克羅格 (KR) 2021 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to The Kroger Co.

早上好，歡迎來到克羅格公司。

Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Conference Call.

2021 年第三季度收益電話會議。

(Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded.

（操作員說明）請注意，此事件正在記錄中。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Rob Quast, Director, Investor Relations.

我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係總監 Rob Quast。

Please go ahead.

請繼續。

Good morning.

早上好。

Thank you for joining us for Kroger's Third Quarter 2021 Earnings Call.

感謝您加入我們參加克羅格 2021 年第三季度財報電話會議。

I am joined today by Kroger's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rodney McMullen; and Chief Financial Officer, Gary Millerchip.

今天，克羅格的董事長兼首席執行官羅德尼·麥克馬倫 (Rodney McMullen) 加入了我的行列；和首席財務官 Gary Millerchip。

Before we begin, I want to remind you that today's discussions will include forward-looking statements.

在開始之前，我想提醒您，今天的討論將包括前瞻性陳述。

We want to caution you that such statements are predictions, and actual events or results can differ materially.

我們想提醒您，此類陳述是預測，實際事件或結果可能存在重大差異。

A detailed discussion of the many factors that we believe may have a material effect on our business on an ongoing basis is contained in our SEC filings.

我們認為可能對我們的業務持續產生重大影響的許多因素的詳細討論包含在我們提交給美國證券交易委員會的文件中。

The Kroger Co.

克羅格公司

assumes no obligation to update that information.

不承擔更新該信息的義務。

Our press release and supplemental information regarding the quarter can be found on our website at ir.kroger.com.

可以在我們的網站 ir.kroger.com 上找到我們關於本季度的新聞稿和補充信息。

After our prepared remarks, we look forward to taking your questions.

在我們準備好發言之後，我們期待著回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

I would also like to announce that we will be hosting a business update on March 4, 2022, in Florida with an opportunity to tour our recently opened Kroger delivery customer fulfillment center.

我還想宣布，我們將於 2022 年 3 月 4 日在佛羅里達州舉辦一次業務更新，並有機會參觀我們最近開設的 Kroger 交付客戶履行中心。

We hope that you are able to join us.

我們希望您能夠加入我們。

I will now turn the call over to Rodney.

我現在將把電話轉給羅德尼。

Thank you for joining us today.

感謝您今天加入我們。

We often say the holidays are our time to shine.

我們經常說假期是我們發光的時候。

And as we move through the holiday season, we feel great about our ability to deliver.

隨著假期的到來，我們對自己的交付能力感到非常滿意。

I would like to say a huge thank you to our associates who remain engaged, energized and focused on taking care of our customers.

我要非常感謝我們的員工，他們仍然敬業、充滿活力並專注於照顧我們的客戶。

We are incredibly proud of our third quarter results and the underlying momentum in our business.

我們對第三季度的業績和我們業務的潛在發展勢頭感到無比自豪。

We returned to positive identical sales without fuel for the quarter.

我們在本季度沒有燃料的情況下恢復了正的相同銷售額。

We saw triple-digit digital sales growth on a 2-year stack, and we've increased our full year 2021 guidance.

我們在兩年內看到了三位數的數字銷售增長，我們提高了 2021 年全年的指導。

Our agility and the commitment from our amazing associates is allowing us to navigate current labor and supply chain conditions and provide the freshest food at affordable prices across our seamless ecosystem.

我們的敏捷性和出色員工的承諾使我們能夠駕馭當前的勞動力和供應鏈條件，並在我們無縫的生態系統中以可承受的價格提供最新鮮的食物。

Customers are demonstrating more back-to-normal behaviors, and at the same time, are eating more food at home because it's more affordable, convenient and healthier than other options, plus you can do it as a family.

顧客表現出更多恢復正常的行為，同時，他們在家吃的食物也更多，因為它比其他選擇更實惠、更方便、更健康，而且你可以作為一個家庭來做。

This was evidenced by our Thanksgiving holiday shopping behavior.

我們的感恩節假期購物行為證明了這一點。

Customers engaged in larger celebrations with friends and family compared to last year.

與去年相比，客戶與朋友和家人進行了更大規模的慶祝活動。

We also saw them continuing to cook at home, leading up to and during the holiday, and select more premium products to elevate the food experience.

我們還看到他們在假期前和假期期間繼續在家做飯，並選擇更多優質產品來提升美食體驗。

These are all reasons why we believe the food at home change is structural and not temporary.

這些都是我們認為家庭食物變化是結構性而非暫時性的原因。

With most people consuming meals at home and grocery stores continuing to capture the majority share of stomach, it is more important than ever that we provide customers with flexibility on how they choose to shop with us.

隨著大多數人在家用餐，雜貨店繼續佔據大部分胃口，我們為客戶提供選擇與我們購物方式的靈活性比以往任何時候都更加重要。

We have the right seamless ecosystem in place to meet our customers' evolving needs.

我們擁有合適的無縫生態系統來滿足客戶不斷變化的需求。

Leading into Thanksgiving, 70% of consumers said that they would be doing more of their holiday shopping in the store this year.

進入感恩節，70% 的消費者表示，他們今年將更多地在商店進行假日購物。

At the same time, 84% of consumers said that they will continue to shop online the same amount or more in the future.

同時，84%的消費者表示，未來他們會繼續在網上購物等量或更多。

These seemingly contradictory behaviors are exactly what Kroger's seamless ecosystem was designed to accommodate.

這些看似矛盾的行為正是克羅格的無縫生態系統旨在適應的。

We know that inflation is having an impact on customers as well.

我們知道通貨膨脹也對客戶產生影響。

82% of consumers polled across the country are feeling the impact of inflation, and 1 in 4 consumers are not confident in their finances right now.

全國接受調查的消費者中有 82% 感受到了通貨膨脹的影響，四分之一的消費者目前對自己的財務狀況沒有信心。

We are leveraging our data and personalization to enable our customers to stretch their food dollars.

我們正在利用我們的數據和個性化來使我們的客戶能夠增加他們的食品費用。

We deliver value when customers need it the most with personalized promotions, big packs and dynamic holiday offerings.

當客戶最需要時，我們通過個性化促銷、大包裝和動態假日產品提供價值。

Our brands also offer our customers flexibility within their spending without compromising, thanks to the wide variety of incredibly high-quality and innovative products at various price points.

我們的品牌還為我們的客戶提供了在不影響消費方面的靈活性，這要歸功於各種價位令人難以置信的高品質和創新產品。

And while price continues to be top of mind, customers continue to desire the freshest food options, and we're there for them, leading with fresh.

雖然價格仍然是首要考慮因素，但客戶仍然渴望最新鮮的食物選擇，我們為他們服務，以新鮮為先。

We grew sales in Natural & Organics as customers continue to gravitate toward better-for-you options.

隨著客戶繼續傾向於更適合您的選擇，我們在天然和有機產品方面的銷售額有所增長。

Our fresh departments outpaced total company identical sales without fuel during the quarter as well.

我們的新部門在本季度也超過了公司在沒有燃料的情況下的總銷售額。

We had a record quarter in our alternative farming offerings, which includes new approaches to growing produce, including vertical and indoor farm operations.

我們的替代農業產品創下季度記錄，其中包括種植農產品的新方法，包括垂直和室內農場經營。

These offerings expand customers' access to produce picked at the peak of freshness.

這些產品擴大了客戶在新鮮度高峰期採摘農產品的途徑。

We are very proud to share that Home Chef became a $1 billion brand on an annualized basis in the third quarter as mealtime shortcuts and solutions, as well as new product innovations, have clearly resonated with our customers.

我們非常自豪地與大家分享，Home Chef 在第三季度成為一個年銷售額達 10 億美元的品牌，因為用餐時間的捷徑和解決方案以及新產品創新顯然引起了我們客戶的共鳴。

Kroger is focused on delivering a customer-centric, seamless experience that requires 0 compromise no matter how customers choose to engage with us.

Kroger 專注於提供以客戶為中心的無縫體驗，無論客戶如何選擇與我們互動，都需要零妥協。

We launched 3 new offerings during the quarter that support the plan to double digital sales and digital profitability by 2023.

我們在本季度推出了 3 種新產品，以支持到 2023 年將數字銷售額和數字盈利能力翻番的計劃。

First, Boost by Kroger builds on our industry-leading loyalty program to deliver additional savings and personalized offers to our members.

首先，Boost by Kroger 建立在我們行業領先的忠誠度計劃的基礎上，為我們的會員提供額外的節省和個性化的優惠。

We are encouraged by the initial engagement in the program which is ahead of internal expectations.

我們對該計劃的初步參與感到鼓舞，這超出了內部預期。

Second, we launched Kroger Delivery Now in partnership with Instacart.

其次，我們與 Instacart 合作推出了 Kroger Delivery Now。

This unique convenience and immediacy offering positions us to win more trips with current customers and to bring new customers to the Kroger ecosystem by offering the largest selection of quality fresh products at affordable prices in 30 minutes.

這種獨特的便利性和即時性使我們能夠在 30 分鐘內以實惠的價格提供最多的優質新鮮產品，從而贏得更多現有客戶的旅行，並將新客戶帶入 Kroger 生態系統。

Here's what's so special about this offering.

這是此產品的特別之處。

It was profitable on day 1, contributing to our goal to double digital profitability by 2023 that was announced during our 2021 Investor Day.

它在第一天就實現了盈利，為我們在 2021 年投資者日期間宣布的到 2023 年數字盈利能力翻番的目標做出了貢獻。

And third, we announced a strategic collaboration with Bed Bath & Beyond and buybuy Baby that will expand our current marketplace offering and provide Kroger shoppers easy access to essential home and baby products.

第三，我們宣布與 Bed Bath & Beyond 和buybuy Baby 達成戰略合作，這將擴大我們目前的市場產品，並讓 Kroger 購物者能夠輕鬆獲得基本的家居和嬰兒產品。

This exclusive offering will be available through both Kroger.com and on a small-scale physical store pilot at select stores beginning in 2022.

從 2022 年開始，這項獨家產品將通過 Kroger.com 和在特定商店的小規模實體店試點提供。

We continue to be pleased with the rollout of our customer fulfillment centers in Groveland, Florida; and Monroe, Ohio, which are exceeding internal expectations, and we are especially proud of our Net Promoter Scores, driven by our teams, delivering a world-class experience for our customers, and we're really looking forward to hosting you in Groveland early next year.

我們繼續對在佛羅里達州格羅夫蘭推出的客戶履行中心感到滿意；和俄亥俄州門羅，超出了內部預期，我們特別為我們的淨推薦值感到自豪明年。

Turning now to our supply chain.

