克羅格 (KR) 2023 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to The Kroger Co. First Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to Rob Quast, Senior Director, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

早上好，歡迎參加克羅格公司 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，正在記錄此事件。我現在想將會議交給投資者關係高級總監 Rob Quast。請繼續。

Good morning. Thank you for joining us for Kroger's First Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. I am joined today by Kroger's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rodney McMullen; and Chief Financial Officer, Gary Millerchip.

早上好。感謝您參加克羅格 2023 年第一季度收益電話會議。今天，克羅格董事長兼首席執行官羅德尼·麥克穆倫 (Rodney McMullen) 也加入了我的行列。和首席財務官加里·米勒奇普。

Before we begin, I want to remind you that today's discussions will include forward-looking statements. We want to caution you that such statements are predictions, and actual events or results can differ materially. 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.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您，今天的討論將包括前瞻性陳述。我們想提醒您，此類陳述僅為預測，實際事件或結果可能存在重大差異。我們向 SEC 提交的文件中詳細討論了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。

The Kroger Company assumes no obligation to update that information. After our prepared remarks, we look forward to taking your questions. In order to cover a broad range of topics from as many of you as we can, we ask that you please limit yourself to one question and one follow-up question, if necessary. I will now turn the call over to Rodney.

克羅格公司不承擔更新該信息的義務。在我們準備好發言後，我們期待回答您的問題。為了盡可能涵蓋廣泛的主題，我們要求您將自己限制在一個問題和一個後續問題（如有必要）。我現在將把電話轉給羅德尼。

Thank you, Rob. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. We're off to a great start in 2023 with results that reflect the strength of our go-to-market strategy. Kroger is continuing to navigate a challenged environment, as our customers manage the effects of high inflation, fewer SNAP dollars and macroeconomic uncertainty. Despite these conditions, customers continue to prioritize their spending on food and our value proposition is resonating.

謝謝你，羅布。大家早上好，感謝您今天加入我們。我們在 2023 年有了一個良好的開端，其結果反映了我們進入市場戰略的實力。克羅格正在繼續應對充滿挑戰的環境，因為我們的客戶正在應對高通脹、SNAP 美元減少和宏觀經濟不確定性的影響。儘管存在這些條件，客戶仍然優先考慮在食品上的支出，我們的價值主張引起了共鳴。

The investments and productivity improvements we made over recent years, have strengthened our business, allowing us to sustainably invest in price for our customers while maintaining margins. By delivering great value and driving strategic initiatives, we are sustaining momentum, which gives us the confidence that we will continue delivering on our commitments.

近年來我們進行的投資和生產力的提高增強了我們的業務，使我們能夠在為客戶提供價格方面進行可持續投資，同時保持利潤率。通過提供巨大價值和推動戰略舉措，我們正在保持勢頭，這使我們有信心繼續履行我們的承諾。

Many of our customer preferences and trends that emerged last year have, as expected, accelerated into the first quarter. Customers are actively looking for ways to save, and we are focused on providing a fresh and affordable shopping experience with zero compromise on quality, selection or convenience. As we've seen over recent quarters, our customers are saving through loyalty discounts, including weekly specials and yellow tag promotions, engaging in our broad assortment of Our Brands products and redeeming personalized digital coupons and fuel rewards.

正如預期的那樣，我們去年出現的許多客戶偏好和趨勢在第一季度加速增長。顧客正在積極尋找省錢的方法，而我們專注於提供新鮮且實惠的購物體驗，在質量、選擇或便利性上零妥協。正如我們在最近幾個季度所看到的，我們的客戶通過忠誠度折扣（包括每週特價和黃標促銷）、參與我們品牌的各種產品以及兌換個性化數字優惠券和燃油獎勵來節省開支。

During the first quarter, sales made on promotion increased approximately 380 basis points, and digital coupon redemptions increased to [180 million]. We are delivering more savings opportunities, including working with our suppliers to fund more promotions. Kroger's value proposition offers something for every customer, which I'm pleased to say led to increased customer trips and our eighth consecutive quarter of household growth. That being said, we continue to see a split in spend across customer segments. The economic environment is more significantly impacting our budget-conscious shoppers, while our mainstream and higher income shoppers are increasing their spend with us and deepening their loyalty.

第一季度，促銷銷售額增加了約 380 個基點，數字優惠券兌換量增加至 [1.8 億]。我們正在提供更多節省機會，包括與我們的供應商合作為更多促銷活動提供資金。克羅格的價值主張為每位客戶提供了一些東西，我很高興地說，這導致了客戶旅行的增加和我們連續第八個季度的家庭增長。話雖如此，我們仍然看到不同客戶群的支出存在分化。經濟環境對精打細算的購物者的影響更為顯著，而我們的主流和高收入購物者正在增加在我們這裡的支出並加深了他們的忠誠度。

We grew mainstream households, which make up the largest segment of our customer base. We also grew our higher-income customer households, as they migrate from specialty retailers to Kroger. These customers are extremely valuable because they are building larger baskets and spending more per item. We see these customers buying premium Our Brands lines, more fresh items and larger pack size, and as a result, they are more profitable. In contrast, our budget-conscious households are buying fewer items, particularly as SNAP benefits, declined during the quarter. In some cases, we see these households switching to lower-priced products and smaller pack sizes. The least loyal customer in this group are clearly prioritizing the price at shelf, over other factors such as personalized offers, convenience and quality.

我們發展了主流家庭，他們構成了我們客戶群的最大部分。隨著高收入客戶家庭從專業零售商轉向克羅格，我們的客戶家庭也有所增長。這些客戶非常有價值，因為他們正在構建更大的購物籃並且在每件商品上花費更多。我們看到這些客戶購買我們品牌的優質產品、更新鮮的商品和更大的包裝尺寸，因此，他們的利潤更高。相比之下，我們精打細算的家庭購買的物品較少，特別是在 SNAP 福利在本季度下降的情況下。在某些情況下，我們看到這些家庭轉而使用價格較低的產品和較小的包裝尺寸。該群體中最不忠誠的客戶顯然​​優先考慮的是貨架上的價格，而不是個性化優惠、便利性和質量等其他因素。

While no one can predict the macroeconomic outlook with certainty, we expect customers, particularly those on tighter budgets, will continue to feel the effects of inflation and higher interest rates. We have started to see relief as year-over-year inflation levels moderate, particularly in fresh categories. We expect value and quality to remain in focus for the majority of our customers in the months ahead. Our attractive value proposition positions us well for this environment. In fact, our promotional pricing, personalized offers and fuel savings work together to create an overall value comparable to everyday low-price providers, and those savings come with much more personalized experience.

儘管沒有人能夠準確預測宏觀經濟前景，但我們預計客戶，尤其是預算緊張的客戶，將繼續感受到通貨膨脹和利率上升的影響。隨著通脹水平逐年放緩，我們已經開始看到緩解，尤其是在生鮮品類中。我們預計未來幾個月，價值和質量將繼續成為大多數客戶關注的焦點。我們極具吸引力的價值主張使我們在這種環境中處於有利地位。事實上，我們的促銷定價、個性化優惠和燃油節省共同創造了與日常低價提供商相當的整體價值，而這些節省帶來了更加個性化的體驗。

Along with our great value proposition, we will continue investing in and growing our strategic priorities of Fresh, Our Brands, Personalization and Seamless to create a full fresh and friendly customer experience. As you know, we lead with Fresh. Our Fresh for Everyone promise connects strongly with customers, and is a key differentiator that drives customers to us. We are constantly innovating by applying data and technology to improve the customer's Fresh experience.

除了我們偉大的價值主張之外，我們將繼續投資和發展我們的新鮮、我們的品牌、個性化和無縫的戰略重點，以創造一個完整的新鮮和友好的客戶體驗。如您所知，我們以 Fresh 為主導。我們為每個人提供新鮮食品的承諾與客戶緊密相連，也是吸引客戶來到我們這裡的關鍵差異化因素。我們不斷創新，應用數據和技術來改善客戶的生鮮體驗。

A key to winning in Fresh is our supply chain. We improved our supply chain's efficiency through investments in talent and technology, as well as controlling more movement of products across our network. As a result, our associates improved our in-stock rates, which drive higher sales. Through our end-to-end Fresh initiative, we are streamlining our supply chain to minimize the lapsed time from farm to shelf. Combined with our convenient store network, these investments deliver even more days of freshness at home for our customers. Together, these improvements also reduce our expenses, allowing us to invest in price for customers, while providing fresher choices and more options.

在生鮮領域獲勝的關鍵是我們的供應鏈。我們通過對人才和技術的投資以及控制更多產品在我們網絡中的流動來提高供應鏈的效率。結果，我們的員工提高了庫存率，從而推動了銷售額的增長。通過我們的端到端新鮮計劃，我們正在簡化我們的供應鏈，以盡量減少從農場到貨架的流逝時間。結合我們的便利店網絡，這些投資為我們的顧客提供更多天的在家新鮮感。總之，這些改進還減少了我們的開支，使我們能夠為客戶進行價格投資，同時提供更新鮮的選擇和更多選擇。

Turning to Our Brands. Our Brands delivered another solid quarter that led by our namesake, Kroger Brand, a national brand equivalent. Our Brands are always a winner with our customers. In this period of sustained high inflation, it helps our customers save money without sacrificing quality. While inflation may have been the reason for some customers trying Our Brands products, the taste and quality makes the customer love these products and continue to repurchase them.

轉向我們的品牌。我們的品牌在第二季度表現強勁，其中以我們的同名品牌克羅格品牌（全國性品牌）為首。我們的品牌始終是客戶的贏家。在這個持續高通脹的時期，它幫助我們的客戶在不犧牲質量的情況下省錢。雖然通貨膨脹可能是一些顧客嘗試我們品牌產品的原因，但味道和質量使顧客喜歡這些產品並繼續回購它們。

For customers looking for more convenience, Home Chef plays an important role and continues to innovate and expand offerings to meet growing customer needs. This quarter, Home Chef expanded its menu to bring more healthy choices, premium meals and new concepts. Our team unveiled its first dedicated family menu designed to make family dinners, easier than ever. The menu includes easy-to-prepare recipes for larger groups with meals appealing to both adults and children and at an attractive value.

對於尋求更多便利的客戶來說，Home Chef 發揮著重要作用，並不斷創新和擴展產品，以滿足不斷增長的客戶需求。本季度，Home Chef 擴大了菜單，帶來更多健康選擇、優質餐點和新概念。我們的團隊推出了首個專門的家庭菜單，旨在讓家庭晚餐變得比以往更輕鬆。菜單包括適合大型團體的易於準備的食譜，餐點對成人和兒童都有吸引力，而且價格極具吸引力。

Next is Personalization. For years, Kroger has been at the forefront of using data and analytics, including artificial intelligence to build a better customer and associate experience. By applying our data and AI-based personalization, we can better understand what truly matters to our customers and deliver more targeted and effective experiences. As customers' digital engagement increases, we have new and more efficient channels to present the most relevant products and the right promotions at the right times, no matter where and how customers choose to shop with us.

