達樂 (DG) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Robert, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to Dollar General's Second Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. Today is Thursday, August 25, 2022. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded. (Operator Instructions)

早上好。我叫羅伯特，今天我將擔任您的會議接線員。在這個時候，我想歡迎大家參加 Dollar General 的 2022 年第二季度收益電話會議。今天是 2022 年 8 月 25 日，星期四。（操作員說明）正在錄音。 （操作員說明）

Now I'd like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Donny Lau, Vice President of Investor Relations and Corporate Strategy. Mr. Lau, you may begin the conference.

現在，我想將會議轉交給您的主持人，投資者關係和企業戰略副總裁 Donny Lau 先生。劉先生，您可以開始會議了。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. On the call with me today are Todd Vasos, our CEO; Jeff Owen, our COO; and John Garratt, our CFO. Our earnings release issued today can be found on our website at investor.dollargeneral.com under News & Events.

謝謝大家，大家早上好。今天與我通話的是我們的首席執行官 Todd Vasos；傑夫歐文，我們的首席運營官；和我們的首席財務官 John Garratt。我們今天發布的收益報告可以在我們的網站investor.dollargeneral.com 的新聞和事件下找到。

Let me caution you that today's comments include forward-looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Such a statements about our financial guidance, strategy, initiatives, plans, goals, priorities, opportunities, investments, expectations or beliefs about future matters and other statements that are not limited to historical fact. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections. These factors include, but are not limited to, those identified in our earnings release issued this morning under Risk Factors in our 2021 Form 10-K filed on March 18, 2022, and any later filed periodic report and in the comments that are made on this call. You should not unduly rely on forward-looking statements, which speak only as of today's date. Dollar General disclaims any obligation to update or revise any information discussed in this call unless required by law.

讓我提醒您，今天的評論包括 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》中定義的前瞻性陳述。此類關於我們的財務指導、戰略、舉措、計劃、目標、優先事項、機會、投資、期望或信念的陳述未來事項和其他不限於歷史事實的陳述。這些陳述受到風險和不確定性的影響，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期和預測存在重大差異。這些因素包括但不限於我們今天上午發布的收益報告中確定的因素，這些因素在我們於 2022 年 3 月 18 日提交的 2021 年 10-K 表格中的風險因素下，以及任何後來提交的定期報告中以及在這個電話。您不應過度依賴前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅在今天發表。除非法律要求，否則 Dollar General 不承擔更新或修改本次電話會議中討論的任何信息的義務。

At the end of our prepared remarks, we will open the call up for your questions. (Operator Instructions).

在我們準備好的評論結束時，我們將打開電話詢問您的問題。 （操作員說明）。

Now it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Todd.

現在我很高興將電話轉給 Todd。

Thank you, Donny, and welcome to everyone joining our call. We are pleased with our second quarter results, and I want to thank our associates for delivering another quarter of strong performance and for their dedication to serving our customers, communities and each other.

謝謝你，唐尼，歡迎大家加入我們的電話。我們對第二季度的業績感到滿意，我要感謝我們的員工在另一個季度取得了強勁的業績，並感謝他們致力於為我們的客戶、社區和彼此服務。

The quarter was highlighted by comp sales growth of 4.6%, a slight increase in customer traffic, accelerated growth in market share of highly consumable product sales, including in both dollars and units, and double-digit growth in diluted EPS. Our Q2 performance was led by stronger-than-expected sales in our consumable category. This increase was partially offset by a decline in our combined non-consumable categories, which we believe reflects the evolving consumer demand during a period of inflation and economic uncertainty.

本季度的亮點是複合銷售額增長 4.6%，客戶流量略有增加，包括美元和單位在內的高消耗產品銷售的市場份額加速增長，以及攤薄後每股收益的兩位數增長。我們的第二季度業績是由我們的消耗品類別的強於預期的銷售引領的。這一增長被我們綜合非消耗品類別的下降部分抵消，我們認為這反映了在通貨膨脹和經濟不確定時期不斷變化的消費者需求。

During the quarter, and from a position of strength, we made targeted investments in both incremental labor hours and wages to further enhance the customer experience and build on our sales momentum. We believe these investments contributed to an improvement in our overall in-stock position and our strong sales results. And despite challenges from rising product cost inflation and ongoing supply chain pressures, our teams remain focused on controlling what we can control, while continuing to deliver value for our customers, which we believe is seen even more important in the current environment.

在本季度，我們憑藉優勢地位，在增加工時和工資方面進行了有針對性的投資，以進一步提升客戶體驗並鞏固我們的銷售勢頭。我們相信這些投資有助於改善我們的整體庫存狀況和強勁的銷售業績。儘管產品成本通脹上升和供應鏈壓力持續存在挑戰，但我們的團隊仍然專注於控制我們可以控制的東西，同時繼續為我們的客戶創造價值，我們認為這在當前環境下更為重要。

To that end, we remain committed to offering products at the $1 or less price point, and we're pleased with the strong performance of this program during Q2, especially in the latter part of the quarter. Importantly, we continue to feel very good about our price position relative to competitors and other classes of trade. And with more than 18,500 stores located within 5 miles about 75% of the U.S. population, we believe we are well positioned to navigate the current environment, while continuing, to support our customers through our unique combination of value and convenience.

為此，我們仍然致力於以 1 美元或更低的價格提供產品，我們對該計劃在第二季度的強勁表現感到高興，尤其是在本季度的後半部分。重要的是，相對於競爭對手和其他貿易類別，我們繼續對我們的價格定位感到非常滿意。超過 18,500 家商店位於 5 英里範圍內，約占美國人口的 75%，我們相信我們能夠很好地駕馭當前環境，同時繼續通過我們獨特的價值和便利組合來支持我們的客戶。

Looking ahead, we remain focused on advancing our operating priorities and strategic initiatives as we look to strengthen our competitive position, while further distancing and differentiating Dollar General from the rest of the retail landscape.

展望未來，我們將繼續專注於推進我們的運營重點和戰略計劃，以加強我們的競爭地位，同時進一步疏遠和區分 Dollar General 與零售業的其他部分。

Now let me recap some of the additional financial results for the second quarter. Net sales increased 9% to $9.4 billion, compared to net sales of $8.7 billion in Q2 of 2021. From a monthly cadence perspective, comp sales were lowest, but positive in May, with July being our strongest month of performance, and I'm pleased with the momentum we see so far in Q3. In fact, as a result of our first half outperformance and strong start to Q3, as well as our expectations for the remainder of the year, we are increasing our sales outlook for fiscal 2022, which John will discuss in more detail shortly.

現在讓我回顧一下第二季度的一些額外財務結果。淨銷售額增長 9% 至 94 億美元，而 2021 年第二季度的淨銷售額為 87 億美元。從月度節奏的角度來看，5 月的複合銷售額最低，但為正，7 月是我們表現最強勁的月份，我對我們迄今為止在第三季度看到的勢頭感到滿意。事實上，由於我們上半年的出色表現和第三季度的強勁開局，以及我們對今年剩餘時間的預期，我們正在提高我們對 2022 財年的銷售前景，約翰將很快對此進行更詳細的討論。

Our Q2 results included an increase in average basket size, largely driven by inflation, as we would expect during a more challenging economic environment. Average units per basket were down, while, as I mentioned earlier, customer traffic increased slightly.

正如我們在更具挑戰性的經濟環境中所預期的那樣，我們第二季度的結果包括平均籃子規模的增加，這主要受通貨膨脹的推動。每個籃子的平均單位數下降，而正如我之前提到的，客戶流量略有增加。

As the quarter progressed, we saw additional signs of our core customers shopping more intentionally and closer to need, as well as an increase in trade down activity. For example, during Q2, customers appeared to be making trade-offs of some of their food choices, contributing to an increase in private brand penetration within our consumables business. We also saw growth in the number of higher-income households shopping with us, which we believe reflects more consumers choosing Dollar General as they seek value.

隨著本季度的進展，我們看到更多跡象表明我們的核心客戶更有意、更接近需求地購物，以及降價活動的增加。例如，在第二季度，客戶似乎在權衡他們的一些食物選擇，這有助於提高自有品牌在我們的消費品業務中的滲透率。我們還看到與我們一起購物的高收入家庭數量有所增長，我們認為這反映了更多消費者在尋求價值時選擇了 Dollar General。

Collectively, we view our Q2 results as further validation that our strategic actions, which have transformed this company in recent years, positions us well for continued success, while supporting long-term shareholder value creation. We continue to operate in one of the most attractive sectors in retail. And given our strong competitive position, further enhanced by our robust portfolio of short- and long-term initiatives, I have never felt better about the underlying business model or our future growth potential.

總的來說，我們認為我們的第二季度業績進一步驗證了我們近年來改變這家公司的戰略行動，使我們能夠為持續成功做好準備，同時支持長期股東價值創造。我們繼續在零售業最具吸引力的行業之一開展業務。鑑於我們強大的競爭地位，再加上我們強大的短期和長期舉措組合進一步增強，我對潛在的商業模式或我們未來的增長潛力感到前所未有的好。

With that said, I'd like to take this opportunity to congratulate Jeff Owen, who will officially take over as CEO in November. No one understands and embodies our culture more than Jeff, and his contributions to our strategic direction over the years have been instrumental to our success. I've had the pleasure of working with Jeff for many years, and I'm confident he is the best and most capable person to lead the next phase of growth here at Dollar General.

話雖如此，我想藉此機會祝賀 Jeff Owen，他將於 11 月正式接任 CEO。沒有人比 Jeff 更了解和體現我們的文化，多年來他對我們戰略方向的貢獻對我們的成功至關重要。我很高興與 Jeff 共事多年，我相信他是領導 Dollar General 下一階段增長的最佳和最有能力的人。

And finally, while Jeff will speak more to this later, I also want to congratulate John Garratt on his well-deserved promotion to President and CFO.

最後，雖然 Jeff 稍後會對此進行更多說明，但我也想祝賀 John Garratt 當之無愧地晉升為總裁兼首席財務官。

With that, I will now turn the call over to John.

有了這個，我現在將把電話轉給約翰。

Thank you, Todd, and good morning, everyone. First, let me take a moment to thank Todd for his tremendous leadership and passion for our customers, our culture and this company. He has been a wonderful mentor and friend, and we wish him all the very best as he prepares to begin this new chapter. And let me also add my congratulations to Jeff, who I have known and worked closely with for several years. He is a highly respected leader throughout the organization, and we look forward to his leadership in the years ahead.

謝謝你，托德，大家早上好。首先，讓我花點時間感謝托德對我們的客戶、我們的文化和這家公司的巨大領導和熱情。他一直是一位出色的導師和朋友，我們祝他一切順利，因為他準備開始新的篇章。讓我也祝賀傑夫，我認識他並與之密切合作了幾年。他是整個組織中備受尊敬的領導者，我們期待他在未來幾年的領導。

Given Todd has taken you through a few highlights of the quarter, let me now take you through some of its important financial details. Unless we specifically note otherwise, all comparisons are year-over-year. All references to EPS refer to diluted earnings per share and all years noted refer to the corresponding fiscal year. As Todd already discussed sales, I will start with gross profit.

鑑於托德帶您了解了本季度的一些亮點，現在讓我帶您了解一些重要的財務細節。除非我們另有特別說明，否則所有比較都是同比。所有對每股收益的引用均指稀釋後的每股收益，所有註明的年份均指相應的財政年度。正如托德已經討論過銷售，我將從毛利潤開始。

For Q2, gross profit as a percentage of sales was 32.3%, an increase of 69 basis points. This increase was primarily attributable to higher inventory markups, partially offset by a higher LIFO provision, a greater proportion of sales coming from our consumables category, as well as increases in markdowns, transportation costs, distribution costs and damages. Of note, product cost inflation was greater than anticipated, resulting in a LIFO provision of approximately $144 million during the quarter.

