好市多 (COST) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to Costco Wholesale Corporation's Fiscal Second Quarter 2024 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions)

女士們先生們，謝謝你們的支持。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Costco Wholesale Corporation 的 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）

I would now like to turn the conference over to Richard Galanti, CFO. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給財務長理查德·加蘭蒂 (Richard Galanti)。請繼續。

Thank you, Demi, 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.

謝謝你，黛米，祝大家下午好。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。

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. 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.

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。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 press release, we reported operating results for the second quarter of fiscal '24, the 12 weeks ended February 18 as well as February retail sales for the 4 weeks ended this past Sunday, March 3. Reported net income for the 12-week second quarter came in at $1.743 billion or $3.92 per diluted share, up from $1.466 billion or $3.30 per diluted share in the 12-week second quarter last year. This year's results included a tax benefit of $94 million or $0.21 per diluted share due to the deductibility of the $15 per share special dividend to the extent received by our employee 401(k) plan participants.

在今天的新聞稿中，我們報告了24 財年第二季、截至2 月18 日的12 週的營運業績，以及截至3 月3 日週日的4 週的2 月份零售額。報告了12 週的淨利潤第二季的營收為 17.43 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 3.92 美元，高於去年為期 12 週的第二季的 14.66 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益 3.30 美元。今年的業績包括 9,400 萬美元的稅收優惠，即每股攤薄後每股 0.21 美元的稅收優惠，這是由於我們的員工 401(k) 計劃參與者收到的每股 15 美元特別股息可以扣除。

Net sales for the second quarter were $57.33 billion, an increase of 5.7% from the $54.24 billion in the second quarter last year. Net sales were negatively impacted by approximately 1.5% in the U.S. and worldwide from the shift of the fiscal calendar as a result of the 53-week 2023 fiscal year. The following comparable sales reflect comparable locations year-over-year and comparable retail weeks. For the -- in the U.S., we reported a 4.3% comparable, excluding gas deflation and FX, the 4.3% would have been 4.8%. Canada reported comp for the quarter, 9.2%, 9.0% ex gas and FX. Other international, 8.6% and 8.2% ex gas and FX. Total company of 5.6% reported for the quarter and 5.8% excluding gas deflation and FX. E-commerce was an 18.4% reported and an 18.2% excluding FX.

第二季淨銷售額為573.3億美元，比去年第二季的542.4億美元成長5.7%。由於 2023 財年為期 53 週，導致財年日曆發生變化，美國和全球的淨銷售額受到約 1.5% 的負面影響。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。對於美國，我們報告的可比成長率為 4.3%，不包括天然氣通貨緊縮和外匯，4.3% 本來就是 4.8%。加拿大報告本季綜合率為 9.2%，扣除天然氣和外匯後為 9.0%。其他國際，8.6% 和 8.2%（不含天然氣和外匯）。本季公司總成長率為 5.6%，不包括天然氣通貨緊縮和外匯則為 5.8%。電子商務佔 18.4%，不包括外匯佔 18.2%。

In terms of second quarter comp sales metrics, our traffic or shopping frequency increased by 5.3% worldwide and 4.3% in the U.S. Our average transaction or ticket was up 0.3% worldwide and up 0.1% in the U.S. And foreign currencies relative to the U.S. dollar positively impacted sales by approximately 0.2%, while gasoline price deflation negatively impacted sales by approximately 0.4% minus.

就第二季比較銷售指標而言，我們的全球流量或購物頻率成長了5.3%，美國成長了4.3%。我們的全球平均交易或門票成長了0.3%，美國成長了0.1%。以及相對於美元的外幣對銷售產生了約 0.2% 的正面影響，而汽油價格通貨緊縮對銷售產生了約 0.4% 的負面影響。

Moving down the income statement to membership fee income. We reported membership fee income of $1,111,000,000, up $84 million or up 8.2% year-over-year in the quarter. In terms of renewal rates, at second quarter end, our U.S. and Canada renewal rate came in at 92.9%, which is up 0.1% from Q1 and 12 weeks earlier. And the worldwide rate came in at 90.5%, similar to the last quarter. Membership growth continues. We ended the second quarter with 73.4 million paid household members, up 7.8% versus last year, and 132.0 million cardholders, up 7.3%, with continuing growth throughout the quarters. At Q2 end, we had 33.9 million paid executive members, an increase of 646,000 during the 12-week second quarter. Executive members represent a little over 46% of paid members and a little over 73% of worldwide sales.

將損益表下移至會員費收入。我們報告本季會員費收入為 11.11 億美元，年增 8,400 萬美元，成長 8.2%。就續訂率而言，第二季末，我們的美國和加拿大續訂率為 92.9%，比第一季和 12 週前上升了 0.1%。全球範圍內的比率為 90.5%，與上一季相似。會員數持續成長。截至第二季末，我們的付費家庭成員數量為 7,340 萬，較去年增長 7.8%；持卡人數量為 1.32 億，增長 7.3%，並在整個季度持續增長。截至第二季末，我們擁有 3,390 萬名付費執行會員，在第二季 12 週期間增加了 646,000 名。執行會員佔付費會員的 46% 多一點，佔全球銷售額的 73% 多一點。

Moving down the income statement line next to the gross margin. Our reported gross margin in the second quarter was higher year-over-year by 8 basis points, coming in at 10.80% compared to 10.72% last year in the quarter and up 4 basis points excluding gas deflation. Writing down the little matrix that we usually do with 2 columns, both reported and excluding gas deflation, first line item is core merchandise, plus 5% -- plus 5 basis points year-over-year on a reported basis and plus 2% ex deflation -- gas deflation; ancillary and other, plus 7% and plus 6%; 2% Reward, minus 7% and minus 7%; LIFO, plus 3% and plus 3%. And all told, total reported, again, gross margin year-over-year up 8 basis points and up 4, excluding gas deflation.

將利潤表中毛利率旁的行向下移動。我們報告的第二季毛利率年增 8 個基點，為 10.80%，而去年第二季毛利率為 10.72%，不包括天然氣通貨緊縮，毛利率上升 4 個基點。寫下我們通常用兩列做的小矩陣，既報告又不包括天然氣通貨緊縮，第一行項目是核心商品，加上5%——在報告的基礎上同比增加5 個基點，再加上2 % 的除稅通貨緊縮－氣體通貨緊縮；輔助和其他，加7%和加6%； 2%獎勵，負7%，負7%； LIFO，加3%，加3%。總而言之，毛利率再次年增 8 個基點，成長 4 個基點（不包括天然氣通貨緊縮）。

In terms of the core margin on their own sales, again, while the number I just read you was a plus 5 basis points and plus 2 ex gas deflation, in terms of core margin on their own sales, our core-on-core margins were up 25 basis points year-over-year, with food and sundries and nonfoods being positive year-over-year and fresh being negative. Ancillary and other businesses gross margin were higher by 7 basis points and higher by 6 ex gas. The increase year-over-year was driven largely by e-com and partially offset by gas.

就他們自己銷售的核心利潤率而言，雖然我剛剛讀到的數字是+ 5個基點和+ 2（除天然氣通貨緊縮），但就他們自己銷售的核心利潤率而言，我們的核心對核心利潤率年增25個基點，其中食品、雜貨和非食品較去年同期為正，新鮮為負。輔助及其他業務的毛利率提高了 7 個基點，其中（不含天然氣）提高了 6 個基點。年比成長主要由電子商務推動，部分由天然氣抵銷。

2% Reward, again, higher 7 basis points -- lower by 7 basis points, both with and without gas deflation, with higher sales penetration coming from our Executive Members. LIFO plus 3 basis points. We had a $14 million LIFO credit in the second quarter this year compared to no LIFO charge or credit in the second quarter of last year.

2% 獎勵再次提高 7 個基點，降低 7 個基點，無論是否存在天然氣通貨緊縮，我們的執行會員的銷售滲透率更高。 LIFO 加 3 個基點。今年第二季我們有 1,400 萬美元的後進先出信用，而去年第二季沒有後進先出費用或信用。

Moving to SG&A. Our reported SG&A in the second quarter was higher year-over-year by 3 basis points, or minus 3 would be higher, coming in this year at 9.14% compared to last year's 9.11%. And the higher 0.3 would have been lower by 1 basis point, excluding gas deflation. In terms of Q2 year-over-year, the operations component of SG&A, doing the matrix, was 11 basis points higher or minus 11; ex gas deflation, minus 8, so 8 basis points higher. Central, plus 4 and plus 5 basis points. Stock compensation, plus 4 and plus 4. And total would be 3 basis points higher year-over-year and plus 1 basis point or 1 basis point lower year-over-year or better.

轉向 SG&A。我們報告的第二季 SG&A 年比上升了 3 個基點，或負 3 個基點更高，今年為 9.14%，而去年為 9.11%。如果不包括天然氣通貨緊縮，則較高的 0.3 會降低 1 個基點。與去年同期相比，SG&A 的營運部分（以矩陣計算）高出 11 個基點或負 11 個基點；排除天然氣通貨緊縮，負8，所以高8個基點。中央加4個基點和加5個基點。股票薪酬，加 4 和加 4。總計將比去年同期高 3 個基點，加 1 個基點或比去年同期低 1 個基點或更好。

With regard to the operations component being higher by 11 reported and 8 excluding deflation. As compared to a year ago, during the past year, we included 2 -- last March's extra top of scale increase in wages, which was about a 2 basis point hit to the SG&A line. As well in the first quarter of this year, we raised the starting wage in the U.S. and Canada. We estimate the impact of that new wage also was roughly 2 basis points, so about 4 basis points of that 8 -- or 4 basis points of that 11 were related to those wage increases more than normal.

至於營運部分，報告增加了 11 個，排除通貨緊縮後增加了 8 個。與一年前相比，在過去的一年裡，我們計入了 2 項——去年 3 月工資的額外最高增幅，這大約比 SG&A 線高了 2 個基點。今年第一季度，我們也提高了美國和加拿大的起薪。我們估計新工資的影響也約為 2 個基點，因此這 8 個基點中的大約 4 個基點——或者 11 個基點中的 4 個基點與工資增長的相關性高於正常水平。

Below the operating income line, central, I mentioned, was better by 4 to 5 basis points, and the rest was pretty much straightforward. Below the operating income line, interest expense was $41 million this year versus $34 million last year. And interest income and other for the quarter was higher by $102 million year-over-year. This was driven by an increase in interest income due to higher interest rates and higher average cash balances as well as FX, which was favorable versus last year. We'll see less benefit from interest income going forward following the January payment of the $6.7 billion special dividend.

我提到過，在營業收入線以下，中央利率要好 4 到 5 個基點，其餘的就非常簡單了。營業收入線以下的利息支出今年為 4,100 萬美元，而去年為 3,400 萬美元。該季度的利息收入和其他收入年增了 1.02 億美元。這是由於利率上升、平均現金餘額以及外匯增加導致利息收入增加，這與去年相比有利。在 1 月支付 67 億美元特別股息後，我們將看到未來利息收入的收益減少。

In terms of income taxes, our tax rate in the second quarter came in at 22.1% compared to 26.1% in Q2 last year. As discussed earlier, this year's rate benefited from the tax deductibility of a special dividend paid to 401(k) participants. The fiscal '24 effective tax rate, including discrete items, is currently projected to be in the 26% to 27% range. And excluding the special dividend tax benefit in Q2, our Q2 tax rate instead of being -- coming in at 22.1% would have been 26.3%. Overall, reported net income was up 18.9% in the quarter on a reported basis. And again, excluding the special dividend-related income tax benefit, it would have been up 12.5% year-over-year.

