Rover Group Inc (ROVR) 2023 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Rover Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Rover 2023 年第三季財報電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Mr. Walter Ruddy, Vice President of Investor Relations and Capital Markets. Sir, please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的發言者，投資者關係和資本市場副總裁 Walter Ruddy 先生。先生，請繼續。

Good afternoon. Thank you for joining us to discuss Rover's third quarter 2023 earnings results. In this call, we will be discussing the results announced in our press release issued today, which is available on our Investor Relations website at investors.rover.com. As a reminder, this call is being webcast live from our Investor Relations website and is being recorded and will be available for replay from there shortly after the call.

午安.感謝您與我們一起討論 Rover 2023 年第三季的獲利結果。在本次電話會議中，我們將討論今天發布的新聞稿中宣布的結果，該新聞稿可在我們的投資者關係網站 Investors.rover.com 上找到。謹此提醒，本次電話會議正在我們的投資者關係網站上進行網路直播並進行錄音，並將在電話會議結束後不久從那裡進行重播。

With me today is Aaron Easterly, Chief Executive Officer and Co-Founder; Brent Turner, President and Chief Operating Officer; and Charlie Wickers, Chief Financial Officer at Rover.

今天與我在一起的是執行長兼聯合創始人亞倫·伊斯特利 (Aaron Easterly)；布倫特‧特納，總裁兼營運長；以及 Rover 財務長 Charlie Wickers。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind everyone that management will make certain forward-looking statements within the safe harbor provisions of the Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include future GAAP and non-GAAP financial and operating results, targets and trends, business metric performance and 2023 financial guidance, marketing, product investment and other strategies, anticipated future growth, prospects, margins, profitability and liquidity, expected investments and initiatives and their impacts, macroeconomic, public health, pet care industry, residential real estate and travel expectations, factors and trends, market growth and expansion, expectations and opportunities, statements regarding our share repurchase program, and other future events, industry and market conditions.

在開始之前，我想提醒大家，管理層將在1995 年《證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款範圍內做出某些前瞻性陳述。其中包括未來的GAAP 和非GAAP 財務和營運績效、目標和趨勢、業務指標績效和2023 年財務指導、行銷、產品投資和其他策略、預期未來成長、前景、利潤、盈利能力和流動性、預期投資和舉措及其影響、宏觀經濟、公共衛生、寵物護理行業、住宅房地產和旅行期望、因素和趨勢、市場成長和擴張、期望和機會、有關我們股票回購計劃的聲明以及其他未來事件、行業和市場狀況。

Forward-looking statements are subject to known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results or performance to differ materially from those expressed or implied during the call, including the risks and uncertainties included under Risk Factors and elsewhere in our most recent Form 10-K and recently filed Form 10-Qs.

前瞻性陳述受到已知和未知的風險和不確定性的影響，這些風險和不確定性可能導致實際結果或業績與電話會議期間明示或暗示的結果或業績存在重大差異，包括風險因素和我們最新的表格10-其他部分中包含的風險和不確定性。K 並最近提交了 10-Q 表格。

All forward-looking statements speak only as of today and are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections and the beliefs and assumptions of management. We undertake no duty to update this information unless required by law. You should not place undue reliance on forward-looking statements as they are not guarantees of future performance.

所有前瞻性陳述僅代表今天的情況，並基於當前的預期、估計、預測和預測以及管理層的信念和假設。除非法律要求，否則我們不承擔更新此資訊的義務。您不應過度依賴前瞻性陳述，因為它們不能保證未來的績效。

We will also discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. The most directly comparable GAAP financial measures and historical reconciliations to their most directly comparable GAAP measure can be found in the non-GAAP reconciliation supplement posted under News and Events, Presentations at investors.rover.com. For the reasons discussed in the non-GAAP reconciliation supplement, we have not provided the most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP measures or a reconciliation of any future non-GAAP measures. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered as a substitute for or superior to GAAP financial measures.

我們也將討論某些非公認會計準則財務指標。最直接可比較的 GAAP 財務指標以及與其最直接可比較的 GAAP 指標的歷史調節可以在 Investors.rover.com 的新聞和活動、演示文稿下發布的非 GAAP 調節補充中找到。由於非公認會計原則調節補充中討論的原因，我們沒有提供最直接可比較的前瞻性公認會計原則措施或任何未來非公認會計原則措施的調節。非 GAAP 財務指標不應被視為替代或優於 GAAP 財務指標。

Unless otherwise noted, we will compare all Q3 2023 metrics to Q3 2022 in this call.

除非另有說明，我們將在本次電話會議中將 2023 年第三季的所有指標與 2022 年第三季進行比較。

With that, let's get started. I'll now turn the call over to Aaron Easterly, Co-Founder and CEO. Aaron?

就這樣，我們開始吧。現在我將把電話轉給共同創辦人兼執行長 Aaron Easterly。亞倫？

Thanks, Walter, and thank you, everyone, for joining us today. I will start by discussing our third quarter 2023 earnings results, and give a few highlights, before I turn the call over to Brent to outline our booking performance and investments in marketing and product. Charlie will then wrap the prepared remarks by providing additional detail on the financials and our guidance, before we take questions.

謝謝沃特，也謝謝大家今天加入我們。我將首先討論我們 2023 年第三季的獲利結果，並給出一些要點，然後我將電話轉給布倫特，概述我們的預訂業績以及在行銷和產品方面的投資。然後，在我們回答問題之前，查理將通過提供有關財務狀況和我們的指導的更多詳細信息來結束準備好的發言。

We had a spectacular third quarter, reporting net income of $10.5 million and adjusted EBITDA of $17.5 million or a 26% margin. On the top line, gross booking value grew to $266 million, revenue increased to $66 million. As a result of our strong performance and reduced expected macro risk in the remainder of 2023, we are again increasing our revenue and adjusted EBITDA guidance for the year.