第二季度，毛利潤佔銷售額的百分比為 32.3%，增加了 69 個基點。這一增長主要是由於更高的庫存加價，部分被更高的後進先出條款抵消，更大比例的銷售額來自我們的消耗品類別，以及降價、運輸成本、分銷成本和損壞的增加。值得注意的是，產品成本膨脹高於預期，導致本季度後進先出準備金約為 1.44 億美元。

SG&A as a percentage of sales was 22.6%, an increase of 82 basis points. This increase was driven by expenses that were greater as a percentage of sales, the most significant of which were retail labor, repairs and maintenance, utilities and payroll taxes.

SG&A 佔銷售額的百分比為 22.6%，增加了 82 個基點。這一增長是由佔銷售額百分比更高的費用推動的，其中最重要的是零售勞動力、維修和保養、公用事業和工資稅。

Moving down the income statement. Operating profit for the second quarter increased 7.5% to $913 million. As a percentage of sales, operating profit was 9.7%, a decrease of 13 basis points. Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 22.1% and compares to 21.4% in the second quarter last year. Finally, as Todd noted, EPS for the second quarter increased 10.8% to $2.98.

向下移動損益表。第二季度營業利潤增長 7.5% 至 9.13 億美元。營業利潤佔銷售額的百分比為 9.7%，下降 13 個基點。我們本季度的有效稅率為 22.1%，而去年第二季度為 21.4%。最後，正如托德所說，第二季度每股收益增長 10.8% 至 2.98 美元。

Turning now to our balance sheet and cash flow, which remains strong and provide us the financial flexibility to continue investing for the long term, while delivering significant returns to shareholders. Merchandise inventories were $6.9 billion at the end of the second quarter, an increase of 31.4% overall and 25.1% on a per store basis. Similar to Q1, this increase primarily reflects the impact of product cost inflation, as well as a greater mix of higher-value products, particularly in the home and seasonal categories as a result of the continued rollout of our nonconsumables initiative. And importantly, we continue to believe the quality of our inventory is in good shape.

現在轉向我們的資產負債表和現金流，它們仍然強勁，為我們提供了繼續長期投資的財務靈活性，同時為股東帶來了可觀的回報。第二季度末商品庫存為 69 億美元，整體增長 31.4%，單店增長 25.1%。與第一季度類似，這一增長主要反映了產品成本上漲的影響，以及更高價值產品的更多組合，特別是由於我們繼續推出非消耗品計劃，在家庭和季節性類別中。重要的是，我們仍然相信我們的庫存質量狀況良好。

As Todd noted, we're also pleased with the improvements we saw in our in-stock levels during the quarter and expect continued improvement as we move through 2022, underscoring our optimism that we are well-positioned to better serve our customers in the back half of the year.

正如托德所指出的，我們也對本季度庫存水平的改善感到高興，並預計隨著我們進入 2022 年會繼續改善，這突顯了我們的樂觀情緒，即我們有能力更好地為後面的客戶提供服務半年。

Year-to-date through Q2, the business generated cash flows from operations totaling $948 million, a decrease of 28%. Total capital expenditures for the first half were $659 million and included our planned investments in new stores, remodels and relocations, distribution and transportation projects and spending related to our strategic initiatives.

年初至今到第二季度，該業務產生的經營現金流總額為 9.48 億美元，下降了 28%。上半年的總資本支出為 6.59 億美元，包括我們對新店、改造和搬遷、分銷和運輸項目的計劃投資以及與我們的戰略計劃相關的支出。

During the quarter, we repurchased 1.5 million shares of our common stock for $349 million and paid a quarterly dividend of $0.55 per common share outstanding for a total payout of $124 million. At the end of Q2, the remaining share repurchase authorization was $1 billion. We announced today that our Board has increased this authorization by $2 billion.

在本季度，我們以 3.49 億美元的價格回購了 150 萬股普通股，並支付了每股 0.55 美元的季度股息，總支出為 1.24 億美元。在第二季度末，剩餘的股票回購授權為 10 億美元。我們今天宣布，我們的董事會已將此授權增加 20 億美元。

Our capital allocation priorities continue to serve us well and remain unchanged. Our first priority is investing in high-return growth opportunities, including new store expansion and our strategic initiatives. We also remain committed to returning significant cash to shareholders through anticipated share repurchases and quarterly dividend payments, all while maintaining our current investment-grade credit rating and managing to a leverage ratio of approximately 3x adjusted debt to EBITDAR.

我們的資本配置優先事項繼續為我們服務，並保持不變。我們的首要任務是投資於高回報的增長機會，包括新店擴張和我們的戰略舉措。我們還繼續致力於通過預期的股票回購和季度股息支付向股東返還大量現金，同時保持我們目前的投資級信用評級，並管理調整後債務與 EBITDAR 的槓桿比率約為 3 倍。

Moving to an update on our financial outlook for fiscal 2022. We continue to experience uncertainties with respect to product cost inflation, supply chain dynamics, the evolution of consumer spending throughout the year, and most recently, new store opening delays, which Jeff will discuss in more detail. Despite these challenges, we are confident in the business, and as Todd mentioned, we are increasing our sales outlook for 2022. For the full year, we now expect the following: net sales growth of approximately 11%, including an estimated benefit of approximately 2 percentage points from the 53rd week and same-store sales growth of approximately 4% to 4.5%.

繼續更新我們 2022 財年的財務展望。在產品成本通脹、供應鏈動態、全年消費者支出的演變以及最近的新店開業延遲方面，我們繼續面臨不確定性，傑夫將對此進行討論更詳細。儘管存在這些挑戰，但我們對業務充滿信心，正如托德所說，我們正在提高 2022 年的銷售前景。對於全年，我們現在預計如下：淨銷售額增長約 11%，其中估計收益約為從第 53 週起 2 個百分點，同店銷售額增長約 4% 至 4.5%。

Additionally, we are reiterating the remainder of our financial guidance for 2022, which includes EPS growth of approximately 12% to 14%, including an estimated benefit of approximately 4 percentage points from the 53rd week, share repurchases of approximately $2.75 billion and capital spending in the range of $1.4 billion to $1.5 billion. Our EPS outlook also now assumes an effective tax rate in the range of 22% to 22.5%.

此外，我們重申了我們對 2022 年財務指導的其餘部分，其中包括每股收益增長約 12% 至 14%，其中包括從第 53 週起估計約 4 個百分點的收益、約 27.5 億美元的股票回購和資本支出14 億至 15 億美元的範圍。我們的每股收益展望現在還假設有效稅率在 22% 至 22.5% 之間。

Let me now provide some additional context as it relates to our outlook. In terms of the quarterly cadence, we anticipate comp sales to be fairly consistent between Q3 and Q4, but EPS growth to be much higher in the fourth quarter, which includes the anticipated benefit from the 53rd week. In addition, we expect share repurchases in Q3 to be slightly higher than the Q2 amount before increasing more substantially in Q4, partially as a result of the extra week in our fourth quarter. Finally, as a result of an increase in interest rates and additional borrowings, we expect interest expense will be higher in the second half of the year.

現在讓我提供一些與我們的前景相關的額外背景。就季度節奏而言，我們預計第三季度和第四季度的複合銷售額相當一致，但第四季度的每股收益增長要高得多，其中包括第 53 週的預期收益。此外，我們預計第三季度的股票回購量將略高於第二季度的數量，然後在第四季度大幅增加，部分原因是第四季度的額外一周。最後，由於利率上升和額外借款，我們預計下半年的利息費用將更高。

Turning now to gross margin for 2022. We expect to continue realizing benefits from our initiatives, including DG Fresh and NCI throughout the year. In addition, we are optimistic that distribution and transportation efficiencies, including continued expansion of our private fleet, will drive additional benefits despite anticipated and continued cost pressures in the near term. Offsetting some of these benefits is an expected continuation of sales mix pressure, as well as sales outperformance as our sales outperformance has been predominantly driven by growth in our consumables category, which generally has a lower gross profit rate than other product categories.

現在轉向 2022 年的毛利率。我們預計全年將繼續從我們的舉措中受益，包括 DG Fresh 和 NCI。此外，我們樂觀地認為，儘管短期內預期和持續的成本壓力，分銷和運輸效率，包括我們私人車隊的持續擴張，將帶來額外的好處。抵消其中一些好處的是預期持續的銷售組合壓力以及銷售業績，因為我們的銷售業績主要是由我們的消耗品類別的增長推動的，該類別的毛利率通常低於其他產品類別。

With regards to SG&A, we expect continued investments in our strategic initiatives as we further their rollouts. However, in aggregate, we continue to expect they will positively contribute to operating profit and margin in 2022 as we expect the benefits to gross margin from our initiatives will more than offset the associated SG&A expense.

關於 SG&A，我們預計隨著我們進一步推出戰略計劃，將繼續投資於我們的戰略計劃。然而，總的來說，我們繼續預計它們將在 2022 年為營業利潤和利潤率做出積極貢獻，因為我們預計我們的舉措對毛利率的好處將超過相關的 SG&A 費用。

We also continue to pursue efficiencies and savings through our Save to Serve program, including Fast Track, and we believe these savings in 2022 will continue to offset a portion of expected wage inflation. Finally, and consistent with Q2, our outlook includes continued investments to further enhance the customer experience, including incremental labor hours and wages to drive continued improvement in overall in-stock levels and customer service.

我們還繼續通過我們的 Save to Serve 計劃（包括 Fast Track）來追求效率和節約，我們相信 2022 年的這些節約將繼續抵消部分預期的工資通脹。最後，與第二季度一致，我們的展望包括繼續投資以進一步提升客戶體驗，包括增加工時和工資，以推動整體庫存水平和客戶服務的持續改善。

In summary, we are proud of our team's hard work and commitment to execution, which has resulted in our strong second quarter results. As always, we continue to be disciplined in how we manage expenses and capital with the goal of delivering consistent, strong financial performance, while strategically investing for the long term. We remain confident in our business model and our ongoing financial priorities to drive profitable same-store sales growth, healthy new store returns, strong free cash flow and long-term shareholder value.

總之，我們為我們團隊的辛勤工作和對執行的承諾感到自豪，這導致了我們強勁的第二季度業績。與往常一樣，我們將繼續嚴格管理費用和資本，目標是提供一致、強勁的財務業績，同時進行長期戰略投資。我們對我們的商業模式和持續的財務優先事項充滿信心，以推動盈利的同店銷售增長、健康的新店回報、強勁的自由現金流和長期股東價值。

With that, I will turn the call over to Jeff.

有了這個，我會把電話轉給傑夫。

Thank you, John. Let me take a moment to express my appreciation for all Todd has done for this company throughout his 14-year career. He's led us through a transformational period and has positioned us extremely well for the future. On behalf of the entire Dollar General team, we want to sincerely thank him for the impact he has made on our business. I am fortunate to have been able to learn from him, and I look forward to his ongoing counsel.

謝謝你，約翰。讓我花一點時間對托德在其 14 年的職業生涯中為這家公司所做的一切表示感謝。他帶領我們度過了轉型期，並為我們的未來做好了充分的準備。我們代表整個 Dollar General 團隊，衷心感謝他對我們業務的影響。我很幸運能夠向他學習，我期待著他的持續諮詢。

And as Todd noted, we are excited to announce that John has been promoted to President, while continuing to serve as CFO. John has made many significant contributions to Dollar General during his time leading our finance and corporate strategy teams, and I look forward to his continued leadership and partnership as he steps into this new role.

