諾德斯特龍百貨 (JWN) 2022 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Nordstrom Fourth Quarter 2022 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder this conference is being recorded.

您好，歡迎來到 Nordstrom 2022 年第四季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）作為提醒，正在錄製此會議。

I'll turn the call over to Sara Penner, Manager of Investor Relations for Nordstrom. You may now begin.

我會把電話轉給 Nordstrom 投資者關係經理 Sara Penner。你現在可以開始了。

Good afternoon, and thank you for joining us.

下午好，感謝您加入我們。

Before we begin, I want to mention that we'll be referring to slides, which can be viewed in the Investor Relations section on nordstrom.com.

在我們開始之前，我想提一下，我們將參考幻燈片，可以在 nordstrom.com 的投資者關係部分查看。

Our discussion may include forward-looking statements, so please refer to the slide with our safe harbor language. As a reminder, we are here today to discuss our business and fourth quarter performance, and we will not be taking questions on other matters.

我們的討論可能包括前瞻性陳述，因此請使用我們的安全港語言參考幻燈片。提醒一下，我們今天在這裡討論我們的業務和第四季度的業績，我們不會就其他事項提出問題。

Participating in today's call are Erik Nordstrom, Chief Executive Officer; Pete Nordstrom, President and Chief Brand Officer; and Michael Maher, Interim Chief Financial Officer, who will provide a business update and discuss the company's fourth quarter performance.

參加今天電話會議的有首席執行官 Erik Nordstrom； Pete Nordstrom，總裁兼首席品牌官；和臨時首席財務官 Michael Maher，他將提供業務更新並討論公司第四季度的業績。

And now I'll turn the call over to Erik.

現在我會把電話轉給埃里克。

Thank you, Sara, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us today.

謝謝你，薩拉，大家下午好。感謝您今天加入我們。

For the fourth quarter, we delivered net sales of $4.2 billion and earnings per share of $0.74. Looking back on the fiscal year, revenue increased 5% from 2021 and adjusted EBIT margin was in line with last year at 3.3%. We saw customers starting to pull back in late June, primarily in Nordstrom Rack, and this trend continued through the holiday season. Across both banners, the softening trend was more pronounced in customers with lower income profiles.

第四季度，我們實現了 42 億美元的淨銷售額和 0.74 美元的每股收益。回顧本財年，收入較 2021 年增長 5%，調整後的息稅前利潤率為 3.3%，與去年持平。我們看到客戶在 6 月下旬開始減少，主要是在 Nordstrom Rack，並且這種趨勢一直持續到整個假期。在兩個橫幅中，軟化趨勢在收入較低的客戶中更為明顯。

Given the uncertain environment, we are executing with agility. We took actions starting in Q3 to clear excess inventory and optimize our product mix. As a result, we are now in a much healthier position with inventory levels down 15% from last year and in line with 2019 levels.

鑑於不確定的環境，我們正在敏捷執行。我們從第三季度開始採取行動清理過剩庫存並優化我們的產品結構。因此，我們現在處於更健康的狀態，庫存水平比去年下降了 15%，與 2019 年的水平持平。

While this was the right strategy to better position our inventory levels for 2023, we implemented more markdowns than we had initially planned to achieve our goal. This was compounded by the softening trend, excess inventory levels and promotional intensity in our sector. As a result, our margins were lower than expected in the fourth quarter.

雖然這是更好地定位 2023 年庫存水平的正確策略，但我們實施了比最初計劃實現目標更多的降價促銷。我們行業的疲軟趨勢、過剩的庫存水平和促銷強度加劇了這種情況。因此，我們第四季度的利潤率低於預期。

Despite this, I'm pleased that our supply chain initiatives delivered efficiency and lower per unit costs in Q4, resulting in more than 200 basis points of SG&A rate improvement even with lower sales leverage and ongoing inflationary pressures. At the same time, we remain committed to driving more profitable long-term growth. We are looking across our business and operations with this clear mindset to ensure we are deploying our financial resources and talent against the opportunities where we are best positioned to win in the medium and long term.

儘管如此，我很高興我們的供應鏈計劃在第四季度提高了效率並降低了單位成本，即使在銷售槓桿較低和持續通脹壓力的情況下，SG&A 率也提高了 200 多個基點。與此同時，我們仍然致力於推動更有利可圖的長期增長。我們正以這種清晰的心態審視我們的業務和運營，以確保我們正在部署我們的財務資源和人才，以應對我們最有能力在中長期贏得勝利的機會。

With this in mind, we have decided to wind down our Canadian business over the next few months to simplify our operations and increase our focus on our core U.S. business. We entered Canada in 2014 because we believed it presented a compelling opportunity, and we are grateful for the many customer relationships we have built over the years. Despite our team's best efforts, including multiple initiatives to improve our outcomes, our Canadian business has not been profitable. The impact from COVID drove further losses with no realistic path to sustainable profitability.

考慮到這一點，我們決定在未來幾個月內結束加拿大業務，以簡化我們的運營並加強對美國核心業務的關注。我們於 2014 年進入加拿大，因為我們相信它提供了一個令人信服的機會，我們對多年來建立的眾多客戶關係深表感謝。儘管我們的團隊盡了最大努力，包括採取多項措施來改善我們的成果，但我們的加拿大業務仍未盈利。 COVID 的影響導致進一步虧損，沒有實現可持續盈利的現實途徑。

Canada accounts for less than 3% of our total sales, and we believe we will benefit from a sharper focus on our U.S. business. Michael will provide more detail on the onetime charges related to this decision and the impact on our sales and profitability going forward.

加拿大占我們總銷售額的不到 3%，我們相信我們將受益於更加專注於我們的美國業務。 Michael 將詳細說明與此決定相關的一次性費用以及對我們未來銷售和盈利能力的影響。

While we are confident in our decision, it was a difficult one to make, and we recognize the personal impact on our employees. We are committed to treating our Canadian employees with fairness and respect. We are establishing an employee trust that will provide additional benefits for employees during the wind down period. I have the deepest appreciation for the talent and passion of our great team in Canada. I want to sincerely thank them for their dedication to customers and the service they have provided over the years.

雖然我們對自己的決定充滿信心，但做出這個決定並不容易，而且我們認識到這對我們員工的個人影響。我們致力於公平和尊重地對待我們的加拿大員工。我們正在建立一個員工信託基金，它將在停工期間為員工提供額外的福利。我對我們加拿大優秀團隊的才華和熱情深表感謝。我要衷心感謝他們多年來對客戶的奉獻和服務。

More than ever, I believe Nordstrom is uniquely positioned to meet the changing needs of our customers. With our 2 powerful interconnected brands, the breadth of our products, styles and prices, and most of all, our unwavering passion for customer service, we have a durable foundation for growth. We are taking clear actions in 2023 to expand market share and improve our profitability. It starts with our loyal customer base, our greatest asset. We acquired approximately 10 million new customers in 2022 and added 2.5 million new Nordy Club members. We are committed to building on these successes while delivering on our legacy of service across physical stores and digitally as the customer experience continues to evolve to be even more omnichannel. This is critical to driving engagement and attracting more customers.

我比以往任何時候都更加相信 Nordstrom 的獨特定位可以滿足我們客戶不斷變化的需求。憑藉我們 2 個相互關聯的強大品牌、廣泛的產品、款式和價格，以及最重要的是，我們對客戶服務的堅定熱情，為我們的發展奠定了持久的基礎。我們將在 2023 年採取明確的行動來擴大市場份額並提高我們的盈利能力。它始於我們忠實的客戶群，這是我們最大的資產。我們在 2022 年獲得了約 1000 萬新客戶，並新增了 250 萬 Nordy Club 會員。我們致力於在這些成功的基礎上再接再厲，同時隨著客戶體驗不斷發展成為更加全渠道的方式，在實體店和數字化領域提供我們傳統的服務。這對於提高參與度和吸引更多客戶至關重要。

In addition to improving the customer experience, we are focused on 3 specific priorities to drive better financial performance in 2023. One, improving Nordstrom Rack performance. Two, increasing our inventory productivity; and three, continuing to advance our supply chain optimization initiatives. I'll address each of these briefly, then Pete will go into more depth on some of our initiatives in support of these priorities.

除了改善客戶體驗外，我們還專注於 3 個具體優先事項，以在 2023 年推動更好的財務業績。第一，提高 Nordstrom Rack 的業績。第二，提高我們的庫存生產率；第三，繼續推進我們的供應鏈優化計劃。我將簡要介紹其中的每一個，然後皮特將更深入地介紹我們為支持這些優先事項而採取的一些舉措。

Starting with Nordstrom Rack. Sales in Q4 declined 8% versus last year as we saw consumers pull back spending. We estimate that a little over half of the decrease was driven by specific actions we took to improve profitability, namely eliminating costly Rack store-based order fulfillment and raising the minimum order amount to receive free ship-to-store delivery on nordstromrack.com. These actions reduced order cancellations, simplified Rack operations and improved Rack profitability, but negatively impacted topline growth at the Rack. We also cleared out older and unproductive inventory giving us increased open-to-buy and therefore, greater flexibility to improve our merchandise assortment as we enter 2023.

