羅斯百貨 (ROST) 2024 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon and welcome to the Ross Stores second-quarter 2024 earnings release conference call. The call will begin with prepared comments by management followed by a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)

下午好，歡迎參加 Ross Stores 2024 年第二季財報發布電話會議。電話會議將首先由管理層準備好評論，然後進行問答環節。 （操作員說明）

Before we get started, on behalf of Ross Stores, I would like to note that the comments made on this call will contain forward-looking statements regarding expectations about future growth and financial results, including sales and earnings forecasts, new store openings, and other matters that are based on the company's current forecast of aspects of its future business.

在我們開始之前，我謹代表 Ross Stores 指出，本次電話會議中發表的評論將包含有關未來增長和財務業績預期的前瞻性陳述，包括銷售和盈利預測、新店開業以及其他基於公司當前對其未來業務各方面的預測的事項。

These forward-looking statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that cause actual results to differ materially from historical performance or current expectations. Risk factors are included in today's press release and in the company's fiscal 2023 Form 10-K and fiscal 2024 Form 10-Q and 8-K on file with the SEC.

這些前瞻性陳述受到風險和不確定性的影響，導致實際結果與歷史表現或目前預期有重大差異。風險因素包含在今天的新聞稿以及公司向 SEC 備案的 2023 財年 10-K 表格以及 2024 財年 10-Q 和 8-K 表格中。

And now I'd like to turn the call over to Barbara Rentler, Chief Executive Officer.

現在我想將電話轉給執行長芭芭拉·倫特勒 (Barbara Rentler)。

Good afternoon. Joining me in our call today are Michael Hartshorn, Group President and Chief Operating Officer; Adam Orvos, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer; and Connie Kao, Group Vice President, Investor Relations. We'll begin our call today with a review of our second-quarter 2024 results, followed by our outlook for the second half and full fiscal year. Afterwards, we'll be happy to respond to any questions you may have.

午安.今天參加我們電話會議的還有集團總裁兼營運長 Michael Hartshorn； Adam Orvos，執行副總裁兼財務長；以及投資者關係集團副總裁 Connie Kao。我們今天的電話會議將首先回顧 2024 年第二季的業績，然後展望下半年和整個財年。之後，我們將很樂意回答您的任何問題。

As noted in today's press release, second-quarter sales and earnings were above our expectations as our stronger value offerings resonated with our customers. Operating margin improved versus last year, increasing 115 basis points to 12.5%. Total sales for the period grew 7% to $5.3 billion up from $4.9 billion last year, with comparable store sales up 4%.

正如今天的新聞稿所述，第二季度的銷售額和收益超出了我們的預期，因為我們更強大的價值產品引起了客戶的共鳴。營業利益率較去年改善，增加 115 個基點至 12.5%。這段期間的總銷售額成長了 7%，從去年的 49 億美元增至 53 億美元，同店銷售額成長了 4%。

Earnings per share for the 13 weeks ended August 3, 2024, were $1.59, a net income of $527 million. These results are up from $1.32 per share on net earnings of $446 million in last year's second quarter. For the first six months, earnings per share were $3.05 on net income of $1 billion. These results compare to earnings per share of $2.41 on net earnings of $818 million for the first half of 2023.

截至 2024 年 8 月 3 日的 13 週每股收益為 1.59 美元，淨利潤為 5.27 億美元。這些業績高於去年第二季每股 1.32 美元，淨利為 4.46 億美元。前六個月，每股收益為 3.05 美元，淨利潤為 10 億美元。相比之下，2023 年上半年每股收益為 2.41 美元，淨利潤為 8.18 億美元。

Sales for the 2024 year-to-date period grew to $10.1 billion, up from $9.4 billion in the prior year. Comparable sales for the first half of 2024 were up 3%. Cosmetics and children's were the strongest merchandise areas during the quarter, while geographic performance was broad based. Like Ross, dd’s DISCOUNTS performance also improved as shoppers responded favorably to the stronger values and fashions offered in stores. In addition, dd's faced easier compares versus last year, benefiting their recent performance.

2024 年迄今的銷售額從前一年的 94 億美元增加到 101 億美元。 2024 年上半年的可比銷售額成長了 3%。化妝品和兒童用品是本季表現最強勁的商品領域，而且地理表現也很廣泛。與羅斯一樣，dd 的折扣業績也有所改善，因為購物者對商店提供的更強大的價值和時尚做出了積極的反應。此外，與去年相比，dd 面臨的情況更加輕鬆，這對他們最近的表現有利。

While we are encouraged by the improved trend, we continue to adjust assortments in the newer markets to address this more diverse customer base. At quarter end, total consolidated inventories were up 8% versus last year, while average store inventories were up 3% due to the 53rd week calendar shift. Packaway merchandise was 39% of total inventories at quarter end. Up slightly from 38% last year.

儘管我們對這一趨勢的改善感到鼓舞，但我們仍繼續調整新市場的品種，以滿足更多樣化的客戶群的需求。截至季末，綜合庫存總額較去年增長 8%，而由於第 53 週日曆輪班，平均商店庫存增長 3%。截至季末，包裝商品佔總庫存的 39%。較去年的 38% 略有上升。

Turning to store growth, we opened 21 new Ross and three dd’s DISCOUNTS locations in the second quarter. We remain on track to open a total of approximately 90 new locations this year, comprised of about 75 Ross and 15 dd's. As usual, these numbers do not reflect our plans to close or relocate about 10 to 15 older stores.

談到商店成長，我們在第二季新開了 21 家 Ross 店和 3 家 dd’s DISCOUNTS 店。今年我們仍有望開設約 90 家新店，其中約 75 家 Ross 店和 15 家 dd 店。像往常一樣，這些數字並不反映我們關閉或搬遷約 10 至 15 家老店的計劃。

Now, Adam will provide further details on our second-quarter results and additional color on our updated outlook for the remainder of fiscal 2024.

現在，Adam 將提供有關我們第二季度業績的更多詳細信息，以及我們對 2024 財年剩餘時間的最新展望的更多信息。

Thank you, Barbara. As previously mentioned, our comparable store sales were up 4% for the quarter, driven by a combination of higher traffic and basket size. Second-quarter operating margin of 12.5% was up 115 basis points over 11.3% last year. Our improved profitability benefited from higher sales and lower distribution and incentive costs that were partially offset as planned by lower merchandise margins.

謝謝你，芭芭拉。如前所述，在客流量增加和購物籃規模增加的共同推動下，本季我們的可比商店銷售額成長了 4%。第二季營業利益率為 12.5%，比去年同期的 11.3% 上升 115 個基點。我們獲利能力的提高得益於銷售額的增加以及分銷和激勵成本的降低，但這些成本按計劃被商品利潤率的降低部分抵消了。

Cost of goods sold during the period improved by 60 basis points. Distribution and buying costs levered by 70 and 55 basis points, respectively, while domestic freight costs declined by 15 basis points. As expected, merchandise margin decreased by 80 basis points. SG&A for the period improved by 55 basis points, mainly due to higher sales and lower incentive costs.

期內銷售成本改善了 60 個基點。分銷和購買成本槓桿分別提高了 70 和 55 個基點，而國內貨運成本則下降了 15 個基點。如預期，商品利潤率下降了 80 個基點。該期間的 SG&A 提高了 55 個基點，主要是由於銷售額增加和激勵成本降低。

During the second quarter, we repurchased 1.8 million shares of common stock for an aggregate cost of $262 million. As a result, we remain on track to buy back a total of $1.05 billion in stock for the year. Now let's discuss our outlook for the remainder of 2024. As Barbara noted in today's press release, our low to moderate income customers continue to face high costs for necessities, pressuring their discretionary spending.

