好市多 (COST) 2020 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Costco Q4 earnings call. (Operator Instructions)

女士們、先生們，感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加 Costco 第四季財報電話會議。 （操作說明）

I would now like to hand the conference over to Richard Galanti. Please go ahead.

現在我將把會議交給理查德·加蘭蒂。請開始吧。

Thank you, Laurie, and good afternoon to everyone. 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.

謝謝Laurie，大家下午好。首先我要說明，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情況，除法律要求外，本公司不承擔更新這些陳述的義務。

In today's press release, we reported operating results for the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2020, the 16 and 52 weeks ended August 30. Reported net income for the fourth quarter came in at $1.389 billion or $3.13 per diluted share compared to $1.097 billion or $2.47 a share -- per diluted share last year in the fourth quarter.

在今天的新聞稿中，我們公佈了截至 8 月 30 日的 2020 年第四季和 2020 財年（16 週和 52 週）的經營業績。第四季報告的淨利潤為 13.89 億美元，即每股攤薄收益 3.13 美元，而去年同期為 10.97 億美元，即每股攤薄收益 2.47 美元。

This year's fourth quarter was negatively impacted by incremental expense related to COVID-19 premium wages and sanitation costs totaling $281 million pretax or $0.47 a share, as well as a $36 million pretax charge or $0.06 per share related to early payment of $1.5 billion of debt. These items were partially offset by an $84 million pretax benefit or $0.15 a share for the partial reversal of a reserve of $123 million pretax, $0.22 per diluted share related to our product tax assessment taken in the fourth quarter of last year.

今年第四季業績受到與新冠疫情相關的額外支出（包括工資和衛生防疫費用）的負面影響，稅前總額達2.81億美元，合每股0.47美元；此外，還因提前償還15億美元債務而產生3600萬美元的稅前費用，合每股0.06美元。這些負面影響部分被8,400萬美元的稅前收益（合每股0.15美元）所抵消，該收益源於部分衝回了去年第四季提列的1.23億美元稅前準備金（合每股0.22美元）。

Net sales for the quarter increased 12.5% to $52.28 billion, up from $46.45 billion in the fourth quarter a year earlier. For the fiscal year in its entirety, fiscal 2020 came in at $163.22 billion, a 9.3% increase over the $149.35 billion in fiscal 2019.

本季淨銷售額成長12.5%，達522.8億美元，高於去年同期的464.5億美元。 2020財年全年淨銷售額為1,632.2億美元，較2019財年的1,493.5億美元成長9.3%。

Comparable sales for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020 were as follows: on a reported basis for the 16 weeks, U.S. was 11%. Excluding gas deflation and FX, U.S. was 13.6%. Canada reported 9.1% up. Again, ex gas deflation and FX, 12.6% up. Other international reported 16.1%, ex gas deflation and FX, 18.8%, bringing the total company to a reported number of 11.4% comp, and again, ex gas deflation and FX, up 14.1%. For the company, e-commerce reported was 90.6% up. And ex gas and FX, 91.3% up.

2020財年第四季同店銷售額如下：以報告的16週數據計算，美國市場成長11%。剔除天然氣價格下跌和匯率波動的影響，美國市場成長13.6%。加拿大市場成長9.1%。同樣剔除天然氣價格下跌和匯率波動的影響後，成長12.6%。其他國際市場成長16.1%，剔除天然氣價格下跌和匯率波動的影響後，成長18.8%，公司整體報告的同店銷售額成長11.4%。同樣剔除天然氣價格下跌和匯率波動的影響後，成長14.1%。公司電子商務業務成長90.6%。剔除天然氣價格下跌和匯率波動的影響後，成長91.3%。

In terms of the fourth quarter comp sales metrics, foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar negatively impact sales by about 50 basis points, and gasoline price deflation negatively impacted sales by approximately 220 basis points. Traffic or shopping frequency on a worldwide basis was down 1.2% during the fourth quarter and showed an increase of 1.2% in the U.S. Our average transaction, our average basket size was up 12.7% during the fourth quarter, notwithstanding the negative impacts from gas deflation and FX, which are included in that number.

就第四季同店銷售指標而言，外幣兌美元匯率波動對銷售額造成約50個基點的負面影響，而汽油價格通貨緊縮則造成約220個基點的負面影響。第四季全球客流量或購物頻率下降了1.2%，而美國則成長了1.2%。儘管受到汽油價格通貨緊縮和匯率波動的負面影響（已計入該數據），我們的平均交易額和平均客單價在第四季度仍增長了12.7%。

We've kept you up-to-date in our monthly sales calls on the impacts from the pandemic as we've been able to identify those. Overall merchandise sales in the core, core being food and sundries, hardlines, softlines and fresh, as well as pharmacy, have all been strong, while sales in our ancillary, other ancillary and travel businesses, though now open, have been soft.

我們已在每月銷售電話會議上及時向您報告疫情帶來的影響。核心業務（包括食品雜貨、五金、紡織品、生鮮食品和藥房）的整體商品銷售表現強勁，而輔助業務、其他輔助業務和旅遊業務雖然目前已恢復營業，但銷售情況較為疲軟。

Next, moving down the income statement, membership fee income. We reported a fourth quarter membership fee income of $1.106 billion, up $56 million from $1.05 billion in the fourth quarter of '19. The $56 million increase ex FX would have been $60 million up. During the quarter, we opened 8 net new units and 13 for the entire fiscal year. In terms of renewal rates, at fourth quarter end, our U.S. and Canada renewal rate remained at 91.0%. And worldwide rate also remained at its similar number from a quarter ago at 88.4%.

接下來，我們來看看損益表中的會員費收入。第四季會員費收入為11.06億美元，較2019年第四季的10.5億美元成長5,600萬美元。若不計匯率變動，這5,600萬美元的成長幅度將達到6,000萬美元。本季度，我們淨增加8家分店，全年淨增加13家。續費率方面，截至第四季末，美國和加拿大的續費率維持在91.0%。全球續費率也與上一季持平，為88.4%。

In terms of the number of members at Q4 end, both member households and cardholders, total paid households at fourth quarter end was up -- was -- came in at 58.1 million and cardholders, 105.5 million. In the fourth quarter, we standardized the membership count methodology globally, which we'd apparently done differently in different markets, North America versus others, and so that increase includes that slight adjustment. The change resulted in adding approximately 1.3 million paid members and 2.0 million cardholders to our member base.

截至第四季末，會員數（包括會員家庭和持卡人）方面，付費會員家庭總數達到5810萬，持卡人總數達到1.055億。第四季度，我們統一了全球會員統計方法，此前我們在不同市場（例如北美和其他地區）採用的方法有所不同，因此此次增長已包含這一細微調整。此次調整使我們的會員基數增加了約130萬名付費會員和200萬名持卡人。

So as an example, from Q3 to Q4 when we showed going from 55.8 million to 58.1 million or up 2.3 million, that 2.3 million increase includes the 1.3 million adjustment upwards. Similarly, the 3.7 million increase from the end of third quarter to fourth quarter, that 3.7 million increase includes 2.0 million of an adjustment. I'd like to note, however, that neither the membership fee income dollars nor the renewal rate calculations were affected by this adjustment. At fourth quarter end, paid executive memberships totaled 22.6 million, an increase of 765,000 during the 16 weeks since third quarter end.

例如，從第三季度到第四季度，會員人數從5580萬增至5810萬，增加了230萬，這230萬的增長包含了130萬的向上調整。同樣，從第三季末到第四季末，會員人數增加了370萬，這370萬的成長也包含了200萬的調整。但需要指出的是，會員費收入和續費率的計算均未受到此調整的影響。截至第四季末，付費高級會員總數為2,260萬，比第三季末的16週增加了76.5萬。

Going down the gross margin line -- going down to the gross margin line, our reported gross margin came in at 11.24%, up 18 basis points from last year's fourth quarter gross margin of 11.06%. That 18 basis point increase, excluding gas deflation, came in what would have been minus 4 basis points, and excluding a portion of the direct COVID expenses would have been up 8%, and I'll show you that in the numbers that I ask you to jot down here.

從毛利率來看，我們公佈的毛利率為11.24%，比去年第四季的11.06%增加了18個基點。如果不計入天然氣價格下跌的影響，這18個基點的成長相當於原本的負4個基點；若扣除部分新冠疫情直接支出，則成長8%。我會在請你記下的數字中向你展示這一點。

If you jot down the following numbers, 2 columns. First column will be fourth quarter as reported. Second column will be fourth quarter ex gas deflation. The first line item would be core merchandise. Year-over-year on a reported basis, core merchandise was up 101 basis points; ex gas deflation, up 82 basis points, so plus 101 and plus 82 in the first line item. Ancillary businesses being the second line item reported minus 66 basis points, and without gas deflation, minus 71; 2% reward, minus 4 and minus 2 basis points; other, minus 13 and minus 13 basis points, and that would give you totals on a reported basis of plus 18 basis points, which I mentioned, and ex gas deflation, the minus 4.

如果您記下以下兩列數字，第一列是按報告計算的第四季數據，第二列是剔除汽油價格下跌影響後的第四季數據。第一項是核心商品銷售額。以報告數據計算，核心商品銷售額年增101個基點；剔除汽油價格下跌影響後，較去年同期成長82個基點，因此第一項分別為+101和+82。輔助業務（第二項）報告數據為-66個基點，剔除汽油價格下跌影響後為-71個基點；2%的獎勵分別為-4和-2個基點；其他分別為-13和-13個基點，因此按報告數據計算的總計為+18個基點（如我之前提到的），剔除汽油價格

Now the core merchandise component of gross margin again was higher by 101 basis points year-over-year and 82 basis points higher ex gas deflation. Similar to last quarter and even more dramatic of an impact during this quarter, we had a significant sales shift from ancillary and other businesses to the core. This resulted in a higher contribution of our total gross margin dollars coming from the core operations versus last year.

核心商品業務的毛利率年增101個基點，剔除天然氣價格下跌的影響後成長82個基點。與上季類似，本季這一影響更為顯著，我們實現了銷售額從輔助業務和其他業務向核心業務的大幅轉移。這使得核心業務對毛利率的貢獻較去年同期增加。

Looking at the core merchandise categories in relation to only their own sales, so core-on-core, if you will, margins year-over-year were up by 70 basis points. Fresh foods was the biggest driver of the year. With the strong sales in fresh, we benefited from efficiency gains in both labor productivity and significantly lower, what we call, D&D or damage and destroyed or products spoilage. Food and sundries, softlines, hardlines, as well, as I mentioned, fresh foods already, but in addition, food and sundries, softlines and hardlines, all had higher margins year-over-year in the quarter as well.

如果只從核心商品類別本身的銷售額來看（也就是核心商品類別之間的比較），其利潤率就比去年同期成長了70個基點。生鮮食品是今年最大的成長動力。由於生鮮食品的強勁銷售，我們受益於勞動生產率的提高以及顯著降低的損耗（即產品損壞、損壞或變質）。正如我之前提到的，食品及日用品、紡織品、五金製品以及生鮮食品本身，在本季度的利潤率也均實現了同比增長。

Ancillary and other businesses gross margin again was lower by 66 basis points and 71 basis points ex gas deflation. Most of the -- our ancillary businesses were lower year-over-year, with the most significant negative impact coming from gasoline and travel, which accounted for about 3/4 of the decline. Costco Logistics, which was primarily our acquisition this past March of the big and bulky last-mile carrier called Innovel that was our newly acquired business, that impacted ancillary margins by minus 8 basis points. Again, we acquired this, this past March and we anticipated losses in this business as it ramps up. Note that these losses do not take into account any added sales from expanded product offerings, lower delivery prices and improved member satisfaction.

輔助業務及其他業務的毛利率再次下降，年減66個基點，若不計入汽油價格下跌的影響，則下降71個基點。我們的輔助業務大多年減，其中汽油和旅遊業務受到的負面影響最為顯著，約佔總降幅的四分之三。 Costco Logistics（主要是我們今年3月收購的Innovel，一家規模龐大、業務繁雜的末端物流公司）的毛利率下降了8個基點。我們在今年3月收購了Innovel，並預期隨著業務規模的擴大，該業務將會虧損。需要注意的是，這些虧損並未計入因產品種類增加、配送價格降低以及會員滿意度提升而帶來的額外銷售。

Next, 2% Reward, nothing really to say there, minus 2 basis points ex gas deflation. And other, the minus 13 basis points, nearly all of this is attributable to the costs from COVID, $64 million of the $281 million previously mentioned. These are direct costs for incremental wages and sanitation allocated to our cost departments and to our merchandise fulfillment operations so it impacts cost of sales.

接下來是2%的獎勵，沒什麼好說的，扣除汽油價格下跌的影響後再減去2個基點。另外，減去13個基點，幾乎全部歸因於新冠疫情造成的成本，即先前提到的2.81億美元中的6,400萬美元。這些是分配給成本部門和商品配送營運部門的額外工資和衛生費用等直接成本，因此會影響銷售成本。

Moving to SG&A. Our reported SG&A percentage year-over-year was lower or better by 47 basis points, coming in at 9.62% of sales this year in the fourth quarter versus 10.09% last year in the fourth quarter. Ex gas deflation, SG&A was lower or better by 66 basis points.