我們的第三季業績非常出色，淨利潤為 1,050 萬美元，調整後 EBITDA 為 1,750 萬美元，利潤率為 26%。總預訂額增至 2.66 億美元，營收增至 6,600 萬美元。由於我們在 2023 年剩餘時間內的強勁業績和預期宏觀風險的降低，我們再次增加了今年的收入並調整了 EBITDA 指導。

Beyond these headline results, we continue to build on our priorities. First, we demonstrated continued strong operating leverage in our business with substantial adjusted EBITDA and net income margin expansion. We were able to continue investing in product and marketing, while increasing adjusted EBITDA margin from 20% in the prior year to 26% this year. These results suggest that the lower bound of our long-term adjusted EBITDA margin target should be higher than the 30% that we have previously communicated, and we are evaluating how much to increase it.

除了這些主要成果之外，我們還繼續發展我們的優先事項。首先，我們的業務表現出持續強勁的營運槓桿，大幅調整後的 EBITDA 和淨利潤率擴張。我們能夠繼續投資於產品和行銷，同時將調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率從前一年的 20% 提高到今年的 26%。這些結果表明，我們長期調整後 EBITDA 利潤率目標的下限應高於我們先前溝通的 30%，我們正在評估將其提高多少。

Second, we achieved record new customer bookings of 290,000, up 8% over last year's record levels. This result outpaced our measure of new business demand by approximately 20 points.

其次，我們的新客戶預訂量達到創紀錄的 29 萬名，比去年的創紀錄水準成長 8%。這項結果超出了我們對新業務需求的衡量標準約 20 個百分點。

Third, our non-U.S. markets had another quarter of strong growth. GBV in Europe grew 71% and 35% in Canada, resulting in our non-U.S. markets representing 10% of the total. GBV per cat-only bookings continued its tremendous growth, up 134% in Europe and 58% in Canada, reflecting our continued strength with cat parents.

第三，我們的非美國市場又一個季度強勁成長。歐洲的 GBV 成長了 71%，加拿大的 GBV 成長了 35%，導致我們的非美國市場佔總數的 10%。每隻貓的 GBV 預訂量繼續大幅增長，在歐洲增長了 134%，在加拿大增長了 58%，這反映出我們在貓父母方面的持續優勢。

Fourth, LTV from customers acquired in Q3 are pacing to all-time records, while the Q1 and Q2 cohorts have continued their record pace. Additionally, last year's cohorts continue to surpass prior years.

第四，第三季獲得的客戶的生命週期價值正在創歷史新高，而第一季和第二季的客戶則繼續保持創紀錄的成長速度。此外，去年的隊列繼續超越往年。

And finally, improvements to our products are driving top line growth. We have continued to roll out more initiatives to help pet parents find their best match. We expect these changes to provide enduring benefits beyond this quarter.

最後，我們產品的改進正在推動收入成長。我們繼續推出更多措施來幫助寵物父母找到他們的最佳伴侶。我們預計這些變化將在本季之後帶來持久的好處。

As we close out the remainder of the year, our Q3 performance improved outlook is evidence of the engagement we are driving. While the broader environment remains challenging with underlying weakness in multiple of the external drivers we track, we are encouraged and optimistic about our future. Our performance over the last 2 years is a testament to the fundamental power of the business model, our market position, the opportunity to continually improve the platform, and most importantly, the dedication and discipline of our team.

當我們結束今年剩餘時間時，我們第三季業績前景的改善證明了我們正在推動的參與。儘管由於我們追蹤的多個外部驅動因素存在潛在弱點，更廣泛的環境仍然充滿挑戰，但我們對我們的未來感到鼓舞和樂觀。我們過去兩年的業績證明了業務模式的基本力量、我們的市場地位、不斷改進平台的機會，最重要的是我們團隊的奉獻和紀律。

We believe that we are well positioned to further our mission of making it possible for everyone to experience the unconditional love of a pet. Our opportunity for growth is tremendous, with approximately 87 million pet-owning households in the U.S. and a similar amount in Europe. And we are excited about what's to come.

我們相信，我們有能力進一步實現我們的使命，讓每個人都能體驗到對寵物無條件的愛。我們的成長機會是巨大的，美國有大約 8700 萬個養寵物的家庭，歐洲也有類似數量的家庭。我們對即將發生的事情感到興奮。

With that, I'll turn over the call to Brent to discuss our bookings and operational performance.

接下來，我將把電話轉給布倫特，討論我們的預訂和營運績效。

Thanks, Aaron, and good afternoon to everyone. I will begin by providing a bit more commentary on our success in driving booking volumes. Then I will discuss the execution of our marketing strategy. Finally, I'll wrap up by highlighting some of our product investments during the quarter.

謝謝亞倫，大家下午好。首先，我將就我們在推動預訂量方面的成功提供更多評論。然後我將討論我們行銷策略的執行。最後，我將重點介紹本季我們的一些產品投資作為總結。

In Q3, we generated record levels of new and repeat business on the platform. Total bookings increased 20% versus Q3 2022. Repeat bookings were over 1.5 million, a 23% increase year-over-year. New bookings totaled 290,000, up 8% over our record third quarter in 2022. This new bookings performance is especially encouraging as it represents our highest level in the quarter-to-date. It provides further evidence that our product enhancements and marketing efforts are continuing to drive gains in market share.

第三季度，我們在平台上創造了創紀錄的新業務和重複業務水準。與 2022 年第三季相比，總預訂量增加了 20%。重複預訂量超過 150 萬，年增 23%。新預訂量總計 290,000 份，比 2022 年第三季創紀錄的增長 8%。這一新預訂量表現尤其令人鼓舞，因為它代表了我們本季迄今為止的最高水平。它進一步證明我們的產品增強和行銷努力正在繼續推動市場份額的成長。

Turning to marketing. In Q3, non-GAAP marketing expense was 19% of revenue, on the lower end of our target range of 18% to 25%. Our growth team was active in Q3 as we launched our latest video ad concept To My Hooman, a spot that has become a celebrated discussion topic in several online magazines. This ad is yet another innovation in support of our strategy to cost-effectively drive new bookings and build the category through upper funnel channels.

轉向行銷。第三季度，非 GAAP 行銷費用佔營收的 19%，位於我們目標範圍 18% 至 25% 的下限。我們的成長團隊在第三季表現活躍，推出了最新的影片廣告概念 To My Hooman，該廣告已成為多家線上雜誌的著名討論主題。該廣告是支持我們策略的另一項創新，即以經濟高效的方式推動新預訂並透過上層漏斗管道打造品類。

Further, continued maturation of our conversion drivers in our European markets has enabled us to expand our channel beds into up-funnel media channels as well as helping to further accelerate new customer acquisitions.

