好市多 (COST) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by. My name is Krista, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Costco Wholesale Corporation third-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

感謝您的支持。我叫克里斯塔，今天我將擔任您的會議主持人。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Costco Wholesale Corporation 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。（操作員指令）

Thank you. I will now turn the conference over to Gary Millerchip, Executive Vice President and Chief Finance Officer. Gary, you may begin your conference.

謝謝。現在，我將會議交給執行副總裁兼財務長 Gary Millerchip。加里，你可以開始你的會議了。

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining the call today. I'd like to start by saying how excited I am to be part of the Costco team, and it is a pleasure to be hosting my first Costco quarterly conference call. The whole Costco team has been incredibly welcoming. And as you might imagine, my first three months working alongside Richard has been a lot of fun.

大家下午好，感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。首先，我要說我很高興成為 Costco 團隊的一員，並且很高興主持我的第一次 Costco 季度電話會議。整個 Costco 團隊都非常熱情。正如你可能想像到的，與理查德一起工作的頭三個月非常有趣。

It's also being great visiting warehouses and facilities to immerse myself in the Costco culture and experience first-hand how this is positioning the company for continued growth. Over recent months, I've spent time and met with many analysts and investors, several of whom I know through my prior role, and it's clear you value and appreciate the company's current approach to investor communications.

參觀倉庫和設施也讓我更能融入 Costco 文化，並親身體驗如何幫助公司持續成長。最近幾個月，我花了一些時間與許多分析師和投資者會面，其中有幾位是我透過以前的職位認識的，很明顯，你們重視並欣賞公司目前與投資者溝通的方式。

While I can't promise to be able to match the humor that Richard Galanti has become famous for, I can promise the same level of open dialogue and transparency you've come to expect. Oh, and to clear up some recent media speculation, I also wanted to confirm the 1.50 hotdog price is safe.

儘管我無法保證能夠達到理查德·加蘭蒂所著稱的幽默水平，但我可以保證達到您所期望的同樣程度的開放對話和透明度。哦，為了澄清最近媒體的一些猜測，我還想確認 1.50 熱狗的價格是安全的。

Before I talk about our results, I wanted to mention that Ron Vachris has also joined today's call. Many of you have expressed interest in hearing from Ron, and so we thought it would be a good idea to have Ron join the discussion, and he can also take a few questions.

在我談論我們的結果之前，我想提一下，Ron Vachris 也參加了今天的電話會議。你們中許多人都表示有興趣聽取羅恩的意見，因此我們認為讓羅恩加入討論是個好主意，他也可以回答幾個問題。

Ron, would you like to add anything before we talk about the quarter?

羅恩，在我們討論本季之前，您想補充什麼嗎？

Thank you, Gary. And again, welcome to Costco. I'm very happy to report that the transition from Richard to Gary has gone very well. And we're very excited to have Gary onboard as part of Costco, and I look forward to working together on the growth opportunities ahead for our company.

謝謝你，加里。再次歡迎來到 Costco。我很高興地告訴大家，從理查德到加里的過渡進展非常順利。我們非常高興 Gary 加入 Costco，我期待與他共同努力，共同創造公司未來的成長機會。

Before we jump into the quarter, I wanted to make a couple of comments on the leadership transition. As Richard has mentioned on previous calls, I've worked closely with Craig Jelinek for many years, including side by side for the last two years as President. And so the CEO transition has been a very seamless process. Since January, my time has been focused on working closely with teams around the world to ensure we continue to deliver the best-quality merchandise at a best value for our members.

在進入本季度之前，我想就領導層的變動發表一些評論。正如理查德在之前的電話中提到的，我與克雷格·傑利內克多年來密切合作，包括在擔任總裁的過去兩年裡並肩合作。因此，執行長的過渡是一個非常順利的過程。自一月以來，我的時間一直集中在與世界各地的團隊密切合作，以確保我們繼續為會員提供最優質、最有價值的商品。

I'm incredibly proud of our employees, and I believe our consistency of results is a reflection of their commitment to our members and to each other. Consistent with how Craig and Richard manage investor communications, I intend to have Gary host the quarterly conference calls, and I will join as business permits to answer a few questions. So Gary, let's go to the results, and I'm happy to jump back in for the Q&A portion to the field some questions today.

我為我們的員工感到無比自豪，我相信我們始終如一的表現反映了他們對我們的會員和彼此的承諾。與 Craig 和 Richard 管理投資者溝通的方式一致，我打算讓 Gary 主持季度電話會議，並且我會在業務允許的情況下加入並回答一些問題。蓋瑞，讓我們來看看結果，我很高興今天回到問答環節來回答一些問題。

Thanks, Ron. I'll 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，羅恩。首先我要說明的是，這些討論將包括 1995 年私人證券訴訟改革法案所定義的前瞻性陳述。這些聲明涉及風險和不確定性，可能導致實際事件、結果和/或表現與這些聲明所示的存在重大差異。

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.

這些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以及公司向美國證券交易委員會提交的公開聲明和報告中不時發現的其他風險。前瞻性陳述僅代表其作出之日的觀點，除非法律要求，否則本公司不承諾更新這些陳述。

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. In today's press release, we reported operating results for the third quarter of fiscal '24 for the 12 weeks ended May 12.

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，不能替代按照 GAAP 呈現的淨銷售額。在今天的新聞稿中，我們報告了截至 5 月 12 日的 12 週的 24 財年第三季的營運表現。

Before I walk through all the numbers, new for this quarter, we are making available a slide presentation on our investor site under Events and Presentations. These slides summarize much of the information I will share today, including Richard's famous matrices. We intend to make this information available every quarter.

在我介紹本季的所有新數據之前，我們將在投資者網站的「活動和簡報」下提供投影片簡報。這些幻燈片總結了我今天將分享的大部分信息，包括理查德著名的矩陣。我們打算每季都提供這些資訊。

Reported net income for the third quarter came in at $1.68 billion, or $3.78 per diluted share, up from $1.3 billion and $2.93 per diluted share in the third quarter last year. Last year's results included a non-recurring charge to merchandise costs of $298 million pretax, or $0.50 per diluted share, primarily for the discontinuation of our charter shipping activities.

報告的第三季淨收入為 16.8 億美元，即每股攤薄收益 3.78 美元，高於去年第三季的 13 億美元和每股攤薄收益 2.93 美元。去年的業績包括一項非經常性商品成本費用，稅前金額為 2.98 億美元，或每股攤薄收益 0.50 美元，這主要是由於我們停止了租船活動。

Net sales for the third quarter were $57.39 billion an increase of 9.1% from $52.6 billion in the third quarter last year. The following comparable sales reflect comparable locations year over year and comparable retail weeks. US comp sales were 6.2% or 6% adjusted for gas inflation and FX. Canada was 7.7% or 7.4% adjusted. Other international was 7.7% or 8.5% adjusted, and this led to total company comp sales of 6.6% or 6.5% adjusted for gas inflation and FX. Finally, e-commerce comp sales were 20.7%, both on a reported basis and adjusted for foreign exchange.

第三季淨銷售額為 573.9 億美元，較去年第三季的 526 億美元成長 9.1%。以下可比較銷售額反映了同比可比地點和年比零售週數的情況。美國同店銷售額為 6.2%，經汽油通膨和外匯調整後為 6%。加拿大成長 7.7%，調整後成長 7.4%。其他國際銷售額經調整後為 7.7% 或 8.5%，這導致公司總銷售額經調整後為 6.6% 或 6.5%（經汽油通膨和外匯調整後）。最後，無論按報告基礎或外匯調整後，電子商務同店銷售額均成長 20.7%。

In terms of Q3, comp sales metrics, traffic or shopping frequency increased 6.1% worldwide and 5.5% in the US. Our average transaction or ticket was up 0.5% worldwide and up 0.7% in the US. Foreign currencies relative to the US dollar negatively impacted sales by approximately 20 basis points, while gasoline price inflation positively impacted sales by approximately 30 basis points.

就第三季而言，全球可比銷售指標、流量或購物頻率成長了 6.1%，美國成長了 5.5%。我們在全球範圍內的平均交易量或票數上漲了 0.5%，在美國上漲了 0.7%。相對於美元的外幣匯率對銷售額產生了約 20 個基點的負面影響，而汽油價格通膨則對銷售額產生了約 30 個基點的正面影響。

Moving down the income statement to membership fee income. We reported membership fee income of $1,123 million an increase of $79 million or 7.6% year over year. Membership fee income growth was 8%, excluding FX. In terms of renewal rates at Q3-end, our US and Canada renewal rate was 93%, up [one-tenth of a percent] from Q2-end. The worldwide rate came in at 90.5%, the same as Q2-end.

將損益表下移至會員費收入。我們報告會員費收入為 11.23 億美元，比去年同期增加 7,900 萬美元，即 7.6%。會員費收入成長 8%，不包括外匯。從第三季末的續約率來看，我們美國和加拿大的續約率為 93%，比第二季末上升了 [百分之十分之一]。全球覆蓋率為 90.5%，與第二季末持平。

We ended Q3 with 74.5 million paid household members, up 7.8% versus last year and 133.9 million cardholders, up 7.4% year over year. By Q3-end, we had 34.5 million paid executive memberships, an increase of 661,000 since Q2-end. Executive members now represent over 46% of paid members and 73.1% of worldwide sales.

截至第三季度，我們擁有 7,450 萬付費家庭成員，比去年增長 7.8%，擁有 1.339 億持卡人，比去年增長 7.4%。截至第三季末，我們擁有 3,450 萬付費高階主管會員，較第二季末增加了 661,000 名。高級會員目前佔付費會員的 46% 以上和全球銷售額的 73.1%。

Our reported gross margin rate in the third quarter was higher year over year by 52 basis points, coming in at 10.84% compared to 10.32% last year and up 54 basis points excluding gas inflation. Core was flat and higher by 2 basis points without gas inflation. In terms of core margin on their own sales, our core-on-core margins were higher by 10 basis points.

我們報告的第三季毛利率年增了 52 個基點，達到 10.84%，而去年同期為 10.32%，若剔除汽油通膨因素則上升了 54 個基點。核心利率持平，在沒有天然氣通膨的情況下上漲了 2 個基點。就其自身銷售的核心利潤率而言，我們的核心利潤率高出了 10 個基點。

Ancillary and other businesses gross margin was lower 6 basis points and lower 5 basis points, excluding gas inflation. This decrease year over year was driven by gas, partially offset by e-commerce. 2% Reward was lower by 1 basis point, both with and without gas inflation, with higher sales penetration coming from our executive members.

輔助及其他業務毛利率下降 6 個基點，不包括天然氣通膨則下降 5 個基點。與去年同期相比，這一下降主要是由於天然氣價格下降，但被電子商務部分抵消。無論是否考慮汽油通膨，2% 的獎勵都降低了 1 個基點，而我們的高階主管成員的銷售滲透率更高。

LIFO was a benefit of 2 basis points. We had an $11 million LIFO credit in Q3 this year compared to no LIFO charge or credit in Q3 last year. This is the third LIFO credit this year, following a $15 million LIFO credit in Q1 and a $14 million credit in Q2.

後進先出法 (LIFO) 的好處是 2 個基點。今年第三季度，我們有 1,100 萬美元的後進先出 (LIFO) 信貸，而去年第三季度則沒有後進先出 (LIFO) 費用或信貸。這是今年以來第三次後進先出法信貸，此前第一季的後進先出法信貸為 1500 萬美元，第二季度的後進先出法信貸為 1400 萬美元。

And finally, other was high at 57 basis points or 56 basis points excluding gas inflation. This was all related to lapping last year's negative impact from the $298 million pretax charge for charter shipping activities.

