勞氏公司 (LOW) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to Lowe's Companies Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Rob, and I'll be your operator for today's call. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

大家早上好，歡迎參加勞氏公司 2023 年第二季度收益電話會議。我叫羅布，我將擔任您今天通話的接線員。提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製中。

I'll now turn the call over to Kate Pearlman, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer.

我現在將把電話轉給投資者關係副總裁兼財務主管凱特·皮爾曼（Kate Pearlman）。

Thank you, and good morning. Here with me today are Marvin Ellison, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Bill Boltz, our Executive Vice President, Merchandising; Joe McFarland, our Executive Vice President Stores; and Brandon Sink, our Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，早上好。今天與我在一起的有董事長兼首席執行官馬文·埃里森 (Marvin Ellison)； Bill Boltz，我們的營銷執行副總裁； Joe McFarland，我們的商店執行副總裁；以及我們的執行副總裁兼首席財務官布蘭登·辛克（Brandon Sink）。

I would like to remind you that our notice regarding forward-looking statements is included in our press release this morning, which can be found on Lowe's Investor Relations website. During this call, we will be making comments that are forward-looking, including our expectations for fiscal 2023. Actual results may differ materially from those expressed or implied as a result of various risks, uncertainties and important factors, including those discussed in the risk factors, MD&A and other sections of our annual report on Form 10-K and our other SEC filings. Additionally, we'll be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation of these items to U.S. GAAP can be found in the quarterly earnings section of our Investor Relations website.

我想提醒您，我們有關前瞻性陳述的通知包含在今天上午的新聞稿中，您可以在勞氏投資者關係網站上找到該新聞稿。在本次電話會議中，我們將發表前瞻性評論，包括我們對2023 財年的預期。由於各種風險、不確定性和重要因素（包括風險中討論的因素），實際結果可能與明示或暗示的結果存在重大差異。我們的 10-K 表格年度報告和其他 SEC 備案文件中的因素、MD&A 以及其他部分。此外，我們還將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。這些項目與美國公認會計原則（U.S. GAAP）的調節可以在我們投資者關係網站的季度收益部分找到。

Now I'll turn the call over to Marvin.

現在我將把電話轉給馬文。

Thank you, Kate, and good morning, everyone. For the second quarter, comparable sales declined 1.6%. Our results were driven by a strong spring recovery, combined with continued growth in Pro and online, which helped to offset softer DIY discretionary spending and 160 basis points of pressure from lumber deflation.

謝謝你，凱特，大家早上好。第二季度可比銷售額下降 1.6%。我們的業績受到春季強勁復甦的推動，加上專業版和在線版的持續增長，這有助於抵消 DIY 可自由支配支出的疲軟和木材通貨緊縮帶來的 160 個基點的壓力。

Q2 also reflected the importance of our ongoing investments in our Total Home strategy. And despite an uncertain macro, these investments are paying off with positive comps in Pro and 6.9% comparable sales growth online as we continue to improve our omnichannel experience. We're pleased that our core Pro customer to small and midsized Pro remains resilient and continues to respond to our expanded national brands, MVP's Pro Rewards program and enhanced online tools. In our most recent survey, nearly 75% of polls reported healthy project backlogs and lead volumes remain consistent with recent quarters. This quarter, we launched a new same-day delivery option on lowes.com and our mobile app powered by 1 rail, enabling us to tap into their network of 12 million drivers to deliver directly to Pro job site and consumer homes in a matter of hours. This new capability allows us to leverage our 1,700-plus store footprint to make those much needed last-minute deliveries to Pro job sites, saving them both time and money.

第二季度也反映了我們對 Total Home 戰略持續投資的重要性。儘管宏觀形勢存在不確定性，但隨著我們繼續改善全渠道體驗，這些投資正在獲得回報，在 Pro 中實現了積極的業績增長，在線可比銷售額增長了 6.9%。我們很高興我們的核心專業客戶和中小型專業人士保持彈性，並繼續對我們擴大的全國品牌、MVP 的專業獎勵計劃和增強的在線工具做出反應。在我們最近的調查中，近 75% 的民意調查顯示，項目積壓狀況良好，並且鉛量與最近幾個季度保持一致。本季度，我們在 lowes.com 上推出了新的當日送達選項，我們的移動應用程序由 1rail 提供支持，使我們能夠利用他們的 1200 萬司機網絡，以小時。這項新功能使我們能夠利用 1,700 多家商店的足跡，在最後一刻向 Pro 工作地點交付急需的貨物，從而節省他們的時間和金錢。

Our expanded same-day delivery capability is the latest of many examples of how we are meeting our customers where they are in making home improvement shopping faster and more convenient for both Pro and DIY customers. We're also making strides in the rollout of our market delivery model for big and bulky products with 13 geographic regions now supporting more than 1,200 stores, and we are on track to complete the initial rollout by the end of the year. As we invest in what will drive our future growth, we remain disciplined in improving productivity through our perpetual productivity improvement initiatives or PPI.

我們擴大的當日送貨能力是我們如何滿足客戶需求的眾多例子中的最新一個，讓專業和 DIY 客戶更快、更方便地購買家居裝修產品。我們還在針對大型產品推出市場交付模式方面取得了長足進步，目前已在 13 個地理區域支持 1,200 多家商店，並且我們有望在今年年底前完成初步部署。當我們投資於推動未來增長的事物時，我們仍然通過永久性生產力改進計劃（PPI）來嚴格提高生產力。

In the second quarter, operating margin expanded 18 basis points, leading to diluted earnings per share of $4.56. A common misperception we hear is that our productivity journey must be close to us in as we've driven significant operating margin leverage since beginning our transformation 5 years ago. But the reality is we still have a lot of opportunity ahead. We're in the final phases of sunsetting our 30-year operating system, in addition to the productivity benefits of using intuitive touchscreens instead of hard to navigate green screens. This conversion gives us the modern foundation needed to quickly build and scale new omnichannel capabilities for the future. And we also continue to leverage our penetration of rural stores to drive sales productivity. We run these stores with a lower expense base than the rest of our portfolio and our ability to generate outsized operating margin leverage on sales growth is unique.

第二季度，營業利潤率擴大了 18 個基點，攤薄後每股收益為 4.56 美元。我們聽到的一個常見誤解是，我們的生產力之旅一定離我們很近，因為自 5 年前開始轉型以來，我們已經推動了顯著的運營利潤率槓桿。但現實是我們前面仍然有很多機會。我們正處於淘汰 30 年操作系統的最後階段，此外，使用直觀的觸摸屏（而不是難以導航的綠色屏幕）帶來了生產力優勢。這種轉換為我們提供了快速構建和擴展未來新的全渠道功能所需的現代基礎。我們還繼續利用對農村商店的滲透來提高銷售效率。我們經營這些商店的費用基礎低於我們投資組合的其他商店，而且我們對銷售增長產生巨大營業利潤槓桿的能力是獨一無二的。

Specifically, the expansion of our rural product assortment, combined with the implementation of our PPI initiatives, make our rural and remote stores a competitive advantage for our company. Beyond the productivity initiatives underway in stores, our leaders across all functional areas are executing against dozens of PPI work streams to deliver sustained operating margin improvement. One example of this is in our supply chain where we are driving greater throughput with new mobile applications combined with automation and robotics to improve productivity, maximize speed and minimize damages. And we're piloting a new break pack process, which leverages automation to break down cases 5x faster, making it far more efficient to replenish stores. And as we drive productivity, we also continue to focus on sustainability as the 2 often go hand in hand. And we recently published our 20th corporate responsibility report, spotlighting our path to net zero emissions along with our investments in our associates and communities. As we speak with investors, many of your questions have centered on the macro environment.

具體來說，我們農村產品種類的擴大，加上 PPI 計劃的實施，使我們的農村和偏遠商店成為我們公司的競爭優勢。除了商店正在進行的生產力計劃之外，我們所有職能領域的領導者還在執行數十個 PPI 工作流，以實現持續的營業利潤率提高。這方面的一個例子是在我們的供應鏈中，我們通過新的移動應用程序與自動化和機器人技術相結合來提高吞吐量，以提高生產力、最大限度地提高速度並最大限度地減少損失。我們正在試行一種新的拆包流程，該流程利用自動化將拆箱速度提高 5 倍，從而提高商店補貨的效率。在我們提高生產力的同時，我們也繼續關注可持續發展，因為兩者經常齊頭並進。我們最近發布了第 20 份企業責任報告，重點介紹了我們實現淨零排放的道路以及我們對員工和社區的投資。當我們與投資者交談時，你們的許多問題都集中在宏觀環境上。

And as a reminder, the 2 strongest demand drivers of our business are real disposable personal income and home price appreciation, and they are most supportive of demand when they pull in tandem. Home price appreciation has slowed, but it's still up 35% versus pre-pandemic while rural disposable income has been pressured by persistent inflation and elevated interest rates. But on a positive note, over the past quarter, growth in real disposable income started to improve and realign with long-term trends with growing wages surpassing inflation for the first time in 2 years. Consumer cinema has also improved slightly but remains below pre-pandemic baselines, and inflation concerns linger. However, improvements in sentiment typically must be sustained for a period of time before that translates to consumer spending. As a result, home improvement shoppers remain cautious with their spend, especially big-ticket discretionary purchases and are more focused on smaller repair and maintenance projects. These trends are consistent with our expectations and reinforced our outlook for our relevant market to be down mid-single digits in the second half of the year with our sales continuing to outpace the market by 100 to 200 basis points.

提醒一下，我們業務的兩個最強勁的需求驅動因素是實際可支配個人收入和房價升值，當它們同時發揮作用時，它們對需求的支持最為強烈。房價升值速度有所放緩，但仍較疫情前上漲 35%，而農村可支配收入則受到持續通脹和利率上升的壓力。但積極的一面是，在過去的一個季度，實際可支配收入的增長開始改善，並與長期趨勢重新調整，工資增長兩年來首次超過通脹。消費影院也略有改善，但仍低於大流行前的基線，而且通脹擔憂依然存在。然而，情緒的改善通常必須持續一段時間才能轉化為消費者支出。因此，家居裝修購物者對支出保持謹慎，尤其是大件可自由支配的購買，並且更關注較小的維修和保養項目。這些趨勢與我們的預期一致，並強化了我們對相關市場在下半年出現中個位數下降的預期，而我們的銷售額繼續超過市場 100 至 200 個基點。

Looking ahead, it's encouraging to consider that home improvement projects are typically postponed rather than canceled. And home improvement span as a percentage of home equity is below the historical average, a positive indicator for medium-term demand as consumer sentiment improves. The aging housing stock will also drive remodel and repairs, combined with other favorable trends like millennial household formation aging in place and persistent remote work. All of these factors continue to make us bullish on the mid- to long-term outlook for our industry.

