達樂 (DG) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Robert, and I'll be your conference operator today. At this time, I'd like to welcome everyone to the Dollar General's Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. Today is Thursday, December 7, 2023. (Operator Instructions) This call is being recorded. Instructions for listening to the replay of the call are available in the company's earnings press release issued this morning.

早安.我叫羅伯特，今天我將擔任你們的會議接線生。現在，我歡迎大家參加 Dollar General 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。今天是 2023 年 12 月 7 日，星期四。（操作員說明）此通話正在錄音。有關收聽電話會議重播的說明，請參閱該公司今天上午發布的收益新聞稿。

Now I'd like to turn the conference over to Mr. Kevin Walker, Vice President of Investor Relations. Kevin, you may now start your conference.

現在我想把會議交給投資者關係副總裁凱文沃克先生主持。凱文，你現在可以開始你的會議了。

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

謝謝大家，大家早安。今天與我通話的是我們的執行長 Todd Vasos；和我們的財務長凱利·迪爾茨 (Kelly Dilts)。我們今天發布的收益報告可以在我們的網站 Investor.dollargeneral.com 的「新聞和活動」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 as statements about our financial guidance, strategy, initiatives, plans, goals, priorities, opportunities, expectations or beliefs about future matters and other statements that are not limited to historical fact.

請容許我提醒您，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，例如有關我們的財務指導、策略、舉措、計劃、目標、優先事項、機會、對未來事務的期望或信念的陳述以及其他不限於歷史事實的陳述。

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 2023 Form 10-K filed on March 24, 2023, 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.

這些陳述存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與我們的預期和預測有重大差異。這些因素包括但不限於我們今天早上發布的收益報告中、2023 年3 月24 日提交的2023 年10-K 表格中的風險因素以及任何後來提交的定期報告中以及做出的評論中確定的因素。在這次通話中。您不應過度依賴前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅代表今天的情況。

Dollar General disclaims any obligation to update or revise any information discussed in this call unless required by law. At the end of our prepared remarks, we will open the call up for your questions. (Operator Instructions)

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資訊的義務。在我們準備好的演講結束時，我們將開始徵集您的問題。 （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托德。

Thank you, Kevin, and welcome to everyone joining our call. Let me start by saying how excited I am to be back at Dollar General. I have a deep passion for this company and for the customers we are privileged to serve. I continue to believe in this model, our future growth prospects and our ability to deliver value and convenience for our customers, a positive experience for our employees, and long-term value for our shareholders.

謝謝你，凱文，歡迎大家加入我們的通話。首先我要說的是，我對回到 Dollar General 感到多麼興奮。我對這家公司以及我們有幸服務的客戶充滿熱情。我仍然相信這種模式、我們未來的成長前景以及我們為客戶提供價值和便利、為員工提供正面體驗以及為股東提供長期價值的能力。

We take our mission of serving others seriously and know that our customer is facing financial constraints and communities are looking for strong partners in a tough macroeconomic environment. Historically, we've met those challenges head-on and delivered for our customer. And we believe that we are well positioned to do so now.

我們認真對待為他人服務的使命，並知道我們的客戶面臨財務限制，而社區正在艱難的宏觀經濟環境中尋找強大的合作夥伴。從歷史上看，我們已經正面應對了這些挑戰，並為我們的客戶提供了解決方案。我們相信我們現在已經做好了這樣做的準備。

In retail, one of the best ways to diagnose the state of the business is by looking at it through the eyes of the customer. And we know that our customers rely on Dollar General to provide the products they need at great values in convenient, friendly and easy-to-shop stores.

在零售業，診斷業務狀況的最佳方法之一是透過客戶的眼睛來觀察。我們知道，我們的客戶依賴 Dollar General 在方便、友好且易於購物的商店中以超值價格提供他們所需的產品。

We have spent the last several weeks taking a fresh look at all areas of our business as well as the challenges and opportunities in front of us. We believe that we have a good understanding of what we need to do to address those challenges and opportunities, and we're already taking action. To be clear, this is not about rebuilding a team or organization, but about refocusing efforts already underway. This is where I want to spend the majority of our time today.

在過去幾週，我們重新審視了我們業務的所有領域以及我們面臨的挑戰和機會。我們相信，我們非常了解需要採取哪些措施來應對這些挑戰和機遇，並且我們已經在採取行動。需要明確的是，這不是要重建團隊或組織，而是要重新調整已經在進行中的工作的重點。這就是我今天想花大部分時間的地方。

I won't share all the details this morning but I want to provide an overview to highlight our focus on getting back to the basics in our stores, in our supply chain and within our merchandising. After that, Kelly and I will review our third quarter performance.

今天早上我不會分享所有細節，但我想提供一個概述，以強調我們專注於回到商店、供應鏈和銷售的基礎知識。之後，凱利和我將回顧我們第三季的業績。

I want to start with our stores, where everything begins and ends for our customer. As we drive improvement across our store footprint, we are doing so through the lens of our customers. As we have previously announced, we are investing approximately $150 million in store labor hours this year. After review, we continue to believe this level of investment is appropriate. But as we do with every dollar we invest, we must ensure we are spending it to drive the greatest return, which means we are directly helping our store teams support our customers.

我想從我們的商店開始，一切都以客戶為中心。當我們推動商店足跡的改善時，我們是透過客戶的視角來實現這一目標的。正如我們之前宣布的，今年我們將在商店工時投資約 1.5 億美元。經過審查，我們仍然認為這項投資水準是合適的。但正如我們對投資的每一塊錢所做的那樣，我們必須確保我們用它來獲得最大的回報，這意味著我們正在直接幫助我們的商店團隊支持我們的客戶。

With that in mind, we have made the decision to redeploy labor hours away from smart teams and instead more directly to our store teams and a greater emphasis on customer service and store-level inventory management activities.

考慮到這一點，我們決定將勞動力時間從智慧團隊重新部署，而是更直接分配給我們的商店團隊，並更加重視客戶服務和商店級庫存管理活動。

To that end, I want to highlight 2 areas of focus we believe will drive the greatest improvement in our stores. First, we plan to increase the employee presence at the front end of our stores and in particular, the checkout area. While self-checkout has contributed to the convenient proposition for our customers in certain stores, it does not reduce the importance of a friendly, helpful employee who is there to greet customers and assist while the checkout process is happening.

為此，我想強調兩個重點領域，我們相信這將推動我們商店的最大改進。首先，我們計劃增加商店前端的員工人數，特別是結帳區。雖然自助結帳為某些商店的顧客提供了便利，但這並沒有降低友好、樂於助人的員工的重要性，他們在結帳過程中迎接顧客並提供幫助。

We have already begun by allocating more labor to front-end activities and clearly communicating our expectations around the visible presence of an associate at the front of our stores.

我們已經開始為前端活動分配更多的勞動力，並清楚地傳達我們對商店前台明顯存在的員工的期望。

Second, we are reemphasizing the role played by our store teams in our perpetual inventory management process, which we believe will positively impact our on-shelf availability as well as our customers' convenience perception in our sales.

其次，我們再次強調商店團隊在永續庫存管理流程中所發揮的作用，我們相信這將對我們的貨架可用性以及客戶在銷售中的便利感產生正面影響。

To do this, we are reallocating some of our labor investments toward store level inventory management processes, including an even greater focus on getting product on to our shelves more quickly. We are also reducing the span of control for our district managers which will provide more opportunity for engagement with our store managers and their teams and more consistency and execution across the store base.

為此，我們正在將一些勞動力投資重新分配到商店層級庫存管理流程，包括更專注於更快地將產品上架。我們還減少了區域經理的控制範圍，這將為我們的商店經理及其團隊提供更多的參與機會，並提高整個商店的一致性和執行力。

As we take these actions and focus on the basics in our stores, we believe we will see improved retention at the store manager level where our turnover is currently higher than we like. And we know from experience that when we stabilize the store manager position, the entire store and team benefit, which ultimately drives a more positive experience for our customers as well as improved sales and shrink results.

當我們採取這些行動並專注於商店的基礎知識時，我們相信我們將看到商店經理級別的保留率有所提高，目前我們的營業額高於我們的預期。我們從經驗中知道，當我們穩定商店經理的職位時，整個商店和團隊都會受益，最終為我們的客戶帶來更積極的體驗，並提高銷售額和縮小業績。

Overall, we believe these actions will drive improvements in customer satisfaction, including customer service, on-shelf availability and convenience as well as sales, while our focus on the front end should also reduce shrink. These efforts also should help us improve employee engagement and retention.

總的來說，我們相信這些行動將推動客戶滿意度的提高，包括客戶服務、貨架可用性和便利性以及銷售，同時我們對前端的關注也應該減少損失。這些努力也應該有助於我們提高員工敬業度和留任率。

Next, I want to talk about our supply chain. We have made significant progress recovering from the distribution capacity constraints that we had discussed late last year. However, through the lens of the customer, we see additional opportunity for improvement, particularly when it comes to serving our stores.

接下來我想談談我們的供應鏈。我們在從去年年底討論的分銷能力限制中恢復方面取得了重大進展。然而，透過客戶的視角，我們看到了額外的改進機會，特別是在為我們的商店提供服務方面。

As we focus on getting back to the basics, the goal within our supply chain is for our truck deliveries to be on time and in full, or OTIF. As we continue to drive our OTIF rates higher, we simplify the work for our store teams, which again results in a better overall experience for both our customers and associates as well as an expectation of higher sales.

當我們專注於回歸基本面時，我們供應鏈的目標是讓卡車按時足額交付（OTIF）。隨著我們繼續提高 OTIF 費率，我們簡化了商店團隊的工作，這再次為我們的客戶和員工帶來了更好的整體體驗，並期望獲得更高的銷售額。

I want to briefly highlight 3 areas of focus within our supply chain. First, we plan to better optimize the inventory within our distribution centers. As I will discuss in a moment, we are taking steps to reduce inventory, including SKU rationalization, which will allow for the more efficient movement of product for our distribution teams. Second, we are implementing productivity improvement initiatives within our distribution centers. While productivity rates have been impacted by both internal and external factors, we are working to mitigate or eliminate productivity impediments for our teams and control the things we can control.

我想簡要地強調我們供應鏈中的三個重點領域。首先，我們計劃更好地優化配送中心內的庫存。正如我稍後將討論的，我們正在採取措施減少庫存，包括 SKU 合理化，這將使我們的分銷團隊能夠更有效地運輸產品。其次，我們正在配送中心實施生產力提高措施。雖然生產力受到內部和外部因素的影響，但我們正在努力減輕或消除團隊的生產力障礙並控制我們可以控制的事情。

These efforts include standardizing system configurations and optimizing the product layout in our facilities, while providing clear communication on performance standards and expectations.