最後，其他通膨率高達 57 個基點，若不包括天然氣通膨率則為 56 個基點。這一切都與去年 2.98 億美元稅前租船活動費用造成的負面影響有關。

Moving on to SG&A, our reported SG&A rate in the third quarter was lower or better year over year by 15 basis points, coming in this year at 8.96% compared to last year's 9.11%. SG&A was lower year over year by 12 basis points adjusted for gas inflation.

談到銷售、一般及行政費用，我們報告的第三季銷售、一般及行政費用率同比下降或改善了 15 個基點，今年為 8.96%，而去年為 9.11%。經天然氣通膨調整後，銷售、一般及行政開支較上年同期下降 12 個基點。

The operations components of SG&A was lower by 14 basis points and lower by 12 basis points excluding the impact from gas inflation despite an increase in warehouse wages this year. Higher labor productivity and great cost discipline by our operators drove the improved core SG&A results for the quarter. Central was better by 1 basis point and flat without gas inflation. Stock compensation and preopening were both flat year over year.

儘管今年倉庫工資有所增加，但銷售、一般及行政開支的營運部分下降了 14 個基點，如果排除天然氣通膨的影響，則下降了 12 個基點。我們操作員的更高勞動生產力和嚴格的成本控制推動了本季核心銷售、一般及行政管理績效的改善。中央銀行表現好於預期，上漲 1 個基點，且在沒有天然氣通膨的情況下持平。股票補償和開業前支出較去年同期持平。

Below the operating income line, interest expense was $41 million this year versus $36 million last year. And interest income and other for the quarter was flat year over year as lower interest income was offset by a foreign exchange gain in the quarter. In terms of income taxes, our tax rate in Q3 was 26.4% compared to 26.5% in Q3 last year. Overall reported net income was up 29.1% year over year. And excluding last year's charge related to the discontinuation of charter shipping activities, it was up 10.3% year over year.

在營業收入線以下，今年的利息支出為 4,100 萬美元，而去年為 3,600 萬美元。本季的利息收入和其他收入與去年同期持平，因為較低的利息收入被本季的外匯收益所抵銷。在所得稅方面，我們第三季的稅率為 26.4%，而去年第三季為 26.5%。整體報告淨收入年增29.1%。若不計去年因停止租船活動而產生的費用，則年增 10.3%。

A few other items of note. In terms of warehouse expansion, in the third quarter, we opened two new warehouses, both in the US. Additionally, since the end of Q3 we had two more openings.

還有一些其他值得注意的事項。在倉庫擴張方面，第三季我們開設了兩個新倉庫，兩人都是位於美國。此外，自第三季末以來，我們又有兩個空缺職位。

Last week we opened in Loomis, California. And two days ago, we opened our seventh building in China in the Nanjing market. For the remainder of fiscal '24, we plan to open another 12 new locations: 9 in the US, 2 in Japan, and 1 in Korea. This would bring the total for the full year to 30 openings, including 1 relocation for a net of 29 new warehouses.

上週我們在加州洛米斯開業了。兩天前，我們在南京市場開設了中國第七家大樓。在 24 財年的剩餘時間裡，我們計劃再開設 12 家新店：美國 9 家、日本 2 家、韓國 1 家。這樣，全年新開設倉庫總數將達到 30 家，包括 1 家搬遷倉庫，全年新開設倉庫總數將達到 29 家。

Regarding capital expenditures, Q3 spend was approximately $1.06 billion, and we estimate full year '24 capital expenditure will be between $4.3 billion and $4.5 billion.

關於資本支出，第三季支出約為 10.6 億美元，我們預計 24 年全年資本支出將在 43 億美元至 45 億美元之間。

Diving a bit deeper into some of the key themes we saw during the quarter. Non-foods have the highest comps of our core categories. This strength was aided by lapping some softness in sales a year ago, but was really driven by our merchandising teams, doing a great job identifying high-quality items with values that really resonated with our members and buying those items with conviction.

深入探討我們在本季看到的一些關鍵主題。非食品類產品在我們的核心類別中佔有最高份額。這種優勢得益於去年銷售的一些疲軟，但真正推動這一優勢的是我們的銷售團隊，他們出色地找到了與我們的會員真正產生共鳴的、具有價值的優質商品，並讓他們滿懷信心地購買這些商品。

As inflation has leveled off, our members are returning to purchasing more discretionary items and growth in the category was led by toys, tires, lawn and garden, and health and beauty aids. Bakery sales also showed great momentum in the quarter as our fresh foods team has reinvented that department with a number of new and exciting items, including the Kirkland Signature lemon blueberry loaf and morning buns.

隨著通貨膨脹趨於平穩，我們的會員開始重新購買更多的非必需品，而該類別的成長主要由玩具、輪胎、草坪和花園以及健康和美容輔助品所帶動。本季烘焙銷售也表現出強勁勢頭，因為我們的新鮮食品團隊重塑了該部門，推出了許多新的令人興奮的產品，包括 Kirkland Signature 檸檬藍莓麵包和早餐包。

Within our ancillary businesses, the food court had the strongest quarterly sales with continued success of the chocolate chip cookie that was added to the food court this year. On the inflation front, it's more of the same from last quarter. Across all core merchandise, inflation was essentially flat in Q3 with fresh foods close to zero and slight inflation in food and sundries being offset by some deflation in non-foods.

在我們的輔助業務中，美食廣場的季度銷售最為強勁，今年新增的巧克力曲奇餅乾繼續取得成功。就通貨膨脹方面而言，情況與上一季大致相同。在所有核心商品中，第三季通膨率基本持平，其中新鮮食品接近零，食品和雜貨類商品的小幅通膨被非食品類商品的部分通貨緊縮所抵消。

The deflation in non-foods was led by hardware, sporting goods, and furniture, all still benefiting from lower freight costs year over year. Keep in mind that when we speak to inflation or in the case of non-foods deflation, we're referring to our selling prices.

非食品類商品的通貨緊縮主要由五金、體育用品和家具等商品導致，這些商品仍受惠於年減的運費成本。請記住，當我們談到通貨膨脹或非食品通貨緊縮時，我們指的是我們的銷售價格。

We're intentionally creating incremental value for our members by delivering lower prices wherever possible. We believe our strategy of delivering value to drive unit volume and member satisfaction is a winning combination for us.

我們有意盡可能地透過提供更低的價格來為我們的會員創造增量價值。我們相信，透過傳遞價值來推動單位銷售和會員滿意度的策略是我們成功的組合。

In that vein, our buying teams are constantly aware of changing costs across all of their SKUs and are ensuring that we are capturing all cost decreases quickly so that we can pass on incremental value through price reductions. If we are unsuccessful in delivering ultimate value with branded goods, we evaluate the potential for new high-quality Kirkland Signature items with a goal of providing at least 20% value versus what we would sell the national brand item at.

本著這種精神，我們的採購團隊時刻關注所有 SKU 的成本變化，並確保快速掌握所有成本下降情況，以便透過降價傳遞增量價值。如果我們無法透過品牌商品實現最終價值，我們將評估新的高品質 Kirkland Signature 商品的潛力，目標是提供比全國品牌商品售價高出至少 20% 的價值。

This quarter, we released a new Kirkland Signature men's walking shoe and new Kirkland Signature facial wipes, both of which are doing very well. We also reduced prices on a number of existing items, including lowering Kirkland Signature pine nuts from $29.99 to $24.99 and reducing the price of our Kirkland Signature frozen shrimp skewers by $1. These are just a couple of examples that came out of our recent monthly budget meetings, where each country and region shares new and exciting items they have introduced to their warehouses and items where they've lowered prices.

本季度，我們推出了新款 Kirkland Signature 男士步行鞋和新款 Kirkland Signature 臉部濕紙巾，兩款產品都表現良好。我們也降低了一些現有產品的價格，包括將 Kirkland Signature 松子的價格從 29.99 美元降至 24.99 美元，並將 Kirkland Signature 冷凍蝦串的價格降低 1 美元。這些只是我們最近的月度預算會議中得出的幾個例子，每個國家和地區都會分享他們引入倉庫的令人興奮的新商品以及降低價格的商品。

Turning now to digital, we continue to make enhancements to the app and website and are excited about this traction that these initiatives are getting with members. Total e-commerce sales growth in the quarter was led by gold and silver bullion, gift cards, and appliances. In appliances, Costco Logistics is playing a key role in providing both greater value and a better end-to-end experience for members.

現在轉向數位化，我們繼續對應用程式和網站進行改進，並對這些舉措受到會員的歡迎感到興奮。本季電子商務總銷售額的成長主要由金銀條塊、禮品卡和家用電器推動。在家庭電器領域，Costco物流在為會員提供更大的價值和更好的端到端體驗方面發揮關鍵作用。

Deliveries through Costco Logistics were up 28% in the quarter. Costco Next, our curated marketplace, also continues to grow nicely, and we added 8 new vendors in Q3, bringing the total to 75. Our app downloads were up 32% versus a year ago with about 2.5 million new downloads in the quarter, bringing total downloads to more than 35 million. Site traffic was up 16%, and average order value was up 8%.

本季透過 Costco Logistics 配送的貨物成長了 28%。我們精心挑選的市場 Costco Next 也繼續保持良好的成長勢頭，我們在第三季增加了 8 家新供應商，總數達到 75 家。我們的應用程式下載量與去年同期相比成長了 32%，本季新增約 250 萬次下載，總下載量超過 3,500 萬次。網站流量上漲了 16%，平均訂單價值上漲了 8%。

You may have also recently seen an announcement that we are expanding our relationship with Uber. Previously Uber Eats delivered Costco orders in Texas, and this new agreement allows consumers the ability to order from Costco through Uber Eats across all of Canada as well as 17 states in the US. We are also working to expand this partnership to several of our international countries in the coming months.

您可能最近也看到了我們正在擴大與 Uber 關係的公告。此前，Uber Eats 僅在德克薩斯州為 Costco 配送訂單，而根據這項新協議，消費者可以透過 Uber Eats 在整個加拿大以及美國 17 個州從 Costco 訂餐。我們也致力於在未來幾個月內將這種合作關係擴展到我們的幾個國際國家。

In addition to the increased access to Uber Eats customers, the agreement will allow us to sell the Uber gift cards globally and offer discounted Uber One annual membership to Costco members. Finally, in terms of our upcoming releases, we will announce our May sales results for the four weeks ending Sunday June 2, on Wednesday June 5, after market close. Also remember that our fiscal fourth quarter ending September 1, 2024, will have 16 weeks versus the 17 weeks in the fiscal fourth quarter last year.

除了增加 Uber Eats 客戶的訪問量之外，該協議還允許我們在全球銷售 Uber 禮品卡，並向 Costco 會員提供折扣 Uber One 年度會員資格。最後，就我們即將發布的產品而言，我們將在 6 月 5 日星期三收盤後公佈截至 6 月 2 日星期日的四周的 5 月份銷售業績。還要記住，截至 2024 年 9 月 1 日的第四財季將有 16 週，而去年第四財季為 17 週。

And with that, we will now open up for Q&A.

現在，我們將開始問答環節。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。（操作員指令）

Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的西緬古特曼 (Simeon Gutman)。

Good afternoon. Hey, Gary. I'm going to take a stab at this membership question. The way that we thought about is it's an inflation offset to the model. And it was described as if you have enough levers in the middle of the P&L to deliver whenever stated EBIT growth you're trying to do; you didn't need to touch the membership fee. Is that still the way that you look at it? And is that visibility on enough levers still intact?

