Sprouts Farmers Market Inc (SFM) 2026 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Hello, and welcome to Sprouts Farmers Market second quarter 2026 earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions) I would now like to hand the conference over to Susannah Livingston. You may begin.

大家好，歡迎參加 Sprouts Farmers Market 2026 年第二季財報電話會議。(接線員指示) 現在我想把會議交給 Susannah Livingston。您可以開始了。

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. We are pleased you are joining Sprouts on our second quarter 2026 earnings call. Jack Sinclair, Chief Executive Officer; Curtis Valentine, Chief Financial Officer; and Nick Konat, President and Chief Operating Officer, are with me today.

謝謝，各位下午好。我們很高興各位參加 Sprouts 2026 年第二季財報電話會議。今天與我一同出席的有執行長 Jack Sinclair、財務長 Curtis Valentine，以及總裁兼營運長 Nick Konat。

The earnings release announcing our second quarter 2026 results, the webcast of this call and financial slides can be accessed through the Investor Relations section of our website at investors.sprouts.com. During this call, management may make certain forward-looking statements, including statements regarding our expectations for 2026 and beyond.

公布我們 2026 年第二季業績的新聞稿、本次電話會議的網路直播以及財務簡報，可透過我們網站 investors.sprouts.com 的投資人關係專區取得。在本次電話會議中，管理層可能會做出若干前瞻性陳述，包括關於我們對 2026 年及之後的預期之陳述。

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. Our remarks today include references to non-GAAP financial measures. Please see the tables in our earnings release for a reconciliation of our non-GAAP financial measures to the comparable GAAP figures.

這些陳述涉及多項風險與不確定性，可能導致實際結果與前瞻性陳述中所描述者有重大差異。更多資訊請參閱我們向 SEC 提交文件中討論的風險因素，以及財報新聞稿末尾關於前瞻性陳述的說明。我們今天的發言包含對非 GAAP 財務衡量指標的引用。請參閱我們財報新聞稿中的表格，以取得非 GAAP 財務衡量指標與可比 GAAP 數字之調節。

With that, let me hand it over to Jack.

接下來，我把時間交給 Jack。

Thanks, Susannah, and good afternoon, everyone. Our second quarter results were in line with our expectations, and the core elements of our strategy remain strong. New stores continue to perform well. Our differentiated and attribute-based assortment continues to resonate and our teams are moving with urgency to sharpen value, improve communication and support customers in the areas that matter most.

謝謝你，Susannah，各位下午好。我們第二季的結果符合預期，策略的核心要素依然穩健。新店持續表現良好。我們具差異化、以屬性為導向的商品組合持續引起共鳴，我們的團隊也以緊迫感行動，強化價值、改善溝通，並在最重要的面向上支持顧客。

The consumer environment remained challenging, with customers continuing to make thoughtful choices around the healthy grocery spend, and we continue to face difficult year-on-year comparisons. With that said, our most difficult prior year comparisons are behind us and become more manageable as the year progresses.

消費者環境仍具挑戰，顧客在健康雜貨支出上持續做出審慎選擇，而我們也仍面臨艱難的年對年比較。不過，我們最艱難的去年同期比較已經過去，並將隨著年度推進而變得更易管理。

We continue to see opportunities to improve our business in the short, medium and long term. The short term, we are taking a balanced approach, investing to strengthen support for customers today while building capabilities to support our proposition for the long term, ensuring sustainable growth into the future.

我們仍看到在短期、中期與長期改善業務的機會。在短期方面，我們採取平衡作法：一方面投資以強化對當前顧客的支持，同時也建置能力以支撐長期的價值主張，確保未來可持續的成長。

In a moment, Curtis will review our second quarter results and our updated outlook. After that, I'll come back to discuss the key business priorities we are advancing across affordability, loyalty and personalization, innovation, real estate, supply chain and our teams.

稍後 Curtis 將回顧我們第二季的結果以及更新後的展望。之後我會再回來，說明我們在可負擔性、忠誠度與個人化、創新、不動產、供應鏈以及團隊等方面推進的關鍵業務優先事項。

Curtis?

Curtis？

Thanks, Jack, and good afternoon, everyone. In the second quarter, our results played out in line with our outlook as we continue to lap outsized growth from the prior year and help our customers navigate the affordability challenges that they face in the current environment.

謝謝你，Jack，各位下午好。第二季我們的結果如同展望所預期地呈現，因為我們仍在消化去年異常強勁成長的高基期，同時協助顧客在當前環境中因應其面臨的可負擔性挑戰。

Total sales were $2.3 billion, up $105 million or 5% compared to the same period last year. This growth was driven by strong new store performance, partially offset by a 1% decline in comparable store sales. We saw sequential comp improvement through May.

總銷售額為 23 億美元，較去年同期增加 1.05 億美元或 5%。此成長主要由新店強勁表現帶動，但部分被同店銷售下滑 1% 所抵銷。我們看到同店表現一路到 5 月呈現逐月改善。

June, as expected, we had our lowest comp of the quarter as we lapped strong last year produce performance and the disruption in the natural and organic supply chain that sent more customers to our stores.

6 月如預期是本季同店表現最低的月份，因為我們面臨去年生鮮蔬果強勁表現的高基期，以及天然與有機供應鏈的中斷曾使更多顧客轉向到我們門市消費。

Starting in July, the business has improved in line with expectations. The sequential improvement has been driven by modest improvements in both traffic and units in the basket. E-commerce sales grew more than 12% and represented approximately 16% of total quarterly sales. Sprouts brand also continued to perform better than the rest of the business, representing 26% of total sales.

自 7 月起，業務表現已如預期改善。這項逐月改善主要來自客流量與每筆購物籃商品件數的溫和提升。電商銷售成長超過 12%，約占本季總銷售額的 16%。Sprouts 自有品牌的表現也持續優於整體業務，占總銷售額的 26%。

Our second quarter gross margin was 38.7%, a decrease of 12 basis points compared to the same period last year. This primarily reflects our loyalty investment and elevated fuel costs. These headwinds were partially offset by benefits from self-distribution and vendor participation to help support customer value.

第二季毛利率為 38.7%，較去年同期下降 12 個基點。這主要反映我們在忠誠度上的投資以及較高的燃料成本。上述不利因素部分被自營配送（self-distribution）帶來的效益，以及供應商參與以支持顧客價值所抵銷。

SG&A for the quarter totaled $683 million, an increase of $38 million and 30 basis points deleverage compared to the same period last year. This was primarily driven by fixed cost deleverage from lower comparable store sales and investments in the business, partially offset by disciplined cost management and lower incentive compensation.

本季 SG&A（銷售、一般及行政費用）合計 6.83 億美元，較去年同期增加 3,800 萬美元，並出現 30 個基點的槓桿惡化。主要原因是同店銷售較低導致固定成本槓桿惡化，以及對業務的投資；部分被嚴謹的成本管理與較低的獎酬激勵費用所抵銷。

Depreciation and amortization, excluding depreciation included in the cost of sales, was $43 million. For the second quarter, our earnings before interest and taxes were $174 million. Interest income was approximately $68,000 and our effective tax rate was 26%. Net income was $129 million and diluted earnings per share were $1.37, an increase of 1% compared to the same period last year.

折舊與攤銷（不含計入銷貨成本的折舊）為 4,300 萬美元。第二季息稅前盈餘（EBIT）為 1.74 億美元。利息收入約為 6.8 萬美元，有效稅率為 26%。淨利為 1.29 億美元，稀釋後每股盈餘為 1.37 美元，較去年同期增加 1%。

Turning to unit growth. We opened seven new stores, ending the quarter with 490 stores across 25 states. Our pipeline remains robust with more than 110 executed leases and 155 approved new stores, giving us confidence in our ability to continue expanding access to Sprouts over the long term.

接著談門市成長。我們新開 7 家門市，季末在 25 個州共有 490 家門市。我們的開店管線仍然強勁，已簽署租約超過 110 份，並核准 155 家新店，讓我們對長期持續擴大 Sprouts 觸及範圍的能力充滿信心。

Our balance sheet and cash generation remains strong and provide flexibility. Year-to-date, we have generated $369 million in operating cash flow, which enabled self-funding of our investments in capital expenditures of $186 million, net of landlord reimbursement. Through the second quarter, we also returned $210 million to our shareholders by repurchasing 2.8 million shares and have $626 million remaining under our $1 billion share repurchase authorization.

我們的資產負債表與現金創造能力仍然強勁，並提供彈性。年初至今，我們已產生 3.69 億美元的營運現金流，使我們得以自籌資金投入資本支出 1.86 億美元（扣除房東補助後）。截至第二季，我們也透過回購 280 萬股股票向股東返還 2.10 億美元，且在 10 億美元股票回購授權下仍餘 6.26 億美元可用額度。

We ended the second quarter with $224 million in cash and cash equivalents and $22 million of outstanding letters of credit. As we look to the balance of 2026, we are beginning to move past the most difficult compares and seeing early progress, though the operating environment remains uneven.

第二季末我們持有 2.24 億美元的現金及約當現金，以及 2,200 萬美元的未償信用狀。展望 2026 年剩餘期間，我們正開始走過最艱難的比較基期並看到初步進展，儘管營運環境仍不均衡。

We believe our initiatives in affordability, innovation, personalization, marketing and supply chain will strengthen engagement over time. Customer behavior is evolving gradually, and we recognize it will take time for our actions to fully gain traction in this macro environment. The lower engaged customer remains an opportunity, and all customers are managing units in the basket.

我們相信在可負擔性、創新、個人化、行銷與供應鏈方面的各項措施，將隨時間推移強化顧客互動與黏著度。顧客行為正在逐步演變，我們也認知在此總體環境下，我們的行動需要時間才能完全發揮效果。低互動度顧客仍是一項機會，而所有顧客都在管理每筆購物籃中的商品件數。

Given that context, we continue to take a disciplined view of the back half while investing in the actions we believe will support engagement and long-term growth. As a reminder, 2026 will be a 53-week year, with the extra week falling at the end of the fourth quarter.

在此背景下，我們對下半年仍維持審慎且有紀律的看法，同時投資於我們相信能支持互動度與長期成長的行動。提醒各位，2026 年將是 53 週年度，額外的一週將落在第四季末。

For the full year, on a 52-week basis, our outlook for total sales growth is between 5.5% to 6.5%, with comp sales between negative 0.5% to positive 0.5%. We now plan to open 42 net new stores in 2026. This accounts for 43 new openings as well as closure of an underperforming store with an expiring lease.

以全年、按 52 週基礎計算，我們對總銷售成長的展望為 5.5% 至 6.5%，同店銷售介於負 0.5% 至正 0.5%。我們目前規劃在 2026 年淨新增開店 42 家。這包含新開 43 家門市，以及關閉一家表現不佳且租約到期的門市。

Earnings before interest and taxes is expected to be between $675 million and $685 million. We expect our corporate tax rate to be approximately 25.5%, and we expect capital expenditures net of landlord reimbursements to be approximately $310 million.