展望未來，令人鼓舞的是，家居裝修項目通常會被推遲而不是取消。房屋裝修佔房屋淨值的百分比低於歷史平均水平，隨著消費者信心的改善，這是中期需求的積極指標。老化的住房存量也將推動改造和維修，再加上千禧一代家庭組建就地老齡化和持續遠程工作等其他有利趨勢。所有這些因素繼續讓我們看好我們行業的中長期前景。

In closing, we remain a customer-centric company focused on our daily execution while also ensuring we continue to make the right investments to take share in any macro environment. Our total home strategy is resonating with our Pro and DIY customers alike, and we are confident in our ability to deliver in the short and long term. As an out visiting stores, each week continue to be impressed by our hard-working frontline associates, and I'd like to thank each of them for their commitment to Lowe's and their communities.

最後，我們仍然是一家以客戶為中心的公司，專注於日常執行，同時確保我們繼續進行正確的投資，以在任何宏觀環境中佔據份額。我們的整體家居策略引起了專業客戶和 DIY 客戶的共鳴，我們對自己的短期和長期交付能力充滿信心。作為一名外出拜訪商店的人，我們每週辛勤工作的一線員工都給我留下了深刻的印象，我要感謝他們每個人對 Lowe's 及其社區的承諾。

And with that, I will turn the call over to Bill.

然後，我會將電話轉給比爾。

Thanks, Marvin, and good morning, everyone. Our second quarter comparable sales were down 1.6%, slightly above expectations. We successfully recovered $300 million of delayed seasonal sales from Q1 due to the late start to spring, $50 million more than anticipated. We saw growth in rough plumbing, building materials, paint, seasonal and outdoor living, lawn and garden and hardware as we capture these spring sales and continue to see solid broad-based pro demand. These factors partly offset 160 basis points of lumber deflation as well as continued pressure on big-ticket DIY discretionary demand that Marvin mentioned earlier. In Hardlines, we drove broad-based sales growth driven by our stronger-than-expected spring recovery.

謝謝馬文，大家早上好。第二季度可比銷售額下降 1.6%，略高於預期。由於春季開季較晚，我們成功挽回了第一季度延遲的 3 億美元季節性銷售額，比預期多了 5,000 萬美元。隨著春季銷售的增長，我們看到了粗糙管道、建築材料、油漆、季節性和戶外生活、草坪和花園以及硬件的增長，並繼續看到基礎廣泛的穩固專業需求。這些因素部分抵消了 160 個基點的木材通貨緊縮以及 Marvin 之前提到的大件 DIY 可自由支配需求的持續壓力。在硬線業務中，由於春季復甦強於預期，我們推動了廣泛的銷售增長。

Lawn and garden was a standout category achieved in partnership with our live good vendors who helped us effectively respond to changing weather patterns and stretch spring into the summer months. We saw an increase in smaller instant gratification projects that improve outdoor spaces at an affordable price, like landscaping projects and pre-plotted plants. Seasonal and outdoor living also benefited from the weather recovery where we saw momentum in outdoor power equipment, specifically in riders with the strength of our exciting products from John Deere and Aaron's, along with the battery-powered equipment from the strength of EGO, Cobalt and Craftsman. And we are pleased with our strong seasonal sell-through putting us in a better inventory position than last year as we move into the second half. Hardware was another top-performing category this quarter as our associates drove attachments alongside the higher lumber units and leaned into fastening with key brands like SPACs, GRK, Power Pro One and Facet master.

草坪和花園是與我們的優質供應商合作實現的一個傑出類別，他們幫助我們有效地應對不斷變化的天氣模式，並將春季延伸到夏季。我們看到小型即時滿足項目的增加，這些項目以實惠的價格改善戶外空間，例如景觀美化項目和預先規劃的植物。季節性和戶外生活也受益於天氣的恢復，我們看到了戶外動力設備的發展勢頭，特別是在騎手方面，約翰迪爾和亞倫的令人興奮的產品，以及EGO、Cobalt 和EGO 的電池供電設備工匠。我們對強勁的季節性銷售量感到高興，這使我們在進入下半年時的庫存狀況比去年更好。硬件是本季度另一個表現最好的類別，因為我們的員工將附件與較高的木材單位一起驅動，並傾向於與 SPAC、GRK、Power Pro One 和 Facet master 等主要品牌進行緊固。

In tools, we started the rollout of Klein Tools, the #1 tool brand for electricians and HVAC professionals. We are excited about the launch of this brand, which is returning to Lowe's after nearly 15 years. As part of this launch, we will offer the largest assortment of Klein Tools anywhere in the home improvement retail channel, featuring hand tools, storage, safety and electrical products in-store and online, positioning us as the go-to retailer for these brand loyal customers.

在工具方面，我們開始推出 Klein Tools，這是電工和暖通空調專業人士的第一工具品牌。我們對這個品牌的推出感到非常興奮，該品牌在近 15 年後重返 Lowe's。作為此次發布的一部分，我們將在家居裝修零售渠道中提供種類最齊全的 Klein Tools，包括店內和網上的手動工具、存儲、安全和電氣產品，使我們成為這些品牌的首選零售商忠實的客戶。

Within home decor, paint delivered the strongest comp performance this quarter as we gained traction with the pros who paint. These pros are increasingly taking advantage of our MVP's paint rewards program, paint job site delivery and our new spec right paint designed specifically for Pros.

在家居裝飾領域，油漆在本季度表現最為強勁，因為我們贏得了油漆專業人士的青睞。這些專業人士越來越多地利用我們的 MVP 油漆獎勵計劃、油漆工作現場交付以及我們專為專業人士設計的新規格正確油漆。

Turning to appliances. We continue to outperform the market. We've seen a return to pre-pandemic levels of vendor-funded promotions that are pressuring average tickets across the industry. But I'm excited about the traction that we're gaining as the leading appliance retailer in the U.S. reflected in our unit sales growth, market share gains and the momentum with our Pro customers once again this quarter. One encouraging trend was the increase in bundled appliance purchases. This was fueled by focused Red Vest associate selling, auto applied supplier rebates, faster fulfillment through our market delivery model and our improved online customer experience.

轉向電器。我們繼續跑贏市場。我們看到供應商資助的促銷活動回到了大流行前的水平，這給整個行業的平均門票帶來了壓力。但我對我們作為美國領先的家電零售商所獲得的吸引力感到興奮，這反映在我們本季度的單位銷量增長、市場份額增長以及專業客戶的勢頭上。一個令人鼓舞的趨勢是捆綁家電購買的增加。這得益於集中的紅背心聯營銷售、汽車應用的供應商回扣、通過我們的市場交付模式加快履行速度以及改進的在線客戶體驗。

Now shifting gears to building products. We continue to see strength in key Pro categories, helping offset the pressure from year-over-year lumber deflation. While lumber deflation pressured our top line by 160 basis points and our Pro comps by 315 basis points, the category once again delivered the highest unit comp in the company this quarter, reflecting strong Pro demand. Our continued growth in building materials and rough plumbing is another positive indicator of the resilience of the small to midsized Pros supported by the healthy backlogs Marvin mentioned earlier.

現在正轉向打造產品。我們繼續看到關鍵專業類別的實力，有助於抵消同比木材通貨緊縮的壓力。雖然木材通貨緊縮給我們的營收帶來了 160 個基點的壓力，讓我們的 Pro 比較壓力了 315 個基點，但該類別本季度再次提供了公司最高的單位比較，反映出強勁的 Pro 需求。我們在建築材料和粗製管道方面的持續增長是中小型專業人士恢復能力的另一個積極指標，這得益於馬文之前提到的健康的積壓訂單。

In rough plumbing, we expanded our assortment of PEX products and added our first battery-powered cobalt drain auger. This is one of several new cobalt launches this year as we celebrate this private brand's 25th anniversary. Our private brands are spec-ed out and quality tested to ensure that they are equal to or better quality than comparable national brands and we continue to see our customers respond to their great quality and value. Our increasing private brand penetration is nicely balanced with a strong lineup of trusted national brands like Bosch, DEWALT, Rubbermaid and Scotts.

在粗管道方面，我們擴大了 PEX 產品種類，並添加了首款電池供電的鈷排水螺旋鑽。這是今年我們慶祝這個自有品牌成立 25 週年之際推出的幾款新鈷產品之一。我們的自有品牌經過規格和質量測試，以確保它們的質量等於或優於同類國內品牌，並且我們不斷看到我們的客戶對其卓越的品質和價值做出反應。我們日益增長的自有品牌滲透率與博世、DEWALT、Rubbermaid 和 Scotts 等強大的值得信賴的民族品牌完美平衡。

Shifting to localization. We completed our rural expansion to roughly 300 stores ahead of schedule this quarter. This includes scaling our store within a store concept with Petco designed to provide a dedicated space for all things pet. While it's still early, we're encouraged to see an increasing basket size in these stores and customers are saying that they appreciate the convenience and the ability to reduce the number of stops they need to make. As Marvin mentioned, our work to optimize our rural stores is one piece of our broader localization strategy, designed to drive market share gains, increased productivity and margins. Another highlight this quarter is the growth we've driven online as we continue to improve the digital shopping experience and increase conversion or launch of same-day delivery nationwide on lowes.com, and our mobile app is resonating well with our customers.

轉向本地化。本季度我們提前完成了農村地區約 300 家門店的擴張。這包括在與 Petco 合作的商店概念中擴展我們的商店，旨在為所有寵物提供專用空間。雖然現在還為時過早，但我們很高興地看到這些商店的購物籃數量不斷增加，而且顧客表示，他們很欣賞這種便利性以及減少所需停留次數的能力。正如馬文提到的，我們優化農村商店的工作是我們更廣泛的本地化戰略的一部分，旨在推動市場份額的增長、生產力和利潤的提高。本季度的另一個亮點是我們推動的在線增長，因為我們不斷改善數字購物體驗並提高轉化率或在lowes.com 上推出全國當日送達服務，而且我們的移動應用程序與客戶產生了良好的共鳴。

We also introduced a new digital (inaudible) fit capability that helps customers determine if a refrigerator will fit into their space and a refined search experience with better recommendations, filters and featured categories. And our Halloween and holiday sets are already available online, positioning us nicely for customers who want to get a jump start on decorating. We are also encouraged to see better-than-expected performance for our Lowe's One Roof media network, which is driving increased traffic to Lowes.com and generating results that are exceeding the industry average for our suppliers. Our media network is one of many merchandising PPI initiatives underway at Lowe's. The team is constantly working with our suppliers to find ways to take cost out as commodity prices and transportation costs have come down, and we continue to enhance our technology and processes to optimize pricing. We have also expanded our merchandising services team, or MST, to over 30,000 associates across our stores and garden centers, which frees up our Red Vest associates to spend more time serving customers. New this year, we are adding MST assistant store managers. This role will be focused on providing dedicated store leadership for the critical work that this team does. Through their improved service, the team is squarely centered on driving sales per square foot productivity in our stores while creating a better shopping experience for our customers.

