達樂 (DG) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Dollar General second quarter 2024 earnings conference call. Today is Thursday, August 29, 2024. (Operator Instructions)

此時此刻，我歡迎大家參加 Dollar General 2024 年第二季財報電話會議。今天是 2024 年 8 月 29 日，星期四。

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.

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 your host, Mr. Kevin Walker, Vice President of Investor Relations. Kevin, you may begin.

現在我想把會議交給東道主投資者關係副總裁凱文沃克先生。凱文，你可以開始了。

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. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from our expectations and projections.

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。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。

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 25, 2024, 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.

這些因素包括但不限於我們今天早上發布的收益報告、2024 年 3 月 25 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所發表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. To allow us to address as many questions as possible in the queue, please limit yourself to one question. Now it is my pleasure to turn the call over to Todd.

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。為了讓我們能夠解決隊列中盡可能多的問題，請限制您只回答一個問題。現在我很高興將電話轉給托德。

Thank you, Kevin, and welcome to everyone joining our call. I want to begin by thanking our team for their continued dedication to serving our customers while executing our back-to-basics plan across the organization.

謝謝你，凱文，歡迎大家加入我們的通話。首先，我要感謝我們的團隊在整個組織內執行回歸基本計畫的同時，繼續致力於為客戶提供服務。

This dedication was on full display at our leadership meeting earlier this month as we had the opportunity to host more than 1,500 leaders of our organization here at Nashville. This event served as a powerful reminder of the passion and talent of this team and the mission of serving others that unites us.

這種奉獻精神在本月早些時候的領導層會議上得到了充分體現，我們有機會在納許維爾接待了我們組織的 1,500 多名領導者。這次活動有力地提醒了我們這個團隊的熱情和才華，以及將我們團結在一起為他人服務的使命。

On today's call, I will begin by recapping our Q2 performance, I will then share updates on our back-to-basics work as well as an update on our plans for the remainder of 2024.

在今天的電話會議上，我將首先回顧我們第二季度的業績，然後分享我們回歸基礎工作的最新情況以及我們 2024 年剩餘時間計劃的最新情況。

After that, Kelly will share the details of our Q2 financial performance as well as our updated financial outlook for the full year. Turning to our second quarter performance. We continue to make important progress on our back-to-basics plan. However, we are not satisfied with our overall financial results.

之後，凱利將分享我們第二季財務業績的詳細資訊以及我們最新的全年財務展望。轉向我們第二季的業績。我們的回歸基本計劃繼續取得重要進展。然而，我們對整體財務表現並不滿意。

On the top line, net sales increased 4.2% and to $10.2 billion in Q2 compared to net sales of $9.8 billion in last year's second quarter. Importantly, despite a weaker sales environment for our core customer than we had anticipated, we continue to grow market share in both dollars and units in highly consumable product sales.

從營收來看，第二季的淨銷售額成長了 4.2%，達到 102 億美元，而去年第二季的淨銷售額為 98 億美元。重要的是，儘管我們的核心客戶的銷售環境比我們預期的要弱，但我們在高消耗產品銷售中的美元和單位市場份額仍在繼續增長。

Same-store sales increased 0.5% during the quarter, which was below our expectations. The increase was driven by a 1% growth in customer traffic and was partially offset by a 0.5 point decline in average transaction amount, which was driven by lower average unit retail price per item.

本季同店銷售額成長 0.5%，低於我們的預期。這一增長是由客戶流量增長 1% 推動的，但被平均交易額下降 0.5 個百分點所部分抵消，這是由於每件商品的平均單位零售價下降所致。

The comp sales increase was driven entirely by the growth in our consumable category, as customers continue to focus their spending on the items they need at most for their families. This growth was partially offset by declines in our seasonal home and apparel categories.

贈品銷售的成長完全是由我們的消費品類別的成長所推動的，因為客戶繼續將支出集中在他們的家庭最需要的物品上。這一增長被季節性家居和服裝類別的下降部分抵消。

From a monthly cadence perspective, same-store sales growth was strongest in June before turning negative in July, notably, the three softest comp sales weeks of the quarter were the last week of each of the calendar months. This pattern suggests that our customers are less able to stretch their budgets through the end of the month.

從月度節奏來看，同店銷售成長在 6 月最為強勁，然後在 7 月轉為負值，值得注意的是，該季度同店銷售最疲軟的三周是每個日曆月的最後一周。這種模式表明，我們的客戶在月底前不太能夠延長預算。

With that in mind, as well as our continued softness in discretionary sales in our own customer data and survey work, we believe the softer-than-anticipated sales performance in Q2 is at least partially attributable to a core customer that is less confident of their financial position.

考慮到這一點，以及我們自己的客戶資料和調查工作中的可自由支配銷售持續疲軟，我們認為第二季的銷售業績低於預期，至少部分歸因於核心客戶對其信心不足。

I want to provide some additional context around what we're seeing and hearing from our customers. The majority of them state that they feel worse off financially than they were six months ago as higher prices, softer employment levels and increased borrowing costs have negatively impacted low-income consumer sentiment.

我想就我們從客戶那裡看到和聽到的情況提供一些額外的背景資訊。他們中的大多數人表示，他們感覺自己的財務狀況比六個月前更糟，因為物價上漲、就業水平疲軟和借貸成本增加對低收入消費者信心產生了負面影響。

As a result, our core customer who contributes approximately 60% of our overall sales comes predominantly from households earning less than $35,000 annually. Inflation has continued to negatively impact these households with more than 60% claiming they have had to sacrifice on purchasing basic necessities due to the higher cost of those items, in addition to paying more for expenses such as rent, utilities and health care.

因此，占我們總銷售額約 60% 的核心客戶主要來自年收入低於 35,000 美元的家庭。通貨膨脹繼續對這些家庭產生負面影響，超過60% 的家庭聲稱，由於這些物品的成本較高，他們不得不犧牲購買基本必需品的費用，此外還要支付更多的租金、水電費和醫療保健等費用。

More of our customers report that they are now resorting to using credit cards for basic household needs and approximately 30% have at least one credit card that has reached its limit. And in our latest survey, 25% of our customers surveyed noted they anticipated missing a bill payment in the next six months.

越來越多的客戶表示，他們現在開始使用信用卡來滿足基本的家庭需求，大約 30% 的客戶至少擁有一張信用卡已達到限額。在我們最新的調查中，25% 的受訪客戶表示，他們預計在未來六個月內無法支付帳單。

While middle- and higher-income households are seeking value as well, they don't claim to feel the same level of pressure as low-income households. As customers have felt more pressure on their spending, we have also seen corresponding elevation in the promotional environment beyond what we had anticipated coming into the year.

雖然中等收入和高收入家庭也在尋求價值，但他們並不聲稱感受到與低收入家庭相同程度的壓力。隨著顧客感受到更大的消費壓力，我們也看到促銷環境隨之升級，超出了我們今年的預期。

Importantly, we continue to feel very good about our everyday low price position relative to competitors and other classes of trade. However, the increased promotional activity has pressured both sales and gross margin, and we anticipate this will likely continue for the duration of the year.

重要的是，相對於競爭對手和其他行業，我們仍然對每天的低價地位感到非常滿意。然而，促銷活動的增加給銷售額和毛利率帶來了壓力，我們預計這種情況可能會持續到今年。

That said, we remain committed to our back-to-basic strategy, which focuses on controlling the things that we can control, including a timely and accurate supply chain, in-store execution and customer-centric merchandising. With this in mind, we have already begun taking decisive action to respond and strengthen our position over the back half of the year.

也就是說，我們仍然致力於回歸基本策略，該策略著重於控制我們可以控制的事情，包括及時且準確的供應鏈、店內執行和以客戶為中心的銷售。考慮到這一點，我們已經開始採取果斷行動，在今年下半年做出回應並鞏固我們的地位。

I want to take the next few minutes to update you on our back-to-basics progress, which is foundational to our future. And then I will discuss the actions we are taking to build on that progress and deliver a stronger customer experience.

我想用接下來的幾分鐘時間向您介紹我們的基本進展，這對我們的未來至關重要。然後我將討論我們為鞏固這一進展並提供更強大的客戶體驗而採取的行動。

I will start with our stores where everything begins and ends for our customer. Our efforts in the stores have centered around further enhancing the customer experience to deliver the value and convenience they expect in a clean and friendly shopping environment.

我將從我們的商店開始，一切都以我們的客戶為起點和終點。我們在商店的工作重點是進一步增強客戶體驗，在乾淨、友善的購物環境中提供他們期望的價值和便利性。

We have increased the employee presence at the front end of our stores, with our associates committed to providing friendly, welcome and elevated level of engagement to our customers while also facilitating the positive checkout experience.

我們增加了商店前端的員工人數，我們的員工致力於為顧客提供友善、熱情和更高的參與度，同時也促進積極的結帳體驗。

We have also focused labor hours on perpetual inventory management in our stores in an effort to significantly improve our in-stock levels and support our sales growth. These efforts have paid dividends as we continue to see year-over-year improvements in our in-stock levels.

我們還將工作時間集中在商店的永續庫存管理上，以顯著提高我們的庫存水準並支持我們的銷售成長。這些努力已經取得了成效，我們的庫存水準繼續逐年改善。

Our supply chain and merchandising teams have also contributed to the in-store progress by helping to simplify operations for our teams, which should enhance both the associate and customer experience in our stores. All of these improvements have continued to drive lower year-over-year turnover at all levels within our retail operations, including regional director, district manager, store manager, assistant store manager and sales associates.

