梅西百貨 (M) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Greetings, and welcome to the Macy's, Inc. Third quarter 2023 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this call is being recorded.

您好，歡迎參加梅西百貨公司 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）謹此提醒，此通話正在錄音。

I would now like to turn the call over to Pamela Quintiliano, VP of Investor Relations. Pamela, you may now begin.

我現在想將電話轉給投資者關係副總裁 Pamela Quintiliano。帕梅拉，你現在可以開始了。

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thanks for joining us. With me on the call today are Jeffrey Gennette, our Chairman and CEO; Tony Spring, President, Macy's Inc. and CEO Elect; and Adrian Mitchell, our COO and CFO.

謝謝你，接線生。大家早安，感謝您加入我們。今天與我一起參加電話會議的是我們的董事長兼執行長 Jeffrey Gennette； Tony Spring，梅西百貨公司總裁兼候任執行長；以及我們的營運長兼財務長阿德里安·米切爾 (Adrian Mitchell)。

Along with our third quarter 2023 press release, a presentation has been posted on the Investors section of our website, macysinc.com. Unless otherwise noted, the comparisons we provide will be versus 2022. Comparisons to 2019 are provided where appropriate to best benchmark performance. All references to our prior expectations, outlook or guidance refer to information provided on the August 22 earnings call, unless otherwise noted.

除了 2023 年第三季新聞稿外，我們網站 Macysinc.com 的投資者部分還發布了一份簡報。除非另有說明，我們提供的比較將與 2022 年進行比較。在適當的情況下提供與 2019 年的比較，以獲得最佳基準性能。除非另有說明，所有提及我們先前的預期、展望或指導的資訊均指 8 月 22 日財報電話會議上提供的資訊。

All forward-looking statements are subject to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the expectations and assumptions mentioned today. A detailed discussion of these factors and uncertainties is contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In discussing the results of our operations, we will be providing certain non-GAAP financial measures. You can find additional information regarding these non-GAAP financial measures as well as others used on the Investors section of our website. Today's call is being webcast on our website. A replay will be available approximately 2 hours after the conclusion of this call. With that, I'll turn it over to Jeff.

所有前瞻性陳述均受 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》安全港條款的約束。這些前瞻性陳述存在風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與今天提到的預期和假設有重大差異。我們向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中包含對這些因素和不確定性的詳細討論。在討論我們的營運結果時，我們將提供某些非公認會計準則財務指標。您可以在我們網站的投資者部分找到有關這些非公認會計準則財務指標以及其他使用指標的更多資訊。今天的電話會議正在我們的網站上進行網路直播。本次電話會議結束後約 2 小時將提供重播。有了這個，我會把它交給傑夫。

Thank you, Pam, and good morning, everyone. As you're all aware, in March, we announced my pending retirement as CEO. At that time, Tony Spring became President and CEO elect of Macy's, Inc.; and Adrian Mitchell was promoted to the dual role of COO and CFO. While I remain the CEO through the end of this fiscal year today marks my last earnings call. Between now and then, I will work to ensure a smooth and successful holiday season, which for many starts with our iconic Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. This year, we had the incomparable share as our headliner. Following Thanksgiving, we enter our most important sales period.

謝謝你，帕姆，大家早安。眾所周知，三月份，我們宣布我將作為首席執行官退休。當時，托尼·斯普林 (Tony Spring) 當選為梅西百貨公司 (Macy's, Inc.) 總裁兼首席執行官； Adrian Mitchell 晉升為營運長和財務長雙重職務。雖然我在本財年結束前仍然擔任首席執行官，但今天是我最後一次財報電話會議。從現在到那時，我將努力確保一個順利和成功的假期，這對許多人來說是從我們標誌性的梅西百貨感恩節遊行開始的。今年，我們作為頭條新聞獲得了無與倫比的份額。感恩節過後，我們進入了最重要的銷售時期。

Across nameplates, we have refined our gift assortment and improved our shopping experience. We know our customer is looking for value, so we have simplified our promotions. We are confident the strategic changes we have made will be well received by our customers.

透過各種銘牌，我們改進了禮品品種並改善了我們的購物體驗。我們知道客戶正在尋找價值，因此我們簡化了促銷活動。我們相信我們所做的策略變革將受到客戶的好評。

I'm now going to turn the call over to Tony to discuss our third quarter results, holiday plans by nameplate and how he's thinking about the future. From there, Adrian will go over our 5 value creation levers and outlook for the remainder of the year, and then I'll close with reflections on my time as CEO.

我現在要把電話轉給托尼，討論我們第三季的業績、按銘牌列出的假期計劃以及他對未來的看法。接下來，阿德里安將回顧我們的 5 個價值創造槓桿和今年剩餘時間的展望，然後我將以對我擔任執行長的時間的反思作為結束。

With that, Tony, I'm going to hand it over to you.

這樣，東尼，我就把它交給你了。

Good morning. I'd like to begin by thanking Jeff for his support. Jeff, as we sit here today on your last earnings call, it has been a privilege working with you. Throughout the years, you've illustrated what it takes to be a successful and empathetic CEO. And from everyone across the Macy's Inc. family, thank you for your service.

早安.首先我要感謝傑夫的支持。傑夫，當我們今天坐在這裡參加您的最後一次財報電話會議時，很榮幸能與您合作。多年來，您已經向我們展示瞭如何成為一名成功且富有同理心的執行長。梅西百貨公司大家庭的每一個人，感謝你們的服務。

And on your last call, I'm pleased to report that third quarter adjusted diluted EPS of $0.21 was above our expectations. Our sales, gross margin and SG&A rates were all better than expected. We also benefited from lower interest expense and a lower-than-anticipated tax rate. We ended the quarter in a clean inventory position, down 6% to last year and down 17% to 2019 with Macy's and Bloomingdale's aged inventory data combined 26%. By nameplate, Macy's net sales declined 7.9% and comparable sales declined 6.7% on an owned plus licensed basis. Sales results exceeded expectations with strength in beauty, particularly fragrances and prestige cosmetics, women's career sportswear and men's tailored clothing. Women's casual sportswear, big ticket and handbags were challenged.

在您上次的電話會議上，我很高興地報告第三季調整後稀釋後每股收益為 0.21 美元，高於我們的預期。我們的銷售額、毛利率和銷售管理費用率均優於預期。我們也受益於較低的利息支出和低於預期的稅率。本季末，我們的庫存狀況良好，比去年下降 6%，比 2019 年下降 17%，梅西百貨和布魯明代爾的舊庫存數據合計為 26%。從銘牌上看，梅西百貨的淨銷售額下降了 7.9%，自有加許可的可比銷售額下降了 6.7%。美容產品的銷售業績超乎預期，尤其是香水和高級化妝品、女士職業運動服和男士訂製服裝。女士休閒運動服、大件、手袋受到挑戰。

In late October, Nike arrived in 75 stores and online, and we introduced UGG Home in 200 stores and online. Both are off to a strong start. At our Off-Price division, Backstage, comparable owned sales outperformed the Macy's full-line stores in which they operate by about 720 basis points.

10月下旬，Nike進駐75家門市和線上，我們在200家門市和線上推出了UGG Home。兩者都有一個好的開始。在我們的折扣部門 Backstage，可比自有銷售額比他們經營的梅西百貨全線商店高出約 720 個基點。

At Bloomingdale's, results were roughly in line with our expectations as we lapped last year's 150th anniversary celebration, which included over 8.6 billion organic media impressions. Net sales declined 2.6% and comparable sales were down 4.4% on an owned plus licensed basis. Beauty, women's contemporary, apparel and shoes were top-performing categories while men's, home and designer handbags were more challenged.

Bloomingdale's 的結果大致符合我們的預期，去年我們慶祝了 150 週年慶典，其中包括超過 86 億次自然媒體展示。以自有加許可計算，淨銷售額下降 2.6%，可比銷售額下降 4.4%。美容、當代女裝、服裝和鞋履是表現最好的品類，而男裝、家居和名牌手袋則面臨更大的挑戰。

During the quarter, we added several exciting new brands such as Veronica Beard, Hatch and Alex Mill. We also launched an Aqua collaboration with Kerri Rosenthal in honor of breast cancer awareness month. Bloomingdale's outlet comparable sales outperformed full-line Bloomingdale stores by about 860 basis points.

本季度，我們新增了幾個令人興奮的新品牌，例如 Veronica Beard、Hatch 和 Alex Mill。我們還與 Kerri Rosenthal 啟動了 Aqua 合作，以紀念乳癌宣傳月。 Bloomingdale 的折扣店可比銷售額比 Bloomingdale 全線商店高出約 860 個基點。

Bluemercury had its 11th consecutive quarter of growth, with both net and comparable sales up 2.5%. Customers responded well to skin care and color cosmetics, which are our largest categories. And feedback on Trillian 6, its recently launched proprietary Bath & Body brand has been positive. During the quarter, Bluemercury also unveiled a redesigned luxury store in spa experience in New Canaan, Connecticut. This will serve as the prototype for future locations.

Bluemercury 連續第 11 個季度實現成長，淨銷售額和可比銷售額均成長 2.5%。顧客對我們最大的品類－保養品和彩妝反應良好。最近推出的專有 Bath & Body 品牌 Trillian 6 得到了正面的回饋。本季度，Bluemercury 還在康乃狄克州新迦南推出了一家重新設計的水療體驗豪華店。這將作為未來地點的原型。

Looking to holiday, our outlook, which Adrian will discuss shortly assumes that our customer across nameplate continues to be under pressure and discerning in how they spend in discretionary categories we offer. We have the flexibility to react to customer demand with increased open-to-buy reserves versus last year. We will be nimble and competitive with promotions as needed while sustaining healthy gross margins and plan to end the fourth quarter in an appropriate inventory position. Each nameplate in our portfolio is focused on providing the best experience for the respective customer this holiday season with new and exciting gifts across the value spectrum. And we're ready to fulfill our customers' needs online, in-store and through our gift guidance.

展望假期，我們的前景（阿德里安很快就會討論）假設我們的客戶繼續面臨壓力，並且對我們提供的可自由支配類別的支出有敏銳的洞察力。與去年相比，我們增加了開放購買儲備，可以靈活地回應客戶需求。我們將根據需要靈活地進行促銷活動，同時保持健康的毛利率，並計劃在第四季度結束時保持適當的庫存狀況。我們產品組合中的每個銘牌都致力於在這個假期為相應的客戶提供最佳體驗，並提供各種價值範圍內的新的、令人興奮的禮物。我們已準備好透過線上、店內和禮品指南滿足客戶的需求。

At Macy's, the messaging around Give Love. Give Style, holiday campaign first introduced last year has evolved. We have clear customer-facing language that drives authority, discovery and conversion. In the fourth quarter, we over-indexed in beauty with sales penetration in this top-performing category typically rising by approximately 300 basis points compared to the balance of the year. This year, we have new partners like JLO Beauty and are offering Make Your Own Gift Stations and inclusive sets for many of the biggest brands in the industry, including Chanel, De York and La Mer.