我們還推出了新的數字（聽不清）適配功能，可幫助客戶確定冰箱是否適合他們的空間，並通過更好的推薦、過濾器和特色類別提供精緻的搜索體驗。我們的萬聖節和節日套裝已經在網上提供，這為那些想要快速開始裝飾的客戶提供了很好的定位。我們還很高興地看到我們的 Lowe's One Roof 媒體網絡的表現好於預期，該網絡正在推動 Lowes.com 的流量增加，並產生超出我們供應商行業平均水平的結果。我們的媒體網絡是 Lowe's 正在進行的眾多 PPI 營銷計劃之一。隨著商品價格和運輸成本的下降，該團隊不斷與我們的供應商合作尋找降低成本的方法，並且我們不斷增強我們的技術和流程以優化定價。我們還擴大了我們的銷售服務團隊 (MST)，在我們的商店和園藝中心擁有超過 30,000 名員工，這使我們的紅背心員工能夠騰出更多時間為客戶服務。今年，我們新增了 MST 助理店經理。該職位的重點是為該團隊所做的關鍵工作提供專門的商店領導。通過改進服務，該團隊致力於提高商店每平方英尺的銷售效率，同時為客戶創造更好的購物體驗。

As I close, I'd like to once again extend my appreciation to our vendors and merchants for their hard work and partnership. Thank you, and I'll now turn the call over to Joe.

在結束之際，我想再次對我們的供應商和商家的辛勤工作和合作表示感謝。謝謝，我現在將電話轉給喬。

All right. Thank you, Bill, and good morning, everyone. I'm really pleased to begin by announcing that we are awarding over $100 million in bonuses for our frontline hourly associates in recognition of their hard work and dedication during the second quarter. Our investments in our associates are paying off as we continue to elevate the customer experience with a 200 basis point improvement in both our DIY and Pro customer service scores this quarter as compared to last year, and we are seeing strong staffing levels and improved associate engagement as we continue to invest in associate wages and ongoing development through Lowe's University.

好的。謝謝你，比爾，大家早上好。首先，我非常高興地宣布，我們將向一線小時工發放超過 1 億美元的獎金，以表彰他們在第二季度的辛勤工作和奉獻精神。我們對員工的投資正在得到回報，本季度我們的 DIY 和 Pro 客戶服務得分比去年提高了 200 個基點，我們繼續提升客戶體驗，而且我們看到強大的人員配備水平和員工敬業度的提高我們繼續通過勞氏大學投資於員工工資和持續發展。

As Marvin mentioned, our online comp sales grew 6.9% in the quarter, and roughly half of those orders are picked up in a store. We continue to unlock productivity through one of our many PPI initiatives by reducing the time to pick these orders by approximately 70% as our associates leverage our omni-channel investments, which include mobile devices and order picking carts with mobile printers to streamline the process. And we've enhanced our workforce management tools to better align staffing levels with customer demand. These enhancements are allowing our customers to get in, get what they need and get back to their projects faster. Looking ahead, we are further enhancing our BOPIS experience as we transform the front end of our stores. This includes an expanded staging area, a dedicated pickup desk with improved signage and new technology that expedites the process.

正如 Marvin 提到的，我們的在線銷售在本季度增長了 6.9%，其中大約一半的訂單是在商店提貨的。我們通過眾多 PPI 舉措之一繼續釋放生產力，將揀選訂單的時間減少約 70%，因為我們的員工利用我們的全渠道投資（包括移動設備和帶有移動打印機的訂單揀選車）來簡化流程。我們還增強了勞動力管理工具，以更好地使人員配備水平與客戶需求保持一致。這些增強功能使我們的客戶能夠進入、獲得他們需要的東西並更快地返回他們的項目。展望未來，我們將在改造商店前端的過程中進一步增強 BOPIS 體驗。這包括擴大的停靠區域、帶有改進標牌的專用接送台以及加快流程的新技術。

Now shifting to Pro. We continue to deliver positive comps this quarter despite lumber deflation. And under the leadership of our new Executive Vice President, Quonta Vance, we will continue to expand our online business tools for Pros that allow them to easily generate quotes and track orders as part of the MVP Pro Rewards program. As we continue to find ways to save Pros time, this month, we launched our newest online tool purchase authorization. Until now, when Pro sent a crew member to the store to pick up an order, the designated buyer would need to call their team from the checkout line to confirm the order and have it authorized by the store. This could be a time-consuming process, taking the Pros time away from their job site and the associate's time away from serving other customers. Now runners can simply scan a QR code that's pre-authorized up to a specified amount and check out without having to wait in line at the Pro desk. This solution addresses a pain point for many Pro customers and our Pro desk associates and leapfrogs the competition. And we're encouraged to see that our suite of online tools is resonated with Pros and adoption is already exceeding our expectations.

現在轉向專業版。儘管木材通貨緊縮，我們本季度仍繼續提供積極的業績。在新任執行副總裁 Quonta Vance 的領導下，我們將繼續擴展面向專業人士的在線業務工具，使他們能夠輕鬆生成報價並跟踪訂單，作為 MVP 專業獎勵計劃的一部分。隨著我們不斷尋找節省專業人士時間的方法，本月我們推出了最新的在線工具購買授權。到目前為止，當 Pro 派一名工作人員到商店提貨時，指定的買家需要在結賬隊伍中致電他們的團隊以確認訂單並獲得商店的授權。這可能是一個耗時的過程，佔用了專業人士離開工作現場的時間，也佔用了員工為其他客戶提供服務的時間。現在，跑步者只需掃描預先授權至指定金額的二維碼即可結賬，無需在專業服務台排隊等候。該解決方案解決了許多專業客戶和我們的專業辦公桌員工的痛點，並超越了競爭對手。我們很高興看到我們的在線工具套件引起了專業人士的共鳴，並且採用率已經超出了我們的預期。

Now I'd like to spend a moment discussing how we are managing shrink, which is a big responsibility for any retailer, especially in this environment. As expected, shrink was in line with last year's results despite industry-wide challenges, driven by our proactive customer service, tech-driven solutions, industry-leading asset protection program and our penetration of rural stores. We're developing radio frequency identification or RFID technology embedded in power tools to prevent theft. This solution will be largely invisible to customers, but it makes a tool inoperable until it is scanned and purchased.

現在我想花點時間討論一下我們如何管理損耗，這對任何零售商來說都是一項重大責任，尤其是在這種環境下。正如預期的那樣，儘管面臨全行業的挑戰，但在我們積極主動的客戶服務、技術驅動的解決方案、行業領先的資產保護計劃以及我們對農村商店的滲透的推動下，收縮率與去年的結果一致。我們正在開發嵌入電動工具中的射頻識別或 RFID 技術以防止盜竊。該解決方案在很大程度上對客戶來說是不可見的，但它使得工具在被掃描和購買之前無法使用。

Turning to PPI or perpetual productivity improvement in store operations, we have a series of exciting initiatives on our road map that will continue to deliver productivity for the company. In addition to the omni-channel enhancements that I mentioned earlier, we also upgraded freight flow process for shipments from our distribution centers into our stores and on to the selling floor. Through improved technology, we now have better visibility into how freight is flowing into our stores.

談到 PPI 或商店運營中的永久性生產力提高，我們的路線圖上有一系列令人興奮的舉措，這些舉措將繼續為公司提供生產力。除了我之前提到的全渠道增強功能之外，我們還升級了從配送中心到商店再到銷售樓層的貨運流程。通過改進的技術，我們現在可以更好地了解貨物如何流入我們的商店。

This enables us to better match staffing levels with the type of inbound freight, getting the product onto the shelves faster. These PPI initiatives, combined with our continued investments in our associates have helped us to control our expenses and improve our customer service scores in a down sales environment.

這使我們能夠更好地將人員配備水平與入境貨運類型相匹配，從而更快地將產品上架。這些 PPI 舉措，加上我們對員工的持續投資，幫助我們在銷售下滑的環境中控制了開支並提高了客戶服務分數。

Before I close, I'd like to extend my appreciation to our frontline associates in Kentucky, New York and Vermont, who supported flood relief in their communities and to our teams in Hawaii, who are responding to the devastating wildfires. To support the recovery efforts in Maui, we are donating $1 million to provide food, emergency shelter and release supplies to those affected and are grateful for our frontline associates for going above and beyond to help those on the island with recovery and cleanup.

在結束之前，我要向我們在肯塔基州、紐約州和佛蒙特州的前線同事表示感謝，他們支持社區的洪災救援，並向我們在夏威夷的團隊表示感謝，他們正在應對毀滅性的野火。為了支持毛伊島的恢復工作，我們捐贈 100 萬美元，為受影響的人們提供食物、緊急住所和發放物資，並感謝我們的一線員工竭盡全力幫助島上的人們進行恢復和清理工作。

With that, I'll turn it over to Brandon.

有了這個，我會把它交給布蘭登。

Thank you, Joe. Let me begin with our Q2 results. We generated diluted earnings per share of $4.56. Q2 sales were $25 billion. As a reminder, prior year sales included $1.7 billion generated in our Canadian retail business. Results also reflect a $335 million sales headwind and due to the shift in our fiscal calendar as we cycle over a 53-week year. As Marvin mentioned, comparable sales were down 1.6%, which includes approximately 160 basis points of lumber deflation. This pressure was partly offset by a 125 basis point benefit or $300 million of seasonal sales delayed from Q1 due to a late start to spring. Although the calendar shift pressured total sales growth in Q2, it had no impact on comparable sales as comps are calculated based on weeks 15 to 27 in fiscal 2022. Comparable average ticket was up 0.3% to prior year. Ticket increases in the majority of our merchandise categories were offset by lumber deflation and more normalized appliance promotions. Comp transactions declined 1.9% driven by continued pressure in DIY discretionary purchases, partly offset by our seasonal recovery. Our monthly comps were down 1.2% in May, 1.6% in June and 2% in July as the seasonal recovery was concentrated in the first half of the quarter. Gross margin was 33.7% of sales in the second quarter, up 42 basis points from last year. Gross margin benefited from our ongoing PPI initiatives, favorable product mix and lower transportation costs. These benefits were somewhat offset by costs associated with the expansion of our supply chain network and as expected, shrink was in line with prior year.

