好市多 (COST) 2021 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to Q2 Earnings Call and February Sales Conference.

女士們、先生們，感謝各位的耐心等待，歡迎參加第二季財報電話會議暨二月銷售會議。

I would now like to hand the call over to your speaker today, Mr. Richard Galanti. You may begin your conference.

現在我把電話交給今天的發言人理查‧加蘭蒂先生。您可以開始會議了。

Thank you, Buena, and good afternoon to everyone.

謝謝你，布埃納，大家下午好。

I will 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 actual events, results and/or performance 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 and reports filed with the SEC. Forward-looking statements speak only as of the date they are made, and the company does 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和提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的報告中披露的其他風險。前瞻性陳述僅代表其發布之日的觀點，除法律要求外，本公司不承擔更新這些陳述的義務。

In the press release, we reported operating results for the second quarter of fiscal 2021, the 12 weeks ended February 14 as well as February retail sales results for the 4 weeks ended this past Sunday, February 28. Reported net income for the quarter was $951 million or $2.14 per share compared to $931 million or $2.10 per diluted share last year. This year's results included $246 million pretax or $0.41 per diluted share in costs incurred primarily from COVID-19 premium wages.

在新聞稿中，我們公佈了2021財年第二季（截至2月14日的12週）的營運業績，以及截至上週日（2月28日）的2月份零售銷售業績。本季淨利為9.51億美元，合每股2.14美元，去年同期為9.31億美元，合每股攤薄收益2.10美元。今年的業績包含了2.46億美元的稅前成本，合每股攤薄收益0.41美元，主要為新冠疫情期間的加班工資。

Net sales for the quarter increased 14.7% to $43.89 billion from $38.26 billion a year ago in the second quarter. Comparable sales for the second quarter of fiscal '21 were as follows: For the 12-week period, U.S. comps were reported at 11.4%, and excluding gas deflation and FX, 12.6%; Canada reported at 13.4%, ex gas deflation and FX, 10.6%; Other international reported at 21.5%, ex gas deflation and FX, 17.7%; Our total company reported at 13.0%, and ex gas deflation and FX, 12.9%; E-commerce on a reported basis was 75.8%, and ex FX, 74.8%.

本季淨銷售額年增14.7%，達438.9億美元，去年同期為382.6億美元。 2021財年第二季的同店銷售額如下：過去12週，美國同店銷售額成長11.4%，剔除天然氣價格下跌及匯率影響後為12.6%；加拿大同店銷售額成長13.4%，剔除天然氣價格下跌及匯率影響後為10.6%；其他國際市場則為同店銷售額成長21.5%，剔除天然氣價格下跌及匯率影響後為17.7%；公司整體同店銷售額成長13.0%，剔除天然氣價格下跌及匯率影響後為12.9%；電子商務銷售額依報告基準計算為75.8%，剔除匯率影響後為74.8%。

In terms of the second quarter comp sales metrics, our traffic or shopping frequency increased 1% worldwide and up 2.7% in the U.S. on a year-over-year basis during the quarter. Our average transaction or ticket was up 11.9% total company and 8.5% in the U.S. during the second quarter. Foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar positively impacted sales by approximately 110 basis points, and gasoline price deflation negatively impacted sales by approximately 100 basis points.

就第二季同店銷售指標而言，本季全球客流量或購物頻率較去年同期成長1%，美國地區較去年同期成長2.7%。第二季公司平均交易額或客單價年增11.9%，美國地區較去年同期成長8.5%。外幣兌美元匯率對銷售額產生了約110個基點的正面影響，而汽油價格通貨緊縮則對銷售額產生了約100個基點的負面影響。

I'll review our February sales results a little bit later in the call. Going down the income statement, membership fee income came in reported at $881.5 million or 2.01% compared to $816.4 million or 2.13% in the quarter a year ago, so up $65 million or 8%. Excluding the impact of FX, the $65 million increase would be $56 million, which would represent a 6.9% increase excluding the impact of FX. No openings occurred in fiscal -- in the second fiscal quarter, both this year and last year in the fiscal quarter.

我稍後會在電話會議上簡要回顧一下我們二月的銷售業績。從損益表來看，會員費收入為 8.815 億美元，年增 2.01%，去年同期為 8.164 億美元，年增 2.13%，因此成長了 6,500 萬美元，增幅為 8%。剔除匯率影響後，這 6,500 萬美元的成長將為 5,600 萬美元，增幅為 6.9%。本財年第二季（包括今年和去年同期）沒有新增業務。

In terms of renewal rates, the U.S. and Canadian renewal rate came in as for Q2 at 91.0% as of Q2 end. This was up 0.1% from the 90.9% at the end of the prior fiscal quarter. Worldwide, our total company renewal rates were 88.5% as of Q2 end, also up 0.1% from the prior quarter's number of 88.4%.

就續約率而言，截至第二季末，美國和加拿大的續約率為91.0%，較上一財季末的90.9%增加了0.1%。全球範圍內，截至第二季末，公司整體續約率為88.5%，也較上一季的88.4%成長了0.1%。

In terms of number of members as of Q2 end both member households and cardholders, in terms of households at Q2 end, we came in at 59.7 million, up from 59.1 million 12 weeks earlier; and total cardholders 108.3 million, up from 107.1 million 12 weeks earlier. As of Q2, paid executive members were 23.8 million, an increase of 506,000 during the 12 weeks since Q1 end.

截至第二季末，會員數（包括會員家庭和持卡人）方面，會員家庭總數為5,970萬戶，高於12週前的5,910萬戶；持卡人總數為1.083億人，高於12週前的1.071億人。截至第二季末，付費高級會員人數為2,380萬人，較第一季末增加了50.6萬人。

Moving down the income statement to the gross margin. This year's gross margin came in at 10.96%, 2 basis points lower than last year's second quarter on a reported basis of 10.98%. Excluding gas deflation, it would have been 11 basis points lower.

接下來我們來看看損益表中的毛利率。今年的毛利率為10.96%，比去年第二季的10.98%（以報告數據計算）下降了2個基點。如果剔除天然氣價格下跌的影響，毛利率將下降11個基點。

As I always ask you, we'll do a little chart here to show some of the components of margin. Two columns, reported and the second column without gas deflation. First line item would be core merchandise. On a reported basis, core merchandise margin year-over-year was -- came in at plus 71 basis points; ex gas deflation, plus 63 basis points. Second line item, ancillary businesses, minus 53 basis points; and then without gas, minus 55. 2% reward, minus 6 and minus 5. Other, minus 14 and minus 14. So all told on a reported basis, year-over-year minus 2 basis points; and again ex gas deflation, minus 11 basis points.

正如我常說的，我們在這裡做一個簡單的圖表來展示利潤率的組成。圖表分為兩列，第一列是計入利潤率的，第二列是剔除汽油價格下跌影響後的。第一項是核心商品利潤率。計入利潤率後，核心商品利潤率較去年同期下降71個基點；剔除汽油價格下跌影響後，較去年同期下降63個基點。第二項是輔助業務利潤率，較去年同期下降53個基點；剔除汽油價格下跌影響後，較去年同期下降55個基點。 2%的獎勵分別較去年同期下降6個基點和5個基點。其他利潤率分別較去年同期下降14個基點和14個基點。因此，整體而言，計入利潤率後，年減2個基點；剔除汽油價格下跌影響後，較去年同期下降11個基點。

So as you can see from this chart, the core merchandise component was higher by ex gas deflation by 63 basis points. Similar to the last several fiscal quarters, sales penetration has shifted to the core business, resulting in higher contribution of our total gross margin dollars coming from the core operations versus a year earlier.

如圖表所示，剔除天然氣價格下跌的影響，核心商品銷售額成長了63個基點。與過去幾個財季類似，銷售滲透率已轉向核心業務，導致核心業務對毛利的貢獻較上年同期增加。

Looking at the core merchandise categories in relation only to their own sales, core and core, if you will, margins year-over-year were higher by 71 basis points. Fresh foods was again the biggest driver here. With strong sales in fresh, we benefited from the efficiency gains in labor productivity and significantly lower spoilage. That being said, the other 3 major merchandise categories, food and sundries, softlines and hardlines all had higher-margin percentages year-over-year in the quarter as well.

僅就核心商品類別本身的銷售額而言，即「核心與核心」的比較，其利潤率較去年同期成長了71個基點。生鮮食品再次成為主要驅動力。生鮮食品銷售強勁，得益於勞動生產力的提高和損耗率的顯著降低。此外，其他三大商品類別——食品及日用品、紡織品和五金——在本季度的利潤率也均實現了同比增長。

Ancillary and other business gross margin was lower by 53 basis points and by 55 ex gas deflation in the quarter, with most of the negative impact coming from gas; and to a lesser extent from the aggregate of travel, hearing aids, pharmacy and food courts; offset a little bit by a positive impact from e-com. Costco Logistics, which was our Innovel acquisition a year ago, impacted ancillary margins by 6 basis points to the negative.

本季輔助業務及其他業務毛利率下降53個基點，剔除天然氣價格下跌因素後下降55個基點，其中天然氣業務的負面影響最大；其次是旅遊、助聽器、藥房和美食廣場等業務的綜合影響；電子商務的正面影響略微抵消了部分負面影響。一年前被我們Innovel收購的Costco物流業務，對輔助業務毛利率造成了6個基點的負面影響。

2% reward you can see was impacted negatively by 5 basis points, implying that more of -- higher penetration of our sales are coming from the executive membership group. And other is the minus 14 basis points. All of this is attributable to the cost of COVID-19 or about $60 million of the $246 million previously mentioned. These are the direct costs for incremental wages allocated to our manufacturing, production and fulfillment operations.

您可以看到，2%的獎勵受到了5個基點的負面影響，這意味著我們銷售額中更高比例的份額來自高階主管會員群體。此外，還有14個基點的負面影響。這一切都歸因於新冠疫情造成的成本，約佔先前提到的2.46億美元中的6,000萬美元。這些是分配給我們製造、生產和物流營運的額外工資的直接成本。

Moving on to SG&A. Our reported SG&A in the second quarter was higher or worse year-over-year by 11 basis points on a reported basis, coming in at 9.89% versus 9.78% a year earlier. The minus 11 ex gas deflation, that would have been a minus 3.

接下來是銷售、一般及行政費用（SG&A）。我們第二季報告的SG&A年增或下降了11個基點，達到9.89%，而去年同期為9.78%。若不計入天然氣價格下跌的影響，則為-3%。

Again, doing a little chart of comparison with 2 columns, both reported and then without gas deflation. First line item would be operations, a plus 31, so lower or better by 31 basis points. Core operations was on a reported basis without gas deflation, plus 38, so lower or better by 38 basis points. Central, minus 3 basis points and minus 2. Stock compensation, plus 3 and plus 3. And other, minus 42 and minus 42.