預期息稅前盈餘（EBIT）介於 6.75 億美元至 6.85 億美元。我們預期公司稅率約為 25.5%，並預期資本支出（扣除房東補助後）約為 3.10 億美元。

Our diluted earnings per share outlook is expected to be between $5.32 and $5.40, assuming at least $300 million in share repurchases. This updated outlook also reflects the current consumer backdrop, our continued efforts around affordability, ongoing fuel surcharges and disciplined cost management. It also incorporates the expected one-time year-over-year gross margin benefit in the fourth quarter as we cycle an easier shrink comparison and the loyalty program changes we made earlier this year.

我們對稀釋每股盈餘的展望預計介於 5.32 美元至 5.40 美元之間，假設至少回購 3 億美元的股份。此更新後的展望亦反映目前的消費者環境、我們在可負擔性方面的持續努力、持續的燃油附加費，以及嚴謹的成本管理。此外，亦納入第四季預期的一次性年對年毛利率利多，因我們將在較容易的損耗（shrink）比較基期下進行對比，並反映我們今年稍早所做的會員忠誠計畫變更。

We believe this outlook gives us the flexibility to continue investing in customer value while managing the business with discipline. For the third quarter, we expect comp sales to be in the range of negative 0.5% to positive 1.5%, and diluted earnings per share to be between $1.20 and $1.24. EBIT margin pressure is expected to be approximately 50 basis points due to fixed cost deleverage from lower comp sales and the impact of more new store openings when compared to the third quarter last year.

我們相信，這項展望讓我們在以紀律管理業務的同時，仍具備持續投資於顧客價值的彈性。就第三季而言，我們預期同店銷售（comp sales）將介於 -0.5% 至 +1.5% 之間，稀釋每股盈餘介於 1.20 美元至 1.24 美元之間。由於同店銷售較低導致固定成本去槓桿，以及相較去年第三季有更多新店開幕的影響，預期 EBIT 利潤率壓力約為 50 個基點。

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

接下來我把時間交還給 Jack。

Thanks, Curtis. Against an uneven near-term backdrop, we remain focused on the areas we can control, sharpening value, strengthening foraging, improving how we engage with customers and providing them a great in-store experience, advancing supply chain capabilities and executing against a strong new store pipeline.

謝謝你，Curtis。面對短期不均衡的環境，我們仍專注於可控的領域：強化價值、強化採購（foraging）、改善與顧客互動的方式並提供優質的店內體驗、推進供應鏈能力，以及執行強勁的新店開發管線。

We're using data to better support our customers on their health journey. Our customers care about what they eat, and we are committed to making healthy, clean food, more affordable and accessible, which is particularly important during these challenging times. Our teams are proud to rise to this challenge.

我們正運用數據，更好地支持顧客的健康旅程。顧客在意他們吃什麼，而我們致力於讓健康、潔淨的食物更可負擔且更容易取得，這在這些充滿挑戰的時期尤其重要。我們的團隊很自豪能迎接這項挑戰。

That commitment is directly connected to our top priority, serving our target customer. They continue to value the Sprouts experience, the quality of our assortment and the discovery we bring to health and wellness while also looking for practical ways to make healthy living fit their budgets.

這項承諾與我們的首要優先事項—服務我們的目標顧客—直接相關。他們持續重視 Sprouts 的體驗、我們商品組合的品質，以及我們在健康與保健領域帶來的探索感，同時也在尋找務實的方法，讓健康生活能符合他們的預算。

We are responding in a way that is consistent with who we are by bringing together innovation, quality and targeted value in the areas that matter most. In the second quarter, our fresh deli meals, vitamin sale and $9.99 wellness bowls were examples of how this approach resonated with customers. Our first half affordability test produced mixed results.

我們以符合自身定位的方式回應，將創新、品質與聚焦式價值結合在最重要的領域。在第二季，我們的新鮮熟食餐點、維他命促銷以及 9.99 美元的健康碗（wellness bowls），都是此作法能引起顧客共鳴的例子。我們上半年可負擔性測試的結果好壞參半。

Most actions drove better unit movement, while broader traffic response developed more gradually than expected. We're using those learnings to refine our second half approach, focusing on the items that matter most to customers and where targeted price and affordability actions can have the greatest impact on engagement.

多數措施帶動了更好的單位銷量表現，但整體來客數的反應比預期更為逐步。我們正運用這些學習來精進下半年的作法，聚焦於顧客最在意的品項，以及在那些聚焦式定價與可負擔性措施能對互動帶來最大影響的領域。

Forging and innovation remain key strengths, and they continue to outperform overall company growth. They help differentiate the assortment and focus our space, promotions and new item activity around the products customers value most. During the second quarter, we launched approximately 1,300 new items, with an emphasis on attributes that we believe matters to our customers, including organic, seed oil-free, fiber, gut health and protein solutions.

採購（foraging）與創新仍是關鍵強項，且持續優於公司整體成長。它們有助於差異化商品組合，並讓我們的空間配置、促銷與新品活動聚焦在顧客最重視的產品上。第二季期間，我們推出約 1,300 項新品，並著重於我們認為顧客在意的屬性，包括有機、無種子油（seed oil-free）、纖維、腸道健康與蛋白質解決方案。

These products help reinforce why customers choose Sprouts. With our exclusive partnership, Pasture bird chicken is now available nationwide at Sprouts and products like Better Pop and Bitte Soursop Shots are resonating with customers.

這些產品有助於強化顧客選擇 Sprouts 的原因。透過我們的獨家合作，Pasturebird 雞肉現已在全美 Sprouts 門市販售，而像 Better Pop 與 Bitte Soursop Shots 等產品也正獲得顧客青睞。

Our organic offerings continue to gain traction across departments, now representing more than 30% of total sales, including more than half of sales in dairy and produce. Loyalty and personalization remain important long-term enablers for the business as consumer behavior evolves against this uneven macroeconomic backdrop, we continue to see progress. Our acceleration efforts have identified new tactics to drive sales that should benefit us in the second half. And the data we are building is increasingly useful across the business with more in-depth customer behavior and preferences.

我們的有機產品在各部門持續獲得動能，目前已占總銷售額超過 30%，其中乳製品與生鮮蔬果的銷售占比更超過一半。在此不均衡的總體經濟背景下，隨著消費者行為演變，會員忠誠與個人化仍是業務長期的重要推動力，我們也持續看到進展。我們的加速計畫已找出新的帶動銷售策略，預期將在下半年帶來助益。同時，我們所建立的數據在全公司範圍內愈來愈有用，能更深入掌握顧客行為與偏好。

Building our first-party data capability will continue to support our long-term strategy by unlocking value for our customers and Sprouts across the enterprise. Marketing is one area where our new data can help us more effectively engage customers in the second half of the year and beyond.

建立我們的第一方數據能力，將持續支持長期策略，為顧客與 Sprouts 在整個企業層面釋放價值。行銷是其中一個領域，我們的新數據能協助我們在今年下半年及未來更有效地與顧客互動。

We're using these insights to better target media across both existing and new customers while also refreshing our creative to more clearly communicate Sprouts' unique position and bring the brand to life. We'll continue to tailor our messaging to highlight health, discovery, the unique products that distinguish Sprouts and compelling value on the healthy essentials our customers need.

我們正運用這些洞察，更精準地投放媒體，涵蓋既有與新顧客，同時也更新我們的創意素材，以更清楚傳達 Sprouts 的獨特定位並讓品牌更具體呈現。我們將持續調整訊息，強調健康、探索、能讓 Sprouts 脫穎而出的獨特產品，以及顧客所需健康必需品上的具吸引力價值。

Our supply chain work is also advancing. Our Northern California distribution center is open and operating smoothly, and nearly 85% of our stores are now supported with fresh meat through Sprouts distribution centers. This gives us greater control over our freshness, service levels and shrink, and the financial benefits from this transition will continue to support our efforts on affordability.

我們的供應鏈工作也在推進。我們的北加州配送中心已開幕並順利運作，目前近 85% 的門市已透過 Sprouts 配送中心獲得新鮮肉品供應。這讓我們能更有效掌控新鮮度、服務水準與損耗（shrink），而此轉換帶來的財務效益也將持續支持我們在可負擔性方面的努力。

We also are continuing to advance our self-distribution journey with targeted investments in our existing space, beginning with select Sprouts brand SKUs as we look beyond produce and meat to the next phase of this work. New stores remain one of the clearest proof points of the strength of our model.

我們也持續推進自營配送（self-distribution）旅程，針對既有空間進行重點投資，先從部分 Sprouts 自有品牌 SKU 著手，並在蔬果與肉品之外，展望此工作的下一階段。新店仍是我們商業模式強勁的最明確佐證之一。

Performance continues to be strong, and our teams are selecting great sites, opening stores efficiently and bringing Sprouts to more communities. We are pleased with the progress across both high-volume existing markets and newer markets that are continuing to build awareness and momentum.

表現持續強勁，我們的團隊正在挑選優質據點、有效率地開店，並將 Sprouts 帶到更多社區。我們對於高銷量的既有市場，以及持續提升知名度與動能的新市場之進展都感到滿意。

Our construction teams have done a great job improving our processes and shortening our time to build stores. Given these improvements, along with our strong pipeline, we will be opening 42 net new stores this year, slightly ahead of our original guidance. We will open at least 15 stores in the third quarter, which represents our largest quarterly opening cadence to date.

我們的工程團隊在改善流程並縮短建店時間方面做得非常出色。基於這些改善，加上我們強勁的開店管線，今年我們將淨新增 42 家門市，略高於原先的指引。我們將在第三季開出至少 15 家門市，這將是我們迄今單季最高的開店節奏。

Lastly, the Sprouts team remains the heart of the organization. Our team members bring the Sprouts experience to life every day from the quality and freshness in our stores to the service and education they provide our customers. Their commitment to our purpose, our team and our customers remains a key advantage for our business.

最後，Sprouts 團隊仍是組織的核心。我們的團隊成員每天讓 Sprouts 體驗具體呈現，從門市的品質與新鮮度，到他們為顧客提供的服務與教育。他們對我們使命、團隊與顧客的承諾，仍是我們業務的一項關鍵優勢。

In summary, we are operating with discipline against a dynamic near-term backdrop while staying focused on the actions that strengthen engagement, reinforce the Sprouts value proposition and position the business for sustainable growth. We appreciate your continued interest in Sprouts and look forward to keeping you updated on our progress in the quarters to come.

總結來說，在充滿變動的短期環境下，我們以紀律營運，同時聚焦於能強化互動、鞏固 Sprouts 價值主張並使業務具備可持續成長定位的行動。感謝各位持續關注 Sprouts，我們也期待在未來幾季持續向各位更新我們的進展。

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

接下來我想進入提問時間。接線員？

(Operator Instructions)

（接線員指示）

Ed Kelly, Wells Fargo.

Wells Fargo 的 Ed Kelly。

Hi. good morning. Good afternoon, everyone. Could we maybe just start with comp cadence? And I'm specifically interested in July. You talked about July being in line. Could you provide a little bit more color around the month versus the Q3 guide? The Q3 guide leaves the possibility of a negative component. I'm not sure if you saw that in July? And was there any impact from Cyclospora? And then just remind us of the compares by month moving forward now.

