendors perspective. It's not just getting somebody to buy more of something and consume more of something. It's getting new members to do it.

最終，隨著時間的推移，有些商品無法獲得相同的年度成長——不僅無法達到以往的年度銷售成長，而且從供應商的角度來看，也無法獲得額外的潛在客戶。這不僅是讓現有客戶購買更多商品或增加消費量，而是要吸引新客戶加入。

So over time, some of those things, not all of them, some of them get stale. And we've done some tweaking over the last few years. Probably six months ago, three months ago, the merchants sat down with the operators and senior people there and made a choice to do what we're doing now.

所以隨著時間的推移，有些東西——不是全部——會變得陳舊過時。過去幾年裡，我們做了一些調整。大概六個月前，或三個月前，商家和經營者以及高層坐下來，最後決定採取我們現在正在做的這些措施。

We knew, and we know it's the most painful in the first, in that transition quarter. Again, it's not in our view, and not to be cavalier about it, but it's not that big of a deal other than it did impact some things this way. And again, we continue to tweak it and so we're -- unfortunately because small basis points make changes on EPS numbers and we sell it at a nice multiple, I recognize the concern.

我們知道，也知道第一個季度，也就是過渡季度，是最難熬的。再次強調，我們並不認為這有多嚴重，也並非輕率之舉，只是它確實對某些方面產生了影響。而且，我們一直在進行調整，所以——很遺憾，因為即使是微小的基點變化也會對每股收益產生影響，而我們的股票估值倍數又很高，所以我理解大家的擔憂。

But we feel we've got a lot of good things going on and we're pretty optimistic about what's going to go on here in the upcoming quarters as it relates to driving sales and improving earnings. I can't give you specifics about how and why, but we're pretty, also good, as you know, laying out all of the stuff here, good and bad and so you can take a look at it.

但我們認為目前有許多利多消息，對未來幾季在推動銷售和提升獲利方面的發展也相當樂觀。我無法透露具體細節，但正如您所知，我們已經把所有情況都詳細列出來，包括好的和不好的，您可以仔細查看。

We don't look at this and see it as that big of a deal, and we have tweaked it a little bit and we have added a few more days back to some things. We knew also that again, Q3 was going to be a lot less of any of the negative impacts as it relates specifically to MVM days.

我們並不認為這件事有多嚴重，我們已經做了一些調整，並為某些項目增加了幾天時間。我們也知道，第三季與MVM天數相關的負面影響會大大減少。

And on the membership?

會員資格方面呢？

I wanted to get back to the EDLP question, because again it's not an acronym in our vernacular, even though that's what we do, since the beginning of time. When we looked at these items and worked with different vendors on different items, sometimes it's, let's put a little more emphasis on MVM, change the pack size and do a greater value.

我想回到EDLP（天天低價）的問題上來，因為在我們這裡它並不是一個常用的縮寫，儘管我們一直以來都是這麼做的。當我們研究這些產品並與不同的供應商合作開發不同的產品時，有時我們會更注重多價值行銷（MVM），改變包裝規格，從而提供更高的性價比。

Sometimes it's, get out of the MVM and do EDLP, and really come to the table with something that is a wow, on an ongoing basis. We've not just the last couple months but over the last few years, we've seen as we tried this occasionally, we've seen different things. And again, we feel good about what we feel that we are going to see going forward.

有時候，我們需要跳脫MVM（多品牌價值模式）的框架，嘗試EDLP（每日特價）策略，持續推出真正令人驚豔的產品。我們不僅在過去幾個月，而是在過去幾年裡，偶爾嘗試這種策略時，都看到了不同的結果。而且，我們對未來的發展充滿信心。

We feel good about the lifts we've seen in many of the things. But we are by no means going to change everything to go to EDLP, which used to be MVM, by any stretch. We think the MVM has a lot of continued potential for us and by the way, there's added benefits to it.

我們對目前許多方面所取得的進展感到滿意。但我們絕不會為了採用以前的MVM模式而徹底改變一切，即使是天天低價（EDLP）。我們認為MVM模式對我們來說仍然有很大的發展潛力，而且它還有其他一些優點。

Historically, in the last few years our MVM -- I believe there was three days between the MVMs and the warehouse. When you're talking about lots -- one of the things that take up the most room and require the most operating issues in the warehouse. It's big bulk items like detergents and paper goods and water and the like.

從歷史資料來看，過去幾年我們的MVM（最大庫存管理）——我記得MVM到倉庫之間大約需要三天。說到大宗貨物——其中最佔倉庫空間、也最容易引發操作問題的就是大件散裝物品，例如洗滌劑、紙製品、水等等。

And logistically, we pushed that pretty hard over the years to three days. One, this gives them a little bit more efficiency in the warehouse. That's not the reason we did it but that's an added benefit.

從物流角度來看，這些年來我們一直在努力將交貨時間縮短到三天。首先，這能提高倉庫的效率。雖然這不是我們這麼做的初衷，但這確實是額外的好處。

Two, we've actually put some time in there to do a few other things in the warehouse. Whether it's road shows or some other things we've got going on with merchandise presentations. So all of this relates only to what we do every day. We keep trying new stuff. It's not like, oh, my God something's changed.

第二，我們確實花了一些時間在倉庫裡做其他一些事情。無論是巡迴展銷或是其他一些商品展示活動。所以所有這些都只是我們日常工作的一部分。我們一直在嘗試新事物。並不是說，哦，天哪，有什麼變化了。

Okay, Richard, thank you. And what about your digital infrastructure, in terms of -- is car pick-up and pick-up and buy online, reserve in store, as well as your mobile app, as well as thinking about the bricks and quick supply chain, what factors will be important over the next few years in terms of making sure you're driving ease, value, convenience as well as being superior merchants?

好的，理查德，謝謝。那麼，就你們的數位基礎設施而言，例如汽車取貨、線上購買、店內預訂，以及你們的行動應用程序，還有實體店和快速供應鏈，在未來幾年裡，為了確保你們能夠提供便捷、實惠、便利的服務，並成為卓越的商家，哪些因素會比較重要？

Well, first of all -- in terms of pick-and-click, no. Ask me next quarter, but I think the answer will be no for a while. You want to go see it in some of the other places, by the way. It ain't all that good. And we don't have the room for it anyway.

首先，就線上選購而言，不行。下個季度再問我吧，但我覺得短期內答案還是否定的。順便說一句，你可以去其他地方看看。其實也沒那麼好。而且我們也沒地方放。

As it relates -- we are doing some unique things with business delivery, and we now have, whatever 15 or 16 business delivery sites around the US, just opening our first one in Canada. Probably the single biggest thing is what items we're offering online and how quickly we can get them to you. And I mentioned maybe a little bit of a teaser, but I talked about it online, you'll see more things coming this calendar year.

關於這一點——我們在企業配送方面做了一些獨特的嘗試，目前我們在美國各地擁有大約15到16個企業配送點，並且剛剛在加拿大開設了第一個。其中最重要的一點可能是我們在線上提供的商品種類以及我們能夠以多快的速度將它們送到您手中。我剛才可能稍微透露了一下，但我在網路上也談到了，今年您會看到更多內容。

Probably not until summer, that both what we're doing ourselves, as well as what we're doing with a couple third parties. Not only in our markets, but outside of our markets in the continental United States. One of the things we all know, we have the best prices on great quality items.

可能要到夏天才能實現，這包括我們自己正在做的事情，以及我們與幾個第三方合作做的事情。不僅在我們自己的市場，也包括美國本土以外的市場。我們都知道，我們以最優惠的價格提供優質商品。

And we've never been too good about worrying about how to get it to that end customer a day earlier. We're doing -- it's the 80/20 with us. We've done just in the last six or eight months, a lot of improvement online in that customer experience, with the smallest amount of effort. The low hanging fruit.