現在轉向我們的供應鏈。

We feel great about our ability to serve customer needs through the holidays and beyond.

我們對我們在假期及以後滿足客戶需求的能力感到非常滿意。

This is because our teams have done such a good job, planning well ahead to maintain a full, fresh and friendly customer experience.

這是因為我們的團隊做得非常好，提前計劃好保持完整、新鮮和友好的客戶體驗。

In fact, our customers took action to prepare for today's supply chain constraints back in the spring.

事實上，我們的客戶早在春季就採取了行動，為今天的供應鏈限製做好準備。

And a great example of leveraging learnings from operating during the pandemic, we kept the additional warehouses originally brought on to support business through COVID to ensure we were able to provide for customers throughout the holiday season as well.

作為利用大流行期間運營經驗的一個很好的例子，我們保留了最初用於通過 COVID 支持業務的額外倉庫，以確保我們能夠在整個假期期間為客戶提供服務。

Because of our team's agility, we are better in stock today than we were a year ago, and we were able to serve customers through the Thanksgiving holiday with items they needed for their celebrations.

由於我們團隊的敏捷性，我們今天的庫存比一年前更好，我們能夠在感恩節假期為客戶提供他們慶祝活動所需的物品。

In fact, we increased our year-over-year pickup fill rate by over 130 basis points during the week of Thanksgiving.

事實上，我們在感恩節那一周將我們的取貨率同比提高了 130 多個基點。

We chose to incur significant costs in our supply chain during 2021, which has allowed us to provide our customers today and into 2022.

我們選擇在 2021 年期間在我們的供應鏈中承擔大量成本，這使我們能夠為今天和 2022 年的客戶提供服務。

We continue to deploy a wide array of tools, including our owned and operated fleet, and we're working closely with suppliers to mitigate pain points for the customer.

我們繼續部署廣泛的工具，包括我們自有和運營的車隊，我們正在與供應商密切合作，以減輕客戶的痛點。

We are eager to welcome thousands of new associates to our organization as we began an incredible holiday season.

隨著我們開始一個令人難以置信的假期，我們渴望歡迎成千上萬的新員工加入我們的組織。

Our hybrid hiring event last month contributed to the hiring of over 64,000 new associates during the quarter.

我們上個月的混合招聘活動促成了本季度超過 64,000 名新員工的招聘。

We continue to invest in our associates by expanding our industry-leading benefits, including continuing education and tuition reimbursement, training and development, health and wellness and continued investments in associate wages.

我們通過擴大行業領先的福利繼續投資於我們的員工，包括繼續教育和學費報銷、培訓和發展、健康和保健以及對員工工資的持續投資。

As we reflect on the 1-year anniversary of our Framework for Action in response to racial injustice across the country and in the communities we serve, we are pleased to share our progress with you.

當我們反思我們為應對全國和我們服務的社區中的種族不公正而採取的行動框架一周年時，我們很高興與您分享我們的進展。

Over 405,000 associates have completed diversity and inclusion training.

超過 405,000 名員工完成了多元化和包容性培訓。

We've increased our strategic hiring partnerships with Historically Black Colleges & Universities and Hispanic-serving institutions from 6 to 17.

我們將與歷史悠久的黑人學院和大學以及西班牙裔服務機構的戰略招聘合作夥伴關係從 6 個增加到 17 個。

The Kroger Co.

克羅格公司

Foundation has awarded more than $3 million in grants to support innovative organizations focused on building more equitable and inclusive communities, and we increased Kroger's diverse supplier spend by 21% to $4.1 billion last year alone and remain on track toward our long-term goal to spend $10 billion annually with diverse suppliers by 2030.

基金會已授予超過 300 萬美元的贈款，以支持專注於建立更公平和更具包容性的社區的創新組織，僅去年一年，我們就將克羅格的多元化供應商支出增加了 21%，達到 41 億美元，並繼續朝著我們的長期支出目標邁進到 2030 年，每年向多元化供應商提供 100 億美元。

While we know that there is more work to be done, we are energized and look forward to keeping our stakeholders updated on our progress.

雖然我們知道還有更多工作要做，但我們充滿活力，並期待讓我們的利益相關者了解我們的進展。

One of Kroger's greatest strengths is our ability to manage our business successfully in every operating environment.

克羅格最大的優勢之一是我們能夠在每個運營環境中成功地管理我們的業務。

We remain customer obsessed and focused on operational excellence to deliver for our customers, associates, communities and shareholders.

我們始終以客戶為中心，專注於卓越運營，為我們的客戶、員工、社區和股東提供服務。

With that, I would like to turn it over to Gary to take you through our third quarter financials.

有了這個，我想把它交給加里來帶你了解我們第三季度的財務狀況。

Gary?

加里？

Thanks, Rodney, and good morning, everyone.

謝謝，羅德尼，大家早上好。

As Rodney shared this morning, Kroger delivered strong results in the third quarter, highlighting the flexibility of our business model in a dynamic operating environment.

正如羅德尼今天早上分享的那樣，克羅格在第三季度取得了強勁的業績，突顯了我們業務模式在動態運營環境中的靈活性。

Our focus on execution, combined with our disciplined approach to balancing investments in our associates and customers with strong cost management and growth in our alternative profit business, is positioning us well for the future.

我們對執行的關注，加上我們嚴謹的方法來平衡對員工和客戶的投資與強大的成本管理和我們的替代利潤業務的增長，使我們為未來做好準備。

Over time, our model has proven to be resilient during different economic scenarios, and this was true again during the third quarter as we grew the top and bottom lines while navigating higher product cost inflation, a tight labor market and supply chain constraints.

隨著時間的推移，我們的模型已被證明在不同的經濟情景下具有彈性，第三季度再次證明了這一點，因為我們在提高產品成本通脹、勞動力市場緊張和供應鏈限制的同時提高了收入和利潤。

Our identical sales without fuel in the quarter returned to positive, growing 3.1% as we delivered for our customers across our seamless ecosystem, and customers, again, signaled higher food-at-home consumption is here to stay.

我們在本季度沒有燃料的相同銷售額恢復了正增長，增長了 3.1%，因為我們在我們的無縫生態系統中為我們的客戶提供服務，而且客戶再次表示，更高的家庭食品消費將持續存在。

Adjusted FIFO operating profit and adjusted EPS both increased year-over-year and grew by compounded annual growth rates of 22% and 29%, respectively, versus 2019.

調整後的 FIFO 營業利潤和調整後的每股收益均同比增長，與 2019 年相比，複合年增長率分別為 22% 和 29%。

Third quarter EPS was impacted by 2 unusual items that were excluded from our adjusted EPS result.

第三季度每股收益受到我們調整後每股收益結果中排除的兩個不尋常項目的影響。

First, we engaged in an annuity buyout and lump sum distribution transaction related to the company's consolidated retirement benefit plan which will reduce future administrative costs.

首先，我們進行了與公司綜合退休福利計劃相關的年金收購和一次性分配交易，這將降低未來的管理成本。

This triggered a write-off of deferred losses and a nonrecurring noncash charge of $87 million on a pretax basis.

這引發了遞延損失的沖銷和稅前 8700 萬美元的非經常性非現金費用。

This company pension plan is currently 100% funded as a result of previous action taken to freeze the plan and protect benefits for our associates.

由於先前採取行動凍結該計劃並保護我們員工的福利，該公司養老金計劃目前已獲得 100% 的資金。

This transaction was fully funded by assets in the plan.

本次交易完全由計劃中的資產提供資金。

The second unusual item was Kroger recording a nonrecurring benefit of $47 million or $0.07 per diluted share, primarily due to the favorable outcome of income tax audit examinations, covering multiple years.

第二個不尋常的項目是克羅格記錄了 4700 萬美元或每股攤薄收益 0.07 美元的非經常性收益，這主要是由於涵蓋多年的所得稅審計檢查的有利結果。

This amount is also excluded from the company's adjusted net earnings per diluted share result for the third quarter.

該金額也不包括在公司第三季度調整後的每股攤薄收益結果中。

I'll now provide more detail on our operating results in the quarter.

我現在將提供有關本季度運營結果的更多詳細信息。

On a 2-year stack basis, our identical sales without fuel increased 14%.

在 2 年堆棧的基礎上，我們相同的不含燃料的銷售額增長了 14%。

We also saw digital sales increased 103% on a 2-year stack.

我們還看到數字銷售額在兩年內增長了 103%。

As we have previously shared, we do not expect digital growth to be linear, especially as we cycle last year's sales spike and customers become more comfortable shopping in store again.

正如我們之前所分享的，我們預計數字增長不會是線性的，尤其是當我們循環去年的銷售高峰並且客戶再次在商店購物時變得更加舒適。

The launch of several new digital offerings, which Rodney outlined earlier, in addition to the rollout of new customer fulfillment centers, gives us confidence in our ability to deliver against our growth targets for digital sales and profitability.

除了推出新的客戶履行中心外，Rodney 之前概述的幾種新數字產品的推出使我們對實現數字銷售和盈利能力的增長目標的能力充滿信心。

We look forward to sharing more detail on our digital road map at the business update in March that Rob noted earlier on the call.

我們期待在 Rob 早些時候在電話會議上指出的 3 月份業務更新中分享有關我們數字路線圖的更多細節。

With regard to digital profitability, we continue to make progress during the quarter and achieved our best cost to serve on record for pickup orders.

關於數字盈利能力，我們在本季度繼續取得進展，並實現了我們為取貨訂單提供記錄的最佳成本。

Gross margin was 21.66% of sales for the third quarter.

第三季度毛利率為銷售額的21.66%。

The FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, decreased 41 basis points compared to the same period last year.

不包括燃料的 FIFO 毛利率與去年同期相比下降了 41 個基點。

This decrease primarily related to higher supply chain costs and continued price investments, partially offset by sourcing benefits.

這一下降主要與較高的供應鏈成本和持續的價格投資有關，部分被採購收益所抵消。

Our investment was in line with expectations and fully funded by cost savings and OG&A improvement.

我們的投資符合預期，並完全由成本節約和 OG&A 改進提供資金。

Recognizing recent inflation trends and our outlook for the rest of the year, we recorded a higher LIFO charge for the quarter of $93 million compared to $23 million in the prior year.

認識到最近的通貨膨脹趨勢和我們對今年剩餘時間的展望，我們在本季度記錄了 9300 萬美元的 LIFO 費用，而去年為 2300 萬美元。

This increase represents a $0.07 headwind to EPS in the quarter versus 2020.

與 2020 年相比，本季度每股收益的增長為 0.07 美元。

The operating, general and administrative rates decreased 49 basis points, excluding fuel and adjustment items.