接下來是銷售、管理及行政費用 (SG&A)。我們報告的 SG&A 費用佔銷售額的百分比年減或改善了 47 個基點，今年第四季為 9.62%，而去年同期為 10.09%。剔除天然氣價格下跌的影響，SG&A 費用下降或改善了 66 個基點。

Again, if you jot down the following 2 columns of numbers, first column is reported year-over-year SG&A change and the second column would be ex gas deflation. Core operations as reported were better or lower by 42 basis points and ex gas deflation lower or better by 57 basis points, so plus 42 and plus 57; central, plus 1 and plus 3; stock compensation, plus 3 and plus 4; other, plus 1 and plus 2. And that gives you the total on a reported basis SG&A being better by 47 basis points and ex gas deflation being better by 66.

同樣，如果您記下以下兩列數字，第一列是報告的同比銷售、管理及行政費用 (SG&A) 變化，第二列是剔除天然氣價格下跌影響後的同比變化。報告的核心營運費用年減或改善 42 個基點，剔除天然氣價格下跌影響後較去年同期下降或改善 57 個基點，分別為 42 和 57；中央營運費用年減或改善 1 和 3；股權激勵費用較去年同期下降或改善 3 和 4；其他費用年減或改善 1 和 2。由此得出，報告的 SG&A 總費用年比改善 47 個基點，剔除天然氣價格下跌影響後年比改善 66 個基點。

SG&A in the core, excluding COVID-related expenses, which I'll discuss in a moment, was significantly leveraged, of course, with a strong core merchandise sales increases. As I mentioned, central stock compensation showing small improvements year-over-year as a percent of sales. And now the other plus 1 and -- plus 1 basis point reported and plus 2 ex gas deflation, as I discussed earlier in the call, the quarter was positively impacted by an $84 million reversal of last year's fourth quarter $123 million pretax reserve related to a product tax assessment taken a year ago in the fourth quarter.

核心業務的銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A），不包括我稍後會討論的與新冠疫情相關的支出，當然，得益於核心商品銷售額的強勁增長。正如我之前提到的，核心股權激勵支出佔銷售額的比例較去年同期略有改善。此外，正如我在電話會議中提到的，本季度業績還受到正面影響，其中報告的業績為+1，剔除天然氣價格下跌的影響為-1，剔除天然氣價格下跌的影響為+2。本季業績受到去年第四季提列的1.23億美元稅前準備金中8,400萬美元的衝回，該準備金與去年第四季徵收的產品稅評估有關。

The net impact from this item was plus 43 basis points. That plus 43 basis points is in this plus 1 and plus 2 basis point number. Also included in other are the incremental COVID costs or $217 million of the $281 million total amount. That equates to 42 or 41 basis points without gas deflation, offsetting it the other way. So that's why you have a very small number in that line. Again, these are the cost for incremental wages and safety and sanitation.

此專案帶來的淨影響為+43個基點。這+43個基點包含在+1和+2個基點的數字中。此外，其他項目還包括新增COVID相關的成本，即2.81億美元總額中的2.17億美元。這相當於42或41個基點，不包括汽油價格下跌的影響，因為汽油價格下跌會抵消此影響。所以，這就是為什麼該項數字非常小的原因。再次強調，這些成本包括新增薪資、安全和衛生方面的支出。

Next on the income statement, preopening expense. Preopening expense last year in the fourth quarter was $41 million. This year in the fourth quarter, it was $15 million less, coming in at $26 million. Last year in the fourth quarter, we had 12 gross openings, 10 net and 2 relos, and that compares to 10 openings gross or 8 net in the fourth quarter of this year. The big difference in those 2 numbers, this year's fourth quarter relates primarily to warehouses opened during the quarter as well as warehouses scheduled to open in the first quarter. Last year's preopening included $12 million in preopening expenses related to our new -- our then new poultry complex.

接下來是損益表中的開業前費用。去年第四季的開業前費用為 4,100 萬美元。今年第四季度，該費用減少了 1,500 萬美元，為 2,600 萬美元。去年第四季度，我們新增了 12 個倉庫（毛開業），其中 10 個為淨開業，另有 2 個倉庫搬遷；而今年第四季度，毛開業數量為 10 個，淨開業數量為 8 個。這兩個數字的主要差異在於，今年第四季的開業前費用主要包括當季新開業的倉庫以及計劃於第一季開業的倉庫。去年的開業前費用中包含了與我們當時新建的家禽養殖綜合體相關的 1,200 萬美元。

All told, reported operating income in Q4 increased 32%, coming in at $1,929,000,000 this year compared to $1,463,000,000 last year. And it would be a slightly higher percent increase if you excluded the items that I had mentioned earlier.

總的來說，第四季報告的營業收入成長了32%，達到19.29億美元，去年同期為14.63億美元。如果剔除我之前提到的那些項目，增幅還會更高一些。

Below the operating income line, interest expense was higher year-over-year by $6 million, coming in at $51 million this year compared to $45 million last year. Interest income and other for the quarter was lower by $83 million year-over-year. As discussed earlier, following the completion of the debt offering, we prepaid $1.5 billion of debt during the quarter. There was a pretax expense of -- or what's known as a make-whole payment of $36 million related to the early retirement of that debt. That's in this interest income and other line.

在營業收入項下，利息支出較去年同期增加600萬美元，從去年的4,500萬美元增加到今年的5,100萬美元。本季利息收入及其他收入年減8300萬美元。如前所述，在完成債務發行後，我們在本季提前償還了15億美元的債務。與提前償還該筆債務相關的稅前支出（或稱補償金）為3,600萬美元。這筆支出計入了利息收入及其他收入項下。

Actual interest income was lower by $28 million lower -- it was actually lower by $28 million year-over-year in the quarter due principally to lower interest rates being realized. And lastly, FX and other was lower by $19 million.

實際利息收入減少了2800萬美元——實際上，由於實際利率下降，本季利息收入比去年同期減少了2800萬美元。此外，外匯及其他收入減少了1,900萬美元。

Overall, reported pretax income in the fourth quarter was up -- came in higher by 25%, coming in at $1.869 billion this year compared to $1.492 billion last year. Again, these exclude those items I point -- that's including those items I pointed out earlier. In terms of the income tax rate, our tax rate in Q4 of '20 was 24.9%, a little lower than a year ago when it was at 25.7% in the fourth quarter a year ago, so a little benefit there.

整體而言，第四季報告的稅前利潤有所增長，增幅達25%，達到18.69億美元，去年同期為14.92億美元。再次強調，這些數據不包括我之前提到的那些項目──而上述數據則包​​含了我之前提到的那些項目。就所得稅率而言，我們2020年第四季的稅率為24.9%，略低於去年同期的25.7%，因此這方面略有優勢。

A few other items of note. In terms of warehouse expansion, with COVID, we had some delays in some of the planned openings for the fiscal year that just ended this past August 30, and a few of those have been pushed into this year that we're in now. In the -- for the year, we opened 16 total units, including 3 relos. So last year, we opened a net increase of 13 locations. Our plans for this year is to open about 20 net, 23, including 3 relos. That's our best guess and plan at this point. And as of Q4 end, our total warehouse square footage stood at 116 million square feet.

還有幾點要說明。關於倉庫擴張，受新冠疫情影響，我們原計劃在剛結束的上一財年（截至8月30日）開設的部分倉庫有所延誤，其中一些已推遲到本財年。上一財年，我們共開設了16個倉庫，其中包括3個搬遷倉庫。因此，去年我們淨增了13個倉庫。我們今年的計畫是淨增約20個倉庫，即23個，其中包括3個搬遷倉庫。這是我們目前的最佳預估和計劃。截至第四季末，我們的倉庫總面積為1.16億平方英尺。

In terms of capital expenditures, for the 16-week fourth quarter, we spent approximately $852 million, and the full year, we spent $2.8 billion. Our estimated CapEx for all of fiscal '21 is in the $3 billion to $3.2 billion range.

就資本支出而言，在為期16週的第四季度，我們支出約8.52億美元，全年支出為28億美元。我們預計2021財年全年的資本支出將在30億至32億美元之間。

E-commerce. Overall, our e-commerce sales, as you've seen each month, have increased nicely. For the fourth quarter on a reported basis, up 90.6%, and ex FX, 91.3% increase during the fourth quarter. A few of the stronger departments, and there are several, health and beauty aids, food and sundries, appliances, TVs, computers and tablets, housewares and small electrics. Total online grocery grew a very strong rate in Q4, several hundred percent. This e-commerce comp, if you will, that number -- the e-commerce numbers I just mentioned above follow our usual convention, which we exclude the third-party same-day grocery program. If we included that third-party same-day, our e-commerce comps result would have been approximately 120% up during the quarter.

電子商務方面，正如您每個月所見，我們的電子商務銷售額整體成長良好。以報告數據計算，第四季成長了90.6%，剔除匯率影響後，第四季成長了91.3%。一些表現強勁的部門（有許多部門）包括：保健美容用品、食品雜貨、家電、電視、電腦和平板電腦、家居用品和小家電。第四季度，線上食品雜貨銷售額成長非常強勁，增幅達數百個百分點。我剛才提到的電子商務同店銷售額數據，遵循我們一貫的做法，即剔除了第三方當日達食品雜貨配送服務。如果將第三方當日達配送服務也計算在內，我們第四季的電子商務同店銷售額增幅將達到約120%。

Overall, our e-comm sites were relatively smoothly during the quarter despite the dramatic volume increases, and we were able to improve our delivery times throughout -- on delivery times throughout the quarter as we adjusted to the ramped-up order volumes.

總體而言，儘管訂單量大幅增長，但我們的電子商務網站在本季度運行相對平穩，並且隨著我們調整以適應不斷增長的訂單量，我們在整個季度中都提高了交貨時間。

Now quickly turning to COVID and the coronavirus and some of the issues and impacts surrounding it. From a sales perspective, as indicated by our past 3 monthly sales releases, we've enjoyed strong sales results during the June, July and August time frame. Certainly, the sales strength starts with our being deemed essential, resulting in strong sales of fresh foods, and foods and sundries, and health and beauty aids and the like.

現在我們快速轉向新冠病毒及其相關問題和影響。從銷售角度來看，正如我們過去三個月的銷售報告所示，我們在六月、七月和八月期間取得了強勁的銷售業績。當然，銷售強勁首先得益於我們被認定為必需品，從而帶動了新鮮食品、日用食品、日用雜貨、保健美容用品等產品的銷售增長。

We've also benefited from the much improved sales and products and items for the home outside of the food area. As people are spending less on travel, air and hotel and dining out, they seem to have redirected at least some of those dollars to categories like lawn and garden, furniture and mattresses, exercise equipment, bicycles, housewares, cookware, domestics and the like. And lastly, a few of our ancillary businesses, notably our optical and hearing aid operations, were closed for 12 to 16 weeks and reopened during the mid-summer.

除了食品類產品外，家居用品的銷售額和銷售量也大幅成長，我們也從中受益。由於人們減少了旅行、機票、酒店和外出用餐的支出，他們似乎將部分資金轉移到了草坪和花園用品、家具和床墊、健身器材、自行車、家居用品、炊具、家用物品等類別。最後，我們的一些輔助業務，特別是眼鏡和助聽器業務，關閉了12到16週，並在盛夏時節重新開放。

From a supply chain perspective, kind of a 40,000-foot view, in terms of China, at least judging by the shipments to us, most of the factories are up and running. There are still some production challenges due to certain components downstream in the supply chain in areas like electronics, computer and certain white goods. It is getting better and improving each week. And like us, we feel that our suppliers' factories have gotten a bit better over the last several months of instituting safety protocols. That's our best guess.

從供應鏈的角度來看，從宏觀角度來看，就中國而言，至少從我們收到的貨物來看，大部分工廠都已恢復生產。但由於下游供應鏈中某些零件的供應問題，例如電子產品、電腦和部分白色家電，仍存在一些生產挑戰。情況正在每週好轉。和我們一樣，我們也認為供應商的工廠在過去幾個月實施安全措施後，生產情況有所改善。這是我們目前的最佳判斷。

And in terms of getting back to normal, each week is showing improvement and catching up, still a little behind. Food and sundries, some limits on paper goods but getting better. Toughest area overall is still sanitizing wipes as well as latex gloves. In terms of other PP&E, we're in pretty good shape, selling quite a bit of masks and the like. Milk and butter, things like that are generally okay.

至於恢復正常方面，每週都在好轉，正在逐步追趕，雖然仍然略有滯後。食品和日用品方面，紙製品供應有限制，但情況正在改善。目前最難買到的仍然是消毒濕紙巾和乳膠手套。其他個人護理用品方面，我們的情況相當不錯，口罩之類的產品銷售量很好。牛奶和奶油之類的商品供應也基本上正常。

In terms of fresh foods, proteins are currently all pretty good. There had been some slowdowns over the past few months and some allocations and some limits that we had to put on some sales of those items, but that's gotten back to normal at this point. Seafood and produce, all good as it has generally been throughout.

就新鮮食品而言，目前蛋白質供應狀況良好。過去幾個月供應放緩，我們不得不對部分商品實施配額制和限購，但目前已恢復正常。海鮮和農產品一如既往地供應良好。

In terms of holiday merchandise planning, Halloween, a few -- a small reduction in the amount of costumes, some more basic candy items as well as for Christmas going a little more basic in some areas and as well as looking at things and needs and uses for the house, but viewing it, given our strength of late, relatively optimistically.

