克羅格 (KR) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

(Operator Instructions)

（操作員說明）

Good morning and welcome to The Kroger Co first-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. My name is Carla and I will be coordinating your call today. (Operator Instructions) Please note that this event is being recorded.

早安，歡迎參加克羅格公司 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。我叫卡拉，今天我將協調您的電話。 （操作員說明）請注意，該事件正在被記錄。

I would like now to turn the conference call over to Rob Quast, Senior Director Investor Relations to begin, please go ahead.

現在我想將電話會議交給投資者關係高級總監 Rob Quast 開始，請繼續。

Good morning. Thank you for joining us for Kroger's first-quarter 2024 earnings call. I am joined today by progress Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Rodney McMullen; and Interim Chief Financial Officer, Todd Foley.

早安.感謝您參加克羅格 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。今天，Progress 董事長兼執行長 Rodney McMullen 也加入了我的行列。臨時財務長 Todd Foley。

Before we begin, I want to remind you that today's discussion 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，此類陳述只是預測，實際事件或結果可能會有重大差異。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。

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資訊的義務。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上，並在必要時提出後續問題。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. 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 first quarter performance and highlight how we continue to advance our go-to-market strategy, which powers our value-creation model and drive long-term sustainable growth for our shareholders. Then Todd will cover our financial results for the first quarter.

謝謝你，羅布。大家早安，感謝您今天加入我們。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，我將回顧我們第一季的業績，並重點介紹我們如何繼續推進我們的進入市場策略，該策略為我們的價值創造模式提供動力，並為股東推動長期可持續成長。然後托德將報道我們第一季的財務表現。

Finally, I will provide a few comments on our proposed merger with Albertsons before we open it up for questions. We're off to a solid start in 2024, reflecting the strength and diversity of our model. As better than expected performance from our grocery business helped us manage fuel and health and wellness results that were behind expectations.

最後，在我們提出問題之前，我將就我們與艾伯森的合併提議發表一些評論。我們在 2024 年有了一個良好的開端，這反映了我們模式的優勢和多樣性。由於雜貨業務的表現優於預期，幫助我們管理了低於預期的燃料和健康狀況。

Kroger is providing exceptional value and a unique omnichannel experience, which combined with strong store execution led to growth in household and an increase in customer visits. As inflation moderates, we expect customer sentiment to continue improving, but near term, many customers are managing economic uncertainty.

克羅格提供卓越的價值和獨特的全通路體驗，再加上強大的商店執行力，帶動了家庭數量的增長和客戶訪問量的增加。隨著通膨放緩，我們預期客戶情緒將繼續改善，但短期內，許多客戶正在應對經濟不確定性。

While we expect health and wellness profitability pressures to continue into the second quarter, our recent improvement on store execution metrics and strong customer trends give us confidence that we are building momentum for a strong back half of the year, and we are well positioned to deliver on our full year guidance. As we've seen over recent quarters, customers continue to seek value and are shopping with us differently based on their financial situations.

雖然我們預計健康和保健盈利壓力將持續到第二季​​度，但我們最近商店執行指標的改善和強勁的客戶趨勢使我們有信心，我們正在為今年下半年的強勁增長勢頭，並且我們有能力交付關於我們的全年指導。正如我們最近幾季所看到的，客戶繼續尋求價值，並根據他們的財務狀況以不同的方式在我們這裡購物。

Spending premium and mainstream customers continue to be strong. Mainstream households drove our overall household growth, and we improved our share of wallet with premium customers who are deepening their loyalty spending more in our fresh departments and enjoying more premium products such as private selection.

高端和主流客戶的消費持續強勁。主流家庭推動了我們的整體家庭成長，我們提高了高端客戶的錢包份額，這些客戶正在加深他們的忠誠度，在我們的生鮮部門消費更多，並享受更多優質產品，例如私人精選。

Within our most budget-conscious household, we are starting to see positive momentum, and we grew households in this segment after experiencing declines last year. Historic multiyear inflation across the economy, high interest rates and reduced government benefits.

在我們最注重預算的家庭中，我們開始看到積極的勢頭，在經歷了去年的下降之後，我們在這一領域的家庭數量有所增加。整個經濟出現歷史性的多年通貨膨脹、高利率和政府福利減少。

Disproportionately affect to these customers are influencing their spending behaviors, Kroger's long-standing commitment to low prices and personalized promotions create more value for customers at a time when many of them needed more than ever. Food and Home continues to be the most affordable meal option for customers.

這些客戶的消費行為受到了不成比例的影響，克羅格對低價和個人化促銷的長期承諾為客戶創造了更多價值，而此時他們中的許多人比以往任何時候都需要更多的價值。 Food and Home 仍然是顧客最實惠的膳食選擇。

While food inflation has impacted every meal occasion, inflation in food away from home has been even higher than food at home inflation since 2019. We are committed to making sure our customers can enjoy a great meal experience with zero compromise on quality selection, value and convenience.

雖然食品通膨影響了每一次用餐場合，但自2019 年以來，外出食品的通膨甚至高於在家食品的通膨。零妥協。

We see a significant growth opportunity to deliver convenient restaurant quality meals at an attractive value, and we are our expanding our ready to eat and ready to eat offerings. For example, after we revamped our fried chicken recipe, we created a meal bundle, which feeds family for $3.50 a person, a fraction of what it would cost to eat out at restaurants with quality that's difficult to be.

我們看到了以有吸引力的價格提供便利的餐廳品質膳食的重大成長機會，我們正在擴大我們的即食和即食產品。例如，在我們改進了炸雞食譜後，我們創建了一份套餐，每人只需3.5 美元即可為一家人提供餐食，這只是在餐館就餐的成本的一小部分，而且質量很難達到。

Every day, we strive to provide an outstanding customer experience, and we are focused on sharpening our store execution to do just that. This year, we raised the bar on our full fresh and friendly customer experience metrics, and we are very proud of our store teams for delivering an even better shopping experience with service metrics at record highs.

我們每天都努力提供卓越的客戶體驗，並致力於提高商店執行力來實現這一目標。今年，我們提高了全新、友善的客戶體驗指標的標準，我們為我們的商店團隊提供了更好的購物體驗和創紀錄的高服務指標感到非常自豪。

To continue that momentum in our grocery business. We are committed to keeping prices low for customers and delivering a consistent experience while growing our pillars of fresh, our brands, seamless and virtualization. Bleeding with fresh, our store teams primary goal this year is to drive more consistent shopping experience and that begins with fresh.

繼續我們雜貨業務的這一勢頭。我們致力於為客戶保持低廉的價格並提供一致的體驗，同時發展我們的新鮮、品牌、無縫和虛擬化支柱。我們商店團隊今年的首要目標是推動更一致的購物體驗，而這一切都從新鮮開始。

We are introducing new technology that's enabling our teams to better track.

我們正在引入新技術，使我們的團隊能夠更好地追蹤。

We have lost connection with today's speaker. Please stand by what we're trying to reconnect with them. Thank you for your patience everyone. We now have the speaker back on the line. Please continue.

我們與今天的演講者失去了聯繫。請支持我們試圖與他們重新建立聯繫的努力。感謝大家的耐心等待。我們現在讓發言者重新接通線路。請繼續。

Our ongoing work to differentiate and elevate our brands is driving higher profitability. We are identifying new supply sources using more effective promotions and improving product mix, which is contributing to further margin improvements.

我們持續致力於差異化和提升我們的品牌，正在推動更高的獲利能力。我們正在透過更有效的促銷和改進產品組合來尋找新的供應來源，這有助於進一步提高利潤率。

Now, seamless delivery solutions led digital results again, this quarter was an increase in both household and visits. Pickup also had solid growth and focus on delivering best in class fulfillment, led to strong improvements in key customer experience metrics.

現在，無縫交付解決方案再次引領數位化結果，本季家庭和訪問量均有所增加。 Pickup 也實現了穩健的成長，並專注於提供一流的履行服務，從而在關鍵客戶體驗指標方面取得了顯著改善。

This quarter, our teams improved fill rates due to a new record high, reduced wait times and delivers a significant improvement in perfect orders compared to last year. Through the power of machine learning and AI, we are developing new ways to elevate the payer customers and at the same time, reduce costs.

本季度，我們的團隊由於創下歷史新高而提高了填充率，減少了等待時間，並且與去年相比，完美訂單有了顯著改善。借助機器學習和人工智慧的力量，我們正在開發新的方法來提升付款客戶的數量，同時降低成本。

With dynamic valuable orders, these tools are providing associated with the most effective pick routes, which is enabling us to dramatically reduce picked clean time in our highest volume stores. Our customers love the Kroger delivery experience with refrigerated products delivered directly to their door step.

透過動態有價值的訂單，這些工具提供了與最有效的揀貨路線相關的信息，這使我們能夠大幅減少在我們銷量最大的商店中的揀貨清潔時間。我們的客戶喜歡克羅格的送貨體驗，將冷藏產品直接送到他們家門口。

As a result, Kroger delivery network. A good example of this is our decision in the first quarter to close three spoke locations to reallocate capacity closer to our automated fulfillment centers where we have higher customer density and better order level profitability.

由此，克羅格的配送網絡。一個很好的例子是我們在第一季決定關閉三個輻射地點，以重新分配更靠近我們的自動化履行中心的產能，在那裡我們擁有更高的客戶密度和更好的訂單水平盈利能力。

This decision does not impact Kroger's automated sees for other spoke locations. We remain confident that our grocery Kroger delivery network for provides a differentiated customer experience. And we'll continue to be a key pillar of our digital growth strategy.

這項決定不會影響克羅格對其他輻射位置的自動檢視。我們仍然相信，我們的雜貨克羅格送貨網路可以提供差異化的客戶體驗。我們將繼續成為我們數位成長策略的關鍵支柱。

Turning to virtualization, the combination of seamless and our personalization capabilities generated another quarter of digital engagement growth, up 9% compared to the same quarter last year. Personalization enables us to balance the depth and breadth of our promotions or effectively and encourages customers to engage more with us by focusing on promotions that matter most to them.

