Children's Place Inc (PLCE) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to The Children's Place Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. On the call today are Jane Elfers, President and Chief Executive Officer; Maegan Markee, Brand President; and Sheamus Toal, Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer. (Operator Instructions).

早安，歡迎參加兒童之家 (The Children's Place) 2023 年第三季業績電話會議。今天的電話會議嘉賓包括總裁兼執行長 Jane Elfers、品牌總裁 Maegan Markee 以及營運長兼財務長 Sheamus Toal。 （操作員指示）。

The Children's Place issued its third quarter 2023 earnings press release earlier this morning, and a copy of the release and presentation materials have been posted to the Investor Relations section of the company's website.

兒童之家今天早上發布了 2023 年第三季收益新聞稿，新聞稿和簡報資料的副本已發佈到公司網站的投資者關係部分。

Before we begin, let me remind you that statements made on this conference call and in the company's earnings release and presentation materials about the company's outlook, plans and future performance are forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those projected. For a discussion of factors that could cause actual results to vary from those contained in the forward-looking statements, please refer to the company's most recent annual and quarterly reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the presentation materials posted on the company's website.

在開始之前，請允許我提醒您，本次電話會議以及公司財報和演示材料中關於公司前景、計劃和未來業績的陳述均為前瞻性陳述。實際結果可能與預期結果有重大差異。有關可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中所述結果不同的因素的討論，請參閱公司提交給美國證券交易委員會的最新年度和季度報告，以及公司網站上發布的演示材料。

On this call, the company will reference various non-GAAP financial measurements. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measurements to the GAAP financial measurements is provided in the company's earnings release and presentation materials. Also, today's call is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to turn the call over to Jane Elfers.

在本次電話會議上，本公司將參考多項非公認會計準則 (Non-GAAP) 財務指標。這些非公認會計準則 (Non-GAAP) 財務指標與公認會計準則 (GAAP) 財務指標的對帳表已在公司財報和簡報資料中提供。此外，今天的電話會議正在進行錄音。現在，我很高興將電話會議轉給 Jane Elfers。

Thank you, and good morning, everyone. Our Q3 results exceeded our expectations on the top line. The top line beat was driven by another quarter of industry-leading digital performance, fueled by a double-digit increase in e-commerce traffic, with strong Back-to-School results in August and the success of our seasonal categories in September and October. And our wholesale channel, led by Amazon, delivered another outstanding quarter.

謝謝大家，早安。我們第三季的業績超乎預期。得益於本季我們再次維持業界領先的數位行銷業績，這得益於電商流量的兩位數成長，其中包括8月份強勁的返校季業績以及9月和10月季節性品類的出色表現。此外，以亞馬遜為首的批發管道也在本季取得了優異的業績。

Importantly, our Q3 ending inventories were down 16%, exceeding our expectations. Our bottom-line results were negatively impacted in the third quarter by higher-than-planned distribution costs driven by a combination of largely unplanned, but addressable factors.

重要的是，我們第三季的期末庫存下降了16%，超出了我們的預期。由於一系列計劃外但可控制的因素，分銷成本高於計劃，對我們的第三季業績產生了負面影響。

First, higher fulfillment costs, including the increased utilization of third-party fulfillment services, stemming from shipping significantly more e-commerce units than planned, due to higher volumes, coupled with an outsized increase in packages, resulting from lower transaction size as our consumer remains under pressure in the current environment.

首先，由於運輸量增加，電子商務單位的出貨量大大超出計劃，導致配送成本上升，包括第三方配送服務的利用率提高，再加上包裹數量大幅增加，而由於當前環境下消費者仍然承受壓力，導致交易規模下降，導致配送成本上升。

Second, significantly higher labor costs than planned due to the increased e-commerce demand and a very tight labor market. And third, a delay of certain planned freight and fulfillment savings. Looking ahead, we are planning for these increased distribution costs to continue in the fourth quarter. Sheamus will cover this in more detail in his prepared remarks.

其次，由於電子商務需求成長和勞動力市場非常緊張，勞動成本大幅高於計畫。第三，部分計畫中的運費和配送成本節省被延後。展望未來，我們預計這些配送成本的上漲將在第四季持續。 Sheamus 將在準備好的演講稿中更詳細地闡述這一點。

For the third quarter, our e-commerce sales were up low single digits, driven by a double-digit increase in e-commerce traffic. Our e-commerce channel represented an industry-leading 57% of our retail sales in Q3, up from 50% last year and 37% in 2019. Our digital channels are clearly where our current core millennial customer prefers to shop for her kids. And based on the data, digital is where our future Gen Z moms will overwhelmingly prefer to transact.

第三季度，我們的電商銷售額實現了低個位數成長，這得益於電商流量的兩位數成長。我們的電商通路在第三季零售額中所佔比例達到業界領先水準的57%，高於去年的50%和2019年的37%。顯然，我們目前的千禧世代核心客戶更傾向於透過我們的數位管道為孩子購物。而且，根據數據，我們未來的Z世代媽媽也更傾向於透過數位管道進行交易。

Almost all new digital buyers will come from Gen Z. Gen Z digital buyers nationwide are expected to surge from 45 million today to over 61 million in 2027, only 4 short years away. The importance of the digitally native Gen Z demographic to our future business cannot be underestimated, and we remain laser-focused on ensuring that digital is at the core of everything we do.

幾乎所有新的數位消費者都將來自Z世代。預計到2027年，全美Z世代的數位消費者數量將從目前的4,500萬激增至6,100萬以上，這僅需短短四年。 Z世代這個數位原生世代對我們未來業務的重要性不容小覷，我們將繼續專注於確保數位化成為我們所有工作的核心。

While our core customer remains under significant pressure, we are pleased with our ability to drive top line above our expectations throughout the third quarter. Our top line momentum from Q3 has accelerated into Q4 as our customers responding to our trend-right assortments and our enhanced marketing tactics. November is off to a strong start with consolidated retail sales running up low single digits quarter-to-date versus last year, driven by the continued strength of our digital business.

儘管我們的核心客戶仍面臨巨大壓力，但我們對第三季營收超出預期感到欣慰。由於客戶對我們緊跟潮流的產品組合和強化的營銷策略反應良好，我們第三季度的營收成長勢頭在第四季度進一步加速。 11月開局強勁，受數位業務持續強勁的推動，本季合併零售額較去年同期成長了低個位數。

Our accelerated digital transformation and fleet optimization strategies have positioned us to operate the company with less resources, including less stores, less inventory, less people and less expense, allowing us to better service our customer online, where she prefers to shop resulting in what we believe will translate to more consistent and sustainable results over time. Thank you. And now I'll turn it over to Maegan to provide an update on our strong Q3 marketing results.

我們加速數位轉型和優化車隊的策略使我們能夠以更少的資源經營公司，包括更少的門市、更少的庫存、更少的人員和更少的開支，從而使我們能夠更好地服務於線上消費者——消費者更喜歡線上購物。我們相信，隨著時間的推移，這將帶來更一致和可持續的業績。謝謝。現在，請梅根報告我們強勁的第三季行銷業績。

Thank you, Jane, and good morning, everyone. On our last call, we covered the 4 key pillars of our marketing transformation. Our partners, real-time optimized media measurement, marketing spend and contributions and traditional versus nontraditional marketing. Today, we will focus on how those pillars have supported our Q3 top line results. Since launching our revamped marketing strategies in the back half of 2022, supported by our best-in-class partners and state-of-the-art marketing tools, we have significantly shifted the way we utilize media.

