克羅格 (KR) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Kroger Co., Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Conference Call. 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.

早安，歡迎參加克羅格公司 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。請注意，此事件正在被記錄。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 Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Earnings Call. I am joined today by Kroger's Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rodney McMullen and Interim Chief Financial Officer, Todd Foley. 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. The Kroger Company assumes no obligation to update that information. After our prepared remarks, we look forward to taking your questions. (Operator Instructions) I will now turn the call over to Rodney.

早安.感謝您參加克羅格 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議。今天與我一起出席會議的還有克羅格董事長兼首席執行官羅德尼·麥克馬倫 (Rodney McMullen) 和臨時首席財務官托德·弗利 (Todd Foley)。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有重大差異。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。克羅格公司不承擔更新該資訊的義務。在我們準備好發言後，我們期待回答您的問題。 （接線員指示）我現在將電話轉給羅德尼。

Thank you, Rob. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'd first like to take a moment to welcome our interim CFO, Todd Foley. Todd has been a meaningful contributor to Kroger for more than 20 years, and we are excited he is serving in this leadership position. Before we begin, I'd like to provide an outline of our discussion topics this morning. I will start by sharing a recap of our 2023 performance, how the strength of our value-creation model allowed us to deliver on our goals and how it positions us well to continue our momentum in 2024 and beyond. Then Todd will cover our financial results for the fourth quarter and full year 2023 as well as our financial guidance for 2024. Finally, I will conclude with an update on our proposed merger with Albertsons before we open it up for questions.

謝謝你，羅布。大家早安，感謝您今天加入我們。首先，我想花一點時間歡迎我們的臨時財務長 Todd Foley。 20 多年來，托德一直為克羅格做出了有意義的貢獻，我們很高興他擔任這一領導職務。在開始之前，我想先概述一下今天早上我們討論的主題。首先，我將回顧我們 2023 年的業績，我們的價值創造模式的優勢如何幫助我們實現我們的目標，以及它如何使我們能夠在 2024 年及以後繼續保持我們的勢頭。然後托德將介紹我們 2023 年第四季和全年的財務業績，以及 2024 年的財務指引。最後，在我們開始提問之前，我將介紹我們與 Albertsons 擬議合併的最新情況。

I'd like to start with Kroger's value creation model, which supports our optimism for the future. We are guided by our vision that when people think food, they think Kroger. To achieve this vision, we are delivering a best-in-class customer experience and investing in our associates. We know that when we take care of our customers and our associates, we generate attractive and sustainable returns for our shareholders.

我想從克羅格的價值創造模式開始，它支持我們對未來的樂觀態度。我們的願景是，當人們想到食物時，他們就會想到克羅格。為了實現這一願景，我們正在提供一流的客戶體驗並對我們的員工進行投資。我們知道，當我們照顧好客戶和員工時，我們就能為股東帶來有吸引力且可持續的回報。

Kroger's go-to-market strategy includes 4 focus areas: fresh, power brands, seamless and personalization that propels a customer experience that will grow sales and build loyalty. Our team of associates power Kroger's success by executing this strategy and delivering an outstanding customer experience. To attract, develop and retain our talented teams, we make holistic investments in our associates.

克羅格的進入市場策略包括 4 個重點領域：新鮮、強大的品牌、無縫和個人化，推動客戶體驗，從而增加銷售額並建立忠誠度。我們的員工團隊透過執行這項策略並提供卓越的客戶體驗來推動克羅格的成功。為了吸引、發展和留住我們的優秀團隊，我們對員工進行全面投資。

Our value creation model enables us to balance investments in our customers' experience and associates while generating sustainable returns for our shareholders. We've made significant investments to strengthen this model and are now demonstrating how we can generate growth in more ways than ever. By delivering fresh products and personalized offers through a unique seamless shopping experience, our retail business creates traffic and loyalty that accelerates our growth opportunities in other areas such as alternative profit businesses.

我們的價值創造模式使我們能夠平衡對客戶體驗和員工的投資，同時為股東創造可持續的回報。我們已經進行了大量投資來加強這一模式，現在正在展示我們如何以比以往更多的方式實現成長。透過獨特的無縫購物體驗提供新鮮產品和個人化優惠，我們的零售業務創造了流量和忠誠度，從而加速了我們在其他領域（例如替代利潤業務）的成長機會。

This generates sustainable net earnings growth and increases in cash flow, which supports capital investments to grow the business, which in turn creates more jobs for associates and more career opportunities and enables us to return excess capital to shareholders. As part of our capital investment plans for 2024, we are excited to announce that we are building more new stores in a meaningful way that will support our long-term growth model.

這會產生可持續的淨利潤成長和現金流增加，從而支持資本投資以發展業務，進而為員工創造更多就業機會和更多職業機會，並使我們能夠將多餘的資本回饋給股東。作為我們 2024 年資本投資計畫的一部分，我們很高興地宣布，我們正在以有意義的方式建造更多新店，這將支持我們的長期成長模式。

When we launched Restock Kroger several years ago, we knew that a strong omnichannel experience was a key to serving our customers in the future. We are pleased with the progress we've made there, and we'll continue to invest in digital as it remains an important part to our growth model. In addition, we believe a strong and growing store network is important, many of the ways we go-to-market in digital still comes through the store channel. We know that our most profitable customers shop both in-store and online. So it's important to be there for our customers in a way they choose to shop with us. As a result, we expect new stores to be an important part of sales growth in our TSR model going forward.

幾年前，當我們推出 Restock Kroger 時，我們知道強大的全通路體驗是未來服務客戶的關鍵。我們對在那裡取得的進展感到高興，我們將繼續投資數位化，因為它仍然是我們成長模式的重要組成部分。此外，我們認為強大且不斷成長的商店網路很重要，我們進入數位市場的許多方式仍然是透過商店管道。我們知道，最賺錢的客戶會在實體店和網路購物。因此，以客戶選擇的方式在我們這裡購物非常重要。因此，我們預計新店將成為我們未來 TSR 模式中銷售成長的重要組成部分。

Now I would like to provide a brief recap of 2023. Last year, customers were affected by many factors, which pressured their food at home spending, including reduced government benefits such as SNAP, higher interest rates and the depletion of excess savings that many families accumulated during the pandemic. As a result, customers were looking for value to stretch their budgets. Kroger's commitment to lowering prices and executing our go-to-market strategy positioned us well to meet our customers' needs.

現在我想簡單回顧一下 2023 年。去年，消費者受到多種因素的影響，這給他們的家庭食品支出帶來了壓力，包括 SNAP 等政府福利減少、利率上升以及許多家庭超額儲蓄的耗盡。疫情期間累積。因此，客戶正在尋找價值來擴展他們的預算。克羅格致力於降低價格並執行我們的市場策略，這使我們能夠很好地滿足客戶的需求。

By delivering fresh products, enhancing our brand's quality and improving our digital experience, we grew loyal households in 2023, and our customers saved even more through our industry-leading personalization capabilities including loyalty discounts, fuel rewards and personalized offers. By increasing customers' digital experience, we can more effectively deploy our data sciences and our AI to serve the right offers to customers at the right time.

透過提供新鮮產品、提高我們的品牌品質和改善我們的數位體驗，我們在2023 年增加了忠誠的家庭，並且我們的客戶透過我們領先業界的個人化功能（包括忠誠度折扣、燃油獎勵和個人化優惠）節省了更多錢。透過增加客戶的數位體驗，我們可以更有效地部署我們的資料科學和人工智慧，以便在正確的時間為客戶提供正確的服務。

In 2023, our customers clipped 4 billion coupons, which is 1 billion more coupons compared to 2022. We know these offers help customers stretch their budget and lead to deeper loyalty. During the fourth quarter, our effective promotions helped turn traffic positive. These trends position us well and give us optimism for 2024. We expect consumer sentiment to improve in 2024 but our customers will still have to manage many of the same macro pressures as last year.

2023 年，我們的客戶發放了 40 億張優惠券，比 2022 年多了 10 億張優惠券。我們知道這些優惠可以幫助客戶節省預算並提高忠誠度。第四季度，我們有效的促銷活動幫助扭轉了流量。這些趨勢使我們處於有利地位，並使我們對 2024 年感到樂觀。我們預計 2024 年消費者信心將有所改善，但我們的客戶仍將需要應對許多與去年相同的宏觀壓力。

Kroger will continue to provide customers with lower prices and exceptional value. We also know that customers expect a great shopping experience, and we have robust plans to improve seamless shopping both in-store and online, where customers can get the products they want without compromising on quality, selection, and convenience. We are raising the bar on our full fresh and friendly metrics and investing for growth.

克羅格將繼續為客戶提供更低的價格和卓越的價值。我們也知道顧客期望獲得良好的購物體驗，我們制定了強有力的計劃來改善店內和網上的無縫購物，讓顧客可以在不影響品質、選擇和便利性的情況下獲得他們想要的產品。我們正在提高我們全面、新鮮和友好的指標的標準，並為成長進行投資。

As with our brands, which enables Kroger to offer innovative products at a great value, growing sales and improving margins, we create destination items that our customers love and can only find at Kroger. This year's addition of the Hispanic inspired Mercado line to our brand's portfolio is an example of how our brands can innovate in categories that meet our customers' evolving needs and accelerate growth.

與我們的品牌一樣，我們的品牌使克羅格能夠提供高價值的創新產品，增加銷售額並提高利潤，我們創造了客戶喜愛且只能在克羅格找到的目的地商品。今年，我們的品牌組合中新增了受西班牙裔啟發的 Mercado 系列，這就是我們的品牌如何在品類上進行創新以滿足客戶不斷變化的需求並加速成長的一個例子。

In 2024, our brands expects to launch more than 800 new products. As part of the next phase of Kroger's brand architect work, the team is reimagining their -- our brands portfolio with a refresh to look, which is based on the insights and preferences collected from extensive customer feedback studies.

2024年，我們的品牌預計將推出800多種新產品。作為克羅格品牌架構師下一階段工作的一部分，該團隊正在重新構想他們的品牌組合，並根據從廣泛的客戶回饋研究中收集的見解和偏好，以煥然一新的外觀。

Next is Fresh. Fresh is an important influence on where customers shop and we are continually trying to add days of freshness for our customers. With end-to-end Fresh in more than 2,100 stores, we are seeing higher produce sales and improving share. Beyond adding days of freshness, we are expanding our assortment.

接下來是新鮮。新鮮度對顧客購物的地點有重要影響，我們不斷努力為顧客增加新鮮度。憑藉 2,100 多家商店的端到端生鮮服務，我們看到了農產品銷售的成長和份額的提高。除了增加保鮮天數之外，我們還在擴大我們的品種。

Customers love our convenient in-store fresh-cut fruit program, and we will continue to expand the offering by introducing regional specialties and seasonal favorites.

顧客喜歡我們便利的店內鮮切水果計劃，我們將繼續透過推出區域特色菜和時令美食來擴大產品範圍。

Now turning to seamless. Digital had strong results in 2023, delivering more than $12 billion in sales. Digital sales grew by 12% on a 52-week basis, and we improved our cost to serve through increased volume and process enhancements as well as technology to optimize associate pick routes for more efficient picking. Digital is an important growth accelerator in our business. And in 2024, we expect to deliver another year of double-digit sales growth.