我們一直不太擅長想辦法提前一天把產品送到最終客戶手中。我們奉行的是80/20法則。在過去的六到八個月裡，我們以最小的努力，在線上客戶體驗方面取得了顯著的提升。這些都是唾手可得的成果。

We've got good things working on, but we're doing these things, honestly, from our offensive standpoint not a defensive standpoint. And I'm not trying to be cute. Clearly we want to do it for competitive reasons, too, but it's not like we looked at this and we lost.

我們正在做一些不錯的調整，但說實話，我們做這些調整主要是從進攻的角度出發，而不是防守的角度。我不是故弄玄虛。當然，我們也出於競技的考慮，但這並不意味著我們之前就因為這些調整而輸掉了比賽。

We see our renewal rates, ex-some of that auto bill stuff that we believe. We see our traffic going up still, and we see online, we see our page views and the like going up as well. With some of the additional items and the types of items we put on and better communication to our members of what that is.

我們看到續費率有所提高，當然也包括一些我們認為比較可靠的自動扣款項目。我們看到網站流量持續成長，線上瀏覽量等指標也在上升。這得歸功於我們新增的一些項目和項目類型，以及我們與會員之間更有效的溝通，讓他們更清楚地了解這些項目的內容。

I think again, sometimes we're viewed as the tortoise, not the hare. Certainly, over time we're viewed as being stubborn. I think in my view, we're a lot less stubborn and -- but we're still a little bit of a tortoise sometimes and we got a lot of good things going on. We'll see, but stay tuned.

我覺得，有時候人們會把我們當成烏龜，而不是兔子。當然，隨著時間的推移，我們也會被認為很固執。在我看來，我們現在沒那麼固執了——但我們有時仍然有點像烏龜，而且我們有很多好事正在發生。讓我們拭目以待吧。

And the last question, Richard, is on stores. A big topic is the physical stores. You obviously have really superior traffic and a great assortment, so what is your maximum store opportunity in the United States versus where you are currently? And are there any potential edits to the format or is it status quo in terms of what we should think about over the longer term?

最後一個問題，理查德，是關於實體店的。實體店是一個重要的議題。你們顯然擁有非常可觀的客流量和豐富的商品種類，那麼與你們目前的規模相比，你們在美國開設實體店的最大潛力是多少？從長遠來看，我們是否應該考慮對現有模式進行任何調整，還是維持現狀？

Well, first of all, every year seems to occur that we think there becomes a few more locations than we thought were possible. Certainly in the last three fiscal years, in 2015 I think, we opened 21 in the US as an example, and 16 or 17 last year, and I think 17, I said this year.

首先，似乎每年我們都會發現實際的門市數量比我們預想的要多一些。例如，在過去的三個財政年度裡，2015年我們在美國開設了21家門市，去年是16或17家，今年也是17家。

If you asked me five or seven years ago, I'd guess we would be down to 10 to 12 a year. Clearly we've gone to several new markets, new for us, not new for the warehouse club industry, where we've done well. Some are smaller and take a little longer but we're doing just fine there.

如果五年前或七年前你問我，我估計我們每年只會新增10到12家門市。顯然，我們已經開拓了好幾個新市場——對我們來說是新的，但對倉儲式會員店行業來說並不陌生——而且我們在這些市場都做得很好。有些市場規模較小，開拓時間稍長一些，但我們在這些市場也發展得很好。

I think we'll continue to add -- the line will keep getting a little bit more towards that saturation, but a little slower than some might think. I mean, we don't know in terms of our basic 155,000-160,000 square foot format Costco warehouse in the United States, I think that it's a good guess to assume that it will be somewhere in the mid teens for the next 10 years, per year.

我認為我們會繼續擴張——產能會逐漸接近飽和，但速度會比某些人預想的要慢。我的意思是，就我們在美國常見的15.5萬到16萬平方英尺的Costco倉儲式超市而言，我們目前還無法確定具體情況，但我認為可以合理推測，未來十年，每年的新增門市數量將保持在十幾萬平方英尺左右。

I don't know, three years from now I might be wrong, but at this juncture we doing a little higher than that which is a surprise to me. Canada -- this year's an anomaly, opening 8 on a base of 91. But I can remember five or eight years ago, I don't remember how many we had, maybe 70.

我不知道，三年後我可能就錯了，但就目前而言，我們的成績略高於預期，這讓我很驚訝。加拿大－今年是個例外，開局8勝，而基數是91。但我記得五到八年前，我不記得我們有多少人，大概70人吧。

We felt one day the market potential for all of Canada could be 90. Now it's probably in the 110-120 range, but not 7 or 8 a year. This is unusual, but it's good for us. The opportunities present itself.

我們曾認為加拿大整體市場的潛在規模可能達到90。現在可能在110到120之間，但並非每年7到8個。這種情況雖然不尋常，但對我們來說是好事。機會就在眼前。

I don't see us necessarily any time soon doing a unit half the size. We tried that a while back, not to say we won't try something. We began this year with 14 business centers all in the US, we plan to end this year with 18, 1 of which is our first 1 in Canada. Could you have 40 or 50 in the US one day?

我不認為我們近期會開設規模只有一半的門市。我們之前嘗試過，但這並不意味著我們以後不會嘗試。今年年初我們在美國開設了14家商務中心，並計劃年底達到18家，其中一家是我們首次在加拿大開設的。你們未來有可能在美國開設40家或50家嗎？

We'll see. We had 8 for the first 10 or 20 years, for 10 or 15 years, before we opened a 9th a few years back. And so I don't know if the 18 or the 17 in the US, by fiscal year end will be 25 one day or 50 one day. But it's working and we'll see where it goes. And then the second and last thing --

我們拭目以待。在前10到20年，甚至10到15年裡，我們一直只有8家分店，直到幾年前才開了第9家。所以，我不知道到本財政年度結束時，美國的18家或17家分店會不會有一天變成25家，或是50家。但目前看來，這種模式行之有效，我們會看看它最終會發展成什麼樣子。還有第二點，也是最後一點──

Thank you. Best of luck.

謝謝。祝你好運。

Lastly, leg is international.

最後，該腿是國際的。

Thank you very much, Richard.

非常感謝你，理查德。

Your next question comes from the line of Scott Mushkin from Wolfe Research.

你的下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Scott Mushkin。

Hi. This is Ben Shim, in for Scott. Thanks for taking my question. Just a couple of questions. Can you give us an idea at this point what your expectations are for inflation? Are you inflating across some of your consumables categories, such as food and personal care products?

您好，我是Ben Shim，替Scott回答問題。感謝您回答我的問題。我還有幾個問題。您能否大致說明一下目前對通膨的預期？你們的某些消費品類別，例如食品和個人護理用品，價格是否會上漲？

The collective view is inflationary, or less deflationary, for the next few months and maybe a little inflationary, but it's a crap shoot.

普遍認為未來幾個月經濟將呈現通膨態勢，或通縮程度會降低，甚至可能略微通膨，但這很難說。

Okay.

好的。

It's based on SER buyers in different departments. There's nothing widespread at this juncture.

這是根據不同部門的SER買家數據得出的結論。目前還沒有普遍適用的情況。

Okay, going to your historical experience with respect to membership fee increases, has 10% been the norm over the last several increases as far as attrition goes?

好的，根據您以往的會員費上漲經驗，在過去幾次漲價中，會員流失率是否普遍在 10% 左右？

I'm sorry what was the 10% related to?

請問這10%是指什麼？

You mentioned something like a 90% renewal rate over the last membership fee increase and I'm just wondering --

您提到上次會員費上漲後續費率達到了90%左右，我只是想知道—

Our renewal rate over the last many years has tweaked up from the high 80%s to low 90%s in the US and Canada. And there was a period of time for two or three years, that let's say three years over 12 quarters, it seemed like every quarter, year over year was up another tenth for a lot of reasons.

