Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (SFM) 2023 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Sprouts Farmers Market Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, today's program is being recorded.

感謝您的耐心等待，歡迎參加 Sprouts Farmers Market 2023 年第二季財報電話會議。 （操作說明）提醒您，今天的會議正在錄音。

And now I'd like to introduce your host for today's program, Susannah Livingston, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer. Please go ahead.

現在，我謹向大家介紹今天節目的主持人，投資者關係副總裁兼財務主管蘇珊娜·利文斯頓。請開始吧。

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. We are pleased you are taking the time to join Sprouts on our second quarter 2023 earnings call. Jack Sinclair, Chief Executive Officer; and Chip Molloy, Chief Financial Officer, are with me today.

謝謝大家，下午好。我們很高興各位能抽出時間參加 Sprouts 2023 年第二季財報電話會議。今天，執行長 Jack Sinclair 和財務長 Chip Molloy 出席了會議。

The earnings release announcing our second quarter 2023 results, the webcast of this call and quarterly slides can be accessed through the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.sprouts.com.

您可以透過我們網站 investors.sprouts.com 的投資者關係部分存取我們 2023 年第二季業績的收益報告、本次電話會議的網路直播和季度投影片。

During this call, management may make certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our expectations for 2023 and beyond. These statements involve several risks and uncertainties that could cause results to differ materially from those described in the forward-looking statements. For more information, please refer to the risk factors discussed in our SEC filings and the commentary on forward-looking statements at the end of our earnings release.

在本次電話會議中，管理階層可能會做出某些前瞻性陳述，包括關於我們對2023年及以後業績預期的陳述。這些陳述涉及若干風險和不確定性，可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中所述的結果有重大差異。更多信息，請參閱我們提交給美國證券交易委員會（SEC）的文件中討論的風險因素，以及我們盈利報告末尾關於前瞻性陳述的評論。

Our remarks today include references to non-GAAP measures. Please see the tables in our earnings release to reconcile our non-GAAP measures to the comparable GAAP figures. With that, let me hand it over to Jack.

我們今天的演講中會提及非GAAP財務指標。請參閱我們獲利報告中的表格，以了解非GAAP財務指標與對應GAAP財務指標的對照表。接下來，我會把發言權交給傑克。

Thanks, Susannah, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm pleased to announce another solid quarter for Sprouts Farmers Market. Our 31,000 team members delivered comparable store sales growth of 3.2%, total sales growth of 6% and adjusted earnings per share growth of 25% in the second quarter. Their efforts to provide a unique in-store and online experience, differentiated products and superior customer service all continue to establish Sprouts as a go-to healthy specialty food retailer.

謝謝蘇珊娜，大家下午好。我很高興地宣布 Sprouts Farmers Market 又迎來了一個穩健的季度。在第二季度，我們 31,000 名團隊成員的努力下，同店銷售額增長了 3.2%，總銷售額增長了 6%，調整後每股收益增長了 25%。他們致力於提供獨特的線上線下購物體驗、差異化的產品和卓越的客戶服務，這些都進一步鞏固了 Sprouts 作為健康特色食品零售商的領先地位。

During the quarter, we opened 6 new stores and are on a path to open at least 30 for the full year, allowing us to profitably expand our reach to new health enthusiasts and innovation-seeking customers. During the quarter, we also relocated our Southern California distribution center to a new larger facility, and we simultaneously expanded our tech with DC. These distribution centers will allow us to bring fresher products to our customer base while providing capacity for growth in those markets for years to come.

本季度，我們新開了6家門市，並計劃全年至少開設30家，從而能夠以盈利的方式拓展業務，吸引更多注重健康生活方式和追求創新的顧客。本季度，我們也將南加州配送中心搬遷至規模更大的新址，並同時升級了配送中心的技術。這些配送中心將使我們能夠為客戶提供更新鮮的產品，並為未來幾年在這些市場的成長提供充足的產能。

In a moment, I'd like to turn it over to Chip, who will provide a closer look at our second quarter financial performance and our outlook for the remainder of the year. Before doing so, I want to take a few moments to thank Chip for his 10-plus years of service to Sprouts. As you may have seen in our release this afternoon, Chip has decided to retire at the end of this year. Chip has been a tremendous asset as a member of our Board and executive leadership team. And on a personal basis, I have valued and enjoyed our partnership.

稍後，我將把發言權交給Chip，他將詳細介紹我們第二季度的財務業績以及對今年剩餘時間的展望。在此之前，我想花幾分鐘時間感謝Chip十多年來為Sprouts做出的貢獻。正如您今天下午在我們發布的公告中看到的，Chip已決定在今年年底退休。身為董事會和執行領導團隊的成員，Chip一直是我們不可或缺的寶貴資產。就我個人而言，我非常珍惜並享受與他共事的時光。

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

接下來，我將把麥克風交給奇普。

Thanks, Jack, and good afternoon, everyone. For the second quarter, total sales were $1.7 billion, up $97 million or 6% from the same period in 2022. This increase was driven by adding new stores, combined with comparable store sales growth of 3.2%. We experienced positive comp transactions, our proxy for traffic throughout the quarter, combined with a net increase in basket. The basket increase was similar to the last several quarters, where the increase in retail inflation was partially offset by a slight decrease in the number of items in the basket from a year-over-year perspective.

謝謝傑克，大家下午好。第二季總銷售額為17億美元，較2022年同期成長9,700萬美元，增幅為6%。這一成長主要得益於新店開業以及同店銷售額3.2%的成長。本季同店交易量（我們以此作為客流量的指標）為正，同時客單價也實現了淨增長。客單價的成長與過去幾季的情況類似，零售通膨的上漲部分被同比客單價的略微下降所抵消。

As expected, moving into the third quarter, we are beginning to see a slight tapering of both the year-over-year price inflation and the unit declines. Our e-commerce sales grew 16% during the quarter, representing 12.1% of our total sales. Our new markets continue to show encouraging trends, driven by density of stores and increased brand awareness. On the product front, our strongest performing categories remain the ones with the most differentiation such as grocery, bakery, dairy and proteins, further supporting our strategic decision to focus on these key departments important to the Sprouts customer. Our private label or Sprouts brand sales grew 12% and represented 20% of total sales as innovation seekers value uniqueness and quality only to be found at Sprouts.

正如預期，進入第三季度，我們開始看到同比價格上漲和銷量下滑的趨勢略有放緩。本季，我們的電商銷售額成長了16%，佔總銷售額的12.1%。在門市密度和品牌知名度提升的推動下，我們的新市場持續呈現令人鼓舞的成長動能。在產品方面，表現最強勁的品類仍然是那些差異化程度最高的品類，例如食品雜貨、烘焙食品、乳製品和肉類產品，這進一步印證了我們專注於這些對Sprouts顧客至關重要的關鍵部門的戰略決策。我們的自有品牌或Sprouts品牌銷售額成長了12%，佔總銷售額的20%，因為追求創新的顧客重視Sprouts獨有的獨特性和高品質。

Turning to gross margin. Second quarter gross margin was 37%. Excluding the impact of special items, adjusted gross margin was 37.1%, an increase of approximately 70 basis points compared to last year. Category mix shifts and continued promotional optimization contributed to the secretion. SG&A for the quarter totaled $498 million. Excluding the impact of special items, adjusted SG&A totaled $494 million, an increase of $32 million from the same period in 2022. This increase was primarily driven by the addition of new stores and higher e-commerce fees. Like many other retailers, over the last several quarters, we have been experiencing rising labor costs. More recently, we've also invested in a more engaging store bonus program and additional labor hours for sampling to support the business' long-term growth. To date, our operations and information technology teams have done a remarkable job of offsetting those increases with new processes and technologies while enhancing the customer experience. Examples include the implementation of FIM or Fresh Item Management, a new labor management system, installation of self-checkouts and more efficient sequencing of professional tags.

接下來談談毛利率。第二季毛利率為37%。剔除特殊項目的影響後，調整後毛利率為37.1%，較去年同期成長約70個基點。品類組合調整和持續的促銷優化是毛利率成長的主要驅動因素。本季銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）總計4.98億美元。剔除特殊項目的影響後，調整後SG&A總計4.94億美元，較2022年同期增加3,200萬美元。這一增長主要源自於新門市的開設和電商費用的上漲。與許多其他零售商一樣，過去幾季我們一直面臨勞動成本上漲的問題。近期，我們還投資了更具吸引力的門市獎勵計劃，並增加了樣品派發的工時，以支持業務的長期成長。迄今為止，我們的營運和資訊科技團隊在透過新流程和技術抵消這些成本成長的同時，也顯著提升了客戶體驗。例如，實施 FIM（新鮮物品管理系統）、新的勞動力管理系統、安裝自助結帳機以及更有效地對專業標籤進行排序。

Store closures and other costs totaled approximately $2 million for the quarter, while depreciation and amortization, exclusive of the depreciation included in cost of sales was $34 million for the quarter. Excluding special items associated with our store closure decision in the prior quarter, the adjusted depreciation and amortization totaled $32 million.

本季門市關閉及其他相關費用總計約200萬美元，而本季折舊及攤提（不包括計入銷售成本的折舊）為3,400萬美元。若剔除上季與門市關閉決定相關的特殊項目，調整後的折舊及攤銷總額為3,200萬美元。

For the quarter, our earnings before interest and taxes were $92 million, while interest expense was $2 million. Net income was $67 million and diluted earnings per share were $0.65. Excluding the impact of special items, adjusted earnings before interest and taxes were $100 million and adjusted net income was $73 million. Adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.71, an increase of 25% compared to the same quarter in the prior year.

本季度，我們的息稅前利潤為9,200萬美元，利息支出為200萬美元。淨利為6700萬美元，稀釋後每股收益為0.65美元。剔除特殊項目的影響後，調整後的息稅前利潤為1億美元，調整後的淨利為7,300萬美元。調整後的稀釋後每股收益為0.71美元，較上年同期成長25%。

Now let's turn to our cash flow and balance sheet, which remains robust and strong. During the second quarter, our cash generation allowed us to first and foremost, invest in our business, including opening 6 new stores, the new distribution center, expanding a distribution center and investment in convenience meal fixtures. In total, we spent $48 million in capital expenditures net of landlord reimbursement. We also paid down $50 million of our bank revolver and returned $50 million to our owners by repurchasing 1.4 million shares. We ended the second quarter with [$259 million] (corrected by company after the call) in cash and cash equivalents, $175 million outstanding on our $700 million revolver and $22 million of outstanding letters of credit.