現在轉向無縫。數位化業務在 2023 年取得了強勁業績，銷售額超過 120 億美元。數位銷售額在 52 週的基礎上成長了 12%，我們透過增加數量和流程改進以及優化員工揀選路線以實現更高效揀選的技術來降低服務成本。數位化是我們業務的重要成長加速器。到 2024 年，我們預計銷售額將再次實現兩位數成長。

As we grow volume, particularly in our Kroger delivery network, we expect our unit economics to improve and become a tailwind to our long-term financial model. We have a clear path to improving our digital margins, closing the gap with our traditional brick-and-mortar business over time. Kroger is well positioned through our combination of stores and dedicated fulfillment centers enabling us to serve all customer trips, including both immediate and next day.

隨著我們銷售的成長，特別是克羅格配送網路的成長，我們預計我們的單位經濟效益將會改善，並成為我們長期財務模式的推動力。我們有一條明確的道路來提高我們的數位利潤，隨著時間的推移縮小與傳統實體業務的差距。克羅格透過我們的商店和專門的履行中心相結合，處於有利地位，使我們能夠為所有客戶的旅行提供服務，包括立即旅行和隔日旅行。

Customers value the ability to shop on their own terms with 0 compromises and we are increasing the number of omnichannel households in our ecosystem. Customers who shop both in-store and online spend 3 to 4x more compared to in-store only shoppers. Personalization is also driving digital engagement and remains one of the primary ways we deliver value for customers beyond low prices.

客戶重視以自己的方式進行零妥協購物的能力，我們正在增加生態系統中全通路家庭的數量。與僅在店內購物的消費者相比，同時在店內和網上購物的顧客的花費高出 3 至 4 倍。個人化也推動了數位參與，並且仍然是我們為客戶提供低價之外的價值的主要方式之一。

By offering personalized savings we can ensure customers get the right promotions at the right time, allowing us to get the most important return on our promotional spend while enhancing loyalty. Moving promotions online allowed Kroger to take personalization to a new level, targeting customers more efficiently and increasing the breadth and depth of promotions.

透過提供個人化優惠，我們可以確保客戶在正確的時間獲得正確的促銷活動，從而使我們能夠在促銷支出上獲得最重要的回報，同時提高忠誠度。將促銷活動轉移到網上使克羅格將個性化提升到一個新的水平，更有效地瞄準客戶並增加促銷的廣度和深度。

During the fourth quarter, this led to an 18% increase in digitally engaged households. Our digitally engaged households are extremely valuable to our long-term growth model as they spend more with us and help power our alternative profit businesses like Kroger Precision Marketing.

第四季度，參與數位化的家庭數量增加了 18%。我們的數位化家庭對我們的長期成長模式非常有價值，因為他們在我們身上花費更多，並幫助推動我們的另類利潤業務，如克羅格精準行銷。

Operational excellence is essential to bringing our strategic pillars to life. Our full fresh and friendly strategy is the road map to achieving a best-in-class customer experience. We were pleased to see the continued progress on these metrics in 2023, notably significant improvement in our in-stock rate as we achieved a new all-time high during the year.

卓越營運對於實現我們的策略支柱至關重要。我們全新且友善的策略是實現一流客戶體驗的路線圖。我們很高興看到這些指標在 2023 年繼續取得進展，特別是我們的庫存率顯著提高，我們在這一年創下了歷史新高。

We will continue our momentum on in-stock rate in 2024 to further drive sales as well as to improve our execution in these other key areas as well. By delivering our retail strategy, including fuel, we are building customer loyalty and expanding opportunities for profitable growth, including alternative profit businesses and health and wellness.

2024 年，我們將繼續保持庫存率的勢頭，以進一步推動銷售並提高我們在其他關鍵領域的執行力。透過實施我們的零售策略（包括燃料），我們正在建立客戶忠誠度並擴大獲利成長的機會，包括替代利潤業務以及健康和保健。

Alternative profit businesses achieved solid results in 2023, generating $1.3 billion in operating profit. We were pleased with the portfolio's performance in 2023, where our media business once again delivered strong results.

另類獲利業務在 2023 年取得了穩健的業績，營業利潤達 13 億美元。我們對 2023 年投資組合的表現感到滿意，我們的媒體業務再次取得了強勁的業績。

Looking ahead, we expect that the significant investments we've made in Kroger Precision Marketing last year will lead to more than 20% growth in our media business in 2024. The U.S. media landscape is evolving, and Retail Media is one of the fastest-growing channels. Systems built 20 years ago to power digital advertising, including third-party cookies are losing effectiveness and ineffective ad spending is creating more opportunities for those who use first-party data to connect the right content to the right customers while clearly measuring return on investment.

展望未來，我們預計去年對 Kroger Precision Marketing 的重大投資將使我們的媒體業務在 2024 年實現 20% 以上的增長。美國媒體格局正在不斷發展，而零售媒體是發展最快的媒體之一不斷增長的渠道。 20 年前為支援數位廣告而建立的系統（包括第三方cookie）正在失去效力，無效的廣告支出正在為那些使用第一方數據將正確的內容連接到正確的客戶，同時明確衡量投資回報的人創造更多機會。

KPM is well positioned to excel in this space by offering brands a superior advertising experience. Our media business can utilize first-party data from our loyalty program to create relevant audiences and measure ad spend effectiveness based on customer purchases, both in-store and online. To take the next step in this growth journey, KPM invested in enhanced advertiser functionality.

KPM 透過為品牌提供卓越的廣告體驗，在這一領域處於領先地位。我們的媒體業務可以利用忠誠度計畫中的第一方數據來創建相關受眾，並根據客戶在店內和網路上的購買情況來衡量廣告支出的有效性。為了在這趟成長之旅中邁出下一步，KPM 投資增強了廣告商功能。

In 2023, KPM launched its own ad platform and introduced a new self-service solution on ad buying platforms. The new ad platform makes it easier for clients to activate campaigns and gather data insights for advertising on Kroger owned properties and the new self-service solutions are responsible for offering more direct access to custom Kroger audiences on clients' existing ad buying platforms.

2023年，KPM推出了自己的廣告平台，並在廣告購買平台上推出了新的自助服務解決方案。新的廣告平台使客戶能夠更輕鬆地啟動廣告活動並收集克羅格擁有的資產上的廣告數據洞察，而新的自助服務解決方案負責在客戶現有的廣告購買平台上為定制的克羅格受眾提供更直接的存取。

We expect these enhancements will be key catalysts for growth in 2024. Kroger Personal Finance delivered mixed results in 2023, which led to relative flat year-over-year operating profit. Our credit card business experienced a challenging macroeconomic landscape, which led to an increase in customer bad debt. In money services we delivered strong results by implementing more fraud controls that allowed us to process payments more quickly while reducing fraud.

我們預計這些增強功能將成為 2024 年成長的關鍵催化劑。克羅格個人金融在 2023 年的表現好壞參半，導致營業利潤與去年同期相比相對持平。我們的信用卡業務經歷了充滿挑戰的宏觀經濟形勢，導致客戶壞帳增加。在貨幣服務領域，我們透過實施更多的詐欺控制措施取得了強勁的成果，使我們能夠更快地處理付款，同時減少詐欺。

Turning to health and wellness. Health and wellness delivered a better-than-expected performance in 2023, and we are excited about the momentum in this area of our business. As we find in other areas of our ecosystem, customers who are retail pharmacy patients are more loyal to Kroger than non-pharmacy customers.

轉向健康和保健。健康與保健業務在 2023 年的業績優於預期，我們對這一業務領域的發展勢頭感到興奮。正如我們在生態系統的其他領域發現的那樣，零售藥房患者的客戶比非藥房客戶對克羅格更忠誠。

The retail pharmacy industry is going through a period of transformation which presents a significant opportunity for us. We plan to deliver growth by focusing on a few key priorities. First, cultivating an exceptional patient experience. We are incorporating new technologies and simplifying our team's work, which adds capacity in our pharmacies. Our pharmacy staff is using this capacity to provide better care and faster checkout for patients.

零售藥品產業正在經歷一個轉型期，這為我們提供了重大機會。我們計劃透過專注於幾個關鍵優先事項來實現成長。首先，培養卓越的患者體驗。我們正在採用新技術並簡化我們團隊的工作，這增加了我們藥房的容量。我們的藥局工作人員正在利用這項能力為患者提供更好的護理和更快的結帳。

Next, we are attracting new patients by raising awareness to our nonpharmacy customers. Many of our customers are not familiar with Kroger's retail pharmacy operations. We are working to convert these customers by increasing our marketing and adding in-store engagement and utilizing our data sciences to help build awareness.

接下來，我們透過提高非藥房客戶的認識來吸引新患者。我們的許多客戶不熟悉克羅格的零售藥局業務。我們正在努力透過加強行銷、增加店內參與度以及利用我們的數據科學來幫助建立意識來轉換這些客戶。

Finally, we plan to build on our 2023 momentum in vaccines by accelerating share growth in 2024. By improving our outreach in store, expanding marketing campaigns and working with providers, we can grow vaccines and help customers live healthier lives. I'd now like to take a moment to talk about our associates.

最後，我們計劃透過在2024 年加速份額成長，鞏固2023 年疫苗領域的勢頭。透過改善我們的店面覆蓋範圍、擴大行銷活動以及與供應商合作，我們可以種植疫苗並幫助客戶過上更健康的生活。現在我想花點時間談談我們的同事。

We respect and appreciate our associates for all they do to take care of our customers every day, every time. We firmly believe that by investing in associates and being an employer of choice, we can facilitate an outstanding customer experience. At the core of our operational initiatives this year is delivering a consistent store experience.

我們尊重並感謝我們的員工每天、每一次為照顧我們的客戶所做的一切。我們堅信，透過投資員工並成為首選雇主，我們可以促進卓越的客戶體驗。我們今年營運計劃的核心是提供一致的商店體驗。

Team consistency is a key to that strategy. To support this strategy, we are taking a holistic approach to retention, which includes wage and benefit investments that Todd will talk on later, as well as investments in associate experience, including training, technology and career development opportunities. Investments in technology enable us to support our associates beyond the initial onboarding process.

團隊一致性是此策略的關鍵。為了支持這項策略，我們正在採取全面的保留方法，其中包括托德稍後將討論的薪資和福利投資，以及對員工經驗的投資，包括培訓、技術和職業發展機會。對科技的投資使我們能夠在最初的入職流程之外為我們的員工提供支援。

Our training app provides ongoing support and development during the flow of work, giving associates more confidence in executing their tasks and leading to a better customer experience. Importantly, associates are developing the skills for their next role with Kroger. We are pleased to see these efforts lead to strong improvements in retention this year.

我們的培訓應用程式在工作流程中提供持續的支援和開發，讓員工更有信心執行任務並帶來更好的客戶體驗。重要的是，員工正在為他們在克羅格的下一個角色培養技能。我們很高興看到這些努力導致今年的留存率大幅提高。

In 2024, we will remain focused on further enhancing training and development opportunities, solidifying Kroger as a place where associates come for a job and discover a career. With that, I'll turn it over to Todd to take you through our financial results and guidance for 2024. Todd?