第二季度，我們回購了 180 萬股普通股，總成本為 2.62 億美元。因此，我們仍有望在今年回購總計 10.5 億美元的股票。現在讓我們討論一下我們對2024 年剩餘時間的展望。來了壓力。

Looking ahead, our prior-year sales comparisons also become more challenging during the second half of the year amidst an external environment that is highly uncertain. As a result, we continue to maintain a cautious approach in forecasting our sales. For both the third and fourth quarters, we are planning comparable sales growth of 2% to 3% on top of 5% and 7% gains, respectively, in 2023.

展望未來，在外部環境高度不確定的情況下，下半年我們的銷售額與去年同期的比較也變得更具挑戰性。因此，我們在預測銷售時繼續保持謹慎態度。對於第三季和第四季度，我們計劃在 2023 年分別實現 5% 和 7% 成長的基礎上實現 2% 至 3% 的可比銷售額成長。

If sales perform in line with this guidance, third-quarter earnings per share are expected to be in the range of $1.35 to $1.41 versus $1.33 last year, and $1.60 to $1.67 for the fourth quarter compared to $1.82 in 2023. This updated earnings guidance now reflects additional efficiencies we expect to achieve in the second half of 2024.

如果銷售表現符合此指引，則第三季每股收益預計將在1.35 至1.41 美元之間，去年為1.33 美元；第四季每股收益預計為1.60 至1.67 美元，而2023 年為1.82 美元。此更新的收益指引現已更新反映了我們預計在 2024 年下半年實現的額外效率。

If the second half performs in line with these projections, earnings per share for the full year are now forecast to be in the range of $6 to $6.13, up from $5.56 in fiscal 2023. As a reminder, both the 2023 fourth-quarter and full-year results included an approximate $0.20 per share benefit from the 53rd week.

如果下半年的表現符合這些預測，那麼全年每股收益預計將在6 至6.13 美元之間，高於2023 財年的5.56 美元。在6 美元至6.13 美元之間。

Now let's turn to our guidance assumptions for the third quarter of 2024. Total sales are forecast to increase 3% to 5% versus the prior year. We expect to open 47 stores during the quarter, including 43 Ross, and four dd's locations. Operating margin for the 2024 third quarter is planned to be in the 10.9% to 11.2% range compared to 11.2% in 2023.

現在讓我們轉向 2024 年第三季的指導假設。我們預計本季將開設 47 家商店，其中包括 43 家 Ross 店和 4 家 dd's 店。 2024 年第三季的營業利潤率計劃在 10.9% 至 11.2% 範圍內，而 2023 年為 11.2%。

This outlook reflects lower incentive, freight, and distribution costs that are offset by lower merchandise margins as we build on our efforts to offer more sharply priced branded bargains. Net interest income is estimated to be approximately $39 million. The tax rate is projected to be 24% to 25%, and diluted shares outstanding are expected to be approximately $331 million.

這一前景反映了激勵、運費和分銷成本的降低，但隨著我們努力提供價格更優惠的品牌特價商品，這些成本被商品利潤率的降低所抵消。淨利息收入預計約 3,900 萬美元。稅率預計為 24% 至 25%，攤薄後的流通股預計約為 3.31 億美元。

Now I will turn the call over to Barbara for closing comments.

現在我將把電話轉給芭芭拉以徵求結束意見。

Thank you, Adam. While second-quarter sales and earnings were above our expectations, we remain keenly aware of the uncertain external environment. In addition, we recognize that delivering the great values that our off-price customers have come to expect from us is more important than ever, especially given the continued pressures they face from the high cost on necessities. Thus, we will stay laser-focused on maximizing our prospects for market share gains by providing shoppers with the most quality branded bargains in the marketplace.

謝謝你，亞當。儘管第二季的銷售額和利潤超出了我們的預期，但我們仍然敏銳地意識到外部環境的不確定性。此外，我們認識到，提供折扣客戶對我們的期望的巨大價值比以往任何時候都更加重要，特別是考慮到他們面臨必需品高成本的持續壓力。因此，我們將繼續專注於透過為購物者提供市場上最優質的品牌商品來最大化我們的市場份額成長前景。

At this point, we'd like to open up the call and respond to any questions you may have.

此時，我們想打開電話並回答您可能提出的任何問題。

(Operator Instructions) Matthew Boss, JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）Matthew Boss，摩根大通。

Great, thanks. And congrats on a really nice quarter. So Barbara, could you elaborate on the progression of business trends that you saw during the quarter and just progress with your initiatives to amplify value as well as brands into the back half of the year? And then for Adam, on gross margin, could you just maybe speak to the [mark-on opportunity] based on current availability of goods, or help us to think about gross margin drivers in the back half?

太好了，謝謝。恭喜您度過了一個非常美好的季度。那麼芭芭拉，您能否詳細說明您在本季度看到的業務趨勢的進展，以及下半年擴大價值和品牌的舉措的進展情況？然後，對於 Adam，關於毛利率，您能否談談基於當前商品供應情況的[加價機會]，或者幫助我們考慮後半段的毛利率驅動因素？

Matt, I'll start with comp performance during the quarter. Cadence wise, for us, comps were strongest mid-quarter, both on a single-year and a multi-year stack basis.

馬特，我將從本季的業績表現開始。就節奏而言，對我們來說，無論是在單年還是多年堆疊的基礎上，比較在季度中期都是最強的。

And then in terms of progress on the value strategy, the stronger value offering is definitely resonating with our customers. So in the fall season, we're going to continue to build on improving that value offering that we have out there now. And again, as I said it in my opening, the customer is really dealing with high costs and necessities. And I think the way for us to gain market share is really to continue down this value path.

然後就價值策略的進展而言，更強大的價值提供肯定會引起我們客戶的共鳴。因此，在秋季，我們將繼續改進我們現有的價值產品。再說一遍，正如我在開場白中所說，客戶實際上正在應對高成本和必需品。我認為我們獲得市場份額的方法實際上是繼續沿著這條價值之路前進。

And Matt, this is Adam. On your question about the balance of the year and mark on specifically. So let me just walk you through some of the parts. So we talked about DC cost leverage by 70 basis points in the quarter. We continue to see higher productivity in our distribution centers. We've invested in automation there. The hiring and retention environment is strong. We opened a newer DC in Houston that's providing a lift.

馬特，這是亞當。關於你關於今年餘額的問題，請特別註明。那麼讓我來帶您了解其中的一些部分。因此，我們討論了本季 DC 成本槓桿 70 個基點。我們繼續看到我們的配送中心的生產力不斷提高。我們在那裡投資了自動化。招聘和保留環境良好。我們在休士頓開設了一個新的配送中心，提供電梯。

Buying costs were also favorable but lower incentives were the primary factor there, and then domestic freight as we expected, was a slight benefit to us and ocean freight was neutral regarding mark on specifically. So the pressure to all of that is our merchandise margin, right? We voiced about our brand strategy that continues to ramp up as we move through the year and merchandise margin dropped by 80 basis points, and we expect that pressure to step up as we move into the second half second half of the year

購買成本也很有利，但較低的激勵措施是主要因素，然後，正如我們預期的那樣，國內運費對我們來說略有好處，而就具體而言，海運是中性的。那麼這一切的壓力就是我們的商品利潤，對嗎？我們談到了我們的品牌策略，隨著今年的進展，我們的品牌策略將繼續加強，商品利潤率下降了 80 個基點，我們預計，隨著進入下半年，這種壓力將會加大

That's great color. Congrats again.