再次，我們製作一個包含兩列的比較圖表，分別列出報告數據和未計入通膨調整後的數據。第一項是營運成本，加 31 個基點，即比預期低 31 個基點。核心營運成本（未計入通膨調整後）加 38 個基點，比預期低 38 個基點。中央營運成本分別減 3 個基點和減 2 個基點。股票薪酬加 3 個基點和加 3 個基點。其他成本分別減 42 個基點和減 42 個基點。

Yet those columns up on a reported basis again, SG&A was higher year-over-year by 11 basis points; and ex gas deflation, higher by 3. The core operations component, when you look at that, was better by 31 or 38 excluding the impact from deflation. SG&A in the core, excluding the COVID-related expenses which I'll discuss in a moment, was significantly leveraged with the strong core merchandise sales increases. Central again minus 2 ex gas deflation, stock comp plus 3, both small year-over-year basis points changes together, pretty much a wash. And other was a minus 42 basis points hit to SG&A, which were incremental wage and benefit costs related to COVID or $186 million of that $246 million total amount. So 60 of the million of the 246 hits the margin, and 186 of the 246 hits SG&A.

然而，以報告數據計算，這些項目再次上調，銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）較去年同期上升11個基點；剔除天然氣價格下跌的影響後，上升3個基點。核心營運部分，剔除價格下跌的影響後，成長了31或38個基點。核心業務的SG&A（剔除我稍後會討論的與新冠疫情相關的支出）得益於核心商品銷售額的強勁增長。核心業務的SG&A再次下降2個基點（剔除天然氣價格下跌的影響），股票補償增加3個基點，這兩項年比變動幅度都很小，基本上持平。其他因素導致SG&A下降42個基點，其中包括與新冠疫情相關的額外工資和福利成本，即2.46億美元總額中的1.86億美元。因此，2.46億美元中的6000萬美元影響了利潤率，1.86億美元影響了SG&A。

I'd like to take a minute here and discuss our COVID-related expenses and how they are changing effective this past Monday, March 1. Over the past 12-month period, March 2020 through February 2021, company-wide we expended approximately $1.060 billion pretax on COVID-related items. Of this amount, approximately $825 million related specifically to the $2 an hour extra hourly pay. The remaining $200 million-plus was made up of several other items, including the few month period where employees 65 and older were paid to stay home. This was early on during the original lockdowns. Cleaning and masks supplies, paying wages to several -- for several weeks to our third-party demo service employees; and assisting employees with pay child care leave, which continues.

我想花一點時間談談我們與新冠疫情相關的支出，以及這些支出自上週一（3月1日）起發生的變化。在過去12個月（2020年3月至2021年2月）期間，該公司在新冠疫情相關項目上的稅前支出約為10.6億美元。其中，約8.25億美元專門用於每小時額外支付2美元的工資。剩餘的2億美元多用於其他項目，包括最初封鎖期間，65歲及以上員工在家帶薪休假的幾個月；清潔用品和口罩；支付部分員工的工資——包括我們第三方演示服務公司員工的工資（持續數週）；以及為員工提供帶薪育嬰假，這項福利目前仍在發放中。

With the $2 an hour extra pay having been paid in for full year, that extra amount has been discontinued as of this past Sunday, February 28. And effective March 1, a few days ago, we have implemented a permanent wage increase for hourly employees as well as most salaried warehouse employees. In the U.S. and Canada, we are permanently increasing our starting wage and most wage steps above that by $1 an hour; and increasing our top of scale hourly wage by $0.45 an hour on top of the previously planned $0.55 an hour increase for top of scale.

由於每小時2美元的額外工資已發放一整年，該額外工資已於上週日（2月28日）停止發放。此外，自幾天前（3月1日）起，我們已對小時工以及大多數倉庫領薪員工實施永久性加薪。在美國和加拿大，我們將起薪及以上大部分薪級永久性地提高每小時1美元；並將最高薪級的每小時工資在原計劃每小時0.55美元的基礎上再提高0.45美元。

With these changes, our entry-level hourly wages will increase from $15 and $15.50 an hour to $16 and $16.50 an hour. Similar type increases are occurring in other countries where we operate.

隨著這些調整，我們的入門級時薪將從每小時 15 美元和 15.50 美元提高到每小時 16 美元和 16.50 美元。我們在其他國家也進行了類似的加薪。

With this change, along with the reduction and/or elimination of several components of the $200 million-plus expenses I just discussed, on a going-forward basis, this $1 billion-plus expense over the past 12 months will be reduced by a little over 1/2 starting March 1, which is we -- the beginning of week 3 in the current fiscal third quarter.

隨著這一變化，以及我剛才討論的超過 2 億美元的支出中幾個組成部分的減少和/或取消，從 3 月 1 日（即本財年第三季度第三週的開始）起，過去 12 個月超過 10 億美元的支出將減少一半以上。

Next on the income statement is preopening expense. Pretty much the same year-over-year. This year came in at $9 million compared to last year's $7 million, so $2 million higher. In both fiscal quarters, there were 0 openings, although this relates to upcoming openings as well.

接下來是損益表中的開業前費用。與去年同期基本持平。今年的費用為900萬美元，而去年為700萬美元，增加了200萬美元。兩個財季的開幕數量均為0，但這其中也包括即將開幕的項目。

All told, reported operating income for the second quarter of 2021, including the $246 million mentioned earlier, showed an increase of 5.8%, coming in at $1.34 billion this year compared to $1.266 billion last year.

總的來說，2021 年第二季報告的營業收入（包括前面提到的 2.46 億美元）成長了 5.8%，達到 13.4 億美元，而去年同期為 12.66 億美元。

Below the operating income line, interest expense was $40 million this year versus $34 million last year. Interest income and other for the quarter was lower by $26 million year-over-year. Interest income itself was lower by $19 million due to lower interest rates. Additionally, FX and other was lower by $7 million. Overall reported pretax income in the second quarter was up 3.3%, coming in at $1.319 billion this year compared to $1.277 billion a year earlier.

在營業收入項下，今年的利息支出為4,000萬美元，而去年同期為3,400萬美元。本季利息收入及其他收入年減2600萬美元。其中，利息收入本身因利率下降而減少了1,900萬美元。此外，外匯及其他收入也減少了700萬美元。第二季整體稅前營收成長3.3%，達到13.19億美元，去年同期為12.77億美元。

In terms of income taxes, our tax rate in the second quarter was 26.4%, a little higher than the 25.9% recorded in Q2 of last year. For all of '21 based on our current estimates, which of course these are always subject to change, we anticipate that our effective normalized total company tax rate for the fiscal year to be in the 26% to 27% range.

就所得稅而言，我們第二季的稅率為26.4%，略高於去年同期的25.9%。根據我們目前的預估（當然，這些預估隨時可能改變），我們預計2021財年全年的實際正常化公司總稅率將在26%至27%之間。

A few other items to note in terms of warehouse expansion. As I mentioned, there were no openings in Q2. There were 8 net new openings in Q1, so we're 8 year-to-date. In the second half of the fiscal year (inaudible) quarter in the fourth fiscal quarter, we plan to open 13 more net new units. 5 of those will be in the U.S., 3 will be in Canada, and 5 will be in overseas.

關於倉庫擴張，還有幾點需要說明。正如我之前提到的，第二季沒有新增倉庫。第一季淨增8個倉庫，所以今年迄今共新增8個。在本財年下半年（第四財季），我們計畫再淨增加13個倉庫。其中5個位於美國，3個位於加拿大，5個位於海外。

Regarding Capex, in the second quarter of fiscal '21, we spent approximately $573 million. Our full year CapEx spend is still estimated in the $3 billion to $3.2 billion range.

關於資本支出，在2021財年第二季度，我們支出約5.73億美元。我們全年的資本支出預計仍在30億至32億美元之間。

Moving on to e-commerce. E-commerce sales overall for the quarter ex FX increased 75% year-over-year. A few of the stronger departments: over-the-counter pharmacy, garden and patio, small electrics, health and beauty, and majors including consumer electronics.

接下來是電子商務部分。本季電商銷售額（不計匯率影響）較去年同期成長75%。表現較強勁的幾個部門包括：非處方藥局、園藝和庭院用品、小型電器、健康美容產品以及包括消費性電子產品在內的大宗商品。

Total online grocery grew at a very strong rate in the second quarter. The comp numbers just mentioned follow our usual convention, which excludes our third-party same-day grocery program, which was up 450% year-over-year in the quarter. If we include the third-party same-day in our e-com comps, the 76% reported comp number would have been 96%.

第二季線上生鮮雜貨銷售成長強勁。上述同店銷售額數據遵循我們一貫的統計方法，不包括第三方當日達生鮮雜貨配送服務，該服務當季年增高達450%。如果將第三方當日達服務納入電商同店銷售額的統計，則先前公佈的76%的同店銷售額將達到96%。

Costco Logistics, formerly known as Innovel, continues to fulfill a greater percentage of our delivery and delivery items and has steadily increased since its acquisition a year ago in March. In Q2, we made it a priority to enhance our white glove service, which includes assembly or complex installation. It's now standard on many items and offered as an upgrade on many others.

Costco Logistics（原名 Innovel）持續承擔我們越來越多的配送任務，自一年前三月被收購以來，配送量穩步成長。第二季度，我們優先提升了高階服務，包括組裝或複雜安裝。目前，這項服務已成為許多商品的標配，並可作為其他商品的升級選項。

Turning to COVID-19 and some of the issues and impact surrounding it. We continue to enjoy strong core merchandise sales. I think our buying teams have done a great job keeping our buildings in stock, despite outsized demand on some items and some supply chain challenges as well.

談到新冠疫情及其帶來的一些問題和影響，我們的核心商品銷售仍然強勁。我認為，儘管部分商品需求激增，供應鏈也面臨一些挑戰，但我們的採購團隊出色地完成了工作，確保了庫存充足。

From a supply chain perspective, overseas freight has continued to be an issue in regards to container shortage and port delays. This has caused timing delays on certain categories, including furniture, sporting goods, lawn and garden and even some food and sundries items like seafood, imported cheeses, and oils. We expect these pressures to ease in the coming months, but it's impacting everyone, of course.

從供應鏈角度來看，由於貨櫃短缺和港口延誤，海外貨運仍然是一個問題。這導致某些品類的貨物，包括家具、體育用品、草坪和花園用品，甚至一些食品和日用品，例如海鮮、進口起司和食用油，都出現了交貨延遲。我們預計這些壓力將在未來幾個月內有所緩解，但當然，這會影響到所有人。

Regarding the pressures from high consumer demand, examples of areas where we have some supply issues on the nonfood side: certain electronics due to chip and component shortages like TVs, computers and smart home related items; exercise equipment, bikes and outdoor activity items; lawn and garden items; and appliances.

鑑於消費者需求旺盛帶來的壓力，以下列舉一些非食品領域存在供應問題的例子：由於晶片和零件短缺，某些電子產品（如電視、電腦和智慧家居相關產品）供應不足；健身器材、自行車和戶外活動用品；草坪和花園用品；以及家用電器。

On the food side, canned beverages have some shortages due mostly to the aluminum can issue of shortages. Bacon is up 45% in pounds. And so for whatever reason, there's a lot of demand there, so there's a little bit of challenge there. Gloves, surface cleaning wipes and sanitizing sprays and some paper goods. Fresh foods overall is looking pretty good.

