好市多 (COST) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, everyone, and welcome to the Costco Wholesale Corporation Fiscal First Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. Today's call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to turn the call over to Richard Galanti, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead, sir.

大家好，歡迎參加 Costco 批發公司 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。今天的通話正在錄音。 （操作員指示）我現在想將電話轉給財務長理查德·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 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發現的其他風險。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。

Comparable sales and comparable sales excluding impacts from changes in gasoline prices and foreign exchange are intended as supplemental information and are not a substitute for net sales presented in accordance with GAAP.

可比銷售額和不包括汽油價格和外匯變化影響的可比銷售額旨在作為補充信息，不能替代根據公認會計原則提出的淨銷售額。

In today's release, we reported operating results for the first quarter of fiscal '24, the 12 weeks ended November 26. Reported net income for the 12-week first quarter came in at $1.589 billion or $3.58 per share, up from $1.364 billion or $3.07 per share in the 12-week first quarter last year. This year's results included a tax benefit of $44 million or $0.10 a share related to stock-based compensation. Last year's results included a tax benefit of $53 million or $0.12 per share related to stock-based compensation and also included a charge of $93 million pretax or $0.15 per share primarily related to downsizing our charter shipping activities.

在今天的新聞稿中，我們報告了24 財年第一季（截至11 月26 日的12 週）的營運業績。報告的第一季12 週淨利潤為15.89 億美元，即每股3.58 美元，高於13.64 億美元，即每股3.07 美元。去年第一季 12 週的每股盈餘。今年的業績包括 4,400 萬美元的稅收優惠，即與股票薪酬相關的每股 0.10 美元。去年的業績包括與股票薪酬相關的 5,300 萬美元或每股 0.12 美元的稅收優惠，還包括主要與縮小我們的包機運輸活動規模相關的稅前 9,300 萬美元或每股 0.15 美元的費用。

Net sales for the first quarter were $56.72 billion, a 6.1% increase over last year's first quarter, $53.44 billion. Net sales were benefited by approximately 0.5% to 1% in the U.S. and worldwide from the shift of the fiscal calendar as a result of the 53rd week in fiscal 2023.

第一季淨銷售額為567.2億美元，比去年第一季的534.4億美元成長6.1%。由於 2023 財年第 53 週導致財年日曆發生變化，美國和全球的淨銷售額增長了約 0.5% 至 1%。

The following comparable sales reflect comparable locations year-over-year and comparable retail weeks. In the U.S., reported 2% comp sales ex gas deflation and FX, 2.6%. Canada reported 6.4%, ex gas and FX, 8.2%. Other International reported 11.2%, ex gas and FX, 7.1%. For total company reported 3.8% and 3.9%, excluding those 2 items. E-commerce, which was reported as a 6.3% came in at 6.1% excluding FX. Overall, for the first fiscal quarter, fresh foods were relatively strong once again, with food and sundries right behind. Nonfood showed improvement over the September, October, November time frame as did e-com sales.

以下可比較銷售額反映了可比較地點的年比情況和可比較零售週的情況。在美國，扣除天然氣通貨緊縮和外匯因素後的複合銷售額為 2%，為 2.6%。加拿大報告為 6.4%，不包括天然氣和外匯，為 8.2%。其他國際報告為 11.2%，不包括天然氣和外匯，為 7.1%。扣除這兩項後，公司總數分別為 3.8% 和 3.9%。電子商務據報為 6.3%，不包括外匯則為 6.1%。總體而言，第一財季生鮮食品再次相對強勁，食品和雜貨緊隨其後。與電子商務銷售相比，非食品銷售在 9 月、10 月和 11 月期間有所改善。

In terms of Q1 comp sales metrics, traffic or shopping frequency increased 4.7% worldwide and 3.6% in the United States. Our average transaction was down 0.9% worldwide and down 1.6% in the U.S. Foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar positively impacted sales by approximately 0.4% while gasoline price deflation negatively impacted sales by approximately 0.6%.

就第一季比較銷售指標而言，全球流量或購物頻率增加了 4.7%，美國增加了 3.6%。我們的全球平均交易量下降了 0.9%，美國下降了 1.6%。外幣相對於美元對銷售額產生了約 0.4% 的正面影響，而汽油價格通貨緊縮對銷售額產生了約 0.6% 的負面影響。

I've gotten more than a few calls in the past few weeks as to how many pies we sold in the U.S. leading up to the Thanksgiving holiday. In the U.S., in the 3 days leading up to Thanksgiving, we sold 2.9 million of our famous Pumpkin Pies along with 1.3 million apple and pecan pies, so over 4 million pies in total during the 3 days.

在過去的幾周里，我接到了很多電話，詢問我們在感恩節假期之前在美國銷售了多少餡餅。在美國，在感恩節前的 3 天裡，我們售出了 290 萬個著名的南瓜派以及 130 萬個蘋果和山核桃派，因此這 3 天內總共售出了超過 400 萬個派。

Back to the income statement here. And next on the income statement's membership fee income. In the quarter, we reported $1.082 billion or 1.91%. That's an $82 million or 8.2% increase and a 4 basis point increase over the first quarter last year. In terms of renewal rates, at first quarter end, our U.S. and Canada renewal rate stood at 92.8% while the worldwide rate came in at 90.5%. Both of these rates were up 0.1% from those numbers about 12 weeks earlier at the end of the fourth quarter.

回到這裡的損益表。接下來是損益表的會員費收入。本季度，我們報告營收為 10.82 億美元，即 1.91%。這意味著增加了 8,200 萬美元，即 8.2%，比去年第一季增加了 4 個基點。在續約率方面，第一季末，我們的美國和加拿大續約率為 92.8%，而全球續訂率為 90.5%。這兩個比率均較 12 週前第四季末的數字上升 0.1%。

Membership growth continues. We ended Q1 with 72.0 million paid household members, up 7.6% versus last year and 129.5 million cardholders, up 7.1%, with consistent growth throughout the quarters. At Q1 end, we had 33.2 million paid Executive members, an increase of 939,000 during the 12 weeks since Q4 end. Executive members now represent a little over 46% of our paid members and a little over 73% of worldwide sales.

會員數持續成長。截至第一季末，我們的付費家庭成員數量為 7,200 萬，較去年增長 7.6%；持卡人數量為 1.295 億，增長 7.1%，整個季度均保持持續增長。截至第一季末，我們擁有 3,320 萬名付費執行會員，自第四季末以來的 12 週內增加了 939,000 名。目前，執行會員占我們付費會員的 46% 多一點，佔全球銷售額的 73% 多一點。

Moving down the income statement, next is our gross margin. Our reported gross margin in the fourth quarter was higher year-over-year by 43 basis points, coming in at 11.04%, up from Q1 of last year at 10.61%. That 43 basis point reported number ex gas deflation would be plus 36 basis points. As I normally do here, we write down 2 columns and 6 line items. The first column is reported in the first quarter. The second column is margins excluding gas deflation. It's the year-over-year change in the first quarter. On a core merchandise, plus 3 basis points reported, minus 3 basis points ex deflation.

從損益表往下看，接下來是我們的毛利率。我們報告的第四季毛利率年增 43 個基點，達到 11.04%，高於去年第一季的 10.61%。扣除天然氣通貨緊縮後的 43 個基點報告數字將加上 36 個基點。正如我通常在這裡所做的那樣，我們寫下 2 列和 6 個行項目。第一欄報告第一季。第二列是不包括天然氣通貨緊縮的利潤。這是第一季的同比變化。核心商品，報告加 3 個基點，減去通貨緊縮後的 3 個基點。

Ancillary and other businesses, plus 24% reported and plus 22% ex gas deflation; 2% reward lower year-over-year, minus 4 basis points reported and minus 3 ex gas deflation; LIFO, plus 3 and plus 3 and other plus 17 and plus 17 for a total, again, reported year-over-year up 43 basis points and ex gas deflation up 36 basis points.

輔助和其他業務，加上報告的 24% 和扣除天然氣通貨緊縮的 22%； 2%的獎勵年減，報告負4個基點，扣除天然氣通貨緊縮後負3個基點；後進先出法、加 3 和加 3 以及其他加 17 和加 17 總計再次同比上升 43 個基點，扣除天然氣通貨緊縮後上升 36 個基點。

Starting with the core. Again, it was total company, it was plus 3 and minus 3 reported and ex gas deflation. In terms of core margin on their own sales, our core-on-core margins were up by 5 basis points year-over-year. Ancillary and other business gross margin, again, higher by 24 and higher by 22 ex gas deflation. This increase was driven largely by gas and e-comm. Our 2% reward higher by 4 and higher by 3 ex deflation, reflecting higher sales penetration coming from our Executive members.

從核心開始。再說一遍，這是整個公司的數據，報告值為正 3 和負 3，不包括天然氣通貨緊縮。就其自身銷售的核心利潤率而言，我們的核心間利潤率年增了 5 個基點。扣除天然氣通貨緊縮後，輔助業務和其他業務的毛利率再次上升 24 倍和 22 倍。這一增長主要是由天然氣和電子商務推動的。我們的 2% 獎勵比通貨緊縮高出 4 倍，高出 3 倍，反映出我們的執行會員的銷售滲透率更高。

LIFO plus 3 basis points. We had a $15 million LIFO credit in the first quarter of this year. This compared to a very small $0.5 million LIFO charge in Q1 a year ago. And then the other line item, the 17 basis points to the positive. As was mentioned earlier, last year in Q1, there was a 17 basis point impact from a $93 million pretax charge, primarily related -- primarily for the downsizing of our charter shipping activities.

