好市多 (COST) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Costco Wholesale Corporation Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year 2023 Operating Results Call. Today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the conference over to Richard Galanti, CFO. Please go ahead, sir.

大家好，歡迎參加 Costco 批發公司 2023 年第四季和 2023 財政年度經營業績電話會議。今天的通話正在錄音。 （操作員指示）我現在想將會議轉交給財務長理查德·加蘭蒂（Richard Galanti）。請繼續，先生。

Thank you, Lisa, 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 others 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.

謝謝你，麗莎，祝大家午安。首先我要指出，這些討論將包括1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述。這些陳述涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際事件、結果和/或業績與所示內容存在重大差異透過這樣的陳述。風險和不確定性包括但不限於今天電話會議中概述的風險和不確定性以及公司向 SEC 提交的公開聲明和報告中不時確定的其他風險和不確定性。前瞻性陳述僅代表截至其作出之日的情況，本公司不承諾更新這些陳述，除非法律要求。

In today's press release, we reported operating results for the fourth quarter of fiscal '23, the 17 weeks ended September 3. These results and the figures presented today compare to last fiscal year's 16-week fourth quarter. Reported net income for the 17-week fourth quarter came in at $2.16 billion or $4.86 per diluted share compared to $1.868 billion or $4.20 per diluted share in the 16-week fourth quarter last year.

在今天的新聞稿中，我們報告了23 財年第四季（截至9 月3 日的17 週）的營運業績。這些結果和今天公佈的數據與上一財年第四季的16 週進行了比較。為期 17 週的第四季報告淨利潤為 21.6 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 4.86 美元，而去年第四季為期 16 週的淨利潤為 18.68 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 4.20 美元。

In terms of sales, net sales for the 17-week fourth quarter were $77.43 billion, an increase of 9.4% from $70.76 billion in the 16-week fourth quarter last year. Comparable sales for the fourth quarter and these figures are like-for-like number of weeks. In the U.S., reported was a 0.2% comp. Excluding gas, deflation and FX, in the U.S., it would have been at 3.1%. Canada reported was a 1.8% and excluding gas deflation and FX, 7.4%. Other International reported 5.5% and again, excluding gas deflation and FX, 4.4%. All told, total company reported 1.1% comp and a 3.8% ex gas deflation and FX.

銷售額方面，第四季17週的淨銷售額為774.3億美元，比去年第四季16週的707.6億美元成長9.4%。第四季的可比銷售額和這些數字是按週數計算的。在美國，報告的比較率為 0.2%。不包括天然氣、通貨緊縮和外匯，在美國，該比率將為 3.1%。加拿大報告為 1.8%，不包括天然氣通貨緊縮和外匯，為 7.4%。其他國際公司再次報告成長 5.5%，不包括天然氣通貨緊縮和外匯，成長 4.4%。總而言之，公司總獲利率為 1.1%，扣除天然氣通貨緊縮和外匯因素後的獲利率為 3.8%。

In terms of e-commerce, that was -- came in at a minus 0.8% reported and a minus 0.6% excluding FX. Overall, for the fiscal fourth quarter, food and sundries were relatively strong once again, with fresh foods right behind and with some offsets on some of the nonfoods categories. In terms of Q4 comp sales metrics, traffic or shopping frequency increased 5.2% worldwide and 5.0% in the United States. Our average transaction or ticket was down 3.9% worldwide and down 4.5% in the U.S., impacted in large part from weakness in bigger ticket nonfoods discretionary items as well as the gas price deflation. Foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar negatively impact sales by approximately 0.3%, and gasoline price deflation negatively impacted sales by approximately 2.5%.

就電子商務而言，報告為負 0.8%，不包括外匯則為負 0.6%。總體而言，第四財季食品和雜貨再次相對強勁，生鮮食品緊隨其後，一些非食品類別有所抵消。就第四季比較銷售指標而言，全球流量或購物頻率增加了 5.2%，美國增加了 5.0%。我們的平均交易或機票在全球範圍內下降了 3.9%，在美國下降了 4.5%，這在很大程度上是由於大額非食品非必需品的疲軟以及汽油價格通貨緊縮的影響。外幣相對於美元對銷售額產生約 0.3% 的負面影響，汽油價格通貨緊縮對銷售額產生約 2.5% 的負面影響。

Next, on the income statement, membership fee income reported in the fourth quarter $1.509 billion or 1.95% of sales in the fourth quarter of this fiscal year compared to $1.27 billion or 1.88% in Q4 of last year, so a $182 million increase or 13.7%. If you adjust for the extra week, the 13.7% would be roughly a 7% ex that extra week. Excluding FX and the extra week, the increase would have been around 7.5%.

接下來，在損益表上，第四季會員費收入為15.09 億美元，佔本財年第四季銷售額的1.95%，而去年第四季為12.7 億美元，佔1.88%，因此增加了1.82億美元，即13.7%。 %。如果您對額外一週進行調整，則 13.7% 大約相當於額外一週的 7%。排除外匯和額外一週的影響，增幅約為 7.5%。

In terms of renewal rates, at Q4 end, our U.S. and Canada renewal rates stood at 92.7%, which is up 0.1% from the 92.6% figure as of the end of Q3. The worldwide rate came in at 90.4%, down 0.1%, reflecting the impact of increasing penetration of memberships from international, which renew at a lower rate in large part because of new openings internationally.

在續約率方面，第四季末，我們的美國和加拿大續訂率為 92.7%，比第三季末的 92.6% 上升了 0.1 個百分點。全球會員比率為 90.4%，下降 0.1%，反映了國際會員滲透率不斷提高的影響，而國際會員續費率較低，很大程度上是因為國際會員新開張。

Membership growth continues. We ended the fourth quarter with 71.0 million paid household members, up 7.9% versus a year ago; and 127.9 million cardholders, up 7.6% and that's new openings over the past year of just under 3% increase in new locations. At fourth quarter end, we had 32.3 million paid executive memberships, an increase of 981,000 during the 17 weeks since Q3 end. Executive Members now represent a little over 45% of our paid membership and approximately -- paid members and approximately 73% of worldwide sales.

會員數持續成長。截至第四季末，我們有 7,100 萬付費家庭成員，比去年同期成長 7.9%；持卡人數量為 1.279 億，增長 7.6%，這是過去一年中新開業的門市數量增長了不到 3% 的原因。截至第四季末，我們擁有 3,230 萬付費高階主管會員，自第三季末以來的 17 週內增加了 981,000 名。目前，執行會員占我們付費會員的 45% 多一點，並且約佔付費會員和全球銷售額的 73%。

Moving down the income statement. Next is our gross margin. Our reported gross margin in the fourth quarter came in higher -- came in at 10.60%, up 42 basis points from 10.18% a year ago, and at 42 basis points is up 16 basis points, excluding gas deflation. As I always ask you to jot down a few numbers with 2 columns, both reported and excluding gas deflation, the first line item would be core merchandise, on a reported basis, up 51 basis points year-over-year in the fourth quarter and ex gas deflation, up 28 basis points; ancillary and other businesses, a minus 32 and a minus 38; 2% Reward, minus 4 and minus 2; LIFO plus 27 and plus 28, and you total that up, on a reported basis, gross margin was up 42 basis points year-over-year and ex gas deflation, up 16 basis points.

將損益表向下移動。接下來是我們的毛利率。我們報告的第四季毛利率更高，為 10.60%，比一年前的 10.18% 上升了 42 個基點，不包括天然氣通貨緊縮，毛利率為 42 個基點，上升了 16 個基點。正如我總是要求你用兩欄記下一些數字，包括報告的和不包括天然氣通貨緊縮的數據，第一行項目將是核心商品，根據報告，第四季度同比增長 51 個基點，扣除天然氣通貨緊縮，上升28 個基點；輔助和其他業務，負32和負38； 2%獎勵，負4負2；後進先出法加上 27 和 28，合計起來，在報告的基礎上，毛利率同比增長了 42 個基點，扣除天然氣通貨緊縮後，毛利率增長了 16 個基點。

Starting with the core, again, up 51 year-over-year and ex deflation, up 28. In terms of core margin on their own sales, our core-on-core margins were higher by 35 basis points, with food and sundries and nonfoods being up and fresh foods being down a little. Ancillary and other business gross margin was lower by 32 basis points and lower by 38 basis points ex gas. This decrease was driven almost entirely by gas. If you look at the other components of ancillary and other, which would include pharmacy, e-com, food court, business centers, optical, all those things on a relative basis year-over-year were in a couple of basis points plus or minus from a year earlier.

從核心業務開始，年成長 51，剔除通貨緊縮後，成長 28。就其自身銷售的核心利潤率而言，我們的核心利潤率高出 35 個基點，其中食品和雜貨以及非食品類商品上漲，新鮮食品類商品略有下降。輔助及其他業務毛利率下降 32 個基點，扣除天然氣後下降 38 個基點。這種下降幾乎完全是由天然氣驅動的。如果你看看輔助和其他的其他組成部分，其中包括藥局、電子商務、美食廣場、商業中心、光學，所有這些東西相對於去年同期來說都在幾個基點上加或較上年同期減。

2% Reward, higher by 4 and higher by 2 basis points, so a negative 2 basis points, excluding gas deflation. That represents higher sales penetration coming from our Executive Members.

2% 獎勵，提高 4 個基點，再提高 2 個基點，因此負 2 個基點，不包括天然氣通貨緊縮。這代表我們的執行成員具有更高的銷售滲透率。

And LIFO, of course, if you recall last year in Q4, we had a $223 million pretax LIFO charge. While there was a small charge this year of $30 million on a year-over-year basis, of course, that showed the basis point improvement in margin. While we continue to see sequential improvement in year-over-year inflation, I'll talk about that a little later. We still had a small amount relative to the first day of the fiscal year. That's the small charge in Q4.

當然，如果您還記得去年第四季度，我們的稅前 LIFO 費用為 2.23 億美元。當然，雖然今年同比增加了 3000 萬美元的小額費用，但這表明利潤率有了基點的改善。雖然我們繼續看到通膨年增率持續改善，但我稍後會討論這一點。相對於本財年的第一天，我們仍有少量資金。這是第四季的小額費用。

A couple of final comments on margins. First, we are asked often recently about our inventory shrinkage results and whether it has dramatically increased in the past year versus historical shrink results. The answer is no. In the past several years, our inventory shrink has increased by a couple of basis points, in part, we believe, due to the rollout of self-checkout. Over the past year, it has increased by less than 1 basis point more. So no, thankfully, not a big issue for us.