2024 年，我們將繼續專注於進一步增加培訓和發展機會，鞏固克羅格作為員工求職和發現職業生涯的地方。接下來，我將把它交給托德，讓您了解我們 2024 年的財務表現和指導。托德？

Thanks, Rodney, and thank you for the warm welcome. Good morning, everyone. Kroger's 2024 results reflect the strength of our business and demonstrate the evolution of our model. We are a more diverse business with more ways than ever to generate net earnings growth. Over the past 4 years, adjusted EPS has grown at a CAGR of 20%, significantly higher than our long-term growth model.

謝謝羅德尼，也謝謝你的熱情歡迎。大家，早安。 Kroger 2024 年的業績反映了我們業務的實力，並展示了我們模式的演變。我們是一家更多元化的企業，擁有比以往更多的方式來實現淨利潤成長。過去 4 年，調整後每股盈餘以 20% 的複合年增長率成長，明顯高於我們的長期成長模型。

As net earnings grow, we are also producing improved cash flows. And in 2023, we delivered more than $3 billion of adjusted free cash flow. This is strengthening our balance sheet, giving us the flexibility to reinvest in growth opportunities for our business and return excess cash to shareholders.

隨著淨利潤的成長，我們的現金流也有所改善。 2023 年，我們交付了超過 30 億美元的調整後自由現金流。這正在加強我們的資產負債表，使我們能夠靈活地再投資於我們的業務成長機會，並將多餘的現金回饋給股東。

As Rodney discussed, our retail business is performing well and driving data and traffic needed to power our model and accelerate growth in alternative profit business. Kroger is entering 2024 from a position of strength. Many of the headwinds we faced in 2023, including the reduction of SNAP benefits and the loss of pharmacy sales from the termination of our agreement with ESI are cycling this year.

正如羅德尼所討論的，我們的零售業務表現良好，並推動了為我們的模型提供支援並加速替代利潤業務成長所需的數據和流量。進入 2024 年，克羅格將處於強勢地位。我們在 2023 年面臨的許多不利因素，包括 SNAP 福利的減少以及因終止與 ESI 協議而造成的藥品銷售損失，今年都在循環。

Recent investments to expand our strategic pillars and grow alternative profit businesses are paying off. We remain confident in our ability to navigate many different operating environments and are well positioned to drive sustainable growth long term.

最近為擴大我們的策略支柱和發展替代利潤業務而進行的投資正在取得回報。我們對應對許多不同營運環境的能力仍然充滿信心，並有能力推動長期永續成長。

I'll now walk through our full year 2023 results. Kroger delivered adjusted EPS of $4.76 per diluted share, including a benefit of $0.20 from the 53rd week. Excluding the 53rd week, adjusted EPS per diluted share increased 8%, which is above the high end of the guidance range we shared at the beginning of the year.

現在我將介紹我們 2023 年全年業績。克羅格公佈的調整後每股攤薄每股收益為 4.76 美元，其中包括第 53 週的 0.20 美元收益。排除第 53 週，調整後每股攤薄每股收益成長 8%，高於我們年初分享的指導範圍的上限。

We achieved identical sales without fuel growth of 0.9%. Underlying growth would have been 2.3% after adjusting for the effect of our terminated agreement with Express Scripts. Digital sales grew 12% on a 52-week basis, led by 25% growth in Delivery Solutions. The FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, and the 53rd week, increased 18 basis points, 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 increased price investments and higher shrink.

我們在沒有燃油增長 0.9% 的情況下實現了相同的銷售額。在調整我們與 Express Scripts 終止協議的影響後，基本成長率將為 2.3%。數位銷售額在 52 週內成長了 12%，其中交付解決方案成長了 25%。第53 週的FIFO 毛利率（不包括燃料）增加了18 個基點，主要歸因於我們強勁的品牌表現、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，但部分被增加的毛利率所抵銷。價格投資和縮水率較高。

Our strategy to improve margin over time as many components, including the expansion of our brands improvements in digital profitability, including growth in media, utilizing technology to improve supply chain efficiency and enhancing the product mix through fresh initiatives.

我們的策略是隨著時間的推移提高利潤率，包括擴大我們的品牌、提高數位獲利能力、媒體成長、利用技術提高供應鏈效率以及透過新措施增強產品組合。

Our improvement rate reflected the investments we have made in these areas of our business, and it allows us to further invest in price for customers to help drive the flywheel in our model and continue to have a long runway for improvement.

我們的改進率反映了我們在這些業務領域所做的投資，它使我們能夠進一步為客戶進行價格投資，以幫助驅動我們模型中的飛輪，並繼續擁有漫長的改進道路。

The OG&A rate, excluding fuel, the 53rd week and adjustment items, increased 21 basis points attributable to planned investments in associates, investments in strategic growth initiatives and the effect of our terminated agreement with Express Scripts, partially offset by the continued execution of cost savings initiatives and lower incentive plan costs. Our adjusted FIFO operating profit was $5 billion and $4.8 billion on an adjusted 52-week basis.

OG&A 率（不包括燃料、第53 週和調整項目）增加了21 個基點，歸因於計劃對聯營公司的投資、對戰略增長計劃的投資以及我們與Express Scripts 終止協議的影響，但部分被持續執行成本節約所抵銷措施和降低激勵計畫成本。根據調整後的 52 週計算，我們調整後的 FIFO 營運利潤分別為 50 億美元和 48 億美元。

The LIFO charge for the full year was $113 million. Kroger continued to generate strong adjusted free cash flow through our consistent operating results and improvements in working capital. Working capital improvements primarily reflected an effective inventory management led by our sourcing and supply chain teams. In addition, we cycled through the unfavorable working capital results experienced in the fourth quarter of 2022.

全年的後進先出費用為 1.13 億美元。透過我們持續的經營業績和營運資本的改善，克羅格繼續產生強勁的調整後自由現金流。營運資本的改善主要反映了我們的採購和供應鏈團隊領導的有效庫存管理。此外，我們也回顧了 2022 年第四季營運資金的不利情況。

As a result, we delivered adjusted free cash flow of more than $3 billion in 2023. Our strong cash flow generation led to significant debt reduction and a strengthened balance sheet in preparation for our merger with Albertsons. Our net total debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio on an adjusted 52-week basis is 1.33 compared to 1.56 a year ago. Turning now to our fourth quarter results. Adjusted EPS was $1.34 per diluted share for the quarter, including a benefit from the 53rd week of $0.20. Excluding the 53rd week, adjusted EPS increased 15%. Identical sales without fuel declined 0.8%. Underlying growth would have been positive 0.1% after adjusting for the effect of Express Scripts.

因此，我們在 2023 年實現了超過 30 億美元的調整後自由現金流。我們強勁的現金流產生導致債務大幅減少，資產負債表得到加強，為我們與 Albertsons 的合併做好準備。調整後 52 週的淨總負債與調整後 EBITDA 比率為 1.33，而一年前為 1.56。現在轉向我們第四季的業績。本季調整後每股攤薄每股收益為 1.34 美元，其中包括第 53 週的收益 0.20 美元。剔除第53週，調整後每股盈餘成長15%。不含燃料的相同銷量下降了 0.8%。調整 Express Scripts 的影響後，基本成長將為正 0.1%。

Our sales trends improved in the final period of the quarter as we began to cycle the effect of ESI and unit trends improved in the quarter. The fourth quarter was our fifth consecutive quarter of sequential improvement in units and our teams remain laser-focused on volume growth in 2024.

隨著我們開始循環 ESI 的影響，我們的銷售趨勢在本季最後一段時間有所改善，單位趨勢在本季有所改善。第四季是我們銷售連續第五個季度實現連續改善，我們的團隊仍專注於 2024 年的銷售成長。

The FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel and the 53rd week, increased 13 basis points, reflecting strong our brands performance, sourcing benefits and lower supply chain costs, partially offset by increased price investments and higher shrink.

先進先出毛利率（不包括燃料和第53 週）增加了13 個基點，反映出我們品牌的強勁表現、採購優勢和較低的供應鏈成本，部分被價格投資的增加和更高的損耗所抵消。

The OG&A rate, excluding fuel, the 53rd week and adjustment items increased 40 basis points compared to last year. The increase was attributable to planned investments in associate wages and adjustment for self-insurance expenses and the decision to contribute an additional $40 million to multiemployer pension plans, helping to stabilize associates' future benefits and to reduce future contribution obligations. These were partially offset by continued execution of cost savings initiatives and lower incentive plan costs.

OG&A 利率（不包括燃油、第 53 週和調整項目）與去年相比增加了 40 個基點。這一增長歸因於計劃對員工工資的投資和自我保險費用的調整，以及決定向多雇主退休金計劃額外繳款 4000 萬美元，有助於穩定員工的未來福利並減少未來的繳款義務。這些被持續執行成本節約措施和較低的激勵計畫成本所部分抵銷。

Our adjusted FIFO operating profit was more than $1.3 billion, driven by our strong performance in gross margin. This quarter, LIFO was a credit of $18 million compared to a charge of $234 million last year. This was primarily attributable to lower-than-expected inflation in our pharmacy inventory.

由於毛利率的強勁表現，我們調整後的 FIFO 營業利潤超過 13 億美元。本季度，後進先出的貸項為 1,800 萬美元，而去年的費用為 2.34 億美元。這主要是由於我們的藥品庫存通膨低於預期。

Fuel is an important part of Kroger's strategy, offering customers an additional way to save through fuel rewards and providing yet another lever for us to grow profitability. Fuel rewards enhance customer loyalty and customers who redeem Fuel Points spend twice as much on groceries and by 3x the number of fuel gallons.

燃油是克羅格策略的重要組成部分，透過燃油獎勵為客戶提供了額外的節省方式，並為我們提高盈利能力提供了另一個槓桿。燃油獎勵可提高客戶忠誠度，兌換燃油積分的客戶在食品雜貨上的花費是原來的兩倍，燃油加侖數是原來的 3 倍。

Fuel reward engagement was strong throughout the year as customers save 14% more on fuel rewards versus last year. Our fuel rewards engagement helped lead the gallon sales, which significantly outpaced the industry. The average retail fuel price was $3.14 this quarter compared to $3.39 in the same quarter last year, and our cents per gallon fuel margin was $0.49 this quarter versus $0.51 in the same quarter last year.

全年燃油獎勵參與度很高，與去年相比，客戶在燃油獎勵上節省的費用增加了 14%。我們的燃油獎勵參與幫助引領了加侖銷售，大大超越了行業。本季平均零售燃油價格為 3.14 美元，去年同期為 3.39 美元，本季每加侖燃油利潤為 0.49 美元，去年同期為 0.51 美元。

I'd now like to provide a brief update on associates. In 2023, we increased associate wages resulting in an average hourly rate of nearly $19 an hour at a rate of nearly $25 with comprehensive benefits factored in. Over the last 5 years, Kroger has now invested more than $2.4 billion in incremental wage investments. Kroger remains committed to supporting our associates with investments in wages and comprehensive benefits that are sustainable and will allow us to continue to keep products affordable to the communities we serve.