午安.嘿，加里。我將嘗試解答這個會員資格問題。我們思考的方式是，它是模型的通貨膨脹抵消。並且它被描述為如果你在損益表中間有足夠的槓桿來實現你想要實現的息稅前利潤增長；您無需支付會員費。您現在還是這樣看待這個問題嗎？足夠的槓桿上的可見性是否仍然完好？

Thanks. Simeon. And you're talking about a membership fee increase now. Is that where you question is coming ?

謝謝。西緬。您現在正在談論會員費的上漲。這就是你的疑問所在？

Correct.

正確的。

I would really kind of revert back to some of the comments that Richard shared previously. I don't think that we're thinking about it any differently than he's talked about in the last few calls. We've, historically, looked at increasing the membership fee every five years or so. And obviously, we're beyond that time period now in terms of what would be the typical cycle.

我確實想回顧理查德之前分享的一些評論。我認為我們對此的看法與他在過去幾次通話中所談論的並沒有什麼不同。從歷史上看，我們大約每五年就會考慮增加一次會員費。顯然，就典型的周期而言，我們現在已經超越了那個時間段。

There's nothing about anything that we see within how the business is performing that's changing our view on that. We feel really good about membership renewal rates. We feel really good about the test of delivering significantly more value to members than we were or have since we last increased the membership fee.

我們所看到的業務表現並沒有改變我們對此的看法。我們對會員續訂率感到非常滿意。我們很高興能夠透過這次測試為會員提供比上次提高會員費時更多的價值。

But I think we are our own probably toughest competitor in that we look at what happened in the marketplace over the last few years, and when we were seeing high inflation and the risk and concern around recession, we -- I know before I joined the company was talked about extensively, and it continues to be talked about as it's something that is still a case of when we increase the fee rather than if we increase the fee. But we're still evaluating those considerations to determine what the right timing is. And when we reach that point where we feel is the right time, of course, we'll be very open on directly communicating that.

但我認為，我們自己可能是最強勁的競爭對手，因為我們回顧了過去幾年市場發生的情況，當我們看到高通膨以及經濟衰退的風險和擔憂時，我知道在我加入公司之前就已經被廣泛討論過，而且這個話題還在繼續被討論，因為這仍然是一個何時增加費用而不是是否增加費用的問題。但我們仍在評估這些考慮因素，以確定正確的時機。當我們覺得時機成熟時，我們當然會非常坦誠地直接溝通這一點。

Okay. Fair enough. Can I ask about your opinion on the US expansion? It's been holding in a lot better, and it's been more giving than we would have thought several years ago. Do you have any thoughts? Just your own perspective -- you're probably looking at members per warehouse. Are you surprised at the runway you still have in the US? Do you think it could be even more than what we're aware of today? Less? Just curious if there's anything surprising on that item.

好的。很公平。可以問一下你對美國擴張的看法嗎？它現在的表現比我們幾年前想像的要好得多，而且回報也比我們幾年前想像的要多。你有什麼想法嗎？這只是您自己的觀點——您可能正在查看每個倉庫的成員。您對在美國仍然擁有的跑道感到驚訝嗎？您認為它可能比我們今天所知的還要多嗎？較少的？只是好奇該物品是否有什麼令人驚訝的東西。

I think it's only surprising in as much as -- I know we've talked previously about we thought that we would potentially run out of runway for new warehouses in the US. And as you know, this year, we're opening close to 29 net new warehouses. And many of those will be -- continue in the US, and we still see some significant runway to continue to opening more warehouses in the US in the future.

我認為這唯一令人驚訝的是——我知道我們之前談過，我們認為我們可能會在美國沒有足夠的空間來建造新倉庫。如您所知，今年我們淨增開設近 29 個新倉庫。其中許多將繼續留在美國，我們仍然看到未來繼續在美國開設更多倉庫的重要空間。

I think that 25 to 30 new warehouse counties is a reasonable proxy for what we think the runway is for the foreseeable future for new warehouses. And I'd be surprised if at least half of those weren't in the -- continue to be in the US, because we still see significant growth when we open those new warehouses. And what it's doing for us in fill-in markets is it is creating capacity for our members that are shopping in very busy warehouses today to be able to shop more frequently and drive more engagement with us. And it also increases membership renewal rates over time as well.

我認為，25 到 30 個新倉庫縣是我們認為可預見的未來新倉庫發展的合理指標。如果其中至少有一半不在美國，我會感到驚訝，因為當我們開設這些新倉庫時，我們仍然看到顯著的成長。它在填補市場空缺方面為我們會員創造了容量，使他們能夠更頻繁地購物，並與我們進行更多互動。而且隨著時間的推移，會員續約率也會增加。

So I think we still see plenty of runway in the US to continue to open more warehouses, but we also see a lot of growth opportunity across in the international markets as well.

因此，我認為我們在美國仍有足夠的空間繼續開設更多倉庫，但我們也看到國際市場上有許多成長機會。

Michael Lasser, UBS.

瑞銀的麥可‧拉瑟 (Michael Lasser)。

Good morning -- good afternoon. Thank you so much for taking my question. There's been a lot of announcements from consumable retailers in recent times about making price investments. Do you think you need to make a sizable price investment in next couple of quarters in order to remain competitive?

早安，下午好。非常感謝您回答我的問題。近期有許多消費品零售商發布關於進行價格投資的公告。您是否認為需要在接下來的幾季進行大量的價格投資以保持競爭力？

This is Ron Vachris. No, I think that this is part of our everyday DNA. We are competitive on a daily basis. Our buyers are on top of pricing daily, weekly, and we all review them each month. And so we feel very good about where we are today and our runway to continue to be as competitive as we are moving forward.

這是 Ron Vachris。不，我認為這是我們日常生活 DNA 的一部分。我們每天都在保持競爭力。我們的買家每天、每週都會了解價格，並且我們每個月都會對其進行審查。因此，我們對目前的狀況感到非常滿意，並相信我們將繼續保持競爭力。

My follow-up question is, given some of the changes in leadership over the last year or so, is there any thought given to being more aggressive with some of the evolution on the model? Things like buy online, pickup in store; deploying technology in store; or capitalized being on ever to a great amount of data that Costco has in the form of trying to monetize it through retail media. Thank you very much.

我的後續問題是，考慮到過去一年來領導階層的某些變化，是否有考慮更積極地推進模型的一些改進？例如網上購買，店內取貨；在商店部署技術；或利用 Costco 擁有的大量數據，嘗試透過零售媒體將其貨幣化。非常感謝。

And I think the answer to that is yes on all those fronts. We are working on all those aspects right now. We're rolling out from an expanded buy online, pickup in warehouse. That is always going to be limited in scope based on the volume in our warehouses that we have. We can't expand to all categories, but we're expanding as we currently speak in televisions and other electronic items that are there. And so, yeah, we see that as a real opportunity for us.

我認為，從所有方面來看，答案都是肯定的。我們目前正在致力於所有這些方面。我們正在擴大網路購買、倉庫取貨的服務範圍。根據我們倉庫的庫存量，其範圍總是有限的。我們無法擴展到所有類別，但我們正在擴展，目前涉及電視和其他電子產品。是的，我們認為這對我們來說是一個真正的機會。

Technology is going to be one of our key priorities moving forward -- how do we improve that member engagement and the relationship we have with them in our brick-and-mortar warehouses as well as online and through other aspects such as travel and so forth. So technology, we see is a great opportunity to enhance the member relationship with Costco and also drive a lot more business for us as well as we move forward.

科技將成為我們未來的重點任務之一——我們如何提高會員參與度以及我們在實體倉庫、線上和旅行等其他方面與會員建立的關係。因此，我們認為科技是增強會員與 Costco 關係的絕佳機會，同時也能為我們帶來更多業務並推動我們向前發展。

So we're going to continually innovate. With the management changes, I wouldn't expect major changes as we have a proven strategy now. But as we've done for the past 41 years, we can continue to innovate to the needs of our members.

所以我們將不斷創新。隨著管理層的變動，我不會期待發生重大的變化，因為我們現在有一個經過驗證的策略。但正如我們過去 41 年所做的那樣，我們可以繼續創新以滿足會員的需求。

And then the last on data, absolutely. We see a great opportunity for our data. We have expanded our group there. We have a significant program now with retail media, and we see some great upside potential. We've expanded that team, and we see some good potential and some good runway for us in that as well. Things like personalization and so forth.

最後當然是關於數據。我們看到了數據的巨大機會。我們已經在那裡擴大了我們的團隊。目前，我們與零售媒體合作進行了一項重要計劃，並且我們看到了巨大的上升潛力。我們擴大了團隊，我們也看到了其中的良好潛力和發展空間。諸如個性化等等。

Chuck Grom, Gordon Haskett.

查克·格羅姆、戈登·哈斯凱特。

Hey, good afternoon and congrats again, Gary. Historically, Richard and team have been steadfast on the 14% to 15% margin ceiling, which has clearly paid dividends for the company over the years. I'm curious how you and Ron view this threshold. Are you going to adhere to it? Do you think you're going to earn more? Just your thoughts on the margin front.

嘿，下午好，再次恭喜你，加里。從歷史上看，理查德和他的團隊一直堅持 14% 至 15% 的利潤率上限，這多年來為該公司帶來了豐厚的回報。我很好奇你和榮恩如何看待這個門檻。你會堅持下去嗎？您認為您會賺得更多嗎？這只是您對邊緣方面的想法。

No, with that -- that 14%, 15%, that has been part of ROI for many years. So our objective, our buyers' goals is really how aggressive they can get on pricing and deliver the best value. So I don't see -- there's no plans to move that cap at all.

不，那 14%、15% 多年來一直是投資報酬率的一部分。因此，我們的目標、我們的買家的目標實際上是他們在定價上能有多積極，並提供最好的價值。所以我不明白——根本沒有計劃改變這個上限。

And Chuck, maybe just one thing to build on that too. I think as you think about some of the opportunities that Ron mentioned on the earlier call, I completely echo Ron's comment about we have already clear growth strategy that's, obviously, delivering momentum in the company today, and these opportunities through technology and media, I think, are great opportunities for us to find new ways to unlocking value.

查克，也許這只是在此基礎上的一件事。我認為，當您思考羅恩在早些時候的電話會議上提到的一些機會時，我完全贊同羅恩的評論，我們已經有了明確的增長戰略，顯然，這為今天的公司帶來了發展動力，而這些通過技術和媒體帶來的機會，我認為，是我們找到釋放價值的新方法的絕佳機會。

But again, I think -- i see those very much in the mindset of how do we give 90%-ish of that back to the members so that we're continuing to drive member engagement, member loyalty, and member value.

但我再次認為——我看到人們的想法是如何將其中的 90% 回饋給會員，以便我們繼續推動會員參與度、會員忠誠度和會員價值。

Okay, great. And then just going to build off Michael's questions, just wanted to get your high-level thoughts on digital e-comm. What do you think Costco's strengths are? What do you think that the weaknesses are today? And where do you think the biggest focus is going to be for the company are in the coming years?

好的，太好了。然後，我們繼續回答邁克爾的問題，只是想了解您對數位電子商務的高層想法。您認為 Costco 的優勢是什麼？您認為目前的弱點是什麼？您認為未來幾年公司最大的關注點是什麼？

Our biggest strengths on digital e-commerce, of course, the merchandise and the values that we have. I mean, that's what works for us in our brick and mortar -- the technology, the systems that we have. The teams have got a great road map of where they're going. A lot of the work that's being done right now is very foundational. So better fulfillment, quicker delivery times, reliability of the site, those type of things.