關於邊距的一些最後評論。首先，最近我們經常被問到我們的庫存縮減結果，以及與歷史縮減結果相比，過去一年庫存縮減結果是否大幅增加。答案是不行。在過去幾年中，我們的庫存縮減增加了幾個基點，我們認為部分原因是自助結帳的推出。過去一年，這數字只增加了不到1個基點。所以，謝天謝地，這對我們來說不是一個大問題。

And second, the year-over-year margin improvement has in part been due to fewer markdowns due to better inventory positions this year than last. Our inventories overall are in good shape.

其次，利潤率較去年同期改善的部分原因是今年庫存狀況比去年更好，因此降價減少。我們的庫存整體狀況良好。

Moving on to SG&A. Our reported SG&A in the fourth quarter, 8.96%, up from 8.53% a year earlier or up 43 basis points and ex gas deflation, up 21 basis points. Again, jot down the 2 columns of numbers, both reported and excluding gas deflation: operations, minus 37 basis points, minus being higher by, and without deflation, core would be minus 18; central, minus 6 and minus 3, and those are the really only 2 items. The others were all 0 stock compensation, preopening and other. So total reported margins were up 43 basis points year-over-year and ex gas deflation, up 21 basis points.

繼續討論SG&A。我們報告的第四季 SG&A 為 8.96%，較去年同期的 8.53% 上升 43 個基點，扣除天然氣通貨緊縮後上升 21 個基點。再次記下兩列數字，均報告且不包括天然氣通貨緊縮：營運負 37 個基點，負值較高，如果沒有通貨緊縮，核心將為負 18；中央、負 6 和負 3，這實際上是僅有的 2 個項目。其他均為0股補、預開倉等。因此，報告的總利潤率年增了 43 個基點，扣除天然氣通貨緊縮後，成長了 21 個基點。

In terms of the core operations being higher by 18 ex gas deflation and on a reported basis, higher by 37, this negative included the impact of lower sales growth as well as the impact of 8 weeks of additional top-of-scale wage increases that went into effect July 4, 2022, so midway through Q4 last year, and a full 17 weeks of this past March is higher than normal top-scale increase. Central being higher by 3 basis points ex gas deflation, again, not a lot of sales operating leverage there. And again, as I mentioned, the other line items that I typically read out were flat, both with and without gas deflation, so 0 year-over-year change.

就核心業務而言，扣除天然氣通貨緊縮後，核心業務增長了 18 倍，據報道，增長了 37 倍，這一負面影響包括銷售增長放緩的影響以及 8 週額外最高工資增長的影響。該政策於2022 年7 月4 日生效，即去年第四季中期，以及今年3 月整整17 週的漲幅均高於正常的最高增幅。扣除天然氣通貨緊縮後，中央匯率上漲了 3 個基點，同樣，銷售營運槓桿不多。再次，正如我所提到的，我通常讀出的其他行項目都是持平的，無論有沒有天然氣通貨緊縮，因此同比變化都是 0。

Below the operating income line, interest expense came in at $56 million this year versus $48 million a year ago, 1 extra week of course. Interest income and other for the quarter was higher by $171 million year-over-year, $238 million this year versus $67 million last year. This was driven in large part by an increase in interest income due to both higher interest rates and higher cash balances as well as the extra week. In addition, FX was slightly favorable year-over-year.

在營業收入線以下，今年的利息支出為 5,600 萬美元，而一年前為 4,800 萬美元，當然多了一周。本季的利息收入和其他收入年增 1.71 億美元，今年為 2.38 億美元，而去年為 6,700 萬美元。這在很大程度上是由於利率上升、現金餘額增加以及額外的一周導致利息收入增加。此外，外匯較去年同期略有有利。

In terms of income tax rate, our tax rate this year in the fourth quarter came in 27.1% compared to 25.4% in Q4 last year, so a full 1.7 percentage points higher year-over-year. This increase in our rate as of Q4 is primarily attributable to an increased penetration of international earnings, which overall incurs a higher income tax rate than in the U.S. Overall, reported net income was up 16% year-over-year in the quarter or 9% if you adjust for the extra week this year in fourth quarter versus last.

從所得稅稅率來看，今年第四季我們的稅率是27.1%，比去年第四季的25.4%，比去年季增加了整整1.7個百分點。截至第四季度，我們稅率的提高主要歸因於國際收益滲透率的提高，總體而言，該國的所得稅稅率高於美國。總體而言，本季度報告的淨利潤同比增長 16%，即 9如果您對今年第四季與去年相比額外增加的一周進行調整，則為%。

A few other items of note. In the fourth quarter, we opened 9 net new warehouses, including 5 new buildings in the U.S., 2 in China and 1 each in Japan and Australia. That -- for the full fiscal '23 year, we finished with 23 net new units as well as we did 3 relocations. And for the first quarter, the first 12 weeks of fiscal '24, we plan on opening 10 net new units and as well relocating 1 unit. All 10 locations, net new are -- 9 are in the U.S. and 1 are in Canada.

其他一些值得注意的事項。第四季度，我們淨開設了 9 個新倉庫，其中美國 5 個新倉庫，中國 2 個，日本和澳洲各 1 個。在整個 23 財年，我們淨新建了 23 個單位，並進行了 3 次搬遷。在第一季度，也就是 2024 財年的前 12 週，我們計劃淨開設 10 個新單位，並搬遷 1 個單位。所有 10 個新增地點均為：9 個位於美國，1 個位於加拿大。

Regarding capital expenditures, we've actually included the cash flow in the quarterly report, but CapEx spend in Q4 was approximately $1.56 billion. And for all of fiscal '23, it totaled $4.32 billion.

關於資本支出，我們實際上已將現金流納入季度報告中，但第四季度的資本支出約為 15.6 億美元。整個 23 財年的總收入為 43.2 億美元。

Turning to e-commerce. E-commerce sales in the fourth quarter ex FX, as I mentioned, decreased 0.6% year-over-year. While still negative, relatively speaking, our e-commerce showed good improvement -- results showed good improvement this quarter versus our year-over-year results in Q2 and Q3. In the previous 2 fiscal quarters, big ticket discretionary, majors, home furnishings, small electrics, jewelry and hardware were down 15% and 20% year-over-year, respectively, and down just 5% year-over-year in the fourth quarter, with those big ticket departments making up over half of our e-commerce sales.

轉向電子商務。正如我所提到的，第四季電子商務銷售額（扣除外匯）年減 0.6%。雖然仍然是負面的，但相對而言，我們的電子商務顯示出良好的改善——與第二季和第三季的同比結果相比，本季的結果顯示出良好的改善。前兩個財季，大宗非必需品、專業品、家居用品、小電器、珠寶和五金品類分別同比下降 15% 和 20%，第四季度同比僅下降 5%個季度，這些大票務部門占我們電子商務銷售額的一半以上。

A couple other items of note. Within the sales of big ticket discretionary, appliance were up over 30% in the quarter. Second, I've gotten a couple of calls that people have seen online that we've been selling 1-ounce gold bars. Yes, but when we load them on the site, they're typically gone within a few hours, and we limit 2 per member.

其他一些值得注意的事項。在大件非必需品銷售中，家電本季成長了 30% 以上。其次，我接到幾個電話，人們在網路上看到我們一直在賣 1 盎司金條。是的，但是當我們將它們加載到網站上時，它們通常會在幾個小時內消失，並且我們限制每個會員 2 個。

And lastly, I'll point out Costco Next. We continue to grow that. We currently have 62 suppliers on costconext.com, and we're continuing to onboard additional ones in many product areas from home improvement to apparel to pet to home and kitchen to electronics and accessories to sports and bicycles and toys and the like.

最後，我要指出 Costco Next。我們將繼續發展這一點。目前，我們在costconext.com 上擁有62 家供應商，並且我們將繼續在許多產品領域增加更多供應商，從家居裝修到服裝、寵物、家居和廚房、電子產品和配件、運動、自行車和玩具等。

Now a few comments on e-com mobile digital efforts, which we're always asked about. As I discussed during the last quarter earnings call, when I said that we were in the early innings of our digital mobile transformation efforts, progress is being made. In terms of recent additions and upgrades, we recently redesigned the account page in the digital membership card. We also redesigned a header with larger search bar and expanded selling space. We've added an app box for messages and advertisements right in the app. We've recently, a few months ago, opened an optical digital store where you can virtually try on glasses and then order them for pickup, prescription glasses.

現在談談我們經常被問及的電子商務行動數位化工作的一些評論。正如我在上個季度的財報電話會議上所討論的那樣，當我說我們正處於數位行動轉型工作的早期階段時，我們正在取得進展。在最近的新增和升級方面，我們最近重新設計了數位會員卡中的帳戶頁面。我們還重新設計了標題，提供更大的搜尋列和更大的銷售空間。我們在應用程式中新增了一個用於訊息和廣告的應用程式框。幾個月前，我們最近開設了一家光學數位商店，您可以在那裡虛擬試戴眼鏡，然後訂購處方眼鏡。

And lastly, there are ongoing improvement in our Costco app, offering in-warehouse shopping tools to our customers such as a digital membership card, managing shopping lists, viewing warehouse savings, seeing the gas prices to the extent there's a gas station there. And soon, you'll be able to search warehouse inventory and scan barcodes from the app. With the improvements made thus far over the past year, our App Store rating has gone from a dismal 2.3 stars to currently 4.7 stars. Unique visitors in the site are up 40% year-over-year, and the Costco app installs are up 46% year-over-year. So all in all, progress is being made.

最後，我們的 Costco 應用程式正在不斷改進，為客戶提供倉庫內購物工具，例如數位會員卡、管理購物清單、查看倉庫節省情況、查看加油站附近的汽油價格。很快，您將能夠從應用程式中搜尋倉庫庫存並掃描條碼。經過過去一年迄今為止的改進，我們的 App Store 評級已從令人沮喪的 2.3 星升至目前的 4.7 星。該網站的獨立訪客數量年增 40%，Costco 應用程式安裝量年增 46%。總而言之，正在取得進展。

Lastly, a couple of comments regarding inflation. Most recently, in Q3 '23, we had estimated that year-over-year inflation was in the 3% to 4% range. Our estimate for Q4 was inflation in the 1% to 2% range, and it's actually trended downward during the quarter. So hopefully, these inflation trends will continue. We'll have to see.