在所得稅方面，我們第二季的稅率為22.1%，而去年第二季為26.1%。如前所述，今年的利率受益於向 401(k) 參與者支付的特別股息的稅收減免。 24 財年有效稅率（包括離散項目）目前預計在 26% 至 27% 範圍內。如果不包括第二季的特別股利稅優惠，我們第二季的稅率將是 26.3%，而不是 22.1%。總體而言，本季報告的淨利潤增長了 18.9%。同樣，如果不包括與特別股息相關的所得稅優惠，這一數字將同比增長 12.5%。

A few other items of note. In terms of openings in the second quarter, we opened 4 net new warehouses, including 3 new locations in the U.S. Actually, 2 of them were Costco Business Centers and 1 new Costco wholesale warehouse and 1 unit, and our sixth in China, in mid-January in Shenzhen. That's our sixth in China. There's been a lot of press about it. We have an estimated 10,000 people were at opening, and there are just under 200,000 members currently, including more than 20,000 members signed up from Hong Kong. And we've seen all kinds of things over there from tour agencies doing bus trips over to shop.

其他一些值得注意的事項。從第二季的開幕情況來看，我們淨開設了4 個新倉庫，其中包括在美國的3 個新地點。實際上，其中2 個是Costco 商務中心，1 個新的Costco 批發倉庫和1 個單位，我們在中國開設了第6 個倉庫。- 一月在深圳。這是我們在中國的第六次。有很多媒體對此進行了報導。我們開業時估計有 10,000 人，目前會員人數不到 200,000 名，其中包括超過 20,000 名來自香港的註冊會員。我們在那裡看到了各種各樣的事情，旅行社提供巴士旅行去商店。

For the full year '24, we estimate 30 total openings, including 2 relos, so for a net increase of 28 new units. And that puts the remainder of fiscal '24, for Q3 and 4, we plan on opening a total of 15 net new locations: 11 in the U.S., 2 in Japan and 1 each in Korea and China. Regarding CapEx, fiscal second quarter spend was approximately $1.03 billion. And for the year, it remains in the north of $4.4 billion to $4.6 billion, in that range.

對於 24 年全年，我們估計共有 30 個空置單位，其中包括 2 個重新開放單位，因此淨增加 28 個新單位。在 24 財年的剩餘時間內，我們計劃在第三季和第四季淨開設 15 個新地點：美國 11 個、日本 2 個、韓國和中國各 1 個。關於資本支出，第二財季支出約為 10.3 億美元。今年，它仍然在 44 億美元至 46 億美元的區間內。

One additional comment on China. This past Monday, we launched, in our Pudong, China location, the ability for our members to order online about 400 items from our -- of our items to be delivered that day. And the delivery will be within about an 8-kilometer radius of the warehouse itself. It's getting a lot of social media attention over there, and we plan to launch it in the other 4 Shanghai area locations by month end, as well as in Shenzhen sometime the following month.

對中國的另一則評論。上週一，我們在中國浦東的門市推出了一項功能，讓我們的會員能夠在線上訂購約 400 件商品，其中大約有 400 件商品是當天送達的。送貨範圍將在倉庫半徑約8公里範圍內。它在那裡引起了社交媒體的廣泛關注，我們計劃在月底之前在上海地區的其他 4 個地點推出它，並在下個月的某個時候在深圳推出。

In terms of e-commerce, e-commerce sales in Q2 ex FX increased 18.2%. E-comm showed strength in several areas, led by sales of gold and very recently, silver. As well, appliances were very, very strong, as was gift cards and e-tickets. As well, Costco Logistics enjoyed record-breaking deliveries. Much of that -- and many of those items are sold via e-commerce. In Q2 of '24, we completed over 1 million deliveries, up 28% versus Q2 a year ago. In terms of e-commerce sales over the past few months, we believe we've done a much better job explaining to our members the significant value propositions we offer compared to traditional competitors in several big-ticket categories.

在電子商務方面，第二季電子商務銷售額（不含外匯）成長了 18.2%。電子商務在多個領域表現強勁，其中以黃金和最近的白銀銷售為主導。此外，電器非常非常強大，禮品卡和電子機票也是如此。此外，好市多物流 (Costco Logistics) 的交付量也創下了紀錄。其中大部分——其中許多物品是透過電子商務出售的。 2024 年第二季度，我們完成了超過 100 萬次交付，比去年第二季度成長了 28%。就過去幾個月的電子商務銷售而言，我們相信我們在向會員解釋我們在幾個大宗商品類別中與傳統競爭對手相比所提供的重要價值主張方面做得更好。

Under the "Why Buy at Costco?" banner and "The price you SEE is the price you PAY!" banner, we share with our members what's included in the price of appliances, tires, televisions, computers, and mattresses. You can see these online on our website of "Why Buy at Costco?" Just to give you one example, if you take a 4-set of high-end tires compared to a traditional retailer, we include, of course, installation, rotation, balancing, a 5-year road hazard warranty. Typically, that's a lot less road hazard warranty in other places or you'd have to pay for extra, ongoing flat repairs, nitrogen and disposal of the prior tires. Just one of the examples where the price of the tires itself might be very close to us. When you put in all the differences of those additional items, it's anywhere from a 15% to 25% savings on any of these items.

在“為什麼在 Costco 購買？”下橫幅和“您看到的價格就是您支付的價格！”橫幅上，我們與會員分享電器、輪胎、電視、電腦和床墊的價格。您可以在我們的「為什麼在 Costco 購買？」網站上在線查看這些內容。舉個例子，如果你拿一套 4 套高端輪胎，與傳統零售商相比，我們當然包括安裝、旋轉、平衡、5 年道路危險保固。通常，在其他地方，道路危險保固要少得多，否則您必須支付額外的、持續的漏氣維修、氮氣和舊輪胎處理費用。這只是輪胎本身價格可能非常接近我們的例子之一。當您考慮到這些附加項目的所有差異時，任何這些項目都可以節省 15% 到 25% 的費用。

Next on my list, I'll talk about costconext.com, a couple of comments on the seller platform. This allows -- costconext.com allows our members to exclusive access to direct-to-consumer sites for top quality brands at Costco value pricing. Currently, there are about -- there are 70 Costco Next brand sites, with 15 additional sites in development. We will likely end this calendar year with about 90 sites and continue to grow from there. Costco Next offers everything from home improvement to apparel, to pet, to home, to kitchen to electronics, to accessories as well as sports, bicycles and toys. You should check it out. It's a pretty good site.

接下來，我將討論 costconext.com，這是關於賣家平台的一些評論。這使得--costconext.com 允許我們的會員以 Costco 超值價格獨家訪問直接面向消費者的優質品牌網站。目前，大約有 70 個 Costco Next 品牌網站，還有 15 個網站正在開發中。今年年底，我們可能會擁有約 90 個站點，並在此基礎上繼續成長。 Costco Next 提供從家居裝修到服裝、寵物、家居、廚房、電子產品、配件以及運動、自行車和玩具等各種商品。你應該檢查一下。這是一個非常好的網站。

Progress continues to be made in our e-comm, mobile, and digital efforts. A couple of recent enhancements. In February, we rolled out our new native mobile application homepage on iOS. The native homepage now loads in less than 2 seconds compared to 8 seconds previously. Needless to say, that's important when about 60% of our e-comm business, both visitors and orders, are now done via our mobile app and browser. And last week, we rolled out Apple Pay to all members online, both web and mobile, on February 28. App downloads during the quarter were up 2.8 million and currently total around 33 million.

我們在電子商務、行動和數位方面的努力不斷取得進展。最近的一些增強功能。二月份，我們在 iOS 上推出了新的本機行動應用程式主頁。原生主頁現在載入時間不到 2 秒，而之前需要 8 秒。不用說，這一點非常重要，因為我們約 60% 的電子商務業務（包括訪客和訂單）現在都是透過我們的行動應用程式和瀏覽器完成的。上週，我們於 2 月 28 日向所有線上會員（包括網路會員和行動會員）推出了 Apple Pay。該季度的應用程式下載量增加了 280 萬次，目前總計約為 3,300 萬次。

On the product side, a couple of other new items to comment on. In our food courts, we recently replaced the churro with an awesome freshly baked 5.5-ounce chocolate chip cookie for $2.49. It is awesome. It's a great-tasting -- and a great-tasting turkey sandwich for $6.99, with the rollout of the latter being completed this week. In addition, we recently opened our first fully operated sushi offering in Issaquah, Washington across the street from our headquarters, with 2 more planned to open in the very near future. This operation is what we have successfully done for years -- for many years throughout our Asia Costcos in several countries over there. The sushi program has proven to be a category where we can be successful in both quality and price, and we're looking forward to seeing more of that in the future.

在產品方面，還有其他一些新項目需要評論。在我們的美食廣場，我們最近用美味的新鮮出爐的 5.5 盎司巧克力餅乾取代了油條，售價 2.49 美元。太棒了。這是一款美味的火雞三明治，售價 6.99 美元，後者的推出將於本週完成。此外，我們最近在總部對面的華盛頓州伊瑟闊開設了第一家全面經營的壽司店，並計劃在不久的將來開設另外兩家壽司店。這項業務是我們多年來在亞洲多個國家的 Costco 中成功開展的業務。事實證明，壽司計畫是一個我們可以在品質和價格上取得成功的類別，我們期待在未來看到更多這樣的項目。

A couple of comments about inflation. In the last quarter, in the first quarter, we estimated that year-over-year inflation was approximately 0 to 1%. We'll now say that in Q2, it was essentially flat. And notwithstanding essentially flat, we're taking price reductions where we can. Anecdotally, everything from simple items like reading glasses from $18.99 to $16.99, the 48-count of Kirkland signature batteries from $17.99 to $15.99, a 24-count of Pellegrino from $16.99 to $14.99 and even 4 pounds of frozen Three Berry fruit blend from $14.99 down to $10.99 with new crop pricing. So we continue to do that. We always want to be the first out there trying to lower prices.

關於通貨膨脹的一些評論。上個季度，第一季度，我們估計年比通膨率約為0%至1%。我們現在可以說，在第二季度，它基本上持平。儘管價格基本上持平，但我們仍在盡可能降低價格。有趣的是，從18.99美元到16.99美元的老花眼鏡等簡單物品，17.99美元到15.99美元的48片Kirkland簽名電池，16.99美元到14.99美元的24片Pellegrino，甚至14.99美元起的4磅到14.99美元的24片Pellegrino，甚至14.99美元起的4磅冷凍三莓水果混合物新作物定價為 10.99 美元。所以我們繼續這樣做。我們總是想成為第一個嘗試降低價格的人。

Many new items in sporting goods and lawn and garden are being set with lower prices year-over-year. And overall -- mostly due to reduced freight costs and lower commodity costs versus a year ago. And overall, our inventories and SKUs are in good shape across all channels. Overall, we have a good -- we've had good seasonal sell-through during the quarter.

體育用品以及草坪和花園領域的許多新產品的價格都在逐年下降。總體而言，主要是由於與一年前相比，貨運成本降低了，商品成本降低了。總體而言，我們所有通路的庫存和 SKU 均狀況良好。總的來說，我們在本季的季節性銷售情況良好。

In terms of shipping and supply chain issues, we've been asked about that often, of late. There are some delays, generally just a couple or 3 weeks but mostly now planned for. First, there was an issue a while back about with the Panama Canal challenges, then, of course, the Red Sea challenges. A lot of that has to do with changing the way ships are being routed. No meaningful pricing issues because a lot of in-place contracts.