我們的供應鏈和銷售團隊也透過協助簡化我們團隊的運營，為店內的進步做出了貢獻，這將增強我們商店中員工和客戶的體驗。所有這些改進繼續推動我們零售業務各個層級的營業額年減，包括區域總監、區域經理、商店經理、助理商店經理和銷售人員。

We are proud of the progress in the stores, and pleased to see our actions continue to resonate with our team in the field as well as with our customers. And we are working hard to continue to advance our progress and further elevate the experience within our stores.

我們為商店的進步感到自豪，並很高興看到我們的行動繼續與我們的現場團隊以及我們的客戶產生共鳴。我們正在努力繼續推進我們的進步並進一步提升我們商店內的體驗。

Next, let me provide a quick update on our supply chain. Our top priority in this area continues to be improving our rates of on-time and in-full truck deliveries, which we refer to as OTIF. Our focused efforts here have led to significantly higher OTIF levels compared to the same time last year, and we are pleased with what we have seen both in our traditional and fresh supply chains.

接下來，讓我快速介紹一下我們的供應鏈。我們在這一領域的首要任務仍然是提高卡車準時和完整交付率，我們稱之為 OTIF。與去年同期相比，我們的集中努力導致 OTIF 水準顯著提高，我們對傳統和生鮮供應鏈中所看到的情況感到滿意。

We have also made good progress in optimizing our distribution capacity. As a reminder, we had previously announced plans to close 12 temporary facilities by the end of the year. We have already exited 11 of these buildings, and now believe we can close at least two more by the end of this year.

我們在優化配送能力方面也取得了良好進展。提醒一下，我們之前曾宣布計劃在今年年底前關閉 12 個臨時設施。我們已經關閉了其中 11 棟建築，現在相信我們可以在今年年底之前關閉至少另外兩棟建築。

While closing the less efficient temporary facilities, we have built and opened two new permanent distribution centers in Arkansas and Colorado. We expect both to ramp up operations in the coming months and to ultimately contribute to a reduction in stem miles and lower transportation costs over time.

在關閉效率較低的臨時設施的同時，我們在阿肯色州和科羅拉多州建立並開設了兩個新的永久性配送中心。我們預計兩者都將在未來幾個月內擴大運營，並最終有助於減少幹線里程並隨著時間的推移降低運輸成本。

Finally, we are undertaking the first full-scale refresh of our sorting process within our distribution centers since the launch of our Fast Track initiative in 2017. As a reminder, the ultimate goal of this effort is to enable our store teams to stock shelves more quickly, which should drive greater on-shelf availability for our customers and ultimately support ongoing sales growth. We have made significant progress on this front, and, as planned, we are on pace to complete this work by the end of the year.

最後，自 2017 年啟動快速通道計畫以來，我們正在對配送中心的分類流程進行首次全面更新。這將為我們的客戶帶來更高的貨架可用性，並最終支持持續的銷售成長。我們在這方面已經取得了重大進展，並且按照計劃，我們預計在今年年底前完成這項工作。

Overall, we remain focused on enhancing the agility of our supply chain, allowing us to meet changing demands and respond quickly to challenges, all while keeping costs low, driving greater efficiencies and further improving the experience for our store teams and customers.

總體而言，我們仍然專注於提高供應鏈的敏捷性，使我們能夠滿足不斷變化的需求並快速應對挑戰，同時保持低成本，提高效率並進一步改善我們商店團隊和客戶的體驗。

Finally, I want to provide an update on getting back to the basics of merchandising. Providing a meaningful value to our customer continues to be a top priority. We have a multifaceted approach to deliver that value, including a strong everyday low price on national and private brands, compelling promotions on sales events and low opening price points, including approximately 2,000 items at or below $1 every day.

最後，我想提供有關回歸行銷基礎知識的最新資訊。為客戶提供有意義的價值仍然是我們的首要任務。我們採用多方面的方法來實現這一價值，包括國內品牌和自有品牌的每日低價、銷售活動中引人注目的促銷活動以及較低的開盤價，其中包括每天約2,000 種售價或低於1 美元的商品。

We have also continued to make strong progress reducing total inventory this year, which Kelly will discuss in more detail in a moment. In 2024, we began working toward a net reduction of approximately 1,000 SKUs within our chain by the end of the year, and we are well on our way to meeting that goal.

今年我們在減少總庫存方面也繼續取得了巨大進展，凱利稍後將對此進行更詳細的討論。 2024 年，我們開始努力在年底前淨減少連鎖店內約 1,000 個 SKU，並且我們正在順利實現這一目標。

Finally, our merchants have done a fantastic job working with our operators to reduce activity and simplify work inside the stores. For example, we have reduced the number of floor stands by approximately 25% through the first half of the year, and we anticipate removing more than 50% by the end of the year.

最後，我們的商家與我們的營運商合作，減少了活動並簡化了店內的工作，做得非常出色。例如，今年上半年我們已將落地攤位數量減少了約 25%，預計到年底將減少 50% 以上。

Additionally, we have reduced the number of times we rotate some of our displays, allowing our store teams to spend more time engaging with our customers. Collectively, these actions are designed to save time within our stores for our teams and ultimately result in an improved associate and customer experience.

此外，我們還減少了一些展示的輪換次數，使我們的商店團隊能夠花更多時間與客戶互動。總的來說，這些行動旨在為我們的團隊節省商店內的時間，並最終改善員工和客戶的體驗。

Overall, we are making nice progress as you have heard, and we are executing on the goals we have set for our team. And importantly, we believe we will continue advancing these efforts as we move throughout the remainder of the year.

總的來說，正如您所聽到的，我們正在取得良好的進展，並且我們正在執行為團隊設定的目標。重要的是，我們相信我們將在今年剩餘時間內繼續推進這些努力。

Moving forward, we believe our back-to-basic actions will drive improvements in customer satisfaction, including on-shelf availability and convenience, further enhance the associate experience in stores, including improved employee engagement and retention, and ultimately drive improvements in financial results in 2025 and beyond.

展望未來，我們相信我們回歸基本的行動將推動客戶滿意度的提高，包括貨架可用性和便利性，進一步增強商店員工的體驗，包括提高員工敬業度和保留率，並最終推動財務業績的改善2025 年及以後。

However, as I previously mentioned, we are not happy with our Q2 financial results. We know the retail landscape has continued to evolve in terms of the promotional environment and financial constraints felt by our customers, and we are taking immediate action to respond to serve them, while also positioning the business for growth and value creation. With all of that in mind, we are increasing our investment in markdown activity in an effort to support our customers, further drive customer traffic and improve sales.

然而，正如我之前提到的，我們對第二季的財務表現並不滿意。我們知道，零售業的格局在促銷環境和客戶感受到的財務限制方面不斷發展，我們正在立即採取行動，為他們提供服務，同時也為業務成長和價值創造做好定位。考慮到所有這些，我們正在增加對降價活動的投資，以努力支持我們的客戶，進一步增加客戶流量並提高銷售。

We are investing from a strong everyday price position to further support our customer and maintain a favorable competitive positioning. We believe this investment will work in conjunction with our back-to-basic efforts to further enhance our value and convenience proposition.

我們正在以強勁的日常價格地位進行投資，以進一步支持我們的客戶並保持有利的競爭地位。我們相信這項投資將與我們回歸基礎的努力結合，進一步提高我們的價值和便利主張。

In summary, I want to reiterate that we are pleased with the operational progress we're making, and feel good about the actions we are taking to build on that momentum. We need to be at our best for our customers in times like this, and we are excited about the opportunity to serve them. We have a strong track record of delivering exceptional value, and we have seen that when we do so consistently, we build strong brand loyalty that contributes to healthy share gains over the long term.

總之，我想重申，我們對正在取得的業務進展感到滿意，並對我們為鞏固這一勢頭而採取的行動感到滿意。在這樣的時期，我們需要為客戶提供最好的服務，我們很高興有機會為他們提供服務。我們在提供卓越價值方面有著良好的記錄，而且我們已經看到，當我們始終如一地這樣做時，我們就能建立強大的品牌忠誠度，從而有助於長期健康的份額增長。

And with store locations within 5 miles of approximately 75% of the US population, we are uniquely positioned to serve customers and communities with value and convenience.

我們的門市分佈在約 75% 的美國人口 5 英里範圍內，因此我們具有獨特的優勢，能夠為客戶和社區提供價值和便利的服務。

I am confident this team will continue to rise to the occasion and seize the opportunities in front of us to further enhance the way we serve our customers, improve our financial results and create long-term shareholder value. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Kelly.

我相信這個團隊將繼續迎難而上，抓住我們面前的機遇，進一步改善我們服務客戶的方式，改善我們的財務表現並創造長期股東價值。現在我將把電話轉給凱利。

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。

As Todd already discussed sales, I'll start with gross profit. For the second quarter, gross profit as a percentage of sales was 30%, a decrease of 112 basis points. This decrease was primarily attributable to increased markdowns, increased inventory damages, a greater proportion of sales coming from the consumables category and increased shrink. These factors were partially offset by a lower LIFO provision.

由於托德已經討論過銷售，我將從毛利開始。第二季毛利佔銷售額的比例為30%，下降了112個基點。這一下降主要是由於降價幅度增加、庫存損壞增加、消耗品類別的銷售比例增加以及損耗增加。這些因素被較低的後進先出準備金部分抵銷。

With regards to markdowns, we are now seeing promotional levels greater than we had anticipated coming into the year. As Todd noted, customers are increasingly seeking value in their purchasing behavior in addition to an overall increased promotional environment.

關於降價，我們現在看到的促銷水平比我們今年的預期要高。正如托德指出的那樣，除了整體增強的促銷環境之外，客戶越來越多地尋求購買行為的價值。

Shrink was a year-over-year headwind of 21 basis points in Q2, which was in line with our expectations coming into the quarter. And I want to note that while Shrink continues to be a significant headwind, we are pleased with the progress we're making and believe our actions, including our self-checkout conversions, are having a positive impact.