在梅西百貨，圍繞著「給予愛」傳遞訊息。去年首次推出的「Give Style」假期活動現已演變。我們擁有清晰的面向客戶的語言，可以推動權威、發現和轉換。第四季度，我們對美容行業進行了高估，這一表現最好的類別的銷售滲透率通常比去年同期增長約 300 個基點。今年，我們有了 JLO Beauty 等新合作夥伴，並為 Chanel、De York 和 La Mer 等業內許多最大品牌提供自製禮品站和包容性套裝。

Outside of Beauty, we have updated our private brand, Cashmere. We find our fine and fashion jewelry selection including offering Pandora and more stores and online and added exclusive Disney 100th anniversary product and experiences to our gifting selections.

除了美容之外，我們還更新了自有品牌 Cashmere。我們發現我們的精美和時尚珠寶選擇包括提供潘多拉 (Pandora) 和更多商店和線上產品，並在我們的禮品選擇中添加了獨家迪士尼 100 週年紀念產品和體驗。

At Bloomingdale's, we're embracing retailer theater through our best holiday of our campaign which features in-store and digital activations. Throughout the season, customers can look forward to exciting curated gift assortments from our top brands, including MMK, Mind Flayer and (inaudible) as well as immersive shopping experiences and celebrations, including our Walk Inspired collection featuring exclusive products from David Yurman, Kurt Geiger, Reese and more.

在布魯明戴爾百貨公司，我們正在透過我們最好的節日活動來擁抱零售商劇院，其中包括店內和數位活化。整個季節，顧客都可以期待來自我們頂級品牌的令人興奮的精選禮品，包括MMK、Mind Flayer 和（聽不清楚）以及身臨其境的購物體驗和慶祝活動，包括我們的Walk Inspired 系列，其中包括David Yurman、Kurt Geiger 的獨家產品、里斯等等。

At Bluemercury, we're featuring new brands in critical skin care, body and fragrance including SkinMedica, Assaf, and D. S. & Durga. Our customers have the opportunity to experience new in person spa treatments, complementary gift consultations and exclusive loyalty member activations.

在 Bluemercury，我們推出了關鍵護膚、身體和香水領域的新品牌，包括 SkinMedica、Assaf 和 D.S. & Durga。我們的客戶有機會體驗全新的親自水療護理、補充禮品諮詢和專屬忠誠會員啟動。

Looking beyond Holiday, I am confident we can evolve Macy's Inc. into a more relevant destination of choice for our customers and partners. The fundamentals are there. We have a balanced portfolio of nameplates, each with its own identity. This is a distinct advantage. We can learn from each other without becoming one another as we remove silos to optimize our collective customer insights.

展望假期之外，我相信我們能夠將梅西百貨公司發展成為與我們的客戶和合作夥伴更相關的選擇目的地。基本原理就在那裡。我們擁有均衡的銘牌組合，每個銘牌都有自己的特色。這是一個明顯的優勢。當我們消除孤島以優化我們的集體客戶洞察時，我們可以互相學習，而不會成為彼此。

We are also balancing art and science. I'd like to say that this steam not stem. We are embracing data science tools, including AI and machine learning to drive more accurate and agile decision-making based on changes in demand. This married with the art of human judgment helps us become more proactive and customer influence. We're emphasizing variety versus redundancy. The customer today does not want an endless aisle. They want the best style, which provides an improved assortment, leveraging the use of data-driven tools, working closely with our vendor partners. Our balanced approach rooted in customer insights will help us strengthen our core business and scale our 5 growth vectors, which I'll delve into now, starting with Macy's private brand reimagination.

我們也在平衡藝術和科學。我想說，這蒸汽不乾。我們正在採用包括人工智慧和機器學習在內的數據科學工具，根據需求的變化推動更準確、更敏捷的決策。這與人類判斷的藝術相結合，有助於我們變得更加主動和對客戶產生影響。我們強調多元而不是冗餘。今天的客戶不想要無盡的過道。他們想要最好的風格，從而提供改進的分類，利用數據驅動的工具，與我們的供應商合作夥伴密切合作。我們植根於客戶洞察的平衡方法將幫助我們加強核心業務並擴大我們的 5 個成長向量，我現在將深入研究這些向量，從梅西百貨自有品牌重新構想開始。

We launched our new private brand On 34th in August. And in September, we rolled out the next phase of the Inc Reimagination, further elevating our design strategy and fashion offering. We've been pleased with the performance of both and are taking learnings to fuel our comprehensive private brand strategy.

我們於 8 月 34 日推出了新的自有品牌。 9 月，我們推出了 Inc Reimagination 的下一階段，進一步提升了我們的設計策略和時尚產品。我們對兩者的表現都很滿意，並正在吸取教訓來推動我們全面的自有品牌策略。

In our second growth vector, small format stores, we continue to open new Macy's and Bloomies locations. As a reminder, these average roughly 1/5 the size of our full-line stores. Our portfolio of small format stores continue to generate year-over-year comparable owned plus license sales growth. Customers appreciate the store environment, service and ease of checkout while feedback on shopping inspiration and styling ideas has been steadily improving.

在我們的第二個成長方向，即小型商店中，我們繼續開設新的梅西百貨和 Bloomies 門市。提醒一下，這些平均規模約為我們全線商店的 1/5。我們的小型商店組合繼續產生同比自有加許可銷售成長。顧客對店鋪環境、服務和結帳便利性表示讚賞，購物靈感和造型創意的回饋也在穩步提高。

Today, we operate 15 small-format locations, including 12 Macy's and 3 Bloomie's. In the third quarter, we opened a small format, Macy's in Las Vegas, Chicagoland and Boston. And this month, we opened another in San Diego and the new Bloomie's in Seattle. This is our first physical brick-and-mortar Bloomingdale representation in the market, and it's off to a great start.

如今，我們經營 15 家小型門市，其中包括 12 家梅西百貨和 3 家布魯米百貨。第三季度，我們在拉斯維加斯、芝加哥和波士頓開設了一家小型梅西百貨。這個月，我們在聖地牙哥開設了另一家，並在西雅圖開設了新的 Bloomie's。這是我們在市場上開設的第一家布魯明戴爾實體店，這是一個很好的開始。

As announced in October, we plan to open up to 30 additional small-format Macy's locations through fall 2025 and are committed to expanding Bloomie's as well.

正如 10 月宣布的那樣，我們計劃在 2025 年秋季再開設 30 家小型梅西百貨門市，並致力於擴大 Bloomie's 門市規模。

Touching on the remaining growth vectors, Macy's digital marketplace continues to scale. It had over 1,500 brands on the platform at the end of the third quarter and grew gross merchandise value by approximately 22% on a consecutive quarterly basis. Bloomingdale's introduced its marketplace in July and had 55 curated brands available at the end of the quarter. Across both marketplaces, we're experiencing healthy cross-shopping, resulting in higher average order value and increased units per quarter.

談到其餘的成長載體，梅西百貨的數位市場繼續擴大規模。截至第三季末，該平台擁有超過 1,500 個品牌，商品總價值連續季度成長約 22%。 Bloomingdale's 於 7 月推出了其市場，截至本季末已有 55 個精選品牌可供選擇。在這兩個市場中，我們正在經歷健康的交叉購物，從而帶來更高的平均訂單價值和每季的數量增加。

Turning to our fourth growth vector, Luxury. We view Bloomingdale's as a winning option for multi-branded upscale retail. Our mix of aspirational products across categories and price points, combined with a modern personalized shopping experience resonates with our customers. Bluemercury is establishing itself as a skin care authority with a leading assortment of cutting-edge derma products and services. And Macy's beauty is an accessible luxury beauty destination with the power to scale elevated brands. We view our positioning and offerings across all 3 nameplates as a competitive advantage as the Luxury business continues to normalize. We remain confident in Luxury's long term growth potential.

轉向我們的第四個成長向量，奢侈品。我們認為布魯明代爾百貨是多品牌高檔零售的最佳選擇。我們跨類別和價位的理想產品組合，與現代個人化購物體驗相結合，引起了客戶的共鳴。 Bluemercury 憑藉領先的尖端真皮產品和服務，將自己打造成皮膚護理權威。梅西百貨是個觸手可及的奢華美容目的地，有能力擴大高端品牌的規模。隨著奢侈品業務的持續正常化，我們將所有 3 個品牌的定位和產品視為競爭優勢。我們對奢侈品的長期成長潛力仍然充滿信心。

Our fifth growth vector is Personalized Offers and Communications. Our team has been testing and learning throughout the year, including the recent launch of several new multi-touch journeys. We're seeing positive signals and are excited to move from testing to scaling in 2024.

我們的第五個成長方向是個人化優惠和溝通。我們的團隊全年都在測試和學習，包括最近推出的幾個新的多點觸控之旅。我們看到了積極的信號，並很高興能在 2024 年從測試轉向擴展。

Before handing it over to Adrian, I want to thank our teams for their hard work and dedication to our customers. And I'd like to extend a warm welcome to our new Bloomingdale's CEO, Olivier Bron with 20-plus years of international retail and consulting experience, Olivier brings a differentiated global view that will further elevate Bloomingdale's.

在將其交給 Adrian 之前，我要感謝我們的團隊的辛勤工作和對客戶的奉獻。我要熱烈歡迎 Bloomingdale 的新任執行長 Olivier Bron，他擁有 20 多年的國際零售和諮詢經驗，Olivier 帶來了差異化的全球視野，這將進一步提升 Bloomingdale 的水平。

I am confident in our leadership team and their ability to navigate an uncertain environment, macroeconomic challenges and industry headwinds. We are committed to making the appropriate strategic investments to fuel our ongoing evolution and a few low single-digit sales growth beginning in 2024.

我對我們的領導團隊及其應對不確定環境、宏觀經濟挑戰和產業逆風的能力充滿信心。我們致力於進行適當的策略性投資，以推動我們的持續發展，並從 2024 年開始實現一些較低的個位數銷售成長。

With that, let me turn it over to Adrian.

那麼，讓我把它交給阿德里安。

Thank you, Tony, and good morning, everyone. Before discussing our 5 value creation levers, I would like to thank Jeff for his partnership, guidance and support. When I joined the company 3 years ago, it was because of the quality of the team, led by Jeff and his commitment to transforming Macy's Inc. into a modern omnichannel retailer.