嗨，早安。各位午安。我們能否先從同店銷售的走勢節奏談起？我特別關心 7 月。你提到 7 月表現符合預期。能否就該月份相對於第三季指引提供更多說明？第三季指引仍保留同店為負的可能性。我不確定你們是否在 7 月看到了這種情況？另外，Cyclospora 是否有任何影響？最後也請提醒我們，接下來各月份的比較基期（comp）如何？

Sure. Yeah. Ed, this is Curtis. Lots in that. So comp cadence sequentially improved through May, as we said in the script, June was a tough month. That was really the end of kind of the challenging LY compares last year in June, really strong produce season, disruption to the natural and organic supply chain that sent customers our way. And so those are behind us now.

好的。是的。Ed，我是Curtis。內容很多。所以如同我們在講稿中提到的，可比銷售的節奏在5月按月持續改善，6月則是艱難的一個月。那基本上是去年6月那些具挑戰性的去年同期比較的尾聲：當時農產品旺季非常強勁，加上天然與有機供應鏈受干擾，讓顧客轉而到我們這裡購買。因此，這些因素現在都已經過去了。

As far as the second half of the year, there were no major disruptions or benefits last year that we're up against. So the comp will sequentially get easier from a comparison perspective month-to-month as we go forward.

至於下半年，去年並沒有出現我們今年需要面對的重大干擾或利多因素。因此，從比較基期的角度來看，隨著時間往後推進，可比銷售在逐月比較上會按序變得更容易。

Within July, we're within our guidance range, just slightly negative for July is where we landed. And then on Cyclospora, it's really live right now. It's been really the last two weeks where we've seen a bit of impact on the business. And so we really just kind of deal with that in real time. I mean, first and foremost, food safety is our number one priority. The team really does a great job with that.

在7月，我們落在指引區間內，7月的結果是小幅為負。至於環孢子蟲（Cyclospora），目前確實正在發生。主要是在過去兩週，我們看到對業務有一些影響。所以我們基本上就是即時應對。我的意思是，首要之務，食品安全是我們的第一優先。團隊在這方面做得非常好。

They're watching all the news and the regulatory updates closely. And we haven't had any product recall impact in our stores to date. But it's impacting the customers and how they shop. It's really isolated to kind of lettuce, salads and salad-related items is where we've seen a bit of an impact. So it's a shift in from fresh to frozen.

他們密切關注所有新聞與監管更新。截至目前，我們門市沒有受到任何產品召回的影響。但這正在影響顧客以及他們的購物方式。影響主要集中在生菜、沙拉以及與沙拉相關的品項。因此出現了從生鮮轉向冷凍的移轉。

So we're watching this pretty closely, just to see where it's going to go, the customer reaction to this. It's difficult to know exactly how this is going to play out, but we're focused on food safety.

所以我們正非常密切地觀察，看看事態會如何發展，以及顧客對此的反應。很難確切知道最後會如何演變，但我們的重點仍是食品安全。

Okay. And maybe just a quick follow-up, Jack. You mentioned affordability results of the effort kind of being mixed and maybe some adjustments that you're making. Could you talk a bit more about that? And are those adjustments meaning like intensifying pricing effort? Is it just sort of like how you're spending the dollars?

好的。也許再快速追問一下，Jack。你提到在可負擔性方面的努力成果有些參差不齊，並且你們正在做一些調整。可以再多談一點嗎？這些調整是指例如加大定價力度嗎？還是比較像是你們如何花這些資金？

We're being very focused on trying to look after our customers on those items that matter most. And the tests that we've done, as we said, have been mixed and different departments have done -- different items have performed differently.

我們非常專注於照顧顧客在那些最重要的品項上的需求。而我們所做的測試，如同我們所說，結果是混合的；不同部門做的——不同品項的表現也不一樣。

And the challenge for us is making sure that everything we're doing fits in within the model that we're working on. So I'll maybe let Nick. Nick and his team have been doing a lot of work analyzing the specific detail of what we're investing in. And I think we've got a pretty good handle on what it's going to cost and what we're going to do going forward.

我們的挑戰在於，確保我們所做的一切都能符合我們正在運作的商業模式。所以我可能把這題交給Nick。Nick和他的團隊一直在做大量工作，分析我們投資項目的具體細節。我認為我們已經相當清楚成本會是多少，以及接下來要怎麼做。

Yeah. Ed, kind of three-pillar approach to the affordability work we outlined. The one that I think is showing the most growth and really happy with what the team is doing is in our assortment efforts. So we see really strong momentum in our healthy meal solutions, and we're continuing to increase that offering with the health-driven attribute-driven meals. We talked about our new $29.99 family meals.

是的。Ed，關於我們所概述的可負擔性工作，是一個三支柱的方法。我認為目前成長最明顯、也對團隊所做的事情非常滿意的一項，是在商品組合（assortment）的努力上。我們在健康餐食解決方案上看到非常強的動能，並持續增加以健康導向、屬性導向的餐點供給。我們也提到新的29.99美元家庭餐。

We now have all of our fresh-made salads in store under $9. So that's been really strong for us. The second lever of that assortment has been in Sprouts brand with innovation in the healthy essentials. So I'll give you a couple of examples. We're launching seed oil-free frozen potatoes that are now a top seller in the category.

我們現在把門市所有現做生鮮沙拉的價格都壓在9美元以下。所以這對我們來說表現非常強勁。商品組合的第二個槓桿是在Sprouts自有品牌上，透過健康必需品（healthy essentials）的創新。我舉幾個例子。我們正在推出不含種子油的冷凍馬鈴薯，現在已是該品類的暢銷商品。

We're just about to launch a $4 -- actually we did just launch a $4 fresh baked organic sourdough bread. So you see us investing in the areas that's important for our customer and the assortment. On the price and promotion piece, as Jack mentioned, it's been a little tougher to move the customer in this environment.

我們也即將推出一款4美元的——其實我們剛剛已經推出了——4美元的現烤有機酸種麵包。所以你會看到我們把投資放在對顧客重要的領域與商品組合上。在價格與促銷這一塊，如Jack所提到，在目前這個環境下要帶動顧客行為變化會比較困難。

We are seeing good basket and unit velocities from some of the price and promotion efforts we're doing, but we're continuing to test and learn both how we price and also how we message. And we're going to continue to be prudent about how we do that as we learn how to move the customer.

我們確實從部分價格與促銷措施中看到不錯的購物籃與單位銷售速度（unit velocities），但我們仍在持續測試與學習：包括如何定價，以及如何傳達訊息。而且在我們學習如何帶動顧客行為的同時，我們會持續以審慎的方式來推進。

And then the third pillar of that work is in personal and loyalty and our personalization efforts and the acceleration of the learnings we've had in the first half of the year and the third quarter to help continue to move our existing customer.

第三個支柱則是在個人化與忠誠度，以及我們的個人化推動上；我們會加速運用上半年與第三季的學習成果，來持續帶動既有顧客。

Great. Thanks, guys.

太好了。謝謝各位。

Leah Jordan, Goldman Sachs.

Leah Jordan，高盛。

Good afternoon. Thank you for taking my questions. I just wanted to follow up on Ed's first question around the comp. So in the prepared remarks, you talked about July improved in line with your expectation, but you still narrowed the comp guidance for the year.

下午好。謝謝你們回答我的問題。我想延續Ed第一個關於可比銷售的問題。所以在事先準備的發言中，你們提到7月如預期改善，但你們仍收窄了全年可比銷售指引。

So I'm just trying to get a sense of what's making you may be less optimistic in terms of getting to that top end now. Is it really around the macro increasing competition? Or is it simply just, hey, we've had a softer start to July and maybe some of this is tied to the lettuce concern that you talked about. Any color there? And then just ultimately, maybe frame your confidence on getting back on to algo by the fourth quarter. Thank you.

所以我想了解，是什麼讓你們對現在達到區間上緣的樂觀程度降低。這主要是因為總體環境與競爭加劇嗎？還是只是因為，嗯，7月初的開局偏弱，且其中一部分與你們提到的生菜疑慮有關？能否補充一些細節？最後，也請談談你們對於在第四季回到既定演算法（algo）的信心程度。謝謝。

Yeah. I think the questions are with regarding to getting back to algorithm, we're feeling pretty confident about our guidance going forward in terms of what we're projecting. In terms of the specifics, there's a macro environment that's kind of difficult to really put your handle on.

是的。我想關於回到演算法的問題，就我們對未來的預測而言，對我們的指引我們感到相當有信心。至於更具體的部分，總體環境確實有點難以真正掌握。

Clearly, grocery prices are going up. Gas prices have gone up and down, and they're clearly putting pressure on. And we can see it in the units, and it's not -- across grocery units are not as strong as they were because of the inflation.

很明顯地，雜貨價格正在上漲。油價上上下下，也顯然帶來壓力。我們可以從銷售單位數（units）看出來；而且不只是我們——整體雜貨的單位數都不如先前強勁，因為通膨的關係。

So we're trying to second guess exactly where this is going to play out. But our guidance is something that we feel pretty confident about. And certainly, if the comparisons that we've got going forward play out the way we expect them to do, we should be back on our algorithm in due course.

所以我們正試著推測這會如何發展。但我們對指引是相當有信心的。而且當然，如果接下來的比較基期如我們預期般發展，我們應該會在適當的時間回到我們的演算法。

Okay. That's helpful. Maybe just a quick follow-up on that. We'll stick with the comp here. I mean just maybe more color on the drivers, how you're thinking about traffic versus units versus AUR kind of as we move through the back half. It sounded like traffic and units were getting better in July. Just trying to think about the underlying drivers for your comp outlook as we go through the fourth quarter.

好的。這很有幫助。也許再快速追問一下。我們就繼續談可比銷售。我想再多了解一些驅動因素：在下半年你們如何看待來客數（traffic）相對於單位數（units）相對於平均單價（AUR）的變化。聽起來7月的來客數和單位數都在改善。我想理解一下，進入第四季時，你們對可比銷售展望的底層驅動因素是什麼。

Yeah. I think we expect sequential improvement in traffic for sure. Yes, units and traffic should get better. It's not going to come from AUR. Traffic was the thing that went up really well when we were doing well and has been moderated and been the driver as we've softened here. So I think we'd expect that to continue to get better as the compares get easier, and then units should get a little bit better as we continue to work on the affordability piece.

是的。我認為我們確實預期客流會逐季改善。是的，銷量（units）與客流都應該會變好。這不會來自 AUR（平均單位零售價）。在我們表現好的時候，客流是上升得很明顯的那個指標；而在我們這段時間走弱時，客流也趨於溫和，並成為主要驅動因素。所以我認為，隨著比較基期變得更容易，我們預期客流會持續改善；同時，隨著我們持續推動可負擔性（affordability）相關工作，銷量也應該會小幅改善。

Okay. Thank you.

好的。謝謝。

Thanks, Leah.

謝謝你，Leah。

Tom Palmer, JPMorgan.

JPMorgan 的 Tom Palmer。

Hey, good afternoon, and thanks for the questions. Maybe I could just first clarify on the guidance revision. So comps were narrowed around the midpoint. The second quarter earnings came in a little bit ahead of, I think, what you'd guided for.

