JJill Inc (JILL) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to the J.Jill, Inc., Q4 2023 earnings call. (Operator Instructions) I will now turn the conference over to Claire Spofford, Chief Executive Officer and President. Please go ahead.

您好，歡迎參加 J.Jill, Inc. 2023 年第四季財報電話會議。（操作員指示）我現在將會議交給執行長兼總裁克萊爾·斯波福德 (Claire Spofford)。請繼續。

Thank you, operator, and hello, everyone. Thank you for joining us this morning. We are pleased with our strong end to 2023, capping off another year of great progress for J.Jill as a result of disciplined execution of our operating model.

謝謝接線員，大家好。感謝您今天早上加入我們。我們對 2023 年的強勁表現感到高興，由於嚴格執行我們的營運模式，J.Jill 又取得了巨大進步。

For the fourth quarter, we delivered adjusted EBITDA above the prior year, supported by strong gross margin performance. As we discussed on our third-quarter call, we started to see our customer become somewhat more discerning with their spend, and we have prepared for a slightly higher promotional holiday period, which did play out.

在強勁的毛利率表現的支持下，第四季度我們的調整後 EBITDA 高於去年同期。正如我們在第三季電話會議上討論的那樣，我們開始看到客戶對他們的支出變得更加挑剔，我們已經為稍高的促銷假期做好了準備，這確實發揮了作用。

However, through strong execution, solid customer reception for our winter assortment and spring preview in the latter half of the quarter, as well as tightly managed expenses, we delivered Q4 results above our expectations.

然而，透過強有力的執行、冬季產品系列的良好客戶接待和季度後半段的春季預覽，以及嚴格管理的費用，我們第四季度的業績超出了我們的預期。

Our performance throughout the year, including during the fourth quarter, is a testament to our team effectively leveraging our loyal customer base and to their ongoing focus on consistently delivering against our objectives amidst a volatile consumer environment.

我們全年（包括第四季度）的業績證明了我們的團隊有效利用了我們忠實的客戶群，並證明了他們在動盪的消費者環境中持續致力於實現我們的目標。

For the year, we delivered sales of $605 million and an adjusted EBITDA margin of 18.6% while generating $46 million in free cash flow, in line with our recent annual trends. During the year, we made great progress on strengthening our financial and operational foundation while planting the seeds for future growth.

今年，我們實現了 6.05 億美元的銷售額，調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率為 18.6%，同時產生了 4,600 萬美元的自由現金流，這與我們最近的年度趨勢一致。這一年，我們在強化財務和營運基礎方面取得了巨大進展，同時為未來的成長埋下了種子。

We successfully refinanced our debt, enhanced our omnichannel capabilities with the rollout of our POS system and refinements to our website, delivered our first net new store opening year in over three years and continue to identify and test new concepts within our assortment with capsules, including Pure Jill Elements and Wearever Works.

我們成功地為債務進行了再融資，透過推出POS 系統和改進我們的網站增強了我們的全通路能力，實現了三年多來的第一個淨新店開業，並繼續在我們的膠囊系列中識別和測試新概念，包括Pure Jill Elements 和 Wearever 作品。

We also effectively managed our customer acquisition strategies and costs to support our customer file. Our customer file remained healthy, and we saw nice growth from our best customer segment for the year, which partially offset the impact we had from our more cost-conscious cohort given the dynamic macro environment she was navigating.

我們也有效地管理了客戶獲取策略和成本，以支援我們的客戶檔案。我們的客戶檔案保持健康，我們看到了今年最佳客戶群的良好成長，這部分抵消了考慮到她所處的動態宏觀環境，我們更具成本意識的群體所產生的影響。

Average customer spend increased versus the prior year, supported by growth in frequency and full price penetration, and we continue to benefit from our ongoing customer insight work. As a result, we've been able to not only strengthen our relationships with new and existing customers but also identify areas of opportunities for enhanced focus and growth as seen with our inclusive sizing offering and capsule launches, including the Wearever Works collection.

在頻率和全價滲透率成長的支持下，平均客戶支出與前一年相比有所增加，我們繼續受益於我們正在進行的客戶洞察工作。因此，我們不僅能夠加強與新客戶和現有客戶的關係，而且還能夠確定加強重點和成長的機會領域，正如我們的包容性尺寸產品和膠囊發布（包括 Wearever Works 系列）所體現的那樣。

Through offering quality fabrications and an assortment that celebrates the totality of who she is, we are able to deliver the experience our customers expect from J.Jill. With this stronger foundation in place, we believe we are well positioned to continue to deliver on our financial objectives while supporting our growth initiatives.

透過提供優質的布料和彰顯她完整個性的產品系列，我們能夠為客戶提供 J.Jill 所期望的體驗。有了這個更堅實的基礎，我們相信我們有能力繼續實現我們的財務目標，同時支持我們的成長計畫。

While we are maintaining a cautious view on the macro backdrop as we move into 2024, we plan to continue to execute and leverage our proven disciplined operating model while further supporting our plans to drive mid and long-term profitable growth.

進入 2024 年，雖然我們對宏觀背景保持謹慎態度，但我們計劃繼續執行和利用我們經過驗證的嚴格營運模式，同時進一步支持我們推動中長期利潤成長的計劃。

In 2024, we plan to continue to invest in our omnichannel foundation. Building off of the completion of the POS rollout in 2023, we have launched our OMS project. Through the new POS and OMS systems, we will have greater omni capabilities ramping in 2025, which we believe will further enhance our customer shopping experience and enable us to benefit even further from our balanced operating model.

2024 年，我們計劃繼續投資於我們的全通路基礎。在 2023 年完成 POS 部署的基礎上，我們啟動了 OMS 專案。透過新的 POS 和 OMS 系統，我們將在 2025 年擁有更強大的全方位能力，我們相信這將進一步增強我們的客戶購物體驗，並使我們能夠從平衡的營運模式中進一步受益。

In addition, we expect to open up to five net new stores in 2024. As we've discussed previously, with only 244 stores, we have significant opportunity for further store growth but plan to take a very measured and fiscally responsible approach to our openings in the near and medium term.

此外，我們預計 2024 年將淨開設 5 家新店。正如我們之前所討論的，我們只有 244 家商店，因此有很大的機會進一步發展商店，但計劃在中短期內對新開店採取非常審慎且對財務負責的方法。

Finally, we plan to continue to strengthen our customer file through new marketing strategies, including an upcoming summer campaign that we believe will help to increase brand awareness and drive new customer acquisitions. As I have said before, we have a great loyal customer with tremendous opportunity to increase our brand awareness and to welcome new customers to J.Jill through the strength of our brand equity, our assortment, and overall customer experience.

最後，我們計劃透過新的行銷策略繼續加強我們的客戶檔案，包括即將到來的夏季活動，我們相信這將有助於提高品牌知名度並推動新客戶的獲取。正如我之前所說，我們擁有非常忠誠的客戶，他們有巨大的機會來提高我們的品牌知名度，並透過我們的品牌資產、產品種類和整體客戶體驗來歡迎新客戶來到 J.Jill。

Before I close, I also wanted to highlight our upcoming impact report that we will be publishing later this spring. We continue to build upon our history of empowering women, prioritizing responsible environmental stewardship and contributing to the communities in which we operate, and we look forward to sharing this progress in our report.