最後，關於通貨膨脹的一些評論。最近，在 23 年第三季度，我們估計年比通膨率在 3% 至 4% 範圍內。我們對第四季度通膨的估計是在 1% 到 2% 的範圍內，實際上該季度通膨呈下降趨勢。因此，希望這些通膨趨勢能夠持續下去。我們得看看。

Finally, in terms of upcoming releases, we'll announce our September sales results for the 5 weeks ending Sunday, October 1; on Wednesday, October 4 after the market closes.

最後，就即將發布的版本而言，我們將公佈截至 10 月 1 日星期日的 5 週 9 月份銷售結果； 10 月 4 日星期三收市後。

With that, I will open it up for Q&A and turn it back over to Lisa. Thank you.

這樣，我將打開它進行問答，然後將其轉回給麗莎。謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們將接受摩根士丹利的 Simeon Gutman 提出的第一個問題。

I guess my first question, I don't mean it tongue-in-cheek but is -- I guess, is a membership price increase part of the fiscal plan? And then part of the question is, is there a point at which this membership increase is part of, I guess, a hedge against inflation? Is there a point at which model feels more weight without it? In other words, can you go another year without it?

我想我的第一個問題，我並不是半開玩笑的意思，而是──我想，會員價格上漲是財政計畫的一部分嗎？然後問題的一部分是，我想，在某個時候，會員數量的增加是否會成為對沖通貨膨脹的一部分？如果沒有它，模型是否會在某個點上感覺更重？換句話說，你還能再過一年沒有它嗎？

Well, my pat answer, of course, is it's a question of when, not if. It's a little longer this time around since June of '17, so we're 6 years into it. And -- but you'll see it happen at some point. We can't really tell you if it's in our plans or not. We'll let you know when we know. We feel good, say, about all the attributes of member loyalty and member growth.

好吧，我的回答當然是，這是一個何時的問題，而不是是否的問題。自 17 年 6 月以來，這次的時間有點長，所以我們已經有 6 年了。而且——但你會在某個時候看到它發生。我們無法真正告訴您這是否在我們的計劃中。當我們知道時，我們會通知您。例如，我們對會員忠誠度和會員成長的所有屬性感覺良好。

And frankly, in terms of looking at the values that we provide to our members, we continue to increase those. It's certainly a greater amount than even -- more than if and when an increase occurs. So stay tuned. We'll keep you posted. But there's not a whole lot I can tell you about that.

坦白說，就我們為會員提供的價值而言，我們將繼續增加這些價值。這肯定比增加的數量還要多——比增加時的數量還要多。所以請繼續關注。我們會及時通知您。但關於這一點我能告訴你的並不多。

Fair enough. And then ultra short term, as gas prices have moved up, have you seen any effect or impact on spending at the store?

很公平。然後，從超短期來看，隨著汽油價格上漲，您是否看到對商店支出有任何影響或影響？

No. I mean, if you look at the numbers over the last few months that we report monthly and quarterly, there's not been a heck of a lot change. Big ticket discretionary, while improved relatively as I mentioned online -- those online items, we've seen the number of items in the basket tick up a little in the last few months, but I think that has more to do with the fact that we consciously added -- I think I mentioned in the last call, we consciously added 40 or 50, what I'll call, smaller ticket indulgent items, whether it's snack items and the like to just impulse items. And so that's what we do as merchants. But overall, we haven't seen any big change or have been able to correlate any big change to what's happened with gas prices.

不，我的意思是，如果你看看過去幾個月我們每月和每季報告的數字，你會發現並沒有太大的變化。大件可自由支配的商品，雖然正如我在網上提到的那樣相對有所改善——那些在線商品，我們看到過去幾個月購物籃中的商品數量有所增加，但我認為這更多地與以下事實有關：我們有意識地添加了——我想我在上次電話中提到過，我們有意識地添加了40 或50，我稱之為小票放縱物品，無論是零食還是類似的衝動物品。這就是我們作為商人所做的事情。但總體而言，我們沒有看到任何重大變化，也沒有能夠將任何重大變化與天然氣價格發生的情況聯繫起來。

We'll take our next question from Michael Lasser with UBS.

我們將回答瑞銀邁克爾·拉瑟 (Michael Lasser) 提出的下一個問題。

Richard, you ended your prepared remarks saying that this quarter or this month, inflation is on pace to be 1% to 2%, and you suggested it may be even lower than that. So should outside of the reverse, be prepared for the prospect of deflation either because that's what's happening with some underlying costs that Costco has been experiencing? Or Costco will look to invest in price as a way to continue to drive volumes, especially at a time when core-on-core margins are expanding so nicely?

理查德，您在準備好的發言結束時表示，本季或本月，通膨率將達到 1% 至 2%，您暗示通膨率可能會更低。那麼，除了相反的情況之外，是否應該為通貨緊縮的前景做好準備，因為 Costco 一直在經歷一些潛在成本的情況？或者 Costco 會尋求透過價格投資作為繼續推動銷售的一種方式，尤其是在核心利潤率擴張如此之好的時候？

Well, first of all, the comment that was 1% to 2% but then as we look at the 17 weeks, if you were -- or the 4 months roughly, we saw -- if we looked at it internally at each of the end of those 4 months, we saw the level -- that 1% to 2% is from the beginning to the end of the year -- I'm sorry, the beginning of the end of the quarter. But during the quarter, we saw that trending downward, if you will, a little. And when I talk to the merchants, on the fresh side, it's flat to down a little right now on the food and sundries side.

嗯，首先，評論是 1% 到 2%，但是當我們觀察 17 週，或者大約 4 個月，我們看到，如果我們在內部觀察每個在那4 個月末，我們看到了這個水平——從年初到年底，1% 到2%——對不起，是季度末的開始。但在本季度，我們看到這一趨勢有所下降（如果你願意的話）。當我與商家交談時，在新鮮方面，食品和雜貨方面目前持平甚至略有下降。

It's up a little, primarily on some of the CPG stuff. And on big ticket -- or not big ticket but on nonfoods, partly because of freight, which is down year-over-year in a nice way and in some cases, some of the commodity costs on steel and the like, that's come down. So that being said, not a big change, but at least it's trending that way. Who knows what tomorrow brings?

價格上漲，主要是在一些消費品方面。在大宗商品上，或不是大宗商品，但在非食品方面，部分原因是運費逐年下降，在某些情況下，鋼鐵等商品的成本也下降了。話雖這麼說，雖然變化不大，但至少趨勢是這樣的。誰知道明天會發生什麼事？

And as it relates to us, we're always pushing prices as fast as we can. We want to be the first to lower them when those things happen and drive sales. I think we've seen that with our traffic.

就我們而言，我們總是盡可能地快速推高價格。當這些事情發生時，我們希望成為第一個降低價格並推動銷售的人。我想我們已經在交通中看到了這一點。

So just to clarify, what you're saying is food and sundries, prices are down on average year-over-year. Shelf-stable products are up year-over-year. Gen merch is down. So in totality, it would seem like the store -- the box is deflating. Does it get -- does the rate at which you see deflation continue to increase from here? And would you expect that to be just driven by the factors that you mentioned? Or are you driving that as a way to drive this traffic?

所以澄清一下，你所說的是食品和雜貨，價格平均較去年同期下降。耐儲存產品數量逐年增加。 Gen 商品已關閉。所以總的來說，商店看起來就像是盒子正在洩氣。您認為通貨緊縮的速度是否會持續加快？您是否認為這只是由您提到的因素所驅動的？或者您將其作為推動交通的一種方式？

Well, first of all, I want to correct one thing that maybe I misstated or you misunderstood. In terms of fresh, fresh is pretty much flat. Food and sundries, which is everything from sundries and packaged goods and CPG goods, that tends to be up a little bit. And I'd like to think that we're pushing the envelope as much as we can with our suppliers, that as certain freight costs have come down, recognizing the headline today in the paper is oil is approaching $100 a barrel. So who the heck knows what will happen tomorrow?

好吧，首先，我想糾正一件事，可能是我說錯了或你誤解了。就新鮮度而言，新鮮度相當平淡。食品和雜貨，包括雜貨、包裝商品和消費品，往往會略有上漲。我認為，隨著某些貨運成本的下降，我們正在與供應商一起盡可能地挑戰極限，並認識到今天報紙上的頭條新聞是石油接近每桶 100 美元。那麼誰知道明天會發生什麼事？

Okay. My follow-up question is, as long as you see big ticket under pressure or discretionary under pressure, which influences your total sales because it's important for your member to come in and buy these big ticket items, is this going to influence how you think about managing labor in the store? Should the market just anticipate that labor and other SG&A is going to delever as long as big ticket's under pressure?

好的。我的後續問題是，只要您看到大件商品處於壓力下或可自由支配的壓力下，這會影響您的總銷售額，因為您的會員進來購買這些大件商品很重要，這是否會影響您的想法關於管理商店的勞動力？只要大宗商品面臨壓力，市場是否應該預期勞動力和其他SG&A將會去槓桿化？

Well, I think we've seen that over the last year, frankly, we had such operating leverage over a couple of years when we had outside sales during the kind of the 2 years of COVID, call it the spring of '20 to the spring of 2022. And it was before COVID when our SG&A was over 10%, slightly over 10%, and we said would it ever be able to get below that. It's now still below 9%. So notwithstanding the fact, when I've looked at the last several quarters on a year-over-year basis, again, particularly in the last couple of quarters, we've seen some deleverage of that.

