iPower Inc (IPW) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss iPower's financial results for its fiscal second quarter 2024 ended December 31, 2023.

大家下午好，感謝大家參加今天的電話會議，討論 iPower 截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日的 2024 財年第二季度的財務業績。

Joining us are iPower's Chairman and CEO, Mr. Lawrence Tan; and the company's CFO, Mr. Kevin Vassily. Mr. Vassily, please go ahead.

加入我們的還有 iPower 董事長兼執行長 Lawrence Tan 先生；以及公司財務長 Kevin Vassily 先生。瓦西里先生，請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. By now, everyone should have access to our fiscal second-quarter 2024 earnings press release, which was issued earlier today at approximately 4:05 PM, Eastern Time. The release is available in the Investor Relations section of our website at meetipower.com. This call will also be available for webcast replay on our website. Following our prepared remarks, we'll open the call for your questions.

謝謝接線員，大家下午好。到目前為止，每個人都應該可以閱讀我們在東部時間今天早些時候下午 4 點左右發布的 2024 年第二財季收益新聞稿。新聞稿可在我們網站 meetipower.com 的投資者關係部分取得。此次電話會議也可在我們的網站上進行網路直播重播。在我們準備好的發言之後，我們將開始電話詢問您的問題。

Before I introduce Lawrence, I'd like to remind listeners that certain comments made on this conference call and webcast are considered forward-looking statements under the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements are neither historical facts nor assurances of future performance. Instead, they are based only on our current beliefs, expectations, and assumptions regarding the future of our business, future plans and strategies, projections, anticipated events and trends, the state of the economy, and other future conditions.

在介紹勞倫斯之前，我想提醒聽眾，根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》，本次電話會議和網路廣播中的某些評論被視為前瞻性陳述。前瞻性陳述既不是歷史事實，也不是對未來績效的保證。相反，它們僅基於我們當前對業務未來、未來計劃和策略、預測、預期事件和趨勢、經濟狀況以及其他未來條件的信念、期望和假設。

Because forward-looking statements relate to the future, they are subject to inherent uncertainties, risks, and changes and circumstances that are difficult to predict and many of which are outside our control. Our actual results and financial condition may differ materially from those indicated in these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are also subject to other risks and uncertainties that are described from time to time in the company's filings with the SEC, including our annual report on Form 10-K, which was filed with the SEC on September 15, 2023.

由於前瞻性陳述涉及未來，因此它們受到固有的不確定性、風險以及難以預測的變化和情況的影響，其中許多是我們無法控制的。我們的實際結果和財務狀況可能與這些前瞻性陳述中所示的結果和財務狀況有重大差異。這些前瞻性陳述也受到本公司不時向 SEC 提交的文件中所述的其他風險和不確定性的影響，包括我們於 2023 年 9 月 15 日向 SEC 提交的 10-K 表格年度報告。

Do not place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which are being made only as of the date of this call. Except as required by law, the company undertakes no obligation to revise or publicly release the results of any revision to any forward-looking statements.

請勿過度依賴任何前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅截至本次電話會議之日作出。除法律要求外，本公司不承擔修改或公開發布任何前瞻性陳述的任何修改結果的義務。

With that, I would like to now turn the call over to iPower's Chairman and CEO, Mr. Lawrence Tan. Lawrence?

現在，我想將電話轉給 iPower 董事長兼執行長 Lawrence Tan 先生。勞倫斯？

Thank you, Kevin, and good afternoon, everyone. In our fiscal second quarter, we continue to expand gross margin, drive down operating costs, and generated another period of positive cash flow from operations. We also gained further traction in our SuperSuite supply chain business, which represents an exciting opportunity for us as we continue to work through a robust pipeline of prospects with compelling product portfolios.