在結束之前，我還想強調我們即將在今年春天晚些時候發布的影響報告。我們繼續發揚我們賦予婦女權力、優先考慮負責任的環境管理以及為我們經營所在社區做出貢獻的歷史，我們期待在我們的報告中分享這一進展。

We are very proud of the work we have done to date with the Compassion Fund, which has donated over $24 million in grants and in-kind donations over the last 20 years and continues to focus on empowering and supporting underserved women and helping them establish a better life for themselves, their children and their families.

我們對迄今為止與同情基金所做的工作感到非常自豪，該基金在過去20 年中捐贈了超過2,400 萬美元的贈款和實物捐贈，並繼續致力於為服務不足的婦女賦權和支持，幫助她們建立一個為自己、孩子和家人提供更好的生活。

In summary, fiscal 2023 marked another year of great progress for J.Jill as we continue to strengthen our foundation and position the brand for long-term profitable growth. As we enter 2024, we plan to build on this progress by executing and leveraging our model while investing in enhanced omni capabilities, store growth, and marketing to drive further brand awareness and customer acquisition.

總而言之，2023 財年標誌著 J.Jill 又取得巨大進步的一年，我們將繼續鞏固基礎，為品牌的長期獲利成長做好定位。進入 2024 年，我們計劃透過執行和利用我們的模型來鞏固這一進展，同時投資於增強的全方位能力、商店成長和行銷，以進一步提高品牌知名度和客戶獲取。

I want to thank our teams and stakeholders for their support and dedication to J.Jill. We believe we are just scratching the surface of the tremendous opportunity that lies ahead for our brand, and we look forward to driving even more value and delivering on our objectives in both the near and long term.

我要感謝我們的團隊和利害關係人對 J.Jill 的支持和奉獻。我們相信，我們的品牌所面臨的巨大機會才剛剛觸及表面，我們期待著推動更多價值並實現我們的近期和長期目標。

With that, I will now turn the call over to Mark to discuss our results and outlook in more detail.

現在，我將把電話轉給馬克，更詳細地討論我們的結果和前景。

Thank you, Claire, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝克萊爾，大家早安。

As Claire discussed, we were pleased to have delivered a strong end of the year, resulting in Q4 and full-year adjusted EBITDA ahead of our expectations. Our disciplined approach to operating the business highlighted by tight inventory management supporting a strong gross margin profile and healthy free cash flow generation continued to deliver solid results.

正如克萊爾所討論的，我們很高興在今年年底取得了強勁的業績，第四季度和全年調整後的 EBITDA 超出了我們的預期。我們嚴格的庫存管理強調了嚴格的業務經營方法，支持強勁的毛利率狀況和健康的自由現金流生成，並繼續帶來穩健的業績。

Before I review our results in detail, as a reminder, fourth quarter and full year 2023 included a 14th and 53rd week, respectively, which represented approximately $8 million in sales and $2 million in adjusted EBITDA. All results reported today are inclusive of this 53rd-week impact with the exception of our comp sales metric, which is reported on a like-for-like 13 and 52-week calendar.

在我詳細回顧我們的業績之前，提醒一下，2023 年第四季和全年分別包括第 14 週和第 53 週，其銷售額約為 800 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 約為 200 萬美元。今天報告的所有結果都包含第 53 週的影響，但我們的比較銷售指標除外，該指標是按 13 週和 52 週日曆報告的。

Now more detail on results for the quarter. Total company comparable sales for the fourth quarter decreased 3.6%, driven by the retail channel. While we saw a positive reception to our holiday promotions, the slow start to the quarter impacted both channels, and adverse weather in January disproportionately impacted traffic in stores at the end of the quarter, contributing to the negative comp.

現在詳細介紹本季的業績。在零售通路的推動下，第四季公司可比銷售額下降 3.6%。雖然我們看到節日促銷活動受到了積極的歡迎，但本季的緩慢開局影響了兩個管道，而且1 月份的惡劣天氣對季度末的商店客流量造成了不成比例的影響，從而導致了負面影響。

Total company sales for the quarter were $149 million, up 1% compared to Q4 2022. This performance was driven by full price mix, improved markdown AUR in January, and the 53rd week actualizing as expected. Store sales for Q4 were down 1.5% versus Q4 2022 as traffic was challenging, especially in January.

該季度公司總銷售額為 1.49 億美元，比 2022 年第四季成長 1%。這一業績是由完整的價格組合、1 月份降價 AUR 的改善以及第 53 週如期實現所推動的。由於客流量面臨挑戰，尤其是 1 月份，第四季的商店銷售額比 2022 年第四季下降了 1.5%。

Direct sales as a percentage of total sales were 51% in the quarter. Compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2022, direct sales were up 4%, driven by the 53rd week. Return levels improved in the fourth quarter, returning to more normalized levels on a year-over-year basis.

本季直接銷售佔總銷售額的比例為 51%。與 2022 財年第四季相比，在第 53 週的推動下，直接銷售額成長了 4%。第四季的回報水準有所改善，年比恢復到更正常的水準。

Q4 total company gross profit was $101 million, up $6 million compared to Q4 2022. Q4 gross margin was 67.3%, up 290 basis points over Q4 2022, driven by a stronger mix of full price sales, benefit from freight, a better markdown gross margin, and first cost AUC benefit, partially offset by a higher promotional environment in the quarter.

第四季公司總毛利為 1.01 億美元，比 2022 年第四季增加 600 萬美元。Q4 gross margin was 67.3%, up 290 basis points over Q4 2022, driven by a stronger mix of full price sales, benefit from freight, a better markdown gross margin, and first cost AUC benefit, partially offset by a higher promotional environment in the四分之一.

SG&A expenses for the quarter were $90 million compared to $87 million last year. The increase was driven primarily by variable expenses on sales in the 53rd week as well as incremental expense associated with the OMS project. Adjusted EBITDA was $18 million in the quarter compared to $15 million in Q4 2022. For the full year, we delivered total net sales of $605 million, down 1.7% versus fiscal 2022. Adjusted EBITDA was $112.2 million compared to $109.4 million in fiscal full year 2022.

本季的 SG&A 支出為 9,000 萬美元，而去年為 8,700 萬美元。這一增長主要是由第 53 週銷售的可變費用以及與 OMS 項目相關的增量費用所推動的。本季調整後 EBITDA 為 1,800 萬美元，而 2022 年第四季為 1,500 萬美元。全年我們的淨銷售額總額為 6.05 億美元，比 2022 財年下降 1.7%。調整後 EBITDA 為 1.122 億美元，而 2022 財年全年為 1.094 億美元。

Excluding the impact of the 53rd week, we were pleased to have delivered adjusted EBITDA above prior year for both Q4 and the full year despite the challenging consumer environment that persisted throughout the year. Please refer to today's press release for a reconciliation of adjusted EBITDA to net income, the most comparable GAAP financial measure.