這些努力包括標準化系統配置和優化我們設施中的產品佈局，同時就性能標準和期望進行清晰的溝通。

And third, now that we're past the capacity constraints we experienced last year, we are reducing the number of temporary outside warehouse facilities being used to store product as inventory flows more effectively to and through our existing distribution centers.

第三，既然我們已經克服了去年經歷的產能限制，我們正在減少用於存放產品的臨時外部倉庫設施的數量，因為庫存可以更有效地流向和流經我們現有的配送中心。

By better leveraging these existing distribution centers and taking advantage of the new permanent facilities we have opened over the last year and those we will open next year, we believe we can significantly reduce the amount of temporary warehouse space needed.

透過更好地利用這些現有的配送中心，並利用我們去年開設的新的永久性設施以及明年將開設的設施，我們相信我們可以顯著減少所需的臨時倉庫空間。

As we've done historically, we likely will continue to maintain a few of these temporary facilities. However, we expect to transition out of many of them in Q4 and into next year. All of these actions within our supply chain should translate to lower distribution and transportation costs, better OTIF rates and better customer experience and all while improving sales results.

正如我們過去所做的那樣，我們可能會繼續維護其中一些臨時設施。然而，我們預計將在第四季度和明年過渡到其中許多。我們供應鏈中的所有這些行動都應轉化為更低的分銷和運輸成本、更好的 OTIF 費率和更好的客戶體驗，同時改善銷售業績。

Finally, I want to speak to our focus on fundamentals and merchandising. Once again, we reflected on our approach to the eyes of our customer. For our merchants, there is no greater priority than offering great value of the products our customers want and need.

最後，我想談談我們對基本面和銷售的關注。我們再次反思了我們對待客戶的方式。對我們的商家來說，沒有比為顧客想要和需要的產品提供高價值更重要的了。

Our customers are offering living paycheck to paycheck and continually tell us that value is the most important factor in their shopping decisions. I am pleased to note that we are in good shape when it comes to our everyday pricing. And we are right where we want to be in our price gaps with our competitors and classes of trade.

我們的客戶提供生活費，並不斷告訴我們價值是他們購物決策中最重要的因素。我很高興地註意到，我們的日常定價狀況良好。我們正處於我們想要的與競爭對手和貿易類別的價格差距的位置。

With that said, we are taking a hard look at what else we can do to drive value for our customers in this challenging economic environment, including highlighting private brands and other opportunities for savings as well as maximizing the effectiveness of any promotional activity to drive traffic and share growth.

話雖如此，我們正在認真研究在這個充滿挑戰的經濟環境中我們還能做些什麼來為客戶創造價值，包括突出自有品牌和其他節省成本的機會，以及最大限度地提高任何促銷活動的有效性以增加流量並分享成長。

Beyond these opportunities for our customers, we have also challenged our merchants to consider how they can drive simplification for our stores and supply chain as well with meaningful SKU rationalization as one of the most immediate areas of focus.

除了為客戶提供這些機會之外，我們還要求商家考慮如何推動我們的商店和供應鏈的簡化，以及如何將有意義的 SKU 合理化作為最直接的關注領域之一。

To that end, we have identified several opportunities to eliminate certain SKUs that have become less productive; first, by moving them out of our DCs and then ultimately to our stores to sell through. As our store teams have fewer SKUs to manage, we can lower our cost to serve, while driving higher inventory turns and higher sales of products that are most important to our customers. We believe these actions will help further reduce inventory and shrink, while simplifying operations in both DCs and stores to drive greater efficiencies over the longer term.

為此，我們確定了一些機會來消除某些生產力較低的 SKU；首先，將它們移出我們的配送中心，然後最終移至我們的商店進行銷售。由於我們的商店團隊需要管理的 SKU 較少，因此我們可以降低服務成本，同時提高庫存週轉率和對客戶最重要的產品的銷售。我們相信，這些行動將有助於進一步減少庫存和收縮，同時簡化配送中心和商店的運營，以提高長期效率。

We all know that driving traffic and market share are essential to long-term retail success. And while our results have been improving in these areas, we are still not satisfied with our current position. We believe we have identified actions that will pay dividends over both the short and long term, as we remain focused on driving profitable sales growth.

我們都知道，提高客流量和市場佔有率對於零售業的長期成功至關重要。儘管我們在這些領域的成績一直在改善，但我們仍然對目前的狀況不滿意。我們相信，我們已經確定了將在短期和長期內帶來紅利的行動，因為我們仍然專注於推動獲利性銷售成長。

In summary, we are getting back to the basics here at Dollar General across all levels of the organization. Our desired results will not materialize overnight, but we believe we will see some early wins and continue to make progress towards executing on the fundamentals that have been foundational to our success over the past 85 years. As a result, we believe we will significantly enhance the customer experience while driving higher sales and increased profitability in our business.

總之，我們在 Dollar General 的各個層面上都回到了基礎。我們期望的結果不會在一夜之間實現，但我們相信我們會看到一些早期的勝利，並在執行過去 85 年成功基礎的基本原則方面繼續取得進展。因此，我們相信我們將顯著增強客戶體驗，同時推動更高的銷售額和業務盈利能力的提高。

Now before I turn the call over to Kelly, I want to briefly discuss some of our top line results for Q3 as well as our 2024 real estate plans, which we announced earlier this morning.

現在，在我將電話轉給凱利之前，我想簡要討論一下我們第三季度的一些主要業績以及我們今天早上早些時候宣布的 2024 年房地產計劃。

Net sales in the third quarter increased 2.4% to $9.7 billion compared to net sales of $9.5 billion last year's third quarter. Within our net sales growth, we again grew market share in both dollars and units in highly consumable product sales as well as an overall non-consumable product sales. Same-store sales decreased 1.3% in Q3, which was in line with our expectations. The decrease was driven by a decline in average transaction amount, primarily driven by units and included declines in all 4 product categories.

第三季淨銷售額成長 2.4%，達到 97 億美元，而去年第三季淨銷售額為 95 億美元。在我們的淨銷售額成長的同時，我們在高消耗產品銷售以及整體非消耗產品銷售中的美元和單位市場份額再次成長。第三季同店銷售額下降 1.3%，符合我們的預期。下降的原因是平均交易額下降，主要是由單位造成的，包括所有 4 個產品類別的下降。

From an overall monthly cadence perspective, same-store sales growth was very similar in all 3 months of the quarter. However, I'm pleased to note that customer traffic was positive in Q3. After starting the quarter slightly negative, traffic turned positive in the middle period and improved sequentially each period of the quarter.

從整體月度節奏來看，本季所有 3 個月的同店銷售成長非常相似。然而，我很高興地註意到第三季的客戶流量是正面的。在本季開始略有負數之後，流量在中期轉為正數，並在本季的每個期間都連續改善。

Notably, Customer traffic and same-store sales continue to improve in November, which, although early in the quarter, we believe reflects early traction from our work on getting back to the basics here at Dollar General.

值得注意的是，11 月的客戶流量和同店銷售額繼續改善，儘管是在本季度初期，但我們相信這反映了我們在 Dollar General 回歸基礎的工作的早期動力。

Turning to a quick update on our customer. During our most recent survey work, our customer continues to tell us they are feeling significant pressure on their spending which is supported by what we see in their behavior. Based on these trends and what we see in the macroeconomic environment, we anticipate customer spending may continue to be constrained as we head into 2024, especially in discretionary categories.

轉向我們客戶的快速更新。在我們最近的調查工作中，我們的客戶繼續告訴我們，他們的支出感受到了巨大的壓力，我們從他們的行為中看到的情況也證明了這一點。根據這些趨勢以及我們在宏觀經濟環境中看到的情況，我們預計進入 2024 年，客戶支出可能會繼續受到限制，特別是在非必需品類別中。

This further reinforces the importance of the work we're doing today, and we believe our unique value and convenient proposition is as relevant as ever in this marketplace. To that end, I want to discuss our plans for real estate growth next year as we look to extend our offering to many more communities.

這進一步強化了我們今天所做工作的重要性，我們相信我們獨特的價值和便利性的主張在這個市場中一如既往地重要。為此，我想討論我們明年的房地產成長計劃，因為我們希望將我們的產品擴展到更多社區。

Real estate continues to be one of our core competencies and we remain pleased with the performance of our real estate projects. As a reminder, we monitor the following 5 metrics of our new store portfolio, including performance against pro forma sales expectations, new store productivity compared to the mature store base; cannibalization, which overall has remained consistent and predictable; cash payback, which we continue to expect in 2 years or less; and new store returns, which we expect to be approximately 18% on average in 2024.

房地產仍然是我們的核心競爭力之一，我們對房地產項目的表現仍然感到滿意。提醒一下，我們會監控新店組合的以下 5 個指標，包括與預期銷售預期相比的業績、與成熟店群相比的新店生產力；蠶食化，整體保持一致且可預測；現金回報，我們仍然預計在 2 年或更短的時間內實現；以及新店回報率，我們預計 2024 年平均約為 18%。

I want to note that our expectations for new store returns, while still very strong, are down modestly from our historical target of 20%-plus. This change is being driven partially by higher new store openings and occupancy cost, which I will discuss in more detail in a moment.

我想指出的是，我們對新店回報率的預期雖然仍然非常強勁，但比我們 20% 以上的歷史目標略有下降。這項變更的部分原因是新店開張和入住成本上升，我稍後將更詳細地討論這一點。

We also continue to see strong performance from our remodel stores, which drive comp sales lifts between 8% and 11% for our DGTP format and average returns, which continue to be greater than what we see from our new stores.

我們也繼續看到我們的改建店表現強勁，這推動我們的 DGTP 格式的銷售提升 8% 至 11%，平均回報率繼續高於我們在新店中看到的水平。

With this consistently strong performance, we continue to see real estate projects as one of our best uses of capital. In fiscal 2024, we plan to execute approximately 2,385 projects, including 800 new openings, 1,500 remodels and 85 relocations.

憑藉這種持續強勁的表現，我們繼續將房地產項目視為我們資本的最佳用途之一。 2024 財年，我們計劃執行約 2,385 個項目，其中包括 800 個新開業項目、1,500 個改造項目和 85 個搬遷項目。

While this is a significant number of projects, I want to acknowledge a smaller number than we have opened in the recent years due primarily to a couple of considerations. First, we want to ensure that our teams across the company are focused on getting back to the basics and the efforts I discussed a few moments ago.