現在我們來看看現金流和資產負債表，它們仍然穩健。第二季度，我們充足的現金流使我們能夠優先投資於業務發展，包括開設6家新店、新建配送中心、擴大現有配送中心以及投資便利食品設備。扣除房東補償後，我們的資本支出總計4,800萬美元。此外，我們也償還了5,000萬美元的銀行循環信貸，並透過回購140萬股股票向股東返還了5,000萬美元。第二季末，我們持有現金及現金等價物2.59億美元（公司在電話會議後進行了更正），7億美元循環信貸中未償還1.75億美元，以及未償還信用證2200萬美元。

As we evaluate our expectations for the remainder of the year, we continue to monitor consumer spending and behaviors in a dynamic environment and focus on controlling what we can control. For the full year, we continue to expect sales growth in the range of 5% to 6% and comp sales growth of 2% to 3%. We expect gross margins to be slightly up and a slight deleverage in SG&A due predominantly to the acceleration of new store growth and rising labor costs. The deleverage will be a bit more in third quarter, mainly due to timing shifts we mentioned last quarter. We are raising expected adjusted earnings before interest and taxes to be between $378 million and $390 million and adjusted earnings per share to be between $2.68 and $2.76, which assumes no additional share repurchases. That said, we do expect to continue to repurchase shares opportunistically.

在評估今年剩餘時間的預期時，我們將繼續密切關注瞬息萬變的消費者支出和行為，並專注於控制我們可控的因素。我們仍預期全年銷售額將成長5%至6%，同店銷售額成長2%至3%。我們預計毛利率將略有上升，銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）將略有下降，主要得益於新店擴張加速和勞動成本上升。第三季的下降幅度將更大，這主要是由於我們上季度提到的時間調整。我們將調整後息稅前利潤預期上調至3.78億美元至3.9億美元，調整後每股盈餘預期上調至2.68美元至2.76美元，以上預期均假設不進行額外的股票回購。儘管如此，我們仍計劃在市場機會出現時繼續進行股票回購。

As Jack mentioned in his opening remarks, we're on track to open at least 30 new stores this year, all of which are in our current prototype. Capital expenditures net of landlord reimbursements should be between $190 million and $210 million. For the third quarter, we expect comp sales of low single digits and adjusted earnings per share between $0.59 and $0.63.

正如傑克在開場白中提到的，我們今年預計會開設至少30家新店，所有門市都採用我們目前的樣板模式。扣除房東補償後，資本支出預計在1.9億美元至2.1億美元之間。我們預計第三季同店銷售額將實現個位數低成長，調整後每股收益介於0.59美元至0.63美元之間。

With that, let me turn it back to Jack. Jack?

那麼，現在讓我把話題轉回傑克。傑克？

Thanks, Chip. We continue to be encouraged by our performance to date, driven by the strategic changes we've made over the past few years. Our differentiated products are resonating with our core customer segments. Supply chain continues to get stronger and more efficient. We are accelerating our store growth with our new prototype. We are improving customer experience, both in-store and online and slowly but surely connecting more effectively with current and potential customers.

謝謝，Chip。過去幾年我們進行了一些策略調整，這些調整推動了我們迄今為止的業績，令我們倍感鼓舞。我們的差異化產品引起了核心客戶群的共鳴。供應鏈持續增強，效率不斷提高。我們正在利用新的原型產品加速門市擴張。我們正在改善線上線下的客戶體驗，並穩步提升與現有客戶和潛在客戶的聯繫。

As I have mentioned many times, we are a specialty food retailer. We curate products that contain attributes appealing to the health enthusiast customer. For example, in proteins, more than 50% of our beef sales are grass-fed, more than 50% of our chicken sales are organic and 90% of our grocery sales have specific diet attributes such as vegan and non-GMO. Even in produce, which many consider a commodity, over 40% of our sales are organic. This is a significant difference from other grocers.

正如我多次提到的，我們是一家特色食品零售商。我們精心挑選具有吸引健康飲食愛好者的產品。例如，在蛋白質方面，我們超過50%的牛肉是草飼牛肉，超過50%的雞肉是有機雞肉，90%的食品雜貨都具有特定的飲食屬性，例如純素食和非基因改造食品。即使是許多人視為普通商品的農產品，我們超過40%的銷售額也是有機的。這與其他食品雜貨商有著顯著的不同。

Our innovation seekers are also finding a treasure trove of products from locally sourced produce to our private label Sprouts brand. In the second quarter, we focused on our seasonal produce assortments in each region and shared the local grower stories in store. For the second quarter, approximately 19% of our produce sales were from local farms.

我們的創新探索者也發現，從本地採購的農產品到我們自有品牌 Sprouts，琳瑯滿目的商品令人目不暇給。第二季度，我們將重點放在各地區的當季農產品，並在店內分享當地種植者的故事。第二季度，我們約有 19% 的農產品銷售額來自本地農場。

As Chip mentioned, Sprouts brand continues to be a growth driver for us with penetration over 20% this year. We have driven the brand through active sampling, e-commerce and store merchandising improvements and redesigned packaging. Our team has released over 200 new Sprouts brand items this year, focusing on relevant taste profiles and health attributes. We were honored this year to receive many Vertex awards, including Retailer of the Year and several gold, silver and bronze awards for our curated products. We're eliminating the guest work of finding healthy alternatives because differentiated healthy options are who we are and what we sell.

正如Chip所提到的，Sprouts品牌持續為我們帶來成長動力，今年的市場滲透率已超過20%。我們透過積極的試吃推廣、電商和門市陳列優化以及重新設計包裝等方式推動了品牌發展。我們的團隊今年推出了200多款Sprouts品牌新品，重點關注其相關的口味和健康屬性。我們很榮幸今年榮獲多項Vertex獎項，包括年度零售商獎以及多項金、銀、銅獎，這些獎項均表彰了我們精心挑選的產品。我們無需再費力尋找健康的替代品，因為差異化的健康選擇正是我們品牌的核心所在，也是我們銷售的重點。

As I mentioned earlier, during the second quarter, we were busy improving our supply chain. We successfully opened our new larger Southern California DC in Fullerton in May and closed the Colton, California DC that we outgrew in late June. We doubled the size of our Texas DC and added ripening capabilities in our Texas and Arizona DCs. These expansions grew our DC square footage by approximately 40%. Coupled with our recently opened DC in Colorado and Florida, these expansions allow us to support our 10% store growth while improving our produce quality and freshness.

正如我之前提到的，第二季我們致力於優化供應鏈。 5月份，我們在富勒頓成功啟用了規模更大的南加州配送中心，並在6月底關閉了因業務成長而無法滿足需求的科爾頓配送中心。我們還將德州配送中心的面積擴大了一倍，並在德州和亞利桑那州的配送中心增加了催熟設備。這些擴建使我們的配送中心面積增加了約40%。加上近期在科羅拉多州和佛羅裡達州新開設的配送中心，這些擴建使我們能夠在提升農產品品質和新鮮度的同時，支持10%的門市成長。

As for unit growth, our smaller, most cost-effective format continues to roll out. We opened 6 new stores in the second quarter, bringing us to 14 new stores year-to-date, all in the new prototype. Our pipeline is also growing with nearly 100 approved new stores and more than 60 executed leases, helping us gain traction towards our goal of 10% unit growth per year, starting in 2024.

在門市數量成長方面，我們規模較小、成本效益最高的門市模式持續推廣。第二季我們新開了6家門市，讓今年迄今的新店總數達到14家，全部採用全新門市模式。此外，我們的在建工程也不斷成長，目前已有近100家新店獲得批准，超過60份租賃合約已簽署生效，這些都有助於我們朝著2024年起每年10%的門市成長目標穩步邁進。

Our recent vintages continue to perform as expected as we focus on great store locations, increasing our marketing reach for greater awareness and highlighting our unique attribute-driven products both in and out of store.

我們最近的年份酒繼續保持預期表現，因為我們專注於優越的店鋪位置，擴大行銷範圍以提高知名度，並在店內外突出我們獨特的屬性驅動型產品。

We continue to work on our omnichannel experience. As I have mentioned, we rolled out a more active sampling program that helps support trial and basket growth of our unique and healthy offerings, including Sprouts brand products. And while our enhanced customer service program is just off the ground, we're seeing scores for in-store satisfaction improve beyond our early goals.

我們持續致力於提升全通路體驗。正如我之前提到的，我們推出了一項更積極的試吃活動，旨在促進我們獨特健康產品的試用和客單價成長，其中包括 Sprouts 自有品牌產品。此外，雖然我們升級後的客戶服務項目才剛起步，但我們已經看到店內顧客滿意度評分超出了預期目標。

Online, we are pleased with the sales and customer growth in all 3 of our channels: Instacart, DoorDash and our own shop.sprouts.com. Over the last several quarters, we've significantly enhanced our e-commerce platforms, including a site redesign and optimized search functionality to create a more personalized and relevant customer experience with improved product shopping, a menu redesign and rolling out a shoppable flyer. Communicating and connecting with customers more effectively continues to be a top priority and the opportunity for Sprouts. Almost 80% of our media is now spent on digital, aimed at driving more shopping occasions with our target customers and supported by data-driven plans.