謝謝你，托尼，大家早安。在討論我們的 5 個價值創造槓桿之前，我要感謝 Jeff 的合作、指導和支持。三年前我加入這家公司時，是因為傑夫領導的團隊素質高，以及他致力於將梅西百貨公司轉變為現代全通路零售商。

Under Jeff's leadership, we have returned the company to financial health and operational stability and have established the foundation for growth.

在傑夫的領導下，我們使公司恢復了財務健康和營運穩定，並為成長奠定了基礎。

Now let's discuss third quarter results and our 5 value creation levers. First, omnichannel sales. Net sales of $4.86 billion declined 7.1% versus the prior year. Comparable sales on an owned plus licensed basis decreased 6.3%. Owned AUR rose 5.2%, driven primarily by changes in product and category mix. Other revenues of $178 million were 3.7% of net sales. Macy's Media Network revenue grew $5 million or 16% from the prior year and was better than our expectations. Credit card revenues of $142 million or 2.9% of net sales, declined $64 million or 100 basis points versus last year. The decline was primarily due to higher bad debt assumptions within the portfolio as expected. Credit card revenues as well as delinquency rates and bad debt levels within the portfolio were in line with our expectations.

現在讓我們討論第三季的業績和我們的 5 個價值創造槓桿。第一，全通路銷售。淨銷售額為 48.6 億美元，較上年下降 7.1%。自有加許可基礎上的可比銷售額下降了 6.3%。自有 AUR 上漲 5.2%，主要受到產品和品類組合變動的推動。其他收入為 1.78 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 3.7%。梅西百貨媒體網路營收比前一年成長 500 萬美元，成長 16%，優於我們的預期。信用卡收入為 1.42 億美元，佔淨銷售額的 2.9%，比去年下降 6,400 萬美元，即 100 個基點。下降的主要原因是投資組合中的壞帳假設如預期較高。信用卡收入以及投資組合內的拖欠率和壞帳水準符合我們的預期。

Our cardholders have the capacity to spend on their proprietary and co-brand cards. FICO scores for new accounts have risen over the last 3 years and are higher than the overall receivable portfolio, which is largely prime. Looking to the remainder of the year, there is no change to our annual credit card revenue assumption as a percent of net sales or expected delinquency rates and bad debt levels.

我們的持卡人可以使用他們的專有卡和聯名卡來消費。新帳戶的 FICO 分數在過去 3 年中有所上升，並且高於整體應收帳款投資組合（主要是優質帳戶）。展望今年剩餘時間，我們的年度信用卡收入佔淨銷售額或預期拖欠率和壞帳水準的百分比假設沒有變化。

The second value creation lever is gross margin. Our gross margin rate was 40.3%, 160 basis points higher than last year. Merchandise margin improved 110 basis points, largely due to lower permanent markdowns within the Macy's nameplate. Improved freight expense also benefited merchandise margin during the quarter. Partially offsetting these benefits were anticipated changes in category mix inclusive of the transitional impacts of our private brand, Reimagination as we exit brands and as discussed on our second quarter call, a shift in the timing of shortage recognition informed by June physical inventory counts. The third quarter shortage impact and our annual shortage assumption remained materially unchanged from our prior expectations. Compared to last year, delivery expense as a percent of net sales improved 50 basis points primarily reflecting improvement in merchandise allocations resulting in reductions in packagings for orders and distance traveled. This work is closely tied to the third value creation lever, inventory productivity.

第二個價值創造槓桿是毛利率。我們的毛利率為40.3%，比去年高160個基點。商品利潤率提高了 110 個基點，主要是因為梅西百貨品牌內的永久降價幅度較低。貨運費用的改善也有利於本季的商品利潤率。部分抵消了這些好處的是品類組合的預期變化，包括我們自有品牌的過渡性影響、我們退出品牌時的重新想像，以及正如我們在第二季度電話會議上討論的那樣，六月份實物庫存盤點所通知的短缺認識時間的變化。第三季短缺影響和我們的年度短缺假設與我們先前的預期基本沒有變化。與去年相比，交付費用佔淨銷售額的百分比提高了 50 個基點，主要反映了商品分配的改善，導致訂單包裝和運輸距離的減少。這項工作與第三個價值創造槓桿——庫存生產力密切相關。

Our supply chain is flowing smoothly. -- end-of-quarter inventory was down 6% year-over-year and down 17% versus 2019, inclusive of the typical seasonal build for Holiday. Trailing 12-month inventory turn was up 1% to last year.

我們的供應鏈運作順暢。 -- 季末庫存年減 6%，與 2019 年相比下降 17%，其中包括典型的假日季節性庫存。過去 12 個月的庫存週轉率比去年增加了 1%。

Expense discipline is the fourth value creation lever. SG&A of $2 billion declined $48 million or 2% from prior year. SG&A dollars benefited from our commitment to ongoing expense discipline versus our prior expectations, SG&A dollars were favorable due to a roughly $10 million timing shift of certain previously forecasted expenses from the third quarter to the fourth quarter.

費用紀律是第四個價值創造槓桿。 SG&A 為 20 億美元，比上年減少 4,800 萬美元，即 2%。 SG&A 美元受益於我們對持續費用紀律的承諾，與我們之前的預期相比，SG&A 美元是有利的，因為某些先前預測的費用從第三季度到第四季度有大約 1000 萬美元的時間轉移。

SG&A as a percent of total revenue was 40.5%, 230 basis points higher than last year, reflective of the year-over-year decline in sales. Third quarter adjusted diluted EPS was $0.21 versus $0.52 last year, benefiting from better-than-expected sales, gross margin and SG&A rates, improved interest expense and a low tax rate. The shift in timing of $10 million of SG&A expenses, combined with the lower interest expense and tax rate contributed roughly $0.10 to EPS versus our prior expectations.

SG&A 佔總營收的百分比為 40.5%，比去年高 230 個基點，反映出銷售額年減。第三季調整後攤薄每股收益為 0.21 美元，而去年為 0.52 美元，受益於好於預期的銷售、毛利率和 SG&A 率、利息支出改善和低稅率。 1000 萬美元的 SG&A 支出時間的轉變，加上利息支出和稅率的降低，對每股收益的貢獻約為 0.10 美元，與我們之前的預期相比。

Lastly, the fifth value creation lever, capital allocation. Year-to-date through the third quarter, we generated $158 million of operating cash flow versus $488 million last year, had $749 million of capital expenditures, free cash flow inclusive of proceeds from real estate with an outflow of $555 million, and we have paid $135 million in dividends. Liquidity and a healthy balance sheet remain top priorities. We continue to deploy capital prudently to ensure financial flexibility and to invest in long-term growth.

最後，第五個價值創造槓桿，資本配置。年初至今，截至第三季度，我們產生了 1.58 億美元的營運現金流，而去年為 4.88 億美元，資本支出為 7.49 億美元，自由現金流包括房地產收益，流出額為 5.55 億美元。支付了1.35億美元的股息。流動性和健康的資產負債表仍然是首要任務。我們繼續審慎配置資本，以確保財務靈活性並投資於長期成長。

Now let's discuss our fourth quarter and full year outlooks. For the fourth quarter, we expect net sales of $7.95 billion to $8.25 billion, including the 53rd week. Our sales outlook reflects our confidence in Macy's, Inc. as a gift-giving destination, including the expected increase in beauty sales penetration, particularly fragrances. Gross margin rate to be at least 220 basis points better than the fourth quarter of 2022. As a reminder, in the fourth quarter of 2022, we experienced higher markdowns and promotions as we took actions to respond to the heightened competitive environment. Our gross margin outlook gives us the latitude to respond to changes in the promotional landscape.

現在讓我們討論一下我們的第四季和全年展望。我們預計第四季淨銷售額為 79.5 億美元至 82.5 億美元，其中包括第 53 週。我們的銷售前景反映了我們對梅西百貨公司作為送禮目的地的信心，包括美容品銷售滲透率的預期增長，尤其是香水。毛利率將比 2022 年第四季提高至少 220 個基點。提醒一下，在 2022 年第四季度，由於我們採取行動應對激烈的競爭環境，我們經歷了更高的降價和促銷。我們的毛利率前景使我們能夠靈活地應對促銷環境的變化。

Adjusted diluted EPS of $1.85 to $2.10, which takes into account the previously discussed $10 million shift in timing of certain SG&A expenses into the fourth quarter as well as an incremental $15 million of combined investments in marketing and our growth vectors. Together, these items are anticipated to impact fourth quarter EPS by $0.07. End of quarter inventory is roughly flat to last year and down approximately 18% to 2019. Inventories reflect a higher penetration of transitional and seasonal merchandise relative to last year and a build in our reimagined private brand portfolio and the anticipated closure of less than 10 locations in early 2024.

調整後的攤薄每股收益為 1.85 美元至 2.10 美元，其中考慮到先前討論的將某些 SG&A 費用轉移到第四季度的 1,000 萬美元時間，以及營銷和增長向量方面增加的 1,500 萬美元聯合投資。這些項目合計預計將影響第四季 EPS 0.07 美元。季末庫存與去年基本持平，比2019 年下降約18%。庫存反映出過渡性和季節性商品相對於去年的滲透率更高，以及我們重新構想的自有品牌組合的建立以及預計關閉的門店數量將少於10 個2024 年初。

Taking into account third quarter results and our fourth quarter outlook, this brings our full year expectations to net sales of $22.9 billion to $23.2 billion, a comparable sales decline on a 52-week owned plus licensed basis of 6% to 7%. Other revenue to be about 3.2% of net sales with credit currency revenues accounting for roughly 81%. A gross margin rate of 38.4% to 38.5%. SG&A as a percent of total revenue to be about 35.2% to 35.5% or 36.4% to 36.6% as a percent of net sales. Asset sale gains of approximately $45 million.

考慮到第三季業績和我們第四季的前景，我們對全年淨銷售額的預期為 229 億美元至 232 億美元，52 週自有加許可的可比銷售額下降了 6% 至 7%。其他收入約佔淨銷售額的 3.2%，其中信用貨幣收入約佔 81%。毛利率為38.4%至38.5%。 SG&A 佔總收入的百分比約為 35.2% 至 35.5%，或占淨銷售額的 36.4% 至 36.6%。資產出售收益約 4,500 萬美元。

Adjusted EBITDA as a percent of total revenue of roughly 8.9% to 9.1% or 9.1% to 9.4% as a percent of net sales and interest expense of approximately $140 million. After interest and taxes, we are narrowing our annual adjusted diluted EPS outlook to $2.88 to $3.13 which includes an updated annual diluted share expectation of 278 million shares.