在運輸和供應鏈問題方面，最近我們經常被問到這個問題。會有一些延遲，通常只有兩到三週，但現在大部分都已經計劃好了。首先，不久前出現了巴拿馬運河挑戰的問題，當然還有紅海挑戰。其中很大一部分與改變船舶航線方式有關。沒有有意義的定價問題，因為有很多就地合約。

Finally, turning to our February sales results, the 4 weeks ended this past Sunday, March 3, compared to the same retail calendar weeks last year. As reported in our release, net sales for the month came in at $18.21 billion, an increase of 6.9% versus $17.04 billion for the same 4 retail weeks last year. Again, just to -- announcement -- we did an announcement earlier today. The U.S. reported comp of 3.4% for February, ex gas and FX, 4.1%; Canada, 8.4% and 8.3%; other international, 10.8% and 11.3%; for a total company of 5.0% reported and 5.6% ex gas and FX, with e-comm coming in at a 16.2% reported and a 16.0% ex FX.

最後，轉向我們 2 月的銷售結果，與去年相同的零售日曆週相比，這 4 週於 3 月 3 日上週日結束。正如我們在新聞稿中所報導的，本月淨銷售額為 182.1 億美元，與去年同期 4 零售週的 170.4 億美元相比增長了 6.9%。再次強調一下——公告——我們今天早些時候發布了公告。美國公佈 2 月綜合指數為 3.4%，扣除天然氣和外匯後為 4.1%；加拿大，8.4%和8.3%；其他國際，10.8%和11.3%；整個公司的報告佔比為 5.0%，扣除天然氣和外匯費用為 5.6%，電子商務公司的報告佔比為 16.2%，扣除外匯費用為 16.0%。

Our comp traffic or frequency for February was up 6.2% worldwide and up 5.0% in the U.S. Foreign currencies year-over-year relative to the dollar negatively impacted total and comparable sales as follows: Canada by about 0.1% negative, other international by approximately 0.5% and total company by approximately 0.1%. Gasoline price deflation negatively impacted total reported comp sales by approximately 0.5%. And the average worldwide selling price per gallon of gas was down approximately 3.5% versus last year. Worldwide, the average transaction for February was down about 1.1%, which includes the negative impacts from FX and gas deflation.

我們2 月的全球比較流量或頻率成長了6.2%，美國成長了5.0%。相對於美元，外幣年比對總銷售額和可比銷售額產生了負面影響，具體如下：加拿大約0.1%，其他國際約0.1% 0.5%，公司整體約0.1%。汽油價格通貨緊縮對報告的公司總銷售額產生了約 0.5% 的負面影響。全球每加侖汽油的平均價格比去年下降了約 3.5%。全球範圍內，2 月平均交易量下降約 1.1%，其中包括外匯和天然氣通貨緊縮的負面影響。

In terms of regional and merchandising categories, the general highlights are as follows: U.S. regions with the strongest comps were Midwest, Southeast, and Northeast. In terms of other international and local currencies, we saw strength in Mexico, Australia, and Korea. Moving to merchandise highlights. Food and sundries were positive in the mid-single digits. Fresh foods were up high single digits, and nonfoods were positive mid-single digits. And ancillary businesses were up in the low single digits. Food court, pharmacy, and optical were top performers, with gas down low single digits on a lower price per gallon.

就地區和商品類別而言，整體亮點如下：美國競爭最強的地區是中西部、東南部和東北部。就其他國際和當地貨幣而言，我們看到墨西哥、澳洲和韓國走強。轉向商品亮點。食品和雜貨的漲幅為中個位數。新鮮食品上漲了高個位數，非食品上漲了中個位數。輔助業務則以較低的個位數成長。美食廣場、藥局和眼鏡店表現最佳，汽油價格下跌個位數，每加侖價格較低。

In terms of upcoming releases, we will announce our March sales results for the 5 weeks ending Sunday, April 7, on the following Wednesday, April 10, after market close. And lastly, before I turn it back to Demi for Q&A, I'd like to take a moment to say thank you to many of you who have turned in each quarter, some for many years, to allow me to share with you Costco's results, both our ups and our downs and thankfully, many more ups and downs and provide some fun and informative color on how we're doing along the way.

對於即將發布的產品，我們將在 4 月 10 日收盤後的下一個星期三公佈截至 4 月 7 日星期日的 5 週 3 月份銷售結果。最後，在我把它轉回 Demi 進行問答之前，我想花點時間向每個季度提交的許多人表示感謝，有些人已經提交了很多年，讓我可以與你們分享 Costco 的結果，我們的起起落，值得慶幸的是，還有更多的起起落落，並為我們一路走來的表現提供了一些有趣和信息豐富的色彩。

Since going public in December of 1985, I have hosted all but one call. It has been an absolute privilege and honor to do so, so thank you all. As you know, in early February, it was announced that I will be ceding the role of CFO to Gary Millerchip effective March 15 after our second quarter 10-Q is filed, and retire, including from our Board, next January. It's a bit surreal of late but what a wonderful journey it has been with such a great company and great people, including many of you on the call today. I have certainly been very fortunate.

自 1985 年 12 月上市以來，除了一次電話會議之外，我主持過所有電話會議。能夠這樣做是我的絕對榮幸，所以謝謝大家。如您所知，2 月初，公司宣布我將在提交第二季度10-Q 報告後於3 月15 日將首席財務官職位讓給加里·米勒奇普(Gary Millerchip)，並於明年1 月退休，包括從董事會退休。最近有點超現實，但與如此偉大的公司和偉大的人們一起度過了多麼美妙的旅程，包括今天參加電話會議的許多人。我當然非常幸運。

The good news, Gary joined Costco last week and, along with David and Josh, will continue to provide to you all the transparency and straightforwardness that we are known for. It will be a positive and seamless transition. With that, I will be happy to turn it back to Demi to open it up for Q&A.

好消息是，Gary 上週加入了 Costco，並將與 David 和 Josh 一起繼續為您提供我們所聞名的所有透明度和直接性。這將是一個積極且無縫的過渡。這樣，我很樂意將其轉回 Demi 進行問答。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·古特曼（Simeon Gutman）。

Richard, best wishes to you. Thank you for all your guidance. That's a metaphor since you don't give guidance. My first question is on the -- this is like a parting question on membership, and I want to make sure this framework sounds right. I know you said it's "if not, when," and part of the thought process is there were enough levers in the business, product savings, cost savings, to be able to drive an appropriate level of like profit growth from the business. And when that no longer presents itself, that's when membership price increase could come through. And that could come through earlier than that, but that was one framework we were thinking in as we wait to hear when it happens.

理查德，祝你一切順利。感謝您的指導。這是一個比喻，因為你不提供指導。我的第一個問題是——這就像一個關於成員資格的臨別問題，我想確保這個框架聽起來是正確的。我知道你說的是“如果沒有，那麼什麼時候”，思考過程的一部分是業務中有足夠的槓桿，產品節省，成本節省，能夠推動業務達到適當水平的類似利潤增長。當這種情況不再出現時，會員價格就會上漲。這可能會比這更早實現，但這是我們在等待它何時發生時所考慮的框架。

Sure. And by the way, it's when, not if, still. But really, we're -- joking aside, we're not that smart in terms of figuring out exactly why. I mean we know that all the factors that we believe would -- if we wanted to do it when we feel comfortable in terms of renewal rates, new member sign-ups, loyalty, all those things are continuing in the right direction. It really is a function -- and I don't think it would be done simply because, hey, things have slowed down a little bit, let's do it now.

當然。順便說一下，是何時，而不是是否，仍然。但實際上，我們——開個玩笑，我們並沒有那麼聰明，無法弄清楚到底為什麼。我的意思是，我們知道我們相信的所有因素 - 如果我們想在續訂率、新會員註冊、忠誠度方面感到滿意時這樣做，所有這些事情都會繼續朝著正確的方向發展。它確實是一個功能——我認為它不會僅僅因為，嘿，事情已經慢了一點，讓我們現在就做。

We like the fact that we're performing well. We like the fact that all -- most -- all metrics are going in the right direction in our business right now. We've got plenty of runway left. And given the economy and given everything else, it's us, it's Costco. So I think it is simply still not trying to be cute about it. It's not some big analytical formula. It's simply a measure of, we will, at some point, I'm sure, do it. And I've been joking with Gary, it will be on his watch, not mine.

我們喜歡我們表現良好的事實。我們喜歡這樣一個事實：目前我們業務中的所有指標（大多數指標）都在朝著正確的方向發展。我們還有足夠的跑道。考慮到經濟和其他一切，就是我們，就是好市多。所以我認為這只是還沒有試圖表現得可愛。這不是什麼大的分析公式。這只是一種衡量標準，我確信，我們會在某個時候這樣做。我一直在和加里開玩笑，這將由他負責，而不是由我負責。

And then maybe one more, Richard, is another question. Used to -- the business has comped very consistently over time. And you used to say, I regret when it won't comp north of 4 to 5 because that's where it may be tougher to leverage our expenses. If you think about that framework, does it still apply? And then as you hand the baton to Gary, and even Ron, do you spend more? Or are there ways where the cost structure of the business can actually be altered to lower that leverage threshold point?

理查德，也許還有一個問題。過去，隨著時間的推移，該業務的表現一直非常穩定。你曾經說過，我很遺憾它無法獲得 4 到 5 倍的補償，因為這可能更難平衡我們的開支。如果您考慮一下該框架，它仍然適用嗎？然後當你把接力棒交給加里，甚至羅恩時，你會花更多錢嗎？或者是否有方法可以實際改變業務的成本結構以降低槓桿門檻？

Right. Well, whether it's -- I would say it's probably more likely to go up a little bit and down just because of whatever goes on in life, and the inflation that happened. But I got to look back at the last few years, we and others were helped through the crisis of COVID. And we haven't given a lot of that back. If I look at our SG&A, I remember when in fiscal '19, it came in at 10.04%, I'm looking at these numbers here. And even in '20, it was at 10.30% in the first quarter before COVID.

正確的。好吧，無論是——我想說，它可能更有可能會稍微上升或下降，只是因為生活中發生的事情以及發生的通貨膨脹。但我回顧過去幾年，我們和其他人都在新冠危機中得到了幫助。我們還沒有給予太多回報。如果我看看我們的 SG&A，我記得在 19 財年，它的比率為 10.04%，我在這裡查看這些數字。即使在 20 世紀 20 年代，新冠疫情爆發之前的第一季這一比例也為 10.30%。

And then in fiscal '21, it was 9.65% and then down to 8.88%, and now it's up -- fiscal '23, it was 9.08%. So notwithstanding, I remember when it was slightly above 10, we said, well, it's never going to get below 10 again. And a lot of factors continue to change. But just the sheer high productivity that we have is, frankly, higher than we thought. Some of that was gained through COVID because of everything else going on. But we haven't given it back. The good news, we haven't given it back and the good news continues to be that we're -- we seem to continue to be able to take market share.

然後在 21 財年，這一比例為 9.65%，然後下降到 8.88%，現在有所上升，23 財年為 9.08%。儘管如此，我記得當它略高於 10 時，我們說，好吧，它永遠不會再低於 10。而且很多因素還在不斷地改變。但坦白說，我們所擁有的絕對高生產力比我們想像的要高。其中一些是透過新冠疫情獲得的，因為其他一切都在發生。但我們還沒有還給它。好消息是，我們還沒有歸還，好消息仍然是我們——我們似乎繼續能夠佔據市場份額。

I think the fact that on big-ticket items, there's less SG&A. We continue to change the pack sizes of things for less freight, whatever it is, all the freight would be, that would be SG&A. But it is still a lot about sales at the end. And if you ask the rhetorical question, if comps went to 0, what would that mean? That would be tough on SG&A, but we'd figure other things out.