食品方面，罐裝飲料供應短缺，主要原因是鋁罐短缺。培根的重量增加了45%。因此，不知何故，培根的需求量很大，供應也面臨一些挑戰。手套、表面清潔濕紙巾、消毒噴霧和一些紙製品也供應緊張。整體而言，新鮮食品的供應情況相當不錯。

Our 3 warehouse curbside pickup test next -- our 3 warehouse curbside pickup test in Albuquerque is ongoing. We don't really have a lot to add at this time as a test is recent and continuing. The pilot is going well, members have responded to it, and basket size have actually surpassed our expectations. Our focus of course is how can we be more efficient at doing it to determine if this offering can become scalable and make economic sense for us.

接下來，我們將測試位於阿爾伯克基的三個倉庫的路邊取貨服務。由於測試剛開始且仍在進行中，目前我們沒有什麼新的進展。試點進展順利，會員反應良好，而且客單價實際上超出了我們的預期。當然，我們目前的重點是如何提高效率，以確定這項服務是否具有可擴展性，並最終為我們帶來經濟效益。

Turning to our February sales results, the 4 weeks ended this past Sunday, February 28, compared to the same period last year. As reported in our release, net sales for the month of February came in at $14.05 billion, an increase of 15.2% from $12.2 billion last year. Again, going down to the numbers that were in the release, on a U.S. on a reported basis were up -- on a same-store sales basis were up 10.3%. That's both reported and without gas and FX. Canada reported 21.6%; ex FX, 15.7%. And other international 25.7, ex FX at 20.6. Total company 13.8 reported; ex gas and FX, 12.3.

再來看看我們二月的銷售業績。截至上週日（2月28日）的四周，我們與去年同期進行了比較。正如我們在新聞稿中所述，二月的淨銷售額為140.5億美元，較去年同期的122億美元成長了15.2%。同樣，根據新聞稿中的數據，美國市場按報告銷售額計算增長了10.3%；按同店銷售額計算增長了10.3%。以上數據均包含報告銷售額及不包含燃油及匯率影響的銷售額。加拿大市場報告銷售額成長了21.6%；不包含匯率影響為15.7%。其他國際市場報告銷售額成長了25.7%；不包含匯率影響為20.6%。公司整體報告銷售額成長了13.8%；不含燃油及匯率影響為12.3%。

Within those numbers, e-com, 91.1% reported; and without gas and FX, 89.4%. As with the quarter, these numbers would -- the e-com numbers would be higher if we included the third-party same-day fresh.

在這些數字中，電商業務的完成率為91.1%；若不計入天然氣和外匯業務，則為89.4%。與上一季的情況類似，如果我們將第三方當日新鮮配送業務也納入考量，電商業務的完成率將會更高。

When we discussed last year's February sales results, we pointed out that the fourth week last year had a big uptick in sales. That kind of was the beginning of what we felt was a little bit of consumer -- pressure for consumers to buy in for fear of lockdown, again primarily related to consumers buying ahead of the anticipated COVID lockdowns and closures. That positively impacted last year's February sales by approximately 3 percentage points.

在討論去年二月的銷售業績時，我們指出，去年第四週的銷售額出現了大幅成長。我們認為，這標誌著消費者因擔心封鎖而加大了購買力度，這主要與消費者在預期的新冠疫情封鎖和停業之前提前囤貨有關。這為去年二月的銷售額帶來了約3個百分點的正面影響。

Similarly, sales in week 4 of this February -- this week, week 4 of this year, February, were lower as we anniversaried that unusually strong week from a year ago. The estimated negative impact to the February month was approximately 3.5 percentage points. So the reported numbers of 13.8% and ex gas and FX of 12.3% would have been higher excluding that impact.

同樣，今年2月第四週（即今年2月的第四週）的銷售額也較低，因為正值去年同期異常強勁的一周。據估計，這對2月份的整體銷售額產生了約3.5個百分點的負面影響。因此，如果剔除此影響，報告的13.8%的成長率以及剔除天然氣和匯率因素後的12.3%的成長率將會更高。

Our comp traffic or frequency for February was flat to last year worldwide and up 0.7% in the U.S., again with some impact of that last week. Worldwide, the average transaction was up 13.8%, which included positive impacts of 140 basis points from FX and 10 basis points of gas inflation.

二月全球同類產品流量或訪問頻率與去年同期持平，美國市場成長0.7%，其中上週的成長略有影響。全球平均交易量成長13.8%，其中包括匯率帶來的140個基點的正面影響和汽油價格上漲所帶來的10個基點的正面影響。

Foreign currencies year-over-year relative to the dollar benefited February comps in Canada by 540 basis points, other international by approximately 570 basis points and total company by 140 basis points. Gas price inflation, again positively impacted total reported comp sales by about 10 basis points, whereas the average selling price was about 1 percentage point higher year-over-year.

外幣兌美元匯率年增，使加拿大2月同店銷售額成長540個基點，其他國際市場成長約570個基點，公司整體成長140個基點。汽油價格上漲再次對報告的同店銷售額產生正面影響，成長約10個基點，而平均售價較去年同期上漲約1個百分點。

In terms of regional and merchandising categories, the general highlights U.S. regions with strong results are Southeast, Midwest and Texas. Internationally, in local currencies, we saw the strongest results in Korea, U.K. and Japan.

從區域和商品類別來看，美國表現強勁的地區主要集中在東南部、中西部和德克薩斯州。從國際市場來看，以當地貨幣計算，韓國、英國和日本的表現最為突出。

Moving to merchandise highlights. The following comp sales results by category for the month, and these exclude the positive impact of FX. Food and sundries were in the positive high single digits. Departments with the strongest results were liquor, frozen foods and cooler. Hard lines were positive in the high 20s. Better-performing departments were toys and seasonal, sporting goods, hardware and majors, which again is both white goods and consumer electronics for the most part.

接下來是商品銷售亮點。以下是本月各品類的同店銷售業績，這些數據不包括匯率的正面影響。食品和日用品實現了接近兩位數的成長。業績表現最強勁的部門是酒類、冷凍食品和冷藏櫃。硬線商品實現了接近兩位數的成長。表現較好的部門包括玩具和季節性商品、運動用品、五金和大型家電（主要包括白色家電和消費性電子產品）。

Soft lines were up and also up in the low 20s. Better-performing departments included housewares, small appliances and home furnishings.

軟性商品銷售額上升，部分商品銷售額也達到了20%左右。表現較好的部門包括家居用品、小家電和家居裝飾。

And finally, fresh foods were up in the low 20s. Better-performing departments included meat and deli.

最後，生鮮食品價格上漲了20%左右。表現較好的部門包括肉類和熟食部。

Ancillary business sales, as mentioned earlier, were down. And they were down in terms of sales in the mid-single digits in February, primarily due to lower year-over-year sales in food court, hearing aids and gasoline.

如前所述，輔助業務銷售額有所下降。 2月的銷售額降幅為個位數中段，主要原因是美食廣場、助聽器和汽油的銷售額年減。

Overall, a relatively good fiscal second quarter, impacted of course by COVID expenses, impacted both plus and minus by various aspects of our business due to COVID. And certainly, as I mentioned, in the ancillary gas had the biggest of the ancillary hits.

整體而言，第二財季業績相對不錯，當然也受到了新冠疫情相關支出的影響，疫情對我們業務的各個方面都產生了有利和不利的影響。正如我之前提到的，輔助天然氣業務受到的衝擊最大。

Finally, in terms of upcoming releases, we will announce our March sales results for the 5 weeks ending Sunday, April 4, on Wednesday, April 7, after the market close.

最後，關於即將發布的產品，我們將於 4 月 7 日星期三股市收盤後公佈截至 4 月 4 日星期日的 5 週的 3 月份銷售業績。

With that, I will open it up to Q&A and turn it back to Buena.

接下來，我將進入問答環節，並將問題交還給布埃納。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question is from Michael Lasser of UBS.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自瑞銀集團的麥可·拉塞爾。

My first question is on the gross margin expansion that Costco has experienced over the last few quarters. Can we assume that as sales grow, that you're just going to give back, a lot of these gross margin gains could shrink, it's going to go up and all the efficiencies that come along with double-digit comp go away? Or is there anything that Costco has learned that it's now doing differently that will allow us to hold on these gross margin?

我的第一個問題是關於 Costco 近幾季毛利率的擴張。我們是否可以假設，隨著銷售額的成長，這些毛利率的提升最終都會被抵消，毛利率上升，而兩位數同店銷售成長帶來的效率提升也會消失？或者 Costco 是否吸取了什麼經驗教訓，採取了不同的策略，從而能夠維持目前的毛利率水準？

Well, first of all, I don't think we're doing anything dramatically -- we're going to do anything dramatically different. I mean we're already pretty aggressive on a lot of things and, of course, we're always trying to drive sales with aggressive value and pricing.

首先，我認為我們不會採取任何劇烈的變革——我們不會做出任何劇烈的改變。我的意思是，我們在許多方面已經相當積極進取了，當然，我們也一直在努力透過極具競爭力的價格和產品價值來促進銷售。

Probably the one area which can be a challenge or will be a challenge at some point is fresh. The particular strength in fresh foods for the last several quarters on a year-over-year basis has been -- the strong fresh has led to higher labor productivity, which is part of the cost component of that, if you will, manufacturing businesses as well as lower spoilage or what we call damage and destroyed. In many cases, given the strength, you're not throwing away as much stuff at the end of the day or week, and you're again being much more productive from a labor efficiency standpoint.

生鮮食品領域或許會面臨挑戰，或者說，未來某個時候會面臨挑戰。過去幾個季度，生鮮食品的強勁表現（同比）帶來了更高的勞動生產率，這在一定程度上降低了製造業的成本，同時也減少了食品的損耗，也就是我們常說的損壞和報廢。在許多情況下，由於生鮮食品的強勁需求，企業每天或每週的食品浪費量都會減少，從而顯著提高了勞動效率。

At some point, that will subside, is my guess. Beyond that, we feel pretty good about our ability to be very competitive in price along that way.

我猜想，這種情況遲早會消退。除此之外，我們對自身在價格上保持競爭力的能力非常有信心。

Okay. And you said going -- on the wages spend, going forward, this $1 billion-plus expense will reduce a little by half starting March 1, given the permanent wage increases. So we should just take half of the $1 billion, so $500 million, of expense that Costco incurred over the last 4 quarters, and that's going to go away. Even though your wages will be increasing, your SG&A dollars should go down.