過去幾年，我們在美國和加拿大的續保率從80%以上穩定上升到90%左右。而且，在兩三年的時間裡（比如說三年，也就是12個季度），似乎每季、每年的續保率都比去年同期成長了十分之一，原因有很多。

Executive Members, as we convert them, they renew at a higher rate. Needless to say on a co-branded credit card, there is the benefit of auto billing for those that opt into that. You'll get a little higher rate there and hopefully we keep doing things to make you want to renew more.

高級會員續費時，利率會更高。毋庸置疑，聯名信用卡用戶如果選擇自動扣款，就能享受更高的利率。我們會持續推出各種優惠活動，讓您更願意續約。

Okay. Relative to five years ago when you had your last fee increase, can you describe what the competitive environment was back then if you remember and how it might be different now? Does it give you pause or concern?

好的。與五年前您上次提價時相比，您能否描述一下當時的競爭環境（如果您還記得的話），以及現在的情況可能有哪些不同？這是否讓您感到猶豫或擔憂？

Absolutely no concern.

完全不用擔心。

Okay. Thank you very much.

好的，非常感謝。

Sure.

當然。

Your next question comes from Robby Ohmes from Banc of America Merrill Lynch.

下一個問題來自美國銀行美林證券的羅比·奧姆斯。

Hi, Richard, just quickly, was curious on an update of your business in China -- what you're seeing on TMOL and if you're any closer to maybe opening a store over there? Thanks.

嗨，理查德，我只是想快速了解你在中國的業務進展——你在TMOL上看到了什麼？你離在那邊開店的目標更近了嗎？謝謝。

We continue to -- I think there was an issue with taxes that negatively impacted not only us but anybody selling, importing into China. There's a 10% increase in taxes. Boy, maybe somebody else should do that. But there's a 10% increase in taxes and that impacted again, negatively some of the imports into there.

我覺得稅收問題確實存在，這不僅對我們，也對所有向中國銷售和進口商品的企業都產生了負面影響。稅收增加了10%。唉，或許應該由別人來做這件事。但稅收確實增加了10%，這再次對一些進口商品產生了負面影響。

It's still relatively small. It's good but relatively small. In terms of us opening in a location over there, you should expect something in the next couple years.

它目前規模還比較小。雖然不錯，但確實比較小。至於我們是否會在那邊開店，你們應該會在未來幾年看到一些消息。

Got it, thanks.

明白了，謝謝。

Your next question comes from Karen Short from Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的凱倫·肖特。

Hi, thanks for taking my question. I just want to go to the fee increase. I'm asking this because I'm wondering if you can give a little color on where your average ticket is with your Executive Members now, say versus 2012?

您好，感謝您回答我的問題。我只想談談費用上漲的問題。我這麼問是因為我想了解一下，您能否簡要說明一下，目前貴公司高級會員的平均票務費用與 2012 年相比如何？

Because when I calculate with the breakeven spending is off this new fee, and when I try to kind of back into how many trips per week your Executive Member needs to be making, you're almost up to once per week to break, for that member to breakeven. I may be wrong on the math on the average ticket, so just wondering if you could give a little color on that?

因為當我計算損益平衡點時，已經剔除了這項新費用，而且我嘗試反推貴公司高級會員每週需要出行多少次才能達到盈虧平衡，結果發現幾乎每週一次就夠了。我可能在平均單次消費的計算上出了錯，所以想請您詳細解釋一下？

We don't give out those numbers but directionally, I think one of your assumptions is, the average Executive Member spends a lot more per visit as well. And an Executive and a Business member.

我們不公佈具體數字，但從趨勢上看，我認為您的假設之一是，高級會員每次到店的平均消費也更高。高級會員和商務會員的消費也是如此。

And more relatively speaking, more of our Business Members or Executive Members, as a percent of total business members versus Goldstar, I'm guessing -- I don't have the numbers in front of me -- so all those things play. I want to also add a comment to a question a few questions ago about renewal rates, about how they've changed over time.

更相對地說，我們的企業會員或高級會員佔企業會員總數的比例，比Goldstar高得多——我手頭上沒有具體數據——所以所有這些因素都會影響會員數量。我還想補充一下之前關於續費率的問題，關於續費率隨時間的變化。

I have a simple summary sheet here that shows what our renewal rates were. I only have US and Canada combined, which is again more than 80% of our Company. At the end of 2005, it was 85.9%, at 2010 it was 87.7%, and at 2015 it was 90.6%, and at the end of 2016 it was 90.3%.

我這裡有一個簡單的總表，顯示了我們的續保率。我只統計了美國和加拿大的業務，這仍然占我們公司業務的80%以上。 2005年底的續保率為85.9%，2010年為87.7%，2015年為90.6%，2016年底為90.3%。

That little delta downward has to do, in our view, with the conversion to the new Citi Visa card and some of the changes with automatic auto billing had to be redone. So sequentially its continuing to go in that direction. Recognizing it can't go above a hundred -- and jokes aside it won't get that close, but we think that its been consistently improving at a level that's consistently good for us.

我們認為，這點小幅下降與新版花旗Visa卡的轉換以及自動扣款等一些變更需要重新調整有關。因此，整體而言，它仍在朝著這個方向發展。我們承認它不可能超過100——玩笑歸玩笑，它肯定不會接近這個數字——但我們認為它一直在穩步提升，這對我們來說一直都是好事。

Okay and then just on eCommerce, you know I'm wondering if you could maybe give a little color on eCommerce growth rate by categories? And obviously your growth rate overall trails some of the mass competitors, so wondering, A, did it come in kind of in line with where you expected for the holidays? Or what do you think you could continue to do to drive that strength?

好的，接下來是關於電商方面，我想請您簡單介紹一下各品類電商的成長率？顯然，你們的整體成長率落後於一些大型競爭對手，所以我想問，第一，這個成長率是否符合你們對假期季節的預期？或者，你們認為可以採取哪些措施來繼續保持成長勢頭？

I've shared I think a little bit of the kinds of things we're doing, from member experience, to faster delivery, to expanding items, and arguably, letting our members know that we have it. Again, it started off years ago as limited big ticket items, hard to carry, hard to deliver, hard to install items, and we've added to that. We feel again, fine with where we are.

我想我之前已經簡單介紹過我們正在做的一些事情，包括提升會員體驗、加快配送速度、拓展商品種類，以及讓會員了解我們有哪些產品。幾年前，我們最初只提供一些價格昂貴、難以搬運、配送和安裝的商品，後來我們不斷增加產品種類。我們對目前的狀況感到滿意。

Yes, there are bigger increases out there, but I would bet that the investment per dollar of increase is dwarfed everywhere else. I'm not trying to be cute about that because we are investing more in it, but doing it in an offensive rather than a defensive way. We still are a brick and mortar entity and we want to get you into the store because you're going to buy more in the warehouse.

沒錯，市面上確實有漲幅更大的，但我敢打賭，我們每增加一美元的投入遠超其他公司。我這麼說並非故弄玄虛，因為我們的確加大了投入，但我們採取的是主動出擊而非被動防守的方式。我們仍然是一家實體店，我們希望您能光顧我們的門市，因為您在倉庫購買的商品會更多。

You're going to buy more when that happens, and we've got a lot of reasons for you to do that. We also recognize we don't want to lose the sale to somebody else because they only buy online. I think, I feel you're going to see good things continue over the next few years.

