柯爾百貨 (KSS) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning. My name is Rob, and I will be your conference operator today. At this time, I would like to welcome everyone to the Kohl's Corporation Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Mark Rupe, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury, you may begin your conference.

早上好。我叫羅布，今天我將擔任你們的會議操作員。現在，我歡迎大家參加科爾公司 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。 （操作員指示）馬克·魯普（Mark Rupe），投資者關係和財務部高級副總裁，您可以開始會議了。

Thank you. Certain statements made on this call, including projected financial results and the company's future initiatives, are forward-looking statements. Such statements are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, which could cause Kohl's actual results to differ materially from those projected in such forward-looking statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, those that are described in Item 1A in Kohl's most recent annual report on Form 10-K and as may be supplemented from time to time in Kohl's other filings with the SEC, all of which are expressly incorporated herein by reference.

謝謝。本次電話會議中所做的某些陳述，包括預計的財務業績和公司的未來舉措，均為前瞻性陳述。此類陳述受到某些風險和不確定性的影響，這可能導致科爾的實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述中的預測存在重大差異。此類風險和不確定性包括但不限於Kohl's 最新10-K 表格年度報告第1A 項中描述的風險和不確定性，以及Kohl's 向SEC 提交的其他文件中可能不時補充的風險和不確定性，所有這些風險和不確定性明確地通過引用併入本文。

Forward-looking statements relate to the date initially made, and Kohl's undertakes no obligation to update them. In addition, during this call, we may make reference to non-GAAP financial measures. Reconciliation of non-GAAP financial measures can be found in the investor presentation filed as an Exhibit to our Form 8-K filed with the SEC is available on the company's Investor Relations website.

前瞻性陳述涉及最初做出的日期，科爾士百貨不承擔更新這些陳述的義務。此外，在本次電話會議中，我們可能會參考非公認會計準則財務指標。非 GAAP 財務指標的調節可以在作為我們向 SEC 提交的 8-K 表格附件提交的投資者演示文稿中找到，該演示文稿可在公司的投資者關係網站上找到。

Please note that this call will be recorded. However, replays of this call will not be updated. So if you're listening to a replay of this call, it is possible that the information discussed is no longer current, and Kohl's undertakes no obligation to update such information. With me this morning are Tom Kingsbury, our CEO; and Jill Timm, our Chief Financial Officer. I will now turn the call over to Tom.

請注意，此通話將被錄音。不過，本次通話的重播不會更新。因此，如果您正在收聽本次電話會議的重播，則所討論的信息可能不再是最新的，並且 Kohl's 不承擔更新此類信息的義務。今天早上和我在一起的是我們的首席執行官湯姆·金斯伯里 (Tom Kingsbury)；和我們的首席財務官吉爾蒂姆。我現在將把電話轉給湯姆。

Thank you, Mark. And good morning, everyone. I am pleased to report that we continue to make progress in our efforts to significantly improve Kohl's business over the long term. Our second quarter earnings were in line with our expectations. We feel good about our performance, given the persistent macroeconomic pressures on our customers and that many of our strategic efforts are just underway.

謝謝你，馬克。大家早上好。我很高興地向大家報告，我們在長期顯著改善科爾的業務方面的努力不斷取得進展。我們第二季度的盈利符合我們的預期。鑑於我們的客戶面臨持續的宏觀經濟壓力，並且我們的許多戰略努力剛剛開始，我們對我們的業績感到滿意。

In 2023, we continue to focus on four strategic priorities, which are: enhancing the customer experience, accelerate and simplifying our value strategies, managing inventory and expenses with discipline, and further strengthening our balance sheet. We are confident that our strategies will drive sales and earnings performance. It will take some time for the full impact of our efforts to be realized. However, our objective is to show incremental improvement in the back half of the year with even more benefit in 2024 and beyond.

2023年，我們繼續關註四個戰略重點，分別是：增強客戶體驗、加速和簡化我們的價值戰略、嚴格管理庫存和費用以及進一步強化我們的資產負債表。我們相信我們的戰略將推動銷售和盈利業績。我們的努力的全面影響需要一段時間才能實現。然而，我們的目標是在今年下半年實現逐步改善，並在 2024 年及以後獲得更多收益。

As it relates to our outlook for 2023, we are reaffirming our guidance. Let me now turn to the second quarter. Net sales decreased 4.8%, and comparable sales were down 5%, with store sales outperforming the total company and flat to last year. Sephora at Kohl's continues to exceed our expectations, driving a total beauty sales increase of nearly 90% year-over-year. We opened nearly 200 Sephora shops in the quarter, and momentum in our existing Sephora shops continues to accelerate with greater than 20% comparable beauty sales growth in the Sephora shops opened in 2021 and 2022.

由於這關係到我們對 2023 年的展望，因此我們重申我們的指導。現在讓我談談第二季度。淨銷售額下降 4.8%，可比銷售額下降 5%，商店銷售額優於公司整體銷售額，與去年持平。 Kohl's 絲芙蘭繼續超出我們的預期，推動美容品總銷售額同比增長近 90%。我們在本季度開設了近 200 家絲芙蘭商店，並且現有絲芙蘭商店的勢頭繼續加速，2021 年和 2022 年開設的絲芙蘭商店的可比美容產品銷售額增長超過 20%。

In our Home business, which we've highlighted as a major, long-term opportunity for Kohl's, showed strong relative improvement in the quarter. Beyond the top line, we are able to successfully manage gross margin and expenses to achieve an operating margin of 4.2%, and we reduced inventory 14%, both of which were better than planned.

在我們的家居業務中，我們強調該業務是 Kohl's 的一個主要的長期機會，該業務在本季度顯示出強勁的相對改善。除了營收之外，我們還能夠成功管理毛利率和費用，實現 4.2% 的營業利潤率，並且庫存減少了 14%，這兩項指標均好於計劃。

I'll now turn to our longer-term initiatives and provide more detail on our four overarching priorities, which I just mentioned. Enhancing the customer experience in stores and online through our product and merchandising initiatives is our top priority. Getting back to growth is essential to achieving our goals. So I want to be clear on how we are viewing the building blocks. We have an opportunity to improve the offering in our core business. However, in the coming years, we believe Sephora, gifting, impulse, home decor and longer-term new stores will be the most significant contributors to our growth.

我現在將談談我們的長期舉措，並提供有關我剛才提到的四個首要優先事項的更多細節。通過我們的產品和營銷計劃增強商店和網上的客戶體驗是我們的首要任務。恢復增長對於實現我們的目標至關重要。所以我想弄清楚我們如何看待構建模塊。我們有機會改進我們核心業務的產品。然而，在未來幾年，我們相信絲芙蘭、禮品、衝動、家居裝飾和長期新店將成為我們增長的最重要貢獻者。

Sephora at Kohl's continues to resonate with our existing customer base while also bringing in new customers that are shopping more frequently. The performance is exceeding our expectations, and we are driving considerable beauty share gains. We are seeing solid growth in our Sephora exclusive brands, including the Sephora Collection, Sol de Janeiro and Rare Beauty as well as national brands such as (inaudible) and Charlotte Tilbury. We feel good about our overall assortment. In this fall, we will further expand our gifting assortment, which were highly successful last year. During the second quarter, we opened nearly 200 Sephora shops. And this month, we are opening approximately 50 shops. These openings will complete the rollout of our 850 2,500-square foot shops. We are also opening a smaller format, 750-square foot Sephora shop in the remainder of the chain. We opened five of these smaller shops earlier in the year, and they continue to drive solid beauty sales exceeding our expectations.

Kohl's 的絲芙蘭繼續與我們現有的客戶群產生共鳴，同時也吸引了更頻繁購物的新客戶。業績超出了我們的預期，我們正在推動美妝市場份額的大幅增長。我們看到絲芙蘭獨家品牌（包括 Sephora Collection、Sol de Janeiro 和 Rare Beauty）以及民族品牌（如（聽不清）和 Charlotte Tilbury）的穩健增長。我們對我們的整體品種感覺良好。今年秋天，我們將進一步擴大去年非常成功的禮品種類。第二季度，我們開設了近200家絲芙蘭商店。這個月，我們將開設大約 50 家商店。這些店舖的開業將完成我們 850 家 2,500 平方英尺商店的推出。我們還在連鎖店的其餘部分開設了一家規模較小、面積為 750 平方英尺的絲芙蘭商店。今年早些時候，我們開設了五家此類較小的商店，它們繼續推動強勁的美容產品銷售，超出了我們的預期。

We will open an additional 45 in the third quarter, bringing us to 50 by year-end. In total, Sephora will be featured in more than 900 of our stores by the end of 2023. And we will expand the small format shops to the remainder of the chain over the next couple of years. Building our home business represents another major growth opportunity. We will optimize our existing offering and capitalize on significant opportunities in areas where Kohl's historically has not had a meaningful presence.

我們將在第三季度再開設 45 家，到年底我們的數量將達到 50 家。到 2023 年底，絲芙蘭將在我們的 900 多家商店中亮相。我們將在未來幾年內將小型商店擴展到連鎖店的其餘部分。建立我們的家庭業務代表著另一個主要的增長機會。我們將優化現有產品，並利用科爾百貨歷史上未曾涉足的領域的重大機遇。

These include gifting, impulse, decor and pet. Many of these new assortments will begin to set in fall with a larger presence in holiday. During the second quarter, the Home category showed relative -- strong relative improvement as I noted. This was primarily driven by our existing offering, such as housewares and cookware as well as by encouraging early [reads] from our new growth initiatives.