調整後的 EBITDA 佔總收入的百分比約為 8.9% 至 9.1%，佔淨銷售額的百分比約為 9.1% 至 9.4%，利息支出約為 1.4 億美元。扣除利息和稅費後，我們將年度調整後稀釋每股收益預期縮小至 2.88 美元至 3.13 美元，其中包括更新後的年度攤薄股預期為 2.78 億股。

As we position for sales growth next year and beyond, our decisions are centered on our customer. We must deliver relevant products, strong value and a more enjoyable shopping experience from optimizing our physical footprint, to providing compelling experiences across channels, to modernizing technology, to driving efficiencies, to automating personalized offers and communications, we are committed to bringing more inspiration on a daily basis to our customers. We look forward to sharing more on how that ladders to long-term profitable growth on our fourth quarter call.

當我們定位明年及以後的銷售成長時，我們的決策以客戶為中心。我們必須提供相關產品、強大的價值和更愉快的購物體驗，從優化我們的物理足跡，到跨渠道提供引人注目的體驗，到現代化技術，到提高效率，到自動化個性化優惠和通信，我們致力於為客戶帶來更多靈感每天為我們的客戶提供服務。我們期待在第四季度電話會議上分享更多關於如何實現長期獲利成長的資訊。

And with that, I'll hand the call back over to Jeff, one last time.

就這樣，我將最後一次把電話轉給傑夫。

Thank you, Adrian. Before turning to Q&A, I would like to comment on my 7 years as CEO. While I did not achieve everything I had set out to accomplish, I am proud of my contributions. We exited the pandemic, a healthier and more agile company, leaning into data-driven tools and processes to guide a renewed focus on expense and inventory disciplines. In addition, we significantly improved the health of our balance sheet, paid down debt, pushed out material debt maturities to 2027 and extended the term of our asset-based credit facility.

謝謝你，阿德里安。在進行問答之前，我想先談談我擔任執行長的七年經歷。雖然我沒有實現我設定的目標，但我為自己的貢獻感到自豪。我們擺脫了大流行，成為一家更健康、更敏捷的公司，依靠數據驅動的工具和流程來指導重新關注費用和庫存紀律。此外，我們還顯著改善了資產負債表的健康狀況，償還了債務，將重大債務到期期限推遲至 2027 年，並延長了基於資產的信貸安排的期限。

We invested in our colleagues across the company and strengthened our culture of inclusivity. We introduced our social purpose platform, Mission Every One directing $5 billion through 2025 to partners, products, people and programs that help create a more equitable and sustainable future. We also reached 99% pay equity across gender and race and launched S.P.U.R. Pathways which provides funding to diverse owned and underrepresented businesses. And we have a very committed leadership team with strong continuity shifting to Tony, who is ready to lead Macy's, Inc. to profitable sales growth.

我們對整個公司的同事進行了投資，並加強了我們的包容性文化。我們推出了我們的社會目標平台 Mission Every One，到 2025 年將向合作夥伴、產品、人員和項目提供 50 億美元資金，幫助創造一個更公平和可持續的未來。我們還實現了 99% 的跨性別和種族薪酬平等，並推出了 S.P.U.R.為多元化擁有和代表性不足的企業提供資金的途徑。我們擁有一支非常忠誠的領導團隊，具有很強的連續性，托尼已準備好領導梅西百貨公司實現盈利的銷售成長。

I would like to thank the Board of Directors for their guidance and support, our senior management team for their leadership and dedication and our colleagues across stores, distribution centers and corporate offices. It has been an honor to work with such a talented team. I am confident the foundation is in place to build on Macy's legacy as a cornerstone of American culture and style.

我要感謝董事會的指導和支持，感謝我們的高階管理團隊的領導和奉獻精神，以及我們在商店、配送中心和公司辦公室的同事。與這樣一個才華橫溢的團隊一起工作是我的榮幸。我相信基金會已經到位，可以將梅西百貨的遺產作為美國文化和風格的基石。

And with that, I'll turn it over to the operator for questions.

然後，我會將其轉交給接線員詢問。

(Operator Instructions) Today's first question is coming from Matthew Boss of JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）今天的第一個問題來自摩根大通的Matthew Boss。

Sorry to see you go, Jeff, and congrats, Tony. So maybe Tony, can you elaborate on the scale opportunity that you've cited from the portfolio approach maybe how you see your 3 nameplates positioned in the Holiday and also the ability for them to drive the low single-digit growth next year?

很遺憾你離開了，傑夫，恭喜你，東尼。那麼托尼，您能否詳細說明您從投資組合方法中引用的規模機會，或者您如何看待您的 3 個品牌在假期中的定位，以及它們明年推動低個位數增長的能力？

And then Adrian, could you outline fourth quarter gross margin drivers and just how best to think about gross margin opportunity multiyear?

然後阿德里安（Adrian），您能否概述第四季度毛利率驅動因素以及如何最好地考慮多年毛利率機會？

Thanks, Matt, for the question. We remain excited about the power of the Macy's Inc. portfolio. Macy's, Bloomingdale's and Bluemercury are 3 of the most important names in retail. We speak to 40 million customers at Macy's 4 million customers of Bloomingdale's and upwards of 1 million customers at Bluemercury. Between the 3 nameplates, we offer a range of price points from off-price to luxury. This year, we're excited about the gift assortments at all 3 nameplates. The improvement in our gift-giving assortments in the Beauty & Fragrance area at Macy's, the expansion of cosmetics and Cashmere, the expansion of toys with our celebration of Disney's 100th anniversary and the opportunity that we see in fine and fashion jewelry with the expansion of Pandora.

謝謝馬特提出的問題。我們仍然對梅西百貨公司產品組合的力量感到興奮。梅西百貨 (Macy's)、布魯明戴爾百貨 (Bloomingdale's) 和 Bluemercury 是零售業最重要的三個品牌。我們與梅西百貨 (Macy's) 的 4000 萬顧客、布魯明戴爾百貨 (Bloomingdale's) 的 400 萬顧客以及 Bluemercury 的 100 萬以上顧客進行了交談。在這 3 個銘牌之間，我們提供從特價到豪華的一系列價位。今年，我們對所有 3 個銘牌上的禮品品種感到興奮。梅西百貨美容與香水區禮品品種的改進，化妝品和羊絨的擴張，慶祝迪士尼成立 100 週年的玩具的擴張，以及隨著產品的擴張，我們在高級和時尚珠寶領域看到的機會。潘多拉。

At Bloomingdale's, we've partnered with Wonka to do an incredible Carousel in 59th Street and online as well as expand our gift assortment across the entire chain. And finally, Bluemercury, our new product type store in New Canaan, Connecticut, I think, sets the standard for what upscale beauty retailing can be in the future.

在 Bloomingdale's，我們與 Wonka 合作，在 59 街和網上舉辦了令人難以置信的旋轉木馬，並在整個連鎖店擴展了我們的禮品種類。最後，我認為，我們位於康乃狄克州新迦南的新產品類型商店 Bluemercury 為未來的高檔美容零售業樹立了標準。

With regard to 2024, we'll talk more about that on the fourth quarter call, but I would only remind the group that we're in the early innings on our 5 growth vectors, and we see plenty of opportunity across each and every one of them.

關於2024 年，我們將在第四季度電話會議上更多地討論這一點，但我只想提醒大家，我們正處於5 個成長向量的早期階段，我們在每個成長向量中都看到了大量的機會其中。

Matt, the first thing we would say on gross margin is that as we think about the risk and opportunities in the fourth quarter, that's reflected in our outlook. And as you know, we've done a lot of work the last several years around this topic of gross margin, whether it be the composition of our assortment, the focus on delivering value or even improving our shopping experience. What's most encouraging going into the fourth quarter is how we think about our inventory. So we start the fourth quarter in a solid inventory position, inventory down 6% year-over-year, down 17% to 2019. Now as we think about kind of where we are with regards to gross margin, we're controlling what we can control. We recognize that the consumer is under pressure. We recognize that there's uncertainty in the environment that we're operating in. We recognize that there's pressure on discretionary, but from our perspective, we have a lot of optionality. We have the ability to adjust. We have flexibility.

馬特，關於毛利率，我們要說的第一件事是，當我們考慮第四季的風險和機會時，這反映在我們的前景中。如您所知，過去幾年我們圍繞毛利率這個主題做了很多工作，無論是我們的品種組成、對提供價值的關注，甚至是改善我們的購物體驗。進入第四季最令人鼓舞的是我們對庫存的看法。因此，我們從第四季度開始就保持著穩定的庫存狀況，庫存年減 6%，到 ​​2019 年下降了 17%。現在，當我們考慮毛利率方面的情況時，我們正在控制我們的庫存可以控制。我們認識到消費者面臨壓力。我們認識到我們所處的營運環境存在不確定性。我們認識到自由裁量權面臨壓力，但從我們的角度來看，我們有很多選擇。我們有能力調整。我們有彈性。

As we think about the transition from the fourth quarter to next year, the thing that we feel good about is that we have a seasonally appropriate target ending in the fourth quarter. We expect to be about flat to last year but down approximately 18% to 2019. So we're very focused on gross margin. We're very focused on profitability and looking forward to the holiday season.

當我們考慮從第四季度到明年的過渡時，我們感到滿意的是我們有一個在第四季度結束的季節性目標。我們預計與去年持平，但到 2019 年將下降約 18%。因此，我們非常關注毛利率。我們非常關注盈利能力並期待假期季節的到來。

The next question is coming from Oliver Chen of TD Cowen.

下一個問題來自 TD Cowen 的 Oliver Chen。

And team, congrats Jeff. It's been great working with you. Congratulations on what's next. So I would love your thoughts, Jeff and Adrian on what's happening with the consumer and also traffic has been pretty bumpy as we look across the sector and many positives and negatives with the health of the consumer, would love your thoughts there.

和團隊，恭喜傑夫。和你一起工作真是太好了。恭喜接下來的事情。因此，傑夫和阿德里安，我很想聽聽你們對消費者正在發生的事情的看法，而且當我們縱觀整個行業時，交通也相當坎坷，消費者健康方面存在許多積極和消極的方面，我會喜歡你們的想法。

And then, Tony, as we look ahead, which areas of the product assortment do you think have the greatest opportunity are you less excited about? Then Adrian regarding the credit card trends that you're seeing, higher bad debt assumptions and delinquency rates were as you expected. Have trends stabilized here? What should we know about your expectations ahead with those assumptions as well?

然後，托尼，當我們展望未來時，您認為產品種類中的哪些領域擁有最大的機會，但您卻對此不那麼興奮？然後阿德里安談到了您所看到的信用卡趨勢，更高的壞帳假設和拖欠率正如您所預期的那樣。這裡的趨勢穩定了嗎？對於這些假設，我們還應該了解您的哪些期望？

Oliver. I think it's really, as we've talked about with the consumers. So very uncertain times, the consumer is still under pressure, that is nothing new on that. We're reading and monitoring the same signals that you are. The consumers are dealing with many of the same headwinds we've been talking about. There's some additional ones. Student loan repayments, obviously, is one rising interest rate in that environment, some geopolitical issues. But all that's baked into our guidance. And we've been clear on that really for the last number of quarters. So we do expect that the consumer is under pressure. They are, in some cases, continue to shift into experiences and away from our discretionary categories.