接下來是個性化。多年來，克羅格一直處於使用數據和分析（包括人工智能）的前沿，以打造更好的客戶和員工體驗。通過應用我們的數據和基於人工智能的個性化，我們可以更好地了解對客戶真正重要的事情，並提供更有針對性和更有效的體驗。隨著客戶數字化參與度的提高，無論客戶選擇在哪里以及如何在我們這裡購物，我們都擁有更高效的新渠道，可以在正確的時間展示最相關的產品和正確的促銷活動。

As AI advances, we continue to work and constantly evaluate potential use cases throughout the business with privacy and responsible implementation in mind. For customers, we see opportunities to further simplify the digital experience and offer more accurate personalized recommendations. Our teams are working with search algorithms and generative AI to improve substitution accuracy and search results. Within our 84.51° customer research team, we are already piloting several large language models to summarize customer database sets. By applying AI to customer surveys and customer service logs, our team can analyze and categorize them in minutes versus days before. This allows the business to react to customer feedback more quickly and accurately, and then reflect these learnings in the customer experience.

隨著人工智能的進步，我們將繼續努力並不斷評估整個企業的潛在用例，同時牢記隱私和負責任的實施。對於客戶來說，我們看到了進一步簡化數字體驗並提供更準確的個性化建議的機會。我們的團隊正在使用搜索算法和生成人工智能來提高替換準確性和搜索結果。在我們的 84.51° 客戶研究團隊中，我們已經在試點幾個大型語言模型來總結客戶數據庫集。通過將人工智能應用於客戶調查和客戶服務日誌，我們的團隊可以在幾分鐘內對它們進行分析和分類，而不是幾天前。這使得企業能夠更快、更準確地對客戶反饋做出反應，然後將這些經驗教訓反映在客戶體驗中。

For our associates, we envision ways to further simplify work through advanced algorithms that optimize activities such as store orders. These, in turn, help reduce out-of-stocks, improve inventory management and reduce expenses. Data is in our DNA. Our rich history as a technology leader gives us confidence that we will continue to effectively use AI, including more recent innovations. We also believe robust, accurate and diverse first-party data is critical to maximizing the impact of innovation in data science and AI. As a result, Kroger is well positioned to successfully adopt these innovations and deliver a better customer and associate experience.

對於我們的員工，我們設想通過先進的算法進一步簡化工作，優化商店訂單等活動。這些反過來又有助於減少缺貨、改善庫存管理並減少開支。數據存在於我們的 DNA 中。作為技術領導者的豐富歷史讓我們有信心繼續有效地利用人工智能，包括最新的創新。我們還相信，強大、準確和多樣化的第一方數據對於最大限度地發揮數據科學和人工智能創新的影響至關重要。因此，克羅格有能力成功採用這些創新並提供更好的客戶和員工體驗。

Now on Seamless. Growth in both our pickup and delivery businesses led to a strong quarter of digital sales growth. A significant rise in both households and transactions fueled this growth. Pickup remains an important part of our Seamless ecosystem. During the quarter, our team's focus on associate training resulted in improvements in the customer experience. Pickup Net Promoter Scores increased, as we improved fill rates and reduced customer wait times, obviously something we're very proud of.

現在無縫。我們的取貨和送貨業務的增長帶動了數字銷售的強勁季度增長。家庭和交易的大幅增長推動了這一增長。取貨仍然是我們 Seamless 生態系統的重要組成部分。在本季度，我們團隊對員工培訓的關注改善了客戶體驗。隨著我們提高填充率並減少客戶等待時間，提貨淨推薦值有所增加，這顯然是我們非常自豪的事情。

Seamless starts with our digital experience, which we built to be simple, convenient regardless of how customers choose to shop with us. Whether our customers want immediacy of Kroger Delivery Now or to place a large stock-up order through our customer fulfillment centers, the customer experience is the same. This shifts complexity from our customers to Kroger. Even customers shopping only in store are beginning their shopping trip through our mobile app or website by clipping coupons and creating shopping lists curated for their store. These growing interactions contributed to the 13% increase, in digitally engaged households this quarter. We value this behavior as digitally engaged households are more loyal, spend nearly 3x more with us, and help grow our alternative profit businesses like Kroger Precision Marketing.

Seamless 從我們的數字體驗開始，無論客戶選擇如何在我們這裡購物，我們的數字體驗都是簡單、方便的。無論我們的客戶想要立即獲得克羅格送貨服務，還是通過我們的客戶履行中心下大宗庫存訂單，客戶體驗都是一樣的。這將復雜性從我們的客戶轉移到了克羅格。即使只在商店購物的顧客也可以通過我們的移動應用程序或網站開始他們的購物之旅，剪下優惠券並創建為其商店策劃的購物清單。這些日益增長的互動使得本季度參與數字化的家庭數量增加了 13%。我們重視這種行為，因為參與數字化的家庭更加忠誠，在我們這裡的花費增加了近 3 倍，並有助於發展我們的另類利潤業務，例如 Kroger Precision Marketing。

Our associates continue to provide our customers with an outstanding full, fresh and friendly experience, better continuity on our teams and more engaged associates lead to a more consistent customer experience. And we are excited about the continued improvement in retention. This improvement reflects our focus on making Kroger a place, where associates can come for a job and discover a career. Kroger is committed to training our future leaders and made significant investments this quarter. We enhanced our career development framework, expanded our leadership development course catalog and introduced company-wide development days. In the first quarter alone, our leaders engaged in more than 445,000 leadership development courses to strengthen their skills. We are excited for our associates' commitment to developing their careers with Kroger.

我們的員工繼續為客戶提供出色、完整、新鮮和友好的體驗，我們團隊更好的連續性和更積極的員工帶來更一致的客戶體驗。我們對保留率的持續改善感到興奮。這一改進反映了我們致力於將克羅格打造成一個員工可以來這里工作並發現職業生涯的地方。克羅格致力於培訓我們未來的領導者，並在本季度進行了重大投資。我們增強了職業發展框架，擴大了領導力發展課程目錄，並推出了全公司範圍的發展日。僅在第一季度，我們的領導者就參加了超過 445,000 個領導力發展課程來增強他們的技能。我們對員工致力於在克羅格發展職業生涯感到興奮。

Our associates are driven by our purpose to feed the human spirit, and Kroger's effort to build healthy communities are being recognized. This quarter, Kroger was selected as a 2023 SEAL Business Sustainability Awards winner in the environmental initiative category. We received this award in recognition for our progress in creating communities free from hunger and waste, which is a result of our team's collective efforts to more deeply integrate Zero Hunger | Zero Waste in our operations. We are incredibly appreciative of all of these efforts.

我們的員工被我們滋養人類精神的目標所驅動，克羅格為建設健康社區所做的努力也得到了認可。本季度，克羅格被選為 2023 年海豹突擊隊商業可持續發展獎環境倡議類別獲獎者。我們獲得此獎項是為了表彰我們在創建沒有飢餓和浪費的社區方面所取得的進展，這是我們團隊集體努力更深入地整合零飢餓|的結果。我們運營中的零浪費。我們非常感謝所有這些努力。

In closing, Kroger delivered a strong first quarter, by focusing on delivering customers value through our Seamless ecosystem. We are growing customer households and trips, and our business remains well positioned for the environment ahead. With that, I'll turn it over to Gary to take you through our financial results. Gary?

最後，克羅格通過專注於通過我們的無縫生態系統為客戶提供價值，實現了強勁的第一季度業績。我們的客戶家庭和旅行不斷增長，我們的業務在未來的環境中仍處於有利地位。接下來，我將把它交給加里，讓您了解一下我們的財務業績。加里？

Thank you, Rodney, and good morning, everyone. Kroger's first quarter results clearly demonstrate the durability of our business in a more challenged operating environment. The investments we have made in our value creation model over recent years are paying off, allowing us to continue to deliver value for customers, invest in our associates and create attractive returns for our shareholders.

謝謝羅德尼，大家早上好。克羅格第一季度的業績清楚地證明了我們的業務在更具挑戰性的運營環境中的耐用性。近年來，我們對價值創造模式的投資正在取得回報，使我們能夠繼續為客戶創造價值，投資於我們的員工，並為股東創造有吸引力的回報。

As Rodney shared earlier, we are driving increased customer engagement through our go-to-market strategy, which in turn is fueling our flywheel, including growth in alternative profit businesses. I'll now walk through how our execution of this strategy translated into solid first quarter results. Identical sales without fuel is a key component of our growth model. During the quarter, we achieved identical sales without fuel of 3.5%. Underlying growth would have been 5%, after adjusting for the effect of the previously communicated decision to terminate our agreement with Express Scripts.

正如羅德尼早些時候分享的那樣，我們正在通過進入市場戰略推動客戶參與度的提高，這反過來又推動了我們的飛輪，包括替代利潤業務的增長。現在，我將介紹我們對這一戰略的執行如何轉化為堅實的第一季度業績。無需燃料的相同銷售是我們增長模式的關鍵組成部分。本季度，我們在不含燃油的情況下實現了 3.5% 的相同銷售額。在調整之前傳達的終止我們與 Express Scripts 協議的決定的影響後，基本增長率將為 5%。

As expected, the terminated agreement also had a positive effect on our FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, and a negative effect on the OG&A rate, excluding fuel and adjustment items. The overall effect on operating profit during the first quarter was slightly positive, and we would expect this to continue to be the case for the remainder of 2023. Our decision to terminate the agreement with Express Scripts reflects our commitment to making decisions that we believe are in the long-term best interest of our customers and shareholders.

正如預期的那樣，終止協議還對我們的 FIFO 毛利率（不包括燃料）產生了積極影響，並對 OG&A 毛利率（不包括燃料和調整項目）產生了負面影響。第一季度對營業利潤的總體影響略有積極，我們預計這種情況在 2023 年剩餘時間內將繼續如此。我們終止與 Express Scripts 協議的決定反映了我們做出的決策的承諾，我們認為這些決策是符合我們客戶和股東的長期最佳利益。

Turning back to our identical sales without fuel growth in the quarter. These results were underpinned by key elements of our go-to-market strategy. Our Brands sales grew 4.9%. Our Brands continue to be an important source of savings for our customers, who are attracted to the unmatched quality and value they provide. At the same time, Our Brands helped drive stronger profitability, typically providing 600 to 800 basis points higher margin compared to national brands. Our merchandising team is doing an excellent job optimizing our portfolio of brands to drive improved penetration and margin performance.