其中包括禮物、衝動、裝飾和寵物。其中許多新品種將在秋季開始上市，並在假日期間出現更多。正如我所指出的，在第二季度，家居類別顯示出相對強勁的相對改善。這主要是由我們現有的產品（例如家庭用品和炊具）以及鼓勵早期[閱讀]我們新的增長計劃推動的。

We continue to leverage register removals, an additional in-aisle space to create a seasonal gifting destination, which supports strong sell-throughs during Mother's Day, Father's Day, Memorial Day and the 4th of July. Currently, we are showcasing back-to-school items such as backpacks and dorm products. And later this fall, we will highlight Harvest and holiday products. In addition, we will expand our offering of impulse products in spring of 2024, which will include beauty, wellness, toys, snacks and other items.

我們繼續利用收銀台移除功能，即額外的過道空間來打造季節性禮品目的地，從而在母親節、父親節、陣亡將士紀念日和 7 月 4 日期間實現強勁的銷售。目前，我們正在展示背包和宿舍產品等返校用品。今年秋天晚些時候，我們將重點介紹收穫和節日產品。此外，我們將於 2024 年春季擴大衝動產品的供應，其中將包括美容、保健、玩具、零食和其他商品。

In home decor, we are forming new vendor partnerships, building inventory with market [buzz] on a weekly basis and enhancing our in-store merchandising across areas like wall art, glassware, botanicals, storage and lighting, to name a few. And in Pet, we have expanded dedicated space to the category across the chain following a successful 50-store test last fall. Our offerings in this space include things like dog beds, cat and dog apparel and pet toys. Pet delivered a strong second quarter sales performance driven by the additional space, and we expect to maintain our momentum moving forward.

在家居裝飾方面，我們正在建立新的供應商合作夥伴關係，每周根據市場[嗡嗡聲]建立庫存，並加強我們在牆壁藝術、玻璃器皿、植物、存儲和照明等領域的店內銷售。在寵物方面，繼去年秋天成功進行 50 家門店測試後，我們已將專用空間擴展到整個連鎖店的類別。我們在這個領域的產品包括狗床、貓狗服裝和寵物玩具等。在額外空間的推動下，Pet 在第二季度實現了強勁的銷售業績，我們預計將保持前進的勢頭。

We are also committed to capitalizing on new store growth opportunities over the long term. In 2023, we remain on track to open seven new stores, including one relocation, two of these stores opened in the first quarter, with the remaining five set to open this fall. Turning to our apparel and footwear offerings. We remain focused on optimizing our apparel assortment to reflect our customers' interest.

我們還致力於長期利用新店增長機會。 2023 年，我們仍有望開設 7 家新店，其中包括一家搬遷店，其中 2 家於第一季度開業，其餘 5 家將於今年秋季開業。轉向我們的服裝和鞋類產品。我們仍然專注於優化我們的服裝品種，以反映客戶的興趣。

Two areas that we have highlighted in recent quarters in response to customer demand, our polished casual and [dress] offerings, which continue to resonate with our customers across women's, men's and children's. We are leaning into these areas in women's through key brands like Lauren Conrad, Nine West and Simply Vera Vera Wang while also expanding our dress offerings in both, special occasion and casual. In men's, we have seen strong results in areas like suitings, dress shirts and dress pants, and we'll continue to amplify these areas moving forward. And in children's, we are expanding Little & Co. as well as continue to build on our core Jumping Beans and Carter's businesses.

最近幾個季度，為了滿足客戶需求，我們重點強調了兩個領域：我們的精緻休閒和[正裝]產品，這些產品繼續與我們的女裝、男裝和童裝客戶產生共鳴。我們通過 Lauren Conrad、Nine West 和 Simply Vera Vera Wang 等主要品牌進軍女裝領域，同時還擴大了我們在特殊場合和休閒場合的服裝產品範圍。在男裝領域，我們在西裝、正裝襯衫和正裝褲等領域取得了強勁成果，並且我們將繼續擴大這些領域的發展。在兒童領域，我們正在擴大 Little & Co. 的規模，並繼續發展我們的核心 Jumping Beans 和 Carter's 業務。

(inaudible) also remains an important piece of our business. While trends in the overall (inaudible) space remains soft, we are focused on building on our recent success in outdoor and golf apparel while also working with our national brand partners to bring in newness. In the second quarter, we were pleased with the sales trends in our Eddie Bauer offering in outdoor as well as in Nike and Under Armour footwear. To summarize, our top priority of enhancing the customer experience, we are focused on driving significant growth in Sephora, gifting, impulse, home decor and longer-term new stores.

（聽不清）仍然是我們業務的重要組成部分。雖然整體（聽不清）領域的趨勢仍然疲軟，但我們專注於鞏固我們最近在戶外和高爾夫服裝領域取得的成功，同時與我們的國內品牌合作夥伴合作，帶來新鮮感。第二季度，我們對 Eddie Bauer 戶外產品以及 Nike 和 Under Armour 鞋類產品的銷售趨勢感到滿意。總而言之，我們的首要任務是增強客戶體驗，我們致力於推動絲芙蘭、禮品、衝動、家居裝飾和長期新店的顯著增長。

We also see several opportunities to improve our core apparel and footwear offerings. Now let me discuss our second priority, which is accelerating and simplifying our value strategies. We have many efforts underway to simplify how we are showing up to the customers as we believe we can drive greater customer engagement and conversion.

我們還看到了一些改進我們的核心服裝和鞋類產品的機會。現在讓我討論我們的第二個優先事項，即加速和簡化我們的價值戰略。我們正在進行許多努力來簡化我們向客戶展示的方式，因為我們相信我們可以提高客戶參與度和轉化率。

During the second quarter, we continued the work we began in Q1, reducing general promotions and eliminating online-only offers in favor of a more targeted offers and clearance events to clear slower selling goods on a more regular basis. And we are testing key value items, which is more competitive and consistent pricing on select merchandise within our private apparel and home brands. This is a continuation of our efforts to make our pricing more simplified. We're also evolving our marketing message with greater clarity around strong price points in our in-store graphics and in our digital and broadcast ads.

在第二季度，我們繼續第一季度開始的工作，減少一般促銷活動並取消僅限在線的優惠，轉而採取更有針對性的優惠和清倉活動，以更定期地清理銷售較慢的商品。我們正在測試關鍵價值產品，這對我們的私人服裝和家居品牌中的精選商品來說更具競爭力和一致的定價。這是我們為簡化定價而繼續努力的結果。我們還圍繞店內圖形以及數字和廣播廣告中的強勢價格點，更加清晰地發展我們的營銷信息。

While it remains early, we are very encouraged with the response we are seeing from customers. Our key value items are performing positively. This is a compelling opportunity for our business over the long term. And based on initial results, we are now planning to thoughtfully scale it in 2024. Lastly, we will continue to leverage our industry-leading loyalty program as a mechanism to deliver even more value to our customers. Kohl's has a strong loyalty foundation, which includes Kohl's Cash, Kohl's Rewards and our private label credit card.

雖然現在還為時尚早，但我們對客戶的反應感到非常鼓舞。我們的關鍵價值項目表現良好。從長遠來看，這對我們的業務來說是一個極具吸引力的機會。根據初步結果，我們現在計劃在 2024 年深思熟慮地擴大規模。最後，我們將繼續利用我們行業領先的忠誠度計劃作為一種機制，為客戶提供更多價值。 Kohl's 擁有強大的忠誠度基礎，其中包括 Kohl's Cash、Kohl's Rewards 和我們的自有品牌信用卡。

Building on this, we launched a co-brand credit card with Capital One to select customers in the second quarter. While we expect the co-brand card to have only a small benefit to this year's results, it will grow and contribute more meaningfully in the years to come as we offer to a greater number of existing and new credit customers in 2024 and 2025. I will now transition to our third priority, which is managing inventory and expenses with discipline.

在此基礎上，我們在第二季度與第一資本推出了聯名信用卡，面向精選客戶。雖然我們預計聯名卡對今年的業績只會帶來很小的好處，但隨著我們在2024 年和2025 年向更多現有和新的信貸客戶提供服務，它將在未來幾年中增長並做出更有意義的貢獻。現在將轉向我們的第三個優先事項，即嚴格管理庫存和費用。

During the second quarter, we reduced inventory by 14% compared to last year, exceeding our goal of planning inventory down mid-single digits percent. We operated with greater open-to-buy, which allowed us to stay agile as the demand environment evolved in the second quarter. As we implement new planning and allocation of processes, we are becoming more responsive to the customers' demand, operating with additional open-to-buy to chase trends and minimize risk, maintaining better in-stock levels in core basics and improving inventory flow from our distribution centers to the selling floor.