LIFO 加 3 個基點。今年第一季度，我們獲得了 1500 萬美元的 LIFO 信貸。與一年前第一季 50 萬美元的後進先出費用相比，這一數字非常小。然後是另一個項目，17 個基點為正值。如同前面所提到的，去年第一季度，9,300 萬美元的稅前費用產生了 17 個基點的影響，主要與我們包機航運活動規模的縮減有關。

Moving on to SG&A. We reported SG&A of 9.45%, higher by 25 basis points than last year's 9.20%. Again, in Q1, we're right down the 2 columns. Reported and without gas deflation, operations, minus 18 and minus 14 basis points, minus being -- meaning it's higher year-over-year. Central minus 2 and minus 1. Stock compensation minus 3 and minus 2. Preopening expense, minus 2 and minus 2, again, for a total reported margin higher minus 25 year-over-year -- I'm sorry, SG&A, not margin, 25 and without gas deflation, higher by 19 basis points. The quarter again was higher by 18 and higher by 14, excluding the impact from gas. This included 12 weeks of this past March's extra top of scale increase in our wages, which represents an estimated 2 basis point hit. And as of September 18, we raised the starting wage in the U.S. and Canada. That estimated impact from those new wages to be roughly 2 basis points as well.

繼續討論SG&A。我們報告的 SG&A 為 9.45%，比去年的 9.20% 高出 25 個基點。同樣，在第一季度，我們就在 2 列下方。報告稱，如果不考慮天然氣通貨緊縮，營運情況分別為-18和-14個基點，減去-意味著同比更高。中央負 2 和負 1。股票報酬負 3 和負 2。開盤前費用，負 2 和負 2，再次，總報告利潤率同比增加負 25——對不起，SG&A，不是利潤率，25，如果沒有天然氣通貨緊縮，則上漲19 個基點。排除天然氣的影響，本季再次上漲 18 點，上漲 14 點。其中包括今年 3 月 12 週的薪資大幅上漲，預計上漲了 2 個基點。自 9 月 18 日起，我們提高了美國和加拿大的起薪。據估計，這些新工資的影響也約為 2 個基點。

Again, central, nothing much to say other than its 1 basis point higher, excluding gas deflation. Again, it was stock comp's, the minus 2x gas deflation and preopening. We did have a couple of more openings this year in the quarter than we did last year, and that was higher by 2 basis points.

再次強調，除了上漲 1 個基點（不包括天然氣通貨緊縮）之外，沒什麼好說的。再一次，這是股票比較，負 2 倍的天然氣通貨緊縮和預開盤。今年本季我們的職缺確實比去年多了幾個，而且高了 2 個基點。

Below the operating income line, interest expense was $38 million this year, $4 million higher than last year's $34 million figure. Interest income and other for the quarter was higher by $107 million, coming in at $160 million this year versus $53 million last year. This was driven largely by the increase in interest income, about $100 million of that $107 million due to higher interest rates as well as high cash balances. The small additional impact was a favorable FX year-over-year.

在營業收入線以下，今年的利息支出為 3,800 萬美元，比去年的 3,400 萬美元高出 400 萬美元。本季的利息收入和其他收入增加了 1.07 億美元，今年為 1.6 億美元，而去年為 5,300 萬美元。這主要是由利息收入增加推動的，其中 1.07 億美元中約有 1 億美元是由於利率上升和現金餘額高所致。較小的額外影響是外匯同比有利。

In terms of income taxes, our tax rate in the first quarter was 24.5%. This compares to 23.0% a year ago or 1.5 percentage points higher this year than last year. The increase in our rate as of Q1 -- in Q1 is primarily attributable to lower benefit from the stock-based compensation from a year ago. Overall, reported net income was up 16.5% year-over-year in the quarter.

在所得稅方面，我們第一季的稅率是24.5%。相比之下，今年的比例為 23.0%，比去年高出 1.5 個百分點。截至第一季度，我們的利率上升主要是由於基於股票的薪資福利比一年前有所下降。總體而言，本季報告的淨利潤年增 16.5%。

A few other items of note. In terms of warehouse expansion, in the first quarter, we opened 10 locations, including 1 relo, so a net of 9 increases. That -- those 9 included 8 in the U.S. and 1 in Canada. For the full year fiscal '24, we estimate opening -- we're planning to open 33 locations, including 2 relos, so for a net increase of 31 new warehouses that would be up from 23 that we opened in fiscal '23. For Q2 fiscal '24, we plan 4 new locations, including our sixth building in China early in the calendar year.

其他一些值得注意的事項。在倉庫擴張方面，第一季我們開了10個倉庫，其中包括1個relo，因此淨增加了9個。這 9 個國家中，有 8 個在美國，1 個在加拿大。對於 24 財年全年，我們預計開設 33 個倉庫，其中包括 2 個 relos，因此淨增加 31 個新倉庫，高於 23 財年開設的 23 個。對於 24 財年第二季度，我們計劃設立 4 個新地點，包括年初在中國的第六棟大樓。

Regarding capital expenditures, first quarter capital expenditure spend was approximately $1.04 billion. We estimate that fiscal '24 CapEx will be in the $4.4 billion to $4.6 billion range. That's up from $4.3 billion we had in fiscal '23, reflecting a continued increase in the number of the expansion that we're doing. In terms of e-commerce business, e-com sales in Q1 ex FX increased 6.1%, the first quarterly year-over-year increase in 5 fiscal quarters and trended well during the 3 reporting periods of September, October, November.

資本支出方面，第一季資本支出約10.4億美元。我們估計 24 財年資本支出將在 44 億美元至 46 億美元之間。這高於我們 23 財年的 43 億美元，反映出我們正在進行的擴張數量持續增加。電商業務方面，第一季電商銷售額（不含外匯）成長6.1%，是5 個財季以來首次出現季度同比增長，並且在9 月、10 月、11 月3 個報告期內趨勢良好。

E-comm showed strength in several areas. In food, things like e-gift cards, pet items, snack items were up in the mid-teens. Appliances were up year-over-year in the mid-20s. TVs was actually in the high singles despite the challenges with other aspects of consumer electronics like computers, and tires were up in the low teens. So overall, a pretty good showing there. As well, Costco Logistics enjoyed record-breaking deliveries. In the first quarter of fiscal '24, we completed over 800,000 deliveries, which were up 17% versus the comparable quarter last year.

電子商務在多個領域展現了實力。在食品方面，電子禮品卡、寵物用品、零食等商品的銷售量在十幾歲左右上漲。 20 世紀 20 年代中期，家電銷量較去年同期成長。儘管電腦等消費性電子產品的其他方面面臨挑戰，但電視實際上處於高位，而輪胎則處於低位。總的來說，那裡的表現相當不錯。此外，好市多物流 (Costco Logistics) 的交付量也創下了紀錄。在 2024 財年第一季度，我們完成了超過 80 萬次交付，比去年同期成長了 17%。

Add some front line items in the quarter in e-commerce. You've probably read about the fact that we're [soldering] 1 ounce gold bars. We sold over $100 million of gold during the quarter. We sold a Babe Ruth autographed index card for $20,000. And in addition to e-gift cards on everything from restaurants to golf to airlines, we just, in the last couple of weeks, launched a Disney e-gift card valued at $250 for $224.99. And for you last-minute shoppers out there, there is a Mickey Mantle autographed 1951, Ricky Carden nearly perfect condition and it's on sale online for $250,000.

本季增加一些電子商務第一線項目。您可能已經了解到我們正在[焊接] 1 盎司金條。本季我們出售了超過 1 億美元的黃金。我們以 20,000 美元的價格出售了一張貝比魯斯親筆簽名的索引卡。除了餐廳、高爾夫、航空公司等各種電子禮品卡外，我們在過去幾週還推出了價值 250 美元的迪士尼電子禮品卡，售價為 224.99 美元。對於那些最後一刻購物的人來說，還有一件由米奇·曼托(Mickey Mantle) 於1951 年親筆簽名、瑞奇·卡登(Ricky Carden) 近乎完美的品相，目前在網上以25 萬美元的價格出售。

Next, good progress continues to be made with our e-com mobile and digital efforts. No big enhancements and changes to the site leading up to the holidays, mostly holiday prep. We did have 100% site availability during Cyber Week, and sales for the 5 Cyber Days, Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Cyber Monday were up year-over-year in the mid-teens.

接下來，我們的電子商務行動和數位化努力繼續取得良好進展。假期前，網站沒有重大的改進和變化，主要是假期準備。我們在網路週期間確實實現了 100% 的網站可用性，並且 5 個網路日、感恩節、黑色星期五、星期六、星期日和網路星期一的銷售額同比增長了 15%。

Our app downloads during the quarter were 2.75 million, so total app downloads are now stand at 30.5 million or a 10% increase during the quarter, and that's after up being over 40% increase in all of fiscal '23 versus the prior year. Our site traffic approaching 0.5 billion and just under 10% increase and the average order value being up about 2.5%. So we continue to make progress there.

本季我們的應用程式下載量為275 萬次，因此應用程式下載總量目前為3,050 萬次，本季成長了10%，而23 財年全年的應用程式下載量與去年相比成長了40% 以上。我們的網站流量接近 5 億，增幅略低於 10%，平均訂單價值成長約 2.5%。所以我們繼續在那裡取得進展。

Next couple of comments regarding inflation. Most recently in the last fourth quarter discussion, we had estimated that year-over-year inflation was in the 1% to 2% range. Our estimate for the quarter just ended, that inflation was in the 0 to 1% range.

