克羅格 (KR) 2024 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning and welcome to the Kroger third-quarter 2024 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) Please note this event is being recorded.

早安，歡迎參加克羅格 2024 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意此事件正在被記錄。

I'd now like to turn the conference over to Robert Quast, Senior Director Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

我現在想將會議交給投資者關係高級總監羅伯特·誇斯特 (Robert Quast)。請繼續。

Good morning. Thank you for joining us for Kroger's third-quarter 2024 earnings call. I am joined today by Kroger's 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 年第三季財報電話會議。今天，克羅格董事長兼執行長羅德尼·麥克穆倫 (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 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.

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。克羅格公司不承擔更新該資訊的義務。

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.

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 third quarter performance and highlight how we continue to advance our go to market strategy, which powers our value creation model and drives long term sustainable growth for our shareholders. Then Todd will cover our financial results for the third quarter and walk through updates to our full year guidance.

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，我將回顧我們第三季的業績，並重點介紹我們如何繼續推進我們的市場策略，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。然後托德將介紹我們第三季的財務業績，並介紹我們全年指導的更新。

And finally, I will close with some comments on our pending merger with Albertsons. Turning first to our performance. We delivered strong third-quarter sales results led by our pharmacy and digital performance, which reflects the versatility of our model.

最後，我將以我們即將與艾伯森合併的一些評論作為結束語。首先談談我們的表現。在我們的藥局和數位業績的帶動下，我們第三季的銷售業績強勁，這反映了我們模型的多功能性。

Customer engagement remains strong. Our convenient seamless shopping experience along with incredible customer value through low prices, personalized offers and great quality our brand products drove growth in both total and loyal households.

客戶參與度依然強大。我們便利的無縫購物體驗以及透過低廉的價格、個人化的優惠和優質的品牌產品帶來的令人難以置信的客戶價值推動了家庭總數和忠誠家庭的成長。

As we entered the last quarter of 2024, we are focused on providing the quality, fresh and affordable products that make holiday celebrations special. Customer spending habits continue adjusting to current macroeconomic factors as inflation normalizes our premium and mainstream households are feeling more confident and are returning to their prepandemic shopping patterns more quickly.

進入 2024 年最後一個季度，我們致力於提供優質、新鮮且價格實惠的產品，讓節日慶祝活動變得與眾不同。隨著通貨膨脹使我們的溢價正常化，客戶的消費習慣繼續適應當前的宏觀經濟因素，主流家庭感覺更加自信，並且更快地恢復到大流行前的購物模式。

Mainstream households are the primary driver of our positive customer engagement trends. While overall consumer settlement remains low, expectations are improving which positions us well for the holidays and into next year. As we said, near term, some customers are managing macroeconomic uncertainty. Spending from budget conscious households remain under pressure as the effects of multiyear inflation and higher interest rates have had a larger impact on these households.

主流家庭是我們積極的客戶參與趨勢的主要驅動力。雖然整體消費者結算仍然較低，但預期正在改善，這使我們在假期和明年處於有利地位。正如我們所說，短期內，一些客戶正在應對宏觀經濟的不確定性。由於多年通貨膨脹和利率上升對這些家庭產生了更大的影響，因此註重預算的家庭的支出仍然面臨壓力。

Therefore, we expect it will take longer for these households to fill the benefits of economic improvement. Kroger is delivering on its longstanding commitment to provide customers with the value they are seeking.

因此，我們預期這些家庭需要更長的時間才能享受經濟改善的好處。克羅格正在履行其長期承諾，為客戶提供他們所尋求的價值。

We are helping customers save in multiple ways including competitive shelf prices and loyalty discounts, personalized offers, fuel rewards and an expanded multitier our brands portfolio. Digital offers are an important way we deliver savings to customers and engagement continues to grow with 5% more digital offer clips so far this year and that has led to 14% more savings for Kroger customers.

我們透過多種方式幫助客戶節省開支，包括具有競爭力的貨架價格和忠誠度折扣、個人化優惠、燃油獎勵以及擴展的多層次品牌組合。數位優惠是我們為客戶節省開支的重要方式，今年到目前為止，數位優惠剪輯增加了 5%，參與度持續成長，這為克羅格客戶節省了 14% 的費用。

We are always creating additional ways for our customers to save. This quarter, we celebrated and thanked our customers with the customer appreciation week offering new great deals and to help our customers enjoy a memorable Thanksgiving, we lowered the price of Thanksgiving meals for the third consecutive year by creating a meal bundle that served a group of 10 people for less than $5 per person.

我們一直在為客戶創造更多的節省方式。本季度，我們透過客戶答謝週提供新的超值優惠來慶祝和感謝客戶，並幫助我們的客戶享受難忘的感恩節，我們連續第三年降低了感恩節餐點的價格，推出了為一群人提供服務的套餐。

We are focused on executing our go to market strategy to deliver a differentiated customer experience through our focus areas of fresh our brands personalization and seamless.

我們專注於執行我們的市場策略，透過我們的品牌個人化和無縫的重點領域提供差異化的客戶體驗。

We appreciate our associates' continued efforts to elevate the customer experience and bringing this strategy to life by improving on our key priorities of full fresh and friendly again, this quarter. I would now like to cover how we are enhancing our go to market strategy. We are seeing long runways for growth in many areas of our strategy starting with fresh.

我們感謝我們的員工繼續努力提升客戶體驗，並透過在本季度再次改進我們的關鍵優先事項「全面新鮮和友好」來將這一策略變為現實。我現在想介紹我們如何加強我們的市場策略。我們看到我們策略的許多領域都有很長的成長空間，從新鮮開始。

Customers connect strongly to our fresh for everyone, brand promise, which is a key differentiator for Kroger improvements across the supply chain as part of our end to end fresh initiative are increasing days of freshness. For example, bagged salads now offer customers more than seven days of freshness.

客戶與我們為每個人提供新鮮食品的品牌承諾有著密切的聯繫，這是克羅格在整個供應鏈中進行改進的關鍵差異化因素，因為我們的端到端新鮮計劃的一部分是增加新鮮度。例如，袋裝沙拉現在可以為顧客提供超過 7 天的保鮮期。

Customers are noticing and it has led to identical sales and produce of more than 3% this quarter. In addition, we constantly evaluate new ways to apply data and technology to provide an even better fresh experience and deliver more days of freshness for our customers. One of the ways we are doing this is through recent implementation of RFID embedded labels on bakery items.

客戶已經注意到這一點，這導致本季度的銷售額和產量相同超過 3%。此外，我們不斷評估應用數據和技術的新方法，以提供更好的新鮮體驗，並為客戶提供更多天的新鮮度。我們實現這一目標的方法之一是最近在烘焙食品上實施 RFID 嵌入式標籤。

These labels provide us with greater insights into our fresh inventory, resulting in consistently fresher items and higher in stock levels. We have seen encouraging results including higher sales in locations and categories where we have piloted the RFID labels and we look forward to scaling this to more stores.

這些標籤使我們能夠更深入地了解新鮮庫存，從而始終保持更新鮮的商品和更高的庫存水準。我們已經看到了令人鼓舞的結果，包括在我們試點使用 RFID 標籤的地點和類別中實現了更高的銷售額，我們期待將其擴展到更多商店。

Turning to our brands, I would like to step back and talk about the significant investments we've made in our brands and how those investments are delivering value to both customers and shareholders. For years, the grocery industry offered private label products with the primary goal of creating products at lower price points.

談到我們的品牌，我想退一步談談我們對品牌所做的重大投資，以及這些投資如何為客戶和股東帶來價值。多年來，雜貨業提供自有品牌產品，其主要目標是以較低的價格生產產品。

Several years ago, we recognized an untapped opportunity for growth in these products and envisioned a future where our private label products would match or exceed the innovation, quality and recognition of national brands, which is why we coined the phrase our brands guided by that vision, our teams built distinct and recognizable brands that our customers want and love providing more value and meeting unique project needs that national brands cannot fill.

幾年前，我們認識到這些產品有尚未開發的成長機會，並設想未來我們的自有品牌產品將達到或超過國家品牌的創新、品質和認可度，這就是為什麼我們在這一願景的指導下創造了「我們的品牌」這個短語的原因，我們的團隊建立了客戶想要和喜愛的獨特且可識別的品牌，提供更多價值並滿足國家品牌無法滿足的獨特項目需求。

Recently, we focused in on refining our brand architecture to optimize the portfolio and ensure each brand plays a unique role on the shelf. The successful edition of Smartway, our new opening price point brand played an important role in rounding out our multitier portfolio and offering an attractive alternative to national brands at every price point.

最近，我們專注於完善品牌架構，以優化產品組合，確保每個品牌在貨架上發揮獨特的作用。 Smartway 的成功版本是我們新的開放價位品牌，在完善我們的多層產品組合併為各個價位的國內品牌提供有吸引力的替代品方面發揮了重要作用。

The next phase of the work involved refreshing designs and packaging, enhancing brand equity and reinforcing quality and improving the shopability. For example, to reinforce our longstanding guarantee of quality and freshness, we are placing guarantees on labels across our Kroger branded products.

下一階段的工作包括更新設計和包裝、增強品牌資產、強化品質並提高可購買性。例如，為了加強我們對品質和新鮮度的長期保證，我們在克羅格品牌產品的標籤上提供保證。

Innovation remains a driving force for our brand's growth. We utilize our data and insights to understand customer trends and meet increasing demands by consistently introducing new items to our portfolio with a focus on growth areas including free from organic and multicultural. This innovation enables us to differentiate ourselves from both national brands and other private label brands, creating destination items that help build customer loyalty.

創新仍然是我們品牌成長的驅動力。我們利用我們的數據和見解來了解客戶趨勢，並透過不斷向我們的產品組合引入新產品來滿足日益增長的需求，重點關注成長領域，包括非有機和多元文化。這項創新使我們能夠區別於國內品牌和其他自有品牌，創造有助於建立客戶忠誠度的目的地產品。

Our manufacturing capabilities will continue to be an important advantage for our brands. With oversight over the quality and the supply, we can develop unique and differentiated products while keeping costs low, allowing us to pass the savings to customers while preserving our ability to grow margins. A true win for customers in Kroger this quarter, our brands continue to deliver strong financial results which Todd will cover in more detail.