現在我想簡單介紹一下同事的最新情況。 2023 年，我們提高了員工薪資，使平均時薪達到近19 美元，考慮到綜合福利則達到近25 美元。在過去5 年裡，克羅格現已在增量薪資投資上投入了超過24 億美元。克羅格仍然致力於透過可持續的工資和全面福利投資來支持我們的員工，並使我們能夠繼續為我們所服務的社區提供負擔得起的產品。

We expect to make continued associated investments in 2024, and those are fully contemplated in our 2024 guidance and long-term growth model. Turning now to financial strategy and capital allocation. We continue to be disciplined with our capital allocation decisions, and our priority is to invest in high-return projects that support net earnings growth.

我們預計將在 2024 年繼續進行相關投資，這些投資已在我們的 2024 年指導和長期成長模型中得到充分考慮。現在轉向財務策略和資本配置。我們繼續遵守資本配置決策，我們的首要任務是投資於支持淨利潤成長的高回報項目。

We also remain committed to maintaining our current investment-grade rating growing our dividends over time, subject to Board approval and returning excess capital to shareholders. We expect capital investments for 2024 to be between $3.4 billion and $3.6 billion. which is consistent with 2023 in our long-range model.

我們也持續致力於維持目前的投資等級評級，隨著時間的推移增加股息，但須經董事會批准並將多餘資本回饋給股東。我們預計 2024 年的資本投資將在 34 億美元至 36 億美元之間。這與我們的遠端模型中的 2023 年一致。

Capital investments will be aligned with our strategic priorities and expect to drive sales growth and improve margins. To drive sales, our focus is on enhancing the customer shopping experience and increasing store investments.

資本投資將與我們的策略重點保持一致，並有望推動銷售成長並提高利潤率。為了推動銷售，我們的重點是增強客戶購物體驗和增加商店投資。

As Rodney mentioned earlier, in 2024, we plan on completing 30 major storing projects, including new stores, relocations and expansions with a focus on investments in higher-growth geographies that have a track record of delivering strong ROIC.

正如羅德尼之前提到的，我們計劃在 2024 年完成 30 個主要倉儲項目，包括新店、搬遷和擴建，重點投資於具有強勁投資回報率記錄的高增長地區。

To improve margins, 2024 investments will also enhance our supply chain, including expanding distribution center capacity and utilizing data and technology to optimize network efficiency. Productivity improvements and cost savings continue to be an essential element of our model and are key to helping us fund investments in associates and the customer experience.

為了提高利潤率，2024 年的投資也將增強我們的供應鏈，包括擴大配送中心的容量以及利用數據和技術來優化網路效率。提高生產力和節省成本仍然是我們模式的重要組成部分，也是幫助我們為員工和客戶體驗投資提供資金的關鍵。

These opportunities are embedded into all of our business areas, including in-store operations, digital, supply chain, and procurement. Our productivity and cost saving initiatives are focused on simplification, and utilizing technology to enhance the associate experience, without impacting the customer experience.

這些機會嵌入我們所有的業務領域，包括店內營運、數位化、供應鏈和採購。我們的生產力和成本節約計畫著重於簡化，並利用科技來增強員工體驗，而不影響客戶體驗。

Looking forward, we're testing new initiatives like customer pickup lockers, drive-thru lanes and AI-enabled store routing technology that will allow our pickup associates to be more efficient. Through efforts like these, we continue to improve digital margins, which remains a significant opportunity to improve total company operating results.

展望未來，我們正在測試客戶提貨儲物櫃、得來速車道和人工智慧商店路線技術等新舉措，這將使我們的提貨員工提高效率。透過這些努力，我們不斷提高數位利潤，這仍然是改善公司整體經營績效的重要機會。

Turning now to 2024 guidance. We expect to achieve identical sales without fuel of 0.25% to 1.75%, Adjusting FIFO operating profit of between $4.6 billion and $4.8 billion, and adjusted net earnings per diluted share of $4.30 to $4.50. This compares to 2023 adjusted EPS of $4.56 on an adjusted 52-week basis. We anticipate LIFO to be a similar charge to last year. We expect inflation to be around 1%, which is in line with the external forecast and consistent with our long-range financial model.

現在轉向 2024 年指導。我們預計在不使用燃油的情況下實現0.25% 至1.75% 的相同銷售額，調整後的FIFO 營業利潤在46 億美元至48 億美元之間，調整後每股攤薄淨利潤為4.30 美元至4.50 美元。相比之下，2023 年調整後 52 週每股收益為 4.56 美元。我們預期後進先出的費用與去年類似。我們預期通膨率為 1% 左右，符合外部預測，也符合我們的長期財務模型。

We expect to grow revenue by investing in value for the customer and enhancing our seamless shopping experience. We plan to balance investments in our business, including lower prices and increased associate wages with improved productivity and cost saving initiatives, improvement on long-term initiatives in gross margin and growth in our alternative profit businesses.

我們希望透過投資為客戶創造價值並增強我們的無縫購物體驗來增加收入。我們計劃平衡對我們業務的投資，包括降低價格和增加員工工資，提高生產力和成本節約計劃，改善毛利率的長期計劃以及我們的替代利潤業務的增長。

As Rodney discussed earlier, growth in loyal households and digitally engaged customers position us well to grow profits and power the flywheel in our model. Overall, we expect FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, and adjusted OG&A rate, excluding fuel, to remain relatively flat on a year-over-year basis. In terms of quarterly cadence, we expect identical sales without fuel to be stronger in the second half of the year. This reflects SNAP headwinds in the first quarter, combined with lower inflation. We expect inflation to be lowest in the first quarter but do expect it to increase as the year progresses.

正如羅德尼之前討論的那樣，忠誠家庭和數位化客戶的成長使我們能夠很好地增加利潤並為我們的模型中的飛輪提供動力。總體而言，我們預計 FIFO 毛利率（不包括燃料）和調整後的 OG&A 毛利率（不包括燃料）將比去年同期保持相對持平。就季度節奏而言，我們預計下半年不含燃料的相同銷售將更加強勁。這反映了第一季 SNAP 的不利因素以及較低的通膨。我們預計第一季通膨率將最低，但通膨率預計將隨著今年的進展而上升。

As a result, we would expect identical sales without fuel to be at or slightly below the bottom end of our annual guidance range for the first quarter in the middle of our guidance range in the second quarter and near the top end of our range of guidance in the second half of the year.

因此，我們預計不含燃料的相同銷售額將達到或略低於我們第一季年度指導範圍的下限、第二季度指導範圍的中間以及接近我們指導範圍的上限下半年。

We expect adjusted net earnings per diluted share in quarter 1 will be down low double digits year-over-year, reflecting our most challenging quarter for sales growth. Quarter 2 is expected to be relatively in line with last year. Quarter 3, we expect to increase double digits compared to last year. And Quarter 4 is expected to be in line with last year on an adjusted 52-week basis.

我們預期第一季調整後每股攤薄淨利潤將年減兩位數，反映出我們銷售成長最具挑戰性的季度。預計第二季與去年基本一致。第三季度，我們預計與去年相比將成長兩位數。調整後的 52 週預計第 4 季將與去年持平。

Kroger is well positioned to continue the momentum we've generated over the last few years. In 2023, we delivered adjusted net earnings per diluted share growth, in line with our long-term growth model and on top of our historic growth from the prior 3 years, despite navigating a challenging operating environment. We're evolving into a more diverse business, and our value creation model is providing us multiple ways to drive sustainable future growth. I will now turn the call back to Rodney.

克羅格處於有利地位，可以繼續我們過去幾年所產生的勢頭。儘管經營環境充滿挑戰，但 2023 年，我們實現了調整後每股攤薄淨利潤成長，符合我們的長期成長模式，並且在前 3 年的歷史性成長之上。我們正在發展成為更加多元化的業務，我們的價值創造模式為我們提供了多種方式來推動永續的未來成長。現在我將把電話轉回給羅德尼。

Thanks, Todd. In closing, Kroger delivered another strong performance in 2023, and I'm optimistic about 2024 and beyond. Our retail business is performing well. And by building loyalty, increasing digital engagement and driving customer visits, it is well positioned to continue that momentum in 2024 and beyond, which will accelerate growth in our alternative profit businesses.

謝謝，托德。最後，克羅格在 2023 年再次表現強勁，我對 2024 年及以後持樂觀態度。我們的零售業務表現良好。透過建立忠誠度、增加數位參與度和增加客戶訪問量，它有能力在 2024 年及以後繼續保持這一勢頭，這將加速我們的另類利潤業務的成長。

We are focused on enhancing our strategy with consistent store execution to drive sales and expect to build sales momentum throughout the year as we cycled SNAP benefits in the first quarter resulting in a strong finish to the year.

我們專注於透過一致的商店執行來加強我們的策略，以推動銷售，並期望在全年建立銷售勢頭，因為我們在第一季度循環了 SNAP 福利，從而為今年帶來了強勁的業績。

Before we open up the floor to your questions, I'd like to provide an update on our pending merger with Albertsons Company. While we were disappointed about the FTC's recent attempt to challenge our merger, we were not surprised given the current political environment. Our track record in previous mergers is clear: Kroger lowered prices, invested in associates, improved the customer experience, and deepened its connections with the communities we serve.

在我們開始回答大家的問題之前，我想先介紹我們即將與艾伯森公司合併的最新情況。雖然我們對聯邦貿易委員會最近試圖挑戰我們的合併感到失望，但考慮到當前的政治環境，我們並不感到驚訝。我們在先前的合併中的記錄很清楚：克羅格降低了價格，投資於聯營公司，改善了客戶體驗，並加深了與我們所服務的社區的聯繫。

The character of a company is clear in its actions regardless of what others claim Kroger keeps its commitments, and we're happy to share this with whomever is willing to talk with us. We know this merger will result in a secure future for union jobs. Kroger has added more than 100,000 union jobs in the national retail environment as these union jobs shrank elsewhere. We are making historic investments in wages including $2.4 billion in incremental investments since 2018 on top of hundreds of millions of dollars in benefit investments.

無論其他人如何聲稱克羅格信守承諾，公司的性格在其行為中都是顯而易見的，我們很高興與願意與我們交談的任何人分享這一點。我們知道這次合併將為工會工作帶來一個安全的未來。克羅格在全國零售環境中增加了超過 10 萬個工會工作崗位，而其他地方的工會工作崗位卻在減少。我們正在對薪資進行歷史性的投資，包括自 2018 年以來除了數億美元的福利投資之外，還進行了 24 億美元的增量投資。

The retail industry continues to be more competitive. We know our customers better than anyone. And every day, they make decisions about where to buy their groceries and how they eat. They shop with us, they shop with a wide range of competitors from Costco, to Amazon, to Dollar Stores, and they eat at restaurants. No matter how others define the industry, we know how our customers behave and we run our business accordingly.

零售業的競爭持續更加激烈。我們比任何人都更了解我們的客戶。他們每天都會決定去哪裡購買雜貨以及如何飲食。他們在我們這裡購物，他們在好市多、亞馬遜、一元商店等眾多競爭對手那裡購物，他們在餐廳吃飯。無論其他人如何定義該行業，我們都知道客戶的行為方式，並據此開展業務。

Throughout my 4 decades in the retail business, I have seen that when we take care of our customers and take care of our associates, our shareholders benefit. This is true in the past, and this will be true in the future. I know you likely have questions on the next steps.