排除第 53 週的影響，我們很高興第四季度和全年的調整後 EBITDA 均高於去年同期，儘管全年消費者環境仍然充滿挑戰。請參閱今天的新聞稿，以了解調整後 EBITDA 與淨利潤（最具可比性的 GAAP 財務指標）的調整表。

Turning to cash flow. For the quarter, we generated $7 million of cash from operations, resulting in ending cash of $62 million with zero borrowings against the ABL. For fiscal 2023, we generated approximately $63 million of cash from operations and $46 million of free cash flow, defined as cash from operations less capital expenditures.

轉向現金流。本季度，我們從營運中產生了 700 萬美元的現金，最終現金為 6,200 萬美元，ABL 借款為零。2023 財年，我們從營運中產生了約 6,300 萬美元的現金，以及 4,600 萬美元的自由現金流（定義為營運現金減去資本支出）。

As a reminder, we used cash on hand to reduce total outstanding debt by approximately $50 million in the first quarter of 2023. As required in the term loan agreement and based on our fiscal 2023 performance, we anticipate making a mandatory excess cash flow payment in the second quarter of 2024 of $26.6 million, which is now included in short-term debt on the year-end balance sheet.

提醒一下，我們使用手頭現金在 2023 年第一季將未償債務總額減少了約 5,000 萬美元。根據定期貸款協議的要求並根據我們 2023 財年的業績，我們預計在 2024 年第二季強制支付 2,660 萬美元的超額現金流，該款項現已包含在年末資產負債表上的短期債務中。

Looking at inventory. Total inventories were up 5% at the end of the fourth quarter compared to the end of fourth quarter last year. As messaged on our Q3 2023 earnings call, the 53rd week this year impacted reported inventory levels due to one additional week of goods shipping from vendors, which resulted in higher in-transit levels compared to prior year. Excluding this impact from the 53rd week, total inventories were about flat to last year.

看庫存。與去年第四季末相比，第四季末總庫存增加了 5%。正如我們在 2023 年第三季財報電話會議上所傳達的訊息，今年第 53 週影響了報告的庫存水平，因為供應商的貨物運輸時間增加了一周，導致在途水平高於去年。排除第 53 週的影響，總庫存與去年基本持平。

Capital expenditures for the quarter were about $6 million. Total capital expenditures for full year were about $17 million compared to about $15 million last year. Full year 2023 capital spend was below prior guidance, primarily due to the timing of smaller store refresh capital projects that moved into early 2024.

該季度的資本支出約為 600 萬美元。全年資本支出總額約為 1,700 萬美元，而去年約為 1,500 萬美元。2023 年全年資本支出低於先前指引，主要是由於小型商店更新資本項目的時間表已移至 2024 年初。

Throughout the year, we made significant progress on our strategic technology road map, completing the first step, which was upgrading to a new modern POS platform in the stores and kicking off the next step with the project to upgrade and replace our order management system.

全年，我們在戰略技術路線圖上取得了重大進展，完成了第一步，即在商店升級到新的現代化 POS 平台，並啟動了下一步的升級和更換訂單管理系統專案。

With respect to store count, we closed one store in the fourth quarter. For full year 2023, we opened two new stores and closed one, resulting in end-of-year store count of 244 stores.

從門市數量來看，我們在第四季度關閉了一家門市。2023 年全年，我們開設了 2 家新店並關閉了 1 家，年末門市數量達到 244 家。

Turning to our outlook for fiscal 2024. As we have demonstrated over the past two years, with our disciplined operating model, we are able to deliver a healthy margin profile and strong cash flow generation while navigating a dynamic macro environment. While there is some improvement in economic indicators, the macro outlook for 2024 remains somewhat uncertain, and we are planning the business accordingly.

轉向我們對 2024 財年的展望。正如我們過去兩年所證明的那樣，憑藉嚴格的營運模式，我們能夠在動態的宏觀環境中提供健康的利潤狀況和強勁的現金流生成。雖然經濟指標有所改善，但2024年的宏觀前景仍存在一定的不確定性，我們正在對業務進行相應的規劃。

We expect to continue to build on the progress we made in 2023 and maintaining a disciplined approach to inventory management while navigating ongoing inflationary pressures and beginning to invest both capital and SG&A to support profitable sales growth including approximately $3 million in expenses related to our OMS project.

我們預計將繼續在2023 年取得的進展的基礎上繼續發展，保持嚴格的庫存管理方法，同時應對持續的通膨壓力，並開始投資資本和銷售管理費用以支持盈利性銷售增長，包括與我們的OMS項目相關的約300 萬美元費用。

For the 52-week fiscal 2024 year, we expect total revenue to be flat to up in the low single digits and adjusted EBITDA to be down in the mid-single digits compared to the 53-week fiscal 2023. This guidance reflects the negative impact from the loss of the 53rd week of about $8 million in sales and $2 million in adjusted EBITDA.

對於為期 52 週的 2024 財年，我們預計與為期 53 週的 2023 財年相比，總收入將持平或上升至低個位數，調整後 EBITDA 將下降至中個位數。該指引反映了第 53 週銷售額損失約 800 萬美元和調整後 EBITDA 損失 200 萬美元的負面影響。

With respect to gross margin, we are currently experiencing some impact from the disruption in the Red Sea in the form of delayed deliveries, higher ocean container costs, and select use of air freight. We expect this impact to be concentrated in the second quarter but expect lower cotton prices to help minimize any impact to gross margin on a full-year basis. For full year 2024, we expect gross margin to be relatively flat to fiscal full year 2023.

就毛利率而言，我們目前正受到紅海中斷的一些影響，包括延遲交貨、更高的海運貨櫃成本以及選擇使用空運。我們預計這種影響將集中在第二季度，但預計棉花價格下降將有助於最大限度地減少對全年毛利率的影響。對於 2024 年全年，我們預計毛利率將與 2023 年全年相對持平。

Finally, we anticipate timing shifts associated with the 53rd week to impact reported quarterly results. Specifically, we expect the calendar shift to benefit results in Q1 and Q3 and negatively impact results in Q2 and Q4 when compared to reported 2023 actuals. The first and third quarters are expected to benefit as smaller weeks at the beginning of each quarter are replaced by relatively larger weeks pulled into the end of the quarter. This impact will be largest in Q1.

最後，我們預計第 53 週相關的時間變化將影響報告的季度業績。具體而言，與報告的 2023 年實際情況相比，我們預計日曆變化將有利於第一季和第三季的業績，並對第二季和第四季的業績產生負面影響。預計第一季和第三季將受益，因為每季初較小的幾週將被季度末相對較長的幾週所取代。這種影響將在第一季最大。

Conversely, Q2 and Q4 are expected to be negatively impacted as larger weeks at beginning of quarter are replaced with relatively smaller weeks at quarter end. In addition to this impact, the fourth quarter comparisons to prior year will also be negatively impacted by the loss of the 53rd week.