不包括燃料和調整項目，運營費率、一般費率和行政費率下降了 49 個基點。

This improvement was achieved even with continued investments in our associates and growth in our average hourly rate and reflects the outstanding work our associates are doing to execute cost-saving initiatives in a very dynamic environment.

即使持續投資於我們的員工並提高我們的平均小時費率，也實現了這一改進，並反映了我們的員工在非常動態的環境中為執行成本節約計劃所做的出色工作。

We remain on track to deliver $1 billion of cost savings during 2021.

我們仍有望在 2021 年實現 10 億美元的成本節約。

Our alternative profit business had a record third quarter and remains on track to deliver the high end of our expected range of $100 million to $150 million of incremental operating profit in 2021.

我們的替代利潤業務在第三季度創下歷史新高，並有望在 2021 年實現我們預期的 1 億美元至 1.5 億美元增量營業利潤範圍的高端。

We saw increased strength in Kroger Personal Finance results during the quarter, and Kroger Precision Marketing introduced a new programmatic advertising marketplace to unleash first-party targeting and measurement capabilities, further highlighting our ability to differentiate in the advertising space.

我們看到本季度 Kroger Personal Finance 業績增長強勁，Kroger Precision Marketing 推出了一個新的程序化廣告市場，以釋放第一方定位和測量能力，進一步突出了我們在廣告領域的差異化能力。

Fuel is also an important part of our overall value proposition and a key offering to help customers stretch their dollars, especially in times when fuel prices are high.

燃料也是我們整體價值主張的重要組成部分，也是幫助客戶充分利用資金的關鍵產品，尤其是在燃料價格高企的時候。

During the quarter, we saw a significant increase in the number of customers actively engaging in our fuel program.

在本季度，我們看到積極參與我們的燃料計劃的客戶數量顯著增加。

Gallons grew in the third quarter by 5%, outpacing market growth.

加侖在第三季度增長了 5%，超過了市場增長。

The average retail price of fuel was $3.24 this quarter versus $2.15 in the same quarter last year.

本季度燃料的平均零售價為 3.24 美元，而去年同期為 2.15 美元。

Our cents per gallon fuel margin was $0.42 compared to $0.37 in the same quarter in 2020.

我們每加侖燃料的利潤率為 0.42 美元，而 2020 年同一季度為 0.37 美元。

I'd now like to spend a couple of minutes providing some additional perspective on how we are proactively managing inflation.

我現在想花幾分鐘就我們如何主動管理通脹提供一些額外的觀點。

We are currently operating in a more volatile inflationary environment.

我們目前在一個更加動蕩的通脹環境中運營。

And during the third quarter, Kroger saw higher product cost inflation in most categories.

在第三季度，克羅格在大多數類別中看到了更高的產品成本通脹。

We are being disciplined in managing these increases.

我們在管理這些增長方面受到紀律處分。

Our teams are doing an excellent job, working to minimize the effect on our customers and our financial model by using our data and working closely with our suppliers.

我們的團隊做得非常出色，通過使用我們的數據並與供應商密切合作，努力最大限度地減少對客戶和財務模型的影響。

We are passing along higher cost to the customer where it makes sense to do so.

我們將更高的成本轉嫁給有意義的客戶。

In some key areas, we are choosing not to pass through cost increases and continuing to invest in value for the customer.

在一些關鍵領域，我們選擇不增加成本，繼續為客戶創造價值。

We are investing where it matters most, using our proprietary data to be strategic in our pricing and personalization with the objective of winning long-term customer loyalty.

我們在最重要的地方進行投資，使用我們的專有數據在定價和個性化方面具有戰略意義，以贏得長期的客戶忠誠度。

We also believe our brands is an -- is an even more important differentiator for Kroger in an inflationary environment, offering customers an unmatched combination of great value and great quality.

我們還相信，我們的品牌是——在通貨膨脹的環境中，對於克羅格來說，這是一個更重要的差異化因素，為客戶提供無與倫比的高價值和高品質組合。

Turning now to our financial strategy.

現在轉向我們的財務戰略。

Kroger is operating from a position of strength and continues to generate strong free cash flow as evidenced by our net debt-to-EBITDA ratio hitting an all-time low of 1.68 in the third quarter.

克羅格的經營狀況良好，並繼續產生強勁的自由現金流，我們的淨債務與 EBITDA 比率在第三季度創下 1.68 的歷史新低就證明了這一點。

While we continue to see attractive opportunities to invest in the business, to widen our competitive moat and drive sustainable revenue and earnings growth, our capital expenditures in 2021 are now expected to be below our original guidance range of $3.4 billion to $3.6 billion.

雖然我們繼續看到投資該業務的有吸引力的機會，以擴大我們的競爭護城河並推動可持續的收入和盈利增長，但我們現在預計 2021 年的資本支出將低於我們最初的 34 億美元至 36 億美元的指導範圍。

This is because of delays in project implementations, primarily due to COVID-19-related supply challenges.

這是因為項目實施延遲，主要是由於與 COVID-19 相關的供應挑戰。

Kroger continues to return cash to shareholders.

克羅格繼續向股東返還現金。

During the quarter, we repurchased $297 million of shares, and year-to-date, have repurchased $1 billion of shares.

本季度，我們回購了 2.97 億美元的股票，今年迄今已回購了 10 億美元的股票。

Since 2000, we have now returned more than $20 billion to shareholders via share repurchases at an average price of $16.45 per share.

自 2000 年以來，我們現已通過股票回購以每股 16.45 美元的平均價格向股東返還超過 200 億美元。

As of the end of the third quarter, $511 million remains outstanding under the current Board authorization announced on June 17, 2021.

截至第三季度末，根據 2021 年 6 月 17 日宣布的當前董事會授權，仍有 5.11 億美元未償還。

We look forward to sharing more about our plans for future deployment of excess cash to drive sustainable growth and create value for our shareholders at our business update in March.

我們期待在 3 月份的業務更新中分享更多關於我們未來部署多餘現金以推動可持續增長並為股東創造價值的計劃。

As Rodney mentioned, we continue to invest meaningfully in our associates.

正如羅德尼所說，我們繼續對我們的員工進行有意義的投資。

In addition to the $350 million of hourly rate investment already planned this year, we have committed to further investments in the fourth quarter, which equates to an incremental $100 million on an annualized basis.

除了今年已經計劃的 3.5 億美元的小時費率投資外，我們還承諾在第四季度進一步投資，相當於每年增加 1 億美元。

During the third quarter, we ratified new labor agreements with the UFCW for associates in our Columbus and Mid-Atlantic divisions, covering over 4,500 associates.

在第三季度，我們與 UFCW 批准了哥倫布和中大西洋分部員工的新勞動協議，涵蓋 4,500 多名員工。

We continue to negotiate contracts with the UFCW for store associates in Houston, Lake Charles, Freeport, Dallas meat, Little Rock, Memphis, Portland and Denver.

我們將繼續與 UFCW 就休斯頓、查爾斯湖、弗里波特、達拉斯肉類、小石城、孟菲斯、波特蘭和丹佛的商店員工的合同進行談判。

Our financial results are pressured by inefficiencies in health care and pension costs, which most of our competitors do not face.

我們的財務業績受到醫療保健和養老金成本效率低下的壓力，而我們的大多數競爭對手都沒有遇到這種情況。

We continue to communicate with our local and international unions, which represent many of our associates about the importance of growing our business in a profitable way, which will help us create more jobs and career opportunities and enhance job security for our associates.

我們將繼續與代表我們許多員工的本地和國際工會就以盈利方式發展業務的重要性進行溝通，這將有助於我們創造更多的就業機會和職業機會，並增強我們員工的工作保障。

I'll now turn to our expectations for the remainder of 2021.

我現在將轉向我們對 2021 年剩餘時間的預期。

Driven by the momentum in our third quarter results and sustained trends in food at home, we are raising our full year guidance.

在我們第三季度業績的勢頭和國內食品的持續趨勢的推動下，我們正在提高我們的全年指導。

We now expect identical sales without fuel for the full year to be between negative 0.4% and negative 0.2% and a 2-year identical sales stack of between 13.7% to 13.9%.

我們現在預計全年無燃料的相同銷售額將在負 0.4% 和負 0.2% 之間，而 2 年相同的銷售額將在 13.7% 至 13.9% 之間。

There remain some uncertainties as we look ahead, and our guidance of positive ID sales excluding fuel of between 1.5% to 2.5% in the fourth quarter reflects this.

在我們展望未來時仍然存在一些不確定性，我們對第四季度不包括燃料的 ID 銷售正增長 1.5% 至 2.5% 的指導反映了這一點。

We expect adjusted net earnings per diluted share to be in the range of $3.40 to $3.50.

我們預計調整後的每股攤薄淨收益將在 3.40 美元至 3.50 美元之間。

We expect our adjusted FIFO operating profit to be in the range of $4.1 billion to $4.2 billion, reflecting a 2-year compounded annual growth rate of between 17% and 18.4%.

我們預計調整後的 FIFO 營業利潤將在 41 億美元至 42 億美元之間，反映出 17% 至 18.4% 的 2 年復合年增長率。

The midpoint of our adjusted EPS range for 2021 now equates to full year results, approximately in line with our 2020 results, despite cycling the unique COVID-19-related demand spike last year.

儘管去年出現了與 COVID-19 相關的獨特需求高峰，但我們調整後的 2021 年每股收益範圍的中點現在相當於全年結果，與我們 2020 年的結果大致一致。

Our guidance fully reflects the investments in our customers and associates I shared earlier, plus increased marketing to support the exciting new digital initiatives we launched in the third quarter.

我們的指導充分反映了我之前分享的對客戶和員工的投資，以及增加營銷以支持我們在第三季度推出的令人興奮的新數字計劃。

It also reflects the latest projection for LIFO.

它還反映了 LIFO 的最新預測。

And because we recorded a LIFO credit in the fourth quarter last year, LIFO is now expected to be a $0.13 headwind to EPS in the fourth quarter.

而且由於我們在去年第四季度記錄了 LIFO 信用，現在預計 LIFO 在第四季度對每股收益構成 0.13 美元的逆風。

Overall, we are very proud of our results, which are projected to be significantly ahead of where we originally guided for the year.

總體而言，我們對我們的結果感到非常自豪，預計這些結果將大大領先於我們最初的年度指導。

In conclusion, Kroger is executing against its key financial and operational initiatives and continues to invest in strategic priorities that will deliver attractive and sustainable total shareholder return of 8% to 11% over time.

總之，克羅格正在執行其關鍵的財務和運營計劃，並繼續投資於戰略重點，這些重點將隨著時間的推移帶來 8% 至 11% 的有吸引力且可持續的總股東回報。

We believe our business is emerging stronger through the pandemic and through the investments we are making is well positioned to grow beyond 2021.