到那時，您肯定會買更多，我們有很多理由讓您這樣做。我們也意識到，我們不想因為顧客只在網路上購物而把生意拱手讓給別人。我認為，未來幾年您會看到好兆頭持續下去。

It's a small, online is a small percentage of our Company, 4%, $4.5 billion or so. Still a $4.5 billion business growing in the low, well, 11% or 12% this past fiscal quarter, and the mid-teens over the last few years in general, and I'm betting that will go up some from that level, but we have to see.

線上業務在我們公司佔比很小，只有4%，也就是大約45億美元。儘管如此，這仍然是一項45億美元的業務，上個財季的成長率在11%到12%之間，過去幾年整體成長率也維持在15%左右。我預期成長率還會繼續上升，但具體情況還有待觀察。

Great, thanks.

太好了，謝謝。

Your next question comes from Sean Naughton from Piper Jaffrey.

下一個問題來自Piper Jaffrey公司的Sean Naughton。

Hi, good afternoon. Just wanted to go back to the merchandise margin, the core merchandise margin, up 7 basis points in the quarter, just on a rate basis?

您好，下午好。我想再確認一下商品毛利率，核心商品毛利率，本季僅以利率計算成長了7個基點，是嗎？

Just this has been going on for a couple years now, and is it really driven by mix or is it some of the fewer promotions you were kind of describing or better deals from your vendors -- just trying to understand how this line item has been a very consistent march higher and is that intentional by Costco?

這種情況已經持續好幾年了，這真的是商品組合帶來的，還是像您剛才提到的，促銷活動減少，或者供應商提供了更好的優惠？我只是想了解為什麼這個商品的價格一直持續上漲，這是 Costco 的有意之舉嗎？

It is intentional by us. My guess is that most of it's related to mix. I mean this quarter a little bit is related to the EDLP and MVM shift or whatever, but generally speaking, and certainly over the years, increasing penetration of gas.

這是我們有意為之。我猜大部分原因都與產品組合有關。我的意思是，本季的部分原因可能與EDLP和MVM的轉變或其他因素有關，但總的來說，尤其是多年來，天然氣滲透率的不斷提高是主要原因。

I mean you've got a total Company gross margin last year of approaching 12%. If roughly 10% of that's gas at, quarter over quarter. (multiple speakers) Oh, that's right. I think that's just the nature of the draw that quarter. Fresh foods tends to be a little higher margin, and I think it was down a little bit this quarter.

我的意思是，你們公司去年的總毛利率接近12%。如果其中大約10%是汽油的毛利率，則按季度計算。 （多人發言）哦，沒錯。我想這只是那個季度的銷售情況。生鮮食品的毛利率通常會更高一些，但我認為這個季度略有下降。

Some of that has to do with holding prices on some deflationary items. A couple months ago, there was a bad berry crop. Literally, these are the kind of things that will impact us when we are such a big player in this stuff. I don't think any big difference here.

部分原因在於我們維持了一些通貨緊縮商品的價格。幾個月前，漿果歉收。說真的，當我們在這個領域扮演如此重要的角色時，這些事情確實會對我們產生影響。我認為這裡的情況不會有太大不同。

Because it seems to me, and I'd have to look at the model again, this has been a number that's been very consistently going up between 5 to 15 basis points almost every quarter for the last probably 10 quarters? But maybe just mix related?

因為在我看來（我得再看看模型），這個數字在過去大概10個季度裡幾乎每季都穩定上升了5到15個基點？但也許只是產品組合的問題？

Well no, quarter on quarter is not mix related. It's quarter on quarter.

不，季度業績與混合無關。就是季度業績本身。

I'm just saying like it was in the core. Yes.

我只是說，就像它在核心內容裡一樣。是的。

Okay, I'm sorry I misunderstood part of the question. I think part of that is some of the aspects of the components of that. Some of the higher margin categories would be some of the non-food categories like apparel.

好的，抱歉我誤解了部分問題。我認為部分原因在於構成要素的某些面向。一些利潤率較高的類別可能是非食品類別，例如服裝。

For those who have known us for awhile, the last three years we've enjoyed probably an annual compound growth rate in our apparel sales in certainly the high singles, maybe 10%. So that's a category that's a higher margin to start with. I think we've done a little better job in some of the other areas of non foods, but apparel is the one that stands out in my mind as a big example.

對於一直關注我們的人來說，過去三年我們的服裝銷售額年複合成長率可能達到了10%左右。服裝本身就是一個利潤率較高的品類。我認為我們在其他一些非食品領域也做得不錯，但服裝無疑是我印象最深刻的典型例子。

Fresh foods overall has a higher margin and even though it fluctuates up and down quarter over quarter of it's own accord, if you will, it's a higher average margin department and penetration overall.

生鮮食品整體利潤率較高，雖然其利潤率會隨著季度波動而波動，但整體而言，生鮮食品部門的平均利潤率和滲透率都較高。

Okay got it. And then just on new sign ups and renewal rates, I know Millennials are becoming a bigger piece of the store, and I think Craig mentioned something like 44% of new sign ups are actually Millennials now? Can you talk about how the Millennials are doing in terms of their renewal rates, just overall?

好的，明白了。關於新用戶註冊和續訂率，我知道千禧世代在我們商店的佔比越來越大，我記得克雷格說過，現在新用戶註冊中大約有44%是千禧世代？您能談談千禧世代的續訂率整體情況嗎？

And then I guess as an add-on there, is any color on the renewal rates for some of the promos you've experienced or experimented with over the last couple of years on Living Social, or in social media, how the renewal rates from those programs have gone?

另外，我想補充一點，您能否透露一下過去幾年您在 Living Social 或其他社交媒體平台上體驗或嘗試過的一些促銷活動的續訂率情況？這些活動的續訂率如何？

Yes, I can't tell you how, like the age-group called Millennials today and how they renew and spend versus 5 years ago -- whatever they were called, or 10 years ago in Gen Y or Z whatever it was back then. We didn't look at that kind of data back then. We have for the last couple of years, so ask me in three years and I'll have good information for you on that.

是的，我無法告訴你具體情況，例如現在被稱為千禧世代的這個年齡段，他們的續訂和消費習慣與五年前（不管他們當時叫什麼）或者十年前（不管當時叫什麼）的Y世代或Z世代相比有何不同。我們當時並沒有研究過這類數據。不過過去幾年我們一直在研究，所以三年後再問我吧，到時候我會給你更準確的資訊。

What we see though, in terms of that age-group now called Millennials, it's not that different relative to the other age-groups today than it was two or three, four years ago, when they signed up. What we see is -- we only have two good data points on the two Living Social things we did about two and a half years ago, and a little over a year ago.

不過，就現在被稱為千禧世代的這個年齡層而言，我們發現，他們與兩三年前、四年前註冊時相比，與其他年齡層相比並沒有太大變化。我們看到的是——我們只有大約兩年半前和一年多前兩次Living Social活動的有效數據點。

We compared them to everybody else that signed up that month by just walking in or going online to sign up. What we found is due to Living Social, and I could be off a few percentage points here, on Living Social, it was about in the mid 40% range of those that signed up on the Living Social promotional effort that were Millennials.

我們將他們與當月所有直接到店註冊或線上註冊的用戶進行了比較。我們發現，這主要歸功於 Living Social 的推廣活動（我可能記錯了幾個百分點），在透過 Living Social 推廣活動註冊的用戶中，千禧世代的比例大約在 40% 左右。

And that compared to the walk-ins that was in the mid 30%, maybe 9 or 10 percentage points difference. What we saw in terms of how much they spend over the course of the year, the Living Social -- or the Millennials spent a little less each time and actually shopped a little more frequently. Which is counterintuitive to me.