好吧，我認為我們已經看到，在過去的一年裡，坦白說，當我們在新冠疫情期間進行外部銷售時，我們在幾年內擁有了這樣的營運槓桿，稱之為20 世紀20 年代的春天2022 年春季。在新冠疫情爆發之前，我們的 SG&A 超過 10%，略高於 10%，我們說是否能夠低於這個水準。現在仍低於9%。因此，儘管如此，當我再次按年比較過去幾個季度時，特別是在過去幾個季度，我們看到了一些去槓桿化。

And look, we want to drive sales, and we'll do that in the best ways we can, so -- but we recognize when we used to -- we used to get the question all the time, what comp number do you need to have 0 negative or positive leverage with SG&A. Recognizing there was no -- very little inflation back then. But we used to say somewhere -- who knows but somewhere in the 4.5 to 5 range. So we don't know exactly where it is, but we're certainly not going to change the level of service that we have. And we're certainly going to respect our employees in terms of what we've done with wage increases over time. That's what we do.

看，我們希望推動銷售，我們會以最好的方式做到這一點，所以 - 但我們認識到，當我們過去時 - 我們過去總是遇到這樣的問題，你需要什麼補償編號SG&A 的槓桿率為0 負或正。認識到當時沒有——很少有通貨膨脹。但我們過去常說，誰知道呢，不過是在 4.5 到 5 範圍內的某個地方。所以我們不知道它到底在哪裡，但我們肯定不會改變我們的服務水準。我們當然會尊重我們的員工，因為我們隨著時間的推移不斷提高工資。這就是我們所做的。

We'll take our next question from Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett.

我們將回答查克·格羅姆和戈登·哈斯克特提出的下一個問題。

Just sticking on the inflation topic here on unit elasticity, particularly in categories where you're seeing prices actually start to fall or compress. Curious what you're seeing on units, if you're seeing them improve at all to offset those price declines, if there's any examples in either food or in GM that you could talk about.

這裡只關注單位彈性的通貨膨脹主題，特別是在您看到價格實際上開始下跌或壓縮的類別中。很好奇你在單位上看到的情況，是否看到它們有所改善以抵消價格下降，是否有食品或基因改造食品中的任何例子可以談論。

Well, yes, I remember when we talked a few quarters ago about some of the slowness in big ticket discretionary. When we got hotter on prices, it did a little bit but not as much as we would have thought to start with. But again, that perhaps was the impact of what's going on with the concerns in the economy and everything else. We know that when we put hot buys in what we call TBDs, temporary price discounts, on items, even medium-sized ticket items, we do see the units increase, but there's -- it's not as predictable, I would say, as it used to be.

嗯，是的，我記得幾個季度前我們討論過大額全權委託的一些緩慢情況。當我們對價格變得更熱時，它做了一點，但沒有我們開始時想像的那麼多。但同樣，這可能是對經濟和其他方面的擔憂所產生的影響。我們知道，當我們對商品（甚至是中型商品）進行所謂的「待定」（TBD）、臨時價格折扣的熱銷時，我們確實會看到商品數量增加，但我想說，這並不像它那樣可預測。以前是。

Okay. Great. And I think you don't provide guidance, but I -- go ahead.

好的。偉大的。我認為你沒有提供指導，但我——繼續。

It's a little easier on the food side to see that sometimes when we're taking the price of a meat item down.

在食品方面，有時當我們降低肉類產品的價格時，更容易看到這一點。

Okay. So you are starting to see some units increase as prices drop in certain parts of the business then.

好的。因此，您開始看到一些單位的價格隨著某些業務部分的價格下降而增加。

Sure. And by the way, even on big ticket, when we've seen $300 and $400 price declines because of freight and raw material costs on some big ticket nonfood items, we'll see some of the sales picking back up on that. But it's -- there's nothing guaranteed.

當然。順便說一句，即使是大件商品，當我們看到一些大件非食品商品的運費和原材料成本導致價格下降 300 美元和 400 美元時，我們也會看到一些銷售額回升。但這是——沒有什麼可以保證的。

Okay. All right. And I know you don't put out guidance, but I actually do remember when you did give some directional help back in the day. But are there any big puts and takes that we should be thinking about on the gross margin and SG&A line over the next 4 quarters that we should be thinking about? Clearly, the LIFO lap will be an obvious tailwind. But just curious, any other things that we should be thinking about from a modeling perspective?

好的。好的。我知道您沒有提供指導，但我確實記得您當天確實提供了一些指導性幫助。但是，對於未來 4 個季度的毛利率和 SG&A 線，我們是否應該考慮任何重大的看跌期權和看跌期權？顯然，後進先出圈將是一個明顯的順風車。但只是好奇，我們還應該從建模的角度考慮其他事情嗎？

No, not really. I mean, LIFO is certainly one that was an impact over the last year and starting to -- started to slow down. Assuming that trend continues, there won't be much LIFO going forward for right now, but we'll see. Beyond that, no, we're still opening. We opened 23 net new units this past year. We're onboard to do something in the mid- to high 20s this year. But that's not enough to move the needle in terms of leverage standpoint or anything.

不，不是真的。我的意思是，後進先出法肯定在去年產生了影響，並且開始放緩。假設這種趨勢持續下去，目前不會有太多後進先出的情況，但我們拭目以待。除此之外，不，我們仍在營業。去年我們淨開設了 23 個新單位。今年我們準備在 20 多歲左右做一些事情。但這還不足以在槓桿角度或其他方面取得進展。

No, I'd say it's steady as she goes. And if anything, I look at the margins overall, given everything that's going on, including competition that we're doing pretty well there. We -- with some of the wage hikes that we've continued to do and sales being a little weaker than they had been a year ago, I think we're doing pretty well on that as well. We're optimistic about our future but we'll see what happens.

不，我想說的是，她走的時候很穩定。如果有的話，我會考慮整體利潤率，考慮到正在發生的一切，包括我們在那裡做得很好的競爭。我們繼續提高工資，而且銷售額比一年前略有疲軟，我認為我們在這方面也做得很好。我們對未來感到樂觀，但我們會看看會發生什麼。

We'll take our next question from Peter Benedict with Baird.

我們將回答彼得·本尼迪克特和​​貝爾德提出的下一個問題。

Richard, just first one just on LIFO. I was just curious. I mean the $30 million charge is small, but I'm just curious why they were even [to the last one]. Can you give us a little more color as maybe what drove?

理查德，只是後進先出的第一個。我只是好奇而已。我的意思是 3000 萬美元的費用很小，但我只是好奇為什麼他們[到最後一個]。你能給我們更多的色彩來說明驅動力嗎？

Yes. Well, I think it was on things like -- well, gas was one. And then in some of the fresh food items, there was -- even though there was deflation in things like eggs and some dairy products, there was some inflationary trends in beef. Beyond that -- do you have that handy?

是的。嗯，我認為這是關於——嗯，天然氣就是其中之一。然後，在一些新鮮食品中，儘管雞蛋和一些乳製品等產品出現通貨緊縮，但牛肉卻出現了一些通膨趨勢。除此之外──你有那個方便嗎？

(inaudible)

（聽不清楚）

Yes. It's really small, but on $16 billion of inventory, it's a lot. I mean it's still a small number, $30 million. I'm not -- but on...

是的。雖然規模確實很小，但對於 160 億美元的庫存來說，已經是很多了。我的意思是這仍然是一個很小的數字，3000 萬美元。我不是——但是…

(inaudible)

（聽不清楚）

That's all -- I don't have the details beyond that.

僅此而已——除此之外我不知道更多細節。

That's fine. Yes. No, that's fine. Just in the context of broader disinflation and all the stuff, it's interesting to see that. And then just really turning to the international stuff, you talked about the renewal rates impact. Can you remind us maybe on the international membership trends? When you open up a new club outside the U.S., maybe give us some framework or some benchmarks around how many new members tend to sign up. How does that compare to what you would see, let's say, in the next club you open in the U.S.? And then what kind of renewal rates you tend to see year 1, year 2, just so we have a frame of reference there?

沒關係。是的。不，沒關係。就在更廣泛的通貨緊縮和所有這些事情的背景下，看到這一點很有趣。然後真正轉向國際問題，您談到了續訂率的影響。您能否提醒我們國際會員趨勢？當您在美國境外開設新俱樂部時，也許可以為我們提供一些關於有多少新會員傾向於註冊的框架或基準。這與您在美國開設的下一個俱樂部中看到的情況相比如何？然後，您傾向於在第一年、第二年看到什麼樣的續約率，以便我們在那裡有一個參考框架？

I don't have the exact numbers in front of me, but generally speaking, in Asia, whether it's Korea, Taiwan, Japan or China, we'll open a new unit, including the 10 or 12 weeks of sign-ups prior to opening, went anywhere from 50,000 to 100,000 new members. We had a couple of extremes like when we first opened in Shanghai and Minhang of well over 200,000. Now some of that's looky-loos that don't renew.

我沒有確切的數字，但一般來說，在亞洲，無論是韓國、台灣、日本還是中國，我們都會開設一個新單位，包括之前的 10 或 12 週的註冊。開業後，新會員數量從50,000 到100,000 不等。我們遇到過一些極端情況，例如我們剛在上海和閔行開業時，客流量遠遠超過 20 萬。現在，其中一些看起來很糟糕，不會更新。

And we -- usually in that first year of renewal and those types of outsized numbers, we might be as low as the mid- to high 50s and is -- and it takes a few years to get even to the mid-70s. But we see those numbers overall continue to increase every year.

而我們——通常在更新的第一年和這些類型的超大數字中，我們可能會低至 50 多歲中到高，而且確實是——而且需要幾年的時間才能達到 70 多歲中期。但我們看到這些數字總體每年持續增加。

And I don't -- I can't -- I don't -- I should probably go back to what it was in the first 10 years of our 40-year history with even the U.S. My guess, it wasn't that extreme, but we didn't have as many -- it wasn't national and local news events the day we opened. You had a lot of people coming in, in some of these markets that are signing up that maybe live too far away or choose not to come back. So we're seeing that continuing to grow. So even that simple, that slight 0.1% decline, it's around the area in the sense that if you opened up a couple of more units a year ago, that they were just renewing for the first time, that increases that number.

我不——我不能——我不——我可能應該回到我們 40 年曆史的頭 10 年，甚至是美國。我猜，這不是這麼極端，但我們沒有那麼多——我們開業那天不是全國性和地方性的新聞事件。有很多人進來，在其中一些正在簽約的市場中，他們可能住得太遠或選擇不回來。所以我們看到這種情況持續成長。因此，即使是那麼簡單，即輕微的 0.1% 下降，從某種意義上說，如果你一年前再開設幾個單位，它們只是第一次更新，那麼這個數字就會增加。

Yes. No, understood. Last question. I think I heard you say mid- to high 20s in terms of unit opening planned for fiscal '24. Can you give us a sense of how many of those are in the U.S. and then how many would be international?

