Signet Jewelers Ltd (SIG) 2022 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Signet Jewelers First Quarter Fiscal 2022 Earnings Call. (Operator Instructions) Please note, this event is being recorded. I'd now like to turn the conference over to Vinnie Senese, Senior Vice President, Investor Relations and Treasury. Please go ahead.

早上好，歡迎參加 Signet Jewelers 2022 財年第一季度財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）請注意，此事件正在記錄中。我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係和財政部高級副總裁 Vinnie Senese。請繼續。

Great. Thanks very much, Jason, and good morning, everyone. Welcome to our First Quarter Earnings Conference Call. On the call today are Signet's CEO, Gina Drosos; and CFO, Joan Hilson.

偉大的。非常感謝 Jason，大家早上好。歡迎來到我們的第一季度收益電話會議。今天的電話會議是 Signet 的首席執行官 Gina Drosos；和首席財務官瓊·希爾森。

During today's presentation, we'll make certain forward-looking statements. Any statements that are not historical facts are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, and actual results may differ materially. We urge you to read risk factors, cautionary language and other disclosures in our Annual Report on 10-K, quarterlies on 10-Q and current reports on 8-Ks. Except as required by law, we undertake no obligation to revise or publicly update forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events.

在今天的演講中，我們將做出某些前瞻性陳述。任何非歷史事實的陳述都受到許多風險和不確定性的影響，實際結果可能存在重大差異。我們敦促您閱讀我們關於 10-K 的年度報告、關於 10-Q 的季度報告和關於 8-Ks 的當前報告中的風險因素、警示性語言和其他披露。除法律要求外，我們不承擔根據新信息或未來事件修改或公開更新前瞻性陳述的義務。

During the call, we'll discuss certain non-GAAP financial measures. For further discussion of the non-GAAP measures as well as reconciliations of them to the most directly comparable GAAP measures, investors should review the news release we posted on our website at www.signetjewelers.com/investors. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Gina.

在電話會議期間，我們將討論某些非公認會計原則的財務措施。如需進一步討論非 GAAP 措施以及它們與最直接可比的 GAAP 措施的對賬，投資者應查看我們在網站 www.signetjewelers.com/investors 上發布的新聞稿。有了這個，我會把電話轉給吉娜。

Thank you, Vinnie, and thanks to all of you who are on the call with us today. I also want to thank our Signet team members who continue to inspire me with their relentless dedication to our customers and to each other. We are embracing new capabilities in Connected Commerce with excellence as evidenced in this quarter's results.

謝謝你，Vinnie，也感謝今天與我們通話的所有人。我還要感謝我們的 Signet 團隊成員，他們對我們的客戶和彼此的不懈奉獻繼續激勵著我。正如本季度的業績所證明的那樣，我們正在以卓越的方式擁抱互聯商務中的新功能。

Thanks to our team, we built on the momentum of a very strong holiday performance and delivered both a strong Valentine's Day and strong Mother's Day by continuing to serve customers whenever, wherever and however they choose to shop with us.

多虧了我們的團隊，我們在假期表現強勁的勢頭上再接再厲，通過繼續隨時隨地為顧客提供服務，無論他們選擇與我們一起購物，還是為他們提供了強大的母親節服務。

Further to this, we are unlocking our team members' potential. We know from listening and from our ongoing surveys that our team members are inspired by our purpose. They're proud to be part of our organization, and they're confident in the tightly integrated strategies that are guiding our growth. Our team members' inspiration, pride, confidence, expertise and growing digital capabilities are the most important drivers of my confidence in our long-term success. It is an honor to work at their side.

除此之外，我們正在釋放我們團隊成員的潛力。我們從傾聽和正在進行的調查中得知，我們的團隊成員受到我們目標的啟發。他們為成為我們組織的一員而感到自豪，他們對指導我們發展的緊密整合的戰略充滿信心。我們團隊成員的靈感、自豪感、信心、專業知識和不斷增長的數字能力是我對我們長期成功充滿信心的最重要驅動力。能在他們身邊工作是一種榮幸。

As I review Signet's performance in Q1, I want to leave you with 3 messages. Number one, we outperformed Q1 expectations and are raising our fiscal '22 guidance today. Number two, we're making steady progress in all 4 of our where-to-play strategic focus areas and all 3 of our how-to-win core strengths, consumer-inspired insights, Connected Commerce presence and our culture of innovation and agility. We are continuing to expand these strengths because we know they are sources of competitive advantage. We're outpacing market growth, and as a result, we're growing share.

當我回顧 Signet 在第一季度的表現時，我想給你留下 3 條信息。第一，我們的表現超出了第一季度的預期，並且今天提高了我們的 22 財年指導。第二，我們在所有 4 個戰略重點領域和所有 3 個如何取勝的核心優勢、以消費者為靈感的洞察力、互聯商務的存在以及我們的創新和敏捷文化方面都取得了穩步進展.我們將繼續擴大這些優勢，因為我們知道它們是競爭優勢的來源。我們正在超越市場增長，因此，我們的份額正在增長。

I'll talk through each of these points. But first, let's look high level at the Q1 numbers. Total sales were $1.7 billion, an increase of more than $250 million or 18% compared to Q1 2 years ago. This is significant because 2 years ago, we had 467 more stores than we have today. E-commerce is playing an increasingly important role with sales up more than 110% in the quarter versus last year and 124% versus 2 years ago.

我將逐一討論這些要點。但首先，讓我們看一下第一季度的數字。總銷售額為 17 億美元，與 2 年前的第一季度相比增加了超過 2.5 億美元或 18%。這很重要，因為 2 年前，我們的商店比現在多 467 家。電子商務發揮著越來越重要的作用，本季度銷售額與去年相比增長了 110% 以上，與兩年前相比增長了 124%。

Cash flow from operating activities of $161 million year-to-date was up $169 million compared to last year and $56 million compared to 2 years ago. Having already paid down debt and with $1.3 billion of cash at quarter end, we are continuing to invest in growing our business and, as Joan will discuss, returning cash to shareholders.

年初至今的經營活動現金流為 1.61 億美元，與去年相比增加了 1.69 億美元，與兩年前相比增加了 5600 萬美元。已經償還了債務並在季度末擁有 13 億美元的現金，我們將繼續投資於發展我們的業務，正如瓊將討論的那樣，將現金返還給股東。

Ending inventory was $2 billion, $373 million lower than last year. Our inventory reduction efforts are now institutionalized, less about rationalization and more about optimizing our merchandise mix and availability, getting the right product to the right places to maximize speed of delivery and sales. Our digital capabilities give customers access to virtually every piece of jewelry in our system, no matter where it is, which is unlocking new levels of inventory productivity.

期末存貨為20億美元，比去年減少3.73億美元。現在，我們的庫存減少工作已經制度化，不再是合理化，而是優化我們的商品組合和可用性，將正確的產品送到正確的地方，以最大限度地提高交貨和銷售速度。我們的數字功能讓客戶可以訪問我們系統中的幾乎每一件珠寶，無論它在哪裡，這將庫存生產力提升到新的水平。

So this has become more than a working capital story. We're increasing our ability to flow newness into our inventory pipeline, bringing more innovative new products to more customers more frequently. And with data analytics, we're ensuring we have optimized assortments where we need them.

因此，這不僅僅是一個營運資金的故事。我們正在提高將新產品注入庫存管道的能力，從而更頻繁地為更多客戶帶來更多創新產品。通過數據分析，我們確保我們在需要的地方優化了分類。

Our Q1 performance demonstrates that we are off to a strong start, implementing Phase 2 of Signet's transformation, which we call Inspiring Brilliance. On that note, I want to transition now to taking a closer look at the progress we're making in each of the 4 where-to-play strategic focus areas that we outlined 2 months ago in our virtual investor event.

我們的第一季度業績表明我們開局良好，實施了 Signet 轉型的第二階段，我們稱之為 Inspiring Brilliance。關於這一點，我想現在過渡到仔細研究我們在 2 個月前在虛擬投資者活動中概述的 4 個戰略重點領域中的每一個方面所取得的進展。

First, we are winning in our biggest businesses. Our strategy for keeping our core strong and growing is holistic. It begins with the work we've done to differentiate our banners, including merchandise assortment, price tiers, balancing self-purchase and gifting and offering brands that are designed to appeal to each banner's distinct target customer. For example, we're generating compelling and highly targeted content that's tailored for each channel where we communicate with customers and for the moment in their journey when they are engaging with us.

首先，我們在最大的業務中獲勝。我們保持核心強大和增長的戰略是全面的。首先是我們為區分橫幅所做的工作，包括商品分類、價格等級、平衡自購和送禮，以及提供旨在吸引每個橫幅的不同目標客戶的品牌。例如，我們正在生成引人入勝且針對性強的內容，這些內容是為我們與客戶交流的每個渠道以及他們與我們互動的那一刻量身定制的。

Our merchandise assortment is also uniquely targeted for each banner, including Neil Lane and Adrianna Papell at Kay; Vera Wang and Disney Enchanted at Zales; Le Vian and Pnina Tornai at Jared and others across our portfolio. Perhaps, most importantly, we're focused on product. Our merchants are continuing to innovate and scour the market for emerging ideas. In bridal, this means larger, high-quality diamonds with more radiance and sleeker designs.