奧利佛.我認為確實如此，正如我們與消費者討論的那樣。在非常不確定的時期，消費者仍然面臨壓力，這並不是什麼新鮮事。我們正在讀取和監控與您相同的訊號。消費者正在應對許多我們一直在談論的相同阻力。還有一些額外的。顯然，學生貸款償還是這種環境下利率上升的原因，也是一些地緣政治議題。但所有這些都已納入我們的指導中。在過去的幾個季度中，我們確實已經明確了這一點。因此，我們確實預期消費者會面臨壓力。在某些情況下，它們會繼續轉變為體驗，並遠離我們可自行決定的類別。

But because of the broad bandwidth, the customers we serve, what Tony talked about earlier, when you look at kind of off-price or luxury, we have lots of categories, and we're getting more categories when you think about what we're building in our prowess with marketplace. So the big thing that is going to enable all that is our liquidity and really where the -- where inventory is right now. We're obviously controlling that well. We're controlling gross margin well. We really had the opportunity and the liquidity to jump on trends and expect us to continue to do that.

但由於頻寬廣泛，我們服務的客戶，托尼之前談到的，當你看到某種折扣或奢侈品時，我們有很多類別，當你考慮我們的產品時，我們會得到更多類別。不斷增強我們的市場實力。因此，實現這一切的最重要因素是我們的流動性以及庫存現在的實際位置。顯然我們控制得很好。我們很好地控制了毛利率。我們確實有機會和流動性來追趕趨勢，並期望我們繼續這樣做。

Oliver, an answer to your question about the categories. The piece that I love about department store retailing is that we can shift to where the customer is going. And while I certainly love the Beauty and Fragrance business this time of the year because it adds 300 points of penetration to the Macy's business or accentuates the power of Bluemercury or the Luxury Fragrance business at Bloomingdale's. I embrace all the categories. And the reality is if we do a good job as a leadership team, we have the agility to move inventory, move marketing, move web exposure, move presentation in stores to the businesses that are trending best.

奧利佛，回答你關於類別的問題。我喜歡百貨公司零售業的一點是我們可以轉移到顧客要去的地方。雖然我當然喜歡每年這個時候的美容和香水業務，因為它為梅西百貨的業務增加了 300 個滲透點，或者強調了 Bluemercury 或布魯明戴爾百貨的豪華香水業務的力量。我擁抱所有類別。現實是，如果我們作為一個領導團隊做得很好，我們就有能力將庫存、行銷、網路曝光、商店展示轉移到趨勢最好的企業。

You've certainly heard us talk with confidence about our opportunities in private brands. We're in the early stages of a Reimagination, pleased with the growth of On 34th Street in its first few months, the Reimagination of INC and more to come, but we also love market brands. We want to be the best partner out there to the retail community. And so we're going to be flexible in our financial models. We're going to keep pursuing our go-get list of brands that we want to be a part of Macy's, Bloomingdale's or Bluemercury and expect that we will have the brands and the products that customers expect from each of these 3 nameplates.

您肯定聽過我們充滿信心地談論我們在自有品牌方面的機會。我們正處於重新構想的早期階段，對 On 34th Street 在最初幾個月的發展、INC 的重新構想以及未來的更多發展感到高興，但我們也喜歡市場品牌。我們希望成為零售界的最佳合作夥伴。因此，我們的財務模型將保持靈活。我們將繼續追求我們希望成為梅西百貨、布魯明戴爾百貨或 Bluemercury 一部分的首選品牌清單，並期望我們將擁有客戶期望從這 3 個品牌中獲得的品牌和產品。

And however, just to close out on credit card, no changes with regards to credit card. We spoke on our last earnings call about our outlook for the balance of the year and Q3 was very much in line with our expectations. And as we think about Q4, very much in line with our expectations. As we think about what this means into next year, there's just a number of unknowns that remain out there. And as we get a better sense as to what's happening with the Bureau's decision on late fees and a number of those other factors, we'll share more of a perspective on 2024 and beyond.

然而，只是關閉信用卡，信用卡方面沒有任何變化。我們在上次財報電話會議上談到了我們對今年剩餘時間的展望，第三季非常符合我們的預期。當我們想到第四季時，這非常符合我們的預期。當我們思考這對明年意味著什麼時，仍然存在許多未知因素。隨著我們對局關於滯納金的決定以及其他一些因素的情況有了更好的了解，我們將分享更多關於 2024 年及以後的觀點。

The next question is coming from Brooke Roach of Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的布魯克·羅奇。

I wanted to follow up on Oliver's question about the consumer and get your thoughts on what you're seeing from consumer discretionary demand across income cohorts relative to what we saw a few months ago. Have there been any changes in conversion or traffic across each of these cohorts? And how is that driving your strategy for the holiday season? And then as a follow-up, Adrian, can you provide your updated thoughts on the levers that you can pull to protect profitability and EBITDA dollar generation next year if the macro backdrop or credit outlook weakens further.

我想跟進奧利佛關於消費者的問題，並了解您對各收入群體的消費者可自由支配需求相對於我們幾個月前看到的情況的看法。每個群組的轉換或流量是否有任何變化？這對您的假期策略有何影響？作為後續行動，阿德里安，您能否提供您對明年宏觀背景或信貸前景進一步疲軟時可以採取哪些措施來保護盈利能力和 EBITDA 美元生成的最新想法。

Thank you, Brook, for the question. I think the consumer remains under pressure. We know the discretionary categories remain challenging. And yet as a modern department store, we have the ability to be in multi-brand and multi-category, multichannel and cater in off-price all the way to luxury with content the customer is interested in. And certainly, the gift-giving period, even in a year where discretionary categories are more challenged. This is the time of year where they come to life. Gift Giving Christmas, Coins on Hanukkah they still come and our stores and our sites and our teams are prepared for the holiday with 26% less aged inventory this year, and I think a refreshed assortment of content across all 3 nameplates. There's no doubt that there's a normalization happening in the luxury sector and answer to your point about the different income brackets. However, we believe in luxury long term. And I think the opportunity is there even in a challenged environment for each of our brands to capture more points of distribution. Adrian?

謝謝布魯克的提問。我認為消費者仍然面臨壓力。我們知道酌情類別仍然具有挑戰性。然而，作為一家現代百貨公司，我們有能力開展多品牌、多品類、多渠道的業務，並以折扣價一直提供顧客感興趣的奢侈品。當然，還有送禮服務期間，即使是在自由裁量類別面臨更大挑戰的一年。一年中的這個時候，正是它們生氣勃勃的時候。聖誕節送禮、光明節硬幣仍然會來，我們的商店、我們的網站和我們的團隊已經為節日做好了準備，今年的陳舊庫存減少了26%，我認為所有3 個銘牌上的內容都煥然一新。毫無疑問，奢侈品產業正在走向正常化，這也回答了你關於不同收入階層的觀點。然而，我們相信奢侈品是長期的。我認為，即使在充滿挑戰的環境中，我們的每個品牌也有機會佔領更多分銷點。阿德里安？

Thanks, Tony. Brook, really good question as it relates to 2024. We remain committed to low single-digit growth beginning next year and also low double-digit EBITDA margin over time. Right now, we're controlling what we can control. We're working to maintain a healthy balance sheet. We're putting in place more and more operating disciplines around inventory management, expense management, we're investing in our growth vectors and investing in the fourth quarter in our growth vectors as we move from testing to scaling in 2024.

謝謝，托尼。布魯克，這是一個非常好的問題，因為它與 2024 年有關。我們仍然致力於從明年開始實現低個位數成長，並隨著時間的推移實現低兩位數 EBITDA 利潤率。現在，我們正在控制我們能控制的事情。我們正在努力維持健康的資產負債表。我們正在圍繞庫存管理、費用管理制定越來越多的營運紀律，我們正在投資我們的成長向量，並在第四季度投資於我們的成長向量，因為我們將在 2024 年從測試轉向擴展。

As we stand here today on this call, the primary headwind to achieving low double-digit EBITDA in 2024 is really around credit card revenues, inclusive of the pending credit card late fee ruling that still has not been released but our fundamentals remain intact. We're excited about what we're seeing with our growth levers, the development and scaling of that is on track, and that's why we're leaning into some additional investments in the fourth quarter. We're encouraged.

當我們今天站在這裡參加這次電話會議時，在 2024 年實現低兩位數 EBITDA 的主要阻力實際上是信用卡收入，包括尚未公佈的信用卡滯納金裁決，但我們的基本面保持不變。我們對成長槓桿所看到的情況感到興奮，成長槓桿的發展和規模正在步入正軌，這就是我們傾向於在第四季度進行一些額外投資的原因。我們深受鼓舞。

The next question is coming from Ashley Helgans of Jefferies.

下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Ashley Helgans。

To start we're just curious what kind of promotional levels you're embedding in the fourth quarter guide? I know you mentioned the guide gave you some flexibility to respond to the promotional environment. And then also, we wanted to ask about your expectations for holiday shopping cadence this year with more pressure on the consumer and higher rates, do you expect to be able to shop closer to holiday than they have in the past couple of years?

首先，我們只是好奇您在第四季指南中嵌入了什麼樣的促銷等級？我知道您提到該指南為您提供了一些靈活性來應對促銷環境。另外，我們想問您對今年假期購物節奏的期望，因為消費者壓力更大，價格更高，您是否期望能夠比過去幾年更接近假期購物？

Actually, let me take the second part of your question, and I'll throw the first part to Tony. So when you look at the pace of our -- of the holiday shopper clearly next week and the following week are really critical. So when you think about Black Friday, the competitive landscape has really shifted to Black Friday deals prior to Black Friday. We're in the midst of that along with our competitors. Customers are taking advantage of that but there is a [pilgrimage] that goes to brick-and-mortar in our sites for Black Friday and that full weekend. We're well ready for that. And in Cyber Week obviously, starting with Cyber Sunday, Cyber Monday, really important. Then we go into a 10-day or so low which is very typical. We're ready for that in terms of where customers are resetting. We're resetting for the last 10 days. That's a really important time frame for us. .