正如托德所說，我們很高興地宣布，約翰已被提升為總裁，同時繼續擔任首席財務官。約翰在領導我們的財務和企業戰略團隊期間為 Dollar General 做出了許多重大貢獻，我期待他在擔任這一新職務時繼續發揮領導作用和夥伴關係。

Finally, let me also say how humbled and privileged I am by the opportunity to serve this great team as the next CEO of Dollar General. I couldn't be more excited about our future and all that we can accomplish together.

最後，讓我也說一下，有機會作為 Dollar General 的下一任首席執行官為這個偉大的團隊服務，我感到多麼謙卑和榮幸。我對我們的未來以及我們可以共同完成的一切感到無比興奮。

Now let me take the next few minutes to update you on our operating priorities and strategic initiatives as we continue to create opportunities for meaningful growth. Our first operating priority is driving profitable sales growth. We continue to make progress executing against our robust portfolio of initiatives. Let me take you through some of the recent highlights.

現在，讓我在接下來的幾分鐘內向您介紹我們的運營重點和戰略計劃，因為我們將繼續為有意義的增長創造機會。我們的首要經營任務是推動可盈利的銷售增長。我們繼續在執行我們強大的舉措組合方面取得進展。讓我帶你看看最近的一些亮點。

Starting with our nonconsumable initiative, or NCI, which was available in nearly 15,000 stores at the end of the second quarter. We continue to be very pleased with the strong sales and margin performance we are seeing across our NCI store base. This treasure hunt offering continues to resonate with value-seeking customers as approximately 80% of the assortment is priced at $5 or less. We expect to realize ongoing sales and margin benefits from NCI in 2022, and are on track to complete the rollout across nearly the entire chain by the end of the year.

從我們的非消耗品計劃 (NCI) 開始，該計劃於第二季度末在近 15,000 家商店推出。我們繼續對我們在 NCI 商店基礎上看到的強勁銷售和利潤率表現感到非常滿意。這種尋寶產品繼續引起尋求價值的客戶的共鳴，因為大約 80% 的產品價格為 5 美元或更低。我們預計在 2022 年實現 NCI 的持續銷售和利潤收益，並有望在年底前完成幾乎整個鏈條的推廣。

Moving to our pOpshelf store concept, which further builds on our success and learnings with NCI. As a reminder, pOpshelf aims to engage customers by offering a fun, affordable and differentiated treasure hunt experience delivered through continually refreshed merchandise, a differentiated in-store experience and exceptional value with the vast majority of our items priced at $5 or less.

轉向我們的 pOpshelf 商店概念，這進一步建立在我們與 NCI 的成功和學習的基礎上。提醒一下，pOpshelf 旨在通過提供有趣、實惠和差異化的尋寶體驗來吸引客戶，這些體驗通過不斷更新的商品、差異化的店內體驗和卓越的價值來提供，我們的絕大多數商品的價格都在 5 美元或以下。

During the quarter, we opened 14 new pOpshelf locations, bringing the total number of stores to 80, located within 8 states. Additionally, we opened 7 new store-within-a-store concept during the second quarter. This brings the total number of Dollar General market stores, which incorporates a smaller footprint pOpshelf store to a total of 32 at the end of the quarter. We plan to nearly triple the pOpshelf store count this year, and now expect to open a total of 15 store-within-a-store concepts, which would bring us to about 150 stand-alone pOpshelf locations and approximately 40 store-within-a-store concepts by year-end.

本季度，我們開設了 14 家新的 pOpshelf 門店，使門店總數達到 80 家，分佈在 8 個州內。此外，我們在第二季度開設了 7 個新的店中店概念。這使 Dollar General 市場商店的總數在本季度末達到了 32 家，其中包括佔地面積較小的 pOpshelf 商店。我們計劃今年將 pOpshelf 門店數量增加近三倍，現在預計將開設總共 15 家店中店概念，這將使我們擁有約 150 個獨立的 pOpshelf 門店和約 40 家店中店- 年底前存儲概念。

Over the long term, we anticipate year 1 annualized sales volumes for these stores to be between $1.7 million and $2 million per store, and expect the average gross margin rate to exceed 40%. Overall, we continue to be pleased with the results of this unique and differentiated concept, and we are excited about our goal of approximately 1,000 pOpshelf locations by year-end 2025.

從長期來看，我們預計這些門店第一年的年化銷售額將在每家門店 170 萬美元到 200 萬美元之間，平均毛利率將超過 40%。總體而言，我們繼續對這一獨特和差異化概念的結果感到滿意，我們對到 2025 年底實現約 1,000 個 pOpshelf 地點的目標感到興奮。

Turning now to DG Fresh, which is a strategic, multiphase shift to self-distribution of frozen and refrigerated goods, along with a focus on driving continued sales growth in these areas. As a reminder, we completed the initial rollout of DG Fresh across the entire chain in 2021, and are now delivering to nearly 19,000 stores from 12 facilities. The initial objective of DG Fresh was to reduce product cost on our frozen and refrigerated items, and we continue to be very pleased with the savings we are seeing.

現在轉向 DG Fresh，這是一個向冷凍和冷藏商品自我分銷的戰略性多階段轉變，同時專注於推動這些領域的持續銷售增長。提醒一下，我們於 2021 年在整個連鎖店完成了 DG Fresh 的首次推出，現在從 12 個設施向近 19,000 家商店提供服務。 DG Fresh 的最初目標是降低我們冷凍和冷藏產品的產品成本，我們繼續對所看到的節省感到非常滿意。

Another important goal of DG Fresh is to increase sales in frozen and refrigerated categories. We are also pleased with the performance on this front, including enhanced product offerings in stores and strong performance from our perishables department, which had our strongest rate of comp sales growth during the first half of the year. Looking ahead, we expect to realize additional benefits from DG Fresh as we continue to optimize our network, further leverage our scale, deliver an even wider product selection and build on our multiyear track record of growth in cooler doors and associated sales.

DG Fresh 的另一個重要目標是增加冷凍和冷藏品類的銷售額。我們也對這方面的表現感到滿意，包括增強的商店產品供應和我們的易腐品部門的強勁表現，該部門在今年上半年的銷售增長率最高。展望未來，隨著我們繼續優化我們的網絡、進一步利用我們的規模、提供更廣泛的產品選擇以及建立我們在冷藏門和相關銷售方面的多年增長記錄，我們預計將從 DG Fresh 獲得更多收益。

And while produce was not included in our initial rollout, we continue to believe that DG Fresh provides a potential path forward to expanding our produce offering to more than 10,000 stores over time. Notably, at the end of Q2, we offered produce in more than 2,700 stores, with plans to expand this offering to a total of more than 3,000 stores by the end of 2022. Finally, as I previously mentioned, DG Fresh has also extended the reach of our cooler expansion program.

雖然我們最初推出的產品不包括農產品，但我們仍然相信 DG Fresh 提供了一條潛在的道路，可以將我們的農產品供應擴展到 10,000 多家商店。值得注意的是，在第二季度末，我們在 2,700 多家商店提供農產品，併計劃到 2022 年底將這種產品擴展到總共 3,000 多家商店。最後，正如我之前提到的，DG Fresh 還擴展了我們的冷卻器擴展計劃的覆蓋範圍。

During Q2, we added over 17,000 cooler doors across our store base, and we are on track to install more than 65,000 cooler doors in 2022. Importantly, despite the meaningful improvements we have made to date as a result of DG Fresh, we believe we still have significant opportunity to drive additional returns with this initiative in the years ahead.

在第二季度，我們在我們的商店基礎上增加了 17,000 多扇冷藏櫃門，我們有望在 2022 年安裝超過 65,000 扇冷藏櫃門。重要的是，儘管迄今為止我們因 DG Fresh 取得了有意義的改進，但我們相信我們在未來的幾年裡，仍然有很大的機會通過這一舉措來推動額外的回報。

Turning now to an update on our health initiative, branded as DG Wellbeing. The initial focus of this project is an expanded health offering, which consists of approximately 30% more feet of selling space and up to 400 additional items as compared to our standard offering. This offering was available in approximately 2,700 stores at the end of Q2, and we are on track to expand to a total of more than 4,000 stores by the end of 2022.

現在轉向我們的健康計劃的更新，品牌為 DG Wellbeing。該項目的最初重點是擴大健康產品，與我們的標準產品相比，它包括大約 30% 的銷售空間和多達 400 件額外的物品。到第二季度末，該產品在大約 2,700 家門店中提供，我們有望在 2022 年底前將門店總數擴大到 4,000 多家。

During the quarter, we announced the establishment of a new Healthcare Advisory Panel, which recently convened its first quarterly meeting. The panel is composed of highly regarded health care industry subject matter experts who will serve as thought partners to our team, including advising on how best to invest resources to better serve our customers in the health and wellness space.

在本季度，我們宣布成立新的醫療保健諮詢小組，該小組最近召開了第一次季度會議。該小組由備受推崇的醫療保健行業主題專家組成，他們將作為我們團隊的思想夥伴，包括就如何最好地投資資源以更好地為健康和保健領域的客戶提供建議。

Looking ahead, our plans include further expansion of our health offering, with the goal of increasing access to basic health care products and ultimately services over time, particularly in rural America. In addition to the gross margin benefits associated with the initiatives I just discussed, we continue to pursue other opportunities to enhance gross margin, including improvements in private brand sales, global sourcing, supply chain efficiencies and shrink reduction.

展望未來，我們的計劃包括進一步擴大我們的健康服務，目標是隨著時間的推移增加獲得基本醫療保健產品和最終服務的機會，特別是在美國農村地區。除了與我剛才討論的舉措相關的毛利率收益外，我們還將繼續尋求其他機會來提高毛利率，包括改善自有品牌銷售、全球採購、供應鏈效率和減少收縮。

To that end, we recently announced plans to significantly increase our supply chain capacity by building 3 new distribution centers in North Little Rock, Arkansas; Aurora, Colorado; and Salem, Oregon. Each facility will be approximately 1 million square feet and supported in part by our growing private fleet. We expect to begin construction on the Arkansas and Oregon facilities this fall, with both of which will be combo traditional and fresh distribution centers. We have already begun construction on the Colorado facility, which will be a traditional dry goods distribution center. We are excited about these new projects, which we expect will add more than 1,000 new jobs supporting our ongoing store growth and drive additional efficiencies in our supply chain.

為此，我們最近宣布計劃通過在阿肯色州北小石城建立 3 個新的配送中心來顯著提高我們的供應鏈能力；科羅拉多州奧羅拉；和俄勒岡州塞勒姆。每個設施將大約 100 萬平方英尺，部分由我們不斷增長的私人車隊提供支持。我們預計今年秋天將在阿肯色州和俄勒岡州開始建設設施，這兩個設施都將成為傳統和新鮮的配送中心。我們已經開始在科羅拉多工廠建設，這將是一個傳統的干貨配送中心。我們對這些新項目感到興奮，我們預計這些新項目將增加 1,000 多個新工作崗位，以支持我們持續的商店增長並提高我們供應鏈的效率。

Our second priority is capturing growth opportunities. Our proven high-return, low-risk real estate model has served us well for many years and continues to be a core strength of our business. In the second quarter, we completed a total of 790 real estate projects, including 227 new stores, 533 remodels and 30 relocations. For 2022, we are updating our real estate plans to reflect adjustments made primarily in response to ongoing delays related to permitting and the receipt of construction materials associated with the new store openings. For 2022, we now plan to execute in the range of 2,930 to 2,980 real estate projects in total, including 1,010 to 1,060 new stores, approximately 1,795 remodels and about 125 store relocations.