此外，我們在歐洲市場的轉換驅動力的不斷成熟使我們能夠將通路床擴展到漏斗上方的媒體管道，並幫助進一步加速新客戶的獲取。

Now I'll turn to product investments. In Q3, we continued to execute our strategy of driving new and repeat bookings by improving conversion rates and platform stickiness. First, we were pleased to respond to pet parent feedback by launching a beta version of our Star Sitter program in select markets. This program helps Rover to better identify care providers who provide particularly exemplary experiences.

現在我將轉向產品投資。第三季度，我們繼續執行透過提高轉換率和平台黏著度來推動新預訂和重複預訂的策略。首先，我們很高興回應寵物家長的回饋，在部分市場推出了 Star Sitter 計畫的測試版。該計劃幫助 Rover 更好地識別提供特別模範體驗的護理提供者。

Second, we addressed the pet parent pain point in Europe by rolling out recurring booking functionality. This capability allows them to easily schedule ongoing care for their pets, particularly for daytime services like daycare and dog walking.

其次，我們透過推出定期預約功能解決了歐洲寵物家長的痛點。此功能使他們能夠輕鬆安排寵物的持續護理，特別是日托和遛狗等日間服務。

Third, we implemented refinements to our scheduling functionality as well as the Contact More Sitters program. These improvements were in response to customer testing of recent enhancements to both capabilities. In total, we expect these changes to drive approximately 50,000 incremental bookings in 2024.

第三，我們對日程安排功能以及「聯繫更多保姆」計劃進行了改進。這些改進是為了回應客戶對這兩項功能的最新增強功能的測試。總的來說，我們預計這些變更將在 2024 年增加約 50,000 份預訂。

Importantly, I would like to highlight the product improvement efforts of our operations team. We have recently completed a global implementation of app-based support messaging for both pet parents and care providers as well as a reengineering of our self-service center. These improvements are responses to long-standing feedback from our community members who have wanted easier and more contact appropriate ways to contact us for help. Getting these capabilities to market has required nontrivial preparation and technical development on the part of our teams. Adoption of this capability has been very strong, and we expect for it to enable us to accomplish those rarest of double wins, higher customer satisfaction, and improved efficiency at the same time.

重要的是，我想強調我們營運團隊在產品改進方面所做的努力。我們最近為寵物父母和照護者完成了基於應用程式的支援訊息傳遞的全球實施，並對我們的自助服務中心進行了重新設計。這些改進是對我們社群成員長期回饋的回應，他們希望透過更簡單、更合適的方式聯絡我們尋求協助。將這些功能推向市場需要我們團隊進行大量的準備和技術開發。這種功能的採用率非常高，我們希望它能夠幫助我們實現最罕見的雙贏，同時提高客戶滿意度和效率。

I'm proud of our team's accomplishments and momentum, and I look forward to more progress. Our work though is never complete, and we continue to test additional product improvements to drive both new and repeat bookings.

我為我們團隊的成就和動力感到自豪，並期待取得更多進步。但我們的工作永遠不會完成，我們將繼續測試其他產品改進，以推動新預訂和重複預訂。

Now I'll turn the call over to Charlie to provide detail on our financial performance.

現在我將把電話轉給查理，以提供有關我們財務業績的詳細資訊。

Thanks, Brent. I'll begin by providing an update on our financial results for the second quarter, followed by guidance. Rover produced phenomenal financial results during the quarter, including strong revenue growth, substantial net income and continued adjusted EBITDA margin expansion. Further, as Aaron indicated, this success clearly demonstrates our ability to scale margins, and gives us confidence to consider raising the low end of our adjusted EBITDA margin target.

謝謝，布倫特。我將首先介紹第二季財務業績的最新情況，然後提供指導。羅孚在本季度取得了驚人的財務業績，包括強勁的收入成長、可觀的淨利潤以及調整後 EBITDA 利潤率的持續擴張。此外，正如 Aaron 指出的那樣，這一成功清楚地表明了我們擴大利潤率的能力，並使我們有信心考慮提高調整後 EBITDA 利潤率目標的下限。

For the quarter, GBV was up 25%, while revenue was up 30% to $66 million. Increase in revenue was primarily driven by 3 factors. First, approximately 2/3 of the revenue increase was driven by the 20% growth in bookings that Brent described.

本季 GBV 成長 25%，營收成長 30% 至 6,600 萬美元。收入成長主要由三個因素推動。首先，大約 2/3 的營收成長是由布倫特描述的預訂量成長 20% 推動的。

Second, approximately 1/5 of the revenue increase was due to the higher recognized take rate of 23.6%, up from 22.4% a year ago, which benefited from the shift of all U.S. owners to the 11% fee structure and the 90 basis point cancellation rate improvement.

其次，大約 1/5 的收入成長是由於確認的佣金率從一年前的 22.4% 上升至 23.6%，這得益於所有美國所有者轉向 11% 的費用結構和 90 個基點取消率改善。

And third, approximately 13% of the revenue increase was driven by higher ABVs of $142, which were up 4% year-over-year. The main driver of ABV growth was an increase in average price per unit of service. Improvements in take rate and cancellation rate have driven both growth in revenue as well as an expansion of our margins.

第三，大約 13% 的營收成長是由 142 美元的較高 ABV 推動的，該值年增 4%。 ABV 成長的主要驅動力是每單位服務平均價格的上漲。接受率和取消率的提高推動了收入的成長和利潤的擴大。

In Q3, our non-GAAP contribution margin increased to approximately 82% from 81% in Q3 2022.

第三季度，我們的非 GAAP 貢獻率從 2022 年第三季的 81% 增加到約 82%。

Moving to expenses. We continue to invest in up-funnel marketing through the summer peak season while managing costs across the business. Beyond the strong revenue performance and contribution margin improvement, the bottom line beat for the quarter was driven by 3 items. First, continued leverage in operations and support. In Q3, non-GAAP operations and support was 11% of revenue, an improvement from 14% of revenue in Q3 2022.

