Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (SFM) 2024 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the First Quarter 2024 Earnings Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

您好，感謝您的耐心等待。歡迎參加2024年第一季財報電話會議。 （操作說明）請注意，本次會議正在錄音。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker Susannah Livingston, Vice President of Investor Relations and Treasurer. Please begin.

現在我謹將會議交給各位發言人，投資者關係副總裁兼財務主管蘇珊娜‧利文斯頓女士。請開始發言。

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. We are pleased you are joining Sprouts on our first quarter 2024 earnings call. Jack Sinclair, Chief Executive Officer; and Curtis Valentine, Chief Financial Officer are with me today. The earnings release announcing our first quarter 2024 results, the webcast of this call and financial slides can be accessed through the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.sprouts.com.

謝謝大家，下午好。我們很高興各位參加 Sprouts 2024 年第一季財報電話會議。執行長 Jack Sinclair 和財務長 Curtis Valentine 今天與我一同出席。您可以透過我們網站 investors.sprouts.com 的投資者關係頁面查看 2024 年第一季業績公告、本次電話會議的網路直播以及財務報表。

During this call, management may make certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our expectations for 2024 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2024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.

我們今天的演講中提及了非GAAP財務指標。請參閱我們獲利報告中的表格，以了解我們的非GAAP財務指標與對應的GAAP財務指標的對照表。

With that, let me hand it over to Jack.

那麼，就讓我把麥克風交給傑克吧。

Thanks, Susannah, and good afternoon, everyone. I want to start by thanking our 32,000 hard working team members who work together to create a great experience for our customers, which in turn delivered impressive financial results.

謝謝蘇珊娜，大家下午好。首先，我要感謝我們32,000名辛勤工作的團隊成員，他們齊心協力為客戶創造了卓越的體驗，也正是這些努力帶來了令人矚目的財務表現。

Our sales have grown by 9% with comparable store sales growing by 4% and diluted earnings per share growing by 14% compared to adjusted diluted earnings per share in the same period last year. These positive results reflect the effectiveness of our strategy and the exceptional execution by our team. It has been a strong start to the year. And we're encouraged by the continued momentum in our business.

我們的銷售額成長了9%，同店銷售額成長了4%，稀釋後每股盈餘較去年同期調整後稀釋後每股盈餘成長了14%。這些正面的績效反映了我們策略的有效性以及團隊的出色執行。今年開局強勁，我們對業務持續成長的勢頭感到鼓舞。

Our entire approach across the business remains centered around our target customer. We have aligned our merchandising, marketing, operations, new-store design and supply chain strategies to provide the freshest, most innovative, attribute-driven products in the marketplace. We have also created a unique and easy-to-shop format with great service.

我們整個業務的方針始終以目標客戶為中心。我們調整了商品陳列、行銷、營運、新店設計和供應鏈策略，力求在市場上提供最新鮮、最具創新性、以產品特性為導向的產品。此外，我們也打造了獨特且便利的購物體驗和優質的服務。

During the first quarter, we organized Sprouts brand in organic events, which were highly successful. These events and others led to positive customer traffic growth in the first quarter. We are pleased to bring Sprouts to more communities across the country. The new store program continues to gather pace. We opened 7 for the quarter and are on track for the year. And we're committed to helping our customer live and eat better with every new store opening across the country.

第一季度，我們舉辦了多場Sprouts品牌推廣活動，並取得了巨大成功。這些活動以及其他舉措，都帶動了第一季客流量的顯著成長。我們很高興能將Sprouts帶到全國更多社區。新店擴張計畫持續推進，本季已開設7家新店，全年目標也進展順利。我們致力於透過在全國各地開設新店，幫助顧客擁有更健康的生活和更健康的飲食。

I'll follow up with more on our journey in just a bit, but for now, I'll hand it over to Curtis to review our financial performance in the first quarter and our 2024 outlook. Curtis?

我稍後會繼續介紹我們的發展歷程，但現在，我把麥克風交給柯蒂斯，讓他來回顧一下我們第一季的財務表現以及2024年的展望。柯蒂斯？

Thanks, Jack, and good afternoon, everyone. For the first quarter, total sales were $1.9 billion, up $150 million or 9% from the same period last year. This increase was driven by comparable store sales growth of 4% and the addition of new stores. We had another quarter of positive traffic, and as expected, average unit retails and units per basket continued to stabilize sequentially. Our business continues to be resilient. Our comp performance highlights the categories with the most differentiation, such as grocery, dairy, frozen and meat continue to attract our target customers and drive our results.

謝謝傑克，大家下午好。第一季總銷售額為19億美元，較去年同期成長1.5億美元，增幅達9%。這一成長主要得益於同店銷售額成長4%以及新店開業。客流量在本季持續成長，如預期，平均單價和每籃商品數量較上季保持穩定。我們的業務依然保持韌性。同店銷售業績凸顯了差異化程度最高的品類，例如食品雜貨、乳製品、冷凍食品和肉類，這些品類繼續吸引著我們的目標客戶，並推動著我們的業績成長。

Sprouts Brand growth continued to outpace total company performance and contributed 21% of our total sales for the quarter. Our e-commerce sales grew approximately 25%, representing 14% of our total sales for the quarter. This included incremental sales from our recently launched Uber Eats partnership and all 3 of our online partners joined us in promoting healthy trends to create momentum in the new year.

Sprouts品牌成長持續超越公司整體業績，貢獻了本季總銷售額的21%。我們的電商銷售額成長約25%，佔本季總銷售額的14%。這其中包括近期與Uber Eats合作帶來的增量銷售額，此外，我們的三家線上合作夥伴也與我們攜手推廣健康飲食理念，為新的一年註入強勁動力。

The fact so many of our target customers seek out Sprouts online continues to highlight the appeal of our differentiated assortment. Our first quarter gross margin was 38.3%, an increase of approximately 80 basis points from the same period of the prior year. This improvement was primarily due to a significant turnaround in our fresh shrink performance, driven by our continued focus on inventory management. We also continue to see year-over-year margin improvement due to promotional optimization efforts carrying over from 2023.

眾多目標客戶選擇在線上造訪 Sprouts，這持續凸顯了我們差異化商品組合的吸引力。第一季毛利率為 38.3%，較上年同期成長約 80 個基點。這一成長主要得益於生鮮損耗率的顯著改善，而這又得益於我們持續優化庫存管理。此外，自 2023 年以來持續進行的促銷優化措施也推動了毛利率的年增。

SG&A for the quarter totaled $540 million, an increase of $57 million or approximately 80 basis points of deleverage compared to adjusted SG&A from the same period of the prior year. As anticipated, the first quarter was impacted by approximately $4 million in holiday pay with the New Year's Day falling in the first day of fiscal 2024. Our strong sales performance led to higher e-commerce fees as well as higher incentive compensation for the team.

本季銷售、管理及行政費用總計5.4億美元，較上年同期調整後的銷售、管理及行政費用增加5,700萬美元，槓桿率下降約80個基點。如預期，由於元旦恰逢2024財年伊始，第一季受到約400萬美元假日薪資的影響。強勁的銷售業績帶來了更高的電商手續費收入，同時也提高了團隊的激勵性薪酬。

Last quarter, we shared our plan to invest $15 million in 2024 to build a foundation for sustainable long-term earnings growth and we are on track with approximately $2 million spent in the first quarter. Store closure and other costs totaled approximately $2 million for the quarter. These are primarily related to the ongoing occupancy costs from our 2023 store closures. Depreciation and amortization, excluding depreciation included in the cost of sales was $32 million.

上季度，我們公佈了2024年投資1500萬美元的計劃，旨在為可持續的長期盈利增長奠定基礎。目前，我們已按計畫完成約200萬美元的投資，本季支出約200萬美元。門市關閉及其他相關成本在本季總計約200萬美元，主要與2023年關閉門市產生的持續租金成本有關。不包括計入銷售成本的折舊，折舊和攤提總額為3,200萬美元。

For the quarter, our earnings before interest and taxes were $148 million. Interest expense was approximately $1 million and our effective tax rate was 23%. Net income was $114 million and diluted earnings per share were $1.12, an increase of 14% compared to adjusted diluted earnings per share from the same period of the prior year.

本季度，我們的息稅前利潤為1.48億美元。利息支出約100萬美元，實際稅率為23%。淨利為1.14億美元，稀釋後每股收益為1.12美元，較上年同期調整後稀釋後每股收益成長14%。

During the first quarter, we opened 7 new stores, ending the quarter with 414 stores across 23 states. A strong and healthy balance sheet has underpinned our financial performance. We generated $220 million in operating cash flow, allowing us to self-fund our investments of $46 million in capital expenditures, net of landlord reimbursement to grow the business. We also returned $60 million to our shareholders by repurchasing nearly 1 million shares. We have $148 million remaining under our current share repurchase authorization. We ended the quarter with $312 million in cash and cash equivalents, $125 million outstanding on our $700 million revolver, and $21 million of our outstanding letters of credit.

第一季度，我們新開了7家門市，季度末門市總數達到414家，遍佈23個州。穩健的資產負債表是我們財務表現的堅實基礎。我們創造了2.2億美元的經營現金流，使我們能夠自籌資金，用於4600萬美元的資本支出（扣除房東補償後）以拓展業務。此外，我們也透過回購近100萬股股票，向股東返還了6,000萬美元。目前，我們剩餘的股票回購額度為1.48億美元。季度末，我們持有現金及現金等價物3.12億美元，7億美元循環信貸額度中未償還1.25億美元，以及未償還信用證2100萬美元。

Turning to our outlook. For the full year, we expect total sales growth to be between 7% to 8% and comp sales in the range of 2.5% to 3.5%. We plan to open approximately 35 new stores, all in our current prototype. Adjusted earnings before interest and taxes are expected to be between $415 million and $425 million and adjusted earnings per share are expected to be between $3.05 and $3.13, assuming no additional share repurchases.

接下來談談我們的展望。全年來看，我們預期總銷售額成長7%至8%，同店銷售額成長2.5%至3.5%。我們計劃開設約35家新店，全部採用我們目前的門市設計模式。假設不進行額外的股票回購，調整後的息稅前利潤預計在4.15億美元至4.25億美元之間，調整後的每股盈餘預計在3.05美元至3.13美元之間。

That said, we do expect to continue to repurchase shares opportunistically. We also expect our corporate tax rate to be approximately 25%. During the year, we expect capital expenditures net of landlord reimbursements to be between $225 million and $245 million. To add a bit more color to the full year, we expect gross margins to be up as we continue to focus on initiatives to improve shrink and annualize our promotional optimization work from 2023.

