Brand House Collective Inc (TBHC) 2023 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for participating in today's conference call to discuss wins financial results for the fourth quarter in fiscal year 2023 ended February 3, 2024. Joining us today are Kirkland's Holmes CEO, Amy Sullivan; EVP and CFO. Mike Madden; and the company's external Director of Investor Relations. Cody Cree. Following their remarks, we'll open the call for your questions. Please note, this call is being recorded.

大家早安，感謝大家參加今天的電話會議，討論截至 2024 年 2 月 3 日的 2023 財年第四季度的勝利財務業績。今天加入我們的是 Kirkland's Holmes 執行長 Amy Sullivan；執行副總裁兼財務長。麥克·馬登；以及公司外部投資者關係總監。科迪·克里.在他們發表講話後，我們將開始電話詢問您的問題。請注意，此通話正在錄音。

Before we go further, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Cree as he reads companies Safe Harbor states within the meanings of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 that provides important cautions regarding forward-looking statements.

在我們進一步討論之前，我想將電話轉給克里先生，因為他閱讀了 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》含義內的公司安全港聲明，該法案提供了有關前瞻性陳述的重要警告。

Except for historical information discussed during this conference call, the statements made by Company management are forward-looking and made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provision of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties, which may cause Kirkland's actual results in future periods to differ materially from forecasted results Those risks and uncertainties are more fully described in Kirkland's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

除本次電話會議中討論的歷史資訊外，公司管理層所做的聲明均具有前瞻性，並根據 1995 年《私人證券訴訟改革法案》的安全港條款作出。前瞻性陳述涉及已知和未知的風險和不確定性，可能導致柯克蘭未來時期的實際結果與預測結果有重大差異。柯克蘭向美國證券交易委員會提交的文件中更全面地描述了這些風險和不確定性。

I'd like to remind everyone that this call will be available free telco replay through March 28, 2024. A webcast replay will also be available via the link provided in today's press release as well as on the Company's website at Kirkland's.com.

我想提醒大家，該電話會議將在 2024 年 3 月 28 日之前透過電信公司免費重播。也可透過今天新聞稿中提供的連結以及公司網站 Kirkland's.com 進行網路廣播重播。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Kirkland CEO. Amy Sullivan, over to you.

現在我想將電話轉給柯克蘭執行長。艾米·沙利文，交給你了。

Thank you, Cody, and good morning, everyone. It's great to be joining today's call. As the new CEO of Kirkland's home. I'm incredibly excited and the opportunity at hand to restore our business to historical levels of operating performance and ultimately reach new heights.

謝謝你，科迪，大家早安。很高興參加今天的電話會議。作為柯克蘭家的新任執行長。我非常興奮，有機會將我們的業務恢復到歷史經營績效水平，並最終達到新的高度。

Having spent more than a decade of my career at this great company in various leadership roles, I've had the opportunity to see what works and what doesn't work. The strategic repositioning initiatives that we've implemented during the past year are centered around returning to our value heritage. These initiatives are a modernized version of a previous playbook that consistently delivered healthy results, and we believe we can achieve those results again.

我在這家偉大的公司擔任過各種領導職務，度過了十多年的職業生涯，我有機會看到什麼有效，什麼無效。我們在過去一年實施的策略重新定位措施的核心是回歸我們的價值傳統。這些舉措是先前行動手冊的現代化版本，始終如一地取得了良好的成果，我們相信我們可以再次實現這些成果。

Although our financial performance has lagged for some time, I wanted to remind everyone of the brand power we have as the original Parkland with a strong following built over 50 years. This has culminated into over 1 million followers on both Instagram and Facebook, over 7 million customer transactions per year and more than 18 million customers in our loyalty program. We remain optimistic that with the right strategy in place, we can unlock significant value from our powerful Kirkland brand.