轉向開支。我們在整個夏季旺季繼續投資於通路行銷，同時管理整個業務的成本。除了強勁的營收表現和貢獻率改善之外，本季的獲利成長還受到 3 個項目的推動。首先，繼續發揮營運和支援的槓桿作用。第三季度，非 GAAP 營運和支援佔收入的 11%，較 2022 年第三季的 14% 有所提高。

Second, efficient marketing investment continues to drive scale in our business. In Q3, we were able to invest in marketing while keeping our non-GAAP marketing expense as a percentage of revenue in the low end of our target range. Third, our commitment to managing fixed costs and non-GAAP product development and non-GAAP G&A. Non-GAAP product development was 10.5% and non-GAAP G&A was 15% of revenue, both decreasing from 11.4% and 19% of revenue, respectively, in Q3 of 2022.

其次，高效率的行銷投資持續擴大我們的業務規模。在第三季度，我們能夠在行銷方面進行投資，同時將非公認會計準則行銷費用佔收入的百分比保持在目標範圍的低端。第三，我們致力於管理固定成本和非 GAAP 產品開發以及非 GAAP G&A。非 GAAP 產品開發佔營收的 10.5%，非 GAAP G&A 佔營收的 15%，均較 2022 年第三季分別佔營收的 11.4% 和 19% 有所下降。

We continue to believe that there are additional investments that will allow us to drive incremental improvement in our current offerings. We believe it is best to sequence our investments in product, only adding additional investments if they were expected to be accretive to our medium-term trajectory. With this approach, our year-over-year incremental margins have continued to demonstrate the high-margin leverage potential of Rover and our ability to generate enduring annual net income.

我們仍然相信，額外的投資將使我們能夠推動當前產品的逐步改進。我們認為，最好對我們的產品投資進行排序，只有在預計會增加我們的中期發展軌蹟的情況下才增加額外的投資。透過這種方法，我們的逐年增量利潤繼續證明了 Rover 的高利潤槓桿潛力以及我們產生持久年度淨利潤的能力。

Moving to an update on our buyback program. Through November 1, we have repurchased a total of 9.1 million shares for an aggregate purchase price of $49 million, nearing the full amount of our authorized program. As of November 1, our shares outstanding is approximately 179.6 million, a decrease of 4.9 million from year-end 2022. We're happy with our current cash balance and the multiyear cash generation potential of the business, and we believe that a repurchase of our shares continues to be an effective investment of our capital.

轉向我們的回購計劃的更新。截至 11 月 1 日，我們已回購了總計 910 萬股股票，總購買價為 4,900 萬美元，接近我們授權計畫的全額。截至 11 月 1 日，我們的流通股約為 1.796 億股，比 2022 年底減少了 490 萬股。我們對當前的現金餘額和業務的多年現金產生潛力感到滿意，我們相信回購我們的股票仍然是我們資本的有效投資。

Accordingly, our Board has authorized an extension of our repurchase program to February of 2025 and refreshed the available capital with an additional $100 million.

因此，我們的董事會已授權將我們的回購計畫延長至 2025 年 2 月，並新增 1 億美元的可用資本。

Now turning to guidance. As Aaron discussed, we are excited by our performance as we head in the final few months of the year, and thus, are raising our full year 2023 guidance. We continue to see that our performance has outpaced macro headwinds. As a result, the increase in guidance takes into account our overperformance in Q3 and our higher confidence in our ability to execute in the current environment.

現在轉向指導。正如 Aaron 所討論的，我們對今年最後幾個月的表現感到興奮，因此提高了 2023 年全年指導。我們繼續看到我們的表現已經超越了宏觀阻力。因此，指導意見的增加考慮到了我們在第三季的超額表現以及我們對當前環境下執行能力的更高信心。

Similar to previous guides, we continue to account for potential illness related impacts, and we're also keeping an eye on pet adoption and spend trends, home sales volumes and leisure travel trends.

與先前的指南類似，我們繼續考慮潛在的疾病相關影響，我們也密切關注寵物收養和支出趨勢、房屋銷售量和休閒旅行趨勢。

For the full year 2023, we now expect revenue of $230 million to $232 million, which at the midpoint would be a 33% increase in revenue over 2022. An adjusted EBITDA of $46 million to $48 million or a 20% adjusted EBITDA margin at the midpoint.

對於 2023 年全年，我們目前預計營收為 2.3 億至 2.32 億美元，中間值將比 2022 年營收成長 33%。調整後 EBITDA 為 4,600 萬至 4,800 萬美元，或調整後 EBITDA 利潤率為 20%中點。

Fourth quarter, we expect $64 million to $66 million in revenue, which at the midpoint would be a 25% increase in revenue over Q4 2022, and $17 million to $19 million in adjusted EBITDA or a 28% adjusted EBITDA margin at the midpoint.

我們預計第四季的營收為6,400 萬美元至6,600 萬美元，中點將比2022 年第四季營收成長25%，調整後EBITDA 為1,700 萬美元至1,900 萬美元，或中點調整後EBITDA 利潤率為28%。

In summary, Rover generated fantastic top line growth, expanded adjusted EBITDA margins, produced net income, all while investing in our products and delivering capital to shareholders. These results are a demonstration of the focus and dedication of the Rover team and our ability to capitalize on the market opportunity.

總而言之，Rover 實現了驚人的營收成長，擴大了調整後的 EBITDA 利潤率，產生了淨利潤，同時投資於我們的產品並向股東提供資本。這些結果證明了 Rover 團隊的專注和奉獻精神以及我們利用市場機會的能力。

With that, we will now turn to questions. Operator, can you open it up for Q&A?

說到這裡，我們現在開始提問。接線員，可以打開問答嗎？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will come from Ralph Schackart of William Blair.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自威廉布萊爾的拉爾夫沙卡特。

First question, just on the really strong trends you're seeing in new customer acquisition. Brent, I think on the call, you talked about upper funnel media trends, accelerating the new customer growth. Maybe just a little bit more color on the media strategy. Are you finding more new channels? Are you becoming more efficient? It's a combination of both? And then I have a follow-up, please.