謝謝 Jane，大家早安。在上次電話會議中，我們討論了行銷轉型的四大支柱：合作夥伴、即時優化媒體監測、行銷支出及貢獻，以及傳統行銷與非傳統行銷。今天，我們將重點介紹這些支柱如何支撐我們第三季的營收業績。自 2022 年下半年推出全新行銷策略以來，在我們一流的合作夥伴和先進的行銷工具的支持下，我們顯著改變了媒體利用方式。

Our strategies are rooted in a customer-centric mindset and filling the purchase funnel, which starts by driving qualified traffic.

我們的策略植根於以客戶為中心的理念並填補購買管道，這首先要推動合格的流量。

As Jane mentioned, we experienced a strong double-digit increase in our digital traffic in Q3. Our positive traffic trends for the quarter are a direct result of knowing how to drive qualified audiences to our family of brands by utilizing our digital marketing channels, deep customer knowledge and enhanced targeting capabilities. Our ability to scale our digital business by utilizing our digital marketing tactics, tools and partners puts us ahead of our competition as we continue to acquire millennial and Gen Z customers into our family brands.

正如Jane所說，我們的數位流量在第三季實現了強勁的兩位數成長。本季的正向流量趨勢直接源自於我們深諳如何利用我們的數位行銷管道、深厚的客戶知識和增強的定位能力，為我們的品牌系列吸引優質受眾。我們能夠利用數位行銷策略、工具和合作夥伴來擴展數位業務，這使得我們在競爭中保持領先地位，因為我們將繼續吸引千禧世代和Z世代客戶加入我們的品牌系列。

Now I'm going to recap our top of funnel performance. Our brand equity manifested itself in our top-of-funnel brand campaigns in Q3. Q3 contains 2 very important time periods for both our business and our consumers, Back-to-School and the beginning of the holiday season. As a leader in the digital space, we know that our core digitally savvy millennial customer plans further ahead than our in-store shopper by browsing and purchasing earlier for all of the special emotional events in their children's lives.

現在，我將回顧我們漏斗頂端的表現。我們的品牌資產在第三季的漏斗頂端品牌宣傳活動中得到了充分體現。第三季包含兩個對我們的業務和消費者都非常重要的時間節點：返校季和假期季的開始。身為數位領域的領導者，我們深知，我們精通數位科技的核心千禧世代客戶比實體店購物者會提前規劃，他們會更早瀏覽和購買商品，以應對孩子們生活中所有特殊的情感事件。

Combining this behavioral shopper knowledge with our leadership position in Back-to-School, holiday dressing and matching family pajamas, we launched 2 first-to-market seasonal campaigns with the goal of capturing in-market demand and market share.

將這些行為購物者知識與我們在返校、節日服裝和家庭睡衣搭配方面的領導地位相結合，我們推出了兩個率先上市的季節性活動，目的是抓住市場需求和市場份額。

As a reminder, for Back-to-School, we partnered with the global pop superstars, the Jonas Brothers. The Jonas Brothers' campaign delivered over 5 billion impressions across our earned and paid media efforts as well as driving a 40% lift in mobile app downloads and a return on ad spend that is well above the industry benchmarks for top of funnel performance.

提醒一下，在「返校季」活動中，我們與全球流行巨星喬納斯兄弟合作。喬納斯兄弟的廣告活動在我們的免費媒體和付費媒體投放中獲得了超過50億次曝光，並推動行動應用下載量提升了40%，廣告支出回報率遠高於行業漏斗頂端的基準。

For holiday, we launched 2 first-to-market blockbuster brand campaigns, highlighting our expansive full family holiday assortment for The Children's Place and Gymboree brands, which include a 3-part trilogy campaign, combining music, family and fashion to engage our core millennial consumer. This holiday campaign was a first of its kind concept in The Children's retail space. Music is synonymous with fashion.

節慶季，我們推出了兩場首發重磅品牌宣傳活動，重點推廣我們為 The Children's Place 和 Gymboree 品牌提供的豐富多樣的家庭節慶系列，其中包括一個由三部分組成的三部曲宣傳活動，將音樂、家庭和時尚融為一體，以吸引我們的核心千禧一代消費者。這項節日宣傳活動在 The Children's 零售領域開創了先河。音樂與時尚密不可分。

So for this year's holiday campaign, we partnered with music icons: AJ McLean, Lance Bass, Joey Fatone, Wanya Morris, Snoop Dogg and of course, the Queen of Christmas herself, Mariah Carey, with a focus on our market-leading position in Holiday Dressy and PJs.

因此，在今年的假期活動中，我們與音樂偶像合作：AJ McLean、Lance Bass、Joey Fatone、Wanya Morris、Snoop Dogg，當然還有聖誕女王瑪麗亞·凱莉，重點關注我們在假日禮服和睡衣領域的市場領先地位。

For our Gymboree brand, we continued our long-standing partnership and ambassadorship with Mandy Moore and further expanded her engagement with the brand by designing a capsule collection with her for the winter season.

對於我們的 Gymboree 品牌，我們繼續與 Mandy Moore 保持長期的合作夥伴關係和大使身份，並透過與她一起設計冬季膠囊系列，進一步擴大了她與品牌的合作。

Across our holiday campaigns for the Children's Place in Gymboree, we garnered over 12 billion impressions across our earned and paid media efforts. These incredibly disruptive brand campaigns also translated to positive top line results. For every dollar that we invested, we made over $5 back in top line revenue. In addition, the growth of our social presence and engagement driven by our very loyal communities, through the start of the holiday season has been explosive.

在我們為金寶貝兒童樂園 (Gymboree) 開展的假期行銷活動中，我們的免費媒體和付費媒體廣告獲得了超過 120 億次曝光。這些極具顛覆性的品牌行銷活動也帶來了積極的營收績效。我們每投入一美元，就能獲得超過 5 美元的營收回報。此外，在我們忠實的粉絲群的推動下，假日季伊始，我們的社群媒體影響力和互動度實現了爆炸式增長。

Since the launch of our holiday campaigns, our brands drove over 395,000 social interactions. Our performance has kept the Children's Place brands in the leadership position on social media, representing close to 50% of total social impressions amongst our children apparel resale competitive set.

自假日活動推出以來，我們旗下品牌已促成超過39.5萬次社交互動。我們的出色表現使Children's Place品牌在社群媒體上保持領先地位，在我們兒童服飾轉售競爭群體中佔據了近50%的社群曝光。

A robust digital acquisition strategy is critical to our success as a digital-first retailer. Our ongoing brand work coupled with our fully integrated media strategies fueled our digital acquisition growth during Q3. Q3 was our fifth consecutive quarter of increased acquisition with digital acquisition up 3% to last year and up 93% to 2019. Our positive acquisition trend is a direct result of our transformed marketing and media mix strategies that strategically target the total addressable market in order to drive new customer acquisition.