我們相信，通過大流行，我們的業務正在變得更加強大，並且通過我們正在進行的投資，我們已經做好了在 2021 年以後增長的準備。

I'll now turn it back to Rodney.

我現在把它轉回給羅德尼。

Thanks, Gary.

謝謝，加里。

Kroger's strong year-to-date results are the outcome of our customer obsession, our incredible associates who bring our vision and values to life and our commitment to bringing fresh, affordable food to everyone.

Kroger 年初至今的強勁業績是我們對客戶的痴迷，我們令人難以置信的員工將我們的願景和價值觀變為現實，以及我們致力於為每個人帶來新鮮、負擔得起的食物的結果。

The strength of our teams have never been more apparent.

我們團隊的實力從未如此明顯。

With every new challenge, they raised to the occasion, whether by implementing solutions to minimize supply chain disruptions, delivering the freshest produce to our customers or using our data to offer personalized promotions that surprise and delight.

面對每一個新的挑戰，他們都會迎難而上，無論是通過實施解決方案以最大限度地減少供應鏈中斷，為我們的客戶提供最新鮮的農產品，還是利用我們的數據提供令人驚喜和愉悅的個性化促銷活動。

Our team is bringing our competitive moats to life.

我們的團隊正在將我們的競爭護城河變為現實。

Now we look forward to your questions.

現在我們期待您的提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Robert Moskow with Credit Suisse.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自瑞士信貸的 Robert Moskow。

You've obviously done a very good job of passing on inflation to consumers while shielding that at the same time.

顯然，您在將通貨膨脹轉嫁給消費者方面做得很好，同時又保護了它。

Your gross profit dollars are up now.

你的毛利潤現在增加了。

Can you talk a little bit about what came -- what drove that outperformance versus your expectations last quarter?

你能談談發生了什麼——是什麼推動了上個季度的表現優於你的預期？

Because last quarter, I think you were pretty cautious on gross margin.

因為上個季度，我認為你對毛利率非常謹慎。

And then secondly, I think there's another big tranche of pricing coming in January from a lot of your vendors.

其次，我認為您的許多供應商將在 1 月份進行另一大定價。

How would you characterize that next tranche?

您如何描述下一批？

Is it an unusually high acceleration?

是不是異常高的加速度？

Or is it just kind of a continued acceleration similar to what you've seen so far?

或者它只是一種類似於你目前所見的持續加速？

Maybe if you could even put it into context of CPI for us, it would be helpful.

如果您甚至可以為我們將其放入 CPI 的上下文中，那將會很有幫助。

Okay.

好的。

Rob, I'll start, and I'll let Gary get into more of the details.

Rob，我會開始，我會讓 Gary 了解更多細節。

First of all, I think it's important to remember what's allowing us to continue to invest in the customer and value is the great work our team is doing on cost reductions.

首先，我認為重要的是要記住是什麼讓我們能夠繼續投資於客戶，而價值是我們的團隊在降低成本方面所做的出色工作。

And as Gary mentioned, we're on track to take $1 billion of cost out, and this is the fourth year in a row that we've been able to accomplish that, which really gives us the flexibility to be able to continue to invest in our customers.

正如加里所說，我們有望減少 10 億美元的成本，這是我們連續第四年實現這一目標，這確實為我們提供了繼續投資的靈活性在我們的客戶中。

The other thing that our teams have done a nice job on, if you look at our procurement team, they've done a nice job of identifying opportunities to save money by working with our suppliers, and we continue to aggressively work in partnership with them.

我們團隊做得很好的另一件事是，如果您看看我們的採購團隊，他們在通過與我們的供應商合作發現節省資金的機會方面做得很好，我們將繼續積極與他們合作.

If you look at inflation during the quarter, it continued to increase throughout the quarter.

如果你看一下本季度的通貨膨脹，它會在整個季度繼續增加。

As of right now, it's starting to stabilize but obviously at a pretty high rate.

截至目前，它開始趨於穩定，但顯然處於相當高的速度。

So it's something that we aggressively use our data to understand, and we aggressively try to make sure that the customer has alternatives to be able to stretch their budget as well.

因此，我們積極地使用我們的數據來理解這一點，並且我們積極地嘗試確保客戶有替代方案來擴展他們的預算。

And that's -- in some cases, that's switching to a cheaper price meat.

這就是——在某些情況下，這就是轉向價格更便宜的肉類。

In some cases, it's buying our brands which has amazing quality as well.

在某些情況下，它正在購買我們的品牌，這些品牌也具有驚人的品質。

So with that, Gary, I'll let you get into more -- some more of the details for Rob.

所以，加里，我會讓你了解更多——關於羅布的更多細節。

Sure.

當然。

Thanks, Rodney.

謝謝，羅德尼。

Thanks for the question, Rob.

謝謝你的問題，羅布。

Yes.

是的。

I would say, Rob, obviously, when we guided at the second quarter, we said that the gross margin contraction could be similar to what we were seeing in Q2.

我想說，Rob，很明顯，當我們在第二季度進行指導時，我們說毛利率收縮可能與我們在第二季度看到的情況相似。

And I would say the dynamics that are in place haven't changed dramatically.

我想說的是，現有的動態並沒有發生巨大變化。

Obviously, it's a dynamic environment that we're managing, and our goal, as Rodney mentioned, is to continue to find sourcing benefit and savings to offset the cost increases where we see them and to pass on pricing where it makes sense but also to keep investing in the customer.

顯然，這是一個我們正在管理的動態環境，正如 Rodney 所提到的，我們的目標是繼續尋找採購效益和節省成本，以抵消我們看到的成本增加，並在合理的情況下傳遞定價，同時也繼續投資於客戶。

And I'd say that we -- in Q2, we were doing that.

我會說我們 - 在第二季度，我們正在這樣做。

In Q3, we've continued to do that.

在第三季度，我們繼續這樣做。

Supply chain would have been a similar sort of headwind in Q2 and Q3.

供應鏈在第二季度和第三季度將是類似的逆風。

I would say we were successful in mitigating some of the cost increases in shrink during the quarter, which helped during the quarter, although we still think shrink is a dynamic metric to manage based on some of the organized crime that we see in shrink.

我想說的是，我們在本季度成功地減輕了一些成本增加，這在本季度有所幫助，儘管我們仍然認為根據我們在收縮中看到的一些有組織犯罪來管理收縮是一個動態指標。

But overall, we were pleased with the progress in shrink during the quarter.

但總的來說，我們對本季度收縮的進展感到滿意。

And I think, for us, we kind of guided, while we never get into specific numbers on individual gross margin and OG&A metrics because, as Rodney mentioned there, our goal is to be dynamic in managing it, ensuring that we're delivering sustainably for our customers and growing loyalty while also being able to improve profitability over time by managing the different levers across selling growth rate, cost of goods savings, taking cost out of the business and continuing to grow alternative profit streams.

而且我認為，對我們來說，我們有點指導，雖然我們從不涉及個人毛利率和 OG&A 指標的具體數字，因為正如羅德尼在那裡提到的那樣，我們的目標是動態管理它，確保我們以可持續的方式交付為我們的客戶和提高忠誠度，同時還能夠通過管理銷售增長率、商品節約成本、降低業務成本和繼續增加替代利潤流等不同的槓桿來隨著時間的推移提高盈利能力。

So I think it's a dynamic environment we continue to manage.

所以我認為這是一個我們繼續管理的動態環境。

I think somewhere between the Q2 and Q3 range is where we think that we're operating right now.

我認為第二季度和第三季度之間的某個地方是我們認為我們現在正在運營的地方。

We think Q4 would likely be similar to what we've seen in Q2 and Q3.

我們認為第四季度可能與我們在第二季度和第三季度看到的情況相似。

And as I mentioned in my prepared comments, we are increasing some advertising in the fourth quarter to support the accelerated growth in some of those new initiatives.

正如我在準備好的評論中提到的，我們將在第四季度增加一些廣告，以支持其中一些新舉措的加速增長。

So I think, again, I wouldn't be guiding to a specific number, but in the range that you've seen in Q2 and Q3 is where we feel comfortable in managing the business and driving the right balance of sustainable growth for shareholders while continuing to win customer loyalty over time.

因此，我再次認為，我不會指導具體數字，但在您在第二季度和第三季度看到的範圍內，我們可以放心地管理業務並為股東推動可持續增長的適當平衡，同時隨著時間的推移繼續贏得客戶的忠誠度。

And just a quick follow-up.

只是一個快速的跟進。

I think Rodney said that you're seeing your inflation kind of leveling off.

我認為羅德尼說你看到你的通貨膨脹趨於平穩。

Are you looking at like PPI inflation there?

你在看那裡的 PPI 通脹嗎？

Because I would agree with you, it seems like in the low teens, it's leveling off.

因為我同意你的看法，似乎在青少年時期，它正在趨於平穩。

Is that what you're looking at?

那是你在看的嗎？

Yes.

是的。

We would be looking at more of our own costs in terms of what we're incurring and what we see coming forward.

我們將根據我們正在發生的事情和我們看到的未來來更多地考慮我們自己的成本。

And one of the other things that I always think it's important to remind people, we manufacture a lot of our own products, so we also understand the raw materials themselves and what's going on there.

我一直認為提醒人們很重要的另一件事是，我們製造了很多自己的產品，因此我們也了解原材料本身以及那裡發生的情況。

And we would be looking at CPI and PPI both.

我們將同時關注 CPI 和 PPI。

But in terms of trying to estimate inflation, we would be looking at our actual cost increases that we're incurring.

但就試圖估計通貨膨脹而言，我們將著眼於我們正在招致的實際成本增加。

The next question is from Ken Goldman with JPMorgan.

下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Ken Goldman。

Rodney, I'm glad you mentioned the fact that you make your own products because that's a good lead into one of my questions, which is we're still seeing, at least in the scanner data that we get, some pretty poor trends on top of last year's poor trends for store brands in general.

羅德尼，我很高興你提到了你自己生產產品這一事實，因為這很好地引出了我的一個問題，我們仍然看到，至少在我們獲得的掃描儀數據中，一些非常糟糕的趨勢總體而言，去年商店品牌的不良趨勢頂部。

I'm not talking about Kroger.

我不是在談論克羅格。

I'm talking across the measured industry.

我說的是整個被測量的行業。

And I'm just hoping for an update for what you're seeing there.

我只是希望更新您在那裡看到的內容。

I know you've talked about this a little bit in the past, but are there any signs of improvement from that?