那顏色真棒。再次恭喜。

Chuck Grom, Gordon Haskett.

查克·格羅姆，戈登·哈斯克特。

Thanks very much. Great quarter. I was wondering if you could maybe touch on the cadence, talk about anything on the back-to-school results thus far. And also within categories, if you could speak to the home and also where you are on the apparel trends in the quarter. Thank you.

非常感謝。很棒的季度。我想知道你是否可以談談節奏，談談迄今為止有關返校結果的任何事情。在類別中，您是否可以談談家庭以及您對本季服裝趨勢的了解。謝謝。

Sure. It's Michael Hartshorn. Cadence wise, we wouldn't talk about inter-quarter trends going into Q3, but as I said, comps were strongest mid-quarter for us. In terms of merchandise categories, cosmetics and children's were the strongest areas, while home performed in line with the chain. Shoes were slightly below as it lapped top compares from last year. And then overall, apparel was relatively in line with the chain average.

當然。我是麥可·哈特肖恩。就節奏而言，我們不會談論進入第三季的季度間趨勢，但正如我所說，對我們來說，季度中期的比較是最強勁的。從商品類別來看，美妝、童裝表現最強勁，居家表現與連鎖一致。與去年相比，鞋子的價格略低，因為它超出了頂部。整體而言，服裝與環比平均相對一致。

Mark Altschwager, Baird.

馬克·阿爾茨瓦格，貝爾德。

Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my question. So just thinking about the updated guide here, you beat the high end of your EPS guide by $0.10 in the quarter. I think you're raising the high end for the full year at $0.15, second-half comps still in that 2% to 3% range. So maybe just talk us through any key changes to the operating outlook for the back half of the year, key margin drivers in the back half versus what you were expecting 90 days ago. I think you mentioned some additional efficiencies, maybe expand on that and just anything else you'd call out. Thank you.

午安.感謝您回答我的問題。因此，只要考慮這裡更新的指南，您就比本季 EPS 指南的高端高出 0.10 美元。我認為您將全年的高端價格提高了 0.15 美元，下半年的價格仍然在 2% 到 3% 的範圍內。因此，也許請告訴我們下半年營運前景的任何重大變化，下半年的主要利潤驅動因素與您 90 天前的預期相比。我認為您提到了一些額外的效率，也許可以對此進行擴展，以及您提到的其他任何內容。謝謝。

Sure, nothing has really changed on the back half of the year versus how we originally planned the year. The one thing that did change, you'll notice for the quarter, we did flow through the beat in the second quarter through the year. And then based on some of the expense initiatives and cost-savings initiatives, we gave an updated view of the efficiencies across the business.

當然，與我們最初的計劃相比，今年下半年沒有任何真正的改變。您會注意到本季確實發生了變化，我們確實經歷了全年第二季的節奏。然後，根據一些費用計劃和成本節約計劃，我們提供了整個業務效率的最新視圖。

We're continuously looking for ways to be more productive, but it's even more important given the planned merchandise margin pressure from our branded strategies. So what you see is we had a projection when we started the year. We're actually a bit ahead of that, and we flowed that through the back-half guidance.

我們一直在尋找提高生產力的方法，但考慮到我們的品牌策略所帶來的規劃商品利潤壓力，這一點更為重要。所以你看到的是我們在年初時就有了一個預測。實際上我們有點超前了，我們透過後半部的指導來實現這一點。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Paul Lejuez, Citigroup.

保羅‧勒胡埃斯，花旗集團。

Thanks, guys. I think you said basket was up. I'm curious if you could maybe talk about AUR versus UPT. Also, I'm curious if you could share where you are right now on a dollar basis. What is the current AUR in the business, current basket size? And then second, just curious, I know you said your customer is under pressure, but I'm wondering if you noticed any change in your customer behavior in the second quarter versus the first quarter or how you were thinking your customer might behave when you gave guidance originally. Thanks.

謝謝，夥計們。我想你說過籃子已經漲了。我很好奇您能否談談 AUR 與 UPT。另外，我很好奇你是否可以分享一下你現在的情況（以美元計算）。目前企業的 AUR 是多少？其次，只是好奇，我知道您說您的客戶面臨壓力，但我想知道您是否注意到第二季度與第一季相比您的客戶行為有任何變化，或者您認為當您這樣做時您的客戶可能會表現如何最初給予了指導。謝謝。

Sure, Paul. First on the AUR, for the quarter, the comp was driven by a combination of higher traffic and a higher basket. The average basket was slightly up as average unit retails were partially offset by fewer items per transaction. On the AUR, we're not focused on driving specific price points, but rather we're focused on offering a good, better, best product assortment at a great value. We don't give specifics on the actual AUR or the or the basket.

當然，保羅。首先就 AUR 而言，本季的比較是由更高的流量和更高的購物籃共同推動的。平均購物籃略有上升，因為平均單位零售量被每筆交易商品數量減少部分抵消。在 AUR 上，我們並不專注於推動特定的價格點，而是專注於提供物超所值的優質、更好、最佳的產品組合。我們不會提供有關實際 AUR 或籃子的具體資訊。

In terms of health of the consumer, I would say based on our performance, since it improved in the second quarter, what I would say though, for us, it's obviously -- we saw an improvement. But judging from industry reports, both in the first quarter and now year to date, the customer is clearly seeking value now, especially with what I'd say stubbornly persistent inflation on necessities and also an uncertain macro economy. As a result now, more than ever, we believe price value is critical for her when determining where to shop.

就消費者的健康而言，我想說的是，根據我們的業績，因為它在第二季度有所改善，但我想說的是，對我們來說，顯然——我們看到了改善。但從第一季和今年迄今為止的行業報告來看，客戶現在顯然正在尋求價值，特別是在我所說的必需品持續頑固的通貨膨脹以及不確定的宏觀經濟的情況下。因此，我們現在比以往任何時候都更認為，在決定去哪裡購物時，價格對她來說至關重要。

Did I hear right that you said AUR was up a little bit and UPT was down?

我沒聽錯吧，你說 AUR 漲了一點，UPT 下跌了？

Yes, correct.

是的，正確。

But can you just maybe tie that together with the focus on value, providing the customer more value? Is there a mixed impact to that AUR? Just curious what would explain it being higher as you offer more value?

但您能否將其與對價值的關注結合起來，為客戶提供更多價值？對 AUR 的影響是否有好壞參半？只是好奇如何解釋當你提供更多價值時它會更高？

Sure, Paul. It's about -- it aligns with our branded strategy. Again, we're focused on providing more brands at a great value, and that's led to the slight increase in AUR.

當然，保羅。它與我們的品牌策略一致。同樣，我們專注於提供更多高價值品牌，這導致了 AUR 的小幅成長。

Got it. Makes sense. Thank you.

知道了。有道理。謝謝。

Michael Binetti, Evercore ISI.

邁克爾·比內蒂，Evercore ISI。

Hey guys, thanks for taking our question. Congrats on a great quarter. I guess -- just on the -- maybe you could unpack that merch margin for us a little bit more. I thought at one point the pure product margin was planned to have the most year-over-year pressure in the second quarter since I think you started rolling out some of the merchandise strategy in the back half of last year. I know you do include [some motion] in that line. So maybe just unpack that a little bit for us and if that pure product margin pressure is better or worse as you get into the second half.