相反，預計第二季和第四季將受到負面影響，因為季度初較大的幾週將被季度末相對較小的幾週所取代。除了這一影響之外，第 53 週的損失也將對第四季度與去年同期的比較產生負面影響。

For the first quarter of fiscal 2024, we expect sales to be up in the low to mid-single digits and adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $29 million to $33 million.

對於 2024 財年第一季度，我們預計銷售額將成長至中低個位數，調整後 EBITDA 將在 2,900 萬美元至 3,300 萬美元之間。

Regarding store count, we expect to grow net store count by up to five stores by the end of fiscal 2024. We expect openings will be weighted to the back half of the year, and we believe it is likely that we will close up to five stores in the first half of the year, leading to a decline in mid-year store count. We continue to believe in the opportunity to grow our retail channel by about 20 to 25 net new stores over the near to medium term.

關於商店數量，我們預計到 2024 財年底，淨商店數量將增加最多 5 家。我們預計新店開幕將集中到下半年，我們認為上半年我們可能會關閉多達 5 家門市，導致年中門市數量下降。我們仍然相信，我們的零售通路有機會在中短期內淨增加約 20 至 25 家新店。

With respect to total capital expenditures, we expect to spend about $26 million in fiscal 2024, with investments focused on new stores and the OMS project plus the projects that carried over from the end of fiscal year 2023.

就總資本支出而言，我們預計 2024 財年將支出約 2,600 萬美元，投資重點是新店和 OMS 項目以及從 2023 財年末結轉的項目。

Our expectations for fiscal 2024 are in line with the financial model that we've delivered the past two years, and we believe will enable another year of strong free cash flow generation, which continues to create optionality as we aim to drive further shareholder value.

我們對2024 財年的預期與我們過去兩年實現的財務模型一致，我們相信這將在新的一年實現強勁的自由現金流生成，這將繼續創造選擇性，因為我們的目標是進一步推動股東價值。

Thank you. I will now hand it back to the operator for questions.

謝謝。我現在將其交還給接線員以供提問。

(Operator Instructions) Ryan Meyers, Lake Street Capital Markets.

（操作員說明）Ryan Meyers，湖街資本市場。

Hey. Good morning, guys. Thank you for taking my questions. First one for me. So obviously, you've guided sales of flat to up low single digits but EBITDA down mid-single digits. Just wondering if you can walk us through where that difference is there. It sounds like you're going to be investing a little bit more in SG&A. So I think that makes sense. But is there anything else to call out where there's that kind of delta between the revenue and EBITDA guide?

嘿。早上好傢伙。感謝您回答我的問題。對我來說第一個。顯然，您已將持平銷售額引導至低個位數，但 EBITDA 下降至中個位數。只是想知道您是否可以向我們介紹差異在哪裡。聽起來您將在 SG&A 上投入更多一點。所以我認為這是有道理的。但還有什麼可以指出收入和 EBITDA 指南之間存在這種差異嗎？

Ryan, I'll take that. Thanks for the question. Yeah, we've tried -- just given there's so much noise with the calendar shifts and everything else, we try to be a bit more, I hope, helpful in the guidance that we provided. The sales guide, the margins about flat do indicate that we are investing, as we said in the remarks, in SG&A, in CapEx in support of both sort of the rolling-forward inflationary impacts that began this year, to some extent, rolling into next and then more proactively investing in strategic initiatives, particularly marketing to support our profitable sales growth as we go forward.

瑞安，我會接受的。謝謝你的提問。是的，我們已經嘗試過了——只是考慮到日曆變化和其他事情有太多噪音，我希望我們能在提供的指導中提供更多幫助。銷售指南、利潤率持平確實表明，正如我們在評論中所說，我們正在投資於SG&A、資本支出，以支持今年開始的滾動通膨影響，在某種程度上，滾動到接下來，我們將更積極地投資於策略性舉措，特別是行銷活動，以支持我們未來的獲利性銷售成長。

And then we have the OMS project, which we are in the middle of, and this is going to be a year of another significant step on our technology road map with the OMS project. That does carry with it, project-related expense, and we called out that that's $3 million worth of SG&A as well.

然後我們還有 OMS 項目，我們正在進行該項目，今年將是我們 OMS 項目技術路線圖又邁出重要一步的一年。這確實帶來了與專案相關的費用，我們指出這還有價值 300 萬美元的 SG&A。

Got it. That's helpful. And then you guys had commented that it sounded like traffic in January was a little soft. Can you maybe talk a little bit about what you've seen as far as traffic levels go as we've progressed here through Q1?

知道了。這很有幫助。然後你們評論說一月份的流量聽起來有點疲軟。您能否談談您在第一季的進展中所看到的流量水平？

Sure. Thanks, Ryan. I'll take that one. We did see traffic impacted, particularly in the retail channel in January. And we continue to see some bumpiness coming into February but are hopeful that things sort of calm down as we go further into the quarter and head into kind of the heart of our season in March and April.

當然。謝謝，瑞安。我會接受那個。我們確實看到流量受到影響，尤其是一月份的零售通路。我們繼續看到 2 月會出現一些坎坷，但希望隨著我們進入本季並進入 3 月和 4 月的季節中心，情況會有所平靜。

Jeff Lick, B. Riley Financial.

Jeff Lick，B. Riley Financial。

Good morning, guys. Congrats on a great Q4. So just elaborating on the POS, OMS as we enter 2024. I was curious if you could just maybe talk about what capabilities and how it manifests itself into the financial results. Do you have going into this year that you didn't have last year?

早上好傢伙。恭喜第四季表現出色。因此，當我們進入 2024 年時，只是詳細闡述 POS、OMS。我很好奇您能否談談哪些能力以及它如何體現在財務表現中。今年你有去年沒有的經驗嗎？

And then one on the debt, Mark. I was just curious, could you pay off more than the $26 million as we go through the year? And you don't really typically guide interest expense, but I'm guessing that interest will be down this year from 2023.

然後是債務，馬克。我只是好奇，在我們這一年裡，你能還清超過 2600 萬美元的錢嗎？而且你通常不會指導利息支出，但我猜今年的利息將從 2023 年開始下降。

Hey, Jeff. It's Mark. I'll take both of those. I'll start with the second one. We outlined earlier this year our sort of priorities for cash investing (technical difficulty) debt. So we have this mandatory excess cash flow payment in the agreement with the term loan. We then continue to have amortization to pay down the debt. And as we've said previously, the cash flow generation of the company still provides additional cash to consider along those priority lists.

嘿，傑夫。是馬克。我會接受這兩個。我將從第二個開始。我們今年稍早概述了現金投資（技術難度）債務的優先事項。因此，我們在定期貸款協議中規定了強制性的超額現金流支付。然後我們繼續攤銷來償還債務。正如我們之前所說，公司的現金流產生仍然提供了額外的現金來考慮這些優先事項清單。

So nothing to announce at this point. But the answer is there could be, and there are other options as well that we continue to evaluate as a management team for deploying cash and driving shareholder value.

所以目前沒有什麼好宣布的。但答案是可能存在，我們作為管理團隊繼續評估其他選擇，以部署現金和推動股東價值。

The first question around POS and OMS. These really are strategic foundational systems to really shore up the operational capabilities of the company first, and they do provide the platform to take advantage of current and future because the technology becomes more less stuck in the past and you can adjust it and take new technologies with it in the future.