雖然這是一個相當數量的項目，但我想承認，由於一些考慮因素，我們近年來開設的項目數量較少。首先，我們希望確保整個公司的團隊都專注於回到我剛才討論的基礎知識和努力。

And second, the capital required to execute these projects has increased significantly. For example, the initial opening of our 8,500 square foot store has increased more than 30% since we began rolling out the larger format in 2022. Additionally, nonresidential construction costs have increased significantly since pre-COVID.

其次，執行這些項目所需的資本大幅增加。例如，自 2022 年開始推出更大的店面以來，我們 8,500 平方英尺的商店的首次開業已增加了 30% 以上。此外，自新冠疫情爆發之前以來，非住宅建築成本已大幅增加。

Our team has a number of efforts underway to reduce these costs, including engineering costs out of the projects. And we believe, over time, we will be able to mitigate some of the impact we have seen from inflation.

我們的團隊正在採取一系列措施來降低這些成本，包括專案的工程成本。我們相信，隨著時間的推移，我們將能夠減輕通貨膨脹帶來的一些影響。

With that said, our pipeline remains robust. We continue to see more than 12,000 opportunities for Dollar General bannered stores in the United States. And as we said before, for a variety of reasons, we will not capture each of these opportunities, but we are pleased that the overall number of opportunities remains high.

話雖如此，我們的管道仍然強勁。我們繼續在美國看到超過 12,000 個 Dollar General 橫幅商店的機會。正如我們之前所說，由於各種原因，我們不會抓住每一個機會，但我們很高興機會總數仍然很高。

We continue to innovate on store formats as an important element of our real estate strategy, and I want to take a moment to provide some additional color on our plans for 2024. We are placing a heavier emphasis on rural stores in 2024 with more than 80% of our new stores planned in rural communities where we believe we can have the most significant and positive impact for our customers.

我們將繼續對商店業態進行創新，作為我們房地產策略的重要組成部分，我想花點時間為我們2024 年的計劃提供一些額外的內容。我們將更加重視農村商店，到2024 年將有超過80 家商店我們計劃在農村社區開設新店的百分比，我們相信我們可以在這些社區為客戶帶來最重大和最積極的影響。

In addition, more than 90% of our new stores and relocations will be in one of our larger store formats, which continues to drive increased sales productivity per square foot as compared to our traditional 7,300 square foot box. These larger stores also provide additional opportunities to serve our customers, including expanded cooler offerings to help them build meals to feed their families, more health and beauty products and fresh produce in many stores.

此外，我們超過 90% 的新店和搬遷店將採用我們較大的商店格式之一，與我們傳統的 7,300 平方英尺的盒子相比，這將繼續提高每平方英尺的銷售效率。這些較大的商店還提供了額外的機會來服務我們的顧客，包括擴大冷藏產品以幫助他們製作養家糊口的飯菜，許多商店提供更多的健康和美容產品以及新鮮農產品。

Also included within our store plans are approximately 30 new pop shelf locations as we continue to move at a measured pace with this concept in a softer discretionary sales environment. Finally, we've been very pleased with our initial entry into Mexico and our new store plans for 2024 also include approximately 15 new Mi Súper Dollar General stores in Mexico.

我們的商店計劃還包括大約 30 個新的流行貨架位置，因為我們將在更加疲軟的自由銷售環境中繼續以謹慎的步伐推進這一概念。最後，我們對首次進入墨西哥感到非常滿意，我們 2024 年的新店計畫還包括在墨西哥開設約 15 家新的 Mi Söper Dollar General 商店。

Turning to remodels. Nearly 70% are planned to be in our DGTP format, which will provide the opportunity for significant increase in cooler count as well as the potential to add fresh produce in many of these stores. We are excited about our real estate plans for 2024 as we continue to grow the number of communities we are serving, particularly in rural America.

轉向改造。近 70% 計劃採用我們的 DGTP 格式，這將為顯著增加冷卻器數量提供機會，並有可能在許多此類商店中添加新鮮農產品。隨著我們服務的社區數量不斷增加，特別是在美國農村，我們對 2024 年的房地產計劃感到興奮。

In closing, we have tremendous growth opportunities in front of us, which we are uniquely well positioned to capture. We are working diligently on getting back to the basics, and we are laser-focused on serving our customers while providing meaningful opportunity for our employees and creating long-term value for our shareholders.

最後，我們面前有巨大的成長機會，我們擁有獨特的優勢來抓住這些機會。我們正努力回歸基礎，專注於服務客戶，同時為員工提供有意義的機會，為股東創造長期價值。

With that, I now would like to turn the call over to Kelly.

有了這個，我現在想把電話轉給凱利。

Thank you, Todd, and good morning, everyone. Now that Todd has taken you through a few highlights of the quarter, let me take you through some of the 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.

謝謝托德，大家早安。現在托德已經向您介紹了本季的一些亮點，讓我向您介紹一些重要的財務細節。除非我們另有特別說明，否則所有比較均為同比，所有對每股收益的提及均指稀釋後的每股收益，所有提及的年份均指相應的財政年度。

For third quarter, gross profit as a percentage of sales was 29%, a decrease of 147 basis points. This decrease was primarily attributable to an increase in shrink, lower inventory markups and increased markdowns. These were partially offset by decreases in LIFO and transportation costs.

第三季毛利佔銷售額的百分比為29%，下降147個基點。這一下降主要歸因於損耗增加、庫存加價降低和降價增加。這些被後進先出和運輸成本的下降部分抵消。

Turning to SG&A, which was 24.5% of sales, an increase of 183 basis points. This increase was driven by retail labor, including approximately $29 million of our targeted labor investment as well as depreciation and amortization, repairs and maintenance, rent, professional fees, other services purchased, including debit and credit card transaction fees. These were partially offset by a decrease in incentive compensation.

SG&A 佔銷售額的 24.5%，成長了 183 個基點。這一增長是由零售勞動力推動的，包括約 2,900 萬美元的目標勞動力投資以及折舊和攤銷、維修和保養、租金、專業費用、購買的其他服務，包括借記卡和信用卡交易費用。這些被激勵薪酬的減少部分抵消。

Moving down the income statement. Operating profit for the third quarter decreased 41.1% to $433.5 million. As a percentage of sales, operating profit was 4.5%, a decrease of 330 basis points. Interest expense for the quarter increased to $82 million compared to $54 million in last year's third quarter, driven by higher average borrowings and higher interest rates.

將損益表向下移動。第三季營業利潤下降 41.1% 至 4.335 億美元。營業利潤佔銷售額的百分比為 4.5%，下降 330 個基點。由於平均借款增加和利率上升，本季利息支出從去年第三季的 5,400 萬美元增至 8,200 萬美元。

Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 21.3% and compares to 22.8% in the third quarter of last year. This lower rate is primarily due to increased benefits from federal employment tax credits and an increased benefit from rate-impacting items caused by lower earnings before taxes for the third quarter. These benefits were partially offset by a higher state effective tax rate. Finally, EPS for the quarter decreased 45.9% to $1.26.

我們本季的有效稅率為 21.3%，而去年第三季為 22.8%。利率下降的主要原因是聯邦就業稅收抵免的福利增加，以及第三季稅前利潤下降導致影響利率的項目的福利增加。這些好處被較高的州有效稅率部分抵消。最後，本季每股收益下降 45.9% 至 1.26 美元。

Turning now to our balance sheet and cash flow. Merchandise inventories were $7.4 billion at the end of the quarter, an increase of 3% compared to last year and a decrease of 1.8% on a per store basis. In addition, total nonconsumable inventory decreased approximately 15% compared to last year and decreased 19% on a per store basis.

現在轉向我們的資產負債表和現金流。截至本季末，商品庫存為 74 億美元，比去年增加 3%，每家商店減少 1.8%。此外，與去年相比，非消耗品總庫存減少了約 15%，每家商店的庫存減少了 19%。

While the inventory growth rate has significantly moderated from its peak in the third quarter last year and the quality of our inventory remains good, we continue to believe there is opportunity to optimize and reduce our inventory levels. We continue to review our markdown plans related to the previously announced $95 million investment, including associated costs to ensure we are maximizing the impact of these actions.

儘管庫存成長率較去年第三季的峰值已顯著放緩，並且我們的庫存品質仍然良好，但我們仍然相信有機會優化和降低庫存水準。我們將繼續審查與先前宣布的 9,500 萬美元投資相關的降價計劃，包括相關成本，以確保我們最大限度地發揮這些行動的影響。

We are focused on optimizing our overall inventory position to better support our customers, stores, distribution centers and growth plans. Year-to-date, through Q3, the business generated cash flows from operations of $1.4 billion, an increase of 15.5%.

我們專注於優化整體庫存狀況，以更好地支援我們的客戶、商店、配送中心和成長計劃。年初至今，截至第三季度，該業務營運產生的現金流為 14 億美元，成長 15.5%。

Total capital expenditures through Q3 were $1.2 billion and included our planned investments in new stores, remodels and relocations, distribution and transportation projects and spending related to our strategic initiatives.

第三季的總資本支出為 12 億美元，包括我們計劃投資的新店、改造和搬遷、分銷和運輸項目以及與我們的戰略舉措相關的支出。

During the quarter, we paid a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per common share outstanding for a total payout of $129.5 million. As planned, we did not repurchase shares this quarter.

本季度，我們支付了每股已發行普通股 0.59 美元的季度股息，總股息為 1.295 億美元。按照計劃，本季我們沒有回購股票。

Now I want to take a moment to provide an update on our financial outlook. We continue to expect the following for fiscal year 2023. First, net sales growth in the range of 1.5% to 2.5%. Next, same-store sales in the range of a decline of approximately negative 1% to flat, and EPS in the range of $7.10 to $7.60 or a decline of negative 34% to negative 29%. Our EPS guidance continues to assume an effective tax rate of approximately 22.5%. Finally, we expect capital spending in the range of $1.6 billion to $1.7 billion, and no share repurchase activity.

現在我想花點時間介紹一下我們的財務前景的最新情況。我們繼續預期 2023 財年將出現以下情況：首先，淨銷售額成長在 1.5% 至 2.5% 範圍內。接下來，同店銷售額下降約負 1% 至持平，每股收益在 7.10 美元至 7.60 美元之間，即下降 34% 至負 29%。我們的 EPS 指引繼續假設有效稅率約為 22.5%。最後，我們預期資本支出在 16 億美元至 17 億美元之間，且沒有股票回購活動。

Let me now provide some additional context as it relates to our outlook for the rest of 2023. While we continue to see a more constrained consumer and softer sales trends than we expected coming into the year, those trends were anticipated when we provided our guidance update in October.