我們的製造能力將繼續成為我們品牌的重要優勢。透過對品質和供應的監督，我們可以開發獨特且差異化的產品，同時保持較低的成本，使我們能夠將節省的成本回饋給客戶，同時保持增加利潤的能力。本季克羅格客戶的真正勝利是，我們的品牌繼續提供強勁的財務業績，托德將對此進行更詳細的介紹。

Next to personalization. Our Kroger Plus program provides our loyal customers access to savings and rewards that in turn drive traffic to our seamless experience. As customers become more engaged, we gain deeper insights into customer trends while creating the data that enables us to grow Kroger precision marketing and deliver more effective promotions and relevant product recommendations.

接下來是個人化。我們的 Kroger Plus 計劃為我們的忠實客戶提供節省和獎勵，從而為我們的無縫體驗帶來流量。隨著客戶的參與度越來越高，我們可以更深入地了解客戶趨勢，同時創建數據，使我們能夠發展克羅格精準行銷並提供更有效的促銷和相關產品推薦。

We are working to grow, boost the next level of our loyalty program through new benefits, and this quarter, we announced the addition of Disney+, Hulu or ESPN+ streaming benefits with boost annual memberships.

我們正在努力透過新的福利來發展和提升我們的忠誠度計劃的新水平，本季度，我們宣布增加 Disney+、Hulu 或 ESPN+ 串流福利，並增加年度會員資格。

Turning to seamless. Digital sales grew 11%, driven by an increase in both households and traffic. Within digital, delivery sales grew at 18% and continues to outpace other channels.

轉向無縫。在家庭和流量成長的推動下，數位銷售額成長了 11%。在數位領域，送貨銷售額成長了 18%，並繼續領先其他管道。

Boost is one of the important ways we are increasing e-commerce penetration, providing customers an affordable membership model for free delivery. Increasing e-commerce penetration is important to our model as households who shop with us digitally and are in our stores are our most loyal customers and increased retail media monetization opportunities as well. As our digital business grows, particularly in our delivery network, it continues to have a larger impact on our financial results.

Boost 是我們提高電子商務滲透率的重要方式之一，為客戶提供實惠的免費送貨會員模式。提高電子商務滲透率對我們的模式很重要，因為透過我們數位化方式在我們商店購物的家庭是我們最忠實的客戶，也增加了零售媒體獲利機會。隨著我們的數位業務的成長，特別是我們的交付網路的成長，它繼續對我們的財務表現產生更大的影響。

Improving profitability is a key priority and becoming even more important to our financial model. Over nearly a decade, we made significant investments in our digital capabilities, building out our own properties, creating distribution channels in both pickup and delivery, investing in automation, enhancing personalization and introducing an industry leading retail media network.

提高獲利能力是首要任務，對我們的財務模式來說變得更加重要。近十年來，我們對數位能力進行了大量投資，建立了自己的資產，創建了提貨和送貨的分銷管道，投資於自動化，增強個性化並引入了行業領先的零售媒體網絡。

While each of these capabilities required significant investments, we now have a unique digital experience that our customers enjoy. Moving forward, we are committed to growing volumes, utilizing automation and introducing new technology that will create efficiency gains while helping us narrow the profitability GAAP between online and in store. Narrowing that GAAP will generate meaningful operating margin benefits and help drive shareholder value over the next several years.

雖然每項功能都需要大量投資，但我們現在擁有客戶喜歡的獨特數位體驗。展望未來，我們致力於增加銷售量、利用自動化並引入新技術，以提高效率，同時幫助我們縮小線上和實體店之間的公認會計原則獲利能力。縮小公認會計原則將產生有意義的營業利潤率收益，並有助於在未來幾年內提​​高股東價值。

By executing our go to market strategy, we are building loyalty, increasing customer engagement and creating more growth opportunities. First with alternative profit businesses which had another solid quarter. Kroger precision marketing can continue to deliver the most significant growth from our alternative profit businesses.

透過執行我們的市場策略，我們正在建立忠誠度、提高客戶參與度並創造更多成長機會。首先是另類利潤業務，該業務季度表現強勁。克羅格精準行銷可以繼續為我們的另類利潤業務帶來最顯著的成長。

Next in health and wellness. As the pharmacy industry continues to transform, Kroger has a unique opportunity to play a bigger role in helping patients live healthier lives while growing our share of the industry.

接下來是健康和保健。隨著製藥業不斷轉型，克羅格擁有獨特的機會，可以在幫助患者過上更健康的生活方面發揮更大的作用，同時擴大我們在行業中的份額。

We are excited about this area of the business and its performance this quarter demonstrates we can grow this business profitably in a way that supports our customers to live healthier lives. Sales and profitability this quarter were well ahead of last year, led by growth in both GLP-1s and vaccines.

我們對該業務領域感到興奮，本季的業績顯示我們可以透過支持客戶過上更健康生活的方式來實現該業務的獲利成長。在 GLP-1 和疫苗的成長帶動下，本季的銷售額和獲利能力遠超去年。

Our strong growth in vaccines reflect patient trust in Kroger to vaccinate them and their families during the start of the cold and flu season. The peak quarter of the year for vaccinations, our health and wellness teams did an excellent job this quarter in building awareness around our vaccine capabilities, growing share and administrating significantly more vaccines this year versus a year ago. These helped offset the product mix pressures from GLP-1s.

我們疫苗的強勁增長反映了患者對克羅格在感冒和流感季節開始時為其及其家人接種疫苗的信任。在今年疫苗接種的高峰季度，我們的健康和保健團隊本季度在提高人們對我們的疫苗能力的認識、增加份額以及今年管理的疫苗數量比一年前顯著增加方面做得非常出色。這些有助於抵消 GLP-1 帶來的產品組合壓力。

Our vaccine efforts are leading to new patient scripts which is important as these customers are more likely to become loyal households and spend more across the store. We appreciate our associates for their continued efforts to elevate the customer experience by delivering on our key priorities of full fresh and friendly.

我們的疫苗工作正在催生新的患者腳本，這很重要，因為這些顧客更有可能成為忠誠的家庭，並在商店中花費更多。我們感謝我們的員工不斷努力透過實現我們的關鍵優先事項「新鮮和友好」來提升客戶體驗。

Team consistency leads to a better customer experience and we are excited about another quarter of improvement in retention. Our focus on retention reflects a holistic strategy including investments in wages and benefits as well as enhancing the associated experience through training, technology and career development opportunities.

團隊一致性可以帶來更好的客戶體驗，我們對保留率又一個季度的提高感到興奮。我們對保留人才的關注反映了整體策略，包括對薪資和福利的投資，以及透過培訓、技術和職業發展機會來增強相關經驗。

With that, I will hand it over to Todd to take you through our third quarter financial results. Todd?

接下來，我將把它交給托德，讓您了解我們第三季度的財務表現。托德？

Thanks Rodney and good morning everyone. Kroger's third-quarter results reflect the durability of our model with strong pharmacy results that help offset lower fuel profitability as we cycled strong fuel results from a year ago. As we head into the final quarter of the year, we are narrowing the ranges on our identical sales without fuel, adjusted FIFO operating profit and adjusted EPS guidance. The strength of our model gives us confidence in our ability to deliver on this full year guidance.

謝謝羅德尼，大家早安。克羅格第三季的業績反映了我們模型的耐用性，強勁的製藥業績有助於抵消燃料盈利能力下降的影響，因為我們循環使用了一年前強勁的燃料業績。隨著進入今年最後一個季度，我們正在縮小不含燃料的相同銷售額、調整後的先進先出營業利潤和調整後的每股收益指引的範圍。我們模型的優勢讓我們對實現全年指導的能力充滿信心。

Before I walk through our third quarter, financial results, I would like to start off by covering a couple of items from the quarter that affected our financial results. First during the third quarter, we finalized the sale of our Kroger Specialty Pharmacy business for $464 million.

在介紹第三季的財務表現之前，我想先介紹幾季影響我們財務表現的幾個項目。首先，在第三季度，我們以 4.64 億美元的價格完成了克羅格特種藥房業務的出售。

The sale reduced total company sales in the third quarter by approximately $340 million compared to the same period last year and annualized sales will be approximately $3 billion lower going forward. KSP was a low margin business. As a result, the sale of the business increased both Kroger's gross margin and operating general and administrative costs as a rate of sales. It had no material effect on operating profit.

此次出售使該公司第三季總銷售額比去年同期減少約 3.4 億美元，未來年化銷售額將減少約 30 億美元。 KSP 是一項低利潤業務。結果，該業務的出售增加了克羅格的毛利率以及營業總和管理成本（佔銷售額的比例）。這對營業利潤沒有重大影響。

Second on a year-over-year basis, the combined hurricane season and port strike had approximately a 20 basis point favorable impact on sales as customers stocked up in anticipation of these events. These events had an unfavorable impact on OG&A. Together this did not have a material impact on total operating profit.

其次，與去年同期相比，颶風季節和港口罷工對銷售產生了約 20 個基點的有利影響，因為客戶因預期這些事件而備貨。這些事件對 OG&A 產生了不利影響。總的來說，這並沒有對總營業利潤產生重大影響。

I'll now take you through our third quarter financial results. We achieved identical sales without fuel growth of 2.3%. As Rodney mentioned earlier, identical sales without fuel were led by strong pharmacy and digital sales. We are also encouraged by the continuation of positive customer metric trends including increases in total and loyal households.

現在我將向您介紹我們第三季的財務表現。我們在沒有燃油成長的情況下實現了相同的銷售額 2.3%。正如羅德尼之前提到的，強勁的藥品和數位銷售帶動了不含燃料的相同銷售。我們也對持續積極的客戶指標趨勢感到鼓舞，包括家庭總數和忠誠家庭的增加。

Our brands had a strong quarter with sales outpacing national brands again this quarter led by mid-single digit growth in our most premium brand, Private Selection. Customers continue to demand premium products, but at the same time are looking for value. Our Private Selection brand is a perfect solution by offering our customers premium quality at an attractive price.

我們的品牌在本季表現強勁，銷售額再次超過國內品牌，其中我們最優質的品牌 Private Selection 實現了中個位數成長。客戶繼續需要優質產品，但同時也在尋找價值。我們的 Private Selection 品牌是一個完美的解決方案，以有吸引力的價格為客戶提供優質的產品。

These results demonstrate the breadth of our brand's portfolio and the ability to meet customers' needs for quality and value. Digital sales delivered another quarter of double digit growth led by 18% growth in delivery solutions driven by our customer fulfillment centers.