我們在數位電子商務方面的最大優勢當然是我們的商品和價值。我的意思是，這就是我們的實體業務所適用的——我們擁有的技術和系統。這些團隊已經為他們的未來制定了詳細的路線圖。目前正在進行的許多工作都是非常基礎的。因此，更好的履行、更快的交貨時間、網站的可靠性，諸如此類的事情。

So those are the things. And then following that will come iterative changes or forward-facing improvements that you'll see in the sites and move forward. So I think we've got a very good roadmap to do that.

就是這樣的。接下來，您將在網站上看到迭代變更或前瞻性改進，並繼續前進。所以我認為我們有一個非常好的路線圖來實現這一目標。

But I think that does -- I think personalization is a big deal for members that we could do a much better job on and also a better correlation of the warehouse and the online business. We're working towards warehouse inventory online, so members could use that on the apps. But app functionality is one of our greatest opportunities.

但我認為確實如此——我認為個人化對於會員來說是一件大事，我們可以做得更好，同時也能更好地關聯倉庫和線上業務。我們正在努力實現倉庫庫存上線，以便會員可以在應用程式上使用它。但應用程式功能是我們最大的機會之一。

Scot Ciccarelli, Truist Securities.

Truist Securities 的 Scot Ciccarelli。

Thanks, guys. Scot Ciccarelli. So given the strength of your discretionary sales following the level that we've seen with -- as the economy got a little funky, does that suggest your members are starting to feel better and more willing to spend on wants rather than needs?

謝謝大家。斯科特·西卡雷利。那麼，考慮到你們可自由支配的商品銷售額隨著經濟狀況的惡化而保持強勁，這是否意味著你們的會員開始感覺更好，更願意把錢花在想要的東西上，而不是需要的東西上？

It does, indeed, look that way. I've got to tell you that the discretionary spend we're seeing, we're definitely winning in consumables as we see the food business and dining away from home has softened up a bit and people are eating, and we're seeing that in our fresh foods.

看起來確實如此。我必須告訴你，我們看到的可自由支配的支出，我們在消耗品方面肯定是贏家，因為我們看到食品業務和外出就餐已經有所減弱，人們在吃飯，我們在新鮮食品中看到了這一點。

But I have to tell you that categories such as the home division and toys are categories that have lagged quite a bit post-COVID. That with great excitement -- I mean, our buyers have come out and delivered some great items at phenomenal values -- have really rejuvenated those categories. And those are both leading categories for us. And sporting goods, toys furnishings, domestics -- all those categories are really coming on very strong now and all of it, discretionary nature.

但我必須告訴你，家居部門和玩具等類別是疫情後表現相當落後的類別。這令人非常興奮——我的意思是，我們的買家推出了一些價值驚人的優質商品——確實使這些類別煥發了活力。對我們來說，這些都是領先的類別。體育用品、玩具家具、家居用品——所有這些類別現在都發展得非常強勁，而且都屬於可自由支配的性質。

Fascinating. And then, today we had a presentation. Obviously, Ron, you joined the call. Are there other changes we could potentially expect given some of the C-suite changes?

迷人。然後，今天我們做了一個演講。顯然，羅恩，你加入了通話。考慮到部分高階主管的變動，我們還可能期待其他變化嗎？

I mean, again, like I said, there's no major changes planned. The team is the team that's been running this company for some time. Gary has been a great addition to us and is contributing nicely. But our model is working. It's working around the world, great value on quality merchandise. It seems to resonate in every region that we do business.

我的意思是，就像我再說一遍，沒有計劃做出任何重大改變。該團隊是已經運營這家公司一段時間的團隊。加里 (Gary) 對我們而言是一位非常優秀的員工，並做出了巨大的貢獻。但我們的模型是有效的。它在世界各地開展業務，商品品質極高。它似乎在我們開展業務的每個地區都引起了共鳴。

So we'll continue to innovate. We'll continue to see new things and be relative to what our members' needs are. But I can't sit here today and tell you to expect anything -- any great momentous changes in the near future. We just want to continue to actually execute well.

因此我們將繼續創新。我們將繼續關注新事物並關注會員的需求。但今天我不能坐在這裡告訴你們在不久的將來會發生什麼重大的變化。我們只是想繼續切實履行職責。

And Scot, maybe just to add from my perspective of being new to the role and new to the company. Early observations for me, obviously, the -- incredibly impressed with the culture, and the strategy is clearly working very well. So my first priority is to really -- being new to the company is to really acclimatize and to support and enable a smooth transition with the culture to make sure the momentum that we have continues going forward.

史考特，也許只是從我作為新職位和新公司新人的角度補充一下。對我來說，早期的觀察顯然是對這種文化印象深刻，而這種策略顯然非常有效。因此，我的首要任務是──身為公司新人，要真正適應公司環境，並支持和實現公司文化的平穩過渡，以確保我們目前的勢頭能夠繼續向前發展。

And I think the other point is, as we talked about a little bit earlier on the call, is we're on a journey with technology and data. And so hopefully, there's things that I can bring to work with the team and help us continuing on that journey and accelerate that journey. And really that's the priorities in my mind being new into the CFO role.

我認為另一點是，正如我們早些時候在電話會議上談到的那樣，我們正在踏上技術和數據的旅程。因此，我希望能夠為團隊帶來一些東西，幫助我們繼續前進並加速這趟旅程。身為新任財務官，這確實是我心中的首要任務。

Kelly Bania, BMO Capital.

凱利·巴尼亞（Kelly Bania），BMO Capital。

Thanks for taking our questions. And Ron and Gary, pleasure to have you both on the call. And love the slides. Thank you.

感謝您回答我們的問題。羅恩和加里，很高興你們參加電話會議。我也很喜歡幻燈片。謝謝。

Wanted to just maybe go back a little bit to retail media strategy and personalization. I think, Ron, you noted a hire or maybe some key hires in that department. And Gary, I think you bring a unique perspective to this area or both of these areas.

可能只是想回顧一下零售媒體策略和個人化。羅恩，我想你提到了該部門僱用了一名員工或僱用了一些關鍵員工。加里，我認為你對這個領域或這兩個領域都帶來了獨特的見解。

So I guess just can you help size up the opportunity for us on these two fronts in retail media and personalization? Is it at all different than a typical retailer because of Costco's unique model and SKU count or anything along those lines? And I guess would your plans in these areas include any increase in technology spend in coming years?

所以我想您能否幫助我們評估一下在零售媒體和個人化這兩個方面的機會？由於 Costco 獨特的模式和 SKU 數量或類似因素，它與典型的零售商有什麼不同嗎？我想問一下您在這些領域的計劃是否包括未來幾年增加技術支出？

Sure. Thanks, Kelly. Yeah, I'll go first, and then Ron may want to add some color as well.

當然。謝謝，凱利。是的，我先走，然後羅恩可能也想添加一些顏色。

I think many of your comments are relevant to how we think about the opportunity from -- a first thing, I guess, I would say as being new and having joined the company is, as you think about where a lot of companies talk about alternative profit streams, there are a lot of areas today, where Costco is doing great things in that area today. So using and the strength of the membership relationship in driving a very large co-brand payment program that delivers value to members and delivers value to the company, the travel services business that we have, which is pretty unique in retail, but I think in any other company would be viewed as a way of generating new revenue and alternative revenue streams from -- sort of expanding from that overall retail relationship.

我認為您的許多評論都與我們如何看待機會有關——我想說的第一件事是，作為一名新人，作為加入公司的人，您會想到許多公司都在談論替代利潤來源，而如今，Costco 在許多領域都做得很好。因此，利用會員關係的力量來推動一個非常大的聯合品牌支付計劃，為會員帶來價值，為公司帶來價值，我們的旅遊服務業務在零售業中相當獨特，但我認為在任何其他公司都會被視為一種創造新收入和替代收入來源的方式 - 從整體零售關係中進行擴展。

And then thirdly, I would say we have media revenue today in areas of the business. So it's not as though it isn't something that actually the business is delivering on today. But I think as Ron mentioned in an earlier comment that as technology and data or something that was sort of building a path towards, I would still say the significant opportunity for us to grow in that space because of the unique nature of the relationship we have with our members and the ways in which we can deliver value for them and tap into that data and tap into the growth that we're creating, both in the warehouse and through digital channels.

第三，我想說的是，目前我們各個業務領域都有媒體收入。所以，這並不是說今天企業其實沒有達成這個目標。但我認為，正如羅恩在之前的評論中提到的那樣，作為技術和數據或某種正在構建的道路，我仍然會說，我們在這個領域有很大的發展機會，因為我們與會員之間的關係非常獨特，我們可以為他們提供價值，利用這些數據，並利用我們在倉庫和數位管道中創造的增長方式。

I think it's a little bit early to sort of size it in totality, because you're right; there also some unique elements about our model that would make our opportunity a little bit different. But from what we know today and from the team that's been brought in to help the companies in through it, we certainly believe it's got significant runway to drive a lot of growth for the company. And as I mentioned earlier, though, I would definitely think of it is something that we will look at to -- as we do with everything, reinvest in the member to really accelerate the growth of the company overall.

我認為現在對整個情況進行量化還為時過早，因為你是對的；我們的模型還具有一些獨特元素，這些元素會讓我們的機會略有不同。但從我們今天所了解的情況，以及從幫助公司渡過難關的團隊的情況來看，我們確信它具有巨大的發展空間，可以推動公司的大幅成長。正如我之前提到的，我肯定會認為這是我們會考慮的事情——就像我們對待所有事情一樣，對會員進行再投資以真正加速整個公司的成長。

I would have to mirror what Gary says; we do have a unique model. We have a relationship with all of our members. Our responsibility is, use that data wisely and respectfully.

我必須重複加里說的話；我們確實有一個獨特的模型。我們與所有成員都保持著關係。我們的責任是明智而謹慎地使用這些數據。

As far as IT spend, yeah, there will be some IT spend. We don't see -- as we look in the future, we don't see that to be driving that will really change our trajectory of our cap investments, but then there will be some IT requirements, but we feel that will be in the normal course of business.

就 IT 支出而言，是的，會有一些 IT 支出。展望未來，我們並不認為這將真正改變我們的資本投資軌跡，但會有一些 IT 要求，但我們認為這將是正常的業務流程。

John Heinbockel, Guggenheim Securities.

古根漢證券的約翰‧海因博克爾 (John Heinbockel)。

Guys, I wanted to go back to personalization again. Where do you think that conceptually the biggest opportunities are? When you think about wallet share, every one of your members is going to be a little different, but you can probably do cohorts. What are they not buying from you and why? Personalized promotions, outreach on new items coming into the warehouse, where do you think that the biggest opportunities are to build further wallet share?

夥計們，我想再次回到個性化。從概念上來說，您認為最大的機會在哪裡？當你考慮錢包份額時，你的每個成員都會有點不同，但你可能可以進行群組劃分。他們不向您購買什麼以及為什麼？個人化促銷、新商品進入倉庫的推廣，您認為進一步擴大錢包份額的最大機會在哪裡？

John, I'll go ahead and start out. I think the biggest opportunity is, just like you said, the awareness of the warehouse and keeping our members in tune on what's active, what's going on the warehouse near them, and how we can continue to enhance and drive those sales. I think that that's probably our greatest opportunity with digital as we see moving forward.

約翰，我先走了。我認為最大的機會就像你說的一樣，就是對倉庫的認識，讓我們的會員了解當前的活動、他們附近倉庫的情況，以及我們如何繼續提高和推動這些銷售。我認為這可能是我們未來在數位化方面面臨的最大機會。

Personalization is good. We talk here a lot about a fair, reasonable amount of personalization. We never want to compromise the Treasure Hunt of Costco. And that's equally as important as people that go to costco.com never knew that they needed a 16-foot shed, and they see a phenomenal value as they do in the warehouse.