儘管如此，我們仍計劃擇機回購股票。同時，我們預計公司稅率約為25%。本年度，扣除房東補償後，我們預期資本支出淨額將在2.25億美元至2.45億美元之間。為了更清楚展現全年業績，我們預期毛利率將有所提升，因為我們將繼續專注於改善損耗控制的各項舉措，並從2023年起將促銷優化工作納入年度計畫。

On the cost front, we expect ongoing wage increases, new store deleverage, and our strategic investments to pressure SG&A, resulting in an additional deleverage in 2024. For the second quarter of the year, we expect comp sales in the range of 3% to 4% and adjusted earnings per share between $0.75 and $0.79. We are expecting more moderate year-over-year impacts in both gross margins and SG&A as we lap fewer outliers in our second quarter comparison, resulting in gross margins up slightly, while SG&A will deleverage slightly.

在成本方面，我們預期持續的薪資成長、新店開幕帶來的槓桿效應以及我們的策略投資將對銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）構成壓力，從而導致2024年槓桿效應進一步降低。今年第二季度，我們預期同店銷售額將成長3%至4%，調整後每股收益介於0.75美元至0.79美元之間。由於第二季年比數據中異常值較少，我們預期毛利率和銷售、管理及行政費用年比變動幅度將較為溫和，毛利率將略有上升，而銷售、管理及行政費用將略有下降。

And with that, I'll turn it back to Jack.

好了，現在我把麥克風交還給傑克。

Thanks, Curtis. We remain committed to serving our customers, our health enthusiasts with products that help them live and eat better. Our team is dedicated to finding innovative and distinctive products with attributes such as organic, gluten-free, grass-fed or vegan that set us apart from others. The success of our foraging program has continued as sales on our innovation center continue to grow, and we believe we have become the destination for exciting entrepreneurial food companies to introduce their unique products to the marketplace.

謝謝柯蒂斯。我們始終致力於為顧客，尤其是熱愛健康的消費者，提供能夠幫助他們改善生活和飲食的產品。我們的團隊專注於尋找創新且獨特的產品，例如有機、無麩質、草飼或純素產品，這些都讓我們脫穎而出。隨著創新中心銷售的持續成長，我們的產品探索計畫也取得了成功。我們相信，我們已成為充滿活力的食品新創公司向市場推出其獨特產品的理想平台。

This innovative spirit lives within our Sprouts brand and culinary teams as they continue to add hundreds of new items like hot honey chicken tenders, non-dairy frozen desserts, and flavored cauliflower rice. Additionally, as I mentioned earlier, in-store experience and customer engagement remain paramount for us. Part of our appeal is our friendly and knowledgeable team members who help customers navigate the differentiated assortment available to them.

這種創新精神貫穿我們的 Sprouts 品牌和烹飪團隊，他們不斷推出數百種新品，例如辣蜂蜜雞柳、無乳冷凍甜點和風味花椰菜米。此外，正如我之前提到的，店內體驗和顧客互動對我們仍然至關重要。我們吸引顧客的部分原因在於我們友善且知識淵博的團隊成員，他們會幫助顧客了解我們提供的各種商品。

The team's dedication to our customers in the first quarter resulted in some of the highest customer service scores in our history, a remarkable achievement. Sprouts is incredibly fortunate to have the support of many customers who truly love our brand. As a complementary shop, we have an opportunity to deepen our engagement with our customers and grow their share of wallet through a loyalty program.

第一季度，團隊對顧客的盡心盡力使我們獲得了公司歷史上最高的顧客服務評分，這是一項了不起的成就。 Sprouts 非常榮幸能得到許多真正熱愛我們品牌的顧客的支持。作為一家互補型商店，我們有機會透過會員計畫加深與顧客的聯繫，並提高他們的消費額。

Our vision is to distinguish our program by enhancing what our brand already does, helping our customers in their passion to live and eat better. This is a multi-year endeavor that will enable Sprouts to build a thriving community where our customers can engage with our brand and we can provide them with personalized content catering to their unique shopping preferences.

我們的願景是透過強化品牌既有優勢，打造獨樹一格的項目，幫助顧客實現更健康的生活和飲食。這是一項多年計劃，旨在幫助 Sprouts 建立一個蓬勃發展的社區，讓顧客能夠與品牌互動，並根據他們獨特的購物偏好提供個人化內容。

Our upcoming beta launch of Sprouts Rewards in 2 markets this quarter is just the beginning. And we're excited to continuously improve the program by incorporating feedback from our customers and team members to enhance the experience, functionality and technology overtime. One of the reasons our customers and team members love Sprouts is because our values are aligned. We all care deeply for our communities on the planet. We recently published our 2023 impact report highlighting our work in areas we believe matter most to our target customers, areas such as responsible sourcing of sustainable products, waste reduction and supporting the communities we serve.

本季度，我們將在兩個市場推出 Sprouts Rewards 的測試版，但這只是個開始。我們很高興能夠持續改進該計劃，並根據顧客和團隊成員的回饋，持續提升用戶體驗、功能和技術水平。顧客和團隊成員喜愛 Sprouts 的原因之一是我們擁有共同的價值觀。我們都深切關注地球上的各個社區。我們近期發布了 2023 年影響力報告，重點介紹了我們在目標顧客最為關注的領域所做的工作，例如負責任地採購永續產品、減少浪費以及支持我們服務的社區。

In 2023, $3.3 billion of our sales were from products with social or environmental attributes. Our transition to reusable bags removed approximately 130 million single-use bags from circulation, and our store donated 29 million meals to those in need within our communities. It was exciting to see our team members support our Healthy Communities Foundation by donating over 5,500 service hours to build school gardens that help kids grow healthy through nutrition education. I encourage you to read through the report to get a flavor of our focus areas and impact.

2023年，我們33億美元的銷售額來自具有社會或環境效益的產品。我們推廣使用可重複使用購物袋，減少了約1.3億個一次性購物袋的使用，我們的門市也向社區中有需要的人捐贈了2,900萬份餐點。令人欣喜的是，我們的團隊成員積極支持“健康社區基金會”，貢獻了超過5500小時的志願服務時間，用於建造校園菜園，幫助孩子們透過營養教育健康成長。我鼓勵您閱讀這份報告，以便更了解我們的重點領域和影響。

I was delighted with the opening of several new stores during the fourth quarter from Cudahy, California, to Burtonsville, Maryland. In the first quarter, we launched 7 new stores and are on track to open approximately 35 by the end of the year. We have an extensive pipeline of approximately 100 approved new stores and 70 executed leases, a testament to our commitment to expanding our brand and access to healthy foods in more communities across the country.

第四季度，從加州庫達希到馬裡蘭州伯頓斯維爾，多家新店開業，我對此感到非常高興。第一季度，我們開了7家新店，預計到年底將開設約35家。我們目前還有約100家已獲批准的新店和70份已簽署的租賃協議，這充分體現了我們致力於拓展品牌影響力，並為全國更多社區提供健康食品的決心。

We've also seen improved new-store openings this year and we attribute much of this success to better brand awareness as we continue to densify markets and we have growing confidence in our real estate site selection model, which continues to evolve. These improved openings coupled with continued comp momentum in newer markets and our robust pipeline will support our growth aspirations.

今年新店開幕數量也有所提升，我們認為主要歸功於品牌知名度的提高。隨著我們不斷擴大市場規模，以及對自身房地產選址模式（模式也不斷完善）的信心增強，這項成功將會大大提升。新店開幕數量的成長，加上新興市場持續的同店銷售成長動能以及我們強大的專案儲備，都將協助我們實現成長目標。

Internally, our team is making great progress in building a best-in-class workplace through our values and culture. Our retention rates are currently at an all-time high, which is a tribute to the intentionality behind this work. We're seeing improvement across the board in our team member engagement scores and believe this focus on culture is translating into the great customer service scores that we're seeing. We know that our journey towards improving our culture is ongoing and we are excited for the progress we've made thus far.

在公司內部，我們的團隊正透過我們的價值觀和企業文化，努力打造一流的工作場所，並取得了顯著進展。目前，我們的員工留存率達到了歷史新高，這充分體現了我們為此付出的努力。我們看到團隊成員的敬業度評分全面提升，並相信這種對企業文化的重視正在轉化為我們所看到的卓越客戶服務評分。我們深知，提升企業文化的旅程仍在繼續，但我們對迄今為止的進展感到無比振奮。

In addition to the culture work, we're focused on preparing our leaders for growth. We aim to have a pool of skilled team members ready for future assignments. We typically promote close to 60% of store managers from with them. To prepare them for leadership roles, we have developed assistant store manager leadership tracks, over 30 graduated this year from our initial cohort and another 50 team members entered the program in 2024.

除了文化建構之外，我們也致力於培養領導者，協助其成長。我們的目標是建立一支技能精湛的團隊成員隊伍，隨時準備好迎接未來的挑戰。我們通常會從團隊成員中提拔近 60% 的門市經理。為了幫助他們勝任領導職位，我們設立了助理門市經理領導力發展專案。今年，首批學員中已有 30 多人畢業，另有 50 名團隊成員將於 2024 年加入該計畫。

In closing, the continued momentum we are seeing is a demonstration of the effectiveness of our execution. We're delighted to receive encouraging feedback from our customers, which confirms that our collective efforts are making a meaningful impact. Our store, distribution center and support office teams are ambitious for Sprout's future and are determined to deliver on the opportunities that lie ahead.

最後，我們所看到的持續成長動能充分證明了我們執行工作的有效性。我們很高興收到客戶的正面回饋，這證實了我們共同的努力正在產生實際的影響。我們的門市、配送中心和支援團隊對Sprout的未來充滿信心，並決心抓住未來的機會。

Moving forward, we remain focused on execution, both day-to-day in our stores and on our investments for the future, all while keeping customers our top priority. Thank you for your support, and we look forward to connecting with many of you in the coming months.

展望未來，我們將繼續專注於日常門市營運和未來投資，並始終將顧客放在首位。感謝您的支持，我們期待在未來幾個月與您保持聯繫。

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

那麼，接下來我將把發言權交給接線生，請問各位有什麼問題？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question will be coming from Leah Jordan of Goldman Sachs.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題將來自高盛的莉亞喬丹。

Great job on the quarter. Just wanted to start off on the comp. What was the primary driver for the outperformance versus your expectations? How did traffic trend throughout the quarter? And what do you attribute to the recent market share gain?