我們的商品分類也專門針對每個橫幅，包括 Kay 的 Neil Lane 和 Adrianna Papell； Vera Wang 和迪士尼在 Zales 著迷； Jared 的 Le Vian 和 Pnina Tornai 以及我們投資組合中的其他人。也許，最重要的是，我們專注於產品。我們的商家正在不斷創新，並在市場上尋找新興創意。在新娘中，這意味著更大、質量更高的鑽石，具有更明亮的設計和更時尚的設計。

For the gift giver, collections with meaning really help our customers express their feelings. And for the self-purchasing woman and man, our most innovative collections reflect the style changes that we have seen this year, yellow gold, layered neck pieces and fully outfitted ears. We're finding that customers want to wear jewelry with all looks, including casual, athleisure, professional, and they want to do so, particularly now that they are reigniting their social lives.

對於送禮者來說，有意義的收藏品確實可以幫助我們的客戶表達他們的感受。對於自購的女士和男士，我們最具創新性的系列反映了我們今年看到的風格變化，黃金、分層頸飾和全副武裝的耳朵。我們發現顧客想要佩戴各種外觀的珠寶，包括休閒、運動休閒、專業，並且他們也想這樣做，尤其是現在他們正在重新點燃他們的社交生活。

Our differentiated banner of propositions are working. All of our U.S. banners delivered double-digit revenue growth compared to 2 years ago. We attribute much of this to the success we're having, attracting new customers across our banners with our holistic marketing and customer experience strategies while maintaining the loyalty of existing customers as well.

我們差異化的主張正在發揮作用。與 2 年前相比，我們所有的美國橫幅都實現了兩位數的收入增長。我們將這在很大程度上歸功於我們所取得的成功，通過我們的整體營銷和客戶體驗策略在我們的橫幅上吸引了新客戶，同時也保持了現有客戶的忠誠度。

For example, roughly 60% of our sales growth in Q1 across Kay and Zales came from new customers. We've benefited from stimulus spending and other tailwinds, of course, but we believe that we've captured more than our fair share of this spending by having the right targeted assortments with the right level of newness differentiated by banner. This is evidenced by Kay's strong growth in gifting and Zales' in self-purchase. Further, increasingly optimized assortments for our target customers led to an ATV increase of nearly 20% in these banners versus 2 years ago.

例如，我們在第一季度在 Kay 和 Zales 的銷售額增長中約有 60% 來自新客戶。當然，我們已經從刺激性支出和其他順風中受益，但我們相信，通過正確的有針對性的分類和按橫幅區分的正確程度的新穎性，我們已經獲得了超出我們公平份額的支出。 Kay 在送禮方面的強勁增長和 Zales 在自購方面的強勁增長證明了這一點。此外，為我們的目標客戶不斷優化的分類導致這些橫幅廣告中的 ATV 比 2 年前增加了近 20%。

When we combine our knowledge of product as a jeweler and our knowledge of customers as a retailer, along with the scale of our data-driven operations, we win, especially in our biggest businesses. Second, we're making progress on our strategy to accelerate services, which are returning to prepandemic levels. Services are especially important because they are a long-term relationship builder, the glue that connects a lifetime value of relationship and purchases between a customer and our Signet team.

當我們將我們作為珠寶商的產品知識和作為零售商的客戶知識結合起來，再加上我們數據驅動的運營規模，我們就贏了，尤其是在我們最大的業務中。其次，我們在加速服務的戰略上取得了進展，這些服務正在恢復到大流行前的水平。服務尤其重要，因為它們是長期關係的建立者，是連接客戶與我們 Signet 團隊之間關係和購買的終生價值的粘合劑。

We jump-started services in Q1 in several ways. We enhanced our financial services by expanding and strengthening payment offerings for customers. We recently announced a new and more favorable agreement with 2 long-term partners, ADS and Genesis. This gives us the ability to provide more payment flexibility more simply and more profitably than we could before.

我們在第一季度以多種方式啟動了服務。我們通過擴大和加強為客戶提供的支付服務來增強我們的金融服務。我們最近宣布與 2 個長期合作夥伴 ADS 和 Genesis 達成一項更有利的新協議。這使我們能夠提供比以前更簡單、更有利可圖的支付靈活性。

We're also continuing to expand customization services. This remains a growing trend. Among recently engaged people, 13% designed their ring from scratch. We're offering customization tools across all our largest banners. With the Vera Wang LOVE configurator, Zales customers can choose a diamond or a gemstone center. Kay enables customers to create a completely customizable engagement ring with the create your own design tool or design a ring with Neil Lane to get that handcrafted Hollywood glamour style just the way they want. And Jared customers have a variety of ways to put their personal touches on jewelry, whether adding an engraved phrase to a ring or working directly with Jared artisans online or in person at one of our in-store foundry studios.

我們還在繼續擴展定制服務。這仍然是一個增長的趨勢。在最近訂婚的人中，13% 的人從頭開始設計他們的戒指。我們為所有最大的橫幅提供定制工具。通過 Vera Wang LOVE 配置器，Zales 客戶可以選擇鑽石或寶石中心。 Kay 使客戶能夠使用創建自己的設計工具來創建完全可定制的訂婚戒指，或者與 Neil Lane 一起設計戒指，以按照他們想要的方式獲得手工製作的好萊塢魅力風格。 Jared 客戶可以通過多種方式對珠寶進行個性化處理，無論是在戒指上添加鐫刻短語，還是直接與 Jared 工匠在線合作或親自到我們的店內鑄造工作室之一。

Consistent with this, customization sales are up low double digits in Jared stores with a foundry. We also continue to build on our investments in James Allen, a specialist in the custom jewelry space, and we're seeing strong results with more than 130% revenue growth to last year. Further, we launched custom design and restoration events across Kay, Zales and Jared in Q1. We offered customers a 10% discount to bring in existing pieces of jewelry to be reimagined or restored to their previous brilliance. These events on their own enabled us to exceed our goals for the quarter, and we plan to continue hosting them banner-by-banner going forward.

與此相一致的是，在擁有代工廠的 Jared 商店中，定制銷售額增長了兩位數。我們還繼續加大對定制珠寶領域專家 James Allen 的投資，我們看到了強勁的業績，收入比去年增長了 130% 以上。此外，我們在第一季度在 Kay、Zales 和 Jared 推出了定制設計和修復活動。我們為客戶提供 10% 的折扣，讓他們可以將現有的珠寶重新設計或恢復到以前的光彩。這些活動本身使我們能夠超越本季度的目標，我們計劃在未來繼續逐個舉辦這些活動。

We're also moving into new areas such as jewelry rental subscriptions with the acquisition of Rocksbox, and we're quickly growing brand awareness through cross-promotion within our banners. Jared, for example, offered customers a free 2-month subscription to Rocksbox when purchasing a Jared piece and then provided a bounce-back coupon to anyone who activated a Rocksbox subscription. We'll be offering a growing range of cross-banner promotions like this in the months ahead, including a Rocksbox rental offering partnership with Piercing Pagoda this summer. We are building momentum in services, which we continue to believe is a $1 billion growth opportunity on the path to the $9 billion overall revenue goal we laid out at our virtual investor event.

我們還通過收購 Rocksbox 進入珠寶租賃訂閱等新領域，並通過橫幅內的交叉推廣迅速提高品牌知名度。例如，Jared 在購買 Jared 作品時為客戶提供 2 個月的 Rocksbox 免費訂閱，然後向激活 Rocksbox 訂閱的任何人提供反彈優惠券。在接下來的幾個月中，我們將提供越來越多的此類跨橫幅促銷活動，包括今年夏天與 Piercing Pagoda 建立的 Rocksbox 租賃合作夥伴關係。我們正在建立服務方面的勢頭，我們仍然認為這是一個 10 億美元的增長機會，可以實現我們在虛擬投資者活動中製定的 90 億美元的總體收入目標。

The third strategic focus area where we're making progress is expanding mid-market accessible luxury and value. We're focused sharply on growing the top end of the mid-market with more intentional accessible luxury offerings. For example, Jared's fastest growth this quarter came through higher price point merchandise, primarily above $3,000. This includes Jared's new premium diamond assortment with sales of larger stones up roughly 30% to 2 years ago. Chosen Platinum, Pnina Tornai and Royal Asscher were strong merchandise drivers.

我們正在取得進展的第三個戰略重點領域是擴大中端市場可及的奢侈品和價值。我們專注於通過更多有意購買的奢侈品來發展中端市場的高端市場。例如，Jared 本季度的最快增長來自價格較高的商品，主要是 3,000 美元以上。這包括 Jared 新推出的優質鑽石品種，其較大鑽石的銷售額比 2 年前增長了大約 30%。 Chosen Platinum、Pnina Tornai 和 Royal Asscher 是強大的商品驅動力。

Piercing Pagoda is expanding our strength at the value end of the mid-market, delivering its strongest quarter ever in Q1. Just to emphasize, ever means Q1 fiscal '22 was higher total revenue than any prior quarter for Pagoda, including fourth quarters. Customers are highly receptive to our new assortment with particular emphasis on gold, which represents 75% of Pagoda sales. Pagoda now has more than 135 stores on track to deliver $1 million in sales this year, and we currently have 4 Pagoda locations that already have more than $1 million in sales to date this fiscal year, a feat that took until August to achieve in fiscal '20.