我知道你過去曾談過這點，但有任何改善的跡象嗎？

And again, I know you're somewhat agnostic you'll make money either way.

再說一次，我知道你有點不可知論，無論哪種方式你都會賺錢。

I'm just trying to get a sense for what the outlook is, what you're seeing, any updates from your side.

我只是想了解前景是什麼，你所看到的，你身邊的任何更新。

If you look at our brands, if you look at the third quarter trends, they were better than the second quarter trends.

如果你看看我們的品牌，如果你看看第三季度的趨勢，它們比第二季度的趨勢要好。

And if you look within the quarter, it improved during the trends.

如果你看一下這個季度，它會在趨勢中有所改善。

Ken, the point you made is, for us, we want to make sure we have the products customers want.

肯，你的意思是，對我們來說，我們要確保我們擁有客戶想要的產品。

So a Kroger brand item has to earn its right on the shelf, just like any other brand.

因此，Kroger 品牌的商品必須像任何其他品牌一樣在貨架上贏得它的權利。

But for us, it's obviously one of our competitive moats.

但對我們來說，這顯然是我們的競爭護城河之一。

As I mentioned in the prepared remarks, and we did a press release earlier in the quarter, we were proud that Home Chef became our fourth brand on -- that is over $1 billion a year.

正如我在準備好的評論中提到的，我們在本季度早些時候發布了新聞稿，我們為 Home Chef 成為我們的第四個品牌感到自豪——每年超過 10 億美元。

Our brands, for us, is incredibly important on our connection with our customers because it's an incredible great value for our customers with amazing quality.

對我們來說，我們的品牌對於我們與客戶的聯繫非常重要，因為它以驚人的質量為我們的客戶帶來了難以置信的巨大價值。

And when you look at Simple Truth and Private Selection, both of those brands offer something that's unique in the marketplace and continue to grow aggressively.

當您查看 Simple Truth 和 Private Selection 時，這兩個品牌都提供了市場上獨一無二的產品，並繼續積極增長。

Private Selection, most of the items are things that you can't get somewhere else, and Simple Truth just makes it super easy for a customer to eat healthy.

私人精選，大部分商品都是您在其他地方買不到的東西，而 Simple Truth 讓顧客吃得健康變得超級容易。

So the trends are improving.

所以趨勢正在改善。

But for us, it is an incredibly important part of our overall strategic strategy and a competitive moat.

但對我們來說，它是我們整體戰略戰略和競爭護城河中極其重要的一部分。

And then quick follow-up.

然後快速跟進。

I think you mentioned that you're not passing on cost increases fully in either certain categories or certain products.

我認為您提到您沒有完全轉嫁某些類別或某些產品的成本增加。

Is it safe to assume that, like many of your peers, you're a little more hesitant to take pricing up on items that draw people into stores on a regular basis, things like milk and bread, et cetera?

是否可以肯定地假設，像您的許多同行一樣，您對定期吸引人們進入商店的商品（例如牛奶和麵包等）定價有點猶豫？

Or is it a little more strategic and nuanced than that?

還是比這更具戰略性和細微差別？

Just trying to get a sense for how you're thinking about which items to take pricing up on and which not.

只是想了解您如何考慮哪些項目要定價，哪些不定價。

Yes.

是的。

We would be using our data and our historical data over the last several years on elasticity by category and by products within categories on deciding what to pass through or not.

我們將使用過去幾年的數據和歷史數據，按類別和類別內的產品劃分彈性，以決定通過與否。

We would also -- just on certain products, it's an opportunity to create deeper loyalty, some of which is obvious, some of which is not.

我們也會——僅在某些產品上，這是一個建立更深忠誠度的機會，其中一些是顯而易見的，而另一些則不是。

And some of the items in the past wouldn't have the same amount of penetration across households as what they used to do.

而且過去的一些項目在家庭中的滲透率不會像過去那樣多。

So it really is dynamic information that's based on what's going on right now in the market.

因此，它確實是基於當前市場情況的動態信息。

The other thing just to -- our data would also show in different parts of the country some of those elasticities would be different.

另一件事是——我們的數據也會顯示，在該國不同地區，其中一些彈性會有所不同。

I don't know, Gary, anything you'd want to add to that?

我不知道，加里，你有什麼要補充的嗎？

No.

不。

I think you've covered it well.

我認為你已經很好地涵蓋了它。

Okay.

好的。

Thanks, Ken.

謝謝，肯。

The next question is from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·古特曼。

This is Michael Kessler on for Simeon.

這是西蒙的邁克爾凱斯勒。

Can you hear me?

你能聽到我嗎？

Yes.

是的。

First, I wanted to ask about any initial thoughts, if you have any, on 2022, another good quarter in Q3.

首先，我想問一下關於 2022 年第三季度又一個好季度的任何初步想法，如果你有任何想法的話。

It looks like the full year is going to end up basically a retention or maybe slight growth off of 2021 on earnings.

看起來全年最終將基本上保留或可能在 2021 年的收益基礎上略有增長。

So I guess any more confidence or conviction that next year could be another, call it, algo type of year on both IDs and EBIT?

因此，我想是否有更多的信心或信念，明年可能是另一個，稱為算法類型的 ID 和 EBIT 的年份？

And I guess any puts and takes as you're starting to think through that outlook?

當你開始思考這個前景時，我猜想有什麼看跌期權嗎？

It's a good question, and we appreciate it.

這是一個很好的問題，我們很感激。

Obviously, we'll get into a lot more detail when we get out to our March Investor Day.

顯然，當我們離開 3 月的投資者日時，我們會深入了解更多細節。

That's really when we'll go into depth.

那真的是我們深入探討的時候。

We're in the middle of going through -- developing our budgets and partnering with our Board on our 2022 expectations.

我們正在經歷——制定我們的預算並與我們的董事會合作，以實現我們對 2022 年的預期。

The only comment that I would give in depth is, as we shared in our Investor Day in 2019 and we've continually updated, over time, we would expect a TSR of 8% to 11% on an annualized basis, made up of earnings growth and free cash flow, made up -- and returning cash to shareholders.

我唯一要深入發表的評論是，正如我們在 2019 年的投資者日中分享的並且我們不斷更新，隨著時間的推移，我們預計 TSR 的年化率為 8% 至 11%，由收益組成增長和自由現金流，彌補 - 並向股東返還現金。

So overall, we would expect that.

所以總的來說，我們會期待這一點。

We do feel good about the momentum in the business in terms of the connections with the customer, our seamless business processes on identifying ways to take cost out, so we can invest some of those cost savings in our associate wages, cost savings and the customer connection and other things.

我們確實對業務在與客戶的聯繫方面的勢頭感到滿意，我們在確定成本削減方式方面的無縫業務流程，因此我們可以將部分成本節約投資於我們的員工工資、成本節約和客戶連接和其他事情。

So -- and the business continues to generate good cash flow.

所以 - 業務繼續產生良好的現金流。

Gary, it looks like you want to say something.

加里，你好像想說點什麼。

Well, I think you said it well, Rodney.

好吧，我認為你說得很好，羅德尼。

I would just add where you were going.

我只想添加你要去的地方。

I think we're -- hopefully, we've been conveying very clearly, while we won't be getting into detailed guidance for 2022 because that's the first of March meeting, we've been trying to be clearing all of that communication, I think, around the confidence we have in the long-term prospects of the business, so not specific to '22, but thinking as we're continuing to build the business from the base that we've established through COVID that the opportunity to grow and deliver on that TSR commitment that Rodney mentioned.

我認為我們 - 希望我們一直在非常清楚地傳達，雖然我們不會進入 2022 年的詳細指導，因為那是 3 月的第一次會議，我們一直在努力清除所有這些溝通，我認為，圍繞我們對業務長期前景的信心，不是特定於 22 年，而是認為隨著我們繼續從我們通過 COVID 建立的基礎建立業務，有機會成長並兌現 Rodney 提到的 TSR 承諾。

And specifically, we do believe that some of the food-at-home trends that we've talked a lot about.

具體來說，我們確實相信我們已經談論過很多的一些家庭食品趨勢。

We've said for some time and continue to believe that data shows that a number of those changes will be structural in nature, and we'll continue to see sustained trends in food at home.

我們已經說過一段時間並且仍然相信數據顯示其中一些變化本質上是結構性的，我們將繼續看到家庭食品的持續趨勢。

I think if you look at our performance over the last 2 years that Rodney was alluding to some of the individual drivers, but I think it's demonstrated in our mind the confidence in the value creation model that we're creating, the balance in our model to be able to drive sustainable growth.

我認為，如果您看看我們過去 2 年的表現，Rodney 暗示了一些個人驅動因素，但我認為這表明了我們對我們正在創造的價值創造模型的信心，以及我們模型中的平衡能夠推動可持續增長。

And the alternative profit stream is continuing to grow at double digits off a higher base.

替代利潤流在更高的基礎上繼續以兩位數的速度增長。

So certainly, I would endorse Rodney's comment more broadly around that commitment to TSR over time.

所以當然，我會更廣泛地支持羅德尼關於隨著時間的推移對 TSR 的承諾的評論。

But obviously, we'll get into more details on 2022 in March.

但顯然，我們將在 2022 年 3 月了解更多細節。

And it's Simeon for the follow-up.

接下來是西蒙。

I thought maybe Michael might have a better shot at the '22 question than me.

我想邁克爾在 22 年的問題上可能比我更有把握。

But my follow-up is on the puts and takes on IDs.

但我的後續行動是關於看跌期權和身份證明。

It looks like it held pretty consistent, Q2 to Q3, and you talked about inflation lifting but leveling.

從第二季度到第三季度，它看起來非常一致，你談到了通脹上升但趨於平穩。

Can you talk about anything, puts and takes sequentially got worse or better in terms of units, traffic, et cetera?

你能談談在單位、流量等方面依次變壞或變好的任何事情嗎？

If you look at most pieces, it would -- third quarter would have been better than second quarter.

如果您查看大多數作品，它會 - 第三季度會比第二季度好。

If you look at household trends, if you look at -- basket size would have been a little bit smaller but not significantly.

如果你看一下家庭趨勢，如果你看一下——籃子的大小會有點小，但不會顯著。

We continue to see people -- premiumization during both the quarter.

我們繼續看到人們在兩個季度都出現了高端化。

We continue to see people buying larger pack sizes on just about every category.

我們繼續看到人們在幾乎每個類別中購買更大的包裝尺寸。

So when you look at the puts and takes, I think there's as many puts and takes.

因此，當您查看看跌期權時，我認為有很多看跌期權。

Maybe just to add, Rodney.

也許只是補充一下，羅德尼。

Yes, Simeon, I mean, the trends were pretty consistent through the quarter in Q3.