在我從事零售業的 4 年裡，我發現，當我們照顧客戶和員工時，我們的股東就會受益。過去如此，將來亦然。我知道您可能對後續步驟有疑問。

Here's what we know today. The FTC joined by several states has sued to enjoin the merger. 2 states, Washington and Colorado have also sued separately. We are committed to defending the merger and litigation because we believe this is the best outcome for America's families. We cannot close the merger while these actions.

這就是我們今天所知道的。幾個州聯合起來的聯邦貿易委員會已提起訴訟，要求禁止合併。華盛頓州和科羅拉多州2個州也分別提起訴訟。我們致力於為合併和訴訟辯護，因為我們相信這對美國家庭來說是最好的結果。當這些行動發生時，我們無法完成合併。

are pending. Hearing dates have not been set yet, but we expect these to proceed in the mid- to late summer.

未處理的。聽證會日期尚未確定，但我們預計將在夏季中後期進行。

We remain excited about the future of our combined company, and we look forward to explaining the benefits of our merger. Because we are in litigation, we will not be taking any questions on the merger this morning.

我們對合併後公司的未來仍然感到興奮，並期待解釋合併的好處。因為我們正在進行訴訟，所以今天早上我們不會回答任何有關合併的問題。

With that, Todd and I look forward to taking your questions.

托德和我期待回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question today comes from Simeon Gutman from Morgan Stanley.

（操作員說明）我們今天的第一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Simeon Gutman。

My first question is on the comp. The comp guide with inflation expectation, I think you said about 1%. I guess at the high end may imply a little bit of market share gain, at the low end, it wouldn't. So I guess, how did you think about market share, especially as you're investing into pricing, why shouldn't that spread look a little bit stronger versus inflation?

我的第一個問題是關於比較的。通膨預期的比較指南，我想你說的是1%左右。我想在高端可能意味著一點點市場份額的成長，在低端則不會。所以我想，你如何看待市場份額，特別是當你投資於定價時，為什麼這種利差看起來不應該比通貨膨脹更強一點呢？

Great question, Simeon, and I'll start and Todd add anything you want to add. But as Todd mentioned in the prepared remarks, we expect the first quarter to be a tougher quarter as we're cycling ESI and SNAP and we would expect as you go through the year, that our market position, market share would continue to improve throughout the year, both from cycling and from the comment that I shared that we expect to open incremental stores and more stores in '24 than we did in '23 or in fact, several the past years. And it's really all of those things together. Todd, anything you want to add?

很好的問題，西蒙，我將開始，托德添加您想要添加的任何內容。但正如托德在準備好的發言中提到的那樣，我們預計第一季將是一個更加艱難的季度，因為我們正在循環使用ESI 和SNAP，並且我們預計，隨著這一年的推移，我們的市場地位、市場份額將繼續提高。今年，無論是從自行車運動還是從我分享的評論來看，我們預計在24 年開設增量商店，並且比我們在23 年或實際上過去幾年開設的商店更多。這確實是所有這些事情的結合。托德，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

No, I think that's a good color, Rodney. And frankly, actually, we are satisfied with the trajectory we're seeing in some of our volume share trends. It's improved consistently for the last 5 quarters. And I think what Rodney described is our expectation to build on that.

不，我認為這是一個很好的顏色，羅德尼。坦白說，實際上，我們對一些銷售份額趨勢的軌跡感到滿意。過去 5 個季度持續改善。我認為羅德尼所描述的是我們在此基礎上發展的期望。

Yes, that's a great point. And we've seen improvements in tonnage and in dollars, both sequentially on trends, and we would expect that to continue.

是的，這是一個很好的觀點。我們已經看到噸位和美元的增長，兩者都在趨勢上連續增長，我們預計這種情況將持續下去。

A quick follow-up on advertising. The grocery space in particular, there's always been a lot of support on product in the store, promotion, where product is placed. Now we're getting advertising dollars as the consumer shifts the channel in which they're shopping, the way in which your suppliers or your suppliers are looking at it, is the dollar basket you think still getting larger on whole? Or are they looking at it more holistically, the advertising plus the product support? Are those dollars still growing? And how do you think about that over the next several years?

廣告的快速跟進。特別是雜貨店，商店裡的產品、促銷和放置產品的地方總是得到很多支持。現在，隨著消費者改變購物管道、您的供應商或您的供應商看待廣告的方式，我們正在獲得廣告收入，您認為整體上的美元籃子仍然在變大嗎？或者他們是否更全面地看待廣告加產品支援？這些美元還在成長嗎？您如何看待未來幾年的情況？

If you look from a media standpoint, we're really competing against Google and Facebook and other channels. And everything that we can see that -- those dollars are coming from other channels or even traditional media channels. And we tell our CPGs, we have to earn our right for you to want to spend media money with us because it doesn't do us any good if you just take trade dollars and move them over.

如果你從媒體的角度來看，我們確實是在與Google、Facebook 和其他管道競爭。我們所看到的一切——這些資金都來自其他管道，甚至是傳統媒體管道。我們告訴我們的消費品集團，我們必須贏得你們想要與我們一起花費媒體資金的權利，因為如果你們只是拿走貿易資金並將其轉移出去，這對我們沒有任何好處。

So that's something we've been aggressive in terms of communicating with CPG since day 1, and it's really important. If you look at trade support, we actually saw a pickup in trade support. And it's more around some of the CPGs are starting to focus more on tonnage growth than what they have in the last several quarters. and the trade dollars are really trying to support tonnage growth for certain CPGs, but not all.

因此，從第一天起，我們就一直積極與 CPG 溝通，這非常重要。如果你看看貿易支持，我們實際上看到貿易支持增加。更重要的是，一些快速消費品公司開始比過去幾季更專注於噸位成長。貿易美元確實在努力支持某些消費品的噸位成長，但不是全部。

The next question comes from Leah Jordan from Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的 Leah Jordan。

I had noted an inflection to positive traffic in the quarter. I'm just curious if you could comment on where you think you're gaining that trip. How much do you think a shift to more food at home has been a factor? And then just where are you seeing maybe in trip frequency across your customer base versus those that are more loyal versus maybe those that are a little less so?

我注意到本季流量出現了積極變化。我只是好奇你能否評論一下你認為這次旅行的收穫。您認為在家多吃食物在多大程度上是個因素？然後，您會發現您的客戶群中的出行頻率與那些更忠誠的客戶和那些不太忠誠的客戶相比，在哪裡？

Yes. In terms of where we're seeing the growth, our loyal household continued to grow and it's several quarters in a row. They are starting to shop with us more frequently as well. So it's really both of those together. The food away from home to me is -- if you ask me, what's one of our biggest opportunities? Seamless is obviously one of them but? One of them would be food away from home. Our market share there is very low.

是的。就我們所看到的成長而言，我們的忠誠家庭持續成長，並且已經連續幾季成長。他們也開始更頻繁地在我們這裡購物。所以這確實是兩者結合在一起的。對我來說，遠離家鄉的食物是——如果你問我，我們最大的機會之一是什麼？無縫顯然是其中之一，但是呢？其中之一就是遠離家鄉的食物。我們在那裡的市佔率非常低。

And our deli and bakery team are doing some incredible work and incredible work partnering with some -- a couple of outside companies really focused on making it a destination. And we -- one of the things that we recently did was reformulate our fried chicken and the customers are telling us they really like it. So when we look at food away from home, we think we're just scratching the surface, and we think that's really a huge growth opportunity, but the growth is really coming from frequency and our loyal shoppers.

我們的熟食店和麵包店團隊正在做一些令人難以置信的工作，並與一些外部公司合作，真正致力於將其打造成一個目的地。我們最近做的一件事是重新調整炸雞的配方，顧客告訴我們他們真的很喜歡它。因此，當我們審視遠離家鄉的食物時，我們認為我們只是觸及了表面，我們認為這確實是一個巨大的成長機會，但成長實際上來自頻率和我們忠實的購物者。

The next question comes from Michael Lasser from UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀集團 (UBS) 的 Michael Lasser。

Rodney, presumably, you would get a lot of new stores if and when the Albertsons merger closes. So what's driving the decision to accelerate organic store growth now?

羅德尼，想必，如果艾伯森合併完成，你會得到很多新商店。那麼，是什麼推動了現在加速有機商店成長的決定呢？

Yes. Thanks, Michael, and great seeing you a couple of weeks ago as well, and you did a great job. On storing, when you look at it, it really ties back to capital. And we're -- it's kind of, I call it, bifurcation because we continue to run our business just like we would run our business without the merger. And we're finding good growth opportunities in certain markets where we have a strong ROIC and there's good population growth.

是的。謝謝邁克爾，幾週前見到你也很高興，你做得很好。在存儲方面，當你觀察它時，它確實與資本有關。我稱之為分叉，因為我們繼續經營我們的業務，就像我們在沒有合併的情況下經營我們的業務一樣。我們在某些​​市場中發現了良好的成長機會，這些市場擁有強勁的投資報酬率和良好的人口成長。

And it's something that we feel comfortable doing with or without the merger. So it's really strong from a both perspective. And we have good, strong, obviously, cash flow to be able to fund it as well.

不管有沒有合併，我們都願意這麼做。所以從兩個角度來看它都非常強大。而且我們顯然擁有良好、強勁的現金流來為其提供資金。

Yes. Great call, Rodney. And if you think over the last few years, we've really concentrated a lot of our capital investments in the digital space as we saw customers evolving more into that space, naturally, our investments went there, to help support what they were looking for and what we were trying to do in our business.

是的。很棒的電話，羅德尼。如果你想想過去幾年，我們確實將大量資本投資集中在數位領域，因為我們看到客戶更多地進入該領域，自然，我們的投資就投向了那裡，以幫助支持他們正在尋找的東西以及我們在業務中嘗試做的事情。

And we've been very pleased with the progress we've made with those investments with customers. But as Rodney said, we continue to see opportunities to go into higher-growth areas in some of those markets where we have a good track record and making sure that we're balancing those investments with both online and in-store investments because our best shoppers engage with us in both of those areas.

我們對與客戶的這些投資所取得的進展感到非常滿意。但正如羅德尼所說，我們繼續看到在一些市場中進入高成長領域的機會，在這些市場中我們擁有良好的業績記錄，並確保我們平衡這些投資與線上和店內投資，因為我們最好的購物者在這兩個領域都與我們互動。

My follow-up question is what is your assumption for overall wage growth in 2024? And how much flexibility do you have with managing that line item in the event that IDs don't accelerate to the degree that you expect over the course of the year.

我的後續問題是，您對 2024 年整體薪資成長的假設是什麼？如果 ID 在一年中沒有加速到您預期的程度，那麼您在管理該訂單項目方面有多大的靈活性？

No. Great question, and I appreciate that. One thing to keep in mind when we talk about wage investments, 75% of our collectively bargained wages are kind of locked in through previous CBAs. So we have that on our radar and that's built into our model. And the other part to keep in mind, our associates are a vital part of our strategy, and we're going to continue to invest in associates, wage and benefits through everything that we do. They are so important to our model because they are the ones that unlock the customer experience.