嘿夥計們，感謝您提出我們的問題。恭喜您度過了一個出色的季度。我想——只是——也許你可以為我們多一點點的商品利潤。我認為，自從去年下半年開始推出一些商品策略以來，純產品利潤率計畫在第二季面臨最大的年比壓力。我知道您確實在該行中包含了[一些動議]。因此，也許只是為我們解開一點，看看進入下半年時純產品利潤率壓力是好還是壞。

And then separately, I know you always speak to about a point of upside on the same-store sales, driving about 10 or 15 basis points of leverage. I think you guys got about 70 basis points on the 1-point beat to the top end there. Maybe you could break down the contributors there to the favorability and maybe any thoughts on why that wouldn't continue in the back half or if you do think if there is that better flow-through opportunity.

另外，我知道您總是談到同店銷售額的上升空間，推動槓桿率提高約 10 或 15 個基點。我認為你們在領先 1 分的情況下獲得了大約 70 個基點。也許你可以分解那裡的好感度貢獻者，也許你有任何關於為什麼這種情況不會在後半段繼續下去的想法，或者你是否確實認為是否有更好的流通機會。

Just to start with the flow through, the upside was obviously driven by sales. And to your point, that's about 10 to 15 basis points for every point in sale. But we also saw better improvement on some of the expense initiatives and cost initiatives we have in the business. And so based on that, that's the upside that we forecasted in the back half of the year.

從流量開始，上漲顯然是由銷售推動的。就你的觀點而言，每個銷售點大約有 10 到 15 個基點。但我們也看到我們在業務中的一些費用計劃和成本計劃有了更好的改進。基於此，這就是我們預測今年下半年的上行空間。

Yes, Michael. This is Adam. I'll jump in on the margin side of the question, right? We did start our efforts at the end of last year. But really, the step up was this year, right? And that's why you saw gradual pressure in Q1. We were about 15 bps worse than the prior year. But some of that, we still had some residual ocean freight benefit that was helping that number in Q1. We reported the 80 basis points in Q2. And as I mentioned, as we continue to increase that penetration of brands and going after more brands, we'll see additional pressure in the back half.

是的，邁克爾。這是亞當。我會跳到問題的邊緣部分，對嗎？我們確實在去年年底就開始了努力。但實際上，今年是進步了，對吧？這就是為什麼你在第一季看到逐漸壓力的原因。我們比去年差了大約 15 個基點。但其中一些，我們仍然有一些剩餘的海運收益，這有助於第一季的數字。我們報告了第二季的 80 個基點。正如我所提到的，隨著我們繼續提高品牌滲透率並追求更多品牌，我們將在後半段看到額外的壓力。

Thank you.

謝謝。

(Operator Instructions) Alex Straton, Morgan Stanley.

（操作員指示）Alex Straton，摩根士丹利。

Great. Thanks a lot for taking the question. Congrats on a nice quarter. Just those expense and cost savings that you say you're finding and that you expect more of in the back half, can you just give us a little bit more color around some examples of what those are? And are they more COGS benefits or SG&A benefits or both? Thanks a lot.

偉大的。非常感謝您提出問題。恭喜您度過了一個美好的季度。您說您發現了那些費用和成本節省，並且您期望在後半部分獲得更多的費用和成本節省，您能否為我們提供更多關於這些費用和成本的示例？它們是銷貨成本 (COGS) 收益更多還是銷售成本 (SG&A) 收益更多，還是兩者兼而有之？多謝。

Sure. Just to talk through, I guess, a couple of examples, we're certainly leveraging automation. In the DCs, we continue to make improvements there and throughout the business, including DCs and stores. Just to give you a couple of examples in the DCs, we've implemented automated vehicles to move inventory, robots to build cartons, as well as automated systems to sort inventory to the stores -- at the store, which would be an SG&A and not COGS.

當然。我想，僅舉幾個例子，我們肯定會利用自動化。在配送中心，我們繼續改善整個業務，包括配送中心和商店。舉幾個配送中心的例子，我們實施了自動化車輛來移動庫存、機器人來製造紙箱，以及自動化系統來將庫存分類到商店——在商店，這將是一個 SG&A 和不是銷貨成本。

We have a number of things to augment the work for our associates. We piloted self-checkout in select locations. We have introduced new handheld devices to check inventory, to take markdowns, and to manage tasks in stores, and are currently rolling out flexible scheduling that will help us be more productive in the stores.

我們有很多東西可以增強員工的工作能力。我們在選定的地點試行自助結帳。我們引入了新的手持設備來檢查庫存、進行降價和管理商店中的任務，並且目前正在推出靈活的調度，這將有助於我們提高商店的工作效率。

And Alex, building on that a bit, we've found efficiencies in multiple parts of the P&L. I'd probably speak to domestic freight as being one primary example. We're given what we're seeing from our rate structure and our contracted rates, a little bit of help from fuel costs. We thought it made sense to flow that through, specifically in the back half.

亞歷克斯，在此基礎上，我們發現損益表的多個部分都提高了效率。我可能會將國內貨運作為一個主要例子。我們從我們的費率結構和合約費率中看到的情況，以及燃料成本的一點幫助。我們認為讓這一點貫穿始終是有意義的，特別是在後半場。

Lorraine Hutchinson, Bank of America.

洛琳‧哈欽森，美國銀行。

Thank you. Good afternoon. Can you quantify the merchandise margin decline that you're expecting in the second half? And are there additional operating efficiencies available to offset any further merch margin pressure into next year?

謝謝。午安.您能否量化您預計下半年商品利潤率的下降？是否有額外的營運效率可以抵銷明年進一步的商品利潤壓力？

Yes. Lorraine, this is Adam. We're not quantifying the amount of the merchandise margin impact other than just saying we expect it to be higher than the 80 basis points that we reported in Q2. I think offsets that we'll have in the back half, I just commented on domestic freight. That's probably the primary category.

是的。洛林，這是亞當。我們沒有量化商品利潤率的影響，只是說我們預計它會高於我們在第二季報告的 80 個基點。我認為我們將在後半部分進行抵消，我剛剛評論了國內貨運。這可能是主要類別。

Michael touched on distribution cost and our improvement there. That would be another category as we've experienced so far in the first half because we're up against still a significant year from a profitability standpoint. So we expect to have, with these projections, some good news in incentive costs. As we move into the back half, I would say those are probably the biggest moving parts in terms of offsets to the merchandise margin.

麥可談到了分銷成本和我們在這方面的改進。這將是我們上半年迄今經歷的另一個類別，因為從獲利能力的角度來看，我們仍然面臨著重要的一年。因此，根據這些預測，我們預計會在激勵成本方面帶來一些好消息。當我們進入後半部分時，我想說，就商品利潤的抵消而言，這些可能是最大的變動部分。

And Lorraine, it's at this point too early to talk about 2025. We're just starting to go through our budget process for next year.

Lorraine，現在談論 2025 年還為時過早。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Dana Telsey, Telsey Advisory Group.

達納‧特爾西，特爾西諮詢小組。

Hi, good afternoon, everyone. As you think about the ladies' business, the home business, any updates on their performance and your focus, Barbara, on brands in each of those businesses? And in mind of these focus on value, how are you thinking about pricing as we move forward into the back half of the year? Thank you.

嗨，大家下午好。芭芭拉，當您考慮女裝業務、家居業務時，他們的業績有什麼更新嗎？考慮到這些對價值的關注，當我們進入今年下半年時，您如何考慮定價？謝謝。

Sure. So in the ladies' business, we're obviously -- that's one of our focuses in terms of shifting our assortments, getting more branded, adding more values. Because the ladies' business, as you know, is critical to the entire business. So again, we've learned -- we keep learning as we're going, adding a lot of new vendors, trying different values. And so that's just going to kind of continue, ladies. And we're going to adjust as we need to as we go.