好的。您剛才提到，考慮到薪資的永久性成長，從3月1日起，這筆超過10億美元的薪資支出將減少一半。也就是說，Costco過去四個季度產生的10億美元支出中，5億美元將會減少一半。即使薪資上漲，銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）也會下降。

Well, SG&A, and then as I mentioned earlier, the COVID-related premium wages, the $2, that 800-plus million, a piece of that hit margin because of our manufacturing business, just the labor involved on the manufacturing side that's part of cost of sales. And so again, if you looked at those proportions, I think of the $246 million, we said $60 million related to margin hit and $186 million related to SG&A hit. A simple guess would be if you could take that type of percentage of these numbers and apply it quarterly, maybe a little bit more to SG&A than those percentages.

嗯，銷售、一般及行政費用（SG&A），還有我之前提到的與新冠疫情相關的額外工資，也就是2000萬美元，超過8億美元，這其中一部分利潤率受到了影響，因為我們的製造業業務，僅僅是製造業的勞動力成本就構成了銷售成本的一部分。所以，如果你看一下這些比例，我認為在2.46億美元的損失中，我們說6000萬美元與利潤率損失有關，1.86億美元與銷售、一般及行政費用有關。一個簡單的估算是，如果你把這些數字的百分比應用到每個季度，那麼銷售、一般及行政費用的損失可能會比這些百分比略高一些。

And so yes, if you look to the $1.060 billion that we talked about, and we say a little over half, so simple math would suggest that a little over half of that should come back. Although we'll stop talking about COVID-related expenses, too, as we've now anniversaried it.

所以，是的，如果我們看一下我們之前提到的10.6億美元，我們說略多於一半，那麼簡單的計算表明，其中略多於一半的資金應該會恢復。不過，鑑於我們已經紀念了疫情一週年，我們也不再討論與新冠疫情相關的支出了。

So our next question is from Simeon Gutman of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙古特曼。

Richard, my first question is also on gross margin. Can you -- I just want to clarify, because there was a big swing in the reported number. Core on core looked pretty healthy. Very similar to the prior quarter you said, I think plus 71. And so the big swing here was pretty much mostly gas or all gasoline. And can you remind us when does the gasoline margin compare peak? Does it get worse before it gets better?

理查德，我的第一個問題也是關於毛利率的。您能否—我只是想澄清一下，因為報告的數據波動很大。核心業務看起來相當健康。和您之前提到的上一季非常相似，我認為增加了71%。所以，這次的大幅波動幾乎完全來自汽油業務。您能否提醒我們一下，汽油毛利率的峰值出現在什麼時候？是在好轉之前先惡化嗎？

A year ago, in the third quarter, we've pointed out that it helped us but it's -- like it's -- it is gas. It is volatile. And the profitability in gas goes up and down dramatically. It's a meaningful business for us. And as prices go up, we generally make less, which has happened of late. And I think, not just for us, but the supermarket chains, the other discount stores that operate chains of gas stations. And so we again directionally try to point that out each time. But there's no rhyme or reason. It could change on a dime.

一年前的第三季度，我們指出汽油價格對我們有幫助，但汽油價格波動劇烈，利潤也隨之大幅波動。汽油業務對我們來說至關重要。隨著油價上漲，我們的利潤通常會減少，這種情況最近就發生了。我認為，不僅對我們而言如此，對那些經營連鎖加油站的超市和折扣店也是如此。所以我們每次都會強調這一點。但油價波動沒有規則可循，瞬息萬變。

Fair enough. And I guess just to clarify, but it is right, the core looks like it was consistent with prior quarters. The big swing in the reported was just then the remainder was mostly due to gas then in this quarter, right, why it was down just a little bit.

好吧。我再澄清一下，沒錯，核心業務看起來與前幾季保持一致。報告數據大幅波動是因為上個季度，其餘部分主要是由於本季度天然氣業務略有下降，對吧。

Gas is -- right. Gas is more than half of all those other things, to answer you. Certainly, travel is impacted, as you well know, right now. Probably the food courts because we're still not open with seating essentially. Optical as well. So all those are impacting, but gas was the prime mover there.

沒錯，汽油——回答你的問題，汽油佔了其他所有因素的一半以上。當然，正如你所知，旅行現在受到了影響。美食廣場可能也受到了影響，因為我們基本上還沒有開放式堂食。光學設備也受到了影響。所以所有這些都產生了影響，但汽油是主要因素。

I was looking back at last year what we call -- again, what we call warehouse and other businesses, which again gas is a -- when there are big swings, it tends to be gas is the biggest component of that.

我回顧了去年我們所說的——再次強調，我們所說的倉庫和其他業務，其中天然氣——當出現大幅波動時，天然氣往往是其中最大的組成部分。

A year ago in Q1 versus a year earlier, that will be Q1 '20 versus '19, that number -- I don't have the detail on gas, but it was 19 basis points to the positive. In Q2 year-over-year, it was 2 to the negative. In Q3, it was 21 to the positive. In Q4, it was 71 to the negative. So you can see it fluctuates. This year in the first quarter, it was 20 to the negative, and now, 55 to the negative. And again, there's a lot of components of that number, not just gas, but gas generally tends to be the big mover there.

一年前第一季與前年同期相比，也就是2020年第一季與2019年第一季相比，這個數字——我沒有汽油方面的具體數據，但當時是正成長19個基點。第二季較去年同期下降2個基點。第三季是正成長21個基點。第四季是負成長71個基點。所以你可以看到它波動很大。今年第一季是負成長20個基點，現在是負成長55個基點。再次強調，這個數字包含許多因素，不只是汽油，但汽油通常是影響最大的因素。

Okay. That's helpful. And then my follow-up question is on SG&A. If you look at SG&A year-to-date, so Q1 and Q2, and you exclude all the premium pay, right, where you're excluding it from this year, even from last year, it looks like SG&A is still taking a step-up year-over-year that's higher than what looks normal like in prior years. And I don't think that's incremental wage changes. I don't know if there's anything else that's changed in the business this -- year-to-date from an SG&A perspective.

好的，這很有幫助。接下來我的問題是關於銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）。如果查看年初至今的SG&A數據，也就是第一季和第二季度，並剔除所有加班費（包括去年的加班費），SG&A的年漲幅似乎仍然高於往年的正常水平。我認為這並非薪資成長所致。我不知道從SG&A的角度來看，今年年初至今的業務中是否還有其他變化。

You'll have easier comparisons because the premium stuff starts coming up in the back half, but is there any reason why you structurally stepped up in the first half of this year?

因為優質產品要到下半年才會出現，所以比較起來會比較容易。但是，今年上半年你們的結構性提升有什麼原因嗎？

You're talking about dollars or in percent?

你指的是美元還是百分比？

Dollars.

美元。

Dollar -- well, I think it's a strong sales. As a percentage of sales, actually, I think you'll find it goes directionally better.

美元——嗯，我認為它的銷售額很強勁。實際上，從銷售額佔比來看，我認為你會發現它的走勢更好。

Okay, yes. I was looking on -- yes.

好的，是的。我當時在看——是的。

Yes. I'm looking at core operations for all of fiscal '20 versus all of fiscal '19 on an ex gas deflation basis was lower or better by 25 basis points. Again, that's not -- we separate out that below the quarterly stuff or the unusual stuff, the COVID stuff. But the core business was lower -- had lower or better SG&A percent by 25 basis points for the entire year. This year, in the first 2 quarters, it was plus 62 and plus 38, so that's on average, 50.

是的。我比較了2020財年全年與2019財年全年的核心業務營運狀況，剔除天然氣價格下跌的影響後，2020財年整體業績下降或改善了25個基點。再次強調，這並非－我們會將季度數據或特殊情況（例如新冠疫情相關因素）單獨列出。但就全年而言，核心業務的銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）佔比確實下降或改善了25個基點。今年前兩個季度，SG&A佔比分別提高了62%和38%，平均下來提高了50%。

Your next question is from Chris Horvers of JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的克里斯霍弗斯。

So I wanted to follow up on the February commentary. So last February, February 2020, you did a 9%, and that last -- or you did a 12%, and that last week had 300 basis points. So that would suggest you did about a 20% in that, the last week of February. And just running the math, that would suggest that you were just slightly down. If it was 350 basis point headwind, you were down maybe unlike a stacked basis, maybe like 1% or 2%. Is that right?

所以我想就二月份的評論做個後續。去年二月，也就是2020年2月，你們的漲幅是9%，而上週──或者說是12%，最後一週的漲幅是300個基點。所以這意味著你們在二月的最後一周漲幅大約是20%。簡單計算一下，這似乎意味著你們的跌幅很小。如果是350個基點的逆風，那麼你們的跌幅可能不像疊加基點那麼大，大概只有1%或2%。是這樣嗎？

No. I think -- I agree with what you said about last year. This year, the first 3 weeks were a little over 17%. And the last week brought that 17% down to our 13.8%.

不，我同意你對去年情況的看法。今年，前三週的感染率略高於17%。而最後一周，感染率從17%下降到了13.8%。

Okay. So yes, so you were down...

好的。所以，是的，你當時情緒低落…

Yes, maybe I explain it differently each year. But yes, basically, the 13.8% reported for the first 3 weeks was a low 17% and the fourth week caused it to be a 13.8% for the whole 4 weeks.

是的，我可能每年解釋得都不一樣。但基本上，前三週報告的13.8%實際上是較低的17%，而第四週的情況導致整個四周的比例都維持在13.8%。

Right. So you comped down -- right. So you comped down high teens, basically. So that -- so as you look ahead, it's interesting because by the same time as you look forward, the comparisons remain tough. But you also meter traffic in your stores quite aggressively.

對。所以你們的銷售額下降了——對。基本上下降了十幾個百分點。所以——所以展望未來，很有意思，因為同時，同比數據仍然很難比較。但你們也對門市客流量進行了非常嚴格的控制。

I mean I think peers were up double digits in the month of March and April, and you were actually down in April. So can you talk about to what degree do you think you actually left business on the table as we think about just trying to model out against these comparisons going forward?

我的意思是，我認為同行在三月和四月都實現了兩位數的增長，而你們四月份的業績實際上卻出現了下滑。所以，在考慮如何根據這些比較數據來預測未來的發展趨勢時，您能否談談您認為您究竟錯失了多少商機？

Well, look, I can't speak for others. We're frankly thrilled with our sales numbers and our -- and how we've done over the course of last year. As you look at both March and our fiscal third quarter, March, this giant step-up in sales and traffic and hoarding, if you will, by customers started in week 4 of February and lasted through about 2.5 weeks into March. So we'll talk about it specifically when we report March sales.

嗯，我不能代表其他人發言。坦白說，我們對銷售數據以及過去一年的表現都非常滿意。看看三月以及我們第三財季（三月）的數據，你會發現，銷售額、客流量以及顧客的囤貨行為（如果你願意這麼說的話）都出現了大幅增長，這種增長從二月份的第四周開始，一直持續到三月份的大約兩周半。所以，我們會在發布三月銷售報告時詳細討論這個問題。

As it relates to the fiscal quarter, which is essentially mid-February to mid-May, I don't have the exact dates in front of me, but that 12-week period, it included not only that tough comparison for those 3, 3.5 weeks, which include week 4 of February and weeks 1, 2 and part of 3 in March. But also when there was a lockdown and an offset that -- in kind of late March into April and even early May, we had some very tough compares. And so that will make it, in our view, all things being equal, easier comparisons. So I think there's going to be a plus and a minus that probably add up to about even. We'll see.