現在讓我提供一些與我們對2023 年剩餘時間的展望相關的額外背景資訊。雖然我們繼續看到今年的消費者受到更多限制，銷售趨勢比我們預期的更為疲軟，但這些趨勢是我們在提供更新指導時預期的在十月。

We have always been an all-weather brand and aided by the actions that Todd outlined earlier, we are poised and ready to serve our customer in this challenging economic environment. In the near term, we expect continued overall pressure on the sales line, particularly in the nonconsumable categories.

我們一直是一個全天候品牌，在托德之前概述的行動的幫助下，我們已準備好在這個充滿挑戰的經濟環境中為我們的客戶提供服務。短期內，我們預期銷售線將持續承受整體壓力，特別是在非消費品類別。

Within gross margin, in addition to sales mix pressure in our previously announced markdowns, shrink has continued to be a sizable headwind, and we expect this will remain with us into next year as any shrink improvement typically takes at least a year from a store's most recent count to show up in our financial results.

在毛利率方面，除了我們之前宣布的降價銷售組合壓力外，縮水仍然是一個相當大的阻力，我們預計這種情況將持續到明年，因為任何縮水改善通常需要至少一年的時間才能達到商店的最高水準。最近的計數出現在我們的財務業績中。

Partially offsetting these challenges, we expect benefits from greater distribution center capacity and performance, lower carrier rates, our private tractor fleet and other distribution and transportation efficiencies. We also continue to expect realizing benefits from our initiatives, including DG Fresh and the DG Media Network.

為了部分抵消這些挑戰，我們期望從更大的配送中心容量和性能、更低的承運商費率、我們的私人拖拉機車隊以及其他配送和運輸效率中受益。我們也繼續期望從我們的舉措中獲益，包括 DG Fresh 和 DG Media Network。

Turning to SG&A. We plan to make the remaining $50 million of our planned total labor investment of approximately $150 million in our stores during Q4. Overall, the investments we have previously discussed in retail labor markdowns and other areas to better support our customers, stores and distribution centers are expected to total up to $270 million in 2023, which is consistent with our previous expectations. We are reviewing every aspect of these investments to ensure we maximize their impact for our customers and stores while driving the greatest return moving forward.

轉向SG&A。我們計劃在第四季度將計劃總勞動力投資約 1.5 億美元中的剩餘 5,000 萬美元用於我們的商店。總體而言，我們之前討論過的在零售勞動力降價和其他領域的投資，以更好地支持我們的客戶、商店和配送中心，預計到2023 年總計將達到2.7 億美元，這與我們先前的預期一致。我們正在審查這些投資的各個方面，以確保我們最大限度地發揮其對客戶和商店的影響，同時推動未來的最大回報。

Our capital allocation priorities continue to serve us well and guide us today. Our first priority is investing in our business, including our existing store base as well as high return organic growth opportunities such as new store expansion and our strategic initiatives.

今天，我們的資本配置優先事項繼續為我們提供良好的服務和指導。我們的首要任務是投資我們的業務，包括我們現有的商店基礎以及高回報的有機成長機會，例如新店擴張和我們的策略舉措。

Next, we return cash to shareholders through a quarterly dividend payment. And finally, over time, and when appropriate, share repurchases. Although our leverage ratio is currently above our target of approximately 3x adjusted debt to adjusted EBITDAR, we are focused on improving our debt metrics in order to support our commitment to our current investment grade credit ratings, which, as a reminder, are BBB and BAA2. With all of that said, cash generation is very important, particularly in this environment, and we are focused on maintaining and improving strong cash flow as we head into 2024.

接下來，我們透過季度股利支付向股東返還現金。最後，隨著時間的推移，在適當的時候進行股票回購。儘管我們的槓桿率目前高於調整後債務與調整後EBITDAR 約3 倍的目標，但我們專注於改善債務指標，以支持我們對當前投資級信用評級的承諾，提醒一下，目前的投資級信用評級為BBB 和BAA2 。話雖如此，現金產生非常重要，尤其是在這種環境下，進入 2024 年，我們的重點是維持和改善強勁的現金流。

In summary, we remain committed to maintaining our discipline and how we manage expenses and capital as a low-cost operator with the goal of delivering consistent, strong financial performance while strategically investing for the long term. We are confident in our business model and our ongoing long-term financial priorities to drive profitable same-store sales growth, healthy new store returns, strong free cash flow and long-term shareholder value.

總之，我們仍然致力於維持我們的紀律以及作為低成本營運商如何管理費用和資本，目標是提供一致、強勁的財務業績，同時進行長期策略投資。我們對我們的業務模式和持續的長期財務重點充滿信心，以推動盈利的同店銷售成長、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 back over to Todd.

這樣，我會將電話轉回給托德。

Thank you, Kelly. As we wrap up, let me just say again that we're laser-focused on getting back to the basics. As I mentioned in my earlier remarks, some of these actions will take a little bit more time to deliver the desired results. But we expect to demonstrate significant progress over the coming months and look forward to sharing more with you in the quarters ahead. .

謝謝你，凱利。在我們結束時，讓我再次強調，我們專注於回歸基礎。正如我在先前的演講中提到的，其中一些行動需要更多的時間才能達到預期的結果。但我們預計將在未來幾個月內展示出重大進展，並期待在未來幾季與您分享更多資訊。 。

This team is energized, and we are confident in the actions we're taking to drive operational excellence for our customers and employees and long-term value creation for our shareholders. I want to thank our approximately 185,000 employees for their commitment to doing the work necessary to serve our customers and communities every day. I am proud of this team, and look forward to serving our customers together as we move through this busy holiday season.

這個團隊充滿活力，我們對為客戶和員工推動卓越營運以及為股東創造長期價值而採取的行動充滿信心。我要感謝我們約 185,000 名員工每天致力於為我們的客戶和社區提供服務所需的工作。我為這個團隊感到自豪，並期待在我們度過這個繁忙的假期期間共同為我們的客戶提供服務。

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

接線員，現在我們要開始提問了。

(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。

Welcome back, Todd. So I wanted to kick it off just with longer-term operating margins. Do you feel like you can sustain a 6%-plus operating margin level longer term? And do you think you can get back to 8%-plus, where you have historically operated? And then to get to that 8%-plus, where do you see potentially the bigger buckets of opportunity going forward?

歡迎回來，托德。所以我想從長期營業利潤開始。您認為您可以長期維持 6% 以上的營業利潤率嗎？您認為您能回到過去營運的 8% 以上嗎？然後，為了達到 8% 以上，您認為未來更大的潛在機會在哪裡？

Yes. Thanks for the question. I'll take the second part of that and then pass it over to Kelly. We hear a Dollar General have gone back to the basics. You heard that in my prepared remarks, and I have to say, it has truly energized this company at all different levels.

是的。謝謝你的提問。我將把第二部分交給凱利。我們聽說 Dollar General 已經回歸基本面。你們在我準備好的演講中聽到了，我不得不說，它確實在各個層面上激發了這家公司的活力。

Everything starts and stops at the store with the customer. And what we've done is actually, again, nothing rocket science here, we've actually gone in and looked at every element of our business. It touches our consumer from the lens of the consumer.

一切都與顧客一起在商店開始和結束。我們所做的實際上並不是什麼火箭科學，我們實際上已經深入研究了我們業務的每個要素。它從消費者的角度觸及我們的消費者。

Again, you would think that, that is always an ongoing piece. But sometimes it's good to remind yourself and remind you organization. So we've done that. And with that, and I won't go through all of that because you saw a lot of it in my prepared remarks, but really getting back to the basics, making sure that the labor that we've already have deployed in our stores and yet to come in the fourth quarter, the $150 million of additional labor is spend in the proper way.

同樣，您可能會認為，這始終是一個正在進行的作品。但有時提醒自己和提醒組織也是有好處的。所以我們已經做到了。說到這裡，我不會講所有這些，因為你們在我準備好的發言中看到了很多內容，但真正回到基礎知識，確保我們已經在我們的商店中部署的勞動力和在第四季度到來之前，1.5億美元的額外勞動力將會以適當的方式支出。

And again, that redeployment of money from the smart teams directly into our store where it touches our customer each and every day immediately is so important, and that's exactly what we're going to do. And as we do that, and I think it's very important to point out, it also helps the front end of that store.

再說一遍，將智慧團隊的資金直接重新部署到我們的商店，每天都會立即接觸到我們的客戶，這一點非常重要，而這正是我們要做的。當我們這樣做時，我認為指出這一點非常重要，這也有助於該商店的前端。

And it helps on the sales line because we've got somebody to meet, greet and ring up the customer. It also helps on the shrink line because you've got somebody at the front end of the store that is always there to monitor the front end of the store.

這對銷售熱線很有幫助，因為我們有人會見、問候客戶並打電話給客戶。它還有助於減少收縮線，因為在商店的前端有人總是在那裡監視商店的前端。

And also, it helps on the convenience side because we had relied and start to reply too much this year on self-checkout in our stores. We should be using self-checkout as a secondary checkout vehicle, not a primary. And so with all that, it's really going to help. And then when you focus in on our supply chain, getting the right product at the right time to our stores or OTIF in full and on time, I would tell you that, that's going to make a world of difference.

而且，它在便利方面也有所幫助，因為我們今年已經開始過度依賴並開始回覆商店的自助結帳。我們應該使用自助結帳作為輔助結帳工具，而不是主要工具。綜上所述，這確實會有幫助。然後，當您專注於我們的供應鏈時，在正確的時間將正確的產品足量、準時地送到我們的商店或 OTIF，我會告訴您，這將使世界變得不同。

Again, being an old operator that I am, there's nothing more disruptive in the store, not getting your truck on time and be able to get all the truck up onto the shelf when it comes in; and by the way, having the right items when you do put it on the shelf.

再說一次，作為一名老操作員，在商店裡沒有什麼比不準時收到卡車以及在卡車進來時能夠將所有卡車都放到貨架上更具有破壞性的了；順便說一句，當你把它放在架子上時，要有正確的物品。

And then lastly, really honing in this merchandising piece. We've got probably one of the best merchant groups in all of consumable retailing. But at times, you have to step back and look at what brought you to the party may not always be exactly what you need to do to go forward. Sometimes you got to step back to go forward. And I would tell you that's the case here on a couple of levels. One being the number of SKUs we're carrying, SKU rationalization is always an ongoing piece at Dollar General.