談到虛擬化，無縫與個人化功能的結合帶來了另一個季度的數位參與度成長，與去年同期相比成長了 9%。個人化使我們能夠有效地平衡促銷活動的深度和廣度，並鼓勵客戶透過專注於對他們最重要的促銷活動來與我們互動更多。

This led to an at an 18% increase in digital coupon flips compared to last year. Capturing more digital household is a key to our long-term growth model. These households are more loyal spend nearly three times as much with us and drive our alternative profit businesses.

這導致數位優惠券翻轉量比去年增加了 18%。吸引更多數位家庭是我們長期成長模式的關鍵。這些家庭更加忠誠，在我們這裡的支出幾乎是我們的三倍，並推動了我們的另類利潤業務。

By executing our go-to-market strategy, we create momentum in our grocery business. In turn, this creates the data and traffic to accelerate growth in areas like health and wellness and our alternative profit businesses. Alternative profit businesses had a strong quarter, led by growth in Kroger Precision Marketing.

透過執行我們的市場進入策略，我們為雜貨業務創造了動力。反過來，這創造了數據和流量，以加速健康和保健以及我們的替代利潤業務等領域的成長。在克羅格精準行銷 (Kroger Precision Marketing) 成長的帶動下，另類利潤業務季度表現強勁。

KPM results were in line with what we expected and keep us on track to meet our full year expectations of more than 20% median growth. Yesterday KPM continue to broaden its reach by offering a custom audiences and ad measurement capabilities to advertisers on the social media platforms.

KPM 的結果符合我們的預期，並使我們有望實現全年成長 20% 以上的預期。昨天，KPM 透過向社群媒體平台上的廣告商提供自訂受眾和廣告衡量功能，繼續擴大其影響力。

This is another important step in KPN's growth, creating more opportunities for clients to each relevant audiences, and more places and providing better transparency into ad effectiveness. Health and wellness grew its top line this quarter.

這是 KPN 發展的另一個重要步驟，為每個相關受眾和更多地方的客戶創造了更多機會，並為廣告效果提供了更好的透明度。本季健康與保健業務的收入有所成長。

However, profitability results were below expectations. We are optimistic about the potential of this area of our business. Our script adherence initiatives are on track, and our teams are providing excellent care, which helps patients live healthier lives.

然而，獲利結果低於預期。我們對這業務領域的潛力感到樂觀。我們的腳本遵守計劃正在按計劃進行，我們的團隊正在提供優質的護理，幫助患者過上更健康的生活。

Additionally, our marketing plans and in-store activations designed to raise awareness and attract new patients are launching now to help drive growth in the back half of the year. Turning now to associates for associates are doing an excellent job elevating the customer experience and improving our full fresh and friendly metrics this quarter, seen consistency leads to better execution and retention improved again this quarter.

此外，我們現在正在啟動旨在提高認知度和吸引新患者的行銷計劃和店內活動，以幫助推動今年下半年的成長。現在轉向員工，因為員工在本季度提升了客戶體驗並改進了我們全面、新鮮和友好的指標方面做得非常出色，我們看到一致性帶來了更好的執行力，並且本季度再次提高了保留率。

We are retaining more associates through a holistic approach, which includes wage and benefit investments and also focus on associates well-being. And this work is being recognized. This quarter, Kroger received the 2024 platinum Bell Seal for workplace mental health.

我們透過整體方法留住更多員工，其中包括薪資和福利投資，並關注員工的福祉。這項工作正在得到認可。本季度，克羅格獲得了 2024 年工作場所心理健康白金貝爾印章。

This is the third consecutive year that we've been recognized with the certification and for the first time we received the top distinction. This program recognized Kroger as an employer who creates a mentally healthy workplace for our associates through culture, benefits, compliance and wellness programs will continue to invest in our associates. When our associates have a better experience, they provide a better experience to our customers.

這是我們連續第三年獲得該認證，也是我們首次獲得最高榮譽。該計劃認可克羅格是一家透過文化、福利、合規和健康計劃為我們的員工創造心理健康工作場所的雇主，並將繼續投資於我們的員工。當我們的員工擁有更好的體驗時，他們就會為我們的客戶提供更好的體驗。

With that, I'll turn it over to Todd to take you through our first quarter financial results. Todd.

接下來，我將把它交給托德，讓您了解我們第一季的財務表現。托德。

Thanks, Rodney. Good morning, everyone. First quarter performance reflects the resiliency of our model, which enables us to manage a variety of economic cycles. The strength in our model, combined with the momentum in our grocery business gives us confidence to reaffirm our full year guidance even as we continue to navigate an environment of economic uncertainty.

謝謝，羅德尼。大家，早安。第一季的業績反映了我們模型的彈性，這使我們能夠管理各種經濟週期。我們模型的優勢，加上雜貨業務的勢頭，使我們有信心重申全年指引，即使我們繼續應對經濟不確定的環境。

I'll now take you through our first quarter financial results. We achieved identical sales without fuel growth of 0.5%, as Rodney mentioned earlier, our identical sales were driven by several positive customer metric trends, including increases in total and loyal households and increased customer visits.

現在我將向您介紹我們第一季的財務表現。我們在沒有0.5% 成長的情況下實現了相同的銷售額，正如羅德尼之前提到的，我們的相同銷售額是由幾個積極的客戶指標趨勢推動的，包括家庭總數和忠誠家庭的增加以及客戶訪問量的增加。

We continue to see sequential unit improvement and our teams remain focused on returns deposit of units later this year. Inflation continues to moderate, which is consistent with our expectations at the start of the year. And towards the end of the first quarter, we began cycling the headwinds from the reduction in SNAP benefits.

我們繼續看到單位的連續改善，我們的團隊仍然專注於今年稍後單位的返還押金。通膨持續溫和，這與我們年初的預期一致。在第一季末，我們開始承受 SNAP 福利減少的不利影響。

Digital sales grew by more than 8%, which was led by 17% growth and Delivery Solutions, gross margin was 22.4% of sales, and our FIFO gross margin rate, excluding fuel, decreased seven basis points. The decrease in rate was primarily attributable to lower pharmacy margins and increased price investments, partially offset by favorable product mix reflecting our brands margin performance.

數位銷售成長超過 8%，其中交付解決方案成長 17%，毛利率佔銷售額的 22.4%，我們的 FIFO 毛利率（不包括燃料）下降了 7 個基點。利率下降的主要原因是藥局利潤率下降和價格投資增加，但部分被反映我們品牌利潤率表現的有利產品組合所抵消。

The decline in our FIFO gross margin rate was in line with our expectations. We expect our FIFO gross margin rate to improve beyond our first quarter results, driven by the core components of our margin expansion initiatives.

我們的先進先出毛利率下降符合我們的預期。我們預計，在利潤擴張計畫的核心組成部分的推動下，先進先出毛利率將比第一季的業績有所改善。

During the first quarter, we recorded a LIFO charge of $41 million compared to a charge of $99 million for the same quarter last year. The decrease charge for the quarter was due to lower inflation expectations for the current year compared to last year.

第一季度，我們記錄的 LIFO 費用為 4,100 萬美元，而去年同期的費用為 9,900 萬美元。本季費用減少是由於今年的通膨預期低於去年。

The OG&A rate, excluding fuel and adjustment items, increased 22 basis points, driven by planned investments in associate wages and increased incentive plan costs, partially offset by continued execution of cost savings initiatives.

OG&A 率（不包括燃料和調整項目）增加了 22 個基點，這是由於計劃投資員工工資和增加激勵計劃成本所推動的，但部分被持續執行的成本節約舉措所抵消。

In the second quarter, we expect the factors identified in the first quarter to continue leading to a similar similar to slightly higher OG&A rate.

在第二季度，我們預計第一季確定的因素將繼續導致 OG&A 率略有上升。

We expect our OG&A rate to improve in the second half of 2024. We continue to make progress on our digital profitability, delivering another quarter of improvement in our pickup cost to serve. The remains a long-term margin opportunity with runway to improve to increase volume and process enhancements.

我們預計我們的 OG&A 率將在 2024 年下半年有所改善。這仍然是一個長期的利潤機會，可以透過改進來增加產量和改進流程。

Our store associates played a key role in the cost to serve improvements, as Rodney mentioned earlier, did so while they improve key customer experience metrics. Adjusted FIFO operating profit was $1.499 billion. Our adjusted EPS was $1.43 per diluted share, a decline of $0.05 compared to last year.

正如羅德尼之前提到的，我們的商店員工在改善服務的成本方面發揮了關鍵作用，他們在改善關鍵客戶體驗指標的同時也做到了這一點。調整後的 FIFO 營業利潤為 14.99 億美元。調整後每股攤薄每股收益為 1.43 美元，比去年下降 0.05 美元。

Fuel continues to be a key driver of our strategy to build loyalty by providing compelling fewer awards to customers. We continue to see more award activity was 8% more redemptions contributing began with sales, which outpaced the industry this quarter.

燃料仍然是我們透過向客戶提供更少的引人注目的獎勵來建立忠誠度策略的關鍵驅動力。我們繼續看到更多的獎勵活動從銷售開始，兌換貢獻增加了 8%，本季的表現超過了行業。

However, our fuel profitability was below expectations this quarter with our cents per gallon fuel margin down low single digits compared to last year. I'd now like to provide a brief update on associates and labor relations.

然而，本季我們的燃料獲利能力低於預期，每加侖燃料利潤率與去年相比下降了低個位數。我現在想提供有關同事和勞資關係的簡要最新情況。

We continue to invest in our associates as part of our long-term strategy, resulting in an average hourly rate of $19 an hour and a rate of nearly $25 with comprehensive benefits factored in.