我們的第二要務是抓住增長機會。我們久經考驗的高回報、低風險房地產模式多年來一直為我們服務，並繼續成為我們業務的核心優勢。二季度，我們共完成房地產項目790個，其中新店227個，改造533個，搬遷30個。對於 2022 年，我們正在更新我們的房地產計劃，以反映主要針對與新店開業相關的許可和接收建築材料相關的持續延誤而做出的調整。到 2022 年，我們現在計劃總共執行 2,930 至 2,980 個房地產項目，其中包括 1,010 至 1,060 家新店、約 1,795 家改造和約 125 家門店搬遷。

We continue to expect approximately 80% of our new Dollar General stores in 2022 to be in our larger 8,500 square foot store format, which allows us for an even greater assortment as we look to serve our customers with products they want and need. Importantly, we continue to be very pleased with the unit economics of this larger format, highlighted by increased sales productivity, and we continue to target returns in the range of 20% to 22%.

我們繼續預計，到 2022 年，我們大約 80% 的新 Dollar General 商店將採用我們更大的 8,500 平方英尺商店形式，這使我們能夠提供更多種類的產品，因為我們希望為客戶提供他們想要和需要的產品。重要的是，我們繼續對這種更大格式的單位經濟性感到非常滿意，特別是銷售效率的提高，我們繼續將回報率設定在 20% 到 22% 的範圍內。

In addition to our planned Dollar General and pOpshelf growth in 2022, we are very excited about our plans to expand internationally, and we continue to make good progress towards our goal of opening our first stores in Mexico by the end of 2022.

除了我們計劃在 2022 年實現 Dollar General 和 pOpshelf 增長之外，我們對國際擴張計劃感到非常興奮，我們將繼續朝著 2022 年底在墨西哥開設第一家門店的目標取得良好進展。

I am pleased to announce that these stores will be branded under the name [The Super] Dollar General, which resonated well with customer focus groups and connotes the idea of a local general store focused on serving customers with products they want and need most. In addition, the initial stores will be located in underserved communities in Northern Mexico as we look to initially leverage our brand awareness, while extending our value and convenience proposition to a customer base that is similar to our core customer in the United States. Overall, our real estate pipeline remains robust. And with more U.S. brick-and-mortar stores than any retailer, we are excited about our ability to capture significant growth opportunities in the years ahead.

我很高興地宣布，這些商店將以 [The Super] Dollar General 的名稱命名，這與客戶關注群體產生了良好的共鳴，並暗示了當地綜合商店的理念，專注於為客戶提供他們最想要和最需要的產品。此外，最初的商店將位於墨西哥北部服務不足的社區，因為我們希望最初利用我們的品牌知名度，同時將我們的價值和便利主張擴展到與我們在美國的核心客戶相似的客戶群。總體而言，我們的房地產管道仍然強勁。由於美國實體店的數量比任何零售商都多，我們對我們在未來幾年抓住重大增長機會的能力感到興奮。

Next, our digital initiative, which is an important complement to our physical footprint as we continue to deploy and leverage technology to further enhance convenience and access for customers. Our efforts remain centered around creating a digital front porch to our stores as we look to create deeper and more meaningful connections with our customers. We ended Q2 with nearly 4.5 million monthly active users on the digital app and expect this number to grow as we look to further enhance our digital offerings.

接下來，我們的數字計劃是對我們實體足蹟的重要補充，因為我們將繼續部署和利用技術來進一步提高客戶的便利性和訪問權限。我們的努力仍然集中在為我們的商店創建一個數字前廊，因為我們希望與我們的客戶建立更深入、更有意義的聯繫。在第二季度末，我們在數字應用程序上擁有近 450 萬月活躍用戶，並且隨著我們尋求進一步增強我們的數字產品，預計這一數字會增長。

Our partnership with DoorDash continues to resonate with both new and existing customers as we look to extend the value offering of Dollar General, combined with the convenience of same-day delivery and an hour or less. This offering was available in more than 13,300 stores at the end of Q2, and we continue to be very pleased with the results, including sales above our initial expectations for the first half of the year.

我們與 DoorDash 的合作夥伴關係繼續引起新老客戶的共鳴，因為我們希望擴大 Dollar General 的價值提供，以及當日送達和一小時或更短時間的便利性。該產品在第二季度末已在 13,300 多家商店推出，我們繼續對結果感到非常滿意，其中包括上半年的銷售額高於我們最初的預期。

In addition, we are also excited about the continued growth of our DG Media Network. We are seeing significant interest in participation from CPG companies and brands who are seeking to connect with the more than 80 million unique customer profiles, especially our rural customers, who represent about 30% of the country and allude the reach of other retail media networks. As a result, we are enabling advertisers to both digitally and physically build awareness and drive purchase consideration, while positioning Dollar General as a retailer of choice for customers seeking many of America's most trusted brands.

此外，我們也對 DG Media Network 的持續增長感到興奮。我們看到 CPG 公司和品牌對參與的極大興趣，他們尋求與超過 8000 萬獨特的客戶檔案建立聯繫，尤其是我們的農村客戶，他們代表了該國約 30% 的人口，並暗示了其他零售媒體網絡的影響力。因此，我們使廣告商能夠在數字和物理上建立意識並推動購買考慮，同時將 Dollar General 定位為尋求許多美國最受信任品牌的客戶的首選零售商。

After establishing the foundation over the last few years, we are beginning to meaningfully grow this business, as we expand the program and enhance the value proposition for both our customers and brand partners, while increasing the overall net financial benefit for the business.

在過去幾年奠定了基礎之後，我們開始有意義地發展這項業務，因為我們擴大了計劃並增強了對客戶和品牌合作夥伴的價值主張，同時增加了業務的整體淨財務收益。

Overall, our strategy consists of building a digital ecosystem specifically tailored to provide our customers with an even more convenient, frictionless and personalized shopping experience, and we are pleased with the growing engagement we are seeing across our digital properties.

總體而言，我們的戰略包括建立一個專門定制的數字生態系統，為我們的客戶提供更方便、無摩擦和個性化的購物體驗，我們對我們在數字資產中看到的日益增長的參與感到高興。

Our third operating priority is to leverage and reinforce our position as a low-cost operator. We have a clear and defined process to control spending, which continues to govern our disciplined approach to spending decisions. This zero-based budgeting approach, internally branded as Save to Serve, keeps the customer at the center of all we do, while reinforcing our cost control mindset. Our Fast Track initiative is a great example of this approach, where our current goals include increasing labor productivity in our stores and enhancing customer convenience. The first phase of Fast Track consisted of both rolltainer and case pack optimization, which has led to the more efficient stocking of our stores. The second component of Fast Track is self-checkout, which provides customers with another flexible and convenient checkout solution, while also driving greater efficiencies for our store associates.

我們的第三個運營重點是利用和鞏固我們作為低成本運營商的地位。我們有一個明確而明確的流程來控制支出，這將繼續指導我們嚴格的支出決策方法。這種從零開始的預算方法，內部品牌為“節省服務”，將客戶放在我們所做的一切的中心，同時加強我們的成本控制心態。我們的快速通道計劃就是這種方法的一個很好的例子，我們當前的目標包括提高我們商店的勞動生產率和提高客戶便利性。 Fast Track 的第一階段包括行李箱和箱包優化，這使得我們商店的庫存更加高效。 Fast Track 的第二個組成部分是自助結賬，它為客戶提供了另一種靈活方便的結賬解決方案，同時也為我們的店員提高了效率。

Self-checkout was available in approximately 10,000 stores at the end of Q2, and we continue to be pleased with our results, including strong customer adoption rates.

到第二季度末，大約 10,000 家商店提供自助結賬服務，我們繼續對我們的結果感到滿意，包括強勁的客戶採用率。

We are also excited about our pilot in select stores, which provides customers the option to utilize self-checkout in all lanes, but also choose a staffed register preferred. We believe this full self-checkout option could further enhance our convenience proposition, while enabling store teams to dedicate even more time to serving customers. We plan to ultimately test this layout in about 200 stores by the end of this year.

我們也對我們在特定商店的試點感到興奮，它為客戶提供了在所有通道使用自助結賬的選項，但也可以選擇首選的人工收銀機。我們相信，這種完整的自助結賬選項可以進一步增強我們的便利性，同時使商店團隊能夠將更多時間用於服務客戶。我們計劃在今年年底之前在大約 200 家門店中最終測試這種佈局。

Looking ahead, we are on track to expand our self-checkout offering to a total of up to 11,000 stores by the end of the year as we look to further extend our position as an innovative retail and small box discount retail.

展望未來，我們有望在年底前將自助結賬服務擴展到多達 11,000 家商店，因為我們希望進一步擴大我們作為創新零售和小盒折扣零售的地位。

Moving forward, the next phase of Fast Track consists of increasing our utilization of emerging technology and data strategies, which includes putting new digital tools in the hands of our field leaders. When combined with our data-driven inventory management, we believe these efforts will drive greater efficiencies for our retail leaders and their teams. Our efforts to reduce costs have also benefited from our growing private fleet, which consisted of more than 1,100 tractors at the end of Q2.

展望未來，Fast Track 的下一階段包括增加我們對新興技術和數據戰略的利用，其中包括將新的數字工具交到我們的領域領導者手中。當與我們的數據驅動的庫存管理相結合時，我們相信這些努力將為我們的零售領導者及其團隊帶來更高的效率。我們降低成本的努力也受益於我們不斷增長的私人車隊，該車隊在第二季度末由 1,100 多台拖拉機組成。

As a reminder, we are focused on significantly expanding our private fleet in 2022 as we plan to more than double the number of tractors from 2021, which we expect will account for approximately 40% of our outbound transportation fleet by the end of the year. Our underlying principles are to keep the business simple, but move quickly to capture growth opportunities, while controlling expenses and always seeking to be a low-cost operator.

提醒一下，我們的重點是在 2022 年顯著擴大我們的私人車隊，因為我們計劃從 2021 年起將拖拉機的數量增加一倍以上，我們預計到今年年底，拖拉機將占我們出境運輸車隊的約 40%。我們的基本原則是保持業務簡單，但迅速採取行動以抓住增長機會，同時控制費用並始終尋求成為低成本運營商。

Our fourth operating priority is investing in our diverse teams through development, empowerment and inclusion. As a growing retailer, we continue to create new jobs and opportunities for personal and professional development, and ultimately, career advancement. To that end, we are very pleased with our DG Discover Hiring event in Q2, which exceeded our goal for new hires, while adding significant talent to our teams in the field, distribution centers and private fleet.

我們的第四個運營重點是通過發展、授權和包容對我們多元化的團隊進行投資。作為一家成長中的零售商，我們繼續為個人和職業發展以及最終的職業發展創造新的工作和機會。為此，我們對第二季度的 DG Discover Hiring 活動感到非常滿意，這超出了我們對新員工的目標，同時為我們在現場、配送中心和私人車隊的團隊增加了重要人才。

With regards to development, our internal promotion pipeline remains robust as evidenced by internal placement rates of more than 75% at or above the lead sales associate position. Additionally, approximately 15% of our private fleet began their careers with us in either a store or distribution center. We also continue to be pleased with our turnover rates, staffing levels and applicant flow, further validating our belief that we are taking the right actions to attract and retain talent. Ultimately, we believe that the opportunity to start and develop a career with a growing and purpose-driven company is a unique competitive advantage and remains our greatest currency in attracting and retaining talent.

在發展方面，我們的內部晉升渠道仍然強勁，內部招聘率超過 75% 或高於首席銷售助理職位就是明證。此外，大約 15% 的私人車隊在我們的商店或配送中心開始了他們的職業生涯。我們還繼續對我們的離職率、人員配備水平和申請人流量感到滿意，進一步驗證了我們的信念，即我們正在採取正確的行動來吸引和留住人才。歸根結底，我們相信，在一家成長中且以目標為導向的公司開始和發展職業生涯的機會是一種獨特的競爭優勢，並且仍然是我們吸引和留住人才的最大貨幣。

We also held our annual leadership meeting earlier this month in Nashville, providing an important collaboration and development experience for more than 1,500 leaders of our company. This event is a high point for me every year, and I am always inspired by the incredible talent of our people and humbled by the way they live out their personal purpose, while fulfilling our mission to serve others.