這些結果證明了我們品牌產品組合的廣度以及滿足客戶對品質和價值需求的能力。在我們的客戶履行中心的推動下，交付解決方案成長了 18%，數位銷售又實現了四分之一的兩位數成長。

The CFCs are offering customers a superior digital experience with excellent in stocks, fresh items and a white glove on time delivery. CFC growth was driven by a significant increase in households and trips as well as an increase in basket size.

CFC 為客戶提供卓越的數位體驗，包括優質的庫存、新鮮的商品和準時交貨。 CFC 的成長是由家庭和旅行的顯著增加以及購物籃規模的增加所推動的。

Our third quarter identical sales without fuel results were affected by the Boars Head recalls that began in the second quarter. We acted quickly with the safety of our customers in mind as soon as we became aware of the situation. Boar's Head is a strategic supplier with brand loyal customers that are an important driver of our deli sales. As a result, some customers have temporarily migrated away from the category. It will take some time for those customers to resume their prior purchasing behavior, and we expect this to remain a headwind to sales in the near term.

我們第三季不含燃料的相同銷售業績受到第二季開始的 Boars Head 召回的影響。我們在得知情況後立即採取了行動，以確保客戶的安全。 Boar's Head 是一家策略供應商，擁有品牌忠誠的客戶，這些客戶是我們熟食店銷售的重要推動力。結果，一些客戶暫時離開了該類別。這些客戶需要一段時間才能恢復先前的購買行為，我們預計這在短期內仍將是銷售的阻力。

The unfavorable sales effect from Boar's Head this quarter was largely offset by the favorable sales impact from the hurricane and port strike. Turning to margins. Gross margin was 22.9% of sales and our FIFO gross margin rate excluding fuel increased 51 basis points compared to last year and was ahead of expectations.

本季 Boar's Head 的不利銷售影響在很大程度上被颶風和港口罷工帶來的有利銷售影響所抵消。轉向邊緣。毛利率佔銷售額的 22.9%，剔除燃油後的先進先出毛利率比去年增加了 51 個基點，超出了預期。

The increase in rate was primarily attributable to the sale of Kroger Specialty Pharmacy, our brand's performance and lower shrink partially offset by lower pharmacy margins. The result reflected Kroger's ability to improve margin while being competitive on price and helping customers manage their budgets.

比率的成長主要歸因於克羅格專業藥房的出售、我們品牌的業績和較低的損耗被較低的藥房利潤部分抵消。結果反映了克羅格在提高利潤率的同時具有價格競爭力並幫助客戶管理預算的能力。

The OG&A rate excluding fuel and adjustment items increased 22 basis points driven by the sale of Kroger Specialty Pharmacy and increased incentive plan costs partially offset by the continued execution of cost savings initiatives. Excluding the sale of Kroger Specialty Pharmacy fuel and adjustment items, our OG&A rate to sales would have been nearly flat year over year.

由於克羅格特種藥房的出售和激勵計劃成本的增加，不包括燃料和調整項目的 OG&A 率增加了 22 個基點，但激勵計劃成本的增加被持續執行成本節約舉措部分抵消。不包括克羅格特種藥房燃料和調整項目的銷售，我們的 OG&A 佔銷售額的比例幾乎與去年同期持平。

Demonstrating that our model can leverage expenses when we achieve our long term ID sales without fuel goal of 2% to 4%. This is made possible by a relentless focus on productivity and cost savings initiatives which remain an essential part of our model. These initiatives are focused on simplification and utilizing technology to enhance the associate experience without impacting the customer experience.

證明當我們實現長期 ID 銷售而無需 2% 至 4% 的燃料目標時，我們的模型可以利用費用。這是透過對生產力和成本節約措施的不懈關注而實現的，這仍然是我們模式的重要組成部分。這些措施的重點是簡化和利用科技來增強員工體驗而不影響顧客體驗。

This quarter, we launched a new internally developed generative AI powered sellthrough tool which helps us better manage inventory in both fresh and center store departments through real time insights, tracking sales and shipments. This enables our teams to increase freshness on shelves and prioritize sellthrough, optimizing both sales and margins. Looking ahead, we plan to further enhance the AI capabilities on this platform by extending into improved forecasting and end to end inventory management.

本季度，我們推出了一款新的內部開發的生成式人工智慧驅動的銷售工具，透過即時洞察、追蹤銷售和發貨，幫助我們更好地管理生鮮店和中心店部門的庫存。這使我們的團隊能夠提高貨架上的新鮮度並優先考慮銷售，從而優化銷售和利潤。展望未來，我們計劃透過擴展到改進的預測和端到端庫存管理來進一步增強該平台上的人工智慧功能。

During the third quarter, we recorded a LIFO charge of $4 million compared to a charge of $29 million for the same period last year, due to lower expected year over year inflation. Adjusted FIFO operating profit was $1.02 billion and adjusted EPS was $0.98 per diluted share, an increase of 3% compared to last year.

第三季度，由於預計年比通膨率較低，我們記錄的 LIFO 費用為 400 萬美元，而去年同期的費用為 2,900 萬美元。調整後的 FIFO 營業利潤為 10.2 億美元，調整後的每股攤薄每股收益為 0.98 美元，較去年增長 3%。

Fuel is an important part of our strategy. Fuel rewards through our Kroger Plus program help build customer loyalty. Fuel sales were significantly lower this quarter compared to last year attributable to a lower average retail price per gallon. Fuel profitability was also meaningfully behind a year ago as a result of fewer gallons sold and lower cents per gallon margin.

燃料是我們策略的重要組成部分。透過我們的 Kroger Plus 計劃提供獎勵有助於建立客戶忠誠度。由於每加侖平均零售價較低，本季燃料銷量較去年大幅下降。由於銷售的加侖數減少以及每加侖利潤率降低，燃料盈利能力也明顯落後於一年前。

I wanted to provide a brief update on inflation as it remains a topic of interest for many investors. Inflation was down slightly in the third quarter compared with the second quarter, but remains around 1%. We expect inflation to remain consistent in the fourth quarter. I would now like to provide a brief update on associates and labor relations.

我想提供有關通貨膨脹的簡要最新情況，因為它仍然是許多投資者感興趣的話題。第三季通膨率較第二季略有下降，但仍維持在1%左右。我們預計第四季通膨將保持穩定。我現在想簡單介紹一下員工和勞資關係的最新情況。

During the third quarter, we ratified new labor agreements for Dillons Columbia and Missouri clerks, Central Division, Ottawa and Streator clerks, Northern Illinois meat clerks, Fred Meyer Portland retail stores and the Foods Co contract in Northern California, all covering nearly 13,000 associates.

第三季度，我們批准了Dillons Columbia 和密蘇裡州店員、Central Division、渥太華和Streator 店員、北伊利諾伊州肉類店員、Fred Meyer 波特蘭零售店以及北加州Foods Co 合約的新勞工協議，所有這些都涵蓋了近13,000 名員工。

We respect associates' right to collectively bargain. We're also communicating to local unions that coming to the table with proposals that do not balance investing in associates with keeping groceries affordable for our customers and supporting a growing and profitable business model are untenable. These proposals stand in the way of operating our business in a way that ensures job security and advancement opportunities for associates.

我們尊重員工集體談判的權利。我們也與當地工會溝通，如果他們提出的建議不能平衡對員工的投資、讓我們的客戶負擔得起食品雜貨以及支持不斷增長和盈利的商業模式，那麼這種建議是站不住腳的。這些建議阻礙了我們以確保員工工作保障和晉升機會的方式經營業務。

Turning to cash flow. Kroger continues to generate strong adjusted free cash flow for consistent operating results. Free cash flow generation is an important part of our model and is enabling us to invest in our business for growth.

轉向現金流。克羅格繼續產生強勁的調整後自由現金流，以實現一致的經營業績。自由現金流的產生是我們模式的重要組成部分，使我們能夠投資於我們的業務以實現成長。

At the end of the third quarter, Kroger's net total debt to adjusted EBITDA ratio was 1.21 compared to our target range of 2.3 to 2.5. Our strengthened balance sheet provides us flexibility to pursue growth and enhance shareholder value.

截至第三季末，克羅格的淨總負債與調整後 EBITDA 比率為 1.21，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我們提供了追求成長和提高股東價值的靈活性。

We continue to take a disciplined approach to deploying capital, prioritizing the highest growth opportunities that strengthen our business and deliver solid returns for our shareholders. We're committed to maintaining 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，優先考慮能夠增強我們業務並為股東帶來豐厚回報的最高成長機會。我們致力於維持我們的投資等級債務評級，隨著時間的推移增加我們的股息，但須經董事會批准，並在我們能夠這樣做時將多餘的資本返還給股東。

I would now like to provide some additional color on our outlook for the rest of the year. After delivering solid third quarter results, we're narrowing the ranges of identical sales without fuel, adjusted FIFO operating profit and adjusted EPS guidance. Additionally, we have updated our guidance for adjusted effective tax rate and expect it to be 22.5%.

現在我想為我們今年剩餘時間的展望提供一些額外的資訊。在提供穩健的第三季業績後，我們正在縮小不含燃料的相同銷售額範圍，調整後的先進先出營業利潤和調整後的每股收益指引。此外，我們也更新了調整後有效稅率的指引，預計為 22.5%。

We now expect identical sales without fuel for the year to be in the range of 1.2% to 1.5%, with quarter-to-date trends signaling we will be near the midpoint of this range. Our identical sales without fuel results year-to-date have largely been in line with our expectations with Q3 being slightly ahead of expectations due to the favorable effects from the hurricanes, the port strike and strong vaccine growth during the peak season for immunizations.

我們現在預計今年不含燃料的相同銷售額將在 1.2% 至 1.5% 的範圍內，季度迄今的趨勢表明我們將接近該範圍的中點。年初至今，我們不含燃料的相同銷售業績基本上符合我們的預期，由於颶風、港口罷工和免疫旺季期間疫苗強勁增長的有利影響，第三季度略高於預期。

Our expectations for fourth quarter identical sales without fuel are consistent with our forecast at the beginning of the year. We expect Q4 identical sales to remain strong, but sequentially lower than third quarter, partially due to the cycling of weather benefits from the fourth quarter of 2023, that are not built into our current forecast for Q4 2024.