儘管我們的財務表現已經滯後了一段時間，但我想提醒大家，我們作為最初的 Parkland 擁有 50 多年的強大追隨者的品牌力量。這使得 Instagram 和 Facebook 上的追蹤者超過 100 萬，每年超過 700 萬筆客戶交易，我們的忠誠度計畫擁有超過 1800 萬客戶。我們仍然樂觀地認為，只要採取正確的策略，我們就可以從強大的柯克蘭品牌中釋放巨大的價值。

With that broader framework in mind, let's jump into how we closed out the year and the progress we're making towards our five strategic priorities. Fiscal 2023 was a year of significant change across our entire organization. And we are proud to report that we fall some of our initial repositioning strategy to take hold during the holiday season going into this period compared to the same period last year, we had improved marketing, relevant merchandising, more appropriate levels of inventory and a more effective pricing and promotion strategy.

考慮到這個更廣泛的框架，讓我們開始討論我們如何結束這一年以及我們在實現五個策略重點方面所取得的進展。2023 財政年度是我們整個組織發生重大變化的一年。我們很自豪地報告，與去年同期相比，我們在假期期間實施了一些最初的重新定位策略，與去年同期相比，我們改進了行銷、相關商品銷售、更適當的庫存水平和更多的庫存.有效的定價和促銷策略。

As a result, we generated a 1.7% increase in our comparable sales, a strong gross profit margin of 32%, adjusted EBITDA of $14.2 million and healthy operating cash flow if it weren't for the significant weather in January that impacted much of our retail footprint, we would have likely seen a positive sales comp closer to 3%, although we are in the early stages of our strategic repositioning. We are pleased with the momentum we generated to close out the year, which gives us confidence that we are on the right path. We believe we can now take these learnings and continue implementing them in 2024 and beyond to get our business back on track.

結果，我們的可比銷售額成長了1.7%，毛利率高達32%，調整後EBITDA 為1,420 萬美元，如果不是1 月份的惡劣天氣對我們的大部分業務造成影響，我們的營運現金流將保持健康。儘管我們正處於戰略重新定位的早期階段，但我們的零售足跡可能會看到接近 3% 的正銷售比率。我們對今年結束時所產生的勢頭感到高興，這讓我們相信我們正走在正確的道路上。我們相信，我們現在可以汲取這些經驗教訓，並在 2024 年及以後繼續實施，以使我們的業務重回正軌。

Let's dive into how our five strategic priorities played out in Q4 and what we have in store this year. First and foremost, it is imperative. We keep the voice of the customer at the center of our brand and our strategy as we all know, consumers continue to deal with uncertainties in the broader macro environment and remain price sensitive.

讓我們深入了解我們的五個戰略重點在第四季度的實施情況以及我們今年的計劃。首先，也是最重要的一點，這是勢在必行的。我們將客戶的聲音置於我們品牌和策略的中心，眾所周知，消費者繼續應對更廣泛的宏觀環境中的不確定性，並對價格保持敏感。

While this environment does create challenges for us, it also presents a great opportunity to lean into our value-focused heritage, which is resonating with customers. We saw this during holiday as our brand repositioning took hold, driving a 39% reactivation of lapsed customers. We believe our revitalized merchandising and marketing strategy will keep her engaged throughout the year with the customer at the center of our decision making.

雖然這種環境確實為我們帶來了挑戰，但它也提供了一個很好的機會，讓我們能夠繼承我們以價值為中心的傳統，從而引起客戶的共鳴。我們在假期期間看到了這一點，因為我們的品牌重新定位已站穩腳跟，導致 39% 的流失客戶重新活躍。我們相信，我們振興的銷售和行銷策略將使她全年都以客戶為中心參與決策。

We are beginning to see success in many of the pivots within our marketing strategy. As we shared previously, we recalibrated our marketing tactics to reengage our core customer and more specifically to focus our efforts on previously declining brick-and-mortar traffic. We are pleased with the improvement in our store traffic trends shifting from down 10% in the first half of the year to up 2% in Q4, largely driven by geo-targeting in our paid media strategy and the reintroduction of direct mail.