本月早些時候，我們還在納什維爾舉行了年度領導會議，為我們公司的 1,500 多名領導提供了重要的協作和發展經驗。這個活動每年對我來說都是一個高潮，我總是被我們人民令人難以置信的才能所鼓舞，並為他們實現個人目標的方式感到謙卑，同時履行我們為他人服務的使命。

In closing, I am proud of the team's strong performance as we continue to make great progress against our operating priorities and strategic initiatives, while creating meaningful value for our shareholders. I want to thank our approximately 173,000 employees for their work every day to make a difference in the lives of our customers, especially at times like this when they need us the most. I am excited about all that we will accomplish together in the second half of 2022 and beyond.

最後，我為團隊的強勁表現感到自豪，因為我們繼續在我們的運營重點和戰略計劃方面取得重大進展，同時為我們的股東創造有意義的價值。我要感謝我們大約 173,000 名員工每天為改變客戶的生活所做的工作，尤其是在他們最需要我們的時候。我對我們將在 2022 年下半年及以後共同完成的一切感到興奮。

With that, operator, we would now like to open the lines for questions.

有了這個，操作員，我們現在想打開問題線。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自 Rupesh Parikh 和 Oppenheimer。

So first, Todd, congrats on all the success over the years. And Jeff and John, congrats on your well-deserved promotions.

首先，托德，祝賀這些年來取得的所有成功。傑夫和約翰，恭喜你們當之無愧的升職。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

Thank you.

謝謝你。

So I was hoping to first touch just on your price position. So how do you feel about your pricing position today in light of some of the competitive actions that are taking place right now and are expected to happen going forward?

所以我希望首先觸及你的價格位置。那麼，鑑於目前正在發生並預計將在未來發生的一些競爭行動，您對今天的定價地位有何看法？

Yes. Rupesh, this is Todd. I'll take that one. We feel great about our price position. I just want to remind everybody, well over a year ago, we took a very aggressive price stance, as you may recall me talking about over the last 18 months or so. And it positions us so well in the pandemic and now exiting the pandemic time frame. And we feel great about where we are on prices against all classes of trade, and of course, against even our chief competitors, we're in really good shape. And obviously, as we continue to move forward with this environment, we'll continue to look at how we service our customer.

是的。魯佩什，這是托德。我會拿那個。我們對我們的價格定位感覺很好。我只想提醒大家，一年多以前，我們採取了非常激進的價格立場，正如您可能還記得我在過去 18 個月左右談論的那樣。它使我們在大流行中處於如此有利的位置，現在正在退出大流行的時間框架。我們對我們在所有貿易類別中的價格感到滿意，當然，即使是我們的主要競爭對手，我們的狀態也非常好。顯然，隨著我們在這種環境下繼續前進，我們將繼續關注我們如何為客戶提供服務。

The fabulous thing is we're in a great position, and our customers are really showing through our increase in trips that we saw for the quarter that they rely on our everyday low price here at Dollar General always first before anything else.

令人難以置信的是，我們處於有利地位，我們的客戶通過我們在本季度看到的旅行次數的增加確實表明，他們總是首先依賴我們在 Dollar General 的每日低價。

Great. And then my 1 follow-up question, maybe for John. So there was pretty significant deleverage on more than 4% comp. So anything unusual to happen in Q2 that doesn't repeat for the back half of the year? And then just any more color in terms of how to think about SG&A for the back half.

偉大的。然後是我的 1 個後續問題，可能是針對約翰的。因此，超過 4% 的補償率出現了相當大的去槓桿化。那麼第二季度發生了什麼不尋常的事情，並且在今年下半年不會重複？然後就如何考慮後半部分的SG&A而言，還有更多的色彩。

Thanks, Rupesh. As you look at SG&A, nothing unusual there. One thing we had talked about was from a position of strength and given the sales outperformance and momentum that we were going to be making targeted proactive investments to build on that momentum, to help drive sales, as well as an enhanced customer experience. So really, it was consistent with that.

謝謝，魯佩什。當您查看 SG&A 時，沒有什麼不尋常的地方。我們談到的一件事是從實力的角度來看，鑑於銷售業績和勢頭，我們將進行有針對性的積極投資，以建立這種勢頭，幫助推動銷售，以及增強客戶體驗。所以真的，它是一致的。

The most notable one was adding some labor hours to help further improve our in-stock levels as well as that customer service. We really like what we're seeing there. Also, to a lesser extent, we did make targeted investments in wages in the physical box itself. But I would say more normal course proactive actions to drive the business. We also did see some inflation on utilities and did have some higher-than-normal R&M expenses associated with the weather. But I think when you look at just overall operating margin, we feel really good about what we're doing.

最值得注意的是增加了一些工時，以幫助進一步提高我們的庫存水平以及客戶服務。我們真的很喜歡我們在那裡看到的。此外，在較小程度上，我們確實對實體盒子本身的工資進行了有針對性的投資。但我會說更正常的課程主動行動來推動業務。我們也確實看到了公用事業的一些通貨膨脹，並且確實有一些與天氣相關的高於正常的 R&M 費用。但我認為，當你只看整體營業利潤率時，我們對我們正在做的事情感覺非常好。

We feel great about the gross margin expansion. A lot of the investments we make in SG&A really drives that gross margin expansion, which was up 69 basis for the quarter, and importantly, 1.5 points above where we were 3 years ago. So we really like to look at operating profit overall because, as we said before, the geography and the leverage changes a little bit as we spend a little bit on SG&A to drive more on gross margin as you look at the implied guidance with the sales and the strong bottom line guide for the year, that implies operating margin expansion over the back half. So we feel well positioned that we're making the right trade-offs and investments to drive that sales growth.

我們對毛利率的擴大感覺很好。我們在 SG&A 上進行的許多投資確實推動了毛利率的增長，本季度毛利率增長了 69 個基點，重要的是，比 3 年前的水平高出 1.5 個百分點。因此，我們真的很喜歡查看整體營業利潤，因為正如我們之前所說，地理和槓桿會發生一些變化，因為我們在 SG&A 上花費了一些，以提高毛利率，因為你會看到銷售的隱含指導以及今年強勁的底線指引，這意味著下半年的營業利潤率將有所擴大。因此，我們認為我們正在做出正確的權衡和投資以推動銷售增長。

Our next question is from Matthew Boss with JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Matthew Boss。

Congrats on another great quarter, guys. So first, could you just speak to the top line acceleration that you're seeing despite the tougher backdrop for low-income households that, I think, broadly, we're seeing. How best to think about the inflection back to positive traffic that you saw this quarter? And what are you seeing from retention of new customers that you've recently acquired?

恭喜你們又一個偉大的季度，伙計們。因此，首先，您能否談談您所看到的頂線加速，儘管我認為我們普遍看到的低收入家庭的背景更為嚴峻。如何最好地考慮您在本季度看到的積極流量的轉折？您從最近獲得的新客戶的保留中看到了什麼？

Yes, Matt, thanks for the question. Yes, I would tell you that as expected, the customer is reacting just like we thought she would. And that is she's shopping closer to need. She's being very intentional in her shopping patterns, as well as her shopping while she's inside the 4 walls of the Dollar General store. It is a little bit more skewed to need based, which we thought would also occur. But the great thing is what we're seeing is that if we do have the right product out there, which we do, on the discretionary side, she's shopping that as well. As an example, our harvest in Halloween is off to a fabulous start, well over what we expected.

是的，馬特，謝謝你的提問。是的，我會告訴你，正如預期的那樣，客戶的反應就像我們想像的那樣。那就是她購物更接近需要。她在購物模式以及在 Dollar General 商店的 4 面牆內購物時都非常有意識。它更傾向於基於需求，我們認為這也會發生。但最棒的是，我們看到的是，如果我們確實有合適的產品，我們做的，在自由裁量權方面，她也在購物。舉個例子，我們在萬聖節的收穫有了一個美妙的開端，遠遠超出了我們的預期。

So again, you got to have the right items at the right value, and that's what Dollar General is all about as you know. With that more intentional shopping, we also see her buying more private brands. So our private brand sales have continued to increase quarter-over-quarter as well as year-over-year. And so we're seeing that. And then the all-important $1 price point. By the way, the $1 price point was one of, if not, the fastest-growing subcategory we had here at Dollar General in Q2. And we're seeing that it is so much more important for her today than ever before to be able to feed her family toward the end of the month.

再說一次，您必須以正確的價值擁有正確的物品，這就是您所知道的 Dollar General 的全部意義所在。隨著這種更有意的購物，我們也看到她購買了更多的自有品牌。因此，我們的自有品牌銷售額環比和同比均持續增長。所以我們看到了這一點。然後是最重要的 1 美元價格點。順便說一句，1 美元的價格點是我們在第二季度在 Dollar General 中增長最快的子類別之一。我們看到，對於她來說，在月底之前能夠養活她的家人比以往任何時候都重要。

So we're definitely leaning in both in private brand and the $1 price point. You may remember, I mentioned a couple of quarters ago, that we anticipated this, so we started to bring in more of this type of product, as well as our merchants under Emily Taylor and her group to really highlight that in off-shelf displays, end caps and that has been ongoing. And we'll continue to press forward on that as we move to the back half of the year because, again, we believe that $1 price point will be very, very important.

因此，我們絕對傾向於自有品牌和 1 美元的價格點。您可能還記得，我在幾個季度前提到過，我們已經預料到了這一點，因此我們開始引入更多此類產品，以及我們在 Emily Taylor 和她的團隊領導下的商家，以在現成的展示中真正突出這一點，端蓋，並且一直在進行。隨著我們進入下半年，我們將繼續推進這一點，因為我們再次相信 1 美元的價格點將非常非常重要。

And then lastly, just like we thought, again, trips being up, so she's coming more often, but spending less on each trip. And again, that's a reversal to what we saw there in the pandemic. So she's really coming back to where we suspected she would. But the great thing about Dollar General is our price is fabulous. Our price position, as I mentioned earlier, couldn't be better, and she's showing it within those trips that she's bringing to Dollar General. So more to come as we move through the back half of this year and into '23. But I would tell you, I've never felt better about our positioning as we are here to help that customer through probably the toughest time she's seen in quite a while.

最後，就像我們想的那樣，旅行又開始了，所以她來得更頻繁了，但每次旅行的花費更少。再一次，這與我們在大流行中看到的情況相反。所以她真的回到了我們懷疑她會的地方。但是 Dollar General 的優點是我們的價格非常好。正如我之前提到的，我們的價格位置再好不過了，她在她為 Dollar General 帶來的那些旅行中展示了這一點。隨著我們進入今年下半年並進入 23 年，還有更多的事情要做。但我會告訴你，我對我們的定位感覺從未如此好過，因為我們在這裡幫助該客戶度過她很長一段時間以來可能遇到的最艱難的時期。

That's great. And then maybe, John, on gross margin. How best to think about the components in the back half if we're thinking about mark on LIFO or mix? And then just larger picture, holding the earnings guide today despite the better sales outlook, so is this solely the targeted investments that you cited that's holding back incremental model flow through?

那太棒了。然後也許，約翰，毛利率。如果我們正在考慮 LIFO 或 mix 上的標記，如何最好地考慮後半部分的組件？然後只是更大的圖景，儘管銷售前景更好，但今天仍持有收益指南，那麼這僅僅是您引用的阻礙增量模型流動的目標投資嗎？

Sure. I'll start with gross margin. We didn't give specific guidance on gross margin. But to give you some color around the puts and the takes, we do expect to continue to see mixed pressure over the course of the remainder of the year as sales outperformance exceeds -- on consumables, exceeds nonconsumables, as everybody is seeing. And we also do expect to see ongoing supply chain pressures, including higher fuel costs, as well as increased product cost inflation. So we expect that to continue.