第二季度，我們的庫存比去年減少了 14%，超出了我們計劃庫存下降中個位數的目標。我們以更大的開放購買方式運營，這使我們能夠隨著第二季度需求環境的變化保持敏捷。隨著我們實施新的流程規劃和分配，我們對客戶的需求更加敏感，通過額外的開放購買來追逐趨勢並最大限度地降低風險，在核心基礎上保持更好的庫存水平，並改善庫存流動我們的配送中心到銷售樓層。

Looking to the fall season, we feel good about our current inventory levels and our ability to continue to manage inventory with discipline. Turning to expenses. Kohl's has a history of managing costs with discipline. We are continuing to proactively capitalize on opportunities to drive efficiency across all areas of the company. A couple of examples include our goal of lowering our marketing spend ratio to 4% and embedding more technology into our operations to improve productivity, such as self-checkout kiosks in our stores and a higher level of automation to more efficiently flow goods in our newer e-commerce fulfillment centers.

展望秋季，我們對當前的庫存水平以及繼續嚴格管理庫存的能力感到滿意。轉向開支。 Kohl's 有著嚴格管理成本的歷史。我們將繼續積極利用機會來提高公司所有領域的效率。幾個例子包括我們的目標是將營銷支出比率降低至4%，並在我們的運營中嵌入更多技術以提高生產力，例如我們商店中的自助結賬亭和更高水平的自動化，以更有效地在我們的新店中流動貨物。電子商務履行中心。

And lastly, our fourth priority is strengthening our balance sheet. Our focus remains on returning our balance sheet to its historical strength with a long-term objective of managing to a 2.5x leverage level. During the second quarter, we generated solid cash flow, which allowed us to reduce our revolver borrowings by $205 million. And returning capital to shareholders remains a commitment of ours. Jill will discuss our overall capital allocation priorities, including the dividend, which continues to represent a healthy yield at the current share price.

最後，我們的第四個優先事項是加強我們的資產負債表。我們的重點仍然是使資產負債表恢復到歷史水平，長期目標是管理至 2.5 倍的槓桿水平。第二季度，我們產生了穩定的現金流，這使我們能夠減少 2.05 億美元的循環借款。向股東返還資本仍然是我們的承諾。吉爾將討論我們的整體資本配置優先事項，包括股息，以當前股價計算，股息仍然代表著健康的收益率。

In closing, I am pleased with our second quarter earnings. I am confident that the work we have underway is positioning Kohl's for long-term success. Our organization is operating with strong discipline and efficiency, and many of our growth-driving initiatives are just beginning to take shape. As it relates to our more recent trends, our August to date sales are off to a good start, driven by back-to-school and our fall seasonal items. I want to thank the entire Kohl's team and especially our store associates for their hard work and adaptability to position us for improved future performance.

最後，我對我們第二季度的收益感到滿意。我相信我們正在進行的工作將幫助 Kohl's 取得長期成功。我們的組織以嚴格的紀律和高效的方式運作，我們的許多增長驅動計劃才剛剛開始形成。由於與我們最近的趨勢相關，在返校和秋季季節性商品的推動下，我們 8 月份迄今為止的銷售有了良好的開端。我要感謝整個 Kohl's 團隊，特別是我們的商店員工的辛勤工作和適應能力，使我們能夠提高未來的業績。

I hope you'll get a chance to visit our stores to see all the good work underway. I will now turn over the call to Jill to discuss our second quarter results and 2023 outlook.

我希望您有機會參觀我們的商店，親眼目睹所有正在進行的出色工作。我現在將電話轉給吉爾，討論我們第二季度的業績和 2023 年的前景。

Thanks, Tom, and thank you, everyone, for joining. For today's call, I will review our second quarter results and provide details on our fiscal year 2023 guidance. As Tom shared, we made additional progress against our strategic priorities and delivered earnings in line with our expectations. Turning to our results. Net sales declined 4.8% in the second quarter and are down 4.1% year-to-date. Store sales were flat to last year in Q2, driven primarily by strong Sephora sales growth, with sales at Home showing the most improvement versus Q1.

謝謝湯姆，也謝謝大家的加入。在今天的電話會議中，我將回顧我們第二季度的業績，並提供有關 2023 財年指導的詳細信息。正如湯姆所分享的，我們在戰略重點方面取得了更多進展，並實現了符合我們預期的收益。轉向我們的結果。第二季度淨銷售額下降 4.8%，年初至今下降 4.1%。第二季度門店銷售與去年持平，主要是受到絲芙蘭銷售強勁增長的推動，其中與第一季度相比，Home 的銷售增長最快。

Digital sales remained pressured in Q2, down 17% to last year and penetrated at 25%. So both are up versus pre-pandemic levels. We are seeing customers shift back towards stores, and sales were impacted as expected by the elimination of online-only promotions as we work to simplify our value strategies.

第二季度數字銷售仍然面臨壓力，較去年下降 17%，滲透率為 25%。因此，兩者都比大流行前的水平有所上升。我們看到客戶重新轉向商店，並且隨著我們努力簡化價值策略，取消僅限在線的促銷活動，銷售受到了預期的影響。

From a product perspective, National Brands outperformed private brands in the quarter. Our top-performing national brands included Nike, Under Armour, Haggar, IZOD, Hurley and Eddie Bauer. While our top-performing private brands were Apt. 9, LC Lauren Conrad and Jumping Beans. Accessories was our best-performing category, up 25% to last year, driven by Sephora at Kohl's. The increase in beauty sales was partially offset by displaced sales in jewelry. As it relates to some of our other categories, as previously noted, Home showed the strongest improvement in trend from Q1, with encouraging early reads in our new growth categories. Footwear also showed a trend improvement driven in part by increased Nike and Under Armour sales in the category.

從產品角度來看，民族品牌本季度的表現優於自有品牌。我們表現​​最好的民族品牌包括 Nike、Under Armour、Haggar、IZOD、Hurley 和 Eddie Bauer。而我們表現最好的自有品牌是 Apt。 9、LC Lauren Conrad 和 Jumping Beans。配飾是我們表現最好的類別，在 Kohl's 絲芙蘭的推動下，比去年增長了 25%。美容產品銷售的增長被珠寶銷售的替代所部分抵消。正如前面所提到的，由於它與我們的其他一些類別相關，因此家居顯示出第一季度以來最強勁的趨勢改善，令人鼓舞的是我們新增長類別的早期閱讀。鞋類也呈現出趨勢改善的趨勢，部分原因是耐克和安德瑪在該類別的銷量增加。

Other revenue, which is primarily our credit business declined 3% in the second quarter, an improvement in trend versus Q1. Moving down the P&L. Q2 gross margin was 39%, a decline of 61 basis points to last year, driven by product cost inflation and higher strength, offset partially by lower freight expense and digital-related cost of shipping. Year-to-date, gross margin was 39%, flat to last year. SG&A expenses increased 1.6% to $1.3 billion. The increase was primarily due to higher store expenses driven by Sephora openings, wage pressure and store experience investments. This was partially offset by lower marketing and distribution costs.

其他收入（主要是我們的信貸業務）在第二季度下降了 3%，與第一季度相比趨勢有所改善。損益表向下移動。第二季度毛利率為 39%，比去年下降 61 個基點，這是由產品成本通脹和實力增強推動的，但部分被較低的運費和數字相關運輸成本所抵消。年初至今，毛利率為39%，與去年持平。 SG&A 支出增長 1.6%，達到 13 億美元。這一增長主要是由於絲芙蘭開業、工資壓力和商店體驗投資導致商店費用增加。這被較低的營銷和分銷成本部分抵消。

Year-to-date, SG&A expenses have decreased 1.3% compared to last year. Depreciation expense of $186 million was $20 million lower than last year due to reduced technology capital spend. Year-to-date as compared to last year, depreciation expense decreased $32 million to $374 million. Interest expense of $89 million was $12 million higher than last year, due primarily to increased revolver borrowings. Year-to-date, interest expense increased $28 million to $173 million.

年初至今，SG&A 費用比去年下降了 1.3%。由於技術資本支出減少，折舊費用為 1.86 億美元，比去年減少了 2000 萬美元。年初至今，與去年相比，折舊費用減少了 3200 萬美元，達到 3.74 億美元。利息支出為 8,900 萬美元，比去年增加 1,200 萬美元，主要是由於循環借款增加。年初至今，利息支出增加了 2800 萬美元，達到 1.73 億美元。

Net income for the quarter was $58 million, and earnings per diluted share was $0.52. Year-to-date, net income was $72 million, and earnings per diluted share was $0.65. Turning to the balance sheet and cash flow. We ended the quarter with $204 million of cash and cash equivalents. Inventory at quarter end was down 14% compared to last year, exceeding our commitment of a mid-single-digit decline. As Tom shared, we feel good about how we manage inventory in the quarter and how we are positioned entering the fall season.

該季度淨利潤為 5800 萬美元，攤薄後每股收益為 0.52 美元。年初至今，淨利潤為 7200 萬美元，稀釋後每股收益為 0.65 美元。轉向資產負債表和現金流量。本季度結束時，我們的現金和現金等價物為 2.04 億美元。季度末庫存比去年下降 14%，超出了我們中個位數下降的承諾。正如湯姆分享的那樣，我們對本季度的庫存管理方式以及進入秋季的定位感到滿意。

Operating cash flow was $430 million in the second quarter, and free cash flow was $176 million. We continue to expect inventory to be a source of cash during the remainder of the year, which will drive strong positive cash flow generation in Q3 and Q4. Capital expenditures for the quarter were $244 million. We are still planning for approximately $600 million to $650 million of capital expenditures in 2023.