作為長期策略的一部分，我們繼續對員工進行投資，平均每小時工資達到 19 美元，考慮到綜合福利後的工資接近 25 美元。

During the first quarter, we ratified the labor agreements for Houston Clerks and the Mid-Atlantic Division stores in West Virginia, South Carolina stores in Colombia in Myrtle Beach and Portland distribution center and drivers covering more than 21,000 associates.

第一季度，我們批准了休士頓店員、西維吉尼亞州中大西洋分部商店、哥倫比亞默特爾比奇南卡羅來納州商店以及波特蘭配送中心和司機的勞工協議，涵蓋超過 21,000 名員工。

Turning to cash flow for continues to generate adjusted free cash flow, strong adjusted free cash flow through consistent operating results, which is enabling us to continue deleveraging in anticipation of our merger with Albertsons.

轉向現金流，繼續產生調整後的自由現金流，透過一致的經營業績實現強勁的調整後自由現金流，這使我們能夠在與艾伯森合併的預期中繼續去槓桿化。

At the end of the quarter, Kroger's net debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 1.25 compared to our target range 2.3 to 2.5. Our strengthened balance sheet provides ample opportunities for Kroger to pursue growth and enhance shareholder value.

截至本季末，克羅格的淨負債與調整後 EBITDA 比率為 1.25，而我們的目標範圍為 2.3 至 2.5。我們強化的資產負債表為克羅格追求成長和提高股東價值提供了充足的機會。

We continue to take a disciplined approach to deploying capital with a focus on projects which drive long-term sustainable net earnings growth while remaining committed to our investment grade debt rating, increasing our dividend over time, subject to Board approval and returning excess capital to shareholders when we are able to do so.

我們繼續採取嚴格的方法來部署資本，重點關注推動長期可持續淨利潤增長的項目，同時繼續致力於我們的投資級債務評級，隨著時間的推移增加我們的股息，但須經董事會批准，並將多餘資本回饋給股東當我們能夠這樣做時。

As part of our capital investment plans for 2024, we shared last quarter our plans for approximately 30 major storing projects focused on higher growth geographies where we have traditionally achieved a strong ROIC and operating profit growth.

作為我們 2024 年資本投資計劃的一部分，我們上個季度分享了大約 30 個主要儲存項目的計劃，這些項目專注於高成長地區，我們傳統上在這些地區實現了強勁的投資回報率和營業利潤增長。

We've made good progress on our projects so far and remain on track with our plans. While early, we're happy with the results from projects completed in the first quarter. We are confident these new storing projects will help advance our omnichannel strategy and be an important component to our sales growth and TSR model going forward.

到目前為止，我們的專案取得了良好進展，並且仍在按計劃進行。雖然還為時過早，但我們對第一季完成的專案結果感到滿意。我們相信這些新的儲存項目將有助於推進我們的全通路策略，並成為我們未來銷售成長和 TSR 模式的重要組成部分。

During the first quarter we announced we had entered into an agreement for the sale of our curve, a specialty pharmacy business. As part of our regular and ongoing review of our portfolio, we did to determine that specialty pharmacy was not part of our core strategy going forward, and a sale would enable us to focus on our health and wellness strategies that revolve around our retail pharmacies.

在第一季度，我們宣布已就出售我們的專業製藥業務 Curve 簽訂協議。作為我們定期和持續審查我們的投資組合的一部分，我們確實確定專業藥房不是我們未來核心策略的一部分，出售將使我們能夠專注於圍繞我們的零售藥房的健康和保健策略。

Due to the sale and nonrecurring held for sale tax adjustment of $31 million was record of note in the quarter, and it has been reflected as an adjustment item in our results. The sale of KSP is not expected to have an impact on our 2024 guidance. I'd like I'd now like to provide some additional color or an outlook for the rest of the year.

由於出售和非經常性持有待售的稅收調整，本季度記錄了 3,100 萬美元的稅收調整，並且已作為調整項目反映在我們的業績中。 KSP 的出售預計不會對我們 2024 年的指導產生影響。我現在想提供一些額外的色彩或今年剩餘時間的展望。

Today, we reaffirmed our annual guidance, reflecting both positive momentum we are seeing in our business along with a more cautious customer environment in the near term. In terms of quarterly cadence, we now expect a decline in adjusted EPS for the second quarter, similar to the rate we observed in the first quarter as we expect price as we expect pharmacy business profitability pressures to carry over into the second quarter.

今天，我們重申了年度指導，反映了我們在業務中看到的積極勢頭以及近期更加謹慎的客戶環境。就季度節奏而言，我們現在預計第二季調整後每股盈餘將下降，與我們在第一季觀察到的下降速度相似，因為我們預期製藥業務獲利壓力將延續到第二季​​。

This reaffirms where we expected to be through both the first half of the year as well as the full fiscal 2024. In closing our first quarter performance reflects the strength and resiliency of our model. We are strengthening our grocery business with stress the data and traffic to accelerate growth in our alternative profit businesses, and we remain confident in our ability to drive attractive and sustainable returns for our shareholders.

這再次證實了我們對今年上半年以及 2024 年整個財年的預期。我們正在加強我們的雜貨業務，強調數據和流量，以加速我們的另類利潤業務的成長，我們仍然對我們為股東帶來有吸引力和可持續回報的能力充滿信心。

I'll now turn the call back to Rodney.

我現在將電話轉回給羅德尼。

Thanks, Todd. As you've heard from both of us, our grocery business is performing well and we are building momentum across our business progress operating from a position of strength. We have the right strategy, which is resonating with customers, and we have the financial strength to pursue growth and enhanced shareholder value. As we continue to prepare for our merger with Albertsons, I'd like to thank our associates for their incredible commitment.

謝謝，托德。正如您從我們倆那裡聽到的那樣，我們的雜貨業務表現良好，並且我們正在憑藉強大的實力在業務進展中建立動力。我們擁有正確的策略，能夠引起客戶的共鳴，並且我們擁有追求成長和提高股東價值的財務實力。當我們繼續為與艾伯森合併做準備時，我要感謝我們的同事所做的令人難以置信的承諾。

Since we announced the proposed merger back in October of 2022, our associates have done an exceptional job preparing for the integration with Albertsons, while never once taking their eye on off the ball and serving our customers, advancing our strategy, operating our business and driving results.

自從我們在2022 年10 月宣布擬議合併以來，我們的員工為與Albertsons 的整合做好了出色的準備工作，同時從未放過他們的注意力，為我們的客戶服務，推進我們的策略，運營我們的業務並推動成果。

Because of their efforts, we will be prepared to hit the ground running as a combined company ready to serve more customers from day one. As a more general merger update, in April, we announced an expanded divestiture plan with C&S, which directly respond to the concerns raised by federal and state antitrust regulators regarding the original agreement.

由於他們的努力，我們將做好準備，作為一家合併後的公司，從第一天起就可以為更多的客戶提供服務。作為更全面的合併更新，我們在 4 月宣布了與 C&S 的擴大剝離計劃，該計劃直接回應了聯邦和州反壟斷監管機構對原始協議提出的擔憂。

We believe that package switching, which includes a modified and expanded stores set and more non-store assets, bolsters Kroger's position and regulatory challenges to the proposed merger, including our upcoming court proceedings. It also positions C&S to be a strong and successful competitor.

我們相信，套餐轉換（包括修改和擴大商店設置以及更多非商店資產）將鞏固克羅格的地位，並應對擬議合併面臨的監管挑戰，包括我們即將進行的法庭訴訟。它還使 C&S 成為一個強大且成功的競爭對手。

We are prepared to defend our merger because it will produce meaningful and measurable benefits for customers for associates and for communities across the country. Customers will benefit from lower prices and more choices following the merger close, we have committed to investing $500 billion to begin lowering prices day one following close, along with an additional $1.3 billion to improve Albertsons stores.

我們準備捍衛我們的合併，因為它將為客戶、員工和全國各地的社區帶來有意義且可衡量的利益。合併結束後，客戶將受益於更低的價格和更多的選擇，我們承諾投資 5,000 億美元在交易結束後的第一天開始降價，並額外投資 13 億美元用於改善 Albertsons 商店。

Employees will benefit from progress commitment to invest $1 billion to raise wages and comprehensive benefits. Further building on our $2.4 billion in incremental investments since 2018. As union membership continues to decline nationwide.

員工將受惠於投資10億美元提高薪資和綜合福利的進步承諾。進一步鞏固我們自 2018 年以來 24 億美元的增量投資。

This merger will secure union jobs and communities will benefit from the strength in the ability of the combined company to accelerate progress commitment to ending hunger as a combined company, Kroger has committed to donating 10 billion meals to families across the US by 2030.

此次合併將確保工會工作崗位，社區也將受益於合併後公司的能力優勢，以加速實現消除飢餓的承諾。 100 億份餐點。

In closing program is off to a solid start to the year, positioning us well to deliver on our commitments. We continue to invest in associates in the associate experience because when they have a better experience, our customers do as well.

最後，該計劃為今年奠定了良好的開端，使我們能夠很好地兌現我們的承諾。我們繼續在員工體驗方面進行投資，因為當他們擁有更好的體驗時，我們的客戶也會獲得更好的體驗。

Grocery results are off to a better than expected start, which provides the foundation for growth in alternative profit businesses. And our model is generating strong free cash flow, which has strengthened our balance sheet and positions us for future growth.

雜貨業績開局好於預期，這為另類利潤業務的成長奠定了基礎。我們的模式正在產生強勁的自由現金流，這增強了我們的資產負債表，並為我們未來的成長做好了準備。

With that, Todd and I look forward to taking your questions. Because we are in litigation, we will be not be taking questions on the merger this morning.

托德和我期待回答您的問題。由於我們正在進行訴訟，因此今天上午我們不會回答有關合併的問題。

We'll now begin the question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)

我們現在開始問答環節。 （操作員說明）

Rupesh Parikh, Oppenheimer.