謝謝你，凱文，大家下午好。在第二財季，我們繼續擴大毛利率，降低營運成本，並創造了另一個時期的正現金流。我們的 SuperSuite 供應鏈業務也獲得了進一步的發展，這對我們來說是一個令人興奮的機會，因為我們將繼續透過具有引人注目的產品組合的強大潛在客戶管道開展工作。

Due to the improvement in the supply chain environment, our largest channel partner has progressively tightened their inventory management as shipping lead times have become more favorable. Although our order volumes were impacted for the quarter, we believe this channel partner's inventory is now at the preferred level, and we are well equipped to meet the demand with the high-quality market leading products that our customers expect.

由於供應鏈環境的改善，我們最大的通路夥伴逐步收緊庫存管理，運輸交貨期變得更加有利。儘管我們本季的訂單量受到了影響，但我們相信該通路合作夥伴的庫存目前處於首選水平，並且我們有能力滿足客戶期望的高品質市場領先產品的需求。

Over the past several quarters, we have placed a strong emphasis on diversifying revenue, showcased by the launch of our SuperSuite supply chain offerings. We have also created a strong brand presence on social channel -- commerce channel like TikTok shop, where we are an approved seller for both short-form videos and live shopping. Although the sales channel is now in its infancy, the early results are compelling, and we will continue to invest in the channel as it grows both in the US and abroad.

在過去的幾個季度中，我們非常重視營收多元化，我們推出的 SuperSuite 供應鏈產品就體現了這一點。我們也在社群管道上建立了強大的品牌影響力——像 TikTok 商店這樣的商業管道，我們是短片和直播購物的認可賣家。儘管銷售通路目前仍處於起步階段，但早期成果令人矚目，隨著該通路在美國和海外的發展，我們將繼續對該通路進行投資。

As I mentioned earlier, we are building positive momentum in our SuperSuite business, which is growing at a strong clip. The acceleration of revenue, alongside a growing pipeline of prospects, reflects the strength of our superior supply chain, warehousing, and merchandising expertise. We are optimistic about this area of our business and hope to have a few more partners in the coming quarters.

正如我之前提到的，我們正在 SuperSuite 業務中建立積極的勢頭，該業務正在強勁增長。收入的加速成長以及潛在客戶的不斷增加，反映了我們卓越的供應鏈、倉儲和銷售專業知識的實力。我們對這一業務領域感到樂觀，並希望在未來幾季能有更多的合作夥伴。

In addition to evaluating new partners for our SuperSuite business, we have also continued to pursue additional sales channel in the US to expand our reach, diversify our client base, and explore omnichannel opportunities. For example, we currently have relationships with Home Depot and Lowe's, allowing us to sell product through their captive e-commerce sites.

除了評估我們 SuperSuite 業務的新合作夥伴之外，我們還繼續在美國尋求更多銷售管道，以擴大我們的覆蓋範圍，使我們的客戶群多樣化，並探索全通路機會。例如，我們目前與家得寶 (Home Depot) 和勞氏 (Lowe's) 建立了合作關係，使我們能夠透過他們的專屬電子商務網站銷售產品。

Although we have initiated the -- with a small subset of our categories, we believe our portfolio is well aligned with Lowe's and Home Depot's in-store and online customer base. We are optimistic that these partnerships will bring future omnichannel opportunities, specifically in brick-and-mortar. We look forward to deepening our relationship with Lowe's, Home Depot, and other current partners as well as expanding into new channels across the United States.

儘管我們已經啟動了一小部分類別，但我們相信我們的產品組合與 Lowe's 和 Home Depot 的店內和線上客戶群非常一致。我們樂觀地認為，這些合作關係將帶來未來的全通路機會，特別是在實體領域。我們期待加深與 Lowe's、Home Depot 和其他現有合作夥伴的關係，並擴展到美國各地的新管道。

Turning to OpEx, we continue to drive material savings in our selling and fulfillment operations. We no longer bear the burden of additional warehousing expenses as we have sold through the bulk of our excess inventory. With the normalization of supply chain, we can run our business with lower levels of inventory, specifically due to faster overseas shipping lead times. As of December 31, we have brought down inventory level by 23% compared to June 30, 2023.