接下來是關於通貨膨脹的一些評論。最近在去年第四季的討論中，我們估計年比通膨率在 1% 至 2% 的範圍內。我們對剛結束的季度的預測是，通貨膨脹率在 0% 到 1% 的範圍內。

Bigger deflation in some big and bulky items like furniture sets due to lower freight costs year-over-year as well as on things like domestics, bulky, lower-priced items again, where the freight cost is significant. Some deflationary items were as much as 20% to 30%, and again, mostly freight-related. TVs, the average sale prices have been lower while unit's been higher. And talking to the buyers overall, our inventories and our SKU counts are in good shape across all channels. And so far, we've had a good seasonal sell-through during the quarter.

由於運費逐年下降，一些大件、笨重的物品（如家具）以及國內物品、大件、低價物品的通貨緊縮幅度更大，這些物品的運費成本很高。一些通貨緊縮項目高達 20% 至 30%，而且主要與貨運相關。電視的平均銷售價格較低，而單位價格則較高。與整體買家交談後，我們的庫存和 SKU 數量在所有管道中都處於良好狀態。到目前為止，我們在本季的季節性銷售情況良好。

Lastly, as you saw in this afternoon's press release, we declared a $15 per share special cash dividend. This is our fifth special dividend in 11 years. The total payout will be about just under $6.7 billion and will be funded using existing cash and not accompanied by any issuance of debt. The special cash dividend will be paid on January 12 to shareholders of record on December 28.

最後，正如您在今天下午的新聞稿中看到的，我們宣布派發每股 15 美元的特別現金股息。這是我們 11 年來第五次特別股利。支付總額約 67 億美元，將使用現有現金提供資金，不附帶發行任何債務。特別現金股利將於1月12日支付給12月28日登記在冊的股東。

Finally, in terms of upcoming releases, we will announce our December sales results for the 5 weeks ending Sunday, December 31, on Thursday, January 4, after market close. With that, I will turn it back for Q&A to Lisa and be happy to answer any questions.

最後，就即將發布的產品而言，我們將在 1 月 4 日星期四收盤後公佈截至 12 月 31 日星期日的 5 週 12 月份銷售結果。這樣，我會將其轉回給麗莎進行問答，並很樂意回答任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) We'll take our first question from Michael Lasser with UBS.

（操作員說明）我們將回答 UBS 的 Michael Lasser 提出的第一個問題。

You had indicated over the last 1.5 years or so that Costco had been raising prices faster than it had throughout its history. So now with prices coming down, what is going to be the posture on passing along those savings? You already noted that inflation is flat to up 1%. So do you expect deflation, especially on the food side as you get through the next couple of quarters?

您曾表示，在過去 1.5 年左右的時間裡，Costco 漲價的速度比其歷史上最快的速度都要快。那麼現在隨著價格的下降，將採取什麼方式來傳遞這些節省下來的錢呢？您已經注意到通貨膨脹率持平至 1%。那麼，您預計未來幾季會出現通貨緊縮，尤其是食品方面的通貨緊縮嗎？

Well, talking to buyers, we've seen that even during the quarter, we saw a trend towards that 0 versus the 1. But at the end of the day, we don't -- the buyers are looking out 3 to 6 months. They have -- on the fresh food side, commodities-wise, they haven't seen a lot. There are a few things that are up and a few things are down but no giant trend either way. Look, as you know us for a long time, we want to be the first to lower prices. We're out there pressing our vendors as we seek different commodity components come down and certainly on the nonfood side as we saw shipping costs come down, things like that. And so probably a little more than less but we'll have to wait and see. We don't know.

好吧，與買家交談時，我們發現即使在本季度，我們也看到了 0 與 1 的趨勢。但最終，我們沒有看到——買家正在尋找 3 到 6 個月的時間。他們在生鮮食品方面，就商品而言，他們還沒有看到很多。有一些東西上漲，有一些東西下跌，但無論如何都沒有大趨勢。聽著，正如您認識我們很長時間一樣，我們希望成為第一個降低價格的人。我們正在向我們的供應商施加壓力，因為我們尋求不同的商品成分下降，當然在非食品方面，因為我們看到運輸成本下降，諸如此類。所以可能多一點，但我們必須拭目以待。我們不知道。

And my follow-up is another point that you've made for a long time is that Costco is going to draft off the profitability of the broader retail sector. If you compare Costco's operating margin over the last 12 months versus where it was prior to the pandemic, it's 300 to 400 basis points higher. And yet across retail, there are signs that profitability is coming down. So now, what we've seen in the way of Costco either maintaining this existing rate of operating profit margin or even further growing from here, so it just simply going to be a function of your ability to drive further sales growth in the consistently mid-single-digit range or better.

我的後續行動是你長期以來提出的另一個觀點是，好市多將剝奪更廣泛的零售業的獲利能力。如果將 Costco 在過去 12 個月的營業利潤率與疫情爆發前的營業利潤率進行比較，就會發現它高出了 300 到 400 個基點。然而，在整個零售業，有跡象顯示獲利能力正在下降。所以現在，我們所看到的 Costco 要么維持現有的營業利潤率，要么從這裡進一步增長，所以這只是你在持續中期推動進一步銷售增長的能力的函數。 -個位數範圍或更好。

Sure. Well, happily, I'm able to say that, that's -- you get to figure that one out. At the end of the day, we're -- as you've known for a long time, we're a top line company, we want to drive sales. Certainly, as there's been deflation in certain products, we've seen units go up. I'm looking at 1 example here just in the last month, $100-plus million of KS net items where sales were flat to down a couple percent while units were up in the mid-teens. That takes a little more labor to do. But at the end of the day, that's what we want to do. We want to drive people and frequency.

當然。嗯，很高興，我可以這麼說，那就是——你可以弄清楚這個問題。歸根結底，正如您長期以來所知，我們是一家頂級公司，我們希望推動銷售。當然，由於某些產品出現通貨緊縮，我們看到單位價格上漲。我在這裡看一個例子，就在上個月，價值 1 億多萬美元的 KS 淨產品的銷售額持平甚至下降了幾個百分點，而單位數量卻在十幾歲左右增長。這需要更多的努力才能完成。但歸根結底，這就是我們想做的事。我們希望帶動人員和頻率。

And I think as long as we see renewal rates continue to do what they do, as long as we see new sign-ups continue to what they do and hopefully continue to get people to convert to Executive as well and constantly driving the best value out there, we'll be in good stead. And so far we've been able to do that and I think we'll continue to be able to do that.

我認為，只要我們看到續訂率繼續保持原來的水平，只要我們看到新註冊的用戶繼續保持原來的水平，並希望繼續讓人們轉變為執行官，並不斷實現最佳價值在那裡，我們會處於有利地位。到目前為止，我們已經能夠做到這一點，而且我認為我們將繼續能夠做到這一點。

We'll take our next question from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

我們將回答摩根士丹利西蒙古特曼的下一個問題。

This is Jackie Sussman on for Simeon. The core and core margin was up modestly this quarter and it seems like it moderated sequentially. Looking forward to the balance of the year, it seems like the comparison gets a bit tougher. I guess how should we think about your core and core margin? Could it stay expanding and positive for the rest of the year? Or any color on that would be helpful.

我是西蒙的傑姬·蘇斯曼。本季核心和核心利潤率小幅上升，似乎連續放緩。展望今年的剩餘時間，這種比較似乎變得更加困難。我想我們該如何考慮你的核心和核心利潤率？今年剩餘時間它能保持擴張和積極的勢頭嗎？或任何顏色都會有幫助。

There are so many different moving parts to it. As you've heard me say and I say in the last several years, we want to drive top line first. We're also pragmatic. We want -- we recognize we're a for-profit company and we'll continue to work hard to do both. I wouldn't read much into any number going up a little or down a little, frankly. It fluctuates and there's lots of different components to it.

它有很多不同的活動部件。正如你所聽到的，我在過去幾年也說過，我們希望先推動營收成長。我們也很務實。我們希望——我們認識到我們是一家營利性公司，我們將繼續努力實現這兩點。坦白說，我不會對任何數字的小幅上升或下降進行太多解讀。它會波動，並且有很多不同的組成部分。

Got you. And just a quick follow-up. Was the Black Friday and Cyber Monday gains that you had better than what you were expecting internally?

明白你了。只是快速跟進。您在黑色星期五和網路星期一的收穫是否比您內部預期的要好？

They're a little better than we were expecting but we were ready for it.

他們比我們預期的要好一些，但我們已經準備好了。

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。

Richard, I wanted to just dive into the core margins a little bit more and see if you could flesh out some of the category color. If you said it, I missed it, but food, sundries, fresh and on the hardlines parts of the business.

理查德，我想更深入地了解核心邊緣，看看你是否可以充實一些類別顏色。如果你這麼說，我就錯過了，但是食品、雜貨、新鮮和硬派部分的業務。

Well, without giving you specific basis points, food and sundries was slightly down, very slightly down. Nonfood was actually up. Some of that relates to the fact that we are comparing against last year when we had higher freight costs and trying to drive business. And fresh was down a little bit. So nothing Earth-shattering in either of those directions.

好吧，在沒有給你具體的基點的情況下，食品和雜貨略有下降，非常小幅下降。非食品實際上上漲了。其中一些與我們正在與去年相比的事實有關，當時我們的貨運成本較高，並試圖推動業務發展。新鮮度下降了一點。因此，在這兩個方向上都沒有什麼驚天動地的事情。

Okay. And then on the ancillary up 22 basis points, I think we all get the gas component. But can you just talk about why the e-commerce margins were so much better in the quarter?

