Steven Madden Ltd (SHOO) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Steve Madden Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2023 Results Conference Call. (Operator Instructions) Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded.

美好的一天，感謝您的支持。歡迎參加 Steve Madden 2023 年第四季和全年業績電話會議。 （操作員指示）請注意，今天的會議正在錄製中。

I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Danielle McCoy, VP of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

現在我想將會議交給今天的發言人，企業發展和投資者關係副總裁 Danielle McCoy。請繼續。

Thanks, Abigail, and good morning, everyone. Thank you for joining our fourth quarter and full year 2023 earnings call and webcast.

謝謝阿比蓋爾，大家早安。感謝您參加我們的 2023 年第四季和全年財報電話會議和網路廣播。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that our remarks that follow including answers to your questions contain statements that we believe to be forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act. These forward-looking statements are subject to risks that could cause actual results to materially differ from those expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. These risks include, among others, matters that we have described in our press release issued earlier today and filings we make with the SEC.

在開始之前，我想提醒您，我們接下來的評論（包括對您問題的回答）中包含我們認為屬於《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的前瞻性陳述的陳述。這些前瞻性陳述存在可能導致實際結果與此類前瞻性陳述明示或暗示的結果有重大差異的風險。這些風險包括我們在今天早些時候發布的新聞稿以及我們向 SEC 提交的文件中描述的事項等。

We disclaim any obligation to update these forward-looking statements which may not be updated into our next quarterly earnings conference call, if at all. The financial results discussed on today's call are on an adjusted basis unless otherwise noted. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measure and other associated disclosures are contained in our earnings release.

我們不承擔更新這些前瞻性聲明的義務，這些聲明可能不會更新到我們的下一個季度財報電話會議中（如果有的話）。除非另有說明，否則今天電話會議上討論的財務表現均經過調整。我們的收益報告中包含了與最直接可比較的公認會計原則財務指標和其他相關揭露的調節。

Joining me today on the call is Ed Rosenfeld, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Zine Mazouzi, Chief Financial Officer.

今天與我一起參加電話會議的是董事長兼執行長 Ed Rosenfeld；和財務長 Zine Mazouzi。

With that, I'll turn the call over to Ed. Ed?

這樣，我就把電話轉給艾德。艾德？

Thanks, Danielle, and good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us to review Steve Madden's fourth quarter and full year 2023 results.

謝謝丹妮爾，大家早安，謝謝您與我們一起回顧 Steve Madden 的 2023 年第四季和全年業績。

We are pleased to finish the year on a high note delivering fourth quarter results that exceeded expectations on both the top and bottom lines. After a tough start to 2023, we saw sequential improvement each quarter throughout the year in both revenue and earnings when compared to the prior year, culminating in the fourth quarter when revenue grew 10% and diluted EPS rose 39% versus the comparable period in 2022. The Q4 results included organic revenue growth in both the wholesale and direct-to-consumer channels, supplemented by the contribution from the newly acquired Almost Famous as well as strong year-over-year operating margin improvement.

我們很高興以高調結束這一年，第四季度的業績在營收和利潤上都超出了預期。經過2023 年的艱難開局後，我們看到全年每季的營收和利潤均較上年同期有所改善，最終在第四季度實現收入增長10%，攤薄後每股收益較2022 年同期增長39%第四季的業績包括批發和直接面向消費者通路的有機收入成長，輔以新收購的Almost Famous 的貢獻以及同比營業利潤率的強勁增長。

Looking back at 2023 overall, we face challenging market conditions with wholesale customers taking a cautious approach to orders and consumers pulling back on discretionary spending. I'm proud of how our team navigated the difficult environment, controlled what we can control and remain focused on executing our strategy for long-term growth, the foundation of which is driving closer connections with consumers through the combination of consistently trend-right product assortments and effective consumer engagement which in turn will enable success with our 4 key long-term business drivers.

整體而言，回顧 2023 年，我們面臨充滿挑戰的市場狀況，批發客戶對訂單採取謹慎態度，消費者也減少了可自由支配的支出。我為我們的團隊如何駕馭困難的環境、控制我們能控制的事情並繼續專注於執行我們的長期成長策略而感到自豪，其基礎是透過始終如一的潮流產品組合來推動與消費者更緊密的聯繫品種和有效的消費者參與反過來將使我們的4 個關鍵長期業務驅動因素取得成功。

The first of those drivers is growing our business in international markets. International has been the fastest growing part of our business over the last several years and the momentum continued in 2023 despite the challenging macro environment. International revenue increased 11% in 2023 to $381 million or 19% of total. Looking ahead to 2024, continuing to grow our business in the EMEA region will be our top priority as we seek to build on our momentum in Europe, develop our new Middle East joint venture and capitalize on the exceptional brand heat we have in South Africa. Closer to home, driving continued growth in Mexico will also be a focus as we look to capitalize on our market leading position and recent share gains in that country.

第一個驅動因素是我們在國際市場上發展業務。過去幾年來，國際業務一直是我們業務成長最快的部分，儘管宏觀環境充滿挑戰，但這一勢頭在 2023 年仍將持續。 2023 年，國際營收成長 11%，達到 3.81 億美元，佔總營收的 19%。展望 2024 年，繼續發展我們在歐洲、中東和非洲地區的業務將是我們的首要任務，因為我們尋求鞏固我們在歐洲的勢頭、發展我們新的中東合資企業並利用我們在南非的卓越品牌熱度。言歸正傳，推動墨西哥的持續成長也將成為我們關注的焦點，因為我們希望利用我們的市場領先地位和最近在該國的份額成長。

Our second key business driver is expanding in categories outside of footwear, like accessories and apparel. In 2023, our overall accessories and apparel revenue increased 10% compared to 2022 or 1% excluding Almost Famous. Our Steve Madden handbag business was the highlight increasing 37% including strong growth in both wholesale and direct-to-consumer channels in both domestic and international markets. We also broadened our footprint outside of (inaudible) with the acquisition in October of Almost Famous, a designer and marketer of women's apparel.

我們的第二個關鍵業務驅動力是擴大鞋類以外的類別，例如配件和服裝。 2023 年，我們的配件和服裝整體收入與 2022 年相比增長了 10%，不包括「Almost Famous」的收入增長了 1%。我們的 Steve Madden 手袋業務是亮點，成長了 37%，包括國內和國際市場的批發和直接面向消費者管道的強勁成長。我們還在 10 月收購了一家女裝設計師和行銷人員“Almost Famous”，從而擴大了我們在（聽不清楚）之外的業務範圍。

Almost Famous markets products in the wholesale channel under its own brands primarily Almost Famous as well as private label brands for various retailers. It has also been the exclusive licensee for Madden NYC apparel since its launch in 2022 and has had outstanding success with that brand so far. Almost Famous' core expertise is in the junior apparel category and in value price distribution channels, making it a strong complement to our existing Steve Madden apparel business, which is focused on contemporary styling and is primarily distributed in department stores and e-commerce retailers.