談到營運支出，我們繼續推動銷售和履行營運中的材料節省。我們不再承擔額外的倉儲費用，因為我們已經售出了大部分多餘庫存。隨著供應鏈的正常化，我們可以以較低的庫存水準開展業務，特別是由於海外運輸的交貨時間更快。截至 12 月 31 日，我們的庫存水準比 2023 年 6 月 30 日降低了 23%。

We have also begun to outsource our warehouse staffing to a third party, lowering our production overhead. We will -- we expect to realize cost savings from this initiative over the medium to long run.

我們也開始將倉庫人員外包給第三方，以降低我們的生產費用。我們希望在中長期內透過這項措施實現成本節約。

Looking ahead, we will continue to evaluate each segment of our business to ensure our cost structure is both lean and positioned for future growth. We are seeing early signs of normalized order volume with our largest channel partner and look forward to continue providing them with our high-quality products. These actions, coupled with the acceleration of our SuperSuite business, will enable us to deliver on our goals with the aim of returning to profitability in 2024.

展望未來，我們將繼續評估我們業務的各個部分，以確保我們的成本結構既精簡又適合未來的成長。我們看到我們最大的通路合作夥伴訂單量正常化的早期跡象，並期待繼續為他們提供我們的高品質產品。這些行動，再加上 SuperSuite 業務的加速發展，將使我們能夠實現我們的目標，在 2024 年恢復盈利。

I'll now turn the call over to our CFO, Kevin Vassily, and take you through our financial results in more detail. Kevin?

現在我將把電話轉給我們的財務長凱文·瓦西里 (Kevin Vassily)，並帶您更詳細地了解我們的財務表現。凱文？

Thanks, Lawrence. Unless referenced otherwise, all various commentary is in comparison to the prior quarter last year. So let me dive into the fiscal Q2 results.

謝謝，勞倫斯。除非另有說明，否則所有各種評論都是與去年上個季度相比。讓我深入了解第二季的財務結果。

Total revenue was $16.8 million compared to $19.3 million in the prior period last year. The decrease was driven primarily by lower promotional activity as compared to last year, given our normalized inventory level right now, as well as lower order volumes from our largest channel partner who is more tightly managing inventory levels due to the improved supply chain environment and shorter lead times to receive product. This was partially offset by growth in our SuperSuite supply chain business.

總收入為 1,680 萬美元，去年同期為 1,930 萬美元。下降的主要原因是與去年相比，促銷活動減少（考慮到我們目前的庫存水準已正常化），以及我們最大的通路合作夥伴的訂單量減少，由於供應鏈環境的改善和更短的時間，此合作夥伴更嚴格地管理庫存水準。這被我們 SuperSuite 供應鏈業務的成長部分所抵銷。

Gross profit in the fiscal quarter of 2024 was $7.3 million compared to $8 million in the same quarter of fiscal 2023. As a percentage of revenue, gross margin increased 220 basis points to 43.6% compared to 41.4% in the year-ago period. The increase in gross margin was primarily driven by favorable product mix as we have worked through the bulk of our higher-priced inventory.

2024 財季的毛利為 730 萬美元，而 2023 財年同一季度的毛利為 800 萬美元。毛利率佔營收的百分比成長了 220 個基點，達到 43.6%，而去年同期為 41.4%。毛利率的成長主要是由有利的產品組合推動的，因為我們已經處理了大部分高價庫存。

Total operating expenses for fiscal Q2 improved 18% to $9.9 million compared to $12.1 million for the same period in fiscal 2023. The decrease was primarily driven by lower selling fulfillment and marketing expenses. As Lawrence mentioned earlier, we've reduced our warehousing space now that we can keep lower levels of inventory on hand given the improved supply chain environment.