謝謝你，喬。讓我從第二季度的結果開始。我們的稀釋後每股收益為 4.56 美元。第二季度銷售額為 250 億美元。提醒一下，上一年的銷售額包括我們加拿大零售業務產生的 17 億美元。業績還反映出 3.35 億美元的銷售逆風，並且由於我們的財政日曆在 53 週的一年周期中發生了變化。正如 Marvin 提到的，可比銷售額下降了 1.6%，其中包括木材通貨緊縮約 160 個基點。由於春季開季較晚，季度銷售額比第一季度推遲了 125 個基點或 3 億美元，部分抵消了這一壓力。儘管日曆變化對第二季度的總銷售額增長造成壓力，但對可比銷售額沒有影響，因為比較是根據2022 財年第15 至27 週計算的。可比平均票價比上一年增長了0.3% 。我們大多數商品類別的門票增長被木材通貨緊縮和更加規範的家電促銷所抵消。由於 DIY 可自由支配採購的持續壓力，比較交易下降了 1.9%，但部分被我們的季節性複蘇所抵消。由於季節性複蘇集中在本季度的上半段，我們的月度比較在 5 月份下降了 1.2%，在 6 月份下降了 1.6%，在 7 月份下降了 2%。第二季度毛利率佔銷售額的33.7%，比去年同期增長42個基點。毛利率受益於我們持續的生產者價格指數 (PPI) 計劃、有利的產品組合和較低的運輸成本。這些收益在一定程度上被我們供應鍊網絡擴張相關的成本所抵消，並且正如預期的那樣，收縮與上一年一致。

SG&A of 16.4% of sales delevered 16 basis points, largely due to lower sales related to the shift in our fiscal calendar. Please note that it also includes the benefit of a onetime legal settlement. We continue to tightly manage expenses, adjusting spend appropriately to align with demand, all while still improving our customer service. Also, as you heard from Marvin, Bill and Joe, we are pleased with the ongoing momentum we are experiencing across our portfolio of PPI initiatives, which continue to create significant value for the organization and helped offset the impact from lower sales.

SG&A 佔銷售額的 16.4%，去槓桿化了 16 個基點，這主要是由於我們財政日曆的轉變導致銷售額下降。請注意，它還包括一次性法律和解的好處。我們繼續嚴格管理費用，適當調整支出以適應需求，同時仍然改善我們的客戶服務。此外，正如您從 Marvin、Bill 和 Joe 那裡聽到的那樣，我們對 PPI 計劃組合所經歷的持續勢頭感到高興，這些計劃繼續為組織創造巨大價值，並有助於抵消銷售額下降的影響。

Operating margin rate of 15.6% of sales levered 18 basis points, consistent with the expectations we outlined on our last call. The effective tax rate was 24.6%, in line with the prior year. Inventory ended the quarter at $17.4 billion, $1.9 billion lower than the prior year quarter. U.S. inventory units were down 3% compared to last year as we continue to manage replenishment in line with sales trends.

營業利潤率為銷售額的 15.6%，槓桿率提高了 18 個基點，與我們上次電話會議中概述的預期一致。有效稅率為24.6%，與上年持平。本季度末庫存為 174 億美元，比去年同期減少 19 億美元。由於我們繼續根據銷售趨勢管理補貨，美國庫存量比去年下降了 3%。

Now let me turn to capital allocation. In Q2, we generated $3.5 billion in free cash flow and returned $2.8 billion to our shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. During the quarter, we repurchased 10.1 million shares for $2.2 billion. In addition, we paid $624 million in dividends at $1.05 per share, and we announced a 5% increase to $1.10 per share for the dividend paid on August 9. Capital expenditures totaled $385 million as we continue to focus on high-return projects that support our growth objectives.

現在讓我談談資本配置。第二季度，我們產生了 35 億美元的自由現金流，並通過股息和股票回購的方式向股東返還 28 億美元。本季度，我們斥資 22 億美元回購了 1010 萬股股票。此外，我們以每股1.05 美元的價格支付了6.24 億美元的股息，並宣布8 月9 日支付的股息增加5%，達到每股1.10 美元。資本支出總計3.85 億美元，因為我們繼續專注於支持高回報項目我們的增長目標。

Our balance sheet remains healthy, adjusted debt-to-EBITDAR stands at 2.69x as we move towards our stated target of 2.75x in line with our BBB+ credit rating. Additionally, we delivered return on invested capital of 27.8%, inclusive of a 750 basis point impact related to transaction costs associated with the sale of our Canadian retail business and the discrete gain we reported in Q1.

我們的資產負債表保持健康，調整後債務與 EBITDAR 比率為 2.69 倍，我們正朝著符合 BBB+ 信用評級的 2.75 倍既定目標邁進。此外，我們的投資資本回報率為 27.8%，其中包括與出售加拿大零售業務相關的交易成本以及我們在第一季度報告的離散收益相關的 750 個基點的影響。

Now turning to our 2023 financial outlook. As Marvin mentioned, we continue to expect our relevant market to decline mid-single digits this year and to outperform the market by 100 to 200 basis points. As such, this morning, we reaffirmed our full year 2023 financial outlook. We continue to expect 2023 sales in a range of $87 million to $89 billion for the year, representing comparable sales of down 2% to down 4%. This includes a 150 basis point impact from lumber deflation for the full year. This outlook reflects continued strength in Pro and online, offset by ongoing pressure from DIY discretionary purchases.

現在轉向我們的 2023 年財務展望。正如馬文提到的，我們繼續預計今年相關市場將出現中個位數下降，並跑贏大盤 100 至 200 個基點。因此，今天上午，我們重申了 2023 年全年財務展望。我們繼續預計 2023 年銷售額將在 8700 萬美元至 890 億美元之間，相當於可比銷售額下降 2% 至 4%。這包括全年木材通貨緊縮造成的 150 個基點的影響。這一前景反映了專業版和在線版的持續強勢，但被 DIY 可自由支配購買的持續壓力所抵消。

Specific to our Q3 expectations, we will be cycling over the toughest comparison of the year as we delivered plus 3% comparable sales in the U.S. last year. Given these difficult comps, we are expecting Q3 sales towards the lower end of our full year guide. We continue to expect full year adjusted operating margin in a range of 13.4% to 13.6%, with disciplined expense management and ongoing PPI initiatives, partly offsetting the impact of lower sales volumes. And we are reaffirming our outlook for adjusted diluted earnings per share of $13.20 to $13.60. As a reminder, our full year outlook for operating margin and diluted EPS excludes adjustments associated with the sale of our Canadian retail business. And finally, we continue to expect capital expenditures of up to $2 billion this year.

具體到我們對第三季度的預期，我們將經歷今年最艱難的比較，因為去年我們在美國的可比銷售額增加了 3%。考慮到這些困難的比較，我們預計第三季度的銷售額將接近全年指南的下限。我們仍然預計全年調整後營業利潤率將在 13.4% 至 13.6% 之間，嚴格的費用管理和持續的 PPI 舉措將部分抵消銷量下降的影響。我們重申調整後稀釋每股收益為 13.20 美元至 13.60 美元的預期。提醒一下，我們對全年營業利潤率和攤薄每股收益的展望不包括與出售加拿大零售業務相關的調整。最後，我們仍然預計今年的資本支出將高達 20 億美元。

In closing, I remain confident that the investments we are making in our Total Home strategy are positioning us to grow our market share regardless of the macro environment while continuing to deliver meaningful long-term shareholder value.

最後，我仍然相信，無論宏觀環境如何，我們對 Total Home 戰略的投資都將使我們能夠擴大市場份額，同時繼續提供有意義的長期股東價值。

And with that, we will open it up for questions.

接下來，我們將開放提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Chris Horvers with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Chris Horvers。

So first question is on the top line. What drove the difficult comparisons in the third quarter that you're not expecting this year? And then as you think about those bigger ticket DIY discretionary categories, how do you see the rate of change in those businesses? Are we starting to get to a baseline level that we can grow from? Or is that spending pattern still deteriorating?

所以第一個問題在最上面。是什麼導致了第三季度出現你今年沒有預料到的困難比較？然後，當您考慮那些更大的 DIY 可自由支配類別時，您如何看待這些業務的變化率？我們是否開始達到可以成長的基線水平？或者這種支出模式仍在惡化嗎？

Chris, this is Marvin. And I'll take the first part, and I'll let Brandon take the second part. Look, when you look at last year, it's 2 different years, 2 different macro environments, 2 different sets of consumer sentiments. 2 different sets of expectations for DIY and Pro customers. I think the key point is that we feel good about the steps we're taking to grow market share regardless of the macro environment, we have a plan to outperform the home recruitment mark by 100 to 200 basis points, and that's what we're focused on. So I'll let Brandon answer the second part of your question.

克里斯，這是馬文。我將承擔第一部分，我將讓布蘭登承擔第二部分。看看去年，這是兩個不同的年份，兩種不同的宏觀環境，兩種不同的消費者情緒。 DIY 和 Pro 客戶有 2 組不同的期望。我認為關鍵點是，無論宏觀環境如何，我們都對我們為增加市場份額而採取的措施感到滿意，我們有計劃超越家庭招聘目標 100 到 200 個基點，這就是我們的目標專注於。所以我會讓布蘭登回答你問題的第二部分。

Yes. Chris, this is Brandon. Let me get into a little detail on Q3 and second half. First, before I do that, let me take care of one quick housekeeping item as it relates to Q2 exit rate. There's some noise that we saw in the comp spreads across Q2 given the calendar shift that we experienced. And after adjusting those spreads to compare to last year Q2, comps are down roughly 1% in July. Also, when we look at July and August, they're traditionally lighter volume weeks until we hit the Labor Day fall seasonal period. So looking ahead at Q3 specifically, we are cycling our toughest comparable of the quarter, plus 3% last year in August, the toughest across that quarter, plus 4. And then your question on sort of puts and takes different from Q2. As we get into Q3, we won't see the same level of seasonal benefit. Going forward, we called out $300 million there that we experienced in Q2. More modest lumber deflationary pressure in Q3, which sized at about 75 basis points and then continuing to expect pressure in the DIY discretionary spend. And then on the flip side, continued growth and momentum from the Pro business as we expect to outpace DIY. So those are -- just to give you some insights as we look at Q2, and how we transition in Q3.