我們開始看到行銷策略的許多關鍵點都取得了成功。正如我們之前分享的，我們重新調整了行銷策略，以重新吸引我們的核心客戶，更具體地說，將我們的努力集中在先前下降的實體流量上。我們很高興看到我們的商店流量趨勢有所改善，從上半年的下降10% 轉變為第四季度的增長2%，這主要是由於我們的付費媒體策略中的地理定位和重新引入直郵而推動的。

Additionally, I'm excited to share that we have formalized an exclusive partnership with a digital marketing technology partner. We worked with this partner in Q4 to test video SMS, resulting in a 75% increase in click-through rate compared to our traditional text SMS program. We plan to utilize this new technology to drive increased customer engagement around new product launches and promotional events.

此外，我很高興地告訴大家，我們已經與數位行銷技術合作夥伴正式建立了獨家合作關係。我們在第四季度與該合作夥伴合作測試了視訊短信，與我們傳統的文字簡訊程式相比，點擊率提高了 75%。我們計劃利用這項新技術來提高客戶對新產品發布和促銷活動的參與度。

As we look ahead to 2024, we expect continued benefits from our reactivation strategies. We will remain nimble in our marketing tactics to ensure we are efficiently managing traffic conversion and acquisition tools to solidify a balanced approach to our brand strategy.

展望 2024 年，我們預期我們的重新啟動策略將持續帶來好處。我們將保持靈活的行銷策略，以確保我們有效地管理流量轉換和獲取工具，以鞏固我們品牌策略的平衡方法。

Our second strategic priority is our commitment to being product obsessed by delivering curated, on-trend and seasonally relevant home decor at a great price. We have brought back on always something new mindset and our customer is responding well, although larger ticket categories such as furniture and wall decor continue to struggle. We are turning lower ticket categories like decorative accessories, holiday and gifting much faster. Decorative accessories exceeded our expectations during the holiday season with a 60% sales comp, providing a perfect example of a value to core category that can drive business year-round.

我們的第二個策略重點是我們致力於以優惠的價格提供精心策劃的、流行的和季節性的家居裝飾產品。我們總是帶回一些新的思維方式，我們的客戶反應良好，儘管家具和牆壁裝飾等較大的門票類別繼續陷入困境。我們正在更快地轉換裝飾配件、節日和禮品等較低票價類別。裝飾配件在節日期間的銷售額達到了 60%，超出了我們的預期，為核心品類的價值提供了一個完美的例子，可以推動全年業務。

Additionally, we reintroduced our gift and impulse category in Q4, which delivered incremental sales that we can now capitalize on in all four quarters. Our holiday assortment was very well received for this year, delivering a 2% sales comp and 13% margin comp, largely driven by strong demand in floral decor and textiles, further solidifying our customers' passion for decorating. We expect growth from all three of these categories throughout the year.

此外，我們在第四季度重新推出了禮品和衝動類別，這帶來了增量銷售，我們現在可以在所有四個季度中利用這些增量。今年我們的節日產品系列非常受歡迎，銷售額增長了 2%，利潤增長了 13%，這主要是受到花卉裝飾和紡織品的強勁需求推動，進一步增強了客戶對裝飾的熱情。我們預計這三個類別全年都會出現成長。

Now I want to turn to our third strategic priority, delivering an omnichannel strategy that meet her whenever and wherever she wants to shop. As I shared earlier, we are seeing a positive trend in store traffic from our marketing and merchandising repositionings. While we have plenty of opportunity to maximize brick and mortar sales through continued execution, our e-commerce business has much more strategic and structural work to be done in order to capture its full potential.

現在我想談談我們的第三個策略重點，即提供全通路策略，以滿足她隨時隨地購物的需求。正如我之前分享的那樣，我們的行銷和商品重新定位使商店客流量呈現出積極的趨勢。雖然我們有很多機會透過持續執行來最大化實體銷售，但我們的電子商務業務還有更多的策略和結構性工作要做，以充分發揮其潛力。

There has certainly been a channel shift among consumers back to in-store, but over the long term, we believe in the necessity of a strong e-commerce channel within our overall brand experience, traffic within e-commerce has continued to be challenging. Some of this is due to that macro shift, but some of it is certainly self-inflicted as we realigned our marketing dollars to better support the larger brick-and-mortar channel.