在線上，我們對三大通路（Instacart、DoorDash 和我們自己的 shop.sprouts.com）的銷售和客戶成長感到滿意。過去幾個季度，我們大幅提升了電商平台，包括網站重新設計、優化搜尋功能，旨在透過改進產品購物體驗，打造更個人化和相關的客戶體驗；此外，我們還重新設計了菜單，並推出了可購物的宣傳單。與客戶進行更有效的溝通和聯繫仍然是 Sprouts 的首要任務和發展機會。目前，我們近 80% 的媒體投入都用於數位管道，旨在透過數據驅動的策略，為目標客戶創造更多購物機會。

Our Find Your Healthy creative campaign is evolving to use more enticing food photography to communicate freshness and move away from animations. Our new creative approach is designed to work in tandem with our digital media plan that focuses on each stage of the customer journey. As we all know, linking transactions with individual customers provides valuable data and better insights into their needs and wants. We are still in the test and learn phase with our personalization efforts. These learnings are helping to guide our thinking as we build towards a more robust and relevant loyalty program. This is a multiyear journey that we believe could provide significant future benefits.

我們的「尋找健康之選」創意行銷活動正在不斷改進，採用更具吸引力的美食攝影來傳遞新鮮感，並逐漸減少動畫的使用。我們全新的創意方案旨在與我們的數位媒體計畫相輔相成，該計畫專注於客戶旅程的每個階段。眾所周知，將交易與單一客戶關聯起來可以提供寶貴的數據，並幫助我們更深入地了解他們的需求和願望。目前，我們的個人化服務仍處於測試和學習階段。這些經驗將引導我們建立更強大、更貼合客戶需求的會員忠誠度計畫。我們相信，這是一項需要多年投入的計劃，未來必將帶來豐厚的回報。

In summary, we believe we're making progress in growing our business and establishing our brand as the healthy specialty retailer of choice in a challenging macro environment. That said, there is more work to do to capture the opportunities in front of us. Fortunately, we have a talented team in place and are well positioned to succeed and grow.

總而言之，我們相信在充滿挑戰的宏觀環境下，我們在業務成長和品牌建立方面正取得進展，並已成功將自身打造成為消費者首選的健康食品專賣零售商。儘管如此，我們仍需付出更多努力來把握眼前的機會。幸運的是，我們擁有一支才華橫溢的團隊，並已做好充分準備，迎接成功和發展。

With that, I'd like to turn it over for questions. Operator?

那麼，接下來我想把發言權交給接線生，請問各位有什麼問題？

(Operator Instructions) And our first question comes from the line of Ken Goldman from JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的 Ken Goldman。

Chip, congrats on your pending retirement. I was curious, it's typically when a retirement is announced, the company will either announce a successor or at least will say that a search is underway. In this case, the phrasing was that a search will take place. I just didn't know if that's indicative of any element of suddenness or anything we should think about in terms of the timing? I assume there's nothing there. I just wanted to ask and make sure.

Chip，恭喜你即將退休。我很好奇，通常情況下，當公司宣布退休時，要么會公佈繼任者人選，要么至少會說明正在進行遴選工作。但這次，公司只說了會進行遴選。我只是想知道這是否意味著退休比較突然，或者我們應該對時間安排有所顧慮？我猜應該沒什麼問題。我只是想問一下，確認一下。

No, absolutely, Ken. The search is underway. We should have been clearer enough. Actually, we didn't express it like that because there is a search underway. And it's not at all -- it's not a suddenness at all. We've been thinking about this for some time. Chip has been thinking about it some time. I don't know if you want to say something, Chip.

不，當然，肯。搜尋工作正在進行中。我們應該說得更清楚。其實，我們之前沒這麼說，是因為搜尋工作確實正在進行中。而且這完全不是——一點也不突然。我們已經考慮這件事一段時間了。奇普也考慮了一段時間了。奇普，我不知道你有什麼要說的。

Yes, Ken. This is -- it's been planned for a while in my head, and timing is right, and it's been a great run here. And the near 10-plus years, and that's just -- I'm ready to go out to pasture finally. I've tried to retire a couple of other times, I failed miserably. But this time, I think I'm good to go.

是的，肯。這件事——其實我早就計劃好了，現在時機成熟了，而且這段時間過得非常愉快。將近十年了，我終於準備好退休了。之前我也嘗試過幾次退休，但都以失敗告終。不過這一次，我覺得我真的可以安心了。

You've been there during an interesting 10 years. So congrats to you.

你在那裡度過了精彩的十年，恭喜你！

I just wanted to also ask the competitive environment certainly still seems from what we can tell to be rational. Clearly, there's a bit more promoting going on, seems to be paid for mostly by the vendors, the manufacturers. Just wanted to get a little bit of a broader sense for how you see that for the rest of the year, what you're factoring into your guidance? And if you would agree that it's still within the boundaries of what you might consider rational, if that's the case?

我還想問一下，就我們目前所見，競爭環境似乎仍然比較理性。顯然，促銷活動有所增加，而且似乎主要由供應商和製造商出資。我想更全面地了解您對今年剩餘時間的市場前景有何看法，您在製定業績指引時考慮了哪些因素？您是否也認為目前的市場狀況仍在理性的範圍內？

Yes. I think that you described it exactly right, Ken. The context of our -- the competitive dynamic doesn't seem to be changing dramatically. And certainly, we're in a slightly different place and a lot of the things that we sell are very different to what -- how you would describe that competitor dynamic. So we're watching it. We watch our produce pricing very carefully, and we're in good shape on that. And we're not seeing a lot of things that cause that gives us cause for kind of any concern in that space.

是的，肯，我覺得你描述得非常準確。我們所處的競爭環境－競爭格局似乎並沒有劇烈的變化。當然，我們現在所處的位置略有不同，我們銷售的許多產品也與你所描述的競爭對手截然不同。所以我們一直在密切關注。我們非常謹慎地控制農產品的定價，目前這方面進展順利。我們沒有發現任何令我們擔憂的因素。

And our next question comes from the line of Leah Jordan from Goldman Sachs.

下一個問題來自高盛的莉亞喬丹。

I just want to touch in on volumes. You said that they were improving sequentially, but still in decline. Just any color on the magnitude of how that's improving there? And then should we think that it's coming back from the produce side? Is that where the challenge was last year? Or just can you talk about how the trends in fresh and produce overall are to the total store decline?

我想稍微談談銷量。您提到銷量較上月有所改善，但整體仍在下滑。能否具體說明一下改善的幅度？我們是否應該認為生鮮產品銷售正在回升？去年的挑戰是否主要在於生鮮產品？或者您能否談談生鮮產品整體趨勢與門市整體銷售下滑之間的關係？

Yes, Leah, this is Chip. So overall, we're seeing -- as we expected, and all honestly, last year, we expected it too, but then the Ukraine incident happened. But we expected at the beginning of the year that as the year would progress, there will be less top line benefit associated with AUR and that the units per basket would start to stabilize, so you get less negative impact year-over-year. We're beginning -- starting to see it late in the quarter and beginning to see it in the third quarter where it's happening just as we thought. You're seeing less benefit from AUR, and you're starting to see it stabilize sequentially. And the same thing for units, you're beginning to see less negative for units, and it's beginning to stabilize and it's just starting to get to that number slightly under 10, and that's where we're hanging out units per basket.

是的，莉亞，我是奇普。總的來說，正如我們預期的那樣，說實話，去年我們也預料到了，但後來發生了烏克蘭事件。年初我們就預期，隨著時間的推移，AUR帶來的營收成長會減少，每籃商品數量也會開始趨於穩定，從而減少年比負面影響。我們在本季末和第三季開始看到這種情況，正如我們預期的那樣。 AUR帶來的收益正在減少，並且開始逐季趨於穩定。商品數量也是如此，負面影響開始減少，並開始趨於穩定，目前正接近10左右，這是我們對每籃商品數量的預期值。

And regarding the fresh side of the question, Leah, certain areas like meat, we have seen a slowdown in the rate of inflation, and we've also seen an encouraging change in terms of the unit volume that's been going through on that. So the way Chip described it almost 18 months ago now, how that's playing through is how we're expecting it to play through going forward. You're seeing a little bit of reduction in terms of the pace of inflation, not going into a negative, but the pace of inflation is slowing down and the dilution in units is changing. But in volatile categories like avocados, you're seeing some pretty dramatic changes in that where the pricing changes, and you see a pretty immediate change in unit volume. So we'll watch it closely. We're in a very -- produce is a big part of our business, as you know. So we watch that, and there's always been volatility in produce, and that remains the case.

關於您提到的新鮮農產品方面，莉亞，某些領域，例如肉類，我們已經看到通膨率放緩，而且銷量也出現了令人鼓舞的變化。正如奇普大約18個月前所描述的那樣，我們預計未來也會如此。通膨速度略有下降，雖然沒有轉為負值，但通膨速度確實在放緩，銷量也在改變。但在酪梨等波動較大的品類中，價格變化非常劇烈，銷售量也會立即受到影響。所以我們會密切注意。如您所知，農產品是我們業務的重要組成部分。因此，我們會密切關注農產品市場，而農產品價格一直波動較大，這種情況仍然存在。

Okay. Great. And just on my follow-up, I wanted to check in on the 3Q comp guide. The low single digit is just a bit more vague than you guys typically give. So curious if you're seeing anything different behavior-wise from the consumer? Or is that more just a function of maybe uncertainty on the disinflation outlook? So any color there and maybe some quarter-to-date color as well.

好的，太好了。我還有一個後續問題，想了解第三季的年比數據指引。你們給的個位數低位成長預期比通常的預測要模糊一些。所以我想知道，你們是否觀察到消費者行為有任何變化？或者這更多是由於對通貨緊縮前景的不確定性造成的？能否提供一些相關信息，以及本季至今的情況？

Yes. We -- it's a little less, it's a little wider. Obviously, those signals can be 1 to 3-ish. We feel solid about that. And how that unit versus AUR and how it transpires through the quarter is, I would say it's fragile how it fundamentally comes out. But right now, we feel really comfortable that we're going to be in that range.

是的。我們——它略微減少，範圍略微擴大。顯然，這些訊號的範圍在1到3之間。我們對此很有信心。至於這個單位與AUR的關係，以及它在整個季度中的發展趨勢，我認為其根本結果仍然很脆弱。但目前，我們非常有信心，我們會保持在那個範圍內。

And our next question comes from the line of John Heinbockel from Guggenheim.