本季業績非常出色。我想先談談業績比較。是什麼因素促成了業績超乎預期？本季流量趨勢如何？您認為近期市場佔有率的成長歸功於哪些因素？

Leah, thanks for the note there. So yes, comps outperformed, it's really coming from a lot of different things. I think it's a little bit of everything just being a little bit better than we expected. So continued positive, solid traffic, the AUR units stabilizing as expected and the business just continuing to hum along. So we're pleased with the performance in Q1.

莉亞，謝謝你的留言。是的，同店銷售額確實超出預期，這主要得益於多方面因素。我認為是各方面都略好於預期的結果。流量持續成長且穩定，平均入住率也如預期般趨於穩定，業務持續穩定發展。因此，我們對第一季的業績感到滿意。

Yes. We're seeing positive traffic in both e-comm and in our bricks-and-mortar business. We're seeing positive traffic in terms -- positive basket in both of those channels that we have. So we're kind of feeling positive about that. And basically, everything seems to be in good shape.

是的。我們的電商和實體店客流量都在成長。這兩個頻道的客單價都在上升。所以我們對此感到樂觀。總的來說，一切似乎都很順利。

On the market share gain question you asked, Leah, just to comment on that a little bit. We kind of -- market share is difficult for us. We kind of look at our own business and see how well it's doing because it's very difficult to define what we do within the context of the total grocery market share. But certainly, in the last -- since the pandemic, I think, people have been more comfortable in shopping in more places, which suits us as a complementary shop.

關於你提到的市佔率成長問題，莉亞，我想簡單談談我的看法。市場佔有率對我們來說比較難衡量。我們主要關注自身業務的營運狀況，因為很難在整個食品雜貨市場份額的背景下定義我們的業務。但可以肯定的是，自從疫情以來，人們更願意在更多的地方購物，這對我們這種互補型商店來說是個好消息。

Okay, great. That's very helpful. And then a follow-up, I just wanted to ask about gross margin. I mean, it came in really strong expansion in the quarter. You talked about some of the tailwinds earlier. Just how can we think about it for the balance of the year? How much of the magnitude from -- will moderate on the promote optimization side for the rest of the year? And then you said it would be up for the full year. Any more color compared to last quarter when you said it would be up 20 basis points to 25 basis points given the strength in the first quarter?

好的，太好了。這很有幫助。接下來我想問毛利率。我的意思是，本季毛利率確實大幅成長。您之前也提到了一些利多因素。那麼，我們該如何看待今年剩餘時間的毛利率走勢呢？促銷優化措施的力道會在多大程度上減弱？您之前說過全年毛利率會成長。與上個季度相比，您能否提供更多細節？上個季度您曾表示，鑑於第一季的強勁表現，毛利率預計會成長20到25個基點。

Yes, sure. I think, so for the year, I would say up approximately [$50 million] now. So certainly, we got better flow-through in the first quarter than we expected and it was really a shrink story. And we talked about it on the last call, but we had challenges throughout last year and particularly in the second half. And really credit to the teams, they got on top of it late last year. And that turnaround just happened a little faster than we expected and resulted in really good performance.

是的，當然。我認為，就全年而言，目前來看，大約成長了5000萬美元。所以，第一季的實際業績確實比預期要好，而且實際上已經有所下滑。我們在上次電話會議上也討論過，去年我們面臨許多挑戰，尤其是在下半年。值得稱讚的是，團隊在去年年底就扭轉了局面。這種轉變比我們預期的要快一些，最終帶來了非常好的業績。

Really just a focus on inventory management and some of the things that we're investing in, and the teams really working together, be it operations, merchandising, some of our analytics teams and our IT team coming together to help the business figure things out and get things moving in the right direction. But yes, for the full year, I expected up about $50 million on the growth side.

我們主要專注於庫存管理以及我​​們正在投資的一些項目，各個團隊，包括營運、商品銷售、分析團隊和IT團隊，都在通力合作，幫助業務解決問題，並朝著正確的方向發展。是的，我預計全年增長額將達到5,000萬美元左右。

And one moment for our next question. And our next question will be coming from Mark Carden of UBS.

稍等片刻，我們進入下一個問題。下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的馬克卡登。

Nice quarter. So to start, maybe a follow-up on that last gross margin question. Obviously, a lot is going right now, clearly benefited from shedding coupon clippers. 1Q is historically your strongest quarter from a seasonality perspective, the strong performance inventory management. Just thinking about 1Q relative to maybe 1Q next year, was this pretty much a perfect backdrop for you guys? Are you approaching upper bound or do you still see more room to go from here? So in other words, when you think about the benefit in the back half of the year, is that just these current tailwinds or do you see really more room to scale up?

不錯的季度業績。首先，我想就上次關於毛利率的問題做個後續討論。顯然，目前很多事情都在順利進行，而且很明顯地受益於優惠券用戶的減少。從季節性因素和庫存管理的角度來看，第一季歷來是你們業績最好的季度。如果把今年第一季和明年第一季相比，你們覺得目前的市場環境是否非常理想？你們的業績是否已經接近上限，還是還有進步空間？換句話說，你們認為下半年的業績成長只是目前這些利多因素帶來的，還是還有更大的成長潛力？

Yes. I think we're pleased, there's a lot in that. So I'll try to tackle them piece by piece. But we feel good about our margins. Certainly, bottom line, we expect to be a stable business and the gains we're experiencing there in gross margin, there's nothing in there that was particularly one-time in nature. It was a soft compare year-over-year, which definitely helped from an overall magnitude perspective. It won't be quite that big going forward.

是的。我覺得我們很滿意，這其中有很多值得欣慰的地方。所以我打算逐一解決這些問題。但我們對利潤率感到樂觀。總而言之，我們預期業務會保持穩定，毛利率的成長並非一次性因素。雖然同比基數較低，但這無疑對整體成長幅度有所幫助。未來成長幅度不會這麼大。

But again, we feel good about the work that we're doing and we feel like it's sustainable and that we're kind of changing the water level and shrink here moving forward, and it will be a little bit better here in 2024 than it was in 2023. And longer-term, we talk about it a fair amount. We're still a fairly immature business. So there are opportunities. There are pressure points as well. And net-net, we plan to manage the business to stable on the bottom line and continue to grow the business.

但是，我們對目前的工作感到滿意，也認為這是可持續的，我們正在逐步改變現狀，並逐步縮小規模。到2024年，情況會比2023年好一些。至於長遠發展，我們也常討論。我們目前仍處於發展初期，所以既有機遇，也有挑戰。總而言之，我們計劃在保持獲利穩定的同時，繼續推動業務成長。

And, Mark, the gross margins particularly, there's kind of buckets that we look at, shrink certainly been a big benefit for us in this quarter. And I think there's continued opportunity. As Curtis said, the immaturity in our business as we get better at managing inventory with some of the systems that we put in and are applying increasingly more effectively. I think there's some further benefits on that going forward. We're getting a little bit better at promoting more effectively and understanding the elasticities. Well, that's been an ongoing thing over the last few years. And I think we're just gradually getting a little bit better of being efficient at promoting when we do promote.

馬克，毛利率尤其如此，我們關注的幾個方面，本季的縮水確實為我們帶來了很大的好處。我認為未來還有很大的進步空間。正如柯蒂斯所說，隨著我們不斷改進庫存管理系統，並日益有效地應用這些系統，我們業務的成熟度正在提高。我認為這方面未來會有更大的收益。我們在促銷方面也做得越來越好，對價格彈性也有了更深入的了解。這幾年我們一直在努力改進。我認為，我們現在在促銷方面也越來越有效率。

And there's been some drivers on mix, which I think will continue to help us in terms of mix, mix towards organic and mix towards some of the more attribute-based products that we work increasingly getting a reputation for. I think those 3 buckets will help us going forward.

而且，產品組合方面也有一些驅動因素，我認為這將繼續幫助我們優化產品組合，包括有機產品和我們越來越重視並逐漸建立良好口碑的屬性型產品。我認為這三個面向將對我們未來的發展有所幫助。

Great. That's helpful. And then as a follow up, we've heard about some pressure on restaurant demand recently. Do you think Sprouts has been experiencing much trade-in from outside of food at home? Have you seen any uptick in prepared food sales or do you think it's mainly just coming from within food at home?

太好了，這很有幫助。另外，我們最近聽說餐飲業需求面臨一些壓力。您認為Sprouts的門市是否受到了許多家庭食品消費的衝擊？您是否觀察到預製食品銷售量有所成長，還是說成長主要來自於家庭食品消費？

No, I think we've got -- we have had some benefit from that. I've been very pleased by the investments we've made, that the team have made inside the stores. We've put a number of new cabinets in to support the meals space from both the meat business and the dairy business, and we've seen some good benefits on that. Our frozen business has been strong. So the kind of 3 big buckets that come basically from people eating at home as opposed to eating in restaurants, I do think we've had a bit of a benefit from that. And who knows how the economy is going to go over the next 6, 9, 12 months, but I think it's more likely to be a benefit than the disbenefit going forward.

不，我認為我們已經從中受益。我對我們所做的投資，以及團隊在門市內部所做的努力非常滿意。我們添置了許多新的貨架，以支持肉類和乳製品業務的餐點銷售，並且已經看到了一些不錯的成效。我們的冷凍食品業務也表現強勁。所以，這三大主要業務板塊——即人們在家用餐而非外出用餐——我認為都為我們帶來了一些好處。誰也無法預知未來6個月、9個月甚至12個月的經濟情勢，但我認為長期來看，利大於弊。

And one moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Michael Montani of Evercore ISI.

稍等片刻，我們進入下一個問題。下一個問題來自 Evercore ISI 的 Michael Montani。

I wanted to focus in on 2 areas, if I could. One was just on shrink. I think for you all, it's more a story of efficiency gains versus theft. But just wondering if you can give us some incremental color there, Jack, in terms of what you've seen and what the opportunity could be? And then secondly, on the wage and benefit front. So can you just provide an update about what you all are experiencing there and what you're looking for this year in that line item.

我想重點談兩個方面。首先是關於損耗控制。我想對你們來說，這更多的是關於效率提升而非偷竊的問題。傑克，我想請你詳細說說你​​觀察到的情況以及可能的機會。其次是關於薪資和福利方面。可以介紹一下你們目前的狀況以及今年對這方面的期望嗎？

Sure, Mike. I'll let Curtis add a little bit more color, but on the 2 buckets, shrink, we've made some benefits, particularly in our fresh shrink. And as you correctly say, it's less likely -- we don't experience the kind of theft that you're hearing from a lot of the non-food retailers going-forward, partly because our attribute products are so differentiated. I think it's harder for people to steal them and sell them on, to be honest with you. So I think we're getting -- we're not seeing the kind of issue in that space that a lot of other people are doing, although we continue to watch it.