從 Nordstrom Rack 開始。由於我們看到消費者減少支出，第四季度的銷售額比去年下降了 8%。我們估計略多於一半的減少是由我們為提高盈利能力而採取的具體行動所驅動的，即取消基於 Rack 商店的昂貴訂單履行並提高最低訂單金額以在 nordstromrack.com 上獲得免費送貨上門服務。這些行動減少了訂單取消，簡化了 Rack 運營並提高了 Rack 的盈利能力，但對 Rack 的收入增長產生了負面影響。我們還清理了舊的和非生產性庫存，使我們有更多的開放購買機會，因此在進入 2023 年時，我們可以更靈活地改善我們的商品分類。

We are committed to improving both our top and bottom line performance at Nordstrom Rack in 3 ways. First and most importantly, we are prioritizing 100 nationally recognized strategic brands to help us drive sales and grow market share. Simply put, we know we win with customers at the Rack when we deliver great brands at great prices. We believe strong brand recognition drives outsized customer engagement, and these brands are proven performers many of which are not widely available in the off-price space. By increasing inventory turns at the Rack, we can increase the flow of these great brands and give customers newness each time they visit us.

我們致力於通過 3 種方式提高 Nordstrom Rack 的最高和最低業績。首先也是最重要的是，我們正在優先選擇 100 個全國知名的戰略品牌，以幫助我們推動銷售和擴大市場份額。簡而言之，當我們以實惠的價格提供優質品牌時，我們知道我們會在貨架上贏得客戶。我們相信，強大的品牌知名度會推動客戶參與度的大幅提升，而且這些品牌是經過驗證的表現者，其中許多品牌在低價領域並未廣泛使用。通過增加貨架上的庫存周轉率，我們可以增加這些偉大品牌的流量，並在客戶每次訪問我們時為他們提供新鮮感。

Second, we are expanding our reach and convenience for customers by opening 20 new Rack stores this year. Rack stores continue to be our largest source of new customer acquisition, accounting for more than 40% of newly acquired customers in 2022. Our Rack store fleet is underpenetrated, and we have an opportunity to attract more customers and drive profitable growth through a proven model as we expand our reach with more new stores.

其次，我們通過今年開設 20 家新的 Rack 商店來擴大我們的覆蓋面並為客戶提供便利。貨架店仍然是我們獲取新客戶的最大來源，佔 2022 年新獲取客戶的 40% 以上。我們的貨架店車隊滲透率不足，我們有機會通過行之有效的模式吸引更多客戶並推動盈利增長隨著我們通過更多新店擴大業務範圍。

Third, we will drive greater engagement and higher profitability at nordstromrack.com. Our digital capabilities are unique in the off-price space, and we see opportunities to leverage our digital assets to increase engagement with our Rack customers. We will also continue to optimize the operational model for improved profitability as we did by discontinuing store-based fulfillment of nordstromrack.com orders.

第三，我們將提高 nordstromrack.com 的參與度和盈利能力。我們的數字能力在低價領域是獨一無二的，我們看到了利用我們的數字資產來增加與 Rack 客戶互動的機會。我們還將繼續優化運營模式以提高盈利能力，正如我們通過停止基於商店的 nordstromrack.com 訂單履行所做的那樣。

Moving now to our second priority for 2023, inventory productivity. Better inventory discipline across our operation provides customers with relevant and new assortments from the world's best brands. We also have a significant opportunity to improve our earnings and returns on invested capital through increased productivity from our merchandise inventory, our largest annual investment.

現在轉到我們 2023 年的第二個優先事項，即庫存生產率。我們運營中更好的庫存紀律為客戶提供了來自世界最佳品牌的相關和新的分類。我們還有一個重要的機會，可以通過提高商品庫存的生產率來提高我們的收益和投資資本回報率，這是我們最大的年度投資。

The substantial disruptions and volatility in our business over the past 3 years had a significant impact on our inventory management and outcomes, including buy plans, receipt flows, stock levels, markdowns and turns. As supply chains have stabilized, we have an opportunity to return to pre-pandemic norms across these elements of our inventory management.

過去 3 年我們業務的重大中斷和波動對我們的庫存管理和結果產生了重大影響，包括購買計劃、收貨流程、庫存水平、降價和周轉。隨著供應鏈的穩定，我們有機會在我們的庫存管理的這些要素中恢復到大流行前的規範。

Finally, let's turn to our third priority of supply chain optimization. We made great progress in 2022 on our supply chain initiatives, which drove improvement in our SG&A rate despite lower sales leverage and continued inflationary pressure. Pete will provide highlights from our work in 2022. This year, we will build on our momentum to further improve the customer experience while driving greater expense efficiency. We're continuing to scale our West Coast omnichannel center, and we are building productivity across our network. Improvements in inventory turns and flow also continue to help reduce supply chain costs.

最後，讓我們轉向供應鏈優化的第三個優先事項。 2022 年，我們在供應鏈計劃方面取得了重大進展，儘管銷售槓桿率較低且通脹壓力持續，但我們的 SG&A 率有所提高。 Pete 將介紹我們 2022 年的工作重點。今年，我們將繼續保持勢頭，進一步改善客戶體驗，同時提高費用效率。我們正在繼續擴展我們的西海岸全渠道中心，我們正在提高我們網絡的生產力。庫存周轉和流動的改善也繼續有助於降低供應鏈成本。

The past 3 years have been the most challenging and unpredictable for our industry in more than a generation. We are incredibly proud of the way our people navigated the unprecedented circumstances, while remaining true to our core values. As we enter 2023, we are ready to move forward. We have a clear set of priorities that we expect will drive improved performance in the near term while positioning us for longer-term profitable growth. We have made difficult decisions to increase our focus on executing against those priorities in our core business. We have a strong balance sheet and healthy cash flows, and we remain committed to putting the customer at the center of everything we do.

過去 3 年是我們行業超過一代人以來最具挑戰性和最不可預測的一年。我們為我們的員工在前所未有的情況下渡過難關，同時忠於我們的核心價值觀而感到無比自豪。當我們進入 2023 年時，我們已準備好繼續前進。我們有一套明確的優先事項，我們預計這些優先事項將在短期內推動業績改善，同時為長期盈利增長做好準備。我們做出了艱難的決定，以更加專注於執行我們核心業務中的這些優先事項。我們擁有強大的資產負債表和健康的現金流，我們始終致力於將客戶置於我們所做一切的中心。

With that, I'll turn it over to Pete.

有了這個，我會把它交給皮特。

Thanks, Eric, and good afternoon, everyone.

謝謝，埃里克，大家下午好。

I'd like to talk about our merchandise performance during the fourth quarter, then follow up with highlights from the work streams under each of the 3 focus areas Erik discussed.

我想談談我們在第四季度的商品表現，然後跟進 Erik 討論的 3 個重點領域下每個工作流的亮點。

Starting with merchandise performance. We prioritize getting to healthy inventory levels by year-end and taking additional markdowns to do so impacted our results in most categories. That said, we saw areas of strength in the quarter. We were pleased to see strength in men's apparel, which was up versus last year and at 2019 levels, particularly in dress wear as people shop for special occasions and updated the return to office looks.

從商品性能開始。我們優先考慮在年底前達到健康的庫存水平，並為此採取額外的降價措施，這影響了我們在大多數類別中的結果。也就是說，我們看到了本季度的優勢領域。我們很高興看到男士服裝的強勁勢頭，與去年和 2019 年的水平相比有所上升，尤其是在正裝方面，因為人們會在特殊場合購物，並更新了重返辦公室的裝扮。

At the Rack banner, Beauty grew high single digits as consumers responded well to our expanded offerings with brands like MAC and Clinique. To illustrate our efforts to get to a cleaner inventory position, seasonal categories, including outerwear, sweaters and boots, had strong sell-through with ending inventory levels 30% less than prior year. After a robust start to 2022, our designer business softened in the back half, and we are reviewing our inventory positions to adjust where needed to improve productivity.

在 Rack 的旗幟下，由於消費者對我們擴展的 MAC 和倩碧等品牌的產品反應良好，美容產品增長了高個位數。為了說明我們為實現更清潔的庫存狀況所做的努力，包括外套、毛衣和靴子在內的季節性品類銷售強勁，期末庫存水平比上一年低 30%。在 2022 年開局強勁之後，我們的設計師業務在下半年走軟，我們正在審查我們的庫存狀況，以調整需要提高生產力的地方。

At the Nordstrom banner, we're making progress on delivering selection, relevance and inspiration to our customers by partnering with brands in alternative ways. We grew our sales through unowned inventory models by 10% over the last year, and they now make up 12% of GMV at the Nordstrom banner.