作為一家以數位為先的零售商，穩健的數位客戶獲取策略對於我們成功至關重要。我們持續的品牌建設，加上我們全面整合的媒體策略，推動了我們在第三季的數位客戶獲取成長。第三季是我們連續第五個季度實現客戶獲取成長，數位客戶獲取較去年同期成長3%，較2019年同期成長93%。我們積極的客戶獲取趨勢直接得益於我們轉型後的行銷和媒體組合策略，這些策略策略性地瞄準整個潛在市場，以推動新客戶獲取。

With respect to our marketing spend. In 2019, our total marketing spend was less than 2% of revenue versus the industry average for multichannel brands of 5% to 7%. Our marketing spend, as reported includes not only digital marketing, advertising, celebrity partnerships and creative for our sites, it also includes the costs associated with our loyalty program as well as our in-store signage and printed materials.

關於我們的行銷支出。 2019年，我們的總行銷支出佔收入的比例不到2%，而多通路品牌的產業平均為5%至7%。根據報告，我們的行銷支出不僅包括數位行銷、廣告、明星合作和網站創意，還包括與我們的忠誠度計劃以及店內識別和印刷材料相關的成本。

Our marketing investment in Q3 were in the mid-single-digit range, in line with our specialty peers. We have proven that we have the ability to drive incremental qualified traffic, capitalize on this traffic and scale our digital penetration, acquire net new audiences while engaging our existing shopper audiences into our family of brands. The progress we've been able to show in the challenging consumer environment gives us confidence in the significant opportunity ahead of us when the macro environment begins to improve.

我們第三季的行銷投入處於中位數個位數區間，與專業廣告同業持平。我們已證明，我們有能力推動增量優質流量，並利用這些流量擴大我們的數位滲透率，在吸引現有購物者的同時，獲得淨新增受眾，同時將現有購物者受眾融入我們的品牌系列。在充滿挑戰的消費環境中，我們所取得的進展讓我們對宏觀環境好轉後面臨的重大機會充滿信心。

Now let's move on to our wholesale business. The significant time and resources that we have dedicated towards building our Amazon marketplace since the beginning of the pandemic have resulted in another outstanding quarter. Coming off of our biggest Back-to-School ever on Amazon, we participated in the October Prime Day event, resulting in the Children's Place largest week on Amazon in our history.

現在讓我們談談我們的批發業務。自從疫情爆發以來，我們投入了大量的時間和資源來打造亞馬遜平台，這又帶來了一個出色的季度。在亞馬遜舉辦了史上規模最大的返校日活動後，我們又參加了10月的Prime Day活動，讓Children's Place在亞馬遜的銷售量創下了歷史新高。

The Children's Place Matching Family Christmas Pajamas were highlighted as one of the top 3 favorite deals in Amazon's Prime Day press release. When we compare our relationship with Amazon today versus pre-pandemic, the progress we have made on both sides has been transformational. We believe that we have significant runway ahead for our continued wholesale growth in the fourth quarter and beyond.

Children's Place 家庭聖誕睡衣套裝在亞馬遜 Prime Day 新聞稿中被重點推薦為最受歡迎的三大優惠之一。對比疫情前與亞馬遜的關係，我們發現雙方都取得了顯著的進展。我們相信，在第四季度及以後，我們的批發業務將保持強勁成長勢頭。

When we look at additional growth drivers in our wholesale channel for 2024, we're focused on the opportunity to scale the Walmart partnership and the international opportunity with Amazon. Thank you, and I will turn it over to The Sheamus.

當我們展望2024年批發通路的額外成長動力時，我們將重點放在擴大與沃爾瑪的合作夥伴關係以及與亞馬遜的國際合作機會。謝謝，接下來請The Sheamus發言。

Thank you, Maegan, and good morning, everyone. Net sales for the third quarter decreased $28.9 million or 5.7% to $480.2 million exceeding the high end of our guidance, driven by our strong e-commerce business. These results were in the face of continued macroeconomic challenges, including persistent inflation, a highly promotional retail environment, concerns over the resumption of student loan payments and other domestic and geopolitical concerns weighing on consumer confidence.

謝謝梅根，大家早安。受強勁的電商業務推動，第三季淨銷售額下降2,890萬美元，降至4.802億美元，下降5.7%，超出我們預期的上限。這些業績是在宏觀經濟持續面臨挑戰的情況下取得的，這些挑戰包括持續的通貨膨脹、過度促銷的零售環境、對恢復學生貸款償還的擔憂，以及其他影響消費者信心的國內和地緣政治問題。

Our U.S. net retail sales decreased by $37 million or 8.9% to $380.3 million, and our Canadian net retail sales decreased by $10.2 million or 22.1% to $35.8 million. Our e-commerce traffic was up double digits for the quarter, while our comparable store traffic was down approximately 7%. Our comp store traffic versus 2019 continues to be down almost 30%.

我們在美國市場的淨零售額下降了3,700萬美元，降幅為8.9%，至3.803億美元；加拿大市場的淨零售額下降了1,020萬美元，降幅為22.1%，至3,580萬美元。本季度，我們的電商流量實現了兩位數成長，而同店客流量則下降了約7%。與2019年相比，我們的同店客流量持續下降近30%。

Our consolidated AUR decreased by approximately 5% for the quarter, we believe largely due to pressures our consumer is under and the intense promotional environment. Importantly, AURs remain significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels validating the success of our restructured pricing strategies.

本季度，我們的合併平均銷售收入 (AUR) 下降了約 5%，我們認為這主要是由於消費者面臨的壓力以及密集的促銷環境。重要的是，AUR 仍然顯著高於疫情前的水平，這證明了我們調整後的定價策略取得了成功。

Gross profit margin for the third quarter decreased to 33.7% of net sales as compared to 34.8% of net sales in the prior year. This reflects the largely unplanned, but addressable impact of higher distribution and fulfillment expenses stemming from incremental shipping and processing costs, partially offset by the anticipated reductions in cotton and supply chain costs. The increases in distribution costs were driven by higher e-commerce volumes than anticipated, which resulted in higher compensation expense to fulfill orders as the company incurred significant overtime premiums to process orders, increased wage rates to retain talent and added incentives to attract new associates.

第三季毛利率降至淨銷售額的33.7%，去年同期為34.8%。這反映了配送和履行費用增加（主要為計劃外但可控制的影響）的影響，這些費用的增加源於運輸和加工成本的增加，但棉花和供應鏈成本的預期下降部分抵消了這一影響。配送成本的增加是由於電商交易量高於預期，這導致公司為處理訂單支付了巨額加班費，為留住人才而提高了工資，並增加了吸引新員工的激勵措施，從而導致訂單履行的薪酬支出增加。

In addition, the company also increased the utilization of third-party fulfillment partners, which operate at higher rates. The company also experienced an outsized increase in the number of packages shipped due to decreases in average order size given the significant macro pressure our customers continue to face, which resulted in an increase in freight costs and deleveraging of freight expense.