個性化很好。我們在這裡討論了很多關於公平、合理的個人化問題。我們絕不會損害 Costco 的尋寶活動。這同樣重要，因為去 costco.com 的人從來不知道他們需要一個 16 英尺的棚屋，而他們在倉庫中看到了驚人的價值。

And so we don't want to personalize to a detriment. That changes our DNA and who we are. But we do know that there's definitely some improvements we could have that would enhance the member experience, and that's everything that our team is focused on is that how does this move to the member and how does it improve their experience with us digitally.

所以我們不想讓個人化變得有害。這改變了我們的 DNA 和我們的本質。但我們確實知道，我們肯定可以進行一些改進，以增強會員體驗，而這也是我們團隊關注的全部，即如何將其傳遞給會員，以及如何改善他們在數位方面與我們的體驗。

Okay. Maybe -- and then as a follow-up, Gary, you talked a little bit about the core on core. Maybe you step back a little bit if you -- and I know the idea is not necessarily to maximize margin, but maybe some thoughts on core on core this quarter. And I know -- I think there had been pressure on fresh as you kind of normalize post-COVID back to a regular level. Are we now through that process of fresh getting back down to a certain level?

好的。也許——然後作為後續，加里，你談到了核心。也許你會退後一步——我知道我們的想法不一定是為了最大化利潤，但也許會在本季對核心進行一些思考。我知道——我認為在後疫情時代，隨著新鮮食品逐漸恢復正常水平，新鮮食品會面臨壓力。我們現在是否已經完成了重新回到某一層次的過程？

Yeah, thanks, John. Just maybe to give you a little bit more color on the core on core, how it kind of played out during the quarter. So if you think about the three main categories in core between foods and sundries, fresh and non-foods, fresh would have continued to have been slightly lower year over year. And that's a very deliberate strategy for us to make sure we're delivering more value for the member, and we think that's a really important in place for us to drive member engagement and support, especially as we're still seeing some commodities a little bit inflationary right now.

是的，謝謝，約翰。也許只是為了讓您更詳細地了解核心情況，以及它在本季的表現如何。因此，如果您考慮食品和雜貨、新鮮食品和非食品之間的三個主要核心類別，新鮮食品的銷售量比去年同期將繼續略有下降。這是我們非常謹慎的策略，以確保我們為會員提供更多價值，我們認為這對於推動會員參與和支持非常重要，特別是因為我們現在仍然看到一些商品有點通貨膨脹。

So that would have been very much a part of the plan from our perspective. But it was more than offset, as you mentioned, by the improvement in non-food during the quarter, which was what led to the 10-basis-point improvement on core on core. Food and sundry actually was pretty flat overall.

所以從我們的角度來看，這將成為計劃的重要組成部分。但正如您所說，本季非食品市場的改善抵消了這一差距，核心通膨率因此提高了 10 個基點。總體而言，食物和雜物實際上相當平淡。

So we feel good about the way that we're managing the balance while staying true to that principle of delivering the best value for the member. And we were pleased with how it played out during the quarter based on the work all the merchandising teams did.

因此，我們對自己管理平衡的方式感到滿意，同時堅持為會員提供最大價值的原則。基於所有行銷團隊的工作，我們對本季的業績感到滿意。

Peter Benedict, Baird.

彼得·本尼迪克特，貝爾德。

Thanks for taking the question. Ron, maybe one for you. Just kind of back to the member behavior -- maybe back to Scot's question a little bit. Can you just talk about maybe just your observations around maybe income cohorts. Any other ways you bucket or slice your membership base -- just how the behaviors have evolved here over the last several months? Is there any change that you would think is interesting to call out. You talked better general non-foods trends. Just curious if this environment remind you of anything else historically. That's my first question.

感謝您回答這個問題。羅恩，也許有一個適合你。只是回到成員行為 - 也許稍微回到斯科特的問題。能否談談您對收入群體的觀察？您還有其他方式來劃分或細分您的會員基礎嗎？您認為有哪些改變值得關注？您更好地談論了非食品領域的總體趨勢。只是好奇這個環境是否讓你想起歷史上的其他事情。這是我的第一個問題。

Okay. It's a very healthy environment from what we see from our members right now. And as you're taking categories such as our meat department, which is growing very nicely -- a lot of volume being driven in ground beef and our new everyday lower price on boneless, skinless chicken breasts, really driving a lot of volume units there while wagyu beef and prime are growing at a great clip for us as well. So we're seeing that benefit from both sides of the consumer that great value in both areas are doing very well.

好的。從我們目前看到的成員情況來看，這是一個非常健康的環境。以我們的肉類部門為例，該部門的增長勢頭非常好——大量的銷量來自碎牛肉，而我們每天都會降低無骨無皮雞胸肉的價格，這確實推動了該部門的銷量大幅增長，而和牛和優質牛肉的銷量也在快速增長。因此，我們看到，雙方消費者都受益匪淺，兩個領域的巨大價值都表現良好。

The non-foods -- I tell you that non-foods is strictly driven by newness and excitement. And we see big and bulky going very well. It's been a year of our $1,200 swing set that we have on the floor. We can't get enough. They're just blowing out.

非食品－我告訴你，非食品完全是由新鮮感和刺激感驅動的。我們看到大而笨重的產品發展得很好。我們花費 1,200 美元在地板上搭建的鞦韆已經使用了一年。我們永遠不會滿足。它們只是在爆發。

But it's again that continuous innovation of merchandise that is exciting our members and really driving some sales force there. The executive membership continues to -- and that drives our executive base, because people are engaging at a much higher level.

但正是商品的不斷創新讓我們的會員感到興奮，並真正推動了一些銷售力量。高階主管會員資格持續成長——這推動了我們的高階主管基礎，因為人們的參與程度更高了。

Good. So sounds good across the board. We're expecting a dryer to get delivered from Costco Logistics in the next couple of days. So looking forward to that.

好的。所以聽起來整體來說不錯。我們預計 Costco Logistics 將在未來幾天內送貨上門一台烘乾機。我很期待這一點。

And then the second question would be -- yeah, Ron or Gary, to one of you. Just your view on vertical sourcing. I mean, this has been something that Costco has been involved in for several years going across different categories as you guys continue to grow your business. You need more, I guess, definable sources of supply. Just curious your view of vertical sourcing, where you are today and what areas you might focus on over the next several years. Thank you.

然後第二個問題是 - 是的，問你們其中一個人，是羅恩還是加里。這只是您對垂直採購的看法。我的意思是，隨著業務的不斷發展，Costco 多年來一直涉足這一領域，涉及不同的類別。我想，你需要更多可明確的供應源。只是好奇您對垂直採購的看法，您現在的狀況以及未來幾年您可能會關注的領域。謝謝。

Sure. We have we gotten into vertical integration and sourcing as the need arises. And if you think back in the infamous story about the hot dog and (technical difficulty) at $1.50 and how are you going to figure out how to keep that price there. Well, we're going to open our own meat plants. And as we looked at the prices of optical lenses go going up, and then we opened up our optical grinding plants. So we did that to continue to look at those things.

當然。當有需要時，我們就進入垂直整合和採購階段。如果您回想一下那個臭名昭著的熱狗故事，以及（技術難度）1.50 美元的價格，您將如何想出如何將價格保持在那裡。嗯，我們要開辦自己的肉品加工廠。當我們看到光學鏡片的價格上漲時，我們就開設了光學研磨廠。因此我們這樣做是為了繼續觀察這些事情。

The chicken plant came, because we saw an inflection point where supply was not going to meet demand. So we had to get involved, and because we didn't have a partner that was willing to expand in that area as well.

我們之所以建立雞肉加工廠，是因為我們看到了供應無法滿足需求的轉捩點。所以我們必須參與其中，因為我們沒有願意在該領域擴張的合作夥伴。

There is a focus that I have -- group focused on to is that let's not try and be everything though. We've got a business to run here, and we're not going to get vertically integrated just because it's something we can do some. It really is going to be driven by where the needs are and when do you need to step in.

我 — — 團隊的重點是，我們不要試圖成為一切。我們要在這裡經營生意，我們不會因為我們能做一些事情就進行垂直整合。這實際上將取決於需求在哪裡以及何時需要介入。

It's equally -- we have great partners out there that supply our goods for us, and they are long-term suppliers. And so it's -- strategically using that relationship is going to be the key in the future. So there's nothing that I could announce at this time that we're going to expand into. But we continue to keep that in our back pocket should we need to.

同樣，我們擁有優秀的合作夥伴為我們提供商品，他們是長期供應商。所以，從策略上利用這種關係將成為未來的關鍵。因此，目前我還不能宣布我們將要擴展什麼內容。但如果我們需要的話，我們會繼續保留它。

Paul Lejuez, Citigroup.

花旗集團的 Paul Lejuez。

Hey, everyone, this Brandon Cheatham on for Paul. Thanks for taking the question. Recently, you were selling in Instacart gift cards at a discount online and in warehouse. Thought that was pretty interesting, because it's potentially a gift card that could be used at a competitor as well. So I'm just curious, is there any strategy behind that? Are you trying to drive member engagement online? (technical difficulty) any learnings from the initiative?

大家好，這是布蘭登·奇瑟姆 (Brandon Cheatham) 代替保羅 (Paul)。感謝您回答這個問題。最近，您在線上和倉庫以折扣價銷售 Instacart 禮品卡。認為這非常有趣，因為它可能是一張可以在競爭對手處使用的禮品卡。所以我很好奇，這背後有什麼策略嗎？您是否想在線上推動會員參與？（技術難度）從這個舉措中你學到了什麼？

The strategy behind it was another avenue to bring value to our members is really what that was about, is that there is an up-charge on having grocery delivered to home. We work closely with Instacart, and now will Uber to try and keep those costs at a minimum. But they've got people to pay on their side as well.

背後的策略是為我們的會員帶來價值的另一種途徑，真正的意義在於將雜貨送到家中需要支付額外費用。我們與 Instacart 密切合作，現在也將與 Uber 合作，盡力將這些成本保持在最低水準。但他們也需要付錢給別人。

So the partnership was really to how do we continue to enhance that service for our members and drive more sales. And so that was truly the -- yeah, somebody can go out and use that somewhere else, but again, our job is to save the members where we can, be it airline tickets or Uber drive tickets or Instacart shopping. We look at all those opportunities to add value to the member.

因此，合作的真正目的是我們如何繼續為我們的會員提供更好的服務並推動更多的銷售。所以這確實是——是的，有人可以出去在其他地方使用它，但同樣，我們的工作是盡可能地挽救會員，無論是機票、Uber 車票還是 Instacart 購物。我們會尋找所有機會為會員增加價值。

Got it. Thanks. My follow-up -- how do warehouses react when you open an in-fill warehouse? Does it open differently than other new markets? Does the current market feel an impact? And how many warehouses that you opened over the past year would you quantify as in-fill versus new market? Thanks.

知道了。謝謝。我的後續問題是，當您開設一個填充倉庫時，倉庫會如何反應？它的開放方式與其他新市場有何不同？當前市場是否感受到影響？在過去的一年裡，您開設了多少倉庫，可以量化為填補市場還是新市場？謝謝。

I guess, how they react -- we normally have good data before we'll open up an in-fill building, and we can judge based on our member information what cannibalization we'll realize in what building. So we're able to get in front of that and adjust labor and payroll and buying and all those type of things for the upcoming cannibalization that we plan.