在 Nordstrom 的旗幟下，我們通過以其他方式與品牌合作，在為客戶提供選擇、相關性和靈感方面取得了進展。去年，我們通過無主庫存模型實現了 10% 的銷售額增長，它們現在佔 Nordstrom 旗下 GMV 的 12%。

We continue to scale our Nordstrom Media Network, which grew over 50% versus last year. In the fourth quarter, we expanded our advertising offering to brands and categories adjacent to Nordstrom, launched offsite partnerships with TikTok and Pinterest and scaled on-site advertising with display ads on Nordstrom.com. Our brand partners value the opportunity to connect with our highly engaged and loyal customers with a strong return on ad spend, particularly as advertisers look to diversify their media mix.

我們繼續擴大我們的 Nordstrom 媒體網絡，與去年相比增長了 50% 以上。在第四季度，我們將廣告服務擴展到與 Nordstrom 相鄰的品牌和類別，與 TikTok 和 Pinterest 建立了場外合作夥伴關係，並通過 Nordstrom.com 上的展示廣告擴大了現場廣告。我們的品牌合作夥伴非常重視與高度參與和忠誠的客戶建立聯繫並獲得豐厚廣告支出回報的機會，尤其是在廣告商希望實現媒體組合多樣化的情況下。

Now on to our initiatives. As Erik mentioned, we're focused on improving Rack performance. And one of the initiatives to drive sales and faster inventory turn is prioritizing 100 strategic brands that are well known and loved across the U.S. but also have room to grow in the off-price space.

現在談談我們的舉措。正如 Erik 提到的，我們專注於提高 Rack 性能。推動銷售和加快庫存周轉的舉措之一是優先考慮 100 個在美國廣為人知和喜愛的戰略品牌，這些品牌在折扣空間也有增長空間。

Strategic brands have better productivity than other brands in terms of average selling price and monthly sell-through. These include many brands we carry at the Nordstrom banner. As we previously mentioned, 90% of the top 50 brands at Nordstrom are also carried at Nordstrom Rack. Looking forward, our healthier inventory levels provide us an open-to-buy position and we are leaning into strategic brands.

就平均售價和月銷售率而言，戰略品牌的生產力優於其他品牌。其中包括我們在 Nordstrom 旗下的許多品牌。正如我們之前提到的，Nordstrom 前 50 大品牌中的 90% 也在 Nordstrom Rack 上銷售。展望未來，我們更健康的庫存水平為我們提供了一個開放購買的位置，我們正在傾向於戰略品牌。

While these brands accounted for half of Rack sales in 2022, they make up 60% of our on order for the first half of '23. We're still on track to have the Rack assortment in a good place by mid-'23. With more open to buy and access to great brands, especially in the current environment, we are well positioned to deliver a more constant stream of newness and improve inventory flow.

雖然這些品牌佔 2022 年機架銷售額的一半，但它們占我們 23 年上半年訂單的 60%。我們仍然有望在 23 年中期之前將 Rack 分類放在一個好的位置。隨著更開放的購買和接觸偉大品牌的機會，尤其是在當前環境下，我們有能力提供更穩定的新鮮事物並改善庫存流動。

A second initiative at Rack is to expand our reach with new stores as part of our closer-to-use strategy. We are encouraged by the results of our 3 newest stores, which have exceeded our expectations and performed better than the fleet average in terms of sales productivity. This proof point gives us further confidence in the product mix we're working towards and the opportunity for improvement in our overall Rack business through greater focus on strategic brands, newness and inventory flow.

Rack 的第二個舉措是通過新店擴大我們的影響力，作為我們更貼近使用的戰略的一部分。我們對 3 家最新門店的業績感到鼓舞，它們超出了我們的預期，並且在銷售效率方面的表現優於整體平均水平。這個證明點讓我們對我們正在努力實現的產品組合更有信心，並有機會通過更加關注戰略品牌、新穎性和庫存流程來改進我們的整體機架業務。

The third initiative with Rack is driving greater customer engagement and profitability at nordstromrack.com. By increasing the penetration of strategic brands online and leveraging our digital marketing capabilities, we will drive traffic and sales both at nordstromrack.com and in our stores. We also continue to drive omnichannel engagement across banners. For example, 1 in 5 Nordstrom.com, buy online, pick up in store orders are actually picked up at our Rack stores after we launched this service just 3 years ago.

Rack 的第三項舉措是提高 nordstromrack.com 的客戶參與度和盈利能力。通過提高戰略品牌的在線滲透率並利用我們的數字營銷能力，我們將推動 nordstromrack.com 和我們商店的流量和銷售額。我們還繼續推動跨橫幅的全渠道參與。例如，在我們 3 年前推出這項服務後，五分之一的 Nordstrom.com、在線購買、店內提貨訂單實際上是在我們的 Rack 商店提貨。

The second area of focus across both banners is increasing our inventory productivity. This started with entering 2023 in a healthier inventory position. Looking forward, we have conservative buy plans in place, consistent with our outlook for continued macroeconomic pressure on consumer spending. We are also maintaining increased reserves against our buy plans, which enables us to be opportunistic in season, and we are planning for faster inventory turns with an increase of at least 10% over 2022 to drive newness and flow while also increasing the return on our inventory investment.

兩個橫幅的第二個重點領域是提高我們的庫存生產率。這始於以更健康的庫存狀況進入 2023 年。展望未來，我們制定了保守的購買計劃，這與我們對消費者支出持續面臨宏觀經濟壓力的前景一致。我們還根據我們的購買計劃保持增加的儲備，這使我們能夠在季節性機會主義，我們計劃加快庫存周轉速度，比 2022 年增加至少 10%，以推動新貨和流量，同時增加我們的回報存貨投資。

We are also enhancing our capabilities to manage inventory with greater precision at the unit level through investments in RFID and the shift to cost accounting for internal merchandising. These capabilities will help us deliver a fresh and relevant assortment at the store level for our customers. It will also improve our ability to buy, allocate and track merchandise across our network, provide us greater visibility in the profitability at the unit level, increase efficiency and reduce shrinkage.

我們還通過投資 RFID 和轉向內部銷售的成本核算來增強我們在單位級別更精確地管理庫存的能力。這些功能將幫助我們在商店層面為客戶提供新鮮且相關的分類。它還將提高我們在我們的網絡中購買、分配和跟踪商品的能力，使我們能夠更清楚地了解單位層面的盈利能力，提高效率並減少損耗。

Our third focus area, continuing to enhance our supply chain capabilities is also an essential part of our closer-to-use strategy. We built momentum throughout 2022 on several initiatives to improve the customer experience and our profitability despite ongoing cost pressures. I'll highlight a few.

我們的第三個重點領域，即繼續增強我們的供應鏈能力，也是我們更接近使用的戰略的重要組成部分。儘管成本壓力持續存在，我們仍通過多項舉措在整個 2022 年建立了勢頭，以改善客戶體驗和我們的盈利能力。我會強調一些。

We made significant progress in optimizing our unit flow from suppliers to customers by both changing some of our ordering practices as well as partnering with suppliers on shipment standards, and we'll be rolling this out further this year. We improved productivity and throughput in our distribution and fulfillment centers by more than 20% through better unit flow, focusing on team member retention and leveraging data for scheduling and training.

我們在優化從供應商到客戶的單位流程方面取得了重大進展，既改變了我們的一些訂購做法，也通過與供應商就裝運標准進行合作，我們將在今年進一步推廣。通過更好的單位流程，我們將配送和履行中心的生產力和吞吐量提高了 20% 以上，重點是留住團隊成員並利用數據進行日程安排和培訓。

Lastly, we increased delivery speed from click to delivery overall. For instance, our share of orders delivered within 4 days or less is up 40% from last year. These actions will continue to improve the customer experience, increase sell-through and reduce markdowns by allowing us to place the right assortment with the right depth closer to the customer. We expect to see further benefits from these efforts as well as from additional supply chain actions throughout 2023.

最後，我們提高了從點擊到交付的整體交付速度。例如，我們在 4 天或更短時間內交付的訂單份額比去年增加了 40%。這些行動將繼續改善客戶體驗，增加銷售率並減少降價，使我們能夠將正確的分類以正確的深度放置在離客戶更近的地方。我們希望在整個 2023 年看到這些努力以及其他供應鏈行動帶來的更多好處。

In closing, we are entering 2023 positioned for increased agility and are focused on our key priorities for improving the customer experience and our profitability. We especially want to thank our team for their ongoing commitment to helping our customers feel good and look their best.

最後，我們即將進入 2023 年，定位於提高敏捷性，並專注於改善客戶體驗和盈利能力的關鍵優先事項。我們特別要感謝我們的團隊，他們一直致力於幫助我們的客戶感覺良好並展現最佳狀態。

With that, I'll turn it over to Michael to discuss our financial results.

有了這個，我會把它交給邁克爾來討論我們的財務結果。

Thank you, Pete.

謝謝你，皮特。

I'll begin with our fourth quarter results and then walk through our outlook for fiscal 2023.

我將從我們的第四季度業績開始，然後介紹我們對 2023 財年的展望。

For the fourth quarter, we reported earnings per share of $0.74. Net sales in GMV each decreased 4%. For the full year, total revenue, net sales and GMV were all up 5%.