第一個問題，關於您在新客戶獲取方面看到的真正強勁的趨勢。布倫特，我想在電話會議上，您談到了漏斗上層媒體趨勢，即加速新客戶的成長。也許只是在媒體策略上多一點色彩。您是否正在尋找更多新管道？你變得更有效率了嗎？它是兩者的結合嗎？然後我有一個後續行動，請。

Thanks, Ralph. Yes, I think what we're starting to see is the accumulation of efforts that we've had going for a while. I think we've talked in previous calls about how the returns on the upper funnel channels, you get some of it immediately and then you get a lot of it in future months. And because we've had our upper funnel channels not only on but accelerating or growing at a steady rate, we're starting to kind of see kind of a rolling trend of increasing up-funnel bookings.

謝謝，拉爾夫。是的，我認為我們開始看到的是我們一段時間以來努力的累積。我想我們在之前的電話會議中已經討論過如何透過上漏斗管道獲得回報，您會立即獲得其中一些，然後在未來幾個月內獲得大量回報。因為我們的上層漏斗頻道不僅已開啟，而且還在以穩定的速度加速或成長，所以我們開始看到上層漏斗預訂增加的滾動趨勢。

We have an internal measure where we try to take a look at what we think the category is doing and then what we think we're doing from a customer acquisition standpoint. And we're staying well ahead of the category. And we think a lot of that is attributable to our momentum in -- with up-funnel channels.

我們有一個內部衡量標準，我們試圖看看我們認為該類別正在做什麼，然後從客戶獲取的角度來看我們認為我們正在做什麼。我們在同類產品中保持領先地位。我們認為這在很大程度上要歸功於我們在上漏斗通路的勢頭。

Too early to say what the new spot is doing, although very early signals have been positive.

雖然很早就發出了積極的信號，但現在說這個新地點正在做什麼還為時過早。

Great. Maybe just a follow-up, kind of bigger picture. Aaron, I think you talked about just seeing still weakness in the drivers that you track, yet you're still posting really, really strong growth. Maybe if you can just sort of reconcile that as I'm guessing a lot of it is product driven. And then on the weakness in the drivers, are they still at the same level? Are they getting any better on a relative basis? Just any more color on that would be awesome.

偉大的。也許只是一個後續行動，更大的圖像。亞倫，我認為您談到了您所追蹤的驅動程式仍然存在弱點，但您仍然發布了非常非常強勁的成長。也許如果你能調和這一點，因為我猜很多都是產品驅動的。那麼在車手的弱點方面，他們仍然處於同一水平嗎？相對而言，他們有進步嗎？如果再多一點顏色那就太好了。

Sure. So over the last several years, a lot of focus has been on travel and COVID, because that was kind of the dominating inputs into our business. But the reality has always been a lot more complex. People are more likely to consider a Rover sitter when they make a move and are moving to a place without the same network of friends, family and neighbors. So housing market impacts Rover.

當然。因此，在過去的幾年裡，人們的注意力主要集中在旅行和新冠疫情上，因為這是我們業務的主要投入。但現實總是複雜得多。當人們搬家並搬到一個沒有相同朋友、家人和鄰居網絡的地方時，他們更有可能考慮 Rover 保姆。因此，房地產市場會影響羅孚。

Interest in pet adoption and kind of what people are willing to spend on their pets are also big factors. And we're seeing that those are starting to matter a little bit more as the travel and COVID environment becomes a little bit steadier.

對收養寵物的興趣以及人們願意在寵物身上花多少錢也是重要因素。我們發現，隨著旅行和新冠疫情環境變得更加穩定，這些問題開始變得更加重要。

The growth we're seeing is really a testament to how well the business can work, especially as it scales. We believe we have a competitive advantage in what we do. We are, by far, the largest share player in terms of an online transactional marketplace for pet services. And we have really good word of mouth. So we hope to continue to outgrow category, although all the different factors that contribute to category has become more complicated.

我們所看到的成長確實證明了業務的運作情況，尤其是在規模擴大的情況下。我們相信我們所做的事情具有競爭優勢。到目前為止，我們是寵物服務線上交易市場中最大的份額參與者。我們的口碑非常好。因此，我們希望繼續超越品類，儘管影響品類的所有不同因素都變得更加複雜。

Our next question will come from the line of Andrew Boone of JMP Securities.

我們的下一個問題將來自 JMP 證券公司的安德魯·布恩 (Andrew Boone)。

I want to start with repeat bookings. Growth accelerated there and just another strong quarter. In addition to your comments to Ralph's question, is there anything else that you can unpack to help us understand just the strength that you're seeing?

我想從重複預訂開始。那裡的成長加速，又一個強勁的季度。除了您對拉爾夫問題的評論之外，您還可以解開其他任何內容來幫助我們了解您所看到的優勢嗎？

Sure. Repeat bookings is something that for our business has been kind of up continually year-over-year. If you look pre-COVID, our cohorts just go up every year. And the driving force varies a little bit year-to-year. Sometimes it may be a little bit more on pricing, sometimes it may be more on bookings per customer, sometimes it's better long-term retention. Sometimes it's the introduction of new services. But that's kind of the normal trend we saw pre-pandemic.

當然。對於我們的業務來說，重複預訂量逐年持續上升。如果你看看新冠疫情之前的情況，你會發現我們的人數每年都在增加。而且驅動力每年都略有不同。有時可能會更專注於定價，有時可能會更多地關注每個客戶的預訂，有時可能會更好地長期保留。有時是新服務的引入。但這是我們在大流行前看到的正常趨勢。

And so over the last 3 years, we've just kind of seen a return to the underlying fundamentals of the business around our cohorts. This quarter specifically, we saw a little bit of an acceleration in the bookings per customer compared to last year on our daytime services. So the bookings per customer was up more year-over-year than the overnight services. It's too early to say whether or not that's a return to work phenomenon, but it's nice to see. It hasn't moved the overall mix that much yet, a little bit, but we're seeing that dynamic as well.

因此，在過去的三年裡，我們剛剛看到了我們團隊的業務基本面的回歸。特別是本季度，我們發現與去年相比，日間服務的每位客戶預訂量略有成長。因此，每位客戶的預訂量年增幅高於隔夜服務。現在說這是否是重返工作崗位的現象還為時過早，但很高興看到這一點。它還沒有對整體組合產生太大的影響，但我們也看到了這種動態。

That's helpful. And then I wanted to go to long-term margins. Incremental kind of EBITDA margins on revenue was, I think, 47% this last quarter. You guys have printed something over 40 throughout 2023. Understood it's very early here and you guys may not want to give us that much guidance here. But is that the right way to think about the potential of long-term margins is kind of look at the 2023 steady state of kind of that 40% plus and then imply from there? Or how do you guys think about it?