與 2023 財年同期的 1,210 萬美元相比，第二財季的總營運支出下降了 18%，達到 990 萬美元。下降的主要原因是銷售履行和行銷費用減少。正如勞倫斯之前提到的，我們已經減少了倉儲空間，因為供應鏈環境得到改善，我們可以保持較低的庫存。

Net loss attributable to iPower in the fiscal second quarter improved 42% to $1.9 million or $0.06 per share loss compared to a net loss of $3.3 million or $0.11 per share loss for the same period in fiscal 2023. The improvement in net loss was driven primarily by the higher gross margin and lower operating expenses.

第二財季 iPower 的淨虧損改善了 42%，至 190 萬美元，即每股虧損 0.06 美元，而 2023 財年同期的淨虧損為 330 萬美元，即每股虧損 0.11 美元。淨虧損的改善主要是由於毛利率的提高和營運費用的降低。

Moving to the balance sheet. Cash and cash equivalents were $1.5 million as of December 31, 2023, compared to $3.7 million in June of 2023. Total debt stood at $5 million compared to $11.8 million as of June 30, 2023. The decrease was driven by our continued efforts to pay down debt, resulting in a 56% reduction in net debt to $3.6 million compared to $8.1 million as of June 30, 2023. And for both fiscal Q2 and year to date, we continue to generate positive cash flow from operations.

轉向資產負債表。截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日，現金及現金等價物為 150 萬美元，而 2023 年 6 月為 370 萬美元。截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日，債務總額為 500 萬美元，而截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日，債務總額為 1,180 萬美元。這一下降是由於我們持續努力償還債務，導致淨債務減少 56%，從截至 2023 年 6 月 30 日的 810 萬美元減少至 360 萬美元。在第二財季和今年迄今為止，我們繼續從營運中產生正現金流。

As Lawrence mentioned above, the work we put in place to reduce our supply of high-cost inventory and optimize our cost structures to -- sorry, continues to bear fruit, as we have achieved another period of 40% plus gross margins and some meaningful OpEx savings. In addition, we reduced total debt by approximately $2 million compared to the last quarter, demonstrating our commitment to strengthening the balance sheet where we can. Between these efforts, we've built a foundation to continue to deliver on our growth objectives and profitability objectives in 2024.

正如勞倫斯上面提到的，我們為減少高成本庫存供應和優化成本結構而開展的工作——抱歉，繼續取得成果，因為我們又實現了40% 以上的毛利率，並取得了一些有意義的成果。此外，與上一季相比，我們的總債務減少了約 200 萬美元，這表明我們致力於盡可能加強資產負債表。透過這些努力，我們為繼續實現 2024 年的成長目標和獲利目標奠定了基礎。

This concludes our prepared remarks, and we'll now open it up for questions. Operator?

我們準備好的演講到此結束，現在我們將開始提問。操作員？

Thank you. At this time, we'll conduct a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions) Scott Fortune, ROTH.

謝謝。這個時候，我們將進行問答環節。（操作員說明）Scott Fortune，ROTH。

Yeah, good afternoon and thanks for the questions. You mentioned lower promotional activity and tightened inventory by your largest channel partner, leading to the lower order volumes here. Did seasonality play into this? And where are we in the progression of reaching normalized levels? We just want to get a sense of how you're viewing the overall health of the consumer and the sustainable trends in your non-hydroponic category.

是的，下午好，謝謝你的提問。您提到您最大的通路合作夥伴的促銷活動減少和庫存收緊，導致訂單量減少。季節性因素對此有影響嗎？我們在達到正常水平方面處於什麼階段？我們只是想了解您如何看待消費者的整體健康狀況以及非水耕類別的可持續趨勢。

And a follow-up on that and looking at the do-it-yourself hydroponics side of the business. Has that stabilized? Or is sales still decreasing in that segment with the non-hydroponic sales as a percentage increasing the overall mix?