好的。然後在輔助上漲 22 個基點上，我認為我們都得到了氣體成分。但您能談談為什麼本季電子商務利潤率如此高嗎？

I think, well, first of all, part of just ancillary in general is a sales penetration issue without going into it -- that the fact that it showed more -- sometimes when you look back over the quarters, they go in opposite directions, the core on core and then the other businesses. And so given that you had higher sales penetration in both -- in e-com, that helped you, and e-com, we had a lot of strength. We're doing a lot of big and bulky and we're driving that business.

我認為，首先，一般來說，輔助性的一部分是銷售滲透問題，而無需深入探討——事實上，它顯示了更多——有時當你回顧各個季度時，它們會走向相反的方向，核心業務，然後是其他業務。因此，考慮到你們在電子商務領域和電子商務領域都有更高的銷售滲透率，這對你們有幫助，而電子商務領域我們擁有很大的優勢。我們正在做很多大而笨重的事情，我們正在推動這項業務。

Okay, great. And then just bigger picture, I just have a question on the change at the CEO seat with Ron starting in a few weeks and taking -- replacing Craig, who replaced Jim. You've had the fortunate opportunity to work with all 3. And I guess I'm curious what change, if any, you think we could see from an operating standpoint moving forward?

好的，太好了。然後，從更大的角度來看，我對執行長席位的變化有一個疑問，羅恩將在幾週後開始取代克雷格，而克雷格取代了吉姆。您有幸與這三個人一起工作。我想我很好奇，您認為從營運的角度來看，我們可以看到哪些變化（如果有的話）？

Yes. Well, I always joke I'm up for review so I'm going to say nice things. But at the end of the day, the reality is we're staying the course. I remember questions were asked 12-plus years ago when Craig became President, and 2 years later, Jim retired and Craig became CEO and President. And what's -- who can replace Jim? And I think the same questions asked today, who could replace Craig? And it really is a seamless transition.

是的。嗯，我總是開玩笑說我要接受審查，所以我會說一些好話。但歸根究底，現實是我們將堅持到底。我記得 12 多年前，當克雷格 (Craig) 成為總裁時，有人提出了一些問題，兩年後，吉姆 (Jim) 退休，克雷格 (Craig) 成為首席執行官兼總裁。誰能取代吉姆？我想今天也有人問同樣的問題，誰可以取代克雷格？這確實是一個無縫過渡。

You have somebody retiring that's been here 40-ish years and it's been in the business both on operations and merchandising for a successful number of years in both. And you've got Ron who's coming in, who started when he was 17 at a Price Club in Arizona. And he already has his 40-year gold patch. And again, 30-ish years in operations, a year in real estate traveling in the world and then 6 or 7 years in merchandising. So I think it is pretty seamless.

有人已經退休，已經在這裡工作了 40 多年，並且在營運和銷售方面都取得了多年的成功。羅恩 (Ron) 也即將加入，他 17 歲時就開始在亞利桑那州的普賴斯俱樂部 (Price Club) 工作。他已經獲得了 40 年的金牌。再說一次，30年左右的營運時間，一年的房地產週遊世界，然後六、七年的銷售工作。所以我認為這是非常無縫的。

And to see them, the 2 of them work together over the last 2 years, almost 2 years since Ron became President, it's very similar to what I saw during those 2 years when Craig became President, and then 2 years later, Jim retired and Craig took on the CEO role as well. And so that's pretty much steady as she goes.

看看他們，他們兩個在過去的兩年裡一起工作，自從羅恩成為總統以來差不多兩年了，這與我在克雷格成為總統的那兩年中所看到的非常相似，然後兩年後，吉姆退休了，克雷格也擔任執行長一職。所以她的進展相當穩定。

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

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

I guess I just wanted to think about the potential clubs in the U.S. I know it comes up sometimes, but obviously, you added 8. It just seems like there's maybe more runway you can hear in the U.S. And I wonder if you have any thoughts on that. And then I had a quick follow-up.

我想我只是想考慮美國的潛在俱樂部。我知道有時會出現這個問題，但顯然，你添加了 8 個。似乎在美國你可以聽到更多的跑道，我想知道你是否有任何想法關於這一點。然後我進行了快速跟進。

Sure. Well, if we were to open the 31 this year, that would be somewhere in the low 20s, the 23, 24 in the U.S. And I recognize a few of those are business centers, which is we continue to add as well as regular -- most of the regular warehouses. And I would say that, yes, I guess the story I'd share with you is 6 or 8 years ago when it was roughly 60-40 or 70-30 U.S.-Canada versus the international -- other International, we were asked, what would it be by today? I'd say, well, by today, it will be 50-50.

當然。好吧，如果我們今年要開設 31 家，那將是美國的 23、24 家中的 20 家左右。我認識到其中一些是商務中心，我們將繼續增加這些中心以及常規中心 - - 大多數常規倉庫。我想說的是，是的，我想我要與你們分享的故事是6 或8 年前，當時大約是60-40 或70-30 美國-加拿大隊與國際隊- 其他國際隊，我們被問到到，今天會是什麼？我想說，好吧，到今天，將會是 50-50。

Well, today, you're asking the same question, it's 60-40 or 70-30 today, what will it be? And I think it will trend that way over time, but we are finding more opportunities in the U.S. Clearly, our average sales volume per location is higher today than we would have expected ourselves thankfully, 6, 7 years ago, what would it be by now. And we are finding those opportunities. So I view that as good news. We still -- we've got a lot of things going on to drive International, but International will be 6 or 7 units this year. And that opportunity to grow. Last year, International was 9 or 10, and that's more of a timing issue.

那麼，今天，你問同樣的問題，今天是 60-40 或 70-30，會是什麼？我認為隨著時間的推移，這種趨勢將會出現，但我們正在美國找到更多的機會。顯然，我們今天每個地點的平均銷量都高於我們自己的預期，值得慶幸的是，6、7年前，這會是什麼呢？現在。我們正在尋找這些機會。所以我認為這是個好消息。我們仍然--我們還有很多事情要做來推動國際化，但今年國際化將是 6 或 7 輛。還有成長的機會。去年，國際賽排名第 9 或第 10，這更多是一個時間問題。

So then my follow-up is around traffic and also like the growth you had in appliances and TVs. You're just kind of going in a different direction than a lot of people. So what's driving the share gains in those categories? But also, are you guys doing anything specifically different to drive the traffic numbers you're seeing? Because I mean, they're pretty amazing, given the environment.

因此，我的後續行動是圍繞著流量以及家電和電視的成長。你只是走上了與許多人不同的方向。那麼是什麼推動了這些類別的份額成長呢？而且，你們是否做了任何特別不同的事情來提高你們所看到的流量？因為我的意思是，考慮到環境，它們非常棒。

Yes. Well, look, I've always said I think the biggest attribute of value is the lowest price, given quantity and quality of good or service and then certainly add to that the trust that our members have. I think as it relates to specific things like I pointed out, like appliances and even tires, it's value. We -- and the combination -- and having acquired Innovel 3 or 4 years ago now called Costco Logistics, we're doing a lot of business there. And I think we've gotten a better job of communicating what the value is, not just showing what the price of the exact item is at some of the other big retail competitors on some of these big items. But then you add in delivery, take away the old price -- the installation, delivery, take away the old product for disposition, it's significant savings. Go do a price check of some of those things compared to our competition, that's where you'll see the strength.

是的。好吧，看，我一直說我認為最大的價值屬性是最低的價格，考慮到商品或服務的數量和質量，然後肯定會增加我們會員的信任。我認為，因為它與我指出的具體事物有關，例如電器甚至輪胎，所以它很有價值。我們以及合併後在三、四年前收購了 Innovel，現在稱為 Costco Logistics，我們在那裡開展了大量業務。我認為我們在傳達價值方面做得更好，而不僅僅是展示其他大型零售競爭對手對某些大件商品的確切價格。但如果你加上交付，去掉舊的價格——安裝、交付、去掉舊產品進行處置，這是顯著的節省。與我們的競爭對手相比，對其中一些產品進行價格檢查，這樣您就會看到我們的優勢。

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, I'm wondering if one of the things you may do differently here, we've talked about this before, is leaning into personalization more and where you are on that journey, particularly with Ron coming in.

所以理查德，我想知道你在這裡可以做的不同的事情之一，我們之前已經討論過，是否更多地傾向於個性化以及你在這個旅程中的位置，特別是隨著羅恩的加入。

Right. Well, we're -- first to our business was fixing the foundation. We're in the middle of replatforming our e-commerce. It's not a big bank where we're going to put the switch 1 day, we're bringing things over and that's in progress. It was, I think I mentioned last -- probably last quarter, it's a 2-year road map on that, and we're halfway through that. And so I'd say very little so far.

正確的。嗯，我們的業務首先是修復基礎。我們正在重組我們的電子商務平台。這不是一家大銀行，我們將在一天之內進行轉換，我們正在把事情轉移過來，並且正在進行中。我想我最後提到過——可能是上個季度，這是一個為期兩年的路線圖，我們已經完成了一半。所以到目前為止我想說的很少。

If we're in the second inning, maybe we're in the third inning now. But we -- a lot of the focus has been on, first of all, making sure doing small improvements. We certainly got the -- on the 5-star rating, it got up north of 4.5 on that, and we're getting better at the site every time. But I think you would see personalization and, first of all, targeting and then personalization more over the next couple of years, honestly. And we're fine with that. We're the first to our business getting the foundation right. And we've made a lot of progress. I didn't spend a lot of time on this call talking about the new things, the enhancements we've made to the mobile site and the e-com site, but we've done a lot.