Piercing Pagoda 正在擴大我們在中端市場價值端的實力，在第一季度實現了有史以來最強勁的季度。只是為了強調，曾經意味著 22 財年第一季度的總收入高於 Pagoda 上一季度的總收入，包括第四季度。客戶對我們的新品類非常接受，特別強調黃金，佔 Pagoda 銷售額的 75%。 Pagoda 現在擁有超過 135 家門店，有望在今年實現 100 萬美元的銷售額，我們目前有 4 個 Pagoda 門店，本財年迄今為止的銷售額已經超過 100 萬美元，這一壯舉直到 8 月才在本財年實現'20.

We're eager to keep Piercing Pagoda growing and highly relevant. We're taking 2 critical steps in that direction by investing in advertising and launching a branding refresh. The strong return on our additional investment in advertising was proven this quarter as we continued to increase Pagoda's banner awareness. Sales were up 3x to Q1 of last year and up 80% to 2 years ago on a smaller store base in both years.

我們渴望保持穿刺塔的發展和高度相關。通過投資廣告和推出品牌更新，我們正朝著這個方向邁出兩個關鍵步驟。隨著我們繼續提高 Pagoda 的橫幅知名度，本季度證明了我們在廣告方面的額外投資的強勁回報。與去年第一季度相比，銷售額增長了 3 倍，與兩年前相比增長了 80%，而這兩年的門店規模較小。

Our second step, updating branding, is one that we believe will further accelerate our return on advertising spend. Our customer research indicates that the Piercing Pagoda name doesn't have the same modernity that our merchandise and banner experience bring. So we're testing the opportunity to freshen and broaden Pagoda's brand equity and attract new customers while retaining existing ones.

我們的第二步，更新品牌，我們相信這將進一步加快我們的廣告支出回報。我們的客戶研究表明，Piercing Pagoda 名稱沒有我們的商品和橫幅體驗帶來的現代感。因此，我們正在嘗試更新和擴大 Pagoda 的品牌資產並吸引新客戶同時保留現有客戶的機會。

Our fourth strategy is to lead digital commerce in the jewelry industry. Our ability to combine digital and in-store experiences at the scale we are able to is a significant competitive advantage, and we're continuing to innovate and to invest in both. For perspective, Kay delivered nearly 17% more brick-and-mortar sales per square foot of physical store space than in the first quarter 2 years ago, and Zales is delivering 35% more. In total, Q1 e-commerce sales were up more than 110% compared to last year and brick-and-mortar same-store sales were up more than 105%.

我們的第四個戰略是引領珠寶行業的數字商務。我們能夠以我們能夠達到的規模將數字體驗和店內體驗結合起來，這是一項重要的競爭優勢，我們將繼續創新並在這兩者上進行投資。從角度來看，與 2 年前第一季度相比，Kay 每平方英尺實體店空間的實體銷售額增加了近 17%，Zales 的銷售額增加了 35%。總體而言，第一季度電子商務銷售額與去年相比增長了 110% 以上，實體店同店銷售額增長了 105% 以上。

As part of our growing Connected Commerce approach, we are integrating our physical stores into the digital customer experience with data-driven in-store consultations, buy online, pick-up in store and curbside, and increasingly seamless interaction across our websites, stores and inventory pipeline. This integration is making a difference. While physical foot traffic is still down compared to this time 2 years ago, we've delivered growth through both higher conversion and higher average transaction value. We believe this is because we are starting to provide a best-in-class experience from the first touch point of the digital shopping experience, all the way through in-person store consultations and fulfillment.

作為我們不斷發展的互聯商務方法的一部分，我們正在通過數據驅動的店內諮詢、在線購買、店內和路邊提貨以及在我們的網站、商店和庫存管道。這種整合正在產生影響。雖然與 2 年前的這個時候相比，實際客流量仍然有所下降，但我們通過更高的轉化率和更高的平均交易價值實現了增長。我們相信這是因為我們開始從數字購物體驗的第一個接觸點開始提供一流的體驗，一直到面對面的商店諮詢和履行。

We added more than 100 new features and capabilities across our digital platforms in Q1 to ensure every digital touch point is a moment of customer delight. Virtual try-on for Kay drove over a 110% increase in its add-to-cart rate and nearly a 70% increase in order conversion in Q1. We also rolled out Google Business Messages and Apple Business Chat, features that allow customers to engage virtual jewelry consultants in real time or off-line from search results or maps. Applications like these are laying the groundwork for further enhancements later this year as we build our agile team infrastructure and iterative innovation capabilities.

我們在第一季度在我們的數字平台中添加了 100 多項新特性和功能，以確保每個數字接觸點都是客戶愉悅的時刻。 Kay 的虛擬試穿推動其加入購物車的比率增加了 110% 以上，第一季度的訂單轉化率增加了近 70%。我們還推出了 Google Business Messages 和 Apple Business Chat，這些功能允許客戶通過搜索結果或地圖實時或離線聘請虛擬珠寶顧問。隨著我們構建敏捷團隊基礎設施和迭代創新能力，此類應用程序正在為今年晚些時候的進一步增強奠定基礎。

Last year, we implemented virtual selling at the end of Q1 and had around 50,000 virtual interactions with customers. This quarter, we had more than 450,000 virtual interactions. And importantly, conversion is also improving as our team's capabilities continue to mature. Further, our card-to-checkout conversion rate is up, and the rate of site visits that turn into cart views is up as well. Our digital development teams are not settling for creating the best online jewelry experience. They're setting the bar higher by finding and innovating the best online consumer experiences in any category and then bringing those experiences for our jewelry customers.

去年，我們在第一季度末實施了虛擬銷售，與客戶進行了大約 50,000 次虛擬互動。本季度，我們進行了超過 450,000 次虛擬互動。重要的是，隨著我們團隊的能力不斷成熟，轉化率也在提高。此外，我們的刷卡結賬轉化率提高了，轉化為購物車瀏覽量的網站訪問率也提高了。我們的數字開發團隊並沒有滿足於創造最佳的在線珠寶體驗。他們通過尋找和創新任何類別的最佳在線消費者體驗，然後將這些體驗帶給我們的珠寶客戶，從而將標准設置得更高。

I'll share one quick example of how this integration and growing digital capability is working. We recently worked with a customer who came to us through our virtual chat feature with a mission and a deadline. He wanted to propose to his girlfriend the next day. Erica, one of our virtual consultants, noticed the urgency in his messages, and she made it her mission to help him achieve his. This customer's soon-to-be fiancee had a dream ring in mind, a cushion cut, 2-carat, thin [pave] ring in white gold. Erica immediately began searching our virtual inventory to identify stores nationwide that had or could create the piece he was looking for.

我將分享一個簡單的示例，說明這種集成和不斷增長的數字能力是如何發揮作用的。我們最近與一位通過我們的虛擬聊天功能來找我們的客戶合作，他有一個任務和一個截止日期。他想第二天向他的女朋友求婚。我們的虛擬顧問之一埃里卡注意到他的信息中的緊迫性，她將幫助他實現自己的使命作為自己的使命。這位客戶即將成為未婚妻的夢想戒指是一款枕形切割、2 克拉、薄 [密鑲] 白金戒指。 Erica 立即開始搜索我們的虛擬庫存，以確定全國范圍內擁有或可以創造他正在尋找的作品的商店。

She found a store near him that had the cushion cut with the color, clarity and size that he needed. Erica connected him directly to that store. The next morning, he was greeted in person by our in-store consultant, Yara, who was ready to serve. The customer loved the ring and bought it on the spot, a $25,000 sale, I might add. The team set and sized the ring while he waited. He proposed that evening. She said yes, and he sent our team photos of the happy moment.

她在他附近找到了一家商店，該商店的墊子切割成他需要的顏色、淨度和尺寸。埃里卡直接將他連接到那家商店。第二天早上，我們的店內顧問 Yara 親自迎接他，他已準備好服務。顧客喜歡這枚戒指，當場就買了，我可能會補充說，售價為 25,000 美元。當他等待時，團隊設置並調整了戒指的大小。那天晚上他提議。她說是的，他給我們團隊發了快樂時刻的照片。

This customer told us he loved being able to start his shopping journey virtually, look at pieces online, chat with a virtual consultant, have us do the shopping with him and then have the diamond and ring together for him to view in person. That's the power of Signet connecting digital and physical alongside our mission of helping all people celebrate life and express their love, even in 24 hours or less.