魯佩什·帕里克，奧本海默。

Good morning and thanks for taking my question. So I wanted to dig deeper into the gross margin line. If you can maybe walk us through the puts and takes as you guys see for the balance of the year, including, how you think about the pharmacy margins in the back half of the year?

早安，感謝您提出我的問題。所以我想更深入地挖掘毛利率線。您能否向我們介紹今年剩餘時間的看跌期權和看跌期權，包括您如何看待下半年的藥品利潤率？

Yeah. Thanks, Rupesh, a great question. I mean, we talk to giving you that our expectation was that have relatively flat year over year gross margin, and that is still the expectation, as mentioned in my comments that we do expect results for the balance of the year to improve beyond our Q1 results.

是的。謝謝，魯佩什，這是一個很好的問題。我的意思是，我們向您透露，我們的預期是同比毛利率相對持平，而且這仍然是預期，正如我在評論中提到的，我們確實預計今年剩餘時間的業績會比第一季有所改善結果。

And that's really reflective of some of the gross margin expansion effort. It's that we have going on there go and actually really well, we alluded to our brand's performance. Margins in our brands continue to do very well.

這確實反映了毛利率擴張的一些努力。這是我們一直在進行的事情，實際上非常好，我們提到了我們品牌的表現。我們品牌的利潤率持續保持良好。

And as that business continues to grow, particularly in today's environment, we talked about the budget conscious consumer and that continues to connect with them. And so the growth in that business helped helps drive margins. And we expect to see that as the year goes on.

隨著業務的持續成長，特別是在當今的環境下，我們討論了注重預算的消費者，並繼續與他們聯繫。因此，該業務的成長有助於提高利潤率。隨著時間的推移，我們預計會看到這一點。

Fresh is another category where we've had a meaningful growth. Fresh is doing really well. We've talked a lot about produced by end to end fresh and how that business is growing.

生鮮是我們實現有意義成長的另一個類別。 Fresh 的表現確實不錯。我們已經討論了很多關於端到端新鮮生產以及該業務如何成長的問題。

And certainly that comes with higher margins, which has it positive effect on our mix. And then when you look at alternative profits, in particular, retail media, that business continues to grow well and especially the second half of the year, we expect retail media that continuous momentum to achieve our growth is in excess of 20% for the year.

當然，這會帶來更高的利潤，這對我們的組合產生正面影響。然後當你看另類利潤時，特別是零售媒體，該業務繼續良好增長，尤其是下半年，我們預計零售媒體實現我們增長的持續動力今年將超過 20% 。

A lot going on in that space and we went to a new platform a year ago. And as we when we ramped up the platform a year ago will be cycling that period of time with some of the momentum we have in that business. So all of those are what are a lot of our confidence comes from the we talked about we are reaffirming our guidance for the year, and we alluded to some of the pharmacy headwinds to even though we expect some of those to carry over into the second quarter.

這個領域發生了很多事情，我們一年前轉向了一個新平台。當我們一年前推出該平台時，我們將在這段時間以我們在該業務中擁有的一些動力循環。 So all of those are what are a lot of our confidence comes from the we talked about we are reaffirming our guidance for the year, and we alluded to some of the pharmacy headwinds to even though we expect some of those to carry over into the second四分之一.

I think all of the results that we're seeing from our margin expansion efforts are going to continue to drive us so that we hit our expectations to improve the results relative to Q1.

我認為我們從利潤擴張努力中看到的所有結果將繼續推動我們，使我們達到相對於第一季改善業績的預期。

I would just add a couple of points on Todd's Last point, we continue to have good success with value add product. And typically that project is something that the customer can eat almost immediately in the car at home, and that's helping on margin and then our sourcing teams continue to have making progress in cost of goods, which helps as well.

我只想在托德的最後一點上補充幾點，我們在增值產品方面繼續取得良好的成功。通常，該專案是客戶幾乎可以立即在家裡的車上吃的東西，這有助於提高利潤，然後我們的採購團隊繼續在商品成本方面取得進展，這也有幫助。

Great, maybe just one quick follow-up question. In light of some of the competitor announced reducing pricing on certain items. Just wondering how you guys feel about your price gaps today?

太好了，也許只是一個快速的後續問題。鑑於一些競爭對手宣布降低某些商品的價格。只是想知道你們今天對價格差距有何看法？

If you look at overall, as you know, for the last, I don't know, 15, 18 years part of the Kroger's strategy has always been to invest in pricing every year in 2024 wouldn't have been any different than any of the previous years, and we continue to execute against that plan helping the customer stretch their budget.

如果你從整體上看，正如你所知，最後，我不知道，15、18 年來，克羅格戰略的一部分一直是在 2024 年每年進行定價投​​資，這與任何其他公司都沒有什麼不同。幾年，我們繼續執行該計劃，幫助客戶擴展預算。

If you look at where we feel on our relative price position, we feel very good. And one of the things that we had, even though I was glad to see is if you look at the customer that's on a budget, for the first time in over a year, we actually had growth in count from that customer base.

如果你看看我們對相對價格定位的感受，我們感覺非常好。儘管我很高興看到我們擁有的一件事是，如果你看看有預算的客戶，一年多來我們第一次發現該客戶群的數量實際上有所增長。

So we overall we feel good about where we are. one of the things I always think it's important to remember too, is a promotional merchant. People buy a lot more when things and promotion we also have a very sophisticated rewards program and that for personalized offers that publicly you wouldn't see and also our fuel rewards.

因此，總的來說，我們對自己的處境感覺良好。我一直認為記住也很重要的一件事是促銷商家。人們在商品和促銷活動中購買更多，我們還有非常複雜的獎勵計劃，以及您不會公開看到的個人化優惠以及我們的燃油獎勵。

So overall, we feel good about where we are and we feel good about where we are relative to any of our competitors. Thanks, Rupesh

因此，總體而言，我們對自己所處的位置感覺良好，並且對我們相對於任何競爭對手的位置感覺良好。謝謝，魯佩什

Great, thank you. I'll pass it along.

太好了謝謝。我會把它傳遞下去。

Robby Ohmes, Bank of America Merrill Lynch.

羅比·歐姆斯，美銀美林。

Hey, Rodney. I had an adjusted two follow ups on them in the first question, I'm just in terms of the on price investments, and I know you guys always do we'll do them.

嘿，羅德尼。我在第一個問題中對他們進行了調整後的兩次跟進，我只是就價格投資而言，我知道你們總是這樣做，我們會這樣做。

But has anything changed with that? What is your CPG partners are doing with Kroger to, you know, to drive volumes high because we know that they're looking to do that? And then also would love to just get further perspective on what what progress you're seeing competitively, either the same or different sort of there's there's kind of Wal-Mart and target the what are the regionals and independents doing competitively? Are they changing at all what they're doing?

但這有什麼改變嗎？您知道，您的 CPG 合作夥伴正在與克羅格做什麼來提高銷量，因為我們知道他們正在尋求這樣做？然後也想進一步了解您在競爭中看到的進展，無論是相同還是不同類型的沃爾瑪，並針對區域性和獨立性在競爭中所做的事情？他們正在改變他們正在做的事情嗎？

If you look at CPG partners overall, we would be seeing more trade dollars than in the past. And I think some of that ties to the comment I made before on sourcing the oil-based economies, always sale short statements are correct.

如果你從整體上看 CPG 合作夥伴，我們會看到比過去更多的貿易額。我認為其中一些與我之前關於採購石油經濟體的評論有關，總是銷售簡短的陳述是正確的。

We there are some CPG partners that are worried as much about tonnage and wouldn't be as aggressive. But we are seeing an increased trend where CPG most CPG partners are starting to focus on tonnage again and then trying to partner with us more aggressively to help Kroger.

我們有一些快速消費品合作夥伴同樣擔心噸位，因此不會那麼激進。但我們看到了一種日益增長的趨勢，大多數 CPG 合作夥伴開始再次關注噸位，然後嘗試更積極地與我們合作以幫助克羅格。

If you look at it on a regional competitors really wouldn't see much difference there than the national competitor. And overall inflation is up slightly with the people raising and slightly more prices and lowering, but nothing that especially different there than what we would see. And as you know, there's a ton of great often regional competitors out there. Thanks, Robby.

如果你看一下區域競爭對手，確實不會發現與全國競爭對手有太大差異。隨著人們的提高，價格略有上升和下降，整體通膨略有上升，但與我們所看到的情況沒有什麼特別不同。如您所知，有大量優秀的區域競爭對手。謝謝，羅比。

Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

西蒙古特曼，摩根士丹利。

Hi, this is Zack on for Simeon. Thanks for taking our questions. First, with respect to the Q1 performance would say that you set up the guidance with some conservatism or was it genuinely stronger than what you thought it would look like?

大家好，我是西蒙的紮克。感謝您回答我們的問題。首先，關於第一季的表現，你會說你在製定指導時有些保守，還是它真的比你想像的要強？

And maybe as a follow up, why why should we extrapolate that level of upside for the full year and was driven primarily by price or units or some of both? Thank you.

也許作為後續，我們為什麼要推斷全年的上漲水平，並且主要由價格或單位或兩者共同推動？謝謝。

If you look into the first quarter performance, as Todd and I both mentioned, we felt very good about where we were finished or were turned out. What are the things? I always think it's them in the first quarter. So early in the year, I never feel it would be unusual for us to feel comfortable changing too much.

如果你看看第一季的表現，正如托德和我都提到的那樣，我們對我們的完成情況或結果感到非常滿意。到底是什麼東西呢？我一直認為第一季是他們。所以在今年年初，我從來沒有覺得我們感到舒服的改變太多是不尋常的。

If you look at the things that we felt good about are the things that we've outlined in the prepared comments around our or our customer count growth, the growth that's a broad based across all of our customer type, our store teams doing a very good job of continuing to improve the experience and in-stock positions in all those things up.