當然。我將從毛利率開始。我們沒有就毛利率給出具體指導。但是為了給你一些關於看跌期權和收益的顏色，我們確實預計在今年剩餘時間內繼續看到混合壓力，因為銷售表現超過 - 消耗品，超過非消耗品，正如每個人都看到的那樣。我們也確實預計會看到持續的供應鏈壓力，包括更高的燃料成本，以及增加的產品成本通脹。所以我們預計這種情況會繼續下去。

But I would tell you, on the transportation side and supply chain in general, we are seeing moderation there, and we do get an easier lap in the back half as we lap pretty substantial and growing supply chain inflation last year. And we're doing a lot of good things to help mitigate that. As Jeff mentioned in the prepared comments, doubling the size of the private fleet, really has a meaningful impact on that where we save about 20% on a per driver basis there.

但我會告訴你，在運輸方面和整個供應鏈方面，我們正在看到放緩，而且我們確實在後半部分獲得了更輕鬆的一圈，因為我們去年經歷了相當大且不斷增長的供應鏈通脹。我們正在做很多好事來幫助緩解這種情況。正如 Jeff 在準備好的評論中提到的那樣，將私人車隊的規模擴大一倍，確實對我們在每個司機的基礎上節省約 20% 的情況產生了有意義的影響。

The other thing we called out was markdowns, but I would tell you, with the markdowns, that's really a function of normalization. We were lapping unusually low clearance markdowns and promotional markdowns last year. If you look at where we're at now, still well below pre-pandemic levels, but that lap will continue to be a bit of a pressure to us.

我們提到的另一件事是降價，但我會告訴你，降價，這實際上是規範化的功能。去年，我們進行了異常低的清倉降價和促銷降價。如果你看看我們現在所處的位置，仍然遠低於大流行前的水平，但那一圈將繼續對我們造成一點壓力。

But as we look at the back half of the year, in addition to the easing inflationary pressures, particularly on the supply chain and some other areas and the actions we're taking, we're continuing to see growing benefits from our strategic initiatives, which go after the top line and the bottom line other actions to help mitigate that. And as I mentioned previously, when you look at operating margin overall, it suggests expansion in the back half given all the actions we're taking.

但是當我們回顧今年下半年時，除了緩解通脹壓力，特別是在供應鍊和其他一些領域以及我們正在採取的行動方面，我們繼續從我們的戰略舉措中看到越來越多的好處，在頂線和底線之後採取其他行動來幫助減輕這種情況。正如我之前提到的，當您查看整體營業利潤率時，考慮到我們正在採取的所有行動，這表明後半部分的擴張。

So -- and as we look ahead, I think we're very well positioned to continue to expand our gross margin over the long term. Todd talked about being in a great spot on price position. And again, as a limited SKU operator with our growth in size, I think it really positions us well in this environment to serve that customer very well. Be sharp on price, but to continue to expand our margins over the long term.

所以——展望未來，我認為我們已經做好了長期繼續擴大毛利率的準備。托德談到在價格上處於有利地位。再說一次，作為一家規模有限的 SKU 運營商，隨著我們的規模不斷擴大，我認為這確實使我們能夠在這種環境中很好地為該客戶提供服務。在價格上保持敏銳，但要在長期內繼續擴大我們的利潤。

And in terms of the question around why not raise EPS guidance, I would say that, first, very pleased based on the strength of the first half of the year and the anticipated results in the back half to raise the sales guidance, and pleased to reiterate the strong EPS guidance, while others have had to lower it in this challenging environment. We see the business fundamentals is very strong. It positions us very well to continue to be double-digit EPS growers over the long term, which we were at 10.8% this quarter.

而對於為什麼不上調EPS指引的問題，我想說，首先，基於上半年的實力和下半年的預期結果，很高興上調銷售指引，並且很高興重申強勁的每股收益指引，而其他人不得不在這個充滿挑戰的環境中降低它。我們看到業務基本面非常強勁。從長遠來看，我們很好地繼續保持兩位數的每股收益增長，本季度我們的增長率為 10.8%。

But there are some near-term headwinds. We mentioned the ongoing mix pressure. The overperformance in sales has been on the consumables side, which has lower margins. And while we do expect some moderation in inflation in the near term, it remains pressured with elevated supply chain costs, fuel costs and product cost inflation, of course, the LIFO charge, which continues throughout the year as that's spread over the year.

但近期也有一些不利因素。我們提到了持續的混合壓力。銷售業績超常出現在利潤率較低的消耗品方面。雖然我們確實預計通脹在短期內會有所放緩，但供應鏈成本、燃料成本和產品成本通脹，當然還有 LIFO 費用，它仍然面臨壓力，這種費用在全年都在持續。

Also another piece which you mentioned is the SG&A investment, which I talked about. I wouldn't say that's the only driver, the primary driver. But that is a driver to that. But again, we like what we're seeing there in terms of the investment in labor hours to help drive a better customer experience, to help drive sales and we are investing, as I mentioned, a little bit in targeted investments in wages in the box itself.

你提到的另一部分是我談到的 SG&A 投資。我不會說這是唯一的驅動力，主要的驅動力。但這是一個驅動因素。但同樣，我們喜歡我們在勞動時間投資方面看到的情況，以幫助推動更好的客戶體驗，幫助推動銷售，正如我所提到的，我們正在投資一些有針對性的工資投資盒子本身。

And then the other thing we called out was interest. Interest will be higher in the back half of the year given higher interest rates and higher borrowings. So a number of near-term tailwinds, but we feel really good to be able to maintain that guidance, continue to see ourselves as double-digit EPS growers over the long term. And there's a lot of year left, but feel good about the guidance we've provided.

然後我們提到的另一件事是興趣。鑑於較高的利率和較高的借款，下半年的利息將更高。因此，一些近期的順風，但我們感覺非常好能夠保持這一指導，繼續將自己視為長期兩位數的每股收益增長者。還有很多年，但對我們提供的指導感覺很好。

Congrats again, best of luck.

再次恭喜，祝你好運。

Our next question is from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·古特曼。

Probing a bit on the sales guidance for the back half, I recognize that the 1-year comp is guided to accelerate. If we look at the 3-year stack, it looks like Q2 accelerated quite a bit and that the second half actually doesn't imply much of an acceleration. So curious given the trade down and, I guess, where the customer is going, seems to benefit you right now. Any assumptions other than conservatism that you're thinking about in terms of sales for the second half?

對後半部分的銷售指導進行了一些探討，我認識到 1 年的補償被引導加速。如果我們查看 3 年的堆棧，看起來第二季度加速了很多，而下半年實際上並不意味著加速。考慮到交易下降，我想客戶的去向似乎對您現在有利。除了保守主義之外，您在下半年的銷售方面是否有其他假設？

Yes. As you look at sales in the second half, I mean, when you do the squeeze on that, that's quite healthy sales, not only on a 3-year basis, but as you look at the 1-year basis. To your point, we did see accelerating comps, we saw accelerating comps throughout the quarter. So we feel really good about the momentum of the business going in. We feel really good about the new customers and basket size growth that we've been able to retain coming out of the pandemic. And we are starting to see signs of more customer trade down, that's contemplated in the guidance. I wouldn't say we have a significant impact from that built into the guidance. But based on what we're seeing, that is contemplated in there. We're seeing a bigger impact, as big as ever impact from our real estate with the strong performance of remodels and new units, which are exceeding our pro forma, and the initiatives are delivering. So we feel really good about where we're at, the momentum of the business, the fundamentals, and I think the guidance reflects that, as well as a little bit in there contemplated around that trade down.

是的。當您查看下半年的銷售時，我的意思是，當您對其進行擠壓時，這是非常健康的銷售，不僅是在 3 年的基礎上，而且在您看 1 年的基礎上。就您而言，我們確實看到了加速競爭，我們在整個季度都看到了加速競爭。因此，我們對業務的發展勢頭感到非常滿意。我們對從大流行中保持下來的新客戶和籃子規模的增長感到非常高興。而且我們開始看到更多客戶交易下降的跡象，這在指南中有所考慮。我不會說我們對指南中內置的內容產生了重大影響。但根據我們所看到的，這是在那裡考慮的。我們看到了更大的影響，我們房地產的影響與以往一樣大，改造和新單位的強勁表現超出了我們的預估，並且這些舉措正在交付。因此，我們對我們所處的位置、業務的發展勢頭、基本面感覺非常好，我認為指導反映了這一點，以及圍繞交易下跌的一些考慮。

And maybe the follow-up, just honing on the gross margin a bit. Q2 was quite good and at a structurally higher level. Can you talk about the sustainability of this? And if there was some -- maybe some puts in and takes, but it feels like we're run rating at a higher level, and not thinking about guidance into '23, but are the drivers actually accelerating? You mentioned some relief on input costs. Are the drivers accelerating such that this is only going to build from here?

也許是後續行動，只是稍微提高毛利率。 Q2 相當不錯，而且在結構上處於更高的水平。你能談談這件事的可持續性嗎？如果有一些 - 也許一些投入和接受，但感覺就像我們在更高的水平上運行評級，而不是考慮到 23 年的指導，但司機真的在加速嗎？你提到了投入成本的一些緩解。驅動程序是否正在加速，以至於只能從這裡開始構建？

Yes. Again, I don't want to get too specific around gross margin guidance. But again, as you do the squeeze in the back half, it implies healthy, positive operating margin expansion and gross margin. We feel good about where we're at here in terms of sustainability over the long term to drive that. The biggest driver when you look, again, you go back to pre-pandemic levels where we're up 1.5 points in this quarter. It's the initiative is a huge piece of that. The ongoing benefit of DG Fresh and NCI, as we optimize and scale those, that's the gift that keeps on giving other things around the DG Media Network, just while promotional activity was a little bit higher versus pandemic where there was none. We remain very targeted in that and are doing a great job minimizing the clearance activity.

是的。同樣，我不想對毛利率指導過於具體。但同樣，當你在後半部分進行擠壓時，這意味著健康、積極的營業利潤率擴張和毛利率。我們對我們在長期可持續發展方面所處的位置感到滿意，以推動這一點。當您再次查看時，最大的驅動因素是您回到大流行前的水平，我們在本季度上漲了 1.5 個百分點。它的主動性是其中很大一部分。 DG Fresh 和 NCI 的持續收益，隨著我們優化和擴展它們，這是在 DG 媒體網絡周圍不斷提供其他東西的禮物，而促銷活動與沒有大流行的大流行相比要高一些。我們在這方面仍然非常有針對性，並且在最大限度地減少清關活動方面做得很好。

So I think as you think the fundamental drivers of the initiatives, as you think about the other levers we've talked about, the efficiencies we're driving in supply chain, including the private fleet and the other levers we've talked about. And we do see spots where the inflation is starting to moderate, particularly around carrier rates ocean freight, we're seeing moderation there. It remains to be seen what happens to inflation overall with vendors, but we'd expect over time that growth, that pace of increases to start to moderate as well.

所以我認為，當你思考這些舉措的基本驅動力時，當你思考我們討論過的其他槓桿時，我們在供應鏈中推動的效率，包括私人車隊和我們討論過的其他槓桿。而且我們確實看到通貨膨脹開始放緩的地方，特別是在承運人海運運費方面，我們看到那裡正在放緩。供應商整體通脹會發生什麼還有待觀察，但我們預計隨著時間的推移，這種增長，這種增長速度也將開始放緩。

And again, as you get to the back half of the year, we're lapping pretty substantial increasing supply chain inflationary laps. And so as we see some moderation and get easing laps, that will help as well. And that's all contemplated in the guide.