實際上，讓我回答你問題的第二部分，我將把第一部分交給托尼。因此，當你看看我們的假期購物者的節奏時，顯然下週和接下來的一周確實至關重要。因此，當您想到黑色星期五時，競爭格局實際上已經轉移到黑色星期五之前的黑色星期五交易。我們和我們的競爭對手都處於這種情況之中。顧客正在利用這一點，但在黑色星期五和整個週末，我們的網站上有一場[朝聖]去實體店的活動。我們已做好充分準備。顯然，在網路週中，從網路星期日、網路星期一開始，非常重要。然後我們進入 10 天左右的低點，這是非常典型的。就客戶重置地點而言，我們已做好準備。我們正在重置過去 10 天的時間。這對我們來說是一個非常重要的時間框架。 。

And one thing that sets up well for all retailers is that full weekend before Christmas with Christmas dropping to a Monday. So we -- all that is anticipated I think the big thing that you're going to see is really powerful assortments across all 3 of our brands as well as the really focus on simplified values and how we're communicating that. So we are well ready.

對所有零售商來說，有一件好事是聖誕節前的整個週末，聖誕節變成了星期一。因此，我們——所有這些都是預期的，我認為您將看到的最重要的事情是我們所有三個品牌的真正強大的產品組合，以及真正關注簡化的價值觀以及我們如何傳達這一點。所以我們已經做好了充分的準備。

And I would add to Jeff's comments that the benefit of being a department store again, is that we can handle the range of these cycles. I'm 36 years into this, and I haven't known the fourth quarter that isn't competitive and isn't promotional. That being said, our guidance and margin gives us the opportunity to offer compelling value to have a strong Black Friday and take advantage of, as Jeff described, the extra days in front of the Christmas holiday season. Our website is prepared to deliver on time. Our gift guides have got a nice range of products and price points that I think show compelling value as well as the degree of newness that we just didn't have last year.

我想補充傑夫的評論，再次成為百貨公司的好處是我們可以處理這些週期的範圍。我已經從事這個行業 36 年了，我還不知道第四季會沒有競爭力，也沒有促銷。話雖這麼說，我們的指導和利潤使我們有機會提供令人信服的價值，以度過一個強勁的黑色星期五，並利用傑夫所描述的聖誕節假期前的額外幾天。我們的網站已準備好按時交付。我們的禮品指南提供了一系列不錯的產品和價位，我認為這些產品具有令人信服的價值以及我們去年所沒有的新穎程度。

The next question is coming from Michael Binetti of Evercore ISI.

下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Michael Binetti。

Jeff, congrats on the retirement. It's been a pleasure. And Tony, we very much look forward to working with you ahead. I guess, Adrian, just to clarify one thing, the low single-digit sales growth that's referencing net sales for next year, I'm assuming you're excluding the other revenue line because of credit. But if that's true, could you -- would you mind just helping us think even if at a high level through the contributors that you see between comps, new store contribution, new store productivity, I know we have small-format stores coming on, smaller but more productive. You mentioned some store closures. So maybe just a little even qualitatively, what some of the contributions we should think about are?

傑夫，恭喜你退休。這是我的榮幸。托尼，我們非常期待與您合作。我想，阿德里安，只是為了澄清一件事，參考明年淨銷售額的低個位數銷售成長，我假設您由於信貸而排除了其他收入項目。但如果這是真的，你能介意幫助我們思考，即使是在高水平上，透過你在比較、新店貢獻、新店生產力之間看到的貢獻者，我知道我們有小型商店即將開業，更小但更有效率。您提到了一些商店關閉。因此，也許從定性上來說，我們應該考慮哪些貢獻？

And then I'm curious about the SG&A leverage point as you think ahead to next year based on some of the qualitative comments you gave to Brook there. You guys have really hustled and taken out a lot of costs, you found a lot of efficiency. Obviously, the magnitude of sales declines this year has made SG&A deleverage point. But maybe help us through this, think through scenarios if comps are slightly negative next year versus slightly positive next year. Is there a point that you feel comfortable saying SG&A can leverage in a couple of scenarios next year?

然後，我對 SG&A 槓桿點感到好奇，因為您根據您向布魯克提供的一些定性評論對明年進行了展望。你們真的很努力，付出了很多成本，你們發現了很多效率。顯然，今年銷售下降的幅度已經達到了SG&A去槓桿化的臨界點。但也許可以幫助我們解決這個問題，想想明年的比較是否會略有負面，而明年會略有正面。您是否認為 SG&A 可以在明年的幾種情況下發揮作用？

Mike, as it relates to growth, we've been pretty consistent with our investments in our core business and our growth levers. And what Tony talked about a little bit earlier, is really the scaling and maturation of a lot of those growth vectors. So when you think about small format stores, you think about growing our core business, you think about the health of our different channels, it's all focused on better shopping experience, value for the consumer and continuing to strengthen our assortment. Those are the things that give us confidence about growth next year, and we'll certainly share the composition of that as we get into 2024 in the Q4 earnings call.

麥克，就成長而言，我們對核心業務和成長槓桿的投資一直非常一致。托尼之前談到的實際上是許多成長向量的擴展和成熟。因此，當您考慮小型商店時，您會考慮發展我們的核心業務，您會考慮我們不同管道的健康狀況，這一切都集中在更好的購物體驗、為消費者創造價值以及繼續加強我們的品種。這些讓我們對明年的成長充滿信心，當我們進入 2024 年時，我們肯定會在第四季的財報電話會議上分享這些因素的組成。

Expense discipline is always a top focus for us. We spoke earlier this year to the $200 million of capturability in 2023 that's about $300 million to $350 million in 2024. SG&A leverage is just a good retail business. So expense discipline is really important for us. we're continuing to lean into opportunities to drive greater productivity within the business. And that's what will lead for us to a double-digit EBITDA profile over time.

費用紀律始終是我們的首要關注。我們今年稍早曾談到 2023 年可捕獲的金額為 2 億美元，到 2024 年可捕獲的金額約為 3 億至 3.5 億美元。SG&A 槓桿只是一項很好的零售業務。因此，費用紀律對我們來說非常重要。我們將繼續抓住機會來提高企業的生產力。隨著時間的推移，這將使我們的 EBITDA 達到兩位數。

The next question is coming from Bob Drbul of Guggenheim Securities.

下一個問題來自古根漢證券公司的鮑伯·德布爾。

This is Arian Razai for Bob Drbul. Jeff, it was a pleasure working with you. Adrian, can you please speak to units. We've been hearing that the industry units have been trending down low single digits. Do you see any reduction in the average basket? Just wanted to hear your thoughts. And if I may, on the broader consumer health, what are the expectations for tourist traffic for the holidays? Are there any sequential improvement embedded in the guidance?

我是鮑勃·德布爾 (Bob Drbul) 的阿里安·拉扎伊 (Arian Razai)。傑夫，很高興與你合作。阿德里安，你能和單位談談嗎？我們聽說行業單位一直呈現低個位數下降趨勢。您認為平均籃子數量有減少嗎？只是想聽聽你的想法。如果可以的話，從更廣泛的消費者健康角度來看，節日期間遊客流量的預期是什麼？指南中是否包含任何後續改進？

Yes. As we think about units, what we saw was in the fourth -- in the third quarter, AUR was up mid-single digits, sales down. So obviously, we would expect our unit volume to actually be down. As you think about the consumer, we think the consumer is -- remains under pressure, and I think most importantly, the consumer is discerning. No change in what we've spoken to about the consumer. We expect that to extend into next year, but we do expect the consumer to continue to be challenged.

是的。當我們考慮單位時，我們看到的是第四季度 - 第三季度，AUR 成長了中個位數，銷售額下降。顯然，我們預計我們的單位銷售量實際上會下降。當你想到消費者時，我們認為消費者仍然面臨壓力，我認為最重要的是，消費者是有洞察力的。我們談到的有關消費者的內容沒有改變。我們預計這種情況將延續到明年，但我們確實預期消費者將繼續面臨挑戰。

Let me take your tourism question. So when you look at kind of -- you look at tourism domestically and international, let's talk about international. It just continues to be below 2019 levels. Q3, we did see an uptick, which was encouraging, particularly in Latin and Central America, some countries in Europe, that has benefited our downtown stores when you think about the kind of tourist destinations, some of these downtown metro cities because our flagships did outperform the fleet in Q3. But we're not anticipating a meaningful benefit for the balance of this year. And we're hopeful that we've always talked about the fact that with tourism being 3-plus percent of our overall business international tourism that we will -- that will be a tailwind. So we do expect an uptick in '24 and beyond there.

讓我回答你的旅遊問題。因此，當您關注國內和國際旅遊業時，讓我們談談國際。它繼續低於 2019 年的水平。第三季度，我們確實看到了成長，這是令人鼓舞的，特別是在拉丁美洲和中美洲、歐洲的一些國家，當你考慮旅遊目的地的類型時，這使我們市中心的商店受益，其中一些市中心的大都市因為我們的旗艦店第三季的表現優於機隊。但我們預計今年剩餘時間不會產生有意義的收益。我們希望我們一直在談論這樣一個事實，即隨著旅遊業占我們整個國際旅遊業業務的 3% 以上，我們將會——這將是一個順風車。因此，我們確實預計 24 年及以後會上升。

The next question is coming from Charles Grom of Gordon Haskett.

下一個問題來自戈登·哈斯克特的查爾斯·格羅姆。

This is Greg Sommer on for Chuck. I was hoping if you could just provide any color on if you saw any variability in the quarter as we saw like warmer pockets of weather around the country or even as student loans kicked off when the repayments restarted?

我是格雷格·薩默（Greg Sommer）為查克發言。我希望您能提供任何信息，說明您是否看到本季度的任何變化，因為我們看到全國各地天氣變暖，甚至在還款重新開始時啟動了學生貸款？

Yes. When I said just on overall common sales and profit in Q2. It was better than our expectations. So we were strategic with our promotions. That definitely helped us drive conversion. We're not commenting on kind of the monthly performance, but the overall quarter performed better than expectations. I think the main point is that we're definitely ready for holiday. And we're confident in our curated offering, strong value that we're going to be providing the customer So pleased with the quality of the assortment as Tony and Adrian and both spoke to are building flexibility to respond to other customer signals. And that inventory position that we have and our commitment to really staying liquid to respond to the changing customer behavior across all of our categories and price points is going to be critical.

是的。當我談到第二季的整體普通銷售額和利潤時。這比我們的預期要好。因此，我們的促銷活動具有策略性。這無疑幫助我們推動了轉換。我們不會評論月度表現，但整體季度表現優於預期。我認為重點是我們已經準備好度假了。我們對我們精心策劃的產品和我們將為客戶提供的強大價值充滿信心。托尼和阿德里安對產品的品質非常滿意，他們都接受了採訪，正在建立靈活性來回應其他客戶訊號。我們擁有的庫存狀況以及我們對真正保持流動性以應對所有類別和價格點不斷變化的客戶行為的承諾將至關重要。

And I would just add that the work the team has done to have more transitional products. And even in a quarter where the weather was a little warmer than we would have liked, we saw a great sweater selling. So that's one of the things we've come to accept is we don't control the weather, but we can diversify our assortment to take advantage of opportunities for gift-giving and self-purchase.