當然。因此，在女裝業務中，我們顯然——這就是我們轉變品種、打造更多品牌、增加更多價值的重點之一。因為如您所知，女士業務對整個業務至關重要。再說一遍，我們已經學到了——我們不斷學習，增加了很多新的供應商，嘗試了不同的價值。女士們，這種情況還會持續下去。我們將根據需要進行調整。

The value equation, I would -- I always get value in pricing. When we talk value in pricing, I'm most afraid to say it. So our focus in all of it is on the value. The value compared to out the door and other retailers, the value -- depending on what segment I'm in, whether I'm a promotional department store or if I'm [MS], we're focused on the value, not so much the price.

價值等式，我總是在定價中獲得價值。當我們談論定價價值時，我最不敢說出來。所以我們所有的重點都是價值。與戶外和其他零售商相比的價值，價值 - 取決於我所處的細分市場，無論我是促銷百貨商店還是 [MS]，我們關注的是價值，而不是價格就這麼多。

In home, the home business isn't as branded obviously in the outside world as ladies or men or even kids, for example. So in the home business, we're really more focused on specific businesses where it is branded in the outside world. So we want to make sure that, again, we have a good compare. When you're comparing against a brand, we'd be able to have a good compare so that we could go in and show, again, show really incredible value to the customer. Because the value strategy is our market share strategy.

例如，在家裡，家庭生意在外界的影響並不像女士、男士甚至孩子那麼明顯。因此，在家庭業務中，我們實際上更專注於在外部世界品牌化的特定業務。因此，我們希望再次確保我們能夠進行良好的比較。當您與一個品牌進行比較時，我們能夠進行良好的比較，以便我們可以再次向客戶展示真正令人難以置信的價值。因為價值策略就是我們的市場佔有率策略。

I mean we're figuring it out, and every business is at different points in the process, but where we're figuring it out, it is really driving sales. So we're just going to continue to do it. In terms of absolute pricing, we're not really planning an AUR. We're really planning a value. Now with that, we will have good, better, best brands in the assortments because we don't want to alienate any customers.

我的意思是，我們正在解決這個問題，每個企業都處於流程的不同階段，但在我們解決這個問題的地方，它確實在推動銷售。所以我們將繼續這樣做。就絕對定價而言，我們並沒有真正計劃 AUR。我們確實正在規劃一個價值。現在，我們將擁有更好、更好、最好的品牌，因為我們不想疏遠任何客戶。

So we want to make sure we still have a broad assortment of price points where we have a broad assortment of products in the store. So we don't want to lose that because that's an important part of the treasure hunt. But in terms of absolute pricing, as Michael said before, we're not planning specific AURs. We're really looking at the outside world and comparing that.

因此，我們希望確保我們在商店裡有各種各樣的產品的同時，仍然有各種各樣的價格點。所以我們不想失去它，因為這是尋寶的重要組成部分。但就絕對定價而言，正如邁克爾之前所說，我們沒有計劃具體的 AUR。我們確實在觀察外在世界並進行比較。

Recognizing in front of us, we can see now as retailers are reporting their sales and talking about promoting go forward, we'll run through that same drill the merchants do all the time: competitive shop, track outdoor pricing -- out-the-door pricing, and follow that same path. But it really is a value strategy. We want her to come in and to feel like she got a really -- an incredible deal every day of the week. So again, Different businesses, different points in the journey, but that's kind of where we are at this moment.

認識到在我們面前，我們現在可以看到，當零售商報告他們的銷售情況並談論促銷時，我們將進行商家一直在做的同樣的練習：競爭性商店，跟踪戶外定價——out-the-門定價，並遵循相同的路徑。但這確實是一種價值策略。我們希望她進來後感覺自己一周中的每一天都得到了真正令人難以置信的優惠。再說一遍，不同的業務，旅程中的不同點，但這就是我們目前所處的位置。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Brooke Roach, Goldman Sachs.

布魯克·羅奇，高盛。

Good afternoon, and thank you for taking our question. Barbara, can you talk to the level and quality of inventory available in the marketplace today? Are you seeing any additional opportunities for new vendor partnerships? And are you seeing inventory opportunities come in at a better mark-on rate for margins? Thank you.

下午好，感謝您提出我們的問題。芭芭拉，您能談談當今市場上可用庫存的水平和品質嗎？您是否看到了新的供應商合作夥伴關係的任何其他機會？您是否看到庫存機會以更高的利潤率出現？謝謝。

So in terms of just inventory availability, the availability remains favorable. It's pretty broad based. As I would normally say, some businesses have it more than others, but it's still out there. In terms of quality itself, one is just availability, one is the quality of availability. Again, it's kind of in all the brands here of products that there are. And Brooke, what was the second question you said?

因此，就庫存可用性而言，可用性仍然有利。它的基礎相當廣泛。正如我通常所說，有些企業比其他企業擁有更多，但它仍然存在。就品質本身而言，一是可用性，一是可用性的品質。再說一次，這裡的所有產品品牌都存在這種情況。布魯克，你說的第二個問題是什麼？

New vendors.

新供應商。

Oh, new vendors.

哦，新供應商。

Just whether or not you're getting new vendors.

只是無論您是否正在尋找新的供應商。

Sure. Yes, in terms of vendors, vendors are, first of all, we're out expanding on our vendor base. That's one of part of our adding value into the mix. Vendors are -- we're definitely adding new vendors to answer your question. And vendors are actually, with business being challenging, particularly in certain segments of the market, vendors are looking to build relationships and to do more business.

當然。是的，就供應商而言，供應商首先是我們正在擴大我們的供應商基礎。這是我們增加價值的一部分。供應商－我們肯定會增加新的供應商來回答您的問題。事實上，隨著業務面臨挑戰，特別是在某些市場領域，供應商正在尋求建立關係並開展更多業務。

And so with that, obviously, all prices affect or certainly affect that that is continuing to do more business. And so I would say from that total package together, we're probably in the right place at the right time in terms of going out to add new vendors and to build out these relationships.

因此，顯然，所有價格都會影響或肯定會影響繼續開展更多業務。因此，我想說，從整個計劃來看，我們可能在正確的時間、正確的地點增加了新的供應商並建立了這些關係。

Bob Drbul, Guggenheim.

鮑勃·德布爾，古根漢。

Hi, good afternoon. Just a couple questions, quick ones. Can you talk a little bit about shrink and sort of how it's performing within your business? And I was wondering if you could comment on California stores and just sort of how they're doing versus the chain. And I guess the third one that I'd be curious about, just like labor and wage rates and wage pressures that you're seeing throughout your chain. Thanks.

嗨，下午好。只是幾個問題，很快的。您能談談收縮以及它在您的業務中的表現嗎？我想知道你是否可以評論加州的商店，以及他們與連鎖店相比的表現如何。我想我會好奇第三個，就像你在整個鏈條中看到的勞動力和工資率以及工資壓力一樣。謝謝。

Sure, so let me -- I'll take all of these. So shrink, let's start with shrink. It continues to be what I'd say a very difficult retail theft environment, and we're certainly not immune to that. We have and will continue to invest in loss-prevention initiatives to hold that shrink at bay. But frankly, we're also focused on our own execution of the measures we do have in place today.

當然，所以讓我——我會把所有這些都拿走。那麼收縮，讓我們從收縮開始。我認為這仍然是一個非常困難的零售竊盜環境，我們當然也不能倖免。我們已經並將繼續投資於防損舉措，以遏止損失。但坦白說，我們也專注於我們自己執行我們今天已經採取的措施。

We will true up shrink in the third quarter, and our guidance at this point assumes some deterioration from last year. On comps, geographically, so for -- as we said in the commentary, geographic was fairly broad based. For our largest market, California outperformed the chain while Florida was in line. Texas was slightly below the chain average, and that was partially due to the impact from Hurricane Beryl that rolled through during the quarter.