嗨，午安，謝謝讓我提問。我想先釐清一下指引修正。所以同店銷售（comps）在中點附近收斂。第二季獲利略高於我認為你們先前所指引的水準。

So I just wanted to understand maybe some of the narrowing to kind of the bottom half when we look at that EBIT outlook, if there are maybe incremental investments that are contemplated. I know there was the reference to some deleverage. And so maybe the extra couple of stores is the difference, but anything else on top of that? Thanks.

所以我想了解的是，當我們看 EBIT 展望時，區間收斂到偏下半部，是否代表可能規劃了額外的投資。我知道你們提到了一些去槓桿（deleverage）。所以也許多開幾家店就是差異所在，但除此之外還有其他因素嗎？謝謝。

Hey, Tom, it's Curtis. Yeah, I mean, really, the EBIT midpoint to midpoint, $5 million change is really fuel. We're just looking -- as we spoke about last time, we covered it off in Q2. But we said we didn't have it covered in the second half, and we weren't -- we're going to wait and see how that played out. Obviously, it remains elevated and it has been pretty volatile. So we're embedding $2.5 million a quarter in the second half for fuel.

嗨，Tom，我是 Curtis。是的，基本上 EBIT 從中點到中點、變動 500 萬美元，主要就是燃料成本。我們只是看——如同上次所說，我們在第二季已經把它涵蓋進去了。但我們也說過下半年還沒有完全涵蓋，而且我們——我們會先觀察看看實際情況如何發展。顯然燃料成本仍然偏高，而且波動相當大。因此我們在下半年每季納入 250 萬美元的燃料成本。

Great. Thanks for that. And I also wanted to ask on some of the, I guess, vendor participation that was noted and then in one of the earlier answers, you noted focus on accelerating personalization. With the loyalty rollout, are you starting to drive increased support? I think that's one of the goals and the belief was it might take a little bit of time working with vendors. But I am curious if we're hitting a point where that's becoming more of a factor, just given the call-outs earlier.

很好。謝謝說明。我也想問一下，關於你們提到的一些供應商參與（vendor participation），以及你們在先前回答中提到會聚焦加速個人化（personalization）。隨著會員／忠誠度計畫（loyalty）推行，你們是否開始帶動更多的支援？我想那是目標之一，而且原本的看法是與供應商合作可能需要一些時間。但我很好奇，考量你們先前的重點提示，我們是否已經到了這件事開始變得更重要的階段。

Hey, Tom, it's Nick. I would say we're still early stages in that. I mean we just started opening up vendor participation in the program at the beginning of this year. And so we're nascent in that. And the idea is always, hey, you have these really unique vendors with unique customers, with unique needs, and how do you tie them all together to help them find their audience in their market because we have the health enthusiasts that a lot of these new brands want.

嗨，Tom，我是 Nick。我會說我們仍在很早期的階段。我們今年年初才開始讓供應商參與這個計畫。所以目前還在萌芽期。而這個想法一直都是：你有這些非常獨特的供應商、擁有獨特的客群與獨特的需求，要如何把它們串聯起來，幫助他們在各自市場找到目標受眾，因為我們擁有許多健康愛好者，而這正是很多新品牌想要觸及的。

And so I think -- I feel really good about that strategy. We're starting to see more and more vendors participate and see benefit from participating in the program. So we're certainly ramping, but it's early stages. And I think we've got certainly -- as we build out the capability, as we continue to invest in technology, that will be something we continue to push over the next number of years.

所以我認為——我對這個策略感覺非常好。我們開始看到越來越多供應商參與，並且從參與計畫中看到效益。因此我們確實正在加速推進，但仍屬早期階段。而且我認為——隨著我們建置能力、持續投資科技，這會是我們在未來幾年持續推動的方向。

Got it. Thank you.

了解。謝謝。

Kelly Bania, BMO Capital Markets.

BMO Capital Markets 的 Kelly Bania。

Hi. Thanks. Thanks for taking our question. I wanted to just double-click on the comment about kind of all customers are managing units per basket. As we look at your sales across the two categories between perishables and nonperishables, it looks relatively stable.

嗨。謝謝。謝謝讓我們提問。我想再深入追問一下你們提到「所有客戶都在管理每籃商品件數（units per basket）」的評論。當我們看你們在生鮮與非生鮮兩大類別的銷售時，看起來相對穩定。

So just wondering what is really happening underneath the hood there with units per basket. I thought that was a little bit more isolated to produce, but maybe you can just help us understand if anything has changed on the units per basket and what the plan is there to address that. It sounded like the focus is on traffic for now. But just as you look out further on the units per basket, what is the remedy for that?

所以想請問，實際上在背後每籃件數到底發生了什麼變化。我原本以為這比較集中在蔬果（produce），但也許你們可以幫我們理解，每籃件數是否有任何改變，以及你們打算如何因應。聽起來目前重點放在客流。但再往前看，每籃件數的問題，你們的解方是什麼？

Hey, Kelly, it's Curtis. I think units in the basket, produce is always a lead because it's one of the larger -- it's the largest unit count in our average basket. But we -- in these times, we saw it back in '22 and '23. And again, here, when the prices are up or there's an inflationary environment or the customer is under pressure, for us, they tend to manage that last item in the basket. And so it's a little bit of an impact across the entire business and then produce usually has a little bit larger impact just simply because there's more produce units in our basket, say, than the average conventional.

嗨，Kelly，我是 Curtis。我認為籃內件數方面，蔬果通常是領先指標，因為它是我們平均客單籃中較大的——也是最大的件數來源。但我們——在這種時期，我們在 2022 年和 2023 年也看過。而且現在也是，當價格上漲、或處於通膨環境、或消費者承壓時，對我們而言，他們往往會在籃子裡「最後一件」商品上做取捨。因此這會對整體業務都有些影響，而蔬果通常影響更大一些，單純是因為我們籃子裡的蔬果件數比一般傳統通路（conventional）更多。

And so as far as what we're doing, I mean, I think the things that we are doing from a loyalty and personalization perspective, certainly, that should help on the unit front. And from an affordability perspective, that will help on the unit front. And we're seeing some good progress on units in the tests that we're doing, as we alluded to earlier, we'd like to see a little bit of a broader impact from a traffic perspective, but the unit piece has been positive so far.

至於我們在做什麼，我的意思是，我認為我們從會員／忠誠度與個人化的角度所做的事情，當然應該有助於提升件數。從可負擔性的角度，也會有助於提升件數。而且我們在進行的測試中看到件數有不錯的進展；如同先前提到的，我們希望從客流角度看到更廣泛的影響，但就目前而言，件數這一塊是正向的。

Okay. And Curtis, when you talk about kind of thinking about the items that matter most to your customers, some of the examples, I think, sounded like they were in fresh. Maybe correct me if I'm wrong, but are you -- how do you think about kind of balancing the fresh kind of price investments or affordability versus kind of the new innovation and the new items, which seems so critical to the Sprouts merchandising strategy? How do you balance that? Or are you trying to figure out where to put more or less investment between those categories?

好的。Curtis，當你談到思考哪些品項對顧客最重要時，你舉的一些例子我覺得聽起來是在生鮮。如果我理解有誤請糾正，但你們——你們如何在生鮮的價格投資或可負擔性，與新品創新、新品項之間取得平衡？後者似乎對 Sprouts 的商品策略非常關鍵。你們如何平衡？或者你們是否正在評估在這些類別之間要增加或減少投資？

Hey, Kelly, I'll take that. It's Nick. We start with our customer and less -- think about it less around fresh and nonperishables and more around what's in the customer's basket and what's most important for them. And for us, I think you've heard me talk about the healthy essentials. It's organic cheese, it's organic bread, it's organic meat and it's obviously organic produce.

嗨，Kelly，我來回答。我是 Nick。我們從顧客出發，較少用生鮮與非生鮮來思考，而是更多從顧客的購物籃裡有什麼、以及對他們最重要的是什麼來思考。對我們而言，我想你們聽我談過「健康必需品（healthy essentials）」。包括有機起司、有機麵包、有機肉品，當然還有有機蔬果。

So it's across the board on these nonperishable and perishable that we're focused on, and then looking at what's most important to them and where can we help make some of these things more accessible to them. And that's where you see us both innovating with assortment and especially in Sprouts brand and then making the selective investments to ensure that they're more accessible.

所以我們關注的是橫跨非生鮮與生鮮的這些品項，接著再看哪些對他們最重要，以及我們能在哪些地方幫助他們更容易取得這些商品。因此你會看到我們一方面透過商品組合創新、特別是在 Sprouts 自有品牌上持續創新；另一方面也做選擇性的投資，以確保這些商品對他們而言更可負擔、更容易取得。

So we look at it from a total customer standpoint, and we've seen good success in fresh right now because I think that's a good driver for the customer around meals and meal solutions, but look at it holistically across the store.

所以我們會從整體顧客的角度來看待這件事；而我們目前在生鮮方面看到不錯的成效，因為我認為生鮮在餐食與餐食解決方案上，對顧客而言是一個很好的驅動因素，但我們也會以更全面的方式，從整個門店的層面來看。

Thank you.

謝謝。

John Heinbockel, Guggenheim.

John Heinbockel，Guggenheim。

Hey, can you guys address cohort performance demographically, right? I'm thinking -- you've talked in the past about the emerging health enthusiast, right, perhaps having more affordability issues. So how is that group performing?

嗨，你們能否從人口統計的角度談談各客群（cohort）的表現？我在想——你們過去談過所謂的新興健康愛好者（emerging health enthusiast），對吧，可能在可負擔性上有更多壓力。那這個族群的表現如何？

And then when you distinguish between, right, so you had some waves of shelf price reductions and then you've also done some stuff with the loyalty program in 3x, 5x points. When you think about what's working, what's not working from a pricing standpoint, how would you assess that?

另外，當你們做區分時，對吧，你們做過幾波貨架價格下調，同時也在會員忠誠計畫上做了一些事情，例如 3 倍、5 倍點數。從定價角度來看，當你們思考哪些有效、哪些無效時，你們會如何評估？

Hey, John, it's Nick. I think the broader headline -- the two headlines for me on the question of working and not, I think one is the macro is tough, and it's tough. The customer is proving tougher to move overall. So efforts are not quite the same as they may have been in a more stable market. We don't have the level of inflation that we're seeing in the market.

嗨，John，我是 Nick。我覺得就「有效與無效」這個問題，對我來說有兩個重點：第一是總體環境很艱難，而且確實很艱難。整體而言，顧客變得更難被帶動。所以在較不穩定的市場中，我們的努力所產生的效果，和在更穩定的市場時不太一樣。我們沒有看到市場上那種程度的通膨。

So that has an impact overall. And I think the second thing is we're seeing, as we mentioned before, our less engaged, lower income customer is the one that's been harder for us to move. Some of that's a lapping story, John.