回到本季度我們相同的銷售額，但沒有推動增長。這些結果是我們進入市場戰略的關鍵要素的基礎。我們的品牌銷售額增長了 4.9%。我們的品牌仍然是客戶節省成本的重要來源，他們被其提供的無與倫比的質量和價值所吸引。與此同時，我們的品牌有助於推動更強的盈利能力，與國內品牌相比，利潤率通常高出 600 至 800 個基點。我們的銷售團隊在優化我們的品牌組合方面做得非常出色，以提高滲透率和利潤率。

The launch of our new opening price point brand, Smart Way, has enhanced overall brand architecture, and our relentless focus on continuous improvement and innovation is driving strong momentum across the portfolio. We expect this momentum will continue to deliver value for the remainder of 2023.

我們新開價品牌 Smart Way 的推出增強了整體品牌架構，而我們對持續改進和創新的不懈關注正在推動整個產品組合的強勁發展勢頭。我們預計這一勢頭將在 2023 年剩餘時間內繼續創造價值。

Digital sales grew 15% in the quarter. We saw 11% growth in pickup and 30% growth in delivery solutions, powered by our unique combination of CFCs and convenience store locations. Our Net Promoter Scores continue to increase and CFC volumes are growing in line with expectations in 2023. We are working closely with Ocado to make our CFCs even more efficient and productive. As a result of these joint efforts, our Monroe facility greatly improved the cost per order over the past quarter, and we're now in the process of applying these learnings across our other sites.

本季度數字銷售額增長 15%。在我們獨特的 CFC 和便利店位置組合的推動下，取貨業務增長了 11%，配送解決方案增長了 30%。我們的淨推薦值持續增加，CFC 數量的增長符合 2023 年的預期。我們正在與 Ocado 密切合作，以提高我們的 CFC 的效率和生產力。由於這些共同努力，我們的門羅工廠在過去一個季度大大降低了每份訂單的成本，我們現在正在將這些經驗應用到我們的其他工廠。

As outlined at our business update back in March, we believe digital will continue to be an important growth driver and anticipate double-digit sales increases will continue for the remainder of 2023. Gross margin was 22.3% of sales. Our FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, increased 21 basis points compared to the same quarter, last year. Importantly, this increase in rate was achieved while also investing in price to maintain a competitive price position and deliver greater value for our customers.

正如我們在 3 月份的業務更新中所概述的那樣，我們相信數字化將繼續成為重要的增長動力，並預計 2023 年剩餘時間將繼續實現兩位數的銷售額增長。毛利率為銷售額的 22.3%。與去年同期相比，我們的 FIFO 毛利率（不包括燃料）增加了 21 個基點。重要的是，在實現利率增長的同時，我們還進行了價格投資，以保持具有競爭力的價格地位，並為我們的客戶提供更大的價值。

The improvement was primarily attributable to strong Our Brands performance, sourcing benefits, lower supply chain costs and the effect of our terminated agreement with Express Scripts, partially offset by higher shrink and increased promotional price investments. As we've shared previously, our strategy to improve margin over time has many components, including utilizing technology to increase supply chain efficiency, improving fresh capabilities, expansion of Our Brands, improvements in digital profitability and growth in retail media.

這一改善主要歸因於我們品牌的強勁表現、採購優勢、供應鏈成本降低以及我們與 Express Scripts 終止協議的影響，但部分被更高的損耗和增加的促銷價格投資所抵消。正如我們之前所分享的，我們隨著時間的推移提高利潤率的戰略有很多組成部分，包括利用技術提高供應鏈效率、提高生鮮能力、擴大我們的品牌、提高數字盈利能力和零售媒體的增長。

The investments we have made over recent years to strengthen our business in these areas were reflected in our FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, this quarter. And we expect this trend to continue for the remainder of 2023. During the quarter, we recorded a LIFO charge of $99 million compared to a LIFO charge of $93 million for the same period last year. Kroger's OG&A rate increased 14 basis points, excluding fuel and adjustment items, reflecting planned investments in associates and the effect of our terminated agreement with Express Scripts, partially offset by sales leverage and continued execution of cost saving initiatives.

近年來我們為加強這些領域的業務而進行的投資反映在本季度我們的先進先出毛利率（不包括燃料）中。我們預計這一趨勢將在 2023 年剩餘時間內持續下去。在本季度，我們記錄的 LIFO 費用為 9,900 萬美元，而去年同期的 LIFO 費用為 9,300 萬美元。克羅格的 OG&A 利率增加了 14 個基點，不包括燃料和調整項目，反映了對聯營公司的計劃投資以及我們與 Express Scripts 終止協議的影響，部分被銷售槓桿和持續執行成本節約計劃所抵消。

Associate investments are funded by removing costs from our business that do not impact the customer experience. This is an essential element of our go-to-market strategy, and we are on track to achieve our sixth consecutive year of $1 billion in annual cost savings. Adjusted FIFO operating profit in quarter 1 was $1,669 billion and our adjusted EPS was $1.51. Both measures were up 4% compared to the same period last year.

聯營投資的資金來源是消除我們業務中不影響客戶體驗的成本。這是我們進入市場戰略的重要組成部分，我們有望連續第六年實現每年 10 億美元的成本節省。第一季度調整後的 FIFO 營業利潤為 16,690 億美元，調整後的每股收益為 1.51 美元。兩項指標均較去年同期增長 4%。

I'll now walk through how the other key components of our value creation model contributed in the quarter and support our plans to deliver sustainable growth in the future. Our health and wellness team delivered results ahead of internal expectations during the quarter, including positive ID sales growth despite the effect of the termination of our agreement with Express Scripts. This performance was led by strong underlying results in our retail pharmacy business.

現在，我將介紹我們價值創造模型的其他關鍵組成部分如何在本季度做出貢獻，並支持我們實現未來可持續增長的計劃。儘管我們與 Express Scripts 協議終止，但我們的健康和保健團隊在本季度取得的業績超出了內部預期，其中包括 ID 銷售額的積極增長。這一業績得益於我們零售藥品業務的強勁基本業績。

Fuel is another important part of our strategy that drives customer loyalty, and was a tailwind to profitability in quarter 1. Fuel reward engagement remained high this quarter with a 19% increase in discounts redeemed, compared to the first quarter last year. The average retail fuel price was $3.55 this quarter compared to $4 in the same quarter last year. And our cents per gallon fuel margin was $0.45 this quarter versus $0.42 in the same quarter last year.

燃油是我們提高客戶忠誠度戰略的另一個重要組成部分，也是第一季度盈利的推動力。本季度燃油獎勵參與度仍然很高，與去年第一季度相比，兌換的折扣增加了 19%。本季度平均零售燃油價格為 3.55 美元，而去年同期為 4 美元。本季度每加侖燃油利潤為 0.45 美分，去年同期為 0.42 美元。

Turning now to alternative profit businesses. The significant traffic and data created by our food, health and fuel businesses continue to enable strong growth in alternative profits. Retail media is leading the way. And this quarter, KPM announced a new collaboration with Disney to bring its renowned targeting and measurement capabilities to Disney's portfolio of connected TV. Connected TV is one of the fastest-growing areas of ad spend, tripling in the last 3 years to $20 billion and is expected to double again by 2027. We are excited about the opportunities to accelerate KPM's future growth through this recent addition to the KPM ecosystem.

現在轉向替代利潤業務。我們的食品、健康和燃料業務創造的大量流量和數據繼續推動替代利潤的強勁增長。零售媒體正在引領潮流。本季度，KPM 宣布與迪士尼開展新的合作，將其著名的定位和測量功能引入迪士尼的聯網電視產品組合。聯網電視是廣告支出增長最快的領域之一，在過去 3 年中增長了兩倍，達到 200 億美元，預計到 2027 年將再次翻一番。我們很高興有機會通過最近加入 KPM 來加速 KPM 的未來增長生態系統。

KPM is also innovating in other areas, including in-store digital marketing. We recently announced a rollout of cooler screens in our stores. These innovative screens will replace traditional refrigerator and freezer doors with a digital overlay that will offer customers information on products, as well as KPM curated advertisements. This will bring a differentiated shopping experience to our customers while also creating another powerful marketing tool for KPM to offer to our brand partners.

KPM 還在其他領域進行創新，包括店內數字營銷。我們最近宣佈在商店中推出涼爽的屏幕。這些創新屏幕將用數字覆蓋層取代傳統的冰箱和冰櫃門，為客戶提供產品信息以及 KPM 策劃的廣告。這將為我們的客戶帶來差異化的購物體驗，同時也為 KPM 為我們的品牌合作夥伴提供另一個強大的營銷工具。

Our first quarter results would not have been possible without our incredible associates, who are doing an outstanding job executing our strategy and delivering a great customer experience. Our go-to-market strategy is underpinned by our commitment to continue investing in our associates to ensure Kroger remains an employer of choice. During the first quarter, we ratified new labor agreements with the UFCW for associates in Atlanta, Louisville and Cincinnati divisions, covering more than 51,000 associates. We also ratified a new agreement with the United Industrial Workers for our Columbus distribution center. We continue to negotiate contracts with the UFCW for associates in Smith's, Utah Clarks and Meat, Dallas Clarks, Dallas Meat and Fries division.

如果沒有我們出色的員工，我們就不可能取得第一季度的業績，他們在執行我們的戰略和提供出色的客戶體驗方面表現出色。我們致力於繼續投資於我們的員工，以確保克羅格仍然是首選雇主，這是我們進入市場戰略的基礎。第一季度，我們為亞特蘭大、路易斯維爾和辛辛那提分部的員工批准了與 UFCW 的新勞動協議，覆蓋超過 51,000 名員工。我們還批准了與聯合產業工人聯合會就我們的哥倫布配送中心達成的新協議。我們繼續與 UFCW 就 Smith's、Utah Clarks and Meat、Dallas Clarks、Dallas Meat and Fries 部門的員工合同進行談判。

Turning now to liquidity and free cash flow. Kroger continues to generate strong free cash flow. Our operating results, combined with improvements in inventory and receivables led to a reduction in net debt of $1.5 billion compared to Q1 last year. As a result of improvements in working capital, we now expect adjusted free cash flow to be in the range of $2.5 billion to $2.7 billion for the fiscal year 2023. At the end of the first quarter, Kroger's net total debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was a record low of 1.34. This compares to our net total debt to adjusted EBITDA target ratio range of 2.30 to 2.50.