第二季的收縮年減了 21 個基點，這符合我們對本季的預期。我想指出的是，雖然收縮仍然是一個重大阻力，但我們對所取得的進展感到滿意，並相信我們的行動，包括自助結帳轉化，正在產生積極的影響。

Turning to SG&A. It was 24.6% as a percentage of sales, an increase of 57 basis points. The primary expenses that were greater percentage of net sales in the current year period were retail, labor, depreciation and amortization, store occupancy costs and utilities. These factors were partially offset by a decrease in incentive compensation.

轉向SG&A。佔銷售額的百分比為24.6%，成長了57個基點。本年度佔淨銷售額比例較大的主要費用是零售、勞動力、折舊和攤銷、商店佔用成本和公用事業費用。這些因素被激勵薪酬的減少部分抵消。

Moving down the income statement. Operating profit for the second quarter decreased 20.6% to $550 million. As a percentage of sales, operating profit was 5.4%, a decrease of 168 basis points.

將損益表向下移動。第二季營業利潤下降 20.6% 至 5.5 億美元。營業利潤佔銷售額的百分比為 5.4%，下降 168 個基點。

Net interest expense for the quarter decreased to $68 million compared to $84 million in last year's second quarter.

本季淨利息支出從去年第二季的 8,400 萬美元下降至 6,800 萬美元。

Our effective tax rate for the quarter was 22.3% and compares to 22.9% in the second quarter last year. This lower rate is primarily due to the effect of certain rate-impacting items such as federal tax credits on lower earnings before taxes.

我們本季的有效稅率為 22.3%，而去年第二季的有效稅率為 22.9%。較低的利率主要是由於某些影響利率的項目（例如聯邦稅收抵免）對稅前收益較低的影響。

Finally, EPS for the quarter decreased 20.2% to $1.70.

最後，本季每股收益下降 20.2% 至 1.70 美元。

Now turning to our balance sheet and cash flow. Merchandise inventories were $7 billion at the end of second quarter, a decrease of 7% compared to the prior year and a decrease of 11% on a per store basis. Notably, total non-consumable inventory decreased 13% compared to last year and decreased 17% on a per store basis. Importantly, we continue to believe that the quality of our inventory remains good. The team has done a nice job reducing our overall inventory position while simultaneously optimizing our mix and driving higher in-stock levels.

現在轉向我們的資產負債表和現金流。第二季末商品庫存為 70 億美元，比去年同期下降 7%，每店庫存下降 11%。值得注意的是，非消耗品總庫存比去年下降了 13%，每家商店的庫存下降了 17%。重要的是，我們仍然相信我們的庫存品質仍然良好。團隊在減少我們的整體庫存狀況方面做得很好，同時優化了我們的產品組合併提高了庫存水準。

We will continue to focus on maintaining the appropriate balance of mix of inventory to drive sales while also mitigating Shrink risk and improving our working capital.

我們將繼續專注於維持庫存組合的適當平衡，以推動銷售，同時減輕損耗風險並改善我們的營運資金。

The business has generated cash flows from operations of $1.7 billion year-to-date, an increase of 127% as we continue to improve our working capital position, primarily through inventory management.

今年迄今為止，該業務已產生 17 億美元的營運現金流，隨著我們主要透過庫存管理繼續改善營運資金狀況，成長了 127%。

Total capital expenditures for the 26-week period were $696 million and included our planned investments in new stores, remodels and relocations, distribution and transportation projects and spending related to our strategic initiatives.

26 週期間的總資本支出為 6.96 億美元，包括我們計劃對新店、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的投資。

During the quarter, we returned cash to shareholders through a quarterly dividend of $0.59 per common share outstanding for a total payout of $130 million.

本季度，我們透過每股已發行普通股 0.59 美元的季度股息向股東返還現金，總支付額為 1.3 億美元。

Now I want to provide an update on our financial outlook for fiscal 2024. On the top line, we've updated our guidance to reflect our second quarter results as well as our expectations that the customer will continue to feel financial pressure for the duration of the year, and the promotional environment will remain elevated beyond what we had initially anticipated. With that in mind, we now expect net sales growth in the range of approximately 4.7% to 5.3% and same-store sales growth in the range of approximately 1% to 1.6%.

現在，我想提供有關2024 財年財務前景的最新資訊。預期。考慮到這一點，我們現在預計淨銷售額成長約為 4.7% 至 5.3%，同店銷售額成長約為 1% 至 1.6%。

Turning to gross margin, we expect additional pressure as a result of the increased promotional markdown activity that Todd noted, as well as increased sales mix pressure due to the customers' need to prioritize their spending on the consumables category.

談到毛利率，我們預計托德指出的促銷降價活動增加將帶來額外壓力，並且由於客戶需要優先考慮在消耗品類別上的支出而導致銷售組合壓力增加。

With regard to damages, our guidance now assumes no improvement in the back half of the year, though we are focused on addressing this headwind through our continued emphasis on getting back to basics. And while we expect Shrink to be a headwind for the full year, our results from the second quarter as well as positive trends in other metrics that are highly correlative to Shrink, including inventory reductions, supporting our belief that we are moving in the right direction to continue mitigating this headwind.

關於損失，我們的指導現在假設今年下半年不會有任何改善，儘管我們致力於透過繼續強調回歸基礎來解決這一逆風。雖然我們預計收縮將成為全年的阻力，但我們第二季度的業績以及與收縮高度相關的其他指標的積極趨勢（包括庫存減少）支持了我們的信念，即我們正在朝著正確的方向前進繼續緩解這一不利因素。

Looking ahead, we are cautiously optimistic that we will see Shrink begin to turn to a tailwind later in Q4 and then become a more material tailwind in 2025.

展望未來，我們謹慎樂觀地認為，Shrink 將在第四季晚些時候開始轉向順風，然後在 2025 年成為更實質的順風。

Within SG&A, we are seeing an elevated rate of maintenance expense, particularly with HVAC units and coolers during the summer months. We're taking steps in the back half of the year to be more proactive in addressing these opportunities in order to provide a more consistent customer experience across our store footprint, while also supporting ongoing sales growth. As a result, we expect incremental pressure from the increased repairs and maintenance expense to continue within SG&A in the back half of the year.

在 SG&A 中，我們發現維護費用有所增加，特別是夏季的 HVAC 裝置和冷卻器。我們將在今年下半年採取措施，更主動地抓住這些機會，以便在我們的商店範圍內提供更一致的客戶體驗，同時支持持續的銷售成長。因此，我們預計今年下半年維修和維護費用增加將繼續對銷售、管理和管理帶來壓力。

Finally, we are also seeing pressure from wage rate inflation closer to approximately 4% this year, which is higher than was contemplated in our initial guidance for the year. With all of this in mind, we are updating our EPS guidance and now expect to deliver EPS in the range of approximately $5.50 to $6.20. This guidance now assumes an effective tax rate of approximately 23%.

最後，我們也看到今年工資率通膨率接近 4% 左右，這高於我們今年最初指導的預期。考慮到所有這些，我們正在更新 EPS 指導，現在預計 EPS 範圍約為 5.50 美元至 6.20 美元。該指南目前假設有效稅率約為 23%。

We also continue to anticipate capital spending in the range of $1.3 billion to $1.4 billion as we invest to drive ongoing growth. This capital spending remains aligned with our capital allocation priorities, which continue to serve us well. 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 strategic initiatives. To that end, we remain on track to deliver on our plans of approximately 2,435 real estate projects this year, including 730 new stores, 1,620 remodels, and 85 relocations.

我們也繼續預期資本支出將在 13 億至 14 億美元之間，因為我們將進行投資以推動持續成長。這些資本支出仍然與我們的資本配置優先事項保持一致，這將繼續為我們提供良好的服務。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，例如新店擴張和策略舉措。為此，我們今年仍有望實現約 2,435 個房地產項目的計劃，其中包括 730 個新店、1,620 個改造和 85 個搬遷。

Next in our capital allocation priorities, we seek to return cash to shareholders through a quarterly dividend payment, and over time and when appropriate, share repurchases.

接下來，在我們的資本配置優先事項中，我們尋求透過季度股息支付向股東返還現金，並在適當的時候進行股票回購。

Finally, although our leverage ratio remains above our target of approximately 3x adjusted debt to adjusted EBITDAR, we are focused on improving our debt metrics in support of our commitment to our current investment-grade credit ratings, which, as a reminder, are BBB and BAA2.

最後，儘管我們的槓桿率仍然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等為BBB 和BAA2。

In summary, while we're not satisfied with the financial results for the second quarter, we are pleased with the continued progress in our back-to-basics work, and we believe we're taking the necessary actions to build on this progress and drive the business forward. We remain committed to disciplined expense and capital management as a low-cost operator, with the goal of delivering consistent, strong financial performance while strategically investing for the long term.

總而言之，雖然我們對第二季的財務表現不滿意，但我們對基礎工作的持續進展感到高興，我們相信我們正在採取必要的行動來鞏固這一進展並推動業務向前發展。作為低成本營運商，我們仍然致力於嚴格的費用和資本管理，目標是在進行長期策略投資的同時提供一致、強勁的財務表現。

And we continue to believe that this model is resilient and strong. I want to emphasize that we're confident and excited about the long-term future of this business, including driving profitable same-store sales and deliver meaningful operating margin expansion while generating healthy new store returns, strong free cash flow and creating long-term shareholder value.