不，很好的問題，我很感激。當我們談論薪資投資時要記住一件事，我們集體議價的薪資中有 75% 是透過先前的 CBA 鎖定的。所以我們已經注意到了這一點，並將其內建到我們的模型中。另一方面要記住，我們的員工是我們策略的重要組成部分，我們將透過我們所做的一切繼續投資於員工、薪資和福利。它們對我們的模型非常重要，因為它們能夠解鎖客戶體驗。

So -- and you've seen that over the last 5 or so years. We've increased average hourly rate 30% to help support those investments in those associates. So -- so we will continue to invest in associates next year. The other part of our model, I would even argue part of our culture that's critical to what we do is identifying and investing in productivity improvements and cost savings initiatives to help us be able to fund those investments in our associates and in our customers. And so I think that's an important part of our model, and we'll continue that through 2024.

所以——你在過去五年左右的時間裡已經看到了這一點。我們將平均時薪提高了 30%，以幫助支持對這些員工的投資。因此，明年我們將繼續投資員工。我們模式的另一部分，我甚至認為我們文化中對我們所做的事情至關重要的一部分是確定並投資於生產力提高和成本節約計劃，以幫助我們能夠為我們的員工和客戶的這些投資提供資金。所以我認為這是我們模型的重要組成部分，我們將繼續這樣做到 2024 年。

And Todd's last point, that's really how we fund -- as Todd mentioned, we've increased average hourly rate by over 30% over the last 5 years. And the way we've funded that, that's been in excess of our sales growth and the way we funded that is through the cost saves, and it's process change. It's using less energy. It's a whole host of hundreds of different things that our teams are doing, and we would have the same type of commitment expectation of ourselves that we can do the same thing again in 2024 as well.

托德的最後一點是，這就是我們的融資方式——正如托德所提到的，過去 5 年我們將平均每小時費率提高了 30% 以上。我們的資助方式超越了我們的銷售成長，而我們的資助方式是透過成本節約和流程變革。它使用的能源更少。我們的團隊正在做數百件不同的事情，我們對自己有同樣的承諾期望，我們也可以在 2024 年再次做同樣的事情。

The next question comes from Krisztina Katai from Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Krisztina Katai。

Congrats on a great quarter. Rodney, you talked about the importance of pricing for the consumer, but you also mentioned taking personalization to a new level. So I was wondering if you could just talk about how you are positioned price-wise to take share, especially when you're using loyalty. And to what degree is Kroger investing own dollars into prices, which is aided by higher profits from the media business versus what you're getting from vendors.

恭喜您度過了一個出色的季度。羅德尼，您談到了定價對消費者的重要性，但您也提到將個人化提升到一個新的水平。所以我想知道你是否可以談談你如何在價格方面定位以獲取份額，特別是當你使用忠誠度時。克羅格在多大程度上將自己的資金投入到價格上，這得益於媒體業務的利潤高於供應商的利潤。

Yes. It would -- it's a mixture of both. And as I mentioned earlier, we did see an increase in trade dollars, but we would also take some of the savings and some people would call it a productivity loop. But if you look at the cost saves that we're able to achieve, the leverage we get from sales growth and some of those things, we would also be investing in lower pricing. If you look at overall, when you look at the way somebody shops, obviously, we go to market as a promotional merchant, and customers when things are on promotion, they buy more of it.

是的。它會——它是兩者的混合體。正如我之前提到的，我們確實看到了貿易美元的增加，但我們也會節省一些，有些人會稱之為生產力循環。但如果你看看我們能夠實現的成本節約、我們從銷售成長中獲得的槓桿作用以及其中的一些因素，我們也會投資於更低的定價。如果你從整體上看，當你觀察某人購物的方式時，顯然，我們作為促銷商人進入市場，而顧客在促銷時會購買更多商品。

So when you look at the total mix price and you include our rewards, we're exactly where we are, satisfied, and like to be, and the customer is getting incredible value, and many of our customers feel like they actually get a better value than some of our competitors, and they don't have to compromise on experience, both in terms of people experience and fresh experience.

因此，當您查看總組合價格並將我們的獎勵納入時，我們正是我們現在的狀態、滿意的狀態和想要的狀態，並且客戶獲得了令人難以置信的價值，並且我們的許多客戶感覺他們實際上獲得了更好的服務比我們的一些競爭對手更有價值，而且他們不必在體驗上妥協，無論是在人員體驗還是新鮮體驗方面。

On personalization, it really is being able to identify what's important to each of us individually and doing specific offers where something that matters to me is going to be different than what matters to everyone else. And almost every household that shops with us gets a unique offer, it would be highly unusual for somebody to actually get the same offers.

在個人化方面，它實際上是能夠確定對我們每個人來說重要的事情，並提供特定的優惠，其中對我重要的事情將不同於對其他人重要的事情。幾乎每個在我們這裡購物的家庭都會得到獨特的優惠，而有人真正獲得相同的優惠是非常不尋常的。

And then just my quick follow-up question on FIFO gross margin, 13 basis point expansion in the fourth quarter, I think, probably came in ahead of plan. So you could talk about sort of how you view some of the opportunities. What are some of the main puts and takes that we should keep in mind for the year because I think you talked about flat levels overall, that would be great.

然後是我關於 FIFO 毛利率的快速後續問題，我認為第四季度 13 個基點的擴張可能比計劃提前了。所以你可以談談你如何看待一些機會。今年我們應該牢記哪些主要的看跌期權和看跌期權，因為我認為您談到了總體持平水平，那就太好了。

Yes. Sure, Krisztina. Yes, very pleased with the progress we made with driving margin expansion. But it's been a lot of the initiatives that we've been talking about for most of the year and the ones, frankly, that we'll continue to execute on going forward. A lot of our merchandising strategies around really driving product mix, driving fresh penetration improves margin through mix and same with our brands. our brands to me is we get the best of both worlds, not only from a margin expansion standpoint because of the margin that our brand deliver us, but in the current environment that we're in, where customers are looking for value, they get to experience that through our brands where they get value and they don't have to sacrifice quality.

是的。當然，克里斯蒂娜。是的，我們對我們在推動利潤率擴張方面取得的進展感到非常滿意。但我們今年大部分時間都在討論很多舉措，坦白說，我們將在未來繼續執行這些舉措。我們的許多行銷策略都圍繞著真正推動產品組合、推動新鮮滲透來透過組合提高利潤，我們的品牌也是如此。我們的品牌對我來說是兩全其美，不僅從利潤擴張的角度來看，因為我們的品牌為我們帶來了利潤，而且在我們當前所處的環境中，客戶正在尋找價值，他們得到了通過我們的品牌體驗這一點，他們可以獲得價值，而不必犧牲品質。

So that's a double win to me. It's not just a margin expansion, but also customer opportunity. But then -- and Rodney alluded to this, some of the margin enhancement, things that we're doing in our logistics business, in operating -- or optimizing operations and supply chain. And of course, sourcing, we've talked about several times, that partnership with sourcing, working with all of our vendors to help drive margin improvement. Those are the initiatives that gave us momentum in 2023, and those are the same ones that give us confidence as we go forward. We'll continue to drive that margin expansion.

所以這對我來說是雙贏。這不僅是利潤的擴大，也是客戶的機會。但是羅德尼提到了這一點，我們在物流業務、營運或優化營運和供應鏈中所做的一些事情，以提高利潤。當然，對於採購，我們已經多次討論過，與採購的合作夥伴關係，與我們所有供應商合作，以幫助推動利潤率的提高。這些舉措為我們在 2023 年註入了動力，也讓我們對前進充滿信心。我們將繼續推動利潤率擴張。

The next question comes from John Heinbockel from Guggenheim Partners.

下一個問題來自古根漢合夥人公司的約翰·海因博克爾。

Rodney, can you talk about where are we now with profitability on the $12 billion of digital sales? I know that -- I'm pretty sure it's profitable. It's not where, right, the brick-and-mortar is, but where are we? Is it possible if you look out over the next 3 years, whatever that profit is, could that easily double or triple in dollar terms from where we are today?

Rodney，您能談談我們現在 120 億美元的數位銷售額的獲利能力嗎？我知道——我很確定它是有利可圖的。這裡不是實體所在的地方，對吧，而是我們在哪裡？如果你展望未來三年，無論利潤是多少，以美元計算，是否有可能比今天的利潤輕鬆翻倍或三倍？

John, it's a great question. The -- as you know, because we've been -- you've followed us a long time, and we've always told everybody Job 1 is to make sure we don't lose the digital customer and Job 2 is our responsibility to figure out how to make sure that customer is profitable.

約翰，這是一個很好的問題。如您所知，因為我們一直以來，您已經關注我們很長時間了，我們總是告訴每個人，工作 1 是確保我們不會失去數位客戶，工作 2 是我們的責任弄清楚如何確保客戶有利可圖圖。

I would say that we continue to make meaningful progress, but it's a meaningful tailwind that should be with us for several years. And when I say several years, I'm talking 3 to 5 years. If you look at the in-store digital business, we have a pathway to get to where the margins are the same there is shopping in store.

我想說的是，我們繼續取得有意義的進展，但這是一個有意義的順風，應該伴隨我們幾年。當我說幾年時，我指的是三到五年。如果你看看店內數位業務，我們有一條途徑可以達到與店內購物相同的利潤率。

If you look at our sheds, we believe that maturity shed margin will actually be better than a store because of the media and other pieces. But we're -- if you think of a baseball game, we're still in a very early inning of this journey, and we're incredibly excited about the customer's reaction from a Net Promoter Score.

如果你看看我們的棚子，我們相信，由於媒體和其他方面的原因，成熟棚子的利潤實際上會比商店更好。但如果你想到一場棒球比賽，我們仍處於這趟旅程的早期階段，我們對客戶對淨推薦值的反應感到非常興奮。

And in fact, our sheds had the highest net promoter score that they've ever had this quarter, and the repeat rates and all those things continue to improve. But we're early in the game on something that's going to be a tailwind for a long time, and we're still learning from a profitability standpoint how to make it a meaningful contributor. So excited, but we still have long ways to go.

事實上，我們的棚屋在本季度獲得了最高的淨推薦值，並且重複率和所有這些都在繼續改善。但我們在這方面還處於早期階段，這將在很長一段時間內成為順風車，而且我們仍在從盈利的角度學習如何使其成為有意義的貢獻者。很興奮，但我們還有很長的路要走。

All right. Maybe sort of a follow-up on that in terms of profit buckets. So is this going to be another year of $1 billion of proactive cost out? I'm not sure. And then alternative profit, I think the goal was to be up $150 million last year. I'm not sure if you got there, but this coming year, what you said about Personal Finance, is the idea for that business to grow maybe $100 million? Or do you think it can do better?

好的。也許是利潤方面的後續行動。那麼，今年是否會又是 10 億美元的主動成本支出一年呢？我不知道。然後是替代利潤，我認為去年的目標是增加 1.5 億美元。我不確定你是否明白這一點，但明年，你所說的個人理財，是讓該業務成長 1 億美元的想法嗎？或者你認為它可以做得更好？

If you look at cost reductions or whatever because it's a whole host of things. Our internal target would be around $1 billion again, and this would be the seventh year for that. If you look at all profit at this point, $100 million would be a good number.