是的，Simeon，我的意思是，第三季度整個季度的趨勢非常一致。

They got slightly better as the quarter went on, and we would be trending at the top end of the range that we shared in the quarter-to-date so far, top end of the range that we shared for guidance for Q4.

隨著季度的進行，它們略有好轉，我們將在本季度迄今為止共享的範圍的高端趨勢，即我們共享的第四季度指導範圍的高端。

And if you look at the trend so far in this quarter, I would say that the quarter would have started a little bit slower because of -- we were cycling in that week before Thanksgiving a fairly large spike in consumer behavior that I think started to signal maybe a potential increase in cases this time last year, and then Thanksgiving was very strong.

如果你看一下本季度到目前為止的趨勢，我會說這個季度的開始會有點慢，因為——我們在感恩節前的那一周騎自行車，我認為消費者行為開始出現相當大的飆升表明去年這個時候病例可能會增加，然後感恩節非常強烈。

We were very pleased with the results over the Thanksgiving week itself.

我們對感恩節這一周的結果感到非常滿意。

I think some of the questions in our mind as we look towards Q4 that are some of the reasons that we guided to some of the uncertainties, it's hard to predict exactly what will happen with government stimulus dollars in the market, particularly at the state level.

我認為，當我們展望第四季度時，我們心中的一些問題是我們引導一些不確定性的一些原因，很難準確預測政府刺激資金在市場上會發生什麼，特別是在州一級.

That's kind of really hard to get over the skin of what will happen in individual states around ongoing funding.

這真的很難克服個別州圍繞正在進行的資金將發生的事情。

We obviously know there are some continued supply chain challenges around product availability in certain categories, and that's getting better gradually but still has certainly some challenges in the market.

我們顯然知道在某些類別的產品可用性方面存在一些持續的供應鏈挑戰，而且這種情況正在逐漸好轉，但在市場上仍然存在一些挑戰。

And it will be those kind of things that, for us, would be the puts and takes in how strong Q4 plays out in our mind.

對我們來說，這將是那些決定第四季度在我們腦海中表現如何的重要因素。

The next question is from Robbie Ohmes with Bank of America Global Research.

下一個問題來自美國銀行全球研究部的 Robbie Ohmes。

I guess, Gary, for you, could you -- I wanted to just follow up on the sourcing benefits to gross margin.

我想，加里，對你來說，你能 - 我只想跟進毛利率的採購收益。

Can you remind us what you're doing to achieve kind of sourcing benefits in this environment?

您能否提醒我們您正在做些什麼來在這種環境中獲得某種採購收益？

And also, you're doing an amazing job with the cost savings initiatives, offsetting labor and other cost pressures.

而且，您在成本節約計劃、抵消勞動力和其他成本壓力方面做得非常出色。

Can you remind us also there, what you've been doing?

你能在那裡提醒我們，你一直在做什麼嗎？

And maybe some thoughts on how sustainable those 2 things could be into next year?

也許對這兩件事在明年的可持續性有一些想法？

Sure.

當然。

Thanks for the question, Robbie.

謝謝你的問題，羅比。

Yes.

是的。

We're really proud of the team's work in those areas, as you mentioned.

正如您所提到的，我們為團隊在這些領域的工作感到非常自豪。

It started out at the beginning of Restock Kroger.

它始於 Restock Kroger 的開始。

There is a sort of let's grab the opportunities that are immediately in front of us, and I think it's really become a core competency within the organization to drive sustainable savings in our model.

有一種讓我們抓住擺在我們面前的機會，我認為在我們的模式中推動可持續儲蓄確實成為組織內部的核心競爭力。

On the sourcing side, I think I would describe it across a number of different areas.

在採購方面，我想我會在許多不同的領域進行描述。

You start with how do you make sure you're consolidating all the buying in the right places, so you can maximize the data and knowledge and use our own experiences from the cost of commodities and the fact we manufacture many of our products so that we're getting smarter and more effective in how we buy.

您從如何確保在正確的地方整合所有購買開始，這樣您就可以最大限度地利用數據和知識，並利用我們從商品成本和我們製造許多產品的事實中獲得的經驗，以便我們'在我們的購買方式上變得越來越聰明和有效。

It's evolved into product design and packaging design and how do you really optimize the value while not compromising on quality for the customer, so continuing to drive value in those areas.

它已經演變成產品設計和包裝設計，以及如何在不影響客戶質量的同時真正優化價值，從而繼續推動這些領域的價值。

It's extended to the GPO partnership that we created with Walgreens and looking at how can you consolidate opportunities and best thinking there as well.

它擴展到我們與 Walgreens 建立的 GPO 合作夥伴關係，並研究如何在那裡鞏固機會和最佳思維。

So it continues to evolve for us, and the team is doing a great job in finding those opportunities to maximize savings.

因此，它繼續為我們發展，團隊在尋找這些機會以最大限度地節省開支方面做得很好。

And we would expect that to be a continued opportunity for us because we keep identifying new innovative ways to ensure that we're designing for value and maximizing opportunities to be more efficient.

我們希望這對我們來說是一個持續的機會，因為我們一直在尋找新的創新方法，以確保我們為價值而設計並最大限度地提高機會以提高效率。

On the sort of the OG&A side of things, that's across a number of different areas as well.

在 OG&A 方面，這也涉及許多不同的領域。

So it would include using technology and automation to reduce shrink and waste in the business, to improve on some of those activities in the store and our operations that are very manual and don't really maximize the value that our great associates can deliver for customers, so taking that non-value-added work out wherever we can to allow our associates to focus on the customer.

因此，這將包括使用技術和自動化來減少業務中的收縮和浪費，改進商店中的一些活動以及我們非常手動的操作，並不能真正最大化我們的優秀員工可以為客戶提供的價值，所以盡可能地進行非增值工作，讓我們的員工專注於客戶。

It includes automating our ordering and production planning-type processes.

它包括自動化我們的訂購和生產計劃類型的流程。

One of the big ones, of course, this year that we think would expect to be a tailwind into next year as well for every dollar that we can capture this year would be taking cost out of our digital cost to serve.

當然，我們認為今年將成為明年的一大利好因素之一是，我們今年可以獲得的每一美元都將從我們的數字服務成本中扣除成本。

So we've invested significant labor over the years in building that digital ecosystem, and we'd expect to continue to grow that business, of course.

因此，多年來，我們在構建數字生態系統方面投入了大量人力，當然，我們希望繼續發展該業務。

But if we can take out -- if we can improve efficiency on that $10 billion digital business, it creates not just a saving on the next new sale, but it creates a saving on that baseline $10 billion business as well.

但是，如果我們能夠提高 100 億美元的數字業務的效率，它不僅可以節省下一次新銷售的費用，而且還可以節省 100 億美元的基準業務。

And then finally, I would say we've taken the opportunity to use things like the learnings through COVID on things like administrative costs and where are there areas you can actually work more efficiently and operate in more of a hybrid environment to take cost out of the model as well.

最後，我想說的是，我們已經藉此機會將通過 COVID 學到的知識用於管理成本等方面，以及在哪些領域您可以更有效地工作並在更多的混合環境中運營以降低成本模型也是如此。

So I hope that gives you an idea of the way it's kind of really become embedded more in the business, and we certainly would expect as part of our overall TSR growth model to be continuing to take costs to be able to fund investments in our average hourly rate for associates, to be able to invest in pricing and value for the customer while at the same time growing shareholder returns.

因此，我希望這能讓您了解它真正融入業務的方式，我們當然希望作為我們整體 TSR 增長模型的一部分，將繼續承擔成本，以便能夠為我們的平均投資提供資金員工的小時費率，以便能夠為客戶投資定價和價值，同時增加股東回報。

Robbie, the only other thing I would add to Gary's comments, and it's implied throughout Gary's comments, but we have done a lot of people changes -- talent changes, both in terms of recruiting people from within the company but external as well outside of the industry that have skills that were different than traditional in our industry, which has been a huge help in both areas for us to think about things in new ways and for people to approach things in new ways as well.

Robbie，我要在 Gary 的評論中添加的唯一另一件事，這在 Gary 的評論中有所暗示，但我們已經做了很多人事變動 - 人才變動，無論是從公司內部招聘人員，還是從外部招聘人員這個行業擁有不同於我們行業傳統技能的行業，這對我們以新的方式思考事物以及人們以新的方式處理事物的兩個領域都有巨大的幫助。

That's great.

那太棒了。

That's really helpful.

這真的很有幫助。

And one really quick follow-up question, if I may.

如果可以的話，還有一個非常快速的後續問題。

With the changes you're making on the sourcing side and with own brands, can -- what is happening with total SKUs versus national brands SKUs versus owned brands SKUs in your stores?

隨著您在採購方面和自有品牌所做的更改，您的商店中的總 SKU 與民族品牌 SKU 與自有品牌 SKU 會發生什麼情況？

Are they shrinking?

他們在縮小嗎？

Are some growing?

有的在生長嗎？

Can you give us any color on that?

你能給我們一些顏色嗎？

If you look at before COVID, the number of SKUs would be lower now than before, just because it's -- you don't have as much change time and things like that.

如果你在 COVID 之前查看，現在 SKU 的數量會比以前少，只是因為 - 你沒有那麼多的更改時間和類似的東西。

There are selective areas where some of the national players haven't reintroduced some of the variety that we are introducing some of that variety in our own brands, and we introduced over 200 new SKUs in the quarter, and we would have an aggressive pipeline going forward.

在某些特定領域，一些國家級參與者沒有重新引入我們在自有品牌中引入的一些品種，我們在本季度推出了 200 多個新 SKU，我們將有一個積極的管道向前。

But overall, if you look at -- there's still continued SKU growth in natural organics, plant-based areas like that.

但總的來說，如果你看一下——天然有機物、植物類領域的 SKU 仍在持續增長。

And you will -- and if you think about like paper towels and paper goods and things like that, you would see fewer SKUs, just because the customers move to purchasing bigger-size packages.

你會 - 如果你考慮像紙巾和紙製品之類的東西，你會看到更少的 SKU，只是因為客戶轉向購買更大尺寸的包裹。

The next question is from Greg Badishkanian with Wolfe Research.

下一個問題來自 Wolfe Research 的 Greg Badishkanian。

This is Spencer Hanus on for Greg.

這是格雷格的斯賓塞漢努斯。

I just wanted to ask how you're thinking about the delta between retail and cost inflation in '22.

我只是想問一下您如何看待 22 年零售和成本通脹之間的差異。

And then what is the breadth and depth of promotions that you need to hit your long-term top line targets, just given the unique opportunity the industry has had to reset promos over the last 18-plus months here?