我們對第四季度不含燃料的相同銷售量的預期與我們年初的預測一致。我們預計第四季度的相同銷售額將保持強勁，但環比低於第三季度，部分原因是從2023 年第四季度開始的天氣效益循環，而這並未納入我們目前對2024 年第四季度的預測中。

We now expect adjusted FIFO operating profit to be in the range of $4.6 billion to $4.7 billion and adjusted net earnings per diluted share is expected to be in the range of $4.35 to $4.45. Looking to next year, we are in the process of finalizing our 2025 business plan. While we still have many unknowns, we do expect Kroger to deliver FIFO operating profit growth on a stand-alone basis. During our fourth quarter earnings call, we plan to share our full-year 2025 outlook in more detail.

我們目前預計調整後的 FIFO 營業利潤將在 46 億美元至 47 億美元之間，調整後的稀釋每股淨利潤預計將在 4.35 美元至 4.45 美元之間。展望明年，我們正在最終確定 2025 年業務計劃。雖然我們仍然有許多未知因素，但我們確實預期克羅格將實現先進先出的獨立營運利潤成長。在第四季財報電話會議上，我們計劃更詳細地分享 2025 年全年展望。

In closing, we are happy to deliver another quarter of strong results, which reflect the resilience of our value creation model. While macroeconomic conditions remain uncertain, our model has multiple levers, which enable us to navigate any environment, including grocery, health and wellness, fuel and alternative profit businesses. This gives us flexibility in the ways we create shareholder value and confidence in our ability to generate attractive and sustainable returns for shareholders.

最後，我們很高興再交出一個季度的強勁業績，這反映了我們價值創造模式的彈性。儘管宏觀經濟狀況仍然不確定，但我們的模型具有多種槓桿，使我們能夠應對任何環境，包括雜貨、健康和保健、燃料和替代利潤業務。這使我們能夠靈活地創造股東價值，並使我們對為股東創造有吸引力和可持續回報的能力充滿信心。

I will now turn the call back to Rodney.

現在我將把電話轉回給羅德尼。

Thanks Todd. Before I open it up to Q&A, I'd like to speak briefly about our pending merger with Albertsons. First, I would like to express my appreciation for our associates and their incredible commitment.

謝謝托德。在進行問答之前，我想先簡單談談我們即將與艾伯森進行的合併。首先，我要對我們的同事及其令人難以置信的承諾表示感謝。

It has been a long journey and our associates have done an excellent job serving customers and running the day to day operations of our business while also preparing for the merger. I would like to extend a special thanks to those who supported the litigation in federal and state courts. Both the associates who testified and the teams who prepared a compelling case about the meaningful and measurable benefits of the merger.

這是一段漫長的旅程，我們的員工在為客戶服務和日常業務運作方面做得非常出色，同時也為合併做準備。我要特別感謝那些支持聯邦和州法院訴訟的人們。作證的同事和準備令人信服的案例的團隊都講述了合併的有意義和可衡量的好處。

Our teams are ready to ensure a seamless transition for our customers and associates from day one. It is exciting to see the complementary strengths of both Kroger and Albertsons organizations. And we look forward to combining these strengths to provide customers with an even better experience. As we await the court rulings and the regulatory challenges to the merger, we remain confident in the facts and the strengths of our position.

我們的團隊從第一天起就做好了準備，確保我們的客戶和員工實現無縫過渡。看到克羅格和艾伯森組織的優勢互補令人興奮。我們期待將這些優勢結合起來，為客戶提供更好的體驗。在我們等待法院裁決和合併面臨的監管挑戰時，我們對事實和我們的地位優勢仍然充滿信心。

The retail industry continues to be more competitive and we know how our customers shop. Every day, they are making decisions on where to eat and where to buy their groceries. They shop at a wide range of competitors from Costco to Amazon to Dollar Stores and they eat restaurants.

零售業的競爭持續變得更加激烈，我們知道客戶如何購物。他們每天都在決定去哪裡吃飯和去哪裡買雜貨。他們在好市多（Costco）、亞馬遜（Amazon）、一元商店（Dollar Stores）等眾多競爭對手處購物，並且在餐廳吃飯。

They shop digitally and brick and mortar. And as I've said before, we remain committed to closing the merger because it will provide meaningful and measurable benefits for customers, for Associates and for communities across the country. And we look forward to bringing these commitments to life.

他們透過數位方式和實體店進行購物。正如我之前所說，我們仍然致力於完成合併，因為它將為客戶、員工和全國各地的社區提供有意義且可衡量的利益。我們期待將這些承諾變成現實。

Regardless of the outcome of the trials, Kroger is operating from a position of strength and we are optimistic about our future. Our business is more diverse than ever and our value creation model provides us with multiple ways to drive sustainable growth. Our strong free cash flow and strengthened balance sheet provides us with the ability to invest in our business and enhance shareholder value.

無論試驗結果如何，克羅格都處於強勢地位，我們對未來感到樂觀。我們的業務比以往更加多元化，我們的價值創造模式為我們提供了多種方式來推動永續成長。我們強勁的自由現金流和強化的資產負債表使我們有能力投資於我們的業務並提高股東價值。

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

托德和我期待回答您的問題。由於我們仍在訴訟中，因此今天上午我們不會回答有關合併的問題。

Thank you. (Operator Instructions) Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

謝謝。 （操作員指令）Simeon Gutman，摩根士丹利。

Good morning Rodney, Todd. My question is on the PNL for 2024. If you take out the extra week lap and then you pull out some of the merger related costs, the big ones, it looks like the core business is growing pretty nicely on EBIT and really nicely potentially mid-single, even high single digit percentage.

早安，羅德尼，陶德。我的問題是關於2024 年的PNL。有可能達到中期-個位數，甚至高個位數百分比。

And that's despite lower fuel profitability and the environment's been pretty tough. So first is that a fair characterization? And is it mixing the way you would have thought between the core business and the alternative? Thanks.

儘管燃料獲利能力較低且環境相當嚴峻，但情況仍然如此。那麼首先這是一個公平的描述嗎？它是否以您想像的方式將核心業務與替代業務混合在一起？謝謝。

Great question, Simeon. Thanks for that. I think that's a fair read on how you've described it. We were obviously very happy with the results that we've seen coming from not only the core business but inclusive of pharmacy. We're particularly pleased results we saw in pharmacy you heard Rodney talk about today.

很好的問題，西蒙。謝謝你。我認為這對你的描述是公平的。顯然，我們對我們所看到的結果非常滿意，不僅來自核心業務，而且還包括製藥業務。我們對您今天聽到羅德尼談論的藥房看到的結果感到特別高興。

So despite that lever and fuel giving us a headwind this quarter, we were pleased with the core growth coming from the core business and see that continuing. The mix relative to alternative and core business, I think the growth expectations that we have around the alternative profit business are relatively consistent to what we expected to see. And so I think that those are continue to be as balanced as we expected going into the quarter.

因此，儘管槓桿和燃料在本季度給我們帶來了阻力，但我們對核心業務的核心成長感到滿意，並看到這種情況持續下去。相對於替代業務和核心業務的組合，我認為我們對替代利潤業務的成長預期與我們的預期相對一致。因此，我認為這些將繼續像我們預期的那樣平衡進入本季。

And longer term as everyone knows, the alternative business -- profit businesses, we continue to see a great opportunity and the margins on that business is meaningfully higher than the supermarket business and the whole fly will between our brick and mortar business and our seamless business pick-up and delivery is the engine behind driving that continuation there which we're very excited about.

眾所周知，從長遠來看，另類業務——盈利業務，我們繼續看到一個巨大的機會，該業務的利潤率明顯高於超市業務，並且我們的實體業務和無縫業務之間的整體飛翔提貨和送貨是推動這一趨勢持續發展的引擎，對此我們感到非常興奮。

That's a great call, Rodney. We saw the digital growth again at low double-digit growth, which is an important part of the growth that you talked about, Simeon. And that, again, when you talk about mix in our business in our omnichannel, that low double-digit growth is right on what we expected and helps drive both the core business and the alternative profit, as Rodney described.

這是一個很棒的決定，羅德尼。我們再次看到了兩位數的低數字成長，這是你談到的成長的重要組成部分，西蒙。再說一次，當你談論我們全通路業務的組合時，這種低兩位數的成長符合我們的預期，並有助於推動核心業務和替代利潤，正如羅德尼所描述的那樣。

And the one follow up, this is more towards a comment Rodney made. All year, we talked about the mainstream, the premium and the lower end it felt like there may have been an inflection where the mainstream has been resilient and the premium has been healthy. I thought your comments today on mainstream inflected a little more positively. I'm not sure if that's reading too much in lower income sounds about the same. Curious, if that's fair.

後續的內容更多是針對羅德尼所做的評論。一整年，我們都在談論主流、高端和低端產品，感覺可能出現了一個拐點，主流產品一直保持彈性，高端產品保持健康。我認為你今天對主流的評論變得更加積極了。我不確定這與低收入者閱讀太多聽起來是否相同。很好奇，如果公平的話。

Yeah, the mainstream customers certainly performed connected with us better in the third quarter than the second quarter. How much of that is driven because of things we did and how much they're just feeling better. We don't know now they're telling us they feel better and certainly customers that are on a budget continue to be under a lot of strain the accumulation of inflation and other aspects and higher interest rates have affected continue to affect them more.

是的，主流客戶在第三季與我們的聯繫確實比第二季表現更好。其中有多少是因為我們所做的事情以及他們感覺更好而推動的。我們現在不知道他們是否告訴我們他們感覺好多了，當然，預算有限的客戶繼續承受著巨大的壓力，通貨膨脹和其他方面的累積以及更高的利率繼續對他們產生更大的影響。

And I think the other thing is always important to remember is that customer, in many cases, are starting out in careers and things and they don't have as many physical assets on a house or a little bit of savings and those things and those inflation obviously affects that person a little harder than others. Thanks Simeon.

我認為另一件事始終重要的是要記住，在很多情況下，客戶正在開始職業生涯和事物，他們沒有那麼多的房子上的實物資產或一點點的儲蓄以及這些東西和那些顯然，通貨膨脹對這個人的影響比其他人要嚴重一些。謝謝西蒙。

Rupesh Parikh, Oppenheimer.