再一次，當你進入今年下半年時，我們正在經歷相當大的供應鏈通脹圈。因此，當我們看到一些節制並放鬆圈數時，這也會有所幫助。而這一切都在指南中進行了考慮。

Our next question is from Michael Lasser with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Michael Lasser。

Todd, Jeff and John, congratulations on all your new endeavors. My first question is the success of Dollar General over many years has been driven by not only a superior execution and formal strategy, but also some of its competitors in the small-box value retail space being on a long journey to try and find their way. And now there could be some changes in the competitive environment. We're seeing Family Dollar make price investments, it could be the perception that you're making investments in store hours, store labor as another way to beef up in the event that you are now going to face a stronger competitor, so the net result of all this could mean that the profit rate, the operating profit rate in small box retail has peaked as now 2 competitors that are going to be stronger and well positioned, are fighting a little bit harder against each other. Why or why not is that the case?

托德、傑夫和約翰，祝賀你們所有的新努力。我的第一個問題是，Dollar General 多年來的成功不僅得益於卓越的執行力和正式的戰略，還得益於其在小包裝價值零售領域的一些競爭對手正在漫長的旅程中尋找自己的道路.現在競爭環境可能會發生一些變化。我們看到 Family Dollar 進行價格投資，這可能是您在商店營業時間和商店勞動力方面進行投資的另一種方式，以防您現在將面臨更強大的競爭對手，因此網絡所有這一切的結果可能意味著利潤率，小盒子零售的營業利潤率已經達到頂峰，因為現在兩個將變得更強大和定位良好的競爭對手正在相互較勁。為什麼或為什麼不是這樣？

I'll start it out, Michael. I would tell you that obviously, you're zeroing in on our chief competitor there. So I'll just say this that it's been not only a long journey for them, I would say it's been even tougher than that. We've heard over the last 7 years that they're getting traction and they're doing this and doing that, and we're still talking about that. So I think we're still talking about it.

我會開始的，邁克爾。我會告訴你，很明顯，你正在瞄准我們的主要競爭對手。所以我只想說，這對他們來說不僅是一段漫長的旅程，而且比這更艱難。在過去的 7 年中，我們聽說他們正在獲得牽引力，他們正在這樣做和那樣做，我們仍在談論那個。所以我認為我們仍在談論它。

What we are here to do, as you know us pretty well, Michael, is controlling what we can control and forging ahead on our initiatives. We have left our chief competitor completely in the dust that will take years, years to catch up. And I would also tell you that we feel very, very strongly that peak margins haven't yet been obtained and that we have a lot of room to grow. You've heard from John, not only short term but long term.

邁克爾，正如你所了解的那樣，我們在這裡要做的就是控制我們可以控制的東西，並在我們的計劃中向前邁進。我們已經將我們的主要競爭對手完全拋在了塵土中，這將需要數年時間才能趕上。我還要告訴你，我們非常非常強烈地感到尚未獲得最高利潤率，我們還有很大的增長空間。你聽說過約翰，不僅是短期的，而且是長期的。

Our initiatives alone are driving a tremendous amount of that growth and that confidence. And I would tell you that Jeff and the team, as we go forward, have got a lot of initiatives in the hopper that we haven't even talked about yet that are percolating. So we're looking out as we promised everyone 6 years ago, when we started the strategic journey that we've been on, that we would look out 5 to 10 years down the road and around the corner. And I think you've seen from us that we've done that. And I think you've seen the fruits of that as we continue to roll out these initiatives.

僅我們的舉措就推動了巨大的增長和信心。我會告訴你，Jeff 和團隊在我們前進的過程中，已經在漏斗中提出了很多我們甚至還沒有談論過的舉措，這些舉措正在滲透。因此，正如我們在 6 年前向所有人承諾的那樣，當我們開始我們一直在進行的戰略旅程時，我們正在關注未來 5 到 10 年的未來和拐角處。我想你已經從我們那裡看到我們已經做到了。我認為您已經看到了我們繼續推出這些舉措的成果。

And to your point, have some of the best execution in the retail industry against initiatives. Lastly, being here for 14 years and thinking back to the last time we had the recession and we had the customer that was really strained, the 1 thing that Dollar General had is that we had already fixed a lot of the basic railroad by the time we really hit stride in late '09 and '10. I would hate to be trying to fix the railroad right now. It would be like one of the toughest times to do it. And so I would like to just point out that we're in such a great position that as we continue to move forward, we believe we'll be able to capitalize on that trade down that we're already seeing. And that trade down is coming from income levels that are upwards of $100,000 which we really are encouraged in seeing a younger consumer, a little bit more affluent, and again, very digitally and tech savvy.

就您的觀點而言，在零售行業中擁有一些針對舉措的最佳執行力。最後，在這裡待了 14 年，回想上一次我們遇到經濟衰退，我們的客戶真的很緊張，Dollar General 擁有的一件事是我們當時已經修好了很多基本鐵路我們在 09 年末和 10 年真的大踏步前進。我不想現在試圖修理鐵路。這將是最艱難的時期之一。因此，我只想指出，我們處於如此有利的位置，隨著我們繼續前進，我們相信我們將能夠利用我們已經看到的下跌交易。這種下降來自超過 100,000 美元的收入水平，我們真的很高興看到更年輕的消費者，更富裕一點，並且非常精通數字和技術。

Super helpful. My follow-up question is on the outlook for this trade down. Your comp in the quarter was obviously well above your algorithm, you're guiding conservatively for the back half of the year seemingly so. You have a lot of inventory. Why wouldn't this above algorithm comp continue well into next year, assuming that the macro environment stays where it is, and if it gets a little worse that trade-down benefit will be even greater?

超級有幫助。我的後續問題是關於這次交易的前景。您在本季度的薪酬顯然遠高於您的算法，您在下半年保守地指導似乎如此。你有很多庫存。假設宏觀環境保持原狀，並且如果情況變得更糟，折價收益會更大，為什麼上述算法不會持續到明年呢？

Yes. So I would tell you that I will first start and just say that we feel that, that trade down will continue to come in and benefit us. As it relates to the inventory levels, we couldn't be happier with where we sit today on inventory. We did all the right things early on, Michael, as you would imagine, coming from a Dollar General. We were well ahead of any inventory issues that may pop up unlike some of our competitors out there. We canceled orders as early as December because we saw where the customer was headed. We actually have canceled orders not only into Q2, but into the back half of the year. And all of our guidance is contemplated on that. So we feel very strong. The quality of our inventory couldn't be better. And as we move forward, we believe that will benefit us as we move into the back half of this year and into next year.

是的。所以我會告訴你，我將首先開始並只是說我們認為，這種交易將繼續進入並使我們受益。由於它與庫存水平有關，我們對今天的庫存狀況感到非常滿意。邁克爾，正如你想像的那樣，我們一開始就做了所有正確的事情，來自一元將軍。與我們的一些競爭對手不同，我們遠遠領先於任何可能出現的庫存問題。我們早在 12 月就取消了訂單，因為我們看到了客戶的去向。實際上，我們不僅在第二季度取消了訂單，而且在下半年取消了訂單。我們所有的指導都考慮到了這一點。所以我們感覺很強大。我們的庫存質量再好不過了。隨著我們前進，我們相信這將使我們在進入今年下半年和明年時受益。

Our next question is from Kate McShane with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的 Kate McShane。

I just wanted to go back on the trade down commentary. If there are certain categories being sought out by the higher-end consumer. And what categories are you seeing heavier trade down to with regards to private label? And then just as a follow-up, with the higher-end consumer coming into the store now, how long do they traditionally stick around and how might you be trying to keep them as more permanent customers?

我只是想回到交易下跌的評論。如果高端消費者正在尋找某些類別。對於自有品牌，您認為哪些類別的貿易較重？然後作為後續行動，隨著高端消費者現在進入商店，他們傳統上會停留多長時間，您如何嘗試讓他們成為更永久的客戶？

I would tell you, what we're seeing on that higher-end consumer is that she does shop a more holistic part of the store. And I made mention on the harvest and Halloween as an example, very discretionary, but doing extremely well. And some of that comes from that trade down, right? Because that consumer does have a little bit more money to spend. And as you think about how sticky that customer is, well, dial the clock back just a bit to the pandemic and now coming out of the pandemic, we've retained a lot more of those customers than we thought we would. So we're very happy on that retention. So we know that they're sticky because, again, that consumer -- was that consumer making -- the majority of them making that 50 to 75 range. So this one extends up to 100. But again, the experience is very, very similar to those, for those consumers when they come in. So we believe that, that will be sticky as well.

我會告訴你，我們在高端消費者身上看到的是，她確實購買了商店更全面的部分。我以豐收和萬聖節為例，非常隨意，但做得非常好。其中一些來自交易下降，對吧？因為那個消費者確實有更多的錢可以花。當您考慮到該客戶的粘性時，好吧，將時鐘撥回大流行，現在從大流行中走出來，我們保留的這些客戶比我們想像的要多得多。因此，我們對保留這一點感到非常高興。所以我們知道它們很粘，因為，再一次，那個消費者——就是那個消費者製造的——他們中的大多數人都在製造 50 到 75 的範圍。所以這個擴展到 100。但同樣，對於那些進來的消費者來說，體驗與那些非常非常相似。所以我們相信，這也將是粘性的。

So when you think about our market share in just discretionary items. I also want to point out that, that was positive as well for the quarter. So we're picking up share even in a very tough environment on the discretionary side.

因此，當您考慮我們在可自由支配項目中的市場份額時。我還想指出，這對本季度來說也是積極的。因此，即使在自由裁量權方面非常艱難的環境中，我們也在增加份額。

And then lastly, your other question was around what type of items are we seeing as well. Even from our core customer, trading down -- trade down doesn't always mean just trading down from other retailers. It also is trading down when you get inside the box, and our core customer has been buying more private brands, that $1 price point, very, very important to her. If you think about things that have accelerated greatly over the last quarter, if you think of basic proteins that our core customer needs, so what we've seen is 15% to 20% increases over the last couple of quarters in canned meat, seafood, dry pasta, soups, rice and beans. So those core proteins, eggs, all those things that the consumer needs to feed her family but can do it at a much reduced price. So we're seeing that trade down effect as well, and we're in great position to take advantage of that, both from our everyday low retail price stance, as well as our supply chain is much more healthier there than we were last year at this time.

最後，您的另一個問題是關於我們還看到了什麼類型的項目。即使是我們的核心客戶，降價交易——降價並不總是意味著僅僅從其他零售商那裡降價。當你進入包裝盒時，它也會降價，我們的核心客戶一直在購買更多的自有品牌，1 美元的價格點對她來說非常非常重要。如果您考慮在上個季度大幅加速的事情，如果您考慮到我們的核心客戶需要的基本蛋白質，那麼我們所看到的是，在過去幾個季度中，肉類罐頭、海鮮的價格增長了 15% 到 20% 、 乾麵食、 湯、 米飯和豆類。所以那些核心蛋白質，雞蛋，所有這些消費者需要養活家人的東西，但可以以大大降低的價格做到這一點。因此，我們也看到了貿易下降的影響，我們處於有利位置，可以利用這一點，無論是從我們每天的低零售價立場來看，還是我們的供應鏈比去年更健康此時。

Our next question is from John Heinbockel with Guggenheim Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自古根海姆合夥人的約翰·海因博克爾。

Congratulations. Todd, I wonder if you can talk to, you referenced this strategic journey, which is one of the most significant things I think you brought in. Where are we on that in terms of the pipeline of things? Well, First of all, I think you're looking out, right, 2 or 3 years with that effort. Where is the pipeline versus where it's been historically, right? Is it fuller? And then where do you think -- you're not going to talk specifics, but when you think about kind of functional areas, right, merchandising, marketing, where do you think there's the most fertile ground, right, to use those strategic ideas to further the DG brand?