就節日商品計劃而言，萬聖節——服裝數量略有減少，糖果種類也更基礎一些；聖誕節——某些方面也更注重實用性；同時還要考慮房屋的物品、需求和用途，但鑑於我們近期的強勁勢頭，我們對此持相對樂觀的態度。

And Costco travel has shown some very modest improvement but still significantly impacted during the quarter due to reduced demand. We do see our members starting to book travel again although generally further out than we have historically seen.

Costco 會員的旅遊業務雖略有改善，但由於需求下降，本季仍受到顯著影響。我們看到會員開始重新預訂旅行，但通常比以往的預訂時間要長一些。

Our warehouses overall have remained open and are back to regular hours, with additional -- with an additional hour on certain weekday mornings and many markets for seniors and persons with disabilities. The warehouses are still, of course, following the social distancing and sanitation guidelines -- sanitization guidelines. And since May 4, as you know, we've required all members and employees in the warehouse to wear masks.

我們的倉庫總體上保持開放，並已恢復正常營業時間，部分工作日上午延長營業一小時，並為老年人和殘疾人士開設了許多專場。當然，倉庫仍然嚴格遵守保持社交距離和衛生防疫指南。如您所知，自5月4日起，我們要求所有進入倉庫的會員和員工佩戴口罩。

Finally, in terms of upcoming releases, we will announce our September sales results, which is for the 5 weeks ending Sunday, October 4, on that following Wednesday, October 7, after market close.

最後，關於即將發布的產品，我們將於 10 月 7 日星期三收盤後公佈 9 月份的銷售業績，該業績涵蓋截至 10 月 4 日星期日的 5 週。

With that, I will open it up to Q&A and give it back to Laurie. Thank you.

接下來，我將進入問答環節，並將問題交還給勞瑞。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) And your first question is from Simeon Gutman from Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙古特曼。

Richard, my first question is, how should we think about or how are you planning COVID costs for Q1 of the next fiscal year? And if I'm not mistaken, I thought that for this fourth quarter, there was a range -- I don't know if there was a range, but we were expecting them to be lower sequentially and I think they were pretty similar. So you mentioned the basics, what it constituted, but can you talk about why?

理查德，我的第一個問題是，我們應該如何看待或規劃下一財年第一季的 COVID 相關成本？如果我沒記錯的話，我認為第四季度的成本是一個區間——我不確定是否真的有一個區間，但我們預期成本會環比下降，而且我認為實際結果也相當接近。您剛才提到了基本情況，包括成本組成，但您能否談談原因？

Sure. As you may recall, on our third quarter conference call, we indicated that such types of costs in the Q4 would be at least $100 million or over $100 million, and of course, $281 million is over $100 million, but quite a bit larger. But the reality is, the biggest factor is we chose to continue, at least for the time being, the $2 an hour premium. That represents about $14 million a week. To date, we are doing that and we've committed to doing that at least through, I believe, the first 8 weeks of fiscal -- of this fiscal quarter.

當然。您可能還記得，在第三季財報電話會議上，我們曾表示第四季此類成本至少會達到或超過1億美元，而2.81億美元當然超過了1億美元，而且遠不止於此。但實際上，最主要的原因是我們決定至少在目前繼續實施每小時2美元的額外工資。這相當於每週約1400萬美元。到目前為止，我們一直在這樣做，並承諾至少在本財季的前8週內繼續實施。

And again, we'll take that time and again. Our numbers have been very good. Our employees are on the front line. And so that -- mind you, the fourth quarter was a 16-week quarter versus Q3, which was a 12-week quarter so on a per week basis, it's come down. There's other things that have been -- that won't be repeated in the first quarter, at least.

我們會再次強調這一點。我們的各項數據都非常出色。我們的員工奮戰在第一線。要注意的是，第四季是16週，而第三季是12週，所以按週計算，情況有所改善。還有一些其他因素——至少在第一季不會重現。

If you go back to the very beginning of time, for the first 4 to 5 weeks when we stopped doing food samples, we employed those third-party employees ourselves. We paid our third party to have them help us in the warehouse. That was during those 3 to 4 weeks of craziness in late February to mid- to late March when people were coming in and hoarding and what have you, and that helped quite a bit.

如果追溯到最初，在我們停止食品樣品製作的頭四到五週，我們自己僱用了那些第三方員工。我們付錢給第三方，讓他們來倉庫幫我們工作。那是在二月底到三月中下旬那三到四周的混亂時期，人們湧入倉庫囤積物資等等，而我們的僱用確實幫了大忙。

So there's some costs that have -- that I don't expect to be continued. The biggest component, of course, would be the $2 premium. And we'll see. At this juncture, we've committed to it our employees for the first 8 weeks of this quarter.

所以有些成本——我預計不會再繼續下去了。當然，最大的部分是2美元的溢價。我們拭目以待。目前，我們已經承諾在本季的前8週內為員工支付這筆費用。

Okay. My follow-up is you mentioned the holiday, and I think you said you're looking at it optimistically or favorable for now. Can you talk about maybe a little more detail why? It seems like the results speak for themselves for now, but there could be a lot of change over the next couple of months. And has your customer diversified their basket with you? And you think you'll be able to retain them across more categories and keep trips as more retail gets their traffic back?

好的。我的後續問題是，您提到了假期，而且您說目前對假期持樂觀態度。能詳細說說原因嗎？目前看來，業績似乎不錯，但未來幾個月可能會發生很大變化。您的顧客是否增加了購物籃的商品種類？您認為隨著零售商客流量的恢復，您能否在更多品類中留住顧客，並維持他們的購物頻率？

Sure. Sure. Well, look, I mean, the main data points that we look at is, is how strong things have been in the last 3.5, 4 months. June, July and August sales results, which we've all shared with you guys, the trend in traffic has improved so it's been positive the last couple of months instead of slightly or even more than slightly negative going back to April and May. While the average ticket or average basket size has continued to be relatively strong.

當然。當然。嗯，我的意思是，我們主要關注的數據點是過去三、四個月的業績表現。六月、七月和八月的銷售業績，我們都和大家分享過了，流量趨勢有所改善，過去幾個月一直保持正增長，而不是像四月和五月那樣略微甚至大幅下滑。同時，平均客單價或平均購物籃金額也一直維持相對強勁的水平。

So -- and probably if you ask what's -- what are the -- what's some of the biggest surprises that we had looking at the last 3 months of sales results compared to what we had expected a few months before that. I mean, the big surprise is, is we expected fresh and food and sundries and paper goods and the like and health and beauty aids to be strong, particularly food because of the weakness -- people dining out. But I think we're a little surprised by the strength in many of these discretionary nonfood categories, things for the house and big-ticket items.

所以——如果你問過去三個月的銷售業績與我們幾個月前的預期相比，有哪些最大的驚喜，那就是……最大的驚喜在於，我們原本預期生鮮食品、日用品、紙製品以及保健美容用品等會表現強勁，尤其是食品，因為人們外出就餐的減少導致食品需求疲軟。但許多非食品類商品，例如家居用品和高價商品，其強勁的銷售表現確實讓我們有些意外。

Again, not only furniture for the -- inside the house but patio furniture. Live goods were particularly strong, where, in some instances, we had try to cut back a few orders back in March and April for seasonal summer goods like patio furniture. Very quickly, we were having to scramble for more of those. And so, so far, so good.

不只室內家具，戶外家具也同樣暢銷。生鮮產品尤其強勁，以至於我們在三、四月不得不削減一些夏季季節性商品（例如戶外家具）的訂單。很快，我們就得緊急補貨。所以，到目前為止，一切進展順利。

We recognize that people were coming into Costco. We believe they feel safe, given the safety protocols and the mask requirements. The sheer size of the building itself and the width of the aisles. So all those things have helped us in that regard.

我們知道人們會來Costco購物。鑑於各項安全措施和口罩要求，我們相信他們會感到安全。此外，Costco的規模和寬敞的通道也增強了顧客的信心。所有這些因素都對我們有幫助。

We're also back to, after a couple of months of not having our traditional multi-vendor mailer coupon type of offerings, because several key items were limited or on allocation, we've gotten back to that. And so I think our -- at least our most recent 3-plus month history has given us some comfort at this point.

在經歷了幾個月沒有提供傳統的多供應商郵件優惠券服務之後（因為一些關鍵商品數量有限或有配額限制），我們已經恢復了這項服務。因此，我認為我們——至少最近三個多月的業績記錄——讓我們對此感到比較放心。

Now as soon as I say that, things may change. But at this juncture, we feel very good about how will we -- what it looks like going forward, recognizing, looking at some of these things with a more basic in terms of Halloween and Christmas and the like.

話音剛落，情況可能就會改變。但就目前而言，我們對未來的發展方向感到非常樂觀，我們會以更基本的視角來看待萬聖節、聖誕節等節日。

Your next question is from Chris Horvers from JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的克里斯霍弗斯。

So my first question is, what's driving that strong core-on-core margin outside of the fresh category, which clearly would benefit from a shrink perspective? Is it sell-through and low clearance? Is it mix within the categories? Or is it something else?

所以我的第一個問題是，除了生鮮品類（顯然會受益於損耗）之外，是什麼因素推動了核心品類之間強勁的利潤率？是銷售率高、清倉率低嗎？是品類內部的組合嗎？還是其他原因？

Well, on fresh, it's all of the above. I mean it's strong sales on a relatively higher initial margin business within our small confines of margin range. But then 2 components of cost of sales in fresh is labor productivity and spoilage. We don't have spoilage. We sell out, not literally, but almost literally to the piece on these end things and so you're not throwing stuff away. You're not -- there's -- it's a great business from a gross margin dollar perspective, given the sales strength in it. So that's clearly the biggest thing.

嗯，就生鮮產品而言，以上所有因素都適用。我的意思是，在利潤率相對較低的範圍內，生鮮產品的銷售強勁，而且初始利潤率也相對較高。但是，生鮮產品的銷售成本主要有兩個組成部分：人力成本和損耗。我們沒有損耗。我們幾乎是全部售罄，雖然不是真的全部賣完，但這些終端產品幾乎都是賣到最後一塊，所以你不會浪費任何東西。從毛利率的角度來看，考慮到其強勁的銷售勢頭，這絕對是一項非常不錯的業務。所以，這顯然是最重要的一點。

But again, if you look at the other 3 core areas, core food and sundries, hardlines and softlines, they're all up but up a nice amount but nothing like fresh foods. So that's helped.

但話說回來，如果你看看其他三個核心領域——核心食品和日用品、五金製品和紡織品——它們的價格都在上漲，漲幅可觀，但遠不及新鮮食品。所以，新鮮食品的上漲就起到了一定的作用。

Now mind you, other things have offset that and the sum of all of those things is still a positive. The things that have offset it would be things like the fact that certain ancillary businesses, which are higher-margin businesses, were closed for a 12- to 16-week period. Our food court, of course, has been limited of what we do there. We took out all the tables. We've limited their product offerings.

當然，其他因素抵消了這些影響，所有這些因素加起來仍然是正面的。這些抵銷因素包括：一些利潤較高的配套業務停業了12到16週。當然，我們的美食廣場也受到了限制。我們撤掉了所有的桌椅，也減少了他們的產品供應。

Travel, which is -- while a small business, is an extreme example of high margin. Many items in travel is just a brokerage fee. It's almost sales minus no cost of sales equal gross margin, if you will. It's the markup or the commission on some of that stuff, a portion of that.

旅遊業雖然規模不大，但卻是高利潤的極端例子。旅遊產品中很多都只包含經紀費。可以說，銷售額減去銷售成本幾乎等於毛利。這部分利潤就是某些產品的加價或佣金。

So those things have come down, but the sum of all those negatives are outweighed by the overall strength in core merchandise sales. And pharmacy, pharmacy has been relatively strong, too. And within that, fresh has been the biggest driver of it.

所以這些因素有所下降，但核心商品銷售的整體強勁表現抵消了所有這些不利因素的影響。藥局業務也表現相對強勁。其中，生鮮產品是推動藥局業務成長的最大動力。

Got it. So a follow-up question that you were surprised by the negative gas impact in ancillary. I mean, your peers, while not the same quarter, saw tailwinds for the periods that crossed over. And so can you talk about how much of that 66 basis points is specifically gas versus the other businesses? And as you look forward, considering that opticals open and food courts, at least for the smaller menu, open and starting to see some traction around travel and gas prices being stable, do you expect that at this point that, that ancillary headwind could abate?

明白了。那麼，還有一個後續問題，您對汽油價格對輔助業務的負面影響感到驚訝。我的意思是，雖然您的同行並非在同一季度，但他們在重疊的時間段內都受益於汽油價格上漲。您能否談談這66個基點的負面影響中，有多少是汽油價格造成的，又有多少是其他業務造成的？展望未來，考慮到眼鏡店已經重新開業，美食廣場（至少是小規模餐飲）也開始營業，並且隨著旅行需求的增長和汽油價格的穩定，您是否認為目前輔助業務的負面影響會有所緩解？

I think it will be less negative, but I think it's going to be around for a while. I mean, if you look at gas, gas is more profitable per dollar -- per gallon of sales than it was a couple of years ago, because I think if prices have come down, traditional retail has not been as competitive, which allows us to be more competitive, but still make a little more. And it's -- and our trough at the lowest point, I'm guessing, back in April and May, there was a week where we -- our gallons were down close to half.