最後，對這個商品進行了真正的磨練。我們擁有可能是所有消費品零售業中最好的商業集團之一。但有時，你必須退後一步，看看是什麼讓你參加了聚會，也許並不總是你需要做的事情才能繼續前進。有時你必須退後一步才能前進。我想告訴你，這裡的情況在幾個層面上都是如此。其中之一是我們持有的 SKU 數量，SKU 合理化始終是 Dollar General 的持續工作。

But I believe that it's time to really step back and energize that even more in 2024. And we've already actually have gone deep here, turned off a lot of SKUs. There's going to be a lot more to come. And the idea here is turning off or eliminating SKUs that are more in the secondary or tertiary type of line.

但我相信，到 2024 年，是時候真正退後一步，為這一點注入更多活力了。我們實際上已經深入到這裡，關閉了很多 SKU。還會有更多的事情發生。這裡的想法是關閉或消除更多處於第二或第三類型產品線的 SKU。

So think about (inaudible) as an example. We may have 5 or 6 different variants of (inaudible) on the shelf today. We can easily drop 1 or 2 of those. The consumer is not going to know the difference, actually is going to make her life a little simpler when she goes to the shelf, going to make the store's life simpler to put product on the shelf.

因此，請考慮（聽不清楚）作為一個例子。今天我們的貨架上可能有 5 或 6 種不同的變體（聽不清楚）。我們可以輕鬆地刪除其中的一兩個。消費者不會知道其中的區別，實際上，當她走向貨架時，她的生活會變得更簡單，將產品放在貨架上也會讓商店的生活變得更簡單。

And also, what it's going to do is help our warehouses actually eliminate a lot of holding slots. So a lot of benefit to what we're going to do in SKU rationalization. And all of this, which is fabulous, and I'll pass it over to Kelly, will actually start to move down to the bottom line, some faster than others. But again, being an old line retailer that I am, I know that these actions will fall to the bottom line and also help increase our top line as we go into '24. Kelly?

而且，它將幫助我們的倉庫真正消除大量的儲存槽位。因此，我們在 SKU 合理化方面要做的事情有很多好處。所有這一切都非常棒，我會將其傳遞給凱利，實際上將開始向底線移動，其中一些比其他更快。但同樣，作為一名老牌零售商，我知道這些行動將落入我們的底線，並且在我們進入 24 世紀時也有助於增加我們的頂線。凱莉？

Thanks, Todd. And just so everybody knows, our goal is certainly to get back to the historic levels of operating margin and profit that we're used to. While we're not going to give guidance, obviously, for '24 today, I do want to give a little bit of color of '24 just around some near-term headwinds that we're seeing.

謝謝，托德。眾所周知，我們的目標肯定是恢復到我們習慣的歷史水準的營業利潤和利潤。顯然，雖然今天我們不會提供 24 年的指導，但我確實想就我們所看到的一些近期不利因素提供一些 24 年的色彩。

The first of those is around lapping really significantly reduced incentive compensation as well as stock-based compensation. And so that will just be a near-term headwind as we think about 2024.

第一個是大幅減少激勵薪酬和股票薪酬。因此，當我們考慮 2024 年時，這將只是近期的阻力。

The other thing that we're looking at right now is we're expecting a higher effective tax rate. And that's really due to lower benefits around the stock-based compensation piece as well as we've seen historically just some higher state effective tax rates as we have moved through the last few years.

我們現在正在考慮的另一件事是我們預計會有更高的有效稅率。這實際上是由於基於股票的薪資福利較低，而且我們在過去幾年中看到了歷史上一些較高的州有效稅率。

So those are near-term headwinds, certainly not anything long term that we need to worry about.

因此，這些都是近期的不利因素，當然不是我們需要擔心的長期因素。

The other thing is around shrink. And so as you know, shrink has been pretty significant for us for a while, and it's definitely going to carry into 2024. As I talked about in the prepared remarks, it just takes a while to start showing up in your financial results.

另一件事是關於收縮。如您所知，收縮對我們來說相當重要已經有一段時間了，而且肯定會持續到2024 年。正如我在準備好的發言中談到的那樣，它只需要一段時間就能開始體現在您的財務業績中。

And just to give you a little bit more color of kind of where we are with shrink on a year-to-date basis. Shrink is actually 100 basis point headwind for us. And then as we moved into Q3, it's actually running just a little bit higher than that. And so certainly a pressure near term for us, something that we're looking to hopefully -- we're mitigating along the way, and it'll show up in the financial results later in 2024.

只是為了讓您了解我們今年迄今為止的收縮狀況。收縮實際上對我們來說是 100 個基點的逆風。然後，當我們進入第三季時，它的運行速度實際上比這要高一點。因此，短期內我們肯定會面臨壓力，我們希望這一點能夠緩解，並將在 2024 年稍後的財務表現中體現出來。

And then as we think about just our underserved customers, we're just making sure that we're watching her and whether she gains -- stays gainfully employed. All the actions that Todd just noted and getting back to the basics is certainly going to set us up nicely to be able to serve her and it doesn't matter what economic environment. And we've always been an all-weather brand, and we certainly will continue to be so as we move forward.

然後，當我們考慮服務不足的客戶時，我們只是確保我們正在關注她，以及她是否獲得了——保持有酬就業。托德剛才提到的所有行動以及回到基礎知識肯定會讓我們能夠很好地為她服務，無論經濟環境如何。我們一直是一個全天候品牌，隨著我們的前進，我們肯定會繼續如此。

So that's a little bit of color on '24. We're going to give you a lot more color in March and give you a little bit more holistic view there. But what I'll say is, overall, the fundamentals of this business are absolutely unchanged and this model remains strong. And on a longer-term basis, we believe that we're going to get back to the historic levels that this model is accustomed to delivering.

所以這對 24 來說有點色彩。我們將在三月為您提供更多色彩，並為您提供更全面的視角。但我要說的是，總體而言，這項業務的基本面絕對沒有改變，而且這種模式仍然很強大。從長遠來看，我們相信我們將回到該模型慣於提供的歷史水平。

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。

Welcome back, Todd. When you rejoined, you talked about you having an opportunity to revisit the financial profile of the business. And if there was a time to look back and reset and invest deeper that you could take that opportunity. As the business looks to be forming a bottom in margin and thinking about getting to 7% or plus in a reasonable time frame, do you have any updated thoughts on that? Does it make sense to lean in so that when you start building back, it builds back sustainably, do you think the business needs a little more investment than you thought 1.5 months ago?

歡迎回來，托德。當您重新加入時，您談到您有機會重新審視公司的財務狀況。如果有時間回顧、重新調整並進行更深入的投資，那麼您可以抓住這個機會。由於公司的利潤率似乎正在觸底，並考慮在合理的時間內達到 7% 或以上，您對此有什麼最新的想法嗎？向前邁進是否有意義，以便當您開始重建時，它會可持續地重建，您認為企業需要比 1.5 個月前想像的更多的投資嗎？

Yes. Thank you for the question. And you're 100% right. The first few weeks back on the deck here, I did take a holistic view across not only our operations, but as you heard, our supply chain, our merchandising areas, looked at everything holistically, and I'll just click off a few.

是的。感謝你的提問。你是100%正確的。回到這裡的頭幾週，我不僅對我們的營運進行了全面的審視，而且正如你所聽到的，我們的供應鏈、我們的銷售領域，從整體上審視了一切，我只會點擊一些。

But first, let me say before I click it off, is that I believe that the investments that have been already talked about this year are $100 million and $150 million in totality labor investments were the exact right thing to do. I don't believe at this point that I see a need that we need to make any other larger outsized investments as we move into '24.

但首先，在我結束之前，我要說的是，我相信今年已經討論過的投資為 1 億美元，勞動力投資總額為 1.5 億美元是完全正確的事情。在這一點上，我認為在進入 24 世紀時，我們不需要進行任何其他更大規模的投資。

I believe, as I indicated, that the right thing to do is make sure that the $150 million is being used appropriately and in the right areas that touches the consumer and helps our stores be able to better serve our consumer each and every day. And that's exactly what we've done now over the last few weeks.

正如我所指出的，我相信正確的做法是確保這 1.5 億美元得到適當使用，並用於接觸消費者的正確領域，並幫助我們的商店每天都能更好地為消費者服務。這正是我們過去幾週所做的事情。

And that's why I believe taking the smart teams out of the equation, taking that whole bunch of labor that was dedicated to that, putting it directly in our stores to cover the front end of our stores more effectively each and every day, 100% of the time tethered to the front end for customer service and ringing up our customers.

這就是為什麼我相信將聰明的團隊排除在外，將所有致力於此的勞動力直接投入到我們的商店中，每天更有效地覆蓋我們商店的前端，100%前端客戶服務和給客戶打電話的時間。

And then also one of the first for Dollar General, quite frankly, and that is deploying some of that labor into a work that ensures that we keep our perpetual inventory correct and ongoingly correct each and every day. Because once again, if the system doesn't realize you need product, it won't send you product.

坦白說，這也是 Dollar General 的首要任務之一，那就是將一些勞動力部署到一項工作中，以確保我們保持永續庫存正確並每天持續正確。因為，如果系統沒有意識到您需要產品，它就不會向您發送產品。

And unfortunately, over the last year or so, our perpetual inventory numbers have gotten further and further out of whack, quite frankly. And we are now in the midst of bringing those back. We've seen a lot of great traction, but the redeployment of hours of this $50 million coming out of the smart teams will really benefit. And again, this is a first for Dollar General, so it will be great to see that as well. And then as I looked into other areas of the company, I feel fabulous about our pricing.

不幸的是，坦白說，在過去一年左右的時間裡，我們的永續庫存數據變得越來越不正常。我們現在正在將它們帶回來。我們已經看到了很大的吸引力，但是來自智慧團隊的這 5000 萬美元的時間重新部署將真正受益。再說一次，這對 Dollar General 來說還是第一次，所以很高興看到這一點。然後，當我研究公司的其他領域時，我對我們的定價感到非常滿意。

The great thing when I step back in, our everyday pricing across all channels of trade, including our chief competitor, looks very good and in great position. As a matter of fact, our gaps are right where we would like to see them compared to historical levels. So very good there. Our promotional activity, while I still believe I would call it semi rational across the spectrum, we have seen an uptick in recent weeks on promotional activity.