是的。不，明白了。最後一個問題。我想我聽到你說 20 財年計劃開設的單位數量為 20 多歲。您能否告訴我們其中有多少是在美國，有多少是國際的？

70-plus percent in the U.S. and Canada, mostly U.S. of course, which, in my view, we're finding more openings -- more opportunities in the U.S. to infill given our high volumes, and we've got plenty going on over the years overseas.

70%以上在美國和加拿大，當然主要是美國，在我看來，我們正在尋找更多的空缺——考慮到我們的高銷量，我們在美國有更多的機會來填補，而且我們還有很多事情要做海外的那些年。

We'll take our next question from Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer.

我們將回答魯佩什·帕里克和奧本海默提出的下一個問題。

This is actually Erica Eiler on for Rupesh. So I guess, first, I was hoping maybe you could give this a quick download maybe on how you're feeling about the health of your consumer right now. I mean obviously, some concerns out there on student loan impact starting to roll in here as those restart. So maybe any color you can provide on how you're thinking about discretionary from here, maybe some of those concerns out there? Anything on trade-down or private label? Anything of note on that front in terms of consumer behavior as well?

這實際上是艾麗卡艾勒 (Erica Eiler) 為魯佩什 (Rupesh) 配音。所以我想，首先，我希望您可以快速下載此內容，也許可以了解您現在對消費者健康狀況的感受。我的意思顯然是，隨著這些重新啟動，人們對學生貸款影響的一些擔憂開始出現。那麼，也許您可以提供任何顏色來說明您如何考慮這裡的自由裁量權，也許其中一些問題是存在的？有什麼低價商品或自有品牌商品嗎？就消費者行為而言，這方面還有什麼值得注意的嗎？

Right. Well, look, first of all -- first and foremost, our traffic continues to do very well. Being up continually 4% and 5% on a year-over-year basis is great. And our renewal rates continue to be very strong. So that's a starting point.

正確的。嗯，看，首先 - 首先也是最重要的是，我們的流量仍然表現良好。年比持續成長 4% 和 5% 非常棒。我們的續訂率仍然非常強勁。這是一個起點。

It makes sense to us on big-ticket discretionary, that's where you'd see the biggest weakness. We see some of that in some areas going back. When we look at our numbers compared to MBD that tells us where we are versus our competitors, overall -- not in every category but overall, we tend to do better. And so even a negative number here is a lower negative number than elsewhere.

這對我們來說在大額全權委託上是有意義的，這就是你會看到最大弱點的地方。我們看到某些領域的一些做法正在回歸。當我們將我們的數據與 MBD 進行比較時，這些數據告訴我們我們與競爭對手相比的整體情況——不是在每個類別中，但總體而言，我們往往會做得更好。因此，即使這裡的負數也比其他地方的負數要低。

So -- and again, what do we do? We brought in some smaller ticket items that are impulse snack items to get an extra partial item in everybody's basket. So yes -- and newness, bringing those new items. And there's not been a whole lot in television. Again, our unit sales in TVs are pretty good, but the average price point has come down. As they do anyway, there's always deflationary when you don't have new technology yet, and that's just -- we haven't seen a whole lot of new stuff yet there.

那麼——再說一遍，我們該怎麼辦？我們帶來了一些小票商品，這些商品是衝動零食，以便在每個人的購物籃中獲得額外的部分商品。所以是的——還有新鮮感，帶來這些新物品。而且電視上也沒有太多的內容。同樣，我們的電視銷量相當不錯，但平均價格已經下降。無論如何，當你還沒有新技術時，總是會出現通貨緊縮，而這只是——我們還沒有看到很多新東西。

Gaming is good.

遊戲很好。

Gaming is good right now. And Christmas is good. I mean we're one of the -- not the only one but one of the few that are bringing in seasonal items early. Everything from decor to trees to toys, that's starting off well so far. But it's new. It's in the last few weeks.

現在打遊戲很好。聖誕節也不錯。我的意思是，我們是提前引進季節性商品的公司之一——不是唯一的公司，而是少數幾個提前引進季節性商品的公司之一。從裝飾到樹木再到玩具，到目前為止一切都進展順利。但這是新的。這是最近幾週的事。

Okay, that's really helpful. And then just -- oh, no, go ahead.

好的，這真的很有幫助。然後就——哦，不，繼續吧。

I'm sorry, what else did you ask?

抱歉，你還問什麼？

Yes. And then just shifting gears. So I just wanted to touch on retail media, so obviously, a significant focus on driving retail media at some of your peers. So just curious if you could maybe talk a little bit about what Costco is doing in this area and the bigger opportunities that your team sees here.

是的。然後只是換檔。所以我只想談談零售媒體，很明顯，重點是推動一些同行的零售媒體。所以我只是好奇你能否談談 Costco 在這一領域所做的事情以及你的團隊在這裡看到的更大的機會。

Well, part of that is some of the things we're doing with digital and mobile and the app. And we're not giving out quantifiable numbers. But certainly, some of our competitors are talking about doubling these numbers in the next 2 or 3 years. In my view, there's some low-hanging fruit out there, and we're actively working on it. We've hired a couple of people that are helping us with that as well, and more to come.

嗯，其中一部分是我們在數位、行動和應用程式方面所做的一些事情。我們不會給出可量化的數字。但可以肯定的是，我們的一些競爭對手正在談論在未來兩三年內將這些數字翻倍。在我看來，有一些唾手可得的成果，我們正在積極努力。我們已經聘請了一些人來幫助我們完成這件事，而且還會有更多人來幫助我們。

We'll take our next question from Paul Lejuez with Citigroup.

我們將回答花旗集團的 Paul Lejuez 提出的下一個問題。

This is Brandon Cheatham on for Paul. I just wanted to -- when you look at the retail landscape, I was wondering, how do your wages compare to your competition? Are you seeing similar trends in inflation pressure on the wage front? And anything that you can help us with what your plans are over the next couple of quarters?

我是布蘭登·奇塔姆（Brandon Cheatham）替補保羅。我只是想——當你觀察零售業的情況時，我想知道，你的薪水與競爭對手相比如何？您是否在薪資方面看到了類似的通膨壓力趨勢？您對未來幾季的計劃有什麼可以幫助我們的嗎？

Well, first of all, we've always prided ourselves in providing the best hourly wage package out there, wages, benefits contributions to 401(k). I'm using U.S. numbers here but our average U.S. -- 90% of our employees, like many big retailers, are hourly. And our average hourly wage is approaching $26, is in the high $25s. That's on top of a very rich health care plan where the employee only pays around 11% or 12% of it, I believe, and on top -- a little less than that.

嗯，首先，我們一直為提供最好的時薪方案、工資、401(k) 福利繳款而感到自豪。我在這裡使用的是美國的數字，但我們美國的平均數字——我們 90% 的員工，就像許多大型零售商一樣，都是小時工。我們的平均時薪接近 26 美元，最高可達 25 美元。這是在非常豐富的醫療保健計劃之上的，我相信，員工只需支付大約 11% 或 12% 的費用，而且比這還要少一點。

And on top of that, we -- irrespective of what an employee contributes to his or her 401(k), we contribute anywhere from 3% to 9% based on years of service. So you've got a 20-year cashier making, on a full-time basis, in the mid-60s with another $4,000 or $5,000 being contributed to his or her 401(k) plan with a very rich health care plan. So we stand apart in our view compared to anybody.

最重要的是，無論員工為其 401(k) 繳款多少，我們都會根據服務年資繳款 3% 到 9%。因此，你有一個 20 年的全職出納員，在 60 年代中期，另外向他或她的 401(k) 計劃繳納了 4,000 或 5,000 美元，其中包括非常豐富的醫療保健計劃。因此，與任何人相比，我們的觀點都與眾不同。

Our pressure comes from ourselves. In the last few years, as there had been wage pressure, starting with the frontline workers during the beginnings of COVID, we, like many retailers, added a 2% premium -- $2 premium rather. We kept it longer, to our knowledge, than most anybody for a full year. And at the end, we kept $1 in there. And since then, we've had at least 3 or 4 increases on top of the normal top-of-scale increase that we do every -- generally have done every year, we have done every year. So we'll -- in our view, the pressure comes from us, and we feel that we're way ahead of our competition in that regard.

我們的壓力來自於我們自己。過去幾年，由於薪資壓力很大，從新冠疫情初期的第一線工人開始，我們像許多零售商一樣，增加了 2% 的溢價，而不是 2 美元的溢價。據我們所知，我們保存它的時間比大多數人長一整年。最後，我們在裡面保留了 1 美元。從那時起，除了我們每年都會進行的正常規模上限增長之外，我們還至少進行了 3 到 4 次增長——通常每年都會進行，我們每年都會進行。所以我們認為，壓力來自我們自己，我們覺得我們在這方面遠遠領先我們的競爭對手。

Got it. That's helpful. And I think you mentioned the next iteration on the app. You're going to be able to scan barcodes. Is the idea that eventually the customer is going to be able to scan and go? And how could that help flow operations in your stores if that is the case?

知道了。這很有幫助。我想你提到了應用程式的下一個迭代。您將能夠掃描條碼。最終客戶能夠掃描並離開的想法是嗎？如果是這種情況，這將如何幫助您商店的運作順利進行？

I don't think we're prepared for scan and go yet. We'll just go to scan, but they can't go. No, at the end of the day, the first order of business is getting the merchandise on there and have numbers that -- where a member even goes online and say, "Hey, you can also get this currently at your local location." So knowing what's in store when somebody wants to come out, I think that's going to be a big positive to start with. And part of the scan is to be able to get more product information on the item as well.

我認為我們還沒有準備好掃描並出發。我們只是去掃描，但他們不能去。不，歸根結底，首要任務是將商品放在那裡並提供編號 - 會員甚至會上網並說：“嘿，您目前也可以在您當地的地點購買該商品。”因此，知道當有人想要出櫃時會發生什麼，我認為這將是一個很大的積極因素。掃描的一部分是為了能夠獲得有關該商品的更多產品資訊。

We'll take our next question from Greg Melich with Evercore.