這位客戶告訴我們，他喜歡能夠以虛擬方式開始他的購物之旅，在線查看作品，與虛擬顧問聊天，讓我們與他一起購物，然後將鑽石和戒指放在一起讓他親自查看。這就是 Signet 連接數字和物理的力量，以及我們幫助所有人慶祝生活和表達他們的愛的使命，即使在 24 小時或更短的時間內。

What I hope you can see is that we are growing in each of our integrated strategic focus areas. The best strategies are tightly integrated and create more value because they are mutually reinforcing. It's making a difference as we've outpaced market growth over the last year and are gaining market share.

我希望你能看到的是，我們在每個綜合戰略重點領域都在成長。最佳策略緊密結合併創造更多價值，因為它們相輔相成。由於我們在過去一年中超過了市場增長並獲得了市場份額，這正在產生影響。

I also want to emphasize that we are delivering the performance I've outlined with a deep sense of purpose. We are committed to ongoing leadership in corporate citizenship and sustainability, and we view ESG initiatives as an important growth driver. This past quarter, we released the company's first-ever corporate citizenship and sustainability report. This reflects our continued leadership, prioritization and Board oversight of ESG initiatives. We announced our 2030 corporate sustainability goals through our 3 loves: love for all, love for our team and love for our planet and products.

我還想強調，我們正在以一種深刻的目的感提供我所概述的性能。我們致力於在企業公民和可持續發展方面保持領先地位，我們將 ESG 舉措視為重要的增長動力。上個季度，我們發布了公司首份企業公民和可持續發展報告。這反映了我們對 ESG 舉措的持續領導、優先排序和董事會監督。我們通過 3 種愛宣布了 2030 年企業可持續發展目標：愛所有人、愛我們的團隊以及愛我們的星球和產品。

As we enhance our corporate citizenship and sustainability goals, we believe in prioritizing our own team. This quarter, we launched Signet's first team member experience, which is focused on providing team members with an exceptional and inclusive place to work while also providing a robust set of learning and career development opportunities. Having been named a certified Great Place to Work company last year, we aim to keep our high engagement and discretionary effort momentum going.

隨著我們加強企業公民和可持續發展目標，我們相信優先考慮我們自己的團隊。本季度，我們推出了 Signet 的第一個團隊成員體驗，專注於為團隊成員提供卓越且包容的工作場所，同時還提供一系列強大的學習和職業發展機會。去年被評為經認證的最佳工作場所公司，我們的目標是保持我們的高參與度和自主努力的勢頭。

And we are active in the communities we serve as advocates for change. We made the first donation from our Signet Love Inspires Foundation to the Equal Justice Initiative as there is much to be done to fight systemic racism. And in line with our mission of celebrating life and expressing love for all, the company is celebrating Pride Month across Signet banners and has endorsed the Human Rights Council's business statement on anti-LGBTQ+ state legislation. As a global company with long-standing partners and vendors around the world, we donated to the Gajera Charitable Trust in India with the intention of support for COVID relief efforts.

我們積極參與我們作為變革倡導者所服務的社區。我們從 Signet Love Inspires Foundation 向平等正義倡議捐贈了第一筆捐款，因為在打擊系統性種族主義方面還有很多工作要做。根據我們慶祝生活和表達對所有人的愛的使命，公司正在通過 Signet 橫幅慶祝驕傲月，並批准了人權理事會關於反 LGBTQ+ 州立法的商業聲明。作為一家在全球擁有長期合作夥伴和供應商的全球性公司，我們向印度的 Gajera Charitable Trust 捐款，旨在支持 COVID 救援工作。

We believe these purpose-inspired actions are attracting even more top talent to our highly dedicated team and are attracting and appealing to customers who are voting with their wallets in support of companies and brands that share their values and take a stand.

我們相信，這些有目的的行動正在為我們高度敬業的團隊吸引更多的頂尖人才，並吸引並吸引那些用錢包投票支持分享其價值觀並採取立場的公司和品牌的客戶。

In summary, the Inspiring Brilliance phase of our transformation is off to a strong start. We outperformed expectations in Q1, and we're making progress in all of our strategic focus areas. We are growing our core strengths into meaningful competitive advantages. And most importantly, we are outpacing the market, growing share and fulfilling our purpose as a company.

總之，我們轉型的“鼓舞人心的輝煌”階段已經有了一個良好的開端。我們在第一季度的表現超出了預期，我們在所有戰略重點領域都取得了進展。我們正在將我們的核心優勢發展為有意義的競爭優勢。最重要的是，我們正在超越市場、擴大市場份額並實現我們作為公司的目標。

We still have plenty of hard work to do to sustain our performance and deliver long-term growth. But we're encouraged by the momentum that's building and inspired by the opportunity to serve our customers and help grow the jewelry industry.

為了維持我們的業績和實現長期增長，我們還有很多工作要做。但我們對正在形成的勢頭感到鼓舞，並受到為客戶服務和幫助珠寶行業發展的機會的啟發。

I'll now turn the call over to Joan.

我現在將把電話轉給瓊。

Thanks, Gina. Hello, everyone. Inspiring Brilliance is advancing our transformation and has accelerated our growth to deliver a strong first quarter performance. Our top line is outpacing the U.S. specialty jewelry market, and we believe we are winning share, particularly in the mid-market.

謝謝，吉娜。大家好。 Inspiring Brilliance 正在推進我們的轉型並加速我們的增長，以實現強勁的第一季度業績。我們的收入超過了美國專業珠寶市場，我們相信我們正在贏得市場份額，尤其是在中端市場。

There are 4 key highlights this quarter. First, our financial performance was strong in the quarter as we grew our top and bottom lines on a lower store base. We grew our top line through higher conversion and average order value despite lower traffic. Our top line strength was complemented by our continued cost discipline and leveraging of our fixed cost base. Second, our balance sheet is strong. Efficient use of working capital through inventory reduction and spend management delivered an increase in liquidity to last year.

本季度有 4 個主要亮點。首先，我們在本季度的財務表現強勁，因為我們在較低的商店基礎上增加了收入和利潤。儘管流量較低，但我們通過更高的轉化率和平均訂單價值增加了收入。我們持續的成本紀律和利用我們的固定成本基礎補充了我們的頂線實力。其次，我們的資產負債表很強勁。通過減少庫存和支出管理有效利用營運資金使流動性比去年有所增加。

Third, we successfully executed new credit agreements, resulting in benefits to our customers and favorable economics to Signet, reflected in our raise of cost savings guidance. Lastly, we're committed to invest in Signet's growth and are raising our capital expenditures for the fiscal year. We are investing in our talent, banner differentiation and technology. We are also pleased to announce today the reinstatement of a common dividend, demonstrating our confidence in cash flows and business performance despite our conservative view of the back half.

第三，我們成功執行了新的信貸協議，為我們的客戶帶來了好處，並為 Signet 帶來了有利的經濟效益，這反映在我們提高了成本節約指導上。最後，我們致力於投資 Signet 的增長，並提高本財年的資本支出。我們正在投資於我們的人才、旗幟差異化和技術。我們今天也很高興地宣布恢復普通股息，這表明我們對現金流和業務表現充滿信心，儘管我們對後半部分持保守看法。

Turning to the quarter. First quarter total sales grew 98.2% over last year on a lower store base. Our sales growth was broad-based. We saw strong performance across formats, regions, channels and categories. While overall jewelry category trends remain healthy, we continue to outpace the market growth.

轉向季度。由於店鋪基數較低，第一季度總銷售額比去年增長了 98.2%。我們的銷售增長基礎廣泛。我們看到了跨格式、區域、渠道和類別的強勁表現。雖然整體珠寶類別趨勢保持健康，但我們繼續超過市場增長。

According to MasterCard data, the U.S. specialty jewelry market grew over 72% for the 3 months ending in April. Compared to that market growth, our U.S. banners grew total sales more than 109% this quarter. Our integrated strategic choices, including new Connected Commerce capabilities, modern marketing strategies and enhanced product assortment are all enabling a more than 250 basis point increase to our brick-and-mortar conversion rate within our biggest businesses versus 2 years ago.

根據萬事達卡數據，截至 4 月的 3 個月，美國特色珠寶市場增長超過 72%。與該市場增長相比，我們的美國橫幅本季度總銷售額增長了 109% 以上。我們的綜合戰略選擇，包括新的互聯商務功能、現代營銷策略和增強的產品分類，都使我們在最大業務中的實體轉換率與 2 年前相比提高了 250 多個基點。

Moving on to gross margin. We delivered approximately $680 million this quarter or 40.3% of sales. While that rate is a significant improvement to last year, when we look back versus 2 years ago, this is a 540 basis point improvement.

繼續毛利率。本季度我們交付了大約 6.8 億美元，佔銷售額的 40.3%。雖然這一比率與去年相比有了顯著改善，但當我們回顧與 2 年前相比時，這是一個 540 個基點的改善。

We expanded our gross margin rate through a combination of factors. First, our top line performance allowed us to leverage fixed costs, and we are benefiting from cost savings within gross margin. Second, services revenue carries a more favorable margin profile and is growing, importantly, compared to 2 years ago, in programs such as extended service agreements. Lastly, through enhanced pricing discipline and new capabilities, we improved our merchandise margin during the quarter. Flexible fulfillment and ship from store provide our customers nearly all of our products across our channels while more effectively managing our inventory throughout its life cycle. For the first time, shift from store automation is now available across all of our banners.