就本財季而言，基本上就是二月中旬到五月中旬。我手頭沒有確切的日期，但這12週的時間不僅包含了那3到3.5週的艱難對比期（包括二月的第4周和三月的第1、2週以及部分第3週），還包括三月下旬到四月甚至五月初的封鎖期，那段時間的對比非常艱難。因此，我們認為，在其他條件相同的情況下，這將使比較更容易一些。所以我認為有利有弊，加起來可能差不多。我們拭目以待。

The next challenge, of course, will be Q4, which is mid-May through the end of August. That's when we enjoy comps in the 12% to 15% range on an ongoing basis into September and October as well. But for Q4, where we saw a lot of strength, not only on the food side, but on the nonfood side as people were buying things for the home as they weren't traveling, going to sporting events and the like.

當然，下一個挑戰將是第四季度，也就是從五月中旬到八月底。在此期間，我們預期同店銷售額將持續成長12%到15%，趨勢也將延續到九月和十月。但就第四季而言，我們看到了強勁的成長勢頭，不僅在食品方面，非食品方面也是如此，因為人們減少了旅行、觀看體育賽事等活動，轉而購買家居用品。

Okay. And I just want to follow back up on the February math. Sorry to delay this, but it was -- were you actually modestly positive in that last week? It just under-comped the average and it brought it down?

好的。我想再跟進一下二月的數據。抱歉耽擱了，但是──你最後一週的業績其實略微偏正嗎？只是低於平均水平，所以拉低了平均值？

Modestly positive, yes.

略微積極，是的。

Your next question is from Chuck Grom of Gordon Haskett.

你的下一個問題來自 Gordon Haskett 的 Chuck Grom。

Richard, I know gas gallons has been a drag on the top line. But when you look at your business geographically and overlay that with markets that are maybe a bit farther along in the reopen process, just wondering if you've noticed any improvement in gas gallons?

理查德，我知道汽油銷售一直拖累營收。但是，如果你從地域上看你的業務，並結合那些可能在重新開放進程中走得更遠的市場，我想知道你是否注意到汽油銷量有任何改善？

You are, a little bit. Overall, I mean, our gas gallons year-over-year, I think in -- was it February or the quarter?

確實有點兒。總的來說，我的意思是，就我們去年同期的汽油消耗量而言，我想是在——是二月還是季度末？

Quarter.

四分之一.

And the quarter were down 9% or 10%, which is an improvement -- relative improvement. And within that -- in some of the regions in the South, Texas, Florida, you've seen a little better improvement.

該季度下降了9%到10%，這算是相對改善。而且，在南部的一些地區，像是德州和佛羅裡達州，情況改善得更好一些。

Okay. Great. And then just on the balance sheet, inventory dollars were up 17 -- roughly 17%. It was a little bit ahead of sales. I guess how are you feeling about the currency of inventory as you transition out of current trends to some of the spring items?

好的，太好了。然後從資產負債表來看，庫存金額增加了17%——約17%。略高於銷售額。我想問一下，隨著你們從當前流行趨勢過渡到春季新品，你們對庫存的貨幣價值有何看法？

Yes. We made a conscious effort a couple of months ago. I think even on the last quarterly call, we talked a little bit about some of the challenges with port delays, both on the farm side, where the merchandise is coming from as well as the ports along the West Coast of North America, in particular, and container shortages. So we were front-loading, and not everything came in short. So we have front-loaded items that are not seasonal items, front-loaded extra inventory of basics. And so I'm not concerned about that at all.

是的。幾個月前我們就有意識地採取了措施。我想在上一次季度電話會議上，我們也稍微討論了一下港口延誤帶來的挑戰，包括農產品來源地以及北美西海岸港口（尤其是貨櫃短缺）的延誤問題。所以我們提前備貨，而且並非所有商品都缺貨。我們提前備貨了一些非季節性商品，以及一些基本商品的額外庫存。因此，我對此完全不擔心。

Your next question is from Mike Baker of D.A. Davidson.

下一個問題來自 D.A. Davidson 律師事務所的 Mike Baker。

I just wanted to ask about your view on inflation versus pricing in the market. One of your big competitors talked about being satisfied with their price gaps, which maybe means there will be a little bit less pricing pressure out there. So how do you think about that? And again, how do you think about inflation? Despite midyear sort of moderating a little bit, but now, with commodity costs back up, maybe it goes up again from here?

我想問您對通貨膨脹和市場定價的看法。您的一家主要競爭對手錶示對目前的價差感到滿意，這或許意味著市場價格壓力會稍微減輕。您對此有何看法？另外，您如何看待通貨膨脹？儘管年中通膨有所緩和，但現在大宗商品成本回升，通膨是否會再次上升？

Well, I'd say in the last several months, we've seen a little more inflation than we had, in part because of some of the container shortages. Freight costs are a little higher. There are some high-demand items or product shortages due to supply chain in general that have gone up.

嗯，我覺得過去幾個月通膨加劇，部分原因是貨櫃短缺。運費也略有調漲。一些高需求商品或產品短缺是由於供應鏈整體問題造成的。

When asked on a broad stroke basis on some of these items what type of inflation are we seeing, sometimes it's as much as 2% to 4%, sometimes less than that. And on meat, it's trended upward in the mid-singles. Pork, in the high singles. That's why bacon -- I mentioned bacon.

當被問及這些商品的大致通膨情況時，有時高達2%到4%，有時則更低。肉品價格呈上升趨勢，漲幅在中等個位數。豬肉價格則在高個位數。這就是為什麼我提到了培根。

And -- but we feel good about our competitive ability. We're -- we always want to be the last raise and the first to lower. And -- but we feel -- again, as you look at our margins, we feel good about where our margins are coming in and our ability to be very competitive out there.

但我們對自身的競爭力充滿信心。我們始終希望成為最後一個漲價、第一個降價的公司。而且，正如您從我們的利潤率來看，我們對目前的利潤率以及在市場上保持強大競爭力的能力感到非常滿意。

Okay. That makes sense. Are we're seeing panic buying in bacon yet? Or we're not at that point yet?

好的，這說得通。現在出現搶購培根的恐慌性搶購了嗎？還是還沒到那個地步？

Probably tomorrow because I mentioned it.

可能明天吧，因為我提過了。

Exactly. I'm heading there tonight.

沒錯。我今晚就去那裡。

Our next question is from Karen Short of Barclays.

下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的凱倫·肖特。

I wanted to get back to this SG&A and/or, I guess, gross margin question. So when I look at the EBIT growth in this quarter versus sales growth and I back out COVID costs, the second quarter was, by far, the narrowest gap. So 3Q, 4Q, 1Q, and 2Q, like you were 1/3 of what you were in 1Q, like half -- more than half or less than half of what you were in 4Q, 3Q.

我想回到銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）和/或毛利率的問題。當我比較本季息稅前利潤（EBIT）成長與銷售額成長，並剔除新冠疫情相關成本後，第二季的差距明顯最小。第三季、第四季、第一季和第二季度，分別只有第一季的三分之一、一半、一半多一點或不到第三季的一半。

So it clearly is a question of like the gross profit dollar growth versus the SG&A growth. So I guess I'm wondering can you just talk through that a little bit more because the change in this quarter just is somewhat glaring?

所以很明顯，問題在於毛利成長與銷售、管理及行政費用成長之間的關係。我想請您再詳細解釋一下，因為本季的變化確實比較明顯。

Yes. Well, I think again, Karen, it gets back to gas. Gas is a high sales dollar number, and the impact to -- somebody put me on mute, please.

是的。嗯，我想，凱倫，這最終還是得回到汽油的問題。汽油的銷售額很高，而且它對…的影響——誰能讓我靜音？

The impact to gas is both dollars and average price to a lower gross margin as well. And that's really the biggest piece of it, right.

這對天然氣產業的影響體現在美元價格和平均價格兩方面，同時也會降低毛利率。這才是最主要的原因，對吧。

Right. But I'm talking EBIT dollar growth, excluding COVID costs versus the sales. So I guess -- yes, I mean, gas sales, I have to adjust for gas, but it just still seems like a very wide spread -- or wide consolidation.

沒錯。但我說的是息稅前利潤（EBIT）的成長，不包括新冠疫情相關成本，而是與銷售額相比的成長。所以我想——是的，我的意思是，汽油銷售額，我得把汽油成本考慮進去，但這看起來仍然差距很大——或者說集中度過高。

Well, I can -- again, without being specific -- dollar-specific, the biggest dollar impact year-over-year in profitability, if I -- when I mentioned these various pluses and minuses, was gas.

嗯，我可以——再次聲明，不具體說明——就美元而言，如果我提到這些各種優缺點時，對盈利能力產生最大美元影響的是汽油。

Okay.

好的。

And it's a combination. It's a 10-ish percent piece of our business, which had a lower gross margin and lower dollar price per gallon. Both of those things would...

這是多種因素共同作用的結果。這部分業務約占我們總業務的10%，毛利率較低，每加侖售價也較低。這兩點都會…

Probably lower sales.

銷量可能下降。

Yes, in terms of lower sales, lower profits, and that's impacted.

是的，銷量下降，利潤下降，這都受到了影響。

Okay. And then just turning to the forward look on gross margin, obviously appreciating the fact that shrink and the fresh strength will hurt potentially gross margins as we get into the next couple of months. But ancillary should, I guess, help offset some of that. Appreciating gas may -- you can't predict that. But can you maybe talk through the dollar buckets of gross profit dollars in the other categories within ancillary?

好的。接下來我們來展望一下毛利率，顯然，我們意識到銷量下滑和新業務強勁成長可能會在未來幾個月對毛利率造成影響。但我想，輔助業務應該能抵銷一部分影響。至於汽油價格——這很難預測。能否詳細分析輔助業務中其他類別的毛利組成？

Well, again, travel should improve. Recognizing how much it will improve, we'll wait to see. But it's starting to improve a little bit. Food courts will improve, the same thing as we start to put out seating and expand what we offer there. Now when that occurs and how that occurs, we're not going to -- we're probably going to do it in certain regions first and go from there.

嗯，旅行狀況應該會有所改善。至於改善幅度有多大，我們拭目以待。但目前已經開始略有改善。美食廣場的情況也會有所改善，就像我們開始增設座位、擴大服務範圍一樣。至於具體何時實施，以及以何種方式實施，我們可能不會立即公佈——我們可能會先在某些地區試行，然後再逐步推廣。

Gas is the big unknown and the big guesstimate of which direction it goes each week. But we'll again try to point that out to you. Hearing -- we've seen -- we have seen a period improvement in hearing aid and optical.