我只想補充團隊為擁有更多過渡產品所做的工作。即使在天氣比我們希望的要暖和一點的季度，我們也看到毛衣銷售很好。因此，我們已經接受的一件事是，我們無法控制天氣，但我們可以使我們的品種多樣化，以利用送禮和自購的機會。

The only other thing I would add is to your question about student loan repayments, it's really difficult to determine the specific impacts due to student loan payments. But as we think about the 2023 outlook for the balance of the year and the fourth quarter, that's very much reflected in our outlook. And also incorporates the variable of student loans. This would be a pretty important consideration as we get into 2024 as well, but we're just continuing to monitor it pretty closely.

我要補充的唯一一件事是關於你關於學生貸款償還的問題，很難確定學生貸款償還的具體影響。但當我們思考 2023 年剩餘時間和第四季的前景時，這在我們的前景中得到了很好的體現。並且還包含了學生貸款的變數。當我們進入 2024 年時，這也將是一個非常重要的考慮因素，但我們只是繼續密切關注它。

The next question is coming from Alex Straton of Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的亞歷克斯·斯特拉頓。

Perfect. And Jeff, congrats on a great career at Macy's. It's been great getting to work with you. Really just a couple for me. First, I think you highlighted Backstage and Bloomie's outlet as outperforming the full line this quarter. I'm just wondering, has that been the case for some time? Or was there some sort of step change this quarter that you'd highlight as well as just how you're thinking about those banners heading into holiday. And then secondly, many wholesalers have trimmed their order book outlook from 3 months ago in their latest earnings reports citing weaker partner orders. Is there anything you can share even qualitative on how you're ordering or thinking about the front half inventory buys.

完美的。傑夫，恭喜你在梅西百貨取得了輝煌的職業生涯。很高興能和你一起工作。對我來說真的只是一對。首先，我認為您強調 Backstage 和 Bloomie 的門市本季的表現優於全線。我只是想知道，這種情況已經有一段時間了嗎？或者，本季是否有某種您需要強調的步驟變化，以及您如何看待這些進入假期的橫幅。其次，許多批發商在最新的收益報告中以合作夥伴訂單疲軟為由，下調了 3 個月前的訂單前景。您是否可以分享有關您如何訂購或考慮前半庫存購買的定性資訊。

Thanks, Alex, for the question. We feel good about the business at both Backstage and Bloomingdale's outlets. There isn't a quarterly change because they've been performing all year long. I think it speaks to the value-conscious consumer. And we're glad that we have both of these nameplates having an offering in the sector. In the case of Backstage, it's inside of our four wall stores, and we know that the Backstage customer also a full-line customer. So bringing them in for value, it gives us the opportunity. Certainly, as you look at the fourth quarter, to sell them other gifts in size and color and breadth and variety that we wouldn't have necessarily in a freestanding store.

謝謝亞歷克斯的提問。我們對 Backstage 和 Bloomingdale 商店的生意都感到滿意。沒有季度變化，因為它們全年都在表現。我認為它適合注重價值的消費者。我們很高興這兩個品牌都在該領域提供產品。以 Backstage 為例，它位於我們的四家牆體商店內，我們知道 Backstage 客戶也是全線客戶。因此，引入它們是為了獲得價值，這給了我們機會。當然，當你看到第四季時，我們會向他們出售其他尺寸、顏色、寬度和種類的禮物，而這些禮物是我們在獨立商店中不一定有的。

And conversely, at Bloomingdale's, you're providing access to a brand that I think is on the upswing. And there is still a consumer, I think that at times is price sensitive. So how do we cater to that customer and ultimately bring them over to the full-price brand at the appropriate point in time. So we feel good about both Backstage and Bloomingdale's lower price.

相反，在布魯明代爾百貨公司，你提供的是一個我認為正在上升的品牌。而且仍然有消費者，我認為有時對價格敏感。那麼我們如何迎合該客戶並最終在適當的時間點將他們帶到全價品牌。因此，我們對 Backstage 和 Bloomingdale 的較低價格感到滿意。

Just, I guess, in follow-up to the second part of your question, we intend to be the better wholesale partner out there. And when I say wholesale partner, that doesn't mean that we won't have a concession relationship, a consignment relationship or hybrid relationship, our objective is to have the best relationship. We don't view it as a zero-sum game. And while there are going to be times where we are adding orders and canceling orders, we try to do it with great transparency. And what I found is our partners appreciate our willingness to forecast with them and talk about our future objectives.

我想，在回答你問題的第二部分時，我們打算成為更好的批發夥伴。當我說批發合作夥伴時，這並不意味著我們不會有特許關係、寄售關係或混合關係，我們的目標是擁有最好的關係。我們不認為這是一場零和遊戲。雖然有時我們會添加訂單和取消訂單，但我們會盡力以極大的透明度進行操作。我發現我們的合作夥伴很欣賞我們願意與他們一起預測並討論我們未來的目標。

As Adrian said, our commitment is to get the low single-digit growth next year, which means we need brand partners in the wholesale market we're betting on both bases in Bloomingdale's.

正如阿德里安所說，我們的承諾是明年實現低個位數成長，這意味著我們在批發市場需要品牌合作夥伴，我們押注在布魯明代爾的兩個基地。

The next question is coming from Dana Telsey of Telsey Advisory Group.

下一個問題來自特爾西諮詢集團的達納·特爾西。

And Jeff, best of luck. As you think about Tony and Adrian, the opportunities on the real estate side, you've obviously had some -- a small -- a short time period of the small-format stores but as you think of the landscape opportunity for Bloomingdale's and for Macy's and what the assortment could look like, how do you envision it? What does it mean for margins? And just in the near term, as you think about the first half of 2024, does the cadence of orders or how you're thinking about the ordering patterns, do they change at all from the back half of 2023?

傑夫，祝你好運。當你想到托尼和阿德里安時，房地產方面的機會，你顯然已經擁有一些——一小段——很短的時間段的小型商店，但當你想到布魯明代爾百貨公司和梅西百貨以及其產品系列會是什麼樣子，您有何設想？利潤率意味著什麼？就短期而言，當您考慮 2024 年上半年時，訂單節奏或您對訂購模式的看法與 2023 年下半年相比是否有任何變化？

Yes. Let me take the first part of your question, which would be on the real estate side. So obviously, Dana, we look at our portfolio very closely. And what's the value to operate in a particular unit, what's the monetization opportunity with that? The thing that you're hearing from us is really taking a full market view and really looking at all of our assets that serve customers in the market, and that's our digital assets, our mall-based assets as well as this emerging opportunity that we see in small-door format. So when you look at the Macy's brand is in 49 of the top 50 metro markets.

是的。讓我回答你問題的第一部分，即房地產方面的問題。顯然，達納，我們非常仔細地審視我們的投資組合。在特定部門運作的價值是什麼？其貨幣化機會為何？您從我們這裡聽到的內容是真正採取全面的市場視角，真正審視我們為市場上的客戶提供服務的所有資產，這就是我們的數位資產、我們基於購物中心的資產以及我們所面臨的新興機會。請參閱小門格式。因此，當您查看梅西百貨品牌時，您會發現梅西百貨品牌在排名前 50 名的都會市場中佔據了 49 個。

So from that perspective, we're well placed. There's always opportunities to look at individual units and expect that we'll continue to do that. So when you think about when we announced the Polaris strategy, we announced [how many] door closures? We've closed 8 of those. And you've also heard that what we're doing in the small-door format on the Macy's side, we've opened 12 through the fourth quarter of this year. Then intent is to open up to 30 by the end of '25. Very excited about what Bloomie's is doing.

所以從這個角度來看，我們處於有利地位。總是有機會考察各個單位，並期望我們會繼續這樣做。那麼，當你想一想，當我們宣布北極星戰略時，我們宣布了[多少]關門？我們已經關閉了其中 8 個。您也聽說過，我們在梅西百貨這邊以小門形式開展業務，截至今年第四季度，我們已經開設了 12 家門市。目標是到 25 年底開放至 30 個。對 Bloomie's 所做的事情感到非常興奮。

So if you think about Bloomie's, Bloomie's is in a substantially less number of the major metro markets in the country. And we just hit a milestone in the last week by opening Bloomie's in Seattle and pleased to say that, that has gotten off to a great start. So there is opportunities in bring in order, but coupled with our products in digital to be able to create 2 powerhouse national omnichannel brands that really span the level of price points and customers and categories that we continue to traffic in.

因此，如果您考慮 Bloomie's，您會發現 Bloomie's 在該國主要地鐵市場中的數量要少得多。上週，我們剛在西雅圖開設了 Bloomie's，達到了一個里程碑，很高興地說，這是一個很好的開始。因此，整合是有機會的，但結合我們的數位產品，能夠創造兩個強大的全國性全通路品牌，真正跨越我們繼續經營的價格點、客戶和類別的水平。

And let me add, obviously, I have a soft spot for Bloomingdale's. So I believe there's growth opportunity digitally, physically in both small-format stores and in our off-price division. As Jeff mentioned, we cover a fraction of the country, but we're going to be surgical in how we expand. We've done too good a job, I think, in having a highly productive portfolio of stores to sacrifice that now.

讓我補充一點，顯然，我對布魯明戴爾百貨公司情有獨鍾。因此，我相信小型商店和我們的折扣部門都存在數位化、實體化的成長機會。正如傑夫所提到的，我們涵蓋了這個國家的一小部分，但我們將在擴張方式上採取外科手術。我認為，我們在擁有高生產力的商店組合方面做得太好了，現在不能犧牲這一點。

Expect also that we're going to continue to lean into the opportunity to expand margin. That is both in the pricing science as well as in the mix of products that we sell. Sometimes I think AUR gets mistaken for charging the customer more. I just want to emphasize, we will be competitive on price, but we will look for opportunities to expand our AUR and expand our margin through the mix of categories and the types of products that we sell. Remember, we're in the early stages of new order at Macy's. We've seen the margin expansion that we enjoyed at Bloomingdale's through having greater visibility to our assortment through assortment visualization.

也預計我們將繼續抓住擴大利潤的機會。這不僅體現在定價科學上，也體現在我們銷售的產品組合中。有時我認為 AUR 會被誤認為向客戶收取更多費用。我只是想強調，我們將在價格上具有競爭力，但我們將尋找機會透過我們銷售的類別和產品類型的組合來擴大我們的 AUR 並擴大我們的利潤。請記住，梅西百貨正處於新秩序的早期階段。透過分類視覺化，我們可以更好地了解我們的分類，我們已經看到了布魯明代爾百貨公司的利潤成長。

Got it. And then ordering patterns as you think about it for the first half of the year?