第二季度運營現金流為 4.3 億美元，自由現金流為 1.76 億美元。我們仍然預計庫存將成為今年剩餘時間內的現金來源，這將推動第三季度和第四季度產生強勁的正現金流。該季度的資本支出為 2.44 億美元。我們仍在計劃 2023 年約 6 億至 6.5 億美元的資本支出。

Now let me provide an update on our capital structure and capital allocation priorities. Strengthening our balance sheet is one of our top priorities in 2023. It is important that we continue to rebuild our cash position, and it remains our longer-term goal to manage this business at a leverage target of 2.5x. In the second quarter, as planned, we reduced our revolver borrowings by $205 million. Looking ahead, we will continue to utilize the revolver in Q3 for seasonal working capital build related to holiday receipts. However, we continue to plan to be out of the revolver by year-end, inclusive of retiring $111 million of bonds in December of 2023.

現在讓我介紹一下我們的資本結構和資本配置優先事項的最新情況。加強我們的資產負債表是我們 2023 年的首要任務之一。重要的是，我們繼續重建我們的現金狀況，以 2.5 倍的槓桿目標管理這項業務仍然是我們的長期目標。在第二季度，我們按計劃減少了 2.05 億美元的循環借款。展望未來，我們將繼續利用第三季度的左輪手槍來建立與假期收入相關的季節性營運資金。然而，我們繼續計劃在年底前退出左輪手槍，包括在 2023 年 12 月退役 1.11 億美元的債券。

As it relates to returning capital to shareholders, we will continue to prioritize our current dividend, which represents a healthy yield for our shareholders. During the second quarter, we paid $55 million or $0.50 per share in dividends to shareholders. In addition, as previously disclosed on August 8, the Board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.50 per share payable to shareholders on September 20. Now let me provide details on our outlook for 2023. As you've heard today, we are pleased with the progress we are making against our priorities. Our second quarter earnings were in line with our expectations. And as Tom indicated, August sales to date are off to a good start.

由於這關係到向股東返還資本，我們將繼續優先考慮當前股息，這代表了股東的健康收益。第二季度，我們向股東支付了 5500 萬美元或每股 0.50 美元的股息。此外，正如之前在8 月8 日披露的那樣，董事會宣佈於9 月20 日向股東派發每股0.50 美元的季度現金股息。現在讓我詳細介紹我們對2023 年的展望。正如您今天所聽到的，我們對我們在優先事項方面取得的進展。我們第二季度的盈利符合我們的預期。正如 Tom 指出的那樣，迄今為止 8 月份的銷售已經有了一個良好的開端。

Based on this, we are reaffirming our full year financial guidance. For the full year, we currently expect net sales to decrease 2% to 4% versus 2022 and it includes the 53rd week, which is worth approximately 1 percentage point of gross. Operating margin to be approximately 4% and diluted earnings per share to be in the range of $2.10 to $2.70, excluding any nonrecurring charges.

基於此，我們重申全年財務指引。對於全年，我們目前預計淨銷售額將比 2022 年下降 2% 至 4%，其中包括第 53 週，約佔總銷售額的 1 個百分點。營業利潤率約為 4%，稀釋後每股收益為 2.10 美元至 2.70 美元（不包括任何非經常性費用）。

Lastly, I want to highlight a couple of items about how we are thinking about the third quarter. We continue to expect our full year gross margin in a 36% to 36.5% range. For Q3, we expect it will be approximately 38%. Our full year SG&A expense outlook is also unchanged with slight deleverage expected. For Q3, we are planning SG&A expense to increase approximately 3% as compared to last year, driven by additional store-related investments and 45 Sephora small shop openings.

最後，我想強調一些關於我們如何看待第三季度的事項。我們仍然預計全年毛利率在 36% 至 36.5% 範圍內。對於第三季度，我們預計約為 38%。我們的全年 SG&A 支出預期也保持不變，預計會略有去槓桿化。第三季度，在額外商店相關投資和 45 家絲芙蘭小店開業的推動下，我們計劃 SG&A 費用比去年增加約 3%。

With that, Tom and I are happy to take your questions at this time.

至此，湯姆和我很高興此時回答你們的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Your first question comes from the line of Bob Drbul from Guggenheim Securities.

（操作員說明）您的第一個問題來自古根海姆證券公司的鮑勃·德布爾（Bob Drbul）。

A couple of questions. First, Tom, for you. When you think about the progress that you're making, can you just talk a little bit more around the learnings, the opportunity that you see, now that you're sort of into it a few quarters in terms of the business and where you're taking it?

有幾個問題。首先，湯姆，為你。當你思考你正在取得的進展時，你能多談談你所學到的知識和你看到的機會嗎？既然你已經進入了幾個季度的業務和你的位置，正在接受嗎？

And the second question, Jill, can you give us some insight on credit just in terms of the relationship, the bad debt, the delinquency rate, and I think the launch of the new program that you're doing this year, just sort of how we should be thinking about trends in credit right now and as you look to the back half of the year?

第二個問題，吉爾，您能否從關係、壞賬、拖欠率方面給我們一些關於信貸的見解，我認為您今年推出的新計劃有點像當您展望今年下半年時，我們應該如何考慮信貸趨勢？

So Bob, to talk about what's going on with the strategy, we feel pretty good about what has been going on here. We really look at the business -- when we look at the stores business, we have a positive trend in stores that just really represents a lot of the work that we've been doing overall. Most of our decrease came from digital, and that was somewhat self-inflicted, because we have reduced the amount of online-only general public offerings.

鮑勃，談談該戰略的進展情況，我們對這裡發生的事情感覺非常好。我們真正關注業務——當我們關注商店業務時，我們的商店呈現出積極的趨勢，這確實代表了我們總體上所做的很多工作。我們的減少大部分來自數字化，這在某種程度上是我們自己造成的，因為我們減少了僅在線公開發行的數量。

We're obviously moving more to omni, having more simplified pricing strategy. To have two different pricing strategies just wasn't good. So we're encouraged by August -- the August business as well. But one of the things we've learned, the Sephora business has been incredibly good. We have a 20% comp in the stores in '21, in '22, it's pretty remarkable. It's bringing in a younger, more diverse consumer as well. But it's been really a driver, and we're moving right along.

顯然，我們正在更多地轉向全向，定價策略更加簡化。採用兩種不同的定價策略並不好。因此，我們對八月——八月的業務——感到鼓舞。但我們學到的一件事是，絲芙蘭的業務非常好。我們在 21 年和 22 年的商店裡有 20% 的折扣，這是相當了不起的。它還帶來了更年輕、更多樣化的消費者。但這確實是一個驅動力，我們正在繼續前進。

And over the next couple of years, it will be in all stores. We're really moving on bringing in more home product in the home decor category. And we've been working with the marketplace to secure goods in real time. And we really feel that, that's going to pay dividends in the long run as more and more product comes into the company in those categories. The impulse business is good, it's going to get even better as we get closer to holiday.

在接下來的幾年裡，它將出現在所有商店中。我們確實正在努力在家居裝飾類別中引入更多家居產品。我們一直在與市場合作以實時確保貨物安全。我們確實認為，從長遠來看，隨著越來越多的產品進入公司這些類別，這將帶來紅利。衝動生意很好，隨著假期的臨近，生意會變得更好。

So that's very good. And the other thing that we're going to look at down the road is obviously, new stores. We have -- not a whole lot this year, but maybe going forward, we'll be looking at expanding that that effort, but that work is still underway. But we're just really feel good about -- we see the product coming into the company, the stuff that we're underpenetrated with, and it's working well.

所以這非常好。我們接下來要關注的另一件事顯然是新店。今年我們所做的並不是很多，但也許展望未來，我們會考慮擴大這一努力，但這項工作仍在進行中。但我們真的感覺很好——我們看到產品進入公司，我們尚未充分利用的東西，而且運行良好。

And so we feel that if we can continue to grow the Sephora business, if we can continue to make progress in Home, I think we'll be in a pretty good position.

因此，我們認為，如果我們能夠繼續發展絲芙蘭業務，如果我們能夠繼續在家居領域取得進展，我認為我們將處於一個非常好的位置。

And in terms of credit, Bob, you know credit has obviously been a core component of our value equation over a long period of time, and we have a very stable portfolio in our credit. We have a partnership with Cap One. What I would say is Other revenue is a good proxy for what you saw with credit. We said it was going to be in line with sales. We still continue to expect that as we look to the -- out of the year. We did see payment rates drop as we expected. Those payment levels are still actually above 2019 levels.

就信貸而言，鮑勃，你知道，長期以來，信貸顯然一直是我們價值等式的核心組成部分，而且我們的信貸投資組合非常穩定。我們與 Cap One 建立了合作夥伴關係。我想說的是，其他收入可以很好地代表您所看到的信貸收入。我們說這將與銷量保持一致。當我們展望今年時，我們仍然繼續期待這一點。正如我們預期的那樣，我們確實看到付款率下降。這些付款水平實際上仍高於 2019 年的水平。

And then we did see more of a normalization of our credit losses. So those credit losses did increase over what was obviously a really low year last year. But as anticipated, I think we spoke to the fact that we did take early actions as we did anticipate the macroeconomic environment to worsen and people to have less cash in their bank account. So as we looked and worked with our partner at the risk, we did take back some of those risk sales to not continue to offer that. So I think we're very proactive as we approach this.