這很有幫助。然後我想追求長期利潤。我認為上個季度 EBITDA 營收利潤率的增量為 47%。你們在 2023 年已經印製了超過 40 份內容。知道現在還為時過早，你們可能不想在這裡給我們那麼多指導。但是，考慮長期利潤潛力的正確方法是查看 2023 年 40% 以上的穩定狀態，然後從那裡暗示嗎？或者大家是怎麼看待這個問題的呢？

Andrew, yes, our last couple of quarters, the incremental margins have been quite strong, above 40%. We're -- I would say it is too early for us to provide guidance on this at this time. But it is one of the main reasons why we're looking at adjusting the low end of our long-term adjusted EBITDA guide. Previously, that was set at 30%. But based on the performance this year, the wins that we're getting from the product side, the help that we're getting from new customer growth, as well as the repeat booking dynamic, it's just causing us to take a step back and take a second look at that number. But too early to give you incremental guide beyond that.

安德魯，是的，我們過去幾季的增量利潤率相當強勁，超過 40%。我想說，現在對此提供指導還為時過早。但這也是我們考慮調整長期調整後 EBITDA 指引下限的主要原因之一。此前，該比例設定為 30%。但根據今年的表現，我們從產品方面獲得的勝利，我們從新客戶成長中獲得的幫助，以及重複預訂的動態，這只會讓我們後退一步，再看一下這個數字。但為您提供除此之外的增量指南還為時過早。

Just adding to Charlie's point, the fact that we felt compelled to bring it up suggests that we believe it's a material change to that lower bound. So we're talking percentage points or more not basis points. We think that your proposal in terms of looking at the incremental flow-through way is a very good way to think about the incremental flow through and how that could drive our long-term margins.

只是補充查理的觀點，我們感到有必要提出這個事實，這表明我們相信這是對該下限的重大改變。所以我們談論的是百分點或更多，而不是基點。我們認為，您關於增量流通方式的建議是思考增量流通以及這如何推動我們的長期利潤的好方法。

When we use the term long term, we're typically talking about 3 to 5 years. So that's actually the work we're doing right now is kind of saying, hey, what do we think is appropriate range for the 3- to 5-year time frame. But if you were to go out longer, yes, we think it could be even higher.

當我們使用「長期」一詞時，我們通常指的是 3 到 5 年。因此，實際上我們現在正在做的工作就是說，嘿，我們認為 3 到 5 年時間範圍內的合適範圍是多少。但如果你出去的時間更長，是的，我們認為價格可能會更高。

Our next question will come from Maria Ripps of Canaccord.

我們的下一個問題將來自 Canaccord 的 Maria Ripps。

First, you shared contribution to revenue growth in the quarter. But can you maybe just talk about some of the areas of strength in the quarter versus your internal expectations at the time you provided guidance back in August? And I guess, how sustainable some of those factors are heading into Q4?

首先，你們分享了本季營收成長的貢獻。但您能否談談本季的一些優勢領域以及您在 8 月提供指導時的內部預期？我想，其中一些因素進入第四季的可持續性如何？

Maria, it's Charlie. I'll take a first shot at that and see if Aaron or Brent want to weigh in. With regards to how we were thinking about the business last quarter, one of the biggest things that was an unknown for us was how the macro was going to play out starting here in Q3 and continuing into Q4. At that time, the best estimates that we have seen externally were regarding a recession with a chance of it hitting in Q4. As we went through the quarter, we just continued to see strength from the business. Not only did our product wins play out, but whatever level of macro disruption there was, we were able to overcome it. And so that contributed quite a bit to the quarterly beat.

瑪麗亞，是查理。我將首先對此進行嘗試，看看亞倫或布倫特是否願意參與其中。關於我們如何看待上個季度的業務，我們未知的最大事情之一是宏觀形勢如何發展從第三季度開始一直持續到第四季。當時，我們看到的外部最佳估計是經濟衰退，有可能在第四季發生。在整個季度中，我們繼續看到業務的強勁勢頭。我們不僅在產品上取得了勝利，而且無論宏觀破壞的程度如何，我們都能夠克服它。因此，這對季度成長做出了相當大的貢獻。

With regards to revenue, I walked through those. But with regards to the expense dynamic, we have pretty good line of sight to our costs. They are controllable. We have a team that is dedicated to staying within the parameters that they have set for themselves within a quarter. So really the biggest, if you want to call it, a surprise, was with regards to the macro, but it was to the positive.

關於收入，我詳細介紹了這些。但就費用動態而言，我們對成本有很好的了解。它們是可控的。我們有一個團隊致力於在一個季度內保持在他們為自己設定的參數範圍內。所以，如果你想稱其為驚喜的話，真正最大的驚喜是宏觀方面的，但它是積極的。

Got it. that's very helpful. And then is there any color you can share in terms of how you're thinking about the level of investment next year? And to what extent is your investment cadence predicated on the macro environment?

知道了。這非常有幫助。那麼您對明年的投資水準有何看法？您的投資節奏在多大程度上取決於宏觀環境？

Well, it's worth kind of dividing that a little bit into our investments in product versus marketing. Brent has talked about for several quarters now our desire to move a little bit more up funnel and to reach more of that friends, family, neighbor segment that we think is our primary TAM opportunity. We expect that to continue.

嗯，值得將其分為我們對產品和行銷的投資。布倫特（Brent）已經在幾個季度中談到了我們希望在漏斗中更上一層樓並接觸到更多我們認為是我們主要 TAM 機會的朋友、家人、鄰居群體。我們預計這種情況會持續下去。

But to Charlie's point, the team is very disciplined about working within the constructs of our unit economic parameters. We don't drive growth for the sake of driving growth. We drive growth because we believe it's profitable growth and a very profitable growth.

但就查理的觀點而言，團隊在我們單位經濟參數的框架內工作非常有紀律。我們不會為了推動成長而推動成長。我們推動成長，因為我們相信這是有利可圖的成長，而且是非常有利可圖的成長。

So we think that, that dynamic plays out naturally. In a weaker environment, we'll probably spend less than we otherwise would. In a stronger environment, we'll probably spend a little bit more.