我們的下一個問題來自古根漢美術館的約翰·海因博克爾。

Jack, can you dive into the 2 target customer segments. In terms of growth in new households, right, of that group and any insight you have on wallet share. I'm just curious how they're performing relative to the overall base in terms of the acquisition and how much of their wallet do you think you have today?

傑克，你能詳細分析一下這兩個目標客戶群嗎？就新增家庭數量而言，以及你對這兩個群體消費份額的任何見解。我很好奇，就獲客而言，他們相對於整體客戶群的表現如何？你認為他們目前的消費份額是多少？

Well, we've got a low percentage of the wallet, which we always had in terms of the health enthusiast and the innovation seekers. The encouraging thing that when I look at data about natural and organic, which is the kind of -- which we can get very good data on in terms of our market share. Market share is encouragingly growing within that space and significantly different to the kind of the more traditional products that we have. So our business is continuing to focus on differentiation so that we can attract and appeal to a small share growth that we need from those target customers. And we're seeing some encouraging market share data in the last little while. I'm very encouraged by the traffic that's coming in and the traffic's coming in both digitally, both e-commerce and in bricks and mortar. So we're seeing a nice balance of both -- so we're creating this omnichannel customer who's very in tune with the curated assortment that we've got and the data that I have got, and we'll get more data going forward, but the data that we've got so far suggests that we're growing share with those target customers, which has always been the intent since we really pivoted the strategy around this target customer base.

嗯，我們目前在健康愛好者和追求創新的消費者群體中，市佔率比仍然較低。令人鼓舞的是，當我們查看天然和有機產品的數據時——這類產品是我們能夠獲得非常可靠市場份額數據的領域——我們發現，該領域的市場份額正在穩步增長，並且與我們傳統的產品類型有著顯著的差異。因此，我們的業務將繼續專注於差異化，以便吸引並贏得目標客戶群，實現我們所需的小幅成長。最近一段時間，我們看到了一些令人鼓舞的市佔率數據。我對流量的成長感到非常振奮，無論是線上通路（電子商務）還是實體店，流量都在成長。所以我們看到兩者之間取得了很好的平衡——我們正在打造一個全通路客戶群，他們非常了解我們精心挑選的產品系列和我掌握的數據，而且我們未來還會獲得更多數據，但到目前為止，我們掌握的數據表明，我們在這些目標客戶群中的份額正在增長，這始終是我們的目標，因為我們真正圍繞這個目標客戶群調整了戰略。

Well, so when you say low single digit, right, that your share of the market as opposed to your share of individual customers' wallets. I know you don't have a loyalty program. But I'm just curious, right, with your best customers, what percent of their wallet do you think you're getting in food? Is it 15% or 20% or not that high?

嗯，所以您說的個位數低比例，是指您的市場份額，而不是您在單一客戶錢包中的份額，對吧？我知道您沒有會員計劃。但我只是好奇，對吧，對於您最好的客戶，您認為他們錢包中用於食品的百分比是多少？是15%還是20%，還是沒那麼高？

No, I'd say it's relatively low. I don't have the exact number. And that's why the opportunity is so big in front of us. We don't need much of a growth to make the numbers really add up over the next few years, and that's why we're so confident of where the strategies are. We've got a low share of our customers' wallet, which is the nature of our assortment. We've said all along that we're not going to try and win on conventional products with conventional grocers. We're going to win on the differentiated assortment that we have. And that -- on the basis of what we're looking at, at the moment, that's moving in the right direction, and we continue to have confidence that the growth in share of wallet that we will get with those target customers are more than fulfill our long-term plans.

不，我認為這個比例相對較低。我沒有確切的數字。正因如此，我們面前的機會才如此巨大。未來幾年，我們不需要太大的成長就能達到顯著的效益，這也是我們對現有策略充滿信心的原因。我們目前在客戶錢包中的份額較低，這是我們產品組合的特徵。我們一直強調，我們不會試圖透過傳統產品和傳統雜貨店來贏得市場。我們將憑藉我們差異化的產品組合取勝。就目前的情況來看，我們的發展方向是正確的，我們仍然相信，透過提高目標客戶的錢包份額，我們將能夠完全滿足我們的長期計劃。

All right. And then just lastly, you think you'll have a loyalty program and it'll probably be more affinity than loyalty. But when do you think you'll have something out there in the next 12 months or longer you think?

好的。最後一點，您認為您會推出會員忠誠度計劃，但可能更專注於建立客戶關係而非忠誠度。您覺得在未來12個月或更長時間內，您預計何時會推出該計劃？

We're working very hard on this, and it will evolve and develop. And I don't think you're going to wake up one day and have it exactly the way we want to have it. We will -- we're getting more data from our customers. We'll increasingly get more data from our customers. And what we then do with that, we're in the process of figuring that one out and exactly how it manifests itself and how it plays into the marketplace, we'll certainly be in a better position to know exactly where we are next year on this one.

我們正在為此付出巨大的努力，它將會不斷發展和完善。我不認為有一天你醒來就能看到它完全按照我們設想的那樣發展。我們會—我們正在從客戶那裡收集更多的數據。我們將越來越多地從客戶那裡收集數據。至於我們如何利用這些數據，以及它具體如何體現在市場中，我們正在探索。明年，我們肯定會更清楚地了解我們在這方面所處的位置。

And our next question comes from the line of Mark Carden from UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的馬克卡登。

Chip, congratulations on the retirement. So another strong comp, and it seems like you're seeing some nice market share gains. When you think about your store base, are you seeing much of a deviation in results between your newer markets and your legacy markets? You guys talked about improving brand awareness. Are you near where you want to be from a recognition perspective in some of your newer markets? Or is there still a lot more runway on that front?

Chip，恭喜你光榮退休。看來你們的業績依然強勁，市佔率也取得了不錯的成長。就你們的門市佈局而言，新市場和老市場的業績差異大嗎？你們之前討論過提升品牌知名度。在一些新市場，你們的品牌認知度是否已經達到預期目標？還是說這方面還有很大的進步空間？

Well, there's certainly runway in our newer markets. We have a very clear kind of position. It takes a little bit longer in Florida and the Mid-Atlantic and certain pockets of the country to get the stores up and running and moving the way we want to do it. I've been very encouraged by Florida, though, in terms of where we've been-- because those stores are now big. We're now getting some critical mass in areas like Tampa, and we're seeing some encouraging 2-year numbers out of our Florida business, which suggests kind of how we thought about this that it takes a little bit longer and you need critical mass from a marketing point of view. We've got a bit of work to do to build on that in the Mid-Atlantic market. But we've got -- we've got that -- the plans in terms of the stores that we talked about are very much about consolidating the store base around tighter markets so that we can get the effective marketing in place. It takes a bit longer where we're not known and it goes a bit faster in places where we are known. And we're flexing our marketing communication a little bit on that as well as we go forward.

當然，我們在新興市場還有很大的發展空間。我們的市場定位非常清楚。在佛羅裡達州、中大西洋地區以及美國其他一些地區，門市的建立和營運需要更長的時間，才能達到我們預期的效果。不過，佛羅裡達州的發展讓我非常鼓舞——因為這些門市現在已經發展壯大。我們在坦帕等地區已經累積了一定的規模，佛羅裡達州兩年的表現也令人鼓舞。這印證了我們先前的設想：從行銷的角度來看，發展需要更長的時間，也需要達到一定的規模。在中大西洋市場，我們還需要做一些工作來鞏固這個優勢。但是，我們——我們已經制定了——我們之前提到的門市計劃，旨在將門市集中在更集中的市場，以便我們能夠有效地進行行銷。在知名度較低的地區，發展速度會更快，在知名度較高的地區，發展速度也會更快。接下來，我們也會在這方面稍微調整一下我們的行銷傳播策略。

Great. And then you said you remain on track to reach your 30-store target for this year. I know it's still a little bit early, but any update on how you're thinking about unit growth next year? Would you still expect to return to your algorithm or some of the headwinds that have been impacted --

太好了。您之前說過，今年30家門市的目標仍有望實現。我知道現在談這個還為時過早，但您能否就明年的門市成長計畫提供一些最新進展？您是否仍然計劃恢復先前的演算法，或者會受到一些不利因素的影響？

Sorry, yes, Mark. Yes, we're comfortable on the 30 number and maybe a couple more than that this year. But in 2024, we'll be on track for 10. We've got the sites approved on that as well, Mark. So we've got a lot of confidence in that.

抱歉，是的，馬克。是的，我們對30個專案的目標很滿意，今年可能還會再多幾個。但到2024年，我們將按計畫實現10個項目的目標。馬克，我們已經獲得了相關項目的批准。所以我們對此非常有信心。

And our next question comes from the line of Karen Short from Credit Suisse.

下一個問題來自瑞士信貸的 Karen Short。

I echo my congratulations, Chip, for retirement. So I did want to just ask 2 things. Looking at the second half sales growth versus EBIT growth, compared to what you just did in 2Q, there's significant divergence, I guess, in those numbers. So I know there's a lot of moving parts, but wondering if you could just parse out what those 2 -- what the components would be for that delta. And then -- so specifically, puts and takes on gross margin and SG&A? And then what specific inflation number are you thinking about for the second half?

Chip，我也要恭喜你退休。我有兩個問題想請教一下。首先，你看下半年的銷售成長和息稅前利潤成長，和你第二季的數據相比，似乎有顯著差異。我知道這其中有很多因素，但我想請你詳細解釋一下造成這種差異的原因。其次，你對毛利率和銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）的預期是多少？另外，你預計下半年的通膨率會是多少？

Karen, this is Chip. First, thanks for the congratulations. I appreciate it. As it relates to the second half, really nothing's changed since our guidance at the end of the year. And even last quarter, I think we gave enough details to suggest that in the back half we wouldn't see the same kind of profitability gains predominantly because, number one, I think our margins are going to be -- our gross margins are generally going to be flat in the back half of the year. And on the SG&A front, we're going to have some deleverage specifically in the third quarter. And that -- the pieces of that are a couple. One, there's a little bit of timing in the third quarter that we talked about last quarter. The second is, as we get through the -- as we start to accelerate the store growth, that will put a strain on the P&L. And thirdly, as labor costs have been going up for everyone for a long time, as we said on the call, we take the labor cost and the store growth piece. We've really done a great -- our teams have done a great job of mitigating that transition through that. But at the moment, as we get -- we start to lap some things we did last year, it gets a little bit more difficult to mitigate those cost increases. That said, the good news is, at least on the labor front, the labor rates are beginning to stabilize. So it won't be as difficult next year. But for the back half of the year, it's a little bit of a strain. And as we accelerate the store growth, you know that's how that math works. But again, next year, middle of next year, we'll start to be in a stable place where the same number of stores are going in the ground every year.