Almost Famous 主要以自己的品牌Almost Famous 以及各零售商的自有品牌在批發通路銷售產品。自 Madden NYC 服裝於 2022 年推出以來，它也是該品牌的獨家授權商，迄今為止該品牌已取得了巨大成功。 Almost Famous 的核心專長是初級服裝類別和超值價格分銷管道，這使其成為我們現有的 Steve Madden 服裝業務的有力補充，該業務專注於現代造型，主要經銷於百貨公司和電子商務零售商。

Our top priority will be to use the Almost Famous platform to introduce Madden Girl apparel and to grow Madden NYC apparel. This will enable us to implement in apparel the strategy that has been so successful for us in footwear and accessories, which is to utilize the Steve Madden brand portfolio including Steve Madden, Madden Girl and Madden NYC to reach customers in all tiers of distribution from premium channels down through mass.

我們的首要任務是利用「Almost Famous」平台推出 Madden Girl 服裝並發展 Madden NYC 服裝。這將使我們能夠在服裝領域實施我們在鞋類和配件領域非常成功的策略，即利用 Steve Madden 品牌組合（包括 Steve Madden、Madden Girl 和 Madden NYC）來接觸從高端分銷到各個層級的客戶。質量向下傳導。

Beyond the successful integration of Almost Famous, our focus in 2024 will be on building -- will be building on the momentum we have in Steve Madden handbags, with a particular focus on driving continued growth in DTC channels as well as the further development of the Steve Madden apparel business.

除了成功整合「Almost Famous」之外，我們 2024 年的重點將是在 Steve Madden 手袋的勢頭基礎上再接再厲，特別注重推動 DTC 渠道的持續增長以及史蒂夫·馬登 (Steve Madden) 服裝業務。

Our third key business driver is driving our direct-to-consumer business led by digital. After strong growth in this business in 2001 and 2000 -- in 2021 and 2022, our DTC revenue declined 3% in 2023. We did however, see sequential improvement in the year-over-year top line performance each quarter throughout the year. And Q4 DTC revenue increased 2% compared to the comparable period in the prior year. And if we zoom out and look at the evolution of our DTC business over the past few years, we see that this business is up nearly 60% in revenue and nearly 200% in operating profit compared to pre-COVID 2019.

我們的第三個關鍵業務驅動力是推動我們以數位化為主導的直接面向消費者的業務。經過2001 年和2000 年該業務的強勁增長，以及2021 年和2022 年的強勁增長，我們的DTC 收入在2023 年下降了3%。都在連續改善。第四季 DTC 營收較去年同期成長 2%。如果我們放眼觀察過去幾年 DTC 業務的發展，我們會發現與 2019 年新冠疫情之前相比，該業務的收入增長了近 60%，營業利潤增長了近 200%。

In 2024, we plan to add 10 net new stores driven by expansion in international markets, primarily in EMEA. We will also invest in remodels in key locations including our flagship store in Times Square in New York City. On the digital side, we'll be investing in global site enhancements designed to drive greater speed, usability and conversion as well as continuing to refine our marketing mix and push more investment up the marketing funnel.

到 2024 年，我們計劃在國際市場（主要是歐洲、中東和非洲）擴張的推動下淨增 10 家新店。我們也將投資關鍵地點進行改造，包括紐約時代廣場的旗艦店。在數位方面，我們將投資於全球網站增強功能，旨在提高速度、可用性和轉換率，並繼續完善我們的行銷組合並推動行銷管道上的更多投資。

Finally, our fourth key business driver is strengthening the U.S. wholesale footwear business. 2023 was a uniquely challenging year in that channel, as many of our wholesale customers entered the year with excess inventory and reduced orders significantly in efforts to rightsize inventory levels. After a revenue decline of more than 20% in the first half, the trend in this business improved significantly in the back half, but we still saw revenue declines of 6% in Q3 and 2% in Q4. The good news is that inventories in the channel are much healthier than they were a year ago and so while the sentiment among many of our key customers remains cautious, we are positioned to return to year-over-year revenue growth in this business beginning in Q1.

最後，我們的第四個關鍵業務驅動力是加強美國鞋類批發業務。 2023 年對該通路來說是一個獨特的挑戰年，因為我們的許多批發客戶在進入這一年時庫存過剩，並且為了調整庫存水準而大幅減少了訂單。在上半年營收下降超過20%之後，該業務的趨勢在下半年明顯好轉，但我們仍然看到第三季營收下降了6%，第四季營收下降了2%。好消息是，通路中的庫存比一年前健康得多，因此，儘管我們許多主要客戶的情緒仍然謹慎，但我們準備從 2019 年開始恢復該業務的同比收入增長。

So overall, while 2023 was challenging in a number of ways, we drove sequential improvement throughout the year, ended the year with a strong quarter and made important progress on our key strategic initiatives. We also demonstrated our ongoing commitment to returning capital to our shareholders with over $200 million in combined dividends and share repurchases.

因此，總體而言，雖然 2023 年在許多方面都充滿挑戰，但我們全年推動了連續改進，以強勁的季度業績結束了這一年，並在關鍵戰略舉措上取得了重要進展。我們也透過超過 2 億美元的股利和股票回購組合證明了我們對向股東返還資本的持續承諾。

As we look ahead, while the operating environment remains choppy, we believe the on-trend product assortments created by Steve and his team have us well positioned for 2024. And looking out further, we are confident that the combination of our strong brands and proven business model will enable us to drive sustainable revenue and earnings growth for years to come.

展望未來，儘管經營環境仍然不穩定，但我們相信 Steve 和他的團隊創造的流行產品種類使我們在 2024 年處於有利地位。將使我們能夠在未來幾年推動可持續的收入和獲利成長。

And now I'll turn it over to Zine to review our fourth quarter and full year 2023 financial results in more detail and provide our initial outlook for 2024.

現在我將把它交給 Zine，更詳細地回顧我們第四季度和 2023 年全年的財務業績，並提供我們對 2024 年的初步展望。

Thanks, Ed, and good morning, everyone. In the fourth quarter our consolidated revenue was $519.7 million, a 10.4% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2022. Excluding Almost Famous, consolidated revenue grew 2.3% compared to the same period in the prior year. Our wholesale revenue was $354.8 million up 14.9% compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 or 2.5% excluding Almost Famous. Wholesale footwear revenue was $225.2 million, a 0.4% decrease from the comparable period in 2022 as a modest increase in the branded business was offset by a decline in private label.