我認為事實上，在大件商品上，SG&A 較少。我們繼續改變物品的包裝尺寸以減少運費，無論是什麼，所有的運費都是 SG&A。但最終還是與銷量有關。如果你問反問句，如果 comps 變成 0，那代表什麼？這對SG&A 來說會很困難，但我們會解決其他問題。

Next question comes from the line of Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett.

下一個問題來自查克·格羅姆和戈登·哈斯克特的台詞。

Richard, congrats on a great career that someone started basically day 1 at the company. My question is on culture. You've always said, it was customers first, employees second, shareholders third, and that philosophy has clearly played out. So looking at it, I'm curious how the new team is going to keep this culture intact and resist pressure from some of the non-founders of the company going forward.

理查德，祝賀某人在公司的第一天就開始了偉大的職業生涯。我的問題是關於文化的。您總是說，客戶第一，員工第二，股東第三，這個理念顯然得到了體現。因此，我很好奇新團隊將如何保持這種文化的完整性，並抵禦來自公司一些非創始人的壓力。

Well, first of all, nothing has changed. It's not unlike the same question I think that was asked of Jim Sinegal after 28 years before he retired. And before we knew who his successor was going to exactly be, and I remember the Board asking, if you're 100 in terms of extreme value and extreme taking care of the customer and the employee and everybody else, whoever takes your place, what would they be in? He paused for a minute and said, "I have no doubt that will be at least in the mid-90s, if not higher."

嗯，首先，什麼都沒有改變。我認為這與吉姆辛內加爾 (Jim Sinegal) 在退休 28 年後被問到的問題沒有什麼不同。在我們知道他的繼任者到底是誰之前，我記得董事會問過，如果你在極端價值和極端照顧客戶、員工和其他所有人方面達到 100 分，無論誰接替你的位置，你會做什麼？他們會在嗎？他停頓了一分鐘，說：“我毫不懷疑，至少會在 90 年代中期，甚至更高。”

And frankly, after Craig was made that, in my view, whatever that number was, it increased towards 100 just because that's what we do. And that culture is so ingrained here. And when we talk about changing management, I always joke when people ask me as CFO how I'm important -- am I important to the strategic whatever of the company? The fact is we're run by merchants and operators, and we're there to serve and help them and certainly add our voice. But the fact of the matter is, and Craig for 12 years and now, and Ron, you have people that have been here for 35, 40 years and have -- were born and raised and have grown up in this culture. And it is so intact. Just last week when Gary joined us, he had to go through the required 2-hour Costco orientation, which includes obey the law, take care of your customer, take care of your employees, respect your supplier. And then if you do that, you can reward the shareholder. It is -- that's the one thing I can sleep very well at night.

坦白說，在克雷格被任命之後，在我看來，無論這個數字是多少，它都會增加到 100，因為這就是我們所做的。這種文化在這裡根深蒂固。當我們談論改變管理層時，當人們問我作為財務長我有多重要時，我總是開玩笑——我對公司的策略重要嗎？事實上，我們是由商家和營運商經營的，我們的目的是為他們提供服務和幫助，當然也添加我們的聲音。但事實是，克雷格已經在這裡工作了 12 年，現在還有羅恩，這裡的人已經在這裡工作了 35 年、40 年，並且在這種文化中出生、長大和成長。而且它是如此完好無損。就在上週，當加里加入我們時，他必須接受 Costco 規定的 2 小時入職培訓，其中包括遵守法律、照顧你的客戶、照顧你的員工、尊重你的供應商。如果你這樣做了，你就可以獎勵股東。這是——這是我晚上能睡得很好的一件事。

That's great. Thanks, Richard. Enjoy your retirement.

那太棒了。謝謝，理查。享受你的退休生活。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Next question comes from the line of Michael Lasser with UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的麥可‧拉瑟 (Michael Lasser)。

Best of luck, Richard. You mentioned previously that most of the metrics are moving in the right direction. Can you highlight which metrics are not moving in the right direction? And especially from a membership per club standpoint, are there any signs that some of the more mature locations are either reaching a saturation or starting to see a peak in that metric?

祝你好運，理查德。您之前提到，大多數指標都在朝著正確的方向發展。您能否強調哪些指標沒有朝著正確的方向發展？特別是從每個俱樂部會員數量的角度來看，是否有任何跡象表明一些較成熟的地點要么達到飽和，要么開始看到該指標的峰值？

No. First of all, when I said most, I was just trying to be human that nobody is perfect. Everything is working in the right direction right now. And actually, I wasn't talking just about membership metrics. But in general, knock on wood, things are working pretty well. When I -- when we sit in at our monthly budget meeting, more times than not, we get pretty excited about what's going on from a new merchandising standpoint, newness, buying with conviction and be aggressive and assertive out there. I mean what we saw with just even these -- that simple example I gave you with changes to big-ticket items and why buy them at Costco, we saw great changes in numbers. So we know that we've got a lot of levers to be able to pull to make this thing work. And so no, I just said, honestly, I said most because nobody is perfect. I didn't have any particular examples.

不。首先，當我說最多的時候，我只是想成為一個人，沒有人是完美的。目前一切都在朝著正確的方向發展。事實上，我談論的不僅僅是會員指標。但總的來說，一切進展順利。當我——當我們參加每月預算會議時，很多時候，我們對從新的銷售角度、新鮮感、堅定的購買態度以及積極進取和自信的角度所發生的事情感到非常興奮。我的意思是我們在這些商品上看到了什麼——我給你舉了一個簡單的例子，關於大件商品的變化以及為什麼在 Costco 購買它們，我們看到了數字上的巨大變化。所以我們知道我們有很多槓桿可以讓這件事發揮作用。所以不，我只是說，老實說，我說得最多是因為沒有人是完美的。我沒有任何具體的例子。

Understood. My follow-up question is on the -- what seems like an inflection in the discretionary business. To what degree is Costco experiencing improvement in the gen merch categories as a result of aggressive changes, either like you had cited with the way you're communicating with the customer or the member or aggressive actions to take down prices? And if you are pulling those levers hard, is there an opportunity to move even more aggressively to drive the discretionary business? Because it does seem like Costco's experiencing a rebound in some of these areas more so than the rest of retail.

明白了。我的後續問題是關於全權委託業務的變化。由於積極的變化，好市多在多大程度上經歷了一般商品類別的改進，無論是像您提到的與客戶或會員溝通的方式還是積極的降價行動？如果你大力拉動這些槓桿，是否有機會更積極地推動全權委託業務？因為好市多在其中一些領域的反彈似乎確實比其他零售領域更明顯。

Yes. And absolutely, what is it? It's called -- it used to be NPD, it's Circana, which is that industry that shows you how you are on different product -- nonfood product categories versus the industry. When we look at something like appliances in the last several weeks or a couple of months, the industry is flat and we're up north of 20%. Same thing with tires, more than that percent. And so now that, you can't say let's do everything and everything will be up 20%, 30% because that's not going to happen.

是的。絕對是，它是什麼？它被稱為 - 它曾經是 NPD，它是 Circana，這個行業向您展示您在不同產品上的情況 - 非食品產品類別與行業。當我們觀察過去幾週或幾個月的家電等產品時，會發現該產業表現平穩，增幅超過 20%。輪胎也是如此，超過這個百分比。所以現在，你不能說讓我們做所有事情，所有事情都會成長 20%、30%，因為這是不可能發生的。

But at the end of the day, the focus of the buyers, as an example, is coming up with new ways to do things, to have great pricing and to constantly improve that pricing and figure out how to do that with our global buying power with -- every time there's a commodity price increase. Given an item of business, we have buyers that are in charge of 20 and 30 items, if not less, not 200, 300 items in a category. They know a lot more, in our view, about every cost component of that. And I think I feel very good that we do a very good job. I'm not suggesting others don't, but I know we do a very good job of getting on the phone immediately and working those issues. And as soon as we can get a savings, we're out there first pass to get on. And that's just our religion. Now we're able to do that partly because our sales have been relatively strong, and we've lapped some things from last year that have helped.

但舉例來說，歸根結底，買家關注的焦點是想出新的做事方式、制定優惠的定價並不斷改進定價，並弄清楚如何利用我們的全球購買力來做到這一點每當商品價格上漲時。給定一個業務項目，我們的買家負責一個類別中的 20 到 30 個項目，甚至更少，也不是 200、300 個項目。我們認為，他們對其中的每一個成本組成部分都了解更多。我認為我們做得非常好，我感覺非常好。我並不是建議其他人不要這樣做，但我知道我們在立即打電話並解決這些問題方面做得非常好。一旦我們能節省下來，我們就可以第一時間出發。這就是我們的宗教。現在我們能夠做到這一點，部分原因是我們的銷售相對強勁，而且我們借鑒了去年的一些有幫助的東西。

Next question comes from the line of Peter Benedict with Baird.

下一個問題來自彼得·本尼迪克特與貝爾德的對話。

And my congratulations as well. Well done. It's been a pleasure. Wondering if you can maybe talk about Kirkland, the penetration, what's going on there. Any member shopping behavior around kind of private brand versus branded? And maybe what some of the branded packaged good companies are doing to maybe get some volumes up. Just curious about your view on that.

我也表示祝賀。做得好。這是我的榮幸。想知道你是否可以談談柯克蘭，滲透，那裡發生了什麼。會員是否有圍繞自有品牌與品牌進行購物的行為？也許一些品牌包裝好的公司正在做一些事情來增加銷售量。只是好奇你對此的看法。

There's not a lot of trade down. Although when we -- we sometimes have more control over certain private label CPG items that we're able to drive more business. And so we're seeing an increased penetration of that versus some of the brand sometimes. But then that gets the brands to the table to work -- to provide more value on the branded as well. We want to be both.

交易量並不大。儘管有時我們對某些自有品牌 CPG 商品擁有更多控制權，但我們能夠推動更多業務。因此，與某些品牌相比，我們有時會看到該品牌的滲透率有所提高。但這樣一來，品牌就可以開始發揮作用——為品牌提供更多價值。我們想兩者兼具。

But we haven't really seen -- that was a question that happened as the economy was -- the question is, are we going into a recession a couple of years ago and inflation was peaking at 7%, 8%, 9%. And are we seeing a difference? So we did see -- if you look back over the last 20 years, and without looking at the exact numbers, it seems like every year we grow 0.25% to 0.5% of increased Kirkland Signature penetration. And then there was 1 year when we were asked a couple of years ago, it seemed like there was 1.5% to 2%, even 2% change in penetration. So people were, in my view, switching a little bit out. But that's changed. We don't see that as much as anymore.

但我們還沒有真正看到——這是一個隨著經濟發展而發生的問題——問題是，幾年前我們是否會陷入衰退，通貨膨脹率達到 7%、8%、9% 的峰值。我們看到有什麼不同嗎？所以我們確實看到，如果你回顧過去 20 年，如果你不看具體數字，Kirkland Signature 的滲透率似乎每年都會增加 0.25% 到 0.5%。然後有一年，當我們幾年前被問到時，滲透率似乎有 1.5% 到 2%，甚至 2% 的變化。因此，在我看來，人們的態度有些轉變。但情況已經改變了。我們現在已經很少看到這種情況了。

Got it. And then just on Costco Logistics, you gave some delivery numbers there. Just maybe step back a little bit, the penetration of Costco Logistics within the business. How meaningful is that at this point? What's left in terms of maybe growing that? Is that just going to go with the big ticket trends? Or are there, I don't know, internal initiatives to kind of drive further penetration of Costco Logistics?