對此進行了後續研究，並研究了業務的自助水耕方面。已經穩定下來了嗎？或者該細分市場的銷售額仍在下降，而非水耕銷售額所佔的百分比卻在增加整體組合？

And just follow up on -- are you investing in the hydroponic space still? And then further updates on the big partnership -- big box partnerships, you mentioned Lowe's and Home Depot, and meaningfully moving that forward? Sorry, a lot there, but just get a sense for this quarter's revenue and normalization and where we can expect that moving forward here?

繼續跟進－您還在投資水耕空間嗎？然後進一步更新大型合作關係—大型合作關係，您提到勞氏和家得寶，並有意義地推動這一進程？抱歉，有很多，但只是了解本季的收入和正常化情況，以及我們可以期待什麼進展？

Sure. Right. Yeah, go ahead, Lawrence. Take the first, and then I'd like to add in after.

當然。正確的。是的，繼續吧，勞倫斯。拿第一個，然後我想加在後面。

Okay. So we start -- the first -- to answer your question, I think the inventory level from our channel partner now normalized or I think in the level where they will start to ordering on a pre-pandemic paces. So we have seen inventories being piled up. We have seen the reduction inventory efforts. And now I believe the sample quarter finally to reduce the level to a pretty normalized level that we prefer to see. So that's pretty healthy.

好的。因此，我們首先——回答你的問題，我認為我們的通路合作夥伴的庫存水準現在已經正常化，或者我認為他們將開始按照大流行前的步伐進行訂購。所以我們看到庫存不斷堆積。我們已經看到了減少庫存的努力。現在我相信樣本季度最終將水平降低到我們希望看到的相當正常化的水平。所以這非常健康。

The second question for hydroponics. The hydroponics overall market has been pretty stable for us over the past couple of years. I don't see the sales drop, but I don't think it will substantially expand in the near future. It will more go with the overall bigger market segment.

第二個問題是水耕。在過去的幾年裡，水耕的整體市場對我們來說相當穩定。我沒有看到銷售額下降，但我認為在不久的將來它不會大幅擴張。它將更符合整體更大的細分市場。

By saying that, during the pandemic, we have captured some of the market share even though the whole market segment has gone down. And we have been able to keep the sales in dollar amount. But as the organization grow, the percentage of hydroponics will keep decreasing as it does not grow as fast as other parts of the organization. Is that -- does that answer your question?

可以說，疫情期間，雖然整個細分市場都下降了，但我們還是搶佔了部分市佔率。我們已經能夠維持美元銷售額。但隨著組織的發展，水耕的比例將不斷下降，因為它的成長速度不如組織的其他部分。這能回答你的問題嗎？

Yeah. And just a follow-up on the big box partnerships you mentioned. Is that going to become more meaningful here in 2024? How do you view that?

是的。這只是您提到的大型合作關係的後續行動。2024 年這會變得更有意義嗎？您對此有何看法？

It's still in the early days. We're making slow progress, but steady towards the right direction. We have built relationships, and we have got vendor IDs, and we've been working with multiple vendors through the online platform first. Should the online sales take off, it will naturally introduce our product into their preferred buying for their offline sales channel, meaning going to the store.

現在還處於早期階段。我們進展緩慢，但正在朝著正確的方向穩步前進。我們已經建立了關係，並且獲得了供應商 ID，並且我們首先透過線上平台與多個供應商合作。如果在線上銷售起飛，它自然會將我們的產品引入他們的線下銷售管道的首選購買，即去商店。

So it's work in progress compared to 12 months ago where we had nothing. Now, we have sales, we have channels. It's just -- I think it's making good progress.

因此，與 12 個月前我們什麼都沒有相比，這項工作正在進行中。現在，我們有銷售，我們有通路。只是——我認為它正在取得良好進展。

Hey, Scott. It's Kevin. Just real quickly on your first question as it pertains to seasonality, too. So I think we've talked about this before and with you. The December quarter has historically been our weakest quarter seasonally. The reference to promotional activity was with reference to last year's December quarter.