此外，公司還提高了第三方物流合作夥伴的利用率，這些合作夥伴的營運費率更高。由於客戶持續面臨巨大的宏觀壓力，平均訂單規模下降，導致運費成本上升，運費支出去槓桿，公司出貨包裹數量也大幅增加。

Finally, the company experienced a delay of certain planned freight and fulfillment savings as we continue to negotiate the best long-term pricing. In addition to the distribution costs, the company's gross margin rate was negatively impacted by the growth of our wholesale business, which operates at lower gross margin, but also operates at lower SG&A and is accretive to our operating margin. As a reminder, we record our wholesale revenue on a net basis, recognizing revenue net of commissions, discounts, chargebacks and cooperative advertising.

最後，由於我們仍在協商最佳長期定價，公司部分計畫中的運費和配送成本的節省有所延遲。除分銷成本外，公司的毛利率還受到批發業務成長的負面影響。批發業務的毛利率較低，但銷售、行政及管理費用也較低，並有助於提升我們的營業利益率。需要提醒的是，我們的批發收入以淨額入賬，即扣除佣金、折扣、退款和合作廣告後確認的收入。

Adjusted SG&A expense was $102.9 million for the third quarter as compared to $105.4 million in the comparable period last year. This was the result of reductions in store expenses, home office payroll, incentive compensation and equity compensation, partially offset by planned investments in marketing, which have been very successful in driving digital traffic and top line growth.

第三季調整後銷售、一般及行政管理費用（SG&A）為1.029億美元，去年同期為1.054億美元。這主要得益於門市支出、總部員工薪資、激勵性薪酬和股權薪酬的減少，但部分抵消了計畫中的行銷投資。這些投資在推動數位流量和營收成長方面取得了顯著成效。

Our operating income was $45 million for the third quarter as compared to $57.8 million in the third quarter last year. Adjusted operating income was $47.9 million for the third quarter as compared to $59.1 million in the comparable period last year. Our interest expense was $7.9 million for the quarter versus adjusted net interest expense of $3.8 million in the prior year's quarter. This increase in interest expense was driven by higher average borrowings and higher average interest rates associated with the revolving credit facility and term loan due to increases in our variable base rate based upon market increases.

我們第三季的營業收入為4500萬美元，去年同期為5780萬美元。第三季調整後營業收入為4,790萬美元，去年同期為5,910萬美元。本季利息支出為790萬美元，而去年同期調整後的淨利息支出為380萬美元。利息支出的增加是由於平均借款額增加，以及循環信貸額度和定期貸款的平均利率上升，而浮動基準利率則根據市場上漲而上調。

The Company's provision for taxes reflects a benefit of $1.5 million on a GAAP basis and $0.7 million on an adjusted basis by applying the discrete method. The Company believes that this method more accurately reflects the estimate of interim taxes than the annual effective tax rate method due to the mix of earnings in different tax jurisdictions, and the sensitivity of small changes in ordinary income on the annual effective tax rate. Our adjusted tax rate for the quarter was approximately negative 1.7% as compared to 20.8% in the prior year.

公司的稅項撥備反映了以公認會計準則計算的150萬美元收益，以離散法計算的調整後收益為70萬美元。公司認為，由於不同稅收管轄區的收益組合，以及普通收入的微小變動對年度有效稅率的敏感性，該方法比年度有效稅率法更準確地反映了中期稅項的估算。本季我們的調整後稅率約為-1.7%，而去年同期為20.8%。

For the third quarter, we reflected net income of $38.5 million or $3.05 per diluted share as compared to net income of $42.9 million or $3.26 per diluted share in the prior year third quarter. Adjusted net income was $40.6 million or $3.22 per diluted share compared to $43.8 million or $3.33 per diluted share in the comparable period last year.

第三季度，我們錄得淨利3850萬美元，即每股攤薄收益3.05美元，而去年同期淨利4,290萬美元，即每股攤薄收益3.26美元。調整後淨利4060萬美元，即每股攤薄收益3.22美元，去年同期調整後淨利4,380萬美元，即每股攤薄收益3.33美元。

As the company continues its transformation from a legacy store operating model to a digital-first model, we recorded onetime charges of $2.9 million, which includes severance, accelerated depreciation and, to a lesser extent, costs associated with the amendment of our credit facility.

隨著公司繼續從傳統門市營運模式向數位優先模式轉型，我們記錄了 290 萬美元的一次性費用，其中包括遣散費、加速折舊以及在較小程度上與修改信貸安排相關的成本。

Moving to our balance sheet. We ended the quarter with cash and short-term investments of $14 million and with $359 million of borrowings on our revolving credit facility and a modest amount of long-term debt, which remains unchanged at $50 million. We continue to expect to decrease borrowings by the end of fiscal 2023 versus the end of 2022, further positioning us for long-term sustainable growth.

再來看看我們的資產負債表。本季末，我們的現金和短期投資為1,400萬美元，循環信貸額度的借款為3.59億美元，長期債務則維持在5,000萬美元不變。我們預計，到2023財年末，借款規模將比2022財年末有所減少，這將進一步鞏固我們長期可持續成長的基礎。

Our third quarter ending inventory levels were down 16%, exceeding our expectations, enabling us to end the quarter in a healthy unit and cost position, which is important as we enter the holiday selling period. We expect inventory levels to continue to be down our double-digit percentages versus fiscal 2022 as we end the year.

我們第三季的期末庫存水準下降了16%，超出了我們的預期，這使得我們能夠以健康的單位和成本狀況結束本季度，這對於我們進入假日銷售期至關重要。我們預計，到年底，庫存水準將繼續較2022財年保持兩位數的百分比下降。

Moving on to cash flow and liquidity. We used $10 million of cash from operations in Q3 versus cash provided of $36 million last year. Capital expenditures in Q3 were approximately $6 million. During the third quarter, we closed 5 locations, ending the quarter with 591 stores. We now plan to close an additional 64 stores at the end of Q4, bringing our total closures for 2023 to 86 stores. As we come to the end of our decade-long optimization initiative, we plan to enter 2024 with a rightsized fleet of approximately 530 stores.

再來說說現金流和流動性。第三季度，我們使用了1,000萬美元的營運現金，而去年同期的現金流入為3,600萬美元。第三季的資本支出約為600萬美元。第三季度，我們關閉了5家門市，本季末門市總數為591家。我們計劃在第四季末再關閉64家門市，使2023年全年的門市總數達到86家。隨著我們為期十年的優化計畫即將結束，我們計劃在2024年擁有約530家門市的規模。

We are pleased to return to profitability in the third quarter and for the back half of the year. So let me take you through some of our outlook. For the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023, the Company now expects net sales to be in the range of $460 million to $465 million, representing a low single-digit increase as compared to the prior year fourth quarter.

我們很高興在第三季和下半年恢復盈利。請容許我向您介紹我們的一些展望。公司目前預計2023財年第四季的淨銷售額將在4.6億美元至4.65億美元之間，與去年同期相比將實現低個位數成長。

Adjusted operating profit for the fourth quarter is expected to be approximately 2% to 3% of net sales. Interest expense for the fourth quarter is expected to be approximately $6.5 million, again, reflecting higher average borrowings and the impact of interest rate increases.