消費者的管道確實已經轉向店內，但從長遠來看，我們相信在我們的整體品牌體驗中需要一個強大的電子商務管道，但電子商務內的流量仍然面臨挑戰。其中一些是由於宏觀轉變造成的，但其中一些肯定是我們自己造成的，因為我們重新調整了行銷資金以更好地支持更大的實體管道。

Additionally, the price resistance to higher ticket categories such as furniture and wall decor has a larger impact to our e-commerce business as those categories have generally been a greater percentage of our online sales over the years. The Kirkland's e-commerce strategy has largely been a subset of the brick and mortar strategy.

此外，家具和牆壁裝飾等高價類別的價格阻力對我們的電子商務業務產生了更大的影響，因為多年來這些類別通常占我們在線銷售的比例較大。柯克蘭的電子商務策略很大程度上是實體策略的一個子集。

But in our commitment to keeping our customer at the center of our brand, we recognize the need to uniquely refine the assortments, promotional marketing and technology experience for online journey. Given our need to improve our online customer experience with modern technology, we are currently in a formal vendor selection process for re-platform with the goal of a fiscal 2025 relaunch.

但在我們致力於將客戶置於品牌中心的過程中，我們認識到需要以獨特的方式完善線上旅程的品種、促銷行銷和技術體驗。鑑於我們需要利用現代技術改善線上客戶體驗，我們目前正在進行正式的供應商選擇流程以進行平台重建，目標是在 2025 財年重新啟動。

In the meantime, we are focused on maximizing conversion and profitability on our existing sites. We have created an internal sales task force focused on optimizing inventory, marketing tactics and promotional strategies to drive e-commerce conversion and a profitability team on refining our shipping and returns process. Overall, we are working on ways to reignite our existing e-commerce business with the ultimate goal of a replatform next year.

同時，我們專注於最大限度地提高現有網站的轉換率和獲利能力。我們創建了一個內部銷售工作小組，專注於優化庫存、行銷策略和促銷策略，以推動電子商務轉化，並創建了一個盈利團隊，負責完善我們的運輸和退貨流程。總體而言，我們正在研究如何重振現有的電子商務業務，最終目標是明年進行平台重整。

Turning to the in-store component of our omnichannel strategy, we are pleased with how our stores have performed throughout 2023, we closed several unprofitable stores that were in locations we felt were not worth salvaging. As we look at our 2024 brick and mortar priorities. We are working to increase our revenue per square foot within our current footprint, with our return to positive traffic, consistent improvement and conversions and faster turning product mix, we believe our in-store opportunity could be an accelerant.

談到我們全通路策略的店內部分，我們對我們的商店在 2023 年全年的表現感到滿意，我們關閉了幾家我們認為不值得挽救的不盈利商店。當我們檢視 2024 年實體優先事項。我們正在努力在目前的足跡內增加每平方英尺的收入，隨著我們恢復積極的客流量、持續的改進和轉換以及更快的產品組合，我們相信我們的店內機會可能會起到促進作用。

We are in the midst of evaluating operating hours across all our stores right now. And we are testing strategies that include opening earlier and saying than later based on current traffic and customer data trends. While it is too early to comment on specific our changes, we are using this testing period to ensure that we aren't leaving any additional profitable sales on the table.

我們目前正在評估所有商店的營業時間。我們正在測試策略，包括根據當前流量和客戶數據趨勢提前開業和推遲開業。雖然現在評論我們的具體變化還為時過早，但我們正在利用這個測試期來確保我們不會留下任何額外的有利可圖的銷售。

And finally, within our omnichannel strategy, there are a few key expansion initiatives that we are exploring. For example, we are looking at a few markets we previously exited that might be beneficial to us as we reengage our core customer. We are in the early stages with our real estate partners, but we have narrowed in on markets that have incremental growth opportunities based on historic sales and current customer demographics. Overall, we are pleased with our brick-and-mortar results and see it as a leading indicator that the customers engaged with our strategic repositioning.