我認為負面影響會減輕一些，但我覺得這種情況還會持續一段時間。我的意思是，如果你看看汽油，你會發現現在每加侖汽油的利潤比幾年前更高，因為我認為油價下降後，傳統零售的競爭就沒那麼激烈了，這讓我們更有競爭力，而且還能賺更多錢。而且──我估計，在四、五月的時候，我們的銷量跌到了谷底，有一週的銷量幾乎下降了一半。

Today, they're down closer to maybe down 10%, maybe 5% to 15% depending on the day or the week. But in normal times, for the last few years pre-COVID, when the U.S. gasoline industry had comps in the very low single digits, we'd be in the very, very high single digits or close to 10% or 11% even sometimes.

今天，它們的跌幅可能接近10%，也可能在5%到15%之間，具體取決於當天或當週的情況。但在正常情況下，也就是新冠疫情爆發前的幾年裡，當美國汽油業的同店銷售額跌幅非常低時，我們的跌幅通常會非常高，甚至有時接近10%或11%。

So we've -- so things have changed there. It's still a profitable business. And -- but when your sales -- when your price per gallon goes down 20%, 30% and your gallons are down even some small amount, and it's a 10-plus percent of sales of our business, it has that effect on it. At the end of the day, the sum of all of this has still been quite good for us.

所以，情況確實發生了一些變化。這仍然是一項盈利的業務。但是，當每加侖的價格下降20%、30%，銷量哪怕只下降一點點，而這又占到我們業務總銷售額的10%以上時，就會產生影響。總而言之，所有這些因素加起來對我們來說仍然相當不錯。

And could you break out that -- the 66 that's specifically related to gas?

你能把那個──與天然氣相關的66──拿出來嗎？

No. What we said, 3/4 of it was...

不。我們說的話，有四分之三是…

Gas and travel.

汽油和旅行。

Gas and travel. That's as good as we get here. I don't have the detail in front of me. My guess is gas is more of it than travel, but they're both impactful.

汽油和交通。我們目前只能了解到這些。我手頭上沒有詳細資料。我猜汽油的影響比交通更大，但兩者都影響很大。

Your guess is better than mine.

你的猜測比我的準確。

And your next question is from Chuck Grom from Gordon Haskett.

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

Curious, Richard, how you're thinking about the recovery of your gasoline business, particularly from a gallons perspective. And I guess, how this interplay is holding back foot traffic into your store. Clearly, it's getting better but it's being impacted a little bit by the gas business.

理查德，我很好奇你如何看待汽油業務的復甦，特別是從銷售角度來看。我還想知道，這種相互影響是如何影響你店裡的客流量的。顯然，情況正在好轉，但汽油業務仍然對你造成了一定的影響。

Well, I don't know exactly. I haven't seen numbers in the last week or 2, but I believe our, call it, 10% negative gallon comp is still way better than the U.S. as a whole -- the U.S. gallon -- gasoline industry as a whole. And so -- but we'd rather have plus 10% to minus 10%. The fact is, is that people are coming in less but they're buying more each time, and the sum of those 2 things, as we've shown, we used to enjoy 5% to 8% comps pre-COVID on a regular basis. And the last 3 months, we've enjoyed 14s, if you will. And so overall, we'll take that. But it's got to be a small impact still.

嗯，我不太清楚。過去一兩週我都沒看到相關數據，但我相信我們目前的同比降幅（姑且稱之為負10%）仍然遠好於美國整體——或者說整個美國汽油行業的整體水平。所以——但我們寧願同比降幅在正負10%以內。事實上，人們來加油的次數減少了，但每次加油的單價卻更高了。正如我們所展示的，這兩點加起來，在疫情前我們經常能達到5%到8%的年增幅。而過去三個月，我們甚至達到了14%。所以總的來說，我們對這樣的結果感到滿意。但這仍然只能算是一個很小的影響。

Okay. And then just it's been a while since I asked this, but the crossover between customers that purchase gas and then shop in the store on like kind hours, do you have that number handy?

好的。還有，我之前問過這個問題，但是關於在相似時間段內加油並隨後在商店購物的顧客的重疊情況，您手頭有相關數據嗎？

I haven't seen it lately, but historically, it had been -- during the hours that the warehouse itself is open because the gas station is open a couple of hours perhaps on either side of that, it's in the low 50s.

我最近沒見過這種情況，但從歷史上看，在倉庫本身開放的時間段內（因為加油站的營業時間可能與倉庫開放時間前後相差幾個小時），氣溫通常在 50 華氏度左右。

Low 50s. Okay, great. And then just switching gears a little bit on capital allocation. You ended the year with over $30 per share in cash and cash equivalents, and you obviously remain significantly under-levered. Curious how you and the Board are approaching this high-class problem?

50美元出頭。好的，很棒。接下來我們稍微聊聊資本配置。你們年底的現金及現金等價物超過每股30美元，而且顯然槓桿率仍然很低。很好奇你和董事會將如何應對這個棘手的問題？

Well, we have our regular quarterly Board meeting in a couple of weeks, we'll see. But at the end of the day, we talk about it every Board meeting, all the different alternatives. Certainly, we -- when we went out to borrow the $4 billion, which was really a net increase of $2.5 billion because we used $1.5 billion to pay off existing debt, the fact was is that we were planning for a worst-case scenario where we would need more -- there'd be a slew of seasonal summer merchandise that we might have to hold for a year, as well as there'd be a lower inventory turn, particularly on discretionary nonfood categories.

嗯，我們幾週後就要召開例行的季度董事會了，到時候看看情況吧。但說到底，我們每次董事會都會討論這個問題，討論各種不同的方案。當然，當初我們藉貸40億美元的時候——實際上淨增了25億美元，因為我們用其中15億美元償還了現有債務——是因為我們當時在為最壞的情況做準備，那就是我們需要更多資金——屆時可能會有大量夏季季節性商品需要囤貨一年，而且庫存週轉率也會降低，尤其是在非食品類商品方面。

Up until June, when we've seen the numbers really go in the northern way, June, July and August, much of that need has not occurred. So yes, we are in a good position right now. We'll continue to look at it. But you'll know this after we know.

直到六月，也就是我們看到疫情真正開始向北方蔓延之前，六月、七月和八月，大部分需求都沒有出現。所以，是的，我們目前的情況還不錯。我們會繼續關注事態發展。但等我們有了結果，你們也會知道的。

your 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 guess, first question, just on the $2 premium. I guess, the real question is, I mean, I know you called out the 8 weeks, but would it be more prudent, as we kind of model this, to just kind of think that that's more or less the new norm? Meaning $14 million a week is kind of what we should add on, on an ongoing basis? It just seems that it's hard to take something like that away once you've offered it. So just thoughts on that.

我想，第一個問題就是關於那2美元的溢價。其實，真正的問題是，我知道您提到了8週，但當我們建立模型時，是否更穩健的做法是把這視為新的常態？也就是說，每週1400萬美元的溢價，我們應該持續增加這部分？一旦提供了這樣的優惠，似乎很難再取消。所以，請您就此發表一下看法。

I don't think it's completely hard to take away. We communicate via our CEO and our Head of HR to our employees. We've done that and we've continued to extend it but saying this will be it and then we've added a little more.

我覺得這並不難做到。我們透過執行長和人力資源主管與員工溝通。我們一直這樣做，並且不斷擴展溝通管道，一開始會說“到此為止”，然後又補充了一些內容。

I think we'll see. I think something that will -- I think it may be hard, but not impossible. And we want to make sure we communicate to our employees of why we're doing it and we'll have to wait -- we'll just have to wait and see, Karen.

我想我們拭目以待。我覺得這件事——或許很難，但並非不可能。我們想確保向員工解釋清楚我們這麼做的原因，我們只能等等看，凱倫。

Okay. And then I wanted to just...

好的。然後我就想…

I wouldn't necessarily budget it in for the full fiscal year, but we don't know at this point. We know it's at least 8 of the 12 weeks in Q1 and it may be more.

我不會把它計入整個財政年度的預算，但目前我們還無法確定。我們知道至少會佔用第一季12周中的8週，而且可能更多。

Okay. And then just back to traffic for a second. So within your reported traffic numbers is obviously e-comm, right? So I wanted to just ask a little about what your physical in-store traffic looks like? And then I think on the last call, you were asked on color on traffic with your more loyal executive members versus the lower level members. Do you have any color on both of those?

好的。我們再回到客流量的話題。你們公佈的客流量數據裡顯然包含了電商管道，對吧？所以我想問一下你們實體店的客流量狀況如何？還有，上次通話中，有人問到你們的高級會員和一般會員的客流量差異。你們這兩方面的情況有什麼具體數據嗎？

Looking real quick. I really -- I don't have color in terms of -- generally, I mean, executive members do everything, spend more -- come in more frequently, buy more each time and renew at a higher rate.

簡單看一下。我真的——我不太清楚——一般來說，我的意思是，高級會員什麼都做，消費更多——來得更頻繁，每次買的東西更多，續費也更高。

I'm looking real quick here, hold on. I don't have traffic. Comps -- within our comp number, e-commerce benefits it by a little over 3%.

我這邊正在快速查看，稍等。我這邊沒有流量。同店銷售數據－在我們的同店銷售數據中，電子商務帶來的收益略高於3%。

Of the comp, not the traffic.

指的是競爭對手，而不是流量。

Of the comp, yes, not the traffic number.

是的，指的是比較數據，而不是流量數據。

Average ring is doubled versus the warehouse.

平均戒指價格是倉庫價格的兩倍。

And the average ring has more than doubled.

戒指的平均價格已經翻了一番多。

No. No. The average ring on e-comm has doubled.

不，不。電商平台上的平均電話鈴聲已經翻了一番。

Oh, I'm sorry, the average ring on e-comm versus the warehouse is about twice. And that's because you've got a lot of -- you still -- even though we've expanded on food and sundries and apparel, we still have got big-ticket items like electronics and furniture, exercise equipment and the like.

哦，不好意思，電商平台的平均成交量大約是實體店的兩倍。這是因為——你們仍然有很多——即使我們已經擴大了食品、日用品和服裝的銷售範圍，但我們仍然銷售電子產品、家具、健身器材等高價商品。

Hence, the traffic. But it's nothing like 1 to 2 that's virtually…

所以才會有交通壅塞。但這跟1比2那種幾乎是…的情況完全不同。

Bob here is saying he's guessing that the traffic impact would be 1 to 2, but we don't have that broken out.

鮑伯說他估計交通影響會是 1 到 2，但我們還沒有具體的細分數據。

And your next question is from Michael Lasser from UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的麥可·拉塞爾。

So Richard, now that we're 6 months into the pandemic, does Costco come out of this situation in better position to experience incremental margin expansion over time? And is there any factors that you've learned that would allow the company to generate more margin expansion than it would have otherwise?

理查德，現在疫情已經持續6個月了，Costco是否更有可能隨著時間的推移實現利潤率的逐步提升？你是否了解到任何能夠幫助公司實現比以往更大利潤率成長的因素？

Well, the more margin we can generate, the more likely we're going to give some of it back. In this case, arguably, given our strength, we've certainly given it back, but we've remained very competitive, but we've also maintained that $2 premium to our employees, which we appreciate.

利潤越高，我們就越有可能將部分利潤回饋給員工。就目前而言，鑑於我們的實力，我們確實已經回饋了一部分利潤，但我們仍然保持了很強的競爭力，同時也維持了給員工的2美元溢價，我們對此表示感謝。

I -- the first part of your question when you started asking about how do we feel we're going to come out of the pandemic and as things change? I mean, look, there's factors, as people eat out more and go out more or travel more, there's less for the home, that's on a macro basis. We have to believe here and we do believe that we have picked up new members. We've picked up sales from existing members, from categories that they're buying more at Costco now, relatively speaking, in part because certain other venues or traditional venues are either closed or not frequently -- not frequent as often.

我——關於您問題的第一部分，也就是您問到我們如何看待疫情後的發展以及隨著情況的變化，我的意思是，你看，有很多因素，比如人們外出就餐、外出旅行的次數增多，居家消費自然減少，這是從宏觀層面來看的。我們必須相信，而且我們也確實相信，我們已經吸引了新會員。現有會員的銷售額也有所增長，他們現在在Costco購買的商品類別相對更多，部分原因是其他一些場所或傳統場所要么關閉，要么營業時間減少。

So again, we've been blessed in that regard. I think the other thing that I've witnessed over the last several months is our merchants' ability to pivot and to add items for the houseware items, additional items. And so I think net of all those things, I still think, on a macro basis, when people start eating out more and start flying more and attending -- going on vacations, some of these monies that are now being used for purchasing things for the home is going to move that way.

所以，在這方面我們確實很幸運。過去幾個月裡，我還看到商家們能夠迅速調整策略，增加家居用品和其他商品。因此，我認為綜合所有這些因素，從宏觀角度來看，隨著人們外出用餐、乘坐飛機出行和度假的次數增加，目前用於購買家居用品的部分資金將會流向這些領域。

That being said, I think there are several areas where we've -- we're retaining more of their dollars, and some portion of that will continue to retain when it gets back to normal.