那麼，在過去 18 多個月裡，考慮到行業不得不重新設置促銷活動的獨特機會，您需要多大程度的促銷活動才能達到您的長期收入目標？

Gary, you want to...

加里，你想...

Sure.

當然。

Yes.

是的。

Thanks for the question, Spencer.

謝謝你的問題，斯賓塞。

As we mentioned, we're kind of not really providing sort of an outlook for 2022 at this point around how we think about sales and investments overall.

正如我們所提到的，我們目前並沒有真正提供關於我們如何看待整體銷售和投資的 2022 年展望。

We'll be doing that, for sure, as we get to the March meeting and sharing our Q4 results.

當我們參加 3 月份的會議並分享我們的第四季度業績時，我們肯定會這樣做。

I think, really, I would pivot back to some of the comments that we made earlier around we think very much of it from the perspective of in all operating environments, Kroger has been able to demonstrate our ability to navigate through those situations.

我認為，真的，我會回到我們之前發表的一些評論，我們從所有操作環境的角度非常重視它，克羅格已經能夠展示我們在這些情況下導航的能力。

And it really comes back to what we were talking about earlier around ensuring that we understand the customer better than anybody, using our data, our targeting, our promotional activity and our personalized pricing, and of course, where the pricing structure of product starts to change, really ensuring that customers see the value in our own brand products because of the great quality and value that they offer in combination.

這真的回到了我們之前所說的，確保我們比任何人都更了解客戶，使用我們的數據、我們的目標、我們的促銷活動和我們的個性化定價，當然還有產品定價結構開始的地方改變，真正確保客戶看到我們自有品牌產品的價值，因為他們提供的高品質和價值相結合。

And during times of high inflation and certainly in times of economic challenge, we found that Kroger has performed very well, and we've seen customers pivot to some of those opportunities based on the way we can communicate and connect customers with those strategies.

在高通脹時期，當然在經濟挑戰時期，我們發現克羅格表現非常好，我們已經看到客戶根據我們與客戶溝通和聯繫客戶的方式轉向其中一些機會。

So I think from our perspective, we're very much managing the business dynamically to ensure that we can deliver for the customer, but at the same time, deliver on our TSR commitments in the way that we talked about earlier in the conversation.

因此，我認為從我們的角度來看，我們非常動態地管理業務，以確保我們能夠為客戶提供服務，但同時，以我們在對話中早些時候談到的方式履行我們的 TSR 承諾。

On promotions, we would always use our insights because different types of customers react different types of promotions.

在促銷活動中，我們總是會使用我們的洞察力，因為不同類型的客戶會對不同類型的促銷活動做出反應。

So we would aggressively use our insights to personalize promotions.

因此，我們將積極利用我們的洞察力來個性化促銷。

A lot of that is one-on-one with a customer, either sending an old-fashioned mailing or electronically with e-mail or text or whatever.

其中很多是與客戶一對一的，要么發送老式郵件，要么通過電子郵件或文本等電子方式發送。

And it really depends on each customer and what do they test react to.

這實際上取決於每個客戶以及他們對測試的反應。

Got it.

知道了。

That's helpful.

這很有幫助。

And then in the prepared remarks, I think you mentioned that the Ocado facility is performing better than expected, the one in Florida.

然後在準備好的評論中，我想你提到了 Ocado 設施的表現好於預期，佛羅里達州的那個。

But could you just provide some more details on the basket size and the repeat orders relative to your targets?

但是您能否提供更多關於籃子大小和與您的目標相關的重複訂單的詳細信息？

And then how are you thinking about the need, longer term, to build or acquire stores in that market to provide a more complete omni experience down there?

然後，您如何考慮長期需要在該市場建立或收購商店以提供更完整的全方位體驗？

Yes.

是的。

On your second question, I'll answer it first, and you got to walk before you run.

關於你的第二個問題，我先回答，你要先走，然後再跑。

So right now, we're totally focused on making sure that the sheds open strongly, and we continue to maintain outstanding NPS scores, or net promoter scores, with our customers.

所以現在，我們完全專注於確保棚屋的強勁開放，並且我們繼續與我們的客戶保持出色的 NPS 分數或淨發起人分數。

And I am super proud of our team in Florida and Monroe, both in terms of how they continue to connect with the customer and continue to improve.

我為我們在佛羅里達和門羅的團隊感到非常自豪，無論他們如何繼續與客戶建立聯繫並繼續改進。

If you look at basket size, the basket size continues to grow.

如果你看籃子的大小，籃子的大小會繼續增長。

And what we expected and what we believe is as the customers begin to trust the experience, begin to have good experiences, we get a higher share of their total spend.

我們期望和相信的是，隨著客戶開始信任體驗，開始擁有良好的體驗，我們在他們的總支出中獲得了更高的份額。

And that's what we're starting to see.

這就是我們開始看到的。

And when you look at overall in Florida, one of the reasons why we announced the 2 additional facilities in Florida is obviously the connection and the growth that we are achieving.

從佛羅里達州的整體情況來看，我們宣佈在佛羅里達州增設 2 個設施的原因之一顯然是我們正在實現的聯繫和增長。

So far, we feel good about the opportunity in Florida.

到目前為止，我們對佛羅里達的機會感到滿意。

And as everybody knows, the population growth in Florida and the economic growth in Florida is just mind-boggling relative to an awful lot of the country.

眾所周知，佛羅里達州的人口增長和佛羅里達州的經濟增長與該國大部分地區相比簡直令人難以置信。

So it's an incredible opportunity for all grocery retailers in Florida.

因此，對於佛羅里達州的所有雜貨零售商來說，這是一個難得的機會。

Obviously, the offering we have is unique in the market and very proud of what we're getting done there.

顯然，我們提供的產品在市場上是獨一無二的，並且為我們在那裡所做的事情感到非常自豪。

And the repeat usage, Rodney, is higher than we expected, right, than net promoter score.

重複使用，羅德尼，比我們預期的要高，對，高於淨推薦值。

Yes.

是的。

The next question is from John Heinbockel with Guggenheim Securities.

下一個問題來自古根海姆證券公司的約翰·海因博克爾。

Rodney, let me start with -- if you would -- how consumer behavior has evolved over the last couple of years.

羅德尼，讓我先談談——如果你願意的話——消費者行為在過去幾年中是如何演變的。

In terms of what percent of purchases, right, are done, shelf price versus promo versus personalized promo.

就完成購買的百分比而言，貨架價格與促銷與個性化促銷。

How has that shifted, right?

那是怎麼改變的，對吧？

And if you think about personalized promo, is that as much as 50% or something along those lines of what purchases are occurring?

如果您考慮個性化促銷，那是高達 50% 還是與正在發生的購買類似的東西？

And then the work you've done on price perception, how has that trended maybe early days of COVID to where we are today?

然後你在價格感知方面所做的工作，這可能是如何從 COVID 的早期發展到今天的？

If you look at customer behavior, I want to broaden it a little bit on -- relative to your question.

如果您查看客戶行為，我想就您的問題稍微擴展一下。

We continue to see people focus on health.

我們繼續看到人們關注健康。

If you look at early in COVID, people were not as focused on health, but they're definitely back where they're focused on health in a more aggressive way.

如果你看一下 COVID 的早期，人們並沒有那麼關注健康，但他們肯定會以更積極的方式回到他們關注健康的地方。

All across the board, you see premiumization on what people do.

從整體上看，你會看到人們所做的事情的溢價。

And I always say I'm a reasonably aggressive shopper in our Murray's Cheese.

而且我總是說我在我們的 Murray's Cheese 是一個相當激進的購物者。

Growing up, I would have never had really good cheese.

長大後，我永遠不會吃到真正好的奶酪。

And once you have a really good cheese, it's hard to go back to what you were used to when you -- before.

一旦你有一個非常好的奶酪，就很難回到你以前習慣的樣子。

And what we're finding is customers, when they upgrade and try higher-quality product, they find out they love it, and they become loyal to it.

而我們發現的是客戶，當他們升級並嘗試更高質量的產品時，他們發現他們喜歡它，並且對它變得忠誠。

If you look at customers in terms of behavior and buying on promotion, it's been reasonably consistent throughout the pandemic.

如果您從行為和促銷購買的角度來看待客戶，那麼在整個大流行期間它是相當一致的。

People stretch their budget where they need to or want to because -- and they will splurge in other places, which is one of the things that -- from a go-to-market standpoint that we really try to help a customer stretch their budget on things that are important to them, so they can splurge on what's important to them as well.

人們在需要或想要的地方擴大預算，因為——他們會在其他地方揮霍，這是其中之一——從進入市場的角度來看，我們真的試圖幫助客戶擴大預算在對他們重要的事情上，他們也可以在對他們重要的事情上揮霍。

All right.

好的。

Maybe just a quick one for Gary.

也許對加里來說只是一個快速的。

You guys now have something on the order of $4 billion to $5 billion, right, of dry powder in terms of your leverage target.

就你的槓桿目標而言，你們現在有大約 40 億到 50 億美元的干粉。

How do you think about that conceptually in terms of timing, in terms of return to shareholders versus strategic M&A.

您如何從時間、股東回報與戰略併購的概念上考慮這一點。

What's the philosophy there?

那裡的哲學是什麼？

Yes.

是的。

Thanks, John.

謝謝，約翰。

Obviously, we are really proud of the business performance, and it has demonstrated strength in the overall model and the position that we're in, as we said in the prepared comments.

顯然，正如我們在準備好的評論中所說，我們真的為業務表現感到自豪，它在整體模型和我們所處的位置上展示了實力。

I would say our overall capital allocation strategy is unchanged, that we start with where are the opportunities to invest in capital in the business to drive sustainable growth.

我想說我們的整體資本配置策略沒有改變，我們從投資於企業資本以推動可持續增長的機會開始。

We're obviously in a great position around maintaining our investment-grade debt rating, and we've been able to make some good progress on chipping away at the pension funding from an overall sort of debt and potential liability there as well.

顯然，我們在維持投資級債務評級方面處於有利地位，而且我們已經能夠在從整體債務和潛在負債中削減養老金資金方面取得一些良好進展。

This year, of course, we've been very committed to continuing to return cash to shareholders with the $1 billion, so far, on buybacks and the 17% increase in the dividend that we announced earlier in the year.

當然，今年，我們一直非常致力於繼續以 10 億美元的回購和今年早些時候宣布的股息增加 17% 的方式向股東返還現金。

So I think we've been very consistent with that plan so far.

所以我認為到目前為止，我們與該計劃非常一致。

We do think that in the short term, it's important to maintain some flexibility, recognizing some of the uncertainty in the market that we've all talked about, that we're all navigating through at the moment.