魯佩什·帕里克，奧本海默。

Good morning and thank you for taking my question. So, just going back to your guidance. So you did narrow the operating profit range to the lower end of the range for the full year. So just curious what's driving that.

早安，感謝您提出我的問題。所以，回到你的指導。因此，您確實將營業利潤範圍縮小到全年範圍的下限。所以只是好奇是什麼推動了這一點。

Todd, I'll let you start and --

托德，我讓你開始——

Yeah. With one quarter left, Rupesh, we wanted to try to narrow the range because there should be less variability in our expectations. When you look at the sales part of the guidance down at $1.2 million to $1.5 million, I think that's pretty consistent with what we've been thinking for the year. The midpoint on that range is a tick higher than I think what we had been thinking before.

是的。還剩下四分之一，Rupesh，我們想嘗試縮小範圍，因為我們的預期變化應該較小。當你看到指導中的銷售部分下降到 120 萬美元到 150 萬美元時，我認為這與我們今年的想法非常一致。該範圍的中點比我之前想像的要高一點。

And frankly, when you look at where we expect to be in Q4, I think that's right on how we've been thinking about it all year relative to all of that. Q3 actually is the one that was really strong. And we talked about -- Rodney talked about the pharmacy and the digital growth there, particularly in the vaccine space, we're really pleased.

坦白說，當你看到我們對第四季度的預期時，我認為這與我們一整年相對於所有這些的思考方式是正確的。 Q3其實是真正強大的一個。我們談到了羅德尼談到了藥房和那裡的數位成長，特別是在疫苗領域，我們真的很高興。

We've been working hard to grow our vaccine business, and we saw that throughout the quarters early in this year. But with Q3 being that key vaccine -- Super Bowl season for vaccines, we were really pleased to see that growth continue and then it paid off at that point in time. So that's where we saw Q3 being really strong and that Q4 guidance being really what we expected.

我們一直在努力發展我們的疫苗業務，我們在今年年初的整個季度都看到了這一點。但由於第三季是關鍵的疫苗——超級盃疫苗賽季，我們非常高興看到這種成長持續下去，並在那時得到了回報。因此，我們看到第三季非常強勁，第四季的指導也確實符合我們的預期。

When you look at it on the EPS side of our guidance, Rupesh, again, narrow the range there. We took a nickel off the top side and the bottom side, and really that midpoint of the range is pretty consistent with where we've been thinking about it for the year. As we think about that range and some of the key factors for that range in the fourth quarter, a couple of key things that we're keeping an eye on.

當你從我們指導的 EPS 方面來看時，Rupesh 再次縮小了那裡的範圍。我們從頂部和底部各取了五分錢，實際上該範圍的中點與我們今年一直在考慮的位置非常一致。當我們思考這個範圍以及第四季度該範圍的一些關鍵因素時，我們正在關註一些關鍵的事情。

One is weather. We alluded to it in our prepared comments. There were several meaningful weather events a year ago that drove some benefits. And we just don't forecast weather on a forward-looking basis. So we see the number and magnitude of weather events in the fourth quarter this year, I think that would be something that could push us towards the higher end of that range.

一是天氣。我們在準備好的評論中提到了這一點。一年前發生了幾次有意義的天氣事件，帶來了一些好處。我們只是不前瞻性地預測天氣。因此，我們看到今年第四季天氣事件的數量和強度，我認為這可能會推動我們走向該範圍的高端。

And then the other one is fuel. And certainly, we -- fuel tends to be pretty volatile, and we've seen that this year. And really, we have fuel expectations to be pretty in line with where they were last year. And frankly, from a gallon trend and from a cents per gallon trend in the fourth quarter, we're pretty consistent sequentially from where we've been performing over the last few periods. So if we have variance in the fuel profitability, either positive or negative, I think that could lean us towards the top or the bottom end of that range, respectively.

另一種是燃料。當然，我們——燃料往往相當不穩定，今年我們已經看到了這一點。事實上，我們對燃料的預期與去年相當一致。坦白說，從第四季的加侖趨勢和每加侖美分趨勢來看，我們與過去幾個時期的表現相當一致。因此，如果我們的燃料獲利能力有差異，無論是正數還是負數，我認為這可能會使我們分別接近該範圍的上限或下限。

Todd. Todd said this, but I think it's important to just highlight it. If you look at the range for the year, fuel in the third quarter was a tougher quarter than what we expected it to be. And that really relative to the top side.

托德。托德說過這一點，但我認為強調這一點很重要。如果你看看今年的範圍，第三季的燃料比我們預期的要艱難。這確實是相對於頂部而言的。

And the other thing that Todd mentioned, we don't budget weather because we just don't know. Obviously there's been some major storms but those storms haven't been in places where we operate stores, so it really hasn't affected us so far. And generally, that's a positive when we have weather because people eat home as opposed to going to restaurants.

托德提到的另一件事是，我們不預算天氣，因為我們不知道。顯然，確實發生了一些大風暴，但這些風暴並未發生在我們經營商店的地方，所以到目前為止，它確實沒有影響到我們。一般來說，當天氣好時，這是一件好事，因為人們會在家吃飯，而不是去餐廳。

And then my very quick ball question just on the boost membership, you added the Disney Perk as well. Just, overall, are you guys happy with the finance you're seeing and the retention with that program?

然後我很快就提出了關於增加會員資格的問題，您還添加了迪士尼福利。只是，總的來說，你們對該計劃的財務狀況和保留率感到滿意嗎？

I would say we're very happy, but the thing that I guess I get more excited about is the potential because it's an incredible value for customers and customers love it and they -- we have a high renewal rate and a high MPs score.

我想說我們非常高興，但我想我更興奮的是潛力，因為它對客戶來說具有令人難以置信的價值，客戶喜歡它，而且他們- 我們有很高的續訂率和很高的MPs 分數。

So our job is to continue to educate more customers on it. So I'm really more excited about the opportunity going forward and the overall deeper connection with the customers. So great question. Thanks, Rupesh.

因此，我們的工作是繼續向更多客戶提供相關教育。因此，我對未來的機會以及與客戶的整體更深層的聯繫感到更加興奮。很好的問題。謝謝，魯佩什。

Thank you. Leah Jordan, Goldman Sachs.

謝謝。利亞·喬丹，高盛。

Good morning. Thank you for taking my question and thanks for the commentary on inflation this morning and how you're thinking about it in the fourth quarter. But as you plan with your vendors and seeing if you can add more color on how you're thinking about inflation into next year, what are you seeing across categories and hearing from those partners?

早安.感謝您回答我的問題，也感謝您今天早上對通膨的評論以及您對第四季度通膨的看法。但是，當您與供應商一起制定計劃，看看是否可以為明年的通貨膨脹添加更多色彩時，您在各個類別中看到了什麼，並從這些合作夥伴那裡聽到了什麼？

Yeah. No, a great question. Maybe still a little early to think about next year. But if you think about where we were this year, obviously, coming into the year, we were coming out of that crazy disinflation that we had a year ago. And inflation has played out more or less the way we expected.

是的。不，這是一個很好的問題。也許現在考慮明年還為時過早。但如果你想想我們今年的情況，顯然，進入這一年，我們正在擺脫一年前的瘋狂通貨緊縮。通貨膨脹或多或少地按照我們的預期發展。

It's maybe a little bit less than what we expected, but it's been relatively stable at just under 1%. Maybe even saw I think a slight step back in Q3 relative to Q2, which as we said, we expect to see for next year.

它可能比我們預期的要少一點，但它相對穩定在略低於 1%。我什至認為第三季度相對於第二季度略有退步，正如我們所說，我們預計明年會看到這一情況。

As we look to next year at this point, looking at both some of the macro and governmental studies as well as conversations with vendors, again, it's still early to tell. And we might see a slight expansion to inflation next year, but really don't expect to see anything meaningfully different or inconsistent with what we're kind of seeing right now with inflation.

當我們展望明年時，看看一些宏觀和政府研究以及與供應商的對話，再次，現在下結論還為時過早。明年我們可能會看到通膨略有擴大，但實際上預計不會出現任何與我們目前所看到的通膨有重大不同或不一致的情況。

We are continuing to see CPGs be a little more aggressive on trade dollars and, over time, that obviously affects inflation a little bit as well.

我們繼續看到快速消費品對貿易美元的態度更加激進，隨著時間的推移，這顯然也會對通膨產生一些影響。

Great. Thank you. And I just wanted to follow up on some of your fresh initiatives. I know you've been working on improving days of freshness and produce for a while. So great to see some improvement there, but it seemed like the RFID tags within Bakery is new to me, just wanted more color there. What degree of list are you seeing when you add that to the category? How many of your stores have it today? And how should we think about the rollout over time?

偉大的。謝謝。我只是想跟進你們的一些新舉措。我知道您一段時間以來一直致力於改善新鮮度和農產品。很高興看到那裡有一些改進，但麵包店內的 RFID 標籤對我來說似乎是新的，只是想要更多的顏色。當您將其新增至類別時，您會看到什麼程度的清單？今天您有多少家商店有這種產品？我們應該如何考慮隨著時間的推移而推出？

Well, we are -- as I mentioned, we're testing it. We're happy with the initial result. The benefits are as much helping our associates be able to do their job a little bit easier. And it's too early. It's early enough to be excited about the potential. It's too early to say, this much we can budget in terms of what we would do. But the thing that we're excited about for our customers, it's helping us make sure we have fresher product for the customer and stay in stock better.

嗯，正如我所提到的，我們正在測試它。我們對初步結果感到滿意。這些好處同樣可以幫助我們的員工更輕鬆地完成工作。而且還為時過早。現在對潛力感到興奮還為時過早。現在說我們可以做這麼多預算還為時過早。但讓我們的客戶感到興奮的是，它幫助我們確保為客戶提供更新鮮的產品並更好地保持庫存。

And it's super exciting. We will look at other areas of the store to see what kind of opportunity it is. The cost per tag is still higher than we would like. So we still need to continue to work on focusing on to get the cost per tag down, but positive early results really early in the process and excited about the potential. Thanks Leah.

這非常令人興奮。我們會看看商店的其他區域，看看這是什麼樣的機會。每個標籤的成本仍然高於我們的預期。因此，我們仍然需要繼續致力於降低每個標籤的成本，但在這個過程的早期階段就取得了積極的早期成果，並對潛力感到興奮。謝謝莉亞。

Thank you. Ken Goldman, JP Morgan.