天然氣價格是最大的未知數，每週的價格走勢很難預測。但我們會再次強調這一點。至於聽力方面—我們已經看到助聽器和光學設備的使用情況有所改善。

Okay. And then just last one for me. Is there any impact to the SG&A dollars from the enhanced white glove service that you could call out?

好的。最後一個問題。您能否指出，升級後的白手套服務對銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）有何影響？

Margins.

邊際。

There's better efficiencies. Although keep in mind, we've really grown this thing fast of taking our some of our existing -- not only have these departments grown dramatically in the last year, we were using third parties for a lot of it. And we continue to push more on there and to improve the service, to lower the price. And so I think you should see that should continue to improve. But it was not without its cost to accomplish all that in the last quarter.

效率確實提高了。不過請記住，我們發展速度非常快，一些現有部門——不僅這些部門在過去一年裡規模大幅增長，而且我們之前很多工作都依賴第三方——也都在逐步淘汰。我們會繼續加大投入，改善服務，降低價格。所以我認為，效率應該會持續提升。但上個季度要取得這些成就並非沒有代價。

Your next question is from Paul Lejuez of Citigroup.

你的下一個問題來自花旗集團的保羅‧萊朱茲。

This is Brian (inaudible) for Paul. I was wondering if we could circle back on the inflation question and kind of go through some of the puts and takes of inflation items that you'll be anniversarying coming up in the coming quarters?

我是布萊恩（聽不清楚），我是保羅。我想問一下，我們能否再回到通貨膨脹的問題上來，並討論一下您在接下來的幾個季度中即將迎來週年紀念日的與通貨膨脹相關的一些事項？

Well, I don't think we're anniversarying any of them soon. It's just starting to happen in the last month or 2. And again. A lot of it has to do -- in our view, you've had a little bit of inflation over the last year with -- on things like paper goods because of just a huge demand and the shortages. But in terms of some of the recent things with container shortages and port issues, some supply issues on chips and components of big-ticket items, cost of steel was up 50% to 100%, all those things impact that. I think it's more -- this has happened in the last several months versus a year ago.

嗯，我覺得我們近期不會迎來任何週年紀念日。這種情況只是最近一兩個月才開始出現。而且，很大程度上是因為——在我們看來——過去一年紙製品等商品的價格出現了一些通膨，這主要是因為需求巨大而導致的短缺。但就最近貨櫃短缺、港口問題、晶片和高價商品零件的供應問題，以及鋼鐵成本上漲50%到100%等因素而言，所有這些因素都會產生影響。我認為，這種情況更多地發生在過去幾個月，而不是一年前。

Got it. Can you quantify the impact of freight costs and some of the container issues that had on this most recent quarter?

明白了。您能否量化一下運費成本和一些貨櫃問題對最近一個季度的影響？

I can't off -- with the notes that I have in front of me. I mean, anecdotally, if you look at what is the cost per container coming over, it used to be...

我無法就此罷休──就憑我手邊的這些筆記。我的意思是，就我個人經驗而言，如果你看看每個貨櫃的運輸成本，以前是…

10%

10%

It's up 10% to 15%.

上漲了10%到15%。

And the next question is from Scott Mushkin of R5 Capital.

下一個問題來自 R5 Capital 的 Scott Mushkin。

So I kind of wanted to just think about the business a little more strategically, Richard, and understand, we went through a period where you did the Citibank deal. And then you guys didn't talk too much about it, but you really expanded your fresh offerings, which I think helped the clubs and drive some traffic. I was wondering if you think about the business over the next couple of years and we think about kind of self-help initiatives, where do you think there's some levers that you guys can pull?

所以我想從戰略角度更深入地思考一下業務，理查德。我想了解一下，之前你們完成了與花旗銀行的交易。雖然你們當時沒有過多談論此事，但你們確實拓展了新的產品和服務，我認為這對俱樂部的發展和客流量都有幫助。我想知道，如果展望未來幾年的業務發展，以及我們考慮一些自助式的舉措，你們認為有哪些可以利用的槓桿？

Well, I think -- first of all, some of them are ongoing. Kirkland Signature continues to be something that we'll continue to increase the offerings that we do. There aren't any giant billion-dollar ones, items like -- there's a handful of items like paper towels and toilet paper water that are huge. There's the K-cups and those things that are in the hundreds of millions of dollars. But there's lots of 20s to hundreds out there, and we continue to do that with all kinds of quality organic packaged food items as well.

嗯，我認為──首先，有些項目還在進行中。 Kirkland Signature 是我們持續拓展產品線的專案之一。雖然沒有那種價值十億美元的巨型產品，像是紙巾、衛生紙和瓶裝水之類的，但也有少數幾款銷售龐大的產品。還有 K-cup 咖啡膠囊之類的，它們的銷售額高達數億美元。不過，市面上還有很多銷售額在兩三萬美元之間的產品，我們也一直在努力拓展各種優質有機包裝食品的市場。

I think one of the things that we've seen from some of our vertical integration is starting to pay off. We've got the chicken facility at full capacity now. We've got a great bakery commissary. We -- 2 years ago, we opened a second meat plant. We're seeing some improvement from that.

我認為我們從一些垂直整合中看到的成效之一已經開始顯現。我們的雞肉加工廠現在已經滿載運作。我們還有一個很棒的烘焙食品加工中心。兩年前，我們開設了第二家肉品加工廠。我們看到了一些改進。

We're also starting to identify items that historically we manufactured in one place, generally in the United States, and then shipped all over the world, whether it's roasting of nuts and cashews and doing -- and bringing all that product from where it's grown to the U.S. for roasting and packaging and shipping out worldwide, we now have a supplier in Asia that is doing all the needs for Asia, Australia. And dramatically -- we're able to dramatically reduce the price and drive sales and drive bottom line dollars for us. We're doing that with all -- we're looking at all kinds of avenues to do that with, from paper goods to things like that as well. So I think these are long-term opportunities, but there should be a lot of them over the next several years.

我們也開始著手解決一些以往只在美國生產，然後銷往世界各地的產品，例如堅果和腰果的烘焙——以前我們會把所有原料從產地運到美國進行烘焙、包裝，然後再運往世界各地。現在，我們在亞洲找到了一家供應商，可以滿足亞洲和澳洲的所有需求。這樣一來，我們就能大幅降低價格，促進銷售，提高利潤。我們正在嘗試各種途徑來實現這一點，從紙製品到其他類似產品。我認為這些都是長期的機遇，未來幾年應該會有很多這樣的機會。

Also, e-comm, notwithstanding our start back in the early 2000s, we -- like everybody has, that's become more important over the last year, in particular, it's approaching 10% of our business and continue to grow nicely. And we're driving -- we're getting better at doing it and getting more clicks and the like in that regard.

此外，電子商務雖然起步於2000年代初期，但和所有人一樣，它在過去一年變得越來越重要，尤其是在過去一年裡，它已經接近我們業務的10%，並且還在持續穩步增長。我們也在不斷改進——我們在這方面做得越來越好，獲得了更多的點擊量等等。

So I think e-commerce. And then the big and bulky here, our acquisition of Innovel last March, all you see now, and we've pointed out, I think, for the last 3 fiscal quarters, 6 or 7 basis point hit to gross margin as it relates to the -- it's like a manufacturing -- it's a service business that goes in ultimately back into our cost of sales with that ethane costs. Notwithstanding the fact that, that has helped drive sales of bigger bulky items, and in fact, lowered the prices to our members on some of those items.

所以我認為是電子商務。然後是規模龐大的收購，例如我們去年三月收購的Innovel，現在你們看到的，而且我們已經指出，在過去三個財季中，由於乙烷成本，毛利率下降了6到7個基點——這就像製造業一樣，它是一家服務型企業，最終會以乙烷成本的形式計入我們的銷售成本。儘管如此，這也促進了大型商品的銷售，實際上也降低了部分商品的價格。

So we think that that's as expected. It was going to be earnings dilutive at the operations standpoint for the first couple of years and be fine there. But more -- as importantly, if not more importantly, growing big and bulky as part of our business, we're seeing big -- continued big increases from mattresses to white goods to exercise equipment, notwithstanding the fact that there's been some shortages in some of those items.

所以我們認為這在預期之內。從營運角度來看，頭幾年獲利肯定會被稀釋，但這沒關係。但更重要的是——甚至可以說是更重要的——隨著我們業務規模的擴大，我們看到從床墊到白色家電再到健身器材等產品的銷量持續大幅增長，儘管其中一些產品出現了短缺。

That's great. Thanks for all the color.

太棒了！謝謝你帶來的繽紛色彩。

Your next question is from Scot Ciccarelli of RBC Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的史考特·西卡雷利。

So as you guys get food inflation on meat, pork, et cetera, are price increases there a direct pass-through to the customer? Or do you guys try to be sticky on some of your prices the way you have been with rotisserie chicken, for example?

所以，當你們遇到肉類、豬肉等食品價格上漲的情況時，價格上漲是直接轉嫁給消費者的嗎？還是你們會像對待烤雞一樣，盡量保持某些商品價格的穩定？

Yes. I don't think we'll be as extreme as the old chicken example from 15 years ago, where we stuck -- we've continued to stay at $4.99 and figured out ways how to do that. But certainly, we are -- we want to be the last -- we want to be as sticky as possible and hold off, and we'll wait until our cost has come through the system. But overall, particularly, on fresh items, those prices probably change more often than not, both at traditional supermarkets as well as the Costcos of the world.

是的。我不認為我們會像15年前雞肉的例子那麼極端，當時我們堅持4.99美元的價格，並且找到了維持這個價格的方法。但當然，我們想成為最後一個——我們想盡可能地堅持下去，堅持到成本完全反映在系統中。但總的來說，尤其是在生鮮商品方面，無論是傳統超市還是像Costco這樣的大型連鎖超市，價格變動的頻率可能都比較高。

And in fact, the other thing I want to mention is, is we're a little unique in terms of our product mix when you look at it. We're selling -- part of our meat business is prime. And those are the types of things where we can get a strong margin for us and show you greater savings because the marks-up traditionally on something like that special item or even higher at traditional retail outlets. So we think overall, we're in good stead in that regard.

事實上，我還想提一下，我們的產品組合有點獨特。我們銷售的肉類產品中有一部分是特級肉。這類產品利潤率很高，能讓您享受到更大的優惠，因為傳統零售店對這類特級肉的加價通常更高。所以總的來說，我們認為在這方面我們處於有利地位。

That's helpful, Richard. And then, you did mention your chicken plant has -- I think it's been for a bit, fully up and running. Are you generating the efficiencies you guys originally anticipated when you first went down that road?

這很有幫助，理查德。還有，你剛才提到你的雞肉加工廠——我想應該已經有一段時間了——已經全面投產了。你們是否達到了當初決定要建廠時的預期效率？

We're pretty close. I mean we're at full production, which is similar. There's been some puts and takes. As we built it, we decided to put in additional things that we think provide for higher-quality product, like air-chilling and things like that. The COVID expenses certainly have impacted us more than nobody had planned for it. So that, of course, should improve over the next year.