當然，麥克。我請柯蒂斯再補充一些細節，但關於那兩個桶裝產品和損耗，我們已經取得了一些成效，尤其是在生鮮產品的損耗方面。正如你所說，我們不太可能遇到像許多非食品零售商那樣的盜竊問題，部分原因是我們的特色產品差異化程度很高。說實話，我認為人們更難偷走它們然後轉手賣掉。所以我認為我們目前沒有遇到其他很多零售商遇到的那種問題，儘管我們會繼續關注。

The real benefit lies in how we manage our fresh inventory. And we've got a bigger fresh mix than most. So the opportunity is bigger going forward as we get into these much more better replenishment systems. We've got an initiative around here called FARM, which is Forecasting Allocation Replenishment Management, which is allowing us to, I think, get better at putting the right amount of inventory in the stores at the right time. And we're immature in this, Mike. So that remains a continued opportunity going forward. And we're kind of -- I'm very pleased the way the teams and the operations teams have really made some progress on that with a lot of support from the merchants and the IT teams.

真正的優勢在於我們如何管理生鮮庫存。我們的生鮮產品種類比多數商家豐富。隨著我們採用更完善的補貨系統，未來的發展機會也更大。我們這裡有個叫FARM的項目，全名為預測分配補貨管理（Forceing Allocation Replenishment Management），我認為它能幫助我們更好地在適當的時間將適量的庫存投放到門市。麥克，我們在這方面還不夠成熟。所以，這仍然是一個持續發展的機會。我很高興看到，在商家和IT團隊的大力支持下，我們的團隊和營運團隊在這方面取得了顯著進展。

With regards to wages and benefits, one things we're very encouraged about is the retention rates that we're having in our stores. And we think that's having a positive benefit. You don't have to pay as much for training, you don't have to pay as much for enrollment. So the fact that we're operating at a very significant improvement on retention gives me a lot of confidence that the way the teams are managing each other is a positive and is working well, and as I alluded to in my remarks. I think some of the work that we've done on culture and values and purpose is beginning to pay dividends in actual improved retention.

關於薪資福利，我們非常欣慰的一點是門市的員工留存率。我們認為這帶來了正面的影響。這樣一來，培訓和入職成本都會降低。員工留存率的顯著提升讓我對團隊間的管理方式充滿信心，也讓我確信這種管理方式行之有效。正如我之前提到的，我們在企業文化、價值觀和目標方面所做的工作，已經開始在實際的員工留存率提升中取得成效。

Wages are going to continue to rise, and we've got that in the numbers going forward. And one of the reasons we think retention is working is we're doubling down on communicating the benefits that we give, whether it be health care benefits and bonuses. We pay bonuses some -- quite a number of stores, everybody in the store gets a bonus. The leadership team, well over 90% of the leadership team in every store got a bonus. And those numbers are significantly rising, and it's all self-financing. So we're very positive about the way our bonus programs have been working. So I don't know whether you want to add something to that, Curtis?

薪資將會持續上漲，這一點我們已經從未來的數據中得到了體現。我們認為員工留任率上升的原因之一是，我們加強了對員工福利的宣傳力度，包括醫療保健福利和獎金。我們發放獎金－在一些門市，所有員工都能拿到獎金。管理團隊方面，超過90%的門市管理團隊成員都拿到了獎金。而且這些數字還在顯著成長，所有資金都來自公司本身的營運。所以我們對獎金計畫的實施效果非常滿意。柯蒂斯，你還有什麼要補充的嗎？

No, I think the only color maybe on shrink is about -- we've talked about just about 75% of our shrink is in the fresh side. So just to add some context to that, that theft piece is pretty small for us, as Jack alluded to.

不，我覺得唯一可能影響損耗的是──我們之前說過，大約75%的損耗都發生在生鮮區。所以，補充一點，正如傑克所提到的，偷竊對我們來說影響很小。

One moment for our next question. And our next question will be coming from John Heinbockel of Guggenheim Securities.

稍等片刻，我們進入下一個問題。下一個問題將來自古根漢證券的約翰·海因博克爾。

So Jack, let me start with what do you want to learn from the 2 test markets with the loyalty program? And then what do you think the benefit lies, right, traffic, basket? And I don't know if it's hard for you to figure out your wallet share. But how do you think about that?

傑克，首先我想問你，你想從這兩個試點市場的會員忠誠度計畫中了解到什麼？你認為這項計劃的優勢在哪裡？是流量，還是客單價？我不知道你計算自己的錢包份額是否困難，但你是怎麼看待這個問題的？

Yes, John, great questions and they very much relate to -- first of all, the benefits will come in 2025. The work that we're doing in 2024 is, first of all, to get the plumbing right and the pipe work right so that we've got the proper marketing technology behind creating a very efficient experience for the customer so that it's a seamless and efficient experience. The 2 test markets that we're doing, we'll learn whether that works or not, and we'll get the -- we'll iron out the kinks in that. And then by the end of the year, we'll extend that to a pilot in a broader sense with more stores.

是的，約翰，問得好，這些問題都與此密切相關——首先，收益將在2025年顯現。我們在2024年的工作重點是，首先要確保基礎設施和流程到位，以便我們擁有合適的行銷技術，為客戶創造高效的體驗，打造無縫銜接的高效體驗。我們正在進行的兩個測試市場將幫助我們了解這種模式是否有效，並解決其中存在的問題。到年底，我們將把試點範圍擴大到更多門市。

So through 2024, we will learn how to do this as when it comes to 2025. And that will be an iterative process as well. What do we expect to happen, as you alluded to, we're expecting an increase in share of wallet of our target customers. I think we'll be able to understand those customers so much better that we'll be able to increase it. And we've got a measure, some measure of what -- where we are in terms of share of wallet. And I think we've talked about that in the past. It's double-digit, but it's not into -- it's not hugely into the double-digits above the kind of low-teens.

所以到2024年，我們會學習如何做到這一點，就像到2025年一樣。這也會是一個迭代的過程。正如您所提到的，我們預計目標客戶的錢包份額會有所增長。我認為我們將能夠更好地了解這些客戶，從而提高這一份額。我們已經有一些衡量指標來衡量我們目前的錢包份額。我想我們之前也討論過這個問題。雖然是兩位數，但還沒有達到兩位數以上的高度，大概在十幾左右。

And that context -- that's the context that we'll be expecting to drive a little bit more of share of wallet from those target customers. And that will more than fund this and pay for this thing going forward. So as I said, the benefits will come in 2025. The learnings will come in 2024. The first element of the learnings are about technology and marketing technology. The second element of the learning are about understanding our customer so that we can stimulate and create this feeling of being part of something special -- by being part of the Sprouts ecosystem. And we're pretty excited about it. The team are doing a lot of work behind the scenes, as you can imagine, and we're excited about what's going to come out the other end, John.

而正是這種背景——我們期望它能從目標客戶身上獲得更多的消費份額。這足以支付我們未來的所有費用。正如我所說，收益將在2025年顯現，經驗教訓將在2024年累積。經驗教訓的第一部分是關於技術和行銷技術。第二部分是關於了解我們的客戶，以便我們能夠激發並創造一種歸屬感——成為Sprouts生態系統的一部分。我們對此感到非常興奮。正如你所想，團隊正在幕後做大量工作，我們對最終成果充滿期待，約翰。

Maybe second thing, right, you're obviously adding a lot of stores this year and you did last year a little bit in the Northeast. So when you think about the timing, right, of that DC, how do you think about that now? And how far can you push the envelope? I know the idea was going well beyond or potentially well beyond produce in all of the DCs. How far can you push that?

第二點，對吧？你們今年顯然新增了很多門市，去年在東北地區也新增了一些。那麼，考慮到配送中心的建造時機，你們現在是怎麼想的呢？你們能把業務拓展到什麼程度？我知道你們的想法是，所有配送中心的業務範圍都要遠遠超出生鮮領域。你們能把這個目標推進到什麼程度？

Again, there are -- we've created the infrastructure that allows us to have choice in this and linking back to what I was saying about our FARM initiative, when we get our replenishment mode in place that I wanted to get in place, we'll have a lot of optionality. We want to get more control of our Sprouts brand business going-forward. We probably think there's some elements of our fresh business that we can take hold of. We've got capacity to do that.

再說一遍，我們已經建立了相應的架構，讓我們在這方面擁有選擇權。回到我之前提到的FARM計劃，當我們實現預期的補貨模式後，我們將擁有更多選擇。我們希望未來能更掌控Sprouts品牌業務。我們認為，我們可以掌控一些生鮮事業的要素。我們有能力做到這一點。

As you alluded to, we've not quite got there in the Northeast yet, but we will be. There's a lot of work going on about what's the right distribution, where the right place for the distribution is and what the optionality is for us in that space. I'm hoping we'll be there by 2026 at the latest in terms of having that in place. So we've got -- we're creating the optionality by the working -- by the work we're doing now. And going into 2025, you'll definitely see us selling -- doing more than produce.

正如您所提到的，我們在東北地區尚未完全實現目標，但我們終將實現。目前正在進行大量工作，探討合適的經銷管道、合適的經銷地點以及我們在該領域的選擇。我希望最遲到2026年，我們能夠落實這些措施。因此，我們正在透過現在的工作來創造選擇餘地。到2025年，您肯定會看到我們不僅生產產品，還將銷售更多產品。

And one moment for our next question. And our next question will be coming from Rupesh Parikh of Oppenheimer & Co.

稍等片刻，我們進入下一個問題。下一個問題將來自奧本海默公司的魯佩什·帕里克。

Also, congrats on a nice quarter. So just on the e-commerce front. So as you've added UberEats, DoorDash in recent years, just curious if you're seeing the incrementality at this point you would have expected with these additional partners.

另外，恭喜你們本季業績不錯。關於電商方面，你們近年來新增了 UberEats 和 DoorDash，我想知道目前這些新增合作夥伴是否帶來了你們預期的成長。

Yes. We are really pleased with all 3 partners. We've seen strong business out of all 3. They did a really nice job in the new year. The healthy fresh start to the year that everyone goes through. It's a big time for us, and they were great partners in that respect. And yes, it's been incremental as expected. So we've added both partners over the last 2 years and seen really strong results.

是的，我們對這三位合作夥伴都非常滿意。他們都取得了不錯的業績，在新的一年表現出色。新年伊始，大家都迎來了新的開始，這對我們來說至關重要，而他們在這方面是非常棒的合作夥伴。是的，如預期，業績穩定成長。在過去兩年裡，我們新增了兩位合作夥伴，並且取得了非常顯著的成果。

And the good thing about it, Rupesh, as you've got DoorDash and Uber Eats have both got a kind of different customer base. So I think we're bringing some access to the assortment that we have to a slightly broader base. So it's been working well, as Curtis said.