現在轉向流動性和自由現金流。克羅格繼續產生強勁的自由現金流。我們的經營業績，加上庫存和應收賬款的改善，導致淨債務比去年第一季度減少了 15 億美元。由於營運資本的改善，我們現在預計 2023 財年調整後的自由現金流將在 25 億至 27 億美元之間。第一季度末，克羅格的淨總債務與調整後 EBITDA 的比率為創歷史新低1.34。相比之下，我們的淨總債務與調整後 EBITDA 目標比率範圍為 2.30 至 2.50。

The company expects to continue to pay its quarterly dividend and expect this to increase over time, subject to Board approval. As a reminder, we have paused our share repurchase program to prioritize deleveraging, following the proposed merger with Albertsons. In closing, I'd like to share some additional color on our outlook for the remainder of the year. As Rodney mentioned earlier, inflation started to show signs of deceleration throughout the quarter, particularly in the Fresh categories and ended the quarter approximately 400 basis points lower than the start of the year. We expect inflation will continue to decline, as the year progresses and believe the environment will remain challenged for our customers as they deal with higher interest rates and an uncertain economic outlook.

該公司預計將繼續支付季度股息，並預計股息將隨著時間的推移而增加，但須經董事會批准。謹此提醒，在擬議與艾伯森合併後，我們暫停了股票回購計劃，以優先考慮去槓桿化。最後，我想就我們今年剩餘時間的前景分享一些額外的觀點。正如羅德尼之前提到的，整個季度通脹開始顯示出減速跡象，尤其是生鮮品類，本季度末比年初低約 400 個基點。我們預計，隨著時間的推移，通脹將繼續下降，並相信我們的客戶在應對更高的利率和不確定的經濟前景時，環境仍將面臨挑戰。

These were factors we anticipated, when we issued our original guidance, and the investments we have made over recent years to strengthen our value creation flywheel, give us the confidence to reaffirm our full year guidance for identical sales without fuel and adjusted EPS. Looking towards the balance of the year, we would expect identical sales without fuel to be at the low end of our guidance range of 1% to 2% for the remaining 3 quarters of 2023, reflecting continued slowing inflation, partially offset by underlying improvement in unit growth.

這些是我們在發布最初的指導時所預期的因素，以及我們近年來為加強價值創造飛輪而進行的投資，使我們有信心重申我們對不含燃料和調整後每股收益的相同銷售的全年指導。展望今年剩餘時間，我們預計 2023 年剩餘 3 個季度的不含燃料的相同銷售額將處於我們指導範圍 1% 至 2% 的低端，反映出通脹持續放緩，但部分被經濟的基本改善所抵消。單位增長。

Recall this guidance includes the effect of Express Scripts, which is a headwind to identical sales without fuel of approximately 150 basis points. We expect adjusted EPS to grow within our full year guidance range of 2% to 5% in each of the remaining quarters, excluding an expected 15% benefit from the 53rd week in the fourth quarter. We would expect Q2 adjusted EPS to be at the low end of our guidance range, as we cycle unusually high fuel margins for the same quarter last year.

回想一下，該指導意見包括 Express Scripts 的影響，這對不含燃料的相同銷售造成約 150 個基點的阻力。我們預計剩餘每個季度調整後每股收益將在 2% 至 5% 的全年指引範圍內增長，不包括第四季度第 53 週的預期 15% 收益。我們預計第二季度調整後每股收益將處於我們指導範圍的低端，因為我們去年同一季度的燃油利潤率異常高。

As you've heard from Rodney and myself this morning, Kroger is operating from a position of strength. While they remain macro uncertainties that could affect our operating environment across the remainder of 2023, we believe we have the right strategy and the flexible business model that continues to generate strong free cash flow. This will allow us to continue to deliver value for our customers, invest in our associates, and create attractive returns for our shareholders. I'll now turn the call back to Rodney.

正如您今天早上從羅德尼和我自己那裡聽到的那樣，克羅格的經營實力雄厚。儘管宏觀不確定性仍然可能影響我們 2023 年剩餘時間的運營環境，但我們相信我們擁有正確的戰略和靈活的業務模式，可以繼續產生強勁的自由現金流。這將使我們能夠繼續為客戶創造價值，投資於我們的員工，並為股東創造有吸引力的回報。我現在將電話轉回給羅德尼。

Thanks, Gary. Before we open the floor to your questions, let me provide a brief update on our pending merger with Albertsons Companies. Integration planning has progressed nicely and I'm energized by the people and talent across both the Albertsons and Kroger teams. I'm even more confident in the opportunities ahead, as we accelerate our strategy and deliver more value for our associates, customers, communities and shareholders. We remain on track and continue to expect the transaction to close in early 2024.

謝謝，加里。在我們開始回答大家的問題之前，讓我簡要介紹一下我們與艾伯森公司即將進行的合併的最新情況。整合計劃進展順利，艾伯森和克羅格團隊的人員和人才讓我充滿活力。隨著我們加快戰略步伐並為我們的員工、客戶、社區和股東創造更多價值，我對未來的機遇更加充滿信心。我們仍按計劃進行，並繼續預計交易將於 2024 年初完成。

We are working cooperatively with the regulators and at the same time, to identify potential buyers for the stores, we expect to divest to obtain clearance for the transaction. We will find well-capitalized buyers with experienced management teams that will maintain competitiveness. We are very pleased with the level of interest received thus far, and we'll work towards finding a solution that benefits all stakeholders.

我們正在與監管機構合作，同時，為了尋找商店的潛在買家，我們預計將剝離以獲得交易許可。我們將尋找資金雄厚的買家和經驗豐富的管理團隊來保持競爭力。我們對迄今為止收到的興趣程度感到非常滿意，我們將努力尋找有利於所有利益相關者的解決方案。

We continue to engage with various stakeholders in addition to the regulators and are actively working to address inaccuracies and misrepresentations about the merger. We made a commitment, on the day we announced the deal that this merger is about growth and that we will not lay off any frontline work associates, as a result of this merger. We are also committed to not closing any stores, distribution centers or manufacturing facilities as a result of the merger. We are very proud of our ability to make such a commitment, especially at a time when many companies are announcing job cuts. And this is consistent with Kroger's track record in recent mergers.

除監管機構外，我們繼續與各利益相關者合作，並積極努力解決有關合併的不准確和虛假陳述。在宣布交易的當天，我們做出了承諾，這次合併是為了增長，我們不會因為這次合併而解僱任何一線員工。我們還承諾不會因合併而關閉任何商店、配送中心或製造設施。我們對能夠做出這樣的承諾感到非常自豪，尤其是在許多公司宣布裁員的時候。這與克羅格最近的合併記錄是一致的。

We remain incredibly excited about our future together with Albertsons. We are confident that as many of our stakeholders learn about Kroger's history of growth through mergers, they will understand the meaningful and measurable benefits this will have for our customers, associates and communities.

我們對與艾伯森一起的未來仍然感到非常興奮。我們相信，當我們的許多利益相關者了解克羅格通過合併實現增長的歷史時，他們將了解這將為我們的客戶、員工和社區帶來有意義且可衡量的利益。

We are proud of the results our team delivered, while navigating a challenged environment. We are focused on delivering lower prices and more choices to our customers than ever before. Our value proposition is growing households and customer trips, which positions us well for long-term growth. We are confident that we have the right strategy. The strength of our value creation model positions us well to continue investing in our business, our customers and our associates, which powers our ability to deliver attractive returns for our shareholders. With that, Gary and I look forward to taking your questions.

我們為我們的團隊在充滿挑戰的環境中所取得的成果感到自豪。我們致力於為客戶提供比以往更低的價格和更多的選擇。我們的價值主張是增加家庭和客戶旅行，這為我們的長期增長奠定了良好的基礎。我們相信我們擁有正確的戰略。我們價值創造模式的優勢使我們能夠繼續投資於我們的業務、客戶和員工，這使我們有能力為股東帶來有吸引力的回報。因此，加里和我期待著回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Our first question for today comes from Chuck Cerankosky from Northcoast Research.

我們今天的第一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Chuck Cerankosky。

Nice quarter. You mentioned the increased amount of promotional activity that Kroger was in during the quarter. To what degree are the CPGs involved in that? And how much of the -- how much of it is Kroger spending its own, call it, gross profit dollars to promote your own brands?

不錯的季度。您提到克羅格在本季度進行的促銷活動有所增加。 CPG 在多大程度上參與其中？克羅格將自己的毛利潤（稱之為毛利潤）中有多少用於推廣自己的品牌？

They are extremely engaged in that process. Obviously, we're targeting those based on each individual household and what's important to that household. If you look at items that are national brand items, it would be heavily financed by CPGs. We would see CPGs as supply chains have gotten much fuller products are starting to flow. We have started seeing CPGs more starting to worry about tonnage and supporting that. Obviously, with targeted promotions on our products, those are funded out of -- by Kroger, and it would be a pure economics in terms of the increase in tonnage in the investments we're making.

他們非常積極地參與這個過程。顯然，我們的目標是根據每個家庭以及對該家庭來說重要的內容。如果你看一下民族品牌的商品，你會發現它的大量資金來自快速消費品。隨著供應鏈變得更加完善，我們會看到快速消費品開始流通。我們開始看到快速消費品開始擔心噸位並對此表示支持。顯然，通過對我們的產品進行有針對性的促銷，這些資金是由克羅格提供的，就我們正在進行的投資噸位的增加而言，這將是純粹的經濟學。

But overall, it's -- we're pleased because it's helping people that's on a budget be able to stretch their money further, which is helpful. And we're able to do that at the same time while managing our margins as well.

但總的來說，我們很高興，因為它幫助預算有限的人們能夠進一步擴展他們的資金，這很有幫助。我們能夠在管理利潤的同時做到這一點。

And Rodney, when you go back to that 30% increase in delivered digital orders, could you put a dollar amount on that? And how much of that 30% is coming out of the Ocado-related CFCs and spokes?

羅德尼，當你回顧數字訂單交付量 30% 的增長時，你能給出一個具體數字嗎？這 30% 中有多少來自 Ocado 相關的 CFC 和輻條？

The majority would be coming through their sheds. In terms of dollar numbers, I don't remember the specifics. I know the total overall, but I don't know the specifics. But the majority of that would be driven by the sheds. And as Gary mentioned, Ocado has -- we have a great partnership with Ocado and we're making good progress, especially on Monroe on ramping that facility up. And now we're in the process of rolling those learnings out to the other sheds. Gary, anything you want to add?