也就是說，我認為在幾個方面我們已經——我們留住了他們更多的資金，而且當一切恢復正常時，其中一部分資金將繼續留住。

Okay. And on an unrelated note, looking at e-commerce growth, what percentage of your membership base is currently buying from you online? What's the profile of the member who's driving the growth? And presumably, a lot of the spend is incremental because the spend of those numbers is going up. Could that change how you are thinking about emphasizing or investing behind your e-commerce business?

好的。另外，關於電子商務成長，您目前有多少會員在線上購買產品？推動成長的會員群是怎樣的？而且，由於這些會員的消費額都在成長，想必其中大部分是新增消費。這是否會改變您對電子商務業務的重視程度或投資策略？

Yes. I don't have all those specifics. What I know is what was happening even before COVID and has been exacerbated in a positive way since COVID is more -- some members have signed up to utilize those services. More members are utilizing those services and spending more on it. If you think about the 1-day fresh, it is up several hundred percent-fold, recognizing it was a smaller base, even as it's gone down from its peak a couple or 3 months ago, it's still a lot higher than it was before. And my guess is even as people get used to wanting to go out, there's some people right now that aren't going to the supermarket or aren't going out to Costco to shop. They love this service.

是的。我沒有所有細節。但我知道的是，在新冠疫情之前就已經存在，而且疫情後更是朝著正面的方向發展──有些會員註冊使用這些服務。越來越多的會員正在使用這些服務，而且消費也更多。以一日新鮮為例，即使考慮到之前的基數較小，而且雖然比兩三個月前的峰值有所回落，但仍然比以前高得多。我猜想，即使人們逐漸習慣出門購物，現在仍然有一些人不去超市或好市多購物。他們很喜歡這項服務。

There are some people that are going to -- there's going to be some group of people going to like that. And given our quality and value, we and the supermarket are not mutually exclusive of one another, and we think we'll keep some of that. So we are certainly doing more to market to members, not only in-store promotions but online promotions as well.

肯定會有一些人——肯定會有一部分人喜歡這種方式。鑑於我們的產品品質和價值，我們和超市並非互斥，我們認為我們會保留一部分客戶。因此，我們肯定會加強向會員推廣，不僅包括店內促銷，也包括線上促銷。

We feel better too on offerings (inaudible).

我們也覺得在供應方面有所改善（聽不清楚）。

Yes. We feel -- I feel better about our offerings today certainly than a year ago or than 2 years ago, recognizing there's a lot of low-hanging fruit because some of the things we hadn't done historically. We know that on the -- I'll hate to use the phrase again, but on the big and bulky side, a lot of those things -- yes, for 4 years, we had talked, which is pre-COVID, we talked about going from $50 million in white goods sales in store in the U.S. with a limited sales penetration, if you will, to fiscal '19 doing almost $700 million, I think, just under $700 million.

是的。我們感覺到——我感覺我們現在的產品和服務比一年前或兩年前要好得多，當然，我們也意識到有很多唾手可得的成果，因為我們過去沒有做過一些事情。我們知道，在——我不想再用這個詞了——但在大型笨重的家電方面，很多東西——是的，在新冠疫情爆發前的四年裡，我們一直在討論，希望將美國門市白色家電的銷售額從5000萬美元（銷售滲透率有限）提升到2019財年的近7億美元，我想應該是接近7億美元。

That business has increased at a more rapid pace than the last year for 2 reasons: COVID and people buying things for the home as well as, in our view, the original things we're seeing trends-wise in terms of how to utilize -- better utilize our big and bulky Innovel acquisition, what we call now -- what we now call Costco Logistics for big-ticket furniture items, lawn and garden items, exercise equipment and the like.

這項業務的成長速度比去年更快，原因有二：一是新冠疫情和人們購買家居用品，二是，我們認為，從趨勢上看，我們最初看到的是如何更好地利用我們收購的龐大而笨重的 Innovel 公司（我們現在稱之為 Costco 物流），來運輸高價家具、草坪和花園用品、健身器材等。

(Operator Instructions) Your next question is from Paul Lejuez of Citi.

（操作員說明）您的下一個問題來自花旗銀行的保羅·萊胡茲。

Paul Lejuez. Richard, can you maybe talk about what you're seeing in terms of spending by new customers relative to existing customers, but also relative to what you would typically see from a new customer? And then second, I guess I'm curious if you have looked at club usage by members at all. What percent of your members used the club this quarter versus last quarter? Any way to frame that?

Paul Lejuez：Richard，您能否談談您觀察到的新客戶消費情況，以及他們與現有客戶相比的消費水平，還有他們與通常新客戶的消費水平相比有何不同？其次，我很好奇您是否有關注會員的俱樂部使用情況。本季和上季，您的會員使用俱樂部的比例分別是多少？能否具體說明一下？

I don't know if I can answer all those specifically, but keep in mind, some of our new members signed up simply for same-day fresh or 2-day dry. Same-day fresh, you have to be within a market -- a trade area where there's a Costco; 2-day dry, you can be anywhere, I think, almost anywhere in the United States; and with Instacart, it's both United States and a good part of Canada now.

我不知道能否一一解答這些問題，但請記住，我們的一些新會員註冊只是為了當天送達的新鮮商品或兩天送達的干貨。當天送達的新鮮商品，您必須位於某個市場區域內——也就是有 Costco 的商圈內；兩日送達的干貨，我認為幾乎可以覆蓋美國全境；而 Instacart 的服務範圍現在不僅包括美國，還包括加拿大的大部分地區。

And so we have some members, if they weren't a member but they're signing up just to get 2-day dry and they're not near a Costco, needless to say they're just buying those types of basic dry grocery items and that's it.

所以，我們有一些會員，如果他們不是會員，但他們註冊只是為了獲得 2 天的干貨，而且他們附近沒有 Costco，那麼不用說，他們只會購買這些基本的干貨食品，僅此而已。

Generally speaking, what we've seen in any given member, whatever type of member, they buy more each year over the first few years of their membership. And then there's the age thing as well. The sweet spot for us is still 40 to 55 year olds as they've grown economically, grown family-wise and are not on the downside of that curve in terms of empty nesting and what have you. But I don't have any specifics beyond that to give you.

總的來說，我們發現，無論會員類型如何，他們在加入會員的頭幾年裡，每年的消費都會增加。年齡也是影響因素。對我們來說，40到55歲仍然是最佳年齡段，因為他們經濟狀況和家庭都比較成熟，還沒有進入空巢期等人生低谷。但我目前沒有更多具體資訊可以提供。

How about club usage?

俱樂部的使用情況如何？

Club usage? Same thing. Again, I can tell you, I don't have anything specific, right, the last few months. But club, other than traffic, has improved greatly from its trough 5 months ago, not back to where it was pre-COVID. But one of the things that we see is that the typical member over the first 3 to 5 years is growing their total purchases, which is a combination of their basket and their frequency. And clearly, when we can convert somebody to an executive member, they are buying more and shopping more frequently than that.

俱樂部使用情況？情況也一樣。說實話，過去幾個月我沒有具體數據。但除了客流量之外，俱樂部整體情況比五個月前的低谷時期有了顯著改善，雖然還沒有恢復到疫情前的水平。不過我們觀察到的一點是，普通會員在加入後的前三到五年內，總消費額都在增長，這主要取決於他們的購物籃大小和購物頻率。顯然，當我們把顧客升級為高級會員時，他們的消費額和購物頻率都會更高。

Your next question is from Oliver Chen of Cowen.

您的下一個問題來自 Cowen 公司的 Oliver Chen。

Richard, on the e-commerce frontier, it's been really impressive what you've done. What is some of the lower-hanging fruit that you see ahead there? And also, if you could brief us on the penetration now and how you might see that step change and where that will head in the future.

理查德，你在電子商務領域的成就令人印象深刻。你認為未來有哪些比較容易達成的突破點？另外，能否簡單介紹一下目前的市場滲透率，以及你認為未來可能出現的飛躍式成長，還有未來的發展趨勢？

Well, I mean, the main lower penetration things are, if you go back 3 or 4 years ago, I don't think we had good e-mail addresses for much more than 1/3 of our member base and we didn't focus on that kind of stuff. Today, we have well over 60% and growing. We now require you, when you sign up, and more members are signing up online than in-store in general anyway, when you sign up, you sign up with an e-mail address. So we're doing a lot more to collect and gather those e-mail addresses and then communicating with them more often. So that's probably the single biggest low-hanging fruit.

嗯，我的意思是，主要滲透率低的原因在於，如果你回顧三、四年前，我認為我們只有不到三分之一的會員擁有有效的電子郵件地址，而且我們當時也沒有重視這方面。如今，我們的有效電子郵件地址覆蓋率已經超過60%，而且還在成長。現在，我們要求所有註冊用戶（而且現在在線註冊的會員比到實體店註冊的會員更多）在註冊時提供電子郵件地址。因此，我們正在投入更多精力來收集和整理這些電子郵件地址，並更頻繁地與他們溝通。這大概是目前最容易實現的突破點了。

The other thing is, is we feel that we've been able to use e-mails, if you will, not only to drive e-commerce special promotions, but also in-store special promotions. As well, the COVID, we were pleasantly surprised by just the sheer increase in people using same-day fresh. Anecdotally, I can't tell you how many people have mentioned to me how they love it, and they may very well be shopping same-day fresh or same-day whatever from their local supermarket as well. But we've got a lot of great items on there and it's hitting a chord.

另一方面，我們覺得我們能夠利用電子郵件，不僅推動電商平台的促銷活動，還能推動實體店的促銷活動。此外，新冠疫情期間，我們驚訝地發現，使用當日新鮮商品的人數大幅增加。據我所知，很多人都跟我說過他們很喜歡這項服務，他們很可能也會在當地超市購買當日新鮮商品或其他當日送達的商品。總之，我們的當日新鮮商品種類豐富，而且很受歡迎。

And Richard, as we look to this holiday season, which is definitely like no other, what factors would you prioritize as how you're planning it as best you can differently this year versus others? And is the multi-vendor mailer in good shape? And are you going to leverage that a lot for holiday as well? I would love thoughts around dynamics of supply chain and marketing for holiday.

理查德，展望即將到來的假期季節，這絕對與以往截然不同。您會優先考慮哪些因素，才能盡可能地做好規劃，使其與往年有所不同？多供應商郵件行銷方案進展如何？您是否也會在假期季節大量運用該方案？我很想聽聽您對假期供應鏈和行銷動態的看法。

Well, the multi-vendor mailer is back, and there may be a few items that we don't have because of certain supply limitations. But for the most part, it's completely back after, I think, 2 or 3 of those, so 6 or 9 weeks of multi-vendor mailers, if you will, that we didn't do. I think the biggest difference is, again, for the Christmas holidays, is getting back to basics. But you're still going to see some hot exciting items at Costco.

嗯，多供應商聯合郵件促銷活動又回來了，由於某些供應限制，可能有些商品我們暫時缺貨。但總的來說，在經歷了大約兩到三期（也就是六到九週）的多供應商聯合郵件促銷活動後，它已經全面恢復了。我認為最大的不同在於，在聖誕假期期間，我們回歸了基本款。不過，您仍然會在 Costco 看到一些熱門的、令人興奮的商品。

The -- again, as I mentioned, even on Halloween, we still have costumes. I think we brought in something like 80% of what we would have normally brought in, 80% or 90%, and we're actually selling them. So we added some vendors over the last several months, given certain shortages. One of the challenges is, right now, we've had great numbers in electronics and white goods, notwithstanding the fact that the numbers would be better if there was greater supply. We all read about there are certain supply issues on laptops and computers and things like that, on some of the gaming things, on some of the white goods, where there might be downstream shortage or at least some allocation of compressors. So we're doing very well on that. We've added some different vendors in some cases. And I think the fact that we did so well this summer relative to what we had anticipated has given us the confidence to be still pretty aggressive going into the fall.

正如我之前提到的，即使是萬聖節，我們仍然有服裝出售。我認為我們進貨量達到了往年同期的80%到90%，而且這些服裝也確實賣了。鑑於某些商品的短缺，我們在過去幾個月增加了一些供應商。目前，電子產品和白色家電的銷售量非常可觀，儘管如果供應更充足，銷售會更好。我們都看到一些關於筆記型電腦、桌上型電腦、遊戲設備以及一些白色家電（可能是下游零件短缺，或至少是壓縮機供應不足）的供應問題。所以，我們在這方面做得非常好。在某些情況下，我們也增加了一些不同的供應商。我認為，今年夏天我們取得的成績遠遠超出預期，這讓我們有信心在秋季繼續保持積極的銷售勢頭。

Our last question on same-day fresh and the momentum there, what are the margins like and what are your thoughts about that margin and the take rate and also taking some of those capabilities in-house versus using the white label?

我們最後一個問題是關於當日新鮮食材及其發展勢頭，利潤率如何？您對利潤率和轉換率有何看法？此外，您還想了解將部分功能內部化與使用白標方案之間的差異。

Well, at this juncture, we have a very good relationship with other competitors, I'm sure, having a good relationship also with Instacart. There's a few other smaller ones that we're using. We're not necessarily looking to take that in-house at this juncture. But we are always looking at various third parties, and we have good existing relationships, and we want to keep growing those as well.