第一個問題是關於POS和OMS的。這些確實是策略性基礎系統，能夠真正增強公司的營運能力，並且它們確實提供了利用當前和未來的平台，因為技術不再局限於過去，您可以對其進行調整併採用新技術與它在未來。

But the benefits that we look at, first of all, with POS as the first step, it's really about a better customer experience within the store, less friction in some of the existing omni capabilities that we have with respect to the concierge, which is the ability for a customer to order from the website from within the store, the facilitation of a transaction that includes an online return in the store. So a lot less friction within the store. We would look at the benefits to that to come in the form of conversion first and transactions, which would be a support of unit growth within the stores.

但我們首先看到的好處是，以 POS 作為第一步，這實際上是為了在商店內提供更好的客戶體驗，減少我們在禮賓方面擁有的一些現有全方位功能的摩擦，即客戶能夠在商店內透過網站訂購商品，促進交易（包括在商店內線上退貨）。因此商店內的摩擦少了很多。我們首先會考慮以轉換和交易的形式所帶來的好處，這將支持商店內的單位成長。

And then OMS is a complementary system. It's really the order management, order orchestration system for the e-commerce platform but then really enterprise-wide omni capabilities that then creates the opportunity for additional inventory optimization, additional sales, fulfillment opportunities that really would come once that system is in and hardened within the system, within the business, within the processes.

OMS 是一個補充系統。它實際上是電子商務平台的訂單管理、訂單編排系統，但實際上是企業範圍的全方位功能，然後為額外的庫存優化、額外的銷售和履行機會創造機會，一旦該系統投入使用並在內部強化，這些機會就會真正出現。系統內、業務內、流程內。

That's likely a 2025 launch. And so in 2024, our guidance that we provided has both the expense associated with the projects. And we've implied some of the benefits coming from the POS system.

這可能是 2025 年推出的。因此，到 2024 年，我們提供的指導既包括與專案相關的費用。我們已經暗示了 POS 系統帶來的一些好處。

Okay. Just a clarification question, and this might have -- might fall into that bucket of your details you were elaborating for the calendar shifts. But given the low single-digit sales guidance for Q1, that has the implication that things actually might have picked up a little bit in the first quarter because it is a little bit of an acceleration from Q4. I was just curious if you could elaborate on the kind of the innards there.

好的。只是一個澄清問題，這可能會落入您為日曆班次詳細闡述的詳細資訊中。但考慮到第一季較低的個位數銷售指引，這意味著第一季的情況實際上可能會回升，因為它比第四季略有加速。我只是好奇你能否詳細說明那裡的內部結構。

What I would say, Jeff, in addition to what Claire just mentioned, the first thing is we have a big second quarter and a large Mother's Day business, which we've talked about previously. So the calendar shift for us pulling in essentially what would have been May week one week into this quarter and losing February week one week, which is typically end-of-season clearance and small versus mothers -- lead up to Mother's Day big at the end of the quarter, does have an impact for us, which is why we were as explicit as we were.

傑夫，我想說的是，除了克萊爾剛才提到的之外，第一件事是我們有一個很大的第二季度和一個很大的母親節業務，我們之前已經討論過。因此，對我們來說，日曆的轉變本質上是把五月的一周一周地拖入本季度，而把二月的一周一周地縮短，這通常是季末清倉和小規模對母親的比賽——導致母親節大季度末確實對我們產生了影響，這就是為什麼我們如此明確。

And then I would say in addition to what Claire said, she mentioned it was still a bit bumpy coming into February. A little bit of improving trends at the end of February, but a lot of the big weeks are in front of us. It's a small month, and they're small weeks. And so the bulk of the quarter is in front of us.

然後我想說，除了克萊爾所說的話之外，她提到進入二月仍然有點坎坷。2月底趨勢有所改善，但許多重要的幾週都在我們面前。這是一個小月，也是一個小周。因此，本季的大部分時間都在我們面前。

Dylan Carden, William Blair.

迪倫卡登，威廉布萊爾。

Thanks a lot. Just curious, this might be a tough question. But broad strokes, kind of backing out the extra week, did the retail channel, excluding weather, performed more in line with the direct channel, kind of down low single?

多謝。只是好奇，這可能是個棘手的問題。但從廣義上講，有點回退了額外的一周，排除天氣因素後，零售通路的表現是否與直接通路更加一致，有點低單？

So Dylan, generally speaking, what I would say is -- and it's in the sort of results that you'll see. The direct business continues to improve. And in fact, when we think about Q4 and the performance against our guidance that we reaffirmed earlier in the month of January, the traffic in the stores was -- we mentioned it. Surprisingly, the weather was widespread across the US. It impacted that channel.

所以迪倫，一般來說，我想說的是——這就是你將看到的結果。直營業務持續向好。事實上，當我們考慮第四季度以及我們一月份早些時候重申的指導的表現時，商店的客流量是——我們提到過這一點。令人驚訝的是，這種天氣在美國各地普遍存在。它影響了該頻道。

The benefit -- we were pleased to see direct offset. And then just the benefits of the operating model carrying less inventory overall, less markdown inventory skews the sales into full price. So even in a quarter where we mentioned it was a more promotional quarter, we expected it to be back at the Q3 report, and it was. That's still a better trade-off at full price than a markdown. And then the markdown margin benefits, AUR benefits with so many fewer markdown units.

好處——我們很高興看到直接抵消。然後，僅僅由於整體庫存減少、降價庫存減少的營運模式帶來的好處，就會使銷售偏向全價。因此，即使在我們提到這是一個促銷力度更大的季度，我們也預計它會在第三季報告中回歸，事實確實如此。與降價相比，全價仍然是更好的權衡。然後，降價保證金受益，AUR 受益於降價單位的減少。

So that both benefits -- those both benefit gross margin, and that was the lion's share of our beat in Q4 but driven on the back of a fairly strong direct.

因此，這兩者都有利於毛利率，這是我們第四季業績的最大份額，但受到相當強勁的直接推動。

Okay. And that kind of dovetails into my next question, which is -- and apologies if I missed this, but for the guide this year to kind of get to the margin, would you expect to be -- it sounds like it's mostly positive in SG&A investments in the new systems and what have you. So gross margin is relatively flat, maybe some modest improvement is -- how should we think about that?

好的。這與我的下一個問題相吻合，如果我錯過了這個問題，我深表歉意，但對於今年的指南來說，你會期望達到邊緣，聽起來它在銷售、管理和管理方面大多是積極的對新系統的投資以及您擁有什麼。因此，毛利率相對持平，也許有一些適度的改善——我們應該如何看待這一點？

We guided to relatively flat, Dylan. The macro (technical difficulty) again out there, you've got a little bit of freight noise popping back up, and we have some benefits that we've talked about for a while but with raw materials, particularly cotton, that we've said those should be neutral across the year. And then it's -- really behind the guide is -- on the revenue side is units supported by some of these initiatives that we talked about, POS conversion in the stores, continuing enhancements in direct, et cetera.