我們將在第三季實現收縮，目前我們的指導假設較去年惡化。就比較而言，從地理角度來看，正如我們在評論中所說，地理基礎相當廣泛。對於我們最大的市場，加州的表現優於連鎖店，而佛羅裡達州則排名靠前。德州略低於環比平均水平，部分原因是本季颶風貝裡爾的影響。

On wages, I would say, generally speaking, wages in our stores and DCs are relatively stable. Most of the wage increases this year have been related to statutory wage increases in certain markets and states. What you see from us is most of the wage. We'll continue to take a market-by-market approach to staffing. And where appropriate, we'll adjust wages if we need to. You heard Adam talk earlier about productivity in the DC. Part of that productivity improvement is due to a very stable labor market in the DC sector, which means lower turnover for us and more productivity from the more tenured associates.

關於薪資，我想說，整體來說，我們門市、配送中心的工資是比較穩定的。今年的大部分工資增長與某些市場和州的法定工資增長有關。你從我們這裡看到的大部分都是薪水。我們將繼續對人員配置採取逐一市場的方法。如果需要的話，我們會在適當的情況下調整工資。您之前聽到 Adam 談到了華盛頓特區的生產力。生產力提高的部分原因是華盛頓特區勞動市場非常穩定，這意味著我們的人員流動率較低，而終身任職的員工的生產力更高。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Adrienne Yih, Barclays.

艾德麗安‧易 (Adrienne Yih)，巴克萊銀行。

Great, thank you very much. Let me add my congratulations. Barbara, I was wondering if you can talk about just what you're seeing in your target consumer behavioral patterns. Obviously, we've heard a lot that things are going back to kind of pre-pandemic. The highs on the traffic days are very high. The lows are a little bit quieter, buying closer to need, if you can talk a little bit about that.

太好了，非常感謝。讓我補充一下我的祝賀。芭芭拉，我想知道您是否可以談談您在目標消費者行為模式中看到的情況。顯然，我們經常聽到事情正在回到大流行前的狀態。交通日的高峰非常高。低點稍微平靜一些，買入更接近需求，如果你能談談這一點的話。

And then as the promotional or the environment gets more promotional at retail, is your strategy to be even -- to maintain the spread, your historical spread? Or do you want to get a little bit even sharper still to be able to drive incremental market share gains? Thank you.

然後，隨著零售業的促銷或環境得到更多促銷，您的策略是否是均勻的——以維持價差，即您的歷史價差？或者您想變得更加敏銳，以便能夠推動市場份額的增量成長？謝謝。

On the traffic patterns, we haven't seen a significant change. Certainly, the events are more important. But as far as traffic during the quarter or during the week or during the weekends or towards events, we haven't seen a significant shift.

在流量模式上，我們沒有看到顯著的變化。當然，事件更重要。但就本季、一週、週末或活動期間的流量而言，我們沒有看到顯著的變化。

And as the environment gets more promotional, we don't have a standard historical spread. What the merchants do is they're out comp shopping, they're seeing what's going on, they're monitoring what's happening. And sometimes, when you're doing that, you have to almost anticipate where you think a retailer is going to go, especially if you're going through a key period.

隨著環境變得更加促銷，我們沒有標準的歷史傳播。商家所做的就是他們外出購物，他們看到正在發生的事情，他們正在監視正在發生的事情。有時，當您這樣做時，您幾乎必須預測您認為零售商將走向何方，尤其是當您正在經歷關鍵時期時。

So we don't have a historical spread. We're going to price it as sharply as we possibly can price it. So we're going to look at that. We're going to make those decisions -- educated decisions. But with that, we're seeing that this value strategy is really the path for us. So we'll do it, obviously, the way we've historically done in terms of process and then be setting the value that we think is really -- very strong.

所以我們沒有歷史傳播。我們將盡可能大幅定價。所以我們要去看看這個。我們將做出這些決定——經過教育的決定。但由此，我們發現這種價值策略確實是我們的道路。因此，顯然，我們將按照我們歷史上在流程方面所做的方式來做到這一點，然後設定我們認為非常強大的價值。

And then one clarifying question on the AUR and the branded aspect of it. How much more branded product do you have, however you want to characterize it, this year over last? And the AUR on the brands is higher, but are the merch margins relatively flat? Are they lower just because it's branded product? I'm just curious whether the merch margins match the AUR direction. Thank you.

然後是一個關於 AUR 及其品牌方面的澄清問題。無論您如何描述，今年您擁有的品牌產品比去年多了多少？品牌的 AUR 較高，但商品利潤率相對穩定嗎？僅僅因為它是品牌產品，它們就較低嗎？我只是好奇商品利潤是否與 AUR 方向相符。謝謝。

Adrienne, this is Adam. I'll jump in. We wouldn't speak to kind of the mix of our business, how much is branded and non-branded, but the merchandise margin pressure that I spoke to is all related to the brand strategy and that step up in penetration.

艾德麗安，這是亞當。我會插話。 我們不會談論我們的業務組合，品牌和非品牌的比例，但我談到的商品利潤壓力都與品牌策略以及品牌策略的進步有關。

Okay, fantastic. Thank you. Very helpful. Best of luck.

好吧，太棒了。謝謝。非常有幫助。祝你好運。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Ike Boruchow, Wells Fargo.

艾克·博魯喬（Ike Boruchow），富國銀行。

Hey, everyone. Just a quick question, I guess, for me on the branded strategy. Clearly, it's successful. The comps you guys put up late last year and early this year are pretty robust. I guess, just at a high level -- I know you're not going to give us your plans for 2025 and beyond, but is this a strategy that has multi-year duration? Is this more of a strategy that you kind of unlock it and you just let it ride as is? I'm just kind of curious, is there step functions to it as we kind of move forward in terms of mix without quantifying that? So just at a high level, we'd be curious.

嘿，大家。我想，這對我來說只是一個關於品牌策略的簡單問題。顯然，它是成功的。你們去年年底和今年年初提出的比較非常強勁。我想，只是在較高的層面上——我知道您不會向我們提供 2025 年及以後的計劃，但這是否是一個持續多年的策略？這更像是一種策略，你解鎖它，然後讓它按原樣運行嗎？我只是有點好奇，當我們在混合方面向前推進而不對其進行量化時，是否存在階躍函數？因此，從較高的層面來看，我們會很好奇。

I think we're still learning on the brand strategy, what the right mix, what the right penetrations are by business. So I don't think we could quite answer that today. Obviously, our goal is to drive top-line sales. But we've had a lot of learning so far. We had a lot of learning since spring. I'm sure we'll have more learning for fall. And we're going to build off the success of those learnings based off what the customer is telling us.

我認為我們仍在學習品牌策略、正確的組合以及業務的正確滲透。所以我認為我們今天無法完全回答這個問題。顯然，我們的目標是推動營收成長。但到目前為止我們已經學到了很多。自春天以來，我們學到了很多。我相信秋天我們會有更多的學習。我們將根據客戶告訴我們的訊息，在這些經驗教訓的基礎上取得成功。

Thanks, Barbara.

謝謝，芭芭拉。

Marni Shapiro, Retail Tracker.

Marni Shapiro，零售追蹤者。

Hey, guys. Congratulations on the quarter. I was curious if we can talk about the kids' business for a minute. The assortments have looked really good in the stores, especially some of the boys' assortments, which has been tough. Are the recent trends inclusive of back-to-school? And if not, can you give us any kind of sightline into what back-to-school looked like in August?