大多數人會通過他們的棚子來。就美元數字而言，我不記得具體細節了。我知道總體情況，但不知道具體情況。但其中大部分將由棚屋驅動。正如加里提到的，奧卡多 - 我們與奧卡多建立了良好的合作夥伴關係，並且我們正在取得良好進展，特別是在門羅方面，在擴大該設施方面。現在我們正在將這些經驗推廣到其他棚屋。加里，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

All I would add, Chuck, is that as you may recall, we announced a couple of years ago that our digital business reached $10 billion in total sales. So, when you think about the 15% growth, it would be growth on 1 quarter of a number north of $10 billion.

Chuck，我要補充的是，您可能還記得，幾年前我們宣布我們的數字業務總銷售額達到 100 億美元。因此，當你考慮 15% 的增長時，這將是超過 100 億美元的數字的四分之一的增長。

Our next question comes from Simeon Gutman of Morgan Stanley.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·古特曼。

My first question is also on the price investments and promotions. So this isn't the first quarter you've talked about making price investments. It seems like it stepped up a bit. The tone is a little more elevated. Is that right? And it seems like that's in response to the competitive environment. I'm curious if it's something sustainable. You're seeing this as a one-time. How should we read this? And is this -- or is this a permanent change that you think will be persistent for the time being?

我的第一個問題也是關於價格投資和促銷活動。因此，這並不是您談論進行價格投資的第一個季度。似乎又進步了一些。語氣又高了一些。是對的嗎？這似乎是對競爭環境的回應。我很好奇這是否是可持續的。你認為這是一次性的。我們應該怎樣讀這個？這是——還是您認為暫時會持續存在的永久性變化？

I would read it a little different than the way you asked the questions, Simeon. If you look, it's really broad-based, but it's -- we continue to get better on using our own algorithms and AI to make sure that we're offering promotions that are most attractive to customers by household. So, some of that increased engagement is being able to do a better job targeting. As I mentioned to Chuck on the CPGs, a significant portion of that is funded by CPGs, which we think it's good for our customers and obviously good for tonnage over time.

我讀它的方式與你提問的方式略有不同，西蒙。如果你仔細觀察，你會發現它的基礎非常廣泛，但我們繼續更好地使用我們自己的算法和人工智能，以確保我們提供對家庭客戶最具吸引力的促銷活動。因此，參與度的提高部分在於能夠更好地定位工作。正如我在 CPG 問題上向 Chuck 提到的那樣，其中很大一部分是由 CPG 資助的，我們認為這對我們的客戶有利，而且隨著時間的推移，顯然對噸位也有利。

In terms of talking about it more, I would say it's more in terms of trying to share what's really going on behind the numbers to the best of our ability. So, I wouldn't say that we're talking about it more. I would completely agree that more customers are engaging in those promotions than before. And some of that is because of the economic environment. Some of it is because of the targeting algorithm.

就更多地談論它而言，我想說更多的是盡我們所能地嘗試分享數字背後真正發生的事情。所以，我不會說我們正在談論更多。我完全同意，與以前相比，有更多的客戶參與這些促銷活動。其中部分原因是經濟環境。其中一些是由於定位算法造成的。

I think maybe, it ties a little bit as well to Rodney's comment earlier around different customer segments and how they're changing behavior in the current environment. Simeon, we mentioned earlier in the prepared remarks, we're seeing the mainstream customer and then the higher-income customer, in many cases, they're engaging more in Fresh products, engaging more in brands like Private Selection. We saw Private Selection outperform our overall sales growth during the quarter.

我想也許，這與羅德尼之前關於不同客戶群以及他們在當前環境中如何改變行為的評論也有一點聯繫。 Simeon，我們之前在準備好的發言中提到，我們看到的是主流客戶，然後是高收入客戶，在很多情況下，他們更多地參與新鮮產品，更多地參與像 Private Selection 這樣的品牌。我們看到 Private Selection 在本季度的表現優於我們的整體銷售增長。

So, there are certain customers that were certainly using our personalization to target to drive greater loyalty, greater engagement. And then, that customer that we clearly see is on a very constrained budget and have been impacted by the lower number of SNAP dollars in the market. Really focusing our marketing effort to ensure that we're personalizing offers to resonate with those customers and help them manage their budgets more effectively.

因此，有些客戶肯定會利用我們的個性化來提高忠誠度和參與度。然後，我們清楚地看到該客戶的預算非常有限，並且受到市場上 SNAP 美元數量減少的影響。真正集中我們的營銷工作，以確保我們提供個性化的優惠，以引起這些客戶的共鳴，並幫助他們更有效地管理預算。

And maybe a related follow-up. We're talking about how inflation is pressuring the wallet. You mentioned that we're seeing some price come down. You mentioned fresh food in some places. I mean, at what point -- first, what is the elasticity? Are you seeing any pickup in volume in prices or in categories in which prices are going down? Or is it just too much weight on the consumer wallet, right now? And at what point do you expect that intersection when inflation comes down enough, you'll start to see a pick back up in unit or even trading back up?

也許還有相關的後續行動。我們正在談論通貨膨脹如何給錢包帶來壓力。您提到我們看到價格有所下降。你提到了一些地方的新鮮食物。我的意思是，在什麼時候——首先，彈性是多少？您是否發現價格下降或類別價格有所回升？或者現在消費者的錢包負擔過重？當通貨膨脹下降到足夠低的時候，你預計什麼時候會出現交點，你會開始看到單位回升，甚至交易回升？

If you look historically, the context that you mentioned, as inflation gets lower, you do see tonnage increases. We would expect, as you look over the balance of the year, that would be -- would happen again. I would say, we're too early in the process to really be able to say specifically. We are seeing trend improvements in market share in some of those aspects and very good share gain in mainstream and less price-sensitive shoppers. So, it really is a bifurcation where certain customers are behaving, as if the way the economy has always been.

如果你從歷史的角度來看，你提到的背景，隨著通貨膨脹的降低，你確實會看到噸位增加。我們預計，當你回顧今年剩餘的時間時，這種情況將會再次發生。我想說，我們在這個過程中還為時過早，無法真正具體地說。我們看到其中一些方面的市場份額呈增長趨勢，並且主流和對價格不太敏感的購物者的份額獲得了很大的增長。因此，這確實是一個分歧，某些客戶的行為就像經濟一直以來的樣子一樣。

The customers that are on a budget under SNAP, there's a significant reduction in SNAP dollars in the marketplace. And they are making significant modifications including before, maybe buying something that was a unit of 12, and now they'll buy a unit of 4. They're going more frequent but buying less each trip and things like that. So we would expect, as you look over the balance of the year, tonnage would improve, as inflation continues to decline on a year-on-year basis.

對於有 SNAP 預算的客戶，市場上的 SNAP 美元大幅減少。他們正在做出重大修改，包括以前可能會購買 12 件為一個單位的東西，現在他們會購買 4 件為一個單位。他們會更頻繁地去，但每次旅行購買的東西會更少，諸如此類。因此，我們預計，當你回顧今年的餘額時，隨著通貨膨脹繼續同比下降，噸位將會改善。

But, I always think it's important to remember that inflation is cycling high inflation, which usually causes inflation increases to be less moderate. And as we look out to the balance of the year, we would still expect to have inflation. It's just less than what it's been in the last couple of years or 1.5 years.

但是，我始終認為重要的是要記住，通脹正在循環高通脹，這通常會導致通脹增幅不那麼溫和。當我們展望今年剩餘時間時，我們仍然預計會出現通貨膨脹。只是比過去幾年或 1.5 年要少。

Our next question comes from Michael Lasser of UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的邁克爾·拉塞爾。

Given your updated expectation for IDs to be at the lower end of your full year comp guidance, does that imply that you do expect IDs to be negative in the back half of the year? And what has changed within the updated expectation, especially within the grocery business? Because you did say that the pharmacy business, despite the loss of Express Scripts, is doing well. So presumably, you're fulfilling a lot of GLP-1 prescriptions and that's supporting the overall IDs. And so grocery is getting worse than what you had originally thought.

鑑於您對 ID 的最新預期將處於全年薪酬指導的下限，這是否意味著您確實預計 ID 在今年下半年為負值？更新後的預期發生了什麼變化，特別是在雜貨行業？因為你確實說過，儘管失去了 Express Scripts，但製藥業務仍表現良好。因此，據推測，您正在履行大量 GLP-1 處方，這支持了總體 ID。因此雜貨店的情況比你最初想像的還要糟糕。

Thanks for the question, Michael. I think, you may have misunderstood what I mentioned in the prepared remarks. What we were saying was that we would expect the identical sales for the final 3 quarters of the year, to be at the low end of our range. And that's essentially what we would have contemplated within our original guidance. That still supports the 1% to 2%, excluding Express Scripts, or 2.5% to 3.5% including Express Scripts.

謝謝你的提問，邁克爾。我想，你可能誤解了我在準備好的發言中提到的內容。我們所說的是，我們預計今年最後三個季度的銷售額相同，處於我們範圍的低端。這基本上就是我們在最初的指導中所考慮的。這仍然支持 1% 到 2%（不包括 Express Scripts），或 2.5% 到 3.5%（包括 Express Scripts）。

So, what I was really calling out was the -- trying to give you some specific sort of understanding of how we're thinking about those final 3 quarters of the year, and what they may look like. But we're not -- certainly not indicating that we expect the full year -- we won't intend to signal the full year would be at the bottom end of that range. It was really specific to the final 3 quarters.

所以，我真正想說的是——試圖讓你們對我們如何看待今年最後三個季度以及它們可能是什麼樣子有一些具體的理解。但我們並不——當然不是表明我們預計全年——我們不會打算表明全年將處於該範圍的底部。這確實是針對最後三個季度的。

And you expect each one of those quarters to be positive? And does that embed the expectation that tonnage has to be positive?

您預計這些季度中的每一季度都將是積極的嗎？這是否包含了噸位必須為正的預期？

We would expect the identical sales to be positive in each of the final 3 quarters. And, we would be assuming on inflation, that inflation continues to decline, as the year progresses and end the year at low single-digit inflation back to sort of more normalized levels. We've seen really the Fresh departments start to reach that point, but the grocery department has started to decline but will still be at elevated levels.

我們預計最後三個季度的銷售額均相同。而且，我們假設通貨膨脹率隨著時間的推移而繼續下降，並在年底以低單位數通貨膨脹率回到更正常化的水平。我們確實看到生鮮部門開始達到這一點，但雜貨部門已經開始下降，但仍將處於較高水平。

So, I think it really ties back to Rodney's comments. Certainly, we would expect to see a continued improvement in unit trajectory to offset some of the decelerating inflation. And I'd say, we've seen a little bit of that during the first quarter because our ID sales didn't decelerate at the same rate as inflation decelerated during the quarter.