嘿，斯科特。是凱文。請快速回答您的第一個問題，因為它也與季節性有關。所以我想我們之前已經和你討論過這個問題。從歷史上看，12 月季度是我們季節性最弱的季度。促銷活動是指去年 12 月季度。

If you recall, we entered that December quarter pretty close to our peak in inventory levels. And we were pretty aggressive at promoting portions of that product catalog in an effort to bring that inventory level down. So the December quarter last year probably was a little stronger than it would have otherwise been had we not been so promotional.

如果你還記得的話，我們進入 12 月季度時已經非常接近庫存水準的峰值。我們非常積極地推廣該產品目錄的部分內容，以努力降低庫存水準。因此，如果我們沒有如此促銷的話，去年 12 月的季度可能會比原本的情況要強一些。

Now that our inventory levels are back to what we think is a healthy level, we made the decision in this quarter not to promote because we are trying to make progress getting back to that breakeven and then to the profitability threshold. And so I think that those were the two drivers as it pertains to what happened last year and the seasonality of the business.

現在我們的庫存水平回到了我們認為的健康水平，我們在本季度決定不促銷，因為我們正在努力恢復盈虧平衡，然後達到盈利閾值。因此，我認為這是兩個驅動因素，因為它與去年發生的情況和業務的季節性有關。

I appreciate that color. That's helpful. And then shifting gears, obviously, last year, you rolled out the business services offering and you brought on two partners. But can you provide more of an update on the SuperSuite supply chain growth and the partnerships moving forward here?

我很欣賞那種顏色。這很有幫助。然後，顯然，去年你推出了商業服務產品，並引進了兩個合作夥伴。但您能否提供有關 SuperSuite 供應鏈成長和合作夥伴關係進展的更多最新資訊？

I believe last quarter, you were generating about $600,000 a month or about $7 million annualized in revenue run rate. Just a little additional color on the next steps or the traction of offering by adding new partnerships and what categories are really taking more interest from that side of the business here.

我相信上個季度，您每月的收入約為 60 萬美元，年化收入運行率約為 700 萬美元。只需對後續步驟或透過添加新合作夥伴關係提供的吸引力以及哪些類別真正引起業務方面的更多興趣進行一些額外的說明。

Yeah. Lawrence, why don't you take that as it pertains to who we're looking at and what we think could happen over the next couple of quarters.

是的。勞倫斯，你為什麼不接受這一點，因為這與我們正在關注的人以及我們認為未來幾季可能發生的事情有關。

Yes. That part of the business has been growing. It's been growing substantially quarter over quarter. And for the existing partners, we've been working well -- particularly well with a lot of them. And I believe we'll expand our portfolio with more consumer electronics as well as some other consumer goods, including food and beverage. We have signed more supply chain in the food and beverage part. That part -- I think SuperSuite is working well to -- as planned.

是的。這部分業務一直在成長。它逐季大幅成長。對於現有的合作夥伴，我們一直合作得很好——尤其是與其中的許多合作夥伴合作得很好。我相信我們將透過更多消費電子產品以及包括食品和飲料在內的一些其他消費品來擴大我們的產品組合。我們在食品和飲料部分簽署了更多的供應鏈。這部分——我認為 SuperSuite 運行良好——按計劃進行。

Got it. Okay. And last one for me, just on the operational side. Obviously, you're up against higher cost inventory; higher inflation costs; freight, as you mentioned; warehousing. But that seems to all be cleared now. Are we going to see steady improvement in margins? Just provide an update on the gross margin drivers here and then the cadence throughout '24. But more importantly, as you bring on higher service margins there, the improvement towards returning to profitability and any color or view on the timing of profitability throughout '24 here.