知道了。然後就在 Costco Logistics 上，您提供了一些送貨號碼。也許退一步來說，好市多物流在業務中的滲透。此時此刻，這有多大意義？就成長而言還剩下什麼？這會順應大票趨勢嗎？或者，我不知道，是否有內部措施來推動 Costco 物流的進一步滲透？

What it's done strategically, I hate to overuse that word, it's allowed us to be much better on value and delivery times and quality and brought the delivery cost down on big-ticket items, particularly appliances and big screen televisions, mattresses and furniture, indoor and outdoor patio furniture and indoor furniture, some sporting goods.

它的策略性做法是，我討厭過度使用這個詞，它使我們能夠在價值、交貨時間和品質方面做得更好，並降低了大件物品的運輸成本，特別是電器和大螢幕電視、床墊和家具、室內以及戶外露台家具和室內家具，一些體育用品。

And in the -- before we bought Innovel, we're now called Costco Logistics in the spring of 2020. And the year before that, in the U.S., we did about 2.2 million drops. So the drop is anything from dropping off a sofa to delivering and installing a new refrigerator, freezer, or a washer-dryer and taking the old away for disposal. Both of those are dropped, recognizing the extreme difference there. But we did about 2.2 million drops in the U.S., none of which we did ourselves.

在我們收購 Innovel 之前，我們在 2020 年春季更名為 Costco Logistics。而前一年，我們在美國進行了約 220 萬次投遞。因此，丟棄的範圍包括從扔下沙發到運送和安裝新的冰箱、冰櫃或洗衣乾衣機，以及將舊的拿走進行處理等。由於認識到其中的極端差異，這兩者都被放棄了。但我們在美國進行了約 220 萬次投放，其中沒有一次是我們自己投放的。

With the acquisition of Innovel, I think for the -- probably over the last -- with this 1 million this quarter, a rough number of 4 million drops, which I believe about 70% of them -- over 4 million drops and about 70% of them is us. We've reduced the delivery times. We've just introduced in some categories like 2-hour windows where you can -- or 3-hour windows where you can choose, 2-hour windows where you can choose. So we're constantly getting better, and we've greatly improved the value.

隨著Innovel 的收購，我認為——可能是在上個季度——本季的100 萬次，大約有400 萬次投放，我相信其中大約有70%——超過400 萬次投放，大約70 次。其中%是我們。我們縮短了交貨時間。我們剛剛介紹了一些類別，例如您可以選擇的 2 小時窗口，或者您可以選擇的 3 小時窗口，您可以選擇的 2 小時窗口。所以我們不斷變得更好，我們大大提高了價值。

And when you look at something a category like appliances, we're still a very low percentage of the industry. And the fact it was up 20-plus percent last month -- or last quarter is a function of some of the things we're doing in terms of shouting out how good of a deal it is and doing a better job of that. But we think we have an opportunity to continue to grow those categories, recognizing they're all meaningful categories but they're all small percentages of our total. That's one of the nice things about us that we have lots of different categories.

當你看看電器等類別時，你會發現我們在產業中所佔的比例仍然很低。事實上，上個月或上個季度它上漲了 20% 以上，這是我們正在做的一些事情的結果，我們大聲疾呼這是一筆多麼好的交易，並在這方面做得更好。但我們認為我們有機會繼續發展這些類別，並認識到它們都是有意義的類別，但它們只占我們總數的一小部分。這是我們的優點之一，我們有很多不同的類別。

Got it. Great. Well, thanks again, and best of luck, Richard.

知道了。偉大的。好吧，再次感謝，祝你好運，理查德。

Next question comes from the line of Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer.

下一個問題來自魯佩什·帕里克（Rupesh Parikh）和奧本海默（Oppenheimer）的關係。

Richard, I also want to offer my congratulations on your retirement. So just going back to the core-on-core margins. They're up, I think, 25 basis points this quarter. Just curious what drove that strong performance, if there's anything particular driving that?

理查德，我也想祝賀你退休。那麼回到核心對核心的利潤率。我認為本季上漲了 25 個基點。只是好奇是什麼推動瞭如此強勁的表現，是否有什麼特別的推動因素？

Well, on the nonfood side, the biggest thing is -- well, not the -- a piece of it is comparing to last year where we had extra markdowns. I think -- we probably talked about it last time that nonfood was, a year ago, have been down year-over-year because of some of the supply chain challenges we had when such things were coming in late after the season in case some of the big-ticket items for overseas containers. So that was probably a chunk of it.

嗯，在非食品方面，最重要的是——嗯，不是——其中一部分是與去年相比，去年我們進行了額外的降價。我想，我們上次可能談到過，一年前，非食品同比下降，因為我們在季節結束後出現此類情況時遇到了一些供應鏈挑戰，以防萬一海外集裝箱的大件物品。所以這可能是其中的一部分。

On the fresh food side, I said it was down year-over-year a little. Fresh is competitive and we're being ever competitive on it as well. And -- but again, I don't view any of that as being terribly meaningful in terms of is that a big change that is coming. There's always something that's up a little bit and there's another thing that's down a little bit.

在生鮮食品方面，我說年比有下降。新鮮是有競爭力的，我們也一直在這方面保持競爭力。而且——但同樣，我不認為這一切對於即將發生的重大變化來說是非常有意義的。總有一些東西稍微上漲，而另一些東西則稍微下降。

Great. And then maybe just one follow-up question. On the expense side, you guys did have better expense controls this quarter. So just curious what changed sequentially because the growth rate did decelerate by a few percentage points.

偉大的。然後也許只是一個後續問題。在費用方面，你們本季確實有更好的費用控制。所以只是好奇接下來發生了什麼變化，因為成長率確實下降了幾個百分點。

I can't think off the top of my head other than -- actually, someone across the table just said the word focus. At our budget meetings, which happen every 4 weeks with 150-plus people in town from all over the world, those are the kind of things we look at. And I think the operators are doing a better job of budgeting. And one of the things, I think, that came out at the last budget meeting in terms of budgeting, if you budget sales a little higher and they came in 1% lower, you got to control your labor costs. And so a lot of it has to do with focus and being meaningful to that. We certainly don't try to control expenses by not doing a wage increase when we think we need to. And we certainly have done that.

我無法思考，除了——實際上，桌子對面的某個人剛剛說了“焦點”這個詞。我們的預算會議每 4 週舉行一次，與會者有來自世界各地的 150 多名人員，這些就是我們關注的事情。我認為運營商在預算方面做得更好。我認為，上次預算會議在預算方面提出的一件事是，如果你的銷售預算稍高一點，但銷售額下降了 1%，你就必須控制你的勞動成本。所以很多事情都與專注和有意義有關。我們當然不會在我們認為需要的時候不加薪來試圖控制開支。我們當然已經做到了。

Our next question comes from the line of Scott Mushkin with R5 Capital.

我們的下一個問題來自 R5 Capital 的 Scott Mushkin。

Richard, I feel like we should be like raising your jersey to the rafters like superstars retiring here. Never came without you, to tell you the truth. So congratulations.

理查德，我覺得我們應該像超級巨星在這裡退休一樣把你的球衣舉到椽子上。實話告訴你，你從來沒有缺席過。所以恭喜你。

Thank you.

謝謝。

So we'll have to see the CFO Hall of Fame. So a couple of things, some of your comments that you made. You're doing this delivery in 1 hour in China, I think you said going from 1 club to 3. Is that something you envision that can expand outside of China? And how should we think about that maybe even vis-à-vis the U.S.?

所以我們必須去看看財務長名人堂。有幾件事，您發表的一些評論。你們在中國 1 小時內就能完成送貨，我想你們說過從 1 個俱樂部到 3 個俱樂部。你們是否希望將這種服務擴展到中國以外的地區？我們甚至該如何看待美國呢？

Well, in a way, we're doing same-day here with a few people, most notably Instacart and a little bit was shipped down in the Southeast. And I think we've got a test in Texas with Uber. But at the end of the day, we have that same-day delivery already as function. Over there, it is a third party that's doing it, like Instacart or these other ventures here. So it's just, it's new. It's not something that's new to the warehouse club industry in China. You could look elsewhere and find it too, but it's certainly something that makes sense. And again, in part because the social media, there's been a lot of publicity in just, I mean from the day it launched 3 days ago, it's gone nuts in terms of how many page hits it's getting and all that stuff. But it's just part of the business.

嗯，在某種程度上，我們在這裡和幾個人一起做當天的工作，最著名的是 Instacart，還有一點是在東南部運來的。我認為我們已經在德克薩斯州與 Uber 進行了測試。但最終，我們已經實現了當日送達功能。在那裡，是第三方在做這件事，例如 Instacart 或這裡的其他企業。所以這只是，它是新的。對於中國的倉儲俱樂部產業來說，這並不是什麼新鮮事。你也可以在其他地方找到它，但這肯定是有道理的。再說一遍，部分是因為社交媒體，有很多宣傳，我的意思是從三天前推出的那一天起，它的頁面點擊量和所有這些東西都變得瘋狂了。但這只是業務的一部分。

Got it. And then we talked about this over the years, and I think you said you're going to do 28 net new clubs this year. What's the capacity of the organization? Where do you see -- do you envision that going to 35 and 40? Like how should we think of it as we move out 3 to 5 years? Is it something that's going to trend up?

知道了。然後我們多年來一直在討論這個問題，我想你說過今年你將淨增 28 個新俱樂部。組織能力如何？您認為會是 35 歲還是 40 歲？就像我們搬出3到5年後該如何看待它？這是會流行的東西嗎？

I think -- who knows? But I think generally, it probably trends up a little. There's a few years there, excluding the year that when COVID hit, that we only did like 13 because there were shutdowns in certain countries of construction and as well as the U.S. But if you look back, excluding that year over a 3- or 5-year period, plus or minus a couple of years there, it was about 23 a unit -- without looking at numbers, about 23 units a year. At the time, you said, what do you see over the next 10 years? What we saw collectively was somewhere in the -- hopefully targeting, let's say, 25 for the next 5 years per year and then going up to 25 to somewhere in the high 20s and if not, 30. I think that's generally the sense that we feel.

我想──誰知道呢？但我認為總體而言，它可能會略有上升。有幾年，不包括新冠疫情爆發的那一年，我們只做了 13 年，因為某些建築國家和美國都停工了。但如果你回顧一下，排除那一年超過 3 到 5 年- 年期間，加上或減去幾年，大約是23 個單位——不看數字，每年大約23 個單位。當時您說，您對未來10年有何看法？我們所看到的總體目標是——希望未來 5 年的目標是每年 25 歲，然後增加到 25 歲，達到 20 歲左右，如果不是的話，那就是 30 歲。我認為這通常是我們的感覺。

Could we do more? Yes. Are we comfortable doing it this way? Yes. I think part of that is such a hands-on business. I get to say that from sitting here in headquarters most of the time, not traveling like my colleagues do in operations, but Ron is a great example. I mean he and several regional executives and operations, if there's an opening somewhere, or not an opening, they're out visiting usually at least 2, if not, 3 weeks a month around for 3 or 4 days, jumping around, visiting locations, not only existing locations but new sites.

我們可以做得更多嗎？是的。我們這樣做舒服嗎？是的。我認為其中一部分是需要親力親為的事。我可以說，大部分時間都坐在總部，不像我的同事在營運中出差，但羅恩就是一個很好的例子。我的意思是，他和幾位區域主管和營運部門，如果某個地方有空缺，或者沒有空缺，他們通常會每月至少出訪2 週，如果沒有，則每月3 週，持續3 或4 天，跳來跳去，參觀地點，不僅是現有地點，還有新地點。

And so I think from a standpoint -- and the other thing is, particularly in newer countries, you want to get the first one opened, so you can train 50 or 80 people that want to move to the next location in that city that will help that one go. And we were very fortunate a few years back in the first Shanghai, in Minhang, in China, where we had a number of employees from Taiwan that wanted to move and be promoted into new locations, new jobs over there. So that helps us when we have 1 then 2 then 4 then whatever.