所以，我認為這確實與羅德尼的評論有關。當然，我們預計單位發展軌跡將持續改善，以抵消部分通脹放緩的影響。我想說，我們在第一季度已經看到了一些這樣的情況，因為我們的 ID 銷售減速速度並沒有與該季度通脹減速的速度相同。

Okay. And my follow-up question is the perception is that Kroger might be losing a little bit of share, at least within certain customer segments, given that Walmart is doing double-digit grocery sales increases. And the point that you made is a lot of the price investments or promotional investments that are -- Kroger is being made this year are being funded by the CPGs. How far is Kroger willing to use its own P&L to fund further investments to confront, maybe some market share losses to more price-leading players in the marketplace?

好的。我的後續問題是，鑑於沃爾瑪的食品雜貨銷售額正在實現兩位數的增長，人們認為克羅格可能會失去一點份額，至少在某些客戶群中是這樣。您提出的觀點是，克羅格今年進行的許多價格投資或促銷投資都是由消費品公司資助的。克羅格願意在多大程度上利用自己的損益表為進一步的投資提供資金，以應對市場份額可能被市場上更多價格領先的企業所損失的情況？

Michael, as I mentioned before, if you look at different customer segments, customer segments are mainstream and upscale customers. We continue to have strong household growth and strong market share growth with those customers. The ones that we would not be as happy with is our price-sensitive shoppers on a budget. One of the things that we've done a lot of analysis on.

邁克爾，正如我之前提到的，如果你看看不同的客戶群，你會發現客戶群是主流和高端客戶。我們繼續保持強勁的家庭增長和這些客戶的強勁市場份額增長。我們不太滿意的是對價格敏感且預算有限的購物者。我們已經做了很多分析的事情之一。

If you look at our total go-to-market value, when you look at our price plus looking at our promotional activity and the way people shop our ads, our rewards programs are what you used to call them loyal customer mailings. But now, they're mostly online but personalized offers for each household. Our total value equation is extremely close to what the EDLP merchants would be, we just go to market in a different way.

如果你看看我們的總市場價值，當你看看我們的價格加上我們的促銷活動和人們購買我們廣告的方式時，我們的獎勵計劃就是你過去所說的忠誠客戶郵件。但現在，它們大多是在線的，但為每個家庭提供個性化的優惠。我們的總價值方程式與 EDLP 商家的方程式非常接近，只是我們以不同的方式進入市場。

Obviously, the customers that are on a budget, that customer is more focused on this week's shopping. And, you'll see us continuing to make modifications to make sure that we're able to help achieve and go support their weekly budget. Some of that will be impact product sizes and other things. It's not just price alone. As you know, we introduced our brand called Smart Way that's really focused on that entry price point as well. So there's a lot of things that's within it well beyond just price itself. And we've always been very personalized with pricing in terms of doing things for each household individually. Thanks, Michael, for the question.

顯然，有預算的客戶更關注本週的購物。而且，您會看到我們繼續進行修改，以確保我們能夠幫助實現並支持他們的每週預算。其中一些會影響產品尺寸和其他因素。這不僅僅是價格。如您所知，我們推出了名為 Smart Way 的品牌，該品牌也真正專注於入門價格點。因此，其中包含的東西遠遠超出了價格本身。我們在為每個家庭單獨做事方面的定價一直非常個性化。謝謝邁克爾提出這個問題。

Our next question comes from Robert Ohmes of Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的羅伯特·奧姆斯。

I think my first question is maybe for Gary. Can you speak a little more about what the FIFO gross margin assumptions ex fuel, how you're thinking about the puts and takes at least for FIFO gross margin ex fuel, for the next 3 quarters? Just obviously, just broad brushstrokes, but like maybe some things we should think about in terms of investing in price versus in more promotions and shrink versus what would be offsets to that in gross margin?

我想我的第一個問題可能是問加里的。您能否更多地談談 FIFO 毛利率（不含燃料）的假設，您如何考慮未來 3 個季度的 FIFO 毛利率（不含燃料）的看跌期權和期權？顯然，這只是粗略的概括，但也許我們應該考慮一些事情，即在價格投資與更多促銷活動之間進行投資，以及在毛利率方面進行收縮與抵消什麼？

Sure. I think as you know, we don't generally give specific guidance by line in the P&L. But I do think, if you look at what happened in quarter 1, we would see that as a very good proxy for how we think about the rest of the year. From an investment point of view, as Rodney mentioned, continuing to make sure we're delivering value for customers and remaining highly competitive, as customers are managing inflation and the interest rate environment.

當然。我想如您所知，我們通常不會在損益表中按行提供具體指導。但我確實認為，如果你看看第一季度發生的事情，我們會發現這是我們對今年剩餘時間的看法的一個很好的代表。從投資的角度來看，正如羅德尼提到的，繼續確保我們為客戶提供價值並保持高度競爭力，因為客戶正在管理通貨膨脹和利率環境。

We do think that shrink will continue to be somewhat of a headwind. It's really in the center of the store. I would say that we -- the team is doing a fantastic job in managing Fresh shrink, but there are a lot of structural challenges right now in center store shrink as you've heard, I think, from a number of different retailers in the marketplace. So those would be the 2 big investments that we'd be fully contemplating for the rest of the year.

我們確實認為，收縮將繼續成為某種阻力。它確實位於商店的中心。我想說，我們的團隊在管理生鮮收縮方面做得非常出色，但現在中心店收縮方面存在很多結構性挑戰，我想，正如您從許多不同的零售商那裡聽到的那樣市場。因此，這將是我們在今年剩餘時間裡充分考慮的兩項重大投資。

And then, really the tailwinds are the pieces that we called out in our communication this morning around our Q1 results. And it's really a combination of many of the different plans coming together that we've talked about at our investor meetings, over the last couple of years. First of all, Our Brands is performing really well, as we continue to drive sales growth, mix improvements and improve the innovation and new products in that area. Sourcing benefits and continuing to manage cost and product design really closely.

然後，真正的順風車是我們今天早上在關於第一季度業績的溝通中指出的。這實際上是過去幾年我們在投資者會議上討論過的許多不同計劃的結合。首先，我們的品牌表現非常好，我們繼續推動銷售增長、組合改進以及改進該領域的創新和新產品。尋求利益並繼續密切管理成本和產品設計。

As you heard us mention, we did see Express Scripts as a tailwind to gross margin during the first quarter. That will continue through the rest of the year, although to some extent, the GLP-1 product sales offset a meaningful part of that, so it's not necessary that health and wellness is a major driver of the gross margin rate, but certainly, Express Scripts has an impact. We're seeing strong performance in supply chain in the first quarter, and we believe that's sustainable as well for the rest of the year.

正如您聽到我們提到的，我們確實認為 Express Scripts 是第一季度毛利率的推動力。這種情況將持續到今年剩餘時間，儘管在某種程度上，GLP-1產品的銷售抵消了其中有意義的一部分，因此健康和保健不一定是毛利率的主要驅動因素，但可以肯定的是，Express腳本有影響。我們看到第一季度供應鍊錶現強勁，我們相信這種情況在今年剩餘時間裡也是可持續的。

And then, of course, alternative profits, as you know, we continue to grow at double-digit rate, our alternative profit business. And as we continue to improve the -- optimizing the KPM business and growing Kroger Personal Finance, we would expect alternative profits to be a continued tailwind to the model. So all in all, I think the best way I think to characterize it would be to look at the different pieces that we shared for Q1. And we would expect similar kind of impacts and drivers in the rest of the year, as you think about gross margin rate.

當然，還有另類利潤，如您所知，我們的另類利潤業務繼續以兩位數的速度增長。隨著我們不斷改進——優化 KPM 業務和發展克羅格個人理財，我們預計替代利潤將成為該模式的持續推動力。總而言之，我認為描述它的最好方法是看看我們在第一季度分享的不同部分。當你考慮毛利率時，我們預計今年剩餘時間會出現類似的影響和驅動因素。

Got you. So net basis up FIFO gross margin ex fuel maybe similarly to the way it was up in the first quarter?

明白你了。那麼，先進先出毛利率（不含燃料）的淨基差上升可能與第一季度的上升方式類似嗎？

Yes. Obviously, there's always kind of puts and takes at different times of the year, and we're very focused on balancing the model. But directionally, I think you're interpreting correctly, that's right.

是的。顯然，一年中的不同時間總會有一些變化，我們非常注重平衡模型。但從方向上來說，我認為你的解釋是正確的，沒錯。

Got you, that's helpful. And just a quick follow-up in Our Brands. The -- do you think Our Brands penetration accelerates from here? And also, the -- it sounds like you're being more promotional in Our Brands. So does the margin benefit, from Our Brands penetration stay the same? Or as you -- or is it sort of -- as you promote it more, it has less benefit to gross margin, or is it you're still going to net ahead because you're driving more volume?

明白了，很有幫助。我們的品牌只是一個快速跟進。您認為我們的品牌滲透率會從這裡開始加速嗎？而且，聽起來你們對我們的品牌進行了更多的促銷。那麼，我們的品牌滲透帶來的利潤率是否保持不變？或者當你——或者是某種程度——當你更多地推廣它時，它對毛利率的好處就會減少，或者你仍然會因為你推動了更多的銷量而獲得淨收益？

When you look at Our Brands, the margins are typically 600 to 800 basis points better on Our Brands than national brands. It would have been actually at the high side of that, this quarter. If you look within it, and Gary and I both mentioned it briefly, but if you look at Private Selection in some of those parts of Our Brands, grew even faster, which are extremely unique products that customers, what we find, is they love the uniqueness and the quality of it. So it's really the whole mix.

當您查看我們的品牌時，我們的品牌的利潤率通常比國內品牌高 600 到 800 個基點。本季度實際上已經處於較高水平。如果你仔細觀察，加里和我都簡短地提到過這一點，但如果你看看我們品牌的某些部分的私人精選，增長得更快，我們發現，這些產品是客戶非常喜歡的獨特產品它的獨特性和品質。所以這確實是整個組合。

So, Smart Way obviously has a lower margin. But, when you look at all the pieces together, we feel good about where we are. We would expect it to continue to be margin accretive for the balance of the year as well. And then also, we're continuing to leverage our own manufacturing plants in many places, too, which is helpful.

因此，Smart Way 的利潤率顯然較低。但是，當你把所有的部分放在一起看時，我們對自己所處的位置感覺很好。我們預計今年餘下的時間裡它也將繼續增加利潤。此外，我們還在許多地方繼續利用我們自己的製造工廠，這很有幫助。

And Robby, just to the first part of your question on what we expect in terms of growth in Our Brands, I think we don't target specific growth for Our Brands because we really do use our customer-led approach on our data, and what the customer is looking for really drive where the growth comes from in the business. Having said that, typically during a more challenged economic environment, Rodney mentioned in his prepared comments as well, we do see more customers engage with Our Brands products, and as they start to see the quality and the value, often, we find there's a sort of a higher penetration level that occurs during that time.