所以我們認為，這種動力自然會發揮出來。在較弱的環境中，我們的支出可能會比平常少。在更強勁的環境中，我們可能會花更多一點。

With regards to the product side and our investments in new capabilities, we continue to think that we are generally staffed appropriately. We expect to continue to invest heavily into our existing product and make it work better and better and better. But we also expect to continue to experiment in new opportunities to address pet parents' pain points. And so there'll be a continued mix of that.

關於產品方面和我們對新功能的投資，我們仍然認為我們的人員配置總體上是適當的。我們希望繼續對現有產品進行大量投資，使其運作得越來越好。但我們也希望繼續嘗試新的機會來解決寵物父母的痛點。因此，這種情況將會持續存在。

For our product investments, we have a longer horizon. So we wouldn't expect to whipsaw that investment around too much based on the ebbs and flows on a quarter-to-quarter basis on the macro.

對於我們的產品投資，我們有更長遠的眼光。因此，我們預期投資不會因宏觀經濟每季的波動而大幅波動。

Got it. That makes sense. Congrats on the strong quarter.

知道了。這就說得通了。恭喜季度表現強勁。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question will come from Eric Sheridan of Goldman Sachs.

（操作員指令）我們的下一個問題將來自高盛的埃里克·謝裡丹。

Maybe 2, if I can. One would be a longer-term one. How do you continue to sort of think about pricing of your services longer term in terms of elasticity and what that might mean for incremental margin or ability to reinvest back in the business over the long term when you see some of the supply-demand dynamics around the services layer of the platform? That would be number one.

如果可以的話，也許是 2 個。一種是長期的。當您看到周圍的一些供需動態時，您如何繼續考慮彈性方面的長期服務定價，以及這對增量利潤或長期再投資於業務的能力意味著什麼平台的服務層？那將是第一。

And then you talked a little bit about cancellation rates. I think they're still below sort of pre-COVID levels. Any update on things you're doing to sort of address cancellation rates over the medium to long term, maybe bring them back into sort of a normative state?

然後您談到了取消率。我認為它們仍低於新冠疫情前的水平。您為解決中長期取消率問題所做的任何更新，也許能讓它們恢復到規範狀態？

Eric, we believe that the pricing in the marketplace continues to drift up although not as quickly as it did before. If you look pre-COVID, we generally saw a drift-up in the price points that providers charge, both as a function of market maturity as well as developing their own reputation on the platform. That drift-up in price has been somewhat counteracted by market mix shifts. So if we expand more into geographies that are less developed and have lower cost of living, those may have lower price points. But when you look within service lines and within markets, there's a pretty clear drift-up.

艾瑞克（Eric），我們相信市場上的價格繼續上漲，儘管速度不像以前那麼快。如果你看看新冠疫情之前的情況，我們通常會看到提供者收取的價格點上升，這既是市場成熟度的函數，也是他們在平台上建立聲譽的函數。價格的上漲在一定程度上被市場結構的變化所抵消。因此，如果我們更多地擴展到欠發達且生活成本較低的地區，這些地區的價格可能會更低。但當你觀察服務線和市場時，你會發現明顯的上升趨勢。

We do believe that the overall improvement in our cohorts is one of the things that contributes to our confidence in our ability to invest in both marketing and product. It's nice to see the return to normal almost with regards to our cohorts just improving year-over-year. We think part of that improvement gets automatically funneled back into our marketing because it can increase what we're willing to spend for a new customer without any change to our earn-back period or LTV to CAC ratio. But we can also invest some of it in product as well, which we have a longer-term view.

我們確實相信，我們團隊的整體進步是增強我們對行銷和產品投資能力充滿信心的因素之一。很高興看到我們的隊列幾乎恢復正常，並且逐年改善。我們認為，這種改進的一部分會自動回流到我們的行銷中，因為它可以增加我們願意為新客戶支出的金額，而無需改變我們的獲利期或 LTV 與 CAC 比率。但我們也可以將其中的一部分投資於產品，我們有更長遠的眼光。

But we don't expect the pricing changes to be so material that, that would materially change how we're approaching our fixed cost structure.

但我們預期定價變動不會如此重大，以至於會大幅改變我們接近固定成本結構的方式。

Eric, I'll take your question on cancellation rate. So a couple of quarters ago, I brought up a product enhancement that we rolled out and has been burning in with time. And that's with the ability for providers to be flexible or adjust their cancellation rate policies.

艾瑞克，我會回答你關於取消率的問題。因此，在幾個季度前，我提出了我們推出的產品增強功能，並且隨著時間的推移一直在不斷改進。這意味著提供者能夠靈活地調整其取消費率政策。

We've continued to see the adoption of that tick up. About 25% of providers on the platform have now opted in for a 3-day cancellation rate policy, a little bit more aggressive. That's up about 400 basis points year-over-year, so that's continuing to burn in. We also look for other opportunities to make it more known for pet parents as they're looking whether or not a provider has a higher level of last-minute cancellations on their side. So we are doing things to make it more obvious for users of the platform to understand cancellation rate dynamics, and we're seeing that play out with time.

我們繼續看到這種趨勢的採用。該平台上大約 25% 的供應商現在選擇了 3 天取消費率政策，這項政策更加激進。這一數字同比增長了約 400 個基點，因此這一數字仍在持續增長。我們還尋找其他機會，讓寵物父母更加了解這一點，因為他們正在尋找提供者是否具有更高水平的最後-他們這邊有分鐘的取消。因此，我們正在採取措施，讓平台使用者更明顯地了解取消率動態，並且我們看到隨著時間的推移，這種情況會逐漸顯現。

Here in Q3, we did see some ebbs and flows with regards to illness waves. But during this quarter, we saw our cancellation rate not be as affected as in past quarters. So we do see some normalization taking place relative to illness. But we think with time, our cancellation rates could probably continue to drift down.

在第三季度，我們確實看到了疾病浪潮的一些起伏。但在本季度，我們發現取消率沒有像過去幾季那樣受到影響。因此，我們確實看到與疾病相關的一些正常化正在發生。但我們認為，隨著時間的推移，我們的取消率可能會繼續下降。

Our next question will come from Tom White of D.A. Davidson & Company.