謝謝艾德，大家早安。第四季度，我們的綜合營收為 5.197 億美元，較 2022 年第四季成長 10.4%。我們的批發收入為 3.548 億美元，與 2022 年第四季相比成長 14.9%，不包括「Almost Famous」的營收成長 2.5%。批發鞋類營收為 2.252 億美元，較 2022 年同期下降 0.4%，因為品牌業務的小幅成長被自有品牌業務的下降所抵消。

Wholesale accessories and apparel revenue was $129.6 million, up 56.5% to the fourth quarter in the prior year, or 10.3% excluding Almost Famous driven by another quarter of strong growth in Steve Madden handbags. In our direct-to-consumer segment, revenue was $162.3 million, a 1.9% increase compared to the fourth quarter of 2022 with an increase in the brick-and-mortar business partially offset by a modest decline in e-commerce. We ended the year with 255 company-operated brick-and-mortar retail stores, including 71 outlets as well as 5 e-commerce websites and 25 company operated concessions in international markets.

批發配件和服裝收入為 1.296 億美元，比去年第四季增長 56.5%，若不包括由 Steve Madden 手袋又一個季度強勁增長推動的“Almost Famous”，增長 10.3%。在我們的直接面向消費者業務領域，營收為 1.623 億美元，與 2022 年第四季相比成長 1.9%，實體業務的成長部分被電子商務的小幅下滑所抵銷。截至年底，我們擁有 255 家公司經營的實體零售店，其中包括 71 家直營店以及 5 個電子商務網站和 25 家公司在國際市場經營的特許經營店。

Turning to our licensing segment. Our licensing royalty income was $2.7 million in the quarter compared to $2.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2022. Consolidated gross margin was 41.7% in the quarter versus 42.2% in the comparable period of 2022. Excluding Almost Famous, consolidated gross margin increased 80 basis points year-over-year.

轉向我們的許可部分。本季我們的授權使用費收入為270 萬美元，而2022 年第四季為250 萬美元。利率成長了80 個基點點年比。

Wholesale gross margin was 31.7%, an increase of 120 basis points compared to the fourth quarter of 2022, driven by increases in both the wholesale footwear and wholesale accessories and apparel segments. Direct-to-consumer gross margin was 62.7% versus 64% in the same period in 2022 driven by an increase in promotional activity.

批發毛利率為 31.7%，較 2022 年第四季成長 120 個基點，主要得益於批發鞋類以及批發配件和服裝領域的成長。由於促銷活動增加，直接面向消費者的毛利率為 62.7%，而 2022 年同期為 64%。

In the quarter operating expenses were $163.9 million, compared to $156.5 million in the fourth quarter of 2022, an increase of 4.7%. Excluding Almost Famous, operating expenses rose 1.3% compared to the same period last year. Operating income for the quarter was $53 million or 10.2% of revenue, up from $42.2 million or 9% of revenue in the comparable period last year. The effective tax rate for the quarter was 14.3% compared to 20.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022.

本季營運費用為 1.639 億美元，較 2022 年第四季的 1.565 億美元成長 4.7%。不包括Almost Famous，營業費用較去年同期成長1.3%。本季營業收入為 5,300 萬美元，佔營收的 10.2%，高於去年同期的 4,220 萬美元，佔營收的 9%。本季的有效稅率為 14.3%，而 2022 年第四季的有效稅率為 20.9%。

Finally, net income attributable to Steve Madden Ltd. for the quarter was $45 million or $0.61 per diluted share compared to $33.7 million or $0.44 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2022.

最後，本季歸屬於 Steve Madden Ltd. 的淨利潤為 4,500 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.61 美元，而 2022 年第四季的淨利潤為 3,370 萬美元，即稀釋後每股收益 0.44 美元。

Now I'd like to briefly touch on the full year results. Consolidated revenues for 2023 decreased 6.6% to $2 billion compared to $2.1 billion in 2022. Net income attributable to Steve Madden Ltd. was $182.7 million or $2.45 per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2023, compared to $218.3 million or $2.80 per diluted share for the year ended December 31, 2022.

現在我想簡單談談全年的業績。與2022 年的21 億美元相比，2023 年的合併收入下降了6.6%，至20 億美元。 截至2023 年12 月31 日止年度，Steve Madden Ltd. 歸屬於淨利潤為1.827 億美元，即攤薄後每股收益2.45 美元，而截至2023 年12 月31 日，歸屬於Steve Madden Ltd. 的淨利潤為1.827 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益2.80 美元，而2023 年歸屬於Steve Madden Ltd. 的淨利潤為1.827 億美元，即稀釋後每股收益2.80 美元。

Moving to the balance sheet. Our financial foundation remains strong. As of December 31, 2023, we had $219.8 million of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments and no debt. Inventory was $229 million, flat to the prior year. Excluding Almost Famous, inventory was down 5.9% compared to the same period in 2022.

轉向資產負債表。我們的財務基礎依然強勁。截至 2023 年 12 月 31 日，我們擁有 2.198 億美元的現金、現金等價物和短期投資，沒有債務。庫存為 2.29 億美元，與前一年持平。不包括Almost Famous，庫存較 2022 年同期下降 5.9%。

Our CapEx in the fourth quarter was $5.6 million and for the year was $19.5 million. During the fourth quarter and full year 2023, the company spent $38.1 million and $142.3 million on repurchases of its common stock respectively, including shares acquired through the net settlement of employee stock awards.

我們第四季的資本支出為 560 萬美元，全年資本支出為 1,950 萬美元。 2023年第四季和全年，該公司分別花費3,810萬美元和1.423億美元回購普通股，其中包括透過員工股票獎勵淨額結算購買的股票。

At the end of the year, we had approximately $176 million remaining on the share repurchase authorization. The company's Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.21 per share. The dividend will be payable on March 22, 2024, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on March 8, 2024. When combining share repurchases and the dividend, we returned $205 million to shareholders in 2023 and over $1.4 billion over the past decade.

截至年底，我們的股票回購授權尚剩餘約 1.76 億美元。公司董事會批准了每股 0.21 美元的季度現金股利。股利將於2024 年3 月22 日支付給截至2024 年3 月8 日收盤時登記在冊的股東。美元十年。

Turning to our outlook. We expect revenue for 2024 to increase 11% to 13% compared to 2023 and we expect diluted EPS to be in the range of $2.55 to $2.65. This includes a forecast of effective tax rate for 2024 of 23.5%, up from 21.3% in 2023 primarily due to lower forecasted discrete tax benefits related to stock-based compensation.

轉向我們的展望。我們預計 2024 年的營收將比 2023 年成長 11% 至 13%，稀釋後每股盈餘將在 2.55 美元至 2.65 美元之間。其中包括 2024 年有效稅率的預測為 23.5%，高於 2023 年的 21.3%，這主要是由於與股票薪酬相關的離散稅收優惠預測較低。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to the operator for questions. Abigail?