謝謝。肯‧戈德曼，摩根大通。

Hi, thank you. I wanted to follow up on the topic of next year. I appreciate it's too early for specifics, and I'm not asking for any numbers. But to Simeon's question, you agree that it's a fair read that the core underlying business is doing very well, I think those were the words, despite when you (technical difficulty) out the merger cost and the digital mix and fuel and so forth.

你好，謝謝。我想跟進明年的話題。我知道現在透露具體細節還為時過早，而且我不會要求任何數字。但對於西蒙的問題，你同意這是一個公平的解讀，核心基礎業務表現非常好，我認為這就是這些話，儘管你（技術困難）排除了合併成本、數位組合和燃料等等。

And you talked a little bit about inflation being sort of steady and predictable and consistent in that low single-digit range. Are there any other unusual tailwinds or headwinds that we should consider just directionally as we think about next year?

您談到了通貨膨脹在較低的個位數範圍內保持穩定、可預測和一致。當我們考慮明年時，是否還有其他不尋常的順風或逆風值得我們定向考慮？

I'm just trying to get a sense for what would kind of throw you off from having another reasonably good year. You did say that operating profit will be up, but you didn't kind of tell us how much, and your longer-term algo is 3% to 5%, of course.

我只是想了解什麼會阻礙你再度過一個相當好的一年。您確實說過營業利潤將會增加，但您沒有告訴我們具體增加多少，當然，您的長期演算法是 3% 到 5%。

And it's -- it would be way too early to tell you specifics. And obviously we're awaiting for the ruling on the merger which will affect guidance as well. The other thing that I guess from a positive standpoint that I'm excited about in the third quarter we opened or expanded the most number of stores that we've done. I think it's actually in a quarter in seven years.

現在告訴你具體細節還為時過早。顯然，我們正在等待有關合併的裁決，這也將影響指導。從正面的角度來看，我認為第三季令我感到興奮的另一件事是，我們開設或擴建的商店數量是迄今為止最多的。我認為實際上是七年的四分之一。

And as, last year we talked about it that we will open more stores this year than we have in several years and we would expect to continue to open more stores. And so far the stores that we've opened, we're happy with the way they're connecting with customers and we're happy in terms of the volumes they're creating and the early read on, the profitability of the stores as well.

正如去年我們談到的那樣，今年我們將開設比幾年來更多的商店，並且我們預計將繼續開設更多商店。到目前為止，我們開設的商店，我們對他們與客戶聯繫的方式感到滿意，我們對他們創造的數量和早期閱讀以及商店的盈利能力感到滿意出色地。

So over time, we would hope that would continue to be a twin and obviously on seamless, we continue to see that as really critical to our, 5 or 10 year future to be awesome there. And we still have a lot of work to do to make where we're indifferent, whether somebody shops with us online or in store. And we'll continue to put a lot of effort there. In terms of head when I don't let you and anything that you can think of, that's --

因此，隨著時間的推移，我們希望這將繼續是雙胞胎，而且顯然是無縫的，我們仍然認為這對我們 5 或 10 年的未來非常重要。我們還有很多工作要做，才能讓我們變得無關緊要，無論有人在網路上還是在商店裡與我們一起購物。我們將繼續在那裡付出很多努力。就頭腦而言，當我不讓你和你能想到的任何事情發生時，那就是——

I can't think of anything unusual on headwinds or tailwinds as we sit here today, frankly, Ken. But going into next year, part of what has us optimistic and feeling good about the strength of our value creation model is a lot of the momentum we have in the things that are in our growth areas today. We've talked about a lot of them already. It's pharmacy, it's our digital business, it's our alternative profit. And we have good momentum in those spaces and are executing on those.

坦白說，當我們今天坐在這裡時，我想不出逆風或順風有什麼不尋常的地方，肯。但進入明年，我們對價值創造模式的力量感到樂觀和感覺良好的部分原因是我們在今天的成長領域所擁有的大量動力。我們已經討論過其中的許多內容。這是藥房，這是我們的數位業務，這是我們的另類利潤。我們在這些領域擁有良好的勢頭，並且正在執行這些領域。

And from a headwind standpoint, we're going to continue to invest in the business. We're going to invest in price. You've heard Rodney say it before, we assume every year is going to be more competitive than the last and that view hasn't changed. And so we'll continue to -- engaging customers, make sure we're delivering value to them by investing in price and investing in their shopping experience. And we're committed to continue to invest in wages.

從逆風的角度來看，我們將繼續投資這項業務。我們將在價格上進行投資。你以前聽過羅德尼說過，我們假設每年都會比前一年更具競爭力，而且這種觀點沒有改變。因此，我們將繼續吸引客戶，確保我們透過投資價格和投資他們的購物體驗為他們提供價值。我們致力於繼續投資於工資。

So some of those are headwinds. They're just the parts of our model that as we deliver the value in our model through all our different value propositions, we're able to use that to invest in the business to keep the flywheel moving.

所以其中一些是逆風。它們只是我們模型的一部分，當我們透過所有不同的價值主張提供模型中的價值時，我們能夠利用它來投資業務以保持飛輪運轉。

Okay. Thank you for that. And then speaking about price investments, Rodney, you mentioned that CPGS continue to be a little bit more aggressive on trade dollars. Your largest competitor or, in food retail, We'll see if the judicial did the judges agree that it's a competitor or not, but your largest competitor in food retail had more kind of commentary last week or this week about how they would like to see more of those price investments from key vendors.

好的。謝謝你。然後談到價格投資，羅德尼，您提到 CPGS 在貿易美元方面繼續採取更激進的態度。你最大的競爭對手，或食品零售業，我們將看看司法機關是否同意法官是否同意它是競爭對手，但你食品零售業最大的競爭對手上週或本周有更多評論，說明他們希望如何看到更多來自主要供應商的價格投資。

Rodney, your tone, since I've known you has always been more sort of agnostic about that. If investor, if your vendors don't invest with that, you'll be happy to sell customers more private label. I'm just curious where you stand in terms of, are you content with the level of price investment or are you more just sort of agnostic and saying, look whatever our vendors want, it'll play out either way beneficially for you.

羅德尼，自從我認識你以來，你的語氣一直對此持不可知論態度。如果投資者，如果您的供應商不投資，您會很樂意向客戶出售更多自有品牌。我只是好奇你的立場是什麼，你對價格投資水平感到滿意還是你只是有點不可知論並說，看看我們的供應商想要什麼，它都會對你有利。

Yeah, I guess a little bit of both the if you look at tonnage growth in CPGs, there's a lot of CPGs that cannot be satisfied with their tonnage growth.

是的，我想兩者都有一點，如果你看看快速消費品的噸位增長，你會發現有很多快速消費品不能滿足其噸位增長。

And I believe that the trade dollars and being more aggressive on partnering with us to make sure the right customer gets access to those benefits is good long term for the customer, a long term benefit for both of us on tonnage. If they're not willing to do that, it really gets back to the comment that we talked about our brands.

我相信，貿易美元以及更積極地與我們合作以確保合適的客戶獲得這些好處對客戶來說是長期有利的，對我們雙方在噸位上都是長期利益。如果他們不願意這樣做，那就真的回到了我們談論我們品牌的評論。

And, Todd and I both mentioned it had a strong quarter. The profitability of our brands is several 100 basis points higher than national brand. And if the CPGs are willing to continue to give up share to our brands, we're okay with that because what we find is once a customer tries our brand, the repeat rate of customers coming back is incredibly high because what they find is they have, there's no compromise on quality and they have a great value for the money. So, at the end of the day, the customer wins when they buy our brands, but it really is, we try to run a business where the customer decides what they want to buy as opposed to forcing them to buy something. Thanks, Ken.

而且，托德和我都提到它有一個強勁的季度。我們品牌的獲利能力比國產品牌高出數百個基點。如果消費品公司願意繼續放棄我們品牌的份額，我們對此沒有意見，因為我們發現，一旦客戶嘗試我們的品牌，客戶的回頭率就會非常高，因為他們發現的是擁有，質量上沒有妥協，而且物有所值。因此，歸根結底，當客戶購買我們的品牌時，他們就贏了，但事實確實如此，我們試圖經營一家由客戶決定他們想買什麼的企業，而不是強迫他們買東西。謝謝，肯。

Thank you. Ed Kelly, Wells Fargo.

謝謝。艾德凱利，富國銀行。

Hi, good morning everyone. I'm curious about the gross margin. You've had a couple of good quarters, on the gross margin front, I think you admit this quarter was better than expect it. How are you thinking about gross margin in Q4? And then, even like into, I don't know, you're not going to get next year but sort of like the outlook for the gross margin. And I'm talking like ex spec pharma divestiture. And maybe, just talk about the puts and takes around that?

嗨，大家早安。我很好奇毛利率。在毛利率方面，您已經度過了幾個不錯的季度，我認為您承認本季比預期要好。您如何看待第四季的毛利率？然後，即使是進入，我不知道，你不會得到明年的毛利率前景。我說的是前規格製藥資產剝離。也許，只是談論一下看跌期權和看跌期權？

Yeah, Great question, Ed. And I think you hit on a key part of thinking about it, excluding KSP. We talked about it -- was a strong quarter in gross margin, and about half of that year-over-year benefit was a result of the divestiture.

是的，很好的問題，艾德。我認為你想到了思考這個問題的關鍵部分，不包括 KSP。我們談到了這一點——這是毛利率強勁的一個季度，大約一半的年比收益是剝離的結果。

But the other piece of it really came -- we highlighted both of them, Rodney -- layers in well with what Rodney was just talking about, what was our growth in our brands, we continue to have our brands sales growth outpacing national brands, and that is always going to drive solid margin expansion.

但另一件事確實來了——我們強調了他們兩個，羅德尼——與羅德尼剛才所說的很好地結合在一起，我們品牌的增長是什麼，我們的品牌銷售增長繼續超過全國品牌，這總是會推動利潤率的穩健擴張。

And so that's certainly what we saw again in the third quarter, very similar to what we saw in the second and then shrink had another nice quarter. So we've got cautiously optimistic on the progress we're making there, but we are making progress on the shrink space that really helped us in the third.