第四季度，我們報告的每股收益為 0.74 美元。 GMV 的淨銷售額各下降 4%。全年總收入、淨銷售額和 GMV 均增長 5%。

In Q4, Nordstrom banner sales decreased to 2% and GMV decreased to 3% versus last year. Nordstrom Rack sales decreased 8%, with a little over half of this decrease attributable to the elimination of Rack store fulfillment starting in the third quarter. Digital sales decreased to 13% this quarter including an estimated 500 basis point impact from eliminating Rack store fulfillment and sunsetting Trunk Club earlier in 2022.

第四季度，Nordstrom 橫幅銷售額下降至 2%，GMV 與去年相比下降至 3%。 Nordstrom Rack 銷售額下降了 8%，其中略多於一半的下降歸因於從第三季度開始取消 Rack 商店履行。本季度數字銷售額下降至 13%，其中包括取消 Rack 商店履行和 2022 年初關閉 Trunk Club 帶來的估計 500 個基點的影響。

Gross profit as a percentage of net sales decreased 525 basis points, primarily due to higher markdowns as we prioritized rightsizing inventory to start fiscal 2023 in a healthier position. Ending inventory decreased 15% from a year ago compared to a 4% decrease in fourth quarter sales. We remain committed to a disciplined approach to inventory management in 2023 with a goal of improving turns by at least 10%.

毛利潤占淨銷售額的百分比下降了 525 個基點，這主要是由於我們優先調整庫存以在 2023 財年以更健康的狀態開始，因此降價幅度更大。期末庫存較上年同期下降 15%，而第四季度銷售額下降 4%。我們仍然致力於在 2023 年採用嚴格的庫存管理方法，目標是將周轉率提高至少 10%。

Despite lower sales than last year, total SG&A as a percentage of net sales decreased 240 basis points in the fourth quarter, primarily due to supply chain expense efficiencies. As with last quarter, we're pleased with the progress we made on our supply chain optimization initiatives despite labor and transportation cost pressures. We expect these initiatives will continue to deliver significant benefits in 2023.

儘管銷售額低於去年，但第四季度 SG&A 總額占淨銷售額的百分比下降了 240 個基點，這主要是由於供應鏈費用效率的提高。與上一季度一樣，儘管存在勞動力和運輸成本壓力，我們對我們在供應鏈優化計劃方面取得的進展感到滿意。我們預計這些舉措將在 2023 年繼續帶來顯著效益。

EBIT margin was 4.5% for the fourth quarter. For the year, EBIT margin was 3.1%, and adjusted EBIT margin was 3.3%. We have a strong balance sheet and financial position, ending the fourth quarter with $1.5 billion in available liquidity, including the full $800 million available on our revolving line of credit.

第四季度的息稅前利潤率為 4.5%。全年，息稅前利潤率為 3.1%，調整後的息稅前利潤率為 3.3%。我們擁有穩健的資產負債表和財務狀況，截至第四季度末，可用流動資金為 15 億美元，其中包括我們循環信貸額度中可用的全部 8 億美元。

Turning to our 2023 outlook. I'll start by discussing the macroeconomic backdrop and the related assumptions underlying our guidance. We expect that elevated inflation and rising interest rates will continue to weigh on consumer spending, especially in the first half of the year. We also anticipate continuing inflationary pressure on our expenses, especially labor and transportation costs. However, we also expect global supply chain disruptions to continue to dissipate, benefiting inbound freight costs and inventory flow.

轉向我們的 2023 年展望。我將首先討論宏觀經濟背景和我們指導下的相關假設。我們預計通脹上升和利率上升將繼續拖累消費者支出，尤其是在今年上半年。我們還預計我們的支出將繼續承受通脹壓力，尤其是勞動力和運輸成本。然而，我們也預計全球供應鏈中斷將繼續消散，有利於入境貨運成本和庫存流動。

Taking these factors into consideration, for fiscal 2023, we expect revenue to decline 4% to 6% versus 2022. This outlook includes 2 significant items worth calling out. The first is an approximately 2.5 percentage point negative impact from the wind down of our Canadian operations, which delivered sales of approximately $400 million in 2022. The second is an approximately 1.3 percentage point positive impact from the 53rd week in fiscal 2023, which we expect will add approximately $200 million in sales to the fourth quarter.

考慮到這些因素，我們預計 2023 財年的收入將比 2022 年下降 4% 至 6%。這一前景包括 2 個值得一提的重要項目。第一個是我們加拿大業務結束帶來的大約 2.5 個百分點的負面影響，該業務在 2022 年實現了約 4 億美元的銷售額。第二個是從 2023 財年第 53 週開始產生的大約 1.3 個百分點的積極影響，我們預計將為第四季度增加約 2 億美元的銷售額。

Next, I'll highlight 3 factors that shape our outlook between the first and the second half of 2023. Year-over-year sales comparisons will be more difficult in the first half against our stronger first half in 2022, with more favorable comparisons expected in the second half. In addition, 1 week of the anniversary sale will shift from the second quarter into the third quarter this year. This will negatively impact second quarter sales and positively impact third quarter sales by approximately 200 basis points.

接下來，我將重點介紹影響我們 2023 年上半年和下半年前景的 3 個因素。與我們在 2022 年上半年更強勁的表現相比，上半年的同比銷售比較將更加困難，預計會有更有利的比較在下半場。此外，今年1週的周年特賣將從第二季度轉移到第三季度。這將對第二季度的銷售額產生負面影響，並對第三季度的銷售額產生約 200 個基點的正面影響。

We expect improvements in our business to build into the second half especially in the Rack as our merchandise assortment continues to improve, and we open new stores. We will also lap the impact of discontinuing Rack store fulfillment of online orders beginning in the third quarter. As a result of these factors, we expect revenue to decrease by a low double-digit percentage in the first half and to increase by a low single-digit percentage in the second half versus 2022.

我們預計我們的業務將在下半年有所改善，尤其是在貨架方面，因為我們的商品種類不斷改善，並且我們開設了新店。我們還將考慮從第三季度開始停止 Rack 商店履行在線訂單的影響。由於這些因素，我們預計與 2022 年相比，上半年收入將下降兩位數百分比，下半年收入將下降個位數百分比。

We expect the wind down of our Canadian operations to result in onetime pretax charges of $300 million to $350 million in the first quarter of 2023, primarily related to the write-off of our investment in Nordstrom Canada. These charges will reduce our first quarter and full year earnings per share by approximately $1.40 to $1.60. Excluding these charges, we expect an adjusted EBIT margin of approximately 3.7% to 4.2% for the full year versus 3.3% in 2022.

我們預計我們加拿大業務的結束將導致 2023 年第一季度的一次性稅前費用為 3 億至 3.5 億美元，這主要與我們在 Nordstrom Canada 的投資註銷有關。這些費用將使我們的第一季度和全年每股收益減少約 1.40 美元至 1.60 美元。排除這些費用，我們預計全年調整後的息稅前利潤率約為 3.7% 至 4.2%，而 2022 年為 3.3%。

Our forecast assumes that adjusted EBIT margin expansion will be driven primarily by gross margin improvements from our focus on inventory productivity, especially in the second half of the year when compared to the elevated markdowns we took in 2022. The wind down of Canadian operations will also improve EBIT, excluding onetime charges by approximately $35 million with most of the associated 20 basis points of EBIT margin improvement reflected in buying and occupancy costs as part of our gross profit margin.

我們的預測假設調整後的息稅前利潤率增長將主要受到我們關注庫存生產率帶來的毛利率改善的推動，尤其是在下半年，與我們在 2022 年採取的大幅降價相比。加拿大業務的結束也將提高息稅前利潤，不包括約 3500 萬美元的一次性費用，其中大部分相關的 20 個基點的息稅前利潤率提高反映在購買和入住成本中，作為我們毛利率的一部分。

Continued progress on our supply chain optimization initiatives will help partially mitigate SG&A expense deleverage resulting from lower sales and inflationary cost pressures. Given the previously mentioned sales and gross margin trends, we expect EBIT margin increases in the second half of the year offsetting decreases from lower sales in the first half of the year.

我們供應鏈優化計劃的持續進展將有助於部分緩解銷售下降和通脹成本壓力導致的 SG&A 費用去槓桿化。鑑於前面提到的銷售額和毛利率趨勢，我們預計下半年息稅前利潤率的增長將抵消上半年銷售額下降帶來的下降。

Our plan assumes that first quarter EBIT will be roughly breakeven. Our effective tax rate is expected to be approximately 32% for the fiscal year which includes an estimated 500 basis point impact from the onetime Canada charges. Our tax rate, excluding this impact is expected to be approximately 27%. We expect earnings per share of $0.20 to $0.80. Excluding charges related to the wind down of Canadian operations, we expect adjusted earnings per share of $1.80 to $2.20. Our earnings per share projections exclude the impact of share repurchases, if any.