我猜，他們會如何反應——我們在開放填充建築之前通常會擁有良好的數據，並且我們可以根據我們的會員資訊判斷我們將在哪座建築中實現什麼樣的蠶食。因此，我們能夠提前做好準備，並調整勞動力、工資單、採購以及我們計劃的即將發生的蠶食行為等所有類型的事務。

And our team does a very good job. They're normally within a percent or so of what the reality is to the execution of where our plans are as well.

我們的團隊做得非常出色。它們通常與我們的計劃執行的實際情況相差百分之一左右。

So we've gotten pretty good at planning those things out. And it's strategic, and the numbers of cannibalized locations, I'd have to tell you, I'd have to say that we probably opened eight this year that cannibalized other buildings. Some may have cannibalized one warehouse, others maybe in the middle. We had one in Toronto that cannibalized four buildings around it, but they've built back their sales within six months.

所以我們已經非常擅長規劃這些事情了。這是具有戰略意義的，我必須告訴你，拆除地點的數量之多，我不得不說，今年我們可能開了八家拆遷地點。有些人可能蠶食了一個倉庫，其他人可能在中間。在多倫多，有一家商店蠶食了周圍的四棟建築，但他們在六個月內就恢復了銷售。

So those are the opportunities where you know -- to Gary's earlier point -- frequency improves significantly, because members can get back into a high-volume club. And so it's strategic cannibalization, if you would, as we look around the world.

所以這些都是機會，正如加里之前所說，頻率顯著提高，因為會員可以回到高容量的俱樂部。所以，如果你願意的話，當我們放眼世界時，這就是戰略蠶食。

Greg Melich, Evercore ISI.

Greg Melich，Evercore ISI。

Hi, thanks. Ron, I wanted to follow up on -- the gross margin cap is still very much in place at 14%, 15%. Is there any reason that SG&A, now that it's back under 9% of sales, couldn't fall to 8% if you keep having the growth that you have?

嗨，謝謝。羅恩，我想跟進一下——毛利率上限仍然保持在 14%、15%。現在銷售、一般及行政費用已回落至銷售額的 9% 以下，如果繼續保持成長勢頭，有什麼理由不能降至 8% 呢？

No, that's a very fair -- that's a very good point. No, we continue to see -- the company, we had a very healthy SG&A number this quarter. Inventory was flowing very well. We had fresh goods coming through the system. Our warehouses did a phenomenal job. SKU counts are in line.

不，這是一個非常公平——非常好的觀點。不，我們繼續看到 - 公司本季的銷售、一般及行政開支數字非常健康。庫存流動非常順暢。我們有新鮮貨物透過系統運送。我們的倉庫表現出色。SKU 數量一致。

And so it's one of those things where all the stars aligned. And this is the way we operate well, when you can deliver that kind of a top-line growth. At our size now, our operators do a tremendous job leveraging that to the SG&A.

所以這就是所有星星排列整齊的事情之一。當您能夠實現這種營收成長時，這就是我們良好的營運方式。以我們目前的規模，我們的營運商在銷售、一般及行政管理方面發揮了巨大作用。

So what could that get to? I'd hate to say 8%, but I do think that we can have continued runway of driving down that number.

那會是什麼結果呢？我不想說是 8%，但我確實認為我們可以繼續降低這個數字。

That's great to hear. And maybe some insight on gas gallons in the quarter. I know it was volatile, and it's certainly a point of pressure for a lot of members and consumers. Did that help the traffic acceleration in the quarter -- gas gallon growth?

我很高興聽到這個消息。也許可以對本季的汽油銷售有一些了解。我知道它很不穩定，這對許多會員和消費者來說肯定是一個壓力點。這是否有助於本季的交通加速——汽油加侖的成長？

Yeah, we were 5% up in gallons. And again, that's -- I think all those things when you can save people on gas, that's also going to lend to your traffic as well. But gallons were up 5% for the quarter.

是的，加侖數增加了 5％。再說一次，那是——我認為當你可以為人們節省汽油時，所有這些事情也會對你的交通有所幫助。但本季加侖數上漲了 5%。

A great number. And if I could follow up on gas, is that still -- is the profitability in gas, Gary, kind of similar versus a year ago or last quarter, or is that trending up or down?

數量很大。如果我可以跟進天然氣的情況，加里，天然氣的盈利能力是否與一年前或上一季相似，還是呈上升或下降趨勢？

Yeah, the gas profitability would have been down a little bit. I think you may have heard me mention in the prepared comments that when we looked at the overall gross margin rate for the quarter, the sort of headwind that we had was in the ancillary businesses, the other businesses. And it was essentially gas that created that headwind.

是的，天然氣獲利能力會略有下降。我想您可能已經聽到我在準備好的評論中提到過，當我們查看該季度的整體毛利率時，我們面臨的阻力來自於輔助業務和其他業務。正是天然氣造成了這種逆風。

So we did see a reduction in gas profitability during the quarter. But overall, the core-on-core margin improvement and e-commerce improvement essentially offset that to bring us pretty close to flat overall when you adjust for gas inflation in the results. So it was down.

因此我們確實看到本季天然氣獲利能力的下降。但總體而言，核心利潤率的提高和電子商務的改善基本上抵消了這一因素，當我們在結果中調整汽油通膨時，我們的整體利潤率接近持平。所以它就下降了。

I would say, in general, we've seen on gas profitability, it's been relatively consistent to slightly improving if you look over the last few years. But obviously, there are points in time when you think about volatility in fuel prices where you can have those ups or downs in any given quarter, and this last quarter was one where we did see a headwind in year-over-year gas profitability.

我想說，總體而言，如果回顧過去幾年，我們看到天然氣的獲利能力一直相對穩定且略有改善。但顯然，當你考慮燃料價格的波動時，在任何一個季度都可能出現上漲或下跌，而上個季度，我們確實看到天然氣盈利能力同比出現逆風。

That's fantastic. Well, welcome. And I'll let somebody else ask about the how much gold volume drove the comp. Take care, guys.

太棒了。嗯，歡迎。我會讓其他人詢問黃金交易量對公司的影響有多大。大家保重。

Rupesh Parikh, Oppenheimer.

魯佩什·帕里克，奧本海默。

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. So just going back to unit growth. In recent years, it's been stuck in that -- let's call that -- mid-20s. It looks like this year will be closer to 30. Just want to get a sense of the opportunities that potentially accelerate that unit growth, especially in the US, just given some of your competitors are planning to accelerate growth from here.

午安.感謝您回答我的問題。我們再回到單位成長問題。近年來，它一直停留在——我們稱之為——25 歲左右的水平。看起來今年就接近30了。只是想了解可能加速單位成長的機會，特別是在美國，因為你們的一些競爭對手正計劃從這裡加速成長。

It is a good -- when you look at -- I talked before about the managed cannibalization and when you do these in-fills, and 29 locations is a solid number for us. As you start getting into in-fills, some of these projects take a little longer. It's a little tougher than -- there's not a whole lot of green land out there for us to go in and open up a warehouse. So we have to do some creative things to find a way to in- fill in a very high market.

這是一個很好的機會——當你看——我之前談到了管理的蠶食以及當你進行這些填充時，29 個地點對我們來說是一個可靠的數字。當你開始進行填充時，其中一些項目會需要更長的時間。這有點困難——因為那裡沒有太多的綠地供我們進去開設倉庫。因此，我們必須採取一些有創意的措施來找到填補高價市場的方法。

International expansion continues to be strong. Some of the countries or regions that we do business in take quite a bit longer to get things done. So I think you'll see that ebb and flow. That number 25 to 29 or 25 to 30 is a good number for us. We feel good with our staffing and leadership and building out the infrastructure behind these warehouses, so we open with great solid support there.

國際擴張持續強勁。我們經營業務的某些國家或地區需要花費相當長的時間才能完成工作。所以我認為你會看到這種潮起潮落。對我們來說，25 到 29 或 25 到 30 這個數字是一個不錯的數字。我們對這些倉庫的員工配備和領導能力以及背後的基礎設施感到滿意，因此我們在那裡開業並獲得了堅實的支持。

Great. And then maybe just one follow-up question. So as you guys added Uber to a number of locations. So as you guys think about the intermediate to longer term, would you expect multiple providers at all Costco US stores over time? So maybe just more the rationale in terms of adding Uber and the longer-term vision.

偉大的。然後可能只有一個後續問題。因此你們在多個地點都增加了 Uber。那麼，當你們考慮中期和長期時，你們是否會預期隨著時間的推移，所有 Costco 美國門市都會有多家供應商？因此，這或許只是增加 Uber 的理由和更長遠的願景。

We saw -- we were testing Uber for some time in Texas. We had a test going on there, and we did see a new cohort of members engagement that are on the Uber platform. Uber also allowed us to expand our international footprint, too. So we're going to be out in Japan, Korea, Taiwan, UK that we'll be expanding and where we don't have grocery delivery now.

我們看到——我們在德克薩斯州測試了 Uber 一段時間。我們在那裡進行了測試，確實看到 Uber 平台上有一群新的會員參與。Uber 也幫助我們擴大了國際影響力。因此，我們將拓展日本、韓國、台灣、英國等目前還沒有提供雜貨配送服務的地方的業務。

So there were some real benefits to that relationship, along with the long-standing Instacart relationship that we had -- has been very good for many years. So we think that it does open up a window for us for some new member engagement, and we also think that it's going to be very good for us internationally and expansion there as well.

因此，這種關係確實帶來了一些好處，而且我們與 Instacart 的長期關係多年來一直非常好。因此，我們認為這確實為我們吸引新成員打開了一扇窗口，我們也認為這對我們的國際業務和擴張非常有利。

Christopher Horvers, JPMorgan.

摩根大通的克里斯多福‧霍弗斯 (Christopher Horvers)。

Hi. Good afternoon. It's Christian Carlino on for Chris. Could you speak to some of the innovation you're seeing in non-foods and anything else you think is driving some of the performance, particularly in discretionary categories? You called out toys, sporting goods, and home. So maybe any incremental color you can provide on those in particular?

你好。午安.克里斯蒂安·卡利諾 (Christian Carlino) 取代克里斯。您能否談談您在非食品領域看到的一些創新，以及您認為推動業績成長的其他因素，特別是在非必需品類別中？你呼喚著玩具、運動用品和家居。那麼您能針對這些具體情況提供一些增量顏色嗎？

And while you're clearly gaining share, when you compare your own performance to some of the syndicated data out there, does the emerging newness suggest there's also somewhat of a rising tide in some of these categories that saw some pull-forward over the pandemic? Thanks.

雖然你們的份額顯然在增加，但當你將自己的表現與一些聯合數據進行比較時，新出現的現像是否表明，在疫情期間有所回升的某些類別中，也出現了一定程度的上升趨勢？謝謝。

Well, yeah. I think if you look at -- if you talk about the home category -- and definitely is furnishings, which is one that was quite soft post-pandemic, that has come back strong in furniture, those type of things. When home decor -- it's been some very unique items. I mean, we've got seven-foot artificial trees that have come in and just exploded out and just blowing out of the warehouses, and those are going at a nice clip.

嗯，是的。我認為，如果你看一下——如果你談論家居類別——肯定是家具，這是大流行後相當疲軟的類別，但在家具等方面已經強勢回歸。當家居裝飾時——它是一些非常獨特的物品。我的意思是，我們進口了七英尺高的人造聖誕樹，它們的數量激增，剛從倉庫中運出，而且它們的速度很快。

Domestics, the most unique items: Swedish dish towels. Import items we're finding from around the world are doing very well. But it really comes down to unique items at great values that are exciting the members in all those categories.