然後我們確實看到我們的信用損失更多地正常化。因此，這些信貸損失確實比去年明顯低的一年有所增加。但正如預期的那樣，我認為我們談到了這樣一個事實：我們確實採取了早期行動，因為我們確實預計宏觀經濟環境會惡化，人們銀行賬戶中的現金會減少。因此，當我們研究並與面臨風險的合作夥伴合作時，我們確實收回了部分風險銷售，不再繼續提供此類服務。所以我認為我們在解決這個問題時非常積極主動。

So I would say it is performing as we anticipated with payment rates down, losses up, but really, we feel good with that portfolio. And it's coming in just as expected, and we continue to expect it to really go with sales. In terms of co-brand, we're excited to be able to offer a new vehicle to customers who maybe didn't want a private label credit card. So this really affords us the opportunity to spread that value equation to customers that we think are younger, more diverse, really hitting on that customer that we're driving in for support to say, could we bring them into a credit card, but not necessarily they're open to a PLCC card.

所以我想說，它的表現正如我們預期的那樣，支付率下降，損失上升，但實際上，我們對該投資組合感覺良好。它的上市正如預期的那樣，我們繼續期望它能真正與銷售相一致。在聯合品牌方面，我們很高興能夠為可能不需要自有品牌信用卡的客戶提供新車。因此，這確實為我們提供了將價值等式傳播給我們認為更年輕、更多樣化的客戶的機會，真正吸引了我們尋求支持的客戶，我們可以將他們帶入信用卡中，但不能他們必然對PLCC 卡開放。

So we've brought in about 700,000 of our credit card customers and migrated them over to the co-brand card. And we'll just kind of watch that and learn from that migration before we extend that out, but then we'll be expanding that out in 2024 based on those results.

因此，我們吸引了大約 70 萬信用卡客戶，並將他們遷移到聯名卡。在擴展該遷移之前，我們只會觀察這一情況並從中學習，然後我們將根據這些結果在 2024 年進行擴展。

Your next question comes from the line of Oliver Chen from TD Cowen.

您的下一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Oliver Chen。

Tom and Jill, as we look ahead, what are some of the major catalysts for holiday in terms of your plans and inventory planning as well as just highlights that we would love there? Also, as we think about the online business, the comparisons will get easier. What should be the path ahead for resumption of growth there? And finally, on the stores and traffic, would love your thoughts on traffic and transactions. And have you seen a lot of volatility in what your forecast assumes for how traffic may move?

湯姆和吉爾，展望未來，就你們的計劃和庫存計劃以及我們喜歡的亮點而言，假期的主要催化劑是什麼？此外，當我們考慮在線業務時，比較會變得更容易。那裡恢復增長的前進道路應該是什麼？最後，關於商店和流量，希望了解您對流量和交易的想法。您是否發現您對流量​​移動方式的預測存在很大的波動？

Well, the big catalyst for holiday is really maximizing the gift business. We did some of that last year by moving the gifting product to the front of the store, and it did very well. We're going to be doing it again this year in making a major statement.

嗯，節日的最大催化劑確實是禮品業務的最大化。去年我們就這樣做了一些，將禮品產品移到了商店前面，效果非常好。今年我們將再次這樣做，發表重要聲明。

In the front, we do have some extra square footage, because we removed some registered base for gifting as well. But I really feel that by making a strong gifting statement, we're going to have a good holiday season. Digital, as far as digital goes, we see it improving as we progress through this year. And then obviously, we anticipate back to growth in '24, once we anniversary all these online-only promotions that we had.

在前面，我們確實有一些額外的面積，因為我們也刪除了一些用於贈送禮物的註冊基地。但我真的覺得，通過做出強有力的禮物聲明，我們將度過一個愉快的假期。數字化，就數字化而言，我們看到它隨著今年的進展而不斷進步。顯然，一旦我們慶祝所有這些僅限在線的促銷活動，我們預計將在 24 年恢復增長。

And then from a stores perspective, obviously, really excited that we're actually positive on the year of flat performance in Q2. And a lot of the efforts that Tom had talked about are really happening in our stores as we speak. It's the increased presence of Home where we at least got rid of the registers. It's having a stronger presence of gifting. We saw great sell-throughs through Mother's Day, Father's Day, 4th of July. So we're excited as we move into back-to-school and especially the all-important holiday period there.

然後從商店的角度來看，顯然，我們對第二季度表現持平的一年感到非常興奮。就在我們說話的時候，湯姆談到的許多努力正在我們的商店中真正發生。由於 Home 的存在增加，我們至少擺脫了寄存器。它具有更強的禮物存在感。我們在母親節、父親節和 7 月 4 日期間看到了巨大的銷售量。因此，當我們回到學校，尤其是那裡最重要的假期時，我們感到很興奮。

And then, of course, clearly, Sephora continues to work for us as we open another 200 doors. We have 50 more doors going in August and 45 small in October. So I think from a store perspective, we're excited to continue to see that business do well and being an outperformance, which you haven't heard from us in some time. And just to reiterate on digital, I think we're seeing similar performances out of categories. It's just that the promotions is having an outweighted impact there. And so we know we have to get through that. But it's really the right thing to do, as Tom said, just to reiterate, we want to have an omnichannel experience. So having specific offers online was counter to that. So we think this is the right thing to do from a long-term perspective, which is why we believe we'll get back to growth in 2024.

當然，很明顯，當我們又開設 200 家門店時，絲芙蘭將繼續為我們服務。我們在 8 月份將增加 50 個門，在 10 月份將增加 45 個小門。因此，我認為從商店的角度來看，我們很高興繼續看到業務表現良好並表現出色，而您已經有一段時間沒有聽到我們的消息了。重申一下數字領域，我認為我們看到了不同類別的類似表現。只是促銷活動在那裡產生了巨大的影響。所以我們知道我們必須克服這個困難。但這確實是正確的做法，正如湯姆所說，只是重申一下，我們希望擁有全渠道體驗。因此，在網上提供具體優惠與此相反。因此，我們認為從長遠來看，這是正確的做法，這就是為什麼我們相信我們將在 2024 年恢復增長。

Okay. Great. Tom, and a follow-up on the merchandising brands around Sephora. What are the leading strategies to synergize and get the pickup from the tremendous growth you're seeing at Sephora? And related to that, women's and younger women's clothing and apparel, would love your thoughts on rebalancing in the brands and the strategy there about what will it take to get sustainable growth with that younger customer.

好的。偉大的。湯姆，以及絲芙蘭周邊商品品牌的後續行動。您在絲芙蘭看到的協同效應和巨大增長的主要戰略是什麼？與此相關的是，女性和年輕女性服裝和服飾，希望了解您對品牌重新平衡的想法以及如何才能與年輕客戶實現可持續增長的戰略。

As far as brands go, we've been looking at a lot of different brands that would complement the Sephora offering. We've been going -- Nick Jones, the Chief Merchant, I've been going to New York pretty much every week now, looking for this. And we haven't made any real decisions yet, but there is opportunities out there to bring other things in. But we think we can get some of the Sephora business with the brands we currently have, and we can change the offering. We can have more prints, more color in the assortments. And we don't have to radically change the vendor mix to capture this.

就品牌而言，我們一直在尋找許多可以補充絲芙蘭產品的不同品牌。我們一直在——尼克·瓊斯，首席商人，我現在幾乎每週都去紐約，尋找這個。我們還沒有做出任何真正的決定，但是有機會引入其他東西。但我們認為我們可以用我們目前擁有的品牌獲得絲芙蘭的一些業務，並且我們可以改變產品。我們可以有更多的印刷品、更多的顏色。我們不必從根本上改變供應商組合來捕捉這一點。

But we are looking at the young women's business. We really feel that, that could be an opportunity for us as well as you just mentioned. So there's plenty of things that we can work with in our current brand portfolio. And then we're going to -- we're looking for other brands to add over time. I think the other thing that could be very good for the Sephora customer is our expansion of home decor and gifting. We really think that's in line with that customer as well.

但我們正在關注年輕女性的業務。我們真的覺得，這對我們和你剛才提到的來說都是一個機會。因此，我們當前的品牌組合中有很多東西可以合作。然後我們將尋找其他品牌隨著時間的推移而增加。我認為對絲芙蘭顧客來說可能非常好的另一件事是我們對家居裝飾和禮品的擴展。我們確實認為這也符合該客戶的需求。

Your next question comes from the line of Mark Altschwager from Baird.

您的下一個問題來自 Baird 的 Mark Altschwager。

Tom, any change to your views on the macro consumer backdrop versus a few months ago? You're reiterating the guide. The environment is obviously pretty dynamic and the guide allows for a range of outcomes. So just curious if you can share any additional thoughts there. And then, Jill, gross margin. I noticed you didn't call out the clearance shift as a factor impacting gross margin this quarter. That was a little bit surprising. Just I guess any color you have there would be helpful as well.