如果你看看我們感覺良好的事情，那就是我們在準備好的評論中概述的圍繞我們或我們的客戶數量增長的事情，這種增長是我們所有客戶類型的廣泛基礎，我們的商店團隊做了一個非常好的事情。

A couple of headwinds that we do have is if you look at like incentive plans, especially in the second quarter, will have significantly higher incentive plan accruals in the second quarter than what we did it a year ago, which is partially what's affecting the second quarter.

A couple of headwinds that we do have is if you look at like incentive plans, especially in the second quarter, will have significantly higher incentive plan accruals in the second quarter than what we did it a year ago, which is partially what's affecting the second四分之一.

But overall for the year, we feel good about where we are. We feel good about where we are relative to where we thought we would be easy. But it's really too early in the year to make too many changes.

但整體而言，今年我們對自己的處境感覺良好。我們對自己所處的位置（相對於我們認為會很容易的位置）感覺良好。但現在做出太多改變確實為時過早。

As you're kind of running actually to put together, the strength we saw in the first half of that business is really tied year incentive plan comment.

當你實際上正在跑步時，我們在上半年看到的業務實力確實與年度激勵計劃評論相關。

A big contributor to the strength we're seeing in our grocery business is shopping experience and improvement in those metrics is an important part of our incentive plan this year. So it's those two thoughts are on connected with one another.

我們在雜貨業務中看到的實力的一個重要貢獻者是購物體驗，這些指標的改進是我們今年激勵計劃的重要組成部分。所以這兩種想法是相互連結的。

Thanks, Zach.

謝謝，扎克。

Ken Goldman, JPMorgan.

肯‧戈德曼，摩根大通。

Hi, thank you. I just wanted to clarify, are you still on track to see inflation increase as the year progresses. I think that was mentioned last quarter. I didn't hear any update on that rate of change and then I don't think you provided again, I may have missed it gross profit dollars are pennies per gallon for fuel. Just trying to follow up on those to.

嗨，謝謝你。我只是想澄清一下，隨著時間的推移，您是否仍有望看到通膨上升。我想上個季度就提到過這一點。我沒有聽到有關該變化率的任何更新，然後我認為您沒有再次提供，我可能錯過了毛利美元是每加侖燃料的便士。只是想跟進這些事情。

Yeah, relative I'll let Todd to answer the second part. On inflation for the year, the first quarter was pretty much where we expected to be where we for the year, it's pretty consistent with where we thought it would be.

是的，相對的，我會讓托德回答第二部分。就今年的通膨而言，第一季幾乎與我們預期的全年通膨水準相當，與我們的預期非常一致。

So if I am going off memory, but I think we said was slightly over 1% and we will continue to see it slightly over 1%. If you look at some of them commodity cost, the commodities themselves, obviously that will bounce up and down.

因此，如果我不記得了，但我認為我們說的是略高於 1%，而且我們將繼續看到它略高於 1%。如果你看看其中一些商品成本，商品本身，顯然會上下波動。

And as you get later in the year, we that some of that balance will be driven by what kind of crop year is that relative to corn and some of those things. But really overall, what we expect inflation to be similar to renewables did last year, and that is starting to stabilize.

正如你在今年晚些時候看到的那樣，我們認為其中一些平衡將由相對於玉米和其中一些因素的作物年份來驅動。但總體而言，去年我們預計通膨率將與再生能源類似，並且正在開始穩定。

We don't see deflation broad-based at all, but it is stabilizing around that well, over 1%.

我們認為通貨緊縮根本不存在廣泛的基礎，但它正在穩定在這個水平，超過 1%。

Yeah, that's great. And on the fuel point, we did in my comments that we did see that the cents per gallon margin was down low single digits.

是的，那太好了。在燃料問題上，我們在評論中確實看到每加侖利潤下降了低個位數。

Okay. Thanks, Todd.

好的。謝謝，托德。

John Heinbockel, Guggenheim Partners.

約翰·海因博克爾，古根漢合夥人。

Hey, Rodney. I want to start with some when you think about delivery and pickup from profitability? I mean, I know you're losing in those areas. Do you have an idea in mind when you can begin to approach breakeven? I know it's going to take a while, but the thought on that and then if you had to pick a couple of key drivers, right, that would get you there. What do you think they are?

嘿，羅德尼。我想從一些方面開始，當您考慮送貨和取貨時的盈利能力？我的意思是，我知道你在這些方面正在失敗。您有什麼想法可以開始接近收支平衡嗎？我知道這需要一段時間，但考慮到這一點，然後如果你必須選擇幾個關鍵驅動因素，對吧，那會讓你到達那裡。你認為他們是什麼？

Yeah. If you look and John, we've talked about it a lot of times. I would say our job one is to make sure we don't lose the customer. And job two is we have the responsibility to figure out how to be profitable with each of those customers.

是的。如果你看看約翰，我們已經討論過很多次了。我想說，我們的工作之一是確保我們不會失去客戶。第二項工作是我們有責任弄清楚如何從每個客戶身上獲利。

We do have some divisions that are now at breakeven or slightly profitable. And if you look at incrementally on a per order basis of certain almost all of our channels now there incrementally they're contributing in terms of our expectation of ourselves is that that customer will be just as profitable as the store customer over time.

我們確實有一些部門目前處於損益平衡或略有獲利。如果你以每個訂單為基礎逐步觀察我們幾乎所有管道的情況，你會發現，隨著時間的推移，我們對自己的期望是，客戶將與商店客戶一樣有利可圖。

I don't know that I wouldn't put a specific date on it yet, but that is the expectations we have for ourselves and the key thing, but it will be continuing -- for me, I think number one is making sure the [S4] stays strong because that's what causes that customer to continue to repeat them, making sure that each basket we started getting where the customer adds items with in a basket and then all ways from an operating cost standpoint, we'll continue to use our technology to be more efficient.

我不知道我是否還不會確定具體日期，但這是我們對自己的期望，也是關鍵的事情，但它將繼續下去——對我來說，我認為第一要務是確保[S4] 保持強勁，因為這就是導致客戶繼續重複使用的原因，確保我們開始獲得的每個籃子都是客戶在籃子中添加物品的地方，然後從營運成本的角度來看，我們將繼續使用我們的技術更有效率。

Okay. Maybe to follow up on pharmacy. So what's your sense that the pressures coming from, where is it solely reimbursement or something else? I mean, what's your take on reimbursement longer-term? And are we basically going to see less capacity right now and drugstores rider closing a lot of locations, but do you think between that supermarkets getting out of the business that will be a lot less capacity in pharmacy three or four or five years from now that will help profitability?

好的。也許要跟進藥局。那麼您覺得壓力來自哪裡，是純粹報銷還是其他？我的意思是，您對長期報銷有何看法？我們現在基本上會看到容量減少，藥房騎手關閉很多地點，但你認為超市退出業務之後，三年、四年或五年後藥房的容量會大大減少嗎？

John, I'll talk to that a little bit. What we're seeing there was really a couple of items and product mix. One was around [CLP-1]. We've talked about that before. It's a high retail lending, but at an extremely low margin and so that puts pressure on our margins.

約翰，我會談談這一點。我們所看到的實際上是幾個項目和產品組合。其中之一是在 [CLP-1] 附近。我們之前已經討論過這一點。這是一個很高的零售貸款，但利潤率極低，這給我們的利潤率帶來了壓力。

And coming into the year. If you recall, the latter part of last year, we had supply constraints on [CLP-1] and so, some of those restrict restraints were relieved in the first quarter.

進入這一年。如果您還記得，去年下半年，我們對 [CLP-1] 進行了供應限制，因此，其中一些限制在第一季得到了緩解。

And frankly, our team did a really nice job with suppliers getting out there to get product to meet demand in our stores. And so our sales exceeded what we expect to see in the first quarter that put put a little bit of that unexpected pressure on margins.

坦白說，我們的團隊在供應商方面做得非常好，他們能夠提供產品來滿足我們商店的需求。因此，我們第一季的銷售額超出了我們的預期，這給利潤率帶來了一些意想不到的壓力。

And then the second, there's another category of drugs as well. We saw some regulatory restrictions that were unexpected that drove up the costs on those meds and put some pressure on margins. So when we talked about some unexpected trends and pharmacy was really around product mix in those couple of areas and wanted to make sure we called it out because we do see that carrying over into the second part of the year wasn't necessarily reimbursement.

其次，還有另一類藥物。我們看到了一些意想不到的監管限制，這些限制推高了這些藥物的成本，並對利潤率造成了一些壓力。因此，當我們談論一些意想不到的趨勢時，藥房確實圍繞著這幾個領域的產品組合，並希望確保我們指出這一點，因為我們確實看到結轉到今年下半年並不一定是報銷。

And then we look longer term three or five years, we definitely think there will be less capacity. And as you noted, there's a significant number of closures by the other three players in that space. And there's a lot of work that's being done from a governmental standpoint around PBMs.

然後我們著眼於更長遠的三、五年，我們肯定認為產能將會減少。正如您所指出的，該領域的其他三個參與者有大量的關閉。從政府的角度來看，圍繞 PBM 正在進行大量工作。

That thing that I get super excited about our pharmacies and our health and wellness team, they continue to do a great job of improving the experience. And I think it's amazing that a third of our customers don't even realize we have a pharmacy.

讓我對我們的藥局和健康團隊感到非常興奮的是，他們在改善體驗方面繼續做得很好。我認為令人驚訝的是，我們三分之一的顧客甚至沒有意識到我們有一家藥局。

We're obviously working incredibly hard to make sure that third of our customers that don't even realize we have a customer that we have a pharmacy to get them to convert the patient of our pharmacy because our team do an amazing job on service. We have incredibly quick lines and things like that. And it's one less trip that somebody estimate.