我們確實認為，在短期內，保持一定的靈活性很重要，認識到我們都談到過的市場中的一些不確定性，我們目前都在應對這些不確定性。

That being said, within those principles, we do think it's important, and we've been very committed, as you know, as a company, to being very disciplined with cash flow and deploying it to either grow the business or return to shareholders.

話雖如此，在這些原則中，我們確實認為這很重要，而且正如你所知，作為一家公司，我們一直非常致力於對現金流進行嚴格控制，並將其用於發展業務或回報股東。

So as we head towards 2022 and as we move towards the March planning meeting and the business update meeting that Rob shared, we'd certainly expect to share more color of how we're thinking about the excess cash and some of the opportunities we're exploring there.

因此，隨著我們邁向 2022 年，隨著我們邁向 Rob 分享的 3 月計劃會議和業務更新會議，我們當然希望分享更多關於我們如何看待多餘現金和我們的一些機會的色彩。在那裡重新探索。

And we would continue to look for things that are the right opportunity for things that add capabilities.

我們將繼續尋找合適的機會來增加功能。

So if you think about merging with Home Chef a couple of years ago, it was a capability that we didn't have on the direct-to-customer meal kits, and we've been able to partner with the team there to leverage it back within Kroger as well.

因此，如果您考慮在幾年前與 Home Chef 合併，這是我們在直接面向客戶的餐包上所沒有的能力，我們已經能夠與那裡的團隊合作利用它回到克羅格內部。

So -- and I always think it's important to remind people that we're not required to do any kind of mergers in order to achieve our TSR of 8% to 11% as well.

所以——我一直認為重要的是要提醒人們，我們不需要進行任何形式的合併來實現我們 8% 到 11% 的 TSR。

The next question is from Chuck Cerankosky with Northcoast Research.

下一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Chuck Cerankosky。

Great quarter.

很棒的季度。

Rodney, I think, as you earlier mentioned, that you chose to incur some significant costs in the -- to bolster the supply chain in the quarter.

羅德尼，我認為，正如你之前提到的，你選擇承擔一些重大成本 - 以加強本季度的供應鏈。

Can you give us some detail on that and whether they last into next year?

你能告訴我們一些細節，以及它們是否會持續到明年嗎？

And then I have a follow-up related to that.

然後我有一個與此相關的後續行動。

Yes.

是的。

If you look at the supply chain investments, it was pretty similar to what we did in the second quarter.

如果你看一下供應鏈投資，它與我們在第二季度所做的非常相似。

Now our team has done a nice job of starting to identify some opportunities for efficiency.

現在，我們的團隊在開始發現一些提高效率的機會方面做得很好。

One of the biggest areas is that we continue to have extra warehouse space, and I guess I hesitate to call it extra warehouse space because we're actually using the warehouse space.

最大的領域之一是我們繼續擁有額外的倉庫空間，我想我不願稱它為額外的倉庫空間，因為我們實際上正在使用倉庫空間。

But -- and over time, as we feel like things are permanent, you'll see us do more permanent-type warehouse projects to expand capacity rather than using it maybe in a way that's not as efficient.

但是——隨著時間的推移，我們覺得事情是永久性的，你會看到我們做更多的永久性倉庫項目來擴大容量，而不是以一種效率不高的方式使用它。

We would expect to continue to do that in the fourth quarter.

我們預計將在第四季度繼續這樣做。

As we look out next year, we really are working hard to make sure we stay agile in that area because things continue to change so quickly and what's going on with COVID, what's the COVID variance and things like that.

正如我們明年展望的那樣，我們確實在努力確保我們在該領域保持敏捷，因為事情繼續發生如此迅速的變化，以及 COVID 發生了什麼，COVID 差異是什麼等等。

So we really are making the decisions on an agile basis, and it's one of the learnings that we've had early on in the pandemic, and we'll continue to do that relative to the supply chain as well.

因此，我們確實是在敏捷的基礎上做出決定，這是我們在大流行早期獲得的經驗之一，相對於供應鏈，我們也將繼續這樣做。

Anything on the labor side worth noting?

勞動方面有什麼值得注意的嗎？

And then also, when you're talking about the supply chain issues and product outages, is it -- are we talking about branded versus private label, fresh versus shelf-stable, edible versus nonedible products?

然後，當您談論供應鏈問題和產品中斷時，我們是在談論品牌與自有品牌，新鮮與貨架穩定，食用與非食用產品嗎？

I mean, where are you seeing the need to spend the most money and use the most management resources to make sure the shareholders that.

我的意思是，你在哪裡看到需要花費最多的錢和使用最多的管理資源來確保股東們做到這一點。

Yes.

是的。

If you look at labor, we certainly have partnered with outside companies to supplement our labor resources, especially on the supply chain.

如果你看勞動力，我們當然已經與外部公司合作來補充我們的勞動力資源，特別是在供應鏈上。

If you look at in-stocks, they would be more affected on center store.

如果您查看庫存，它們會在中心商店受到更大的影響。

If you look in the fresh departments, we would be in much better shape in most of the fresh departments in terms of in-stock.

如果您查看生鮮部門，就庫存而言，我們在大多數生鮮部門的狀況都會好得多。

The next question is from Michael Lasser with UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Michael Lasser。

This is Mark Carden on for Michael today.

這是今天邁克爾的馬克卡登。

As a follow-up to some of the earlier inflation questions, where do price gaps stand today?

作為一些早期通脹問題的後續，今天的價格差距在哪裡？

And what's the posture on further investments from here?

從這裡進一步投資的態勢如何？

And have competitors been acting as rationally, given just the heightened inflation this time around?

考慮到這次通脹加劇，競爭對手的行為是否合理？

If you look at -- as everybody knows, we go to market as a high/low merchant.

如果您看一下-眾所周知，我們以高/低商人的身份進入市場。

So we're aggressive on promotion.

所以我們在推廣上很積極。

We're aggressively using promotion.

我們正在積極地使用促銷。

And we feel very good about where we stand relative to price gaps.

我們對我們相對於價格差距的立場感到非常滿意。

And if you look at -- our strategy has always been to neutralize on price and win on our fresh areas and our friendliness and connection our associates have with our customers.

如果你看一下 - 我們的策略一直是在價格上中和並在我們的新鮮領域以及我們的員工與客戶之間的友好和聯繫中獲勝。

And that continues to work well, and we continue to feel good about where we are relative to the various gaps.

這繼續運作良好，我們繼續對我們相對於各種差距的位置感覺良好。

Great.

偉大的。

That's helpful.

這很有幫助。

And then on Ocado, how integrated is the GFC today with your Cincinnati operations?

然後在 Ocado 上，今天的 GFC 與您的辛辛那提業務的整合程度如何？

Has it been integrated in click and collect yet?

它是否已集成到點擊收集中？

And then in Florida, who do you think you're taking the most share from?

然後在佛羅里達州，你認為你從誰那裡獲得的份額最多？

If you look at Florida, I think the growth in the market is so strong that I think every -- all boats are rising in Florida.

如果你看看佛羅里達，我認為市場的增長是如此強勁，以至於我認為佛羅里達的每艘船都在上漲。

So to say that we're taking share away from somebody, I really don't think of it that way because I just think the market is growing so much.

所以說我們正在從某人那裡搶走份額，我真的不這麼認為，因為我只是認為市場增長如此之快。

If you look at your first part of your question on Monroe, we continue to further integrate it within the store network.

如果您查看有關夢露的問題的第一部分，我們將繼續將其進一步整合到商店網絡中。

And it's something that, literally, every single week that goes by, we further integrate to really make it a seamless experience for the customer.

從字面上看，每過一周，我們都會進一步整合，以真正使其成為客戶的無縫體驗。

Thanks for your questions, and that will end our question-and-answer session.

感謝您的提問，我們的問答環節到此結束。

As Rob said, thanks for questions.

正如 Rob 所說，感謝您的提問。

Obviously, thank you for your interest in Kroger.

顯然，感謝您對克羅格的興趣。

As you know, many of our associates own stock, and we always use the end of this to communicate directly with our associates as well.

如您所知，我們的許多員工都擁有股票，而且我們也總是使用這種方式與我們的員工直接溝通。

And as all of us embrace the holiday season, it often becomes a time where we can -- of reflection as we sit down to enjoy special meals with our loved ones.

當我們所有人都擁抱假期時，這往往成為我們可以反思的時候——當我們坐下來與我們所愛的人一起享用特別的飯菜時進行反思。

And as I said earlier, I am just so incredibly proud of our associates across the Kroger Family of Companies and what we, as a team, have accomplished this year.

正如我之前所說，我為克羅格公司的員工以及我們作為一個團隊今年所取得的成就感到無比自豪。

Everyone of our associates is helping make the holidays brighter and fresher for our customers, and more importantly, for that customer and their family.

我們的每一位員工都在幫助我們的客戶，更重要的是，為客戶及其家人打造更明亮、更新鮮的假期。

And it doesn't matter if you're making a difference together, like our Kroger Health team, who has administrated 8.5 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, or as individuals like Donna Greer, a cashier at our store 387 in Collierville, Tennessee, whose unshakable positivity has been an inspiration to many, including the Collierville Herald-Independent who just named her Collierville Woman of the Year.

不管你們是否一起做出改變，比如我們的 Kroger Health 團隊，他已經管理了 850 萬劑 COVID-19 疫苗，或者像我們位於 Collierville 的 387 號商店的收銀員 Donna Greer 這樣的個人，田納西州，其不可動搖的積極性一直是許多人的靈感來源，包括剛剛將她命名為科利爾維爾年度女性的科利爾維爾先驅獨立報。

We are so proud of Donna, and congratulations, Donna.

我們為唐娜感到驕傲，祝賀唐娜。

When you look at these, they are just a few examples of our incredible people who bring our vision and values to life each and every day.

當您看到這些時，他們只是我們令人難以置信的人的幾個例子，他們每天都將我們的願景和價值觀變為現實。

Our associates are beyond amazing and continue to serve our communities and uplift each other and our customers.

我們的員工非常出色，並繼續為我們的社區服務，並相互提升和提升我們的客戶。

That concludes our call for today.

我們今天的呼籲到此結束。

We wish everyone a happy holiday season, Merry Christmas and encourage you to stay safe.

我們祝大家節日快樂，聖誕快樂，並鼓勵您保持安全。

And as always, thank you for your interest in Kroger.

一如既往，感謝您對克羅格的興趣。

The conference has now concluded.

會議現已結束。

Thank you for attending today's presentation.

感謝您參加今天的演講。

You may now disconnect.

您現在可以斷開連接。