我們的計劃假設第一季度息稅前利潤將大致達到盈虧平衡。我們本財年的有效稅率預計約為 32%，其中包括來自加拿大的一次性收費的估計 500 個基點影響。排除這一影響，我們的稅率預計約為 27%。我們預計每股收益為 0.20 美元至 0.80 美元。不包括與加拿大業務結束相關的費用，我們預計調整後的每股收益為 1.80 美元至 2.20 美元。我們的每股收益預測不包括股票回購的影響（如果有）。

Shifting to capital allocation, our priorities remain unchanged. Our first priority is investing in the business to better serve our customers and support long-term growth. We are planning capital expenditures of 3% to 4% of net sales, primarily for investments in supply chain and technology capabilities. Our second priority is reducing our leverage. We remain committed to an investment-grade credit rating through a combination of earnings improvement and debt reduction. We ended the year at 3.1x and continue to target a leverage ratio below 2.5x.

轉向資本配置，我們的優先事項保持不變。我們的首要任務是投資業務，以更好地服務我們的客戶並支持長期增長。我們計劃資本支出占淨銷售額的 3% 至 4%，主要用於供應鍊和技術能力的投資。我們的第二個優先事項是降低我們的槓桿作用。我們仍然致力於通過收益改善和債務減少相結合的投資級信用評級。我們以 3.1 倍結束了這一年，並繼續將槓桿率目標定在 2.5 倍以下。

We continue to return cash to shareholders. Earlier this week, our board of directors declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.19 per share. In addition, during fiscal 2022, we repurchased approximately $62 million of our stock at an average price of $22 per share. We have $438 million remaining on our current share repurchase authorization. We will continue to take a measured approach to share repurchases aligning with our cash flow and market conditions.

我們繼續向股東返還現金。本週早些時候，我們的董事會宣布派發每股 0.19 美元的季度現金股息。此外，在 2022 財年，我們以每股 22 美元的平均價格回購了約 6200 萬美元的股票。我們目前的股票回購授權還剩 4.38 億美元。我們將繼續採取審慎的方式根據我們的現金流和市場狀況進行股票回購。

As you've heard today, we are taking significant steps to execute with agility given the continued challenging macroeconomic backdrop. We are prioritizing initiatives that will drive greater profitability through improved performance at Rack, a disciplined approach to increase inventory productivity and continued progress on our supply chain optimization efforts. We are confident in our ability to navigate through economic uncertainty and remain excited about the future of our business and our ability to deliver significant shareholder value over time.

正如您今天所聽到的那樣，鑑於持續充滿挑戰的宏觀經濟背景，我們正在採取重要措施以靈活執行。我們正在優先考慮通過提高機架性能來提高盈利能力的舉措，這是一種提高庫存生產率的嚴格方法，以及我們供應鏈優化工作的持續進展。我們對我們應對經濟不確定性的能力充滿信心，並對我們業務的未來以及我們隨著時間的推移為股東創造重大價值的能力保持興奮。

With that, Sara, we're ready for questions.

有了這個，Sara，我們準備好提問了。

Thank you, Michael. Before we get started with Q&A, we ask that participants please limit themselves to 1 question and 1 follow-up. We'll now move to the Q&A session.

謝謝你，邁克爾。在我們開始問答之前，我們要求參與者將自己限制在 1 個問題和 1 個跟進。我們現在進入問答環節。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our first question comes from Brooke Roach with Goldman Sachs.

我們的第一個問題來自高盛的布魯克羅奇。

I'd love to spend a little bit more time digging in on the timeline to positive comparable sales growth at the Rack business. How are you currently forecasting Rack sales cadencing throughout the year? What are you seeing from your initial inventory rebalancing efforts? And can you provide a little bit more context on the profit impact of rightsizing the business to focus on your most important brands?

我願意多花一點時間深入研究時間軸，以便在 Rack 業務中實現積極的可比銷售增長。您目前如何預測全年的 Rack 銷售節奏？您從最初的庫存重新平衡工作中看到了什麼？您能否提供更多有關調整業務以專注於最重要品牌的利潤影響的背景信息？

Yes. Thanks. This is Michael. I'll go ahead and take the shot first at the way we've contemplated the flow of revenue through the year. And then I'll let Pete talk a little bit about the inventory availability and what we're seeing on that front.

是的。謝謝。這是邁克爾。我將繼續並首先考慮我們考慮全年收入流動的方式。然後我會讓皮特談談庫存可用性以及我們在這方面看到的情況。

So first of all, on the topline, there's just a number of factors there to bear in mind as you think about starting the year off -- we are first and foremost being, we're lapping a much stronger first half of last year. In the first quarter, in particular, we were up 19% year-over-year in the first quarter last year. So we've just got a tougher comparison as we start the year out.

因此，首先，最重要的是，當你考慮開始新的一年時，只有一些因素需要牢記——我們首先是，我們在去年上半年表現得更加強勁。特別是在第一季度，我們在去年第一季度同比增長了 19%。因此，在我們開始新的一年時，我們剛剛進行了更嚴格的比較。

We also have, as we've talked about, as we're building our assortment of strategic brands in the Rack, we expect to get to a place where we're targeting somewhere around the middle of the year, but we expect sequential improvement as we go through the next couple of quarters. And then we're also opening new Rack stores. Those will begin here in the spring, so we'll see some benefits in the first half of the year. But it will be most pronounced as we get into the second half.

正如我們所討論的，我們也有，當我們在機架中建立我們的戰略品牌組合時，我們希望在今年年中左右達到我們的目標，但我們希望連續改進當我們經歷接下來的幾個季度時。然後我們還將開設新的 Rack 商店。這些將在春季開始，因此我們將在今年上半年看到一些好處。但當我們進入下半場時，這種情況將最為明顯。

And then finally, you've just -- you've got the impact of eliminating Rack store fulfillment, which we did in the third quarter of last year. And so that results in a step-up as well when we get into the third quarter this year, and we aren't going against that headwind any further. That's sort of how Rack factors into the shape of that overall revenue guidance.

最後，你剛剛 - 你已經得到了消除 Rack 商店履行的影響，我們在去年第三季度這樣做了。因此，當我們進入今年第三季度時，這也會導致增長，我們不會再逆風而行。這就是 Rack 影響整體收入指導的方式。

Pete, do you want to talk a little bit about the inventory positioning at Rack and what was the availability?

Pete，你想談談 Rack 的庫存定位以及可用性嗎？

Sure. Yes. We've done a lot of work over the last couple of years to figure out our Rack strategy. And as you know, maybe 2 years ago now, we went with a (inaudible) a strategy that had us lowering AUR a little bit to try to see if we could gather more customers that way. We did, but not enough, really, I think to offset the lower AUR. In a lot of ways, what we've learned and maybe validated something we knew all the way along is the secret sauce for us in the off-price is the quality of the brands that we're able to offer. And that's why the whole kind of great brands, great prices thing is really where we're focused.

當然。是的。在過去的幾年裡，我們做了很多工作來確定我們的機架策略。如您所知，也許 2 年前的現在，我們採用了一項（聽不清）策略，讓我們稍微降低 AUR 以嘗試看看我們是否可以通過這種方式吸引更多客戶。我們做到了，但我認為還不足以抵消較低的 AUR。在很多方面，我們學到的東西，也許驗證了我們一直以來所知道的東西，是我們在低價中的秘訣是我們能夠提供的品牌質量。這就是為什麼所有偉大的品牌、優惠的價格才是我們真正關注的地方。

We know that customers come to Nordstrom Rack because they look for the brand they wouldn't typically find at other off-price retailers. We talked about 90% of the brand -- our top 50 brands in the Nordstrom banner are available in the Rack. And that's a good thing for us. But to do that well, we have to be in a lean inventory position where we could be opportunistic about the buys from those brands. And we just were to position this last year where we had to switch inventory, and that really hurt us. So we took aggressive position to get the markdowns there to clean ourselves out, to get ourselves in a really good spot for '23 with the balance of seasonality, age and categories. And now we have open-to-buy. We're chasing into it. There's a good product to be bought out there, and it starts with these top strategic brands.

我們知道顧客來到 Nordstrom Rack 是因為他們尋找通常不會在其他折扣零售商處找到的品牌。我們談到了 90% 的品牌——我們在 Nordstrom 橫幅中排名前 50 位的品牌都可以在 Rack 中找到。這對我們來說是件好事。但要做到這一點，我們必須處於精益庫存狀態，這樣我們才能對這些品牌的購買採取機會主義態度。去年我們只是將這個定位在我們不得不轉換庫存的地方，這真的傷害了我們。因此，我們採取積極的立場，通過降價促銷來清理自己，讓我們自己在 23 年的季節、年齡和類別之間取得平衡。現在我們有開放購買。我們正在追逐它。那裡有一個好產品可以買到，它從這些頂級戰略品牌開始。

Next is Matthew Boss with JPMorgan.