我們通過多種因素擴大了毛利率。首先，我們的頂線表現使我們能夠利用固定成本，並且我們從毛利率內的成本節約中受益。其次，與兩年前相比，服務收入的利潤率更為有利，而且在擴展服務協議等項目中正在增長。最後，通過加強定價紀律和新功能，我們提高了本季度的商品利潤率。靈活的履行和從商店發貨通過我們的渠道為我們的客戶提供幾乎所有的產品，同時在整個生命週期更有效地管理我們的庫存。現在，我們所有的橫幅都可以實現從商店自動化的轉變，這是第一次。

Turning to SG&A. SG&A was approximately $512 million or 30.3% of sales. Here, again, the rate reflects a significant improvement to last year but it was also a 290 basis point improvement to 2 years ago. We're effectively using data analytics to create a labor model that integrates our new capabilities, resulting in a 60% improvement in labor productivity versus 2 years ago. Our new labor model, coupled with our enhanced product assortment and marketing strategies, resulted in a 15.2% increase in our North America average transaction value to last year.

轉向SG&A。 SG&A 約為 5.12 億美元，佔銷售額的 30.3%。在這裡，該利率再次反映了與去年相比的顯著改善，但與兩年前相比也提高了 290 個基點。我們正在有效地使用數據分析來創建一個集成了我們新能力的勞動模型，與 2 年前相比，勞動生產率提高了 60%。我們新的勞動力模式，加上我們增強的產品分類和營銷策略，使我們的北美平均交易價值比去年增長了 15.2%。

In addition to labor productivity improvements, we are continuing our cost savings efforts, including technology harmonization, optimizing our real estate portfolio and overall spend management. Non-GAAP operating profit was $168.9 million compared to an operating loss of $142.5 million in the prior year. First quarter non-GAAP diluted EPS was $2.23, up from a loss per share of $1.59 in the prior year.

除了提高勞動生產率外，我們還在繼續努力節省成本，包括技術協調、優化我們的房地產投資組合和整體支出管理。非美國通用會計準則營業利潤為 1.689 億美元，而去年的營業虧損為 1.425 億美元。第一季度非公認會計原則攤薄後每股收益為 2.23 美元，高於上年每股虧損 1.59 美元。

Turning to the balance sheet. We continue to drive working capital efficiencies. We reduced our inventory by $373 million to this time last year. Accounts payable also remains an important component of our working capital management, and we continue to effectively manage payment terms within our network of vendors. We ended the quarter with $2.5 billion in liquidity, up over $1.2 billion to last year. Recall, we have no drawings under our revolver, and our longer-term obligations mature in calendar 2024.

轉向資產負債表。我們將繼續提高營運資金效率。到去年這個時候，我們將庫存減少了 3.73 億美元。應付賬款也仍然是我們營運資金管理的重要組成部分，我們將繼續有效地管理我們供應商網絡內的付款條款。我們在本季度末的流動資金為 25 億美元，比去年增加了 12 億美元。回想一下，我們的左輪手槍下沒有圖紙，我們的長期義務在 2024 年到期。

Turning now to financial services. And as recently announced, we finalized agreements to restructure our credit offerings. We've extended and expanded agreements with 2 of our long-standing credit partners through calendar year 2025. The terms of the new agreements will help to streamline the process for customers. As an example, ADS will originate a wider array of customer profiles, and Genesis will expand our second-look program to do the same. I'd note that all banners will now harmonize to offer our customers no down payment financing with a minimum monthly payment structure. These agreements, which are effective July 1, also provide favorable economics to Signet.

現在轉向金融服務。正如最近宣布的那樣，我們最終敲定了重組我們的信貸產品的協議。我們已將與我們的兩個長期信貸合作夥伴的協議延長和擴展至 2025 日曆年。新協議的條款將有助於為客戶簡化流程。例如，ADS 將創建更廣泛的客戶檔案，Genesis 將擴展我們的二次審查計劃以做同樣的事情。我注意到，所有橫幅現在都將協調一致，以最低每月付款結構為我們的客戶提供無首付融資。這些自 7 月 1 日起生效的協議也為 Signet 帶來了有利的經濟效益。

As these agreements were more favorable than originally contemplated, we're raising our fiscal '22 cost savings guidance by $20 million to a range of $75 million to $95 million, and we now expect cumulative 3-year cost savings to be in the range of $220 million to $240 million. Recall our current agreements with third-party nonprime receivable purchasers are in place until the end of June. We have signed a nonbinding letter of intent with them and are currently working towards a definitive agreement, and the terms would remove consumer credit risk from our balance sheet.

由於這些協議比最初預期的更有利，我們將 22 財年的成本節約指導提高了 2000 萬美元，達到 7500 萬美元至 9500 萬美元的範圍，我們現在預計 3 年的累計成本節約將在2.2億至2.4億美元。回想一下，我們目前與第三方非優質應收款購買者的協議有效期至 6 月底。我們已經與他們簽署了一份不具約束力的意向書，目前正在努力達成最終協議，這些條款將消除我們資產負債表中的消費者信用風險。

Now I'd like to discuss our fiscal 2022 financial guidance. We continue to expect stronger sales performance in the first half of the fiscal year. As the vaccine rollout progresses, we continue to believe there could be a shift in wallet share away from the jewelry category toward experience-oriented categories, the magnitude and timing of which is difficult to predict. As such, we're planning for increased marketing expenses to continue to fuel momentum in the front half as well as proactively manage against changes in consumer spending as the year progresses. As a result, we continue to conservatively plan for same-store sales to be negative in the second half of the fiscal year. Additionally, India continues to see the tragic impact of the pandemic. And while we've proactively managed against disruptions to date, supply chain risk could increase later in the year.

現在我想討論我們的 2022 財年財務指導。我們繼續預計本財年上半年的銷售業績將更加強勁。隨著疫苗推出的進展，我們仍然認為錢包份額可能會從珠寶類別轉向以體驗為導向的類別，其幅度和時間難以預測。因此，我們計劃增加營銷費用，以繼續推動上半年的勢頭，並隨著時間的推移積極應對消費者支出的變化。因此，我們繼續保守地計劃本財年下半年的同店銷售額為負數。此外，印度繼續看到大流行的悲慘影響。雖然迄今為止我們已經積極應對中斷，但供應鏈風險可能會在今年晚些時候增加。

We expect second quarter total sales in the range of $1.6 billion to $1.65 billion with same-store sales in the range of 76% to 82% and non-GAAP EBIT of $118 million to $130 million. For the fiscal year, we now expect total sales to be in the range of $6.5 billion to $6.65 billion with same-store sales in the range of 24% to 27% and non-GAAP EBIT of $490 million to $545 million.

我們預計第二季度總銷售額在 16 億美元至 16.5 億美元之間，同店銷售額在 76% 至 82% 之間，非美國通用會計準則息稅前利潤為 1.18 億美元至 1.3 億美元。對於本財年，我們現在預計總銷售額將在 65 億美元至 66.5 億美元之間，同店銷售額在 24% 至 27% 之間，非美國通用會計準則息稅前利潤為 4.9 億美元至 5.45 億美元。

We remain on track to open up to 100 locations and close at least 100 locations with 9 openings and 9 closings this year. This includes the testing of formats that are quick to set up and require significantly less inventory on hand as well as formats that contain multiple banners. We'll continue using format testing this year to determine the best way to offer our customers our breadth of capabilities as efficiently and effectively as possible.

我們仍有望在今年開設多達 100 個地點並關閉至少 100 個地點，其中 9 個開設和 9 個關閉。這包括測試可快速設置且所需庫存顯著減少的格式以及包含多個橫幅的格式。今年我們將繼續使用格式測試來確定盡可能高效和有效地為我們的客戶提供廣泛功能的最佳方式。

Our long-term capital priorities remain to invest in the business, pay down debt and return capital to our shareholders. First, in keeping with these priorities and as a result of our performance and cash generation, we are increasing our CapEx by $25 million to invest in growth initiatives. This brings our fiscal '22 capital expenditures to a range of $175 million to $200 million, with a continued focus on digital and technology investments to further strengthen our competitive advantage and long-term positioning.

我們的長期資本優先事項仍然是投資於業務，償還債務並將資本返還給我們的股東。首先，為了與這些優先事項保持一致，並且由於我們的業績和現金產生，我們將資本支出增加 2500 萬美元，以投資於增長計劃。這使我們的 22 財年資本支出達到 1.75 億美元至 2 億美元，並繼續專注於數字和技術投資，以進一步加強我們的競爭優勢和長期定位。

Second, recall that we paid down the balance of our revolver and FILO loan in Q4 of fiscal '21 and our remaining maturities, which carry favorable interest rates, come due in calendar 2024. And third, on capital return. As we announced today, we are pleased to return cash to shareholders through a common quarterly dividend, which has been reinstated at $0.18 per share.