家常用品中最獨特的物品：瑞典洗碗巾。我們發現來自世界各地的進口商品銷售情況都很好。但實際上，這一切都歸結於那些具有巨大價值的獨特商品，它們讓所有類別的會員都感到興奮。

The housewares categories have been great. Sporting goods and toys -- inflatable outdoor toys have been a big, big category for us as well. We've added the Kirkland Signature driver into our golf lineup. That sells out as quick as it goes online. So we're seeing wins in several different categories.

家居用品類別非常棒。運動用品和玩具－充氣戶外玩具對我們來說也是一個很大的類別。我們已將 Kirkland Signature 一號木桿添加到我們的高爾夫球桿產品線中。網上一上架很快就銷售一空。因此，我們在幾個不同的類別中都看到了勝利。

Got it. That's really helpful. And just broadly, are you seeing the competitive environment heat up in terms of peers investing in price, particularly in non-foods? You have some peers talking more and more about looking to drive units. Others are talking about big step-up in appliance promotions recently. So any color on what you're seeing competitively?

知道了。這真的很有幫助。總體而言，您是否看到同行在價格投資方面的競爭環境日益激烈，特別是在非食品領域？有些同行越來越多地談論尋求推動單位發展。其他人則在談論最近家電促銷活動的大幅加強。那您認為競爭態勢如何？

There'll be ebbs and flows with the competition, but I'm very confident that we are always in the right position, and we're staying ahead of that to keep the value there for our members. So those things are cyclical, but we're going to be of value every day.

競爭會有起伏，但我非常有信心，我們始終處於正確的位置，我們將保持領先地位，為我們的會員保持價值。所以這些事情是週期性的，但我們每天都會發揮作用。

And I think maybe just one thing to mention on that -- Ron, too, you mentioned it earlier but with the -- on the appliances, obviously, making sure we're always very competitive on price. But I do think the acquisition of Innovel -- Costco Logistics now -- and the value that we offer members there through both including the delivery and the installation and the removal of the old appliances is proving to be a real differentiator for us on the member experience as well.

我認為也許只需要提一件事——羅恩，你之前也提到過，但對於電器，顯然要確保我們的價格始終非常有競爭力。但我確實認為，收購 Innovel（現在的 Costco Logistics）以及我們透過送貨、安裝和拆除舊電器等方式為會員提供的價值，在會員體驗方面也證明了我們的真正差異化。

Scott Mushkin, R5 Capital.

斯科特·穆甚金（Scott Mushkin），R5 Capital。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. And, Gary, welcome. It's nice to be talking to you at Costco. And Ron, thanks for (technical difficulty) appreciate it.

嘿，大家好。感謝您回答我的問題。歡迎加里 (Gary)。很高興在 Costco 與您交談。羅恩，謝謝你（儘管有技術困難）的讚賞。

So my first question is kind of the opposite of what everyone asks all the time around the fee. But given some of the stuff you've outlined around media and maybe driving the SG&A down, why do you need to increase the fee? Your sales are strong, your fee income growth is strong. So what's -- just because you've always done it doesn't mean you should do it. So what would be the rationale behind driving a fee increase at this point?

所以我的第一個問題跟大家一直在問的費用問題相反。但考慮到您在媒體方面概述的一些內容，以及可能導致銷售、一般及行政費用下降的原因，為什麼您需要提高費用呢？您的銷售業績強勁，您的費用收入成長也強勁。所以——只是因為你一直這樣做並不意味著你應該這樣做。那麼，此時提高費用的理由是什麼？

Fee increases go back to the member in lower prices. I mean, it creates -- that's one of the key parts that we use that money for is that it allows us to broaden that distance from the competition and bring greater values in improving our operation overall for the member. So that's the primary focus.

費用增加會以較低的價格回饋給會員。我的意思是，它創造了——這是我們使用這筆錢的關鍵部分之一，它使我們能夠擴大與競爭對手的距離，並為會員全面改善我們的營運帶來更大的價值。所以這是主要關注點。

OK. And then, my next question actually is -- dovetails on the last one, but you guys talked about the consumer being a little bit better overall. And I guess what I was wondering, is that really a Costco phenomenon? In other words, are you gaining share, and that's what's really driving your improvements in some of these categories like electronics and appliances and big ticket rather than the consumer actually getting better? Is there any way to tease that out?

好的。然後，我的下一個問題實際上是——與上一個問題相吻合，但你們談到消費者總體上會好一點。我猜我是在想，這真的是 Costco 現象嗎？換句話說，你們的市場佔有率是否在成長，而這才是推動你們在電子產品、家電和大件商品等類別中取得進步的真正原因，而不是消費者實際上變得更好？有沒有辦法解決這個問題？

I would say that that's very fair. Our merchants report monthly on industry trends in the country and/or internationally as we're seeing -- and we can see our sales performance compared to the rest of market. And I would think that you're spot on when you say that we're gaining market share.

我想說這非常公平。我們的商家每月都會報告我們所看到的國內和/或國際的行業趨勢——並且我們可以看到與其他市場相比的銷售業績。我認為，您說的我們的市場份額正在增加，這是非常正確的。

Scott, maybe one thing I would just add to it. I think we're all reading a lot about the consumer verticals and what they're going through right now. And I think what we see is that value and quality has never been more important. And so that plays to -- as Ron described earlier -- what we deliver, and we're making sure that the teams are laser-focused on every day, delivering that value and quality. And so I think we're drawing customers to what Costco has offered for many years, and it's never more relevant now based on what we're hearing from members and consumers.

史考特，也許我只想補充一點。我想我們都讀了很多關於消費者垂直行業以及他們現在正在經歷的事情的文章。我認為我們看到的是價值和品質從未如此重要。因此，正如羅恩之前所描述的，這與我們所交付的內容有關，我們確保團隊每天都專注於提供價值和品質。因此，我認為我們多年來一直在吸引顧客購買 Costco 提供的產品，根據我們從會員和消費者那裡聽到的反饋，它現在比以往任何時候都更有意義。

Yeah, we definitely like our Costco here at the Mushkin residence. So thanks, guys. Appreciate it.

是的，我們非常喜歡 Mushkin 住宅區的 Costco。所以謝謝你們。非常感謝。

Edward Kelly, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的愛德華‧凱利。

Hi, good afternoon, everyone. So I wanted to ask you about maybe membership fee increase but in a different way. And you just touched upon it a little bit about membership fee increase just gets reinvested to your members. But can you talk a little bit more about how you think about the areas of reinvestment?

大家下午好。因此我想以不同的方式詢問您是否可以提高會員費。您剛才提到了會員費的增加只是重新投資給您的會員。但您能否進一步談談您對再投資領域的看法？

I'm sure you probably have already done a lot of work around where you would like that to go. Is there anything that's unique about where reinvestment might come to this time around? Just thoughts around that.

我確信您可能已經為實現這一目標做了很多工作。這次再投資有什麼獨特之處嗎？只是圍繞著這個的想法。

It moves as time moves, and you see pricing in categories and where we have the greatest opportunity to be more competitive for our members. And it may be in an area that -- if fresh foods is seeing some price inflation, we may invest more in the fresh foods department for that period of time.

隨著時間的推移，它也會發生變化，您會看到不同類別的定價，而我們也將有最大的機會為我們的會員提供更具競爭力的價格。如果新鮮食品的價格出現上漲，我們可能會在這段時間內對新鮮食品部門投入更多資金。

The nice part about our model with 3,600-3,700 SKUs is we're still quite nimble as big as we are. So we can shift. And based on the needs of our members and where we think the best investment in margin would take care of them, we're able to shift that thought process and move it around.

我們的 3,600-3,700 個 SKU 模型的優點在於，儘管規模很大，但我們仍然非常靈活。所以我們可以轉變。根據我們會員的需求，以及我們認為最好的保證金投資能為他們帶來什麼，我們能夠轉變這種思考過程並進行調整。

So I wouldn't say that there's any set -- Okay, if membership fee goes up, it's going to be spent in these areas. We work as a team, and we continue to monitor it throughout the year, and we act as needed.

所以我不會說有任何規定——好吧，如果會員費上漲，那麼這筆錢將會花在這些領域。我們作為一個團隊工作，全年持續監控，並根據需要採取行動。

Okay. And just a quick follow-up on club throughput. You know, it's remarkable how you drive up to a Costco club, and it's hard to find a place to park, but yet you guys can still comp the way that you do. How are you thinking about throughput, ways to improve that? And I don't know if buy online, pickup is part of that. How do you think about things like scan and go or maybe just club density? Just curious as to how you solve for that over time.

好的。并快速跟進一下俱樂部的吞吐量。你知道，當你開車去 Costco 俱樂部時，很難找到停車的地方，但你們仍然可以按照自己的方式來補償。您如何看待吞吐量以及如何提高吞吐量？我不知道網上購買、取貨是否屬於其中的一部分。您如何看待掃描和前往等事情或只是俱樂部密度？只是好奇你是如何隨著時間的推移解決這個問題的。

A good part of those are things like our e-commerce business, and how we can move out some of those goods out of the warehouse and move that business online. And as Gary spoke to, now that we have control over Costco Logistics, we can bring great value to that experience as well.

其中很大一部分是我們的電子商務業務，以及我們如何將部分商品從倉庫移出並將業務轉移到線上。正如加里所說，既然我們已經控制了 Costco 物流，我們也可以為這種體驗帶來巨大的價值。

We continue to look at the technology. We're testing some front-door scanners that are going to start speeding up our registers significantly. When we get all the scanning and memberships are verified at the front door, it has shown a significant improvement in our register speed. And so, that, in turn, turns over parking spaces much quicker.

我們繼續關注這項技術。我們正在測試一些前門掃描儀，這些掃描儀將大大加快我們的收銀速度。當我們在前門完成所有掃描和會員資格驗證時，我們的註冊速度有了顯著的提高。這樣一來，停車位的周轉速度就會快得多。

So those kind of things, along with strategic in-fills to help open up parking opportunities and gas expansions where those are needed as well. So there are several different levers that we'll continue to pull on how we can best serve the member in that building and where we need to make sure that we can look at throughput.

因此，這些事情，加上策略性的填充，有助於在需要的地方開闢停車機會和擴大天然氣管道。因此，我們將繼續利用幾種不同的手段來決定如何為大樓裡的會員提供最好的服務，以及我們需要確保能夠查看吞吐量的地方。

Oliver Chen, TD Cowen.

奧利佛陳（Oliver Chen），TD Cowen 公司。

Hi, Ron and Gary. You've done some really creative merchandising around UPTs and units per transaction with pickup items and innovation on that Treasure Hunt. What are your thoughts there?

你好，羅恩和加里。您圍繞著 UPT 和每筆交易的單位進行了一些非常有創意的行銷，並在尋寶活動中進行了拾取物品和創新。您有什麼想法？

Also, a big ticket in electronics. Previously, it was a bit of a drag. Just would love your thoughts on what you're seeing there.

此外，這是電子產品領域的一大難題。以前，這有點麻煩。只是想聽聽你對所見所聞的看法。

And third part is marketplace -- the marketplace model and the concession model and alternative inventory models. Just what are your views of opportunities there? Because they're really big ones, and your member is so loyal to you as well. Thank you.

第三部分是市場——市場模型、特許模型和替代庫存模型。您對那裡的機會有何看法？因為他們真的很大，而且你的會員對你也很忠誠。謝謝。

On your UPT, you're asking about the transaction impact?

在您的 UPT 上，您詢問的是交易影響嗎？

And thinking strategically about adding units to people's baskets going forward and merchandising in that way as well -- if it's something you see in terms of an opportunity.