所以這對整體都有影響。第二點是，如同我們先前提到的，我們較不活躍、收入較低的顧客，是我們更難帶動的族群。其中一部分原因是比較基期（lapping）的因素，John。

We're obviously still lapping some of that. But if you look at our cohorts and our loyalty customers, it's those that are a little less engaged, lower income where it's been tougher to drive that trip and that extra item in the basket.

我們顯然仍在承受部分比較基期的影響。但如果你看我們的各客群以及會員忠誠顧客，確實是在那些互動較少、收入較低的族群上，更難帶動他們增加來店次數，以及在購物籃中多加一件商品。

Maybe as a follow-up to that, I know the other opportunity, right, because of the sheer amount of product introductions, is to reach out to folks, right, that are attribute oriented to let them know the 1,300 items came in and maybe that's the opportunity is bigger with higher income customers. But to what degree are you doing that now? Or is that still to come, right, where there's these prompts calls to action about these items?

也許接著追問一下，我知道另一個機會點，對吧，因為新品導入的數量非常多，就是去觸達那些重視商品屬性的人，讓他們知道有 1,300 項商品上架了；而且也許這個機會在高收入顧客身上更大。但你們目前做到什麼程度？還是說這仍是接下來要做的，例如針對這些商品的提示與行動呼籲（calls to action）？

Yeah. We're definitely doing that. We're seeing it in the numbers. Our innovation, the products that we are -- the new products we've launched in the last year are significantly outperforming the overall box. We're seeing the innovation continue to be strong and the customer continue to be willing to buy the new items, the unique items they see with us.

是的。我們確實在做。我們也從數據上看得到。我們的創新——也就是過去一年推出的新產品——表現明顯優於整體品類（overall box）。我們看到創新持續強勁，顧客也持續願意購買他們在我們這裡看到的新商品、獨特商品。

So I think that's a combination of the forging work that we continue to do, the strong pipeline and innovation that our merchants and forging team has built. And then we are continuing to introduce it to our customers, not just through loyalty, which has been personalization, but also through social media and our marketing. And so I'm actually very happy with how our newness continues to perform. We certainly have aspiration to continue to drive it even further, but that's been good for us.

所以我認為這是多方面的結果：我們持續進行的採購/尋品（forging）工作、我們的採購團隊與 forging 團隊建立的強勁產品管線與創新。此外，我們也持續把這些新品介紹給顧客，不僅透過會員忠誠計畫（其中包含個人化），也透過社群媒體與行銷。因此我其實對我們新品持續的表現非常滿意。我們當然也希望能把它推得更高，但目前對我們來說是正面的。

Thank you.

謝謝。

Krisztina Katai, Deutsche Bank.

Krisztina Katai，德意志銀行。

Hi. Good afternoon, and thanks for taking my questions. So I wanted to follow up on the affordability test. You've noted that you're seeing improving unit movement, but it's generating a slower-than-expected traffic response. So can you help us quantify the gap there? And you call these tests having mixed results. What have you learned about elasticity and this overall customer response that is shaping your second half investments?

嗨。下午好，謝謝回答我的問題。我想追問一下可負擔性測試（affordability test）。你們提到單位銷量（unit movement）在改善，但帶來的來客數（traffic）反應比預期慢。你們能否協助我們量化這之間的差距？你們也說這些測試結果好壞參半。你們對需求彈性（elasticity）以及整體顧客反應學到了什麼，進而影響你們下半年投資方向？

Hey, Krisztina, it's Curtis. I don't -- I won't -- and Nick or Jack may jump in as well, but I don't think I'll get too specific on quantifying the exact expectations there or what's -- where we've been. I'll just say, I think the one thing -- again, go back to its challenging to move the customer in this environment. And the longer we've gone with the elevated fuel and the challenging macro, it's just a little bit harder.

嗨，Krisztina，我是 Curtis。我不——我不會——Nick 或 Jack 也可能會補充，但我想我不會太具體去量化那裡的確切預期或我們目前的狀況。我只想說，有一點——再次回到在這種環境下要帶動顧客是很有挑戰的。而且在高油價與艱難總體環境持續更久之後，確實就更難一些。

Things that worked last year aren't working as well this year, things that we think should work that we try don't work quite as well. And so there's been a lot of learning and kind of readjusting to the current environment for how we go to market. And that's really kind of how it's playing out as we think about the tests, whether it's in personalization or whether it's in price and promotion.

去年有效的方法，今年效果沒那麼好；一些我們認為應該有效、我們去嘗試的做法，也沒有那麼奏效。因此我們學到很多，也在針對目前環境調整我們的市場策略。這就是我們在看這些測試時的實際情況，不論是個人化，或是價格與促銷。

And I think one of the -- the macro challenge is one of the biggest things that I think is affecting the ability for us to move traffic. And the comparison to last year is pretty significant on some of the things that happened last year. And those lower engaged customers that came to us last year in some unique circumstances, that's the one -- that's the group that we're seeing the biggest challenge on growing the traffic. But when that lapping rolls off, we're feeling pretty confident about that linking to all the work that Nick's team are doing in terms of how do you give value to the customer and how do you give value on those items that matter most to the customer. We're seeing some progress on that. I think the traffic will take a little bit longer.

我認為總體環境的挑戰，是影響我們帶動來客數能力的最大因素之一。而且與去年的比較，在某些去年發生的事情上差異相當大。去年在一些特殊情況下來到我們這裡的那些較不活躍顧客——我們在成長來客數上看到最大挑戰的，就是這一群。但當那段比較基期影響消退後，結合 Nick 團隊在「如何提供顧客價值」以及「如何在顧客最在意的品項上提供價值」所做的所有工作，我們對此相當有信心。我們已經看到一些進展。我認為來客數還需要更長一點時間。

That's helpful. And if I could just follow up on that. Obviously, you called out the lower engaged customer remains the largest opportunity. So if you could just sort of give us any framework around how to think about that? Just how much of the comp pressure today is coming from these shoppers?

這很有幫助。如果我可以再追問一下。顯然你們指出較不活躍顧客仍是最大的機會。所以你們能否提供一個思考框架，讓我們理解這件事？目前同店壓力（comp pressure）有多少是來自這些消費者？

What percentage of your customer base would you characterize as lower engaged today? And if you could just maybe tie that in terms of what behavioral changes are you seeing as the loyalty and personalization efforts gain traction? Thank you.

以今天來看，你們會把顧客基礎中的多少比例歸類為較不活躍？另外，隨著會員忠誠與個人化的努力逐漸見效，你們看到哪些行為上的改變？謝謝。

Hey, Krisztina, it's Nick. I probably won't quantify it, but I would tell you that where we're seeing the biggest challenges, as I mentioned in John's question, was with the lower engaged customer. It's certainly a smaller portion of our spend and a smaller portion of our customer base. So it's not our core customer, but we certainly see that. And the behavior your question was about is we're just seeing them spread the trips out a bit more.

嗨，Krisztina，我是 Nick。我可能不會量化，但我會告訴你，如同我在回答 John 的問題時提到的，我們看到最大挑戰是在較不活躍的顧客身上。這部分在我們的消費金額占比與顧客基礎占比都比較小。所以這不是我們的核心顧客，但我們確實看得到這個現象。至於你問的行為面，我們看到的是他們把來店次數拉得更分散一些。

We're not seeing them take the same low frequency maybe as they have in the past. I think that's what's driven by in the macro, right, and that people are managing their wallet right now and what they can spend. So that's kind of what we're seeing from the less engaged cohort.

我們沒有看到他們像過去那樣維持同樣的低頻率（low frequency）。我認為這是總體環境所驅動的，對吧，人們現在在管理自己的荷包與可支配支出。所以這就是我們在較不活躍客群上看到的情況。

And the good news is our core customer has remained pretty resilient. I think part of what we're seeing in some of the price activity, it's been good for units in the basket, a little bit tougher on traffic, but we're seeing the customer respond to a great assortment that's at a great value and some of the newness and things that we've launched. I think that kind of highlights the type of customer we have and who we really stay focused on as we continue to work in the second half.

而好消息是，我們的核心客群一直相當有韌性。我認為我們在部分價格動態上看到的情況是，對購物籃中的件數（units）有幫助，但對來客數（traffic）稍微更具挑戰；不過我們也看到顧客對我們提供的高性價比優質商品組合，以及我們推出的一些新品與新內容有所回應。我想這也凸顯了我們擁有的顧客類型，以及在我們持續推進下半年工作時，我們真正聚焦的對象。

Okay. That's great color. Thanks. Best of luck.

好的。這些說明很有幫助。謝謝。祝你們一切順利。

Rupesh Parikh, Oppenheimer & Company.

Rupesh Parikh，Oppenheimer & Company。

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my questions. Just given a number of players highlighting price investments out there, just curious how you guys feel about your price gaps and just overall, what you're seeing on the competitive promotional front? Thank you.

下午好。謝謝讓我提問。鑑於有不少同業都在強調價格投資，我想請教你們如何看待自身的價差（price gaps），以及整體而言，你們在競爭性的促銷面向上觀察到什麼情況？謝謝。

Specifics in terms of price gap, we talked fairly consistently, Rupesh, about that in terms of the important pricing and the way we've got direct comparisons with other guys is in our produce. So we continue to pay a lot of attention on our produce. We're very pleased with where we are on our organic produce, and it's a fairly volatile market as you -- as we alluded to earlier. So produce pricing, we feel we're in a pretty good place in terms of relative to the competition in that space.

就價差的細節而言，Rupesh，我們一直相當一致地談到：在重要定價以及我們與其他業者能做直接比較的部分，主要是在我們的生鮮蔬果（produce）。因此我們持續非常關注蔬果品類。我們對有機蔬果的定位非常滿意，而這也是一個相當波動的市場，正如你——以及我們先前提到的。所以在蔬果定價方面，我們認為相較於該領域的競爭對手，我們目前處在相當不錯的位置。

And with regard to other activities that are going on in the marketplace, and clearly, a lot of people are talking about things that are going on in the marketplace. We are pretty confident that the assortment and products we're putting together are differentiated enough, that we have to focus on the value of those items that matter most to our customers, and our customers being that health enthusiast customer.

至於市場上正在發生的其他活動，顯然很多人都在談論市場上的各種動態。我們相當有信心，我們所組合的商品組合與產品具備足夠的差異化；我們必須聚焦在那些對顧客最重要的商品之價值，而我們的顧客是健康愛好者（health enthusiast）客群。

And as Nick alluded to earlier, just picking the right items at the right price is something we can do because our products are differentiated, and we do that in the context of making sure we've got the right value for the customer going forward. And that's been our pricing model for a long time now.

另外，如同 Nick 先前提到的，挑選正確的商品並以正確的價格呈現，是我們能做到的，因為我們的產品具差異化；而我們是在確保未來能為顧客提供合適價值的前提下來做這件事。而這一直是我們長期以來的定價模式。

Great. And then my follow-up question, just on new stores. Commentary suggests that they're still performing really well. But just curious, just given the more difficult backdrop, have you guys seen any challenges in how these stores ramp or anything else to highlight just given the weaker backdrop?