現在我想將電話轉給接線員詢問問題。阿比蓋爾？

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Paul Lejuez with Citi.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自花旗銀行的 Paul Lejuez。

We heard from Macy's yesterday about a significant number of store closings. Just curious if that's having any impact on how you're guiding and thinking about 2024? And also just curious to hear how you might think about the impact over the next several years? And then second, just curious on the wholesale footwear business in F '24. How are you thinking about that business in -- on the branded side versus private label and what drives the growth?

昨天我們從梅西百貨得知大量商店關閉。只是好奇這是否會對您對 2024 年的指導和思考產生任何影響？我也想知道您如何看待未來幾年的影響？其次，只是對 24 年的鞋類批發業務感到好奇。您如何看待該業務——品牌方面與自有品牌方面以及推動成長的因素是什麼？

Great, yes. Good morning, Paul. So in terms of the Macy's announcement, obviously, we need to get more information there and understand exactly what stores are on the closure list, et cetera. But I don't think we're looking for any significant impact to 2024 and even beyond '24. My initial take is that there probably will be pretty minimal impact because the bulk of what we do with Macy's is in the top 250 doors.

太好了，是的。早安，保羅。因此，就梅西百貨的公告而言，顯然我們需要在那裡獲取更多信息，並準確了解哪些商店在關閉名單上，等等。但我認為我們不會尋求對 2024 年甚至 24 年後的任何重大影響。我最初的看法是，影響可能會很小，因為我們對梅西百貨所做的大部分工作都是在前 250 家門市。

So Steve Madden women's, for instance, is really distributed just in those top 200 -- Steve Madden women's footwear is really distributed just in those top 250 doors, which I assume will not be impacted meaningfully. We do have some things that go to more doors and are distributed to doors that are likely on the closure list. That would include some Madden Girl footwear and certain accessory categories. We do a little bit of cold weather and some gifting that goes to more doors there, but that impact should be relatively modest.

例如，Steve Madden 女鞋實際上只分佈在前 200 名中——Steve Madden 女鞋實際上只分佈在前 250 名門中，我認為這不會受到有意義的影響。我們確實有一些東西會送到更多的門，並分發到可能在關閉名單上的門。其中包括一些《Madden Girl》鞋類和某些配件類別。我們會在寒冷的天氣裡做一些準備，並向那裡的更多人贈送一些禮物，但這種影響應該相對較小。

In terms of the second part of your question about wholesale footwear, we do expect both branded and private label to be up in 2024, although I expect private label to grow faster. And as we've talked about that -- those mass merchant customers that make up the bulk of our private label business, we're the first ones to see the pullback that happened when folks decided they -- realized they had too much inventory and pulled back the reins on open-to-buys. And so we're also seeing the recovery there first. And so we expect to see some pretty nice growth even starting in Q1 in wholesale footwear in the private label segment.

關於您關於批發鞋類問題的第二部分，我們確實預計品牌和自有品牌在 2024 年都會有所增長，儘管我預計自有品牌的增長速度會更快。正如我們所討論的那樣，那些構成我們自有品牌業務大部分的大眾商戶客戶，我們是第一個看到當人們決定他們意識到他們有太多庫存並且出現這種情況時發生的回調的人。因此，我們也首先看到了那裡的復甦。因此，我們預計，即使從第一季開始，自有品牌領域的批發鞋類也會出現相當不錯的成長。

Got it. And then just one additional. What do you assume for Almost Famous for 2024? I'm sorry if I missed that.

知道了。然後再增加一項。您對 2024 年《幾近成名》有何看法？如果我錯過了，我很抱歉。

Yes. So I guess I can -- maybe the way to give it to you is if we exclude Almost Famous, so the revenue growth is 11% to 13% including Almost Famous. If we exclude Almost Famous, it's mid-single-digit top line growth.

是的。所以我想我可以——也許給你的方法是，如果我們排除《Almost Famous》，那麼收入增長是 11% 到 13%，包括《Almost Famous》。如果我們排除《Almost Famous》，那麼它的營收成長將達到中個位數。

Our next question comes from Aubrey Tianello with BNP Paribas.

我們的下一個問題來自法國巴黎銀行的 Aubrey Tianello。

I wanted to follow-up on that last question about the 2024 revenue guide. Ed, maybe could you break down a little bit more in terms of what you're expecting between DTC and wholesale on the organic side for 2024 revenues?

我想跟進 2024 年收入指南的最後一個問題。 Ed，也許您可以詳細說明您對 2024 年 DTC 和批發業務有機收入之間的預期嗎？

Sure. Yes, so if we're looking at that kind of mid-single-digit overall organic growth rate, it should be a little bit less than that in wholesale or on the lower side of that in wholesale and on the -- and a little bit higher than that in DTC. So I would say low- to mid-singles in wholesale organic and approaching high-singles in DTC.

當然。是的，所以如果我們考慮那種中等個位數的整體有機增長率，它應該比批發的增長率低一點，或者比批發的增長率低一點，而且比批發的增長率低一點。的值高一點。所以我想說的是有機批發中的低至中單品，以及 DTC 中的接近高單品。

Perfect. Got it. And then just a follow-up on the gross margin for 2024. How we should think about that for 2024? I think Almost Famous is maybe like 140 basis points drag or so. Is that about right? And then what are some of the other components we should think about winning gross margin for '24?

完美的。知道了。然後是 2024 年毛利率的後續情況。我認為《Almost Famous》可能會拖累 140 個基點左右。是這樣嗎？那麼，為了贏得 24 年的毛利率，我們應該考慮哪些其他組成部分？

It's Zine. I would think of Almost Famous the annualization of it at about 110 basis points if you added the whole year and assumed it didn't exist before, yes, you get to that 140 that you quoted, but 110 basis points is the annualization. And the other impact that we have, as discussed previously, is the Red sea and Canal Suez and we estimate that currently we have built in based on certain assumption about 20 to 25 basis points.

是齊因。如果你添加全年並假設它以前不存在，我會認為《Almost Famous》的年化約為 110 個基點，是的，你得到了你引用的 140 個基點，但 110 個基點是年化。如同前面所討論的，我們所產生的其他影響是紅海和蘇伊士運河，我們估計目前我們已經基於某些假設建立了約 20 至 25 個基點的影響。

So if you add those 2 together, you're a little over 130 basis points of pressure and that is partially offset by some improvement in gross margin in the organic business.

因此，如果將這兩者加在一起，就會面臨略高於 130 個基點的壓力，而有機業務毛利率的一些改善部分抵消了這種壓力。

Our next question comes from Laura Champine with Loop.