知道了。好的。對我來說最後一個是在操作方面。顯然，您面臨著更高成本的庫存；更高的通膨成本；正如您所提到的，運費；倉儲。但現在這一切似乎都已經澄清了。我們會看到利潤率穩定提高嗎？只需提供有關毛利率驅動因素的最新信息，然後提供整個 24 年的節奏。但更重要的是，隨著您在那裡帶來更高的服務利潤，恢復盈利能力的改善以及對整個 24 年盈利時間的任何色彩或看法。

Sure. Let me take that. So we don't give specific guidance. I think we're still committed to the goal of getting to profitability in 2024. I think the things that we've put in place to help take expense out where we can aren't short-term fixes, but we're making progress.

當然。讓我來吧。所以我們不給具體的指導。我認為我們仍然致力於在 2024 年實現盈利的目標。我認為我們為盡可能減少開支而採取的措施並不是短期解決辦法，但我們正在取得進展。

On one front, I'll talk about the cost of product. We've put in place a number of initiatives with some of our key contract manufacturing partners to help lower the cost of goods sold for us, which will, over time, provide us with even healthier gross margins. I think that's one of the areas where, given our experience with the supply chain and our long relationships there, our ability to improve on that front is a real one.

一方面，我將討論產品成本。我們已經與一些主要合約製造合作夥伴採取了一系列舉措，以幫助降低為我們銷售的商品的成本，隨著時間的推移，這將為我們提供更健康的毛利率。我認為，鑑於我們在供應鏈方面的經驗以及我們在那裡的長期關係，我們在這方面的改進能力是真正的領域之一。

And secondly, we've never been either the lowest cost provider or the highest premium provider. We've been what we like to call the sweet spot of value for customers, which means our prices do have some room to go up if we choose to selectively do that.

其次，我們從來都不是成本最低的提供者或溢價最高的提供者。我們一直是所謂的客戶價值最佳點，這意味著如果我們選擇有選擇地這樣做，我們的價格確實有一定的上漲空間。

So there are some areas where we could pursue and will pursue very small price increases that will help also boost that gross margin line. So while there's going to be variability from quarter to quarter, we still feel good about the idea that we can get -- continue to push gross margins upward from here. So that's one area.

因此，在某些領域我們可以並且將會追求非常小的價格上漲，這也將有助於提高毛利率線。因此，儘管每個季度都會出現變化，但我們仍然對我們可以獲得的想法感到滿意——繼續從現在開始推高毛利率。這就是一個領域。

Secondly, we are working on a number of other initiatives on the OpEx side that we think can help bring costs down as well. One that I think we can talk about is we've engaged with another kind of logistics/shipping partner, where we feel like we can take meaningful cost out of the cost of shipping product out to customers that we just inked a contract over the last -- probably in the last two months.

其次，我們正在營運支出方面開展許多其他舉措，我們認為這些舉措也有助於降低成本。我認為我們可以談論的一個是我們已經與另一種物流/運輸合作夥伴合作，我們覺得我們可以從將產品運送給我們剛剛簽署合約的客戶的成本中扣除有意義的成本——可能是最近兩個月。

And so as the balance of this calendar year rolls out, some of that cost savings will roll through as well. So I think the foundation has been laid and -- to continue to improve. But I mean, you hit on a pretty important point. Some of the hard work is in the rear-view mirror for us now.

因此，隨著本日曆年的剩餘時間的推移，部分成本節約也將隨之實現。所以我認為基礎已經奠定，可以繼續改進。但我的意思是，你說到了一個非常重要的點。現在，一些艱苦的工作已經在我們的後視鏡中了。

We have reduced that inventory. Our inventory now sits at a more normalized level aside from some pockets. We haven't completely cleared all of it out, but we can believe some of the rest of that out in a way that won't be hugely detrimental.