很好。那我的追問是關於新店。你們的說法顯示新店表現仍然非常好。但我想請教，在更具挑戰的環境背景下，你們是否看到這些門店在爬坡（ramp）速度上有任何挑戰，或在較疲弱的背景下還有什麼值得特別指出的？

Hey, Rupesh, it's Curtis. No, actually, that's one of the things we're really pleased about and kind of continues to give us confidence in the go-forward and in the strategy overall, is the new stores continue to open well. And it's really across the country. We've opened them in New York and in Florida and across the California. And so new stores open everywhere.

嗨，Rupesh，我是 Curtis。沒有，其實這正是我們非常滿意的一點，也持續讓我們對未來與整體策略更有信心：新店持續開得很好。而且是全國各地皆然。我們在紐約、佛羅里達，以及加州各地都有開店。所以新店在各地都能順利開出。

They're all generally performing the way we'd like them to. We see the typical nuances of new markets versus more established markets, but all of them kind of performing ahead of our expectations and in line with the last couple of years of performance.

整體而言，它們的表現都符合我們的期待。我們確實會看到新市場相較於較成熟市場的一些典型差異，但整體來看，這些門店的表現都高於我們的預期，並且與過去幾年的表現趨勢一致。

And then the other encouraging proof point is the recent vintages are comping positive. So as the core is a bit challenged, those last four vintages are all positive. And again, just continues to point to this is an offer, this is a format, this is a model that the customer is looking for. So I've been really pleased with the new stores.

另一個令人鼓舞的佐證是，近期開店批次（vintages）的同店成長為正。因此當核心門店稍微承壓時，最近四個開店批次的同店表現全部為正。這也再次指向：這是一個顧客正在尋找的提案、這是一種店型、這是一種模式。所以我對新店的表現非常滿意。

Great. Thank you.

很好。謝謝。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Mark Carden, UBS.

Mark Carden，UBS。

Good afternoon. Thanks so much for taking the questions. So this one -- this builds on the last one a bit. It sounds like you're seeing good momentum on your new stores. As you look to your stores in newer markets, is your customer mix mirroring what you see across the broader footprint? Is it any tougher to bring in customers that are closer to the lower end of income spectrum in markets where you're still building up your name recognition? Does the excitement of the new concept offset this? Just what are you seeing on that front? Thanks.

下午好。非常感謝讓我提問。這個問題——算是延伸上一題。聽起來你們的新店動能不錯。當你們看較新的市場門店時，你們的顧客結構是否與整體門店版圖（broader footprint）所看到的相似？在你們仍在建立品牌知名度的市場中，是否更難吸引收入光譜較低端的顧客？新概念帶來的興奮感是否能抵消這點？在這方面你們觀察到什麼？謝謝。

Yeah. Mark, this is Curtis. I think it's -- in newer markets, it's just challenging generally because the awareness isn't there. And that's really the big difference. I don't think it's any materially different from a cohort perspective.

是的。Mark，我是 Curtis。我認為在較新的市場，普遍都會比較具挑戰，因為市場對我們的認知度還不夠。而這其實是最大的差異。我不認為從客群分組（cohort）的角度看有任何實質性的不同。

We watch mix and what they shop from a department perspective. There's no dramatic differences there. I just think it takes a minute for people to figure out who we are, figure out that we're different and how they can incorporate us into their share of wallet from a grocery perspective. And so those stores, as we talked about over the years, tend to build a little bit slower -- or sorry, build a little faster. They start a little bit lower and then they build a little bit faster as customers figure us out.

我們會觀察顧客結構（mix）以及他們從各部門（department）的購買情況。那裡沒有明顯的差異。我只是認為需要一點時間讓大家了解我們是誰、了解我們的差異化，以及他們如何在雜貨採買的錢包份額（share of wallet）中把我們納入。因此，正如我們多年來所談到的，那些門店往往會建立得稍微慢一些——或抱歉，是建立得稍微快一些。它們一開始會低一些，然後隨著顧客逐漸了解我們，成長速度會更快。

And it's definitely clear, when you go to Long Island, we're not as well-known as when we open stores in Los Angeles. So we see that very specifically in our numbers. But the mix of our customer base, I don't think it's significantly different from where we are everywhere.

而且很明顯，當你到長島（Long Island）時，我們的知名度不如在洛杉磯開店時那麼高。所以我們在數據上能非常具體地看到這點。但就我們的顧客基礎結構而言，我不認為與我們在其他地方相比有顯著差異。

Great. That makes sense. And then you guys alluded to some other opportunities from a self-distribution perspective. How would you think about timing as to when it's right to in-source additional categories? Does your experience with meat and seafood pull up the timeline at all there?

很好。這很合理。另外你們也提到從自建配送（self-distribution）角度還有一些其他機會。你會如何思考何時是把更多品類內部化（in-source）的合適時點？你們在肉品與海鮮方面的經驗，是否會讓那個時程有所提前？

Hey, Mark, it's Nick. We're really happy with the work the supply chain teams have done and the merchants have done in completing the meat rollout that we wrapped up with our NorCal DC in Q2. They've done a phenomenal job across the board. And I think what it's proven to us is, hey, there's potential for us to continue to learn and look for more ways to control the key products that are really important to us and our customer.

嗨，Mark，我是 Nick。我們對供應鏈團隊與採購團隊所做的工作非常滿意，他們完成了肉品導入（rollout），並在第二季隨著我們北加州（NorCal）配送中心（DC）的進度一併收尾。他們在各方面都做得非常出色。我認為這向我們證明的是：我們有潛力持續學習，並尋找更多方式去掌控那些對我們與顧客都非常重要的關鍵產品。

And as Jack mentioned, we're starting to dip our toe in the water a little bit there with some -- a couple of Sprouts brand items that we're bringing in, using the capacity we have in our existing distribution centers to, again, take ownership and try to improve service levels and profitability in the business.

而如 Jack 所提到的，我們也開始在這方面小試身手，先從一些——幾個我們引進的 Sprouts 自有品牌商品著手，利用現有配送中心的產能，再次取得主導權，並嘗試提升服務水準與業務獲利能力。

We're going to continue to take it one step at a time, learn, see how that's working and assess, but we're going to continue to look for ways we can take more control where it makes sense for us, but we're taking a measured approach over the next couple of years, and we'll look at that as we look at our long-term plan on our network as well.

我們會持續一步一步來，學習、觀察成效並加以評估；同時也會持續尋找在對我們有意義的地方取得更多掌控權的方法。不過在未來幾年我們會採取審慎的做法，並且也會在檢視我們配送網路的長期規劃時一併評估。

And we're investing appropriately in supply chain. We've built, I think it's four distribution centers in the last few years, and we've got more to come going forward in terms of building capacity to support our store base as we grow into different marketplaces.

而且我們也在供應鏈上做適當的投資。我想我們在過去幾年已經建了四個配送中心，未來還會持續增加，以擴充產能，支援我們在不同市場拓展時不斷成長的門市基礎。

So it's been a strong evolution of our supply chain over the last few years, and this idea of getting more control over things like Sprouts brand and some of the core categories is going to be really important to us, and we're investing in it appropriately.

所以在過去幾年，我們的供應鏈有很強的演進；而這個「對像是 Sprouts 自有品牌以及一些核心品類取得更多掌控」的想法，對我們來說會非常重要，我們也正在以適當的方式投入。

Great. Thanks so much. Good luck, guys.

很好。非常感謝。祝你們好運，各位。

Thanks, Mark.

謝謝你，Mark。

Thanks.

謝謝。

Scott Marks, Jefferies.

Jefferies 的 Scott Marks。

Hey, good afternoon, guys. Thanks very much for taking our questions. I wanted to just hit on a comment you made in the prepared remarks about EBIT margin pressure being about 50 bps in Q3. I think you called out a few different components of that with more new store openings, fixed cost deleverage, lower comp sales. You called out some of the fuel headwinds. So just wondering if you can kind of help us bucket each of those components in terms of contribution from each as it relates to that expected pressure. Thanks.

嗨，大家午安。非常感謝你們回答我們的問題。我想先追問一下你們在事先準備的發言中提到的評論：第三季 EBIT 利潤率壓力大約是 50 個基點。我想你們點出了幾個不同的構成因素，包括更多新店開幕、固定成本去槓桿、同店銷售較低。你們也提到一些燃油方面的逆風。所以想請你們協助我們把這些因素分桶，說明各自對預期壓力的貢獻大概是多少。謝謝。

Hey, Scott, it's Curtis. I think probably the easiest way to say it is it will be pretty similar to what we experienced in Q2. So if you go up and down the P&L in Q2, the shape of it is going to look pretty similar. So slightly negative gross margins, slightly negative SG&A, a little bit of pressure in D&A, and then the new stores piece really kind of folds into that SG&A pressure.

嗨，Scott，我是 Curtis。我想最簡單的說法是，情況會和我們在第二季經歷的非常相似。所以如果你沿著第二季的損益表逐項看下來，整體的樣貌會非常接近。也就是毛利率略為負面、SG&A 略為負面、折舊與攤銷（D&A）有一點壓力，而新店的部分其實主要就反映在 SG&A 的壓力裡。

Okay. Clear on that. Thank you. And then previously, you had also called out a cannibalization factor in existing markets where you're rolling out new stores. Wondering if you can just give us an update on that and what you're seeing now relative to what you had been seeing previously? And that's all. Thank you.

好的。這點很清楚。謝謝。另外，先前你們也提到在既有市場開新店時會有「自我侵蝕（cannibalization）」因素。想請你們更新一下這部分，以及你們目前看到的情況相較於先前有什麼變化？以上就是我的問題。謝謝。

Thanks. Scott, Curtis again. Yeah, I think we talked about 100 to 150 is kind of the range we typically expect to see, and that will depend on mix of new versus existing markets and et cetera, et cetera. Right now, we're towards the lower end of the range.

謝謝。Scott，我是 Curtis 再補充。是的，我想我們談過通常預期的區間大概是 100 到 150（個基點），而這會取決於新市場與既有市場的組合等等因素。目前我們比較接近區間的低端。

One piece is we've -- a fewer store openings in the first half, and we'll ramp that up here in the second half. But through Q2, it's kind of towards the low end of that range, and that's slightly better than what it was last year, but we've been pretty consistently in that range.

其中一個原因是，我們在上半年開店數比較少，而下半年會把速度拉上來。但截至第二季，確實是落在那個區間的低端；這比去年稍微好一些，但我們一直都相當穩定地維持在那個區間內。

I think one of the things that's encouraging for us is that the calculations on cannibalization, the model, the guys are doing a really good job at predicting exactly what that cannibalization is so we can really understand it. We've got much better at that over the last few years.

我覺得有一點讓我們很受鼓舞的是：在自我侵蝕的計算上，我們的模型、團隊在預測實際侵蝕幅度方面做得非常好，因此我們能夠真正理解它。過去幾年我們在這方面進步很多。

Scott Mushkin, R5 Capital.

R5 Capital 的 Scott Mushkin。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my questions. So I wanted to go back to the pricing thing for a second because we've seen some interesting pricing at you guys -- with you guys. And the example I would give is where we see FAGE yogurt priced very well, but then we see Rao's tomato sauce priced way above the market. And I guess I was just curious like how deep do you guys get in understanding where the market is on different items to make sure you're priced right, or maybe there's times you can actually come up a little bit.