相較之下，直接到店的顧客佔比大約在30%左右，可能相差9到10個百分點。我們發現，就全年消費總額而言，Living Social的顧客——或者說千禧世代——每次消費金額略低，但購物頻率卻更高。這讓我覺得有點反直覺。

And in terms of renewal, they renewed about a percentage point or two higher than the walk-ins in that first year that they had to renew. Again a little counterintuitive to me. Maybe it is not statistically meaningful because again, this is its first year, it's one or two percentage points. But at least it gave me comfort personally, that we're not losing them and they are coming in.

續約方面，他們的續約費率比第一年需要續約的直接入住客戶高出約一兩個百分點。這對我來說有點反直覺。也許這在統計學上意義不大，畢竟這是第一年，也就一兩個百分點而已。但至少這讓我個人感到欣慰，說明我們沒有流失客戶，而且他們還在不斷加入。

What we've also seen, and what we believe, when I look at the curve of who spends the most at Costco, it's the -- they start spending -- the peak is, if I separate people from 25 to 80 years old in 11 age-groups, the peak is the fifth and sixth age-groups, which are 45-49 and 50-54, and a nice increase going from 35-39 up to 40 and 44 before that. Well, that makes sense.

我們也觀察到，並且我們認為，當我觀察Costco消費最高人群的曲線時，消費高峰出現在——如果我將25歲到80歲的人群分成11個年齡組，那麼高峰出現在第五和第六個年齡組，即45-49歲和50-54歲，而且從35-39歲到40歲和44歲之間也出現了明顯的增長。嗯，這很合理。

Maybe they are getting married, maybe having kids, maybe getting married later having one less kid, who knows. But once they do that, then they start making more money, they spend more. They have more mouths to feed and they are making more so it's again, this is looking at a chart, not doing a lot of statistically significant analysis.

也許他們要結婚了，也許他們要生孩子了，也許他們晚點結婚，少生一個孩子，誰知道呢。但一旦他們有了這些，收入就會增加，開銷也會增加。他們需要養活更多的人，收入也更高了，所以，這只是在看圖表，並沒有進行很多具有統計意義的分析。

That's helpful. Last quick question for me. When should we expect the golf ball back in stock?

很有幫助。最後一個問題，高爾夫球什麼時候能再到貨？

The golf ball back in stock? Stay tuned, when we have it, if and when we have it back, we'll let you know.

高爾夫球到貨了嗎？請關注，一旦到貨，我們會立即通知您。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from the line of Chuck Cerankosky from Northcoast Research.

你的下一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Chuck Cerankosky。

Good afternoon, got a question because what you said about the MVM is counterintuitive. You're very focused, Richard, always on growing frequency of visit, and it sounds like by reducing the days there is the opposite? How do you communicate the other factors you don't advertise to the member about road shows and new excitement or lower prices on certain key items you're trying to feature?

下午好，我有個問題，因為您之前關於會員訪問量（MVM）的說法有點反直覺。理查德，您一直非常注重提高會員的訪問頻率，但聽起來減少訪問天數似乎適得其反？您是如何向會員傳達其他一些您沒有公開宣傳的訊息的呢？例如巡迴展、新品上市或某些重點商品的降價促銷等等？

First of all, how we do it, it's the Costco Connection, or magazine. E-mail and in-store sites but I've got to tell you we started this during the, Heard First, if you will. This goes back over a year ago when you start talking to vendors and our key merchandise partners and figure out what we can do and how we're going to do it.

首先，我們是透過 Costco Connection 雜誌、電子郵件和店內網站來進行這項工作的。但我必須告訴你們，我們早在「第一手消息」階段就開始了這項工作。這可以追溯到一年多以前，當時我們開始與供應商和主要商品合作夥伴進行溝通，探討我們可以做些什麼以及如何做。

It wasn't like we need to get every reduced day filled with something else. Giving a little breathing room to the warehouses has been a big positive from our operator standpoint, and again, we'll see how that goes. I don't think it was a big surprise. We knew we would get impacted on the traffic side.

我們並不需要把每個減少的營業日都用來做其他事情。從營運角度來看，為倉庫留出一些喘息空間是件好事，當然，我們也要看看效果如何。我覺得這並不令人意外。我們知道交通方面會受到影響。

And we know -- one of the comments I mentioned, and one of the comments some of you guys have mentioned or heard through others, is there have been a few extra days added to the starting point. Well, that's correct. If we look back out in the next three or six or nine months, the big extreme transition was this quarter, and in particular February.

我們知道──我之前提到的一個評論，也是你們有些人提到或從別人那裡聽到的──就是起始點增加了幾天時間。沒錯。如果我們回顧未來三、六、九個月，就會發現最大的劇烈轉變發生在本季度，尤其是二月。

You won't see that in Q3 as the same number of days. We'll stay more fluid in the next two to three quarters. And then it's just anniversarying stuff.

第三季不會出現同樣多的天數。未來兩到三個季度我們會更有彈性地調整。之後就只剩下一些週年紀念活動了。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from the line of Kelly Bania with BMO Capital Markets.

您的下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Kelly Bania。

Hi, thanks for fitting me in. Just wanted to ask about the decision to raise the dollar impact for the 2% reward? I was just curious if you tested that, that increase to a thousand? Or if you have any thoughts on what kind of impact you think that could have on traffic or ticket from that Executive Member?

您好，感謝您抽空。我想問一下提高2%獎勵金額的決定？我只是好奇您是否測試過提高到1000美元這個數字？或者您是否考慮過，這會對流量或高級會員的開票量產生什麼影響？

And then also, I guess associated with that, how we think about just the impact to gross margin as that flows through over the next several years? Thank you.

此外，我想也與此相關，我們該如何看待未來幾年內對毛利率的影響？謝謝。

Well first of all, there's a lot of Executive Members. In theory, even assuming the new fee structure of $60 and $120, that $60 means you've got to spend what, $3,000 more a year to be breakeven on it on eligible purchases. That's not a big hurdle, but there's plenty of Executive Members that don't get near the $750.

首先，高級會員人數眾多。理論上，即使假設新的會費結構為 60 美元和 120 美元，那 60 美元也意味著你每年需要額外消費 3000 美元才能在符合條件的商品和服務上收回成本。這雖然不算什麼大問題，但很多高級會員的消費額都達不到 750 美元。

So there's some that won't be impacted at all and others, a nice impact. How we came to $750 to $1,000 is not unlike how we decided to do $5 and $10 each five or six years and how we went from $500 to $750 last time. I think again you'll see other things that will add to the benefit, we continue to have added things to the Executive benefit. Our family bought a Yukon Denali a couple years ago.

所以有些人完全不受影響，而有些人則會受到不錯的影響。我們最終確定750美元到1000美元的方案，與我們之前決定每五六年增加5美元和10美元，以及上次從500美元增加到750美元的方案類似。我認為你也會看到其他一些增加福利的因素，我們一直在為高階主管福利增加新的項目。幾年前，我們家買了一輛育空Denali。

If you were a regular member, on top of getting incredible pricing on the car, a regular primary member we got a $200 or $300 cash card, and Executive Member got a $600 or $700 cash card. Needless to say, that incentives people to become an Executive Member.

如果您是普通會員，除了能享受超值購車價格外，普通主會員還能獲得一張價值 200 或 300 美元的現金卡；而高級會員則能獲得一張價值 600 或 700 美元的現金卡。毋庸置疑，這激勵著人們成為高級會員。

Once they are, they look at other rewards and there's plenty of things out there we'll continue to add to that. How it impacts margin -- the extra $250 is relatively small, very small, relative to the 35 million people paying $5 and $10 each. Mind you, some of those are Canadian dollars, that's lower relative to the US dollar but nonetheless a very small piece of it.