目前，我們與其他競爭對手的關係非常好，我相信與Instacart的關係也很好。我們也在使用一些規模較小的第三方服務商。現階段我們並不打算將這些服務商納入內部營運。但我們一直在關注各種第三方服務商，我們目前與他們保持良好的合作關係，並且希望繼續發展這些合作關係。

Your next question is from John Heinbockel of Guggenheim Partners.

你的下一個問題來自古根漢合夥公司的約翰·海因博克爾。

Richard, so a couple of things in gross. If you -- even if you take out fresh food, right, it looks like the other 3 were up quite a bit. Maybe dive into a little bit similarities driving those 3 big categories versus what might be unique to each. And then how sustainable is that, right? Because this obviously is one of the better core in cores we've seen in a while.

理查德，所以，總數據裡有幾點要考慮。即使你把新鮮食品排除在外，其他三類食品的增幅也相當可觀。或許我們可以深入探討這三大類食品的共同點，以及它們各自的獨特之處。然後，這種成長的可持續性如何？因為這顯然是我們近期看到的比較好的核心食物組合之一。

Sure. Well, look, first and foremost, there's -- well, I guess, 2 things. There's a little bit less promotional activity going on. You think about TVs and electronics, those have been such a strong category, not just for Costco but in general. The manufacturers haven't been doing as many promotional things. So -- and the other thing is, is given just the sheer sales strength, when you're comping -- if we comped to the -- whatever it was in August 14, and I don't have it in front of me, whatever, but in some of these categories that we talked about what was stronger, you're talking comps in the low to high 20s. When you've got those -- that kind of sales strength, you have very -- on a much smaller scale, you have less markdowns.

當然。嗯，首先，我想說兩點。一是促銷活動減少。想想電視和電子產品，它們一直是銷售強勁的品類，不僅對好市多來說如此，對整個產業也是如此。製造商們並沒有做那麼多促銷活動。二是，考慮到目前的銷售勢頭，如果我們以2014年8月的價格（我手頭沒有具體數據）作為對比，在我們討論的這些銷售強勁的品類中，同店銷售額的降幅在20%到30%之間。在這種銷售強勁的情況下，降價幅度自然會小得多。

So you've got a -- whatever your regular margin is on those categories, less -- a little bit less without a little bit of an offset from end of cycle and some of those cycles are 60, 90 days, by the way, on some of those SKUs. So that's helped you a little bit.

所以，無論這些類別的常規利潤率是多少，都會稍微減少一些，而且由於週期結束時間的調整，部分 SKU 的週期是 60 天或 90 天。因此，這對您有所幫助。

And then on ancillary rights, you said 75% was gas and travel. But it was gas the bulk of that? And if so, was gas more the compare last year versus any decision you made, right, to take less margin? I imagine it's not bad to take less margin and try to drive traffic because market is just not there, right?

關於輔助權益，您提到75%是汽油和差旅費。但大部分是汽油嗎？如果是這樣，汽油收入是否比去年更高，與您降低利潤率的決定相比如何？我想，在市場不景氣的情況下，降低利潤率並努力吸引客流也未嘗不可，對嗎？

I think in terms of less margin, that's more of our DNA. When things are really good, we're going to drive sales even further and do that. Or when things are good, we're going to -- we feel a little more comfortable doing the $2 an hour for another month, whatever it might be. But at the end of the day, there's probably less price competition out there today than there was a year ago, and so we're able to maintain our fair margins.

我認為，就利潤率而言，這更符合我們的企業基因。當市場行情大好時，我們會進一步提升銷量，並採取相應的措施。或者，當市場行情良好時，我們會更樂意繼續維持每小時2美元的工資水平，無論最終結果如何。但歸根結底，如今的價格競爭可能比一年前小，因此我們能夠保持合理的利潤率。

All right. And then lastly, what's the current thought process on 2 things: expanded BOPUS, which you haven't wanted to do for cost reasons; and a third tier of membership? I don't know if it'd be a higher tier or a middle tier but sort of segmenting that a little more.

好的。最後，關於兩件事，你們目前的想法是什麼：一是擴大線上訂購線下取貨（BOPUS）服務範圍，你們之前因為成本原因一直沒做；二是增加第三級會員？我不知道是更高一級還是中級，總之就是想把會員群細分得更細緻一些。

Yes. Well, on buy online and pick up in-store, we continue to look at what others do. We continue to scratch our head a little bit. It's not that we'll never do it but it's not on the agenda for this week. And as it relates to an additional tier of membership, again, I don't think that's on the top of the priority plate at this juncture, given everything else that's going on.

是的。關於線上購買線下取貨，我們仍在觀察其他商家的做法。我們還在為此苦思冥想。並非我們永遠不會推出這項服務，只是本週暫無計畫。至於增設會員等級，鑑於目前其他事情的進展，我認為這並非當務之急。

Your next question is from Scott Mushkin of R5 Capital.

下一個問題來自 R5 Capital 的 Scott Mushkin。

So I guess I want to get back to Richard, to the e-commerce traffic mix and the comments that you've made prior about really wanting to get people into the club. If the pandemic shifts that, where you're going to see permanently traffic being an issue there, how are we supposed to -- how are we thinking about like impulse purchases and just the Costco model once we exit the pandemic, if this kind of sticks, with omnichannel just being a much bigger piece of the pie overall?

所以我想回到理查德的話題，回到電商流量組成以及你之前提到的想要吸引更多人加入會員的問題上。如果疫情改變了這一點，導致流量問題長期存在，那麼一旦疫情結束，我們該如何看待衝動消費以及Costco的模式？如果這種模式持續下去，全通路在整體市佔率中佔據更大的份額，我們又該如何應對？

Well, first of all, keep in mind, if our online business was 5-ish percent a year ago and now it's 8-ish percent, that's a big delta in 1 year. And it'll continue -- it will probably continue to increase as a percentage from there. And that excludes the third-party Instacart type business, the 1-day grocery. And so look, we've been pretty good at pivoting along the way and we recognize there's lots of attributes to value. The first and foremost is the lowest price on the greatest quality or quantity of goods, of services and the trust that we've endeared with our members. I think that we'll figure that out as we go along. We're not -- we may be occasionally stubborn on something but we're not completely intransient if we see we need to do something. We've figured out how to do things in a little different way than others, and we'll continue to do that.

首先，請記住，如果我們的線上業務一年前佔比約為5%，現在達到8%左右，一年內成長幅度相當可觀。而且這個比例很可能會持續成長。這還不包括第三方平台Instacart之類的業務，也就是一日達雜貨配送服務。所以你看，我們一路走來一直很會調整策略，我們也意識到價值包含很多面向。首要的一點是，以最低的價格提供最優質或最多的商品和服務，以及我們與會員之間建立的信任。我認為我們會在實踐中不斷摸索。我們並非——我們偶爾可能會在某些事情上比較固執，但如果我們認為需要採取行動，我們絕對不會完全固執己見。我們已經找到了一種與眾不同的做事方式，並且會繼續這樣做。

And as far as the pickup, I know I think you were quoted in a recent article on this. I mean, how are you thinking about pickup over time? And is there a way to bring that to -- bring that arrow into what you guys are doing without better economics? I know you've always been cautious about those economics.

至於皮卡，我知道你最近在一篇文章裡被引用過。我的意思是，你對皮卡的未來發展有什麼看法？有沒有辦法在不考慮經濟效益的情況下，把皮卡融入你們的業務中？我知道你一直對經濟效益比較謹慎。

Well, keep in mind, when third parties do it, their cost for picking, we believe, we don't know exactly what they are, but we believe based on our wages and benefits, is less. And they've created a model that works with their density and everything else. They're not just buying and delivering from Costco, they're buying and delivering to others. So there are some economics in that model that makes sense. The -- our view also is, is there are some retailers that are doing it because they feel they have to.

需要注意的是，第三方物流公司負責揀貨時，我們認為他們的揀貨成本更低——我們雖然不清楚具體金額，但根據我們的工資和福利來看，應該更低。而且他們已經建立了一套符合自身密度和其他因素的模式。他們不僅從 Costco 進貨和配送，還向其他零售商進貨和配送。因此，這種模式在經濟上是合理的。此外，我們認為，有些零售商之所以這樣做，是因為他們覺得不得不這樣做。

One of the things the article you're talking about is the article today. The one, in my view, I think, I would disagree in the article is that we should be concerned because our sales have started slowing, which is the contrary. They're stronger than they've ever been in the last 3 months. So we don't have our head in the sand on it. We look at it. We have people here that study it. And maybe we'll surprise you 1 day. But at this juncture, we're not prepared to do that.

你提到的那篇文章裡，有一點我不太認同，就是文章裡說我們的銷售開始放緩，我們應該為此擔憂，但事實恰恰相反。過去三個月，我們的銷售額比以往任何時候都更加強勁。所以我們並沒有對此視而不見。我們一直在關注，公司裡也有專門的人員負責研究。也許有一天，我們會讓你大吃一驚。但就目前而言，我們還沒有做好準備。

Your next question is from Rupesh Parikh of Oppenheimer.

你的下一個問題來自奧本海默公司的魯佩什·帕里克。

I guess, just 2 related questions on real estate. So as you look at your store growth for this year, what's the split between international and domestic? And also just given some of the challenges in brick-and-mortar, I'm mostly just curious if you're starting to see more opportunities on the real estate front.

我想問兩個與房地產相關的問題。就您今年的門市成長計畫而言，國際門市和國內門市的比例是多少？另外，考慮到實體店面臨的一些挑戰，我很好奇您是否開始看到房地產的更多機會。

Yes. I mean I think our general view is, is that we still feel that we want to open -- looking at this year and the next 5 years, open somewhere between 20 and 25 a year net new units. About half of those, a little more than half will start by coming in the United States. And that'll trend over the 5 years to maybe being slightly over 50-50 in the U.S. to slightly under 50-50 in the U.S. We still think we have plenty of opportunities in the U.S.

是的。我的意思是，我們總體上仍然希望——展望今年和未來五年——每年淨增加20到25套公寓。其中大約一半，略多於一半，將首先進入美國市場。未來五年，這一比例可能會從略高於50%到略低於50%。我們仍然認為我們在美國有很多機會。

It does take longer in certain other countries. I think we're just about ready to do a second unit in France. We just opened our third unit in Spain after having opened our first unit in Spain, gosh, 5 years ago. We have 1 unit in China with 2 planned for fiscal '22. We're now in fiscal '21. And so some of these countries do take longer. But we are also putting a little bit more emphasis on that, where we've been successful and we think we can be successful. And -- but I think again, at the 40,000-foot level, if we did 20 to 25, a little more than half in the first couple of years is U.S. and by year 4 or 5 or 6, it'll probably be instead of 60-40 or 55-45 U.S., it'll turn to be just the opposite.

在某些其他國家，所需時間確實更長。我認為我們差不多準備好在法國開設第二家工廠了。我們在西班牙開設了第三家工廠，而第一家工廠是在五年前開設的。我們在中國有一家工廠，並計劃在2022財年開設兩家。現在是2021財年。所以，在某些國家，所需時間確實更長。但我們也更加重視那些我們已經成功且我們認為能夠取得成功的國家。而且——但我認為，從宏觀角度來看，如果我們開設20到25家工廠，那麼在前幾年，其中略多於一半的工廠位於美國，到第四、第五或第六年，美國工廠與其他國家工廠的比例可能就會完全相反，而不是現在的60%比40%或55%比45%。

Your next question is from Scot Ciccarelli of RBC Capital.

下一個問題來自加拿大皇家銀行資本市場的Scot Ciccarelli。

Actually, another store growth question. What is the limiting factor for you in terms of accelerating your store growth further? Like you've got a grand total of 1 in France, a grand total of 1 in Spain, like -- and you've been there for 5 years. Like it just seems to me like there could be a lot more store expansion if you really wanted to push it. And I guess what I'm wondering is, what keeps you from accelerating that further?

其實，我還有個關於門市成長的問題。在進一步加速門市擴張方面，您面臨的限制因素是什麼？例如，您在法國只有一家門市，在西班牙也只有一家——而且您已經在那裡經營了五年。在我看來，如果您真的想大力擴張，門市數量應該還有很大的提升空間。所以我想問的是，是什麼阻礙了您進一步加速擴張？

I think there are a couple of things. First of all, I've always said that we're a very hands-on company. And one of the things we've learned when we've gone a little too fast, not to suggest 1 in 5 years is too fast, it's not. But -- and I remember in Japan, we got to 10 or 12 locations and then in about 18-month period, we opened 8 or 9 and we had a little bit of operating indigestion. As it relates to France, it took us close to 10 years to get our first open. The level of people and entities that can appeal that process and fight you to keep you out is unbelievable. And again, in Spain, we actually have 3, fourth this year.

我認為有幾點需要說明。首先，我一直強調我們是一家非常注重實務的公司。我們之前發展過快，也因此吸取了一些教訓——當然，五年一家店的速度並不算快，但我記得在日本，我們一度擁有十到十二家分店，然後在短短一年半的時間裡，我們又開了八九家，結果運營上出現了一些問題。至於法國，我們花了將近十年才開出第一家店。能夠對審批流程提出異議、阻撓你進入市場的人和機構之多，令人難以置信。還有，在西班牙，我們今年已經開了三家，第四家。

Generally speaking, if I look at various countries, we'd open 5 in the first 5 years, that would be relatively fast for us. And -- but again, it gets back, I think, to getting that hands on and make sure that we feel comfortable how the market is doing. We're probably a little slower than we could be but we feel good about it. And it's worked for us, and we'll, I think, continue to do that.