如果我們在第二局，也許我們現在在第三局。但我們——首先，我們的重點是確保進行小的改進。我們確實獲得了 5 星評級，超過了 4.5 星，而且我們的網站每次都變得更好。但老實說，我認為你會在未來幾年看到個人化，首先是定位，然後是個人化。我們對此表示同意。我們是第一個為我們的業務奠定正確基礎的人。我們已經取得了很大進展。我在這次電話會議上沒有花太多時間談論新事物、我們對行動網站和電子商務網站所做的增強，但我們已經做了很多。

And maybe as a follow-up. When you talked about the international opportunity and it's still very well underdeveloped. So what's the hindrance to getting to -- because you're in a lot of countries now, 15 to 20 annual openings, maybe that's a big ask. But is it just quality of real estate because I would imagine operationally it's not a human resource issue. Is it purely a real estate issue?

也許作為後續行動。當你談到國際機會時，它仍然很不發達。那麼，實現這一目標的障礙是什麼——因為你現在在很多國家/地區，每年有 15 到 20 個職位空缺，也許這是一個很大的要求。但這只是房地產的品質嗎？因為我認為在營運上這不是人力資源問題。純粹是房地產問題嗎？

I would say it's a combination of issues. In some countries, I mean, if you look at Korea, Taiwan, where we have whatever, 15 or 16 locations in each country, very successful. It's a little harder to find the next location just from a real estate standpoint. If you look in Japan where we have plenty of future opportunity, we've got 30-plus now. And -- but again, it's a little bit of real estate.

我想說這是一系列問題的結合。我的意思是，在某些國家/地區，如果你看看韓國、台灣，我們在每個國家都有 15 或 16 個地點，非常成功。僅從房地產的角度來看，找到下一個地點有點困難。如果你看看日本，那裡未來有很多機會，我們現在有 30 多個。而且——但同樣，這是一點點房地產。

If you look at places like China or Spain, one of the challenges is you want -- you like to be able to ideally bring over more than a handful of people from the existing locations in the new one. It's a very hands-on operation. I think one of the things that we felt we mentioned that we had success when we first opened our first unit in Shanghai is we had at least 60, 70 people move there from Taiwan for promotions and for interactions, not just in the office and the buying offices, but even in the key supervisor and manager positions within the warehouse. And so it takes a little longer. And -- but we're working hard at it but it's a very hands-on experience.

如果你看看中國或西班牙這樣的地方，挑戰之一就是你想要的——理想情況下，你希望能夠從現有地點吸引更多的人到新地點。這是一個非常需要動手操作的操作。我認為，當我們第一次在上海開設第一個單位時，我們提到我們成功的一件事是，我們至少有60、70 名台灣人從台灣搬到那裡進行促銷和互動，而不僅僅在辦公室和辦公室。採購辦公室，甚至是倉庫內的關鍵主管和經理職位。所以需要更長的時間。而且——但我們正在努力，但這是一次非常實際的體驗。

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。

Just wanted to kind of follow up on Scott's question. I think your average sales per club in the U.S. and Canada is around $300 million at this point. And just curious on the status of how many clubs are doing kind of well over that and are maybe in some need of relief in the form of self-cannibalization and more clubs nearby. And a follow-up as well on International. Just as we think about the next maybe 3 to 5 years, are there any countries that might be disproportionately getting more of the growth here?

只是想跟進斯科特的問題。我認為目前美國和加拿大每個俱樂部的平均銷售額約為 3 億美元。我只是想知道有多少俱樂部做得很好，並且可能需要以自我蠶食和附近更多俱樂部的形式得到一些緩解。還有《國際》的後續行動。正如我們思考未來 3 到 5 年一樣，是否有任何國家可能會在這裡獲得不成比例的更多成長？

Okay. What was the first part of the question, again? Average sales. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but I know in fiscal '23, we had something like 25 or so locations that did over $400 million and another 160 or so that did $300 million to $400 million. Those are huge numbers. And certainly, as we get [$350-plus million] and one of them, by the way, they did over [$400 million] did a few million over $600 million. And so generally, when it starts getting -- when it starts having a 3 in front of it, certainly at $350 million, we want to start looking to see what we can do to cannibalize it, frankly, and to have more growth in that market. And so hopefully, that's our -- one of our bigger problems and challenges that we have more of those each year. So I think that will continue.

好的。問題的第一部分又是什麼？平均銷量。我沒有眼前的數字，但我知道在 23 財年，我們有大約 25 個營業點營業額超過 4 億美元，另外 160 個左右營業額營業額在 3 億至 4 億美元之間。這些都是龐大的數字。當然，當我們獲得[3.5億多美元]時，其中一個，順便說一下，他們做了超過[4億美元]，做了幾百萬美元超過6億美元。所以總的來說，當它開始變得——當它前面開始有一個3 時，當然是3.5 億美元，坦率地說，我們想開始看看我們能做些什麼來蠶食它，並在這方面有更多的成長。市場。希望這是我們面臨的更大的問題和挑戰之一，而且我們每年都會遇到更多這樣的問題和挑戰。所以我認為這種情況將會持續下去。

Again, if I look back 5, 8 years ago, even assuming whatever inflation number you want to assume, I think we've done a little better than that in terms of the sales volumes. And so that's good news for us that we'll continue to do that.

再說一次，如果我回顧 5、8 年前，即使假設你想要假設的通貨膨脹數字，我認為我們在銷量方面做得比現在要好一些。這對我們來說是個好消息，我們將繼續這樣做。

Internationally, again, I'm just looking at the map of where we are. Certainly, we only have 4 locations in Spain. We've actually added a few on a base of 30-plus in the U.K. We think we have more opportunity in Mexico. In Japan, where we have something in the low 30s, certainly, it's done well there, and there's many more markets and population there that we can go to. Australia is, whatever, 2/3 -- there's a little under 2/3 of the size of Canada where we have 105 or so locations.

再次，在國際上，我只是看我們所在位置的地圖。當然，我們在西班牙只有 4 個地點。實際上，我們在英國 30 多個的基礎上增加了一些。我們認為在墨西哥有更多的機會。在日本，我們有 30 多歲左右的產品，當然，那裡做得很好，而且那裡有更多的市場和人口可供我們進入。無論如何，澳洲是 2/3——略低於加拿大的 2/3，我們在加拿大擁有 105 個左右的分支機構。

And in Australia, we have 15. I'm not suggesting we're going to have 2/3 of 105 there anytime soon. It takes us 35-plus years to get there in Canada. But we think that those are the opportunities. It's not like we're looking for a lot of other new countries at this juncture. We've done a few new countries, those single locations like in Sweden and Iceland and Auckland, all being somewhat managed buying wise somewhat operationally by host country in the case of Scandinavia by the U.K., in the case of Auckland by Australia.

在澳大利亞，我們有 15 個。我並不是說很快就會有 105 個中的 2/3。加拿大花了 35 年多的時間才達到這個目標。但我們認為這些都是機會。目前我們並不是在尋找許多其他新國家。我們已經做了一些新的國家，像瑞典、冰島和奧克蘭這樣的單一地點，所有這些都在一定程度上由東道國進行管理，在某種程度上進行了操作，在斯堪的納維亞半島的情況下是英國，在奧克蘭的情況下是澳洲。

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。

So Richard, last quarter, you talked a bit about Costco Next. And I guess my question is, how big of an impact is that program having on your e-com sales at this point, number one? Number two, kind of related to that, any change in your betting of what vendors operate on that program, just thinking about the quality control aspect?

理查德，上個季度，您談到了 Costco Next。我想我的問題是，該計劃目前對您的電子商務銷售有多大影響（第一）？第二，與此相關的是，您對哪些供應商在該程式上運行的賭注有任何變化嗎？僅考慮品質控制方面？

Well, first of all, it's still very small relative to our company. And the fact is, is that, the Costco Next sales currently are not in our sales. It's -- we got a commission, so it's kind of like 3P, if you will -- 3P sales. And at some juncture, some of their rules -- accounting rules where you can include it in sales based on what risk and what ownership level you have in the items. But at this juncture, those sales, it's more of the market value and just the commission in our number.

嗯，首先，相對於我們公司來說，它仍然很小。事實是，Costco Next 的銷售額目前並不在我們的銷售額中。這是——我們得到了佣金，所以這有點像3P，如果你願意的話——3P 銷售。在某些時候，他們的一些規則 - 會計規則，您可以根據您在專案中擁有的風險和所有權等級將其包含在銷售中。但在這個時候，那些銷售額，更多的是市場價值，只是我們數字中的佣金。

In terms of how we vet, we do it the same way we vet items. We want items that make sense to provide value, and we have a team that is here that are vetting every -- each and every one of those. I think we're up to about 70 -- about 65 current suppliers on there and we'll certainly have many more as we go forward.

就我們的審查方式而言，我們的審查方式與審查物品的方式相同。我們想要能夠提供價值的有意義的項目，我們有一個團隊在這裡審查每一項——每一項。我認為我們現有的供應商大約有 70 家——大約 65 家，隨著我們的發展，我們肯定還會有更多的供應商。

So presumably, if that program keeps growing, should that be a natural gross margin driver for you over time? I know it's small now, but if you're just collecting the commission, presumably that's kind of 100% margin, right?

因此，如果該計劃持續增長，隨著時間的推移，這應該成為您自然的毛利率驅動因素嗎？我知道現在規模很小，但如果你只是收取佣金，大概就是 100% 的利潤，對吧？

Essentially, yes. Much like the travel business.

本質上是的。很像旅遊業。

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

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

Richard, wanted to follow up on the membership fee hike as I think now we're in extra time. And I wonder how much does the growth in mix and Executive membership driving that high single-digit growth. Is that what it means that you don't have to increase it and you could keep waiting or is there something else?