顯然，我們正在非常努力地工作，以確保我們的三分之一的客戶甚至沒有意識到我們有一個藥房的客戶，讓他們轉變我們藥房的患者，因為我們的團隊在服務方面做得非常出色。我們有非常快的線路和類似的東西。有人估計，這就是少了一次旅行。

Thanks, John, for the question.

謝謝約翰提出這個問題。

Michael Lasser, UBS.

麥可拉瑟，瑞銀集團。

Good morning. Thank you so much for taking my question. [Rodney], with a clean some of the comments from other concrete before between some of the comments from other food retailers as well as your own discussion around increased price investments, there is perception that that industry is becoming more competitive that is going to disrupt the profitability of the food retail in the back half of the year.

早安.非常感謝您回答我的問題。 [羅德尼]，在其他食品零售商的一些評論以及您自己關於增加價格投資的討論之間，有一些清晰的其他具體評論，人們認為該行業正在變得更具競爭力，這將顛覆下半年食品零售獲利狀況。

So could you compare where the overall promotional intensity that you're witnessing is today versus where it's been in the past, especially around disruptive time? And how much did you were pricing segments contribute to the improvement that you saw in more price sensitive customers, lower income consumers in the quarter?

那麼，您能否將您今天看到的整體促銷強度與過去的整體促銷強度進行比較，尤其是在顛覆性時期？您的定價細分對您在本季看到的對價格敏感的客戶和低收入消費者的改善有何貢獻？

In terms of overall, I would say in terms of promotional activity, looks very similar to pre-COVID and for the first time in finally, US starts looking and feeling more linked pre-COVID times. As I mentioned a second ago, overall, we saw more prices go up and go down.

就總體而言，我想說，就促銷活動而言，看起來與新冠疫情之前非常相似，而且美國終於第一次開始看起來並感覺與新冠疫情之前的時代有更多的聯繫。正如我剛才提到的，總體而言，我們看到更多的價格上漲和下跌。

So when you look at the individual number of SKUs, I feel really good about where we are able either to you taking care of customers. In terms of the value customer, I think a lot of it is driven more from some of the things that we've done relative to our new brand in terms of smart way, helping that customer understand that they can come and shop with us.

因此，當您查看 SKU 的個體數量時，我對我們能夠為您服務的客戶感到非常滿意。就價值客戶而言，我認為這很大程度上是由我們以智慧方式與新品牌相關的一些事情推動的，幫助客戶了解他們可以來我們這裡購物。

And it's you don't have to compromise relative fresh and quality and some of those other aspects and experience if they come experience or associate experience that they give.

如果他們提供經驗或相關經驗，您不必妥協相對的新鮮度和品質以及其他一些方面和經驗。

So when you look at overall, it's pretty consistent with what we thought it would be and a part of it. I think it's just the moderating inflation, but we still continue to expect a little bit of inflation.

所以當你從整體上看時，它與我們的想法非常一致，並且是其中的一部分。我認為這只是通膨放緩，但我們仍然預計會有一點通膨。

My follow-up question is the progress financial formula works very well. When it's ID sales are above 3%. When is a realistic expectation that it could resume as seeing ID sales back at that level?

我的後續問題是進度財務公式非常有效。當它的 ID 銷售額超過 3% 時。 ID 銷售量何時恢復到原來的水準才是現實的預期？

I think you're right, our model is to drive 2% to 4% ID sales. And as you looked at, we've talked a lot last quarter around the dynamic inflation. And what we saw last year with, though with the rapid disinflation throughout the year, as we get back to this year, that more normal inflation environment that Rodney alluded to and we start cycling those heavy disinflation.

我認為你是對的，我們的模型是推動 2% 到 4% 的 ID 銷售額。正如您所看到的，上個季度我們就動態通膨進行了很多討論。我們去年看到的情況是，儘管全年通膨迅速下降，但當我們回到今年時，羅德尼提到的更正常的通膨環境，我們開始循環這些嚴重的通膨。

We talk about the the getting towards the high end of our guidance range relative to sales come from the second half of the year. And I think that starts to get us back into that range that are long long-term model is based on the 2% to 4%.

我們談論的是從今年下半年開始，相對於銷售額而言，我們的指導範圍將達到上限。我認為這開始讓我們回到基於 2% 到 4% 的長期模型的範圍。

And to add thing, that's a great question. It's hard to give a specific date other than I can assure you that our team is working really hard to get. There were also and this is something I would say we I've always done, but you always trying to get better.

補充一點，這是一個很好的問題。很難給出具體的日期，但我可以向您保證，我們的團隊正在努力爭取這個日期。還有，這是我一直在做的事情，但你總是試著變得更好。

And if you look at capital investments, we would also be using capital investments to support that growth. And as you know, we're starting to increase the number of stores that were opening in the maturity of those stores and remodel those stores also help with identicals over time.

如果你看看資本投資，我們也會利用資本投資來支持這種成長。如您所知，我們開始增加在這些商店成熟時開設的商店數量，並且隨著時間的推移改造這些商店也有助於解決相同問題。

And we would expect that the obviously being the case now. And as Todd mentioned, it's early in the slightly higher capital spending for new stores and expansions and stuff, but we're pleased with the early results. Thanks, Michael.

我們預計現在的情況顯然就是這樣。正如托德所提到的，新店和擴張等資本支出略高，但我們對早期結果感到滿意。謝謝，麥可。

Michael Montanim, Evercore.

邁克爾·蒙塔尼姆，Evercore。

Hey, thanks for taking the question. I wanted to ask if you could discuss the ID sales cadence through the quarter and then the month of June, how should we think about ID sales for 2Q? And then I had a follow-up.

嘿，謝謝你提出問題。我想問您是否可以討論整個季度和六月的 ID 銷售節奏，我們應該如何考慮第二季的 ID 銷售？然後我進行了跟進。

The first quarter was a little choppy because we had a had a Easter mismatch relative to the calendar. But the general trend throughout the quarter was that we saw IDs increase steadily as we went through the quarter on average. And then as we look to Q2 to date, so far, we're right on plan relative to our expectations for Q2, Q2 results and the guidance that we've given.

第一季有點不穩定，因為我們的復活節與日曆不符。但整個季度的總體趨勢是，我們看到 ID 平均在整個季度中穩步增長。然後，當我們展望迄今為止的第二季度時，到目前為止，相對於我們對第二季度的預期、第二季度的結果以及我們給出的指導，我們的計劃是正確的。

And as you know, we that we do expect ideas to improve throughout the year and we continued so far. We're continuing to see that and would expect that to continue.

如您所知，我們確實希望想法在這一年中得到改進，並且我們一直持續至今。我們將繼續看到這種情況，並預計這種情況會繼續下去。

Yeah, that's helpful. If I could just wanted to trying to better get their arms around some of the pharmacy pressures. Is there anything that you could point to in the back half of the year, whether it be comparison based or otherwise that help to alleviate some of those pressures or perhaps other sources of profit, whether it be media fuel that could offset somewhat?

是的，這很有幫助。如果可以的話，我只是想嘗試更好地幫助他們緩解一些藥房壓力。您可以在今年下半年指出什麼，無論是基於比較還是其他方式，有助於減輕其中一些壓力，或者可能是其他利潤來源，無論是可以在一定程度上抵消的媒體推動力？

I'll make a couple of governance and Todd feel free to add. one of the things that you get to the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter is vaccines. And as you know, last year, our teams did an amazing job of increasing the number of vaccines we gave, and we have a ton to learn things that we think we'll be able to do that again this year.

我將進行一些治理，托德可以隨意添加。第三季和第四季初要做的事情之一就是疫苗。如您所知，去年，我們的團隊在增加疫苗數量方面做得非常出色，我們有很多東西需要學習，我們認為今年我們將能夠再次做到這一點。

And so when you look at just the pharmacy business, part of that will be that and also on some of the supply issues, we would hope that you expect for those to get more normalized. And like the one drug, Todd was talking about the generics as they come out and stuff historically, that's always improved profitability.

因此，當您僅專注於製藥業務時，其中一部分就是製藥業務以及一些供應問題，我們希望您期望這些問題可以更加正常化。就像單一藥物一樣，托德談論的是仿製藥，因為它們的問世和歷史上的東西，這總是會提高盈利能力。

We would expect at some point in the later part of the year for the things that happen relative to the other pieces, title --

我們預計在今年下半年的某個時候，會發生與其他作品相關的事情，標題——

You're right, I was rather than us our pharmacy route into. So overall, the business I alluded to earlier, the margin expansion efforts that we're seeing and those are all factored into the guidance for the rest of the year.

你是對的，是我而不是我們進入藥局的路線。因此，總體而言，我之前提到的業務、我們看到的利潤擴張努力以及這些都已納入今年剩餘時間的指導中。

And even even given those pharmacy headwinds, we expect the pharmacy or the of the margin expansion, the gross margin expansion initiatives that we have, some blended with the pharmacy headwinds that we call it out our home should enable us to achieve gross profit results beyond what we saw in the first quarter.

即使考慮到這些藥房逆風，我們預計藥房或利潤率擴張，我們擁有的毛利率擴張舉措，其中一些與我們稱之為我們家的藥房逆風相結合，應該使我們能夠實現超越的毛利結果我們在第一季看到的情況。

Thanks, Michael.

謝謝，麥可。

Ed Kelly, Wells Fargo.

艾德凱利，富國銀行。

Hi, good morning, everyone. I wanted just have two question. The first question I had is just around them morning. It's just around the second quarter guidance. So Q1, you beat on lower fuel margins and lower pharmacy, in Q2 the guidance is coming down. Is that just solely based on pharmacy and incentive comp? Is there something else happening within here? And I'm just trying to figure out in at a level of conservatism that, you know, is sitting in there in the second quarter guidance, given what you just did in Q2 against all this.