凱倫，我是奇普。首先，謝謝你的祝賀，我非常感激。關於下半年的業績，實際上和我們年底的預期相比，並沒有什麼改變。即使在上個季度，我們也已經提供了足夠的細節來表明，下半年我們不會像上半年那樣實現盈利增長，主要原因有三：第一，我認為我們的毛利率——毛利率在下半年總體上會持平。第二，在銷售、管理及行政費用方面，我們會在第三季進行一些去槓桿化。這其中有幾個原因。第一，正如我們上個季度提到的，第三季存在一些時間因素。第二，隨著我們開始加速門市擴張，這將對損益表造成壓力。第三，正如我們在電話會議上提到的，勞動成本長期以來一直在上漲，我們會考慮勞動成本和門市擴張這兩個因素。我們做得非常出色——我們的團隊在緩解轉型過程中遇到的困難方面做得非常出色。但目前，隨著我們開始重複去年的一些工作，控製成本成長就變得更加困難。不過，好消息是，至少在勞動力方面，勞動成本已經開始趨於穩定。所以明年情況不會那麼糟。但下半年可能會有些壓力。隨著我們加快門市擴張，你也知道，這就是成本計算的法則。但同樣，明年，或者說明年年中，我們將進入一個穩定的階段，每年新建門市的數量將保持不變。

Okay. And inflation?

好的。那麼通貨膨脹呢？

Inflation. So on the inflation front, our thought in the beginning of the year was going to be double digits in the beginning of the year from a year-over-year perspective. And then sequentially, as you migrated through the year, that you'd be in, call it, by the third, fourth quarter in mid-single digits year-over-year, and that seems to be starting to play out.

通貨膨脹。就通膨而言，我們年初的預期是，從年比角度來看，年初的通膨率將達到兩位數。然後隨著時間的推移，到第三、第四季，年比通膨率將降至個位數中段，而目前看來，這一預期正在逐步實現。

And our next question comes from the line of Krisztina Katai from Deutsche Bank.

下一個問題來自德意志銀行的 Krisztina Katai。

I want to add my congratulations to Chip on the retirement as well. I have a follow-up question on gross margin, which obviously was quite strong in the second quarter, and I think that's despite some rising promotions throughout the period. So maybe can you talk about the drivers behind the gross margin? I know you mentioned better promotional leverage. But what are some of the other offsets that you're finding to really drive that performance there? For example, some of the Sprouts funded promotions seem to us like last week's sale in the private label items. And then within that as well, just my question on this, how you view your current price gaps and just how willing is drought to retain traffic and market share in exchange for managing margins at these levels?

我也想祝賀Chip光榮退休。我還有一個關於毛利率的後續問題，第二季的毛利率表現非常強勁，我認為這是在促銷活動不斷增加的情況下取得的。您能否談談毛利率成長背後的驅動因素？我知道您提到了促銷力道的提升。但您認為還有哪些因素真正推動了這項業績？例如，Sprouts資助的一些促銷活動，例如上週自有品牌商品的促銷，在我們看來效果不錯。另外，關於這一點，我想問一下，您如何看待目前的價格差距？為了維持客流量和市場份額，您是否願意在利潤率維持在當前水準的情況下做出妥協？

Thanks, Krisztina. I'll talk about the margin and then Jack will talk about the gap. So from a margin perspective, we did come into the quarter, we were expecting some margin accretion. We did overperform on that line. It is partially driven by mix, both within the categories and then overall for the company, category to category as we see some of our higher-margin businesses are growing faster than some of our lower. And then within the categories, some of the items or subcategories, if you will, and the organics are growing faster than more commoditized. So that's helping. Also, as we talk about promo effectiveness, we're continuing to see ourselves more on the ELP and less on the promotional front. And then thirdly, a little bit, we've probably overperformed a little bit on just like probably 5 or 6 quarters ago as we saw costs rising, we got behind it a little bit. We got teeny bit ahead this time. That's sort of a transitory. So I wouldn't count on that going forward. And as we look for the rest of the year, we're really getting to that place where we think the margins are going to become more and more stable year-over-year.

謝謝，克里斯蒂娜。我先談談利潤率，然後傑克會談談差距。從利潤率的角度來看，本季初我們預期利潤率會有所成長，而實際業績也確實超出了預期。這部分得益於產品組合的優化，包括各個品類內部以及公司整體的品類組合，我們看到一些高利潤率業務的成長速度超過了低利潤率業務。此外，在各個品類內部，有些產品或子品類（如果你願意這麼稱呼的話）的成長速度也超過了同質化程度較高的產品。所以這些因素都起了正面作用。另外，在談到促銷效果時，我們繼續將重點放在產品生命週期管理（ELP）上，而不是促銷活動。第三點，我們可能比五、六個季度前略微超額完成了業績，因為當時成本上升，我們在這方面有所落後。而這次我們略微領先了一些。但這只是暫時的，所以我不認為這種情況會持續下去。展望今年剩餘時間，我們認為利潤率將逐年趨於穩定。

So yes, Krisztina, the margin is in good shape, and we're comfortable the way it's being managed, and price gaps play a key role, particularly in our produce business, where we spend a lot of time looking at where we are. We're very aggressive on organic produce, and we've talked a little bit about how successful that's been for us. The whole context of our produce price gaps is in a good shape, and we're comfortable with where we're on that and we continue to look at it and continue to be where we've always been there. The other things that we look out on pricing, I'm very pleased the way the bulk pricing, given that not a lot of other people sell bulk foods, the fact that we are able to sell loose bulk on commodity items for customers where they can control the volume that they're purchasing and portion control. We're operating about 20% cheaper than our packaged goods on the equivalent items. So that's been an important part of our pricing mechanism going forward. And on our base business, our grocery business, our dairy business, our frozen business, still such a different assortment that we look a lot at elasticity on pricing as opposed to gaps and spend a lot of time working out what the right price is to maximize the volume. So it's very much in line with how we've been working our pricing all the way through. And as Chip said, we made some progress on the margin, and we continue to watch our price gap.

是的，克里斯蒂娜，利潤率狀況良好，我們對目前的管理方式感到滿意。價格差距發揮關鍵作用，尤其是在我們的農產品業務中，我們投入大量時間研究自身定位。我們在有機農產品方面非常積極，之前也談到這方面的成功。我們農產品價格差距的整體情況良好，我們對目前的狀況感到滿意，並將繼續關注並保持我們一貫的策略。在定價方面，我非常滿意我們的散裝定價策略。考慮到很少有其他公司銷售散裝食品，我們能夠以散裝形式銷售大宗商品，讓客戶可以控制購買量和份量，這一點尤其重要。我們同類產品的散裝價格比包裝商品便宜約20%。因此，這已成為我們未來定價機制的重要組成部分。而對於我們的基礎業務，例如食品雜貨、乳製品和冷凍食品，由於產品種類繁多，我們更關注價格彈性而非價格差距，並花費大量時間研究如何才能找到最大化銷量的合適價格。這與我們一直以來的定價策略非常一致。正如Chip所說，我們在利潤率方面取得了一些進展，並將繼續關注價格差距。

And just as a follow-up on e-commerce, which was strong yet again, I think you said it grew 16% in the quarter. Can you talk about the -- what impact the expanded partnership had with DoorDash on your same-store sales? And then just generally, how are you thinking about the sustainability of that e-comm momentum once you really start to lap the DoorDash expansion?

關於電商業務，它再次表現強勁，我記得您提到本季成長了16%。您能否談談與DoorDash擴大合作對同店銷售的影響？另外，您如何看待DoorDash業務拓展真正結束後，電商成長動能能否持續？

Well, as I say, we're very focused on being an omnichannel retailer that the customer will take us where they want to take us with regard to -- we want customers who are focused on our assortment base and our differentiated, curated assortment. And they seem to be navigating. The thing that's encouraging, Krisztina, for us is that we're seeing traffic growth in both e-com and in our bricks-and-mortar business, and it's kind of equal between the 2 of them. DoorDash has enhanced our growth a little bit in traffic a little bit in terms of working that through, and we're pleased with the partnership with both Instacart and DoorDash. Again, it's allowing the customer to choose how they want to engage with us. And as the DoorDash business is a little bit more immediate, people are looking for faster delivery relative to the Instacart business. But both of them are performing well for us, and we're encouraged by the progress that we're making on both of them.

正如我所說，我們非常注重成為一家全通路零售商，讓顧客能夠根據自己的喜好選擇購物方式——我們希望顧客關注我們豐富的商品種類以及我們精心挑選的差異化商品。而且他們似乎也正在適應這種模式。克里斯蒂娜，令我們感到鼓舞的是，我們的電商和實體店的流量都在增長，而且兩者的增長勢頭基本上持平。 DoorDash 的加入在一定程度上促進了我們的流量成長，我們對與 Instacart 和 DoorDash 的合作都感到非常滿意。這再次表明，顧客可以選擇他們喜歡的購物方式。由於 DoorDash 的配送速度較快，人們更傾向於選擇比 Instacart 更快的配送方式。但無論如何，這兩個平台都表現良好，我們對它們的進展感到振奮。

And I would add in, the DoorDash is helping, but it's still less than 1% of the contribution of the comp.

我還要補充一點，DoorDash 的確有所幫助，但它對整體貢獻的貢獻仍然不到 1%。

And our next question comes from the line of Michael Montani from Evercore ISI.

我們的下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Michael Montani。

Also extend congratulations to Chip as well. I wanted to ask, first off, if I could, if you could provide some additional color on what drove the comp this quarter? Was it more transaction size or transaction counts? And then also intra-quarter trends and geographic trends, if there's anything additional you could share on the color front there?