我們仍然相信這種模式具有彈性和強大。我想強調的是，我們對這項業務的長期未來充滿信心和興奮，包括推動盈利的同店銷售並實現有意義的營業利潤率擴張，同時產生健康的新店回報、強勁的自由現金流並創造長期目標股東價值。

With that, I'll 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 say again that 2024 is about executing on our foundational back-to-basics plan, and we are pleased to be on schedule and making great progress against the goals we have previously outlined. We are confident that the actions we are taking will strengthen our foundation for the long term.

謝謝你，凱利。在結束時，我要再次強調，2024 年是我們回歸基本計劃的執行期，我們很高興能夠按計劃進行，並在實現我們之前概述的目標方面取得巨大進展。我們相信，我們正在採取的行動將鞏固我們的長期基礎。

This team is energized and laser-focused on our strategy to restore operational excellence while delivering value for our customers and shareholders alike.

團隊充滿活力，專注於我們的策略，以恢復卓越運營，同時為我們的客戶和股東創造價值。

I want to close by thanking our more than 193,000 employees for their commitment to fulfilling our mission of serving others. It is a privilege to serve alongside them each and every day, and we are looking forward to all we can accomplish together in the back half of the year.

最後，我要感謝我們超過 193,000 名員工致力於履行我們為他人服務的使命。每天與他們一起服務是一種榮幸，我們期待下半年共同完成的一切。

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

接線員，現在我們要開始提問了。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Michael Lasser with UBS.

瑞銀集團的麥可·拉塞爾。

Todd, the market is saying that Dollar General and the small box value model is simply structurally challenged either because there's too many stores, it's not as sufficiently exposed to the online channel or not attracting enough incremental customers perhaps due to competition. So why is that wrong? And as you are trying to invest in markdown and promotions to regain customers, how do you build back the margin over time? Is it simply a function of leveraging sales growth?

托德，市場表示，Dollar General 和小盒子價值模式只是在結構上受到挑戰，要么是因為商店太多，沒有充分接觸在線渠道，要么是由於競爭而沒有吸引足夠的增量客戶。那麼為什麼這是錯誤的呢？當您嘗試投資降價和促銷來重新贏得客戶時，您如何隨著時間的推移恢復利潤？這僅僅是槓桿銷售成長的功能嗎？

Thank you, Michael, and I appreciate the question. Yes, I fundamentally we fundamentally don't believe at all that the model is structurally challenged. But there are challenges to the business as this quarter indicated. Let me first start by saying that our new store productivity as well as our strong returns in new stores continue to serve us well. We continue to gain market share with these new store openings.

謝謝你，邁克爾，我很高興你提出這個問題。是的，我從根本上說我們根本不相信該模型在結構上受到挑戰。但正如本季所表明的那樣，該業務面臨挑戰。首先我要說的是，我們的新店生產力以及新店的強勁回報繼續為我們提供良好的服務。透過這些新店的開設，我們繼續獲得市場份額。

And cannibalization with these new store openings continue to be very much in line to where it's been historically. So we don't believe that by slowing down to any large degree new stores would be the answer here.

這些新店開幕帶來的蠶食仍然與歷史上的情況非常一致。因此，我們認為大幅放慢速度開新店不會是解決問題的方法。

What we do believe is that this quarter, in particular, with a 0.5 point of comp versus last quarter's of a fairly strong 2.4% comp, as I look at what transpired here, I would tell you that it appears to us very strongly that, one, this lower end consumer continues to be very much financially strapped especially as it relates to her ability to feed her families and support her families.

我們確實相信的是，特別是本季度，與上一季相當強勁的2.4% 的比較相比，本季度的比較提高了0.5 個百分點，當我看看這裡發生的事情時，我會告訴你，在我們看來，這非常強烈，第一，這個低端消費者在經濟上仍然非常拮据，特別是因為這關係到她養家糊口和養家糊口的能力。

As I look at our results throughout the quarter, I would tell you that, from our perspective, the last week of the calendar month of each of the calendar months was the weakest by far.

當我查看整個季度的業績時，我會告訴您，從我們的角度來看，每個日曆月的最後一周是迄今為止最弱的。

When you couple that with private brand being as strong as it is for us, our value, value, which, as you probably recall, Michael, is our $1 or below offering inside of our store, which by the way, still 2,000 items, we've never walked away from that $1 price point. It is, by far, the strongest planogram that we have out there.

當你把它與我們一樣強大的自有品牌結合起來時，我們的價值，你可能還記得，邁克爾，是我們商店內提供的 1 美元或以下的產品，順便說一句，仍然有 2,000 種商品，我們從未放棄過1 美元的價格點。這是迄今為止我們擁有的最強大的貨架圖。

And I would tell you that all those points would indicate that this is a cash strapped consumer right now, even more so than what we saw in Q1.

我想告訴你，所有這些點都表明消費者現在資金短缺，甚至比我們在第一季看到的情況還要嚴重。

Now what we also saw was that while we're not losing share, we're actually gaining share against all classes of trade in the consumable realm, what we did see in the quarter, which was different than last quarter, is the available share to take, if you will, out there from other cohorts.

現在我們也看到，雖然我們沒有失去份額，但我們實際上在消費品領域的所有貿易類別中獲得了份額，我們在本季度看到的與上季度不同的是可用份額如果你願意的話，可以從其他群體中吸取教訓。

We didn't get our fair share of that. Now we didn't lose, right? We're not seeing any one competitor, mass or anywhere else, take our core customer. But what we did see was, at least in this quarter, the mass channel, especially those that are down south actually did a lot better in gaining the share that was available in the marketplace. We didn't get our fair share of that.

我們沒有得到應有的份額。現在我們沒有輸，對吧？我們沒有看到任何一個競爭對手，無論是大眾還是其他任何地方，搶走我們的核心客戶。但我們確實看到的是，至少在本季度，大眾通路，尤其是南方的通路，在獲得市場份額方面實際上做得更好。我們沒有得到應有的份額。

So what are we going to do about it? Well, it's exactly what we talked about in our prepared remarks. We go on the offense, and we've done that very successfully here over the years, Michael, as a merchant. And now as the CEO of this company, we know how to do this. And we're ratcheting that up as we speak.

那我們該怎麼辦呢？嗯，這正是我們在準備好的發言中所討論的內容。我們繼續進攻，多年來我們在這裡做得非常成功，邁克爾，作為一名商人。現在作為這家公司的首席執行官，我們知道如何做到這一點。就在我們講話的同時，我們正在加大力度。

We believe that the share that's available out there, we have every right to get more than our fair share of that out there. So we're working that really hard, and you heard that in our prepared remarks.

我們相信，對於現有的份額，我們完全有權獲得超出我們公平份額的份額。因此，我們正在非常努力地工作，您在我們準備好的演講中也聽到了這一點。

So I'd say that this box, this company and the small box in general is very much alive and well. We're just going through a little bit of a transition period and a transformation, as you know. And it's never usually a straight line to the top when you do these, right? And so a few bumps in the road, but we feel that we know exactly how we can go about garnering that share that's available out there. And Kelly, you may want to take the second part.

所以我想說，這個盒子、這家公司和整個小盒子都非常有活力。如您所知，我們正在經歷一些過渡期和轉型。當你這樣做時，通常不會是一條直線到達頂部，對嗎？雖然道路上有一些坎坷，但我們覺得我們確切地知道如何才能獲得現有的份額。凱利，你可能想參加第二部分。

Yeah, absolutely. So yes, just how do we build that margin back over time? I think it's important to call out, one, you nailed it. It's a softer sales environment. So with the top line, that does put pressure on our fixed cost leverage, specifically labor and rent and those type of things as you well know.

是的，絕對是。那麼，是的，隨著時間的推移，我們如何才能恢復這個利潤？我認為重要的是要大聲喊出來，一，你做到了。這是一個較為疲軟的銷售環境。因此，就營收而言，這確實給我們的固定成本槓桿帶來了壓力，特別是勞動力和租金以及眾所周知的此類因素。

But as Todd talked about, I think, in the near term, one is just going on the offense and taking the markdown investment that we need to take on a go-forward basis to drive sales and to be there for our customer. And to kind of put that in context, I would say that what we're looking at in this back half is going to be markdown rate to what we saw last year in the back half as well.

但正如托德所說，我認為，在短期內，人們只是繼續進攻，並進行降價投資，我們需要在未來的基礎上進行投資，以推動銷售並為我們的客戶提供服務。為了將其放在上下文中，我想說的是，我們在後半段看到的降價率也將是去年後半段的降價率。

So more than we had anticipated, but absolutely the right decision and not necessarily one that we have to think about over the long term as that can come back in line when circumstances change.

因此，超出了我們的預期，但絕對是正確的決定，而且不一定是我們必須長期考慮的決定，因為當情況發生變化時，這一決定可能會恢復正常。

The other piece of this, and we've talked a lot about it, obviously, is Shrink and mix headwinds. And so we're certainly experiencing those. Although I think we have a lot of good news here to report on the Shrink side of things starting to see that trend bend.

顯然，我們已經討論了很多這個問題的另一部分是收縮和混合逆風。所以我們肯定正在經歷這些。儘管我認為我們有很多好消息可以報告，關於開始看到趨勢彎曲的收縮方面。

It just takes a while to flow that through the financial statements. And then the damage piece of this as well is putting a little pressure on the second half. But again, all the things that we're doing on a back-to-basics efforts are going to help to mitigate that as well as just having a focused team on that.

只需要一段時間就能將其反映在財務報表中。然後這個損傷也給下半場帶來了一些壓力。但同樣，我們在回歸基礎上所做的所有事情都將有助於緩解這種情況，並且只需要一個專注的團隊來解決這個問題。

So I think those are kind of the near-term things that we'll be dealing with that will get in line. And then over the long term, our underlying long-term drivers are still in place. We still have a long runway for new store opportunities with high returns. We have higher returns with the opportunities that we have with our existing stores.