最後，在我們的全通路策略中，我們正在探索一些關鍵的擴張舉措。例如，我們正在尋找一些我們之前退出的市場，當我們重新吸引核心客戶時，這些市場可能對我們有利。我們與房地產合作夥伴的合作還處於早期階段，但我們已經縮小了根據歷史銷售和當前客戶人口統計資料具有增量成長機會的市場範圍。整體而言，我們對實體績效感到滿意，並將其視為客戶參與我們策略重新定位的領先指標。

Now let's discuss the fourth strategy, maintaining disciplined operational effectiveness. With every new initiative and expense that we introduce, we are maintaining a strict discipline to ensure we can see a measurable benefit to our overall profitability. For now, we remain highly focused on implementing the must-have versus a nice-to-have as fiscal responsibility and low risk are key in the short term.

現在讓我們討論第四個策略，保持紀律嚴明的營運效率。對於我們推出的每一項新措施和支出，我們都保持嚴格的紀律，以確保我們能夠看到對我們整體盈利能力的可衡量的好處。目前，我們仍然高度關注實施“必備”與“錦上添花”，因為財務責任和低風險是短期內的關鍵。

More recently, we have invested in improving our planning allocation and pricing and promotion strategy to better forecast what drives traffic and profitable sales. This is the latest health check, and we believe this is an investment that will provide a return this year. This promotional effectiveness tool, coupled with a more disciplined approach to a brand calendar, should aid us an overall control of margin, including our clearance markdown strategy resulting in potential meaningful upside this year.

最近，我們投資改進了規劃分配、定價和促銷策略，以更好地預測推動流量和獲利銷售的因素。這是最新的健康檢查，我們相信這是一項將在今年帶來回報的投資。這種促銷有效性工具，加上對品牌日曆採取更嚴格的方法，應該有助於我們對利潤的整體控制，包括我們的清倉降價策略，從而導致今年潛在的有意義的上漲。

The long-term impact of this implementation will leave the merchants and marketers with a tool to drive into future promotional strategies well in advance of the buying process, driving better management of our in-season sales and profitability.

這項實施的長期影響將為商家和行銷人員提供一個工具，以便在購買過程之前就制定未來的促銷策略，從而更好地管理我們的當季銷售和盈利能力。

We're also evaluating our overall inventory effectiveness to ensure we have the right inventory in the best location at the optimal time to maximize sales and margin through deep analysis of our product lifecycle and current store allocation clusters. We believe there is an opportunity to improve overall inventory turns and profitability by not doing this effectively. We've left margin on the table.

我們還評估我們的整體庫存有效性，以確保我們在最佳時間在最佳地點擁有正確的庫存，透過對產品生命週期和當前商店分配集群的深入分析，最大限度地提高銷售額和利潤。我們相信，如果不有效地做到這一點，就有機會提高整體庫存週轉率和獲利能力。我們已經留有餘地了。

So this could be a significant margin driver for our business going forward. The initial impact of this work will begin to flow through our results in the back half of 2024, but the long-term impact will deliver better inventory optimization, starting with the buying process through the full product lifecycle.

因此，這可能是我們業務未來發展的重要利潤驅動因素。這項工作的初步影響將在 2024 年下半年開始體現在我們的業績中，但長期影響將帶來更好的庫存優化，從購買流程開始，貫穿整個產品生命週期。

Last but certainly not least, our first priority is focused on driving a high-performance organization built for success and continuity with the voice of our associates at the forefront of our culture as we close out 2023 and embark on a new year. I want to recognize and thank all of our associates for their unwavering dedication to our turnaround.

最後但並非最不重要的一點是，在2023 年即將結束並開啟新的一年之際，我們的首要任務是專注於推動建立一個高績效組織，以實現成功和連續性，並在我們的文化中發揮員工的聲音。我要表揚並感謝我們所有的員工為我們的扭虧為盈做出的堅定奉獻。

The passion and energy they bring to every store distribution center and home office has made a tangible difference in our results and so proud of the progress we have made in such a condensed time frame with a limited amount of resources, and we believe we are just getting started with a merchandise and marketing strategy that is generating positive momentum with our customers and a nimble operations team in place to continue driving efficiencies and profitability.