也請代我向Chip表示祝賀。首先，我想請教一下，您能否詳細說明一下本季業績成長的主要驅動因素是什麼？是交易規模還是交易數量？此外，關於季度內和地理趨勢，您能否也分享一些其他資訊？

This is Chip. Thanks again. So as it relates to the quarter, it was a really -- from period to period, it was a pretty stable quarter. So we had positive comp transactions throughout the quarter, every single period, slightly up. And again, we saw AUR benefit from inflation, and we saw a little bit of unit decline similar to what we've seen. As you got late in the quarter, you started to see that tapering up both the AUR and the unit decline. So that's kind of the mix of the transactions, but a mix of the comp. As it relates to geography-wise, again, we see -- it's been pretty stable across the geographies. I will say that some of our -- we're getting comps like Florida and the Mid-Atlantic where we have a mix of higher mix of newer stores, you get a little bit extra there from a comp. But generally, we feel really good. Those markets, those onesie-twosie markets have been a little bit of a challenge for us. Those places where we have just a variable density, and they're pretty far away. Examples of that, we have one store in Louisiana. We have a couple in Oklahoma. We have -- they're just sort of onesies, twosies. Those are just not performing as well because we just don't have as enough brand density. So that plays out as to the story of why we want to densify our markets.

我是Chip。再次感謝。就本季而言，整體來說相當穩定。整個季度，每個時期的同店交易量都略有成長，而且都是正成長。我們看到平均營業額（AUR）受益於通貨膨脹，同時門市數量也略有下降，與先前的情況類似。隨著季度末的臨近，平均營業額和門市數量下降的趨勢都開始放緩。以上就是交易和同店交易的綜合情況。從地域上看，各地區的業績也相當穩定。不過，像佛羅裡達州和中大西洋地區這樣的市場，由於新店比例較高，同店交易量可能會略有增加。但總體而言，我們對業績非常滿意。那些門市密度參差不齊、距離較遠的地區，對我們來說一直是個挑戰。舉例來說，我們在路易斯安那州只有一家店，在俄克拉荷馬州有幾家，但都只是零星幾家。這些門市的業績並不理想，因為我們的品牌密度不夠。所以，這就是我們想要提高市場密度的原因。

Got you. And then if I could just follow up on the SG&A front. I wanted to see basically what you would need to see in terms of a leverage point from the comps in order to get natural leverage given the accelerated store growth and the wage inflation you're seeing? And then has there been any deceleration, I guess, to start the quarter? Or was the low single-digit guide potentially looking at what could come, but you haven't seen it yet?

明白了。接下來我想再問一下銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）方面的問題。我想了解一下，考慮到門市快速擴張和薪資上漲，您需要從同店銷售額中獲得多少槓桿點才能實現自然槓桿？另外，我想問一下，本季初是否有任何放緩跡象？或者說，您之前給出的個位數低位成長預期只是預示著未來可能出現的情況，但目前尚未出現？

Well, I'll address the first part. So when we're growing -- when we're at this place where we're going to be growing 10% a year, you really do need -- if your gross margins are stable to keep your operating margin generally flat. So that leverage point, you need a 3% comp to be able to do that over the long haul, annual to annual. Any given quarter, you could have some puts and takes. We have a little bit of a, I'll call it, a take in the third quarter, which you've talked about. But outside of that, you need about a 3% comp to be able to do that. And what was the second question again?

好的，我先回答第一個問題。當我們處於增長期——例如我們計劃每年增長10%的時候——如果你的毛利率保持穩定，那麼你的營業利潤率就必須基本保持不變。所以，你需要大約3%的同業成長率才能長期維持這種成長，也就是年復一年。每個季度都可能會出現一些波動。例如，我們在第三季就有一些波動，我稱之為“回調”，你也提到了。但除此之外，你需要大約3%的同業成長率才能做到這一點。第二個問題是什麼來著？

I just wanted to see kind of low single-digit guide, right? So the midpoint, call it 1.5% --

我只是想看看個位數的低位指引，對吧？所以中間值，就暫且定為1.5%吧——

Oh, the low single-digit guide.

哦，低個位數的指導價。

Yes, yes.

是的，是的。

Yes, we're a little earlier in the quarter than we were last quarter. So we feel -- I mean, we feel solid about the quarter. We feel good about the guide. But there's as it relates to what's in front of us, just -- it's no different than what we said last call, we said we were going to be essentially a 3% comp for the year. We were tracking to a pump or we said 2% to 3% for the year. We were tracking to a 3%. So that implied a 1% to 3% for the back half and here we are in the back half, and we're just -- we're tracking on for that. So that's where we think we'll be.

是的，我們目前比上個季度稍微早一些。所以我們感覺——我的意思是，我們對本季的業績感覺良好，對業績指引也很有信心。但就我們目前的情況而言，情況和我們上次電話會議上說的沒什麼不同，我們當時說全年業績將成長3%。我們預計全年業績將成長2%到3%，也就是3%。這意味著下半年業績將成長1%到3%，現在我們已經進入下半年，我們──我們正朝著這個目標穩步前進。這就是我們對未來業績的預期。

Our next question comes from the line of Rupesh Parikh from Oppenheimer.

我們的下一個問題來自奧本海默公司的魯佩什·帕里克。

Chip, congrats on your pending retirement. So I just want to go back to the traffic. So now traffic has been positive year-to-date. So just curious, as you look at your initiatives in stores, what do you think has been key in driving that positive traffic that you continue to see?

Chip，恭喜你即將退休。我想回到客流量的話題。今年到目前為止，客流量一直保持正成長。我很好奇，在你看來，你採取的門市推廣措施中，哪些因素是持續維持客流量成長的關鍵？

Yes. I think, Rupesh, what we've been trying to do is increase the customer engagement, both in-store and out of store. So the in-store space of it, what we've been doing is -- COVID got in the way of being engaging with customers, being able to talk to customers and guide customers and a lot of our customers come in to our store, and they're looking for advice, whether it be in the vitamins and supplements department, whether it be on certain dietary things. So we're trying to engage much more the teams being able to engage sampling programs being wound up pretty substantially. And I think the fact that we've got so many new innovative items, we've got this innovation table in our stores, which features 30 to 40 items every quarter that are completely unique to Sprouts. And we're doing a lot of sampling on that and seeing a lot of success in the drinks category, in the snacks category, in those type of initiatives. So sampling has been about engaging with the customer in the store and making sure that we're providing a faster, cleaner checkout service as well. So we're very pleased by the customer service scores that we get, which we measure significantly. We're now bonus the store, but as part of the bonus program. There's a customer service measure that we get. And the numbers that are very encouraging and ahead of where we expected them to be. So there's a lot going on inside the store, outside the store, we're finding ways to make it easier for people to navigate through the e-commerce experience with us, whether it be when we put pictures on the website, people can immediately access directly into the product and able to purchase the product. We've made a lot of progress. We've got a lot more to go, but we've made some progress on our app. We made some progress on our website. So this is this whole principle and it comes under the umbrella of customer engagement and the operating team have been doing a lot of work to try and make the experience when you come into a Sprouts store, superior to the experience you would get in other grocery stores.

是的。 Rupesh，我認為我們一直在努力提升顧客參與度，無論是在店內還是店外。在店內方面，疫情阻礙了我們與顧客的互動，讓我們無法與顧客交流、提供指導。許多顧客進店都是為了尋求建議，無論是關於維生素和營養補充劑，還是關於某些飲食方面的問題。因此，我們正在努力讓團隊更有效地進行試吃活動。我們有許多創新產品，每季都會在店內設置創新展示台，展示30到40種Sprouts獨有的產品。我們針對這些產品進行了大量的試吃活動，並在飲料、零食等類別中取得了顯著成效。所以，試吃活動旨在提升店內顧客的參與度，同時確保我們提供更快速、更乾淨的結帳服務。我們對獲得的客戶服務評分非常滿意，我們非常重視這項指標。現在，我們為門市提供獎勵，作為獎勵計劃的一部分，客戶服務是我們衡量指標之一。而這些指標的數據非常令人鼓舞，甚至超出了我們的預期。因此，無論在店內或店外，我們都在努力改進，力求讓顧客更輕鬆地體驗我們的電商服務。例如，我們在網站上新增產品圖片後，顧客可以立即查看產品詳情並購買。我們已經取得了很大的進步。雖然還有很多工作要做，但我們在應用程式和網站上都取得了一些進展。這正是我們秉持的原則，也是客戶互動的核心。營運團隊一直在努力，力求讓顧客在Sprouts門市的體驗優於其他超市。

Great. And then maybe just one follow-up question. So just on the consumer, are you guys seeing any shifts in consumer behavior whether trade down or anything different versus what you saw last quarter?

好的。那我可能還有一個後續問題。就消費者而言，你們是否觀察到消費者行為有任何變化，例如降級消費或其他與上個季度不同的情況？

I think that trend continues a little bit. There's a little bit of trade down across the marketplace, and there's a little bit of trade down in our business. People buying slightly cheaper cuts of things. People buying slightly less items as they go through the store. So yes, there's a little bit of trade down. But as we've said often, our customer base who are in our stores to buy our unique assortment, whether it be dietary based or keto or paleo or vegan or plant-based, they tend to stick to though that's what their diet is and that's what they buy. They might trade around a little bit. So the behavior hasn't changed dramatically Q2 to Q1, and we're not seeing a lot of changes in that dynamic.

我認為這種趨勢還在持續。整個市場的交易量略有下降，我們自己的業務也出現了類似的下滑。人們傾向於購買價格稍低的商品，購物時購買的商品數量也略有減少。所以，是的，交易量確實略有下降。但正如我們多次強調的，那些來我們店裡購買我們獨特商品系列的顧客，無論是注重飲食的、生酮飲食的、原始人飲食的、純素的還是植物性飲食的，他們通常都會堅持購買符合自身飲食習慣的商品。他們可能偶爾會更換購買的商品。因此，從第二季到第一季度，顧客的消費行為並沒有顯著變化，我們也沒有看到這種趨勢有太大的改變。

And our next question comes from the line of Kelly Bania from BMO Capital Markets.