如果你考慮降低成本或其他什麼，因為這是很多事情。我們的內部目標將再次達到 10 億美元左右，這將是第七年。如果你看看此時的所有利潤，1 億美元將是一個不錯的數字。

But obviously, we're going to work really hard to make it a little bit better than that. But the media business, we think, will be a meaningful driver of that. KPF, we think there's a lot of opportunity, but right now, the consumer sentiment is improving. So hopefully, that starts showing up in bad debt and other things, so that becomes a tailwind as opposed to neutral.

但顯然，我們將非常努力地讓它變得更好一點。但我們認為，媒體業務將成為這一趨勢的重要推動力。 KPF，我們認為有很多機會，但目前消費者情緒正在改善。因此，希望這會開始出現在壞帳和其他方面，從而成為順風而不是中性。

Our next question comes from Michael Montani from Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Michael Montani。

Just wanted to ask 2 things, I guess. First off, just wondering if you could discuss the leverage point that we should be thinking about from ID sales given some of the cross currents? And do you see store hours needing to grow if units start to recover? And then I had a follow-up.

我想只是想問兩件事。首先，我想知道您是否可以討論考慮到一些交叉流的情況下我們應該考慮 ID 銷售的槓桿點？如果單位開始復甦，您是否認為商店營業時間需要增加？然後我進行了跟進。

If you look at leverage point, this won't be true forever, but right now, we're having a leverage point lower because if you look at the softness in identicals, a lot of that is driven by things that were low margin.

如果你看看槓桿點，這不會永遠如此，但現在，我們的槓桿點較低，因為如果你看看同類產品的疲軟，很多都是由低利潤率驅動的。

So our ESI business was something that actually was a negative on profitability. So by not having that, it actually supports improving profitability. If you look at hours -- I mean we use AI and every department and every store has generated the hours to support the business is generated by the number of units. And I feel very good that we'll be able to continue to provide great service to our customers.

因此，我們的 ESI 業務實際上對獲利能力產生了負面影響。因此，如果沒有這一點，它實際上有助於提高盈利能力。如果你看一下工作時間——我的意思是我們使用人工智慧，每個部門和每個商店都產生了支援業務的時間，這是由單位數量產生的。我感覺非常好，我們將能夠繼續為客戶提供優質的服務。

The other thing that helps us is you're always figuring out new ways of doing something to reduce how many hours it takes to do it. So if you think about picking a pickup order, the walk time is -- continually gets reduced because we're able to identify every individual store where every item is on what shelf, and it reduces the time to pick an order as an example.

另一件對我們有幫助的事情是，你總是想出做某事的新方法，以減少做這件事所需的時間。因此，如果您考慮挑選取貨訂單，則步行時間會不斷減少，因為我們能夠識別每個單獨的商店，其中每件商品位於哪個貨架上，例如，它減少了挑選訂單的時間。

So all of those things together, we feel really good about leverage points relative to where we are on IDs. Now that's not going to last forever. But certainly, if you look at 2024, we feel good about where we are.

因此，所有這些因素加在一起，相對於我們在 ID 上的槓桿點，我們感覺非常好。現在這種情況不會永遠持續下去。但當然，如果你展望 2024 年，我們對自己所處的位置感到滿意。

And then if I could just follow up on the fuel side. Is there a CPG that you could share with us that you guys have in the guidance or how to think about fuel? And then similarly for pharmacy, can margins start to improve in that business?

然後我是否可以在燃料方面跟進。您是否可以與我們分享指南中的 CPG 或如何考慮燃料？與製藥業類似，該業務的利潤率能否開始改善？

Yes. Thanks for the question. On the fuel side, I think our outlook for 2024 is we expect to be flat in that business year-over-year. You recall the last 5 years, it was -- prior to this one, it was quite a profit driver. And as we guided for 2023, we're a little bit behind year-over-year in '23, but our expectation for 2024 is to be flat in operating profit.

是的。謝謝你的提問。在燃料方面，我認為 2024 年該業務的前景將與去年同期持平。你還記得過去五年，在這之前，它是一個相當大的利潤驅動力。正如我們對 2023 年的指導，我們在 23 年同比略有落後，但我們對 2024 年的預期是營業利潤持平。

Pharmacy margins, we would view margins probably pretty stable. We continue to identify ways to improve service, and we invest most of that savings that we get in reducing wait time for customers and other aspects because what our customers or patients are telling us when you look at our principal competitors, they're continued in close locations. They're continuing to pull out in certain markets, and we view that as an opportunity.

藥品利潤率，我們認為利潤率可能相當穩定。我們繼續尋找改進服務的方法，並將大部分節​​省下來的資金投入到減少客戶的等待時間和其他方面，因為當您查看我們的主要競爭對手時，我們的客戶或患者告訴我們，他們繼續在附近的地點。他們繼續退出某些市場，我們認為這是一個機會。

So we're reinvesting in that business and our pharmacy team, our health and wellness team is doing a great job of really working with the whole team to be able to support our patients. And the thing that's always -- I always find amazing is about 1/3 of our customers don't even realize we have a pharmacy, and we've been in the business for, I don't know, at least 30 years, and we continue to see where we have opportunity to gain share in that business, and we'll do that.

因此，我們正在對該業務進行再投資，我們的藥房團隊、我們的健康和保健團隊在與整個團隊的真正合作方面做得非常出色，以便能夠為我們的患者提供支援。令人驚訝的是，我總是發現大約 1/3 的客戶甚至沒有意識到我們有一家藥房，而且我們已經從事這個行業，我不知道，至少 30 年了，我們將繼續尋找機會在該業務中獲得份額，我們將這樣做。

So want to add to that, Rodney, in the pharmacy, as a specific point, relates to GLP. Obviously, we saw quite a bit of sales volume in that in '23 and expect the same in '24. But to your point on rate, the rate on GLP, that's obviously a little bit of a headwind relative to rate because of the margins on those.

所以想補充一點，羅德尼在藥局中，作為一個具體點，與 GLP 相關。顯然，我們在 23 年看到了相當多的銷量，並預計 24 年也有相同的銷量。但就您的利率觀點而言，GLP 利率顯然相對於利率而言有點不利，因為這些利率存在利潤率。

But we're still excited about those because it's high demand with our customers and it helps drive traffic in our stores. So -- and then on top of that, the other sales driver we saw in the back half of the year related to our vaccine business as well, and that obviously is helpful both on the sales and the margin side. So just a couple of other points in addition to what Rodney pointed out.

但我們仍然對這些感到興奮，因為我們的客戶需求很大，並有助於增加我們商店的客流量。因此，最重要的是，我們在今年下半年看到的另一個銷售推動因素也與我們的疫苗業務有關，這顯然對銷售和利潤方面都有幫助。除了羅德尼指出的之外，還有其他幾點。

The next question comes from Ed Kelly from Wells Fargo.

下一個問題來自富國銀行的艾德凱利。

I wanted to ask you about the outlook for unit volumes within grocery. And I was hoping you could dig in here. I mean, obviously, the industry has had negative volumes. It looks like you've had negative volumes there. But I think the issues have been all this elasticity on price, I mean low income pressure, probably a little bit of share loss in that cohort.

我想問一下雜貨店單位銷售的前景。我希望你能在這裡挖掘。我的意思是，顯然，該行業的銷量為負。看來您的交易量為負數。但我認為問題在於價格彈性，我的意思是低收入壓力，可能是該群體的一點份額損失。

And then the lack of trade spend, which I think is probably particularly important to driving traffic for grocery. Can you maybe just talk about how those points are evolving in '24? And then your expectation for unit volumes because back in '19, right, your volumes are positive. Why can't Kroger get back to positive unit volumes in the back half of the year? I mean I know you're projecting that. So -- but maybe just some support for it.

然後是貿易支出的缺乏，我認為這對於推動雜貨店的流量可能特別重要。您能否談談這些觀點在 24 年是如何演變的？然後是你對單位銷售的預期，因為早在 19 年，你的銷售量就是正數。為什麼克羅格在今年下半年無法恢復正銷售量？我的意思是我知道你正在預測這一點。所以——但也許只是對它的一些支持。

We would expect unit volumes to be positive. And we expect ourselves -- holding ourselves accountable for positive unit volume. As we -- Todd and I mentioned in our prepared remarks, we've seen sequential positive trends in units. If you look at trade dollars, as I mentioned earlier on one of the questions, we actually saw an increase in trade dollars to support.

我們預計單位銷售量將為正值。我們期望自己－讓自己對正單位銷售負責。正如托德和我在準備好的演講中提到的那樣，我們已經看到了單位的連續積極趨勢。如果你看一下貿易美元，正如我之前在其中一個問題中提到的，我們實際上看到了貿易美元的增長來支撐。

Now we -- our success has been much better with the mainstream and upscale customer, and we've continued to gain share with that customer. And one of the things that's always important to remember on units and economists always say all short answers are wrong.

現在，我們在主流和高端客戶中取得了更大的成功，並且我們在該客戶中的份額不斷增加。關於單位和經濟學家總是要記住的重要事情之一總是說所有簡短的答案都是錯的。

But that customer buys a bigger packs of items, so on that perspective, units are down because somebody buys a 30-pack or 36-pack of something. If you look at the customers that are under a lot of budget pressure, they're actually buying smaller units pack of goods and stuff. So overall, it's a great question. We would hold ourselves accountable for continuing to improve trends in units and getting to positive as well.

但該客戶購買了更大包裝的商品，因此從這個角度來看，單位數量下降是因為有人購買了 30 包或 36 包的商品。如果您觀察預算壓力很大的客戶，您會發現他們實際上購買的是較小單位包裝的商品和物品。總的來說，這是一個很好的問題。我們會讓自己對繼續改善單位趨勢並變得積極負責。

And then just a quick follow-up for you on current debt leverage. Is there any reason to believe that this 2.3 to 2.5 target would not be the target if let's just say that you failed to close the Albertsons deal. Is there any reason why you would go back to that pretty quickly. I don't know if it's CapEx related, if it's environment, if it's rating agencies are sort of looking at things. But just thoughts about that.

然後是對當前債務槓桿的快速跟進。如果我們只是說您未能完成艾伯森的交易，是否有任何理由相信這個 2.3 至 2.5 的目標不會成為目標。有什麼理由讓你很快回到那個狀態嗎？我不知道這是否與資本支出有關，是否與環境有關，是否與評級機構正在關注的事情有關。但只是想想而已。

Yes. Thanks, Ed. First and foremost, we're laser-focused on closing on the merger. So -- but appreciating your comment. And our model is always built to drive TSR and accelerate TSR in that space. But when you think about the business, the business does continue to generate strong free cash flow, and we have a very strong balance sheet right now. And I think as you think about our targets in the future, I would look to how we thought about it in the past.

是的。謝謝，艾德。首先也是最重要的，我們全神貫注於完成合併。所以——但感謝你的評論。我們的模型始終旨在推動 TSR 並加速該領域的 TSR。但當你考慮這項業務時，你會發現該業務確實繼續產生強勁的自由現金流，而且我們現在擁有非常強勁的資產負債表。我認為當你考慮我們未來的目標時，我會看看我們過去是如何思考的。

I think that would be a good way to think about it and a good benchmark. Our priorities have always been and will continue to be maintaining an investment-grade rating, investing and growing the business. We've talked a lot about storing and digital investments that we've made. We continue to do that. And then third, always returning money to shareholders through a growing dividend and a buyback program. So I would expect that in any scenario, those will be our priorities from a financial strategy standpoint.