所以我認為，從一個角度來看，另一件事是，特別是在較新的國家，你希望開設第一個工廠，這樣你就可以培訓50 或80 名想要搬到該城市下一個地點的人，幫助那一件事。幾年前，我們非常幸運，在中國閔行的第一個上海，我們有許多來自台灣的員工，他們想搬到那裡並晉升到新地點、新工作。因此，當我們有 1、2、4 等等時，這對我們很有幫助。

So we take it slow. All I know is we're all very busy and particularly the operators and merchants as well. And so that's kind of the paradigm, I think, that we're going to continue to work at something in the 25 range and then heading up. Just a month -- just a quarter ago, I think our budget for this year was 32 and now -- or 31, now it's 28. And that's simply timing. There's 2 or 3 that pushed that for whatever construction delays or you found something, there's oil delays or whatever it might be, you might have moved from mid- to late summer to early fall, which is the new fiscal year. So I'm feeling pretty good that we're going to open 25-plus for the next couple of years and then probably 28-plus and go on from there.

所以我們慢慢來。我只知道我們都很忙，尤其是電信商和商家。我認為，這就是一種範式，我們將繼續在 25 範圍內開展工作，然後繼續前進。就在一個月前——就在一個季度前，我認為我們今年的預算是 32，而現在——或者是 31，現在是 28。這只是時間問題。有 2 或 3 個因素推動了無論施工延誤或你發現了什麼，石油延誤或其他任何可能的情況，你可能已經從夏中到夏末轉移到初秋，這是新的財政年度。所以我感覺很好，我們將在接下來的幾年裡開設 25 家以上，然後可能是 28 家以上，並從那裡繼續下去。

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

下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Greg Melich。

Richard, you mentioned the word surreal, the feeling of retiring. I'd say it's almost as surreal, the $4.99 chicken. So thank you for all the help over the years. I would say -- I guess 2 things I want to touch on. One is ticket pressure. It looks like just in the most recent sales, with traffic growing more and more that you're seeing some AUR pressure. Is that 0% inflation turning to deflation as the merchants are seeing into March and April?

理查德，你提到了超現實這個詞，即退休的感覺。我想說這幾乎是超現實的，4.99 美元的雞肉。感謝您多年來的所有幫助。我想說——我想我想談兩件事。一是門票壓力。看起來就像是在最近的銷售中，隨著流量的增長越來越多，您會看到一些 AUR 壓力。正如商家所看到的三月和四月那樣，零通膨是否會轉變為通貨緊縮？

Well, I think that if the -- again, the inflation number is a calculation based on costs and mix. I think it's probably -- I would look too closely if the average ticket was up a couple -- a few tenths in the quarter, and then it was down 1% -- down in February by a tenth. And that's still relatively close. Some of it is a mix change, I'm sure. And some of it is some of the examples I gave you about lower pricing. Even if the underlying cost hasn't changed, some of it may be in terms of how we package and we take advantage of that. And that's on the sales side and not on -- not the exact costs from yesterday.

好吧，我認為，如果——再說一次，通貨膨脹數字是基於成本和組合的計算。我認為，如果本季平均票價上漲了幾十分之一，然後下降了 1%，二月下降了十分之一，我會仔細觀察。這仍然相對接近。我確信其中一些是混合變化。其中一些是我給您的有關較低定價的一些示例。即使基本成本沒有改變，其中一些可能與我們的包裝方式和我們利用這一點的方式有關。這是銷售方面的成本，而不是昨天的確切成本。

So looking ahead, that number, flat, looks pretty good from what the merchants are seeing today?

那麼展望未來，從商家今天看到的情況來看，這個數字（持平）看起來相當不錯？

Yes. I think when I went to the last budget meeting 2 weeks ago, I think there's -- in the presentations, there's a lot of -- I used the phrase a few minutes ago, upscaling. I think that phrase buying with conviction. I mean I think the buyers are looking ahead right now in an offensive way and a positive way. Hopefully, we'll be right. But we feel, so far, we're being right.

是的。我想，當我兩週前參加最後一次預算會議時，我認為在簡報中，有很多內容，我幾分鐘前用過這個詞：升級。我認為這句話是堅定購買的。我的意思是，我認為買家現在正在以進攻性和積極的方式展望未來。希望我們是對的。但我們覺得，到目前為止，我們是對的。

I wanted to follow up with my second question on the Instacart side of e-commerce penetration. What would e-commerce penetration be now in the U.S. if you included the Instacart delivery and the other deliveries?

我想繼續回答關於 Instacart 方面電子商務滲透率的第二個問題。如果將 Instacart 送貨和其他送貨納入，現在美國的電子商務滲透率是多少？

Yes. Instacart's 1.5% to 2%, something below 2% but more than 1.5%, which is still on a $200 million retailer, is a lot. And we don't include that because that -- the in-store person comes in, buys it and checks out at the front end, so we don't include that. So you'd add -- depending on rounding, you'd add 1% to 2% to the top line number.

是的。 Instacart 的 1.5% 到 2%，低於 2% 但高於 1.5%，這對於一家價值 2 億美元的零售商來說，已經是很多了。我們不包括這一點，因為店內人員進來，購買並在前端結帳，所以我們不包括這一點。因此，您需要添加 - 根據四捨五入的情況，您需要在頂行數字上添加 1% 到 2%。

Well, thanks for everything, and enjoy retirement.

好吧，謝謝你所做的一切，祝你退休愉快。

I hope to see you all.

我希望見到你們大家。

Next question comes from the line of Kelly Bania with BMO Capital.

下一個問題來自 Kelly Bania 與 BMO Capital 的對話。

Thanks, Richard. And I have to add my congratulations to you. It's been a pleasure. Just wanted to ask where Costco stands with retail media and advertising dollars. I think the last update I had was in the range of a few hundred million. Or just curious if you're willing to share with us where that stands today, what kind of growth that is experiencing and just the company's thought process on investing in that down the line.

謝謝，理查。我必須向你表示祝賀。這是我的榮幸。只是想問 Costco 在零售媒體和廣告費用方面的立場如何。我認為我上次更新的金額在幾億左右。或者只是好奇您是否願意與我們分享目前的情況、正在經歷什麼樣的成長以及公司對此進行投資的思考過程。

Well, without giving numbers out, we know there's an opportunity there more than we've done in the past. In the last 6 or 8 months, we brought on people that are seasoned in this business to help us. And it's a point of focus. We know that there's money out there. We've always been very successful in other forms of vendor buckets, whether it's end caps or advertising in our own Costco connection, and of course, over the last several years, some advertising online or banners or placement.

好吧，雖然沒有給出數字，但我們知道那裡有比過去更多的機會。在過去的六、八個月裡，我們聘請了在這個行業中經驗豐富的人來幫助我們。這是一個焦點。我們知道那裡有錢。我們在其他形式的供應商桶方面一直非常成功，無論是端蓋還是我們自己的 Costco 連接中的廣告，當然，在過去幾年中，一些在線廣告或橫幅或植入。

But there's a lot more that can be done there. Rest assured, whatever it is, we're going to use it to -- just like when we always said, if we can save $1 on buying something, we're going to give $0.80 or $0.90 to the customer. I think that mantra will continue on this side as well. But there's certainly ability for more dollars out there. Some of our big retail competitors have talked about doubling in 5 or 6 years what they have. I think, again, it's a lower market share for us, so there's a little more opportunity for us to continue to grow that.

但那裡還有很多事情可以做。請放心，無論它是什麼，我們都會用它來 - 就像我們總是說的那樣，如果我們可以在購買東西時節省 1 美元，我們將向客戶贈送 0.80 美元或 0.90 美元。我認為這一口號也將在這一方面繼續下去。但肯定有能力獲得更多美元。我們的一些大型零售競爭對手已經談到在五、六年內將其擁有量翻倍。我再次認為，這對我們來說市場份額較低，因此我們有更多的機會繼續擴大市場份額。

And maybe just -- can I just follow up with the decision to roll out Apple Pay? Costco is pretty notorious for being strict on the payment method you could use. So just maybe the thought process on that, what you expect that to do for your e-commerce business and any economics you can share?

也許只是——我可以跟進推出 Apple Pay 的決定嗎？ Costco 因對您可以使用的付款方式嚴格要求而臭名昭著。那麼，也許您對此的思考過程，您期望這對您的電子商務業務有何影響以及您可以分享的任何經濟學？

Yes. There's not -- on e-comm, there's not as many stored cards for our members. And as we're doing more with a digital wallet, that will help as well. So it's something that -- it should help.

是的。在電子商務上，我們的會員沒有那麼多記憶卡。隨著我們使用數位錢包做更多的事情，這也會有所幫助。所以這應該會有所幫助。

Next question comes from the line of Oliver Chen with TD Cowen.

下一個問題來自 Oliver Chen 和 TD Cowen 的對話。

This is Katy on for Oliver, and of course, best wishes to you in your retirement. Just wanted to talk a little bit about the Kirkland price gap versus national brands. I know you touched on the Kirkland brand a little bit earlier on the call. But how has that price gap changed, especially year-over-year? And how -- has there been any impact to unit elasticity, given that price discrepancy?

這是凱蒂為奧利佛所做的發言，當然，我也祝福你退休後一切順利。只是想談談柯克蘭與國內品牌的價格差距。我知道您在電話會議的早些時候談到了柯克蘭品牌。但這種價格差距發生了怎樣的變化，尤其是與去年同期相比？鑑於價格差異，對單位彈性有何影響？

Well, we definitely have seen an impact from it. I mean, historically, the view was it has to be at least as good, if not better, quality than the leading national brand and at least a 20% savings as compared to what we sell the national brand for. And that -- those metrics continue in that regard. I think what we've seen when we look at some of the items that have risen greatly in price like paper products, on a percentage basis over the last several years because of freight costs, because of pulp prices, because of energy, all those things have dramatically increased.

嗯，我們確實看到了它的影響。我的意思是，從歷史上看，人們認為它的品質必須至少與領先的民族品牌一樣好，甚至更好，並且與我們銷售國家品牌的價格相比至少節省 20%。這些指標在這方面仍在持續。我認為，當我們觀察一些在過去幾年中由於運費、紙漿價格、能源等原因而價格大幅上漲的物品（例如紙製品）時，我們所看到的情況是按百分比計算的。事情急劇增加。

And what used to be -- I don't know the exact numbers, but for an 18-pack of -- a 24-pack of toilet tissue or a 15-pack or 18-pack of paper towels, you've got price points in the high 20s, if not low to mid-30s. And where we can show a dramatic savings on that, we've seen dramatic changes in unit market share towards Costco -- towards Kirkland Signature. But that's something that's been an iterative process over many years. Probably goes up and down a little bit. I'd say it's gone up a little bit in terms of a little more of a penetration in the last couple of years.

過去 - 我不知道確切的數字，但對於 18 包 - 24 包衛生紙或 15 包或 18 包紙巾，你有價格分數在 20 多歲左右，甚至低至 30 多歲。我們可以看到，在這方面我們可以節省大量成本，我們已經看到 Costco 和 Kirkland Signature 的單位市場份額發生了巨大變化。但這是多年來的迭代過程。大概會有點上下。我想說的是，在過去幾年中，滲透率有所上升。

Great. And then just a follow-up on the store discussion and unit growth. Can you just provide a little bit of color on how the international store openings are performing just from a productivity angle? How is that versus the more tenured stores as well as the domestic stores?