接下來是摩根大通的 Matthew Boss。

Great. So Erik, could you elaborate on more recent trends that you're seeing maybe across income cohorts in particular. I think you cited the softening more at the lower income side. And maybe could you touch on trends that you're seeing on the designer end? And then, Michael, just in terms of the phasing of the year, could you just maybe help bridge or walk through your confidence in the phasing of revenues front half down low double digits to the up low single digits in the back half of the year.

偉大的。所以埃里克，你能否詳細說明你看到的最近的趨勢，尤其是在收入人群中。我認為你更多地提到了低收入方面的疲軟。也許你能談談你在設計師端看到的趨勢嗎？然後，邁克爾，就今年的階段性而言，你能否幫助建立或走出你對收入階段性的信心，從前半年的低兩位數到下半年的低個位數.

Yes, when we look at our customer cohorts, it's pretty clear that the customer across the board is challenged, and there's some softness, and I think particularly in discretionary areas, we have seen that softness more pronounced in our lower income, in our Rack business. But it's safe to say that we've seen a pullback across our customers.

是的，當我們審視我們的客戶群體時，很明顯，所有客戶都面臨挑戰，並且存在一些疲軟，我認為特別是在可自由支配的領域，我們已經看到我們較低收入的疲軟更為明顯，在我們的機架中商業。但可以肯定地說，我們已經看到我們的客戶出現了回調。

For designer, I think Pete can go into that a little deeper.

對於設計師，我認為皮特可以深入一點。

Yes. The designer business for us, I mean, to put this in context, I think this may be the first quarterly call I've been on the last 10 years, what I didn't say designer was one of our best-performing categories last month -- or last quarter. So I think it's important to keep this in context. I mean one quarter is not a trend make here. And to put it in a different context, last year, we did more designer sales than we've ever done in the history of our company. We had double-digit increase.

是的。我們的設計師業務，我的意思是，放在上下文中，我認為這可能是我在過去 10 年中參加的第一個季度電話會議，我沒有說設計師是我們最後表現最好的類別之一月——或上個季度。所以我認為在上下文中保持這一點很重要。我的意思是四分之一不是這裡的趨勢。換個角度來看，去年我們的設計師銷量比公司歷史上任何時候都多。我們有兩位數的增長。

So what happened to us though is that we had a very large double-digit increase trend going with our sales that dropped rather precipitously to more normalized levels. And so as a result, right now, we find ourselves with too much designer inventory in this moment. And so we're working through that, and we'll have to make some adjustments on some onward in the near term. But these cyclical things happen in this business, and we'll be able to work through that. But I think the good news is our customers over a long period of time have showed a strong interest in the designer business, and it's something that's really important to our overall success, and we have good partnerships there, and again, continues to be an important part of our business and what our customers expect from us.

所以發生在我們身上的是，我們有一個非常大的兩位數增長趨勢，我們的銷售額急劇下降到更正常的水平。因此，現在，我們發現自己此時擁有太多的設計師庫存。所以我們正在努力解決這個問題，我們將不得不在短期內對某些方面進行一些調整。但這些週期性的事情發生在這個行業，我們將能夠解決這個問題。但我認為好消息是我們的客戶在很長一段時間內對設計師業務表現出濃厚的興趣，這對我們的整體成功非常重要，我們在那裡有良好的合作夥伴關係，而且，仍然是我們業務的重要組成部分以及客戶對我們的期望。

So Matt, you had asked about the revenue cadence between the first and the second half. So let me talk about a few factors there that led us to set the outlook out that way. So first of all, those more difficult comparisons in the first half. Not that 2019 is necessarily the perfect baseline. But if you just look at the way last year progressed relative to that, in the first half of the year, we were up mid-single digits. And in the back half of the year, we were down mid-single digits relative to 2019. So just on the current run rate, we've got an easier comparison that gives you a sense of the order of magnitude of that.

所以馬特，你問過上半年和下半年之間的收入節奏。因此，讓我談談導致我們以這種方式設定前景的一些因素。所以首先，上半場那些比較困難的比較。並不是說 2019 年一定是完美的基線。但如果你只看去年相對於此的進展方式，那麼在今年上半年，我們的漲幅為中等個位數。在今年下半年，我們與 2019 年相比下降了中等個位數。因此，就目前的運行率而言，我們有一個更簡單的比較，讓您了解其數量級。

The other thing is we've talked about is those choices we made around digital sales earlier in 2022, both Racks or fulfillment and also discontinuing our Trunk Club business. So that is together worth about 200 basis points of headwind to the first half of the year, and it essentially -- it disappears in the second half. We'll be fully lapping those things.

另一件事是我們談到的是我們在 2022 年初圍繞數字銷售做出的選擇，包括機架或履行以及停止我們的 Trunk Club 業務。因此，這對今年上半年來說總共價值約 200 個基點的逆風，而且它基本上 - 它在下半年消失了。我們將完全覆蓋這些東西。

And then the last thing is -- well, actually, 2 more things. One of them is the Rack new store openings, I mentioned will begin in the spring, but the cumulative effect of the first half won't be very big. It will be worth about 150 basis points to the second half of the year, though. And then finally, the anniversary timing shift, that 1 week, it's a couple of hundred basis points between Q2 and Q3. That roughly equates to about 100 basis points between half 1 and half 2. So -- you put all those things together, and it gets us to a low double-digit decrease in the first half of the year and low single-digit increase in the back half.

最後一件事是——好吧，實際上還有兩件事。其中之一就是Rack的新店開張，我提到會在春季開始，但上半年的累積效應不會很大。不過，到今年下半年，它的價值約為 150 個基點。最後，週年紀念時間轉移，即 1 週，第二季度和第三季度之間有幾百個基點。這大致相當於第 1 半和第 2 半之間的大約 100 個基點。所以 - 你將所有這些東西放在一起，它使我們在今年上半年出現低兩位數的下降，而在後半部分。

Next is Noah Zatzkin with KeyBanc Capital Markets. .

接下來是來自 KeyBanc Capital Markets 的 Noah Zatzkin。 .

Just any color on what you've been seeing in the promotional environment exiting the year, particularly as it relates to the planned cadence of gross margin moving through the year would be helpful. Obviously, compares become easier in the back half. But with inventory in a healthier position exiting the year, just any color on puts and takes we should be thinking about would be helpful.

你在今年結束的促銷環境中看到的任何顏色，特別是與全年毛利率計劃節奏相關的顏色都會有所幫助。顯然，比較在後半部分變得更容易。但是，隨著年末庫存處於更健康的位置，我們應該考慮的任何看跌期權顏色都會有所幫助。

Yes. This is Pete. The biggest factor on our promotions has to do with our own inventory levels. So you saw increased markdown level in the fourth quarter for us, and that was largely of our own doing. There was regular promotional activity happening to competition that we had to respond to. But most of that was really our own things. So I think what you should see going forward to this next year is a more normal rhythm of how promotions impact our business. We can't control what's going on with the other retailers and what their inventory position is. And at a certain level, we have to be responsive to that. So we'll see how that plays out. But for now, we can tell you with a lot of confidence that we're going to return to more normal markdown cadence because our inventory is in much better position.

是的。這是皮特。我們促銷的最大因素與我們自己的庫存水平有關。所以你看到我們在第四季度的降價水平有所提高，這主要是我們自己做的。我們必須對比賽進行定期的促銷活動。但其中大部分實際上是我們自己的東西。所以我認為明年你應該看到的是促銷如何影響我們業務的更正常的節奏。我們無法控制其他零售商的情況以及他們的庫存狀況。在某種程度上，我們必須對此做出回應。所以我們將看看結果如何。但就目前而言，我們可以充滿信心地告訴您，我們將恢復到更正常的降價節奏，因為我們的庫存狀況要好得多。

Noah, it's Michael. I'll just add to that that our outlook for gross margin assumes a more normalized level of markdown. So not any kind of historic best or anything like that, but just a normal cadence at a normal level. We do have some remaining pockets that we expect we'll be clearing in the first half of the year. That's contemplated in there as well. But then just through greater inventory discipline and turns, we would expect, as you go against that elevated level of markdowns in the fourth quarter that we should see some meaningful improvement.

諾亞，是邁克爾。我只想補充一點，我們對毛利率的展望假設降價水平更為正常。所以不是任何一種歷史最佳或類似的東西，而是正常水平的正常節奏。我們確實有一些剩餘的口袋，我們預計我們會在今年上半年清理乾淨。那裡也考慮到了這一點。但是，只要通過更大的庫存紀律和周轉，我們預計，隨著第四季度降價水平的提高，我們應該會看到一些有意義的改善。

Next is Blake Anderson with Jefferies.

接下來是 Jefferies 的 Blake Anderson。

So I wanted to ask on the previous medium-term guide you provided a couple of years ago. Just thinking about the margin targets. I think you had said you could do a 4.5% margin -- operating margin if you're at least $14.5 billion in revenue, which is what your guide implies this year. You're slightly below that on the margin guide. So how do we think about you bridging back to at least 4.5%? And then I wanted to revisit how you get back to that second target of 6% plus?