第四季調整後營業利潤預計約為淨銷售額的2%至3%。第四季利息支出預計約為650萬美元，這也反映了平均借款額增加以及利率上調的影響。

Our effective tax rate for the fourth quarter is expected to be approximately 27% calculated by applying the discrete method. Adjusted net earnings per diluted share for the fourth quarter are expected to be in the range of $0.25 per share to $0.45 per share.

根據離散法計算，我們預期第四季有效稅率約為27%。預計第四季調整後每股攤薄淨收益在0.25美元至0.45美元之間。

To provide some color on Q4, we expect fourth quarter SG&A dollars to be down approximately $18 million to $20 million to the prior year, reflecting the benefit of reduced store expenses, lower home office payroll and reduced incentive and equity compensation despite the fact that we're including an additional week of expense due to the 53rd week.

為了給第四季度提供一些信息，我們預計第四季度銷售、一般及行政開支將比上年下降約 1800 萬至 2000 萬美元，這反映了門店開支減少、總部工資減少以及激勵和股權薪酬減少的好處，儘管由於第 53 週我們計入了額外一周的開支。

During the fourth quarter, we expect to expand gross profit margins by approximately 1,000 basis points versus the prior year despite the fact that margins are expected to continue to be negatively impacted by the increased freight and distribution pressures that we experienced in the third quarter, including higher wage rates, increased over time, increased utilization of third parties and an increase in packages shipped stemming from higher e-commerce sales and lower transaction size as the consumer remains under pressure.

在第四季度，我們預計毛利率將比上年增加約 1,000 個基點，儘管利潤率預計將繼續受到我們在第三季度經歷的貨運和配送壓力增加的負面影響，包括工資率上漲、時間推移而增加、第三方利用率增加以及由於電子商務銷售額增加和交易規模縮小導致的包裹運輸增加，因為消費者仍然面臨壓力。

For the full fiscal year 2023, the company now expects net sales to be in the range of $1.605 billion to $1.610 billion. Adjusted operating profit ranging from 0.6% to 0.8% of net sales, with adjusted net loss per diluted share expected to be in the range of negative $0.59 to negative $0.39 per share. These projections include the impact of the 53rd week in 2023 based upon our retail calendar. This week occurs during a low-volume nonpeak clearance period and as a result, is expected to have a very modest impact on revenues and a negative impact on operating results.

公司目前預計2023財年全年淨銷售額將介於16.05億美元至16.10億美元之間。調整後營業利潤佔淨銷售額的0.6%至0.8%之間，調整後每股攤薄淨虧損預計在-0.59美元至-0.39美元之間。這些預測已包含2023年第53週（基於我們的零售日曆）的影響。該周正值清倉季，非高峰期，銷售量較低，因此預期對收入的影響非常有限，但對經營業績將產生負面影響。

We have also significantly reduced our planned capital expenditures for the full year, which are now expected to be in the range of $25 million to $30 million, primarily to support our digital initiatives and enhancements of our fulfillment capabilities. Thank you. And now we'd like to turn the call over for your questions.

我們也大幅削減了全年計畫資本支出，目前預計在2,500萬美元至3,000萬美元之間，主要用於支持我們的數位化計畫和提升我們的訂單履行能力。謝謝。現在，我們想把電話交給大家，回答大家的提問。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Jeff Lick with B. Riley.

（操作員指示）我們的第一個問題來自 B. Riley 的 Jeff Lick。

Congrats on the better-than-expected top line. I was wondering if you could kind of help us unpack the increased expenses. Just kind of in terms of the $100 million to $125 million, I think really we're at $104 million where cotton is and the incremental expenses that are kind of flowing back in. If you could tell us where we're at there and then reconcile the increased expense, how those 2 are kind of interrelating? And then just what would you see is, "Hey, this is a permanent change in the business model versus this just caught us flat footed, and we can adjust."

恭喜營收超出預期。我想知道您能否幫我們分析增加的費用。就1億到1.25億美元而言，我認為我們實際的棉花成本為1.04億美元，而增量費用正在逐漸回流。您能否告訴我們目前的情況，並計算一下增加的費用，看看這兩項支出之間有什麼關聯？然後您會看到，“嘿，這是商業模式的永久性變化，還是只是讓我們措手不及，我們可以調整。”

Yes. Jeff, it's Sheamus. Thanks for the question. I think, first, I would just start out in saying that while we're clearly disappointed with the overall margin rate for the quarter, as you're hinting there were some clear operational challenges that are addressable for us, but there were also some big wins and bright spots in terms of margin, and you also highlighted one of them relating to the supply chain cost. But I think, first and foremost, we were pretty pleased to maintain very strong merchandise margins, holding our AURs pretty close to our original plan despite an extremely challenging macro environment.

是的。傑夫，我是希莫斯。謝謝你的提問。首先，我想說的是，雖然我們對本季的整體利潤率明顯感到失望，但正如你所暗示的，我們確實面臨著一些明顯的營運挑戰，這些挑戰是可以解決的。但在利潤率方面，我們也取得了一些重大進展和亮點，你也強調了其中之一與供應鏈成本有關。但我認為，最重要的是，儘管宏觀環境極具挑戰性，我們仍然非常高興地保持了非常強勁的商品利潤率，並將我們的平均銷售收入（AUR）保持在與原計劃相當接近的水平。

And then to the first part of your question, that coupled with the planned and anticipated reductions in supply chain costs, cotton costs, as well as inbound freight costs did result in very strong merchandise margins for us that were up versus the prior year.

然後回答你問題的第一部分，再加上計劃和預期的供應鏈成本、棉花成本以及入境運費的降低，確實為我們的商品利潤帶來了非常強勁的上漲，與上年相比有所上升。

To the second part of your question, we did, however, experience some significant pressure on fulfillment and distribution costs, which for us roll into our overall gross margin rate on an external basis. These elevated costs as Jane summarized and I talked about a little bit, were really caused by 4 primary factors that were all magnified based upon the stronger-than-anticipated e-commerce growth during the quarter.

關於您問題的第二部分，我們確實在履行和分銷成本方面承受了相當大的壓力，這些成本從外部因素上計入了我們的整體毛利率。正如Jane總結的，我也稍微談到的，這些成本上升實際上是由四個主要因素造成的，而這些因素都因本季度電商增長強於預期而被放大。

So first, further putting pressure on the increased volumes was a change in order profile from our customer. Given the challenging macro environment, while we were extremely pleased to see top line growth at great margins, so we didn't discount stuff to drive that top line growth. Customers did purchase a little bit less on a transaction-by-transaction basis, resulting in an overall increase in shipments and packages, which when coupled with the higher volume was certainly far more significant than we had anticipated.

首先，客戶訂單結構的變化進一步加劇了銷售成長的壓力。鑑於充滿挑戰的宏觀環境，我們非常高興看到營收大幅成長，利潤率也大幅提升，因此我們並沒有透過折扣來推動營收成長。顧客單筆交易的購買量確實略有減少，導致出貨量和包裹量整體增加，再加上銷售量的增加，成長遠超我們的預期。

That created some labor challenges for us, in addition to the fact that we're operating, where our DC is in a very competitive labor market, and we were really forced into increasing wages to attract talent, retain talent. We incurred significant overtime throughout Q3 and are expected to in Q4 to process these elevated orders. And we've put in incentives to ensure that we retain our talent through holiday.