湯姆，與幾個月前相比，您對宏觀消費者背景的看法有什麼變化嗎？您正在重申該指南。環境顯然是非常動態的，並且該指南考慮到了一系列結果。所以只是好奇你是否可以在那里分享任何其他想法。然後，吉爾，毛利率。我注意到您沒有指出清倉變化是影響本季度毛利率的因素。這有點令人驚訝。我想你那裡的任何顏色也會有幫助。

Well, I think the macro environment continues to be challenging for our customers as I mentioned in the prepared remarks. That's a reason why we're really focused on delivering as much value as possible because, obviously, that customers has less money to spend. We brought -- we're doing the value items, bringing goods in at competitive high bottom pricing to deliver more value to the selling floor as well. But we're going to just really work hard on making sure that we have as much value as we can have. We've already started that, and it will just continue through the third and fourth quarter. And -- but it's critical that we deliver the value for them.

嗯，我認為宏觀環境對我們的客戶來說仍然充滿挑戰，正如我在準備好的發言中提到的那樣。這就是為什麼我們真正專注於提供盡可能多的價值，因為顯然，客戶可以花的錢更少。我們帶來了——我們正在做有價值的項目，以有競爭力的高底價格帶來商品，也為銷售場所提供更多價值。但我們將真正努力確保我們擁有盡可能多的價值。我們已經開始這樣做，並將持續到第三和第四季度。而且——但我們為他們提供價值至關重要。

And then in terms of gross margin, I think we did actually take all the clearance merc that we anticipated. I think a couple of things that helped us at that. One is, as we talked about, we are able to take out the promotions, the ones that were really the stackable ones, the ones that we didn't see have a lot of impact to our top line. So we're able to benefit from less promotions that helped us offset some of the clearance. And I think the bigger factor is our inventory was down 14%.

然後就毛利率而言，我認為我們實際上確實獲得了我們預期的所有清倉商品。我認為有幾件事對我們有幫助。一是，正如我們所說，我們能夠開展促銷活動，那些真正可疊加的促銷活動，那些我們沒有看到對我們的營收產生很大影響的促銷活動。因此，我們能夠從較少的促銷活動中受益，從而幫助我們抵消了一些清倉。我認為更重要的因素是我們的庫存下降了 14%。

So as we look at the content and the [currency] of the inventory, we feel very well positioned as we move into the back half of the year. And so we were able to clean up what we needed to. But I think a lot of the efforts and disciplines that Tom has instilled in the merchant organization really took Kohl quicker than we anticipated and the discipline around inventory management, receipt management and just the agility to chase really benefited us more than we anticipated into Q2. And we expect that to continue to benefit us the rest of the year, which is why we're expecting our margin to grow, both in Q3 and Q4.

因此，當我們查看庫存的內容和[貨幣]時，我們感覺在進入今年下半年時處於非常有利的位置。這樣我們就能夠清理我們需要清理的東西。但我認為湯姆在商業組織中灌輸的很多努力和紀律確實讓科爾比我們預期的更快，而且圍繞庫存管理、收據管理和敏捷性的紀律確實給我們帶來了比我們在第二季度預期的更多的好處。我們預計這將繼續使我們在今年剩餘時間受益，這就是為什麼我們預計第三季度和第四季度的利潤率都會增長。

That's helpful color. And then just a quick follow-up. August to date off to a good start. Should we read that as tracking ahead of the down 5% Q2 comp rate?

這是有用的顏色。然後進行快速跟進。八月至今有一個良好的開端。我們是否應該將其視為領先於第二季度下降 5% 的補償率？

I would say we're pleased. Obviously, if you look at the quarters, we had talked to you in May, and we used the word, slightly below. You can see that June and July obviously were better than that. And I would say we feel good with the start we have in August. So yes, I would say, we're definitely trending above that.

我想說我們很高興。顯然，如果你看看季度，我們在五月份和你談過，我們使用了這個詞，略低於。你可以看到六月和七月明顯比那要好。我想說，我們對八月份的開局感覺很好。所以，是的，我想說，我們的趨勢肯定高於這個水平。

Our next question comes from the line of Matthew Boss from JPMorgan.

我們的下一個問題來自摩根大通的 Matthew Boss。

Great. So Tom, maybe given progress that you've made with inventory and the balance sheet, how best to think about category opportunities or the timeline you see from here to reach an optimal assortment? Or maybe said differently, do you see the opportunity to return to top line growth in 2024 as you just consider the macro versus all of these micro initiatives that you're putting in place?

偉大的。那麼湯姆，也許考慮到您在庫存和資產負債表方面取得的進展，如何最好地考慮品類機會或您從這裡看到的實現最佳分類的時間表？或者換句話說，當您只考慮宏觀與您正在實施的所有這些微觀舉措時，您是否認為有機會在 2024 年恢復收入增長？

I would think that in 2024, we could potentially get back to positive. That's obviously our objective overall. And the categories, I've really touched on a lot of the categories before, but the one thing about it which makes it exciting is the fact that there's some -- there's categories we're just underdeveloped in. And if we can just capture those opportunities, it should help position us for growth in the future. Again, home decor, pet, gifting, impulse, all that, things that we've been talking about will really help us get there. If every business was in the right penetration, it'd be a lot harder. But we just have these really low-hanging fruit in terms of business that we can capitalize on and really help us move it forward quicker.

我認為到 2024 年，我們有可能恢復積極的狀態。這顯然是我們的總體目標。至於類別，我之前確實接觸過很多類別，但令人興奮的一件事是，有一些類別我們只是不發達。如果我們能夠捕捉到這一點這些機會應該有助於我們為未來的增長做好準備。再說一次，家居裝飾、寵物、禮物、衝動，所有這些，我們一直在談論的事情將真正幫助我們實現目標。如果每個企業都有正確的滲透，那就會困難得多。但就業務而言，我們只是擁有這些非常容易實現的成果，我們可以利用它們並真正幫助我們更快地向前推進。

Great. And then maybe a follow-up for Jill. So with first half of the year gross margin, I think, more than 100 basis points above 2019, I guess, how best to think about gross margin structurally from here, if we think relative to 2019 levels? Or maybe asked differently, is there a ceiling to the 36% to 37% gross margin target longer term?

偉大的。然後也許是吉爾的後續行動。因此，我認為，今年上半年的毛利率比 2019 年高出 100 多個基點，如果我們相對於 2019 年的水平思考，如何最好地從結構上考慮毛利率？或者換句話說，36% 至 37% 的長期毛利率目標是否有上限？

I think right now, we just feel very comfortable working within the 36% to 37% range. Obviously, depending on where we see assortment moving in and out, obviously, Sephora is a gross margin driver. We think home decor and impulse can definitely be benefits as well from an assortment perspective. So there's definitely a mixed component to it as well as then the digital growth. We've been getting some tailwinds as digital has softened. But if we can continue to grow that business, you'll see cost of shipping come out.

我認為現在，我們在 36% 到 37% 的範圍內工作感到非常舒服。顯然，根據我們看到的品種進出的位置，絲芙蘭顯然是毛利率的驅動因素。我們認為從品種的角度來看，家居裝飾和衝動也絕對是有益的。因此，它肯定有一個混合的組成部分以及數字增長。隨著數字化的疲軟，我們得到了一些順風。但如果我們能夠繼續發展該業務，您就會看到運輸成本。

So I think we feel great that we're operating within the 36% to 37%. That was really the long-term plan that we outlined. And I think that's really where we feel most comfortable that we're able to still deliver the value that our customer is used to getting from Kohl's in that margin range and then, also bringing in some of these new white space opportunities that Tom has outlined to get the top line growing. So I think our model works from a long-term operating margin with a small amount of top line growth. So that's really the big focus. I think we feel great with the margin that we're putting out this year. Our SG&A disciplines are there, and we'll gain great leverage off of just a small amount of top line growth. So that's really the focus, I think, from a long-term perspective.

所以我認為我們感覺很好，我們在 36% 到 37% 之間運營。這確實是我們概述的長期計劃。我認為這確實是我們感到最放心的地方，因為我們仍然能夠在這個利潤範圍內提供我們的客戶習慣於從 Kohl's 獲得的價值，然後還引入湯姆概述的一些新的空白機會以獲得收入增長。因此，我認為我們的模型是從長期營業利潤率和少量營收增長出發的。這確實是重點。我認為我們對今年的利潤感到滿意。我們的 SG&A 紀律就在那裡，我們只需少量的收入增長就能獲得巨大的影響力。所以我認為，從長遠角度來看，這確實是重點。

Your next question comes from the line of Dana Telsey from Telsey Group.

您的下一個問題來自 Telsey Group 的 Dana Telsey。

As you think about the -- what's happening with shrink out there, what are you seeing in your stores? And is there -- what investments are you making to deter shrink? And then Tom, you mentioned about potential new stores. What are you thinking about new stores, whether it's size, location? And how are you thinking about that in a store opening or closing program? And lastly, you talked about the home category and that opportunity. How do you see that opportunity with branded versus private label and the impact on margins?

當你想到——那裡的心理諮詢師正在發生什麼時，你在商店裡看到了什麼？您正在進行哪些投資來阻止萎縮？然後湯姆，你提到了潛在的新店。您對新店有何想法，無論是規模還是位置？您在開店或關店計劃中如何考慮這一點？最後，您談到了家居類別和機會。您如何看待品牌與自有品牌的機會以及對利潤的影響？

Okay. I'll start with shrink. I mean I think, Dana, you know, shrink is definitely a retail industry problem. And it's definitely something that we've called out in the last two quarters has weighed in on our margins. We expect it to continue to remain a headwind in the second half, but we have put a lot of efforts in place really to prioritize the safety of our associates and our customers. But we've taken different measures. We are cabling product to fixtures.