下一個問題來自 BMO 資本市場的 Kelly Bania。

Congrats as well for you, Chip, on your retirement. I was hoping we could go back a little bit to the gross margin. I think, Chip, if I heard you correctly, you said you're expecting flat in the second half. I think that means flat on a year-over-year basis to the second half. Maybe correct me if I'm wrong there. But can you talk about the factors that are supporting that? And I guess just given other grocers and obviously, a lot of other retailers talking about shrink, maybe you can just update us on where you are on the various buckets of shrink and especially as you mentioned you were, I think, rolling out some more self-checkout.

Chip，也恭喜你退休。我原本希望我們能稍微回到毛利率的話題上來。 Chip，如果我沒聽錯的話，你說你預計下半年業績將會持平。我想這指的是與去年同期相比，下半年業績持平。如果我理解有誤，請指正。能談談支持這項預測的因素嗎？另外，鑑於其他雜貨商以及許多其他零售商都在談論損耗問題，你能不能給我們介紹一下你們在各類損耗方面的最新進展，特別是你之前提到的，你們正在推廣自助結帳服務。

Yes, Kelly. So as it relates to margin, I did mean flat from a year-over-year perspective. So we're expecting to be pretty darn stable both in Q3 and Q4 from a year-over-year perspective. And as it relates to shrink, Jack was going to address it.

是的，凱莉。關於利潤率，我指的是與去年同期持平。所以我們預計第三季和第四季都會相當穩定。至於萎縮的問題，傑克本來要談的。

Yes. I think the dynamic in retail, there's a lot of challenges across the retail industry on the amount of theft that's going on organized crime behind it. We are not seeing that dynamic to the same extent as you're hearing from the other retailers, principally because a lot of the products that we sell are so niche and so differentiated. They're not quite as easy to sell on when people take things from us. We do have a couple of stores that we're watching on vitamins and supplements and things like that. So we're definitely not seeing the dynamic that you're hearing about from other people. We continue to work hard at making sure strength in our pilots, which is all about fresh foods and how much are we putting the right amount to the store and as we can make some progress on that. And we're feeling that we've got a lot of progress to make there. But we've made some progress as well as we work on our systems and our replenishment to make sure we're out in the stores with the right time. We've talked often in these calls about PICAO, perpetual inventory computer-assisted offering. That program is rolling out now across the chain, and we're making some progress on trying to get the right amount of product into the store at the right time. And these new distribution centers are helping us do that as well. But a work to do on systems, but strength, I think we've got strength under control, and it's a different dynamic to other retailers. Kelly?

是的。我認為零售業的現狀，以及整個零售業面臨的許多挑戰，都與組織犯罪導致的竊盜問題有關。我們並沒有像您從其他零售商那裡聽到的那樣，感受到如此嚴重的盜竊問題，這主要是因為我們銷售的許多產品都非常小眾且具有差異化。一旦商品被盜，我們就很難再重新銷售。我們確實有幾家店在關注維生素、營養補充劑等產品的銷售情況。所以，我們絕對沒有感受到您從其他零售商那裡聽到的那種盜竊問題。我們一直在努力確保試點計畫的順利進行，這些試點計畫主要關注新鮮食品，以及我們如何確保門市的新鮮食品供應量恰到好處，並儘可能地取得進展。我們覺得在這方面還有很大的提升空間。但我們也取得了一些進展，我們一直在改進系統和補貨流程，確保商品能夠及時送達門市。我們在先前的電話會議中多次提到PICAO，也就是永續盤存電腦輔助供貨系統。這個項目目前正在全連鎖店推廣，我們在確保門市在適當的時間收到適量的商品方面取得了一些進展。這些新的配送中心也對我們有幫助。不過，系統方面還有很多工作要做，但就實力而言，我認為我們已經掌控了局面，而且我們與其他零售商的情況有所不同。凱莉？

That's helpful. And I think you talked about a favorable product mix shift, but I haven't -- I don't think I heard just about vitamins and supplements, in particular. How is that category doing? And -- any color you can share on just the trends in that category?

這很有幫助。我想您剛才提到了產品組合的有利變化，但我好像沒聽到您具體談到維生素和膳食補充劑。這個品類的情況如何？能否分享一下該品類的發展趨勢？

Yes. Well, we've been encouraged to that. There's a lot of post-COVID upside in people buying products for immunity, and we're certainly seeing that. Cold and flu season clearly makes a difference one way or the other and how that works from one quarter to the next. But underlying it, we're very pleased with the teams that are working in our vitamins and supplements department, who are providing a lot of guidance and advice to our customers when they come in and underlying for us, we're encouraged by it. Yes. It would have over-indexed related to the company comp.

是的。我們確實受到了鼓舞。後疫情時代，人們購買增強免疫力的產品需求激增，這其中蘊藏著巨大的成長潛力，我們也確實看到了這一點。流感季顯然會對銷售產生影響，而且這種影響會隨著季度的變化而變化。但更重要的是，我們對維生素和營養補充劑部門的團隊非常滿意，他們為顧客提供了大量的指導和建議，這讓我們倍感鼓舞。是的。這部分成長可能高於公司平均。

And our next question comes from the line of Robbie Ohmes from Bank of America.

下一個問題來自美國銀行的羅比·奧姆斯。

Chip, congrats on the retirement. My question is just when I -- when we listen to the thoughts on gross margin and labor and then the new stores hitting the P&L, can you give us any sort of ways to think about whether you can keep the gross margin and the EBIT margin in similar ranges for 2024 versus what you've achieved in 2023?

Chip，恭喜你退休。我的問題是，當我們聽取關於毛利率、勞動力成本以及新店對損益表的影響的分析時，你能否提供一些思路，幫助我們思考2024年的毛利率和息稅前利潤率能否與2023年的水平保持在同一範圍內？

Yes, Robbie. First, thank you for the congrats. As we think about -- it's still early to think about next year. Obviously, we have a multiyear plan. We try to work from and just beginning to think about next year. But our goal is to keep the gross margins flat. And we'll continue to work to have our operating margins close to being flat, which means on the SG&A front, we're going to constantly have to do work. There may be quarters just like this year, I mentioned, there's -- the third quarter is a little bit dilutive on the SG&A line. But I do think the teams are rallied around those opportunities to find ways to leverage or at least to ensure that we're not de-levering on the SG&A line. So there's still opportunities to go after. It's just -- it gets a little harder over time, but I think the teams are ready to go do that.

是的，羅比。首先，謝謝你的恭喜。至於明年——現在考慮明年還為時過早。顯然，我們有一個多年計劃。我們努力著眼於未來，現在才開始考慮明年。但我們的目標是維持毛利率不變。我們將繼續努力使營業利潤率接近持平，這意味著在銷售、管理及行政費用方面，我們將需要不斷努力。可能會出現像今年這樣的季度，正如我所提到的，第三季度的銷售、管理及行政費用略有稀釋。但我認為團隊正在積極尋找機會，努力利用這些機會，或至少確保我們在銷售、管理及行政費用方面不會出現槓桿效應。所以仍有機會去爭取。只是隨著時間的推移，難度會逐漸增加，但我認為團隊已經準備好迎接挑戰。

And our next question comes from the line of Chuck Cerankosky from North Research.

我們的下一個問題來自 North Research 的 Chuck Cerankosky。

Can you guys -- either one of you comment on the inflation you're seeing in the cost of private label merchandise? And then could you please give me your outlook on where you think that growth rate is headed as the economy normalizes. It's been obviously very strong growth and do your customers stay with it and keep buying or do they migrate back to branded product?

你們兩位能否談談自有品牌商品價格上漲的情況？隨著經濟逐漸恢復正常，你們認為自有品牌商品價格的成長率會如何改變？目前自有品牌商品價格成長非常強勁，你們的顧客會繼續購買自有品牌商品，還是會轉而購買品牌商品？

Well, let me start, Chuck, with the second part of your context, which was where are we in terms of -- our Sprouts brand product is not operating in the way that our private brand would operate across the traditional grocery space. We're trying to make sure that everything we're putting in behind that is differentiated and has a very -- it doesn't have a commodity space to it. So we believe the growth in our Sprouts brand, which is over 20% now will continue as the team that's at food and put in place in that space continue to find differentiated products that fit our target customers, and we've made a ton of progress on that. I'm very encouraged not just for the health enthusiast but this innovation seeker that we have. We're doing a really nice job of bringing products to the market that you can't find anywhere else under the Sprouts brand. So I'm encouraged for that, and I think it will continue to grow almost irrespective of how the economy grows. I think as a mix, as a mix of our business, our Sprouts brand will be strong going forward. In terms of cost base, again, for the same reason, we're having -- the impact on the cost side of Sprouts brand is very much about how the commodities are playing through, and there has been some volatility in commodity prices. How that plays into our Sprouts brand? I think it's difficult to say exactly. I think Chip talked earlier about what's going to happen with the -- rain sign, and how does that knock on effect have in terms of cost prices for raw materials going into processed products across the country. I think that's a little bit uncertain. But we are pretty confident we can -- we'll certainly be able to manage the product side of this and the team are very focused on making sure that we're buying these products at the most effective price we can.

好的，查克，我先從你提到的第二部分說起，也就是我們目前的情況——我們的Sprouts品牌產品在運作方式上與我們在傳統超市領域的自有品牌有所不同。我們正努力確保所有投入的產品都具有差異化，並且完全不落入大眾商品的窠臼。我們相信，Sprouts品牌目前的成長動能（超過20%）將會持續下去，因為我們食品團隊會繼續尋找符合目標客戶需求的差異化產品，而且我們在這方面已經取得了顯著進展。我感到非常鼓舞，這不僅是因為我們吸引了健康愛好者，也因為我們吸引了許多追求創新的消費者。我們正在努力將Sprouts品牌獨有的產品推向市場。我對此感到非常振奮，而且我認為無論經濟狀況如何，Sprouts品牌都將持續成長。我認為，就我們業務的整體組成而言，Sprouts品牌未來仍將保持強勁勢頭。至於成本基礎，同樣地，Sprouts品牌成本方面受到的影響很大程度上取決於大宗商品價格的波動，而大宗商品價格確實出現了一些波動。這會對Sprouts品牌產生怎樣的影響？我認為很難準確預測。 Chip之前提到過，如果出現「下雨天」的跡象，會對全國各地加工產品的原料成本價格產生怎樣的連鎖反應。我認為這方面還存在一些不確定性。但我們非常有信心能夠應對產品方面的挑戰，團隊也全力以赴確保以最優價格購買這些產品。

Chip, good luck to you.