是的。克里斯，這是布蘭登。讓我詳細介紹一下第三季度和下半年。首先，在此之前，讓我先處理一個與第二季度退出率相關的快速整理項目。考慮到我們經歷的日曆變化，我們在第二季度的比較價差中看到了一些噪音。與去年第二季度相比調整這些利差後，7 月份的比較價格下降了約 1%。此外，當我們觀察七月和八月時，傳統上這是成交量較輕的幾週，直到我們迎來勞動節秋季季節。因此，具體展望第三季度，我們正在循環本季度最艱難的可比性，再加上去年8 月份的3％，這是該季度最艱難的，再加上4％。然後你關於看跌期權和採取的類型的問題與第二季度不同。當我們進入第三季度時，我們將不會看到相同水平的季節性收益。展望未來，我們在第二季度投入了 3 億美元。第三季度木材通縮壓力較為溫和，約為 75 個基點，然後預計 DIY 可自由支配支出將繼續面臨壓力。另一方面，專業業務的持續增長和勢頭，我們預計將超過 DIY。這些只是為了在我們研究第二季度以及第三季度如何轉型時為您提供一些見解。

Got it. Makes sense. And then on the gross margin line, I know you had some price cost issues in the first half of this year. As you look ahead, given -- is that behind you? And as you think about how freight is going to start to roll through the inventory? Should gross margin performance improve in the back half relative to the first half?

知道了。說得通。然後在毛利率方面，我知道今年上半年你們遇到了一些價格成本問題。當你向前看時，考慮到——那是在你身後嗎？當您考慮貨運將如何開始在庫存中滾動時？下半年毛利率表現相對上半年是否應該有所改善？

Yes, sure, Chris. So gross margin bounced back as we expected. From Q1, we had easier product margin comparables due to prior year timing. The benefits, as you mentioned, the transportation cost relief is now flowing through margin as expected. We also benefited from product mix, and we continue to see great momentum with our PPI benefits across the merchandising portfolio. Those benefits are offset by continued investment in supply chain and the expansion specifically on market delivery. We called out shrink being neutral, as Joe mentioned, continuing to drive tech solutions to manage some of the industry-wide challenges there. And all in, as we look at the full year, we still expect roughly gross margins flat across the year. So puts and takes there, just like Q2, supply chain expansion continued pressure from some of the Pro growth initiatives. And then we expect continued benefits across the back half of the year from private brand penetration, supplier clawbacks, lower transportation costs and initiatives that we're seeing across the pricing portfolio.

是的，當然，克里斯。因此，毛利率如我們預期反彈。從第一季度開始，由於去年的時間安排，我們的產品利潤率更容易進行比較。正如您所提到的，運輸成本減免的好處現在正按預期通過利潤率流動。我們還受益於產品組合，並且我們在整個銷售組合中繼續看到 PPI 優勢的強勁勢頭。這些好處被對供應鏈的持續投資和專門針對市場交付的擴張所抵消。正如喬提到的那樣，我們呼籲收縮保持中立，繼續推動技術解決方案來應對一些全行業的挑戰。總而言之，當我們審視全年時，我們仍然預計全年毛利率大致持平。因此，就像第二季度一樣，供應鏈擴張繼續受到一些 Pro 增長計劃的壓力。然後，我們預計今年下半年將繼續受益於自有品牌滲透、供應商回扣、較低的運輸成本以及我們在定價組合中看到的舉措。

The next question is from the line of Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·古特曼。

We're at the halfway point of the year. I was hoping to take stock or diagnose the macro housing, Marvin, you mentioned that, and then also the consumer. Curious how it's playing out versus your expectation? It feels status quo, but wanted to hear the puts and takes on both sides.

我們正處於今年的一半。我希望對宏觀住房進行盤點或診斷，馬文，你提到過這一點，然後還有消費者。好奇它的表現與您的預期有何不同？感覺是現狀，但想听聽雙方的看法。

Yes, Simeon. Look, I think you summed it up well. For us, when we look at consumer cinema, I mean, we know that we're seeing a pullback in DIY discretionary span. And that's really for us the kind of the overall theme of how we see the second half of the year. I think the good news for us is we remain really bullish on the mid- to long-term view of the home improvement market, and we think it's still very healthy. I mean I can just give you the traditional data points that really matter, and we think that they're going to matter not only for home improvement in the mid- to long term, but we think this is one of the best retail sectors to be in. You look at home demand, you had 2 million fewer homes than what's available for sale, the age of homes, 90% of homeowners have fixed mortgage rates in an environment where rates, as you know, are going up, and when we look at all the things that we're doing relative to Pro to DIY, we feel really, really comfortable that irrespective of the macro environment for home improvement that we're going to outperform the marketplace by 100 to 200 basis points. And key examples of why we believe that is when we take a brand like client tools that we have had absent from Lowe's for almost 15 years, and we can bring back the #1 brand for electrical and HVAC Pros and be the largest home improvement retail outlet for that brand, that gives us a lot of confidence that our strategy is working, and we're going to continue to grow market share across Pro and DIY. But the DIY discretionary pullback on big ticket drives our overall modest concerns about the back half. But even with that, we think we can outperform about 100 to 200 basis points.

是的，西蒙。聽著，我覺得你總結得很好。對於我們來說，當我們審視消費電影時，我的意思是，我們知道 DIY 的可自由支配範圍正在縮小。對我們來說，這確實是我們如何看待下半年的總體主題。我認為對我們來說好消息是我們仍然非常看好家居裝修市場的中長期前景，而且我們認為它仍然非常健康。我的意思是，我可以為您提供真正重要的傳統數據點，我們認為它們不僅對中長期的家居裝修很重要，而且我們認為這是最好的零售行業之一你看看房屋需求，你的房屋比可供出售的房屋少了200 萬套，房屋的年齡，90% 的房主在利率上升的環境中擁有固定的抵押貸款利率，正如你所知，當利率上升時，我們看看我們正在做的所有事情，無論家居裝修的宏觀環境如何，我們都將比市場高出100 到200 個基點，這讓我們感到非常非常放心。我們相信這一點的關鍵例子是，當我們採用 Lowe's 近 15 年來一直沒有的類似客戶端工具的品牌時，我們可以帶回電氣和 HVAC 專業人士的第一品牌，並成為最大的家居裝修零售店該品牌的銷售渠道，這給了我們很大的信心，我們的戰略正在發揮作用，我們將繼續擴大Pro 和DIY 的市場份額。但大額門票的 DIY 酌情回調引發了我們對後半段整體的適度擔憂。但即便如此，我們認為我們的表現仍能跑贏約 100 至 200 個基點。

That's helpful. The second question is more on margin, and this is maybe irrespective of what happens to sales, so both on SG&A per foot and even GM, you have the PPI as a good guy and then just in general spending levels. Can you talk about where PPI is? Is it performing better than you thought, and then is there any areas where you in hindsight should be spending more in or less for that matter just as we think about the margin progression going forward?

這很有幫助。第二個問題更多的是關於利潤，這可能與銷售情況無關，因此無論是在每英尺的SG&A，甚至是通用汽車上，你都可以將生產者價格指數（PPI）作為一個好人，然後只是在一般支出水平上。你能談談PPI在哪裡嗎？它的表現是否比您想像的要好，然後，當我們考慮未來的利潤率進展時，事後看來，您是否應該在任何領域增加或減少支出？

So, I'll take the first part, and I'll let Brandon add any additional context. What's interesting is that PPI started in store operations. I mean typically, you think about expense, it always begins in the store because of the amount of payroll we spend how we execute in our 1,700-plus store environment, but then the philosophy started to permeate around the entire company, merchandising, supply chain and across all those functional areas. And so because of that, we built a road map that Brandon and I could look at over a multiyear time frame, and we can understand the tech investments we're making and the expense reduction and the productivity that will be driven based on those investments. In addition to that, I don't want to understate the importance of our role in remote stores, as I mentioned in my prepared comments and Bill mentioned in his we simply believe as we continue to identify ways to localize this little bit in addition to putting in technology and implementing PPI, we think it's going to give us a disproportionate benefit over the long term in driving operating margin improvement. And again, PPI is a big part of that. Brandon.

因此，我將討論第一部分，然後讓布蘭登添加任何其他上下文。有趣的是，PPI 是從商店運營開始的。我的意思是，通常情況下，你會想到費用，它總是從商店開始，因為我們在1,700 多家商店環境中執行時花費的工資金額，但隨後這一理念開始滲透到整個公司、銷售、供應鏈以及所有這些功能領域。因此，我們制定了一個路線圖，布蘭登和我可以在多年的時間框架內進行研究，我們可以了解我們正在進行的技術投資以及基於這些投資將推動的費用削減和生產力。除此之外，我不想低估我們在遠程商店中的作用的重要性，正如我在我準備的評論中提到的和比爾在他的文章中提到的那樣，我們只是相信，除了投入技術並實施PPI，我們認為從長遠來看，這將為我們帶來不成比例的利益，推動運營利潤率的提高。再說一遍，PPI 是其中的重要組成部分。布蘭登.

Yes, sure. Simeon, the good news too, when we look more in the short term around the back half of '23, we actually are expecting PPI to get more momentum in the second half than what we saw in the first half. A couple of really good efforts that are going on with new store tech architecture as we continue to build the modern foundation, enabling new capabilities in the store like omnichannel selling. We're transforming the front end of the stores with improved self-checkout, revamped BOPIS experience.

是的，當然。 Simeon，這也是個好消息，當我們更多地關注 23 年下半年的短期情況時，我們實際上預計 PPI 在下半年將獲得比上半年更大的動力。隨著我們繼續構建現代化基礎，在商店中實現全渠道銷售等新功能，我們在新商店技術架構方面做出了一些非常好的努力。我們正在通過改進的自助結賬和改進的 BOPIS 體驗來改造商店的前端。

And then across the other areas, within merchandising. I mentioned earlier, pricing, private brand expansion and clawback and then also within the supply chain efforts as we continue to improve process and implement automation there. So all in, really pleased with the progress. We have those benefits factored in. They're going to continue to accelerate as we move across the second half of the year, and those are captured in our expectations.