並且從策略上考慮今後在人們的購物籃中增加單位，並以這種方式進行商品推銷——如果您認為這是一個機會。

Absolutely. That's one of the big -- we were just in a session with our grocery divisions and talking there. And we've seen a great success in international foods that have been brought in to the US and then of the like from the US into the other regions of the world where we do business.

絕對地。這是其中一件大事——我們剛剛與食品雜貨部門舉行了一次會議，並在那裡進行了交談。我們看到國際食品進入美國並取得巨大成功，而這些食品隨後也從美國進入我們開展業務的其他地區。

But you want to take care of not only the consumables in the grocery side, but when we bring in an item that's a success in Taiwan or Korea or the UK, then it creates that excitement for the member. That's when we really have done a good job of triggering that impulsive purchase where members are trusting the buyers, and they will add that additional item to their cart. So that's been a big win for us.

但你不僅要照顧食品雜貨方面的消耗品，而且當我們引進在台灣、韓國或英國取得成功的商品時，它就會讓會員感到興奮。那時我們就真正成功地觸發了衝動性購買，會員們信任買家，他們會將額外的商品添加到購物車中。這對我們來說是一個巨大的勝利。

And again, it goes a lot of times with that Treasure Hunt. I mean, you've heard the phrase -- people come in to spend $100 and walk out with $300. That's because our buyers and our operators do a great job in making the warehouses exciting and keeping those on the forefront of what they're -- when they come in there, they do their basic shopping. They pick up a few additional items that just compel them at the time.

再次，尋寶活動進行了很多次。我的意思是，你聽過這句話——人們進來花 100 美元，出來卻帶著 300 美元。這是因為我們的採購員和操作員做了大量工作，使倉庫變得令人興奮，並讓他們始終處於最前沿——當他們進入倉庫時，他們會進行基本的購物。他們挑選了一些當時令他們著迷的額外物品。

I think maybe just to add on that, Ron, too, the nice thing about the opportunity there for us is with trips up by 5%, that's really why the average basket size has been more flat recently, and that's because we've been growing member engagement in consumables, as Ron mentioned, with food and fresh.

我想也許只是想補充一下，羅恩，對我們來說，這個機會的好處是旅行次數增加了 5%，這實際上是為什麼最近平均購物籃大小更加平穩，這是因為我們一直在增加會員對消費品的參與度，就像羅恩提到的那樣，包括食品和新鮮食品。

And so it does present a great opportunity, and I think it also speaks to the team doing a good job of driving more frequency of member visits. So it creates a great opportunity for us to drive more of that basket size as well.

因此，這確實提供了一個很好的機會，我認為這也說明團隊在提高會員訪問頻率方面做得很好。所以這也為我們創造了一個很好的機會來擴大購物籃的規模。

Then your question on marketplace is a significant opportunity for us moving forward. We really do indeed see that. I think especially with our limited SKU count in the warehouse, how can we expand the offering to our members, bring value to their membership card beyond what's within our four walls or what's on costco.com?

那麼您關於市場的問題對於我們未來發展來說是一個重要的機會。我們確實看到了這一點。我認為，特別是在我們倉庫中的 SKU 數量有限的情況下，我們如何擴大向會員提供的服務，為他們的會員卡帶來超越我們店內或 costco.com 上商品的價值？

And we see this as a great growth driver for us in the future and a way to bring expanded value to the members as we look forward. So I'm quite bullish on Costco Next and what that can become in the future.

我們認為這將是我們未來巨大的成長動力，也是我們未來為會員帶來更大價值的方式。因此，我對 Costco Next 以及其未來的發展非常看好。

I think the difference for us on that would be, of course, as we are with Costco Next, it's just being very curated for the members. So, we're unlike a traditional marketplace that is about maybe just sheer volume. For us, it's about making sure the members are getting something that truly is unique and valuable and being consistent to who we are. But there's tremendous upside opportunity there in that regard.

我認為我們在這方面的不同之處當然在於，就像我們與 Costco Next 一樣，它只是為會員精心策劃的。因此，我們與僅注重數量傳統的市場不同。對我們來說，這是為了確保會員獲得真正獨特、有價值的東西，並且與我們保持一致。但在這方面存在著巨大的上昇機會。

Okay. And finally on that big-ticket question, would love any green shoots on electronics or TV. And the last question on Asia; you have same day in China, and you've done a lot of great things in the Asian region. Just would love any update there in terms of progress you made and the big opportunity for more in-fills as well. Thank you.

好的。最後，關於這個大問題，我很想知道有關電子產品或電視方面有任何新的進展。最後一個問題是關於亞洲的；你們在中國度過了同樣的一天，並且在亞洲地區做了很多偉大的事情。我只是希望了解您所取得的進展以及獲得更多填充的巨大機會的最新消息。謝謝。

Yeah, I think just briefly on electronics, so we believe -- I think Ron referenced earlier, we look at a lot of the market data, and we believe that we're winning with the member there in terms of the value that we're delivering. And when we look at our trends versus the markets. So we feel good about our ability to continue to outpace the market there, and we're seeing a good opportunity within digital in particular to really drive more connection with the member and take some of those big-ticket items from the warehouse to online as well.

是的，我只是簡單談一下電子產品，所以我們相信——我想羅恩之前提到過，我們查看了很多市場數據，我們相信，就我們提供的價值而言，我們正在贏得那裡的會員。當我們觀察我們的趨勢與市場。因此，我們對自己繼續領先市場的能力感到很滿意，而且我們看到了數位領域的良好機會，可以真正加強與會員的聯繫，並將一些高價商品從倉庫轉移到線上。

And in Asia, I think it would be consistent with what we've talked about with warehouses in the past that we think all of the markets offer us a great opportunity for growth. Some of those markets in Asia are more mature, but there's still significant opportunities to open new warehouses and fill in those markets. And then, obviously, we have markets like China, where we're really just sort of starting that journey, but there's tremendous growth opportunity as we identify the right path forward in that market.

在亞洲，我認為這與我們過去談論的倉庫問題一致，我們認為所有市場都為我們提供了巨大的成長機會。亞洲的一些市場已經比較成熟，但仍有很大機會開設新倉庫並填補這些市場。然後，顯然，我們還有像中國這樣的市場，我們在那裡才剛開始這段旅程，但只要我們找到這個市場的正確前進道路，就會有巨大的成長機會。

The grocery delivery in China, we're up and going in six buildings. We will just open our seventh warehouse this week, and that will start up this weekend.

在中國，我們的雜貨配送業務已在六棟大樓內進行。我們將於本週開設第七個倉庫，並於本週末投入使用。

It's been a big win for our members. It's delivery within two hours is what is able to be done. And so we're seeing some good incremental stops initially out of that program, and we look forward to good things in the future on that.

對於我們的成員來說，這是一個巨大的勝利。兩小時內送貨是可以做到的。因此，我們看到該計劃最初取得了一些良好的增量進展，並且我們期待未來也能取得良好的進展。

Joe Feldman, Telsey Advisory Group.

喬‧費爾德曼 (Joe Feldman)，Telsey 顧問集團。

Great. Hey, guys. Thanks for taking the question. A lot have been asked, but I just want to ask, with Costco Logistics, what was driving that 28% increase which is very strong? Was it new relationships with some of the other retailers or partnerships? Or just anything you could share on that would be helpful.

偉大的。嘿，大家好。感謝您回答這個問題。很多人問過我這個問題，但我只想問一下，Costco Logistics 的業績為什麼實現瞭如此強勁的 28% 的成長？是與其他一些零售商建立了新的關係還是合作關係？或只要您能分享任何有幫助的內容即可。

Yeah, that is only -- we only deliver Costco members' orders through Costco Logistics. There are no partnerships going through those numbers that you see. We do a trace amount of Sears numbers, but that's not in any of the numbers that we report the growth in. That is just part of the past relationship that's there as well.

是的，只是——我們只透過 Costco Logistics 運送 Costco 會員的訂單。沒有任何合作夥伴關係能夠反映您所看到的數字。我們對西爾斯的數據做了一些統計，但這並不在我們報告成長的任何數字中。這也只是過去關係的一部分。

And it is -- appliances, furnishings, and outdoor were the three big drivers. Appliances, we're almost 30% growth for us in the period. And again, to Gary's point, it's that member value of the all-in, what you see is what you pay price for delivery, installation, haul away, everything you need done at one time; that has really resonated with our members and has been a great driver of sales for us.

事實確實如此——家用電器、家具和戶外用品是三大驅動力。家用電器方面，我們在此期間的成長率接近 30%。再次回到加里的觀點，這就是全包的會員價值，您看到的價格就是您為運送、安裝、運輸等需要一次性完成的所有事情支付的價格；這確實引起了我們會員的共鳴，並且成為了我們銷售的巨大推動力。

Joe, I'll give you the practical example. As a new entrant to the Seattle market, I just had Costco Logistics deliver two mattresses, three TVs, and a couple of chairs as well for me. So that's the kind of stuff, I think, that we're seeing really resonate with members.

喬，我舉一個實際的例子給你聽。身為西雅圖市場的新進者，我剛剛讓 Costco Logistics 給我送了兩張床墊、三台電視和幾把椅子。所以我認為，我們看到的這類事情確實引起了成員的共鳴。

Got it. That's great. Thanks, guys. Thanks, guys. And then, just one other question. I know it's still relatively small, I think, but the Costco Next, is that -- it seems like it's ramping nicely. I guess how will that continue to ramp in the future? Like where do you see that going and how important is that a driver? Like is that the basis for this marketplace that Oliver was just asking about?

知道了。那太棒了。謝謝大家。謝謝大家。然後，還有一個問題。我知道它仍然相對較小，但 Costco Next 似乎正在順利發展。我猜測未來這種情況會如何繼續發展？您認為這將走向何方以及其作為驅動力有多重要？這就像奧利佛剛才問到的這個市場的基礎嗎？

As Gary mentioned earlier, Costco Next is a bit unique good; it is a fully curated marketplace. There's many other marketplaces out there that are just for somebody to go on and sell goods on this marketplace. These are relationships that our buyers have (technical difficulty) well.

正如 Gary 之前提到的，Costco Next 有點獨特；這是一個完全精心策劃的市場。還有許多其他市場，僅供人們在此市場上銷售商品。這些都是我們的買家擁有的（技術難度）良好的關係。

This has not only been a new way to sell goods; we've also found that we can find some really neat items that are selling through Costco Next that we, in turn, then bring into our warehouse. So it is a great testing ground for newness, new items, a way to expand categories of accessories for certain categories that, -- you have swing sets that we sell online, but you have additional swings and slides and other activities that you sell that we normally wouldn't be able to fit into a warehouse.

這不僅是一種銷售商品的新方式；我們還發現，我們可以找到一些透過 Costco Next 銷售的非常好的商品，然後我們將其帶入我們的倉庫。因此，它是新穎性、新物品的絕佳試驗場，也是擴展某些類別配件類別的一種方式——您有我們在線銷售的鞦韆，但您還有額外的鞦韆和滑梯以及其他您銷售的活動，而這些我們通常無法放入倉庫。

So it really complements the core warehouse business but gives us an opportunity to expand member value to these other partners as well. So we see a lot of upside there.

因此，它確實補充了核心倉庫業務，同時也為我們提供了向其他合作夥伴擴大會員價值的機會。因此，我們看到了很多好處。

We have no further questions in our queue. And with that, this does conclude today's conference call. Thank you for your participation, and you may now disconnect.

我們沒有其他問題了。今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與，您現在可以斷開連接。