一旦他們達到目標，他們就會考慮其他獎勵，而我們還有很多獎勵項目會繼續增加。至於這對利潤率的影響——額外的 250 美元相對來說很小，非常小，相對於每人支付 5 美元和 10 美元的 3500 萬人而言。請注意，其中一些是加元，加元相對於美元匯率較低，但即便如此，也只佔很小一部分。

Your next question comes from the line of Peter Benedict with Robert W. Baird.

你的下一個問題來自彼得·本尼迪克特和​​羅伯特·W·貝爾德的系列文章。

Richard, quickly, when you pay down the debt later this month, your leverage ratios drops pretty dramatically, just what are your latest thoughts around leverage? And if you care to comment on the circus in Washington and what's going on there, is that impacting your decision on when you might do something around leverage? Thank you.

理查德，請盡快回覆。本月稍後你還清債務後，你的槓桿率會大幅下降，你最近對槓桿有什麼看法？另外，如果你願意的話，能否談談華盛頓的亂像以及那裡正在發生的事情，這是否會影響你何時調整槓桿策略的決定？謝謝。

Clearly, as it relates to all of the proposed tax things, one of which is the ability to not write-off interest expense, that is not one of the ones we're worried about. We don't have a lot of interest expense. As it relates to our balance sheet leverage, we like to think of ourselves as well capitalized, not over capitalized.

顯然，就所有擬議的稅收措施而言，包括不允許抵扣利息支出，我們並不擔心。我們的利息支出並不高。至於資產負債表槓桿率，我們認為自身資本充足，而非資本過剩。

We're cognizant of it and I'm again, not trying to be cute. We look at all of the components of it -- regular dividend growth, special dividend stuff, stock buybacks, first and foremost ramping up expansion. We're cognizant of it, but again we aren't going to just do something because this is March 15, and we got to do something.

我們很清楚這一點，我再次強調，我不是故弄玄虛。我們會考慮所有因素——常規股息成長、特別股息、股票回購，以及最重要的擴張步伐。我們很清楚這一點，但我們不會因為今天是3月15日就貿然採取行動，好像我們必須做點什麼似的。

Again, stay tuned we'll -- our Board meeting meets regularly every quarter, and we just had a Board meeting a few weeks ago and didn't do anything different. We're constantly asking questions about, are you going to increase the regular dividend, do another special. Stay tuned.

再次提醒大家，請繼續關注——我們的董事會每季定期召開，幾週前我們剛開過一次，會議內容與以往並無不同。我們一直在詢問是否會提高常規股息，或者是否會推出其他特別派息。敬請期待。

We look at it every quarter and we decide what we want to do. But at this juncture, we basically use cash to pay off that debt, and I'm happy it's the most expensive piece of debt that we have.

我們每季都會審視這筆債務，並決定下一步的行動。但就目前而言，我們基本上是用現金償還這筆債務，我很慶幸這是我們所有債務中最昂貴的一筆。

Sounds good, thanks, Richard.

好的，謝謝你，理查。

Your next question comes from the line of Edward Kelly with Credit Suisse.

你的下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的愛德華凱利。

Hi, thanks for taking my question. Richard, looking at gross profit dollar growth and there's been a lot of talk about margins but gross profit dollar growth this quarter slowed relative to where you were last quarter? Is that primarily fuel?

您好，感謝您回答我的問題。理查德，我一直在關注毛利成長，雖然最近大家都在討論利潤率，但本季的毛利成長相對於上季有所放緩，這主要是燃油成本增加造成的嗎？

Asking another way, did you make less in profit per gallon in fuel this year than -- or less in gross profit dollars in fuel this year than what you did last year?

換句話說，你今年每加侖燃油的利潤是否比去年少？或者說，你今年燃油的總利潤是否比去年少？

I'm guessing we did, because when prices go up, we make less per gallon, period. And I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but let's face it, what was it, $0.06 a share of 42 million pretax in the quarter year over year. That ain't all gallons. It's mostly profit per gallon. The vast majority is profit per gallon.

我猜確實如此，因為油價上漲，我們每加侖的利潤就會下降，這是必然的。我手頭上沒有確切的數字，但說實話，年比來看，每股4,200萬美元的稅前利潤，每股只下降了0.06美元。這不是全部的加侖數，大部分是每加侖的利潤。絕大部分都是每加侖的利潤。

Okay, so as we think about -- obviously the Street wasn't really modeling the quarter the way that it came out. And it's not as much about the gross margin, but it seems like it may be around this fuel side, with a bit of price investment on top of that? Is that fair? And my question to you beyond that as we look out into Q3 as long as fuel prices are stable, does this headwind go away a bit?

好的，讓我們來思考一下——顯然，華爾街對本季的預測與最終公佈的結果並不相符。這不只是毛利率的問題，似乎問題可能出在燃油價格方面，再加上一些價格的投資？這樣理解對嗎？我的問題是，展望第三季度，只要燃油價格保持穩定，這種不利因素是否會有所緩解？

Bob, what did we do last year in Q3 on gas, was it still big? I think it won't be, all things being equal, in terms of the comparison year over year Q1 and Q2 profitability in gas a year ago was outsized big. We were profitable in Q1 through this year but again, comparison was a huge difference.

鮑勃，去年第三季我們在天然氣業務上的表現如何？業績依然強勁嗎？我認為不會像去年同期那麼強勁。如果其他條件相同，去年第一季和第二季的天然氣業務獲利能力遠超去年同期。今年第一季到第三季我們都實現了獲利，但同樣，基數效應非常顯著。

Some of that outsized big became less outsized big in Q3. It was less in Q3, but we don't know what Q3 this year brings. My guess is it certainly won't -- well there's no certainty to anything in life -- but my guess is it will be a little less negative all things being equal. And the other?

第三季度，一些原本過大的負面影響有所減弱。雖然第三季有所減少，但我們無法預知今年第三季的情況。我的猜測是肯定不會——畢竟人生無常——但如果一切照舊，情況應該會略有改善。至於其他方面呢？

Thank you.

謝謝。

Your next question comes from the line of Greg Melich with Evercore ISI.

你的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Greg Melich。

Hi, thanks, I have a quick follow-up to that and another question. If you're thinking about penny profit, Richard, are we back in gasoline to where we were a few years ago? Or could there still be room to go down there? And then my other questions were on deflation. I think you mentioned in February it was about 50 Bps less than in the second quarter?

您好，謝謝。我還有一個後續問題。理查德，如果您指的是每加侖汽油幾美分的利潤，汽油價格是否已經回到幾年前的水平了？或者說，汽油價格還有下跌的空間嗎？另外，我的問題是關於通貨緊縮的。我記得您提到過，二月的通貨緊縮比第二季低了大約50個基點？

I'd love to know what drove that. And maybe a longer term question, if you just look at membership growth numbers, we had been running close to 7% and it's decelerated to about 5.5% the last few quarters. Could you help us understand why that is, and if it's just timing of clubs or what's at work there? Thanks.

我很想知道是什麼原因導致的。另外，從長遠來看，如果只看會員成長率，我們之前的成長率接近7%，但最近幾季已經放緩到5.5%左右。您能否幫我們分析一下原因，這僅僅是俱樂部開幕時間的問題，還是其他因素？謝謝。

Greg, I hope you wrote down the numbers because a few people were whispering to me as you were talking -- what was the first question?

格雷格，我希望你把數字記下來了，因為在你說話的時候，有幾個人在小聲問我──第一個問題是什麼？

First question was a follow-up on the gas profit, so basically are we --

第一個問題是關於天然氣利潤的後續問題，所以基本上我們是——

Yes, we've had about, I don't know if it's a year and a half or two years of outsized gas profits. Is it back to where it was before -- two years of outsized gas profits. I believe so, I don't know if it's a little worse or better than the two and a half years ago, but certainly these last two years have been fun.