這給我們帶來了一些勞動力方面的挑戰，此外，我們的配送中心處於競爭激烈的勞動力市場，我們被迫提高工資以吸引人才並留住人才。為了處理這些增加的訂單，我們在第三季加班時間很長，預計第四季也會如此。我們還提供了激勵措施，以確保在假期期間留住人才。

I think as we talked earlier, we also, as a result of that higher volume shifted more orders to our third-party provider, which comes at a higher cost, but we were able to process that volume.

我想正如我們之前談到的，由於交易量增加，我們將更多訂單轉移給了第三方供應商，這需要更高的成本，但我們能夠處理這些訂單。

And then finally, some of the contractual savings that we're still working on and believe that we will be able to squeeze out, but it's just a longer process than we originally had expected. And we're just not willing to sign up quickly to get short-term savings, where we're really looking to the future and securing the best long-term pricing.

最後，我們仍在努力實現一些合約節省，相信能夠實現，但這個過程比我們最初預期的要長。我們不願意為了短期節省而倉促簽約，我們真正著眼於未來，力求獲得最佳的長期定價。

I think when we look at those like 4 reasons that I described, many of them are addressable by us. Certainly, the wage rate increases and the competitive environment that we operate in are probably the one permanent increase. But I think our challenge and my challenge is by the time we get to our next peak in Back-to-School, we come up with a revamped structure in terms of securing talent, shift allocation in our distribution center, so that a lot of that incentive, a lot of that over time becomes a temporary thing that's affecting us in the back half of the year.

我認為，當我們審視我之前提到的四個原因時，其中很多都是我們可以解決的。當然，薪資上漲和我們營運的競爭環境可能是唯一永久性的成長。但我認為，我們面臨的挑戰，以及我自己面臨的挑戰，是當我們迎來下一個返校季高峰時，我們需要在人才保障、配送中心的輪班分配等方面製定一個改進的架構，這樣，很多激勵措施，很多隨著時間的推移，都會變成暫時的，在下半年對我們產生影響。

And then I think over time, our customer will return to normal historical purchases as the macro environment improves. So we won't face the same pressures in terms of order economics and an outsized increase in orders and then the contractual savings we still believe in.

我認為，隨著時間的推移，隨著宏觀環境的改善，我們的客戶採購量將恢復正常。因此，我們不會再面臨訂單經濟和訂單量大幅增長方面的壓力，而且我們仍然相信合約成本可以節省。

So I think as we look at the individual pieces, while they're certainly affecting us in Q3 and will affect us in the short term as we move through peak and holiday, I think they are very addressable for us, and we're going to attack those, and I'm going to aggressively attack those as we move into next year and have them solve before our next peak.

因此，我認為，當我們看各個部分時，雖然它們肯定會在第三季度影響我們，並且會在我們度過高峰和假期時在短期內影響我們，但我認為它們對我們來說非常容易解決，我們將攻擊它們，我將在進入明年時積極攻擊它們，並在下一個高峰之前解決它們。

Our next question comes from Jim Chartier with Monness, Crespi, and Hardt.

我們的下一個問題來自 Monness、Crespi 和 Hardt 的 Jim Chartier。

I just wanted to follow up. I mean is there any way to quantify what the total impact of these factors are going to be on the back half of this year gross profit? And then what percentage of that do you think is kind of permanent. And then in terms of the timing of fixes, how confident are you that, that they'll be in place by kind of the next peak season for Back-to-School?

我只是想跟進一下。我的意思是，有什麼方法可以量化這些因素對今年下半年毛利的整體影響嗎？您認為其中有多少比例是永久性的？至於修復的時間，您有多大信心，它們會在下一個返校季高峰期到位？

Yes, Jim, I'll take that. I think it's probably easiest to look at it in Q3, what changes in Q4 and then how it continues to evolve as we move on. So I think first in Q3, I think our biggest impact during the quarter was clearly the issues that I just described. As I bucket those, I would say that the change in order economics and the delayed contract savings, each were about 1/3 of the impact, give or take, of what we experienced in terms of margin pressure.

是的，吉姆，我接受。我認為最容易的方法是先看看第三季的情況，看看第四季會發生什麼變化，以及之後會如何發展。所以我認為首先在第三季度，我認為本季對我們影響最大的顯然是我剛才提到的那些問題。如果把這些問題放在一起，我會說訂單經濟效益的變化和合約延期帶來的節省，分別大約占我們利潤率壓力影響的三分之一左右。

The labor and the third-party utilization, I almost combine because they're both increasing our average transactional cost to process an order. And those 2 combined represents about the other third, and they're both pretty equal in terms of their impact.

我幾乎把人工和第三方利用率合併起來了，因為它們都會增加我們處理訂單的平均交易成本。這兩項加起來大約佔了剩下的三分之一，而且它們的影響相當。

As we move into Q4, some of those start to reduce in terms of pressure. I think the contractual savings, we will start to see some of that. So I think we're anticipating some of that pressure to alleviate in Q4. I would say the order economics is probably something that we envision in the near term, given the macro environment being pretty similar in Q4. And then the wage rates, we've definitely factored that into our guidance and expectations, but that will start to get alleviated in terms of the incentives and some of those things.

隨著進入第四季度，其中一些壓力開始減輕。我認為合約成本節省方面，我們將開始看到一些緩解。因此，我認為我們預計第四季度這些壓力會有所緩解。考慮到第四季的宏觀環境與第四季大致相同，我認為訂單經濟可能是我們短期內可以預見的。此外，在工資率方面，我們肯定已經將其納入了我們的預期和考量，但從激勵措施和其他一些方面來看，這種壓力將開始得到緩解。

As we move beyond Q4, I would think the vast majority of these as we get to peak next year in Back-to-School, other than perhaps just the generic wage rate increases that we implemented in the competitive environment that we're operating our DC in. Other than those, I would think that the overtime issues, the higher shift to our third-party provider, the order economics and the contractual savings will all be solved by the time we get to peak in summer next year.

隨著第四季的過去，我認為，除了我們在營運配送中心的競爭環境中實施的一般工資上漲之外，其中絕大多數問題都將在明年返校季達到頂峰時得到解決。除此之外，我認為加班問題、向第三方供應商的更高轉變、訂單經濟學和合約節省都將在明年夏季達到頂峰時得到解決。

Our next question will come from Jay Sole with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀的傑伊·索爾。

Great. Maybe, Sheamus, can you just give us -- elaborate a little bit more on the free cash flow outlook for the year and sort of debt paydown plans? And there was an [8-K] earlier in the quarter where you talked about a covenant issue, like a calculation. Can you just tell us about how that debt covenant calculation is done and where it stands today based on your current guidance?

太好了。 Sheamus，您能否更詳細地介紹今年的自由現金流前景以及債務償還計劃？本季度早些時候的8-K報告中，您談到了債務契約的問題，例如計算方法。您能否介紹一下債務契約的計算方法，以及根據您目前的指導方針，目前的計算情況如何？

Yes, Jay, I'd be happy to walk you through it. So I think just taking a step back first to the last part of your question. Obviously, earlier this year, in June, we expanded our credit facility. As part of that expansion of the credit facility, there was an entirely new borrowing base calculation that was set up. Our covenants maintained pretty -- or identical to what they were previously, but there was a new borrowing base calculation that was changed in that expansion of the credit facility.