所以我認為這些都是我們近期要處理的事情，這些事情會協調一致。從長遠來看，我們潛在的長期驅動因素仍然存在。我們還有很長的路要走，才能獲得高回報的新店機會。我們透過現有商店所擁有的機會獲得了更高的回報。

And then you saw, this period, our cash from operations was up 127%. So we are still generating a significant amount of cash flow, which gives us the ability to invest in the business.

然後你會發現，這段期間我們的營運現金成長了 127%。因此，我們仍然產生大量現金流，這使我們有能力投資業務。

So we feel good about the long-term potential of getting those margins back over time.

因此，我們對隨著時間的推移恢復這些利潤的長期潛力感到滿意。

Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的西蒙古特曼。

I have two parts in one question. Todd, I want to ask if this transition period changes the way you think about reinvestment now going forward, thinking about all the levers of pricing and merchandising and labor, meaning that even if the business comes positive, that margins just stay subdued for an extended period of time while you get all the pieces in order.

我在一個問題中有兩個部分。托德，我想問一下，這個過渡期是否會改變您對未來再投資的看法，考慮定價、銷售和勞動力的所有槓桿，這意味著即使業務轉好，利潤率也會在很長一段時間內保持低迷狀態。

And then the second part of it is, are there any cohorts of stores where it would make sense to rationalize them because they're under comping and or they're margin dilutive to the overall chain?

第二部分是，是否有一些商店對它們進行合理化是有意義的，因為它們正在競爭中，或者它們會稀釋整個連鎖店的利潤？

Yes, Simeon, thanks for the question. And as we continue to move through this transformation period, obviously, as we said, it's never a straight line to the top. There's bumps in the road. The margin is one of those. As we've indicated right from the start, the biggest opportunity we have in the margin that's a differentiator than just a few years ago is in that Shrink area.

是的，西蒙，謝謝你的提問。當我們繼續經歷這個轉型時期時，顯然，正如我們所說，到達頂峰從來都不是一條直線。路上有坎坷。保證金就是其中之一。正如我們從一開始就指出的那樣，與幾年前相比，我們在利潤率方面擁有的最大機會是在收縮領域。

We believe we've got ample opportunity there to get our Shrink back in line. As Kelly indicated in her prepared remarks, we're starting to see some benefit from all the work that we've done around that. And we still very much believe that it will turn to a tailwind as we move into Q4 and then much more substantial of a tailwind into '25.

我們相信我們有足夠的機會讓我們的收縮恢復正常。正如凱利在她準備好的演講中指出的那樣，我們開始看到我們圍繞此所做的所有工作帶來了一些好處。我們仍然非常相信，當我們進入第四季度時，它將變成順風，然後進入 25 年，這將成為更強勁的順風。

Now Shrink is a constant battle. It's work every day, but it's that pick and shovel work that we know how to do, and we know how to do very well here at Dollar General. The other thing I do want to point out, Simeon, is that, as we continue to move, I would tell you our back-to-basics plan has started to really show some signs of life here.

現在，Shrink 是一場持續不斷的戰鬥。每天都是工作，但我們知道如何做這種鎬和鏟工作，而且在 Dollar General 我們知道如何做得很好。西蒙，我確實想指出的另一件事是，隨著我們繼續前進，我想告訴你，我們的回歸基本計劃已經開始真正顯示出一些生命跡象。

And when I say that, when I look at our operations, as an example, we've been using a football analogy for the last few quarters. And I would tell you that we across the 50-yard line last quarter in Q1, I would tell you, we're around the opponent's 40-yard line at this point, which is good to see.

當我這麼說時，當我以我們的營運為例時，我們在過去幾個季度一直在使用足球類比。我會告訴你，我們在第一節上節跨越了 50 碼線，我會告訴你，我們此時在對手的 40 碼線附近，這是很高興看到的。

We're making progress. We're making progress in a lot of fronts there, one being our staffing at the front ends, the reduction takeaway of the self-checkouts and moving those to assisted lanes, it was in full swing. Our customers are telling us they like it a lot more. Not surprising. They like the interaction instead of having to check out themselves. And we like what we see on that front.

我們正在取得進展。我們在許多方面都取得了進展，其中之一是前端的人員配置、減少自助結帳並將其移至輔助通道，一切都在如火如荼地進行。我們的客戶告訴我們他們更喜歡它。並不奇怪。他們喜歡互動，而不是必須檢查自己。我們喜歡我們在這方面所看到的。

And I believe that's what's starting to show up on our Shrink results as well in a positive manner. The other thing that we're working hard on, we're starting to see that Shrink traction, as I talked about. We're also starting to see in-stocks better each and every quarter, really each and every period as we continue to move through. So in-stocks are getting better.

我相信這也開始以積極的方式體現在我們的 Shrink 結果中。我們正在努力做的另一件事是，正如我所說，我們開始看到牽引力的縮小。隨著我們繼續前進，我們也開始看到每個季度的庫存情況都更好，實際上每個時段的庫存情況都更好。所以庫存狀況正在好轉。

Our turnover inside of our stores at all levels of our operating group is getting better from our Regional Director, DM, Store Manager right down to the sales associates inside of our stores, which is usually a true testament that we're doing the right things for our employees, which in turn is normally the right thing for our customers.

從我們的區域總監、DM、商店經理一直到商店內的銷售人員，我們營運團隊各個層面的商店內部營業額都在不斷提高，這通常真實地證明了我們正在做正確的事情對於我們的員工來說，這通常對我們的客戶來說是正確的事情。

So we believe that those are all green light. On our merchandising side, I'm very proud of the inventory reductions that took place on a same-store basis, especially 11% down in total inventory on a same-store basis, 16% down on a same-store basis in non-con and 7.6% decrease per store on a per store basis in consumables, all while driving greater share gains through our consumable categories.

所以我們相信這些都是綠燈。在我們的銷售方面，我對同店庫存的減少感到非常自豪，特別是同店總庫存減少了 11%，非同店庫存減少了 16%。推動了更大的市佔率成長。

Where we're working hard is to continue to engage that consumer now through this promotional lever. We have a very strong everyday price out there. This will just lever on top of that.

我們正在努力的地方是繼續透過這種促銷手段吸引消費者。我們每天都有非常強勁的價格。這將只是在此基礎上發揮槓桿作用。

The other thing that I do want to talk about as well is that we've reduced in the process of reducing 1,000 SKUs. That continues to do very well. We are well on track, and we'll hit our goal by the end of this fiscal year in reducing the 1,000 core SKUs. And we're evaluating what that may look like in '25 for additional opportunities to continue to reduce that inventory level and simplify work at the store level.

我還想談的另一件事是，我們在減少 1,000 個 SKU 的過程中減少了數量。這繼續表現得很好。我們一切進展順利，我們將在本財年結束前實現減少 1,000 個核心 SKU 的目標。我們正在評估 25 年的情況，尋找更多機會繼續降低庫存水準並簡化商店層面的工作。

Off-shelf displays are down by 25%, as you heard in our prepared remarks in the first half, going to be down over 50% in the back half. And of course, all the work simplification that we've done, I think, is going to be very important.

正如您在上半年我們準備好的演講中所聽到的那樣，現成的展示品下降了 25%，下半年將下降超過 50%。當然，我認為我們所做的所有工作簡化都將非常重要。

And lastly, our supply chain continues to really do well. When I think about where we are in the football field, we are down around the 30-yard line at this point, getting ready to get into the red zone here. And that is a true testament to the hard work of our supply chain, but also a cross-functional work of our operators and our merchants.

最後，我們的供應鏈仍然表現良好。當我想到我們在足球場上的位置時，我們此時位於 30 碼線附近，準備進入這裡的紅色區域。這是我們供應鏈辛勤工作的真實證明，也是我們營運商和商家跨職能工作的證明。

Our on-time and in-full rates are exceeding our expectations into this coming quarter. And right now, what we're working on hard is making sure that we are consistent, right? Because consistency here is going to be the key. If I can deliver on time to our stores consistently, it gives them a full leg up and be able to work that seven day workflow that we know, when executed at the store level, is a real positive for our stores in serving the customer each and every day. So a lot of great things are going on.

我們的準時率和全額率超出了我們對下一季的預期。現在，我們正在努力確保我們的一致性，對嗎？因為這裡的一致性將是關鍵。如果我能夠始終如一地按時向我們的商店交貨，那麼他們就會獲得充分的支持，並且能夠執行我們知道的7 天工作流程，當在商店級別執行時，這對於我們的商店為每個客戶提供服務來說是一個真正的積極因素以及每一天。所以很多偉大的事情正在發生。

Yes, a little pressure on certain lines. We believe that our guidance is very prudent based on where that consumer is right now, and our transformation progress as well as where we want to make sure that we continue to drive that traffic. Very nice to see a positive 1% traffic gain still for the quarter. We're not happy with just the 1%, we're going to drive for more. But we know how to do this, Simeon.

是的，某些線路上有一點壓力。我們相信，我們的指導是非常謹慎的，基於消費者現在的情況、我們的轉型進度以及我們希望確保繼續推動流量的方向。很高興看到本季的流量仍達到 1% 的正成長。我們不滿足於僅僅 1%，我們將爭取更多。但我們知道該怎麼做，西蒙。

We've done it. We've proven that once we continue to back that consumer through tough times, she is there when the better times come and she is very sticky. And that's exactly how we're approaching it this time around.

我們已經做到了。我們已經證明，一旦我們繼續支持該消費者度過困難時期，當更好的時光到來時，她就會在那裡，並且非常有黏性。這正是我們這次的處理方式。

Matthew Boss with JPMorgan Chase.