其次，請回想一下，我們在 21 財年第四季度還清了左輪手槍和 FILO 貸款的餘額，而我們剩餘的利率優惠的到期日將於 2024 年到期。第三，資本回報。正如我們今天宣布的那樣，我們很高興通過共同的季度股息向股東返還現金，該股息已恢復為每股 0.18 美元。

Before we open the call for Q&A, I'd like to take a moment to thank our Signet team. We're proud of the results we delivered this quarter, and we're proud of our team's execution and commitment to each other and to our customers. And as we look ahead, we remain focused on our continued transformation under Inspiring Brilliance.

在我們打開問答電話之前，我想花一點時間感謝我們的 Signet 團隊。我們為本季度取得的成果感到自豪，我們為團隊的執行力和對彼此以及對客戶的承諾感到自豪。展望未來，我們將繼續專注於 Inspiring Brilliance 的持續轉型。

And now I'll turn the call over to the operator to begin the Q&A session.

現在我將把電話轉給接線員開始問答環節。

(Operator Instructions) First question comes from Paul Lejuez from Citi.

（操作員說明）第一個問題來自 Citi 的 Paul Lejuez。

A couple of questions. One, can you just remind us what percent of your product comes from India? What you're seeing currently in terms of delays? Second, you mentioned -- I think you're planning an increase in marketing expense. Curious if you could just size that for us. So what are you comparing that to when you say an increase? How does it look versus 2019 levels? And then last, curious if you could just share the performance of stores that you've got that share, a center with another one of your banners versus those that sort of stand alone in the center?

幾個問題。一，你能提醒我們你的產品有多少來自印度嗎？您目前看到的延誤情況是什麼？其次，您提到-我認為您正在計劃增加營銷費用。好奇你是否可以為我們調整尺寸。那麼，當您說增加時，您將其與什麼進行比較？它與 2019 年的水平相比如何？最後，好奇您是否可以分享您擁有該份額的商店的表現，一個帶有另一個橫幅的中心與那些獨立在中心的那些？

Hi, Paul. I'll start out on the India question. We haven't actually given a percentage of merchandise that comes from any different country but let me answer your question in a different way. So first and foremost, we're very concerned about the families and teams of our India partners. It's one of the reasons why we made the donation to the Gajera Trust that I offered earlier or talked about earlier. We've also been in very close touch with our vendors on their production planning. We've actually pulled forward significantly our holiday orders. And what this does is it gives our vendors the opportunity to better plan their production. And as they do that, they can create more social distancing, keep their employees safe, that kind of thing.

嗨，保羅。我將從印度問題開始。我們實際上並沒有給出來自任何不同國家的商品的百分比，但讓我以不同的方式回答您的問題。因此，首先，我們非常關心我們印度合作夥伴的家庭和團隊。這是我們向我之前提供或之前談到的 Gajera 信託基金捐款的原因之一。我們還與我們的供應商就他們的生產計劃保持密切聯繫。我們實際上已經大大提前了我們的假期訂單。這樣做的目的是讓我們的供應商有機會更好地規劃他們的生產。當他們這樣做時，他們可以創造更多的社會距離，保證員工的安全，諸如此類。

As we look at their capacity, even if some of them are running in the 50% range or in the 70% range of capacity, we believe that we have secured sufficient capacity to deliver the orders that we need between now and holiday. Part of this comes because we've really strengthened our relationship with strategic vendors over the last couple of years. We've narrowed that vendor base. And as we worked with those vendors, they've diversified their production capabilities. So they're not singularly in India for production. Many of them have expanded to other markets, whether that's China or Thailand or Vietnam, and so we're able to access those production sites as well. So any disruption that we might see from this year, we've already factored into our guidance.

當我們查看他們的產能時，即使其中一些產能在 50% 或 70% 範圍內運行，我們相信我們已經獲得了足夠的產能來交付從現在到假期之間我們需要的訂單。部分原因是我們在過去幾年中確實加強了與戰略供應商的關係。我們縮小了供應商基礎。當我們與這些供應商合作時，他們的生產能力已經多樣化。因此，它們並不是專門在印度進行生產的。他們中的許多人已經擴展到其他市場，無論是中國、泰國還是越南，因此我們也能夠進入這些生產基地。因此，我們今年可能會看到任何中斷，我們已經將其納入我們的指導。

And Paul, with respect to marketing, our expense marketing increases in spend are reflected as well in our guidance. And I would remind you that, as we said in the past, we can leverage our cost base on a slightly positive -- flat to slightly positive comp. So that's in our thinking as well. In Q1, you can see that we were able to leverage our costs significantly, and that as well had an incremental marketing spend. So marketing for us is an effective mix of digital and social, and we are working that on a day-by-day, week-by-week basis, with our marketing team. So we feel very good about our ability to be flexible, and we're holding the marketing spend within our guidance because of -- as the year progresses and the relative uncertainty of the back half. And the potential shift of customer behavior to travel and other experience-oriented categories, we believe that's very important for us to maintain that flexibility.

保羅，在營銷方面，我們的費用營銷支出增加也反映在我們的指導中。我會提醒你，正如我們過去所說，我們可以利用我們的成本基礎略微積極 - 持平到略微積極的補償。所以這也是我們的想法。在第一季度，您可以看到我們能夠顯著利用我們的成本，並且還增加了營銷支出。因此，對我們而言，營銷是數字和社交的有效結合，我們正在與我們的營銷團隊每天、每週進行這項工作。因此，我們對自己的靈活性能力感到非常滿意，並且我們將營銷支出控制在我們的指導範圍內，因為隨著時間的推移以及下半年的相對不確定性。以及客戶行為向旅行和其他以體驗為導向的類別的潛在轉變，我們認為這對我們保持這種靈活性非常重要。

With respect to real estate and multiple banners in specific malls. As we said in the past through our data analytics, we look at our real estate on a trade area basis. And so we do have, clearly, locations with multiple banners of Pagoda, a Zales, a Kay, a Jared, a James Allen. And what we find is that it's based on the market. We don't see a distinctive difference between banners within a specific mall. And as I mentioned in my remarks, we saw strong performance across category, geography, real estate. So we're really not seeing a distinctive difference. Strong across all.

關於房地產和特定商場的多個橫幅。正如我們過去通過數據分析所說，我們在貿易區域的基礎上查看我們的房地產。因此，很明顯，我們確實有多個帶有 Pagoda、Zales、Kay、Jared、James Allen 橫幅的地點。我們發現它是基於市場的。我們沒有看到特定商場內的橫幅之間存在明顯差異。正如我在講話中提到的那樣，我們在品類、地域和房地產方面都看到了強勁的表現。所以我們真的沒有看到明顯的差異。全面強大。

(Operator Instructions) The next question comes from Dana Telsey from Telsey Advisory Group.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自 Telsey 諮詢集團的 Dana Telsey。

Congratulations on the nice progress. As you look at the average transaction value up, both obviously in North America and international, what are you -- how are you thinking about pricing? And was it in any particular category where you're seeing the change? And just any other particular category call-outs, particularly as we go into the back half of the year? And any product and marketing initiatives we should be watching for?

祝賀取得了不錯的進展。當你看到平均交易價值上升時，顯然在北美和國際上，你是什麼 - 你如何考慮定價？它是否在您看到變化的任何特定類別中？以及任何其他特定類別的呼籲，尤其是在我們進入下半年的時候？以及我們應該關注的任何產品和營銷計劃？

Dana, thanks so much. I'll start on that one. The ATV increases that we're seeing are actually broad-based. So we saw them both in brick-and-mortar and in e-commerce, and we saw them across our banners and we saw it in both bridal and fashion. We would credit that to a couple of things. One is I think we're doing a better job getting the right customers to the right banner based on all of our targeted marketing and our new more distinctive banner value propositions. And then we're better targeting the assortments that we have available in those banners.

達納，非常感謝。我將從那個開始。我們看到的 ATV 增長實際上是廣泛的。所以我們在實體店和電子商務中都看到了它們，我們在橫幅上看到了它們，我們在婚紗和時尚中都看到了它們。我們將這歸功於幾件事。一是我認為基於我們所有的有針對性的營銷和我們新的更獨特的橫幅價值主張，我們在讓正確的客戶使用正確的橫幅方面做得更好。然後我們會更好地定位我們在這些橫幅中提供的分類。

We anticipated that there would be some tailwinds from stimulus and tax refund checks, and we actually broadened our assortment to reach more price points so that when we had customers, either interact with us online or in-store, we could get higher conversion rates, that's what we saw, and particularly, when we have a counseled sale. So for example, in e-com, when someone interacts with one of our virtual consultants versus just navigating fully on their own, we're seeing that ATV is up substantially. So that consultation really makes a difference to give customers confidence in the product that they're buying, so broad-based and I think also reflective of some of the new strategies that we're putting in place.