我認為這將是一個很好的思考方式和一個很好的基準。我們的首要任務一直並將繼續是維持投資等級、投資和發展業務。我們已經談論了很多關於我們所做的儲存和數位投資。我們將繼續這樣做。第三，始終透過增加股利和回購計畫向股東返還資金。因此，我希望在任何情況下，從財務策略的角度來看，這些都將是我們的優先事項。

Yes. And we'll use that free cash flow to continue to support growth. Thanks, Ed.

是的。我們將利用自由現金流繼續支持成長。謝謝，艾德。

The next question comes from Rupesh Parikh from Oppenheimer.

下一個問題來自奧本海默的魯佩什·帕里克（Rupesh Parikh）。

I just wanted to touch on the promotional competitive backdrop. I was just curious how you guys are thinking about the promotional backdrop this year.

我只是想談談促銷競爭背景。我只是好奇你們如何看待今年的促銷背景。

We would expect it to stay pretty similar. And probably for us, more and more of our promotions would be done directly to a customer, so it's not necessarily what shows up in an ad, but we would expect overall to be pretty similar to what it was last year.

我們希望它保持非常相似。也許對我們來說，越來越多的促銷活動將直接向客戶進行，因此不一定是廣告中顯示的內容，但我們預計總體上與去年非常相似。

And I mentioned it a couple of times, but customers that are on a budget or strained financially, continue to aggressively try to look at ways to stretch their budgets. And one of the ways they're doing that is downloading digital coupons.

我曾多次提到這一點，但是預算有限或財務緊張的客戶會繼續積極嘗試尋找延長預算的方法。他們這樣做的方法之一就是下載數位優惠券。

And to me, in our prepared remarks, we shared that we had people download 4 billion coupons, and that was an increase of 1 billion over the prior year, and the customer on a budget would be a bigger driver of that increase in downloading coupons. So overall, we think about the same. But if you look at within segments, we would expect that customer on a budget to still be under strain.

對我來說，在我們準備好的發言中，我們分享了人們下載了 40 億張優惠券，比前一年增加了 10 億張，有預算的客戶將是優惠券下載增加的更大推動力。總的來說，我們的想法是一樣的。但如果你看看各個細分市場，我們預期預算有限的客戶仍然面臨壓力。

Great. And then maybe just one follow-up question. Rodney, you made the comment that you expect an improving consumer sentiment in 2024. Are you seeing any positive changes in consumer behavior lately?

偉大的。然後也許只是一個後續問題。 Rodney，您表示預計 2024 年消費者情緒將會改善。您最近是否看到消費者行為有任何正面改變？

I wouldn't say a ton of stuff. The people that aren't under pressure, they continue to buy nicer wine and engage in Starbucks and Murray's Cheese and things like that. But the work -- they tell us they're feeling better more so than their behavior is changing so far.

我不會說很多東西。那些沒有壓力的人，他們會繼續購買更好的葡萄酒，並參與星巴克和默里起司之類的事情。但工作——他們告訴我們，到目前為止，他們的感覺比他們的行為改變了。

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

下一個問題來自美國銀行的羅伯特·奧姆斯。

Rodney, I was wondering if you could talk more about the pharmacy opportunity, do you see an opportunity to sort of reengage with some of the PBMs and become a more significant player over time in a more profitable way than you guys had been and which ended you up in the situation with Express Scripts. Could you maybe kind of give us some thoughts on maybe the multiyear outlook for pharmacy and what could happen there for you guys?

羅德尼，我想知道您是否可以更多地談論藥房機會，您是否認為有機會重新與一些PBM 合作，並隨著時間的推移以比您更有利可圖的方式成為更重要的參與者，這結束了您可以使用 Express Scripts 來應對這種情況。您能否給我們一些關於藥學多年前景的想法以及您可能會發生什麼？

(inaudible) for somebody else's profit margin. But we're always open to those conversations. And would be delighted to fill those scripts, assuming that they had the appropriate margins in it to cover our costs. So -- and hopefully, over time, their customers or patients will keep -- start reaching out because they want to have the great service that we're providing to everyone else and their customers not getting the opportunity to engage and get that great customer experience.

（聽不清楚）為了別人的利潤率。但我們始終對這些對話持開放態度。並且會很高興填寫這些腳本，假設他們有適當的利潤來支付我們的成本。因此，希望隨著時間的推移，他們的客戶或患者會繼續伸出援手，因為他們希望獲得我們為其他所有人提供的優質服務，而他們的客戶卻沒有機會參與並獲得優質客戶經驗。

Got you. And then just a quick follow-up on the previous question. I think with the lower -- your lower income customer that might have been where you had been seeing more market share pressure. Is there any change in that or any change in your lower income customer or your ability to keep them?

明白你了。然後快速跟進上一個問題。我認為，對於低收入客戶來說，您可能會面臨更大的市場份額壓力。您的低收入客戶或您留住他們的能力是否有任何變化？

It's slightly better, but we still have a lot of work to do. And one of the things that half full and half empty, the half full is that our customers that make -- or most profitable for us is our mainstream and upscale customer, but we're not satisfied with where we are.

情況稍好一些，但我們還有很多工作要做。半滿半空的事情之一是，我們的客戶為我們帶來了——或者對我們來說最有利可圖的是我們的主流和高檔客戶，但我們對我們的現狀並不滿意。

Our final question today comes from Kelly Bania from BMO.

我們今天的最後一個問題來自 BMO 的 Kelly Bania。

Just wanted to go back go back to alternative profit in KPM in particular. Did that end up around a $500 million EBIT contribution in 2023? And at this stage, just can you just help us understand what are the factors that are going to drive that 20% growth that you're planning for '24, how much is maybe on property or off-property or some of the new investments that you're making in this business. Can you help us just dig in a little bit more on that.

只是想回去特別是 KPM 的替代利潤。到 2023 年，這是否會帶來約 5 億美元的息稅前利潤貢獻？在這個階段，您能否幫助我們了解哪些因素將推動您計劃在 24 年實現 20% 的增長，物業內或物業外或一些新投資可能有多少？你在這個行業中所做的事情。你能幫助我們進一步深入研究嗎？

I will talk broad and then I'll let Todd get into the specifics. When we -- when you look at media overall, we see no reason why our share of CPG's media spend should be the same as what our share of the products we sell. And it's our responsibility to make sure that the way we help them spend their money that they get a great ROI on that investment.

我會廣泛談論，然後讓托德詳細介紹。當我們——當你從整體上看媒體時，我們看不出為什麼我們在 CPG 媒體支出中所佔的份額應該與我們在我們銷售的產品中所佔的份額相同。我們有責任確保我們幫助他們花錢的方式能讓他們從投資中獲得豐厚的投資報酬率。

And our KPM team holds themselves accountable to be transparent and making sure that people get a good return on their investment. And we will continue to do that. So we think the opportunity is still huge in terms of continued growth relative to specifics for '24 and other things, Todd, I'll let you answer that.

我們的 KPM 團隊有責任保持透明度，並確保人們獲得良好的投資回報。我們將繼續這樣做。因此，我們認為，相對於 24 世紀和其他事情的具體情況而言，就持續增長而言，機會仍然是巨大的，托德，我會讓你回答這個問題。

Yes. No, that's good, and I appreciate the question. Thanks, Rodney. I don't know that I'll get into the breakout between on and off, but I think we see growth in both, both on property and off.

是的。不，那很好，我很欣賞這個問題。謝謝，羅德尼。我不知道我會在場內和場外之間進行突破，但我認為我們看到了兩者的增長，無論是在房地產上還是在場外。

Certainly, our digital ecosystem is built around driving that digital engagement within our stores. We know those customers are more loyal to us and increase their spend. And that ecosystem, along with KPM really gives us some opportunities to drive our own growth in both of those businesses.

當然，我們的數位生態系統是圍繞著推動商店內的數位參與而建立的。我們知道這些客戶對我們更加忠誠並增加了他們的支出。這個生態系統以及 KPM 確實為我們提供了一些機會來推動我們在這兩項業務中的成長。

The other thing that KPM is doing and that has us really excited, I think you heard it, I alluded to earlier, is the new platform that they've put in place. We've always used first-party data from our loyalty programs so that our clients can create custom audiences in the work that they do in building out their campaigns.

KPM 正在做的另一件事讓我們非常興奮，我想你已經聽到了，我之前提到過，那就是他們建立的新平台。我們一直使用來自忠誠度計劃的第一方數據，以便我們的客戶可以在建立活動時建立自訂受眾。

But this new platform, I think makes it even easier for them to activate their campaigns and drive their data and insights, and it gives them some self-service opportunities for more direct access to these audiences as they execute these on property and off. And so I think the new tool and the functionality and the features that it brings has us really excited about that opportunity for growth, both on and off.

但我認為這個新平台使他們更容易激活他們的活動並推動他們的數據和見解，並且它為他們提供了一些自助服務機會，以便他們在酒店內外執行這些活動時更直接地接觸這些受眾。因此，我認為新工具及其帶來的功能和特性讓我們對這種成長機會感到非常興奮，無論是斷斷續續的還是斷斷續續的。

Thanks, Kelly. And thank you for all the questions today. As always, I'd like to share a few comments with our associates that are listening in, and we always have a lot of associates listening each quarter. First, thank you for all you do every day for our customers and each other.

謝謝，凱利。感謝大家今天提出的所有問題。像往常一樣，我想與正在傾聽的同事分享一些評論，每個季度都有許多同事在傾聽。首先，感謝您每天為我們的客戶和彼此所做的一切。

I'd also like to take a moment to celebrate 2 of our outstanding associates in Colorado. Just this week, Chris Gay from Citi market who won 2 gold medals in skiing during the Special Olympics event at Copper Island -- Copper Mountain.

我還想花一點時間來慶祝我們在科羅拉多州的兩位傑出同事。就在本週，來自花旗市場的克里斯·蓋伊(Chris Gay)在銅島-銅山特奧比賽中獲得了兩枚滑雪金牌。

Chris is an amazing athlete, taking second place in an Olympics event in Aspen just last month. A few months ago, I had the pleasure to meet Jeff Gregory, a Special Olympian at King Soopers. Last year, Jeff was honored as Male Athlete of the Year. And I had a chance to meet Jeff and his parents and what an inspiration. Congratulations, Chris and Jeff. We are so proud of all you do and what you continue to accomplish and all that you've done for our customers and communities and uplifting those around you. Thanks, everyone, for joining us today, and have a great day.

克里斯是一位出色的運動員，上個月在阿斯彭舉行的奧運比賽中獲得第二名。幾個月前，我有幸見到了 King Soopers 的特奧選手傑夫·格雷戈里 (Jeff Gregory)。去年，傑夫榮獲年度最佳男運動員稱號。我有機會見到傑夫和他的父母，這真是一個靈感。恭喜克里斯和傑夫。我們為您所做的一切、您繼續取得的成就、為我們的客戶和社區以及為您周圍的人所做的一切感到自豪。謝謝大家今天加入我們，祝您有美好的一天。

This concludes today's call. Thank you very much for your attendance. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議到此結束。非常感謝您的出席。現在您可以斷開線路。