是的，傑伊，我很樂意為您詳細講解。我想先回到您問題的最後一部分。顯然，今年早些時候，也就是6月份，我們擴大了信貸額度。作為信用額度擴大的一部分，我們制定了一個全新的借款基數計算方法。我們的契約與先前基本保持一致，但新的借款基數計算方法在信貸額度擴大後有所改變。

Unfortunately, as part of that expansion, there were some communication issues between us and our agent, the lead bank, in terms of exactly what that new format should look like and what we should be putting in, in terms of the information. And there was a totally inadvertent glitch in terms of the information that we put in, which for a short period of time, caused us to trip a covenant in June for, as I said, a short period of time, but in July, August, September, we were not in any issue with that covenant.

不幸的是，在擴張過程中，我們與代理行（牽頭行）之間出現了一些溝通問題，例如新格式的具體形式以及我們應該輸入哪些資訊。我們輸入的資訊出現了一個完全無意的故障，導致我們在6月份的短時間內（正如我之前所說）違反了一項契約。但在7月、8月和9月，我們並沒有遇到任何與該契約相關的問題。

Once it was determined and we identified that, we quickly worked with the banking partners to one, correct that inadvertent issue, waive any violation that would have created, so to get that totally behind us and agreed as part of that to give the bank, obviously, some extra reporting. So I think that's a nonissue for us and totally behind us at this point. And it does not change in any way the covenant calculations going forward. So they're exactly the same as they've always been under the deal.

一旦確定了這一點，我們就會迅速與銀行合作夥伴合作，糾正這個無意中的問題，放棄任何可能造成的違規行為，徹底解決這個問題，並同意給予銀行一些額外的報告。所以我認為這對我們來說不是什麼問題，目前已經完全解決了。這不會以任何方式改變未來的契約計算。所以，它們與協議中一直存在的一致。

I think in terms of the first part of your question, we continue to march towards the strategy that we laid out earlier this year. We've been extremely successful in reducing inventory as part of this quarter. We exceeded our inventory reductions plan given the tight controls that we put on purchases and also the strong top line growth that exceeded our expectations. So we came in with inventory down about 16%, which was stronger than we had guided to.

我認為，就您問題的第一部分而言，我們將繼續朝著今年早些時候制定的策略邁進。本季度，我們在降低庫存方面取得了巨大成功。由於我們嚴格控制採購，並且營收成長強勁，超出了我們的預期，我們超額完成了庫存削減計劃。因此，我們的庫存下降了約16%，比我們預期的要好。

I think obviously, the expense challenges in terms of distribution and fulfillment did provide some pressure in terms of cash during the quarter, in terms of hitting our targets that we had originally laid out. But as we progress through the back half of the year, and Q4, completing Q4, we're continuing to expect significant inventory reductions, ending the year with inventories down double digits versus the prior year.

我認為，分銷和履行方面的費用挑戰顯然在本季度給我們的現金流帶來了一些壓力，影響了我們實現最初設定的目標。但隨著下半年以及第四季的推進，我們預期庫存將持續大幅減少，年底庫存量將比去年同期下降兩位數。

And as part of that, we will see a significant reduction in debt levels from where we are today. So as that inventory declines, we would expect debt levels from where we are today to decline in the neighborhood of $100 million or more. So it's still -- given the results for Q3 and Q4, it's a little bit lower than we had originally expected, but we continue to march towards our strategy of reducing debt, which we believe positions us better for future success as we move into 2024.

作為其中的一部分，我們將看到債務水準較目前大幅下降。因此，隨著庫存下降，我們預計債務水準將從目前水準下降約1億美元或更多。因此，考慮到第三季和第四季的業績，債務水準仍然略低於我們最初的預期，但我們將繼續朝著削減債務的策略邁進，我們相信這將使我們在邁向2024年時獲得更好的未來成功。

Our next question will come from Marni Shapiro with Retail Tracker.

我們的下一個問題來自 Retail Tracker 的 Marni Shapiro。

I'm curious -- by the way holiday line looks beautiful, but I'm curious if we could dig in a little bit to her buying patterns and habits right now. It sounds a little bit like she's buying what she really, really want to have or needs like uniform or holiday pajamas, but everything else, she's maybe buying one item at a time when she needs it.

我很好奇——順便說一句，節日系列看起來很漂亮，但我很好奇我們能否深入了解她目前的購買模式和習慣。聽起來她有點像在買她真正想要或需要的東西，例如製服或節日睡衣，但其他東西，她可能都是在需要的時候才買一件。

How different is this from behavior you've seen in the past? And I'm curious if her behavior is different in the stores versus online? And if you're seeing any difference between how she's buying on Amazon or your outlets versus your stores? If you could just give us a little color into how the shopper is behaving with your brand?

這和你過去觀察到的行為有什麼不同？我很好奇她在實體店和線上購物的行為有什麼不同嗎？你觀察到她在亞馬遜或你們的奧特萊斯購物和實體店購物有什麼不同嗎？能否稍微介紹一下購物者對你們品牌的行為？

Sure. Yes. She's buying slightly less as we've covered this morning with the increase in transactions, but we have an extremely high ADS online. So we have several units in every order. So it's not a question of her buying one unit.

當然。是的。正如我們今天上午提到的，由於交易量增加，她的購買量略有減少，但我們的線上ADS非常高。所以每筆訂單都有好幾件。所以她買的不是一件的問題。

I think to answer your question about what she's buying, we had a really strong Back-to-School driven by the usual suspects, uniform denim, backpacks and those things. But that continued into September and October. September was by far, strongest month. We sold a lot of seasonal categories. We had one of our best outerwear quarters ever really across the Board. There wasn't one thing that was selling.

我想回答你關於她買什麼的問題，我們的返校季銷售非常強勁，主要受常規商品的帶動，例如製服牛仔布、背包等等。這種勢頭一直持續到九月和十月。九月是迄今為止銷售最強勁的月份。我們賣出了很多季節性產品。我們的外套季度業績是有史以來最好的之一，而且全線產品都沒有賣得好。

Obviously, to be able to deliver positive comps in e-comm, we've got to be selling more than one category. So it's really broad-based across the board and clearly driven by the marketing tactics that Maegan has been able to put in clearly driven by Maegan and her team's ability to figure out how to scale profitable digital traffic and how to make digital acquisition our #1 acquisition channel, which is very unique in this -- obviously, in this environment.

顯然，為了在電商領域取得正面的業績，我們必須銷售多個品類的產品。因此，我們的策略非常廣泛，並且顯然是由梅根所實施的營銷策略驅動的，這顯然是由梅根和她的團隊所掌握的，他們能夠找到如何擴大盈利性數字流量，以及如何將數字流量獲取作為我們第一獲取渠道的方法，這在當今——顯然，在當前的環境下——是非常獨特的。

So I think when you look into Q4, as we said on the call, we're comping up positive low single digits quarter-to-date, driven again by the strength of the e-comm business. And so she's really responding, obviously, to the trend rate assortments, but also, again, Maegan and her team's ability to drive strong e-commerce traffic, coupled with the fact that we discussed on several conference calls that we had an opportunity in e-comm on the conversion line, based on not owning what we marketed to the depth we had wanted to last year. We really doubled down on the styles we were marketing this year, and that is obviously working quarter-to-date and worked in the third quarter as well.