我們的下一個問題來自 Laura Champine 和 Loop。

And I know you've already spoken to wholesale footwears returning to growth. The mix in the wholesale segment was interesting in Q4 with extremely strong growth on easy comparison accessories and kind of flat in footwear. Does that normalize in Q1, or will it take longer than that?

我知道您已經談到鞋類批發業恢復成長的問題。第四季批發領域的組合很有趣，易於比較的配件和平底鞋類成長極為強勁。這種情況會在第一季恢復正常嗎？

I still expect the wholesale accessories to be growing faster than wholesale footwear in Q1 even on an organic basis and then it should normalize after that.

我仍然預計第一季批發配件的成長速度將快於批發鞋類，即使在有機基礎上，然後應該會正常化。

Our next question comes from Sam Poser with Williams Trading.

我們的下一個問題來自 Williams Trading 的 Sam Poser。

I guess I'd like to just dig in to wholesale footwear and how you're thinking about that. We can sort of back into handbags, it's going to grow faster. Are we looking at like low to mid on the footwear side of things on the wholesale business?

我想我想深入了解批發鞋類以及您對此的看法。我們可以重新開始買手袋，它會成長得更快。我們是否在批發業務中關注中低階的鞋類產品？

Yes, that's the right way to think about it, Sam.

是的，這是正確的思考方式，山姆。

And probably a little -- I mean, from the initial guidance, a little stronger in the first half of the year and just because the compare is a little easier and the visibility is better. Is that...

可能有一點——我的意思是，從最初的指導來看，今年上半年有點強，只是因為比較更容易一些，可見性更好。就是它...

I think that's right, a little bit stronger, but not a big difference.

我覺得是的，稍微強一點，但差別不大。

And then I'm just going to dig in. The -- what gross margin and operating margin are you expecting that is built in to the full year guidance?

然後我要深入探討。

Well, I'll tell you -- I'll start with gross margin. We expect, as I said earlier, that we'll have that 140 basis points combined between Almost Famous and freight. And we probably think that we'll have about 70 basis points pressure on the gross margin compared to this year. On the op margin, if you just think of Almost Famous alone, that's roughly about 40 basis points, 50 basis points pressure on the op margin.

好吧，我會告訴你——我將從毛利率開始。正如我之前所說，我們預計「Almost Famous」和貨運價格總和將達到 140 個基點。我們可能認為與今年相比，我們的毛利率將面臨約 70 個基點的壓力。在營運利潤率方面，如果你只考慮《Almost Famous》，那麼營運利潤率的壓力大約是 40 個基點、50 個基點。

And that's where we -- and just to elaborate, that's what we think -- that's what's built in, is -- it's about 11% operating margin for the year, which is down 50, which is essentially attributable -- almost all attributable to the Almost Famous pressure.

這就是我們的情況——只是詳細說明一下，這就是我們的想法——這就是內置的——今年的營業利潤率約為11%，下降了50%，這基本上可歸因於——幾乎全部歸因於幾乎成名的壓力。

And when does Almost Famous -- I mean, it's driving a good kind of revenue. When does -- when -- how long does it take to get Almost Famous margins to where you want them to be?

《幾近成名》什麼時候上映——我的意思是，它帶來了不錯的收入。何時、何時、多久才能讓《Almost Famous》的利潤率達到您想要的水平？

Well, I think we're -- certainly, we should start seeing improvement even in the back half here. And we've got a -- we think we see a path to improving those operating margins. But we've always been clear that because of the nature of this business, it's obviously done largely in the mass channel and there's a big private label component that this business will be a lower operating margin business.

嗯，我認為我們——當然，我們應該開始看到進步，即使是在後半場。我們認為我們看到了提高營運利潤率的途徑。但我們一直很清楚，由於這項業務的性質，它顯然主要是在大眾管道中完成的，並且具有很大的自有品牌成分，該業務將是營業利潤率較低的業務。

As we articulated when we announced it, they were -- their operating margins the year before we bought them were about 7%. We think we see a path to getting them into the high-singles and over time, potentially into the low-doubles. But that's -- you shouldn't expect us to be a mid-teen operating margin business based on the distribution and the nature of the sales breakdown.

正如我們在宣布這一消息時所闡明的那樣，在我們收購它們的前一年，它們的營業利潤率約為 7%。我們認為我們看到了一條讓他們進入高單打的道路，隨著時間的推移，有可能進入低雙打。但那就是——根據分佈和銷售細分的性質，你不應該期望我們成為一家營業利潤率中等的企業。

Okay. And then lastly, within the overall revenue -- actually, I'll leave it out. Within the footwear revenue guidance or the organic revenue guidance, how do you break out international or EMEA versus U.S. versus Canada and so on and so forth? How does that balance, like sort of you've got that mid-single-digit growth organically? Is that high-single-digit, international...

好的。最後，在總收入中——實際上，我將把它排除在外。在鞋類收入指導或有機收入指引中，您如何區分國際或歐洲、中東和非洲、美國、加拿大等？這種平衡是如何實現的，就像你已經實現了中個位數的有機成長一樣？那是高個位數的國際...

Yes. So international is a little faster than that and domestic is a little slower.

是的。所以國際比國內快一點，國內慢一點。

Our next question comes from Jay Sole with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀集團的 Jay Sole。

My question is about the leverage point for SG&A. What is the leverage point for SG&A in fiscal '24? And as you look beyond, should that change? And has the leverage plan changed with the acquisition?

我的問題是關於 SG&A 的槓桿點。 24 財年 SG&A 的槓桿點是多少？當你放眼未來時，這種情況該改變嗎？槓桿計劃是否隨著收購而改變？

Yes. So we have some modest leverage built into the 2024 budget in the guide. And the reason I'm saying it's modest is because as we always said, we'll continue to invest in the business, we're investing in marketing and we're also investing in infrastructure internationally. As Ed mentioned, we grew 11%. We expect double-digit growth to continue for the next couple of years. So there is some investment that we're doing to fuel the growth in the upcoming years in international, both from a people perspective and also from a technology perspective.

是的。因此，我們在指南中的 2024 年預算中加入了一些適度的槓桿作用。我之所以說它是適度的，是因為正如我們一直所說的那樣，我們將繼續投資於業務，我們正在投資行銷，我們也在投資國際基礎設施。正如 Ed 所提到的，我們成長了 11%。我們預計未來幾年將持續兩位數成長。因此，我們正在進行一些投資，以推動未來幾年國際業務的成長，無論是從人員角度還是技術角度。

And just to elaborate on that, keep in mind that organic top line growth is mid-singles, right? So you're looking at a consolidated 11% to 13%, but that includes Almost Famous.

為了詳細說明這一點，請記住有機收入成長是中等單打，對吧？所以你看到的是 11% 到 13% 的綜合排名，但這包括《Almost Famous》。

Got it, okay. And then if I can just add one more. Just any color on how we should think about gross profit margin for Q1?