他們為每個商店配送中心和家庭辦公室帶來的熱情和活力對我們的業績產生了切實的影響，我們為我們在有限的資源和如此緊張的時間內取得的進展感到自豪，我們相信我們只是開始實施商品和行銷策略，為我們的客戶和靈活的營運團隊帶來積極的動力，以繼續提高效率和獲利能力。

We believe we are well positioned for this year and beyond. We remain committed to unlocking the true potential of Kirkland's home and delivering long-term value to our stakeholders. We appreciate your continued support and commitment as we navigate our repositioning and we look forward to exceeding your expectations.

我們相信，今年及以後我們已做好充分準備。我們仍然致力於釋放柯克蘭之家的真正潛力，並為我們的利害關係人提供長期價值。感謝您在我們重新定位過程中一如既往的支持和承諾，我們期待超越您的期望。

With that.

接著就，隨即。

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Mike, who will provide detailed commentary on our financial performance and outlook. I'll be back at the end of the call to answer any questions you may have or Mike, over to you.

現在我想把電話轉給麥克，他將對我們的財務表現和前景提供詳細的評論。我會在通話結束後回來回答您可能有的任何問題，麥克，交給您了。

Thank you, Amy, and good morning, everyone. For the fourth quarter, net sales were $165.9 million compared to $162.5 million in the prior year quarter. As the fourth quarter of fiscal 2023 included 14 weeks as compared to 13 weeks in the fourth quarter of last year. The extra week of sales this year amounted to approximately $6.6 million comparable sales using a 13-week comparison increased 1.7% for the quarter.

謝謝艾米，大家早安。第四季淨銷售額為 1.659 億美元，去年同期淨銷售額為 1.625 億美元。2023 財年第四季包括 14 週，而去年第四季為 13 週。今年額外一周的銷售額約為 660 萬美元，與 13 週相比，該季度的可比銷售額增長了 1.7%。

The average store count was down 5% compared to the prior quarter. The increase in comparable sales was driven by an increase in store traffic and omnichannel conversion, partially offset by a decline in the average ticket in both channels.

與上一季相比，平均商店數量減少了 5%。可比較銷售額的成長是由商店客流量和全通路轉換率的增加所推動的，但部分被兩個通路的平均門票下降所抵消。

Breaking down sales within the quarter, comps were up 1% in November, up 5% in December and down 4% in January. January business was hampered by winter weather, which disproportionately affected our store foot footprint.

按本季銷售額細分，11 月年增 1%，12 月年增 5%，1 月年減 4%。一月份的業務受到冬季天氣的阻礙，這對我們的商店足跡造成了不成比例的影響。

Store sales drove the overall comparable sales increase for the quarter posting an increase of 5%, while e-commerce was down 8%. E-commerce accounted for 23% of total sales in the quarter, down from 26% in the prior year quarter.

實體店銷售推動本季整體可比銷售額成長 5%，而電子商務則下降 8%。電子商務佔本季總銷售額的 23%，低於去年同期的 26%。

From a merchandise perspective, decorative accessories, seasonal gift and Lance, all had strong increases versus the prior year as we as we repurposed our assortment to emphasize faster-turning lower price point options declines in the wall categories, furniture and housewares, partially offset the gains.

從商品角度來看，裝飾配件、季節性禮品和蘭斯均較上年強勁增長，因為我們重新調整了產品類別，強調牆壁類別、家具和家居用品中快速轉向的低價位選項的下降，部分抵消了收益。

Sales performance was relatively consistent across geographic regions with particularly strong results in Florida. Gross profit margin increased 720-basis points to 32% of sales compared to 24.8% in the prior year quarter five components of this year-over-year change were as follows.

各地理區域的銷售業績相對一致，佛羅裡達州的銷售業績尤其強勁。毛利率成長了 720 個基點，佔銷售額的 32%，而去年同期為 24.8%。同比變化的五個組成部分如下。

First, merchandise margin increased 410-basis points, 54% versus 49.9% in the prior year quarter. Improved sell-through of our seasonal inventory assortment, combined with lower freight rates and a reduction in clearance activity drove the increase in merchandise margin.