我們將接受 Evercore 的 Greg Melich 提出的下一個問題。

I had 2 questions, Richard. First, I'd love an update, given the volatility in gas prices the last 1.5 years, as to where we are on penny profit. I know that it improved a lot, but I'm curious if it came back down in the last 12 months or if it sort of stabilized at that higher level.

我有兩個問題，理查。首先，考慮到過去 1.5 年天然氣價格的波動，我希望了解最新情況，了解我們的利潤狀況。我知道它改善了很多，但我很好奇它是否在過去 12 個月內回落，或者是否穩定在較高水平。

Well, we don't give specific numbers. Gas has been stronger for us and we believe all retailers in the last few years. In fact, it was Q4 last year, which I think was our strongest quarter, recognizing it's a 16-week quarter. This fourth quarter, it was still strong, down from its strongest year earlier on a weekly basis but nonetheless quite strong. And so it's part of the profit picture currently of all big retailers that sell gas, the supermarkets, the Walmarts, the Costcos of the world.

好吧，我們沒有給出具體數字。過去幾年，天然氣對我們來說更加強勁，我們相信所有零售商。事實上，去年第四季度，我認為這是我們表現最強勁的季度，因為它是一個為期 16 週的季度。第四季度，它仍然強勁，低於一年前的每週最強水平，但仍然相當強勁。因此，這是目前世界上所有銷售天然氣的大型零售商、超市、沃爾瑪、好市多利潤圖的一部分。

So it's still a profitable business. It's -- our view has been it used to be when prices -- given that we turn it so fast, literally almost daily, when profits are going up -- and I'm sorry, when the price of gas is going up, the guy down the street who's turning it every 8 or 9 days is paying a little less 4 days ago. And so we make a little less and we -- when sales went down -- gallons -- the price per gallon went down. We made a little more. I think that equation, while it's still true, is not the driver of the bottom line of gas.

所以這仍然是一個有利可圖的生意。我們的觀點是，過去當價格上漲時，考慮到我們幾乎每天都在快速調整，當利潤上漲時，我很抱歉，當天然氣價格上漲時，街上每8 或9 天更換一次的人在4 天前付的錢少了一些。因此，我們的產量減少了一點，當銷量下降時，每加侖的價格也下降了。我們又做了一點。我認為這個方程式雖然仍然正確，但並不是天然氣底線的驅動因素。

Everybody seems to be wanting to make more in gas, which allows us, in our view, to make it a little more and still be even more profitable. We've seen our competitive spread versus our direct competitors at every location, on average, improve over the last couple of years to now be in the, I want to say, the $0.30 range per gallon, mid-30s is the average, which is up. It's an average and it can range from $0.10 to $0.45. But at the end of the day, we feel good about our competitive position. It's increased and we're still quite profitable, down a little bit from a year ago but nonetheless, quite profitable.

每個人似乎都想生產更多的天然氣，在我們看來，這使我們能夠生產更多的天然氣，同時仍然獲得更多的利潤。我們已經看到我們在每個地點與直接競爭對手相比的競爭價差平均而言在過去幾年中有所改善，我想說的是，現在處於每加侖0.30 美元的範圍內，平均值為30多美元，這起來了。這是平均值，範圍為 0.10 美元到 0.45 美元。但最終，我們對自己的競爭地位感到滿意。它增加了，我們仍然相當有利可圖，比一年前略有下降，但仍然相當有利可圖。

That's helpful. And then my follow-up is on cash. I think you finished it with $13.7 billion. I think the last time you got to $13 billion was when you had a special dividend in 2020. What are your thoughts on how much cash you need or want and especially now that there is a positive interest rate on holding cash? Does that make you more interested in keeping it, but then you pay more tax? Just how do you think about...

這很有幫助。然後我的後續行動是現金。我認為你以 137 億美元完成了它。我認為上一次達到 130 億美元是在 2020 年派發特別股息時。您對需要或想要多少現金有何想法，尤其是現在持有現金有正利率？這是否會讓您更有興趣保留它，但隨後您將繳納更多稅？只是你覺得如何...

Well, I think it's -- look, at the end of the day, we've done 4 special dividends in the past. It's part of our DNA. At some point, we may do that again. Again, it's somewhat like the answer to the other question about membership fees. It's probably a question of when, not if, but we'll let you know.

嗯，我認為——看，歸根結底，我們過去已經發放了 4 次特別股息。這是我們 DNA 的一部分。在某個時候，我們可能會再次這樣做。同樣，這有點像是另一個有關會員費的問題的答案。這可能是時間問題，而不是是否問題，但我們會通知您。

Certainly, with earning 5%-ish on that money instead of a [25%-ish] on that money does make it a little harder to do. But we're not selling at the kind of earnings multiple. We are to earn 5% on our assets. So at some point, we'll do something, and we'll have to wait and see.

當然，用這筆錢賺 5% 左右，而不是 [25% 左右]，確實會讓這件事變得更難做到。但我們不會以本益比的價格賣出。我們的資產將賺取 5% 的利潤。因此，在某個時候，我們會做一些事情，但我們必須拭目以待。

We'll take our next question from Kelly Bania with BMO Capital Markets.

我們將回答 BMO 資本市場的 Kelly Bania 提出的下一個問題。

Richard, just wanted to ask -- I think I've asked this many, many times, but it seems like another huge quarter for Executive Membership growth, almost 1 million more this quarter. And I was just curious if you could talk about the profile of that member today that's either upgrading or starting out as Executive. What's the characteristics of that customer? And any changes in how that Executive Member spend in their first year in that upgrade compared to the prior years?

理查德，我只是想問一下——我想我已經問過這個問題很多很多次了，但這似乎是執行會員增長的另一個巨大季度，本季度增加了近 100 萬。我只是很好奇您是否可以談談今天那位升級或開始擔任執行官的會員的個人資料。該客戶有什麼特色？與前幾年相比，該執行會員在升級的第一年的支出有何變化？

I was joking when I say, first of all, they're very smart to be an Executive Member. Look, I think we -- over the time, we've done a better job of communicating the value of the Executive Member, so we clearly get more people to sign up that way in advance. And we see that, over time, a regular member, over the first few years, will buy more every year. An Executive Member starts at a higher lever and will buy more every year from that higher level. So that's really the profile that we've seen.

我是在開玩笑，首先，他們作為執行成員非常聰明。聽著，我認為，隨著時間的推移，我們在傳達執行會員的價值方面做得更好，因此我們顯然讓更多的人提前以這種方式註冊。我們發現，隨著時間的推移，普通會員在最初幾年每年都會購買更多商品。執行會員從較高的等級開始，每年都會從該較高等級購買更多產品。這確實是我們所看到的個人資料。

I don't have any specifics on how old the member is. I know that when we look at age characteristics of new members, we're still -- everybody used to be concerned 10 years ago how are we going to get millennials when we have an older average customer and all that. And we did with things -- with items, with things like organic. We're doing the same thing now. We're still getting our -- whether it's Gen Z or Gen A or whatever the next gen is, we are getting our share of those new numbers when we look at the profile of our members.

我沒有關於該成員年齡的任何具體資訊。我知道，當我們審視新會員的年齡特徵時，我們仍然——十年前每個人都擔心，當我們擁有年齡較大的普通客戶等等時，我們如何吸引千禧世代。我們用東西做事──用物品，用有機物之類的東西。我們現在也在做同樣的事情。我們仍在獲得——無論是 Z 世代、A 世代還是下一代，當我們查看會員的個人資料時，我們都會獲得這些新數字的份額。

And Richard, I might have missed this. But did you quantify the extra week impact in terms of EBIT or EPS or anything for us?

理查德，我可能錯過了這一點。但您是否為我們量化了額外一週對息稅前利潤、每股盈餘或其他方面的影響？

No. It's -- I mean, the simple math would just say it's [16, 17] of our quarter is equal to a 16-week quarter. That's about as good as we could do. But in case that -- usually on net income, it takes the 16 or whatever percent number down to a 9 or something, and that's just simple math.

不，我的意思是，簡單的數學計算表明，我們季度的 [16, 17] 等於一個 16 週的季度。這就是我們能做的最好的了。但萬一發生這種情況——通常是淨收入，它會將 16 或任何百分比的數字降低到 9 或類似的數字，這只是簡單的數學計算。

We'll take our next question from Oliver Chen with TD Cowen.

我們將回答 Oliver Chen 和 TD Cowen 提出的下一個問題。

Richard, inventory seemed well positioned. What are your thoughts about where they are now and also how we will model them going forward relative to sales? And then as we look at overall ticket trends being negative, that compare starts to ease. So does that imply that will inflect on partly the nature of the ticket comparisons overall.

理查德，庫存似乎處於有利位置。您對它們現在的狀況有何看法，以及我們將如何對它們進行相對於銷售的建模？然後，當我們看到整體門票趨勢為負值時，這種比較開始緩解。這是否意味著這將在一定程度上影響門票比較的整體性質。

The same question for e-commerce. As you anniversary some of the headwinds, can we expect the comparison to help as well?

電子商務也有同樣的問題。當您紀念一些逆風時，我們是否可以期望比較也能有所幫助？

Sure. Inventories, as I mentioned, we feel the merchants feel very good about our inventory levels right now. There are a few departments a little higher than they want, a few that did a little bit more [sure]. But overall, they're very good.

當然。庫存，正如我所提到的，我們覺得商家對我們目前的庫存水準感覺非常好。有一些部門比他們想要的要高一點，有一些部門做得更多一點[當然]。但總的來說，他們都非常好。

In fact, you look at -- our fiscal year-end inventory stood at just under $16.7 billion and payables stood at $17.5 billion. So I think this is the -- running above 100% on that simple ratio is something new. We used to be -- we used to enjoy running 90% to 95%. It fluctuates. But overall, we feel good about our inventories where they are now.