總的來說，如果我考察各個國家，我們會在前五年開設五個分支機構，這對我們來說算是比較快的速度了。但是──我覺得關鍵還是在於親力親為，確保我們對市場狀況感到滿意。我們的速度可能比預期稍慢一些，但我們對此感到滿意。這種策略對我們來說行之有效，而且我認為我們會繼續這樣做。

But Richard, that's on the international front. That makes sense. You've got to get comfortable with the market and supply chain, of course. But what about just in the U.S.? Like you're obviously comfortable with all the -- how to navigate kind of store openings and what kind of restrictions you might have. It just seems to me like if you've got a decent amount of white space...

但是理查德，那是國際層面的問題。這很合理。你當然得熟悉市場和供應鏈。但美國本土市場呢？例如，你顯然很熟悉所有的事情——如何開設新店以及可能面臨的各種限制。在我看來，如果你還有相當多的市場空白…

Fair enough. Well, I think some of the white space gets better each year. If I look at even the Seattle market, there was a multiyear period where we didn't open any additional units and then we opened on the East side here, Redmond, and a couple of others. And part of it is cannibalizing nearby units. And -- but no, we try to be relatively methodical and disciplined of kind of the returns that a new unit can generate, net of cannibalization. And could we open 20 instead of 12 or 13 in the U.S.? Absolutely. But it's how fast the real estate people and the regional operations people get with our CEO to go through that process and...

好吧。我認為市場空白每年都在改善。就拿西雅圖市場來說，我們曾經好幾年沒有開任何新店，後來我們在東區、雷德蒙以及其他幾個地方都開了新店。部分原因是蠶食了附近店舖的市佔率。但是——不，我們盡量以相對有條不紊且嚴謹的方式評估新店在扣除蠶食效應後所能產生的收益。我們在美國能不能開20家而不是12或13家？當然可以。但關鍵在於房地產團隊和區域營運團隊能否與我們的執行長高效協作，完成相關流程…

Finding the right properties.

找到合適的房產。

Finding the right properties, yes.

是的，找到合適的房產很重要。

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

你的下一個問題來自 D.A. Davidson 的 Mike Baker。

And it's getting late, so I'll be quick, but I wanted to ask you about the membership fee income up about [5%] and change, I think, this quarter, which has been pretty consistent throughout the year. But I guess, how much of that do you think is from new members that you're picking up because of the pandemic? Some of your competitors are seeing big increases in new members from the pandemic. It's hard to tease that out from your numbers. I mean we compare this -- we can compare it to past MFI numbers but it's a little lumpy because of the fee increases. So any idea of what you're picking up in terms of new members because of the pandemic.

時間不早了，我就長話短說。我想問您，本季會員費收入成長了大約5%多一點，而且全年都保持著相當穩定的水平。我想問的是，您認為其中有多少成長來自疫情期間新增的會員？您的一些競爭對手也表示，疫情期間新增會員數大幅成長。從您的數據中很難區分這一點。我的意思是，我們可以將這些數據與以往的小額信貸機構數據進行比較，但由於會員費上漲，數據波動較大。所以，您能否大致估算一下，疫情期間新增會員的數量是多少？

We don't disclose that. It's still a smaller percentage of the total. It's not a majority of the total.

我們不會透露具體數字。這仍然只佔總數的一小部分，並非多數。

And does it surprise you that those membership numbers aren't accelerating more as you might see from some of your competitors?

會員數量成長速度沒有像一些競爭對手那麼快，這是否讓你感到驚訝？

Our view, when we've looked at some of our competitors' numbers, is partly because they have a much lower number of members per location than we do. And we -- that's our view. But the fact is, is when we look at how penetrated we are in so many of our markets, I mean, we are, even in California, where we have 120, 130 units, I forgot how many units we have there, I believe we're north of 60% -- slightly north of 60% member household market share. In states like Oregon and Washington, we're well in excess of that. So I think that's part of the issue in our view. We've got a lot of people already.

我們查看了一些競爭對手的數據後發現，他們每個地點的會員數量遠低於我們，這是我們的觀點。但事實上，當我們審視我們在眾多市場的滲透率時，即使在加州，我們擁有120到130家分店（我忘了具體數量），我們的會員家庭市場份額也超過了60%。在俄勒岡州和華盛頓州等州，我們的市佔率更是遠超過這個數字。所以，我認為這是我們認為問題的一部分。我們已經擁有龐大的用戶群。

Right. Yes. Yes, it makes sense. All right. If I could ask 1 follow-up on gas gallons sold, you said you're at 10% today. That's not 10% for the quarter, down 10%, that is, I believe, right? That's sort of a point in time. Did you mention how your gas gallons sold were for the -- as we go through the whole quarter?

好的。是的。是的，有道理。好的。如果可以的話，我想再問一個關於汽油銷售的問題。您說今天的銷量下降了10%。這不是指整個季度的銷量下降了10%，對嗎？這只是一個時間點的數據。您有沒有提到整個季度汽油銷售的走勢？

We did not. That's a more recent number in the last month, let's say. I mentioned that it may have been even in the end of Q3, which ended like May 10 or May whatever, around then, where we're like a minus 50%. But my guess is, is we're somewhere in the low to mid-teens for the last month.

我們沒有。這是最近一個月的數據，比如說。我之前提到過，第三季末（大概是5月10號左右）的數據可能接近-50%。但我估計，上個月的數據應該在十幾到十幾之間。

For the last quarter or for the last month?

是指上個季度還是上個月？

The last month in low teens.

上個月跌幅在十幾度左右。

Okay. And so the total quarter is somewhere in between those 2 numbers, presumably?

好的。那麼，整個季度的總額大概介於這兩個數字之間吧？

Yes. Yes.

是的。是的。

Your next question is from Peter Benedict of Baird.

您的下一個問題來自 Baird 公司的 Peter Benedict。

Richard, just a question on how the product shortage issues that you guys have seen around COVID might be influencing your view on where you might go next in terms of vertical sourcing. I mean, I don't assume there's anything electronics or white goods, but has the experience in the last 4 or 5 months maybe bent the curve in terms of when certain initiatives might be pulled forward?

理查德，我有個問題想問，你們在新冠疫情期間遇到的產品短缺問題，會如何影響你們下一步的垂直採購策略？我的意思是，我並不認為會涉及電子產品或白色家電，但過去四、五個月的經驗是否影響了你們某些項目的推進速度？

Well, in terms of vertical initiatives, we've got -- the last 2 or 3 years have been quite a bit, not only a bakery commissary that serves U.S. and Canada, just across the Canadian border, not only a second meat plant in Illinois versus the one we've had for many years in California, not only the poultry complex and not only a couple of smaller produce initiatives we've got going on right now. And last, but not even expected, but the acquisition of Innovel or what we now call Costco Logistics. So we got our hands full with a lot of things right now.

就垂直整合計畫而言，過去兩三年我們進展頗豐，不僅在加拿大邊境附近建造了一家服務於美國和加拿大的烘焙食品配送中心，還在伊利諾伊州建了第二家肉類加工廠（加州那家我們已經運營多年），此外還有家禽加工廠，以及目前正在推進的幾個小型農產品項目。最後，也是意料之外的，我們收購了Innovel，也就是我們現在所說的Costco物流。所以，我們現在確實有很多事情要忙。

I don't necessarily see -- I think one of the things that we've learned from COVID, we have great relationships with large companies, both consumer product name companies and private label name companies doing literally multi-hundreds of millions of dollars of 1 item. When there has been some shortage of supply, we've had to expand that vendor network a little bit. There are some instances, where given our sheer volume in Asia now, can we find a comparable manufacturer or an existing supplier that wants to do something over there. So I think there's some -- there'll be some ways to continue to reduce costs on key items. But in terms of what's the next big vertical, I don't know if we know at this point.

我並不一定認為——我認為我們從新冠疫情中學到的一點是，我們與大型企業建立了良好的合作關係，包括知名消費品公司和自有品牌公司，它們生產的單一產品價值就高達數億美元。當出現供應短缺時，我們不得不稍微擴大供應商網路。鑑於我們目前在亞洲的龐大業務量，在某些情況下，我們能否找到一家相當大的製造商或現有供應商願意在亞洲開展業務？所以我認為，我們仍然有一些方法可以繼續降低關鍵產品的成本。但至於下一個重要的垂直領域是什麼，目前我還不清楚。

Okay. No, that's fair. And then just last on the travel bookings, you had mentioned that you're starting to see a pickup there but it's further out than normal. Can you -- can you frame maybe what's normal and what you're kind of seeing right now? I thought that was interesting.

好的。沒錯，這很合理。最後，關於旅遊預訂，您提到您看到預訂量開始回升，但比平常晚一些。您能說說正常情況和您目前看到的情況之間的差異嗎？我覺得這很有趣。

This is my definition of what I've understood previously at normal is if you go back pre-COVID, the majority of your bookings each day related to stuff in the next few months, maybe a little further out for 5 months before Christmas or 5 months before the beginning of summer. Today, you've got people booking things out 5 and 9 months in some cases.

我之前對「正常」的理解是，如果回到新冠疫情之前，你每天的大部分預訂都與未來幾個月有關，或許會更遠一些，比如聖誕節前5個月或夏季開始前5個月。而現在，人們的預訂時間已經提早了5個月甚至9個月。

Now there's 2 reasons: one, there's some great deals out there; and two, in many instances, there's no cancellation charges. And so we'll have to wait and see. And part of that will be dictated by -- we've actually sold and had some members go on some cruises of late, still a very small number. The car rental business has picked up a little bit better than the other but still down relative to what it had been pre-COVID.

現在有兩個原因：一是市面上有許多優惠；二是很多情況下，取消預訂無需支付任何費用。所以我們只能拭目以待。而這一部分取決於——我們最近確實售出了一些郵輪產品，也有一些會員預訂了郵輪行程，但數量仍然很少。租車業務的情況比其他業務略好一些，但與疫情前的水平相比仍然較低。

Overall -- yes. Overall, and mind you, if we book something out 9 months, we don't take it into revenue until it's -- the trip is taken. So even though business has improved in terms of what we show in our numbers, there's very little -- it's just starting to -- it's not -- first of all, it's not negative right now. There are a few months there in April, May, June -- or April, May, certainly, where cancellation costs were greater than trips being taken.

總體而言——是的。總的來說，請注意，如果我們提前9個月預訂行程，只有在行程實際發生後才計入收入。因此，儘管從我們的財務數據來看，業務有所改善，但目前的情況還很輕微——它才剛開始——首先，目前還沒有出現負成長。在四月、五月和六月這幾個月，取消預訂造成的損失確實超過了實際出行次數。

Your next question is from Kelly Bania of BMO Capital.

下一個問題來自 BMO Capital 的 Kelly Bania。

Just wanted to ask maybe a 2-part question here. More and more, retailers are talking a little bit about advertising maybe as a way to offset their lower margin e-commerce business. And so I was curious, one, if you could talk about where are e-com margins, just with all the acceleration. And maybe just also remind us what bucket that is in your table. But then also just philosophically, how do you think about that? Maybe any -- taking on any more ad revenue to your dotcom business.

我想問一個可能包含兩個部分的問題。越來越多的零售商開始討論廣告，或許是為了彌補電商業務利潤率較低的不足。所以我很好奇，首先，您能否談談電商利潤率目前處於什麼水準？能否也提醒一下，在您的表格中，電商利潤率應該歸入哪個類別？其次，從理念上講，您如何看待電商業務增加廣告收入這件事？

Well, we're taking on more ad revenue and we keep learning more about that as well as we drive that business. And -- but overall, the margins, it's lower gross margins. Part of that is category specific. Electronics, which is by far the largest single component of e-commerce, is a high single-digit margin. If you think about it, in the Costco warehouse, you've got fresh that's in the low double digits, sometimes, a preteen or early teen. And you've got, again, conversely electronics, which is mid to high.

嗯，我們正在增加廣告收入，在推動這項業務發展的過程中，我們也在不斷學習和了解這方面的知識。但總體而言，毛利率有所下降。部分原因是不同品類之間的差異。電子產品是電子商務中佔比最大的單一類別，但其毛利率只有個位數。想想看，在好市多（Costco）的倉儲式超市裡，生鮮食品的毛利率只有兩位數，有時甚至只有十幾分之一。而電子產品的毛利率則恰恰相反，在中高水準。

You also, as we try to drive the business in certain new categories like apparel, where you buy 2 items and get $5 off or whatever they're marketing or promotional item is, there's a lower realized margin on a given category in some of those categories versus in store. So overall, you also have less SG&A. And I get back to what Costco has always been a top line company. We're looking to grow at top line. Certainly, the profitability of e-commerce has improved dramatically in the last year with these strong sales but it's part of the ecosystem.