明白了，好吧。然後我可以再增加一個嗎？我們該如何看待第一季的毛利率？

It's getting granular here. Look, there'll be pressure in Q1 for the reasons that Zine already articulated. I don't think we're going to start -- prefer not to get -- start guiding by margin by quarter.

這裡變得越來越細化。瞧，由於 Zine 已經闡明的原因，第一季將面臨壓力。我認為我們不會開始——寧願不開始——開始按季度進行利潤指導。

Our next question comes from Abby Zvejnieks with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自 Abby Zvejnieks 和 Piper Sandler。

Can you just give us some color on what gives you confidence in the high-single-digit direct-to-consumer growth? Any color on e-commerce versus stores? And then, I guess, what you're seeing and expecting in terms of promotions in that direct-to-consumer channel?

您能否向我們介紹一下是什麼讓您對直接面向消費者的高個位數成長充滿信心？電子商務與商店有什麼不同嗎？然後，我想，您在直接面向消費者的管道中看到和期待的促銷活動是什麼？

Yes, yes, we've seen a nice improvement in that business over the last few months. Even in Q4, we saw a significant improvement in November and December relative to the trend in October. And we've seen an additional step-up in January and February compared to where we were in November and December.

是的，是的，過去幾個月我們看到這項業務已經有了很大的進步。即使在第四季度，我們也看到 11 月和 12 月相對於 10 月的趨勢有顯著改善。與 11 月和 12 月相比，我們在 1 月和 2 月看到了額外的成長。

So we are running very nice, solidly positive comps and seen that in both brick-and-mortar and digital year-to-date. And so that is part of what gives us confidence in the DTC revenue guide. We also do have -- we'll probably have 2.5 points of non-comp -- of growth coming from non-comp stores as well because of some of the new store openings.

因此，我們正在進行非常好的、非常積極的競爭，並且在今年迄今為止的實體店和數位店中都看到了這一點。這也是我們對 DTC 收入指南充滿信心的部分原因。由於一些新店的開業，我們確實也有——我們可能會有 2.5 個非競爭點——來自非競爭商店的成長。

What was the follow-up question?

後續問題是什麼？

Just on promotions and direct-to-consumer.

只是促銷和直接面向消費者。

Oh, yes. I would say right now the promotional activity is, I would say, normal. It's not super happy, but I wouldn't characterize it as super light either. I think it's kind of normal activity for this time of year. It was -- if we go back to fall, it was a somewhat challenging boot season and so we did a little bit more promotional activity to move through the boots.

哦是的。我想說，現在的促銷活動是正常的。它不是超級快樂，但我也不會將其描述為超級輕。我認為這是每年這個時候的正常活動。如果我們回到秋天，那是一個有點具有挑戰性的靴子季節，所以我們做了更多的促銷活動來穿過靴子。

But nice thing was January, we got that cold weather. We really were able to get through a lot of boots and got very clean there. And so we feel good about our inventory position. And in fact, I believe that this year in DTC, there's opportunity for gross margin improvement in DTC by controlling promotions.

但一月的好事是，我們遇到了寒冷的天氣。我們確實穿過了很多靴子，而且那裡非常乾淨。因此，我們對庫存狀況感覺良好。事實上，我相信今年的 DTC，有機會透過控制促銷來提高 DTC 的毛利率。

Our next question comes from Tom Nikic with Wedbush.

我們的下一個問題來自韋德布希的湯姆·尼基奇。

I want to ask about the international business. A lot of other brands have talked about the European consumer becoming a little more cautious. Does your optimism around Europe just stem from the fact that your brand is so under-penetrated there that you kind of had growth opportunities almost kind of regardless of the macro environment?

我想問一下國際業務。許多其他品牌都表示歐洲消費者變得更加謹慎。您對歐洲的樂觀態度是否源自於您的品牌在那裡的滲透率如此之低，以至於無論宏觀環境如何，您幾乎都有成長機會？

Yes, I think that's right. We have very strong momentum in Europe and we do feel that we are outperforming our competitors in terms of sell-through and overall performance. That said, the overall macro environment is tough there. The retail environment is challenging there. And if it weren't for those factors, I think we'd be doing even better.

是的，我認為這是對的。我們在歐洲擁有非常強勁的勢頭，我們確實認為我們在銷售和整體業績方面優於競爭對手。也就是說，那裡的整體宏觀環境很艱難。那裡的零售環境充滿挑戰。如果沒有這些因素，我認為我們會做得更好。

But because of the momentum we have, the strong performance that we've been seeing, both in wholesale and in our direct-to-consumer channels and to your point, the fact that we're just not a mature business there. We've still got a lot of runway ahead of us. We still feel we can drive growth in that region.

但由於我們擁有的勢頭，我們在批發和直接面向消費者的管道方面都看到了強勁的表現，而且就您而言，事實上我們在那裡還不是一個成熟的企業。我們前面還有很長的跑道。我們仍然認為我們可以推動該地區的成長。

Got it. And can you remind us the size of the business in Europe? I mean, yes, maybe ultimately, what you think the region can become to you?

知道了。您能否提醒我們歐洲業務的規模？我的意思是，是的，也許最終，您認為該地區對您來說會變成什麼樣子？

Yes, the EMEA region overall in 2023 was just under $170 million. In terms of what it could be, I mean, it could be multiples of that.

是的，2023 年 EMEA 地區的整體銷售額略低於 1.7 億美元。就可能的情況而言，我的意思是，它可能是這個數字的倍數。

Our next question comes from Corey Tarlowe with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Corey Tarlowe。

Ed, I was wondering if you could just touch on the inventory balances and how you feel the inventory is positioned into this upcoming year? One of the things you've done a nice job of and acts almost same as inventories continue to be down, I think, for several quarters in a row now. So could you talk about what you think that means for the business and how that all interplays with your ability to chase and be trend-focused and drive really productive sales that way?

艾德，我想知道您是否可以談談庫存餘額以及您認為明年的庫存狀況如何？其中一件事情你做得很好，而且表現幾乎與庫存一樣，我認為，現在已經連續幾個季度持續下降。那麼，您能否談談您認為這對業務意味著什麼，以及這一切與您追逐趨勢、關注趨勢並以這種方式推動真正富有成效的銷售的能力如何相互作用？

Yes, I mean I think that's -- as you know, one of the hallmarks of the company has been our inventory management and our ability to turn our inventory faster than our peers in the industry and enables us to work close to season, not make big speculative inventory bets upfront and chase goods in season and be very nimble. That's been a good formula for us, especially in the fast-moving trend business in which we operate.