嘿，夥計們。恭喜本季。我很好奇我們是否可以談談孩子們的事。商店裡的品種看起來非常好，尤其是一些男孩的品種，這很難。最近的趨勢是否包括返校？如果沒有，您能為我們介紹一下八月的返校情況嗎？

And then I know you talked about customers not changing their behavior, not buying closer to need. I'm curious if you're seeing any delay in their purchasing on big seasonal items like a back-to-school or seasonal holidays like July 4 or Halloween or anything like that. Thank you.

然後我知道你談到客戶沒有改變他們的行為，沒有購買更接近需要的產品。我很好奇您是否發現他們購買大型季節性商品（例如返校節或 7 月 4 日或萬聖節等季節性假期或類似節日）時出現延遲。謝謝。

First of all, thank you for the compliments on kids on behalf of the kids. At this point, we're not going to talk about back to school, because clearly, we're still in it. So there's still some in front of us as we go. In terms of delays in purchasing, I mean, there were some slight calendar timing shifts. But I would say, in terms of buy it, wear now -- buy some stuff, wear now, like, i.e., the shorts scenario: I'm going to buy a new pair of shorts for my kid to go back to school in. I think we've seen that go on for a couple of years now.

首先，感謝您代表孩子們對孩子們的讚美。在這一點上，我們不打算談論重返學校，因為顯然，我們仍然處於其中。所以我們走的時候還有一些東西在我們前面。就購買延遲而言，我的意思是，日曆時間發生了一些輕微的變化。但我想說，就買它，現在穿——買一些東西，現在穿，比如短褲場景：我要給我的孩子買一條新短褲，以便他回到學校我想我們已經看到這種情況已經持續了幾年了。

I think you have to have that mix and make a conversion. So I think, actually, if we would use that example of shorts, denim shorts and long denim, they're actually both performing pretty well. And I think that has to do perhaps with the balance of the amount that we actually own. But kids still go back to school in shorts. They need that one last set, and then the trick is to get out before you own too much.

我認為你必須進行這種組合併進行轉換。所以我認為，實際上，如果我們使用短褲、牛仔短褲和長牛仔布的例子，它們實際上都表現得相當不錯。我認為這可能與我們實際擁有的金額餘額有關。但孩子們仍然穿著短褲回到學校。他們需要最後一套，然後訣竅就是在你擁有太多之前退出。

And too early to tell on things like July 4, did they buy red, white, and blue very late, or Halloween? Are you not seeing a change there? People come into the store -- and sometimes, in the past, I feel like we've seen customers buy really far in advance of holidays. But lately, I've been hearing from and seeing just in stores that there's more of like a mad rush the week before whatever that event is, if that makes sense.

現在判斷 7 月 4 日之類的事情還為時過早，他們是很晚還是萬聖節才購買紅色、白色和藍色？你沒有看到那裡有變化嗎？人們走進商店——有時，在過去，我覺得我們已經看到顧客在假期前很久就開始購買了。但最近，我在商店裡聽到並看到，無論該活動是什麼，如果這有意義的話，前一周都會出現瘋狂的搶購。

So you're saying would Halloween have sold much earlier three years ago than it sells today? I think it depends on what the event is, Marni. I think certain things, certain holidays can sell early and go all the way through. And then some people, it's not quite as top of mind and buy it at the end. But that moves. That can move year to year. And quite frankly, that also has a lot to do with the assortment that you put on the floor, how good it is.

所以你是說三年前萬聖節的銷售量會比現在早很多嗎？我認為這取決於事件是什麼，瑪尼。我認為某些東西、某些假期可以早點賣出並一路走完。然後有些人，這不是最重要的，最後才購買。但那會動。這可能會逐年變化。坦白說，這也與你放在地板上的品種有很大關係，它有多好。

Yes, that makes sense. Best of luck with fall, guys.

是的，這是有道理的。祝大家秋天好運。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Thank you.

謝謝。

John Kernan, TD Cowen.

約翰·克南，TD·考恩。

Thanks for taking my question. Congrats on a great quarter. So Adam, when you think about the long-term margin potential of the business, there's been some tremendous blow through on the three comp in Q1 and now the four comp in Q2.

感謝您提出我的問題。恭喜您度過了一個出色的季度。因此，亞當，當您考慮業務的長期利潤潛力時，第一季的三個比較和第二季度的四個比較受到了巨大的打擊。

To the bottom line, how do you think about the long-term operating margin structure of the business? You've been as high as 14% in the past. Obviously, there's been a lot of wage inflation and supply chain inflation. I'm just wondering what's the ceiling for this business from a long-term margin perspective.

最重要的是，您如何看待該業務的長期營業利潤率結構？過去你的比例高達14%。顯然，薪資通膨和供應鏈通膨嚴重。我只是想知道從長期利潤率的角度來看，這項業務的上限是多少。

Yes. John, I'd say nothing's changed. We still think an additional point of comp gives us 10 to 15 basis points of margin expansion, and that really hasn't changed. Where do we get to long term? We need to keep on delivering outsized comp sales gains. That's really going to be the primary driver.

是的。約翰，我想說一切都沒有改變。我們仍然認為額外的補償點可以讓我們的利潤率擴大 10 到 15 個基點，這確實沒有改變。我們的長期目標在哪裡？我們需要繼續實現巨大的銷售收益。這確實將成為主要驅動力。

And then there's -- I guess the other variable is how do some of the inflationary pieces play out? What do fuel rates look like long term, et cetera. It's probably the biggest moving part, coupled with wages. Do they continue to stay in somewhat of a stabilized environment? Those are probably the biggest things from a long-term standpoint.

然後，我想另一個變數是一些通膨因素如何發揮作用？長期燃油費率是怎樣的，等等。加上工資，這可能是最大的變動因素。他們是否繼續處於某種穩定的環境？從長遠來看，這些可能是最重要的事情。

That makes sense. Just a quick follow up. There's been a fair amount of immigration the last several years. You've got a lot of stores in some of those border states. Have you seen a customer seeking value and benefited from that population growth in a lot of those states?

這是有道理的。只需快速跟進即可。過去幾年有相當數量的移民。在一些邊境州有很多商店。您是否見過客戶尋求價值並從許多州的人口增長中受益？

Specifically, as it relates to border stores, I mean, California and Texas have gone back and forth as being strong drivers of growth over the years. As you saw in the quarter, for instance, California outperformed, Texas underperformed. It's kind of been like that over the past few years. Certainly, we do very well on the border with cross-border traffic. That's some of our best and highest volume stores, but immigration specifically, I don't think we could point to across broad swaths of regions.

具體來說，就邊境商店而言，我的意思是，加州和德克薩斯州多年來一直是成長的強勁推動力。例如，正如您在本季看到的那樣，加州表現出色，德克薩斯州表現不佳。過去幾年差不多就是這樣。當然，我們在跨境交通方面做得很好。這是我們最好和銷量最高的一些商店，但具體到移民，我認為我們不能指出廣泛的地區。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

Aneesha Sherman, Bernstein.

阿尼莎謝爾曼，伯恩斯坦。

Thank you, and congrats on the good quarter. So Barbara, last quarter, you talked about apparel having underperformed for a while. Now it's in line with chain. As you go into Q3, are you happy now with where you are on the brands assortment, or do you see continued progress even in season between Q3 and Q4 as you get through the back half of the year?

謝謝，並祝賀這個季度的良好表現。芭芭拉，上個季度，您談到服裝在一段時間內表現不佳。現在已經與鏈條一致了。當你進入第三季度時，你現在對你在品牌分類上的位置感到滿意嗎？是否也看到持續的進步？

And then I have a quick follow -up, Adam or Michael, on the incentive comp. You've now beat plan for two quarters. Based on your current raised guidance for the back half, do you expect to still see incentive accruals benefit in the back half, or do you see that benefit gradually moderating based on the performance so far? Thanks.