Chip，祝你好運。

And our next question comes from the line of Edward Kelly from Wells Fargo.

下一個問題來自富國銀行的愛德華‧凱利。

Congrats again, Chip. I want to ask about inflation, a follow-up one on Karen's question. I thought I heard you say that you expect inflation to be in the mid-single digits in the back half of the year. I just wanted to clarify that. And if so, can you talk about the drivers of that level?

再次恭喜你，Chip。我想問關於通貨膨脹的問題，這是對Karen之前問題的補充。我好像聽你說過，你預計下半年通貨膨脹率會在個位數中段。我只是想確認一下。如果是這樣的話，你能談談造成這種程度的因素嗎？

Yes. So the drivers of that would just be the prices that are already in place today. And as they play out year-over-year, that's how it's going to play out.

是的。所以，影響因素就是目前的價格。而且，隨著時間的推移，價格走勢也會如此。

Okay. And then a follow-up is related to your promotional strategy. And this is a dynamic of promotional intensity versus engagement. We've heard some talk in the marketplace about increased promotional engagement through things like e-mail, for instance, with customers that may be attached to certain stores that makes it look like intensity is growing, but I don't know it might just be engagements growing, and I don't know how dialed in you want as to a level.

好的。接下來我想問的是與您的促銷策略相關的問題。這涉及到促銷強度與參與度之間的動態關係。我們聽到一些市場討論，例如透過電子郵件等方式提高促銷參與度，尤其是對於那些可能對特定店舖有忠誠度的客戶，這看起來好像促銷強度在增加，但我不知道這可能只是參與度在增加，而且我也不清楚您希望達到怎樣的參與度水平。

We can --

我們可以——

Yes, just kind of curious that how your strategy is evolving? Because obviously, your margin does not suggest intensity is picking up. So clearly, it seems like it might be engagement.

是的，我只是有點好奇你們的策略是如何演變的？因為很明顯，你們的利潤率並沒有顯示出銷售強度正在提升。所以很明顯，問題可能出在用戶參與度。

We are getting better engagement certainly. We're getting better at sending the right e-mails to the right people so that we're not diluting the effect of -- we'll get much better at as we get more data from our customers and then become increasingly personalized. The nature of our -- the nature of our proposition to the customer does rely on us being very personalized in the offer. People who have got particular dietary needs. Let's communicate in some term, we don't want to be communicating meat offers to the vegan customer and that we've got-- and we've got a lot of them. So getting more precise in how we do it is probably what you're seeing in the kind of dialogue about the promotion intensity. We as a business have no intention of investing a ton of margin being promotions, but we've got a lot of intention of making sure our promotions are more targeted, more accurate and more precise in terms of driving business for us.

我們的互動效果確實在提升。我們越來越擅長向合適的人發送合適的郵件，這樣就不會削弱行銷效果——隨著我們從客戶那裡獲得更多數據，我們將做得更好，並實現更個人化的服務。我們為客戶提供的產品和服務，其本質在於高度個人化。例如，對於有特殊飲食需求的客戶，我們不想向素食客戶推送肉類產品訊息，而且我們有很多這樣的客戶。因此，您可能在關於促銷力度的討論中看到，我們正在努力提高推廣的精準度。作為一家企業，我們並不打算在促銷上投入大量利潤，但我們致力於確保我們的促銷活動更具針對性、更精準，從而更有效地推動業務成長。

And our final question for today comes from the line of Scott Mushkin from R5 Capital.

今天最後一個問題來自 R5 Capital 的 Scott Mushkin。

Chip, I think we're all going to miss you. So -- but not yet because you're going to be around for a little bit longer.

Chip，我想我們都會想念你的。不過——現在還不是時候，因為你還會陪伴我們一段時間。

I will.

我會。

So my first question is more housekeeping. I know you guys said you were going to close. I think you said 11 stores this year. It looks like a bunch of those were in the second quarter. How do we -- how should we look at net new openings as we move forward? And what's your expectation for net openings this year? And how do we think about next?

我的第一個問題是關於一些基本情況的。我知道你們說過要關店，好像今年要關11家。看起來其中很多都在第二季。那麼，我們接下來該如何看待新店開幕的情況呢？你們對今年的新店開幕數量有什麼預期？我們下一步又該如何規劃呢？

Well, if you think about it, we will have close to 11 this year, and we will open at least 30. So just doing the math there, that's 30 -- I'm a finance guys. So I can get that that's a net of 19 plus -- I had some question answer. So a net 19-ish or a little bit more this year. And then as we think of next year, next year, we're targeting 10% unit growth, there shouldn't be any closures like we did this year. Is there 1 or 2 off that we might end up as the leases expire, there might be. But generally, we should be looking at 10% net growth from 2024 and beyond.

嗯，仔細想想，我們今年應該會有接近11家新店開業，至少會開30家。簡單算一下，就是30家──我是做財務的。所以我算出來淨增加19家多一點——我之前有個問題，答案是肯定的。所以今年淨增加19家左右，或者略多一點。展望明年，我們的目標是10%的門市成長，應該不會像今年那樣出現關店的情況。可能會有一兩家因為租約到期而關門，但整體來說，我們應該能維持2024年及以後10%的淨成長率。

Okay. That's it. So then my next question, and I think it's kind of been touched on a little bit, but I just wanted to get out of maybe a little more is around kind of the glide path in earnings as we progress forward. Thinking about the comp, I think it's going to come in this year is in the middle of your range of 2.5%. Without a big acceleration next year, it just seems like the earnings growth could be more muted? Or am I thinking about things wrong?

好的，就這些。那麼我的下一個問題，雖然之前已經稍微提到過，但我還是想再詳細說說，是關於我們未來獲利成長的預期走勢。考慮到同業拆借利率，我認為今年的成長率會在您預測的2.5%的範圍內。如果明年沒有大幅加速成長，獲利成長是否會比較溫和？還是我的理解有誤？

Well, I think if we -- if you think about it that we're trying to drive towards a 3-ish plus comp, and we're trying to keep our gross margins flat and our SG&A then would grow in line with top line, which would be, call it, high singles on top line. So to 10-ish. That gives you an operating margin that's flat and you get earnings growth in the high singles pre-share buyback.

我認為，如果我們－想想看，我們正努力將同店銷售額提高到3%左右，同時維持毛利率不變，那麼銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）就會與營收同步成長，也就是營收的幾個百分點，大約達到10%左右。這樣一來，營業利潤率就能保持穩定，在股票回購之前，獲利成長也能達到幾個百分點。

Can we do that? I think we have a lot of confidence probably more than some of your peers that we can really keep our gross margin stable. We have a ton of confidence there with our differentiated product, how we go to market, differentiated customer base, we feel like we can keep that. As it relates to the cost basis, yes, right now, we are accelerating store growth. So we have to manage through that. The good news, the other thing that's been hitting us has been labor cost. Labor cost growth is beginning to decelerate. So I think going into next year, we'll be in a better place that we can manage that. And I think, as I said earlier, and I know it sounds oversimplified, but we have an aligned team here and aligned building and align store set that knows that we really want to manage our costs and keep them under control. So we're always looking for opportunities. And there's we'll be able to -- I have confidence we'll be able to do that. We've made a lot of investments in our store support office over the last couple of years, and we're getting to a place where that does not need to grow nearly like it has. We had to put in new systems, we had to add more people. We had to invest across the board. We invested in merch planning, we invested in financial planning. We've been all over the board. We're getting to a place where we can begin to leverage the corporate part of it, it's just about managing labor at that point in the stores.

我們能做到嗎？我認為我們比你們的一些同行更有信心，能夠真正保持毛利率穩定。我們對自身差異化的產品、市場策略和客戶群充滿信心，相信能夠維持這些優勢。至於成本方面，是的，目前我們正在加速門市擴張，所以必須妥善應對。好消息是，另一個對我們造成衝擊的因素是勞動成本。勞動成本的成長速度已經開始放緩。所以我認為，進入明年，我們將能夠更好地控製成本。正如我之前所說，我知道這聽起來太簡單，但我們擁有一個目標一致的團隊，包括門市建設和佈局，他們都清楚我們真正想要控製成本。因此，我們一直在尋找機會。我相信我們能夠做到這一點。過去幾年，我們對門市支援部門進行了大量投資，現在它已經不需要像以前那樣快速擴張了。我們不得不引進新的系統，不得不增加人手，不得不進行全方位的投資。我們投資了商品規劃，也投資了財務規劃。我們幾乎在所有方面都投入了資源。現在，我們可以開始利用公司層面的資源，剩下的就是門市的勞動力管理了。

Thank you. This does conclude the question-and-answer session of today's program. I'd like to hand the program back to Jack Sinclair for any further remarks.

謝謝。今天的問答環節到此結束。現在我把節目交還給傑克辛克萊，請他再補充一些內容。

Thanks very much, everyone, for all the questions and your attention. And thanks again to Chip, and congratulations on his retirement. But as Scott just said, he's got a bit more work to do because he's not going until the end of the year. And we look forward to working through the next few months together. Thanks again for your attention. Take care.

非常感謝大家的提問和關注。再次感謝Chip，恭喜他光榮退休。不過正如Scott剛才所說，他還有一些工作要做，因為他要到年底才會正式退休。我們期待在接下來的幾個月繼續合作。再次感謝大家的關注。保重。

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect. Good day.

感謝各位女士、先生參加今天的會議。本次會議到此結束，您可以斷開連線了。祝您今天愉快。