羅比，關於我們對品牌增長的期望的問題的第一部分，我認為我們並不針對我們品牌的具體增長，因為我們確實在數據上使用了以客戶為主導的方法，並且客戶的需求真正推動了業務的增長。話雖如此，羅德尼在他準備的評論中也提到，通常在更具挑戰性的經濟環境中，我們確實看到更多的客戶參與我們品牌的產品，當他們開始看到質量和價值時，我們經常發現有一個在那段時間發生的一種更高的滲透水平。

And typically, it stays at a more elevated level even after the economic challenges have dissipated. So, we're not targeting a specific number, but we do expect that customers will continue to resonate with those products and continue to engage with them at a high level.

通常，即使經濟挑戰消散後，它仍保持在較高水平。因此，我們的目標不是具體數字，但我們確實希望客戶將繼續與這些產品產生共鳴，並繼續與它們進行高水平的互動。

Our next question comes from Ed Kelly of Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的埃德·凱利。

So, I got a follow-up to that Michael had. I was hoping that you could quantify the benefit that the GLP-1 drugs are providing to the ID. I mean, it seems material because your pharmacy business is up despite losing, a decent chunk of that through the Express issue. And then, what are you seeing related to the attachment on the Express Scripts business, meaning the impact to in-store from those scripts exiting?

所以，我得到了邁克爾的後續行動。我希望您能夠量化 GLP-1 藥物為 ID 提供的益處。我的意思是，這似乎很重要，因為儘管你們的藥房業務虧損，但它仍然在增長，其中很大一部分是通過 Express 發行的。然後，您認為與 Express Scripts 業務的附件相關的是什麼，這意味著這些腳本的退出對店內有何影響？

If you look at the second part of your question, it would be extremely modest. It's single-digit basis points, which I never -- it's so low that I'm not comfortable that it's the data is that precise. So it's -- our team has done a great job. I think, one of the things that's important to remind people is our pharmacy team has done an incredible job of helping people identify other ways of getting those prescriptions filled through alternative networks and discount cards and other things.

如果你看一下你問題的第二部分，你會發現這是非常溫和的。這是個位數的基點，我從來沒有這樣做過——它太低了，以至於我對數據如此精確感到不舒服。所以我們的團隊做得很好。我認為，需要提醒人們的重要一件事是，我們的藥房團隊做了一項令人難以置信的工作，幫助人們找到通過替代網絡、折扣卡和其他方式獲取處方藥的其他方式。

And that has been a huge positive in retaining a huge percentage of those ESI customers, which obviously flow through, too. So, it's not like you just lose all of that business. And what we're finding is in over half the case is that we're actually able to save the customer money versus what they were paying before with ESI. So, it's worked out. Our teams have done an incredibly great job. Obviously, it's a lot of hard work.

這對於留住很大比例的 ESI 客戶來說是一個巨大的積極作用，這些客戶顯然也會流過。所以，這並不是說您就失去了所有業務。我們發現，超過一半的情況是，與客戶之前使用 ESI 支付的費用相比，我們實際上能夠為客戶節省資金。所以，事情已經解決了。我們的團隊做得非常出色。顯然，這是一項艱鉅的工作。

On terms of the other drug, the margins on that is extremely small in terms of its -- the sales dollars are a lot bigger than the margin dollars. The margin is basically almost no impact. I don't know, Gary, anything you'd want to add, to either one of those?

就另一種藥物而言，其利潤率非常小——銷售額遠大於利潤率。利潤率基本上幾乎沒有影響。我不知道，加里，你想對其中任何一個添加什麼內容嗎？

No, I'm good.

不，我很好。

Our next question comes from John Heinbockel of Guggenheim Partners.

我們的下一個問題來自古根海姆合夥人公司的約翰·海因博克爾。

Wanted to drill down on the segments, right? So mainstream, is that about 60% of your business in that ballpark? And then, if you look at how that segment and maybe the upper income are performing is more of the growth transactions. I imagine it would be versus items per basket. And then just lastly, right, on the budget guys, is that -- are they comping negative, right? Or they're just not growing as fast as the other two?

想要深入了解細分市場，對吧？如此主流，您的業務大約有 60% 是在這個範圍內嗎？然後，如果你看看該細分市場以及高收入群體的表現，更多的是增長交易。我想這將是與每個籃子裡的物品相比。最後，對預算人員來說，他們的業績是負面的，對吧？或者他們只是沒有其他兩個增長得那麼快？

If you look at our mainstream, it would be a little bit more than the percentage you suggested. And our upscale customer, if you look at percentages, the upscale and value customer is about the same. But, if you look at the profitability, the upscale customer is a lot more profitable than the value customer. We would see a very nice positive in the upscale, strong positive in the mainstream and the negative in the value customer. But, if you look at in total, as I mentioned, we had positive household growth in total.

如果你看看我們的主流，它會比你建議的百分比多一點。我們的高端客戶，如果你看一下百分比，高端客戶和價值客戶大致相同。但是，如果你看看盈利能力，就會發現高端客戶比價值客戶的利潤要高得多。我們會在高檔客戶中看到非常好的積極因素，在主流客戶中看到強烈的積極因素，而在價值客戶中會看到消極的因素。但是，如果你從總體上看，正如我提到的，我們的家庭總體增長是積極的。

Okay. And then maybe one quick follow-up. The -- I know you guys do a lot of survey work, right? So you talked about the work you've done on value proposition versus EDLP. Is that something that -- or if you do, that is understood and perceived by customers or not? Perception is not caught up with reality.

好的。然後也許是一個快速的後續行動。我知道你們做了很多調查工作，對嗎？您談到了您在價值主張與 EDLP 方面所做的工作。這是——或者如果你這樣做的話，是否被客戶理解和感知？感知沒有跟上現實。

Yes, it's a great question, John. And what we find is certain customer segments understand it really well. Other customer segments understand it, but if you only have so much money to spend, you really don't have the ability to stock up on something. So, customers that are more mainstream and upscale, they love -- they would tell us that they feel like they're beating the system by fuel rewards offers that are personalized to them.

是的，這是一個很好的問題，約翰。我們發現某些客戶群非常了解這一點。其他客戶群體都理解這一點，但如果你只有這麼多錢可以花，你真的沒有能力儲備一些東西。因此，更主流和更高檔的客戶喜歡——他們會告訴我們，他們覺得自己通過針對他們的個性化燃料獎勵優惠擊敗了系統。

They buy -- instead of buying one of something, they buy 5 of it so they stock up at a great price. So they very much understand the way we go to market. More the customer on a budget and what we're finding is the customer may understand it but their budget is such that they don't really have the money to stock up. And that's the reason why we introduced Smart Way and some of the other things that we've been doing.

他們購買——而不是買一件，而是買五件，這樣他們就能以優惠的價格囤貨。所以他們非常了解我們進入市場的方式。更多的是客戶的預算，我們發現客戶可能會理解這一點，但他們的預算是這樣的，他們實際上沒有錢來庫存。這就是我們推出 Smart Way 以及我們一直在做的其他一些事情的原因。

Our next question comes from Kenneth Goldman of JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的肯尼思·戈德曼。

One of the reasons there's some anxiety among investors about the whole industry is that deflation, I guess, evokes memories of 2016, '17, '18 when ID slowed but also gross margins ex fuel struggled not just for you but for others. And so, it's great to see that this past quarter, right, deflation or disinflation rather, didn't correspond with that kind of decline. Gross margin was up. But I think I'm curious, what's different this time that gives you confidence in your ability to kind of maintain profitability and margins, into this disinflationary environment?

我認為，投資者對整個行業感到焦慮的原因之一是，通貨緊縮會讓人回想起2016年、17年、18年，當時ID增長放緩，而且除燃料外的毛利率也陷入困境，不僅對你來說，對其他人來說也是如此。因此，很高興看到上個季度的通貨緊縮或通貨緊縮與這種下降並不相符。毛利率上升。但我想我很好奇，這次有什麼不同之處讓您對自己在這種通貨緊縮環境中保持盈利能力和利潤率的能力充滿信心？

I know last time was deflation and you're not calling for that, so maybe that's the answer. But is there also an element that the competitive environment just isn't as intense now, as it was back then? I'm just trying to get your sense of how different it is to be a grocer now than it was back then, and how the world has changed in terms of competition?

我知道上次是通貨緊縮，而你並沒有要求這樣做，所以也許這就是答案。但還有一個因素是現在的競爭環境不像以前那麼激烈了嗎？我只是想讓你了解現在的雜貨商與以前有多麼不同，以及世界在競爭方面發生了怎樣的變化？

Yes. I guess, I would always hesitate to ever say that it's not as competitive because when you're in the middle of it, it feels massively competitive every day. And I guess, I don't look at that as a negative because at the end of the day, the customer gets a better experience and a better value. And it's our job to figure out a way to grow our business and create value for all the important groups in terms of being able to invest in wages and giving a great value for customers and then creating good value for shareholders as well.

是的。我想，我總是會猶豫是否要說它沒有那麼有競爭力，因為當你處於其中時，每天都會感覺競爭激烈。我想，我並不認為這是負面的，因為最終，客戶會獲得更好的體驗和更好的價值。我們的工作是找到一種方法來發展我們的業務並為所有重要群體創造價值，即能夠投資工資並為客戶提供巨大價值，然後也為股東創造良好價值。

And that combination, like for us, it's one of the reasons why we think it's so important to continue to look for process changes and other things to get cost out of the business, and we will achieve -- we expect to achieve over $1 billion of cost reductions this year, and that will be the sixth consecutive year that we've done that. If you look at our importance of our alternative profit business and growing that and other elements and the growth, in terms of more prepared type products and products that have value-add items, those are things, for us, that give us confidence in the long-term sustainability of our model, and gives us the capacity to continue to invest in wages and continuing to invest in great value for customers.

這種結合，就像我們一樣，這就是為什麼我們認為繼續尋求流程變革和其他措施以降低業務成本如此重要的原因之一，我們將實現——我們預計實現超過 10 億美元今年我們已經實現了成本削減，這將是我們連續第六年做到這一點。如果你看看我們的替代利潤業務的重要性以及該業務和其他要素的增長以及在更準備型產品和具有增值項目的產品方面的增長，那麼對我們來說，這些都是讓我們對我們模式的長期可持續性，使我們有能力繼續投資於工資並繼續為客戶創造巨大價值。

So it's really the total ecosystem that we're focused on. I feel much better about our total ecosystem today than 2016, but I feel, comfortable that in 3 or 4 years, we'll say the same thing then versus today because we'll continue to get better and better. And our customers get the benefit of that, our associates get the benefit of that. Gary, it looks like you want to say something?