是的，我的意思是，我認為，正如您所知，公司的標誌之一是我們的庫存管理以及我​​們比業內同行更快地週轉庫存的能力，並使我們能夠在接近季節的時候工作，而不是製造庫存。這對我們來說是一個很好的公式，特別是在我們經營的快速發展的趨勢業務中。

So I do feel we're really -- obviously, that whole model was challenged for a period when there was the tremendous supply chain disruption in the wake of COVID and transit times were so extended, but we're back to being able to do what we do best. We've been able to, as you point out, reduce overall inventory levels, at least on an organic basis, we were flat, including Almost Famous at the end of the year. And so we're really positioned to run our playbook and do what we do and we feel good about that. And I think that's another reason that we do believe that on an organic basis, we can see some gross margin improvement this year.

所以我確實覺得我們確實——顯然，整個模式在一段時間內受到了挑戰，當時新冠疫情導致供應鏈嚴重中斷，運輸時間如此延長，但我們又恢復了能力我們最擅長什麼。正如您所指出的，我們已經能夠降低總體庫存水平，至少在有機基礎上，我們持平，包括年底的幾乎成名。因此，我們確實有能力執行我們的劇本並做我們所做的事情，我們對此感覺良好。我認為這是我們確實相信今年毛利率有所改善的另一個原因。

That's great. And then just a follow-up on -- you mentioned remodels. Curious about the potential impact of that on CapEx and this is traditionally a very capital-light business. So curious about what the expectations are for remodels going forward, if that's something more broad or specific to a finite number of stores?

那太棒了。然後是你提到的改造的後續行動。人們對這對資本支出的潛在影響感到好奇，而這傳統上是一項資本非常輕的業務。很好奇未來改造的期望是什麼，是更廣泛的還是針對有限數量的商店的？

Yes. We've done some this year. As I mentioned earlier, we ended at $19.5 million this year. And we expect next year with what we do with our CapEx in the stores -- the opening stores, remodels, our investment in IT and infrastructure that may -- we would be probably about $5 million above this year.

是的。今年我們已經做了一些。正如我之前提到的，我們今年的收盤價為 1,950 萬美元。我們預計明年我們在商店中的資本支出——開設商店、改造、IT 和基礎設施投資——可能會比今年高出約 500 萬美元。

Our next question comes from Dana Telsey with Telsey Advisory Group.

我們的下一個問題來自特爾西諮詢小組的達納·特爾西。

Ed, if you think about the wholesale channel distribution and the buckets of it, whether it's off-price department stores, discounters with private label, how are each performing? And how do you expect them to be different in 2024 versus '23? And on the retail component, what are you seeing in terms of differences in outlets versus street locations or malls?

Ed，如果您考慮批發通路分銷及其各個方面，無論是折扣百貨公司還是自有品牌折扣店，各自的表現如何？您預計 2024 年的情況與 23 年有何不同？在零售方面，您認為暢貨中心與街道或購物中心有何差異？

Sure. So in terms of the wholesale channels, look, I think the one I'm the most bullish about in terms of top line growth is probably the mass channel because as we point out, we did take a big hit there as they pull back the reins really dramatically to get their inventories in line and we're starting to see that business recover and we're already, as I pointed out, expecting to see a nice year-over-year improvement beginning in Q1.

當然。因此，就批發管道而言，我認為在收入成長方面我最看好的可能是大眾管道，因為正如我們所指出的，我們確實在那裡受到了沉重打擊，因為他們撤回了大眾管道。地控制庫存，我們開始看到業務復甦，正如我指出的那樣，我們已經預計從第一季開始將出現同比良好的改善。

So I think that kind of bounce back should be a nice benefit for us in 2024. Kind of moving up the channels off-price, that's clearly still a channel that's performing, taking share. There's still a very healthy demand for our product there. We are obviously controlling how much distribution we have in that channel, but certainly, there's healthy demand there.

因此，我認為這種反彈在 2024 年對我們來說應該是一個很好的好處。那裡對我們產品的需求仍然非常旺盛。顯然，我們正在控制我們在該管道中的分銷量，但當然，那裡有健康的需求。

And then as you move into the department stores, I would say overall, the sentiment there remains cautious. But as I pointed out earlier, the inventory in the channel is much healthier than it was a year ago. And we -- obviously, those customers are important to us and we've got indications from them that they're planning our business in excess of how they're planning their overall department. And so we'll look for a better year with them as well in 2024.

然後，當你進入百貨公司時，我想說，總體而言，那裡的情緒仍然謹慎。但正如我之前指出的，渠道中的庫存比一年前健康得多。顯然，這些客戶對我們很重要，我們從他們那裡得到的跡象表明，他們對我們業務的規劃超出了他們對整個部門的規劃。因此，我們也將在 2024 年與他們一起尋找更好的一年。

I think the second part was outlets versus -- yes, versus full-price stores. The big call out there is that we continue to see outlet outperforming full-price stores in the U.S. by a pretty significant margin. In Q4, it was about 1,000 basis points again in comp and even coming into Q1, we continue to see a significant outperformance in the outlet channel versus the full-price channel in the United States. And I think indicative of a customer that is still price conscious and gravitating towards value.

我認為第二部分是奧特萊斯與——是的，與全價商店。值得注意的是，我們繼續看到美國直銷店的表現明顯優於全價商店。第四季度，年價再次上漲約 1,000 個基點，甚至進入第一季度，我們繼續看到美國直銷通路與全價通路的表現顯著優於全價通路。我認為這表明客戶仍然對價格敏感並傾向於價值。

Our next question comes from Janine Stichter with BTIG.

我們的下一個問題來自 BTIG 的 Janine Stichter。

I had a couple of questions around margins. So for gross margin, what are you assuming for freight? The Red Sea situation aside, we've seen the rates tick up a bit and I think your contracts are up for renewal, so just how to think about what you're assuming for freight for the rest of the year?

我有幾個關於利潤的問題。那麼對於毛利率，您對運費的假設是多少？撇開紅海的情況不談，我們已經看到費率略有上升，我認為你們的合約即將續簽，那麼如何考慮你們對今年剩餘時間的貨運假設呢？

And then on the SG&A, I think you pointed to a bit of SG&A deleverage in the guide -- sorry, a bit of leverage built into the guide. But how are you thinking about marketing spend? I know you've been investing there. How to think about the overall investment and marketing spend and then maybe the split between brand spend and other marketing spend?

然後關於SG&A，我認為您在指南中指出了一些SG&A去槓桿化——抱歉，指南中內建了一些槓桿。但您如何看待行銷支出？我知道你一直在那裡投資。如何考慮整體投資和行銷支出，以及品牌支出和其他行銷支出之間的分配？

Yes, I'll take the first part on the gross margin and Ed can elaborate on marketing. On the gross margin, Janine, we mentioned that we have built in based on certain assumptions around Red Sea and everything else around freight, 20 to 25 bps impact to gross margin.