魯佩什，這樣做的好處在於，DoorDash 和 Uber Eats 的客戶群略有不同。所以我覺得我們能讓更多人享受我們豐富的產品選擇。正如柯蒂斯所說，這種模式效果不錯。

They play a little differently geography wise too. So again, it's allowing us to access new and different customers. And it's an increasingly omnichannel world, and then that helps us as well from a convenience standpoint for those customers that are a little further away from our stores.

他們的營運模式在地理位置上也略有不同。所以，這再次讓我們能夠接觸到新的、不同的客戶群。而且，如今的市場正日益趨向全通路化，這也有助於那些距離我們門市較遠的顧客，讓他們能夠更方便地購物。

Great. And then maybe just one follow-up question, just given all the concerns out there in the macro, clearly your business is performing quite well. But just curious what you're seeing from the consumer, any new trends to note or just anything -- any changes what you're seeing with your consumer?

太好了。那麼，或許我可以再問一個後續問題，鑑於目前宏觀經濟情勢的種種擔憂，顯然貴公司的業績相當不錯。但我很好奇您從消費者那裡觀察到了什麼，有沒有什麼新的趨勢需要注意，或其他任何變化？

Well, one of the things we've always talked about is that we feel pretty confident that the assortment that we have, if you're a vegan, you're going to stay a vegan irrespective of what's going to happen in the macro world. So we feel there's some moat, if you like, to the macroeconomic environment. I think there is a lot of uncertainty. And we continue to watch it very closely. We believe that what we are doing and targeting those specific health enthusiast customers, there's a few more of them. Again, whatever happens in the macro-environment, and we feel that that's going to stand us in good stead going forward over the next couple of years as that customer base continues to grow, and we continue to work hard at serving that customer base appropriately.

我們一直以來都強調，我們對目前的產品組合很有信心，如果您是素食主義者，無論宏觀經濟形勢如何變化，您都會繼續堅持素食。因此，我們認為宏觀經濟環境對我們有一定的緩衝作用。當然，目前存在著許多不確定因素，我們會繼續密切關注。我們相信，我們針對特定健康愛好者客戶群所做的努力，以及我們不斷擴大的客戶群，無論宏觀環境如何變化，都將在未來幾年為我們帶來良好的發展前景。我們將繼續努力，為客戶提供合適的產品和服務。

So again, I don't want to dismiss the macro-environment, but it's something that we think we're a little bit shielded from them, almost from them whatever happens here. And to be honest, Rupesh, your guess is as good as me, what's going to happen in the macro-environment.

所以，我再次強調，我不想忽視宏觀環境，但我們覺得自己在某種程度上能夠免受其影響，幾乎不受任何外部因素的影響。說實話，魯佩什，你和我一樣，都無法預測宏觀環境會發生什麼事。

And one moment for our next question. Our next question will come from Scott Mushkin of R5 Capital. R5 Capital.

稍等片刻，我們進入下一個問題。下一個問題來自R5 Capital的Scott Mushkin。 R5 Capital。

So kind of a 2 part question here. So I mean, obviously, margins have been trending up and you talked about it being stable. But just from like a company philosophy perspective versus margin rate versus margin dollars, where do you kind of think the rate is kind of where you want it to be and you're going to focus more on the dollars and even accelerating sales more?

所以這個問題其實包含兩個部分。首先，很明顯，利潤率一直在上升，您也提到它比較穩定。但從公司理念的角度來看，從利潤率和利潤金額的角度來看，您認為理想的利潤率應該是多少？您會更關注利潤金額，甚至進一步加速銷售成長嗎？

Yes. Scott, let me have a start at that and then I'll pass it on to Curtis to talk specifically on the margins. Our primary focus is traffic and top line. And everything we're doing is making sure that we're serving our target customers better and better. And we will be able to manage our margin within that context, but we'll be sensitive to it in terms of how that works going forward. Having said that, I think the elements of what we've talked about in terms of shrink, in terms of the mix of the product and a better thinking around our promotion, our evolving thinking on our promotion gives us opportunities going forward.

是的。史考特，我先來談談這個話題，然後我會把麥克風交給柯蒂斯，讓他具體談談利潤率。我們目前的首要目標是提升客流量和營收。我們所做的一切都是為了更好地服務我們的目標客戶。我們會在這樣的背景下管理好利潤率，但也會密切關注未來的發展趨勢。話雖如此，我認為我們之前討論的關於損耗控制、產品組合優化以及改進促銷策略等方面的措施，為我們未來的發展提供了機會。

But at no stage will we compromise margin or customer top line, if there's an interaction between it. So far, we haven't hit that point, and I'm feeling pretty confident about that we can manage both pretty effectively. But as I say, the important thing for us is traffic.

但我們絕不會在任何階段犧牲利潤率或客戶收入，如果這兩者之間有關聯的話。到目前為止，我們還沒有走到那一步，我很有信心我們能夠有效地兼顧兩者。但正如我所說，對我們來說最重要的是流量。

And, Scott, I'd just add to that. I mean, I think about it on the bottom line and EBIT margins being stable, and we feel really good about being able to do that in the short-term, long term, et cetera, to what Jack spoke about. And sometimes, that will mean a little bit of investment in SG&A, like an inventory management investment so that we can get a better shrink. So we're going to work the immaturity in our business. And sometimes that will fall in a gross benefit and sometimes that will be an SG&A benefit. But really, we're focused on that bottom line stability and maintaining that going forward and we feel pretty good about being able to do that.

史考特，我再補充一點。我的意思是，我主要關注的是淨利潤和息稅前利潤率的穩定，我們對短期、長期等等方面都能做到這一點感到非常有信心，就像傑克剛才提到的那樣。有時候，這意味著我們需要在銷售、管理及行政費用（SG&A）方面進行一些投資，例如庫存管理方面的投資，以便更好地控制損耗。所以我們會努力克服業務上的不成熟之處。有時候，這些投入會轉化為毛利收益，有時候則會轉化為銷售、管理及行政費用收益。但實際上，我們專注於維持淨利潤的穩定，並希望在未來繼續保持下去，我們對此很有信心。

So my follow-up question to that is, let's just say the strength in the business continues. Obviously, you guys have had a nice little string of quarters. And it seems like the customers coming your way, macro may not matter as much. So if this strength of the business continues, what areas would you invest in more over the next couple of years?

所以我的後續問題是，假設業務持續強勁成長。顯然，你們最近幾季業績都不錯。而且看起來，客戶數量也不斷增加，宏觀因素可能不再那麼重要。那麼，如果這種強勁的業務動能持續下去，未來幾年你們會在哪些領域加大投資呢？

I think it's the same places we're investing this year will be key components, right? So inventory management, we've talked about the technology underpinnings for scalability. We'll continue to work on that and make sure we have the right foundation to continue to grow. And then loyalty will be a multi-year journey that we'll continue to improve upon. And I think the last piece is team and talent is critical for us and we've got to continue to find store managers, department managers and great team members who engage with the customer, take care of our target customers and provide a great experience in the store. So those will be the places that we'll continue to double down and make sure that we've got the right foundation and we're scalable for the long haul.

我認為我們今年投資的領域仍然是關鍵組成部分，對吧？例如庫存管理，我們已經討論過可擴展性的技術基礎。我們將繼續在這方面努力，確保我們擁有穩固的基礎，以便持續發展。忠誠度計劃將是一個需要多年才能完成的過程，我們將不斷改進。我認為最後一點是團隊和人才，這對我們至關重要，我們必須繼續尋找優秀的門市經理、部門經理和團隊成員，他們能夠與顧客互動，照顧好我們的目標客戶，並在店內提供卓越的體驗。因此，這些領域我們將繼續加大投入，確保我們擁有穩固的基礎，並具備長期發展的可擴展性。

And we need to invest -- going forward, supply chain is going to be important to us as well, Scott, in terms of making sure that we're giving ourselves the options of supplying maybe broader geographies than where we're at the moment. That's not for now. But as we go forward, there's plenty of places in the country that we don't have a Sprouts store. So we continue to accelerate that as we continue to see success and strength in our business.

我們需要投資——展望未來，供應鏈對我們同樣至關重要，斯科特，這關係到我們能否擁有更廣泛的供應選擇，覆蓋比目前更廣闊的地域。目前我們還沒有這方面的計畫。但隨著業務的不斷發展壯大，我們將繼續加快擴張步伐，因為全國還有很多地方我們還沒有Sprouts門市。

And one moment for our next question. Our next question will be coming from Robbie Ohmes of Bank of America.

稍等片刻，我們進入下一個問題。下一個問題來自美國銀行的羅比·奧姆斯。

Jack, can you talk a little more about the new store performance in the first quarter? It was a pretty significant improvement in your new store productivity. And I know you mentioned a little bit. Any more color on where stores opened a lot, say, earlier in the quarter, like how is there such a dramatic improvement in new store productivity?

傑克，你能再詳細談談第一季新店的業績嗎？你們新店的效率提升非常顯著。我知道你剛才也略有提及，能否再詳細說說哪些門市在第一季初就大量開業，以及新店效率為何能有如此顯著的提升？

Well, it's only 7 stores, and we were pleased by how those 7 stores performed, most of them, 6 of the 7 stores, we're very pleased with. But I think partly it's what I alluded to in the remarks. I think we are seeing the success of our new store modeling just beginning to find the right place, a little bit more accurate in terms of where we open stores. And that's something that's encouraging. I think, again, when you look back when we opened stores during the pandemic, I think it was harder to drive traffic to those stores as people were reluctant to go to lots of places to buy their groceries. And we talked a lot about that probably over our conversations in the last couple of years.

嗯，目前只有7家門市，我們對這7家門市的業績很滿意，其中6家（7家中的6家）的業績尤其令人滿意。但我認為部分原因正如我剛才提到的，我們新的門市模式正逐漸找到合適的選址，在門市開設上也更加精準。這令人鼓舞。回想疫情期間我們開店的時候，由於人們不願意去很多地方購買生活必需品，所以吸引客流變得更加困難。過去幾年裡，我們也一直在討論這個問題。

So I think the benefit, we're getting a better store model. I think we're getting a little bit better at marketing. And I think putting the right -- putting concentrating stores so that we've got more stores in geographies, people are beginning -- awareness has always been a challenge for us in markets where we're not known and getting more of them and driving that awareness. I think Florida has helped us a little bit in that sense, the work we've been doing in Florida. We're up to a significant number of stores there and now we're filling in and that's I think benefiting us as well going forward as we build the store program.