理查德想跟進會員費上漲的情況，因為我認為現在我們進入了加時賽。我想知道組合和執行會員的成長對這種高單位數成長有多大的推動作用。這是否意味著您不必增加它，您可以繼續等待，或者還有其他情況嗎？

I think it's just us. Again, if I look at the -- if you ask the question, what are the variables we would look at, we would want to look at strong renewal rates, strong new sign-ups, strong loyalty, and we have all that. So I think it's a question is we haven't needed to do it. We like providing extreme value. Certainly, while we've gone a little longer than the average increase, we feel we certainly have driven more value to the membership. So I'll use my standby answer, my answer, it's a question of when, not if. But at this juncture, we feel pretty good about what we're doing.

我想這只是我們。再說一次，如果我看一下——如果你問這個問題，我們會考慮哪些變量，我們會希望看到強勁的續訂率、強勁的新註冊量、強勁的忠誠度，而我們擁有這一切。所以我認為問題是我們不需要這樣做。我們喜歡提供極致的價值。當然，雖然我們的成長速度比平均成長要長一些，但我們認為我們確實為會員帶來了更多價值。所以我將使用我的備用答案，我的答案，這是一個何時的問題，而不是是否的問題。但在這個時刻，我們對我們正在做的事情感覺非常好。

And a follow-up on inflation, I just want to make sure I got that right. You said 0 to 1% for the quarter. Did it trend towards 0? Did we exit near the bottom? And you mentioned some categories that were deflationary. Which ones are stubborn in terms of inflation where it's hardest to get it out?

關於通貨膨脹的後續行動，我只是想確保我做對了。你說這個季度是 0 到 1%。是否有趨於0的趨勢？我們是在底部附近退出的嗎？你提到了一些通貨緊縮的類別。哪些在通膨方面最頑固，最難擺脫？

Which inflation -- which categories are stubborn in inflation?

哪些通貨膨脹－哪些類別的通貨膨脹比較頑固？

Yes.

是的。

CPG, obviously.

顯然，CPG。

All the branded packaged stuff?

所有品牌包裝的東西？

There wasn't a big trend. I think at the end, it was a little lower than the beginning, but not a big trend.

並沒有什麼大的趨勢。我認為最後，它比開始時要低一些，但不是一個大趨勢。

Okay. So it's not like we exited 0. We're still slightly positive.

好的。所以我們並沒有退出 0。我們仍然有點樂觀。

Right. But recognize, the LIFO charge is an inventory cost of sales charge. Right. The 0 to 1% is from the beginning of the fiscal year. Now it's from -- I'm sorry, the beginning of -- the 0 to 1% is versus a year ago.

正確的。但要認識到，後進先出費用是庫存銷售成本費用。正確的。 0%到1%是從財政年度開始算的。現在，我很抱歉，從 0 到 1% 是與一年前相比。

Year-over-year? Got it.

一年又一年？知道了。

Yes, yes.

是的是的。

Great. And then just last, what is the auto renewal rate now?

偉大的。最後，現在的自動續訂率是多少？

In the U.S., it's around 60%.

在美國，這一比例約為 60%。

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。

So I just want to go to operating expense growth. So operating expense growth is still high. Would you expect the growth rate to moderate once you lap that March wage increase? And then anything unusual within that line item that's still driving pretty high growth?

所以我只想談談營業費用成長。因此營業費用成長仍較高。您預計三月薪資成長結束後成長率會放緩嗎？那麼該訂單項目中有什麼不尋常的地方仍然推動著相當高的增長嗎？

There's not a lot unusual. I think it gets back to the question of low inflation, which creates a little bit more of a challenge, right? My extreme -- and again, that was a very extreme example I gave you (inaudible). But when you had a slight 0% to 2% decline in sales and a 14% increase in units, you got more labor involved, more hours stock to the shelf. I mean that's at the 40,000-foot level. And that's an extreme example. But I think overall, it is sales base.

沒有太多不尋常的地方。我認為這又回到了低通膨的問題，這帶來了更多的挑戰，對吧？我的極端——再說一次，這是我給你的一個非常極端的例子（聽不清楚）。但是，當銷售額略有下降 0% 到 2% 而銷量增加 14% 時，就會需要更多的勞動力，上架時間也會更長。我的意思是那是在 40,000 英尺的高度。這是一個極端的例子。但我認為總體而言，這是銷售基礎。

You should also remember, if you remember going back to fiscal '19 and the first part of fiscal '20, before COVID, our SG&A percent was -- for all of 2019, it was at 10.04%. In the first quarter of 2020, it was 10.34%. And for the whole year, it was a 10.04% for both of those 2 years. And we used to think to ourselves will we ever be able to get it back below 10%. And in 2022, which was the kind of month 7 through 18, if you will, that 12-month period after that full fiscal year for us of COVID, we reported an 8.88% for that year. So even at the [9.45%] that we just reported, we're still quite a bit lower than we had been historically, a function of a lot of things, including higher sales productivity and all that. So I think we're doing pretty well. I think certainly that's the challenge. How do we reduce that and how do we manage that? And certainly, the biggest way to manage is driving more sales.

您還應該記住，如果您記得回到 19 財年和 20 財年的第一部分，在新冠疫情之前，我們的 SG&A 百分比是——2019 年全年為 10.04%。 2020年第一季為10.34%。就全年而言，這兩年的成長率均為 10.04%。我們曾經想過我們是否能夠將其恢復到 10% 以下。 2022 年，如果你願意的話，也就是我們的新冠疫情整個財年之後的 12 個月，我們報告了當年的 8.88%。因此，即使達到我們剛剛報告的 [9.45%]，我們仍然比歷史水準低很多，這是許多因素的作用，包括更高的銷售生產力等等。所以我認為我們做得很好。我認為這當然是挑戰。我們如何減少這種情況以及如何管理？當然，最大的管理方法是推動更多的銷售。

Great. And then maybe just 1 follow-up question. So just curious how you're feeling about the healthier consumer. So it was interesting to hear that TVs did well this past quarter.

偉大的。然後也許只有 1 個後續問題。所以只是好奇你對健康消費者的感受如何。因此，聽到電視在上個季度表現良好是很有趣的。

Look, I think when we're asked that question, we're fortunate to answer it that we're -- first of all, looking at the consumer through somewhat rose-colored glasses here. We have enjoyed great value. And again, we're convinced it's value. We've got -- I think on the margin, there's a few extra things that we've done. We've improved the site of the website. We've gotten a little better communicating stuff, not completely. But I think overall, it's -- and we've been good merchants. I think the merchants have done a great job of bringing in new stuff. And not being shy when we see an industry category down a lot, that we can still -- if we're driving people in, we've got a better chance of getting them to buy something.

看，我認為當我們被問到這個問題時，我們很幸運能夠回答，首先，我們是帶著玫瑰色的眼鏡來看待消費者的。我們享受到了巨大的價值。我們再次確信它的價值。我認為，我們還做了一些額外的事情。我們改進了網站的內容。我們的溝通有所改善，但並非完全如此。但我認為總的來說，我們一直是優秀的商人。我認為商家在引進新事物方面做得很好。當我們看到某個行業類別大幅下滑時，不要害羞，我們仍然可以——如果我們吸引人們進入，我們就有更好的機會讓他們買東西。

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。

This is Tom Nass on for Oliver. Just a quick question on the trend of Kirkland relative to last year. If you could just remind us how that's trending maybe across categories. And then if you have any notable callouts, any recent innovations? Just curious if this is essentially driving any efficiencies and supplier negotiations that can position Costco for stronger gross margin ahead.

這是奧利佛的湯姆·納斯。只是簡單問一下柯克蘭相對於去年的趨勢。如果您能提醒我們跨類別的趨勢如何。那麼，如果您有任何值得注意的標註，最近有什麼創新嗎？只是好奇這是否從本質上推動了任何效率和供應商談判，從而使好市多未來獲得更高的毛利率。

Well, I would say, allowing us to get better deals, which means lower prices. But look, I think we -- Kirkland Signature relative to non-gas sales is in the high-20s. And I think it was probably a good year ago when inflation was in the [8 and 9] range, if you will, if you remember. And we talked about that year-over-year, we saw probably the biggest increased penetration of KS at Costco. It was 1, 1.5 percentage points, when historically, it has been 25 to 50 basis points a year.

嗯，我想說，讓我們獲得更好的交易，這意味著更低的價格。但是，我認為 Kirkland Signature 相對於非天然氣銷售額處於 20 多歲左右。如果你還記得的話，我認為這可能是美好的一年，當時通膨處於 [8 和 9] 範圍內。我們談到，與去年同期相比，我們看到 Costco 的 KS 滲透率增幅可能是最大的。當時是 1、1.5 個百分點，而歷史上，每年是 25 到 50 個基點。

I think we're back to that but we've maintained that higher level, and we're back to seeing smaller increases in penetration every year, but nonetheless, still driving that business. But we've got -- yes -- I think that helps with some of the deflationary certainly with KS stuff, we're closer to the supplier. We're not the only -- we're the only customer buying that item and we can drive a little bit more business. So I think it just continues to work that way for us.

我認為我們又回到了這一點，但我們保持了較高的水平，並且我們又回到了滲透率每年較小的增長，但仍然推動了該業務。但我們有——是的——我認為這有助於緩解一些通貨緊縮，當然是用 KS 的東西，我們離供應商更近了。我們不是唯一的－我們是唯一購買該商品的客戶，我們可以帶動更多的業務。所以我認為它對我們來說將繼續發揮作用。

Great. And then just a quick follow-up on any notable behavioral trends you've seen in consumer shopping this holiday season?