恭喜。托德，我想知道你是否可以談談，你提到了這個戰略之旅，這是我認為你帶來的最重要的事情之一。就事情的管道而言，我們在哪裡？嗯，首先，我認為你正在尋找，對，2 或 3 年的努力。管道與歷史上的位置相比在哪裡，對嗎？是不是更飽滿了？然後你認為 - 你不會談論細節，但是當你考慮功能領域時，對，商品推銷，營銷，你認為哪裡有最肥沃的土壤，對，使用這些戰略思想進一步提升DG品牌？

Yes. Let me start, and I'm going to turn it over to Jeff as well. But I would tell you that, John, we feel great about those strategic initiatives. And to your point, not only a couple of years out, but 5 and 10 years out is the look. And if you look at the majority of them, there -- for instance, NCI, as an example, while we're close to the end of that rollout journey, the next phase of that, that optimization phase, is just starting. I would tell you, we're probably in the fifth inning in NCI. We're in the late fourth inning in the fresh piece of the business, with produce being a big unlock yet to come as an example. And then we're just starting the journey. We're just getting up to the plate to use the analogy in both Mexico and in our health initiative. And as I mentioned earlier, we've got others we haven't even talked about ready to push into the pipeline. And Jeff, you may want to jump in just briefly.

是的。讓我開始吧，我也要把它交給傑夫。但我會告訴你，約翰，我們對這些戰略舉措感覺很好。就您的觀點而言，外觀不僅是幾年，而且是五年和十年。如果您查看其中的大多數，例如，以 NCI 為例，當我們接近推出旅程的尾聲時，下一個階段，即優化階段才剛剛開始。我會告訴你，我們可能在 NCI 的第五局。我們處於新業務的第四局後期，農產品是一個很大的解鎖尚未作為一個例子。然後我們才剛剛開始旅程。我們剛剛開始在墨西哥和我們的健康倡議中使用這個類比。正如我之前提到的，我們已經讓其他我們甚至還沒有談論過的人準備好進入管道。傑夫，你可能想簡單地說一下。

Yes. I would tell you, John, thank you for the question. And I think, we've never been more excited about the future. And to Todd's point earlier, it's not 2 to 3 years out. I mean, one of the things you got to think about is our, first of all, our pipeline for growth. I mean, that 17,000 additional opportunities, 13,000 general stores, 3,000 pOpshelf stores and 1,000 DGX. So First and foremost, our pipeline is extremely robust, and we're very pleased with this larger store format that we've been rolling out. 80% of our stores this year will be in that larger store format, and we're seeing the sales per square foot perform extremely well. So we're very pleased at how our new store performance is beating our pro forma expectations.

是的。我會告訴你，約翰，謝謝你的問題。而且我認為，我們從未對未來感到如此興奮。而對於托德早些時候的觀點，這不是 2 到 3 年。我的意思是，您首先要考慮的一件事是我們的增長渠道。我的意思是，17,000 個額外的機會、13,000 個綜合商店、3,000 個 pOpshelf 商店和 1,000 個 DGX。所以首先，我們的管道非常強大，我們對我們一直在推出的這種更大的商店形式感到非常滿意。今年我們 80% 的商店將採用這種更大的商店形式，我們看到每平方英尺的銷售額表現非常出色。因此，我們對我們的新店業績如何超出我們的備考預期感到非常高興。

And John, you've followed us for quite some time. We have pretty high expectations for our new store growth program. But as you think to the future also, you got to think about digital as well. I mean, our digital strategy and our acceleration there is serving us tremendously well.

約翰，你已經關注我們很長時間了。我們對新店增長計劃抱有很高的期望。但是，當您考慮未來時，您也必須考慮數字化。我的意思是，我們的數字戰略和我們在那裡的加速為我們提供了非常好的服務。

I mean, when you think about over 80 million profiles that we're able to connect with our CPG firms and our brand partners, and we believe we can expand that beyond traditional CPG and brand partners because we have a unique customer, almost 30% of the United States population in rural America, that's really hard to reach. And with our customer profiles, we're able to really connect multiple partners with that unique Dollar General customer that no one knows better than we do.

我的意思是，當你想到我們能夠與我們的 CPG 公司和我們的品牌合作夥伴建立聯繫的超過 8000 萬個人資料時，我們相信我們可以將其擴展到傳統 CPG 和品牌合作夥伴之外，因為我們有一個獨特的客戶，幾乎 30%在美國農村的美國人口中，這真的很難達到。通過我們的客戶資料，我們能夠真正將多個合作夥伴與獨特的 Dollar General 客戶聯繫起來，沒有人比我們更了解這一點。

But as you think down the road, Mexico, we're excited to open stores, and we said this before, we wouldn't be going to Mexico if we didn't think it was a huge opportunity. And then when you think about health, health is one of these where we're -- we just had our first meeting with our advisory panel. It was incredible. And you're going to hear a lot more about health here in the near term and in the future with our Chief Medical Officer, Albert Wu, his strategy and the way we're going to be able to provide access for a customer that's being underserved right now.

但正如你在墨西哥的想法一樣，我們很高興能開店，我們之前說過，如果我們不認為這是一個巨大的機會，我們就不會去墨西哥。然後當你想到健康時，健康就是我們所處的位置之一——我們剛剛與我們的顧問小組舉行了第一次會議。實在太棒了。您將在近期和未來聽到更多關於健康的信息，我們的首席醫療官 Albert Wu、他的策略以及我們將能夠為正在接受的客戶提供訪問權限的方式現在服務不足。

So when you think down the road, it's extremely bright. And I would tell you, your comment about our teams, where do we have fertile ground? We have the best team in retail. And so when you look at every aspect of this Dollar General team, it's the unique and secret sauce of our success. And our culture has never been stronger. Our teams are energized to continue to move forward. So I think you can tell from my excitement, Todd's excitement, John's, that we see tremendous opportunity in the future. And I can't wait to update you guys in the near future on where we're going.

所以，當你往下想的時候，它是非常明亮的。我會告訴你，你對我們團隊的評論，我們在哪裡有沃土？我們擁有最好的零售團隊。因此，當您查看 Dollar General 團隊的各個方面時，它就是我們成功的獨特秘訣。我們的文化從未如此強大。我們的團隊充滿活力，繼續前進。所以我想你可以從我的興奮中看出，托德的興奮，約翰的興奮，我們看到了未來的巨大機會。我迫不及待地想在不久的將來向你們更新我們要去的地方。

Our next question comes from Corey Tarlowe with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Corey Tarlowe 和 Jefferies。

Congrats to Todd on a successful career with Dollar General, and to Jeff and John for your new elevated roles. So first, there was an announcement intra-quarter about the 3 DC openings out west. Are we to read into that, that there are perhaps the more incremental store opportunity ahead lies in the regions where those new DCs are, in fact, being built out west in the U.S.?

祝賀 Todd 在 Dollar General 的職業生涯取得成功，並祝賀 Jeff 和 John 擔任新職務。因此，首先，在季度內發布了關於西部 3 個 DC 開業的公告。我們是否要讀到這一點，未來可能會有更多的增量商店機會在於這些新 DC 實際上正在美國西部建造的地區？

Corey, thank you for the question, and thank you for the well wishes. One of the things we do so well here at Dollar General is we anticipate and look down the road. And we like to think we look around the corner real well, too. So that's exactly what this is. Our distribution strategy is in lockstep, as I mentioned just a minute ago. We have 17,000 additional opportunities, and that's across the entire U.S. And so we're very pleased at our ability to expand our distribution network because what it's going to do for us is it's going to continue to allow us to serve our stores better, make it more efficient, be able to pull cost out of the system and enable us to continue to grow. And as you can tell, we have significant growth prospects in the future. And that's all this is, is being able to make sure that our distribution is in line with our store opening plans, and those 2 teams work very, very well together to plan accordingly.

科里，謝謝你的提問，也謝謝你的祝福。我們在 Dollar General 做得很好的一件事是我們期待並展望未來。我們也喜歡認為我們在拐角處看起來也很好。所以這正是它。正如我剛才提到的，我們的分銷策略步調一致。我們還有 17,000 個額外的機會，而且遍及整個美國。因此，我們對擴大分銷網絡的能力感到非常高興，因為它將為我們做的就是繼續讓我們更好地為我們的商店服務，使它更有效率，能夠從系統中提取成本並使我們能夠繼續增長。正如你所知道的，我們在未來有顯著的增長前景。僅此而已，就是能夠確保我們的分銷符合我們的開店計劃，並且這兩個團隊非常非常好地合作制定相應的計劃。

Great. And then just a follow-up for John. How are you thinking about your expectations for freight expenses throughout the back half of this year within the overall margin guidance that you've given?

偉大的。然後只是約翰的後續行動。在您給出的整體利潤率指導下，您如何看待今年下半年對運費的預期？

Yes. As we touched on earlier, we do see improving conditions there. You're seeing additional supply capacity come online. You're seeing, obviously, demand drop as folks cut orders. And so when you look at both ocean freight and you look at domestic carrier rates, we're seeing those rates come down. And again, actions we're taking like with the private fleet is helping mitigate that as well. And we're coming up on a time where you're lapping increasing supply chain costs as you went from Q3 into Q4 last year. So I think net-net, we're doing a great job mitigating it. And I think that will, over time, switch to a tailwind as we see that moderate.

是的。正如我們之前提到的，我們確實看到那裡的條件有所改善。您會看到額外的供應能力上線。顯然，隨著人們削減訂單，需求下降。因此，當您查看海運和國內承運人運費時，我們看到這些運費正在下降。同樣，我們對私人車隊採取的行動也有助於緩解這種情況。而且我們即將到來的時候，隨著您去年從第三季度到第四季度，供應鏈成本不斷增加。所以我認為net-net，我們在減輕它方面做得很好。而且我認為，隨著時間的推移，當我們看到溫和的時候，這將轉向順風。

We have reached the end of the question-and-answer session. I would now like to turn the call back over to Todd Vasos for closing comments.

我們已經到了問答環節的尾聲。我現在想將電話轉回給 Todd Vasos 以結束評論。

Yes. Thank you for all the questions, and thanks for your interest in Dollar General. And I do appreciate all the well wishes that you extended.

是的。感謝您提出所有問題，並感謝您對 Dollar General 的興趣。我非常感謝你表達的所有美好祝愿。

Serving what this team has been the highlight of my professional career, and it's been a blessing and a privilege to serve our customers, associates, shareholders and communities over the past 7-plus years as the CEO of Dollar General. I'm extremely proud of the progress we've made together, and look forward to working with Jeff and the team in an advisory and consulting capacity going forward, as well as continue to serve on the board. I believe we have the best team in retail, our mission and culture are stronger than ever and we are extremely well-positioned to capitalize on the enormous growth opportunities we see ahead.

為這個團隊服務一直是我職業生涯的亮點，在過去 7 年多的時間裡，作為 Dollar General 的首席執行官為我們的客戶、員工、股東和社區服務是一種祝福和榮幸。我為我們共同取得的進步感到非常自豪，並期待與 Jeff 和團隊一起以諮詢和諮詢的身份向前發展，並繼續在董事會任職。我相信我們擁有最好的零售團隊，我們的使命和文化比以往任何時候都更強大，我們已經做好充分準備，可以利用我們看到的巨大增長機會。

Again, thank you for listening, and I hope you have a great day.

再次感謝您的收聽，希望您有美好的一天。

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time, and we thank you for your participation.

今天的會議到此結束。您此時可以斷開線路，我們感謝您的參與。