當我回來時，最棒的是，我們所有貿易管道（包括我們的主要競爭對手）的日常定價看起來非常好並且處於有利位置。事實上，與歷史水準相比，我們的差距正是我們希望看到的。那裡非常好。我們的促銷活動，雖然我仍然相信我會稱之為半理性的，但最近幾週我們看到促銷活動增加。

We're watching that carefully. Is that because we're moving into the holidays? Or is that something that will sustain as we move into '24? So we're watching that carefully. But you know us pretty well, Simeon, we're going to take whatever action is needed. We're going to take it quickly, and we'll make sure that our pricing stays exactly where it needs to be to service our customers.

我們正在仔細觀察。是因為我們即將進入假期嗎？或者說，當我們進入 24 世紀時，這種情況會持續下去嗎？所以我們正在仔細觀察。但你很了解我們，西蒙，我們將採取一切必要的行動。我們將迅速採取行動，並確保我們的定價準確地保持在服務客戶所需的水平。

But at this point, I don't see a need to reinvest any large amounts, sums of money in margin to do anything there. But again, we always reserve the right to be able to do it if that time arises. So right now, I think the investments we've already talked about over this past year are in the system.

但目前，我認為沒有必要再投資大量保證金來在那裡做任何事情。但同樣，我們始終保留在時機成熟時能夠這樣做的權利。所以現在，我認為我們在過去一年中已經討論過的投資都在系統中。

I believe they're appropriate. They're now being used, I believe, very appropriately in all areas and are deployed the proper way. Now it's time for execution. And that's what we're doing. We're already starting to see a little bit of benefit, especially as we moved into November on some of our top line results both in consumables and nonconsumables, quite frankly, as we move through November.

我相信他們是合適的。我相信，它們現在在所有領域都得到了非常恰當的使用，並且以正確的方式進行了部署。現在是執行的時候了。這就是我們正在做的事情。我們已經開始看到一些好處，特別是當我們進入 11 月時，我們在消耗品和非消耗品方面的一些頂線結果，坦率地說，隨著我們進入 11 月。

So it's great to see it. But again, caution it's very early in the quarter, and it's very early in this new look at how Dollar General is going to go to market. But rest assured, as Kelly indicated, we feel very good about the long-term prospects of getting back to historical levels here at Dollar General.

所以很高興看到它。但再次提醒大家，現在還處於本季的早期階段，對於 Dollar General 將如何進入市場的新視角來說，現在還處於早期階段。但請放心，正如凱利所指出的那樣，我們對 Dollar General 回到歷史水平的長期前景感到非常樂觀。

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。

Maybe, Todd, at higher level. Could you just help elaborate on some of the recent changes in behavior that you're seeing from the low-end consumer? The traffic versus ticket trends that you cited, I think, are interesting. But maybe asked a different way, traffic is improving, what's constraining the comp through the third quarter? Did comps actually turn positive in November tied to some of these initiatives?

也許，托德，在更高的層次。您能否幫助詳細說明您最近看到的低端消費者行為的一些變化？我認為您提到的流量與門票趨勢很有趣。但也許換個方式問，流量正在改善，是什麼限制了第三季的競爭？ 11 月份的業績是否真的因其中一些舉措而轉為正值？

And then just lastly, on the new stores and the mindset shift to maybe down shift a bit, could you just elaborate on some of those pieces that you walked through, occupancy costs and some of the other moving parts? And just what you're seeing on the new store return to maybe just take a pause here?

最後，關於新商店和心態的轉變（可能會稍微下調一點），您能否詳細說明您經歷過的一些部分、入住成本和其他一些變化部分？您在新商店中看到的情況可能只是在這裡暫停一下？

Okay, sure. As we look at our results as we move through the quarter, as we indicated, each of the periods were very similar, but we did see continued uptick in our traffic as we move through the quarter and then into November.

好吧，當然。正如我們所指出的，當我們查看本季的結果時，每個時期都非常相似，但我們確實看到，隨著本季和 11 月的到來，我們的流量持續上升。

Now I'm not going to give you a lot of color in November, but to say that we did see a change in trajectory on our comp as well as we moved into November. So it was great to see. And I would tell you that, again, it was both on the consumable and the nonconsumable side of the equation.

現在我不會給你太多關於 11 月的信息，但要說的是，我們確實看到了我們的比較軌跡發生了變化，並且我們進入了 11 月。所以很高興看到。我想再告訴你，它既屬於等式的消耗品又屬於非消耗品。

Now one would say, "Well, where is it in the comp?" Well, I would tell you the comp actually was much better as we move through the end of October into November, but we still have a lot of work to do, Matt, to get back to some historical comp type rights here at Dollar General.

現在有人會說，“那麼，它在comp中的哪裡？”好吧，我會告訴你，隨著我們從 10 月底進入 11 月，補償實際上要好得多，但我們仍然有很多工作要做，馬特，要回到 Dollar General 的一些歷史補償類型權利。

I believe the back to basic work that we're doing is going to help us get there faster as you move into the back half of Q4 and into Q1 of '24. Making sure our stores are stocked each and every day when the consumer walks in the store. They'll be able to find what they need is going to be very, very important. So more to come. We've already started to see that.

我相信，當您進入第四季度後半段和 24 年第一季時，我們正在做的回歸基礎工作將幫助我們更快地實現這一目標。確保每天當消費者走進商店時我們的商店都有貨。他們將能夠找到他們需要的東西，這將是非常非常重要的。未來還會有更多。我們已經開始看到這一點。

We've actually have seen our in-stock rates markedly improve over the last few weeks. We check it and watch it each and every week. And I believe that has added to some of that betterment and comp that I talked about in November. So more to come.

事實上，我們已經看到過去幾週我們的庫存率顯著提高。我們每週都會檢查並觀看。我相信這已經增加了我在 11 月談到的一些改進和補償。未來還會有更多。

I believe the macro still has an effect on us as well as others. But what we've always been and prided ourselves on control, which you can control here at Dollar General, and we're doing just that with back to basics. And we believe that we can help overcome some of those shortcomings in the macro environment with being able to control what -- and what the consumer feels and sees when she's in the store. So more to come. We feel like we're on the right track here, but we've got a lot of work yet to do, but I feel good about that.

我相信宏觀仍然對我們以及其他人產生影響。但我們一直以控制力為傲，您可以在 Dollar General 進行控制，而我們正是透過回歸基礎來做到這一點。我們相信，透過控制消費者在商店中的感受和看到的內容，我們可以幫助克服宏觀環境中的一些缺點。未來還會有更多。我們覺得我們走在正確的軌道上，但我們還有很多工作要做，但我對此感覺很好。

As far as our new stores. As you noted, we did take a little bit of a step back this year. Again, this was one of the areas that I cracked open as soon as I walked in the door. Again, we looked at -- there was no sacred cows. We looked at every single piece of this business.

就我們的新店而言。正如您所指出的，我們今年確實後退了一點。同樣，這是我一進門就打開的區域之一。我們再一次看到──沒有神聖的牛。我們研究了這項業務的每一個部分。

One of the things that I do here with the team, every line of that P&L is scrutinized, every single line, including our investments in capital. And as I looked at our new stores, while still wildly the best use of our capital across the board, I feel it was a prudent decision to take a step back.

我與團隊一起做的一件事是，仔細檢查損益表的每一行，每一行，包括我們的資本投資。當我看到我們的新店時，雖然仍然是全面利用我們資本的最佳方式，但我覺得後退一步是一個謹慎的決定。

Now some people would say, "Boy, still building 800 stores, that's not too big of a step back, that's still a large commitment," and it is, Matt. But it was a prudent decision for a couple of reasons.

現在有些人會說，「天啊，還在建造 800 家商店，這並不是太大的退步，這仍然是一個很大的承諾，」確實如此，馬特。但出於幾個原因，這是一個謹慎的決定。

One, we talked about the increased cost to build a store today. The interest rates are up. The cost to build a store is up. I feel very good about the work the team has done. They've mitigated some of those costs, but we still have a lot of work to do yet to mitigate even further some of these costs. So why not take a little bit of a step back in new store development, give our teams the opportunity to also get a lower cost to put these buildings in.

第一，我們今天討論了建立商店的成本增加。利率上漲了。建店的成本上漲了。我對團隊所做的工作感到非常滿意。他們已經減輕了其中一些成本，但我們仍然有很多工作要做，以進一步減輕其中一些成本。那麼，為什麼不在新店開發方面退後一步，讓我們的團隊有機會以更低的成本建造這些建築物。

So we're doing that as we speak. And I believe that it's exactly the right thing to do. And then as you then step a little bit further back, when you look at some of the work we have to do just internally, it's probably a prudent thing to do to step back a little bit as well, so we can go forward faster in the outer years.

所以我們正在這樣做。我相信這是正確的做法。然後，當你退後一步時，當你看到我們必須在內部完成的一些工作時，退一步可能是明智的做法，這樣我們就可以更快地前進外在的歲月。

Now I believe that this -- while this may or may not be a 1-year phenomenon, I would tell you that the way we're looking at it right now, we're not here to give guidance past '24, is that we don't see any reason why we can't up our new store openings as we continue to move forward.

現在我相信，雖然這可能是也可能不是一年的現象，但我會告訴你，我們現在看待它的方式，我們不會在這裡提供 24 年後的指導，是在我們繼續前進的過程中，我們認為沒有任何理由不能增加新店的開張數量。

We love what we see on still 12,000 opportunities to put a Dollar General out in the continental United States, and we've always prided ourselves on being very quick and first to market to capture the majority and release the oversized portion of those 12,000 opportunities. So nothing yet that we see stands in the way of that. And Kelly, you may want to just touch on the returns just really quickly.

我們很高興看到在美國大陸仍有 12,000 個推出 Dollar General 的機會，而且我們始終以非常迅速且率先進入市場來抓住大部分機會並釋放這 12,000 個機會中的大部分而感到自豪。因此，我們還沒有看到任何阻礙這一點的因素。凱利，您可能只想快速討論一下回報。

Yes. No, absolutely. And so an 18% return in this environment is fabulous, and Todd noted it, it's still a great use of capital. The new unit economics are still very strong as we move into '24. And it has a great payback period still of less than 2 years.

是的。不，絕對是。因此，在這種環境下 18% 的回報率是驚人的，托德指出，這仍然是對資本的巨大利用。當我們進入 24 世紀時，新的單位經濟效益仍然非常強勁。而且它的投資回收期還不到兩年。

And the other thing that we haven't seen is any change in the cannibalization rate. The other thing I'd point out and Dollar General is just fantastic at this. Our real estate group is pretty amazing, and we have an extremely high hit rate of success and you've seen that over the years. So we feel really good about the projects. We feel good about the 18% return, and of course, as Todd noted, while we're pleased with all of that in typical Dollar General fashion, we're going to work to improve it as we go through '24.