我們的下一個問題將來自 D.A. 的 Tom White。戴維森公司。

Two, if I could. I guess, first, I think there was some comment maybe from you, Aaron, about LTV for customers acquired in the quarter kind of approaching all-time records. I was hoping you could just kind of unpack some of the drivers there.

兩個，如果可以的話。我想，首先，亞倫，我想您可能對本季獲得的客戶生命週期價值（LTV）發表了一些評論，接近歷史記錄。我希望你能解壓那裡的一些驅動程式。

And then second, I'm curious about booking windows. One of the big OTAs talked about some expansion of the booking windows on their recent call and seeing kind of a strong pipeline of travel booked kind of in the first quarter. Curious if you guys are seeing kind of similar dynamics as it relates to your booking windows for overnight stays. I wouldn't expect it to be maybe as far out as kind of the first quarter, but just curious to hear your thoughts on how you're feeling generally about visibility over the next several months.

其次，我對預訂窗口很好奇。一家大型線上旅行社在最近的電話會議上談到了預訂窗口的一些擴大，並看到第一季的旅行預訂管道強勁。很好奇你們是否看到了與過夜住宿預訂窗口相關的類似動態。我不認為它會像第一季那樣遙遠，但只是想聽聽您對未來幾個月的可見性的整體感受。

Tom, I'll take the first question and then hand it over to Charlie for the second one. The LTVs for this quarter were driven by a couple of things. The first is the fact that we've seen some moderation of the cancellation rates means that our realized value per customer improves. And we've also seen a minor increase in the bookings per customer on a year-over-year basis if you compare the first 9 months of this year versus the 9 months of last year. That was a little bit more pronounced in the daytime services.

湯姆，我將回答第一個問題，然後將第二個問題交給查理。本季的生命週期價值由幾個因素推動。首先，我們看到取消率下降，這意味著我們每位客戶的實現價值有所提高。如果將今年前 9 個月與去年的 9 個月進行比較，我們也發現每位客戶的預訂量比去年同期略有增加。這在日間禮拜中更為明顯。

Historically, the daytime services are capable of much higher frequency than the overnight services. People may take only a handful of trips a year, but if you're using doggy day care walking, you can use that a lot more frequently. So the fact that we've seen a little bit higher increase there is also positive.

從歷史上看，日間服務的頻率比夜間服務高得多。人們一年可能只進行幾次旅行，但如果您使用狗狗日托散步，則可以更頻繁地使用它。因此，我們看到增長略高這一事實也是積極的。

The overall amount of pricing that's driven the LTV expansion this year is, probably fair to say, less than the portion that it was last year.

公平地說，今年推動生命週期價值擴張的定價總量低於去年的比例。

Tom, with regards to booking window, there's no major changes in our end to report. Our overnight services continue to be booked about 3 weeks in advance, and our daytime services continue to be booked about a week in advance.

湯姆，關於預訂窗口，我們最終報告沒有重大變化。我們的過夜服務繼續提前約 3 週預訂，我們的日間服務繼續提前約一周預訂。

(Operator Instructions) Our next question will come from the line of Cory Carpenter of JPMorgan.

（操作員指示）我們的下一個問題將來自摩根大通的科里·卡彭特（Cory Carpenter）。

Maybe one for Charlie and one for you, Aaron. Charlie, could you just talk, did you see any impact to bookings in October around similar geopolitical events, whether in the U.S. or in Europe? Or could you just talk about your potential exposure there?

也許一份給查理，一份給你，亞倫。 Charlie，您能否談談，您認為 10 月類似的地緣政治事件（無論是在美國還是在歐洲）對預訂量有何影響？或者您能談談您在那裡的潛在風險嗎？

And then secondly, on the Bright Horizons partnership, could you just give us an update on how that's going and any lessons learned in terms of maybe partnerships you could go for in the future?

其次，關於 Bright Horizo​​ns 合作夥伴關係，您能否向我們介紹進展以及在未來可能建立的合作夥伴關係方面吸取的任何經驗教訓？

Cory, this is Brent, I think I'll take both of those. On the political events, we have not seen anything sort of hit our radar screen in terms of volume impacts that have been noticeable. Anytime there's something that's going on, whether there's a weather event in Florida or there's political events somewhere in the world, sometimes you can see small things, but nothing that is represented as a trend or is reportable.

科里，這是布倫特，我想我會接受這兩個。在政治事件方面，我們還沒有看到任何對我們的雷達螢幕產生明顯影響的事件。每當有事情發生時，無論是佛羅裡達州的天氣事件還是世界某個地方的政治事件，有時您可以看到一些小事情，但沒有任何東西可以代表趨勢或可以報告。

The Bright Horizons partnership, not a lot to report in terms of status. We continue to -- the partnership continues to exist. We continue to be proud of them as partners and we continue to acquire and reacquire customers through that partnership.

Bright Horizo​​ns 的合作夥伴關係，在狀態方面沒有太多可報告的。我們繼續——這種夥伴關係繼續存在。我們繼續為他們作為合作夥伴感到自豪，並且我們將繼續透過這種合作夥伴關係來獲取和重新獲取客戶。

We do -- there are themes around -- for us that have emerged around the occasion, which the Rover offer is surfaced and also the audiences that we're getting in front of that we think we can learn from. But in terms of the application of those to other partnerships, nothing to report yet.

我們確實——有一些主題——對我們來說，這些主題是圍繞著這個場合出現的，流浪者提供的產品已經浮出水面，還有我們認為可以從中學習的觀眾。但就這些在其他夥伴關係中的應用而言，目前還沒有什麼好報告的。

I am seeing no further questions in the queue. I would now like to turn the conference back to the CEO, Aaron Easterly, for closing remarks.

我在隊列中沒有看到更多問題。現在我想請執行長亞倫·伊斯特利 (Aaron Easterly) 致閉幕詞。

Thank you all for joining our call today. We are pleased with the performance of the business this quarter, and we're really excited about what's to come. Have a wonderful day, everyone.

感謝大家今天加入我們的電話會議。我們對本季的業務表現感到滿意，並且對未來的發展感到非常興奮。祝大家有美好的一天。

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you all for participating. You may now disconnect, and have a pleasant day.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝大家的參與。您現在可以斷開連接，並度過愉快的一天。