然後跨越其他領域，在銷售範圍內。我之前提到過，定價、自有品牌擴張和回撥，以及供應鏈工作，因為我們繼續改進流程並實施自動化。總而言之，對進展感到非常滿意。我們已經考慮到了這些好處。隨著我們進入下半年，這些好處將繼續加速，並且這些好處都包含在我們的預期中。

Our next question is from the line of Elizabeth Suzuki with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的伊麗莎白·鈴木 (Elizabeth Suzuki)。

Just a couple of questions about the assumptions of the guidance. So for the second half, you're assuming at the high end down about 1%, but on the low end, down about 5%. So I'm just curious what economic scenarios you're contemplating for both the high end and the low end. And then if trends you're seeing today continue, do you think you would end up on the higher end or on the lower end?

只是關於該指南的假設的幾個問題。因此，對於下半年，您假設高端下降約 1%，但低端下降約 5%。所以我只是好奇你們正在考慮高端和低端的經濟情景。如果你今天看到的趨勢繼續下去，你認為你最終會處於高端還是低端？

Yes, Liz, this is Brandon. I think as we think about our range for the full year, we believe the range is practical and it reflects a measured approach given the various potential scenarios and outcomes, we still -- as we look at the back half, still significant macro uncertainty, inflation, interest rates, a more cautious consumer especially on the discretionary side. There's also variables such as the student loans and the uncertainty there with the moratorium. So the team continues to be focused on executing the Total Home strategy. We believe Home improvement is going to be down mid-single digits, and we'll outpace that 100 to 200 basis points. We expect second half the softness with DIY discretionary to continue, and we expect to continue to see momentum from Pro and .com. So those -- that's what's reflected overall in our second half.

是的，莉茲，這是布蘭登。我認為，當我們考慮全年的範圍時，我們相信該範圍是實用的，它反映了考慮到各種潛在情景和結果的謹慎方法，我們仍然——當我們展望下半年時，仍然存在重大的宏觀不確定性，通貨膨脹、利率、消費者更加謹慎，尤其是在可自由支配的方面。還有學生貸款和延期償付的不確定性等變量。因此，團隊將繼續專注於執行 Total Home 戰略。我們相信家居裝修將下降中個位數，並且我們將超過 100 到 200 個基點。我們預計下半年 DIY 自由裁量權的疲軟趨勢將持續，並且我們預計 Pro 和 .com 將繼續保持增長勢頭。這些——這就是我們下半年的總體反映。

So Liz, this is Marvin. And this is a point I want to continue to reinforce. I mean, obviously, we're looking at the data that we have available, and we're looking at historical trends and how that data correlates to historical trends. But what we're saying is we're going to outperform the market by 100 to 200 basis points. So if we're being too pessimistic in the second half, that's great. because we're going to outperform that 100 to 200 basis points. And so for us, we're really focused on controlling what we control, executing our Total Home strategy and just maintaining our organizational alignment and agility around whatever the macro throws our way. But we're just really confident as a team and the company that we have the agility to make sure that we continue to take market share irrespective of what the home improvement environment will be in the second half of the year.

麗茲，這是馬文。這也是我想繼續強調的一點。我的意思是，顯然，我們正在研究現有的數據，我們正在研究歷史趨勢以及這些數據與歷史趨勢的相關性。但我們要說的是，我們的表現將優於市場 100 到 200 個基點。因此，如果我們在下半年過於悲觀，那也很好。因為我們的表現將優於 100 到 200 個基點。因此，對我們來說，我們真正專注於控制我們所控制的東西，執行我們的整體家居戰略，並圍繞宏觀環境保持我們的組織一致性和敏捷性。但作為一個團隊和公司，我們非常有信心，無論下半年的家居裝修環境如何，我們都有能力確保我們繼續佔據市場份額。

Our next question is from the line of Zach Fadem with Wells Fargo.

我們的下一個問題來自富國銀行的 Zach Fadem。

So your average ticket slipped back slightly positive. We know lumber played a role, but considering this line is still 30% above 2019. Can you talk us through the moving parts here in a little more detail, and if you think it's fair to say that the average ticket has normalized or if there's still risk that you revert back closer to those '19 levels?

所以你的平均票價略有回落。我們知道木材發揮了作用，但考慮到這條線仍比2019 年高出30%。您能否更詳細地告訴我們這裡的變化因素，以及您是否認為可以公平地說平均門票已經正常化，或者是否有仍有可能回到接近 19 年水平的風險嗎？

Zach, this is Brandon. Let me take sort of the ticket transaction narrative here. So on the ticket side, as we look at inflation, the benefits we expect to continue to normalize as we cycle a number of the price increases from 2022. As we look at new cost increases that are currently in our pipeline or inbound from our suppliers, that's effectively minimal at this point. There is some positive improvement in the average ticket and the expansion there that's not necessarily inflation driven as we continue to see healthy growth from our Pro customers and Pro penetration.

扎克，這是布蘭登。讓我在這裡簡單介紹一下門票交易的情況。因此，在門票方面，當我們考慮通貨膨脹時，隨著我們從2022 年開始循環多次提價，我們預計收益將繼續正常化。當我們考慮當前正在醞釀中或來自供應商的新成本增加時，我們預計收益將繼續正常化。 ，此時這實際上是最小的。平均票價和擴張有一些積極的改善，這不一定是通貨膨脹驅動的，因為我們繼續看到專業客戶和專業滲透率的健康增長。

But punchline as we look across the second half, we're not anticipating meaningful deflationary pressure. We're going to see year-over-year lumber pricing is going to be much more normal across the second half, Bill mentioned, we're going to begin to cycle more normal appliance pricing, specifically as we get into and then the ongoing expectation with DIY discretionary is going to continue to put some pressure on ticket. So taking all that into account, our outlook assumes more pressure overall on transactions, and we look at ticket and expect that to really hold over the back half of the year.

但有趣的是，當我們展望下半年時，我們預計不會出現有意義的通貨緊縮壓力。比爾提到，我們將看到下半年木材定價將變得更加正常，我們將開始循環更正常的設備定價，特別是當我們進入然後持續的階段時對DIY 自由裁量權的期望將繼續給門票帶來一些壓力。因此，考慮到所有這些，我們的前景假設整體交易壓力更大，我們著眼於門票並預計這種情況將真正持續到今年下半年。

Got it. And just over the past 2 years, your cost controls and operating margins have been able to show really nice progress even on a negative comp. And considering all the PPI commentary and host of structural changes, can you talk through what kind of margin progression we should anticipate as comps slip back to positive eventually? And if you think the expansion today could, in any way, preclude more meaningful expansion and recovery.

知道了。就在過去的兩年裡，即使在不利的情況下，您的成本控制和營業利潤率也取得了非常好的進展。考慮到所有 PPI 評論和一系列結構性變化，您能否談談隨著比較最終回落為正值，我們應該預期什麼樣的利潤率進展？如果您認為今天的擴張可能以任何方式阻礙更有意義的擴張和復蘇。

Yes. Zach, this is Brandon. I think, look, right now, we're really focused on delivering our expectations for '23. We've laid that out in the guidance. I'll reference back just as we your question around slipping positive comp. We laid out various scenarios back in December. We still, as we sit here today, confident in our path to continue to expand comps, top line through deployment of our total home strategy. We feel like we have a nice path going forward to expand operating margins. We've talked already at length around where we are from a perpetual productivity initiative standpoint, we're going to continue to make progress there. I'm confident, again, that we have the road map in front of us and all those building blocks are in place when we look beyond.

是的。扎克，這是布蘭登。我認為，看，現在我們真正專注於實現我們對 23 世紀的期望。我們已在指南中對此進行了闡述。正如我們關於積極補償的問題一樣，我會回來參考。我們早在 12 月就列出了各種場景。當我們今天坐在這裡時，我們仍然對通過部署我們的整體主場戰略繼續擴大競爭和營收的道路充滿信心。我們覺得我們在擴大營業利潤方面有一條良好的前進道路。我們已經從永久生產力計劃的角度詳細討論了我們所處的位置，我們將繼續在那裡取得進展。我再次相信，我們面前有路線圖，當我們展望未來時，所有這些構建模塊都已就位。

Our next question is from the line of Scott Ciccarelli with Truist Securities.

我們的下一個問題來自 Truist Securities 的 Scott Ciccarelli。

Can you please talk about any regional different things you're seeing both in different parts of the country but also differentiation here between, call it, the rural locations you guys continue to reference as well as heavier urban locations?

您能否談談您在該國不同地區看到的任何地區性的不同事物，以及你們繼續引用的農村地區和較重的城市地區之間的區別？

Yes. So Scott, I'll take the first part. Look, I'd say regional differences, there's nothing material to speak to. I mean we know that housing and home prices ramped up pretty aggressively during the pandemic time frame in a couple of markets. But when we look at the overall geographic spread. I mean there are no real material differences between locals that had dramatically increase in housing costs and some of those costs are starting to moderate because you still have markets around the company country rather where home price is still going up. So we look at it, obviously, because it's one of those key internal macro indicators that we factor into our assessments, but there's nothing material to speak to.

是的。斯科特，我將參加第一部分。聽著，我想說的是地區差異，沒有什麼可談的。我的意思是，我們知道，在疫情期間，一些市場的住房和房價大幅上漲。但當我們看看整體地理分佈時。我的意思是，住房成本急劇增加的當地人之間沒有真正的實質性差異，而且其中一些成本開始下降，因為公司所在國家/地區仍然有市場，而不是房價仍在上漲的地方。顯然，我們會關注它，因為它是我們評估時考慮的關鍵內部宏觀指標之一，但沒有什麼實質性內容可談。

Relative to urban and rural. We spent a lot of time talking about the importance of localization. And to say that Lowe's was a company that was not very localized 5 years ago would be an understatement. And as much progress as we have made, I think Bill will tell you that we still are excited because there's still lots of opportunity for us to be even more specific in how we localize from a rule and from an urban standpoint. I'm going to let Bill talk a little bit about our rule initiative and kind of what we're seeing. It's early days, but the early signs are positive. And I'll let him share just some general thoughts around those initiatives and kind of what we hope we'll continue to see.