此外，當我們嘗試拓展某些新品類（例如服裝）的業務時，例如買兩件減5美元之類的促銷活動，這些品類的實際利潤率通常低於實體店。因此，整體而言，線上銷售和管理費用也會降低。而Costco一直以來都是以營收為導向的公司。我們致力於實現營收成長。誠然，去年強勁的銷售業績顯著提升了電商的獲利能力，但這只是整個生態系統的一部分。

And it's in ancillary with where it is.

而且它與它所在的位置密切相關。

Oh, where is it in a matrix? It's in ancillary.

哦，它在矩陣的哪個位置？它在輔助部分。

It is in ancillary.

它屬於輔助類。

Your next question is from Laura Champine of Loop Capital.

下一個問題來自 Loop Capital 的 Laura Champine。

Just a quick one, Richard. You've managed to improve inventory turns or grow inventories slower than sales since the onset of COVID. I know that some of this has been supply chain issues or issues with certain SKU sourcing, but that seems to be clearing up. How long can you keep improving inventory turns at this pace?

理查德，我問個小問題。自從新冠疫情爆發以來，你們成功地提高了庫存週轉率，或者說庫存成長速度低於銷售成長速度。我知道這其中一部分原因是供應鏈問題或某些SKU的採購問題，但這些問題似乎正在解決。你們能以這樣的速度持續提高庫存週轉率多久呢？

Well, if we keep doing 14% sales for a while, but I say that tongue-in-cheek because we -- if you go back to April and May, the inventory turn had come down, one of the reasons we were planning for additional capital -- working capital needs. I -- yes. Look, I think we've gotten to a point when we've enjoyed a turn based on how you calculate it in the 12% to 13% range, when you get up to that range, it's difficult to some extent as well. Gas helps it because we turn gas every day. Fresh foods helps it because we turn fresh foods every week or less, I think about every week, maybe a little better than that. And the fact that we didn't have a big denigration on nonfood items, which we had thought would be an offset to that. So it's helped a little bit right now. But if you ask me if I could just keep where we are right now, I'd say sure.

嗯，如果我們能維持14%的銷售成長率一段時間，那當然可以。不過我這麼說有點開玩笑，因為——如果你回顧一下四五月份的情況，庫存週轉率確實下降了，這也是我們當時計劃追加資金——也就是營運資金需求——的原因之一。是的。你看，我覺得我們現在的周轉率已經達到了12%到13%的水平（以你計算的計算方法），但達到這個水平後，在某種程度上也會比較困難。汽油銷售情況不錯，因為我們每天都能賣出汽油。生鮮食品銷售情況也不錯，因為我們每週甚至更短時間就能賣出生鮮食品，我想應該是每週一次，可能比這還要好一些。而且，我們沒有大幅削減非食品類商品的銷售額，這原本是我們預期可以抵銷一部分影響的因素。所以，目前這些因素確實起了一定的作用。但如果你問我是否希望維持現狀，我會說當然可以。

Your next question is from Christopher Mandeville of Jefferies.

下一個問題來自傑富瑞集團的克里斯多福·曼德維爾。

This is Blake on for Chris. I was wondering if you'd comment at all on the extent to how much have existing customers you had before the pandemic that historically didn't buy general merchandise that are now shopping that category. How much of that example have you seen?

我是布萊克，替克里斯問。我想請您談談，在疫情之前，您有多少原本不買日用百貨的顧客現在開始購買這類商品？您觀察到這種情況有多普遍？

Yes. I don't know, off the top of my head, that. Sorry.

是的。我一時想不起來。抱歉。

Okay. And then just lastly, can you talk about renewal rates and your expectations on those? Should we expect them to maybe creep higher, given all the comp strength you're seeing now?

好的。最後，您能談談續約率以及您對續約率的預期嗎？考慮到目前競爭的激烈程度，我們是否應該預期續約率會小幅上升？

Yes. Sorry, you're 0 for 2. We don't guide. No, we don't guide. There are things that help the comp -- that help the renewal rate, getting people to executive, getting people to do our credit card. Some of the things we do now when you sign up online...

是的。抱歉，您兩次都失敗了。我們不提供指導。不，我們不提供指導。有些方法可以提高佣金率——例如提高續約率、吸引客戶晉升到高階主管、鼓勵客戶辦理我們的信用卡。現在，當您在線註冊時，我們會做一些事情…

Autobill.

自動扣款。

Autobill. And so those are things that help push it upward a little bit or...

自動扣款。所以這些因素都會稍微推高價格，或者…

Delivering [and issuing too].

交付[以及發行]。

Yes. The fact -- to the extent -- but conversely, if we ramped up internationally, and not that we are going to do that overnight, but if we ramped up internationally, you start -- in any new market or new -- the first few warehouses in a new country, you work on a much lower renewal rate to start with, but a much higher number of initial sign-ups because there's a lot looking at those. And so all those things weigh in. We feel, so far that -- I know as soon as we show a minus 0.1% in the quarter, which, knock on wood, we haven't of late, people will worry what's going on. But our view is, is that we're hanging on to our members. We're getting them to -- we're -- in most countries, even in new countries, we've seen the trend to more often improve than not. And so I think we feel pretty good about that. Why don't we take 2 more questions?

是的。事實上——在某種程度上——但反過來說，如果我們擴大國際業務，當然我們不可能一夜之間就做到，但如果我們擴大國際業務，在任何新市場或新國家/地區，最初幾個倉庫的續訂率會低得多，但初始註冊用戶數量會高得多，因為很多人都在關注這些。所以所有這些因素都會影響結果。到目前為止，我們感覺——我知道一旦我們季度業績出現-0.1%的下滑（謝天謝地，最近我們還沒有出現這種情況），人們就會擔心發生了什麼。但我們的觀點是，我們正在留住我們的會員。我們正在讓他們——在大多數國家/地區，即使是新國家/地區，我們也看到業績成長的趨勢往往大於下降。所以我認為我們對此感覺相當不錯。我們再回答兩個問題吧？

Your next question is from Greg Melich of Evercore ISI.

下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Greg Melich。

Richard, just 1 clarification and 1 question. Did you say e-commerce was 8% and then over 10%, including Instacart? Was that for the year or the quarter?

理查德，我只有一個疑問和一個需要澄清的地方。你剛剛說電子商務佔8%，然後又說包括Instacart在內超過10%？這是全年數據還是季度數據？

Quarter.

四分之一.

Roughly.

大致。

Quarter and roughly, yes.

大約四分之一，是的。

Yes. Yes, 8-ish and 10-ish, got it. And then...

是的。是的，大概八點到十點左右，明白了。然後…

Yes-ish.

差不多吧。

All right. So on traffic, I guess that was my follow-up. You talked a lot about, and it's nice to see the U.S. traffic come back through the quarter. Could you help us understand why international traffic remains negative and if there's any outlier countries driving that? Or is really the U.S. the outlier with traffic would come back? And if you're concerned that, that could influence the renewal rates in those international markets?

好的。關於流量，我想問的是，您剛才談了很多，很高興看到美國流量在本季度有所回升。您能否幫我們分析一下國際流量為何仍然為負成長，以及是否存在某些異常國家導致了這種情況？或者說，美國才是異常值，其流量最終會回升？如果您擔心這種情況會影響這些國際市場的續約率，那您覺得呢？

Well, no, Canada is the outlier internationally. Mind you, U.S. is a little over 70% of our company's sales. Canada is around 10%, maybe...

不，加拿大在國際上是個特例。要知道，美國占我們公司銷售額的70%以上，而加拿大大概只佔10%左右…

15%.

15%。

15%? I'm sorry, 15%. And so you've got other international being less than...

15%？抱歉，是15%。所以其他國際項目的比例都低於…

It is going to drive it, but a lot more restriction code here so...

它能驅動它，但是這裡有很多限製程式碼，所以…

There have been more restrictions in Canada. Australia also, there have been more lockdowns of late. But Canada, and we have no direct warehouse competition in Canada. We've seen their traffic...

加拿大的限制措施更多。澳洲最近也實施了更多封鎖措施。但是加拿大，而且我們在加拿大沒有直接的倉庫競爭對手。我們已經看到了他們的業務量…

More negative in the basket, even bigger.

籃子裡的負數越多，就越大。

Yes, more negative with a basket even bigger than the U.S. So we still got them buying and we've seen that improve also. It's -- and that negative has been reduced. So hopefully, that will continue as well. Trends like, the last 4 months have been on the up and up.

是的，負面情緒更加強烈，而且涉及的商品籃子比美國還要大。不過，我們看到他們仍在購買，而且購買情況也有所改善。負面情緒已經有所緩解。希望這種趨勢能夠持續下去。過去四個月的趨勢一直在上升。

Got it. So the trend's in the right direction, it's just taking longer for those country-specific reasons.

明白了。所以趨勢是朝著正確的方向發展，只是由於各國具體情況不同，所需時間更長。

It went further down, to start with, too. I mean, I think even -- I'm shooting from the hip here, but even several months ago, if the U.S. was a minus 5% traffic, Canada was a minus double-digit traffic.

而且一開始下滑得更厲害。我的意思是，我覺得即使——我只是隨便說說——但即使在幾個月前，如果美國的交通流量下降了5%，加拿大的交通流量下降幅度也是兩位數。

And we have Robert Moskow of Crédit Suisse.

我們還有來自瑞士信貸的羅伯特·莫斯科。

I wanted to know if you're noticing any regional differences in terms of how consumers are behaving during the pandemic. Infection rates are rising in certain states. There's threat of more, I don't know if it'll fully go to lockdowns or not. But do you see any differences in terms of how they're getting ready for Halloween or worried about trick-or-treating or anything like that? And how are you responding to that?

我想了解一下，您是否注意到疫情期間消費者的行為有任何地區差異。某些州的感染率正在上升，而且有進一步封鎖的風險，我不知道是否會全面封鎖。但您是否注意到，消費者在準備萬聖節、擔心「不給糖就搗蛋」之類的活動方面有任何差異？您對此有何應對措施？

I can't be specific -- tell you specifically about Halloween. The only -- if I look back over the last several months, the only thing that we saw was, is when certain states unlocked more quickly, we saw a little pickup there faster earlier because people were getting out faster, some of those states that did that. Other than that, we haven't seen anything dramatic.

我無法具體說明萬聖節的情況。回顧過去幾個月，我們看到的唯一變化是，某些州較早解封，導致這些州的客流量也更快出現回升，因為人們更快地外出活動。除此之外，我們沒有看到其他劇烈的變化。

I would say, honestly, too, pandemic has progressed, people were comfortable. They're still going out more.

說實話，我也覺得，隨著疫情發展，人們逐漸放鬆警惕，開始多外出活動。

Right. Yes. Bob makes a good point here. I think -- and we're all a little guilty of it is as the pandemic has progressed, we're all hopefully...

沒錯。鮑伯說得很有道理。我想──我們多少都有些許愧疚──隨著疫情的發展，我們都希望…

(technical difficulty)

（技術難題）

Hello? God dammit. Hello?

餵？該死。餵？

Yes. We hear you.

是的，我們聽到了。

Oh, you hear me now. I thought I hang up on you. Sorry. I think as the pandemic has continued, people have gotten a little more comfortable, hopefully still maintaining the safety protocols but going out more often, and that's helped us. The numbers picked up a little bit as well. And overall, again, anecdotally, we feel that people feel more comfortable coming into a place where masks are required, where the places -- the physical spaces are larger with more cubic feet of open air, if you will. So I think those things have probably helped us. But the only real difference we saw was during those couple of months where some states opened up a little faster than others.

哦，你現在能聽到我說話了。我還以為我掛斷了。抱歉。我覺得隨著疫情的持續，人們逐漸放鬆下來，希望他們仍然遵守安全措施，但外出也更頻繁了，這對我們有幫助。感染人數也略有上升。總的來說，根據我們的觀察，人們似乎更願意去那些需要戴口罩、空間更大、空氣更流通的地方。所以我覺得這些因素可能對我們有幫助。但我們看到的唯一真正區別在於，在過去幾個月裡，有些州比其他州開放得更快一些。

Okay. Does that mean net-net, as reopenings eventually improve, that that's a net positive for your business in 2021?

好的。這是否意味著，隨著重新開放的逐步改善，總體而言，這對您的企業在 2021 年來說是利好消息？

Well, that's -- it's a net positive but we don't know. Does that also mean as people eat out more frequently, they're going to buy less food, fresh food or food items at supermarkets and Costcos? There's probably some different offsets there. Again, we believe that some of the things that we've picked up through this pandemic, in part because a lot of these nonfood discretionary categories and big-ticket categories, some of that's going to be sticky. And once they've shopped and had a good experience at Costco at a great value, they'll hopefully continue that.

嗯，這總體上是積極的，但我們並不確定。這是否也意味著，隨著人們外出用餐的頻率增加，他們會減少在超市和Costco購買食物、新鮮食品或食品類商品的次數？這其中可能存在一些相互抵消的因素。我們再次強調，我們相信，我們在這次疫情期間觀察到的一些現象，部分原因是由於許多非食品類可自由支配商品和高價商品的消費習慣，其中一些習慣將會持續存在。一旦人們在Costco購物並獲得了物美價廉的良好體驗，他們就有望繼續光顧。

Well, thank you, everyone. Have a good day, and we're around. Have a good day.

謝謝大家。祝大家今天過得愉快，我們隨時都在。祝大家今天過得愉快。

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。