事實上，你看，我們的財年末庫存略低於 167 億美元，應付帳款為 175 億美元。所以我認為，在這個簡單的比率上運行超過 100% 是一件新鮮事。我們曾經——我們曾經享受 90% 到 95% 的跑步。它會波動。但總體而言，我們對目前的庫存狀況感到滿意。

And in terms of supply chain, things coming in on time, we feel good about that as well. Now as it relates to -- as we anniversary the inflection of when we saw some weakness, I think a couple of quarters ago, I mentioned that, well, what will help your big ticket sales. I said, well, at least in a few -- several more months, we'll anniversary this weakness.

在供應鏈方面，事情按時完成，我們對此也感覺很好。現在，當我們週年紀念時，我們看到了一些弱點，我想幾個季度前，我提到過，什麼將有助於你的大門票銷售。我說，好吧，至少在幾個月後，我們將紀念這個弱點。

So certainly, that's going to help. I would like to think that it's not just that thing that's going to help, but -- and the same with e-commerce. I mean we're, again, one bright spot in this virtually all e-commerce -- not nearly all e-commerce, was the appliances that -- and I think we've done a better job also of showing the value of these items online, not just the price of the item, which, in our case, includes delivery and warranty and things like that more so than some of our competitors and showing great value there.

所以當然，這會有幫助。我認為這不僅僅是有幫助的事情，而且電子商務也是如此。我的意思是，我們再次成為幾乎所有電子商務中的一個亮點 - 不是幾乎所有電子商務，而是設備 - 我認為我們在展示這些設備的價值方面也做得更好在線商品，而不僅僅是商品的價格，在我們的例子中，價格包括送貨和保固等，比我們的一些競爭對手更重要，並且在那裡顯示出巨大的價值。

Just a couple of short ones. Would love any thoughts on Instacart. It seems like it's a really great partnership that you've had for a while. Also another question we had is will EV charging play a role in how you're thinking about future services for customers. Finally, China, any -- it's a smaller percentage of total, but it's an important market for the long term. What's happening there? Has anything changed the value proposition or the geopolitics?

就幾個短的。希望對 Instacart 有任何想法。看來你們之間的合作關係已經有一段時間了。我們的另一個問題是電動車充電是否會在您考慮未來為客戶提供的服務時發揮作用。最後，中國，雖然佔總數的比例較小，但從長遠來看，它是一個重要的市場。那裡發生了什麼事？價值主張或地緣政治有什麼改變嗎？

Okay. Yes, I had the second and third. What was the first question?

好的。是的，我有第二個和第三個。第一個問題是什麼？

Instacart.

即時購物車。

Instacart. I know they just went public, so we've gotten a lot of questions. At the end of the day, they're good -- we're a good partner with them. They're a good partner for us. We use them throughout the U.S. and Canada. And sales are growing. We've added over the last -- during COVID, we added some nonfood items that still can be carried in the car if you will. And we're doing, I think, prescriptions with them now. And so no, it's a good relationship and has been for a while.

即時購物車。我知道他們剛上市，所以我們收到了很多問題。歸根結底，他們很好——我們是他們的好合作夥伴。他們是我們的好合作夥伴。我們在美國和加拿大各地使用它們。而且銷售額正在成長。我們在過去的新冠疫情期間添加了一些非食品物品，如果您願意的話，這些物品仍然可以攜帶在車內。我想，我們現在正在和他們一起開處方。所以不，這是一種良好的關係，而且已經有一段時間了。

Yes. I might add, though, that with regard to those sales, we include that in our warehouse sales, not our e-commerce sales because it's their employee coming into Costco to shop, to purchase at the register and then take it to the customer. So that's not in our mobile or e-commerce sales.

是的。不過，我可能會補充一點，對於這些銷售，我們將其納入我們的倉庫銷售，而不是我們的電子商務銷售，因為這是他們的員工進入Costco 購物，在收銀台購買，然後將其交給客戶。所以這不屬於我們的行動或電子商務銷售。

As it relates to EV charging, we're testing it in a number of locations. Not a whole lot to be said. If there's a charge for it, it's going to be less at Costco. And we'll wait and see.

由於它與電動車充電相關，我們正在多個地點進行測試。沒什麼好說的。如果要收費的話，Costco 會比較便宜。我們拭目以待。

And then as it relates to China, no, we just opened a few weeks ago our fifth location. We have 2 more planned this fiscal year, both in the -- I think 1 in Shenzhen in early calendar '24 and 1 other 1 before the end of August, so we'll have 7 locations up from 2 1.5 years ago. And so far, our openings there have treated us well overall.

然後，就中國而言，不，我們幾週前剛開設了第五家分店。我們本財年還有 2 個計劃，其中 1 個是在 24 年初在深圳，另外 1 個是在 8 月底之前，所以我們將有 7 個地點，比 1.5 年前的 2 個增加。到目前為止，我們在那裡的空缺總體上對我們來說很好。

We'll take our next question from Scot Ciccarelli with Truist.

我們將回答 Scot Ciccarelli 和 Truist 提出的下一個問題。

Can you help us understand a bit better how the Costco Next process works? I mean is it similar to how your e-commerce business used to work where products were essentially drop-shipped from their vendors? And if that's the case, Richard, how do you control the quality of the product and delivery process? Because I thought that became an issue for you guys before you took over your own distribution for e-com.

您能否幫助我們更了解 Costco Next 流程的運作方式？我的意思是，這是否類似於您的電子商務業務過去的工作方式，產品基本上是從供應商直接發貨的？如果是這樣的話，理查德，你如何控制產品和交付過程的品質？因為我認為在你們接管自己的電子商務發行之前，這對你們來說已經成為一個問題。

Yes. Costco Next is drop-shipped. We curate the items with these suppliers. And they're, for the most part, pretty well-known brands. And so far, we have not had an issue on that, recognizing they tend to be items that are easily shipped to a home. Yes, and we're doing -- we have all the tracking information as well.

是的。 Costco Next 是直接出貨的。我們與這些供應商一起策劃商品。而且它們大多都是相當知名的品牌。到目前為止，我們在這方面還沒有遇到任何問題，因為我們意識到它們往往是很容易運送到家裡的物品。是的，我們正在做——我們也擁有所有的追蹤資訊。

So all I can tell you is you're right about that. That's a good point. Years ago when we did this, there was a difference. But so far, it's worked quite well for us. We've had very few customer issues as it relates to items purchased on costco.com or costconext.com.

所以我只能告訴你你是對的。那是個很好的觀點。幾年前，當我們這樣做時，情況有所不同。但到目前為止，它對我們來說效果很好。我們很少遇到與在 costco.com 或 costconext.com 上購買的商品有關的客戶問題。

Okay. Understood. And then another inflation question. If we do wind up getting outright deflation, outside of improved traffic or unit velocity, are there ways to protect margin? Because it seems to me like that could wind up being a deflator to the margin if we're in a deflationary environment there.

好的。明白了。然後是另一個通貨膨脹問題。如果我們最終陷入徹底的通貨緊縮，除了交通量或單位速度的改善之外，還有什麼方法可以保護利潤？因為在我看來，如果我們處於通縮環境中，這最終可能會成為邊際緊縮指數。

Well, look, that's what our business is about. We're -- we'll take a 10 pack and make it a 12 pack, I guess. But at the end of the day, if there's a little disinflation, it'll impact all of us. But again, I think it should be favorable with us because we'll show the best -- we'll still show the best value out there.

嗯，看，這就是我們的業務。我想，我們會把 10 包變成 12 包。但歸根究底，如果出現一點通貨緊縮，就會影響我們所有人。但同樣，我認為這對我們來說應該是有利的，因為我們將展示最好的——我們仍然會展示最好的價值。

We'll take our next question...

我們將提出下一個問題...

Before you do, another comment was made at the table here that if there is deflation or disinflation, we've got a $450 million, $500 million LIFO reserve that will be -- on a reported basis, will be part of a tailwind of that disinflation.

在您這樣做之前，這裡的桌子上還有另一條評論說，如果出現通貨緊縮或通貨緊縮，我們有4.5 億美元、5 億美元的後進先出儲備，據報道，這將成為這一趨勢的一部分。通貨緊縮。

And we'll take our next question from Scott Mushkin with R5 Capital.

我們將回答 R5 Capital 的 Scott Mushkin 提出的下一個問題。

I don't think we've talked about it. But what's competition like out there now that we're seeing inflation come down in volumes, particularly for some guys are on a negative? Just wondering if you -- what it looks like out there.

我想我們還沒有討論過這個問題。但是，現在我們看到通膨大幅下降，特別是對於一些處於負值的人來說，那裡的競爭是什麼樣的？只是想知道你是否——外面是什麼樣子。

I think, look, we've said this for a few years now, our competition with Sam's is the most direct, and we've seen improvements in parts of what they do from our perspective. They're tough competitors and so are we. And -- but I think they've continued to get -- to improve over time and as have we. I don't -- we don't really see a whole lot of other things.

我想，看，我們已經這麼說了幾年了，我們與 Sam’s 的競爭是最直接的，從我們的角度來看，我們已經看到他們所做的部分工作有所改進。他們是強而有力的競爭對手，我們也是。而且 - 但我認為他們隨著時間的推移而不斷改進，我們也是如此。我不知道——我們真的沒有看到很多其他的事情。

BJ's, while we respect their model and what they do, it's a slightly different model, so there's not as much -- there's certainly -- when we are competing directly as a membership warehouse club, we're making sure we're sharp on pricing, particularly in fresh and things like that, supermarket items. Beyond that, yes, our view is on the nonfood side, we're gaining share, as evidenced by the numbers we see in some of these NPD results and the thing that I just called out on appliances and things like that, recognizing appliances is a, whatever, a $30 billion business. We're still a small piece of it but growing rapidly.

BJ's，雖然我們尊重他們的模式和他們所做的事情，但這是一個略有不同的模式，所以沒有那麼多 - 當然有 - 當我們作為會員倉庫俱樂部直接競爭時，我們確保我們敏銳定價，特別是新鮮食品和類似的超市商品。除此之外，是的，我們的觀點是在非食品方面，我們正在獲得份額，正如我們在一些NPD 結果中看到的數字以及我剛剛在電器和類似事物上呼籲的事情所證明的那樣，認識到電器是無論如何，一個價值 300 億美元的企業。我們仍然只是其中的一小部分，但正在迅速成長。

And then I know it came up earlier about raising membership rates but kind of philosophical, like this recession, not recession, maybe there will be one. How does the company look at raising the membership fee if the economy is slow and fast? Does it matter? Does it factor in?