我們引導到相對平坦的迪倫。宏觀（技術困難）再次出現，貨運噪音再次出現，我們有一些我們已經討論了一段時間的好處，但對於原材料，特別是棉花，我們已經說這些全年應該是中性的。然後，真正在指南背後的是，在收入方面，我們談到的一些舉措支持的單位，商店中的 POS 轉換，直接的持續增強等等。

Got it. And on the new stores, I just want to be clear about that. So it's five net new stores for the year but five closures in the front half. So 10 openings in the back half. Did I catch that right?

知道了。關於新店，我只想澄清這一點。因此，今年淨新開 5 家商店，但上半年關閉 5 家商店。所以後半區有10個空位。我聽對了嗎？

Yeah, up to five net openings in '24.

是的，24 年淨空缺多達 5 個。

Okay. And where are the new stores? How should we think about kind of the ramp in productivity versus the fleet? I know it's going to be a drop in the bucket just from a scale standpoint, but anything to comment on there?

好的。新店在哪裡？我們該如何考慮生產力相對於機隊的成長？我知道從規模的角度來看這只是九牛一毛，但是有什麼可以評論的嗎？

Yes. I would say, Dylan, in the full year in the guide, the stores are at the back end of the year, right? So there's very little assumed in our guidance aside from -- the store base aside from how we're planning on the closure activity against the opening.

是的。我想說，迪倫，在指南中的全年中，商店都在年底，對吧？因此，除了商店基礎之外，我們的指導中幾乎沒有做出任何假設，除了我們如何規劃開業期間的關閉活動。

A lot of the stores -- and we've mentioned this before, but on that 20 to 25 list, a lot of those markets are re-entry markets for us. And a lot of the first opportunity stores to reopen are unlikely to be in reopen markets. And the good thing about our store fleet is we open and hit ramp pretty quickly once we're open within the first year and have a pretty stable performance across new stores there forward, unlike some others who open to low awareness and ramp up over several years.

很多商店——我們之前已經提到過這一點，但在 20 到 25 家商店的名單中，很多市場對我們來說都是重新進入的市場。許多最有機會重新開業的商店不太可能出現在重新開業的市場上。我們的商店隊伍的好處是，一旦我們在第一年內開業，我們就可以很快開業並達到增長，並且在未來的新商店中表現相當穩定，不像其他一些商店認知度較低，並且在幾個世紀以來不斷增長。年。

We tend to, again, re-entry markets, have a customer, we open back up. We've done it now with better, more fair, I would call them, economics in sites that are right for our brand. And that tends to be -- that first year is a pretty good indicator of the store's revenue.

我們傾向於再次進入市場，有了客戶，我們就重新開放。我們現在已經做到了這一點，在適合我們品牌的網站上，我稱之為更好、更公平的經濟效益。這往往是——第一年是商店收入的一個很好的指標。

Got it. And how are you feeling about your customer here? I know kind of coming into holiday, there was some incremental softness there in your client core, higher-income consumer order. How is she feeling? How are you feeling about them kind of coming into this year?

知道了。您對這裡的客戶有何感覺？我知道進入假期後，您的核心客戶、高收入消費者訂單會出現一些增量疲軟。她感覺怎麼樣？您對他們今年的到來有何感想？

Yes. Coming into this year, again, we always field this customer tracker primary research. We are pleased to see the outlook showing some signs of a positive shift coming into Q1. And we also saw a high level of satisfaction with our early spring assortments right at the core of who we are as a brand coming into spring, loving our fabrics, our colors.

是的。進入今年，我們再次對客戶追蹤進行初步研究。我們很高興看到第一季的前景出現一些積極轉變的跡象。我們也看到了對早春產品的高度滿意度，這是我們作為一個進入春季的品牌的核心，喜歡我們的面料和顏色。

So some positive energy there. And I think we talked about in the scripts that the file remains healthy, particularly with our best customer segments, with some pressure due somewhat to the macro environment at the lower-spend cohort. But all in all, I think, a good balance and some nice positive energy in her mind coming in, but it's relative to where she's been. Still a lot of uncertainty out there in the macro environment for sure.

所以有一些正能量。我認為我們在腳本中談到該文件保持健康，特別是對於我們最好的客戶群，由於較低支出群體的宏觀環境而存在一些壓力。但總而言之，我認為，她的頭腦中出現了良好的平衡和一些積極的能量，但這與她所處的位置有關。宏觀環境肯定仍然存在許多不確定性。

Oliver Chen, Cowen.

奧利佛·陳，考恩。

Thank you for taking our question. This is [Diana] on for Oliver. You mentioned higher full price selling. Just curious how you're managing that as consumers are a little bit more conscious about spending as well. And also just on marketing, what's your strategy around marketing this year and sort of your thoughts around driving higher ROI on [spend]? Thank you so much.

感謝您提出我們的問題。這是奧利佛的[戴安娜]。您提到更高的全價銷售。只是好奇你們如何管理這一點，因為消費者對消費也更有意識了。還有行銷方面，您今年的行銷策略是什麼，以及您對提高投資報酬率的想法[花費]？太感謝了。

Sure. Thanks for the question and thanks for being with us. I think from a full price selling standpoint, our inventory strategy has been supportive of keeping the focus on full price selling, telling our brand story, telling our product assortment story without competing with ourselves from a markdown standpoint. And that has yielded nice full price penetration, which we saw play out in fiscal year '23.

當然。感謝您的提問，也感謝您與我們同在。我認為，從全價銷售的角度來看，我們的庫存策略一直支持將重點放在全價銷售上，講述我們的品牌故事，講述我們的產品分類故事，而不是從降價的角度與我們自己競爭。這帶來了很好的全價格滲透，我們在 23 財年看到了這一點。

And again, our customer -- we've said this repeatedly, but if we offer her the product that she's looking for, and it's unique and special, she is willing to pay full price for it. And so that focus on what makes us special and different and highlighting our key products has helped support that.

再說一遍，我們的客戶 - 我們已經反覆說過這一點，但如果我們向她提供她正在尋找的產品，並且它是獨特的和特別的，她願意為此支付全價。因此，專注於我們的獨特之處和與眾不同之處並突出我們的關鍵產品有助於支持這一點。

As we go into '24, we are making investment in marketing behind a brand campaign, which you'll see rolling out in the next few months, which we're very excited about. We think that there's a real opportunity to drive brand awareness. We know we have relatively low awareness compared to some of our competitors, and some of that comes from having a smaller store fleet. But we're putting some investment behind that brand awareness and are excited about telling that story. And so we'll have more to say about that on the next quarterly call.

進入 24 世紀，我們正在對品牌活動的營銷進行投資，您將在接下來的幾個月內看到該活動的推出，對此我們感到非常興奮。我們認為這是提高品牌知名度的真正機會。我們知道，與一些競爭對手相比，我們的認知度相對較低，其中一些原因是店面規模較小。但我們正在對品牌知名度進行一些投資，並且對講述這個故事感到興奮。因此，我們將在下一次季度電話會議上對此進行更多討論。

Marni Shapiro, The Retail Tracker.