相對於城市和農村。我們花了很多時間討論本地化的重要性。如果說 5 年前 Lowe's 是一家本土化程度不高的公司，那還算輕描淡寫。儘管我們取得了很大的進步，我想比爾會告訴你，我們仍然很興奮，因為我們仍然有很多機會更加具體地從規則和城市的角度進行本地化。我將讓比爾談談我們的規則倡議以及我們所看到的情況。現在還處於早期階段，但早期跡像是積極的。我會讓他分享一些關於這些舉措的一般想法以及我們希望繼續看到的內容。

Yes. Thanks, Marvin. And Scott, as I said in my prepared remarks, we got roughly 300 stores completed in the second quarter. Excited about what we're hearing from our consumers as they're giving us credit for the products that we're putting in there. We've been able to do some stuff around pet with our partnership with Petco, which we're excited about. We've also continued to learn and continue to listen to our customers. And so there's opportunities with different things related to that rural customer, whether that's utility vehicles, livestock feed, apparel, different types of products that they'll use every single day in and around their home. And so we're going to continue to learn. We're going to continue to adjust as we go, as Marvin said, kind of in the early innings of our localization opportunities. And on the urban side, we continue to adjust there as well, making sure that we're right for those urban markets, whether that's the types of products that they need for security and safety, whether that's areas in and around building codes and making sure that we can meet the Pro's needs in those markets, we're going to continue to tweak and adjust as we go forward. So excited about what we're doing on the localization front and what we're doing with rural.

是的。謝謝，馬文。斯科特，正如我在準備好的發言中所說，我們在第二季度完成了大約 300 家商店。我們對從消費者那裡聽到的消息感到興奮，因為他們對我們放入其中的產品給予了認可。通過與 Petco 的合作，我們已經能夠圍繞寵物做一些事情，對此我們感到很興奮。我們還繼續學習並繼續傾聽客戶的意見。因此，與農村客戶相關的不同事物都有機會，無論是多用途車輛、牲畜飼料、服裝，還是他們每天在家中和家周圍使用的不同類型的產品。所以我們將繼續學習。正如馬文所說，我們將在本地化機會的早期階段繼續進行調整。在城市方面，我們也在繼續進行調整，確保我們適合這些城市市場，無論是他們需要安全保障的產品類型，還是建築規範和製造周圍的區域。確保我們能夠滿足Pro 在這些市場的需求，我們將繼續進行調整和調整。我們對本地化方面以及農村地區所做的事情感到非常興奮。

Bill, just a clarification, if I can. On the rural side, like is it outperforming the urban areas now? Or that's the expectation as you wind up localizing more?

比爾，如果可以的話，請澄清一下。在農村方面，現在的表現是否優於城市地區？或者這就是您最終進行更多本地化時的期望？

It's performing at what we expected it to perform.

它的表現符合我們的預期。

Our next question comes from the line of Michael Lasser with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的邁克爾·拉瑟 (Michael Lasser)。

It's not the fairest metric, and there's a lot of noise in it. But if we simply look at Lowe's performance relative to its largest competitor over the last couple of quarters, Lowe's has been outcomping that player. Presumably, this quarter, it's in part due to pro doing a little bit better online sales doing well, and maybe more seasonal catch-up as a result of leading higher -- harder into that category. So a, is that the right interpretation. And then b, how sustainable do you think that this measure of Lowe's performance is?

這不是最公平的指標，而且其中存在很多噪音。但如果我們簡單地看一下勞氏在過去幾個季度中相對於其最大競爭對手的表現，就會發現勞氏已經超越了該公司。據推測，本季度，這在一定程度上是由於專業人士的在線銷售表現好一些，而且可能是由於在該類別中領先更難而導致更多的季節性追趕。那麼，這是正確的解釋嗎？然後 b，您認為這種衡量 Lowe's 業績的指標的可持續性如何？

So Michael, I'll take that. This is Marvin. And I'll just be really honest with you. We spent a lot of time talking about the importance of being customer-centric. We don't pay a ton of attention to what's happening at our competitor because we believe if we take care of the customer, the customer takes care of everything else. So we're going to continue to stay focused on our total home strategy. We think if we do that well, then our results will be sustainable. And that means that we're going to be very localized. It means that we're going to be intentional around the small- to medium-sized Pro that we're going to make our 1,700 stores connected to our customers via omni-channel, and we're going to continue to be intentional around what we do to give our associates a great place to work. Those things are most important.

邁克爾，我接受。這是馬文。我會對你說實話。我們花了很多時間討論以客戶為中心的重要性。我們不會過多關注競爭對手發生的事情，因為我們相信，如果我們照顧好客戶，客戶就會照顧其他一切。因此，我們將繼續專注於我們的整體主場戰略。我們認為，如果我們做得好，那麼我們的成果將是可持續的。這意味著我們將非常本地化。這意味著我們將有意識地圍繞中小型專業市場，我們將讓我們的 1,700 家商店通過全渠道與我們的客戶建立聯繫，並且我們將繼續有意識地圍繞什麼我們致力於為我們的員工提供一個良好的工作場所。這些事情是最重要的。

And I think our results this quarter, although in a difficult market, reflect that our Total Home strategy is working, and we're continuing to invest the appropriate amount of capital to ensure that irrespective of the macro environment, we're not going to slow down on our investments in supply chain IT infrastructure, omni-channel and our Pro initiative. So for us, it's all about taking care of the customer, and that allows us to outperform our close competitor, then that's just a benefit that we'll be more than willing to accept.

我認為，儘管市場形勢嚴峻，但我們本季度的業績反映出我們的 Total Home 戰略正在發揮作用，我們將繼續投入適量的資本，以確保無論宏觀環境如何，我們都不會放緩我們對供應鏈IT 基礎設施、全渠道和Pro 計劃的投資。因此，對我們來說，一切都是為了照顧客戶，這使我們能夠超越我們最接近的競爭對手，那麼這就是我們非常願意接受的好處。

Understood. My follow-up question is on your view of the sales environment for the back half, understanding that you're still taking a prudently cautious stance given what's happening with macroeconomic indicators. Now with that being said, are you seeing any signs that those discretionary big-ticket purchases that had been weak, such as patio furniture, grills, other big ticket purchases are starting to stabilize? Or do you have line of sight that they might start to stabilize as you move into next year?

明白了。我的後續問題是關於您對下半年銷售環境的看法，鑑於宏觀經濟指標的變化，您仍然採取審慎謹慎的立場。話雖如此，您是否看到任何跡象表明那些一直疲軟的可自由支配的大宗商品採購，例如庭院家具、烤架和其他大宗商品採購開始穩定？或者您認為，隨著您進入明年，它們可能會開始穩定下來？

Yes, Michael, this is Brandon. Just a reminder, again, as we look out at the second half, we're cycling up plus 3% in Q3 of last year and a positive 0.7% in Q4. So that's been factored into our expectations. To your question specifically on DIY discretionary, we definitely saw the smaller ticket discretionary projects that were fueled by lawn and garden. We saw that benefit in Q2 as we get into second half, that seasonal benefit is going to subside. So some of the bigger, I'll call it, interior discretionary areas, I would say, we're seeing very much performance here early on through August, similar performance with what we've seen over the first half. And that baseline performance is essentially what's reflected in our expectations for second half.

是的，邁克爾，這是布蘭登。再次提醒一下，當我們展望下半年時，我們去年第三季度的增長率為 3%，第四季度的增長率為 0.7%。所以這已被考慮到我們的期望中。對於您特別關於 DIY 全權委託的問題，我們確實看到了由草坪和花園推動的小型全權委託項目。隨著進入下半年，我們在第二季度看到了這種好處，這種季節性好處將會消退。因此，我想說，一些較大的，我稱之為內部自由裁量區域，我們在八月初到八月初都看到了非常多的表現，與我們在上半年看到的表現類似。該基線表現基本上反映在我們對下半年的預期中。

The next question is from the line of Eric Bosshard with Cleveland Research.

下一個問題來自克利夫蘭研究中心的 Eric Bosshard。

Two things, if I could. First of all, I guess probably for Bill, as you think about managing inventory and mix and promotions in this environment, how are you trying to position the business? Are you leaning in to try to drive traffic? Are you responding and perhaps a little bit more defensively, -- just how are you trying to position inventory mix and promotions?

如果可以的話，有兩件事。首先，我想對於比爾來說，當您考慮在這種環境下管理庫存、組合和促銷時，您將如何定位業務？您是否想嘗試增加流量？您是否會做出回應，也許會更加防禦性——您將如何定位庫存組合和促銷活動？

Yes, Eric, first of all, thanks for the question. We're focused on trying to provide value to the customer every single day. And so that comes through lots of different things, making sure that from the pro side that we continue to do things like we're doing right now as we roll out client tools in our stores, excited about that launch. We think that offers a nice opportunity for us is we'll have the largest assortment of client in the home improvement channel. So right now, we've got roughly 150 SKUs in the stores today. We'll have all of our stores set by the end of this week.

是的，埃里克，首先，謝謝你的提問。我們每天都專注於努力為客戶提供價值。因此，這需要經歷很多不同的事情，確保從專業角度來看，當我們在商店中推出客戶端工具時，我們會繼續做現在正在做的事情，並對這次發布感到興奮。我們認為這為我們提供了一個很好的機會，因為我們將在家居裝修渠道中擁有最齊全的客戶群。現在，我們商店里大約有 150 個 SKU。我們將在本週末之前完成所有商店的設置。

So that's just one way of being able to provide value to that Pro customer. And then from an inventory side, we came out of Q2 in better position with our seasonal inventories than we did a year ago. So that helps us. It allows us to invest as we go into Labor Day and fall planning and fall harvest, Halloween holiday, those types of things so that we can continue to provide value that way to the consumer with those holiday sets and Halloween sets provide a transition in the stores, as you know, and it gives the customer some excitement. And then we've got a lot of new stuff that we've talked about. We've got Coca-Cola that will finish rolling out in our stores being able to have access to that entire portfolio of product we're excited about. We'll roll out Carhart to 250 stores in Q3. So we're excited about getting that out there for both the DIY and the Pro. And then we'll have some new stuff in that spooky area for Halloween for the Halloween enthusiasts.