這肯定是我們在第三季再次看到的情況，與我們在第二季度看到的情況非常相似，然後收縮又迎來了一個美好的季度。因此，我們對我們在這方面取得的進展持謹慎樂觀的態度，但我們正在縮小空間方面取得進展，這對我們在第三階段確實有幫助。

As we look to the fourth, I think -- excluding KSP, I think overall we'll probably be slightly favorable in the fourth reflecting KSP, when you pull that out, I think we'll probably be relatively flat on that relative to some of the puts and takes. Again, if we over index in things like our brands and whatnot, but we may be a little bit favorable, but overall, I think we'll be relatively consistent relatively flat year over year on the margins in Q4.

當我們展望第四個時，我認為——不包括KSP，我認為總體而言，我們可能會在第四個反映KSP 的情況下稍微有利，當你把它拿出來時，我認為相對於某一些因素，我們可能會相對持平。再說一次，如果我們對我們的品牌之類的東西過度索引，但我們可能會有點有利，但總的來說，我認為我們在第四季度的利潤率將相對穩定，同比持平。

I totally agree with everything Todd said. And Todd said the big pieces. I would also add a couple of smaller pieces that's helping on gross margin that should continue as if you look at our warehouse and transportation costs, we continue to make some progress there, and the customer continued to buy more value added product and fresh continues to grow as well. So those are things that help on mix in addition to things that Todd talked about.

我完全同意托德所說的一切。托德說的是大事。我還要添加一些有助於提高毛利率的小部件，就好像您看看我們的倉庫和運輸成本一樣，毛利率應該會持續下去，我們繼續在這方面取得一些進展，客戶繼續購買更多增值產品，新鮮的產品也會持續增加。所以除了托德談到的事情之外，這些都是有助於混音的事情。

And just to run in a quick follow up, this one's for you and you kind of hinted at it or talked about it, but Albertsons would be a transformational deal. How do you feel about Kroger's position, if the deal is rejected and do you need to help, hunt for something else more transformational or is it just simply more prudent to double down on what you have and reward shareholders for their patients with return of capital?

只是為了快速跟進，這是給你的，你有點暗示或談論過它，但艾伯森將是一筆變革性的交易。您對克羅格的立場有何看法？

Yeah, it's a great question. if you look at the balance sheet capacity that we have, there's probably no nothing else that would be transformational, that would use the balance sheet capacity that we would have. So I don't know that we would be out there trying to find what's the next Albertsons, and you just said it, we try, we've always made sure that we don't need to do mergers to make our business successful.

是的，這是一個很好的問題。如果你看看我們擁有的資產負債表能力，可能沒有其他可以改變的，可以使用我們擁有的資產負債表能力。所以我不知道我們會在那裡嘗試尋找下一個艾伯森，你剛才說過，我們嘗試，我們一直確保我們不需要進行合併來使我們的業務成功。

And that was one of the reasons that we've always been proud of what Kroger has done. We're super excited about Albertsons and the potential and we believe we will be able to add a ton of value for giving customers better value the people there will be able to provide security and grow our business and create additional career opportunities and support communities.

這就是我們一直為克羅格所做的事情感到自豪的原因之一。我們對艾伯森及其潛力感到非常興奮，我們相信我們將能夠增加大量價值，為客戶提供更好的價值，那裡的人們將能夠提供安全並發展我們的業務並創造更多的職業機會和支持社區。

But if it doesn't happen, we'll continue to go on. We always will continue to look at how ways to grow the business. Mergers is always one of those ways of growing the business. But we try to make sure that we only do a merger when it makes sense and we're not chasing something and we won't get in a position where we are having to chase something. So great question. And thanks, Ed.

但如果沒有發生，我們將繼續前進。我們始終會繼續研究如何發展業務。合併始終是發展業務的方式之一。但我們努力確保我們只在有意義的情況下進行合併，並且我們不會追逐某些東西，也不會陷入必須追逐某些東西的境地。很好的問題。謝謝，艾德。

Thank you. Michael Lasser, UBS.

謝謝。麥可拉瑟，瑞銀集團。

Good morning. Thank you so much for taking my question. As of the second quarter, Kroger had made a point in its presentation that it was on track to deliver more than 20% media growth this year and that line was removed this quarter.

早安.非常感謝您回答我的問題。截至第二季度，克羅格在其演示中指出，今年的媒體成長預計將超過 20%，但這一說法在本季度被刪除。

So is it right to interpret that the media growth which is an important driver of the alternative revenue stream is starting to slow perhaps as there are more advert, more platforms for advertisers to choose and direct it to advertising dollars. And if that's the case, how does Kroger accelerate that element of its algorithm in order to support the long term outlook for the business?

因此，這樣解釋是否正確：媒體成長是另類收入流的重要驅動力，也許隨著廣告數量的增加、可供廣告商選擇的平台增加並將其引導至廣告收入而開始放緩。如果是這樣，克羅格如何加速其演算法的這一元素以支持業務的長期前景？

Yeah. Let me start there, Michael. Thanks for the question. It's a good call. We do still expect to see our retail media growth be in that 20% range for the year.

是的。讓我從這裡開始，麥可。謝謝你的提問。這是一個很好的決定。我們仍然預計今年零售媒體的成長將保持在 20% 的範圍內。

It's still a fast-growing part of our business, and the outcomes that we're seeing continue to demonstrate that we're well positioned for that growth. As we look at those CPGs that are advertising with us, we see the outsized return on ad spend that they're generating. And so that's why I say we're able to demonstrate, and we're seeing those results.

它仍然是我們業務中快速成長的一部分，我們所看到的結果繼續表明我們已經為這種成長做好了充分的準備。當我們觀察那些與我們一起做廣告的快速消費品時，我們看到它們所產生的巨大廣告支出回報。這就是為什麼我說我們能夠展示，並且我們正在看到這些結果。

And not coincidentally, the sales for those CPGs at Kroger are strong. And so I think the proof points continue to be there. But as you say, there's a proliferation of options as everybody has kind of got their own flavor of what this is. So I think we just need to continue to demonstrate that the CPGs, because I think the proof will be in the results.

並非巧合的是，克羅格這些快速消費品的銷售強勁。所以我認為證據仍然存在。但正如你所說，選擇多種多樣，因為每個人都有自己的風格。所以我認為我們只需要繼續證明 CPG，因為我認為證據將在結果中。

And Todd's last point to me and if CPGs are listening and that's the only reason why I'm adding on top the CPGs that increase spending the most had the highest tonnage growth with us which to me is it shows you the power of our platform and, Todd said it, I just wanted to double down on it.

托德對我說的最後一點是，如果消費品公司正在傾聽，這就是我在增加支出最多的消費品公司之上添加我們噸位增長最高的唯一原因，這對我來說是它向您展示了我們平台的力量， ，托德這麼說，我只是想加倍努力。

Okay. And my follow up question is what do you need to drive -- what do you need to happen in order to drive the back co to achieve the sales piece of it out long term algorithm in 2025. This year, there's been a contribution from the GLP-1 drug storm related spending. Perhaps, don't -- won't, those won't be as meaningful contributors next year. So is it that you would be banking on A, market share stabilizing and is that realistic and B, some acceleration and inflation to offset what have been driving the some of the comp this year.

好的。我的後續問題是，你需要推動什麼——你需要做什麼才能推動後台公司在 2025 年實現長期演算法的銷售。也許，不會－－不會，明年這些人將不再是有意義的貢獻者。那麼，您是否會指望A，市佔率穩定，這是現實的嗎？

Yeah, we wouldn't -- we would not be dependent on inflation. And it's really we continue to double down on the customer experience. And when we find that we improve the customer experience, our business follows that or the customer rewards us for that. And it's -- it really gets back to, you've heard us say it a million times full fresh and friendly.

是的，我們不會——我們不會依賴通貨膨脹。事實上，我們持續加倍努力提升客戶體驗。當我們發現我們改善了客戶體驗時，我們的業務就會跟進，或者客戶會因此而獎勵我們。它真的回到了，你已經聽我們說過一百萬遍了，充滿新鮮和友好。

The other thing that we're increasingly supporting is allocating capital to growth areas. And that would be, storing, obviously continuation of seamless or online business continues to have outside growth and then specific projects that support cost reductions and sales opportunities.

我們越來越支持的另一件事是將資本分配給成長領域。那就是，存儲，顯然是無縫或在線業務的延續，繼續有外部增長，然後是支持降低成本和銷售機會的具體項目。

Yeah. I agree with everything you said, Rodney, especially the storing that you get on earlier as well. You mentioned GLP-1, and that certainly has been part of it this year. But as we sit here today, I think we continue to expect to see growth in that area as more manufacturers get in the mix and the supply continues to become more available, and more and more patients continue to utilize that drug. So I think we'll still see -- expect to see growth in the GLP-1 space as well for the at least near future, foreseeable future.

是的。我同意你所說的一切，羅德尼，尤其是你之前得到的存儲。您提到了 GLP-1，這肯定是今年的一部分。但當我們今天坐在這裡時，我認為隨著越來越多的製造商加入進來，供應繼續變得更加可用，以及越來越多的患者繼續使用該藥物，我們仍然期望看到該領域的增長。所以我認為我們仍然會看到——至少在不久的將來、可預見的未來，GLP-1 領域也會出現成長。

Thanks, Michael.

謝謝，麥可。

Thank you. John Heinbockel, Guggenheim Partners.

謝謝。約翰·海因博克爾，古根漢合夥人。

Hey, Rodney, can you talk about the -- you referenced in your release, the initiatives productivity initiatives on in store order selection. And, how broadly is that rolled out? When I think about how much you can take the cost per order down. Can you take that down a double digit from where we are today?

嘿，羅德尼，您能談談您在新聞稿中提到的有關店內訂單選擇的生產力舉措嗎？而且，這項措施的推廣範圍有多大？當我考慮每個訂單的成本可以降低多少。你能把這個數字比我們今天的水準降低兩位數嗎？

Over time, we would certainly expect to take it down double digit from where we are today. And when I talk about over time, I'm talking about over the next two or three years. And, it's -- we still have a reasonable amount to roll it out. Now as you followed Kroger long enough to know that we will start whenever we roll something out, we start with the biggest opportunity places first. So it's the highest volume locations and those kind of things.