我們已經減少了庫存。除了一些口袋之外，我們的庫存現在處於更正常的水平。我們還沒有完全清除所有這些，但我們可以相信其餘的部分不會以不會造成太大損害的方式清除。

And then just the cost of operating with that lower inventory accrues benefits to us as well. So I still think that we see profitability on the horizon. The question will be how quickly we get to that horizon, but it's there. So we're optimistic.

然後，較低庫存的營運成本也能為我們帶來好處。所以我仍然認為我們即將實現盈利。問題是我們要多快才能到達那個地平線，但它就在那裡。所以我們很樂觀。

Thank you. I appreciate the update.

謝謝。我很欣賞這個更新。

Thank you. Thierry Wuilloud, Water Tower Research.

謝謝。Thierry Wuilloud，水塔研究。

Hi. Good afternoon, gentlemen. This is Shawn Severson in for Thierry. Just had a question about the move into the bricks-and-mortar side and when you're talking about going from online to in retail. What are some of the criteria that you're looking at over the near term? I guess, how would that rollout look? And are there certain metrics or decisions that need to be made by the retailers? Or what's the framework for a rollout there?

你好。下午好，先生們。這是肖恩·塞弗森（Shawn Severson）替補蒂埃里（Thierry）。剛剛有一個關於進入實體店以及何時談論從線上轉向零售的問題。您近期考慮的一些標準是什麼？我想，這次推出會是什麼樣子呢？零售商是否需要製定某些指標或決策？或是在那裡推出的框架是什麼？

Once the -- it's pretty much based on two things. One is the sales on particular SKUs. Now once the sales become a certain volume, the retailer will have the data to support their decision-making. Now secondly is the product road map, how well the lines of products that we can bring in in the future as well, not just the ones that lead our way into the store. So the first -- we are working on the first step and the second step at the same time, where once the sales volume has achieved a certain level, we will get more attention than potentially some SKUs get opportunities into the store.

一旦——它幾乎基於兩件事。一是特定 SKU 的銷售額。現在，一旦銷售量達到一定數量，零售商就有數據來支持他們的決策。其次是產品路線圖，我們未來可以引進的產品線有多好，而不僅僅是那些引導我們進入商店的產品線。所以第一——我們正在同時進行第一步和第二步，一旦銷量達到一定水平，我們將獲得比某些SKU入店機會更多的關注。

That would this be just for a limited number of stores initially? Or is this kind of going to be looking across a region or a small region or large region? How would they address the size of rollout?

最初這只是針對有限數量的商店嗎？還是這種要跨區域、小區域、大區域進行考察？他們將如何解決推出的規模問題？

It depends on specific retailers and the category manager. Usually, I think it will be a trial [peel] to a certain number of stores. And then depends on whether the product is a national product, it will go to all the stores.

這取決於特定的零售商和品類經理。通常，我認為會是對一定數量的商店進行嘗試[剝離]。然後就看這個產品是不是國貨，它就會去所有的商店。

Great. Thanks. And my last question is, any update on international in the quarter?

偉大的。謝謝。我的最後一個問題是，本季國際業務有什麼更新嗎？

There's nothing particular. I think it's similar to what -- before. There's not much that I can mention here.

沒有什麼特別的。我認為這與之前的情況類似。我在這裡沒有什麼可以提及的。

Okay. Great. Thank you, gentlemen.

好的。偉大的。謝謝你們，先生們。

Thank you, Shawn.

謝謝你，肖恩。

Thank you. Scott Fortune, ROTH. Okay. And there are no further questions in the queue. I'll turn it back to Kevin for any closing remarks.

謝謝。史考特·福瓊，羅斯。好的。並且隊列中沒有其他問題。我會將其轉回凱文以供結束語。

Okay. I just want to say thank you again to everyone for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you again next quarter or at an upcoming conference. Thanks again. Bye.

好的。我只想再次感謝大家今天加入我們。我們期待在下個季度或即將召開的會議上再次與您交談。再次感謝。再見。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.

感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了該程式。您現在可以斷開連線。大家，祝你有美好的一天。