首先，商品利潤率成長了 410 個基點，達到 54%，而去年同期為 49.9%。我們季節性庫存品種的銷售量提高，加上運費下降和清關活動減少，推動了商品利潤的增加。

Second, central distribution costs decreased by 160-basis points to 4.7% of sales compared to 6.3% of sales in the prior year quarter. Increased efficiency and a smoother inventory flow led to lower labor and operational costs within our distribution centers.

其次，中央分銷成本下降了 160 個基點，佔銷售額的 4.7%，而去年同期為 6.3%。效率的提高和庫存流動的順暢使得我們的配送中心內的勞動力和營運成本降低。

Third, outbound freight costs, including both store and e-commerce shipping expenses, decreased 130-basis points to 7% as a percentage of sales compared to the prior year quarter. The comparison reflects a reduction in shipments to the stores in the current year, resulting from lower inventory levels and a reduction in rates on parcel deliveries for store occupancy costs increased 20-basis points to 9.2%. The increase as a percentage of sales is primarily due to increases in the average store rent being slightly more than the comparable sales increase. And lastly, depreciation included in cost of sales decreased by 40-basis points to 1.1%.

第三，與去年同期相比，包括商店和電子商務運輸費用在內的出境運費佔銷售額的百分比下降了 130 個基點，至 7%。這項比較反映了今年商店出貨量的減少，這是由於庫存水準較低以及商店佔用成本增加 20 個基點至 9.2% 導致包裹遞送費率下降所致。佔銷售額百分比的成長主要是由於平均商店租金的成長略高於可比較銷售額的成長。最後，包含在銷售成本中的折舊下降了 40 個基點至 1.1%。

Total operating expenses decreased by $1.1 million to $42.4 million, our 25.5% of sales compared to $43.5 million or 26.8% of sales in the prior year quarter. The decrease in dollars was primarily the result of lower impairment charges of $1.3 million and year-over-year reductions in advertising, e-commerce and corporate salaries.

總營運費用減少了 110 萬美元，降至 4,240 萬美元，佔銷售額的 25.5%，而去年同期為 4,350 萬美元，佔銷售額的 26.8%。美元減少主要是因為減損費用減少 130 萬美元以及廣告、電子商務和企業薪資年減。

These declines were largely offset by the effect of an extra week in the calendar, which accounted for approximately $2.4 million and extra operating expenses in the current year. Adjusted EBITDA, excluding impairment, stock compensation and other minor expenses, was $14.2 million versus $2.6 million in the prior year quarter. This is primarily the result of positive comparable store sales and significant gross margin improvement, along with continued tight expense control.

這些下降在很大程度上被日曆中額外一周的影響所抵消，這導致本年度的額外營運費用約為 240 萬美元。調整後的 EBITDA（不包括減損、股票補償和其他小額費用）為 1,420 萬美元，而去年同期為 260 萬美元。這主要是由於可比商店銷售積極、毛利率顯著提高以及持續嚴格的費用控制的結果。

Operating income was $10.7 million or 6.4% of sales as compared to an operating loss of $3.2 million or 2% of sales. Net other expense, which is largely comprised of interest expense, offset by other income was $749,000 for the quarter compared to $409,000 in the prior quarter. Included in these amounts, net interest expense was $902,000 for the quarter compared to $509,000 in the prior year quarter due to higher borrowing levels and higher interest rates.

營業收入為 1,070 萬美元，佔銷售額的 6.4%，而營業虧損為 320 萬美元，佔銷售額的 2%。本季的其他淨費用（主要由利息費用組成）被其他收入所抵消，為 749,000 美元，而上一季為 409,000 美元。在計入這些金額後，由於借款水準和利率上升，本季的淨利息支出為 902,000 美元，而去年同期為 509,000 美元。

Our income tax for our income tax rate for the quarter was a benefit of 2% of pretax income compared to an expense of 5.2% of pretax loss in the prior year period.