偉大的。然後快速跟進您在這個假期季節消費者購物中看到的任何值得注意的行為趨勢？

Some colleague in my room said they're buying gold. But no, that's actually online mostly. But no, I think -- again, I think the traffic thing is the thing that we're happily surprised about that we're continuing to drive people in on an increasing basis. We know we benefited during those, call it those 2 years, kind of March, April of '20 to March, April of '22, the kind of the 2 years of COVID, we benefited in many ways from more members and more volumes. And we've not only kept it, we're continuing now to add to those levels, so we feel very fortunate in that regard.

我房間裡的一些同事說他們正在購買黃金。但不，這實際上主要是在線的。但不，我想——再說一遍，我認為交通問題是我們感到高興和驚訝的事情，我們繼續不斷吸引人們進來。我們知道，我們在這兩年中受益匪淺，從20 年3 月、4 月到22 年3 月、4 月，也就是新冠疫情期間的2 年，我們在許多方面受益於更多的會員和更多的交易量。我們不僅保留了它，而且現在還在繼續增加這些水平，所以我們在這方面感到非常幸運。

One of my colleagues here just mentioned that discretionary merchandise trends are getting a little better. And that's not only on big ticket but in general, nonfood signing stuff. I think that corresponds with my comment earlier that we feel good about the seasonal -- how we've done seasonally.

我的一位同事剛剛提到非必需品趨勢正在改善。這不僅適用於大額門票，也適用於一般非食品簽名物品。我認為這與我之前的評論相符，即我們對季節性感覺良好——我們季節性的表現。

We'll take our next question from Mark Astrachan with Stifel.

我們將回答 Mark Astrachan 和 Stifel 提出的下一個問題。

I guess I wanted to ask on the Kirkland products, specifically maybe on the CPG that you mentioned. How has pricing or how has prices trended on those versus the branded products? Have you seen any deviation there, given you're closer? Are you able to lower prices? I suppose to the extent that, that has happened. Do you notice any more market share changes within those CPG categories?

我想我想詢問 Kirkland 產品，特別是您提到的 CPG。與品牌產品相比，這些產品的定價或價格趨勢如何？鑑於你們距離較近，你們是否發現那裡有任何偏差？你們能降價嗎？我想在某種程度上，這已經發生了。您是否注意到這些消費品類別中的市場份額發生了更多變化？

I think it's slightly -- it's deflationary. It's a little more deflationary in the KS than in the CPG, which drives more value to KS, frankly. But we're seeing some -- our ability to work with our CPG suppliers as well but just a little stronger ability to do that with KS. And it is, again, a comment in the room here. We've had -- it's allowed us to do some new item introductions on the KS side as well.

我認為這有點——通貨緊縮。坦白說，KS 的通貨緊縮程度比 CPG 更高一些，這為 KS 帶來了更多價值。但我們看到了一些——我們也有能力與 CPG 供應商合作，但與 KS 合作的能力稍強一些。這又是房間裡的一則評論。我們已經——它也允許我們在 KS 方面推出一些新項目。

Great. And then just following up on the last question. Anything you can call out amongst the newer memberships cohorts in terms of renewal rates versus the average?

偉大的。然後繼續最後一個問題。在續約率與平均值方面，您能從新會員群體中指出什麼嗎？

Generally speaking, if you compare, everybody was always concerned. I remember 10-plus years ago, people would ask you, how are you going after millennials? And then it's how you go after the next gen or whatever, the Gen Zs or whatever? At the end of the day, when we look at the different cohorts, if you just change the names, the curve seems to be about the same in terms of getting new younger members. They buy less, they buy more as they get older into that 40- to 55-year-old sweet spot. I don't know in terms of renewal rates. I think the rates are -- our overall rates are improving so I think we're probably doing a better job there. Certainly, things like, frankly, auto renewal helped that as well.

一般來說，如果你比較的話，大家總是很在意。我記得十多年前，人們會問你，你如何追隨千禧世代？然後就是你如何追隨下一代或其他什麼，Z 世代或其他什麼？歸根結底，當我們觀察不同的群體時，如果你只是改變名字，在吸引新的年輕成員方面，曲線似乎大致相同。隨著年齡的增長，進入 40 至 55 歲的最佳年齡，他們會買得更少，買得更多。我不知道續訂率。我認為利率是——我們的整體利率正在提高，所以我認為我們可能在這方面做得更好。當然，坦白說，自動續訂之類的東西也有幫助。

We'll take our next question from Corey Tarlowe with Jefferies.

我們將回答科里·塔洛和傑弗里斯提出的下一個問題。

Richard, you mentioned about the wage increases that you've taken recently. I'm curious to get your thoughts about the wage increases that you've taken within the context of now the lower inflation that you're seeing as well as what could be potential deflation further ahead. So curious about the ability for Costco to maybe maintain a more nimble margin structure amid what could be some volatility on the pricing side.

理查德，您提到了您最近增加的工資。我很想知道您對在當前通膨較低以及未來可能出現的通貨緊縮的背景下採取的工資上漲有何看法。在定價方面可能會出現一些波動的情況下，我很好奇 Costco 是否有能力維持更靈活的利潤結構。

Frankly, we look at the wages in a vacuum, and we want to do as much as we can for our employees. And certainly, there were several increases starting with the frontline worker premium during the initial year of COVID. We kept half of that in there, which we kept [$1] of those $2 now in there, which was like $400 million a year. Again, we've also benefited from stronger sales and productivity so we're able to afford that.

坦白說，我們對薪資的看法是真空的，我們希望為員工做一些力所能及的事情。當然，在新冠疫情爆發的第一年，第一線工人的保費就出現了幾次上漲。我們把其中的一半留在那裡，現在我們把這 2 美元中的 [1 美元] 留在那裡，相當於每年 4 億美元。同樣，我們也受益於更強勁的銷售和生產力，因此我們有能力負擔得起。

But we look at them independently and we'll continue to do that to look at it. To the extent inflationary pressures are down, that means there's probably a little less inflationary pressure on wages. But we give -- over half of our employees are top of scale and they're getting increases irrespective of some of the extra things we talked about every March. And then as you go from a new employee over the first 9,000 or 10,000 hours, you're getting constant increases that are more -- significantly more.

但我們會獨立地審視它們，並將繼續這樣做。如果通膨壓力下降，則意味著工資的通膨壓力可能會減輕。但我們給予——超過一半的員工是頂級的，儘管我們每年三月都會談論一些額外的事情，但他們的薪水仍在增加。然後，當你從新員工開始工作的前 9,000 或 10,000 小時內，你會得到持續的加薪，而且加薪幅度會更大——明顯更多。

Understood. And then just piggybacking off of that, and I understand it may be difficult to attribute a cause and effect relationship to this. But do you think that perhaps the moderating inflation that we've seen in the need-based categories like fresh and food and sundries may have unlocked a little bit of extra wallet to spend in the nonfood category? And they have driven some of the momentum that you've seen in categories like TVs and others?

明白了。然後只是順勢而為，我知道可能很難將此歸因於因果關係。但您是否認為，我們在生鮮、食品和雜貨等基於需求的類別中看到的通膨放緩可能會釋放出一些額外的錢包用於非食品類別的支出？它們推動了您在電視和其他類別中看到的一些勢頭？

I think it can't hurt even with gas prices have come down a little bit. That's top of mind every week when somebody fills up their tank. So those things help. I think I'm sure on a macro basis, that's the case but it's a guess on our part.

我認為即使汽油價格下降了一點也不會有什麼壞處。每週當有人加滿油箱時，這都是首要考慮的事情。所以這些事情有幫助。我認為從宏觀角度來看，情況確實如此，但這只是我們的猜測。

We'll take our next question from Dean Rosenblum with Bernstein.

我們將回答 Dean Rosenblum 和 Bernstein 提出的下一個問題。

There's really 2 big debates that clients are asking us about. First one is on gross margins, and in particular, the potential for a gross margin impact from mix shift back toward things like appliances and TVs, which are notoriously lower gross margin, at least in the marketplace versus fresh and food and sundries. As you see the sort of big ticket discretionary starting to come back a little bit, do you expect any overall impact on gross margins from that mix shift away from food and sundries to big ticket discretionary?

客戶向我們詢問了兩個大爭論。第一個是毛利率，特別是混合轉向家電和電視等產品可能對毛利率產生影響，眾所周知，與生鮮、食品和雜貨相比，這些產品的毛利率較低，至少在市場上是如此。當您看到那種大宗非必需品開始有所回升時，您預計從食品和雜貨到大宗非必需品的組合轉變會對毛利率產生總體影響嗎？

First of all, our margin range is so much more compacted than traditional retail -- different categories of traditional retail. I mean, if you think about it, we have, what, 12%, 13% gross margin, 11%. I'm thinking it marks up. And in theory, it ranges from 0 to 15%. In reality, it's -- there's very few things that are below 5% and a lot of things hover around the 8% to 12% range. And so I don't think it's as big of an impact to us in terms of those mix changes. And I got to say it's always all saying it's always something. There's always something that hurts you and there's another thing that helps you. And it's a really -- it's a mixture.

首先，我們的利潤範圍比傳統零售——不同類別的傳統零售——緊湊得多。我的意思是，如果你想一想，我們的毛利率是 12%、13%、11%。我認為它會標記。理論上，它的範圍是 0 到 15%。事實上，很少有東西低於 5%，很多東西都徘徊在 8% 到 12% 的範圍內。因此，我認為這些組合變化對我們的影響並不大。我必須說，這一切總是在說它總是有意義的。總有一些事情會傷害你，而另一些事情會幫助你。它確實是一種混合物。

True. And then the other big debate that's contrasting about is the relative profitability of new stores versus existing stores. There's sort of 2 themes there. One is new U.S. versus existing U.S. and then the relative profitability of new stores internationally. I was wondering if you could speak to that a bit.