所以我想問問你幾年前提供的上一份中期指南。只是考慮保證金目標。我想你曾說過，如果你的收入至少為 145 億美元，你可以實現 4.5% 的利潤率——營業利潤率，這正是你今年的指南所暗示的。你略低於保證金指南中的那個。那麼我們如何看待你至少回到 4.5%？然後我想重新審視你如何回到 6% 以上的第二個目標？

Yes, Blake, it's Michael. I'll take a first shot at that. We believe that those targets are -- remain achievable in a normalized environment with sort of sustainable low single-digit topline growth, we believe we can achieve better margins than we did on comparable revenue beforehand. We're not quite in a normalized environment at this point. We talked about some of the macro headwinds we're seeing right now on consumer spending and also the inflationary pressures. But we took a meaningful amount of our overhead costs out back in 2020, as you might recall. We continue to drive meaningful efficiencies in our supply chain, which is now the largest element of our SG&A. And we've been driving down our buying and occupancy as a percentage of our sales as well, which, as you know, is a component of gross profit for us.

是的，布萊克，是邁克爾。我會先嘗試一下。我們相信這些目標是——在正常化的環境中仍然可以實現，並且可以實現可持續的低個位數收入增長，我們相信我們可以獲得比之前可比收入更高的利潤率。在這一點上，我們還沒有完全處於正常化的環境中。我們談到了我們目前在消費者支出和通脹壓力方面看到的一些宏觀逆風。但您可能還記得，早在 2020 年，我們就削減了大量間接費用。我們繼續推動我們的供應鏈顯著提高效率，這現在是我們 SG&A 的最大組成部分。我們也一直在降低我們的購買量和入住率佔銷售額的百分比，正如你所知，這是我們毛利的一個組成部分。

So really, the last element in that equation for us is once we're in sort of a normalized macro environment where we can generate and sustain low single-digit topline growth, we believe we're positioned to achieve those long-term EBIT margin target.

所以真的，對我們來說，這個等式中的最後一個因素是，一旦我們處於一種正常化的宏觀環境中，我們可以產生並維持較低的個位數收入增長，我們相信我們有能力實現這些長期息稅前利潤率目標。

Okay. And then just wanted to follow up on the Rack inventory. I mean you've talked about the excess inventory environment potentially being a benefit. Did you see that in Q4 at all? And then how much are you baking in for that this year as well?

好的。然後只想跟進機架庫存。我的意思是你已經談到過剩的庫存環境可能是一種好處。你在第四季度看到了嗎？那麼你今年也為此付出了多少？

We started to see it in the fourth quarter, but we really weren't in a great position to chase into it because we were still cleaning up our inventory level. So I think it's one of the things that gives us some level of confidence. I mean that switch doesn't get flipped overnight, that all of a sudden, we completely transform our inventory. But again, I think it's fair to say we're open to buy going forward, and we're in a position to start receiving the newness of the brands and the balance that's going to be a good recipe for us in the Rack.

我們在第四季度開始看到它，但我們真的不適合追逐它，因為我們仍在清理我們的庫存水平。所以我認為這是讓我們有一定程度信心的事情之一。我的意思是開關不會在一夜之間翻轉，突然間，我們完全改變了我們的庫存。但是，我認為可以公平地說，我們對未來的購買持開放態度，並且我們能夠開始接受品牌的新穎性和平衡，這將成為我們在機架中的一個很好的秘訣。

Next is Ed Yruma with Piper Sandler.

接下來是 Ed Yruma 和 Piper Sandler。

First, a housekeeping question. The 20 new Rack stores, I guess, how much does that contribute to sales growth in '23? And I guess just stepping back a little bit. I know that the store comp maybe was a little easier because of Omicron, but even ex some of these special items, digital seems to be underperforming. How should we think about your digital business in '23? Will it outperform the storage business or more in line? And kind of what initiatives do you have underway to kind of restore health there?

首先，一個家政問題。我猜這 20 家新的 Rack 商店對 23 年的銷售增長有多大貢獻？我想只是退後一點。我知道，由於 Omicron，商店比較可能更容易一些，但即使排除其中一些特殊商品，數字似乎也表現不佳。我們應該如何看待 23 世紀的數字業務？它的表現會優於存儲業務還是更接近存儲業務？您正在採取哪些措施來恢復那裡的健康？

Ed, I'll start with the Rack new store contribution. It is approximately 100 basis points to the year, and that's going to be back half weighted. And then as far as digital, I could talk a little bit about the trends and then let Erik speak to just more generally the outlook for our digital business. So yes, as you mentioned, we're comping Omicron in the fourth quarter of last year when we saw store traffic fall off in a pretty meaningful way in the middle of the quarter and a lot of that shift to digital. And so we saw the reverse of that in terms of the year-over-year trends this year.

Ed，我將從 Rack 新商店貢獻開始。這大約是一年的 100 個基點，這將是一半加權。然後就數字而言，我可以談談趨勢，然後讓埃里克更廣泛地談談我們數字業務的前景。所以是的，正如你提到的，我們在去年第四季度與 Omicron 進行了比較，當時我們看到商店流量在本季度中期以一種非常有意義的方式下降，而且很多都轉向了數字化。因此，就今年的同比趨勢而言，我們看到了相反的情況。

I'd expect that to continue into the first half at least as we're still -- what we saw in the first half of last year, you'll probably recall there was a strong pent-up demand for getting out again. Stores were especially -- showing especially strong growth, a little bit of a retreat in the digital penetration, and then we're -- to your point, we're lapping some of the decisions that we made last year that have suppressed our digital growth, but are helping us be more profitable. So we remain a 40% digital business. We continue to see it as a meaningful part of our overall business. And I think once we're past some of those timing impacts, we should see growth normalize.

我預計這種情況至少會持續到上半年，因為我們仍然是這樣——我們在去年上半年看到的情況，你可能還記得有一種強烈的被壓抑的再次走出去的需求。商店尤其是 - 顯示出特別強勁的增長，數字滲透率略有下降，然後我們 - 就你的觀點而言，我們正在製定去年做出的一些抑制我們數字化的決定增長，但正在幫助我們獲得更多利潤。所以我們仍然是一個 40% 的數字業務。我們繼續將其視為我們整體業務的重要組成部分。而且我認為，一旦我們克服了其中一些時間影響，我們應該會看到增長正常化。

Erik, anything you want to add on that?

埃里克，你想補充什麼嗎？

Yes. I think in digital, one piece of context, we made some decisions last year to focus on profitable growth, which hurt some of our topline digitally, in particular, stopping store foot film on our rack.com order. So about 500 basis points on our digital performance. But we do see Nordstrom.com, in particular, as a growth vehicle for us. And our focus there isn't so much about pure digital growth. It is about engagement with customers as we continue to see the customer want omnichannel capabilities, things like only buy online, pick up in store. But for us, -- it's been very successful and we opened up our Rack stores to be the pickup point for Nordstrom.com orders. So not only having cross-channel capabilities but leveraging the 2 brands that we have there.

是的。我認為在數字方面，有一個背景，我們去年做出了一些決定，專注於盈利增長，這在數字方面損害了我們的一些收入，特別是在我們的 rack.com 訂單上停止了商店腳膜。所以我們的數字性能大約有 500 個基點。但我們確實將 Nordstrom.com 特別視為我們的增長工具。我們的重點並不是純粹的數字增長。這是關於與客戶的互動，因為我們繼續看到客戶需要全渠道功能，比如只在線購買，到店取貨。但對我們來說，它非常成功，我們開設了 Rack 商店，成為 Nordstrom.com 訂單的取貨點。因此，不僅具有跨渠道能力，而且還利用了我們在那裡擁有的兩個品牌。

The other piece I'd call out, which is a big general area for us to work on is around discovery. Our strength is around newness and inspiring our customers to try something new and introduce new brands to them. We've had a lot of success over the years. And it's not necessarily exclusive products, but it's brands that aren't up and aren't widely distributed. And digital is a real important part of that of the discovery experience as more and more customers start their journeys online, even if they end up being in store. So discovery is something that we have a lot of initiatives around this year.

我要指出的另一部分是關於發現的，這是我們工作的一個大的一般領域。我們的優勢在於創新，並激發我們的客戶嘗試新事物並向他們介紹新品牌。多年來，我們取得了很多成功。它不一定是獨家產品，但它是尚未出現且未廣泛分佈的品牌。隨著越來越多的客戶在線開始他們的旅程，即使他們最終在商店中，數字也是發現體驗的一個真正重要的部分。所以發現是我們今年有很多舉措的事情。

Next is Chuck Grom with Gordon Haskett.

接下來是查克格羅姆和戈登哈斯克特。

This is Eric Cohen on for Chuck. You talked about the consumer being under pressure, particularly more of the Rack customer. So I guess trying to understand the acceleration in the Rack openings this year. So why doing it now when comps have been under pressure, maybe not wait until the business is a little more on steady footing?