我們已經基本完成了。我的意思是，我們已經全面投產，情況差不多。期間也經歷了一些調整和改進。在生產過程中，我們決定增加一些我們認為能提升產品品質的設備，例如空氣冷卻系統等等。新冠疫情帶來的額外支出確實比任何人預想的都要大。所以，這種情況當然應該會在明年有所改善。

I think it's -- the feed costs, we've been fortunate. Historically, we -- the first year, we were fortunate. Feed costs are coming up a little bit, but we're also finding that the chickens are growing a little better than we thought. And so all those things add up to -- we feel pretty good about it.

我覺得——飼料成本方面，我們很幸運。從歷史數據來看，第一年我們確實很幸運。飼料成本雖然略有上漲，但我們也發現雞的生長情況比預期的好一些。所以，所有這些因素加起來——我們感覺相當不錯。

Our next question is from Greg Melich of Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Greg Melich。

I just -- I want to start just to clarify the inflation, at the risk of being the fourth comment on it. You said that there are items that are higher, right? But the 2% to 4% comment, Richard, was that saying what you actually think it is now in your average ticket? Or is that just saying some items? Or in other words, would you estimate the whole benefits is like 1% or 2% right now?

我只是想先澄清通貨膨脹的問題，雖然這可能是我第四次提到這個問題了。您說過有些商品的價格上漲了，對吧？但是理查德，您說的2%到4%是指您認為現在平均帳單上的價格漲幅嗎？還是僅指某些商品的價格漲幅？換句話說，您估計目前所有商品和服務的漲幅在1%到2%之間嗎？

Yes. Some categories are in that 2% to 4% range, and some are little -- I mentioned are -- like meat and pork are a little higher than that. Produce is flat. But we don't do LIFO anymore. But I think if you looked at our cost on average, the view is probably flat to up 1%, 1.5%, but somewhere in that range. And that's a guess.

是的。有些品類的漲幅在2%到4%之間，有些則略高一些——就像我剛才提到的——比如肉類和豬肉的漲幅就比這高一些。農產品價格基本持平。不過我們現在不再採用後進先出法（LIFO）了。但我認為，如果你看我們的平均成本，整體情況大概是持平到上漲1%或1.5%，大概在這個範圍內。這只是我的猜測。

Okay, fair enough. Thanks for that a clarification.

好的，明白了。謝謝你的解釋。

Second is what -- you went through -- on the renewal rates, I guess as you're thinking about it now, what do you think you could really get renewal rates to? And maybe tie it in with some of the other things you have to really drive loyalty, like the credit card program. Any update there in terms of what sort of engagement you have with it? What percentage of customers or sales are on the card, to help us understand where that renewal rate could be trending?

其次，關於續費率，我想您現在應該也在思考這個問題。您認為續費率真正能達到的水準是多少？或許可以將其與您現有的其他提升客戶忠誠度的措施結合起來，例如信用卡項目。關於信用卡項目，您目前有什麼最新進展嗎？目前有多少客戶或銷售量使用信用卡？這有助於我們了解續費率的趨勢。

Sure. Well, look, what we internally call the triple plays, not only getting to become a member, but to upgrade to the executive member and then to apply and get the Citi Visa card, recognizing that not everybody that applies for it gets it based on credit. That credit decision is made by issuing bank, not by us.

當然。你看，我們內部稱之為「三重奏」的方案，不僅包括成為會員，還包括升級為高級會員，最後申請並獲得花旗Visa卡。需要注意的是，並非所有申請者都能獲得批准，這取決於信用狀況。信用評估由發卡銀行做出，而非我們。

And the -- I'm sorry, I lost my train of thought, right? Oh, renewal rate. In terms of improving renewal rate, as we do add people to the credit card and to executive membership, both of those things tend to increase -- provide for more loyal customer or a higher renewal rate. Also, we're doing more things to get you to auto renew, whether it's on the Citi Visa card or working on some other areas right now as well. To the extent we get you to auto renew by almost de facto, there's going to be a higher renewal rate on those as well.

還有──不好意思，我思路有點亂，對吧？哦，續卡率。說到提高續卡率，隨著我們增加信用卡用戶和高級會員用戶，續卡率往往會提高——也就是客戶忠誠度更高。此外，我們正在採取更多措施鼓勵您自動續卡，無論是花旗Visa卡，還是其他一些領域，我們目前也在努力。如果我們能讓您幾乎預設自動續卡，那麼續卡率也會更高。

First and foremost, ultimately, it's the things we do to make you want to remain a member of Costco. And we think that some of those things like upgrading to executive membership, which we've shown you, continues to be part of our quarterly positive there as well as getting more people to auto renew.

首先，歸根結底，我們所做的一切都是為了讓您願意繼續成為 Costco 會員。我們認為，像升級到高級會員（我們已經向您展示了這一點）這樣的舉措，以及促使更多人自動續訂會員資格，都是我們季度業績增長的重要因素。

Can you hear me?

你聽得到我嗎？

Yes, I can. We heard that. And last, is there any hope on travel bookings? Any sort of glimpses there? Or is that still depressed?

是的，我能。我們聽到了。最後，旅遊預訂方面有希望嗎？有絲毫好轉的跡象嗎？還是仍然低迷？

It is coming back, but it's the same thing I said back in the spring and the summer when there were some easing of COVID statistics and people were starting to book out for Christmas and even into the winter and spring of 2021. But they did it knowing that there was generally full cancellation capabilities. We're now seeing -- and as you might expect, many of those things were canceled.

它正在復蘇，但這和我今年春夏兩季說的一樣，當時新冠疫情數據有所緩解，人們開始預訂聖誕節甚至2021年冬春兩季的行程。但他們當時知道，通常情況下，取消預訂的餘地是很大的。而現在，正如你所預料的，許多預訂都被取消了。

Now we're seeing the same thing again. We've also -- our travel department, we're doing pretty well, relatively speaking, on car rentals. And as it relates to travel and hotel bookings, we have added some additional domestic items and Mexico items for the domestic -- for the U.S. domestic market as well. Hawaii and Mexico are pretty strong.

現在我們又看到了同樣的情況。我們的旅遊部門，就租車業務而言，表現相當不錯。至於旅遊和酒店預訂，我們增加了一些美國國內和墨西哥的旅遊項目——也包括美國國內市場。夏威夷和墨西哥的旅遊業務也相當強勁。

Again within the relative framework, there are some 4 and 5-star things that we've gotten in other parts of the world, which wouldn't talk to us a few years ago. But -- so we're optimistic it's going to come back and expected, and we've certainly, I think improved our offerings.

同樣，在相對框架內，我們在世界其他地區獲得了一些四星和五星級的評價，而這些評價在幾年前是無法與我們匹敵的。但是——所以我們樂觀地認為，這些評價將會回歸市場並成為人們的預期，我認為，我們的產品和服務確實得到了改善。

Excellent. I guess putting heart pressure monitors across from the bacon going forward.

太好了。看來以後得在培根旁邊放血壓監測器了。

There you go. There is a fast food retailer out there that has an interesting name for that.

瞧，確實有一家快餐零售商給它取了個很有趣的名字。

Your next question is from Greg Badishkanian of Wolfe.

你的下一個問題來自 Wolfe 公司的 Greg Badishkanian。

This is Spencer Hanus on for Greg. My first question is how should we think about how much of the share gains that you have this year you'll retain? And then the low single-digit comp in the last week of February, how did that compare to your internal expectations?

這裡是 Spencer Hanus，替 Greg 回答問題。我的第一個問題是，我們應該如何看待您今年獲得的股份成長中有多少能夠保留下來？還有，2 月最後一週的個位數低幅的薪資調整，與您內部的預期相比如何？

Let me answer the last question first. I mean all we knew is that week 4 of February compared to a year ago and weeks 1 and 2 and part of 3 of March were going to be tough compares. I think -- we actually did a little better than we thought, but still it was a low number given the strength a year ago. And I'm sorry, what was your first question?

讓我先回答最後一個問題。我的意思是，我們當時只知道，二月份第四週與去年同期相比，以及三月份第一週、第二週和前三週的數據都會比較難比較。我認為——我們實際上表現比預期略好一些，但考慮到去年的強勁勢頭，這個數字仍然偏低。不好意思，你第一個問題是什麼？

Market share.

市場占有率.

Market share. Look, at the end of the day, some of it is going to be sticky and some of it's not. We all personally hope that restaurants will reopen, and we'll all be able to go out and enjoy and socialize. That will impact retail food sales at Costco and supermarkets and the like to some extent.

市場占有率.說到底，有些份額會保持穩定，有些則不會。我們都希望餐廳能夠重新開業，這樣我們就能外出享受生活、與人交往。這在一定程度上會影響好市多、超市等零售食品店的銷售。

That being said, there are other retail formats, whether it was restaurants and food that have closed for good, apparel retailers, other general merchandise retailers. So in some ways, some of the stickiness, unfortunately, relates to certain aspects of retail that have closed for good. And some of them will be that they've gotten more comfortable buying some of these things from the likes of Costco.

話雖如此，還有其他零售業態，例如永久關閉的餐飲店、服裝店和其他百貨公司。因此，在某種程度上，這種「黏性」不幸地與某些永久關閉的零售業態有關。而有些人之所以會繼續留在原業態，是因為他們已經更習慣從像 Costco 這樣的大型超市購買商品。

I hope we lose some of it to the examples of restaurants and the like and other stores that were impacted as they can reopen. And -- but I'm sure that we will end up keeping a little bit of it as well.

我希望隨著餐廳和其他受影響的商店重新開業，我們能減少部分損失。而且──但我相信我們最終也會保留一部分損失。

That's helpful. And then for the new members that you've recruited during COVID, how are they different than previous cohorts? And are you expecting to see renewal rates in line with the overall company average?

這很有幫助。那麼，在新冠疫情期間招募的新成員與先前的會員有何不同？您預計他們的續約率會與公司整體平均水平持平嗎？

Whenever we sign up a member, if you look at our 90-point whatever percent renewal rate in the U.S. and Canada, that includes some 10-year-plus members that are 93% or 94% or 95%, and includes some members that have -- in the last 2 years that might be mid-70s to mid-80s. So you're always from year 0 to year 1 of renewal, it's going to be a lower rate. And year 1 to year 2, it's a combination of 2-year members plus some new 1-year members picks that renewal rate up.

每當我們新增會員時，如果您查看我們在美國和加拿大的90%左右的續會率，會會率中包含一些續會超過10年的會員，他們的續會率高達93%、94%甚至95%，也包含一些會員——在過去兩年裡，他們的續會率可能在70%到80%之間。因此，從第0年到第1年的續會率總是會比較低。而從第1年到第2年，續會率的提升則是由一些續會兩年的會員和一些新加入的1年會員共同拉高了。

So my guess is some of these new ones, again, they're going to follow that format. The other thing though is in some cases, we think we've gotten new members sometimes in markets where we don't even operate physical stores. Not a lot, but it can't hurt.