偉大的。然後是關於商店討論和單位增長的後續行動。您能否從生產力角度提供一些有關國際新店開幕表現的資訊？與較長期的商店以及國內商店相比，情況如何？

I don't think there's a big difference. In new markets, it's always a little slower. So like when we opened originally in Iceland or Sweden or Auckland or some of those are -- or France several years ago. You're always going to start -- or frankly, Japan 20 years ago, you tend to start out lower. In some cases, it's also a question -- some local vendors may not want to -- local country vendors may not want to sell you because they want to upset all the big traditional that have all the market share before we enter.

我認為沒有太大區別。在新市場，速度總是比較慢。就像幾年前我們最初在冰島、瑞典、奧克蘭或其中一些地方或法國開業一樣。你總是要開始——或者坦白說，20 年前的日本，你往往會從較低的起點開始。在某些情況下，這也是一個問題 - 一些當地供應商可能不想 - 當地國家供應商可能不想賣給你，因為他們想在我們進入之前擾亂所有擁有所有市場份額的大型傳統企業。

And once we get 2 or 3 open, they talk to you a little more. And so I think all those things help us as we grow. Certainly, it's changed a little bit in the last few years. China being the most recent example, when we opened the first one in Minhang, in Shanghai, what, about 4 years ago, it made international news based on just the sheer number of members who signed up and everything. So we have a lot faster start, I think. Each year, we have a lot faster start than the year before. And so I don't see a big difference there.

一旦我們有 2 或 3 個空位，他們就會和你多聊一點。所以我認為所有這些事情都有助於我們的成長。當然，在過去幾年裡，情況發生了一些變化。中國是最近的一個例子，大約四年前，當我們在上海閔行開設第一家時，僅憑註冊會員的數量和一切，它就成為了國際新聞。所以我認為我們的起步要快得多。每年，我們的起步都比前一年快得多。所以我看不出有什麼大的差別。

We certainly -- if you look in the U.S., I mean, I think one thing that's interesting is this fiscal year, we're going to open, whatever, 28 units. And I think of the 28, 20-plus are in the U.S., which is -- some people have asked, has it slowed down internationally? No, international takes a little longer to do. But what's interesting is we have a lot more runway than we ever thought possible. If you had asked us 5 years ago, by now, how many would we be putting in this year in the U.S., we would not have said 20-plus. It's got to slow down at some point. But the volumes that we're now doing in these locations, we've got to bleed some of that off. And so that's one good point. And then we still got plenty of going on overseas. And you'll see that continue to ramp up as well.

當然，如果你看看美國，我的意思是，我認為有趣的一件事是本財年，我們將開設 28 個單位。我認為 28 歲、20 歲以上是在美國，有些人問，國際上的成長速度是否放緩了？不，國際化需要更長的時間。但有趣的是，我們擁有的跑道比我們想像的要多得多。如果你 5 年前問我們，今年我們會在美國投入多少，我們不會說 20 多個。它必須在某個時刻放慢速度。但我們現在在這些地方所做的工作量，我們必須減少其中的一些。這是一個優點。然後我們在海外仍然有很多事情要做。你會看到它也在繼續增加。

Next question comes from the line of Scot Ciccarelli with Truist.

下一個問題來自 Scot Ciccarelli 和 Truist 的對話。

It seems like you guys have done some things to cut down on membership sharing, food court usage from nonmembers, et cetera. Richard, are you seeing something in the business that gives you concern that there's a growing issue from things like membership sharing?

看來你們已經做了一些事情來減少會員共享、非會員使用美食廣場等等。理查德，您是否在業界看到一些讓您擔心會員共享等問題日益嚴重的問題？

No. I think part of it is -- first of all, I think the storyline sometimes is a little greater than the reality. During COVID, we did a little bit more -- there was a little bit more membership sharing. You had individuals where one family member, maybe not the one that had one of the 2 memberships, was coming into shop with mom or dad's credit card, and we allowed it. And then with the advent of self-checkout over the last several years, when you walk in the front door and you just flash your card and do they look at it or not, who knows? People would get in. And if you're going through self-checkout, you're not having to show your membership card to the cashier. And so there's probably an increasing but still small level of abuse of that privilege. And -- but we also had complaints from members saying, "I pay. Why shouldn't they?" So the view was we needed to just shore that up a little bit, and we did. We did it over a period of 6 months, I think about 6 months where we -- first, there was warnings and then ultimately changed. Are we getting some new sign-ups from it? Absolutely. But it's -- relative to the 60 million or 70 million members, it's not terribly meaningful, but it's more fair and the right thing to do.

不，我認為部分原因是——首先，我認為故事情節有時比現實更宏大一些。在新冠疫情期間，我們做了更多的事情——有更多的會員共享。有些人的一位家庭成員（也許不是擁有兩種會員資格之一的家庭成員）帶著媽媽或爸爸的信用卡進入商店，我們允許這樣做。然後隨著過去幾年自助結帳的出現，當你走進前門時，你只需出示你的卡，他們是否會看它，誰知道呢？人們會進去。如果您進行自助結帳，則無需向收銀員出示您的會員卡。因此，濫用這項特權的情況可能有所增加，但仍然很小。而且——但我們也收到了會員的抱怨，“我付錢。為什麼他們不應該付錢？”所以我們的觀點是我們需要稍微支持一下，我們做到了。我們花了 6 個月的時間完成了這件事，我想在這 6 個月裡，我們先提出了警告，然後最終做出了改變。我們是否從中獲得了一些新的註冊？絕對地。但相對於6000萬、7000萬會員來說，這並沒有太大意義，但這是更公平、更正確的做法。

Yes. I mean that was actually -- you started to answer it. So like you've seen some acceleration in membership. Should we kind of expect to see that in the future, like what we've seen with Netflix, for example, as they cut down member sharing?

是的。我的意思是，這實際上是——你開始回答這個問題了。就像您看到會員數量有所增長一樣。我們是否應該期望在未來看到這種情況，就像我們在 Netflix 上看到的那樣，因為他們減少了會員共享？

Right. Well, it seems like Netflix had a much bigger issue or the ability to share was much easier because, first of all, it's electronic. In this sense, you still have to show a card when you walked in. And we're actually doing testing on that, too, in terms of having your card be scanned and reviewed when you walk in. And we've done that in the U.K., I believe, for a few years. And so it's all about just -- I would say it's as much hygiene as anything else. And it will be slightly profitable to the extent that we're making sure everybody -- I think we signed up more members than were nonmembers than lost the small sales that, that nonmember did.

正確的。嗯，Netflix 似乎面臨更大的問題，或者說分享的能力要容易得多，因為首先，它是電子的。從這個意義上說，當你走進去時，你仍然必須出示一張卡片。我們實際上也在對此進行測試，即在你走進去時掃描和審查你的卡片。我們已經在我相信，英國已經持續了幾年。所以這一切都是關於——我想說這和其他事情一樣重要。只要我們確保每個人都獲得一點利潤——我認為我們註冊的會員數量比非會員的數量多於非會員所損失的小額銷售額。

Makes sense. Thanks again, and enjoy the next stage.

說得通。再次感謝，並享受下一階段。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Next question comes from the line of John Heinbockel with Guggenheim Securities.

下一個問題來自古根漢證券公司的約翰·海因博克爾。

Congratulations, Richard. Enjoy your retirement. You'll be missed. So I wonder when you think about -- you don't have many pain points in your clubs. But when you think about kind of throughput and things like, I know you tested BOPUS and costs really didn't make sense there, things like that and/or Scan and Go. Do you think there are some unlocks here to do more volume and/or reduce any pain points?

恭喜你，理查德。享受你的退休生活。我們會想念你的。所以我想知道你的俱樂部沒有太多痛點。但是，當您考慮吞吐量和諸如此類的事情時，我知道您測試了 BOPUS，並且成本確實沒有意義，諸如此類和/或 Scan and Go 之類的事情。您認為這裡有一些解鎖可以增加數量和/或減少任何痛點嗎？

I think the biggest challenge with pain points, first of all, is flow of merchandise and pallets through the system, which we continue to work on and improve. Never -- if you announced this 10 years ago, will you ever have 150 of your 600 U.S. locations doing over $300 million and 40 of them doing over $400 million? The answer would be no, no way, even with inflation. The fact is we're doing a lot more volume than we've ever thought we would do.

我認為痛點的最大挑戰首先是商品和托盤在系統中的流動，我們將繼續致力於和改進。永遠不會——如果你在 10 年前宣布這一點，你的 600 個美國門市中，你會不會有 150 個營業額超過 3 億美元，而其中 40 個營業額超過 4 億美元？答案是否定的，即使在通貨膨脹的情況下也不可能。事實上，我們所做的工作量比我們想像的要多得多。

And so the biggest answer of not only making it a little more efficient but driving more sales is cannibalizing. We find existing members that sometimes will say, "I don't want to go there. It's too busy today." And by opening up that third or fourth unit in that city, we're seeing not an increase by 1/3 or 1/4 of the membership base but a significant increase in sales. And I can't think of anything specifically. We're always doing things with -- oh, David mentioned something here. One of the things we're -- we should be doing shortly is having warehouse inventory online.

因此，不僅要提高效率，還要推動更多銷售，最大的答案就是蠶食。我們發現現有會員有時會說：“我不想去那裡。今天太忙了。”透過在該城市開設第三或第四個單位，我們看到的會員基數不是增加了 1/3 或 1/4，而是銷售額顯著增加。而且我也想不出什麼具體的事情。我們總是和——哦，大衛在這裡提到過一些事情。我們應該盡快做的事情之一就是在線倉庫庫存。

So when you go online to -- now I say that, a couple of people in the room are smiling and says, it may be a few months or a few -- more than a few months, but it will be soon. But at the end of the day, if you look at something to buy online and we have it in a location or 2 in the ZIP code where you typically shop -- in the location you would shop physically, we'll let you know you can buy there. And in many cases, it will be cheaper if you go pick it up yourself because the online costs might be higher -- is typically higher, particularly on the nonfood items. So I think that's something that will help that as well.

所以，當你上網時——現在我這麼說，房間裡有幾個人微笑著說，可能要幾個月或幾個月——超過幾個月，但很快就會。但歸根結底，如果您想在網上購買某樣東西，而我們在您通常購物的郵遞區號中的一個或 2 個地點（您會親自購物的地點）有該商品，我們會通知您可以在那裡購買。在很多情況下，如果你自己去取貨會更便宜，因為網路上的成本可能會更高——通常更高，尤其是非食品商品。所以我認為這也會有所幫助。

And secondly, is there any way to tell, you think about e-mail outreach. I mean it seems to be getting better and more call to action. I think about the 7 days of spring, which you're in the middle of now. Is there any way to tell the productivity of that outreach? And is that driving some of the e-comm pickup?

其次，有沒有什麼方法可以告訴你，你考慮的是電子郵件外展。我的意思是，它似乎變得越來越好，越來越號召人們採取行動。我想起了春天的 7 天，而你現在正處於春天的中間。有什麼方法可以告訴我們外展活動的成效嗎？這是否會推動一些電子商務的發展？

Absolutely. And yes, there is a way to tell. We are looking at it. Again, without going into a lot of detail, a couple of years ago, we brought in a new person in charge from IT in terms of all digital. He's built a team there working closely with merchants and operators but mostly with merchants in terms of doing these types of things. And we've seen, again, lots of improvements with our app, with our desktop. It's getting less clunky by the day and more ability to do some items to drive sales and some promotions like that.