隨著時間的推移，我們當然希望將其從今天的水平下降兩位數。當我談論一段時間時，我指的是未來兩三年。而且，我們仍然有合理的金額來推出它。現在，當您關注克羅格足夠長的時間後，您就會知道，每當我們推出新產品時，我們都會開始，因此我們首先從最大的機會開始。所以這是銷售量最高的地點之類的。

The thing that I think is fascinating and exciting is if you look at the fundamental things behind the software, we're learning that we can actually use that same technology in other areas of the business. And I would hope that we'll continue to find those kind of opportunities. So I feel, confident and comfortable that, certainly, well, double digit type stuff of improvement. But, our team is not going to be satisfied until they get to where it's indifferent, how somebody shops with us.

我認為令人著迷和令人興奮的是，如果你看看軟體背後的基本原理，我們會發現我們實際上可以在其他業務領域使用相同的技術。我希望我們能夠繼續尋找這樣的機會。所以我感到自信和舒適，當然，嗯，兩位數類型的改進。但是，我們的團隊不會滿意，除非他們了解人們如何與我們購物無關的地方。

Thank you. Michael Montani, Evercore ISI.

謝謝。邁克爾·蒙塔尼，Evercore ISI。

Yes, good morning. Thanks for taking the question. I just wanted to ask first, did I miss the fuel CPG contribution for this quarter? Wondering if you could give some added color there and then I just had a follow up.

是的，早安。感謝您提出問題。我只是想先問一下，我是否錯過了本季度的燃油 CPG 貢獻？想知道你是否可以在那裡添加一些顏色，然後我就進行了跟進。

Yeah. Thanks, Michael. We don't typically -- we stopped a few quarters ago giving details around CPG. You did catch on to the point that I think that Rodney brought out that both gallons and CPG were down in the third quarter. Again, this is the volatility in fuel.

是的。謝謝，麥可。我們通常不會——幾個季度前我們就停止提供有關 CPG 的詳細資訊。你確實明白了這一點，我認為羅德尼指出加侖和 CPG 在第三季都下降了。這又是燃料的波動性。

But as we look to the fourth quarter relative to our expectations versus a year ago, we think fuel will be a little bit -- our expectation is that fuel will be a little bit more stable year over year in Q4, and that's supported by some of the trends that we've seen over the last few periods in both gallons and margins.

但當我們展望第四季度相對於我們的預期與一年前相比時，我們認為燃料會有點——我們的預期是第四季度燃料將比去年同期更加穩定，這一點得到了一些人的支持。

Thank you. Rob Dickerson, Jeffreys.

謝謝。羅布·迪克森，杰弗里斯。

Great. Thanks so much. Rodney, I know you set up front, it seems like consumer sentiment is still low, but maybe there are some green shoots, maybe it's improving a little bit. So I'm just wondering kind of as you got through the Thanksgiving holiday and then as we're kind of real-time, the current holiday season, like have you seen any incremental, almost like sequential traffic improvement in the actual retail stores?

偉大的。非常感謝。羅德尼，我知道你已經做好了準備，看來消費者情緒仍然很低，但也許有一些萌芽，也許正在改善。所以我只是想知道，當你度過感恩節假期，然後因為我們是實時的，當前的假期季節，你是否看到任何增量，幾乎就像實際零售商店的連續流量改善？

We feel good about where we are. The thing, I guess I would say that we still don't quite under time -- it'll take time is there's five less shopping days between Thanksgiving and Christmas. So we feel good about where we are. We're tracking a little bit better than where we thought we would be, but we still are cautious because of the five less shopping days and how does that play out.

我們對自己所處的位置感覺良好。問題是，我想我會說我們還沒有完全趕上時間——這需要時間，因為感恩節和聖誕節之間的購物日少了五個。所以我們對自己所處的位置感覺良好。我們的追蹤情況比我們想像的要好一些，但我們仍然保持謹慎，因為購物日減少了五個，以及結果如何。

And as you mentioned, we are seeing the customer -- most of the customers are starting to feel a little bit more relaxed and comfortable in terms of where they stand and what's coming, what -- how things look going forward.

正如你所提到的，我們看到客戶——大多數客戶開始對他們的立場、即將發生的事情、未來的情況感到更加放鬆和舒適。

Thank you. Jacob Aiken-Phillips, Melius Research.

謝謝。雅各布·艾肯·菲利普斯，Melius 研究中心。

Well. Good morning, everyone. Thanks for the question. I just wanted to go back to inflation a little bit. So you showed that you were able to kind of leverage SG&A given like flat comps, excluding KSP. How do we think about that relationship going forward in terms of wage inflation and wage investment? And then also with tariffs, we're of the view that it could be a self-fulfilling prophecy in terms of like people buying stuff and causing inflation even if there aren't actually tariffs happening. I just wanted your thoughts on that?

出色地。大家早安。謝謝你的提問。我只是想稍微回到通貨膨脹的話題。因此，您表明您能夠像固定比較一樣利用 SG&A，不包括 KSP。我們如何看待薪資通膨和薪資投資之間的關係？然後還有關稅，我們認為這可能是一個自我實現的預言，就像人們購買東西並導致通貨膨脹一樣，即使實際上沒有關稅發生。我只是想知道你對此有何看法？

Yeah. I'll start with the wage investments. It's a great question. We've talked a lot about how important it is for us to invest in our associates, because they're so critical to delivering our customer experience. But we will continue to balance those wage investments with the other profitability enhancement items that we say.

是的。我將從薪資投資開始。這是一個很好的問題。我們已經多次討論了投資員工的重要性，因為他們對於提供我們的客戶體驗至關重要。但我們將繼續平衡這些薪資投資與我們所說的其他獲利能力增強項目。

So in any inflationary environment and in any sales leverage environment, we've demonstrated that our model enables us to pull the levers to be able to balance those wage increases accordingly over time. So given the comments that we said with fairly balanced inflation, we think we'll be able to leverage our SG&A, including wage investments. Rodney, I don't know if you want to comment on the tariffs.

因此，在任何通貨膨脹環境和任何銷售槓桿環境中，我們已經證明，我們的模型使我們能夠拉動槓桿，以便能夠隨著時間的推移相應地平衡這些工資增長。因此，考慮到我們在通膨相當平衡的情況下所說的評論，我們認為我們將能夠利用我們的銷售及管理費用，包括薪資投資。羅德尼，我不知道你是否想對關稅發表評論。

Tariffs for us, first of all, the effect on us is probably a little less than most companies. And we buy product internationally, but it's pretty modest if you look in the fresh departments. It's, less than 20% of the stuff. If you look in the center store, it's a fraction of that. So we would see the tariffs affecting others generally more than us. And we feel like we'll be able to manage whatever is done because our competitors will have to deal with the same thing. Thanks, Jacob.

關稅對我們來說，首先對我們的影響可能比大多數企業小一點。我們在國際上購買產品，但如果你看看新鮮的部門，它的數量相當有限。不到20%的東西。如果你看看中心商店，它只是其中的一小部分。因此，我們會看到關稅對其他人的影響通常比對我們的影響更大。我們覺得我們將能夠管理所做的一切，因為我們的競爭對手將不得不處理相同的事情。謝謝，雅各。

Thank you. Chuck Cerankosky, Northcoast Research.

謝謝。查克·塞蘭科斯基，北海岸研究中心。

Good morning, everyone. Rodney, you mentioned that the mainstream and premium customers were pretty close to spending how they had been before COVID. But there are also from what I can observe, the groups that are more likely to be going to restaurants, which seem to be doing fairly well right now. How do you sort of offset that with Kroger's prepared food offerings? And maybe what changes are you making in those categories?

大家早安。羅德尼，您提到主流和高端客戶的消費水準非常接近新冠疫情之前的水平。但據我觀察，也有一些群體更有可能去餐館，餐館目前似乎做得相當不錯。您如何透過克羅格的預製食品來抵消這一影響？也許您在這些類別中做出了哪些改變？

Well, first of all, we believe that's a huge opportunity. Our market share -- half of meals bought at a restaurant is consumed in a car or at home. Actually, I think it's a little over half. So we see that as a huge opportunity. I would say we're trying a lot of different things. We've -- we're working with a couple of outside companies trying to help us there.

嗯，首先，我們相信這是一個巨大的機會。我們的市佔率－在餐廳購買的餐點有一半是在汽車或家裡消費的。事實上，我認為這個數字已經超過一半了。所以我們認為這是一個巨大的機會。我想說我們正在嘗試很多不同的事情。我們正在與幾家外部公司合作，試圖幫助我們實現這一目標。

But to me, it's more of -- in the future, we have a bigger opportunity than we've been able to unlock so far. And we believe it's a huge opportunity because what we found is that a customer can buy a meal from us and it's usually the cost is one-third to one-fourth versus going out to a restaurant. So it's -- for us, it's a great opportunity, but we're just scratching the surface.

但對我來說，更重要的是，在未來，我們將擁有比迄今為止更大的機會。我們相信這是一個巨大的機會，因為我們發現顧客可以從我們這裡購買一頓飯，而其成本通常是去餐廳的三分之一到四分之一。所以對我們來說，這是一個很好的機會，但我們只是觸及了表面。

Thank you. At this time, we'll take no further questions. So I'll hand back to Rodney for any further remarks.

謝謝。目前，我們不會再提出任何問題。因此，我將把進一步的意見交還給羅德尼。

Thank you for the questions. And as always, we have a lot of our associates listening in. First, I would like to send our thoughts and prayers to those impacted by the recent hurricanes. I would also like to take a moment to express my gratitude and appreciation for our dedicated team of associates, especially during this time. They just did amazing things on supporting communities.

謝謝你的提問。一如既往，我們有很多同事在傾聽。我還想花一點時間對我們敬業的員工團隊表示感謝和讚賞，尤其是在這段時間。他們在支持社區方面做了令人驚奇的事情。

And as you know, our stores are vital to each community we serve. And during these types of times, our customers rely on us to provide them with food and other essential items. And I am so proud of our associates who have stepped up to be there for our customers, communities and each other. Thank you for everything that you do for Kroger and our customers.

如您所知，我們的商店對於我們服務的每個社區都至關重要。在這些時期，我們的客戶依賴我們為他們提供食物和其他必需品。我為我們的員工感到非常自豪，他們挺身而出，為我們的客戶、社區和彼此服務。感謝您為克羅格和我們的客戶所做的一切。

And thank you for everyone joining us today. We wish you a very happy holiday season. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.

感謝大家今天加入我們。我們祝您假期愉快。聖誕快樂，新年快樂。

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

感謝大家參加今天的電話會議。現在您可以斷開線路。