摩根大通的馬修·博斯。

Great. So Todd, just to take the cadence of comps, maybe a step further, could you elaborate on underlying traffic versus ticket as the quarter progressed? Any concerns that are now more top of mind today relative to, call it, three months ago from your survey work on the low-income consumer? And have you seen any improvement in August comps?

偉大的。那麼，托德，為了了解競爭的節奏，也許更進一步，您能否詳細說明隨著本季度的進展，基礎流量與門票的情況？相對於三個月前，您對低收入消費者的調查工作中，現在有哪些問題成為人們最關心的問題？您是否看到八月份的比較有任何改進？

Yes. I don't want to talk too much about August, but I would tell you that what we've seen in so far in this quarter is in our guidance and feel that we're on track there. So very much I believe in that guidance that we put out there. Now I would tell you that while we're happy with the 1% that we gained on traffic, we believe there's more to gain there.

是的。我不想過多談論八月，但我想告訴你，本季度到目前為止我們所看到的情況都在我們的指導中，並且感覺我們正在步入正軌。所以我非常相信我們在那裡發布的指導。現在我要告訴你，雖然我們對流量成長 1% 感到滿意，但我們相信還有更多收穫。

And as I indicated in my first question answer there, I would tell you, Matt, that what we saw is the guys down in Bentonville are doing a pretty nice job in garnering the available traffic that's out there from other retailers. We haven't seen a deterioration on our side. But what we saw in Q1 was a greater pickup from the available share maybe from other classes of trade, grocery and drug.

正如我在第一個問題的回答中指出的那樣，馬特，我會告訴你，我們看到本頓維爾的人們在獲取其他零售商的可用流量方面做得非常好。我們還沒有看到我們這邊的情況惡化。但我們在第一季看到的是，可用份額的更大回升可能來自其他類別的貿易、雜貨和藥品。

While we got some of it, we didn't get our fair share, at least what I would consider to be our fair share. And that's why we're attacking this and going on the offense.

雖然我們得到了一些，但我們沒有得到我們的公平份額，至少是我認為的我們的公平份額。這就是為什麼我們要攻擊這個並繼續進攻。

We believe that as we continue to be there for our customer in this regard will help us gain momentum into the back half of the year and hopefully a springboard into 2025. And Kelly, you may want to elaborate a little bit on the other side.

我們相信，隨著我們在這方面繼續為客戶提供幫助，將幫助我們在今年下半年獲得動力，並有望成為進入 2025 年的跳板。

Yes. No, absolutely. So yes, taking a look at second quarter comps on a cadence basis, so June was our strongest month and then it started to turn negative in July. And so what we really saw kind of in that mid-quarter time frame just a general step down, and it was all around the transaction side of things to Todd's point.

是的。不，絕對是。所以，是的，從節奏的角度來看第二季的比較，六月是我們表現最強勁的月份，然後在七月開始轉為負值。因此，我們在季度中期的時間範圍內真正看到的只是總體下降，而且按照托德的觀點，這一切都圍繞著交易方面。

So when we think about what we are contemplating as we went into Q2, I would tell you that on the basket side, we were pretty much in line with our expectations. It was on the transaction side, which is what the teams are going to run hard after driving sales and making sure that we get the customers the value that they need right now. So that's really the cadence.

因此，當我們思考進入第二季時正在考慮的事情時，我會告訴你，在籃子方面，我們幾乎符合我們的預期。這是在交易方面，這是團隊在推動銷售並確保我們為客戶提供他們現在需要的價值之後將努力的工作。這就是節奏。

The other thing I think that's really important to point out is the of each of the calendar months were the softest comp weeks of the quarter. And for us, that really indicates that she started to run out of money by the end of the month.

我認為需要指出的另一件事是，每個日曆月都是該季度最軟的補償週。對我們來說，這確實表明她到月底就開始花光錢了。

And what we saw in some of our survey work is just that our core customer says that they're feeling worse off financially than they did six months ago. And so, again, it just goes back to the point of in this back half, making sure that we're playing offense on driving sales and taking the markdown investment that we need to do.

我們在一些調查工作中看到的是，我們的核心客戶表示，他們感覺財務狀況比六個月前更糟。因此，再次回到後半部分，確保我們在推動銷售和進行我們需要做的降價投資方面發揮進攻作用。

Rupesh Parikh with Oppenheimer.

魯佩什·帕里克與奧本海默。

I have two quick ones. So first, on the guidance, is there any more conservatism than normal with this particular guide? And then, second, as you look at the promotional offers that you've done, I guess, in Q2 and then what you plan to do in the back half of the year, how is the consumer response versus your expectations versus what you typically see when you run these increased promotions and markdowns?

我有兩個快的。首先，在指導方面，這份特定指引是否比正常情況更保守？然後，第二，當你查看你在第二季度所做的促銷優惠以及你計劃在今年下半年做什麼時，消費者的反應與你的期望相比你通常的反應如何看到你什麼時候進行這些增加的促銷和降價活動了嗎？

Thanks, Rupesh. Yes, no, to give a little bit color on the guidance, let me walk through a couple of things. I'll tell you that, in the back half, it was primarily reflective of obviously the softer sales trends that we saw in Q2, but also the impacts associated with those sales. So that sales mix-related margin and then the markdowns that we've been talking about.

謝謝，魯佩什。是的，不，為了給指導一點色彩，讓我來介紹幾件事。我會告訴你，在後半段，這主要反映了我們在第二季度看到的明顯疲軟的銷售趨勢，但也反映了與這些銷售相關的影響。因此，與銷售組合相關的利潤率以及我們一直在談論的降價促銷。

There's a lot of other puts and takes that we talked about in our prepared remarks, but those are really the primary drivers. So to that, just to give you a little bit of color on the sales side, what I'll tell you, while we're doing all the right things to strengthen our foundation through our back to basics work and the markdowns that we're looking ahead for our core customer is obviously struggling. And so this guidance really assumes more of a macro neutral to a slight softening of that consumer. And so the low end of the guidance takes that into consideration.

我們在準備好的發言中討論了很多其他的觀點，但這些確實是主要驅動因素。因此，我要告訴您的是，在銷售方面，我們正在做所有正確的事情，透過回歸基本工作和我們的降價來加強我們的基礎，只是為了給您一些銷售方面的信息。的展望顯然很困難。因此，這項指導實際上更假設了宏觀中性，而不是消費者的輕微疲軟。因此，指南的低端考慮到了這一點。

So we are looking at it a little different ways than what we may have historically. I think that's important to call out as well. So on that lower end range, we're looking at a comp similar to the comp that we had in the second quarter, whereas the higher end of the range would assume that there's some acceleration.

因此，我們看待它的方式與歷史上的方式略有不同。我認為呼籲這一點也很重要。因此，在較低的範圍內，我們正在尋找與第二季度的比較類似的比較，而範圍的較高端則假設有一些加速。

But I think it's important to unpack that a little bit. In analyzing where we're heading in the second half, the 1- and 2-year trends have a lot of noise in them just given the volatility that we had last year and then the recent step change that we had in the middle of the second quarter.

但我認為稍微解開這一點很重要。在分析我們下半年的發展方向時，考慮到去年的波動性以及最近中期的步驟變化，一年和兩年的趨勢中有很多噪音。

So if you take a step back, we think really looking at the CAGR from 2019 is probably a more relevant view. And that's for a couple of reasons. One is, it's a similar holiday schedule to 2024, which is important. It eliminates that noise of the pandemic and the stimulus as well as inflation as we've seen inflation steady a little bit this year.

因此，如果退一步來看，我們認為真正關注 2019 年的複合年增長率可能是更相關的觀點。這有幾個原因。一是，這與 2024 年的假期安排類似，這一點很重要。它消除了大流行、刺激措施以及通貨膨脹的噪音，因為我們今年看到通貨膨脹略有穩定。

So we're really using that kind of as a basis of what we're looking for. So with that, on the high end of our '24 guide, what we're assuming now is that a stable CAGR rate to 2019 very close to what it was in Q2. So just continue kind of where we are and that the consumer and the environment don't necessarily get much worse from here. And then on the low-end side of things, it provides for some further softening on our core customers' ability to spend. And so that's how we're thinking about the potential outcomes of what we're seeing today.

所以我們確實使用這種作為我們正在尋找的東西的基礎。因此，在我們 24 年指南的高端，我們現在假設 2019 年的穩定複合年增長率非常接近第二季的水平。因此，只要繼續保持現在的狀態，消費者和環境就不一定會變得更糟。然後在低端方面，它進一步削弱了我們核心客戶的消費能力。這就是我們如何思考我們今天所看到的潛在結果。

And Rupesh, on the other part of the question, as Kelly indicated, we started to see that softening. It was really evident in the month of July. And so with that being the last period of the quarter, we really started to ramp up our promotional cadence middle of that month, as you would imagine. It takes a little time to get moving, but not as long as it used to because we used our digital tools, which we've done a very nice job over the last many years in enhancing those.

魯佩什，關於問題的另一部分，正如凱利指出的那樣，我們開始看到這種軟化。到了7月份，這一點就體現得非常明顯了。因此，由於這是本季度的最後一段時間，正如您所想的那樣，我們在該月中旬真正開始加大促銷節奏。開始行動需要一點時間，但不像以前那麼長，因為我們使用了我們的數位工具，在過去的幾年裡，我們在增強這些工具方面做得非常好。

And so we were able to go out fairly quickly with some promotional activity, which now has ramped up even further as we moved into August and will continue to ramp up as we move into the third end of the third quarter and in the fourth quarter of this year.