我們還沒有看到的另一件事是蠶食率的任何變化。我要指出的另一件事是 Dollar General 在這方面做得非常出色。我們的房地產團隊非常出色，我們的成功率極高，多年來您已經看到了這一點。所以我們對這些項目感覺非常好。我們對 18% 的回報率感到滿意，當然，正如托德指出的那樣，雖然我們對典型的 Dollar General 風格的所有這些感到滿意，但我們將在 24 年期間努力改進它。

Our next question is from Seth Sigman with Barclays.

我們的下一個問題來自巴克萊銀行的塞思‧西格曼。

I wanted to talk about inventory a little bit. Just in terms of the progress rightsizing your inventory position. Can you just give us a little bit more perspective on where you sit today with consumables versus nonconsumables?

我想談談庫存。就調整庫存部位的進度而言。您能否給我們更多關於您目前消耗品與非消耗品的情況的看法？

And then is it your expectation to exit the year clean? Or do you feel like you're going to still need some incremental actions into next year? And then I'll just add a second part to the question around the top line. When you look at the improving trends the last few months, to what extent has that been influenced by markdowns and clearance activity?

那麼您是否期望乾淨地結束這一年？或者您覺得明年仍需要採取一些漸進式進行？然後我將在第一行周圍的問題中添加第二部分。當您觀察過去幾個月的改善趨勢時，您會發現這種趨勢在多大程度上受到降價和清倉活動的影響？

Yes. No, thanks for the question. And inventory reduction is absolutely a priority of ours this year, and it will be a priority as we move into next year. I think the good news for us is that the quality of our inventory is good, but we've talked a lot in the past about the benefits of inventory reduction and just what that does as you reduce the complexities in both the stores and the distribution centers.

是的。不，謝謝你的提問。減少庫存絕對是我們今年的首要任務，也是我們進入明年的首要任務。我認為對我們來說好消息是我們的庫存品質很好，但我們過去已經討論過很多關於減少庫存的好處以及減少商店和分銷的複雜性的作用中心。

So I would say our progress is on track in our reduction efforts, and you saw a little bit of that in the numbers today. So total inventory increase was 3% on a year-over-year basis. But if you look at it on a per store basis, we're down 1.8%. I think the real story here is, is around the nonconsumable piece. And so we are down 15% on a year-over-year basis there, and we're down 19% on a per store basis.

所以我想說，我們的減排工作正在取得進展，你們在今天的數字中看到了一點。因此，總庫存年增 3%。但如果你按每家商店來看，我們下降了 1.8%。我認為這裡真正的故事是圍繞著非消耗品的。因此，我們的銷售額年減了 15%，每家商店的銷售額年減了 19%。

I think the other important thing to call out, and we've been calling it out every quarter, but this one is even more significant as we've seen a 58% decrease in our import receipts. And again, that's us buying around that product and making sure that we're selling through it. And so we feel good about where we're headed for the end of the year.

我認為另一件重要的事情需要指出，我們每季都會指出這一點，但這一點更為重要，因為我們看到我們的進口收入下降了 58%。再說一遍，我們圍繞著該產品進行購買，並確保我們透過它進行銷售。因此，我們對今年底的發展方向感到滿意。

Just a little bit longer term, I'd say we have several work streams in place that are working on inventory reduction, but just as important, and this kind of goes to the top line is inventory optimization and making sure that we're going where the customer wants us to go.

從長遠來看，我想說我們有幾個工作流程正在致力於減少庫存，但同樣重要的是，這種最重要的是庫存優化，並確保我們能夠客戶希望我們去哪裡。

And so I would say with all of these things in place, we should feel pretty good about where we're landing at the end of '23, but we're going to feel even better as we see continued improvement in inventory levels as we move through '24.

因此，我想說，有了所有這些事情，我們應該對 23 年底的目標感到非常滿意，但當我們看到庫存水平持續改善時，我們會感覺更好。移動到'24。

Thanks, Kelly. And as you look at our results in Q3 and how that relates to any activity around clearing this inventory, I would tell you that I feel very good about the balance here. While there was some activity there, actually, some of the bigger activities is really slated for Q4, if needed.

謝謝，凱利。當您查看我們第三季的結果以及這與清理庫存的任何活動有何關係時，我會告訴您，我對這裡的平衡感覺非常好。雖然那裡有一些活動，但實際上，如果需要的話，一些更大的活動確實計劃在第四季度進行。

And a lot of that will be centered around our sell-through of holiday.

其中很大一部分將圍繞著我們的假期銷售。

So we're watching that very closely. But again, early results would say it's right in line where we thought it would be right now. And actually, in some areas, a little bit better. So we're watching that carefully. But I would also say, as we continue to move forward, what we like and what I've seen since I've been back, is I believe we've done exactly the right thing on moving through some of this inventory.

所以我們正在非常密切地關注這一點。但同樣，早期結果顯示這與我們現在的預期相符。事實上，在某些領域，情況要好一些。所以我們正在仔細觀察。但我還要說，隨著我們繼續前進，我們喜歡的以及我回來後所看到的，是我相信我們在處理部分庫存方面做了完全正確的事情。

But as I look at the quality of our inventory, it is in very good shape. And actually, as Kelly just indicated, a lot of what we have right now to deal with on an overstock basis is actually more in our core everyday goods. So this isn't about a bunch of screw drivers and hammers or fashion-type items for holiday that we have to move through, this is about having a little bit too much of some basic paper cleaning, food-type items, things like that, that will move through the system pretty naturally as long as we do the right thing with our supply chain and our stores, and that's exactly what back to the basics is meant to address. So feel very good about that and very good about what we see going into the back half of this year and '24.

但當我查看我們的庫存品質時，它的狀況非常好。事實上，正如凱利剛才指出的那樣，我們現在要處理的庫存過剩的問題實際上更多的是我們的核心日常用品。所以這不是關於一堆螺絲起子和錘子或我們必須穿過的假期時尚類物品，而是關於一些基本的紙張清潔、食品類物品之類的東西有點太多，只要我們對我們的供應鍊和商店做正確的事情，這就會自然地通過系統，而這正是回歸基本面的目的。因此，對此感覺非常好，對今年下半年和 24 年我們所看到的情況也非常滿意。

Our next question is from Michael Lasser with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的 Michael Lasser。

Welcome back, Todd. Given everything that outlined this morning, when is it realistic for us as outsiders to hold the team accountable to getting back to consistently producing a double-digit EPS growth algorithm like Dollar General has done in the past? And as part of that, Kelly pointed to a few factors that are going to weigh on Dollar General's profitability in 2024. Could you give more texture and timing around how large those factors are like incentive compensation and shrink?

歡迎回來，托德。鑑於今天早上概述的一切，作為局外人，我們什麼時候才能讓團隊負責像 Dollar General 過去所做的那樣，持續產生兩位數的每股收益增長演算法？作為其中的一部分，凱利指出了一些將在 2024 年影響 Dollar General 盈利能力的因素。您能否就激勵薪酬和收縮等這些因素的規模提供更多的說明和時機？

Yes, thank you, Michael. As both Kelly and I have both said, I don't see anything that gets in the way longer term to getting back to some of our historical ways that we return to our shareholders and our customers. We feel that we're on the right track with our back to basics moves here, both in our labor investments, in our inventory investments as well as in our supply chain and merchandising.

是的，謝謝你，麥可。正如凱利和我都說過的那樣，從長遠來看，我認為沒有任何事情會妨礙我們回到我們回報股東和客戶的一些歷史方式。我們認為，我們正走在正確的軌道上，無論是在勞動力投資、庫存投資，還是在供應鏈和銷售方面，我們的回歸基本舉措都是如此。

So we feel like we've taken the right appropriate actions now, and we're moving with speed and intent. As I said in my prepared remarks, some of it will occur and manifest itself faster and some will take a little bit more time. But rest assured, we are hitting every single item, and we're monitoring every single item every week here to make sure it's on the right track. And if it happens not to move the way we want, we will then make an adjustment to ensure that it does.

因此，我們覺得我們現在已經採取了正確的適當行動，並且我們正在快速而堅定地前進。正如我在準備好的發言中所說，其中一些會發生並表現得更快，而另一些則需要更多時間。但請放心，我們正在處理每一個項目，我們每週都會在這裡監控每一個項目，以確保它處於正確的軌道上。如果事情沒有按照我們想要的方式發展，我們將進行調整以確保它按照我們想要的方式發展。

We are squarely focused on getting this company back to its historical returns that everyone is accustomed to seeing. And most importantly, our customer is used to seeing at store level. Now as Kelly indicated, there are some near-term headwinds. As much as I would love Michael to give you more color right now, we're not here to give '24 guidance.

我們完全專注於讓這家公司恢復到每個人都習慣看到的歷史回報。最重要的是，我們的客戶習慣在商店層級進行查看。正如凱利所指出的那樣，近期存在一些阻力。儘管我非常希望邁克爾現在能夠為您提供更多的色彩，但我們並不是來提供 '24 指導的。

We wanted to though make sure that you can contextualize at least some of those headwinds as we start to move into 2024, but rest assured, we're going to give you more than you need in the components when we come back and give you the guidance for 2024 to make sure that you can build the models out the proper way.

我們希望確保您能夠在我們開始進入 2024 年時至少了解其中一些不利因素，但請放心，當我們回來並為您提供以下內容時，我們將為您提供超出您需要的組件。2024 年指南，以確保您能夠以正確的方式建立模型。

But again, I want to make sure you also understand, though, that we're not going to wait till '24. We're taking action now to continue to modify and also continue to ensure that we're addressing any of the gaps that are out there that are well in our control. There'll just be a few things that may not be fully in our control in '24 that will probably be more of a onetime in nature that we'll address at the right time.

不過，我想再次確保您也明白，我們不會等到 24 日。我們現在正在採取行動繼續修改，並繼續確保我們正在解決我們可以很好控制的任何差距。在 24 年，有些事情可能無法完全在我們的控制範圍內，這些事情可能只是一次性的，我們將在適當的時間解決。

Our next question comes from Kate McShane with Goldman Sachs.

我們的下一個問題來自高盛的凱特·麥克沙恩。

We were wondering how you would frame the risk of deflation across your box into next year? And how do you think about the puts and takes across the P&L as a result?