所以我認為好處在於，我們正在打造一個更完善的門市模式。我認為我們的行銷能力也在不斷提升。我認為，在那些我們知名度不高的市場，提高品牌認知度一直是個挑戰，而如何合理佈局——也就是集中佈局門市，在那些人們開始意識到我們品牌存在意義的地區擁有更多門市——正是我們面臨的挑戰。我認為，佛羅裡達州在這方面對我們有幫助，我們在佛羅裡達州所做的工作卓有成效。我們在那裡已經擁有相當數量的門市，現在我們正在逐步完善，我認為這對我們未來的門市拓展計劃大有裨益。

And I think we'll see that benefit start to happen fairly significantly in the Mid-Atlantic going forward as we go into the next couple of years because we've got a lot of stores coming from -- in all sorts of places. And we think there's some real benefit by having that concentration in our store portfolio.

我認為，隨著未來幾年我們在大西洋中部地區的發展，這種優勢將會開始顯現，而且會相當顯著，因為我們有很多門市正在各地擴張。我們認為，這種門市組合的集中化會帶來實質的好處。

And any regional -- any more regional differences to call out? You mentioned Florida, but were any regions particularly stronger this quarter than others or types of markets new versus existing?

還有哪些區域性差異需要特別指出？您提到了佛羅裡達州，但本季是否有其他地區表現特別強勁，或者哪些類型的市場是新市場，哪些是老市場？

No, I think the trends have been pretty consistent for us. We're not seeing any major departures from what we've seen the last several quarters. The new markets are performing well. We're excited for the momentum, but it's kind of come in similar to what we've seen in prior quarters.

不，我認為我們的趨勢一直相當穩定。與過去幾個季度相比，我們沒有看到任何重大變化。新市場的表現良好。我們對目前的成長勢頭感到興奮，但它與前幾季的情況大同小異。

And it has given us a lot of encouragement when we open in a place like Burtonsville, Maryland, where the team have done a terrific job. That is making us real confident. We kind of expect -- strangely, we expect to do well in California, but we're doing well outside of that as well. So that's very encouraging, and Florida, as we talked about.

在馬裡蘭州伯頓斯維爾這樣的地方開業，團隊表現出色，這給了我們很大的鼓舞，也讓我們信心倍增。我們有點預期——說來也怪，我們預期在加州也會取得成功，但我們在加州以外的地區也做得很好。這非常令人鼓舞，還有我們之前提到的佛羅裡達州。

One moment for our next question. Our next question will be coming from Kelly Bania of BMO Capital Market.

稍等片刻，我們進入下一個問題。下一個問題將由BMO資本市場的凱莉·巴尼亞提出。

This is Kelly Bania. Just wanted to follow up on the e-commerce topic. Are DoorDash and Instacart still growing? I assume maybe some of the outsized growth here is coming from the newest partner at Uber. But just wondering if you could talk about that. And also, just the fee structures, are they similar for Sprouts and for consumers across the 3? Or is there any preference, I guess, from your vantage point between the different partners? And then also just to follow-up on competition with e-commerce, would you expect any competitive impact from Whole Foods given the new membership model that they recently-announced with Amazon?

我是凱莉·巴尼亞。我想繼續探討電子商務話題。 DoorDash 和 Instacart 還在成長嗎？我猜想它們目前的高速成長可能部分得益於 Uber 的最新合作夥伴。所以想請您談談這方面的情況。另外，關於費用結構，Sprouts 和消費者在這三個平台之間的費用結構是否相似？或者從您的角度來看，您對不同的合作夥伴有什麼偏好？還有，關於電商競爭，考慮到 Whole Foods 最近與亞馬遜合作推出的新會員模式，您認為這會對電商構成競爭影響嗎？

I'll cover kind of the first couple of those and maybe I'll let Jack cover the last one. But on ECA all 3 are really performing well for us. So we're really pleased with the results in all 3, and I won't get very specific, but definitely all 3 are growing and we're seeing strong overall e-comm performance. On the fee structure, again, I won't get into specifics there, but we're comfortable with the fees we have. We work closely with our partners. And for us, there's really no preference between the 3, wherever the customer wants us to be, we're happy to be there for them. And if they want to go through the stores, great. If they want to go through Instacart grade, DoorDash, Uber Eats. However they want to engage with us, we're happy to have them.

我先簡單介紹一下前兩個方面，最後一個可能就讓傑克來講了。但就ECA而言，這三個平台都表現得非常出色。我們對這三個平台的業績都非常滿意，具體細節我就不贅述了，但可以肯定的是，這三個平台都在成長，整體電商業績表現強勁。關於費用結構，同樣，我不會透露具體細節，但我們對目前的收費標準感到滿意。我們與合作夥伴保持著密切的合作關係。對我們來說，這三個平台之間並沒有偏好，無論客戶希望透過哪個管道聯絡我們，我們都樂意效勞。如果他們想透過實體店下單，沒問題。如果他們想透過Instacart、DoorDash或Uber Eats等平台下單，也歡迎。無論他們選擇哪一種方式與我們互動，我們都樂意效勞。

Just to reinforce what Curtis said, we're very pleased with all 3 partners. They do a great job for us and all 3 of them are performing well in the context of our e-comm growth. With regard to the Amazon Whole Foods conversation, Kelly, we watch Whole Foods -- Amazon have made a lot of statements about food and fresh and we kind of watch them with interest. We feel our positioning is pretty strong against Whole Foods, which is the context of this that I would look at. In terms of value on produce, particularly organic produce, we feel we're in a really strong place for the customer irrespective of whatever the delivery charges are.

正如柯蒂斯所說，我們對這三位合作夥伴都非常滿意。他們為我們做出了卓越的貢獻，在我們電商業務成長的背景下，他們三家都表現出色。關於亞馬遜收購全食超市的話題，凱莉，我們一直在關注全食超市——亞馬遜就食品和生鮮食品發表了很多聲明，我們對此很感興趣。我們認為，我們與全食超市的競爭定位相當穩固，這也是我關注的重點。就生鮮產品，尤其是有機生鮮產品的價值而言，我們認為，無論配送費用如何，我們都能為顧客提供極具競爭力的價格。

We're in a good place, relative value on fresh produce, which is an important part of our mix, less important part of their mix, but an important part of our mix. So we look at that carefully, and we watch the pricing versus Whole Foods pretty carefully on everything else but produce. And we feel we're in a pretty good shape there. And we watch it carefully, but it's not something that's got -- we feel as if we're in a good place position versus Whole Foods on product and pricing irrespective of what's happening on the delivery charges.

我們目前處境不錯，新鮮農產品的相對價值很高，這在我們產品組合中佔比很大，雖然在他們那裡佔比相對較小，但對我們來說卻至關重要。所以我們會仔細研究這一點，並且密切注意除農產品以外的其他所有商品與Whole Foods的價格對比。我們感覺在這方面我們處於相當有利的地位。我們會密切關注，但這並不是什麼大問題——無論配送費用如何變化，我們都覺得我們在產品和價格方面相對於Whole Foods處於有利地位。

And that's one of the reasons we think our e-comm business is so strong. The differentiation that we have, why would you buy all your groceries through e-comm to Sprouts unless there was a really strong differentiation? And I don't think it's easy to switch. So that's what gives us some confidence, but obviously, we'll watch it closely.

這就是我們認為電商業務如此強勁的原因之一。我們的產品差異化優勢非常明顯，如果沒有真正強大的差異化優勢，消費者為什麼要選擇透過電商在Sprouts購買所有食品雜貨？而且我認為消費者很難改變購買管道。這讓我們充滿信心，但顯然，我們會密切關注市場動態。

One moment for our next question. And our next question will be coming from Chuck Cerankosky of Northcoast Research. Again, our next question will come from Chuck Cerankosky of Northcoast Research.

稍等片刻，我們進入下一個問題。下一個問題來自北海岸研究公司的查克·塞蘭科斯基。再次強調，下一個問題來自北海岸研究公司的查克·塞蘭科斯基。

Jack and Curtis, can you talk about inflation and the 4% comps, how much was in there? And how are your customers reacting to categories or SKUs that are inflating more than the average?

Jack 和 Curtis，你們能談談通貨膨脹和 4% 的同店銷售成長嗎？其中有多少成長？你們的客戶對價格上漲幅度高於平均的品類或 SKU 有什麼反應？

Yes. So from the kind of comp driver makeup solid positive traffic again this quarter and then continued stabilization in the AUR and unit story. So a little bit less inflation this quarter than last. And we're really to that place now where it has stabilized. We're low-single-digit inflation. We're still slightly negative on the unit side, but getting closer to flat with each passing kind of quarter and month. And it's all playing out as we had anticipated. And then from a customer perspective, we're not really seeing a material change in our trajectory and trends there. I think the similar things that we were talking about in prior quarters are continuing to play out, but no major reaction or change in customer behavior as it relates to inflation or price there.

是的。從同業拆車件的組成來看，本季客流量再次呈現穩健成長，平均每輛車銷售和銷售量也持續趨於穩定。因此，本季的通膨率比上一季略低，目前已基本穩定下來，通膨率處於個位數低點。銷量方面雖然仍略有下降，但隨著季度和月份的推移，正逐步接近持平。一切都如我們預期般發展。從客戶角度來看，我們的發展軌跡和趨勢並未發生實質變化。我認為，我們之前幾季討論的類似情況仍在持續，但客戶行為並未因通膨或價格問題而出現重大反應或改變。

Yes. And Chuck, the categories that you see the most volatility is the fresh produce areas. When you see avocados going up dramatically or coming down dramatically, we will double down and either sell a bit less or sell a bit more. And customers do react to price in the fresh produce space linked to the inflationary trends that are happening in that category. And it's very volatile, which is one of the reasons our inflation doesn't quite mirror what you see with everybody else. And but to Curtis' point, we're not seeing any specific categories that are going up so much that we're worried about the unit volume any more than we kind of always have been.

是的。查克，你看到的波動最大的類別是生鮮產品。當酪梨價格大幅上漲或下跌時，我們會相應地調整銷售策略，要麼略微減少銷售量，要麼略微增加銷售量。顧客確實會對生鮮產品的價格做出反應，這與該品類的通膨趨勢密切相關。而且價格波動非常大，這也是為什麼我們的通膨率與其他公司不太一樣的原因之一。但正如柯蒂斯所說，我們並沒有看到任何特定類別的價格上漲幅度如此之大，以至於我們比以往更加擔心銷售。

And you've made a lot of strides in private label and that's being helped by people looking for value with the inflation even as it slows down. How is that trading off with all the new products in your innovation centers?