我們預計刺激和退稅檢查會帶來一些好處，實際上我們擴大了產品種類以達到更多的價格點，這樣當我們有客戶時，無論是在線還是在店內與我們互動，我們都可以獲得更高的轉化率，這就是我們所看到的，尤其是當我們進行諮詢銷售時。因此，例如，在電子商務中，當有人與我們的一位虛擬顧問互動而不是完全靠自己導航時，我們看到 ATV 大幅上升。因此，諮詢確實有所作為，讓客戶對他們購買的產品充滿信心，基礎廣泛，我認為也反映了我們正在實施的一些新策略。

And then with respect to the product and marketing initiatives that -- I would just add on here, Dana, as Gina cited a point that in our biggest banners, we were able to attract 60% of our growth was related to new customers. So I think that speaks to the strength of marketing and reaching out to our customers at the right time and having the right offer for them to support that average transaction value growth.

然後關於產品和營銷計劃——我想在這裡補充一下，Dana，因為 Gina 引用了一個觀點，即在我們最大的橫幅中，我們能夠吸引 60% 的增長與新客戶有關。因此，我認為這說明了營銷的力量，並在正確的時間與我們的客戶接觸，並為他們提供正確的報價以支持平均交易價值的增長。

Got it. And just one follow-up, inventory levels. How are you planning inventory levels in the second quarter and balance of the year?

知道了。只有一個跟進，庫存水平。您如何計劃第二季度的庫存水平和今年的餘額？

So what we're really pleased with, Dana, is that we've been able to continue on our working capital disciplines and the life cycle management. And as Gina said, inventory management is now institutionalized. And as we think about that, that means the flexible fulfillment. The shift from store automation, buy online, pick up in-store and then having our inventory, all of our product -- nearly all of our product available to our -- all of our customers, irrespective of channel is what we're going to continue to work through and drive our assortment and drive our inventory efficiency. Importantly, this is opening up our ability and the product team's ability to bring in a more frequent flow of new product and particularly important as well when we think about the self purchaser and the fashion customer. So I'm really pleased with how the inventory is being managed by the teams.

因此，Dana，我們真正感到高興的是，我們能夠繼續我們的營運資本紀律和生命週期管理。正如 Gina 所說，庫存管理現在已經制度化。當我們想到這一點時，這意味著靈活的實現。從商店自動化、在線購買、到店取貨，然後擁有我們的庫存，我們所有的產品——幾乎我們所有的產品——我們所有的客戶都可以使用，無論渠道如何，這都是我們的目標繼續努力並推動我們的分類並提高我們的庫存效率。重要的是，這打開了我們的能力和產品團隊帶來更頻繁的新產品流的能力，當我們考慮到自購者和時尚客戶時，這一點尤其重要。因此，我對團隊管理庫存的方式感到非常滿意。

I guess the one thing I would add on that is life cycle management. We're also -- because we're accessing product across our store base nationally, we're able to move more quickly through a markdown cycle. And so we're seeing that happen in a higher-margin way, which is also a benefit for the business.

我想我要補充的一件事是生命週期管理。我們還 - 因為我們正在全國范圍內訪問我們的商店基地的產品，我們能夠在降價週期中更快地移動。因此，我們看到這種情況以更高利潤的方式發生，這對企業來說也是一個好處。

The next question comes from Tim Vierengel from Northcoast Research.

下一個問題來自 Northcoast Research 的 Tim Vierengel。

I was wondering if you guys could just spend a minute walking us through your kind of CapEx, the increase there. And maybe in a longer-term sense, give us an idea of where you feel you are, just maybe in terms of baseball analogy. What inning we are in, in terms of the investments you want to make in technology and stuff there?

我想知道你們是否可以花一分鐘時間帶我們了解一下你們的資本支出，那裡的增長。也許從長遠的角度來看，讓我們了解你的感覺，也許只是在棒球類比方面。就您想在技術和其他方面進行的投資而言，我們處於什麼階段？

So with respect to our capital investment and our increase, it's really about continuing to drive on digital and technology innovation. And we spoke about -- at our Investor Day that our harmonization process is still underway. We believe we have some time to go on that, another year or so. And then the digital investments are ongoing. And we are pulling forward and accelerating the things that we believe have the greatest opportunities for growth and can better serve our customers, and remove friction, and just integrate Connected Commerce in a more powerful way. So that's our focus, and that will continue throughout the next couple of years. And really, it supports our vision that -- in Inspiring Brilliance, that we're looking to connect our customer wherever and whenever and however they want to shop, Tim.

因此，就我們的資本投資和增長而言，這實際上是關於繼續推動數字和技術創新。我們談到 - 在我們的投資者日，我們的協調過程仍在進行中。我們相信我們還有時間繼續下去，再過一年左右。然後數字投資正在進行中。我們正在推進和加速我們認為最有增長機會的事情，可以更好地為我們的客戶服務，消除摩擦，並以更強大的方式整合互聯商務。所以這是我們的重點，並且將在接下來的幾年中持續下去。事實上，它支持我們的願景——在 Inspiring Brilliance 中，我們希望隨時隨地以他們想購物的方式聯繫我們的客戶，Tim。

And I think in terms of the longer-term question that you asked, what we're -- we are a company who is hungry and believe in continual improvement. So I think no matter what phase of the transformation we were in, I would say, third inning. That's because we feel good about the progress that we're making. We've laid a strong foundation. We believe that we are building competitive strengths that are enduring and can lead to long-term sustainable growth. But we always think about the hard work ahead to really make that a reality and never lose sight of the goal, which, of course, is winning the World Series. Thanks for the opportunity on sports analogy.

我認為就您提出的長期問題而言，我們是什麼 - 我們是一家渴望並相信持續改進的公司。所以我認為無論我們處於轉型的哪個階段，我都會說，第三局。那是因為我們對我們正在取得的進展感覺良好。我們打下了堅實的基礎。我們相信，我們正在建立持久的競爭優勢，並能夠帶來長期的可持續增長。但我們總是考慮未來的艱苦工作才能真正實現這一目標，並且永遠不會忘記目標，當然，這就是贏得世界大賽。感謝您提供體育類比的機會。

No, that's great color. I appreciate that. And I guess one just little thing. You mentioned merchandise margin was up during the quarter. It seems across all of retail. Retailers are getting the prices they want with limited promotional activity. Can you walk us through whether you guys -- promotional strategy has changed as you've seen the demand just surge, at least, short term? I think long term, you kind of indicated that you'd manage it to -- in order to capture better sales. But can you just walk us through how you guys are thinking about promotions one more time?

不，這顏色很好。我很感激。我猜只是一件小事。您提到本季度商品利潤率有所上升。它似乎遍及所有零售業。零售商通過有限的促銷活動獲得他們想要的價格。你能告訴我們你們是否 - 促銷策略已經改變，因為你看到需求只是在短期內激增？我認為從長遠來看，你有點表示你會設法 - 為了獲得更好的銷售。但是，您能否再一次向我們介紹一下你們是如何考慮促銷的？

Sure. Thank you. From the perspective of merch margins, the life cycle management itself is helping to really improve. Our margin is benefiting from the life cycle management activity. But from a promotional perspective, what we found is that we are -- because of that, we are able to have leaner markdowns and able to -- you can see that in our average transaction value. So promotion, we're not necessarily pulling back, but it's not as widely cast when we do run promotions. That's number one. Two, the assortment itself is -- and the newness is really the customer is responding to it. So the need for promotion is less, and we're really pleased with that. And as Gina said earlier, the ATV or the assortment lift that we're seeing is broad-based. So it's across fashion and core product and bridal. So it's really a healthy inventory. It's great life cycle management by the team and continued evaluation of where we need to take our price points.

當然。謝謝你。從商品利潤率的角度來看，生命週期管理本身正在幫助真正改善。我們的利潤受益於生命週期管理活動。但從促銷的角度來看，我們發現我們 - 正因為如此，我們能夠進行更精簡的降價並且能夠 - 你可以在我們的平均交易價值中看到這一點。所以促銷，我們不一定要退縮，但是當我們進行促銷時，它並不那麼廣泛。那是第一名。第二，分類本身是——而新鮮感實際上是客戶對它的反應。因此，晉升的需求減少了，我們對此感到非常滿意。正如 Gina 之前所說，我們看到的 ATV 或分類升降機是廣泛的。所以它跨越了時尚、核心產品和新娘。所以這確實是一個健康的庫存。這是團隊進行的出色生命週期管理，並持續評估我們需要採取的價格點。

(Operator Instructions) The next question comes from Lorraine Hutchinson from Bank of America.

（操作員說明）下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Lorraine Hutchinson。

I wanted to follow up on the comments around the enhanced relationship with your credit partners. What's the mix of sales from each type of credit at this point? And can you compare the profitability of sales through your various payment options?

我想跟進有關加強與您的信用合作夥伴關係的評論。在這一點上，每種信貸類型的銷售組合是什麼？您能否通過各種付款方式比較銷售的盈利能力？

So what we can see is that the customer right now, Lorraine, is really -- there's a mixed shift in bank card use versus PLCC versus leasing, and we're seeing the customer being able to make a choice, which is what's really important for us is for them to have a choice and have opportunities to buy jewelry through whatever works best for them.