我們想知道您將如何將通貨緊縮風險納入明年？您如何看待損益表中的看跌期權和看跌期權？

Yes. That's a good question. And there's been a lot written up in certain areas on deflation. We've seen some deflationary pieces starting to show up, especially in our nonconsumable discretionary type areas. Nothing that alarms us at this point as we move into 2024. How we're looking at it is we see some real opportunity to reduce initial costs, especially in our import-related goods, not only from the factory, but also for the transportation side.

是的。這是個好問題。某些領域已經有很多關於通貨緊縮的文章。我們已經看到一些通貨緊縮因素開始出現，特別是在我們的非消耗性全權委託類型領域。當我們進入2024 年時，目前沒有什麼讓我們感到震驚的。我們的看法是，我們看到了一些降低初始成本的真正機會，特別是在我們的進口相關商品方面，不僅是來自工廠，而且還包括運輸邊。

So ocean freight, fuel cost, bunker fuel cost and such have moderated greatly over the last year. So there's some opportunity to pull cost out. Some of that, we will definitely pass on to the consumer as we continue to watch, especially in those commodity areas of the import side of the business because there's always some good -- even in our nonconsumable areas, there are some good commodity-type items in there.

因此，海運費、燃料成本、船用燃料成本等在去年已經大幅下降。因此，有一些機會可以降低成本。隨著我們繼續觀察，其中一些肯定會傳遞給消費者，特別是在業務進口方面的商品領域，因為總有一些好的商品 - 即使在我們的非消費品領域，也有一些好的商品類型裡面的物品。

From a consumable perspective, while there's always movement in those areas of commodities: milk, dairy type areas, oils, wheat, we watch that very carefully. We have component pricing here at Dollar General for not only our national brands, but our private brands. We watch that very, very closely and we monitor that.

從消費品的角度來看，雖然牛奶、乳製品類區域、油、小麥等商品領域總是存在變化，但我們非常仔細地觀察。 Dollar General 不僅為我們的國內品牌提供組件定價，還為我們的自有品牌提供組件定價。我們非常非常密切地關注並監控這一點。

Now in saying that, we haven't seen in center of store, if you will, dry grocery, chemical paper, very, very little deflationary pressures. A little bit on those commodities in dairy, as I indicated, some meat items, which we don't -- are not a huge player in. Produce, we're a little bit of a player there in what we've done.

話雖如此，如果你願意的話，我們還沒有在商店中心看到乾雜貨、化學紙，非常非常小的通貨緊縮壓力。正如我所指出的，關於乳製品中的一些商品，一些肉類產品，我們沒有——並不是一個大的參與者。農產品，我們在我們所做的事情中只是一個小小的參與者。

There's some deflation there. But again, I would tell you, in totality, nothing that alarms us or believes that it will adversely affect the top line as we move into '24, at least nothing at this point shows that.

那裡有一些通貨緊縮。但我想再次告訴你，總的來說，沒有任何事情讓我們感到震驚或相信這會對我們進入 24 年的營收產生不利影響，至少目前沒有任何跡象表明這一點。

Our final question is from Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett.

我們的最後一個問題是查克·格羅姆和戈登·哈斯克特提出的。

Welcome back, Todd as well. Can you talk a little bit about the out-of-stock issue and perhaps quantify the drag that it's been to comps over the past few quarters? I believe it's probably pretty sizable and the measures you're taking to improve that issue?

歡迎回來，托德。您能否談談缺貨問題，或許量化過去幾季缺貨對公司造成的拖累？我相信這個問題可能相當大，你們正在採取哪些措施來改善這個問題？

And then on the SKU rationalization, that's interesting. I was just wondering if you could speak to maybe the number of SKUs you have in an average store today? So say, relative to back in 2019 and how big of an opportunity that can be? And how long do you think you'll take to get back to an optimal level?

然後關於 SKU 合理化，這很有趣。我只是想知道您是否可以談談現在普通商店中的 SKU 數量？那麼，相對於 2019 年，這會是多大的機會呢？您認為需要多長時間才能恢復到最佳水平？

Yes, sure. I would tell you that the amount of out of stocks we have in our store are probably some of the largest that I've seen in the 15-plus years I've been here and saying that. There are so many work streams that are now underway, Chuck, that I feel good about where we're headed.

是的，當然。我想告訴你，我們店裡的缺貨數量可能是我在這 15 多年來見過的最大的。查克，現在正在進行如此多的工作流程，我對我們的前進方向感到滿意。

As I just indicated a few moments ago, we saw a meaningful change over the last 2 weeks in our in-stock rates at store level. And these are not just on our perpetual inventory system, but this has actually counted inventory from our inventory -- our Washington inventory group that takes our yearly fiscal inventory.

正如我剛才指出的那樣，過去兩週我們看到商店的庫存率發生了有意義的變化。這些不僅在我們的永續盤存系統上，而且實際上已經從我們的庫存中計算了庫存——我們的華盛頓庫存小組負責我們的年度財務庫存。

So these are real counts, if you will, real out of stocks and not just out of stocks on the shelf, but out of stocks in the back room, too, so meaning it is not in the system for the consumer at all. So we saw a meaningful drop in that, meaning more available to the consumer.

所以，如果你願意的話，這些都是真實的計數，真正的缺貨，不僅僅是貨架上缺貨，而且後面的房間也缺貨，所以這意味著它根本不在消費者的系統中。因此，我們看到了這一數字的顯著下降，這意味著消費者可以使用更多產品。

We believe as we move through the rest of this quarter and into the first, we're going to make even further meaningful advances. Why? We're putting hours toward the inventory specialist role that I mentioned earlier. This is a first for Dollar General to go in and ensure that we keep our on hand or our perpetual inventories more accurate than we have in the past.

我們相信，隨著本季剩餘時間和第一季的到來，我們將取得進一步有意義的進展。為什麼？我們正在投入大量時間來擔任我之前提到的庫存專家角色。這是 Dollar General 首次介入並確保我們的現有庫存或永續庫存比過去更加準確。

We've done this activity in the past, but we have come up with and we are teaching and training individuals to do this in a little bit of a different way, taking a fresh look at it, a fresh approach at it, doing more areas of the store on a weekly basis at a time to ensure that we touch every SKU.

我們過去曾做過這項活動，但我們已經提出，我們正在教導和培訓個人以一種不同的方式來做這件事，以新的眼光、新的方法、做更多的事情每週一次對商店各個區域進行檢查，以確保我們接觸到每個SKU。

And by the way, touching every department of the store at least once a month and the higher velocity areas more than once a month. So we feel good about the direction. We feel good about how we will be able to quickly pivot and make some adjustments here.

順便說一句，每月至少接觸商店的每個部門一次，而速度較高的區域每月至少接觸一次。所以我們對這個方向感覺很好。我們對能夠快速轉向並做出一些調整感到滿意。

Now on the SKU rationalization side. I would tell you that -- and we've said this in the past, we've got between 11,000 and 12,000 total SKUs in our store today, depending on the format, right? We've got some larger formats, as you know, than our smaller ones.

現在在SKU合理化方面。我想告訴你，我們過去已經說過，今天我們商店裡的 SKU 總數在 11,000 到 12,000 個之間，具體取決於格式，對吧？如您所知，我們有一些較大的格式，而不是較小的格式。

But we believe we have an opportunity to take out a meaningful number of SKUs. I'm not going to give you the number right now. We're still in the midst of looking at that. And how we're looking at it again is from that secondary and tertiary type areas that I talked about it earlier.

但我們相信我們有機會拿出大量的 SKU。我現在不會給你電話號碼。我們仍在研究這一點。我們如何再次看待它是從我之前談到的第二和第三類型領域開始的。

We're also, though, taking a fresh approach to look to it from a standpoint of return, right? And so not only a GMROI look at it, but also looking at it from the standpoint of shrink and other areas of components that go into a SKU. And is it still profitable? With shrink being elevated, so a lot of it in our control, some not in our control. There may be SKUs -- and by the way, there are SKUs that we'll be dropping due to the amount of shrink that is in our store as well.

不過，我們也在採取一種新的方法從回報的角度來看待它，對吧？因此，不僅要考慮 GMROI，還要從收縮和 SKU 中組件的其他領域的角度來考慮。而且還能獲利嗎？隨著收縮率的提高，許多都在我們的控制範圍內，有些則不在我們的控制範圍內。可能會有 SKU——順便說一句，由於我們商店的庫存量減少，我們也會放棄一些 SKU。

So it's going to be a fresh look across the portfolio SKUs we carry with the consumer in mind first, but also profitability in mind throughout the entire supply chain through our stores. So more to come. I think we can give you a little bit more color as we go into Q1 of next year on both our progress as well as maybe contextualize how meaningful we're talking about here. But rest assured, I wouldn't talk about it on this if I didn't believe it was going to be a meaningful number of SKUs and a meaningful impact to the simplification efforts within our stores.

因此，我們的 SKU 組合將煥然一新，首先考慮的是消費者，同時也考慮到我們商店的整個供應鏈的盈利能力。未來還會有更多。我認為，當我們進入明年第一季時，我們可以為您提供更多關於我們的進展的信息，以及我們在這裡討論的意義。但請放心，如果我不相信這將是大量的 SKU 以及對我們商店內的簡化工作產生有意義的影響，我不會談論這個問題。

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

我們的問答環節已經結束。我現在想將電話轉回 Todd Vasos 以徵求結束意見。

Thank you, and thanks for all the questions and your kind words for welcoming me back. As I said last year that serving this team at Dollar General has been the highlight of my professional career, and I feel the same sense of honor today.

謝謝你，感謝所有的問題和歡迎我回來的客氣話。正如我去年所說，在 Dollar General 為這個團隊服務是我職業生涯的亮點，今天我也感受到了同樣的榮譽感。

As you heard this morning, we have some hard work yet ahead of us but we know what to do. We've done it before, and we are absolutely set on doing it again as quickly as possible. I'm excited about the opportunities in front of us and all that we've accomplished together over the years and will continue to do so for our customers, associates and shareholders. Thank you for listening, and I hope you have a great day.

正如您今天早上聽到的那樣，我們還有一些艱鉅的工作要做，但我們知道該怎麼做。我們以前已經這樣做過，我們絕對決心盡快再次這樣做。我對我們面前的機會以及我們多年來共同取得的成就感到興奮，並將繼續為我們的客戶、員工和股東這樣做。感謝您的收聽，祝您度過愉快的一天。

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。此時您可以斷開線路，我們感謝您的參與。