Marni Shapiro，零售追蹤者。

Hey, guys. Congratulations. The stores look great, and I love this new set that just went in. It's beautiful. Can you talk a little bit -- I think you said you grew your customer file very nicely. Could you talk a little bit about what actions you're doing on top of funnel? And with all your technology updates, could you talk a little bit, forward thinking, about loyalty programs and things like that?

大家好。恭喜。商店看起來很棒，我喜歡剛剛入庫的這套新套裝。很美麗。您能談談嗎？我想您說過您的客戶檔案成長得非常好。您能談談您在漏斗頂部採取的行動嗎？隨著您的所有技術更新，您能談談忠誠度計劃之類的前瞻性思維嗎？

Yes. Thanks, Marni. We agree. We think the assortment looks great right now, great color that she's responding to. From a top-of-funnel standpoint, the brand campaign that I just talked about is definitely aimed at broadening awareness, introducing new customers to the brand. And that, as I said, is going to be forthcoming in the next few months.

是的。謝謝，瑪尼。我們同意。我們認為這個系列現在看起來很棒，她對顏色的反應很好。從通路頂部的角度來看，我剛才談到的品牌活動絕對是為了擴大知名度，向品牌介紹新客戶。正如我所說，這將在接下來的幾個月內實現。

In addition, we're very focused on new-to-brand acquisition through our performance marketing and other efforts, and those did yield some nice benefits through much of '23, focused on usage occasions like the workwear edit and our inclusive sizing initiative, both focused on introducing new customers to the brand and customers that are at the younger end of our target demographic and very valuable.

此外，我們非常注重透過效果行銷和其他努力來吸引新品牌，這些努力在 23 年的大部分時間裡確實帶來了一些不錯的好處，重點是工作服編輯和我們的包容性尺寸計劃等使用場合，兩者都專注於向品牌介紹新客戶以及我們目標人群中年輕且非常有價值的客戶。

So lots of efforts in terms of feeding the health of that file. And also, in making sure that we're communicating effectively with and nurturing our relationship with our best customers and our core customers, which we did see nice growth from our best customer segment, as I mentioned, in 2023.

為了確保文件的健康，我們付出了很多努力。此外，為了確保我們與最佳客戶和核心客戶進行有效溝通並培養我們的關係，正如我所提到的，2023 年我們確實看到了我們最佳客戶群的良好成長。

No, that's fantastic. And can I just ask you a quick question. Online, I've been buying the fit assortment. It looks nice. It's highly edited. I'm curious, are you thinking about bringing that into stores a little more, expanding it? Is it a nice to have? Or do you feel like it's a need to have? And these are your first steps into it. If you could just expand on that?

不，那太棒了。我可以問你一個簡單的問題嗎？在網上，我一直在購買合身的品種。看起來很好。它經過高度編輯。我很好奇，您是否正在考慮將其更多地引入商店並擴大規模？擁有它是好事嗎？或者你覺得有必要嗎？這些是您踏入其中的第一步。如果你可以擴充一下嗎？

Yeah. Thanks, Marni. It's a small part of the business, and we have it in select stores, and we have it online. We think it's an important part of her life and the usage occasion that she cares about, but it's not a major initiative -- growth initiative for us as we look forward.

是的。謝謝，瑪尼。這只是業務的一小部分，我們在精選商店和網上都有。我們認為這是她生活中的重要部分和她關心的使用場合，但這並不是一個重大舉措——對我們來說是一個成長舉措，我們期待。

Dana Telsey, Telsey Group.

達納‧特爾西，特爾西集團。

Hi, good morning, everyone, and congratulations on the nice results. Claire, as you think about the assortment going forward and the changes and the enhancements that we should see, what are you looking for this year? Is there any markers? Obviously, you mentioned the marketing campaign that we should be mindful as we go through the year.

大家早安，恭喜取得的好成績。克萊爾，當您考慮未來的品種以及我們應該看到的變化和增強時，今年您想要什麼？有標記嗎？顯然，您提到了我們在這一年中應該注意的行銷活動。

And then, Mark, as you talked about the Red Sea issue impacting more of Q2, is there any bleed-through to any other quarters that you foresee? And with the lower cotton costs, how is that being projected throughout the year in the space of also the full price sales that you're generating, how you're thinking about pricing the goods this year as compared to last year? Thank you.

然後，馬克，當您談到紅海問題對第二季度的影響更大時，您預計是否會對其他季度產生影響？隨著棉花成本的降低，在您產生的全價銷售空間中，全年的預測如何？與去年相比，您如何考慮今年的商品定價？謝謝。

Sure. I'll take the first part, Dana and then hand it over to Mark. I think markers, we're heading into what is our big season. And obviously, we love the Mother's Day time frame, and moving through spring into summer, you'll see our core franchises really hit hard. Our linen programs, our knit basics programs.

當然。我將接受第一部分，達納，然後將其交給馬克。我認為標記，我們即將進入我們的重要賽季。顯然，我們喜歡母親節的時間框架，從春天到夏天，你會看到我們的核心特許經營權確實受到了沉重打擊。我們的亞麻計劃，我們的針織基礎計劃。

We also have some really exciting things happening with cotton gauze and other very summer-breezy fabrications that she really looks to us for. So I think you'll see a lot of that again as well as just wonderful color that she really responds to at this time of year.

我們還推出了一些非常令人興奮的事情，涉及棉紗布和其他非常適合夏季微風的織物，這些都是她真正期待的。所以我想你會再次看到很多這樣的東西，以及她在每年這個時候真正做出反應的美妙色彩。

So we had real strength in '23 with growth in dresses, woven tops and novelties, a strong sweater business in the back half of the year. But we also had some opportunities, and we think that those opportunities hopefully will be addressed in terms of better performance in things like bottoms and knit basics that -- where we saw some challenges last year.

因此，我們在 23 年擁有真正的實力，連身裙、梭織上衣和新奇產品的成長，下半年的毛衣業務強勁。但我們也有一些機會，我們認為這些機會有望透過在下裝和針織基本款等方面取得更好的表現來解決，去年我們在這些方面遇到了一些挑戰。

So overall, some opportunities that we see in front of us and then some growth leading into where we have strength and momentum.

總的來說，我們看到了一些擺在我們面前的機會，然後一些成長導致我們擁有實力和動力。

And Dana, I'll quickly hit the second part of your question. The great thing for us is that when the disruption started happening back in the COVID time frame, we created a task force inside the company that really came together and managed that uncertainty quite well. And we've kept that process going even as things started to calm down post COVID and through the last year or so. The team is led by an incredible senior manager within the group and a great cross-functional team who reacts very quickly and meets weekly.

達納（Dana），我很快就會回答你問題的第二部分。對我們來說，最棒的事情是，當新冠疫情期間開始出現幹擾時，我們在公司內部創建了一個工作小組，真正團結起來並很好地管理了這種不確定性。即使在新冠疫情之後以及去年左右事情開始平靜下來的時候，我們仍然繼續這個過程。該團隊由集團內一位令人難以置信的高級經理和一支出色的跨職能團隊領導，他們反應非常快，每週舉行一次會議。

And so when the Red Sea issue started popping up, they were poised and ready to react. Doesn't mean it doesn't have an impact, which is why we called it out. But internally, we were more prepared than ever just given the effort that we put against it.