這是查克的埃里克科恩。您談到消費者承受壓力，尤其是 Rack 客戶。所以我想試圖了解今年機架開口的加速情況。那麼，為什麼在補償一直處於壓力之下時現在就這樣做，而不是等到業務更加穩固之後呢？

It's a great question. First and foremost, our Rack stores are a great return on investment, full stop. We have a real strong track record of the return on these stores. It is a great use of capital -- it's low capital investments, low-risk investment on a proven model, and our most recent proof point to share would be our 3 recent store openings in Rack. All 3 of them are beating plan. All 3 of them are outperforming our fleet average and sales productivity and EBIT margin.

這是一個很好的問題。首先，我們的貨架商店是一個很好的投資回報，句號。我們在這些商店的回報方面擁有良好的記錄。這是對資本的一種很好的利用——它是低資本投資，對成熟模型的低風險投資，我們最近要分享的證據是我們最近在 Rack 開設的 3 家商店。他們三個都在擊敗計劃。這 3 家公司的表現均優於我們的機隊平均水平、銷售生產力和息稅前利潤率。

And part of that, if you step back a little bit, off-price in particular, is a real requirement around convenience. And the discovery process in off-price for a lot of customers lends to sell to stores. So having more stores provides a lot more convenience. And sure seems clear to us that our fleet is underpenetrated. You look at our store count compared to others out there, we see a lot of room for growth there. The other piece I just would call out is what Rack stores do to our ecosystem. Rack stores remain the largest source of new customer acquisition for us. It's more than 40% of our new customer acquisition occurred in Rack stores. So there's just a lot of goodness all around for us to open Rack stores.

其中的一部分，如果你退後一步，特別是低價，是圍繞便利性的真正要求。很多客戶在折扣價中發現過程借給商店出售。因此，擁有更多商店會提供更多便利。我們肯定很清楚我們的艦隊滲透不足。你看看我們的商店數量與其他商店相比，我們看到那裡有很大的增長空間。我只想說的另一件事是貨架商店對我們的生態系統所做的事情。貨架商店仍然是我們獲取新客戶的最大來源。我們 40% 以上的新客戶獲取發生在貨架商店。因此，我們開 Rack 商店時周圍有很多好處。

Erik one other thing I would just add to underscore Erik's comment about Rack stores being a great investment. They're a little capital investment, which you said. Just to highlight that, though, our cumulative investment this year in Rack new store openings is going to be less than 15% of our total capital expenditure plan. So we feel really good about making that commitment and getting the returns that I talked about.

埃里克我想補充的另一件事是為了強調埃里克關於貨架商店是一項偉大投資的評論。他們是一點資本投資，你說的。不過要強調的是，我們今年對 Rack 新店開張的累計投資將不到我們總資本支出計劃的 15%。因此，我們對做出承諾並獲得我所說的回報感到非常高興。

Great. When you look at sort of the credit card business, your portfolio, just on talks of increasing delinquencies, are you seeing anything with your customers in there? And anything in the portfolio that sort of shapes the way how you think the consumer is going to spend in 2023?

偉大的。當你審視信用卡業務時，你的投資組合，只是在談論不斷增加的拖欠率時，你看到你的客戶有什麼嗎？投資組合中的任何東西都會影響您認為消費者在 2023 年的消費方式嗎？

Yes. Well, what we've seen in terms of our credit card portfolio is similar to what we've seen sort of more broadly reported out there with larger card issuers. In general, we see consumers pulling back a little bit on discretionary categories. We see the credit metrics declining a little bit from where they were last year. But just for context, as a reminder, they were at historically good levels last year coming out of COVID with stimulus money and excess savings, consumers paid down balances, charge-offs and delinquencies were at historic lows. And we're back to something more normalized now, but actually still better for us than pre-pandemic levels. So what we're seeing now and what we expect to see and was contemplated in our '23 guidance is that with higher balances, we'll get higher finance charge and fee income. That will be offset by some higher loss rates. Overall, we think credit revenue will be a similar percentage of our total revenue.

是的。好吧，我們在信用卡產品組合方面所看到的與我們在更大的發卡機構那裡看到的更廣泛的報導相似。總的來說，我們看到消費者在可自由支配的類別上有所退縮。我們看到信用指標比去年略有下降。但僅供參考，提醒一下，去年從 COVID 中獲得刺激資金和超額儲蓄後，它們處於歷史上良好的水平，消費者還清了余額，註銷和拖欠率處於歷史低位。我們現在回到了更正常的狀態，但實際上對我們來說仍然比大流行前的水平要好。因此，我們現在所看到的以及我們期望看到的以及我們在 23 年指南中所考慮的是，隨著餘額的增加，我們將獲得更高的財務費用和費用收入。這將被更高的損失率所抵消。總體而言，我們認為信貸收入將占我們總收入的相似百分比。

Our last question comes from Oliver Chen with TD Cowen.

我們的最後一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Oliver Chen。

Eric Peter and Michael, regarding inventory, how should we think about inventory growth relative to sales growth in the next few quarters? Also, as you mentioned, there's a big opportunity to increase inventory turns. Which categories do you see the most opportunity? And then you also mentioned the cost method of accounting for inventory and switching from the retail to the cost method. That sounds like it could be very customer-centric and helpful. Would love more information on timing and how that may or may not impact agility and decision-making in terms of understanding the gross margin return on inventory profile.

Eric Peter 和 Michael，關於庫存，我們應該如何考慮未來幾個季度相對於銷售增長的庫存增長？此外，正如您提到的，增加庫存周轉率的機會很大。您認為哪些類別的機會最大？然後您還提到了存貨核算的成本法以及從零售法向成本法的轉換。這聽起來像是非常以客戶為中心並且很有幫助。希望獲得更多有關時間安排的信息，以及在了解庫存概況的毛利率回報方面，這可能會或可能不會影響敏捷性和決策制定。

Thanks, Oliver, for the question.

謝謝奧利弗提出這個問題。

I'll start, and then I'm going to let Pete chime in as well. First of all, in terms of the inventory versus sales growth. Yes, with the 10% or better improvement in turn, you should expect inventory levels to be lower than sales. Whatever kind of change in sales we see, we should be better than that in terms of inventory. I'll let Pete speak to the specific categories where we think we have the most opportunity. But real quickly before I turn it over to him, I just want add to address the cost method.

我先開始，然後我還要讓皮特插話。首先，就庫存與銷售增長而言。是的，有了 10% 或更好的改善，您應該預計庫存水平會低於銷售額。無論我們看到什麼樣的銷售變化，我們都應該比庫存方面更好。我會讓皮特談談我們認為最有機會的具體類別。但在我把它交給他之前很快，我只想添加以解決成本方法。

We've made that switch for internal merchandising. We absolutely agree. It gives us the opportunity to be much more item-focused and precise in the way we're managing our inventory, which is good for customers, as you said. Do you just want to clarify, though, that you won't -- there is no change to our external reporting. We remain on the retail method for our financial accounting and external reporting. So you won't see any impact to our reported gross margin.

我們已經為內部推銷做出了這種轉變。我們絕對同意。正如您所說，它使我們有機會在管理庫存的方式上更加專注於項目並更加精確，這對客戶有利。不過，你只是想澄清一下，你不會——我們的外部報告沒有變化。我們的財務會計和外部報告仍然採用零售法。所以你不會看到對我們報告的毛利率有任何影響。

Pete, do you want to add to that?

皮特，你想補充嗎？

Yes. With turn, I mean, I think the blanket answer is we have room to improve across the board but if I'm to choose or probably the biggest opportunity is I'd say the Rack all up across all categories, I'd say probably particularly in apparel, there's a version of that also in the Nordstrom banner, I would say, apparel is probably the one.

是的。反過來，我的意思是，我認為籠統的答案是我們有全面改進的空間，但如果我要選擇，或者可能最大的機會是我會說所有類別的機架，我會說可能特別是在服裝方面，在 Nordstrom 的旗幟上也有一個版本，我想說，服裝可能就是那個。

And the reason I'd say that is probably the most perishable stuff that we have in terms of its seasonality and what have you. So there's opportunity across the board. And what we've done is we've gone back in context through historical best and turns and how that impacts our markdown rates and our margins and really not use last year as a guide, but really kind of starting at the all-time best that we had and planning accordingly. And so yes, again, I think the answer is across the board.

我之所以說這可能是我們擁有的最易腐爛的東西，就其季節性和你有什麼而言。因此，整個行業都有機會。我們所做的是，我們回顧了歷史最佳和轉折的背景，以及這如何影響我們的降價率和利潤率，並且真的沒有使用去年作為指導，而是從歷史最佳開始我們有相應的計劃。所以是的，我認為答案是全面的。

We want to thank you for joining today's call. A replay, along with the slide presentation and prepared remarks, will be available for 1 year on our website. Thank you for your interest in Nordstrom.

我們要感謝您參加今天的電話會議。重播連同幻燈片演示和準備好的評論將在我們的網站上提供 1 年。感謝您對 Nordstrom 的關注。

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

今天的電話會議到此結束。您此時可以斷開線路，我們感謝您的參與。