真的。另一個與之形成鮮明對比的大爭論是新店與現有店的相對盈利能力。那裡有兩個主題。一是美國新店與美國​​現有店的比較，然後是國際新店的相對獲利能力。我想知道你能否談談這一點。

Well, first of all, when you look at like at an ROI, the I on the denominator on an older building is a lower I. If 10 years ago, the typical building in the United States land -- property equipment and building fixtures, I'm shooting from the hip here, was $30 million to $35 million and now it's $45 million to $50 million. So you've got a different I. But generally speaking, when we look at the ROI of each of our 8 U.S. regions, our 2 Canadian regions, new units come in, start a little lower and get up there over time. You'll have some outliers because of some units that are 30- and 40-years-old even with the I increase because we expanded the unit and upgraded it and remodeled it. The fact of the matter is those higher volume is really shine through there.

嗯，首先，當你看投資回報率時，老建築的分母上的 I 是一個較低的 I。如果 10 年前，美國土地上的典型建築——物業設備和建築固定裝置，我只是草率地猜測，先前的投資額是3,000 萬到3,500 萬美元，現在是4,500 萬到5,000 萬美元。所以你有一個不同的I。但一般來說，當我們查看美國8 個地區、加拿大2 個地區的投資回報率時，新單位的加入，開始時會低一些，然後隨著時間的推移而上升。你會遇到一些異常值，因為一些單元已經有 30 和 40 年的歷史了，即使 I 增加了，因為我們擴展了單元並對其進行了升級和改造。事實是那些更高的音量確實在那裡閃耀。

On an international standpoint, we've always, I think, talked about the fact that there's a few different things that the ROIs in some of these other countries tend to be a little higher. The return on sales tends to be even more -- even higher than that in some of these countries because a combination very little related to gross margin, some related to membership fees, some related to wages and some related to benefits, health benefits. U.S. health care costs dwarf every other country that we're in.

從國際角度來看，我認為我們一直在談論這樣一個事實：由於一些不同的因素，其他一些國家的投資回報率往往會更高一些。銷售回報率往往更高，甚至比其中一些國家的銷售回報率還要高，因為這種組合與毛利率關係不大，有些與會員費有關，有些與工資有關，有些與福利、健康福利有關。美國的醫療保健費用使我們所在的所有其他國家相形見絀。

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

我們將回答特爾西諮詢小組的喬·費爾德曼提出的下一個問題。

Wanted to first ask on Executive member penetration seems like it continues to inch higher. And I was just wondering how you guys think about that. And like how high should that be? I mean presumably, you want everybody to be an Executive member. But is there like kind of a natural level where you think it can still go from here beyond the 46%?

首先想詢問執行會員的滲透率似乎持續上升。我只是想知道你們對此有何看法。那應該要多高？我的意思大概是，您希望每個人都成為執行成員。但是否存在某種自然水平，您認為它仍然可以從這裡超越 46%？

I think -- well, there's always going to be another country or 2 we add. You need a certain number. In our view, we've always done it after there's 15 or so warehouses in the country. So that will add to it a little bit. But no, I think some of the increase -- it's kind of like getting up to that asymptotic line when you -- one of the things that drove it in the last few years, one, we've done a better job in the last several years of selling it to you as well as auto renewal.

我認為——嗯，我們總是會再增加一個或兩個國家。你需要一個特定的數字。我們認為，我們都是在全國有15個左右的倉庫之後才這麼做的。所以這會增加一點點。但不，我認為一些增長 - 有點像達到漸近線，當你 - 過去幾年推動它的因素之一，一，我們在過去做得更好幾年的銷售給您以及自動續訂。

When people come in now or sign up online, they're signing up to they want to put their credit or debit card in there and they can opt out -- they can opt in to doing it online -- doing other renewal. So I think those things have pushed it along with us being so wonderful. But I think you'll still see it come up a little bit but probably that rate of increase will slow over time.

當人們現在進來或在線註冊時，他們註冊時想將信用卡或借記卡放在那裡，他們可以選擇退出 - 他們可以選擇在線進行 - 進行其他續訂。所以我認為這些事情推動了我們變得如此美好。但我認為你仍然會看到它出現一點點，但隨著時間的推移，成長速度可能會減慢。

Got it, okay. And then maybe just a quick follow-up. Anything to talk about on shrink? Because I know that there was an issue with shrink even for you guys at one point. And I know you guys have cracked down on making sure members are showing their cards when they walk in the store. And obviously, when you leave with your goods, you're checking your receipts. But anything we should think about with regard to shrink going forward and recent trends?

明白了，好吧。然後也許只是快速跟進。關於收縮有什麼好說的嗎？因為我知道，即使對你們來說，收縮也曾經存在過問題。我知道你們一直在努力確保會員在走進商店時出示會員卡。顯然，當您帶著貨物離開時，您會檢查收據。但關於未來的收縮和最近的趨勢，我們該考慮什麼？

Thankfully, nothing at all. It's really -- I think what we already talked about was a combination of, as we went into some self-checkout over the last several years and then perhaps more recent things that you read about in the paper, we get less impacted by the latter as well. Maybe we saw a couple of basis point delta upward on a very low number of basis points to start with. So we're fortunate in that regard.

值得慶幸的是，什麼都沒有。這確實是——我認為我們已經討論過的是過去幾年我們進行了一些自助結帳，然後也許是您在報紙上讀到的最近的事情，我們受後者的影響較小以及。也許我們一開始就在非常少的基點上看到了幾個基點的增量。所以在這方面我們很幸運。

We'll take our next question from Laura Champine with Loop Capital.

我們將回答 Loop Capital 的 Laura Champine 提出的下一個問題。

I wanted to dig in a little bit more into some of those numbers on the column. The ancillary profit improvement, I think that's where you're -- I'm just wondering what drove that. And on the operations line, it sounds like that pressure in SG&A didn't come mostly from wages and I'm wondering where it did come from.

我想更深入地了解該列中的一些數字。輔助利潤的改善，我認為這就是你所在的地方 - 我只是想知道是什麼推動了這一點。在營運方面，聽起來 SG&A 的壓力主要不是來自薪資，我想知道它來自哪裡。

Yes. On the ancillary line, it's gas and e-com and it's a combination of increased sales penetration and increased margins within those businesses. The thing about gas is I think everybody out there that has gas stations, what we have found is we've been able to see improved profitability not just in the last quarter or 2 but over the last few years -- last 3 to 5 years, improved profitability in gas because others are making more, and we're allowed to make a little more. When we do our competitive price shops on gas, which we do weekly at every gas stations we operate with our neighboring competitive gas stations, our value proposition is actually increasing number of sense per gallon than we've ever seen. So that's been a, if you will, a win-win for us. On the e-comm side, I think driving more sales has helped us in the margins there as well.

是的。在輔助線上，它是天然氣和電子商務，它是這些業務中銷售滲透率提高和利潤率提高的結合。關於天然氣的問題是，我認為每個擁有加油站的人都發現，我們不僅在過去一兩個季度，而且在過去幾年（過去三到五年）都能夠看到盈利能力的提高，提高了天然氣的獲利能力，因為其他人賺得更多，而我們被允許多賺一點。當我們對汽油進行有競爭力的價格商店時（我們每週在與鄰近的有競爭力的加油站合作的每個加油站進行），我們的價值主張實際上是增加每加侖的意義比我們見過的要多。所以，如果你願意的話，這對我們來說是雙贏的。在電子商務方面，我認為推動更多銷售也幫助我們提高了利潤。

And then just on the operations front...

然後就在營運方面......

Yes. On the wages, while we pointed out -- I pointed out on the call, I think there was like 4 or so basis points in total from those 2 distinct increases, we do other increases like over half of our employees are top of scale. They get an increase every March, that's significant as well, significant relative to basis points, when you have lower sales figures. I mean, the rest of it is all the other line items like energy costs and the like.

是的。關於薪資，雖然我們指出——我在電話會議上指出，我認為這兩個明顯的成長總共增加了大約 4 個基點，但我們也進行了其他成長，例如超過一半的員工是最高規模的。他們每年三月都會增加，當銷售數字較低時，這也很重要，相對於基點來說很重要。我的意思是，其餘的都是所有其他項目，例如能源成本等。

Got it. So most of the pressure is probably coming from wages, not just those 2 discrete callouts you had?

知道了。所以大部分的壓力可能來自工資，而不僅僅是你那兩個離散的標註？

It's more than half. I don't have the exact figures with me.

已經超過一半了。我身邊沒有確切的數字。

And there are no further questions at this time. I'd like to turn the call back over to Richard Galanti for any additional or closing remarks.

目前沒有其他問題。我想將電話轉回理查德·加蘭蒂（Richard Galanti）以獲取任何補充或結束語。

Well, thank you, Lisa, and thank you, everyone, on the call. We're around to answer questions and have a happy holiday. And I think this is a record time of finishing this call. So enjoy the holidays. Thank you very much.

好吧，謝謝你，麗莎，也謝謝電話裡的所有人。我們將竭誠為您解答問題，祝您假期愉快。我認為這是完成這通通話的創紀錄的時間。所以享受假期吧。非常感謝。

Thank you. And that does conclude the presentation. Thank you for your participation today, and you may now disconnect.

謝謝。演講到此結束。感謝您今天的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。