嗨，各位。謝謝你們回答我的問題。我想回到定價這件事再談一下，因為我們看到你們有一些很有意思的定價情況。舉例來說，我們看到 FAGE 優格的價格很有競爭力，但 Rao's 番茄醬的價格卻明顯高於市場。所以我想了解的是，你們在理解不同品項的市場價格、以確保你們定價正確方面，會做到多深入？或者有時候其實你們也可以把價格稍微往上調一些？

We will dig into the specifics of those points, Scott, which we'll dig into understanding exactly where they are. We are looking on brands like that to where other people are pricing at. And it's a combination of are we -- what's happening in the category? Are we evolving the category or not, which is how important is that category for us. And I think we'll get better at that approach going forward. Maybe you want to say something.

Scott，我們會去深入檢視你提到的那些具體點，釐清它們目前到底處在什麼位置。對於這類品牌，我們會觀察其他通路的定價。而這會是多種因素的組合：我們在該品類發生了什麼？我們是否在推動品類演進？也就是這個品類對我們有多重要。我想未來我們在這種做法上會做得更好。也許你想補充一下。

No, I think Jack said it. The only thing I would add, Scott, you know us. I think as we look at it, our intent is to try to continue to bring in brands that don't have the level of competition in a couple of those categories. We have a lot of new innovation coming in there, too, that we're trying to introduce people to and get into that space.

不，我覺得 Jack 已經說到了。Scott，我唯一想補充的是，你也了解我們。我想我們在看這件事時，我們的意圖是持續引進一些在某些品類中競爭程度沒那麼高的品牌。我們也有很多新的創新產品會導入，想把它們介紹給消費者，並切入那個領域。

But for the most part, again, the goal is to continue to try to not carry the same things. And when we do, be everyday competitive. And there's certainly opportunities for us to tighten execution, but that's the way we're looking at the business, and that's the way we're executing.

但大致上，我們的目標仍然是盡量不要販售完全相同的商品。而當我們確實販售相同商品時，就要做到日常價格具競爭力。我們當然有機會把執行做得更緊、更到位，但這就是我們看待這門生意的方式，也是我們的執行方式。

And that goes right into -- execution goes right into my second question, is that you guys are opening a lot of stores now. How are you thinking about -- I remember Whole Foods back in the day when they were opening so many stores, one of the bigger challenges was just getting the right store manager in there, making sure the execution was consistent across the fleet.

這也正好帶到——執行力也正好帶到我的第二個問題：你們現在正在開很多店。你們怎麼思考這件事——我記得以前 Whole Foods 在大量開店時，其中一個更大的挑戰就是找到合適的店經理，並確保整個門市群的執行一致。

And again, one of the things they ran into is when they poached people out of stores, the execution at the older stores could fall down a little bit. So how are you guys thinking about this as growth has really accelerated?

而且，他們遇到的一個問題是，當他們從既有門市挖角調人去新店時，舊店的執行可能會稍微下滑。所以在成長明顯加速之際，你們是怎麼思考這件事的？

I'll let Nick go through a bit of detail on that. It's a really good question, and we're thinking very hard as we grow our store base, how do we develop this. And the whole process of promoting internally has been an important part of our exercise, and we're really pleased with the assistant manager programs that we're making progress on.

我會讓 Nick 針對這點多講一些細節。這是個非常好的問題；隨著我們擴大門市基礎，我們也在非常認真地思考要如何培養與發展這套能力。而內部晉升的整個流程一直是我們很重要的一部分工作，我們也對助理店經理培訓計畫的進展感到非常滿意。

Going forward, as we get to 40, 50 stores going forward in the years ahead, this is an important and a really important part of our proposition to the customer. And we call ourselves Sprouties, and making sure we create and grow Sprouties is a key part. And our HR team are doing a terrific job working with the ops team. Nick, I don't know whether you want to build. It's such an important point.

往前看，當未來幾年我們每年開到 40、50 家店時，這會是我們對顧客價值主張中非常、非常重要的一環。我們稱自己為 Sprouties，而確保我們能培養並壯大 Sprouties 是關鍵的一部分。我們的人資團隊與營運團隊合作得非常出色。Nick，我不知道你是否想再補充。這點真的非常重要。

Yeah. I'll just give a little more color to Jack's comments, Scott. I think this has been something we've been talking about for a while, super important to build our pipeline. It starts with making sure our culture and values are really well ingrained across the business. That's what drives the experience that's unique for us in the stores and done a lot of great work there.

是的。Scott，我再替 Jack 的評論補充一些背景。我認為這是我們談了一段時間的事情，建立人才管道非常重要。首先要確保我們的文化與價值觀在整個企業中真正深植人心。這正是驅動我們門市中獨特體驗的核心，而我們在這方面也做了很多很棒的工作。

We've put a lot of time into actually recruiting and bringing people internally before we place them in stores and letting them work side-by-side with assistant managers and managers to increase the pipeline of people who are ready.

我們投入了大量時間，實際上在把人員派到門市之前，先招募並把他們納入內部，讓他們與副店長和店長並肩工作，以擴大已準備就緒的人才管道。

And we're continuing to invest in putting more ASMs and store managers in the stores early to help us get people ready to take on a new store. And to your point, make sure that the existing stores maintain. I think we're really happy with what we're seeing in the new stores. The teams have been great. And overall, I've been impressed with what I've seen in the existing, but it's certainly something we'll continue to invest in that pipeline as we continue to grow the number of stores.

而且我們也持續投資，讓更多副店長（ASM）與店長提早進到門市，協助我們讓人員準備好接手新店。也如你所說，確保既有門市能維持穩定營運。我想我們對新店目前看到的表現非常滿意。團隊表現很棒。整體而言，我對既有門市所看到的也很印象深刻，但這當然是我們在持續擴增門市數量的同時，會繼續投資於這條人才管道的事項。

Okay. Thanks so much. Appreciate the answers.

好的。非常感謝。感謝你的回覆。

Robert Ohmes, Bank of America.

美國銀行（Bank of America）的 Robert Ohmes。

Hello. Hey, guys. A couple of quick follow-ups for you. The first is just I'd love to get your sense of like-for-like inflation and maybe the trends that you saw in the first half. And as we go into the back half, what does inflation look like? Is it accelerating into the back half? And is it coming through from suppliers and things like that?

你好。嗨，各位。我有幾個簡短的追問。第一個是，我想請教你們對同店可比（like-for-like）通膨的看法，以及上半年你們看到的趨勢。那進入下半年後，通膨看起來如何？下半年是否在加速？以及是否是由供應商等端傳導過來的？

Hey, Robert, it's Curtis. The first half is -- second quarter was pretty consistent with the first quarter. We're seeing on like-for-like SKUs, inflation in line with CPI. And then for us, we always have a little bit of a mix uptick in some of our newer products and maybe more premium innovation driving the AUR up a bit. But on a like-for-like basis, we're still fairly in line with CPI. And then you've got just a handful of categories like coffee and beef that are elevated.

嗨，Robert，我是 Curtis。上半年——第二季與第一季相當一致。我們看到在同店可比 SKU 上，通膨與 CPI 大致一致。另外對我們而言，因為一些較新的產品、以及可能更高端的創新產品帶動平均單價（AUR）上升，所以組合上通常會有些微上行。但以同店可比來看，我們仍大致與 CPI 持平。此外，只有少數品類像咖啡和牛肉的漲幅較高。

That's helpful. And then there's been some commentary out there and maybe some data, I don't have it, but about, I guess, the West Coast being much weaker, at least for the traditional grocers than, say, the middle of the country in the East Coast. Can you remind us your exposure to the West Coast? And have you seen significant differences in West Coast versus other regions?

這很有幫助。另外，外界有一些評論，可能也有一些數據（我手上沒有），大意是西岸似乎明顯較弱，至少對傳統雜貨商而言，相較於例如美國中部與東岸。你能提醒我們你們在西岸的曝險程度嗎？以及你們是否看到西岸與其他地區之間有顯著差異？

We've got a lot of stores in the West Coast. And quite honestly, Robert, we're not seeing any difference in our performance in the West as we see in the rest of the country. But we've clearly heard that from others.

我們在西岸有很多門市。坦白說，Robert，我們在西部的表現並沒有看到與全國其他地區有任何差異。不過我們確實也聽到其他人有這樣的說法。

That's great. And just I'm going to slip in one last one. When you go to Long Island and when you think about opening up Hartsdale and Boston and places like that, do you -- are these higher average store volume markets in general for you? Or you would not expect that?

太好了。我再插入最後一個問題。當你們進入長島，並考慮開設 Hartsdale、波士頓等地時，這些市場對你們而言一般來說是否屬於平均單店營收較高的市場？還是你們不會這麼預期？

Hey, Robert, it's Curtis. I think we have high hopes and aspirations for those markets. I think they're going to be strong markets for us. I would think, though, that early days, what we typically see when we open a new market, is the volume is a little bit lower. Again, it takes a minute for people to figure us out.

嗨，Robert，我是 Curtis。我想我們對那些市場抱有很高的期待與目標。我認為它們會是我們很強的市場。不過我也會認為，在初期，我們通常看到的是：當我們開拓一個新市場時，銷量會稍微低一些。同樣地，大家需要一點時間來了解我們。

We don't have great density. That's challenging for marketing, just scale of the business. And so early days, we expect them to be a little bit lighter than our average opening, and then we expect them to ramp pretty quickly over time. And certainly, one of the big changes we've made as we think ahead to Chicago and even greater New York is getting to that density even quicker. And so I think in Chicago, you'll see us start in 2027.

我們的門市密度不高。這對行銷來說是個挑戰，因為業務規模還不夠。因此在初期，我們預期它們會比我們平均的新店開幕表現稍微輕一些，之後我們預期會隨時間相當快地爬升。而且，當我們展望芝加哥甚至更大紐約地區時，我們做出的其中一個重大改變，就是更快地達到門市密度。所以我認為在芝加哥，你會看到我們在 2027 年開始。

And then our expectation is 12 to 18 months later, we'll have 10 stores in Chicago, and there'll be a good presence of Sprouts in Chicago. And then we're putting our foundation teams and our marketing teams on the ground early in those markets to really build community and let folks know we're coming. So we're trying to get ahead of that in those newer markets. But that said, I think we'll still expect them to start a little bit slower.

接著我們的預期是，在 12 到 18 個月後，我們會在芝加哥擁有 10 家門市，Sprouts 在芝加哥將會有不錯的能見度。同時，我們也會讓基礎建設團隊與行銷團隊提早進駐這些市場，真正去建立社群，並讓大家知道我們即將到來。所以我們正試著在這些新市場提前布局。但即便如此，我想我們仍會預期它們起步會稍微慢一些。

And they are denser markets. So ultimately, they'll be great stores once you get the awareness where it needs to be --

而且它們是密度更高的市場。所以最終，一旦知名度達到應有水準，它們就會是很棒的門市--

Thanks. Great. Thank you.

謝謝。很好。謝謝你。

Michael Montani, Evercore ISI.