因此，我們能夠相當快地開展一些促銷活動，隨著進入 8 月份，促銷活動進一步加強，並且隨著我們進入第三季度末和第四季度，促銷活動將繼續加強。

And I would tell you, just like we anticipated, we're seeing the response from the consumer. It was almost immediate. She continues to engage, especially with those digital tools. And I would tell you that we're really good at doing this. We've done it many times.

我想告訴你，就像我們預期的那樣，我們看到了消費者的反應。這幾乎是立即的。她繼續參與，特別是使用那些數位工具。我想告訴你，我們真的很擅長做到這一點。我們已經做過很多次了。

We always said we reserve the right to invest in price, and, for us because of our great everyday low price and continue to be in a very great shape there, it's really that promotional lever that we reserve the right. And so we know exactly what the consumer wants and needs. We talk to her each and every quarter, and that's exactly what we're offering her right now, and we'll continue to do so.

我們總是說，我們保留在價格上進行投資的權利，而且，對我們來說，由於我們每日的低價，並且繼續保持良好的狀態，這確實是我們保留權利的促銷槓桿。因此我們確切地知道消費者想要什麼和需要什麼。我們每季都會與她交談，這正是我們現在為她提供的，我們將繼續這樣做。

So we believe that those promotional cadences will continue to garner more and more customers and more and more transactions as we move through this quarter and into next.

因此，我們相信，隨著我們進入本季度和下一季度，這些促銷節奏將繼續吸引越來越多的客戶和越來越多的交易。

Peter Keith with Piper Sandler.

彼得·基思和派珀·桑德勒。

Todd, in the past, you've always talked about how in tough times your customers need you even more, and certainly, this is a tough time with inflation and your core customers are suffering a bit. How come you don't think you're seeing the normal share gains or spending behavior from your customers like you have in the past?

托德，過去，您總是談到在困難時期您的客戶如何更加需要您，當然，這是通貨膨脹的艱難時期，您的核心客戶受到了一些影響。為什麼您認為您沒有像過去那樣看到客戶的正常份額收益或消費行為？

That's a great question, Peter. I would tell you a couple of things that we're noticing. First of all, what we normally say, right, is that during any step change, which we saw in Q2, to Kelly's point toward the end of Q2, especially, it takes her a few quarters to come out of that, meaning our core customer.

這是一個很好的問題，彼得。我想告訴你一些我們注意到的事情。首先，我們通常所說的，對的，是在我們在第二季度看到的任何步驟變化期間，尤其是凱利在第二季度末的觀點中，她需要幾個季度才能擺脫這種變化，這意味著我們的核心顧客。

What we also see is it takes a quarter or more for the trade-in to come in at a higher rate. Now in saying that what we've noticed is the trade-in has been slower to come in to the channel than what we had anticipated and or have seen in the past.

我們也看到，需要四分之一或更長的時間，以舊換新才能以更高的速度進行。現在要說的是，我們注意到以舊換新進入頻道的速度比我們預期和/或過去看到的速度要慢。

I believe that's there's a couple of reasons why. I think the main reason, and I believe this is true because it appears in every piece of data that we have is that the job market is still pretty decent, right? It's not as robust as it was, but also unemployment hasn't spiked greatly, if you will, in the last quarter or so. Normally, it takes that jolt to get the trade-in to come in at a heavier clip, if you will.

我相信有幾個原因。我認為主要原因是，而且我相信這是真的，因為我們掌握的每項數據中都顯示就業市場仍然相當不錯，對嗎？它不像以前那麼強勁，但如果你願意的話，在上個季度左右失業率也沒有大幅飆升。通常情況下，如果你願意的話，需要這種震動才能讓以舊換新的速度更快。

Now the middle and the upper middle income are still looking for value. So I don't want you to believe that they're not. But usually to get them to trade-in at a higher rate, usually takes something a little bit more substantial than we've even seen to occur. I'm not suggesting I want to see that happen to customer, but we stand ready and willing to serve her when that happens.

現在中上層收入仍在尋找價值。所以我不想讓你相信他們不是。但通常要讓他們以更高的價格進行以舊換新，通常需要比我們所看到的更實質的事情。我並不是說我希望看到這種情況發生在客戶身上，但我們已準備好並願意在這種情況發生時為她服務。

The other thing that we've noticed is more and more online activity comes from that cohort. Our core customer continues her online journey pretty much the way she was. It's pretty static, if you will. But we've noticed that middle to upper middle continues to rely on online a little bit more. And so as that occurs, I believe the trade-in slows a little bit on that side. So it's incumbent upon us to take a look at how we offset that piece as well. And I would tell you on that, just stay tuned.

我們注意到的另一件事是越來越多的線上活動來自該群體。我們的核心客戶幾乎像以前一樣繼續她的線上旅程。如果你願意的話，它是相當靜態的。但我們注意到，中上階層人士仍然更依賴線上服務。因此，當這種情況發生時，我相信這方面的以舊換新會稍微放緩。因此，我們也有責任看看如何抵消這一點。我會告訴你這一點，請繼續關注。

Seth Sigman with Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的賽斯西格曼。

I wanted to follow up on pricing just given the price investments and the comments about the promotional environment being worse than expected. Can you talk about how your competitive price gaps have evolved through this year, however you look at that? And maybe just elaborate more on the actions that you're taking? How much of the assortment are you looking to mark down here, maybe the categories that you're focused on? And I guess just the last piece of that as we try to bridge the guidance, how much of that guidance change reflects those price investments? If I recall, last year, you had about $95 million of markdown impact. It sounds like you're saying something similar to that, so I just want to clarify, is that another $95 million?

鑑於價格投資和有關促銷環境比預期更糟糕的評論，我想跟進定價。無論您如何看待這一點，您能談談今年以來您的競爭性價格差距是如何演變的嗎？也許只是詳細說明您正在採取的行動？您希望在此標記多少種類，也許是您關注的類別？我想，當我們試圖彌合指導時，指導的變化有多少反映了這些價格投資？如果我記得的話，去年你們的降價影響約為 9500 萬美元。聽起來你說的是類似的話，所以我想澄清一下，那是另外9500萬美元嗎？

I will start, Kelly, and I'll turn it over to you. I would tell you that we feel very good about our everyday price position. As a matter of fact, we track it, and we graph it, as you would imagine, every which way. And it's fairly flat to where we've been over the last many quarters against all classes of trade. So our everyday retails are in good shape. If you recall, when I came back in, in October last year, I did call that out as one of our shining stars that I found coming back is that our everyday low price was very competitive and continues to be even to today.

我先開始，凱利，然後把它交給你。我想告訴你，我們對日常的價格定位感覺非常好。事實上，正如您想像的那樣，我們以各種方式追蹤它並繪製圖表。與過去幾季所有類別貿易的情況相比，情況相當平穩。所以我們的日常零售狀況良好。如果你還記得，當我去年十月回來時，我確實把這一點稱為我們的閃亮明星之一，我發現回來後我們每天的低價非常有競爭力，甚至到今天仍然如此。

So that gives us great confidence and a very good springboard to launch this promotional activity that we know exactly how to do, and we've done it many times in my time here in the last 16 years to stimulate that customer and to build a bridge the end of the month for our core customer because she's running out of money. And while I'm not going to give you the exact playbook because that wouldn't be too smart, right? But I would tell you that it will be in categories mainly that really drive that traffic for us, but more so, what that customer was looking for to bridge that time.

因此，這給了我們很大的信心和一個非常好的跳板來啟動這項促銷活動，我們確切地知道如何去做，並且在過去16 年裡，我們已經做過很多次這樣的活動，以刺激客戶並建立一座橋樑對我們的核心客戶來說，月底是因為她的錢用完了。雖然我不會給你確切的劇本，因為那不太聰明，對吧？但我想告訴你，主要是那些真正為我們帶來流量的類別，但更重要的是，客戶正在尋找什麼來彌補這段時間。

So if you think about things like the food categories, things like cleaning and paper where she really needs us, again, to bridge her family's gap at the end of the month, those are those areas that are best suited for this type of activity.

因此，如果你考慮一下食物類別、清潔和紙張等她真正需要我們在月底彌補家庭差距的事情，那麼這些就是最適合此類活動的領域。

And that's exactly how we've approached it in the past and have so far approached it, and we'll continue to approach it as we move through the back half of the year.

這正是我們過去和迄今為止的處理方式，並且在今年下半年我們將繼續處理它。

Yes. No. And then just on the markdown investment as we're thinking about it in the back half. I'll tell you, it's not a certain dollar amount that we're considering. It's just overall level of promotion and markdowns that we need to take. So similar to kind of what I said before. What we're expecting is in that second half that the rate would be similar to last year.

是的。不。我告訴你，我們考慮的不是某個特定的金額。這只是我們需要採取的整體促銷和降價水平。與我之前所說的非常相似。我們預計下半年的成長率將與去年相似。

And then as we think about it more on a full year basis, what that does is get us back into kind of that markdown our promotional range that's very similar to where it was in 2019. And certainly, from a front half, back half perspective, the back half now would be heavier than the front half of the year.

然後，當我們在全年的基礎上進行更多思考時，這會讓我們回到與 2019 年非常相似的降價促銷範圍。比上半年重。

John Heinbockel with Guggenheim Partners.

約翰·海因博克爾與古根漢合夥人。

Two quick things. Todd, maybe how do you think about ROI of promotions? And I know a couple of years ago, you did promotions in the fourth quarter to jump start you going into the year the following year. And I think that lifted comps by a couple of hundred basis points. How do you think about this environment versus that? And then lastly, when I think about, right, your the comp that you need to leverage expenses. I think it's still in the mid-3s. Is there an unlock a rolltainer type unlock out there that can move that down materially, or we're kind of stuck with that 3% plus number?