是的，我們經歷了大約一年半還是兩年的巨額汽油利潤。現在的情況是否又回到了之前的水平——連續兩年巨額汽油利潤？我認為是的，我不知道現在的情況是比兩年半前略好還是略差，但可以肯定的是，過去的兩年確實很精彩。

Got it. And then the other questions were deflation in February looked like it was not quite as bad, it was 50 Bps less deflation than in the second quarter?

明白了。然後其他問題是關於2月份的通貨緊縮情況似乎沒有那麼糟糕，比第二季少了50個基點？

Yes, that's year-over-year, so part of that is just when the relative timing of inflation was a year earlier in those respective quarters and probably a little of it is some lower pricing on some stuff. I use the water example.

是的，這是同比數據，所以一部分原因是當年同期通膨相對提前了一年，另一部分可能是某些商品價格較低。我以水為例。

See, that item is a $300 million item and we did more sales. Bob is mentioning in terms of deflation, it was a little better in the quarter in Q2 versus Q1, but February was more deflationary than the whole quarter, relatively speaking, than the whole Q2 overall.

你看，那件商品價值3億美元，而我們的銷售量卻更高。鮑伯提到通貨緊縮，第二季的情況比第一季略好，但相對而言，二月的通貨緊縮程度比整個第二季都要嚴重。

Okay.

好的。

But I think again some of that has to do with pricing on our side. It's not just what the economists are telling us.

但我認為這其中一部分原因與我們自己的定價有關，而不僅僅是經濟學家告訴我們的。

Lastly on the membership growth, I know it can move around quarter to quarter but if you look a few years ago, it seemed to run 7%-ish, give or take? And now it's more like 5.5% the last couple quarters, is that because we have more in fills, or how should we think about less membership growth, the same sort of club openings?

最後說說會員成長率，我知道每季都會有波動，但幾年前的成長率似乎在7%左右，上下浮動吧？而最近幾季的成長率只有5.5%左右，這是因為新會員進駐的俱樂部更多了嗎？還是說，在俱樂部新開數量不變的情況下，會員成長率下降了呢？

Some of it's related to the cannibalization I mentioned earlier. When you open eight units in Canada this year, there aren't a lot of new markets. We have openings, we've had openings in the US where in a small new market -- well, Tulsa was my extreme example, where through opening day we had 20,000 plus sign-ups.

部分原因與我之前提到的市場蠶食有關。今年我們在加拿大開設了八家分店，但新市場不多。我們在美國也有一些新店開業，例如在一些小型新市場——塔爾薩就是一個極端的例子，開業當天我們就獲得了超過兩萬份的預訂。

I remember in Tennessee in a new market we had 10,000 or 12,000, which is great. We could open a new unit in LA and have 3,000 sign ups and it's an awesome location because it's existing members shopping a lot more frequently because it's a lot closer unit to the members. They have always been members.

我記得在田納西州，我們開拓新市場時就有1萬到1.2萬名會員，這很棒。我們在洛杉磯新開店，就能吸引3000名會員註冊，而且地理位置絕佳，因為新店離家更近，所以現有會員光顧的頻率更高。他們一直都是我們的會員。

The other thing that will affect that is international openings, particularly in Asia where we could have, during those 8 or 10 weeks, up through opening day where we do tabling activities, we've had openings of 20,000 to 50,000 -- 20,000 to 40,000 sign ups in those several weeks. So having a few of those change, and I don't know if that helps or hurts us, those are the things that are generally impacted.

另一個會影響到國際市場的因素是，尤其是在亞洲，在開業前的8到10周里，我們會進行各種宣傳活動，通常幾週內就能獲得2萬到5萬——甚至2萬到4萬的註冊量。所以，如果這些因素有所變化，我不知道這對我們是有利還是有害，但這些因素通常會受到影響。

Overall we feel we're still adding members. Some of the new markets we've gone into, Tulsa again was an extreme one, but we tend to do well in those.

總體而言，我們感覺會員數量仍在持續增長。我們進入的一些新市場，例如塔爾薩，情況比較特殊，但我們通常在這些市場表現良好。

Okay, great, thanks.

好的，太好了，謝謝。

Your next question comes from the line of Molly Smith with Bloomberg.

你的下一個問題來自彭博社的莫莉史密斯。

Hi yes, Molly Smith here from Bloomberg News, thanks for taking my question. Richard, I wanted to ask you about the prospect of the border adjustment tax and given that your cost of goods sold, about half of that comes from imports -- so what have your thoughts been as these discussions continue?

您好，我是彭博新聞的莫莉史密斯，感謝您回答我的問題。理查德，我想問您關於邊境調節稅的前景，鑑於您的商品銷售成本中大約有一半來自進口——隨著相關討論的持續進行，您對此有何看法？

Have you tried to lobby with any of these other retailers against the tax? And as well as other changes potentially coming out of the new administration with healthcare, how that may impact your business as well, if at all?

您是否嘗試過遊說其他零售商反對這項稅收？此外，新政府可能推出的醫療保健等其他政策變化，會對您的業務產生哪些影響（如果有的話）？

Sure. Before I answer that, just one final comment in response to Greg's question about the increased growth in new members -- or actually, not members, not new members, but revenue. A little of that probably was negatively impacted by the auto billing comment I made about the credit card transition. A little bit, I don't know how much but that's probably a little bit of that offset too.

當然。在我回答這個問題之前，我想先就格雷格關於新會員成長（或更確切地說，不是會員數量，也不是新會員數量，而是收入成長）的問題做最後補充一點。我之前提到的信用卡過渡期間的自動扣款問題可能對收入成長產生了一些負面影響。具體影響程度我不太清楚，但可能也抵銷了一部分。

As it relates to the border adjustment tax, there's clearly people out there that want it and manufacturers that export a bunch of stuff and don't import a lot of stuff and at the very other extreme retailers. Recognizing border adjustment tax is just one element of one version of the tax reform plan that's been put forward out there.

關於邊境調節稅，顯然有人支持這項稅收，例如出口量大但進口量小的製造商，以及截然相反的零售商。需要指出的是，邊境調節稅只是目前提出的稅制改革方案中的一個組成部分。

The probability of what's going to happen and when it's going to happen and how much of it's going to happen, we don't know. We don't believe it's good for consumers -- it's going to raise prices and ultimately, I read articles where some retailers, particularly apparel retailers, were 90%-plus of their merchandise is sourced overseas, well a 20% tax is a 20% tax.

我們不知道會發生什麼，何時發生，以及會發生多大程度。我們認為這對消費者不利——這將推高物價，而且最終，我讀到一些文章，指出一些零售商，特別是服裝零售商，其90%以上的商品都來自海外，那麼20%的稅就是20%的稅。

While retailers generally tend to be full corporate taxpayers, us in the mid 30%s in the US probably a little higher than that, the total Company effective rate. It's going to hit it and so to go through, we personally don't buy into the fact that it will be offset by a big rising dollar. We don't know what's going to happen with the retaliation out there by other countries, and we'll see.

雖然零售商通常需要繳納全額企業所得稅，但我們在美國的實際稅率可能在30%左右，甚至更高。這肯定會對我們造成影響，所以我們個人並不認為美元大幅升值能夠抵銷這種影響。我們不知道其他國家會採取什麼報復措施，讓我們拭目以待。

But as a retailer, we definitely think that it's bad, and we're against it. We, in terms of lobbying, we aren't big on lobbying. We're doing a little bit of that area, certainly RYLA, Retail Industry Association, is very involved in it.

但身為零售商，我們絕對認為這不好，我們反對這種做法。就遊說而言，我們並不熱衷於此。當然，我們也做一些相關工作，零售業協會（RYLA）在這方面非常積極。

There's an offshoot organization forum which RYLA is a big part of, and we become part of -- the Americans for Affordable Products. We joined that along with many, hundreds of retailers including some very large retailers. And through those lobbying efforts, we certainly support what they are saying and hopefully, those out there that will make these decisions are listening.