嗨，大家早安。我只想問兩個問題。我的第一個問題是早上圍繞他們提出的。這正好是第二季的指導。因此，第一季度，您擊敗了較低的燃料利潤率和較低的藥品價格，第二季度的指導方針正在下降。這僅僅是基於藥品和激勵補償嗎？這裡還有其他事情發生嗎？我只是想弄清楚第二季度指引中的保守主義程度，考慮到您在第二季度針對這一切所做的一切。

Yeah. you're right. And it is primarily based on pharmacy and [Senate]. You are correct from a fuel perspective, that steps of volatile, it's really week-to-week. It's part of what we keep our keep our eye on as we go forward come so far, it has been closer to our expectations for the quarter, but that's one that we truly monitor daily and weekly to understand the impact seven business.

是的。你說得對。它主要以藥劑和[參議院]為基礎。從燃料的角度來看，你是正確的，波動性的步驟確實是每週都在變化。這是我們在前進過程中密切關注的一部分，到目前為止，它已經更接近我們對本季度的預期，但這是我們每天和每週真正監控的一個，以了解對七項業務的影響。

I guess a quick follow-up is just on leverage. You continue to reiterate your leverage target. You are well below that at this point it taking a step back. Are there any advantages that you see into the business running?

我想快速跟進只是槓桿作用。您繼續重申您的槓桿目標。在這一點上你遠遠低於它，它退後了一步。您認為業務運作有什麼優勢嗎？

or the target long term on this metric that you think you would reassess post the Albertsons precision. Just curious as to how you're thinking about that.

或您認為在艾伯森精度後重新評估的該指標的長期目標。只是好奇你怎麼想的。

I think long term, our target to 2.3 to 2.5 or in the right place at that, that is one of our key objectives is to maintain our investment-grade rating. And over time, it's proven that that that is the range that enables us to be able to do that.

我認為從長遠來看，我們的目標是 2.3 至 2.5，或處於正確的位置，這是我們的主要目標之一，就是維持我們的投資等級。隨著時間的推移，事實證明，這就是我們能夠做到這一點的範圍。

So I think we've long term continue to look to operate within that, that range of with or without the merger, frankly. And the beauty is where we're at here, you're right, we do have a lot of capacity there. Obviously, we're firmly focused on closing the merger and being able to use that capacity relative to the merger and come up the other end.

因此，坦白說，我認為無論是否合併，我們長期都會繼續尋求在該範圍內運作。美麗之處在於我們在這裡，你是對的，我們那裡確實有很多能力。顯然，我們堅定地專注於完成合併，並能夠利用與合併相關的產能並達到另一端。

But I think in any scenario the capital allocation approach to take over time, we've got a long track record on what that is and how we do it. And I would expect us to execute under that framework of on a go-forward basis.

但我認為，在任何情況下，資本配置方法都會隨著時間的推移而變化，我們對於它是什麼以及我們如何做到這一點有著長期的記錄。我希望我們能夠在這個框架下繼續執行。

We really view our lowest cost of capital is it's BBB rating. And if you look at it historically, it's like 80% of the time that would be the lowest cost to capital. And as you look at the markets going forward, we don't see anything that would cause that to change. So that gives you the financial flexibility to do things like merging with Albertsons.

我們確實認為我們最低的資本成本是 BBB 評級。如果你回顧歷史，你會發現 80% 的情況下這都是最低的資本成本。當你觀察未來的市場時，我們看不到任何會導致這種情況改變的事情。這樣您就可以在財務上靈活地進行與艾伯森合併等事情。

So it creates the lowest cost of capital. And the reason we always reiterate that 2.3 to 2.5 is that really is the point that we believe creates a solid BBB rating. And the thing that the Todd and I both mentioned, the business continues to be incredibly strong from a free cash flow standpoint and the anticipation going forward.

因此它創造了最低的資本成本。我們總是重申 2.3 至 2.5 的原因是，我們認為這確實是創造堅實 BBB 評級的關鍵點。托德和我都提到的事情是，從自由現金流的角度和未來的預期來看，這項業務仍然非常強勁。

So it gives us the opportunity to continue to invest in the business, continue to grow the business and we can't wait to be able to merge with Albertsons. So we can do that even a still a little bit bigger.

因此，它給了我們繼續投資業務、繼續發展業務的機會，我們迫不及待地想與艾伯森合併。所以我們甚至可以做得更大一點。

So thanks, Ed, for the questions.

謝謝埃德提出的問題。

Kelly Bania, BMO.

凱利·巴尼亞，BMO。

Hi, good morning. This is Kelly Bania from BMO. I'm going to ask about the volume and the [tonnage] outlook. I think you mentioned some positive momentum at the consumer and maybe an increasing customer count there. But how how are volumes and tonnage trending year-over-year with in your different of customer cohorts? And how is that impacting your outlook for the full year in terms of [tonnage] and volume overall?

早安.我是 BMO 的凱莉·巴尼亞 (Kelly Bania)。我將詢問成交量和[噸位]前景。我認為您提到了消費者的一些正面勢頭，或許還有客戶數量的增加。但是，不同客戶群的銷售量和噸位同比趨勢如何？這對您對全年[噸位]和總體數量的展望有何影響？

If you look to tighten up the tonnage trends are all trends. I think if there's any exception to this, they're all in the right direction and they're improving.

如果你看收緊噸位的趨勢都是趨勢。我認為，如果有什麼例外的話，他們都在朝著正確的方向前進，並且正在進步。

If you look at historically, part of that, we believe is because of the moderating inflation. Part of it is because of doing a better job on in-stock and the customer experience and connecting better with each customer segment.

如果你從歷史角度來看，我們認為部分原因是通膨放緩。部分原因是因為在庫存和客戶體驗方面做得更好，並與每個客戶群建立了更好的聯繫。

So we feel good about those trends for multiple reasons. Was there a follow-up question or?

因此，出於多種原因，我們對這些趨勢感到滿意。有後續問題嗎？

Yeah. Thank you. I just wanted to ask maybe another question on the promotional and the competitive environment. It sounds like you characterize it maybe back to normal. I guess what's different today about Kroger's kind of gross margin profile being more stable?

是的。謝謝。我只是想問另一個關於促銷和競爭環境的問題。聽起來你認為它可能會恢復正常。我想今天克羅格的毛利率狀況變得更加穩定有什麼不同？

And it sounds like maybe up a little bit in the next couple of quarters here relative to a few years ago. How much of that just rest on the alternative profit and the magnitude of that and the growth continues growth there versus anything different that you see in the gross margin for the kind of the core business?

與幾年前相比，聽起來在接下來的幾個季度可能會有所上升。其中有多少只是取決於替代利潤及其規模，以及與您在核心業務毛利率中看到的任何不同之處而繼續增長的增長？

Yeah, Kelly, I think as you can on part of it, I don't think it's just alternative products. And I think we have today have more levers maybe than we've had in the past to be able to drive that value through margin expansion. So it's alternative profit in retail media. It's what our merchants to.

是的，凱利，我認為你可以參與其中，我不認為這只是替代產品。我認為我們今天擁有的槓桿可能比過去更多，能夠透過利潤擴張來推動這一價值。所以這是零售媒體的另類利潤。這就是我們商家要做的事。

We've already talked a little bit today about our brands and revise our brand strength and our margin expansion there. And same with fresh. I think it's all of those areas. I think it's also things that we continue to do with process improvement, whether it's in supply chain, whether it's continuing to drive down shrank, et cetera, et cetera.

今天我們已經討論了一些關於我們的品牌的問題，並修改了我們的品牌實力和利潤擴張。和新鮮的一樣。我認為所有這些領域都是如此。我認為這也是我們繼續在流程改善方面所做的事情，無論是在供應鏈中，還是在繼續減少收縮，等等。

So I think it's the the variety of margin improvement initiatives that we have is what's a little different than maybe what we saw several years ago because we have various stores, the value that help fund those investments in our customers in our associates.

因此，我認為我們所採取的各種利潤率改善措施可能與我們幾年前看到的有所不同，因為我們擁有各種商店，這些價值有助於為我們的客戶和我們的員工的投資提供資金。

Yeah, if you look at some of the things that's in margin like warehouse and transportation costs, our teams are making good progress there, reducing the number of empty miles ticking and managing more of the transportation.

是的，如果你看看一些利潤方面的事情，例如倉庫和運輸成本，我們的團隊在這方面取得了良好的進展，減少了空轉里程數並管理了更多的運輸。

So there's a lot one of the things that, you know, we've done a ton of work over the last 5 or 10 years on diversifying our business model and how we create value. And part of it is the traffic that our base business creates being able to monetize that in ways that the customer actually views and finds value. Thanks, Kelly.

因此，在過去的 5 到 10 年裡，我們在實現業務模式多元化以及創造價值的方式方面做了大量工作。其中一部分是我們的基礎業務所創造的流量，能夠以客戶實際看到和發現價值的方式將其貨幣化。謝謝，凱利。

Krisztina Katai, Deutsche Bank.

克里斯蒂娜·卡泰，德意志銀行。

Hi, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. And I wanted to ask about the store execution plan that you implemented with the daily scoring system really addressing some of the underperforming stores relative to the chain average.

早安.感謝您提出問題。我想問一下你們透過每日評分系統實施的商店執行計劃，確實解決了一些相對於連鎖平均水平表現不佳的商店。

So what has been the biggest opportunity for some of the store level improvements or So seeing? How much are they contributing to the traffic gains that you are also seeing? And just help us to think about further upside with close to budget conscious customers, but also the mainstream and premium customers?

那麼，對於某些商店等級的改進或所見，最大的機會是什麼？他們對您所看到的流量成長做出了多少貢獻？只是幫助我們思考對預算敏感的客戶以及主流和高端客戶的進一步好處嗎？

When you look at upside. And I think we are all team feels incredibly good if you thought things that we can get better at, and it's things that matter to our associates and matter to our customers. So we're incredibly excited about the continued opportunity we have on getting better.