你們在自有品牌方面取得了長足進步，這得益於人們在通貨膨脹放緩的情況下仍然追求性價比。那麼，這與你們創新中心的所有新產品開發之間是如何權衡的呢？

Yes. Well, we're trying to be balanced on that. We're not in the world of private label where it's about trading down or commoditizing against brands. We're very clear about what our proposition is here. We're going to have innovative differentiated Sprouts Brand and the re-labeling and the new products that the team have done have been very encouraging. I think we've talked about 21% mix of our business, which is a really encouraging number in terms of where we used to be at 16%, but it's being driven by differentiation as is the branded businesses that are going into the innovation center.

是的。我們正努力在這方面保持平衡。我們不在自有品牌領域，不會為了迎合品牌而降低標準或進行同質化競爭。我們非常清楚自己的定位。我們將打造創新且差異化的Sprouts品牌，團隊所做的重新貼標和新產品開發工作令人鼓舞。我們之前提到過，自有品牌在我們業務中的佔比達到了21%，這比我們之前的16%有了顯著提升，這是一個非常令人振奮的數字。而這一成長的驅動力正是差異化，正如那些正在進入創新中心的品牌業務一樣。

We are trying to be the destination for new entrepreneurial products in our attribute health-based space. And if you look around our innovation centers, which are now in all our stores and continue to perform well, it's a very strong brand, kind of unknown brands that have got real kind of sense of differentiation and excitement for our customers and our team members. We want to be really good at Sprouts Brand on differentiated product and really good at branded items. And we'll keep away from those branded items that you can find in traditional supermarkets and traditional -- and the mainline Walmart's and people like that. We are going to try and be as different as we possibly can be. And I think that's standing us in good stead going forward.

我們致力於成為健康領域創新產品的首選之地。如果您看看我們遍布所有門市且持續表現良好的創新中心，您會發現這是一個非常強大的品牌，雖然它鮮為人知，但卻能真正為我們的顧客和團隊成員帶來差異化和興奮感。我們希望在差異化產品和品牌商品方面都做到極致。我們會避開那些在傳統超市和沃爾瑪等大型連鎖店隨處可見的品牌商品。我們將竭盡所能做到與眾不同。我認為這將為我們未來的發展奠定良好的基礎。

And one moment for our next question. And our next question comes from Robert Dickerson of Jefferies.

稍等片刻，我們進入下一個問題。下一個問題來自傑富瑞集團的羅伯特·迪克森。

This might sound like kind of a random question, but I'm going to ask it. I'm just curious, how is your frozen department doing? And I just ask because I follow all the groceries, but also follow companies that produce frozen products, let's say, frozen food in general has been kind of relatively weaker over the past year or so on the volume side versus a lot of the other store. But again, you have differentiated product. So I'm curious, would you say, oh, our frozen department, we're seeing a little bit of that pressure or maybe you're not, which would clearly be a differentiating factor?

這個問題可能聽起來有點突兀，但我還是想問一下。我很好奇，你們的冷凍食品部門經營狀況如何？我這麼問是因為我不僅關注超市的運營，也關注冷凍食品生產商。比如說，過去一年左右，冷凍食品的銷售量整體上比其他許多超市都要疲軟。但你們的產品很有特色。所以我想問，你們的冷凍食品部門是否也感受到了這種壓力？或者你們並沒有感受到？這顯然是一個差異化優勢。

Yes, Robert, it's not too random a question. It's the kind of things we think about a lot, what's happening with different categories. So our frozen business, I think what happened during the pandemic is that frozen got a pretty big lift and there was a pretty big -- right across the marketplace. I think we have -- we doubled down in our stores on space. In our new stores, we're giving it more space than we used to give it because we believe the category that is frozen, it blends itself well to attribute-based products. It lends itself well to vegetarian-based products, plant-based products. And we've seen some success. I've been really pleased with some of the Sprouts Brand work that's really playing through well for us in the frozen cabinet.

是的，羅伯特，這個問題問得不算隨意。我們一直在思考這類問題，例如不同類別的發展趨勢。就我們的冷凍食品業務而言，我認為疫情期間冷凍食品的銷售量大幅成長，整個市場都出現了顯著的提升。我們加大了門市的冷凍食品陳列面積。在新店裡，我們比以往為冷凍食品預留了更多空間，因為我們相信冷凍食品這個品類非常適合與按屬性分類的產品相結合。它特別適合素食產品和植物性產品。而且我們已經取得了一些成功。我對Sprouts品牌的一些工作成果非常滿意，這些成果在冷凍食品櫃檯上的表現非常出色。

So I don't know what's happening in the broader market. I think there was a boost through the pandemic and it might have slowed down a little bit in the broader market. But in our space, we are seeing some really strong comps. And I'm encouraged by what's happening in frozen. And I honestly don't know if that's in-line with what's happening in the rest of the market, Robert, but that's where we're at on it.

所以我不太清楚整體市場的情況。我認為疫情期間市場有所成長，現在整體市場可能有所放緩。但在我們這個領域，同店銷售額確實非常強勁。冷凍食品市場的表現也讓我感到鼓舞。羅伯特，說實話，我不知道這是否與整個市場的情況一致，但這就是我們目前的狀況。

Yes. And I think, Rob, I would just attribute that to it's a differentiation story. In our departments and categories where we have the most differentiation, those are the departments that have been drivers for us for comp, and frozen is among those. And team does a great job with the assortment, making it different as Jack alluded to, and that just fits well within that broader story of where we're different, we continue to do well.

是的。羅布，我覺得這完全可以歸因於我們的差異化策略。在我們差異化程度最高的部門和品類中，正是這些部門推動了我們的同店銷售成長，冷凍食品就是其中之一。正如傑克所提到的，團隊在產品組合方面做得非常出色，使其與眾不同，這與我們「差異化」的整體策略完美契合，也正是這種差異化讓我們持續取得成功。

Yes. Great. And then I guess maybe just a broader question. I know you continue to highlight your newer stores or some of the smaller stores, merchandiser stores with "more prioritized categories" that maybe have better growth potential. If you're going from, I don't know, 30,000 square feet, 25,000. I mean, these are like drastic changes on the box size. I mean they're smaller, better economics, everything that's great. I'm just curious, like, then where do you trim? Does produce get a little bit smaller, 35% of the store? I'm just trying to understand, I guess, more broadly kind of now if you open up a new store now, where would you view those better growth areas?

是的，太好了。然後我想問一個更廣泛的問題。我知道您一直在強調一些新店或規模較小的門市，以及那些「優先考慮特定品類」的商品零售店，這些店可能具有更好的成長潛力。比如說，從3萬平方英尺到2.5萬平方英尺，門市面積發生了巨大的變化。我的意思是，門市面積更小，經濟效益更好，一切都很好。我只是好奇，那麼您會在哪些方面精簡呢？生鮮區會縮小一些嗎？例如只佔門市面積的35%？我只是想更廣泛地了解一下，如果您現在開設一家新店，您會認為哪些領域更有成長潛力？

Yes. Well, the 23,000 square foot stores that we're building, that's what we're building going forward, the [35,000] we do this year and the numbers that we'll do next year, they will all be by and large 23,000 square feet. What did we do? We cut back fairly significantly the non-customer-facing space. So that the space that's required to create the behind the scenes in dairy, behind the scenes in bakery, behind the scenes in meat, we merged them all together. We created a lot more space in the back room than we've done. It took a lot more space out the back room.

是的。我們正在建造的門市面積為23,000平方英尺，這也是我們未來要建造的門市類型。今年我們計劃建造35,000平方英尺的門市，明年我們計劃建造的門市，整體來說都將是23,000平方英尺。我們做了什麼呢？我們大幅削減了非顧客接觸區域的空間。這樣一來，原本用於乳製品加工、烘焙和肉類加工等後台區域的空間就被合併在一起了。我們在後倉創造了比以往更多的空間。這節省了後倉的大部分空間。

So the consequences for the categories going forward is we ended up with a slightly less SKU assortment in our vitamins and supplements department, slightly less, but the rest of the categories, actually frozen got a few more SKUs as I just alluded to. And across the rest of the stores, it's pretty the same SKU count. Category-wise, we chased after -- we continue to focus on produce because that's one of the key drivers for our business. We put a little bit more space into frozen and grocery and dairy and probably a little bit less space around bulk and some of the other spaces in our stores. So by and large, we ended up with the same SKU counterpart from vitamins, a little bit more frozen, and a little bit more grocery. That would be kind of where we're at.

因此，未來各品類的調整結果是，維生素和營養補充劑的SKU數量略有減少，但其他品類，例如我剛才提到的冷凍食品，SKU數量實際上有所增加。其他門市的SKU數量基本上維持不變。在品類方面，我們持續專注於生鮮產品，因為這是我們業務的關鍵驅動力之一。我們增加了冷凍食品、雜貨和乳製品的銷售空間，而散裝食品和其他一些區域的銷售空間則略有減少。總的來說，維生素的SKU數量基本上保持不變，冷凍食品和雜貨的SKU數量略有增加。這就是我們目前的狀況。

I think the key piece, Rob, is that when we crept up to 30,000 square feet prior to Jack's arrival, it wasn't -- again, it wasn't in assortment. It wasn't in the proposition, it was in fixtures, it was in kind of dead space and unproductive space. And so it was not hard for us to get back-down to '23 without impacting the assortments.

羅布，我認為關鍵在於，在傑克到來之前，當我們悄悄地把麵積擴大到3萬平方英尺時，——再說一遍，不是商品種類的問題。不是商品陳列的問題，而是貨架擺放的問題，是那些閒置的、低效率的空間。所以，對我們來說，在不影響商品種類的情況下，把麵積縮減到23,000平方英尺並不難。

Okay, great. And then maybe just another quick one for me. It's just -- I'm just curious, as you enter a new market or expand a pre-existing market in area where there hasn't been a Sprouts, right, you opened the store. As you open that store, is this essentially kind of like word-of-mouth? I mean, I'm sure you have for signage and people drive by the store and they see it, but are there other ways to just try to kind of welcome the community, so to speak, to the actual store without having to spend a fair amount of capital to do so? That's all.

好的，太好了。那我再問一個問題。我只是好奇，當您進入一個新市場，或者在一個之前沒有Sprouts的地區拓展現有市場時，您開了這家店。這家店開幕後，主要靠口碑宣傳嗎？我的意思是，我知道您肯定有招牌，人們開車經過也能看到，但是除了這些，還有沒有其他方法可以更好地吸引社區居民，讓他們走進您的店，而又不需要花費太多資金？就這些。

Yes, we certainly are. We make sure that where we open a store, there are enough people that look like our health enthusiasts in that catchment area. And that's what I was talking about in terms of aligning our model to the -- so the opportunity is there, the people are there, and our marketing teams are getting increasingly good at talking 4 to 6 weeks earlier than we open the store in terms of direct communication with those target customers. And we're working to get better and better at that. So there's a fairly intensive marketing approach on each individual store.