因此，這只是為專業客戶提供價值的一種方式。然後從庫存方面來看，第二季度我們的季節性庫存狀況比一年前更好。這對我們有幫助。它使我們能夠在進行勞動節、秋季計劃、秋季收穫、萬聖節假期等此類活動時進行投資，以便我們能夠繼續通過這些假期套裝向消費者提供價值，而萬聖節套裝則提供了一個過渡如您所知，這會給顧客帶來一些興奮。然後我們討論了很多新內容。我們的可口可樂將在我們的商店中完成推出，讓我們能夠獲得我們感到興奮的整個產品組合。我們將在第三季度將 Carhart 推廣到 250 家商店。因此，我們很高興能夠為 DIY 版和專業版提供該功能。然後我們會在萬聖節的那個怪異區域為萬聖節愛好者提供一些新東西。

So all of that try to provide value to our customers in lots of different ways. And then offer them those promotional offers and appliances like you have to provide because over 100,000 appliances break every single day, and we want to make sure that we're relevant out there, and try to manage all of it in a portfolio approach. So we've got a lot of stuff going. We're excited about it, and we think will give us a nice way to position ourselves to drive value for our customers through the back half of the year and into next year.

因此，所有這些都試圖以多種不同的方式為我們的客戶提供價值。然後向他們提供您必須提供的促銷優惠和電器，因為每天都有超過 100,000 台電器損壞，我們希望確保我們的相關性，並嘗試以組合方式管理所有這些。所以我們有很多事情要做。我們對此感到興奮，我們認為這將為我們提供一種很好的方式來定位自己，以便在今年下半年和明年為我們的客戶創造價值。

Okay. And then second question, if I could. As you -- Brandon did a good job of explaining that you've kind of cycled through the price increases, and there's minimal from here. The math of the past couple of years has been price up more than volume has been down. I'm just curious how you all think about as price no longer goes up, the path for volume turning from a negative to a positive. I'm just curious how you think about that, and what makes that happen and perhaps when?

好的。然後是第二個問題，如果可以的話。布蘭登（Brandon）很好地解釋說，您已經經歷了價格上漲的周期，而且從這裡開始漲幅很小。從過去幾年的數據來看，價格上漲的幅度超過了成交量下降的幅度。我只是好奇大家如何看待隨著價格不再上漲、成交量從負轉正的路徑。我只是好奇你對此有何看法，是什麼導致了這種情況發生，也許什麼時候發生？

Yes, Eric, this is Brandon. I think again, focus right now on '23, as I mentioned earlier, we kind of breaking down transactions in ticket. We do expect pressure on transactions as we move across the balance of the year ticket to hold. I do think when we get on the backside of this, I'm not going to put a time frame on it, obviously, as there's a bunch of variables, a lot of uncertainty. It's too early for us to call what 2024 is going to look like. But I do think we are expecting a convergence in a better balance of transactions and ticket probably similar to pre-COVID levels as we start to look ahead across the long term.

是的，埃里克，這是布蘭登。我再次想，現在將注意力集中在 23 年，正如我之前提到的，我們在某種程度上分解了票務交易。我們確實預計，隨著年票的持有，交易將面臨壓力。我確實認為，當我們了解這件事的背面時，顯然我不會設定一個時間框架，因為存在很多變量，很多不確定性。現在預測 2024 年會是什麼樣子還為時過早。但我確實認為，當我們開始展望長期前景時，我們預計交易和門票將達到更好的平衡，可能類似於新冠疫情前的水平。

This is Marvin. The only thing I'll add to that is we still are in the early innings of making what I would call best-in-class business operations in our omni-channel area, in localization and in just the overall technology infrastructure. I've mentioned that we're retiring a 30-year-old operating system. And not only will that make our stores a lot easier to operate from a technology standpoint, and what it does, it gives us incredible agility to build on top of that modern platform for more omni-channel capabilities. There's a lot of things we're doing today, the hard way.

這是馬文。我唯一要補充的是，我們仍處於在全渠道領域、本地化和整體技術基礎設施中實現我所說的一流業務運營的早期階段。我已經提到過我們將淘汰一個已有 30 年曆史的操作系統。從技術角度來看，這不僅會使我們的商店更容易運營，而且它的作用還使我們能夠在現代平台上構建更多全渠道功能，從而具有令人難以置信的敏捷性。今天我們要做的事情有很多，但都是艱難的。

And so I get excited because I can get out of bed every day, and I can see a long list of initiatives that we have yet to get to that's going to drive operating margin improvement drive space productivity and hopefully will drive top line as consumer sentiment continues to improve. So we're confident that we've not even reached a point of peak performance relative to the investment cycle that we have because we've been other places we know what world class looks like, and we know that we're on a journey to get there, but there are still areas of our business: Pro, online, fulfillment capabilities, space productivity that we know that we're still in the early innings. And so that's exciting, and we just have to do the work to make sure that we can achieve the expectations we have.

所以我很興奮，因為我每天都能起床，而且我可以看到一長串我們尚未實現的舉措，這些舉措將推動營業利潤率的提高，推動空間生產力，並希望將隨著消費者信心的增長而推動營收持續改善。因此，我們有信心，相對於我們的投資週期，我們甚至還沒有達到最高績效點，因為我們已經去過其他地方，我們知道世界級是什麼樣子，而且我們知道我們正在旅途中到達那裡，但我們的業務仍然有一些領域：專業、在線、履行能力、空間生產力，我們知道我們仍處於早期階段。所以這是令人興奮的，我們只需要努力確保我們能夠實現我們的期望。

And Rob, we have time for one more question.

羅布，我們還有時間再問一個問題。

Final question will be from Steven Zaccone with Citi.

最後一個問題將由花旗銀行的 Steven Zaccone 提出。

I wanted to circle back to your commentary about the appliance promotions, could you elaborate on that a bit more? It sounds new? What are your expectations for that side of the business in the second half of the year? And then just a follow-up on the promotions question earlier. It seems like the industry has not needed to be promotional. How long do you think this can last if big-ticket discretionary weakness continues?

我想回到您對家電促銷的評論，您能詳細說明一下嗎？聽起來很新？您對下半年這方面的業務有何期望？然後是對之前促銷問題的跟進。看來這個行業已經不需要宣傳了。如果大宗可自由支配的商品繼續疲軟，您認為這種情況會持續多久？

Yes. So Steve, this is Bill. So just on the appliance side, specifically, what we've seen with appliances is that really, the industry has returned to kind of a more normalized go-to-market promotional offering, similar to what you saw prior to the pandemic. And so this normalization, as I said in my remarks, has put pressure on average ticket and average selling price across the industry. Everybody, I think, is feeling that impact. But essentially, we cycle this as we get into Q4, and we come -- we get into more of an apples-to-apples comparison when we get to Q4, but we're excited about the strength that we've seen with our appliance business. First quarter track line data would indicate that we took share in the first quarter. So we're driving units and trying to make sure that we can meet the needs of our consumers is, like I said, in Eric's question, 100,000 appliances break every single day, we've got to be there for our consumer. But it's not a radical shift to heavy promotions. It's more of a normalized promotion.

是的。史蒂夫，這是比爾。因此，就家電方面而言，具體來說，我們在家電方面看到的是，該行業實際上已經恢復到更加正常化的上市促銷活動，類似於大流行之前所看到的情況。因此，正如我在講話中所說，這種正常化給整個行業的平均票價和平均售價帶來了壓力。我想每個人都感受到了這種影響。但本質上，當我們進入第四季度時，我們會循環這一點，當我們進入第四季度時，我們會進行更多的同類比較，但我們對我們所看到的實力感到興奮家電業務。第一季度的軌道線數據表明我們在第一季度佔據了份額。因此，我們正在推動設備並努力確保我們能夠滿足消費者的需求，就像我在埃里克的問題中所說的那樣，每天有 100,000 台電器壞掉，我們必須為我們的消費者提供服務。但這並不是大規模促銷的根本轉變。這更像是一種常態化的促銷。

Got it. And then just question on the back half margins for you, Brandon. Given the commentary about same-store sales in the third quarter, is there anything to be mindful of in terms of gross margin or SG&A cadence in the third quarter versus the fourth quarter?

知道了。布蘭登，然後就後半部分的邊距問題向你提問。鑑於對第三季度同店銷售的評論，第三季度與第四季度相比，在毛利率或 SG&A 節奏方面有什麼需要注意的嗎？

No. I would say, Steven, still expect 40 to 60 basis points of expansion. The one thing that I would call out. I mentioned we expect the PPI benefits to build over the second half. And then the second thing I'll mention is we are cycling over $400 million of associate discretionary bonuses that were paid out last year that we're not expecting to recur. So those are the big items that I would call out as we move through the second half.

不。我想說，史蒂文，仍然預計擴張 40 到 60 個基點。我要指出的一件事。我提到我們預計 PPI 效益將在下半年顯現。我要提到的第二件事是，我們正在循環使用去年支付的超過 4 億美元的員工酌情獎金，我們預計不會再重複這些獎金。這些是我在下半年時要強調的重要事項。

And Steve, I would be remiss if I didn't just talk a little bit about our performance and shrink and the most difficult retail environment for shrink in my 35 years in this space. I want to let Joe just talk a little bit about the successes that we're seeing and how we hope that continues to support our gross margin forecast for the back half of the year.

史蒂夫，如果我不簡單談談我們的業績和損耗，以及我在這個領域 35 年來最困難的零售環境，那就是我的失職了。我想讓喬簡單談談我們所看到的成功，以及我們希望如何繼續支持我們今年下半年的毛利率預測。

Thanks, Marvin. And let me give you just a quick shout out to the store operations team and really our asset protection team. I believe they are best in class. And as you look across the actions that we've taken, whether it's in supply chain, whether it's on the front end with our new proprietary self-checkouts, replacing the MCRs, we have a best-in-class awareness platform. That's got a 92% voluntary participation rate. And that we have a line of sight for front-end transformations as we move into next year. The 100% execution of our high-strength program, where we've identified the stores. And so I feel really confident and just a great job by the team.

謝謝，馬文。讓我快速向商店運營團隊和我們的資產保護團隊致敬。我相信他們是班裡最好的。當你縱觀我們所採取的行動時，無論是在供應鏈中，還是在前端用我們新的專有自助結賬取代 MCR，我們都擁有一流的認知平台。自願參與率為 92%。當我們進入明年時，我們對前端轉型有了一個展望。 100% 執行我們的高強度計劃，我們已經確定了商店。所以我感到非常有信心，團隊做得很好。

Thank you all for joining us today. We look forward to speaking with you on our third quarter earnings call in November.

感謝大家今天加入我們。我們期待在 11 月份的第三季度財報電話會議上與您交談。

Thank you. This concludes the Lowe's Second Quarter 2023 earnings call. You may now disconnect.

謝謝。 Lowe’s 2023 年第二季度財報電話會議到此結束。您現在可以斷開連接。