因此，當紅海問題開始出現時，他們已經做好了反應的準備。並不意味著它沒有影響，這就是我們呼籲它的原因。但在內部，考慮到我們付出的努力，我們比以往任何時候都更準備好。

The delays that we're seeing have calmed down to some extent. The initial -- it's always an initial uncertainty that creates longer delays. The delays have settled down. The teams are working on every opportunity to offset them. Those include, if we need to, airfreighting goods from the ports of origin to landed in the US. That's a team of merchants and merch planners who pour over those decisions and make them based on the relative importance of the late style to the floor set or the marketing or some combination.

我們看到的延誤已經在一定程度上得到緩解。最初的－最初的不確定性總是會造成更長的延誤。延誤已經解決了。團隊正在利用一切機會來抵消它們。如果我們需要的話，這些包括從始發港空運貨物到美國降落。這是一個由商人和商品規劃師組成的團隊，他們會根據最新風格對地板佈置或行銷或某種組合的相對重要性來做出這些決定。

And then the other options are to work with our great vendor base, which we've talked at length about, the great relationships we have and see where we can move shipment dates early to compensate for any delays. And then the last sort of element is if we do get a delayed shipment here, we will make the decision whether to expedite via airfreight to our West Coast stores as needed.

然後其他選擇是與我們偉大的供應商基礎合作，我們已經詳細討論了這一點，我們擁有良好的關係，看看我們可以在哪裡提前發貨日期以彌補任何延誤。最後一個因素是，如果我們確實在這裡收到延遲發貨，我們將根據需要決定是否通過空運加急到我們的西海岸商店。

The Q2 time frame and why we called it out is that's our important quarter with Mother's Day, and those assortments are more likely warranting of the expedited airfreight option than others. And we land those products in Q1, but we sell them through Q2, which is why we called out that, that is the quarter that would feel the impact most.

第二季度的時間範圍以及我們提出這一點的原因是，這是我們母親節的重要季度，而這些品種比其他品種更有可能保證加急空運選項。我們在第一季推出這些產品，但我們在第二季銷售它們，這就是為什麼我們指出，這是受影響最大的季度。

We are assuming that the issues sort of stabilize and don't worsen through the rest of the year. So that's an assumption that we've made. And the cotton costs that really started to come in late last year, we mentioned it in some of our earnings calls. We expect that to help defray the cost and uncertainty from the Red Sea through that second quarter time frame.

我們假設這些問題在今年剩餘時間內趨於穩定且不會惡化。這就是我們所做的假設。我們在一些財報電話會議中提到了去年年底真正開始出現的棉花成本。我們預計這將有助於支付第二季期間紅海的成本和不確定性。

And really, with respect to the guidance that we provided for the year, the assumptions are we'll always -- and the merchant teams and planning teams do, always look at strategic opportunities for price opportunities, raising or decreasing based on market, our product, et cetera. That continues.

事實上，就我們今年提供的指導而言，我們的假設是，我們將始終——商家團隊和規劃團隊確實會始終關注價格機會的戰略機會，根據市場、我們的價格提高或降低。產品等。這樣的情況還在繼續。

But really, for the most part, the guide that we provided implies that pricing is pretty stable, and that units would be the driver of the sales range that we provided on the back of the initiatives that we're investing in, the marketing efforts that we're taking, and the benefits that will accrue from the technology as we've implemented it.

但實際上，在大多數情況下，我們提供的指南意味著定價相當穩定，並且單位將成為我們在投資計劃和營銷努力的支持下提供的銷售範圍的驅動力我們正在採用的技術，以及我們實施該技術後將帶來的好處。

Got it. Thank you. And one question on the store openings. Are you closing stores in malls and opening an open air, anything in terms of regions, locations in terms of what you're doing? And is the store size at all changing cost to open versus what had been done in the past, given you hadn't been a new store opener in a long time until now?

知道了。謝謝。還有一個關於開店的問題。您是否關閉了購物中心的商店並開設了露天商店，就您正在做的事情而言，有任何區域、地點方面的事情嗎？鑑於您已經很久沒有開新店了，那麼與過去相比，商店規模的開店成本是否會改變？

Yes, I'll take the first part and then hand it over to Mark.

是的，我會把第一部分交給馬克。

We prefer lifestyle centers. It's what our customer prefers, but there are obviously malls that are very important. And to the extent that we have exited locations that are high potential. We'll look at malls as well as lifestyle centers but certainly have a bias there.

我們更喜歡生活方式中心。這是我們的客戶所喜歡的，但顯然有一些購物中心非常重要。在某種程度上，我們已經退出了具有高潛力的地點。我們會關注購物中心和生活中心，但肯定會對它們有偏見。

And as Mark said, the store openings will be weighted towards the back half of the year. And the store closures will be weighted toward the front half of the year. And then on the cost, Mark, I don't know if you want to address.

正如馬克所說，新店開幕將集中在今年下半年。商店關閉的時間將集中在今年上半年。然後關於成本，馬克，我不知道你是否想談。

Yeah. Generally speaking, Dana, the good news about our store model, it's a great aspect of it, I guess, I would state it differently, is that it's sort of a known very rightsized model and has been for some time. And so there aren't any major changes that we're deploying aside from new POS and what opportunities that creates with respect to space requirements.

是的。一般來說，達納，關於我們商店模式的好消息，這是它的一個重要方面，我想，我會以不同的方式表述它，那就是它是一種已知的非常合理的模型，並且已經有一段時間了。因此，除了新的 POS 以及在空間需求方面創造的機會之外，我們沒有部署任何重大變更。

But generally speaking, we're rightsized. We know the model. And as we kick back off the work, which we started in -- a little bit in 2022 and then we were a net store opener in -- by one store in 2023, we're refining that model again and nothing major to call out with respect to the cost side of it. We are managing capital to a very -- we think managing it well and generating significant returns both at the project level and at the enterprise level.

但總的來說，我們的規模是合理的。我們知道模型。當我們開始工作時，我們開始於 2022 年，然後我們在 2023 年開設了一家商店，我們正在再次完善該模型，沒有什麼值得大書特書的就其成本方面而言。我們正在管理資本，我們認為管理得當，並在專案層面和企業層面產生顯著的回報。

We'll let you guys do the calculations, but that should show up in the results that we're producing.

我們會讓你們進行計算，但這應該顯示在我們產生的結果中。

This concludes the question-and-answer session. I'll turn the call to Claire Spofford for closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。我將把電話轉給克萊爾·斯波福德（Claire Spofford）做總結發言。

Thank you, everyone, for your time and attention this morning. We look forward to chatting again on our Q1 call in a few months.

謝謝大家今天早上的時間和關注。我們期待著幾個月後在第一季的電話會議上再次交談。

This concludes today's conference call. We thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議到此結束。我們感謝您的加入。現在您可以斷開線路。