絕對地。是的，有一種方法可以判斷。我們正在研究它。同樣，幾年前，我們從 IT 部門引進了一位新的數位化負責人，但不涉及太多細節。他在那裡建立了一個團隊，與商家和經營者密切合作，但主要是與商家一起做這些類型的事情。我們再次看到我們的應用程式和桌面的許多改進。它一天比一天變得不那麼笨重，並且更有能力做一些項目來推動銷售和類似的促銷活動。

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Horvers with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Chris Horvers。

We'll miss you, Richard, and welcome aboard, Gary. So on the MFI, did you mention how much the FX impacted total MFI growth year-over-year? And more broadly, it seems like it's becoming more competitive to acquire customers in the club channel. Couponing amongst your peers has really accelerated over the past year. Is that what you've observed? And do you think it's still escalating? And how are you responding?

我們會想念你，理查德，歡迎加入，加里。那麼，關於小額信貸機構，您是否提到了外匯對小額信貸機構整體年增率的影響有多大？更廣泛地說，在俱樂部通路中獲取客戶似乎變得越來越有競爭力。在過去的一年裡，同行之間的優惠券確實加速了。這是你所觀察到的嗎？您認為事態還在升級嗎？你的反應如何？

I got to tell you, we -- in the last 12 months, we opened like 3% new locations, and we had a 7-plus percent increase in new members. So we're not trying -- we do have a few promotional things, but I would say we have not increased the types of things we do at all. And you're right. At other places, there's not a day that goes by you can't get a deep discount, much deeper than we've even ever done on an ongoing basis. And so no, we're not doing anything different. I mean are we pleasantly surprised by the rate of new sign-ups? Yes, it's nice to hear and have. And I think the fact that things like social media has helped us with the value proposition. And so no, we're not doing a lot of things in that regard.

我必須告訴你，在過去 12 個月裡，我們新開了 3% 的店，新會員人數增加了 7% 以上。所以我們並沒有嘗試——我們確實有一些促銷活動，但我想說我們根本沒有增加我們所做的事情的類型。你是對的。在其他地方，您每天都可以獲得大幅折扣，甚至比我們一直以來提供的折扣都要低得多。所以不，我們沒有做任何不同的事情。我的意思是我們對新註冊率感到驚訝嗎？是的，很高興聽到並擁有。我認為社群媒體等事物幫助我們實現了價值主張。所以不，我們在這方面沒有做很多事情。

And just from a technical question, one of your peers talks about 10-year renewal rate. The 93% that you quote, does that include like the year 1 renewal or in anyone that comes to the door on one of those digital coupons?

僅從一個技術問題來看，您的一位同行談到了 10 年續訂率。您引用的 93% 是否包括第一年的續約或任何使用其中一張數位優惠券上門的人？

Yes, it does. And we've been doing the same way forever.

是的，它確實。我們一直在做同樣的事情。

Next question comes from the line of Robby Ohmes with Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的羅比·歐姆斯 (Robby Ohmes)。

Richard, my congrats as well. You will be missed very much. Listen, just a quick question. I love the credit card rewards program. It's amazing. It's like the best thing that's ever happened to me, the Citi card you guys do. Is there any issuer change with the late fees or anything going on that could change the rewards program or anything there?

理查德，我也祝賀你。我們會非常想念你的。聽著，只是一個簡單的問題。我喜歡信用卡獎勵計劃。太奇妙了。這就像我經歷過的最好的事情，你們辦的花旗卡。發行人是否會因滯納金而發生任何變化，或者發生任何可能改變獎勵計劃或其他任何事情的事情？

Well, that's the new recent headline of that happening and we'll have to wait and see. Look, at the end of the day, it may change the economics. There are other levers that we've talked to them in the past, our issuing bank, about what we could do, but nothing is done at this point.

好吧，這就是最近發生的新頭條新聞，我們必須拭目以待。看看，最終，它可能會改變經濟。我們過去曾與他們、我們的發卡銀行討論過我們可以做什麼的其他槓桿，但目前還沒有採取任何行動。

Got it. And congrats on your retirement.

知道了。並祝賀您退休。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Next question comes from the line of Laura Champine with Loop Capital.

下一個問題來自 Laura Champine 與 Loop Capital 的關係。

I wish you a long and happy retirement, Richard. It is -- I'm going to go out on a nitpick on the renewal rate. If renewal rate's flat overall but 10 bps better U.S. and Canada, that seems to imply it's not as good in international markets. Is that just some of the sampling that went on in China or what do you think might be driving that?

理查德，我祝你退休生活幸福快樂。是的－我要對續訂率吹毛求疵。如果續訂率整體持平，但美國和加拿大的續約率高出 10 個基點，這似乎意味著國際市場的續約率就沒那麼好。這只是在中國進行的一些採樣嗎？或者您認為可能是什麼推動了這種情況？

Well, that's exactly what it is. When -- first of all, if you just take the total number of members divided by total number of warehouses, I think we're about close to 70,000 households per location. When we opened a unit in not only China but other countries in Asia, we'll have anywhere from 80,000 to 150,000 members that sign up, many of whom are lookie-loos and a year later don't renew. We will start in some new countries with -- once the first batch renew for the first time, you might have a renewal rate in the 50s or at best, low 60s. And then it just, over the next 4 or 5 years, it continues to grow to something that's higher than that. Not -- that's more extreme than we saw 30 years ago in the U.S. and Canada. But nonetheless, that's exactly what you see. So when you -- just opening the 1 unit in Shenzhen or whatever we opened 1.5 years ago in China, that's going to affect the international renewal rate.

嗯，確實如此。首先，如果將會員總數除以倉庫總數，我認為每個地點大約有 70,000 個家庭。當我們不僅在中國而且在亞洲其他國家開設分部時，我們將有 80,000 到 150,000 名註冊會員，其中許多人看起來很糟糕，一年後就不再續約。我們將在一些新的國家/地區開始 - 一旦第一批首次續訂，您的續訂率可能會在 50 多歲，或最多只有 60 多歲。然後，在接下來的四、五年裡，它會繼續成長到比這個更高的水平。不是——這比我們 30 年前在美國和加拿大看到的更加極端。但儘管如此，這正是您所看到的。因此，當您在深圳開設 1 個單位或我們 1.5 年前在中國開設的任何單位時，這將影響國際續約率。

When we look at all other countries, when we look at the 13 -- the 11 other operations outside of U.S. and Canada, that renewal rate generally ticks up a little bit every year like the U.S. and Canada. In U.S. and Canada, by the way, it's been helped also with increased penetration of Executive Members. We have that in several countries but not all countries. The smallest countries, we don't have it in a number of units, and also with auto-renewal, which has helped us in the last several years. And that's, I don't believe, everywhere.

當我們觀察所有其他國家時，當我們觀察美國和加拿大以外的13 個國家（即美國和加拿大以外的其他11 個國家）時，續訂率通常每年都會上升一點，就像美國和加拿大一樣。順便說一句，在美國和加拿大，執行成員滲透率的提高也得到了幫助。我們在幾個國家都有這樣的服務，但不是所有國家都有。在最小的國家/地區，我們在許多單位中都沒有它，並且還具有自動續訂功能，這在過去幾年中對我們有所幫助。我不相信，到處都是這樣。

Got it. That's helpful. Once those clubs mature, the clubs in China, other clubs, new clubs in Asian markets, et cetera, do they tend to -- can you serve a higher number of households there? Meaning, would you expect them to be sustainably above that 70 or so households that you have in an average club?

知道了。這很有幫助。一旦這些俱樂部成熟，中國的俱樂部、其他俱樂部、亞洲市場的新俱樂部等等，他們是否傾向於——你能在那裡為更多的家庭提供服務嗎？意思是，您是否期望他們的數量能夠持續高於平均俱樂部中 70 個左右的家庭數量？

Well, the answer is it is and it does. So the answer is yes. I was at an opening -- I was at 2 months after opening in Osaka, Japan back in October. And on a Sunday, a random Sunday, I was not there on business, but a random Sunday, went over there, you couldn't move in the place. And it was great. It was a wonderful picture to see. So yes, I think that despite the fact that not everybody has cars and despite the fact that people have smaller housing arrangements, value plays well.

嗯，答案是確實如此，而且確實如此。所以答案是肯定的。十月在日本大阪開業兩個月後，我參加了一次開幕典禮。在一個週日，一個隨機的星期日，我不是在那裡出差，但是一個隨機的星期日，去了那裡，你不能在那個地方移動。這太棒了。這是一幅美妙的畫面。所以，是的，我認為儘管並非每個人都擁有汽車，儘管人們的住房安排較小，但價值發揮得很好。

Our last question comes from the line of Corey Tarlowe with Jefferies.

我們的最後一個問題來自科里·塔洛和傑弗里斯的對話。

Congratulations on your retirement. As it relates to big-ticket discretionary items, it seems like that category has improved a little bit. Just wanted to get a little bit of understanding as to what you've seen the underlying that improvement in trends? And then secondarily, on AI, just curious with the recent technology enhancements that the business has made, how you see that impacting the business on a go-forward basis.

恭喜您退休。由於涉及大件非必需品，該類別似乎有所改善。只是想稍微了解一下您所看到的趨勢改善的根本原因？其次，在人工智慧方面，我只是對企業最近所做的技術改進感到好奇，您認為這對企業的未來有何影響。

Sure. Well, in terms of big-ticket discretionary, I think we completely believe that it's some of the things we're doing on our side to better explain the value. I mean it was almost like you did that and sales skyrocketed. 20% and 30% increases in some of those big-ticket categories just over the last couple of months, even if a piece of it is a year-over-year comparison, which I don't even know if it is or it isn't, at the end of the day, it was very evident to us.

當然。嗯，就大宗可自由支配而言，我認為我們完全相信我們正在做的一些事情是為了更好地解釋其價值。我的意思是，就像你這樣做了一樣，銷售額猛增。就在過去幾個月裡，一些高價品類的價格增長了 20% 和 30%，即使其中一部分是同比比較，我什至不知道它是還是不是歸根結底，這對我們來說是非常明顯的。

And then the other comment I mentioned, particularly like in appliances, we're still a very, very small percentage of the total industry. And so it's easier to take market share when you're such a small percent of something so I think that will continue. As regards to AI, we're just in the early innings of that. We've had third-party AI companies, large companies, including ones that are headquartered in Seattle, come out and talk to us. There's a whole list of things that we're doing with -- working with IT and our CEO and our heads of operations and merchandising to see where and how it might fit. But that will be a question for Gary in the future.

然後我提到的另一條評論，特別是在電器領域，我們在整個行業中所佔的比例仍然非常非常小。因此，當你只佔某事物的一小部分時，就更容易佔據市場份額，所以我認為這種情況將會持續下去。至於人工智慧，我們還處於早期階段。我們已經有第三方人工智慧公司、大公司，包括總部位於西雅圖的公司，出來與我們交談。我們正在做一整套事情——與 IT 部門、我們的執行長以及我們的營運和銷售主管合作，看看它適合在哪裡以及如何適合。但這將是加里未來的問題。

Well, thank you, everyone. Again, it's been fun. The thing I'll miss most about the job is talking to everybody because I like talking, and it's been a great story to tell but it's been an absolute privilege. And I appreciate it. So have a good day, and I'm sure we'll be speaking to some of you shortly over the next few days with additional questions. Have a good day.

嗯，謝謝大家。再說一次，這很有趣。這份工作中我最懷念的事情就是與每個人交談，因為我喜歡交談，這是一個很棒的故事，但這是絕對的特權。我很感激。祝你有美好的一天，我相信我們將在接下來的幾天內與你們中的一些人交談並提出其他問題。祝你有美好的一天。

Ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.

女士們，先生們。今天的電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連線。