然後，亞當或邁克爾，我會就激勵補償問題進行快速跟進。您現在已經超出了兩個季度的計劃。根據您目前對下半年提出的指導意見，您是否預計下半年仍會看到應計激勵收益，或者您是否認為根據迄今為止的業績，這種收益會逐漸減弱？謝謝。

In terms of apparel underperformance and now apparel being in line with the chain, apparel is in line with the chain. Ladies, however, are still below the chain average. So in all the areas, we're expecting to see more progress in apparel as the year goes on. So we're building upon the learnings, building upon the things that the customer is voting for. And so I think that's going to be for the next six months or as long as it takes us really to truly understand it. But in grand total, it was in line. But as children's outperform, so ladies underperform.

從服裝表現不佳和現在服裝與連鎖看齊來看，服裝與連鎖看齊。然而，女性仍低於環比平均。因此，在所有領域，我們預計隨著時間的推移，服裝領域將取得更多進展。因此，我們正在以所學到的知識為基礎，以客戶投票支持的事物為基礎。所以我認為這將在接下來的六個月內或只要我們真正真正理解它就可以了。但總的來說，這是一致的。但正如兒童的表現優於其他女性一樣，女性的表現也較差。

Aneesha, on the incentive piece, with the guidance that we're providing, we would still expect to see some incentive benefits. So again, it's -- we're going up a year in 2023 where we significantly exceeded our financial plans. While we feel good about how we're tracking, we're up against a really outsized year.

Aneesha，在激勵方面，根據我們提供的指導，我們仍然希望看到一些激勵福利。再說一次，我們將在 2023 年大幅超出我們的財務計劃。雖然我們對自己的追蹤情況感到滿意，但我們面臨著非常巨大的一年。

Okay, thank you.

好的，謝謝。

Corey Tarlowe, Jefferies.

科里·塔洛，杰弗里斯。

Great, thanks. Barbara, I think you mentioned in response to a prior question that you're expanding the number of vendors that you have. Is there any way to put into historical context what the amount of new vendors you're adding might look like versus history and if there's any incremental buying expense or people that you had to bring on to accommodate that?

太好了，謝謝。芭芭拉，我想您在回答先前的問題時提到您正在擴大供應商的數量。有沒有什麼方法可以將您添加的新供應商數量與歷史相比的情況納入歷史背景，以及是否有任何增量購買費用或您必須聘請的人員來適應這種情況？

I mean, I really -- I can't give you a specific a specific number. And quite frankly, when it comes to vendors, some vendors go out of business, some people just go in business or adding more vendors. So it's really hard for me to quantify to quantify that for you.

我的意思是，我真的無法給你一個具體的數字。坦白說，當談到供應商時，有些供應商倒閉了，有些人只是繼續做生意或增加更多的供應商。所以我很難為你量化這一點。

Okay understood and then just as it relates to shoes, is there any way you could talk about within the category what you saw in lifestyle or athletic versus brown shoes perhaps?

好的，理解了，然後就像它與鞋子相關一樣，您是否可以在生活方式或運動鞋與棕色鞋的類別中談論您所看到的？

Sure. First of all, shoes underperformed the chain but was up against a very, very large comp. I think it was a little mixed on the way into the season. Athletic, overall, has been pretty good as has active. I mean, certainly [some ran] better than others. But overall, athletic and active have been good.

當然。首先，鞋子的表現不如連鎖店，但要面對一個非常非常大的競爭對手。我認為進入賽季的過程中情況有點複雜。整體而言，運動和活躍程度都相當不錯。我的意思是，當然[有些人跑得]比其他人好。但總體而言，運動能力和活躍度都很好。

It's been a little bit more mixed on brown shoes, depending upon if I'm in men's, ladies, or kids. But we did see the run up in flat sandals, we did see block heels, we did see the sandal thing take off. And we were a little bit more strategic in our transition as we were going into fall, because last year, we flowed boots early and they did not perform early. And this year, we made a shift in time.

棕色鞋子的顏色有點混雜，這取決於我穿的是男鞋、女鞋還是童鞋。但我們確實看到了平底涼鞋的崛起，我們確實看到了粗跟鞋，我們確實看到了涼鞋的流行。當我們進入秋季時，我們在轉型方面更具策略性，因為去年我們很早就推出了靴子，但它們並沒有提前表現。今年，我們改變了時間。

Jay Sole, UBS.

傑伊·索爾，瑞銀集團。

Great, thank you. My question is about international. Some of your competitors have talked about maybe doing deals or they have announced deals with the off-price retailers in international markets. Have you explored that? I mean, what are your thoughts about Ross expanding into international markets?

太好了，謝謝。我的問題是關於國際的。您的一些競爭對手已經談論過可能會進行交易，或者他們已經宣布與國際市場上的折扣零售商進行交易。你探索過嗎？我的意思是，您對羅斯進軍國際市場有何看法？

Good question. I wouldn't comment on the deals. But for us, we have -- we're 2,100 stores. We think we can grow 2,900 Ross, 700 dd's, plenty of room to grow in the US. And our focus is on growing that store base profitably over the next number of years. So that's where we're putting our energy and our focus.

好問題。我不會對這些交易發表評論。但對我們來說，我們有 2,100 家商店。我們認為我們可以種植 2,900 株羅斯，700 株 dd，在美國有足夠的種植空間。我們的重點是在未來幾年內擴大商店基礎並實現盈利。所以這就是我們投入精力和重點的地方。

Okay. Thank you so much.

好的。太感謝了。

Laura Champine, Loop Capital Markets.

勞拉·尚平 (Laura Champine)，Loop 資本市場。

Thanks for taking my question. You called out additional efficiencies benefiting your EPS guide in the back half and then gave some examples of those. How long is the tail there? Meaning, is this part of a longer-term program that will benefit earnings and margins into next year? Or should we just see the positive benefit of lapping in the first half and then it flattens out?

感謝您提出我的問題。您在後半部分指出了有利於 EPS 指南的額外效率，然後給出了一些例子。那裡的尾巴有多長？意思是，這是長期計劃的一部分嗎？或者我們應該只看到上半場繞圈的正面好處，然後就趨於平緩？

I'd answer that in a couple different ways. First, these are -- they're not -- there's a number of initiatives, and they all have different timings. Some will go into next year. Some will help us in the next year. Some will run out this year. But then we have the next generation of efficiencies that we'll work on for next year as well. As we said, long term, we think we can continue to gradually grow even margin at three to four comp, and that hasn't changed.

我會用幾種不同的方式來回答這個問題。首先，這些是——它們不是——有很多舉措，而且它們都有不同的時機。有些將進入明年。有些人會在明年幫助我們。有些今年就會用完。但我們明年也會致力於提高下一代效率。正如我們所說，從長遠來看，我們認為我們可以繼續逐漸增加三到四倍的利潤率，這一點沒有改變。

Got it. Thank you.

知道了。謝謝。

There are no more questions at this time, and I would like to turn the floor back over to Barbara Rentler for any closing comments.

目前沒有其他問題了，我想將發言權交還給芭芭拉·倫特勒（Barbara Rentler）以徵求結束意見。

Thank you for joining us today and for your interest in Ross Stores.

感謝您今天加入我們以及您對羅斯商店的興趣。

Ladies and gentlemen, that does conclude today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Have a great day.

女士們、先生們，今天的電話會議到此結束。此時您可以斷開線路。祝你有美好的一天。