當你往上看的時候。我認為，如果你認為我們可以做得更好，而這些事情對我們的員工和我們的客戶都很重要，那麼我們整個團隊都會感覺非常好。因此，我們對不斷獲得進步的機會感到非常興奮。

On the same your execution. And obviously, they always say reach studied. Retail is detail, and it literally is working with every single store. As we mentioned in prepared remarks, I'll turn it over, continue to improve when turnover is lower, when retention better, it helps on the experience that helps on the execution in the store, on in-stocks and other things.

同樣你的執行。顯然，他們總是說「研究過」。零售是細節，它確實與每家商店合作。正如我們在準備好的評論中提到的，我將把它翻過來，當營業額較低時繼續改進，當保留率更好時，它有助於改善商店執行、庫存和其他方面的體驗。

Our teams are doing a very good job on fresh, and that's everything from our supply chain to our folks. But our ordering product to using AI to make sure the right stores, get the right price product to the stores, getting that out on the shelf and helping the customer have a couple more days of freshness at home.

我們的團隊在生鮮方面做得非常好，這就是從我們的供應鏈到我們的員工的一切。但我們訂購產品時會使用人工智慧來確定合適的商店，將價格合適的產品送到商店，將其放在貨架上，並幫助顧客在家中多享受幾天的新鮮感。

So it's really all of those things together that we think that's what's driving the increase in traffic and increase in connection with our customer service. Obviously, super. I'm proud of the whole team and excited about the opportunities what's in front of us.

因此，我們認為正是所有這些因素共同推動了流量的增加和客戶服務的增加。顯然，超級。我為整個團隊感到自豪，並對我們面前的機會感到興奮。

Great. And just a quick follow-up on (Inaudible), but just on the promo backdrop, just how should we think about your promotional basket? How much of that is proactive versus reactive that you are doing in the current environment?

偉大的。只是快速跟進（聽不清楚），但只是在促銷背景下，我們應該如何考慮您的促銷籃子？在當前環境下，您所做的工作有多少是主動的，哪些是被動的？

And I think you said that it's pretty much back to pre-COVID levels. Is it fair to assume that your vendor funding is also in line with pre-COVID levels? Or do you anticipate that to continue to ramp as your vendors are focusing on driving volumes? Thank you.

我想你說過，這幾乎回到了新冠疫情之前的水平。假設您的供應商資金也符合新冠疫情之前的水平是否公平？或者，隨著您的供應商專注於提高銷售量，您是否預期這一數字會繼續增加？謝謝。

Yeah, if you look at vendor funding, we would expect it to continue to increase because the CPGs are trying to move tonnage. If you look at overall, we would think feel like it's pretty much back to pre-COVID, but at a higher level, some CPGs and improve increase their margins without, so them it's just making flat up or profit.

是的，如果你看看供應商的資金，我們預計它會繼續增加，因為消費品公司正在試圖轉移噸位。如果你從整體上看，我們會認為感覺幾乎回到了新冠疫情之前的水平，但在更高的水平上，一些快速消費品和改進產品沒有增加他們的利潤，所以他們只是在盈利或盈利。

So we think they actually have room to even further invest in trade dollars.

因此，我們認為他們實際上還有進一步投資貿易美元的空間。

To your comment on reactive versus proactive, only put our plan together for the year and our guidance for the whole nine yards, we put together our pricing strategy for the year, and we're executing on the strategy that we've put in place.

對於您對被動與主動的評論，只需將我們今年的計劃和整個九個碼的指導放在一起，我們就將我們今年的定價策略放在一起，並且我們正在執行我們已經制定的策略。

And we think clearly customers are responding to that very favorably. We're not deviating from the plan that we have that we've put into place. We're executing our playbook. Todd mentioned it earlier. That's what we've done for 15 or 20 years. We've stuck to our playbook and we think that's what's resonating with our customers.

我們認為顯然客戶對此反應非常正面。我們不會偏離我們已經制定的計劃。我們正在執行我們的劇本。托德之前提到過。這就是我們 15 或 20 年來所做的事情。我們一直堅持我們的策略，我們認為這會引起客戶的共鳴。

There isn't done good things that are going on out there than I would say that's causing us to be reactive. You always pay attention and I spend as much time getting to the competitors' stores as they do our own stores.

沒有什麼比我所說的更好的事情正在發生，這導致我們做出反應。你總是要注意，我花在競爭對手商店上的時間和他們花在我們自己商店上的時間一樣多。

But when I look at overall, we're running our plan and we're using our data and insights to make sure that we're taking care of our customers and associates. So really good about where we are overall and that. So thanks for the questions.

但當我總體來看時，我們正在執行我們的計劃，我們正在使用我們的數據和見解來確保我們照顧到我們的客戶和員工。所以我們對我們的整體狀況非常滿意。謝謝你的提問。

Chuck Cerankosky, Northcoast Research.

查克·塞蘭科斯基，北海岸研究中心。

Good morning, everyone. I was cut off for a while, but it sounds like you said, Rodney, that your delivery sales doubled year over year in the first quarter. What's driving that?

大家，早安。我被切斷了一段時間，但羅德尼，聽起來你說過，第一季你的送貨銷售額比去年同期翻了一番。是什麼推動了這一點？

Is it just your execution on the customer demand and and when you look at customer demand for delivered growth countries, how does it break down between budget conscious customers and more affluent customers?

這只是您對客戶需求的執行嗎？

It looked like they are sorry that you got cut off, but the delivery business almost doubled year on year, it's segments. But I think one of the things that's important to remember is that our technology allows us to do a better job now accepting SNAP and some of those things than what it did a year ago.

看起來他們很抱歉你被切斷了，但送貨業務幾乎同比翻了一番，這是一個細分市場。但我認為重要的是要記住，我們的技術使我們現在能夠比一年前更好地接受 SNAP 和其中一些事情。

So it's really across all come customers. I think the thing that's driving it is our teams are doing a nice job on making sure the experience is good. I can tell you in Florida, he will get ice cream that's still frozen and chocolate. That's not melted because of our delivery because of the delivery trucks in it.

所以它確實適合所有來的顧客。我認為推動這一趨勢的因素是我們的團隊在確保良好的體驗方面做得很好。我可以告訴你在佛羅裡達，他會得到仍然冷凍的冰淇淋和巧克力。這並沒有因為我們的運送而融化，因為裡面有運送卡車。

It's really it's one of those things were all of the things you feel good about. We still have a lot of work to make sure that we're satisfied with the profitability .

這確實是所有讓你感覺良好的事情之一。我們還有很多工作要做，以確保我們對盈利能力感到滿意。

Are there any CPG promotions or money is made available to help to get that customer to make the first delivery order?

是否有任何 CPG 促銷活動或資金可以幫助該客戶下達第一個交貨訂單？

Yes, the short answer is yes. And there, as you know, on line with our data and personalization, there's all kinds of things that you're learning in terms of different customers, find it attractive at different times.

是的，簡短的回答是肯定的。如您所知，根據我們的數據和個人化，您可以從不同的客戶角度了解各種各樣的東西，並發現它在不同的時間很有吸引力。

So this is the short answer is absolutely yes. The other thing is obviously online really supports the alternative profit businesses as well from the from the media standpoint.

所以簡短的回答是絕對肯定的。另一件事顯然是，從媒體的角度來看，在線確實也支持另類盈利業務。

Thanks, John.

謝謝，約翰。

Thanks, Rodney. Good luck for the rest of the year.

謝謝，羅德尼。祝今年剩下的時間一切順利。

Thank you. Appreciate it.

謝謝。欣賞它。

The question-and-answer session is now finished. I will hand the call over to Rodney for any final remarks.

問答環節現已結束。我會將電話轉交給羅德尼，讓其發表最後的評論。

Thank you for all the questions. As always, as you know, I always like to share a few comments with our associates listening in today, I'd like to take a moment to celebrate our Alex Spurlock is a Store Leader at QFC store, #860 of Redmond, Washington and recently was named the 2024 Food Industry Association Store leader of the Year.

謝謝你提出的所有問題。一如既往，如您所知，我總是想與今天收聽的同事分享一些評論，我想花一點時間來慶祝我們的 Alex Spurlock 成為 QFC 商店的商店領導，該商店位於華盛頓州雷蒙德市#860最近被食品工業協會評為2024 年度商店領袖。

Obviously, this is a huge honor and we are so impressed by the amazing words that Alex does at our store. With more than a decade and the grocery business colleagues understand the industry. She has a gentle spirit and a [fierce] attention to detail that clearly earned her this recognition.

顯然，這是一項巨大的榮譽，亞歷克斯在我們店裡所做的令人驚嘆的言論給我們留下了深刻的印象。擁有十幾年和雜貨業務同事的了解這個行業。她性格溫和，對細節[強烈]關注，這顯然為她贏得了這一認可。

What's most impressive is Alex's passion for our associates. She has always ready for Kroger team and celebrate their success in meaningful ways. Thank you, and congratulations, Alex, for everything you do for our customers. Your fellow associates and congratulations on this amazing honour and thank you to all of our teams for all the work they do every day to take care of each other and our associates, and thank you for everyone for joining us today.

最令人印象深刻的是亞歷克斯對我們員工的熱情。她一直為克羅格團隊做好準備，並以有意義的方式慶祝他們的成功。謝謝你，並祝賀亞歷克斯，為我們的客戶所做的一切。你們的同事們，恭喜你們獲得這項令人驚嘆的榮譽，感謝我們所有團隊每天為互相照顧和我們的同事所做的所有工作，並感謝大家今天加入我們。

That does concludes today's conference call. Have a nice day. You may now disconnect your lines.

今天的電話會議到此結束。祝你今天過得愉快。現在您可以斷開線路。