然後我知道早些時候有人提出提高會員費率，但這是一種哲學，就像這次衰退，而不是衰退，也許會有一場。如果經濟時快時慢，公司如何看待提高會員費？有關係嗎？它有影響嗎？

I think it matters -- it does matter. And I think it really mattered as we approached kind of the 5.5 years post June '17, we were in the high -- the headline every day was inflation and economy. And so we're doing great. We've got great loyalty. If we wait a little longer, so be it. And that's kind of how we feel right now.

我認為這很重要——這確實很重要。我認為這真的很重要，因為我們接近 2017 年 6 月後的 5.5 年，我們正處於高位——每天的頭條新聞都是通貨膨脹和經濟。所以我們做得很好。我們有很大的忠誠。如果我們再等一會兒，那就這樣吧。這就是我們現在的感受。

We'll take our next question from Chris Horvers with JPMorgan.

我們將回答摩根大通的克里斯霍弗斯提出的下一個問題。

So your core-on-core margins were up a lot in this quarter. Can you talk about what drove that? I think you mentioned food and sundries. Is that successful vendor-funded promotions? Is there anything onetime in nature about that gain that we shouldn't extrapolate forward?

因此，本季你們的核心利潤率大幅上升。您能談談是什麼推動了這一點嗎？我想你提到了食物和雜物。這是由供應商資助的成功促銷活動嗎？關於這種收益，有什麼是我們不應該向前推斷的一次性收益嗎？

Yes. Well, aside from LIFO, markdowns were a lot less, I think -- quarter-on-quarter. So no markdowns was a big piece of it. Particularly on the nonfood side, that helped. Last year, we had -- it was a year ago that all of us, including Costco, I think our inventories on a year-over-year basis were up 26% for 2 quarters in a row. And of course, those have all come down. And so that was probably the biggest single thing in those numbers.

是的。嗯，除了後進先出法之外，我認為季度環比降價要少得多。所以沒有降價是其中一個重要的部分。特別是在非食品方面，這很有幫助。去年，我們所有人，包括 Costco，我認為我們的庫存連續兩個季度同比增長 26%。當然，這些都已經下降了。所以這可能是這些數字中最大的一件事。

Yes. A comment that was made at the table here, we're back on track on seasonal in and out dates. So we're not having -- a year -- it was a year, 1.5 years ago where certain seasonal items came in late. And just to move them out, not to have to store them as much -- some we did store but to move them out where we thought was the best way to do it, we took extra markdowns. So that helped.

是的。這裡的桌子上發表的評論是，我們在季節性進出日期上回到了正軌。所以我們並不是——一年——是一年，1.5 年前，某些季節性商品遲到了。只是為了將它們移出，而不是必須將它們存儲得太多 - 我們確實存儲了一些，但為了將它們移出我們認為最好的方法，我們進行了額外的降價。所以這有幫助。

And then a follow-up question around the consumer. You just came through the back-to-school season. There are some important electronics categories that are a big part of the basket during that time of the year that also become a big part of the basket around holiday. Are you seeing iPads and PCs and notebooks, are you seeing positive unit trends? And how does it make you feel about the upcoming holiday season?

然後是圍繞消費者的後續問題。你剛剛度過了返校季。有一些重要的電子產品類別在一年中的這個時候是購物籃的重要組成部分，在假期期間也成為購物籃的重要組成部分。您是否看到了 iPad、PC 和筆記型電腦，是否看到了正面的銷售趨勢？您對即將到來的假期有何感受？

Gaming is up. Some of the Apple products are up. TV units are up but again, the average price points have come down some. Tablets are up and audio is up a little.

遊戲開始了。蘋果的一些產品已經上漲。電視機價格上漲，但平均價格再次下降。平板電腦和音訊也有所提升。

But not notebooks and computers?

但筆記型電腦和電腦不行嗎？

No. Less down was the answer, yes.

答案是不。答案是，是的。

We'll take our next question from John Heinbockel with Guggenheim.

我們將接受古根漢的約翰·海因博克爾提出的下一個問題。

So Richard, first thing, maybe just talk about how you look at cannibalization versus expanding the market in the U.S., right? And if you -- obviously, you can now put, it looks like, locations closer together. When you kind of look at the U.S. in total, is there a number, right, that you guys have in mind that's now possible given what you're doing with density?

所以理查德，首先，也許只是談談你如何看待蠶食與擴大美國市場，對吧？如果你——顯然，你現在可以把地點放在更近的地方。當你看美國的整體情況時，考慮到你在密度方面所做的工作，你們心中是否有一個數字是可能的？

We could add another 150.

我們可以再增加 150 個。

Yes. Yes. Our view is over the next 10 years that we could add easily another 150, and that's on top of however many business centers, call it, but just in the U.S. And that number keeps changing. If you had asked me 6, 8 years ago where we'd be today, I would say if we were 70-30 U.S. back then, we'd be 50-50 by now outside of the -- will be 50. And today, we're at 65, 70 in the U.S. still. So we're finding more opportunities here.

是的。是的。我們的觀點是，在未來 10 年裡，我們可以輕鬆地再增加 150 個，這超出了許多商務中心的數量，但僅限於美國，而且這個數字一直在變化。如果你在 6、8 年前問我我們今天會在哪裡，我會說如果我們當時是 70-30 美國，那麼現在我們會是 50-50，而在未來將是 50。而今天，我們在美國仍然是65、70 歲。所以我們在這裡尋找更多的機會。

And it's evidenced by just the sheer volumes of the units that our units are doing today versus 3 or 4 years ago. It's much higher than we would have expected 3 or 4 years ago. So we think that there's still a lot of runway in that regard.

我們單位今天所做的單位數量與三、四年前相比就證明了這一點。這比我們三、四年前的預期要高得多。所以我們認為在這方面還有很多跑道。

And then just a quick follow-up. The -- I know you guys haven't been particularly interested in BOPIS, right, for cost reasons. And I assume that's still the case. There's a consumer argument for it, but I think it's hard to make the cost side of it work. Is that still your view?

然後進行快速跟進。我知道你們對 BOPIS 並不是特別感興趣，對吧，出於成本原因。我認為情況仍然如此。消費者對此有爭議，但我認為很難使其成本方面發揮作用。這仍然是你的觀點嗎？

That is still our view overall. In addition to the thing I mentioned a little bit with what we're doing with Instacart on some nonfood items as well, we are testing in-store some big-ticket items like TVs but on a limited basis to see what happens for buy online and pick up in store.

這仍然是我們的總體觀點。除了我提到的一點以及我們在一些非食品商品上使用 Instacart 所做的事情之外，我們還在店內測試一些大件商品，例如電視，但在有限的基礎上看看在線購買會發生什麼並到店提貨。

We'll take our last question from Joe Feldman with Telsey Advisory Group.

我們將回答特爾西諮詢小組的喬·費爾德曼提出的最後一個問題。

I wanted to ask about, the CPG guys, are they funding promotions a little more regularly with you guys? I know you did something, I think, with P&G that seemed like a clever promotion, get a gift card back from them, it seemed. And I'm just wondering what you're seeing across the other vendors.

我想問一下，CPG 的人，他們是否更定期地與你們一起資助促銷活動？我知道你做了一些事情，我想，寶潔公司似乎是一次聰明的促銷活動，從他們那裡拿回了一張禮品卡，看起來。我只是想知道您在其他供應商中看到了什麼。

Yes. Well, the CGP, actually, we did that last year as well. We've done it for a couple of years, and we will say if we did it again. It's growing. So yes. And once we do that with one, we want to share that excitement with others to see what other types of things we can drive that way. So yes, I'd say there's probably a little bit more increase on that type of promotional things and inventory available for those things because we can really drive sales of those items in a short period of time.

是的。嗯，CGP，實際上，我們去年也這麼做了。我們已經這樣做了幾年了，如果我們再這樣做的話，我們會說。它正在增長。所以是的。一旦我們做到了這一點，我們就想與其他人分享這種興奮，看看我們還能用這種方式驅動什麼其他類型的東西。所以，是的，我想說，此類促銷商品和可用庫存可能會增加，因為我們確實可以在短時間內推動這些商品的銷售。

Right. That makes sense, yes, the volume that you guys do. And then are you guys approaching holiday any different this year? I know you mentioned Christmas goods are off to a good start. But is that earlier than normal? I feel like you're about the same timing, but maybe you could share thoughts on the approach to the holiday season.

正確的。這是有道理的，是的，你們所做的音量。那麼你們今年的假期有什麼不同嗎？我知道你提到聖誕商品有一個好的開始。但這比正常情況早嗎？我覺得你們的時間差不多，但也許你們可以分享一下關於假期即將到來的想法。

If it's earlier, it's a week or 2 earlier and some things came in early and...

如果是更早的話，那就是提早一兩週，有些事情提早來了…

(inaudible)

（聽不清楚）

Yes, yes. It's a little early compared to some of the supply chain disruptions we had, which screwed up a lot of things. But if you go back to where we were before COVID, we're probably at or very slightly earlier. And in terms of how we're approaching it, we're approaching it aggressively in terms of having stuff to sell to the member. But we want to be out, too.

是的是的。與我們遇到的一些供應鏈中斷相比，現在還為時過早，這些中斷搞砸了很多事情。但如果你回到新冠疫情爆發之前的情況，我們可能處於或稍早。就我們如何實現這一目標而言，我們正在積極地向會員出售產品。但我們也想出去。

Typically, this is nothing different here. Even on things like toys, we'll bring in a few things in the last couple of weeks before Christmas, that if they don't sell through, we're not at risk of having to mark them down dramatically because they're not unique just to Christmas.

通常，這裡沒有什麼不同。即使是像玩具這樣的東西，我們也會在聖誕節前的最後幾週內推出一些東西，如果它們沒有賣完，我們也不會面臨大幅降價的風險，因為它們不是聖誕節獨有的。

Well, thank you, everyone. We're around to answer questions. And have a good holiday, and we'll talk to you soon.

嗯，謝謝大家。我們隨時為您解答問題。祝您假期愉快，我們很快就會與您聯繫。

That does conclude today's presentation. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.

今天的演講到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。