知道了。然後按照您對上半年的考慮來排序模式？

So Dana, we're not commenting on the ordering patterns of next year. But what I would say, I want to emphasize one thing that Tony brought up, which was the level of transition that we're having. The balance is our assortments in seasonless content I think when we were looking back at the first quarter of '24, we ran out of cold weather units faster than we should have. And so we commented about that on our first quarter call. Obviously, that comes with getting the right receipt in the fourth quarter, carrying the right level of units in all cold weather categories, transitional categories, for the warmer parts of the country. I think the team has done a good job on that this year, and that should be a nice tailwind for us going into the 2024 time -- in terms of the content of rest of the orders, stay tuned for the fourth quarter call where we will review all that detail.

所以，達納，我們不會評論明年的訂購模式。但我想說的是，我想強調托尼提出的一件事，那就是我們正在經歷的轉變層次。平衡點在於我們對不分季節內容的分類，我認為當我們回顧 24 年第一季時，我們用完寒冷天氣單元的速度比我們應該的要快。因此，我們在第一季的電話會議上對此發表了評論。顯然，這需要在第四季度獲得正確的收據，為該國較溫暖的地區提供所有寒冷天氣類別、過渡類別的正確水平的單位。我認為團隊今年在這方面做得很好，這對我們進入2024 年來說應該是一個很好的推動力——就其餘訂單的內容而言，請繼續關注第四季度的電話會議，我們將在其中進行電話會議。將審查所有細節。

The next question is coming from Gaby Carbone of Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Gaby Carbone。

Congratulations, Jeff. So you just touched on this a bit, but I was wondering if you can dig into the potential levers that you have for additional improvement in the gross margin rate as you look to next year. If you could maybe walk us through the biggest buckets there, that would be helpful.

恭喜，傑夫。所以你剛剛談到了這一點，但我想知道你是否可以深入研究明年毛利率進一步提高的潛在槓桿。如果你能帶我們參觀那裡最大的水桶，那會很有幫助。

So I'll comment on a few things. Even though we haven't shared the gross margin outlook for next year, as Tony pointed out, it's a big focus for us. the one discipline that will not go away is our discipline on inventory management. And that has been very helpful to us in terms of margin expansion with our pricing science, our discipline on having less markdowns than what we had prepandemic. So that will continue to be a strength for us.

所以我會評論一些事情。儘管我們尚未分享明年的毛利率前景，但正如托尼指出的那樣，這對我們來說是一個重點。一項不會消失的紀律是我們的庫存管理紀律。這對我們透過定價科學來擴大利潤率以及我們減少降價的紀律比疫情前的情況非常有幫助。因此，這將繼續成為我們的優勢。

As Tony talked about, there are other opportunities around mix, there are other opportunities around how we manage our delivery expense. There are just a number of initiatives that we're going after to increase our retail margin, reduce our delivery expense and ultimately increase our gross margin but it starts with inventory discipline and working capital discipline on that balance sheet and then making good choices about our assortment and managing the flow of those goods while so that we have solid sell-through unit velocity in all of our channels.

正如托尼所說，圍繞混合還有其他機會，關於我們如何管理交付費用也有其他機會。我們正在採取一些措施來提高我們的零售利潤，減少我們的交付費用並最終提高我們的毛利率，但首先是資產負債表上的庫存紀律和營運資本紀律，然後對我們的業務做出明智的選擇。分類和管理這些商品的流動，同時使我們在所有通路中擁有穩定的銷售單位速度。

The next question is coming from Lorraine Hutchinson of Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的洛林·哈欽森。

You've done a great job of managing the expense structure. Adrian, I was just hoping that you could elaborate a little bit on the $300 million to $350 million of 2024 cost savings, how much of that is slated for reinvestment in your growth vectors?

您在管理費用結構方面做得很好。 Adrian，我只是希望您能詳細說明一下 2024 年 3 億至 3.5 億美元的成本節省，其中有多少計劃用於您的成長向量的再投資？

It's a very good question, Lorraine. The reality is that there are going to be puts and takes. But fundamentally, what we've been focused on is the incremental value from expense management. As we think about the composition of the expense reductions, about 1/3 of it is coming from gross margin expense and the balance of it is really showing up in SG&A but our fundamental focus for next year is around profitable growth. And so we're making investments in our growth vectors in order to accelerate the top line. And so that's a big part of where our investments have been. I spoke a little bit earlier to some of those investments starting in the fourth quarter. But those investments that are going back is all about incrementality on the top line.

這是一個非常好的問題，洛林。現實情況是，總是會有投入和產出。但從根本上來說，我們一直關注的是費用管理的增量價值。當我們考慮費用削減的組成時，大約 1/3 來自毛利率費用，其餘部分確實體現在 SG&A 中，但我們明年的基本重點是利潤成長。因此，我們正在對成長向量進行投資，以加速營收成長。因此，這是我們投資的很大一部分。我早些時候談到了從第四季度開始的一些投資。但那些收回的投資都是為了增加收入。

The next question is coming from [Janet Joseph] of JJK Research.

下一個問題來自 JJK Research 的 [Janet Joseph]。

Congratulations to you, Jeff. I'm wishing you all the best. I was wondering if you guys could talk a little bit about the private label push I really like On 34th and excited about the evolution of INC. And I was just wondering what the margin impact of that could be here in late fiscal '23 and as we look forward to fiscal '24. And if it's too early to be asking that, I understand, but I'm just wondering if there's some positive influence coming on the gross margin side from outperformance in private label.

恭喜你，傑夫。我祝你一切順利。我想知道你們是否可以談談我非常喜歡 On 34th 的自有品牌推廣，並對 INC 的發展感到興奮。我只是想知道這對 23 財年末的利潤率影響是什麼？我們期待 24 財年。如果現在問這個問題還為時過早，我理解，但我只是想知道自有品牌的出色表現是否會對毛利率產生一些積極影響。

And Adrian, on the cost efficiencies you've achieved this year, which have been better than I expected. I know how you just answered Lorraine's question. I'm just wondering how they influence those savings, how those influence fiscal '24 in that -- was there some pull forward of savings in '23 that might impact the opportunity for better-than-expected SG&A next year.

阿德里安，關於你們今年實現的成本效率，這比我預期的要好。我知道你剛才是如何回答洛林的問題的。我只是想知道它們如何影響這些儲蓄，這些儲蓄如何影響 24 財年——23 財年的儲蓄是否有一些提前，這可能會影響明年 SG&A 好於預期的機會。

Thank you, Jane. Appreciate the question. First, I'm a huge believer in private brands. Private brands have a wonderful heritage in the Macy's brand. Macy's brand has been known over the years for having some of the best private brands, and we're excited, certainly about the performance of On 34th and the refresh of INC and what's to come over the next couple of years. I think the commitment of the team to refresh the entirety of our private brand portfolio with exclusive design, customer influence product and true focus on white space opportunities gives me confidence in our private brand strategy.

謝謝你，簡。感謝這個問題。首先，我非常相信自有品牌。自有品牌在梅西百貨品牌中擁有悠久的歷史。梅西百貨品牌多年來因擁有一些最好的自有品牌而聞名，我們對 On 34th 的表現和 INC 的更新以及未來幾年的發展感到興奮。我認為團隊致力於透過獨特的設計、影響客戶的產品和真正專注於空白機會來更新我們整個自有品牌組合，這讓我對我們的自有品牌策略充滿信心。

Private brands are important to Bloomingdale's too with success in both Aqua and Hudson Park. And I think you're right, there is margin opportunity when we scale this particular growth vector. Again, you trade a little liquidity for margin opportunity, and you can expect us to watch that carefully because we love the exclusivity and the natural margin that comes from private brands, but we want to make sure we're always buying the best brands that are available, and we want to leave ourselves that flexibility to make sure that we're adding the appropriate market brands as well. That's what makes Macy's and Bloomingdale's more compelling is when we have the right balance of both private brands and market brands.

自有品牌對布魯明戴爾百貨公司也很重要，在 Aqua 和 Hudson Park 都取得了成功。我認為你是對的，當我們擴展這個特定的成長向量時，就會有利潤機會。同樣，你用一點流動性來換取利潤機會，你可以期望我們仔細觀察這一點，因為我們喜歡來自自有品牌的排他性和自然利潤，但我們希望確保我們始終購買最好的品牌可用，我們希望給自己留下彈性，以確保我們也添加適當的市場品牌。當我們在自有品牌和市場品牌之間取得適當的平衡時，梅西百貨和布魯明代爾百貨就會更具吸引力。

Janet, thanks again for your question. When we think about profitable growth over time, that requires SG&A leverage. And so when we think about the cost efficiencies, they have to be sustainable and they have to be recurring over time. The thesis that we talk a lot about within our business is around simplification and automation. So we're looking at our processes all over the business to really take out complexity, put in new ways of working, placing an automation where it makes sense. The strength of our foundation is based on the simplification of our core so what we are continuing to lean into is simplify the business, which will remove the headwinds for growth. So that's how we're approaching our cost efficiencies over time with the ambition over time of achieving SG&A leverage.

珍妮特，再次感謝你的提問。當我們考慮隨著時間的推移實現獲利成長時，就需要 SG&A 槓桿。因此，當我們考慮成本效率時，它們必須是可持續的，並且必須隨著時間的推移不斷重複出現。我們在業務中經常討論的主題是簡化和自動化。因此，我們正在審視整個業務的流程，以真正消除複雜性，引入新的工作方式，並在有意義的地方實現自動化。我們基礎的力量是基於核心的簡化，因此我們繼續致力於簡化業務，這將消除成長的阻力。這就是我們如何隨著時間的推移實現成本效率，並實現 SG&A 槓桿的雄心壯志。

That brings us to the end of the question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the floor back over to Mr. Tony Spring for closing comments.

問答環節到此結束。我想請托尼·斯普林先生發表結束評論。

Thanks everybody, for joining us on the third quarter call today. We want to take this opportunity to wish you and your families a very happy Thanksgiving, and we hope you'll join us all in watching work, joining us in person at the Thanksgiving Day Parade next week. Happy holidays, everyone.

感謝大家今天加入我們的第三季電話會議。我們想藉此機會祝您和您的家人感恩節快樂，我們希望您能和我們一起觀看工作，並親自參加下週的感恩節遊行。大家節日快樂。

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation. This concludes today's event. You may disconnect your lines or walk off the webcast at this time, and enjoy the rest of your day.

女士們、先生們，感謝您的參與。今天的活動到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路或退出網路廣播，享受剩下的一天。