是的，我們當然會這樣做。我們會確保每家店的選址區域內都有足夠的健康愛好者。我剛才說的就是調整我們的模式以適應市場——機會就在那裡，人群也在那裡，而且我們的行銷團隊越來越擅長在門市開業前4到6週就與目標客戶進行直接溝通。我們正在努力做得更好。所以，我們對每家店都採取了相當密集的行銷策略。

And it has to be different. It will be different when we open a store in Cudahy, Los Angeles, than it will be in Aberdeen, New Jersey. How we approach that and how we think about it will be different. But the teams are increasingly getting better at picking the right way to let people know. Certainly, we want visible sites so that when people drive-by, they can see it. We try not to hide them too much, but we try and get people excited in advance. And I spend some time talking to mayors of towns and trying to get them kind of excited about us coming into places that they don't know us. And so it's a combination of things that work, but our marketing teams are doing a great job.

而且情況必須有所不同。我們在洛杉磯的庫達希開店和在新澤西州的阿伯丁開店肯定不一樣。我們採取的方式和思考方式也會有所不同。但我們的團隊越來越擅長選擇合適的宣傳方式。當然，我們希望選址醒目，這樣人們開車經過時就能看到。我們盡量不把店面藏得太深，而是努力提前讓人感到興奮。我會花一些時間與一些城鎮的市長溝通，讓他們對我們即將進入他們不熟悉的地區感到興奮。所以，這需要多種因素的共同作用，但我們的行銷團隊做得非常出色。

And I'll just reinforce Jack's earlier comments around the density in the market helps. Certainly, when you open the 10th store in a market, it's easier than the first. And there is some word of mouth and just having the building up and the signage up as people drive by, the more and more stores you put in, the easier that gets. And all those things are coming together to help with new store performance.

我只想重申一下傑克之前關於市場密度有助於提升業績的觀點。當然，在一個市場裡開第十家店肯定比開第一家容易得多。口碑傳播、店面裝潢、招牌醒目，再加上路人駐足觀看，店鋪越多，推廣就越容易。所有這些因素共同作用，有助於提升新店的表現。

Okay. And our next question will come from Krisztina Katai of Deutsche Bank.

好的。下一個問題來自德意志銀行的克里斯蒂娜·卡泰。

This is Jessica Taylor on for Krisztina. Just wanted to go back to private label a little bit. And in the past and today, you talked about like how you watch your competitors' interest but don't worry too much given the product and customer differentiation. So now the largest retailer has announced a new private label brand that's really aiming to increase its share from this set of customers who are more attribute driven and who are more health conscious. So how does this kind of change your view on like how you're watching that competitor and competitors in general who might follow that lead? And how does it kind of impact your go-to-market strategy for your private label and attribute-driven items.

我是潔西卡泰勒，今天替克里斯蒂娜問好。我想再聊聊自有品牌。您之前和今天都提到過，您會專注於競爭對手的動向，但考慮到產品和客戶的差異化，不必過於擔心。現在，最大的零售商宣布推出一個新的自有品牌，旨在提高其在那些更注重產品特性和健康意識的客戶群中的市場份額。那麼，這會如何改變您對這家競爭對手以及其他可能效仿的競爭對手的看法？這會如何影響您針對自有品牌和注重產品特性的產品所製定的市場推廣策略？

Yes. Well, Jessica, good question. We've been kind of -- I've been reading with interest, the last couple of days, as sort of an initiative, we haven't kind of tasted it or eaten it all. I've forgotten whether it's called better for or something. What is it called?

是的。潔西卡，問得好。過去幾天，我一直饒有興趣地閱讀相關資料，算是自發地了解了一下，但我們還沒真正品嚐或吃過。我忘了它叫什麼名字了，是叫「比較適合」還是別的什麼。它叫什麼來著？

Better goods. Better foods.

更好的商品。更好的食品。

Better goods. So the way the way I've read it and we'll clearly watch it, Jessica, but the way I've read that, it's a tiering in your branded strategy. So it's trying to trade people up. It's not necessarily trying to trade people to attributes. And I think that's how I'm reading it. It doesn't feel like a health initiative. It feels like a trading up initiative on quality. And again, that's a pretty common thing from my background in the U.K., how people think about tiering. It feels more like a tiering exercise than it does a health and attribute-based exercise, although there will be some things in there that oat milk, this, and something like that.

更好的產品。所以，就我所理解的而言（當然，潔西卡，我們肯定會繼續關注），這其實是你們品牌策略中的一種分級策略。也就是說，它試圖引導消費者升級，而不是引導他們購買特定屬性的產品。我想這就是我的理解。它感覺不像是一項健康倡議，而更像是一項提升產品品質的倡議。而且，就我在英國的背景而言，人們對分級策略的理解相當普遍。它更像是一種分級策略，而不是基於健康和屬性的策略，儘管其中也會包含一些像燕麥奶之類的產品。

But I didn't -- I felt it was more -- we love being next to Trader Joe's. I felt it was more a kind of let's look at Trader Joe's and take some business from that. But as I say, our Sprouts Brand business is very much focused on being differentiated, not about trading up people on the same thing. And so it's not going to change what we're going to do. We believe we've got a set of target customers that are very relevant to our business and that we can do 30 keto products. I don't think this Better For thing is going to be that kind of attribute-based initiative, but we'll clearly watch it and be sensitive to how that evolves and develops.

但我並不這麼認為——我覺得更多的是——我們很喜歡和Trader Joe's相鄰。我覺得這更像是一種「看看Trader Joe's，從他們那裡搶點生意」的想法。但正如我所說，我們的Sprouts品牌業務非常注重差異化，而不是讓顧客在同樣的產品上升級。所以這不會改變我們的經營策略。我們相信我們擁有一群與我們業務高度相關的目標客戶，而且我們可以推出30種生酮產品。我不認為「Better For」會是一個基於產品屬性的推廣活動，但我們會密切關注它的發展動態。

Walmart, I've got a habit of them, whatever they do is big.

沃爾瑪，我常去，他們做的任何事都規模很大。

Yes, that's true. And just a follow up, can you talk a little bit about the cadence through the quarter for comp trends and any month-to-date or quarter-to-date trends?

是的，沒錯。還有一個後續問題，您能否談談本季同店銷售趨勢的節奏，以及本月至今或本季至今的趨勢？

Sure. I'll take that one. We won't get too specific here in the intra quarter, but pretty consistent from a comp perspective throughout Q1. Always Q1 is always a little bit noisy. There's usually some weather events and things like that, and you'll see some weeks up and some weeks down, but generally pretty consistent for us in the quarter. And then certainly within Q2 here, we're comfortable within our guidance range with where the business is trending at the moment.

好的，我接受這個預測。關於季度內的具體情況，我們這裡不會做太多預測，但從同店銷售的角度來看，第一季整體表現相當穩定。第一季總是會有一些波動，例如天氣狀況等等，所以你會看到一些週的業績上升，一些週的業績下降，但總體來說，我們這個季度的業績還是比較穩定的。至於第二季度，根據目前的業務發展趨勢，我們對業績預期範圍內的預期是比較滿意的。

And our last question will be coming from Edward Kelly of Wells Fargo.

最後一個問題來自富國銀行的愛德華‧凱利。

Yes. This is Evan Ketterhagen on for Ed. I know we talked a lot about e-comm already, but just wanted to touch on it a bit more here. We assume that your online sales are included in the overall comp. But could you guys just confirm if that's correct and if that also includes your Uber Eats partnership that started up more recently? And then the 25% growth this quarter, a bit of an acceleration versus prior quarters. Do you think that the bad weather in January might have played a role there? Or should we just expect a higher rate of growth going forward with the increased number of partnerships that you have?

是的，我是Evan Ketterhagen，替Ed發言。我知道我們之前已經聊了很多關於電商的話題，但我想在這裡再多談一點。我們假設你們的線上銷售額已經包含在總銷售額中了。請問你們能否確認這個假設是否正確，以及是否也包括最近與Uber Eats的合作？另外，本季成長了25%，比前幾季增速有所加快。你們認為一月份的惡劣天氣是否對此有所影響？或者，隨著你們合作管道的增加，我們是否應該預期未來會保持更高的成長率？

Yes. So first part of it, yes, it's embedded in our comp and included in our comp. And certainly, some of the acceleration would be the new partnership with Uber Eats, which launched kind of mid-to-late Q4 and has been ramping up. And then the last part is a good question. Yes, we definitely see that when there's kind of significant weather events, it tends to move some people into e-commerce and out of the stores. And so through the first kind of half of the quarter, we had a few of those and saw that phenomenon.

是的。所以第一部分，是的，它已經包含在我們的比較分析中。當然，加速成長的部分原因在於與 Uber Eats 的新合作，該合作在第四季度中後期啟動，並且一直在穩步推進。最後一部分是一個很好的問題。是的，我們確實觀察到，當出現一些極端天氣事件時，往往會促使一些人轉向電商購物，而不是去實體店。因此，在本季前半段，我們遇到了幾次這樣的情況，並觀察到了這種現象。

I would add too, again, all 3 partners recognizing kind of that health trend at the beginning of the year. That's our Super Bowl as Sprouts and they were right there with us and doing the best they could to capture that with our target customers. And so we had a lot of activity going on in those first 6 weeks of the quarter with us, with our partners to try to take advantage of that. And so I think all 3 of those things are contributing to that stronger e-commerce growth.

我還要補充一點，我們三家夥伴在年初就都意識到了這種健康消費趨勢。對Sprouts來說，這就像我們的「超級盃」一樣重要，他們與我們緊密合作，盡最大努力抓住這一趨勢，吸引我們的目標客戶。因此，在第一季的前六週，我們和合作夥伴進行了大量活動，力求充分利用這一趨勢。我認為這三點都對更強勁的電商成長起到了推動作用。

I would now like to hand the call back to Jack for closing remarks.

現在我把電話交還給傑克，請他做總結發言。

Yes. Thanks, everyone, for your attention and your support. And we look forward to catching up with you in due course. So thanks ever so much. Take care.

是的。謝謝大家的關注與支持。我們期待在適當的時候與大家再次見面。非常感謝。保重。

And this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝您的參與。您可以斷開連線了。