所以我猜想，這些新會員有些也會沿用這種模式。不過，還有一點是，在某些情況下，我們甚至在一些沒有實體店的市場也獲得了新會員。雖然不多，但總歸是好事。

Our next question is from Rupesh Parikh of Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自奧本海默公司的魯佩什·帕里克。

So Richard, I just wanted to ask you just about e-commerce fulfillment capacity. So you guys have obviously registered very strong growth the last several months. So I just curious where you guys are from a fulfillment perspective and whether you would expect to see a step-up of an investment going forward?

理查德，我想問關於電商物流配送能力的問題。你們最近幾個月的成長非常強勁。所以我想了解你們目前的物流配送能力如何，以及你們是否預期未來會加大投資？

Well, I think there has been a step-up in the last couple of years, and it's continued this year. We are building additional fulfillment as we speak -- fulfillment capability. We're getting better at it, but so is everybody that have seen this kind of wild growth. In some ways, we think it may be easier for us because of the fewer items. We're doing the 2-day grocery still through our business centers, which works pretty smoothly. So it is a larger percentage of the $3 billion-ish we spend every year than it used to be. But certainly, the biggest single percentage is still opening new warehouses.

我認為在過去幾年裡，我們的業務有了顯著提升，今年也延續了這一勢頭。我們正加緊興建物流配送中心，提升配送能力。我們在這方面做得越來越好，但所有經歷過這種高速成長的企業都在不斷進步。某種程度上，我們認為由於商品種類減少，我們的工作反而更容易。我們仍透過業務中心提供兩日達的生鮮配送服務，而且運作非常順暢。因此，在我們每年約30億美元的支出中，生鮮配送所佔的比例比以往更高。但可以肯定的是，最大的支出仍然是新建倉庫。

Okay. Great. And then maybe just one follow-up question. So clearly you guys have -- sorry, go ahead.

好的，太好了。那我可能還有一個後續問題。顯然你們有——不好意思，請繼續。

In addition to physical capital expenditures, there's also it capital expenditures, which is part of our CapEx as well. And there's a lot of investment in that around everything from e-commerce, from mobile app to fulfillment and the like.

除了實物資本支出外，還有資訊科技支出，這也是我們資本支出的一部分。我們在電子商務、行動應用、物流配送等各方面都進行了大量投資。

Okay. Great. And then just given the announcement on the increase in minimum wages, do you see any other levers going forward that can offset some of the wage pressures that we've seen maybe on a multiyear basis in your business?

好的，太好了。鑑於剛剛宣布的提高最低工資標準，您認為未來還有哪些措施可以緩解貴公司多年來面臨的薪資壓力？

From the beginning -- I used to think about that question 30 years ago. And what we find is that we're always able to -- because we've got a great employee base that are hard-working and loyal and know that we care -- we, as a company, they're cared about, I think that we feel that we've seen over the years, everything from inventory shrink to labor productivity. Certainly, we measure these things, too, but labor productivity. And a lot of it has to do with coming up with ideas, many of which are -- these ideas come from our employees that are on the ground, if you will. working in the meat department, figured out how to be more efficient with pounds per hour -- per labor hour.

從一開始──我30年前就開始思考這個問題了。我們發現，我們總是能做到這一點——因為我們擁有一支優秀的員工隊伍，他們勤奮忠誠，並且知道我們關心他們——作為一家公司，我們關心他們。我認為，多年來，從庫存減少到勞動生產力，我們都感受到了這一點。當然，我們也會衡量這些指標，但勞動生產力尤其重要。這很大程度取決於員工的創新思維，而這些思維大多來自我們第一線員工。例如，肉品部門的員工就想出如何提高每小時的產量（磅/小時）。

So we've always figured out ways -- not worried about, let's figure out how to save it and then we can give it -- pass it on to them. Let's pass it on, and we'll get there from an efficiency standpoint. And it seems to have worked for us.

所以我們總是能找到辦法──不去糾結如何省錢，而是想辦法把它省下來，然後再捐贈出去。我們把它捐贈出去，從效率的角度來看，這樣就能達到目的。而且這種方法似乎對我們來說很有效。

Yes. Other things like we now have self-checkout in 60% or 70% of our 558 Costcos in the U.S. It will be in virtually all of them, and we'll see it in other countries as well. That's the savings that took us a while to believe part of it and to figure out. I think we're on the third format of it -- version of it, but it's working in our environment the way we want it to, and we see savings there.

是的。例如，我們在美國558家Costco門市中，現在有60%到70%都配備了自助結帳系統。未來幾乎所有門市都會配備，其他國家也會推廣。我們花了很長時間才意識到自助結帳的優勢，並最終確定了它的可行性。我認為我們現在使用的是第三版自助結帳系統，但它在我們目前的營運環境中運作良好，符合我們的預期，確實能帶來成本節約。

So we're constantly figuring those things out. And we attribute a lot of that to -- many of these good ideas don't come from the rooms here at the office, they come from the people out on the floor.

所以我們一直在努力解決這些問題。我們認為這很大程度上要歸功於──許多好點子並非來自辦公室，而是來自第一線員工。

Your next question is from Edward Kelly of Wells Fargo.

下一個問題來自富國銀行的愛德華‧凱利。

I just wanted to go back, first of all, on the ancillary gross margin. You talked about gas being a bit more than half, so the remainder is pandemic-related, I guess, 15, 20 basis points? Has that drag been consistent there since the pandemic began? So if I look back over the other quarters, whatever sort of remainder there would just be the gas movement?

首先，我想再確認一下輔助業務毛利率。您提到天然氣業務佔了一半多一點，那麼剩下的部分大概是受疫情影響的，大概15到20個基點吧？自疫情開始以來，這種拖累一直持續嗎？如果我回顧其他幾個季度，剩下的部分是否都只是天然氣業務的波動造成的？

Yes. Yes, I think it was worse last year in Q3. And -- but it's been similar -- it's improving a little right now, but still negative year-over-year. The big delta is you had gas. In quarters where we talked about gas was a big positive. It offset -- more than offset some of these other negatives.

是的。是的，我認為去年第三季的情況更糟。而且——但情況一直類似——現在略有好轉，但同比仍然為負。最大的變化在於汽油。在我們討論汽油的幾個季度裡，汽油是一個很大的利多因素。它抵消了——甚至超過了抵消其他一些不利因素。

Right. Okay, so we have that coming back, then like normalizes. And when you look at the other segment of the gross margin, how much of that's going to come back? Because the 16 -- the wage increase play a role there, so should I assume only half of that comes back?

好的。所以這部分會恢復，然後趨於正常。那麼，當你看毛利率的另一部分時，會有多少恢復呢？因為薪資上漲（16%）也影響了這部分，所以我應該假設只有一半會恢復嗎？

Well, I think from simple math, we talked about the $246 million for this quarter in total for COVID-related. And of that, $60 million impacted margin. So $60 million over $246 million, whatever that percentage is, a little under 25%. And on an annual basis, we talked about the $1.060 billion and a little over half, so just take half of that. And that's kind of the net improvement -- or pretax improvement in margin from that.

嗯，我覺得從簡單的數學計算來看，我們之前討論過本季與新冠疫情相關的總支出為 2.46 億美元。其中，6000 萬美元影響了利潤率。所以 6000 萬美元除以 2.46 億美元，無論這個百分比是多少，都略低於 25%。而從年度來看，我們之前討論過 10.6 億美元的支出略高於一半，所以只需取一半即可。這就是由此帶來的淨改善──或者說是稅前利潤率的改善。

But I'm sure if there's other outliers, we'll explain them to you as we go into each quarter. Some of the things -- that's the easy one because it's big, and we know what we're doing with it. The unknowns are how quickly will travel come back. Travel is a very high-margin, low SG&A business. Food Courts it will improve dramatically once we get tables out there everywhere. And that's not going to happen tomorrow afternoon, but it's going to happen, God-willing, over the next several months.

但我相信，如果還有其他異常情況，我們會在每季開始時向大家解釋。有些事情——這部分比較容易，因為規模很大，而且我們知道如何處理。未知因素在於旅遊業何時才能復甦。旅遊業利潤率很高，銷售、管理及行政費用很低。我們在各地擺放好餐桌，美食廣場的情況將會顯著改善。這不會明天下午就發生，但如果一切順利，未來幾個月一定會實現。

Okay. And just one last one for you. So on the core, historically the core margin really hasn't been up. It's obviously doing very well right now. Going forward, I mean you could still have maybe mix benefit from things like stimulus. But don't we eventually just sort of assume that what we've seen over the last few quarters sort of normalizes back to pre-COVID level and we take the margin down by that amount?

好的。最後一個問題。就核心業務而言，從歷史數據來看，核心利潤率其實並沒有真正上升。當然，目前它的表現非常出色。展望未來，我的意思是，刺激政策之類的措施或許還能帶來一些利多。但我們最終是否應該假設，過去幾季的情況會逐漸恢復到疫情前的水平，然後我們再將利潤率相應降低呢？

I feel a little stronger than that in terms of the positive. I think that on the fresh side, yes. At some point, when you have your tougher year-over-year compares, you're not going to get those big basis point improvements from spoilage and labor productivity. Now some of it, though, at these new levels, you have more productivity. We're not going to necessarily lose at all. But if it's a tough compare, you a little -- you'll lose some of it.

就正面而言，我的感覺比這要強一些。我認為在新鮮食品方面，確實如此。但到了比較艱難的同比基數時，你可能無法從損耗率和勞動生產力方面獲得顯著的改善。不過，在新的水平上，我們的生產力確實有所提高。我們不一定會完全虧損。但如果同比基數很高，你一定會損失一些利潤。

So yes, on some of the other categories, particularly as we increase Kirkland Signature, as we sell certain things within fresh that are specialty items, where we can get a full margin and show an even greater savings in some cases. Some of the vertical integration, some of the things I mentioned, like the nuts and cashews. These are all little things, but those tend to offset some of those things. I'm not suggesting we're going to keep it all, but I think that we're going to do better than people -- than the question has a concern about.

是的，在其他一些類別上，尤其是在我們擴大 Kirkland Signature 品牌規模後，以及在生鮮區銷售一些特色商品時，我們能夠獲得全額利潤，在某些情況下甚至能實現更大的成本節約。還有一些垂直整合，像是我之前提到的堅果和腰果。這些都是一些小因素，但它們往往能夠抵消部分成本。我並不是說我們會全部保留下來，但我認為我們會做得比人們擔心的要好。

Well, thank you for listening. We're all here. If you have any additional questions, you know who we are, and have a good afternoon.

好的，謝謝大家的聆聽。我們都在這裡。如果您還有其他問題，您知道我們是誰，祝您下午愉快。

Thank you, Buena.

謝謝你，布埃納。

You're welcome, sir.

不客氣，先生。

And ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。現在可以掛斷電話了。