所以我們可以看到，現在的客戶 Lorraine 確實在銀行卡使用、PLCC 和租賃方面發生了混合變化，我們看到客戶能夠做出選擇，這才是真正重要的對我們來說，他們有選擇權並有機會通過最適合他們的方式購買珠寶。

So with the change in providers, what we're seeing -- or the change in the agreements and the new agreements we just signed, we're seeing that the economic benefit is that ADS and Genesis, through the second-look program with Genesis and ADS, is the prime provider. They're able to offer that to a wider array of customers that would have been purchased through the non-prime provider in the past. So that's where the benefit is coming from. And we're really pleased with the opportunity to harmonize that program as well across our customer base. So it's a customer benefit that we can also offer more promotional programs with them.

因此，隨著供應商的變化，我們所看到的——或者協議的變化和我們剛剛簽署的新協議，我們看到經濟利益是 ADS 和 Genesis，通過與 Genesis 的第二次查看計劃和 ADS，是主要供應商。他們能夠向過去通過非主要提供商購買的更廣泛的客戶提供這種服務。所以這就是好處的來源。我們非常高興有機會在我們的客戶群中協調該計劃。因此，我們還可以與他們一起提供更多促銷計劃，這對客戶有利。

And the other benefit that I would just highlight, as I mentioned in my remarks, is that with the nonbinding letter of intent, that would -- as we move forward and get to a definitive agreement, that would remove consumer credit risk from our balance sheet importantly.

正如我在講話中提到的那樣，我要強調的另一個好處是，通過不具約束力的意向書，隨著我們向前邁進並達成最終協議，這將消除我們餘額中的消費者信用風險表重要。

The other thing I would just add is from the consumer perspective, the variety of finance options that we are now offering is highly appealing. It was a much more narrow set in the past. But for example, online attachment rate for financing alternatives historically has always been lower but we're seeing that grow dramatically. And particularly among Gen Z customers, we're seeing our Affirm split pay product grow. About 60% of the usage of that product is Gen Z. So we're really thinking more strategically about having a mix of financing options that appeal to customers across channels and across demographics.

我要補充的另一件事是從消費者的角度來看，我們現在提供的各種金融選擇非常有吸引力。在過去，它的範圍要窄得多。但例如，從歷史上看，用於融資替代品的在線附件率一直較低，但我們看到這種情況急劇增長。尤其是在 Z 世代客戶中，我們看到我們的 Affirm split pay 產品增長。該產品約 60% 的使用量是 Z 世代。因此，我們確實在更具戰略性地考慮採用多種融資方案來吸引跨渠道和跨人口統計的客戶。

The last question comes from Ike Boruchow from Wells Fargo.

最後一個問題來自富國銀行的 Ike Boruchow。

I guess just 2 questions for me. On the back half comp guidance, can you kind of just maybe give us some insights into how you're thinking about the negative comp, I mean, traffic? Are you expecting it to worsen? Just kind of curious what's going through your thought process just because the business has obviously done -- doing so well in real time but you obviously have some tough compares. So any help there would be great.

我想我只有 2 個問題。關於後半場比賽的指導，你能不能給我們一些關於你如何看待負面比賽的見解，我的意思是，流量？你預計情況會惡化嗎？只是有點好奇你的思維過程正在經歷什麼，因為業務顯然已經完成了——實時做得很好，但你顯然有一些艱難的比較。所以那裡的任何幫助都會很棒。

And then maybe, Joan, just on inflation. I mean, clearly, there's inflation in a lot of the key inputs that you have, gold, silver or diamonds. Can you kind of talk about that? Is that impacting you this year? Is that more of a 2022 dynamic that we need to keep in mind? Just anything there would also be helpful.

然後也許，瓊，只是關於通貨膨脹。我的意思是，很明顯，你擁有的許多關鍵投入，黃金、白銀或鑽石都存在通貨膨脹。你能談談嗎？今年對你有影響嗎？我們需要牢記的是 2022 年的動態嗎？只要有任何東西也會有幫助。

Great. Thanks, Ike. As you noted, the back half of the year is -- remains hard to predict for the reasons that I detailed. But we think there are both headwinds and tailwinds, right? And so as we think about the tailwinds, consumers coming back to the office and the shopping that might entail may include accessorizing as well. We see to your point, on gold, we see continued strength in gold and believe that, that is -- it's a solid trend in that and it's also a fashion trend.

偉大的。謝謝，艾克。正如您所指出的，由於我詳述的原因，今年下半年仍然難以預測。但我們認為既有逆風也有順風，對吧？因此，當我們考慮順風時，回到辦公室的消費者和可能需要的購物也可能包括配飾。我們看到你的觀點，在黃金方面，我們看到黃金持續走強，並相信，這是一個穩固的趨勢，也是一種時尚趨勢。

And so from a fashion perspective, we think that there's strength there. But as we think about the headwinds, the larger headwinds, the pent-up demand for experience-based sectors like vacations and restaurants and movies, that's the unknown that we're just prepared for. And as we mentioned, we're prepared to -- we have marketing in place in our -- and is reflected in our guidance to do our -- do what we can do to control that.

所以從時尚的角度來看，我們認為那裡有力量。但當我們考慮逆風時，更大的逆風，對假期、餐館和電影等體驗型行業的被壓抑的需求，這是我們剛剛準備好的未知數。正如我們所提到的，我們已經準備好 - 我們已經在我們的營銷中 - 並且反映在我們的指導中 - 做我們可以做的事情來控制它。

And as also, you mentioned, we did have a back half comp that was a positive 10%. So we believe that we need to conservatively plan, be realistic, but do the things that we can do within our strategies to drive our business. And we are having traction, as we've mentioned, with our Inspiring Brilliance strategy. So we're seeing that come to life through our marketing our product and our new capabilities. And as we mentioned, we're growing market share. So we'll lean into the good things that we're doing and control the things that we can.

同樣，你提到過，我們確實有一個正的 10% 的後半部分。因此，我們認為我們需要保守地計劃、現實一些，但要在我們的戰略範圍內做我們可以做的事情來推動我們的業務。正如我們已經提到的，我們正在通過我們的 Inspiring Brilliance 戰略獲得牽引力。因此，我們通過營銷我們的產品和我們的新能力看到了這一點。正如我們所提到的，我們正在擴大市場份額。所以我們會專注於我們正在做的好事，並控制我們能做的事情。

And on inflation?

和通貨膨脹？

And on inflation, what we're seeing is it's very interesting. There is elasticity in gold, and the strength in gold, is something that we're able to work through from a pricing perspective, and really work with our vendor base to present product to our customers that enable them to continue to buy gold even with rising prices. So that's that. And then as we look at the vendor networks that we do have, our relationships are very strong, and we're able to work with our vendor teams to put product together to satisfy our customers and continue to drive the economics that we need to drive to support our business.

關於通貨膨脹，我們看到的是它非常有趣。黃金有彈性，黃金的強度是我們能夠從定價的角度解決的問題，並真正與我們的供應商群合作，向我們的客戶展示產品，使他們能夠繼續購買黃金，即使價格上漲。就是這樣。然後，當我們查看我們擁有的供應商網絡時，我們的關係非常牢固，我們能夠與我們的供應商團隊合作，將產品組合在一起以滿足我們的客戶並繼續推動我們需要推動的經濟支持我們的業務。

I guess what I'm asking is the inventory turn for you guys is very slow. So the inflation we're seeing now is really going to come through next year. Is there anything from an AUC perspective that we should kind of keep in mind, that you'll be coming up against, I guess, 12 months from now?

我想我要問的是你們的庫存周轉非常緩慢。所以我們現在看到的通貨膨脹真的會在明年出現。從 AUC 的角度來看，有什麼我們應該記住的事情，我猜 12 個月後你會遇到什麼？

What we're seeing is that we're able to navigate currently. And so -- and as we're buying and buying through our product now that we're able to work our way through it. And we'll continue to do so as we progress through the year. And if we see anything different, we'll be sure to work through that and comment on it in the future.

我們看到的是我們目前能夠導航。所以 - 當我們通過我們的產品進行購買和購買時，我們現在能夠通過它工作。隨著這一年的進展，我們將繼續這樣做。如果我們看到任何不同之處，我們一定會解決這個問題並在未來發表評論。

This concludes our question-and-answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Gina Drosos for any closing remarks.

我們的問答環節到此結束。我想把會議轉回給 Gina Drosos 做任何閉幕詞。

Well, thank you again, everyone, for your questions and your ongoing engagement in our business. We're pleased with our organization's performance this past quarter and confident in our ability to deliver the guidance we've shared here today. I want to thank our team members and partners for their dedication, agility and excellence as we move into this next phase of our transformation. Thank you.

好吧，再次感謝大家提出的問題以及您對我們業務的持續參與。我們對我們組織上個季度的表現感到滿意，並對我們提供今天在這里分享的指導的能力充滿信心。我要感謝我們的團隊成員和合作夥伴在我們進入下一個轉型階段時的奉獻、敏捷和卓越。謝謝你。

The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.

會議現已結束。感謝您參加今天的演講。您現在可以斷開連接。