兩件快事。托德，也許您如何看待促銷的投資報酬率？我知道幾年前，你們在第四季度進行了促銷活動，以啟動進入下一年的工作。我認為這將業績提升了幾百個基點。您如何看待這個環境與那個環境？最後，當我想到你需要槓桿費用的補償時。我認為它仍然在 3 秒左右。是否有一種可以大幅降低滾動容器類型解鎖的解鎖方式，或者我們有點堅持 3% 以上的數字？

Yes, John, thanks for the question the two-part question. So I'll take the first one, and I will tell you that, yes, for us, as we continue to look at that promotional lever, we always look at what that return would be. And at this point, we believe that it's our best use of our gross margin because, to your point, what we've seen in the past when we've done this, and you alluded to one of the times in the past, but there's been multiple times in, again, the 16 years that I've been here. And each of those times came out of that a stickier consumer, right? And so the return is normally very much intact as we pull out of the heavier promotional activity when the time is right.

是的，約翰，謝謝你提出這個由兩個部分組成的問題。所以我會採取第一個，我會告訴你，是的，對我們來說，當我們繼續關注促銷槓桿時，我們總是會專注於回報是什麼。在這一點上，我們相信這是我們對毛利率的最佳利用，因為就你而言，我們過去在這樣做時所看到的，你也提到了過去的一次，但是在我來這裡的16年裡，這樣的事已經發生過很多次了。每一次都會產生更黏性的消費者，對嗎？因此，當我們在適當的時候退出更大規模的促銷活動時，回報通常是非常完好的。

Now a few years ago as well, as you know, we rationalized how we promote, and so we're a lot smarter today. So utilizing that rationalization approach and tools that we have embedded now in our process, I believe, will help us in this activity to ensure, one, it's driving the most traffic that we can drive, but also secondly,

如您所知，幾年前我們也合理化了促銷方式，因此今天我們變得更加聰明。因此，我相信，利用我們現在嵌入流程中的合理化方法和工具，將有助於我們在這項活動中確保，第一，它能帶來我們可以帶來的最大流量，但第二，

It is the best use of our spend because what we want to be able to do is utilize this to lift all boats as well, meaning not only the promotional pieces, but within those areas that we are promoting, again, food, paper, cleaning, pet, those areas that I talked about earlier, that we see overall lifts in those categories. And that's what this rationalization of our markdowns in the past have provided for us.

這是我們支出的最佳用途，因為我們希望能夠利用它來提升所有船隻，這不僅意味著促銷品，還意味著我們正在促銷的領域內，再次，食品，紙張，清潔、寵物，我之前談到的那些領域，我們看到這些類別的整體提升。這就是我們過去的降價合理化為我們提供的。

So we've got a great book to follow there. And then as it relates to the labor side, labor rates are up a little higher than we anticipated this year. The hours that we're providing is right on what we thought. We still feel very good about the hours that are available to our stores to get the job done. But the labor rates were up a little bit more than we had anticipated coming into this year.

所以我們有一本很棒的書可供參考。然後，就勞動力方面而言，今年勞動力成長率略高於我們的預期。我們提供的時間與我們的想法一致。我們仍然對我們的商店能夠完成工作的時間感到非常滿意。但今年勞動價格的漲幅比我們預期的要高一些。

In saying that, we are in the process right now of our rolltainer sort that you mentioned. The last time we actually did that was in 2017. And you're right, there was a small step change there in labor. I'm not suggesting that it would be as large as that by any means. But what I am suggesting is that while we feel good about the amount of labor hours we're using today,

話雖如此，我們現在正在開發您提到的捲式貨櫃。我們上次真正這樣做是在 2017 年。我並不是說它會那麼大。但我的建議是，雖然我們對今天使用的勞動時間感到滿意，

I want to continue to feel good about that. And I want our operators to continue to feel good about that. So utilizing rolltainer sort and other things that we're taking work out of the stores is not to strip more labor out of the stores, but to ensure that they have enough labor to satisfy the customer, give them the best shopping experience possible because we believe right now that is the best use of the labor hours that we have available is to further our back-to-basics work.

我想繼續對此感覺良好。我希望我們的營運商繼續對此感到滿意。因此，利用捲箱分類和其他我們從商店中解放出來的東西並不是要剝奪商店更多的勞動力，而是要確保他們有足夠的勞動力來滿足顧客，為他們提供最好的購物體驗，因為我們我相信，目前我們現有的勞動時間的最佳利用方式就是進一步進行我們的基礎工作。

So stay tuned. There's always ways that we can look at the SG&A lever because it is a lot larger as you would imagine than just the labor side, while labor is a big component of it. So stay tuned. We've got other things that we're working on that we believe can help modify a little bit of that expense as we move through the back half of the year and into next year.

所以請繼續關注。我們總是可以透過多種方式來看待 SG&A 槓桿，因為它比你想像的要大得多，而不僅僅是勞動力方面，而勞動力是其中的重要組成部分。所以請繼續關注。我們正在做其他事情，我們相信這些事情可以幫助我們在今年下半年和明年的時候調整一些費用。

Corey Tarlowe with Jefferies.

科里·塔洛和杰弗里斯。

I just wanted to ask on inventory. Inventories are down, yet in-stock levels are up, and seemingly markdown should also be increasing, so unit velocity should increase. So I'm curious how you think about that dynamic? And then secondarily, consumable sales have continued to increase, but seasonal sales were only down slightly close to flat. I'm curious if you saw anything to call out in that category as well?

我只是想問庫存。庫存下降，但庫存水準上升，而且看起來降價也應該增加，因此單位速度應該增加。所以我很好奇你如何看待這種動態？其次，消費品銷售持續成長，但季節性銷售僅略有下降，接近持平。我很好奇您是否在該類別中也看到了值得關注的內容？

So why don't I start, Kelly, and I'll turn it over to you. Yes. So let me take the second part of that question. As we exited Q2, while we weren't happy with either side of consumables or our non-consumable business, but to your point, what we saw was a flattish non-consumable business quarter-over-quarter, but a deceleration of the consumable side of the business.

那我為什麼不開始呢，凱利，我會把它交給你。是的。那麼讓我來回答這個問題的第二部分。當我們退出第二季度時，雖然我們對消費品或非消費品業務的任何一方都不滿意，但就您而言，我們看到的是非消費品業務環比持平，但消費品業務減速業務方面。

And what that really showed was once again that core consumer is very, very price sensitive at this point and looking for value anywhere she can find it. That's another reason why we're stepping up that promotional activity, to reengage even further that consumable side of the business, which we believe, and we've already started this venture at the end of Q2 and now into Q3, we very much believe and are seeing that engagement start to come back in.

這真正表明，核心消費者此時對價格非常非常敏感，並且在任何能找到價值的地方尋找價值。這是我們加強促銷活動的另一個原因，以進一步重新參與業務的消費品方面，我們相信這一點，我們已經在第二季度末開始這項業務，現在進入第三季度，我們非常相信並且看到人們的參與度開始恢復。

So as we continue to ensure that we're there for the consumer, I believe that transition into a little bit more of a promotional environment will continue, but will also continue to pay off for Dollar General.

因此，當我們繼續確保我們為消費者服務時，我相信向促銷環境的過渡將繼續下去，但也將繼續為 Dollar General 帶來回報。

And then as it relates to a little bit of the inventory, before I pass it to Kelly, is I feel very good about the inventory that we're reducing versus having to restock based on sales. As you saw, we continue to reduce, at the highest level, our nonconsumable business, and that's usually the slowest turn business as well.

然後，由於它涉及一點庫存，在我將其傳遞給凱利之前，我對我們正在減少的庫存而不是根據銷售情況重新進貨感到非常滿意。正如您所看到的，我們繼續在最高水準上減少我們的非消耗性業務，這通常也是周轉最慢的業務。

And the good thing, as we continue to look forward is, these goods are fresh, they're clean, and they're very sellable and, as you can see, are selling. So it's good to see that, but I believe it's also good that we're seeing some of the reductions to make a little bit more room inside the stores for our customers to be able to enjoy that shopping experience.

好消息是，正如我們繼續期待的那樣，這些商品是新鮮的、乾淨的，而且非常暢銷，而且正如你所看到的，正在暢銷。所以很高興看到這一點，但我相信，我們看到一些折扣是為了在商店內騰出更多空間，讓我們的顧客能夠享受購物體驗，這也是一件好事。

Yes. And Todd is absolutely right. So we feel really good about the quality of our inventory. And I think, and we called it out in the prepared remarks, this team has just done a remarkable job of reducing inventory while improving in-stock.

是的。托德是絕對正確的。因此，我們對庫存的品質感覺非常好。我認為，我們在準備好的發言中指出，這個團隊在減少庫存和改善庫存方面做得非常出色。

That is not easy to do. So they're really focused on optimization, and you heard us talk about some investments last year that we put in place in order to help with that. And so we're certainly rightsizing what we're bringing into our distribution centers and then out into the stores.

這並不容易做到。因此，他們確實專注於優化，您聽到我們談論了去年我們為幫助實現這一目標而進行的一些投資。因此，我們當然會合理調整我們進入配送中心然後進入商店的商品數量。

And we have I would tell you that the biggest unit decrease has been in our supply chain, which certainly helps with efficiencies and has driven some of the progress that we've made down that football field. And now we're starting to see it in stores as well. And so that's good to see.

我想告訴你，最大的單位減少發生在我們的供應鏈中，這無疑有助於提高效率，並推動我們在足球場上取得的一些進展。現在我們也開始在商店裡看到它。很高興看到這一點。

So I would say that this is a real bright spot in the quarter.

所以我想說這是本季的一個真正的亮點。

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。