好的。我將從收縮開始。我的意思是，我認為，達納，你知道，萎縮絕對是零售業的問題。這絕對是我們在過去兩個季度所呼籲的，對我們的利潤產生了影響。我們預計下半年它將繼續成為不利因素，但我們已經付出了很多努力，真正優先考慮我們員工和客戶的安全。但我們採取了不同的措施。我們正在將產品佈線到固定裝置。

We're going to [just testers] within beauty. We have more attendance in the fitting room. We have more presence in the front of store. So we're doing everything we can to mitigate shrink but really prioritizing the safety of our associates and customers. But I think it's really -- it's going to be a retail problem until we see a bigger step-up, I think, legislatively. So it's something we planned for and have put in our expectations.

我們將在美容領域[只是測試人員]。我們試衣間裡的人更多了。我們在商店前面有更多的存在。因此，我們正在盡一切努力減輕損失，但真正優先考慮的是我們員工和客戶的安全。但我認為這確實是一個零售問題，直到我們在立法上看到更大的進步。所以這是我們計劃並寄予我們期望的事情。

I'll talk about the stores. We're looking at it very, very thoughtfully in terms of how we should expand. We're really just begun the analysis. And obviously, in later earnings calls, we'll share more. But one thing we know we're going to do is we're going to open smaller stores. The biggest store we'll open going forward is 55,000 square feet. We'll be adding probably a lot of 35,000 square feet. And -- but we're still developing the seed points where we can have additional stores. Again, that analysis is being done now. But mostly, we're really looking at the size of the stores, and we're looking at the cost of the stores, and we're looking at how we effectively can add some additional stores. But we're going to do it with a lot of analysis behind it.

我來談談商店。我們正在非常非常仔細地考慮如何擴展。我們實際上才剛剛開始分析。顯然，在稍後的財報電話會議中，我們將分享更多信息。但我們知道我們要做的一件事是我們將開設較小的商店。我們未來將開設的最大商店面積為 55,000 平方英尺。我們可能會增加 35,000 平方英尺的面積。而且——但我們仍在開發種子點，在那裡我們可以擁有更多商店。同樣，該分析現在正在進行中。但大多數情況下，我們確實在考慮商店的規模，我們正在考慮商店的成本，我們正在考慮如何有效地添加一些額外的商店。但我們將在其背後進行大量分析來做到這一點。

As far as the home goes, I think there's opportunities both, in brands and in private label, maybe a little bit more in brands because of the fact that we want to chase product. And we've already -- we're already doing that and going into the market and buying the product in real time. As far as margin goes, I think it could be -- home decor is higher margin business. So the more we go after that, I think it could be a positive to the gross margin overall. But again, it's -- a lot of chase is going to happen in this business, because we want to be able to react in real time.

就家居而言，我認為品牌和自有品牌都有機會，也許品牌更多一些，因為我們想要追逐產品。我們已經——我們已經這樣做了，進入市場並實時購買產品。就利潤率而言，我認為可能是——家居裝飾是利潤率較高的業務。因此，我們越追求這一點，我認為這可能對整體毛利率產生積極影響。但同樣，這個行業將會發生很多追逐，因為我們希望能夠實時做出反應。

Your next question comes from the line of Blake Anderson from Jefferies.

您的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Blake Anderson。

Wanted to dig in a bit on Sephora. You had an impressive result there. Can you talk about the acceleration in the comp up to greater than 20%? What's driving that in terms of new customers versus transactions or basket? And then for the newer stores, are they still performing on a similar trajectory? And lastly, any beauty categories to call out that were stronger?

想深入了解一下絲芙蘭。你在那裡取得了令人印象深刻的成績。您能談談超過 20% 的加速嗎？就新客戶與交易或購物籃而言，是什麼推動了這一趨勢？那麼對於新開的商店來說，它們的表現是否仍然保持著類似的軌跡？最後，有什麼美容類別可以說是更強的嗎？

So I think, obviously, Sephora has been a great performance for us. We continue to see it accelerate. And I think it's just the fact that we're now getting those customers to come back repeatedly in terms of their replenishment. So we continue to see an acceleration in that. I would say, newer stores are performing actually better, more smarter, I think, on the assortment as we open these stores. So when we opened our first 200, we learned what our customer wanted maybe relative to what Sephora had opened their stores with.

所以我認為，絲芙蘭顯然對我們來說表現出色。我們繼續看到它加速。我認為這只是一個事實，我們現在讓這些客戶在補貨方面反復回來。所以我們繼續看到這方面的加速。我想說的是，我認為，當我們開設這些商店時，新商店在品種上實際上表現得更好、更聰明。因此，當我們開設前 200 家店時，我們了解了顧客的需求，這可能與絲芙蘭開店時的商品相關。

So now we're getting smarter at how we're actually bringing those forward and really being able to be smarter on opening. But then even with replenishment, we're getting better in terms of how we're replenishing. So I think we feel great with how the new stores are opening and the existing stores are performing. So you can see they continue to accelerate on that. We do continue to bring new customers in. They're younger, they're more diverse. So I think that's a big opportunity that we talked about in terms of getting them to cross shop through the store. I think a lot of the areas that we indicated were white space for us, particularly if impulse, gifting and home decor, it's a quick add into the basket. So as we're able to have a stronger presence of that in our store, we can take advantage of that new store and those extra steps coming in, in terms of that.

因此，現在我們在如何實際推進這些方面變得更加明智，並且真正能夠在開放方面更加明智。但即使有了補貨，我們的補貨方式也正在變得更好。因此，我認為我們對新店的開業和現有商店的表現感到滿意。所以你可以看到他們在這方面繼續加速。我們確實在不斷引進新客戶。他們更年輕，更多樣化。所以我認為這是一個很大的機會，我們談到了讓他們通過商店進行交叉購物。我認為我們指出的很多領域對我們來說都是空白，特別是如果衝動、送禮和家居裝飾，它可以快速添加到購物籃中。因此，當我們能夠在我們的商店中擁有更強大的存在感時，我們就可以利用新商店和即將採取的額外措施。

Top selling brands, we talked about it were Sol de Janeiro as well as the Sephora Collection, which is an opening price point, but then Charlotte Tilbury, which is a really high price point. So we're seeing that customer shop across all of the areas. And then I'd be remiss to not talk about -- we have men's brands, which is something you don't see in a Sephora store, and we're seeing Clinique for Men, Jack Black performing incredibly well there as well. So I just think we continue to learn, we continue to bring in new customers, and we just have an opportunity to convert those customers into our loyalty program and getting them to shop. We are seeing those customers shop 2x more often than our existing customer.

最暢銷的品牌，我們談到的是 Sol de Janeiro 以及絲芙蘭系列，這是一個開放的價格點，但然後是 Charlotte Tilbury，這是一個非常高的價格點。所以我們看到顧客在所有區域購物。如果我不談一談那就太失職了——我們有男士品牌，這是你在絲芙蘭商店裡看不到的，而且我們看到倩碧男士品牌、傑克·布萊克在那裡也表現得非常好。所以我認為我們繼續學習，繼續引進新客戶，我們有機會將這些客戶轉化為我們的忠誠度計劃並讓他們購物。我們發現這些客戶的購物頻率是我們現有客戶的兩倍。

So really, we're going to have an opportunity to build on that as we build the assortment that Tom has indicated throughout this call.

因此，實際上，當我們構建湯姆在本次電話會議中指出的產品組合時，我們將有機會在此基礎上繼續發展。

Yes. And I think the other thing that's pretty exciting about it is the smaller format store, which we brought in five or we set up five, and they've done very well. So it gives us the confidence that we can have Sephora in all of our stores.

是的。我認為另一件非常令人興奮的事情是規模較小的商店，我們引進了五個或我們建立了五個，他們做得很好。因此，這讓我們有信心在我們所有的商店裡都能看到絲芙蘭。

That's super helpful. And Jill, could you remind us how much expense is in each of the quarters this year for the new Sephora stores? I was just trying to figure out the impact to quarterly SG&A.

這非常有幫助。 Jill，您能提醒我們今年每個季度新開的絲芙蘭店的費用是多少嗎？我只是想弄清楚對季度銷售管理費用 (SG&A) 的影響。

Yes. I think really the biggest thing in Q3, the increase is going to be -- we have 50 stores opening in August that are full-size shops and 45 small shops that are opening in October. The Q2 numbers are up against the Q2 numbers last year. So there wasn't a huge amount of increase from that perspective.

是的。我認為第三季度最大的事情是，增長將是——8 月份我們有 50 家全尺寸商店開業，10 月份有 45 家小型商店開業。第二季度的數字高於去年第二季度的數字。所以從這個角度來看，並沒有大幅增加。

So I would just say the step-up in Q3 will be mainly those investments. We're also putting in our self-checkout in Q3, which has expense related to it in about 250 stores. We continue to see wage pressure, which you've just seen throughout the year, which is a build on that as well. And then I think we benefited in Q2 more than we had expected with the inventory reduction. So inventory being down 14%, we had said we were going to work in the mid-single-digit range. So obviously, that benefit our SG&A, because we have less store payroll and less logistics cost to move those units.