所以我們真正關注的是整個生態系統。我對今天的整個生態系統感覺比 2016 年好多了，但我覺得，在 3 到 4 年內，我們會說與今天相同的事情，因為我們將繼續變得越來越好。我們的客戶從中受益，我們的員工也從中受益。加里，看來你有話要說？

Well, just one thing I would add, Rodney, I think you said it really well around, we've obviously built, I think, a more diverse business model now. When you think about alternative profits and the size of fuel and health and wellness alongside the core supermarket business. The only other thing I would add, Ken, is I do think through COVID, and I've mentioned this on previous calls, but just the percentage of customers that now start their shopping online, whether it's through a tablet, through their phone, through a PC, it does give you significantly greater ability to personalize the value to the customer. So I think, you can channel the investments in a far more effective way than you could have done, for example, 5 to 8 years ago. And obviously, we feel we're in a very good spot to be able to do that most effectively because of the power of our 84.51° data science business. And how they can truly use customer information to help save money and save time for the customer.

好吧，我想補充一件事，羅德尼，我認為你說得很好，我認為我們現在顯然已經建立了一種更加多樣化的商業模式。當你考慮替代利潤以及燃料和健康與保健以及核心超市業務的規模時。肯，我唯一要補充的另一件事是，我確實考慮了新冠疫情，我在之前的電話中也提到過這一點，但只是現在開始網上購物的客戶百分比，無論是通過平板電腦還是通過手機，通過 PC，它確實使您能夠顯著增強為客戶提供個性化價值的能力。所以我認為，你可以用比五到八年前更有效的方式來引導投資。顯然，我們認為，由於我們 84.51° 數據科學業務的力量，我們處於非常有利的位置，能夠最有效地做到這一點。以及他們如何真正利用客戶信息來幫助客戶節省資金和時間。

Our next question comes from Kelly Bania from BMO.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO 的 Kelly Bania。

Apologize, if I missed this, but just wanted to maybe unpack just the magnitude of this, the health and wellness outside of the Express Scripts. That sounds like it's coming in line but the GLP-1 impact on, just the total comp and the total transactions for the quarter. And what is in the plan for the rest of this year at this point? Are you planning on this kind of health and wellness momentum to continue through the rest of the year?

如果我錯過了這一點，我深表歉意，但我只是想了解一下這一點的重要性，即 Express Scripts 之外的健康和保健。這聽起來似乎符合預期，但 GLP-1 只影響本季度的總收入和總交易量。今年剩餘時間的計劃是什麼？您是否計劃在今年餘下的時間裡繼續保持這種健康和保健勢頭？

As I mentioned before, the impact on sales is a lot more than margin. The margin on that product is very marginal. The thing that, I think our teams have done a great job on, and they've actually delivered is the number of customers or patients that we've been able to retain that had ESI and through the discount cards and other things that we've been able to retain those. If you look at for the balance of the year, we would expect the GLP-1 type drugs to continue. But remember, the impact on profitability is pretty narrow. I don't know, Gary, anything you want to add to that?

正如我之前提到的，對銷售額的影響遠不止利潤率。該產品的利潤非常微薄。我認為我們的團隊在這方面做得很好，他們實際上已經交付了我們能夠保留的客戶或患者的數量，這些客戶或患者擁有 ESI 並通過折扣卡和我們的其他東西。我們能夠保留這些。如果你看看今年剩下的時間，我們預計 GLP-1 類藥物將繼續使用。但請記住，對盈利能力的影響相當有限。我不知道，加里，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

I think you said it well, Rodney. Certainly, for us, Kelly, because of the PBM change, it may not have been as dramatic for us as some others have shared, but it certainly would have been a tailwind during the quarter on sales, as Rodney mentioned. But really, if you look at the gross margin impact, it eliminated much of the benefit in gross margin rate that we saw from Express Scripts.

我認為你說得很好，羅德尼。當然，對於我們凱利來說，由於 PBM 的變化，它可能不會像其他一些人所分享的那樣引人注目，但正如羅德尼提到的那樣，它肯定會成為本季度銷售的順風車。但事實上，如果你看看毛利率的影響，你會發現它消除了我們從 Express Scripts 看到的毛利率方面的大部分好處。

That's helpful. I guess just maybe one more follow-up. In terms of the budget-conscious consumers that you talked about and the comment that they're really prioritizing shelf prices, can you just elaborate on what's happening there? Are they not valuing the total rewards and the personalization and everything that you can offer your consumer? Does that make you think about communicating with them in a different way, your value or changing your strategy and how you connect with that customer segment?

這很有幫助。我想也許還有一個後續行動。關於您談到的注重預算的消費者以及他們確實優先考慮貨架價格的評論，您能否詳細說明一下那裡發生了什麼？難道他們不重視總獎勵、個性化以及您可以為消費者提供的一切嗎？這是否會讓您考慮以不同的方式與他們溝通、您的價值或改變您的策略以及如何與該客戶群建立聯繫？

Yes. We would certainly be modifying the way we connect with that customer. And if you go back a few months ago, that's the reason we introduced Smart Way and we continue to expand that. We're -- the focus of that brand is more of an everyday price position will promote it, but not as aggressive as other things. We've also focused a lot in terms of making sure that we have entry price point items for that customer on things that are most important to them.

是的。我們肯定會改變與該客戶的聯繫方式。如果你回到幾個月前，這就是我們推出 Smart Way 的原因，並且我們將繼續擴展它。我們——該品牌的重點更多的是日常價格定位將促進它，但不像其他東西那麼激進。我們還非常注重確保為該客戶提供對他們最重要的入門價格產品。

And those are things where we are modifying how we merchandise in a store and some of the products we offer to that customer, and we're leveraging our own plants as well for that customer.

這些是我們正在改變我們在商店中銷售的方式以及我們向該客戶提供的一些產品的事情，並且我們也在為該客戶利用我們自己的工廠。

Our final question for today comes from Rupesh Parikh from Oppenheimer.

我們今天的最後一個問題來自奧本海默的魯佩什·帕里克（Rupesh Parikh）。

So, I just wanted to go back to the promotional backdrop. Just curious on the promotional backdrop, what you guys are seeing today, expectations for the remainder of the year. And as supply is improving, I'm guessing there is also normalization where CPG players would just be more promotional and fund more promotions. Just wanted to get a sense as to what may be normalization and then what could just be driven by a more competitive backdrop?

所以，我只想回到宣傳背景。只是對促銷背景感到好奇，你們今天看到了什麼，對今年剩餘時間的期望。隨著供應量的改善，我猜 CPG 玩家將進行更多促銷並為更多促銷活動提供資金，從而實現常態化。只是想了解什麼可能是正常化，然後什麼可能是由更具競爭性的背景推動的？

Yes. From my perspective and Gary, if you disagree, just say so. But I think, it's much more supply-driven and access to supply. And I say that because there are still a few categories that are constrained and you don't see as much. But the CPG companies, the supply chain in most categories are back to normal. I think there's probably 3 or 4 areas that it's not. And it's more in terms of how things were before COVID. So people are coming to you with offers. We're looking at those promotional offers in terms of how customers react to them.

是的。從我和加里的角度來看，如果你不同意，就直說吧。但我認為，這更多是由供應驅動和供應渠道決定的。我這麼說是因為仍然有一些類別受到限制，而且你看不到那麼多。但對於消費品公司來說，大多數品類的供應鏈都恢復了正常。我認為可能有 3 或 4 個領域不是這樣的。這更多的是新冠疫情之前的情況。所以人們會向你提供優惠。我們正在根據客戶對這些促銷優惠的反應來研究這些促銷優惠。

And it's really, I would say, back the way it was before COVID in terms of probably, by far, the majority of it is that, as opposed to just being a more promotional environment.

我想說，到目前為止，這實際上已經回到了新冠疫情之前的狀態，而不僅僅是一個更具促銷性的環境。

Great. That's helpful color. And just on quarter-to-date trends, I'm not sure, if there's any commentary you can provide in terms of what you guys are seeing quarter-to-date?

偉大的。這是有用的顏色。就本季度至今的趨勢而言，我不確定您是否可以就本季度至今所看到的情況提供任何評論？

Yes. Quarter-to-date, IDs would be kind of in the middle part of the range that Gary talked about in terms of identical. So that's where we're tracking so far.

是的。截至目前，ID 處於 Gary 所說的相同範圍的中間部分。這就是我們到目前為止所追踪的地方。

Thanks, Rupesh. Appreciate it. Thank you all for the questions today. And as always, before we close, I'd like to share a few comments directly with our associates listening in. In May, we celebrated Kroger's longest serving associate, Mary Tennant, who has worked at our Moundsville, West Virginia store for 65 years. Mary, at 85 years young, loves her fellow associates and our customers, and she plans to keep working at our store. And, if you have a chance to watch Mary's video, you'll understand why I said 85 years young. We can all aspire to have that attitude and that chippiness and fondness at that age.

謝謝，魯佩什。欣賞它。謝謝大家今天提出的問題。和往常一樣，在我們結束之前，我想直接與我們的同事分享一些評論。五月份，我們慶祝了克羅格服務時間最長的員工瑪麗·坦南特 (Mary Tennant)，她在我們西弗吉尼亞州芒茲維爾商店工作了 65 年。 85 歲的瑪麗熱愛她的同事和我們的顧客，她計劃繼續在我們店工作。而且，如果你有機會觀看瑪麗的視頻，你就會明白為什麼我說85歲了。我們都可以渴望在那個年紀擁有那樣的態度、那樣的活潑和喜愛。

Mary is a great example of coming to Kroger for a job and discovering a career. And she's worked in almost every role at her store. Congratulations and thank you, Mary, on this impressive milestone and your recent birthday. We are so happy, you picked Kroger to build your career with us. I hope everyone has a fantastic summer, and thank you for joining us today. That concludes the call.

瑪麗是來到克羅格找工作並發現職業生涯的一個很好的例子。她幾乎擔任過店裡的每一個角色。瑪麗，祝賀並感謝你這一令人印象深刻的里程碑和你最近的生日。我們很高興您選擇克羅格與我們一起發展您的職業生涯。我希望每個人都有一個美好的夏天，感謝您今天加入我們。通話結束。

Thank you all for joining today's call. You may now disconnect your lines.

感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。您現在可以斷開線路。