RYLA 參與的一個附屬組織論壇是「美國平價產品協會」（Americans for Affordable Products），我們也是其中一員。我們與數百家零售商，包括一些大型零售商，共同加入了該協會。透過這些遊說活動，我們當然支持他們的訴求，也希望那些決策者能夠傾聽我們的聲音。

We've spent our whole lives driving down prices, and recognizing also that so many items -- it's not a question of, let's buy them here instead of outside of the US. They don't exist here and that's not going to happen overnight. So it will be a tax, ultimately in our view, and prices will ultimately have to rise.

我們畢生致力於降低物價，同時也意識到，很多商品——這並非是「讓我們在美國本土購買而不是從國外購買」的問題——它們在美國根本不存在，而且這種情況也不會在一夜之間改變。因此，在我們看來，這最終會演變成一種稅收，物價最終必然會上漲。

Thanks so much, and anything on the Affordable Care Act either, or no?

非常感謝！另外，關於《平價醫療法案》，您有什麼想說的嗎？

I'm sorry?

對不起？

Anything else on prospects of change to ACA, if that impacts your healthcare at all?

關於《平價醫療法案》（ACA）未來可能的變化，還有其他需要注意的地方嗎？這些變化會對您的醫療保健產生任何影響嗎？

It really doesn't. We have a very good quality, rich, Medical/Dental/Vision and Other plan where our employees only pay about 10% of the total cost. It's one of the things that sometimes impacts our P&L a little bit but something that we're very proud of, and so we really don't have a lot to say about that.

確實如此。我們提供非常優質、全面的醫療/牙科/視力及其他福利計劃，員工只需支付總費用的10%左右。這有時會對我們的損益表產生一些影響，但我們對此感到非常自豪，所以對此我們沒什麼好說的。

Thanks so much.

非常感謝。

Your next question comes from the line of Joe Feldman with (inaudible).

你的下一個問題來自喬·費爾德曼的一句話（聽不清楚）。

Hi, guys. Sorry to prolong the call, but just wanted to ask, could you share any thoughts on the service element of your offering? I'm thinking about like travel, and maybe like payroll tax, or doing different things, auto sales, and maybe how data mining could play into that?

嗨，各位。不好意思耽擱了這麼久，但我只是想問，你們能否分享一下對貴公司服務方面的想法？我想到的是旅遊服務，或許還有薪資稅代繳之類的，或是其他一些業務，像是汽車銷售，以及資料探勘如何能應用在這些業務上？

Well all those services, we tried to not talk about them a lot because we've got a lot of good things going on. They are profitable, they are growing, so many of you have heard me talk to you about, challenge you to go next time you rent a car, go to www.Costco.com and no matter how smart you think you are, and you'll see what a great value it is.

嗯，我們盡量少談這些服務，因為我們有很多好事正在進行。它們獲利豐厚，而且發展迅速，很多人都聽我提起過。下次租車的時候，不妨去www.Costco.com看看，不管你覺得自己有多聰明，你都會發現它物超所值。

We're doing better in getting that word out and you'll see additional services. As it relates to data mining, we're starting to take some baby steps in that area, but again our first and foremost is -- we're pretty good at getting on the phone and calling third party people that we think can be a good partner to us.

我們在宣傳推廣方面做得越來越好，您會看到更多服務推出。在資料探勘方面，我們正開始邁出一些初步的步伐，但我們最重要的仍然是——我們非常擅長打電話聯繫那些我們認為可以成為我們良好合作夥伴的第三方。

And we continue to look at other things, but those are all things that will continue to drive our business in a positive way, but I don't want to suggest we're hiring somebody to do big data mining at this point. We're doing more data analytics that we've ever done and there's plenty of low hanging fruit to start.

我們仍在關注其他方面，這些方面都將繼續以積極的方式推動我們的業務發展，但我並不想暗示我們目前會聘請專人從事大數據挖掘。我們正在進行比以往任何時候都多的數據分析工作，而且有很多唾手可得的切入點。

Thanks, and one other question. Just on IT expenses, I know its been a drag much of this year and presumably it never goes away given where we are headed with technology in general -- but is that the right -- should it annualize at some point and level off? Or should we think about incremental expense going forward?

謝謝，還有一個問題。關於IT支出，我知道今年大部分時間它都佔據了很大一部分，而且鑑於科技發展的整體趨勢，這種情況可能永遠不會消失——但我的想法對嗎？ IT支出是否應該在某個時候趨於穩定並達到年度水準？或者我們應該考慮未來支出的增量？

You know, about three and a half years ago when we embarked on this dark journey, recognizing we probably had the lowest cost IT out there. And I always joke we were in the greatest MASH unit. It was always up and running, but band-aided to death, and we made a big investment.

你知道，大約三年半前，我們踏上了這段艱難的旅程，當時我們意識到，我們的IT系統可能是市面上成本最低的。我總是開玩笑說，我們就像身處在一個規模最大的戰地醫療隊。雖然系統一直運轉，但漏洞百出，勉強維持運轉，而我們卻為此投入了巨資。

We also during the process found out what we don't know, and what we need to do and again it's gone up. I think best guess four years ago was incrementally, it might cost in the low double digit basis points to SG&A. Mind you, every year, the denominator of that calculation, sales, keeps going up so it's rising.

在這個過程中，我們也發現了自身的不足，以及需要改進的地方，而這些都導致​​了成本上升。四年前的最佳估計是，這部分成本可能會以兩位數的基點增量增加到銷售、管理及行政費用。但要注意的是，每年計算的分母——銷售額——都在成長，所以成本也在上升。

It's I think historically today it's probably in the mid- to high teens. It has gotten a little more outsized this year because some of the big programs have now been installed. Notably, the beginning of this first fiscal year as an example, our major accounting platform, which is the crux of a lot of things, we'll do [on the go], that was $150 million that will then be amortized over seven years. We'll keep it longer than that but that's what we amortize over, so that's added to that thing. I think you'll still have incremental costs and the definition of modernization will evolve also, and we keep adding new things to it, rewriting the pharmacy system.

我認為，從歷史數據來看，目前這個數字大概在十幾到十幾之間。今年的數字略微偏高，因為一些大型項目已經上線。例如，在本財年伊始，我們主要的會計平台——許多工作的核心——的建設就耗資1.5億美元，這筆費用將在七年內攤提。我們實際使用時間會更長，但攤銷期限就是七年，所以這部分費用也算進去了。我認為未來還會有增加成本，現代化的定義也會不斷演變，我們會持續添加新的內容，例如重寫藥局系統。

There's additional things that we'll do, so I think it's going to be less painful going forward. This year is a double whammy, because you also have some things that impact sales downward. So that denominator hasn't grown as fast in that regard.

我們也會採取一些其他措施，所以我認為未來情況會好轉一些。今年真是雪上加霜，因為還有一些因素會影響銷售。因此，這方面的分母成長速度並不快。

I think it's still going to be a drag for a few years. Much less of a drag than it has been.

我認為未來幾年仍然會有些不順，但肯定比以前好得多。

Got it, thanks and good luck.

明白了，謝謝，祝你好運。

Why don't we take two more questions. I think this is our longest call ever, and we're all, David, and Bob, and I are here to answer them outside of this conference.

我們再回答兩個問題吧。我想這是我們有史以來最長的一次電話會議了，我和大衛、鮑伯都會在會後回答這些問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作說明）

There are no questions in queue.

目前沒有問題在排隊。

Well thank you very much, have a good afternoon.

非常感謝，祝您下午愉快。

This concludes today's conference call, you may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束，您可以斷開連線了。