所以我認為，當你回顧第四季時，正如我們在電話會議上所說，我們本季迄今的銷售額實現了低個位數的正成長，這再次得益於電商業務的強勁成長。顯然，她確實對產品組合的趨勢變化做出了積極回應，但同樣也要歸功於梅根和她的團隊推動強勁電商流量的能力，以及我們在幾次電話會議上討論過的事實：由於我們去年的營銷深度尚未達到預期，我們在電商轉化方面存在機會。今年，我們確實加倍投入了所行銷的款式，這在本季迄今和第三季顯然都取得了成效。

From an Amazon customer profile, like how they buy on Amazon versus GCP, I would say that there would be less units per transaction, but I'm going to turn that over to Maegan, who's the expert in that area.

從亞馬遜客戶資料來看，例如他們在亞馬遜上購買的方式與在 GCP 上購買的方式不同，我想說每筆交易的單位數會更少，但我將把這個主題交給該領域的專家 Maegan。

Yes, certainly, from an Amazon perspective, just the makeup of a transaction is very different. She's going there to trial brands. Things are very need-based. She needs it very quickly. So it's a much lower UPT, much lower ADS. That's why we think it's, again, a very complementary partnership for us.

是的，當然，從亞馬遜的角度來看，單是交易的組成就非常不同。她去亞馬遜是為了試用品牌。一切都基於需求。她需要非常快的交貨時間。所以，UPT（單價）和ADS（廣告總價）要低很多。這就是為什麼我們認為這對我們來說是一個非常互補的合作夥伴關係。

When she comes to our website, she's stocking up even in a tough environment, we continue to see very strong UPT and ADS from our owned and operated websites. So certainly, just a very different kind of profile in terms of how she's transacting on those 2 channels.

當她造訪我們的網站時，即使在艱難的環境下，她也會積極囤貨。我們自有和經營的網站仍然保持著強勁的UPT和ADS成長動能。所以，從她在這兩個管道的交易方式來看，情況確實截然不同。

Our next question comes from Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group.

下一個問題來自 Telsey Advisory Group 的 Dana Telsey。

As you think about 2024 having gotten through the volatile 2023, the framework of whether it's margins, whether it's top line, what do you see as the puts and takes? Because obviously, the digital business has very successful growth. How do you think of under the hood on the margin side, what the opportunities can look like?

經歷了動盪的2023年之後，展望2024年，您認為利潤率和營收的框架下，未來利弊如何？顯然，數位業務的成長非常成功。您如何看待利潤率背後的機會？

Dana, it's Sheamus. So I think great question. I think as we look at it, what's extremely pleasing is to see the success of a lot of the strategic initiatives that we're putting in place in terms of the marketing investments, really driving digital growth in an extremely competitive environment. So a lot of our peers are not seeing the same growth that we are. So I think as we move into 2024, we're excited that we have the difficult part, which is the top line growth moving in the right direction.

Dana，我是Sheamus。我覺得這個問題問得很好。我認為，從我們的角度來看，非常令人欣慰的是，我們在行銷投資方面實施的許多策略舉措都取得了成功，在競爭極其激烈的環境中真正推動了數位成長。很多同行並沒有像我們一樣成長。所以，隨著我們邁入2024年，我們很高興能夠迎來挑戰，那就是營收成長正朝著正確的方向發展。

We're excited with the fact that we have inventories well positioned and that should enable us to maintain the internal margin and merchandise margin that was strong in Q3 and those things, which are typically very difficult, especially in a challenging macro environment like we're in today, are things that bode well for us in terms of 2024.

我們很高興看到我們的庫存處於良好位置，這使我們能夠保持第三季度強勁的內部利潤率和商品利潤率，而這些事情通常非常困難，特別是在我們今天所處的充滿挑戰的宏觀環境中，但對於我們 2024 年來說，這對我們來說是個好兆頭。

I think as we look at some of the fulfillment challenges and distribution challenges, as I said earlier, we believe that those pressures will reduce. Certainly, in the first half of 2024 -- of 2023, we had enormous pressures from cotton, increased supply chain costs, which are now gone. And I think we've seen the reductions that we anticipated in those costs. We don't have those costs built up in our inventory.

正如我之前所說，當我們審視一些履行和分銷方面的挑戰時，我們相信這些壓力會減輕。當然，在2024年上半年——也就是2023年，我們面臨來自棉花和供應鏈成本增加的巨大壓力，而這些壓力現在已經消失了。我認為我們已經看到了這些成本的下降，正如我們預期的那樣。我們的庫存中沒有累積這些成本。

So we're moving into the first half of 2024 in a much better position than we started 2023, which, that coupled with the strong top line, the maintaining of our AURs, the strong internal margin, it should bode well for a significant improvement in the first half of the year. We haven't gotten into giving specific guidance, but certainly would expect dramatic improvement in the first half of the year.

因此，我們進入2024年上半年的狀況將遠好於2023年初。再加上強勁的營收、維持的營運活動成本（AUR）和強勁的內部利潤率，這些都預示著上半年業績將顯著改善。我們尚未給出具體的業績指引，但可以肯定的是，上半年業績將大幅改善。

And then as I said earlier, by the time we get to our next peak, which is Back-to-School, we believe that we'll have these addressable issues in terms of fulfillment solved and should see opportunity in terms of margin as we move up against those things in Q3 and Q4 of next year.

然後，正如我之前所說的，當我們到達下一個高峰，也就是返校季時，我們相信我們將解決這些在履行方面可解決的問題，並且隨著我們在明年第三季度和第四季度應對這些問題，我們應該會看到利潤方面的機會。

So as I look at across the quarters of the year, for different reasons, I think we have significant opportunity in each quarter. And it all starts with the success of the strategic initiatives to drive digital and drive top line growth. And as we said during the call, we're also going to benefit from a more stabilized, right-sized fleet for us of stores that are better performing in locations that not only perform well for us, but complement our e-commerce business. So we still believe in the strategic initiatives, and I believe that the best days are ahead for us.

因此，縱觀全年各個季度，出於不同的原因，我認為我們每個季度都面臨著巨大的機會。這一切都始於推動數位化和營收成長的策略舉措的成功。正如我們在電話會議中所說，我們還將受益於更穩定、規模合適的門市組合，這些門市位於業績較佳的地區，不僅對我們有利，而且可以補充我們的電商業務。因此，我們仍然相信這些策略舉措，我相信我們最好的日子就在眼前。

Thank you for joining us today. If you have further questions, please call Investor Relations at (201) 558-2400, extension 14500. You may now disconnect your lines.

感謝您今天的參與。如有任何疑問，請致電投資者關係部 (201) 558-2400，轉 14500。現在您可以掛斷電話了。