是的，我將討論毛利率的第一部分，艾德可以詳細說明行銷。關於毛利率，Janine，我們提到，我們基於紅海和貨運方面的其他所有因素的某些假設，對毛利率產生 20 至 25 個基點的影響。

On the marketing side, we're continuing to invest, but Ed can actually give you a little more color on that.

在行銷方面，我們將繼續投資，但艾德實際上可以為您提供更多的資訊。

Yes, yes. I mean, I think that it -- look, as you know, that's been an area of continued investment for us over the last several years and we've moved up our marketing percentage of revenue pretty significantly from 2% or sub-2% to about 4.5% in 2023. As we go into 2024, we're going to continue to increase the investment in marketing.

是的是的。我的意思是，我認為，如您所知，這是我們在過去幾年中持續投資的一個領域，我們已經將行銷佔收入的百分比從 2% 或低於 2% 大幅提高到2023年將成長至4.5%左右。

We think that's important to drive growth in the future. If we -- I think it's easiest to sort of look at it backing out Almost Famous. If you back out Almost Famous there is -- we're still looking to increase marketing kind of high-single-digits in dollars, which is obviously faster than the mid-single-digit top line growth on an organic basis that we forecasted. So a little bit of deleverage there.

我們認為這對於推動未來的成長非常重要。如果我們──我認為最簡單的辦法就是看它退出《幾近成名》。如果你退出《幾乎成名》，我們仍然希望以美元計增加高個位數的營銷費用，這顯然比我們預測的有機基礎上的中個位數收入增長要快。所以有一點去槓桿化。

And in terms of the mix, as we talked about, the big focus there is really optimizing our marketing spend throughout the funnel and that means, we believe, at this point, pushing more marketing spend up the funnel, so making sure we're doing that top of funnel brand awareness work as well as the mid-funnel sort of consideration and of course, not forgetting the bottom of the funnel for a conversion.

就組合而言，正如我們所討論的，重點實際上是優化我們在整個漏斗中的行銷支出，這意味著我們相信，在這一點上，將更多的行銷支出推向漏斗，因此確保我們進行漏斗頂部的品牌知名度工作以及漏斗中部的考慮，當然，不要忘記漏斗底部的轉換。

I think a few years ago, like many folks in the industry, we had gotten into a situation where we were very heavily penetrated in the lower part of the funnel and that was working for a while there. We're getting great returns on that performance marketing, but we do think that there needs to be a better balance now and that's what we're focused on.

我認為幾年前，就像業內的許多人一樣，我們陷入了這樣一種情況：我們在漏斗的下部被嚴重滲透，並且在那裡工作了一段時間。我們在效果行銷上獲得了巨大的回報，但我們確實認為現在需要更好的平衡，這就是我們關注的重點。

(Operator Instructions) We have a follow-up from the line of Sam Poser with Williams Trading.

（操作員說明）我們有來自 Sam Poser 和 Williams Trading 的後續行動。

Two things. One, to follow-up on Dana's question on the wholesale brand on the Steve Madden and Dolce Vita footwear, they are sort of the better wholesale businesses. Are the retailers opening up enough? When Macy's spoke yesterday, they said that they wanted to buy more products of what people coming in and asking for, which would be theoretically, you'd be one of those.

兩件事情。第一，跟進 Dana 關於 Steve Madden 和 Dolce Vita 鞋類批發品牌的問題，他們是更好的批發企業。零售商的開放程度是否足夠？當梅西百貨昨天發表講話時，他們說他們想購買更多人們進來並要求的產品，理論上，你就是其中之一。

But at the same time, they were talking about growing their private label business. So I'm just trying to get your interpretation of how that works out, giving people what they want and then growing private label. And then I wanted to talk about sort of expanding the scope of your direct-to-consumer business, getting to know more customers building your database, so what's being done there to increase that?

但同時，他們正在談論發展自有品牌業務。所以我只是想聽聽您對如何運作的解釋，為人們提供他們想要的東西，然後發展自有品牌。然後我想談談如何擴大直接面向消費者的業務範圍，並了解更多建立資料庫的客戶，那麼我們正在採取哪些措施來擴大這個範圍呢？

Yes, look, I think -- I don't know what else I can say about the -- about what's going on with the department stores. We feel we're -- we believe that we're confident that we're very important vendors for them, that we're going to get more than our fair share, that we're positioned to take share, frankly, in that channel.

是的，聽著，我想──我不知道我還能說些什麼──關於百貨公司的情況。我們覺得我們相信我們有信心我們是他們非常重要的供應商，我們將獲得超出我們公平份額的份額，坦白說，我們有能力在這方面獲得份額管道。

Overall, their sentiment does remain cautious though and we'll have to see how that develops over the course of the year. Obviously, if their comp store sales improve, that will -- I believe that will encourage them to get more aggressive and I think we'll be very well positioned to participate if that happens.

總體而言，他們的情緒仍然保持謹慎，我們必須看看這一年的情況如何發展。顯然，如果他們的比較店銷售有所改善，我相信這將鼓勵他們變得更加積極主動，而且我認為如果發生這種情況，我們將非常有能力參與其中。

In terms of DTC, look, that's clearly been -- we've been increasing the penetration significantly over the last several years in DTC and we continue -- we expect to continue to do that. So back in 2019, I think we were 18% in DTC. We finished 2023 up 800 basis points in penetration. So pretty significant growth in DTC there.

就 DTC 而言，您看，過去幾年我們一直在顯著提高 DTC 的滲透率，並且我們將繼續這樣做，我們預計將繼續這樣做。早在 2019 年，我認為我們的 DTC 比例是 18%。 2023 年，我們的滲透率提高了 800 個基點。那裡的 DTC 成長非常顯著。

And obviously, this year we -- if you include Almost Famous, you won't see that percentage go up. But if you exclude Almost Famous, you're seeing continued penetration increase in DTC and that will continue to be a long-term initiative for us to build that business and have more of those direct relationships that you talked about with the consumer.

顯然，今年我們 - 如果你包括幾乎成名，你不會看到這個百分比上升。但如果你排除“Almost Famous”，你會看到 DTC 的滲透率持續增長，這將繼續成為我們建立該業務並與消費者建立更多直接關係的長期舉措。

That concludes the question-and-answer session. At this time, I would like to turn the call back to Ed Rosenfeld for closing remarks.

問答環節到此結束。此時，我想將電話轉回給艾德‧羅森菲爾德（Ed Rosenfeld），讓其致閉幕詞。

All right. Well, thanks so much for joining us today. Have a great day. We look forward to speaking with you on the next call.

好的。非常感謝您今天加入我們。祝你有美好的一天。我們期待在下次通話中與您交談。

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.

感謝您參加今天的會議。這確實結束了該程式。您現在可以斷開連線。