Evercore ISI 的 Michael Montani。

Great. Thanks. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking my question. Just wanted to ask, first off, on the lettuce impact. We were thinking about an [80 bp to 120 bp] range impact currently that might moderate to like 30 bps to 50 bps for the quarter. I'm wondering if you could give any commentary around if that's consistent with what you're seeing in your expectation set. And then the follow-up I had was around initiatives that you've got in place that give you confidence that you can drive comp units and stabilize traffic.

很好。謝謝。下午好。謝謝讓我提問。我想先問一下，關於萵苣的影響。我們目前的想法是影響大約在 [80 個基點到 120 個基點] 的區間，並可能在本季趨緩到約 30 個基點到 50 個基點。我想請問你能否評論一下，這是否與你們目前的預期一致。另外我還有一個追問，關於你們正在推動的各項措施：是哪些讓你們有信心能帶動同店銷量（comp units）並穩定客流？

Yeah. Hi, Mike, it's Curtis. On the first one, again, that -- it's really live, right? It's been the last two weeks where we've seen the impact there. And so we're really watching it closely. As far as what's going to happen, I mean, I don't think we've got a great handle on that. We'll have to just watch it, monitor it closely and see how it plays out. So it's been a small impact thus far over the last two weeks, and we'll be watching it closely.

是的。嗨，Mike，我是 Curtis。第一個問題，再次強調，那真的還在進行中，對吧？我們是在過去兩週才看到那方面的影響。所以我們正非常密切地觀察。至於接下來會怎麼發展，我的意思是，我不認為我們已經掌握得很清楚。我們只能持續觀察、密切監控，看看最後如何演變。因此到目前為止，過去兩週的影響還算小，我們會持續密切關注。

Hey, Mike, it's Nick. I'll answer the second part of your question. I think some of that I talked about, if you think about how do we continue to drive the comps in the second half with the assortment work around meals and healthy essentials and the innovation there. I think we're still -- it's still a lot of testing and learning in price and promo. And then obviously, personal and loyalty, I think we've got some good green shoots in that space that leads to momentum in the second half.

嗨，Mike，我是 Nick。我來回答你問題的第二部分。我想其中一些我已經提過：如果你思考我們如何在下半年持續推動同店成長（comps），包括在餐食（meals）與健康必需品（healthy essentials）上的品項組合工作，以及相關創新。我認為我們在價格與促銷方面仍有很多測試與學習。另外很明顯地，在個人化與會員忠誠（loyalty）方面，我認為我們已看到一些不錯的初步成果（green shoots），這會帶動下半年的動能。

And then the other thing I hadn't mentioned, I've been really happy with what I'm seeing from Mandy, our new Chief Customer Officer, and her team on the marketing front as we look at new ways to harness her capabilities and insights on media, on using our first-party data, that we're now acquiring in an even stronger way outside of our ecosystem.

另外還有一點我剛才沒提到：我對我們新任首席客戶長 Mandy 以及她的團隊在行銷面向的表現非常滿意；我們正在尋找新的方式來運用她在媒體方面的能力與洞察，以及運用我們的第一方數據（first-party data）——而我們現在也正以更強的方式在我們生態系之外取得這些數據。

And also, you're going to see us, I think, get even better about our messaging and communication on how we balance health, innovation, quality and value. So I like the work I'm seeing from the team that the customers will start to see in the back half of the year.

另外，我想你們也會看到我們在訊息傳達與溝通上做得更好，說明我們如何在健康、創新、品質與價值之間取得平衡。所以我很喜歡我從團隊看到的工作成果，客戶將在今年下半年開始看到。

Hey, Mike, it's Curtis again. I'll just clarify that -- as far as the quarter-to-date piece of it or what's behind us, the number you quoted was just a little bit high versus what we're seeing. I won't speculate about what will be going forward, but it's not quite as high as you had it for the last couple of weeks that we've seen.

嗨，Mike，我是Curtis，再次發言。我只是澄清一下——就本季迄今的部分或已經發生的情況而言，你引用的數字比我們看到的略高一些。我不會推測未來會如何，但就我們過去幾週所見，並沒有你說的那麼高。

Seth Sigman, Barclays.

Seth Sigman，Barclays。

Hey, everyone. Thanks for taking my questions. I wanted to focus on e-commerce. Growth accelerated this quarter. It was actually a big driver, I think, of the overall comp improvement despite that channel seemingly becoming more competitive.

各位好。謝謝讓我提問。我想聚焦在電商。本季成長加速。我認為這其實是整體同店表現改善的一個重要驅動因素，儘管該通路看起來競爭更激烈。

So just with the new data that you have on customers, is there anything more you can share about what you're learning about that customer? Where are they coming from? How do they shop across channels? How valuable are they? Thank you.

所以，基於你們掌握的最新客戶數據，是否能再多分享一些你們對這類客戶的洞察？他們從哪裡來？他們如何跨通路購物？他們的價值有多高？謝謝。

Hey, Seth, it's Nick. Yeah, I'll share a couple of things. And it's pretty similar to what we've seen. But you're right, we saw very good e-commerce growth, and it's been a really good partnership with our partners, Instacart, DoorDash and Uber Eats. I think what -- the reason we continue to see it even in a bit of a challenged macro, is we have a lot of things that customers really want and need that they can't find anywhere else.

嗨，Seth，我是Nick。好的，我分享幾點。其實和我們過去看到的很類似。但你說得對，我們的電商成長非常好，而且我們與合作夥伴Instacart、DoorDash和Uber Eats的合作也非常順利。我認為——即使在宏觀環境有些挑戰的情況下，我們仍持續看到成長，原因在於我們有很多客戶真正想要、需要、而且在其他地方找不到的商品。

And even now, right, when maybe they might not be making -- getting the car to make that trip, they can get something ordered online or just have it picked up in front of our store, and we're seeing both our delivery and pickup businesses perform well.

而且即使是現在，對吧，當他們可能不太會——不太會開車特地跑一趟時，他們也可以線上下單，或直接在我們店前取貨；我們看到外送與取貨兩項業務表現都很好。

The e-commerce customer for us is an omni customer. For the most part, the vast majority of those customers shop both channels, and they're our highest value customers. So the more we grow that customer in business, that's a very good thing for us.

對我們而言，電商客戶是全通路客戶。在大多數情況下，絕大多數這些客戶兩個通路都會購買，而且他們是我們價值最高的客戶。因此，我們越能擴大這類客戶與其業務規模，對我們就越有利。

And as we mentioned in the past, I think what we're seeing is the basket for e-com and the mix look pretty similar to what you see in brick-and-mortar, high amount of produce, a lot of fresh. I think the customer trusts our fresh business, and that's why you see it coming through in e-commerce. So a pretty consistent dynamic to what you'd see from a mix standpoint in brick-and-mortar.

而且如同我們過去提到的，我想我們看到的是：電商的購物籃與品類組合看起來與實體店非常相近——大量的蔬果、很多生鮮。我認為客戶信任我們的生鮮業務，這也是你會在電商上看到這種表現的原因。所以從品類組合的角度來看，和實體店的動態相當一致。

And Seth, I'd just add, this is Curtis. It's another really good proof point for the model at large. I mean we've talked about new stores and innovation and those continuing to perform. This is another area that's continued to perform in a macro environment where you'd expect to be some pressure on it.

Seth，我再補充一下，我是Curtis。這也是對整體商業模式非常好的另一個佐證。我們談過新店與創新，這些都持續表現良好。而這也是另一個在你原本預期會受到一些壓力的宏觀環境下，仍持續表現良好的領域。

And so again, it just highlights that the assortment is something the customer is looking for and when we can -- we want to be wherever they need us to be to service them, and e-com is a great channel for us, and we expect it to continue to grow going forward.

所以再次強調，這凸顯出我們的商品組合正是客戶在尋找的；而當我們能——我們希望在客戶需要我們的任何地方提供服務，電商對我們而言是一個很棒的通路，我們也預期未來會持續成長。

Okay. Thank you for that. That's super helpful. And then I just want to follow up on the margins. So the expectation that gross margin will be down slightly in Q3. I think the hope was that second half would see gross margins flat to up slightly. I think that was the original expectation. So is the delta there just higher fuel? And if you could just clarify if there's any assumption that price would help offset that? Like how are you thinking about that?

好的。謝謝你的說明。這非常有幫助。接著我想追問毛利率。你們預期第三季毛利率會小幅下滑。我想原本的期待是下半年毛利率持平到小幅上升。我認為那是最初的預期。所以這之間的差異只是燃料成本更高嗎？另外也請澄清一下，是否有任何假設是價格會有助於抵銷？你們是怎麼思考的？

Yeah. I think really, yeah, the slight difference from the prior commentary is the fuel piece, which does land in gross, and that's a challenge. And I think the answer to the second part of the question is like that's not the right time for us to be pushing through price where the customer is and where the macro is and with the work we're doing on affordability. And so the fuel piece is an incremental pressure we didn't have contemplated when the year began, and we're dealing with it accordingly.

是的。我想真的——對，與先前說法相比的些微差異主要就是燃料這一塊，它會反映在毛利裡，這確實是個挑戰。至於問題的第二部分，我們認為在目前客戶所處的狀況、宏觀環境，以及我們正在推動可負擔性工作的背景下，現在並不是我們把價格往上推的合適時機。因此，燃料是我們在年初未納入考量的額外壓力，我們也會相應地加以因應。

I think within Q3, specifically, there'll be just a little bit of an impact from the Cyclospora piece as well, and that's probably the Q3 story, a little bit of fuel, a little bit of Cyclospora. And then in the fourth quarter, we've got fuel embedded in where we're going.

我想就第三季而言，Cyclospora事件也會帶來一點影響，這大概就是第三季的故事：一點燃料、一點Cyclospora。而到了第四季，我們的展望中已經把燃料因素納入。

And then we do expect the fourth quarter margin to be up slightly. Again, the onetime changes in the loyalty program. So we'll be -- the $2 going to $1 started in January. So the fourth quarter will be a full run rate last year at the $2 level versus the $1 this year. So there'll be a little bit of a onetime benefit there.

另外，我們確實預期第四季毛利率會小幅上升。同樣地，這與忠誠計畫的一次性變動有關。也就是每$2回饋改為$1是從1月開始。因此，第四季會呈現：去年是以$2水準的完整運行率作為比較基期，而今年是$1。所以那裡會有一點一次性的利多。

Okay. Thanks so much.

好的。非常感謝。

Thanks, Seth.

謝謝你，Seth。

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, I'm showing no further questions in the queue. I would now like to turn the call back over to Jack Sinclair for closing remarks.

謝謝。各位女士先生，我這邊顯示提問佇列中已無其他問題。現在我想把電話交回給Jack Sinclair做結語。

Well, thanks again for your attention. We appreciate you taking the time to listen to our quarter call, and we look forward to updating you in the future. Take care, everyone. Thank you.

再次感謝各位的關注。我們感謝你們撥冗收聽本季電話會議，也期待未來再向各位更新。各位保重。謝謝。

That concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.

今天的電話會議到此結束。感謝各位的參與。您現在可以掛線。