所以我只想說第三季度的增長將主要是這些投資。我們還在第三季度推出了自助結賬服務，大約 250 家商店有與之相關的費用。我們繼續看到工資壓力，這是您在全年中看到的，這也是在此基礎上的壓力。然後我認為，隨著庫存減少，我們在第二季度的受益超出了我們的預期。因此，庫存下降了 14%，我們曾說過我們將在中個位數範圍內工作。顯然，這有利於我們的銷售管理費用，因為我們的商店工資減少了，移動這些產品的物流成本也減少了。

I would tell you that in the rest of the year, we're still planning to be managing inventory in that mid-single-digit range. In fact, we want to make sure we're protecting ourselves in holiday. So I would say mid-single digits, maybe a little bit better than that. Obviously, we're going to react and chase appropriately given the demand that we're seeing.

我想告訴你，在今年剩下的時間裡，我們仍計劃將庫存管理在中個位數範圍內。事實上，我們希望確保在假期中保護自己。所以我想說的是中個位數，也許比這個好一點。顯然，鑑於我們所看到的需求，我們將做出適當的反應和追逐。

Your next question comes from the line of Chuck Grom from Gordon Haskett.

你的下一個問題來自戈登·哈斯克特的查克·格羅姆。

Can you just talk about the success you're having in Sephora getting those shoppers to cross shop into other parts of the store? And I guess, over the past couple of years, how that's evolved?

您能否談談絲芙蘭在吸引購物者跨店到商店其他區域方面所取得的成功？我想，在過去的幾年裡，這是如何演變的？

Sure. I think we talked about, I think, around 40-ish percent of our customers to 50% are shopping around the store. So we continue to see that, that's an opportunity. I think like I mentioned, the big opportunity is going to be around these white space pieces. It's home decor, it's impulse, it's gifting. Those are easy adds to the basket. Particularly in home decor, you're going to see that in a much better opening price point. And so it's going to be easier for them to put into the basket.

當然。我想我們討論過，大約 40% 到 50% 的顧客在商店裡購物。所以我們繼續認為這是一個機會。我認為就像我提到的，巨大的機會將圍繞這些空白部分。它是家居裝飾，它是衝動，它是禮物。這些都是很容易添加到籃子裡的。特別是在家居裝飾方面，您會以更好的開盤價看到這一點。這樣他們就更容易放進籃子裡。

And then I think the bigger opportunity and time to spend some time talking about that is really getting the women to shop into the women's pad. And I think we know we have some opportunities there in terms of brands and fashion. We're working through that. So I think we feel great that we're in that 40% to 50% cross-shop rate, but we think we can do more with that given the whitespace opportunities we've outlined as well as women's and moving that into the right direction and getting her to shop across that pad.

然後我認為花一些時間討論這個問題的更大機會和時間確實可以讓女性購買女性護墊。我認為我們知道我們在品牌和時尚方面有一些機會。我們正在解決這個問題。因此，我認為我們對跨店率達到 40% 到 50% 感到很高興，但考慮到我們概述的空白機會以及女性機會，我們認為我們可以做得更多，並將其推向正確的方向並讓她到那個墊子上購物。

Okay. And is there any way to like think about how that 40% to 50% has evolved over the past couple of years? Has it continued to improve, or has it been that way and just been stable?

好的。有沒有什麼方法可以讓我們思考 40% 到 50% 在過去幾年中是如何演變的？是持續改善，還是一直保持穩定？

I think it's been pretty stable in that range since we've opened up the stores. I'd say in some of the more mature stores, the customers coming in maybe more for a replenishment trip, so we don't get as much in that basket. In the newer stores, they are excited just to see what Kohl's has to bring, because they're a new customer. But I would say that it's been a pretty stable range in totality overall, but maybe the more aged stores, I think, hopefully, when we introduce some of this newness, we'll gain that excitement back.

我認為自從我們開店以來，這個範圍一直相當穩定。我想說，在一些更成熟的商店中，顧客進來可能更多是為了補貨，所以我們在那個籃子裡得到的東西不多。在新開的商店裡，他們很興奮能看到 Kohl's 帶來的東西，因為他們是新顧客。但我想說，總體而言，這是一個相當穩定的範圍，但我認為，也許是更老的商店，希望當我們引入一些新東西時，我們會重新獲得那種興奮感。

Okay. Great. And then another one for you, Jill, just on the cadence and phasing of the back half of the year. Is there any way you can hold our hands on both, the comp as well as the credit line. The comp on a 1-year basis is pretty similar last year, the cycle in 3Q and 4Q. But on a multiyear, it's a little bit more choppy. So if you can maybe help us on that, would be helpful.

好的。偉大的。吉爾，然後再給你一個關於今年下半年的節奏和階段的信息。有什麼辦法可以讓我們同時掌握補償和信用額度嗎？一年期的比較與去年非常相似，第三季度和第四季度的周期。但從多年來看，情況會更加不穩定。因此，如果您能在這方面幫助我們，將會很有幫助。

Yes. I think overall, let's not talk about the 53rd week because obviously, you get the 53rd week benefit in Q4. I think if you look at it on a -- I did the 2-year stack for you, Chuck, because I know how much you like stacks. I think you're going to see a pretty consistent 2-year stack is what we're really outlining ex the 53rd week. You saw, if we looked at it, the 2-year would have gone a little bit in Q2 from Q1, but we did see that stack improve as the quarter went on. So I would say the exit rate was actually better than the 2-year stack in Q1, and I'd expect to be around that level in Q3 and Q4 ex the 53rd week, if that helps you.

是的。我認為總的來說，我們不要談論第 53 週，因為顯然，您在第四季度獲得了第 53 週的福利。我想如果你看一下——查克，我為你做了兩年堆棧，因為我知道你有多喜歡堆棧。我認為你會看到一個非常穩定的 2 年堆棧，這就是我們在第 53 週之前真正概述的內容。你會看到，如果我們看一下，第二季度的兩年期會比第一季度略有下降，但我們確實看到隨著本季度的繼續，堆棧有所改善。因此，我想說，退出率實際上比第一季度的2 年期堆棧要好，並且我預計第三季度和第四季度（第53 週除外）將達到該水平（如果這對您有幫助的話） 。

It does. Great.

確實如此。偉大的。

Your last question for today comes from the line of Paul Lejuez from Citi.

今天的最後一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Paul Lejuez。

It's Tracy filling in for Paul. I had two questions. The first is I was wondering what your AUR and traffic looks like in the second quarter and what you're expecting for AUR in the second half? And then I was wondering if you could tell us what the overall comps were in stores that had Sephora locations opened in '21 and '22?

特蕾西代替保羅。我有兩個問題。首先，我想知道你們第二季度的 AUR 和流量是什麼樣的，以及你們對下半年的 AUR 有何預期？然後我想知道您能否告訴我們 21 年和 22 年開設絲芙蘭門店的商店的總體比較情況如何？

Yes. I would tell you, Tracy, the components AUR has been a driver for us for some time. I think we've talked a lot about we've seen AUR growth, and that's really going to be a function of the fact of the brands that we're bringing in. Obviously, Sephora has a higher ticket, which you would expect, which is driving our AUR up. But then on top of that, you think of Tommy Hilfiger, Eddie Bauer, we're seeing our Nike and Under Armour businesses do well. So that all drives ticket. And I would say that's been pretty consistent over the last probably 4 or 5 years that we've seen our AURs moving up. And I would say we're going to expect that increase to continue.

是的。我想告訴你，Tracy，AUR 組件一段時間以來一直是我們的驅動力。我想我們已經談論了很多我們看到的 AUR 增長，這確實是我們引入的品牌事實的函數。顯然，絲芙蘭有更高的門票，這是你所期望的，這推動了我們的 AUR 上升。但最重要的是，你會想到湯米·希爾費格 (Tommy Hilfiger)、埃迪·鮑爾 (Eddie Bauer)，我們看到耐克和安德瑪業務表現良好。以便所有開車票。我想說的是，在過去的四五年裡，我們的 AUR 一直在上升。我想說的是，我們預計這種增長將繼續下去。

But I think more moderately now that we're comping some of these brand introductions and obviously continuing to be focused more on value. So we talked a little bit about our key value items, really focusing on driving the best, most competitive out-the-door price and focusing those on our private label, which we think could be really important to a customer in this uncertain and strained macroeconomic environment. So that's really where I would say we continue to look and see. And in terms of Sephora, I think we just feel good. It's up 20%. As you can imagine, it's definitely driving a benefit. Our stores were flat in the quarter. We're up 1% on the season in our stores. So obviously, it is driving much more productivity out of the box, which we're very, very pleased with.

但我認為現在我們正在比較一些品牌的推出，並且顯然會繼續更加關注價值，因此我認為更加溫和。因此，我們討論了一些我們的關鍵價值項目，真正專注於推動最好、最具競爭力的戶外價格，並將這些重點放在我們的自有品牌上，我們認為在這種不確定和緊張的情況下，這對客戶來說非常重要宏觀經濟環境。所以我想說，這確實是我們繼續觀察和觀察的地方。就絲芙蘭而言，我認為我們感覺很好。上漲了20%。正如您可以想像的那樣，這肯定會帶來好處。我們的商店本季度持平。我們的商店當季價格上漲了 1%。顯然，它大大提高了生產力，我們對此非常非常滿意。

Thank you to everyone listening on the call today.

感謝今天收聽電話會議的所有人。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您現在可以斷開連接。