本季所得稅率為稅前收入 2% 的收益，而上年同期的所得稅為稅前虧損的 5.2%。

From a balance sheet perspective, our inventory levels continue to be under control and in line with our planned inventory flow. We ended the quarter with $74.1 million in inventory, a 12% decrease from $84.1 million at the end of the prior year. We had borrowings outstanding at $34 million at year end compared to $15 million at the end of the prior year.

從資產負債表的角度來看，我們的庫存水準繼續受到控制並符合我們計劃的庫存流量。截至本季末，我們的庫存為 7,410 萬美元，比上年末的 8,410 萬美元減少了 12%。截至年底，我們的未償還借款為 3,400 萬美元，而上年末為 1,500 萬美元。

The increase in borrowings reflects the negative operating performance for fiscal 2023 capital expenditures of $4.8 million and $1.2 million in refinancing costs associated with our credit facility amendment in March of 2023 and the closing of our additional credit facility in January of 2024.

借款增加反映了2023 財年480 萬美元的資本支出和120 萬美元的再融資成本的負面經營業績，這些再融資成本與我們於2023 年3 月修改信貸安排以及於2024 年1 月關閉額外信貸安排相關。

As we enter the new fiscal year, we are continuing our policy of not providing specific guidance given the difficulty in forecasting visibility around the macro-economic environment and its impact on our traffic and conversion. However, we do want to provide some color around our expectations in key areas. Early in the first quarter, we have seen continued strength from our brick and mortar stores through positive foot traffic and an improved conversion rate, partially offset by a decline in our average ticket.

當我們進入新的財政年度時，鑑於很難預測宏觀經濟環境的可見性及其對流量和轉換的影響，我們將繼續執行不提供具體指導的政策。然而，我們確實希望圍繞我們在關鍵領域的期望提供一些色彩。在第一季初期，我們看到實體店的客流量和轉換率不斷提高，實體店持續走強，但平均票價的下降部分抵消了這一影響。

Demand on the e-commerce side has been down owing to weaker traffic and conversion trends, along with a lower average order value. February set comp sales results were slightly positive with a strong gross profit improvement and continued expense control.

由於流量和轉換趨勢較弱以及平均訂單價值較低，電子商務方面的需求有所下降。2 月設定的銷售業績略顯樂觀，毛利大幅改善，費用持續控制。

March is off to a softer start from a sales perspective, but we expect some recovery to occur as we close the month with an early Easter this year for the balance of the year we expect improvement in sales as we build towards the holiday season, coupled with continued merchandise margin improvement driven by our assortment shift to faster-turning categories and our aggressive focus on promotional effectiveness and inventory clearance to ensure freshness throughout the year.

從銷售角度來看，3 月份開局較為疲軟，但隨著今年復活節提前結束這個月，我們預計會出現一些復甦，在今年的剩餘時間裡，我們預計隨著假期季節的到來，銷售會有所改善，加上由於我們的品類轉向快速週轉的類別，以及我們積極關注促銷效果和庫存清理以確保全年新鮮度，推動商品利潤率持續提高。

Supply chain costs are declining as we improve labor and transportation efficiency, and we are managing operating expenses very tightly and reducing costs across the business with a favorable macro-economic backdrop. The combinations of these factors provide us with a path to positive adjusted EBITDA in 2024 after two years of losses Looking beyond this year, our goal is to get back to a mid to high single digit adjusted EBITDA margin.

隨著我們提高勞動力和運輸效率，供應鏈成本正在下降，我們正在非常嚴格地管理營運費用，並在有利的宏觀經濟背景下降低整個業務的成本。這些因素的結合為我們提供了一條在經歷兩年虧損後於 2024 年實現正調整 EBITDA 的道路。展望今年之後，我們的目標是恢復到中高個位數的調整後 EBITDA 利潤率。

As Amy outlined, we are beginning to see improvements in sales and merchandise margin through our pricing and promotional strategy. Our long-term sales goals are to return store profitability or productivity to historical levels of $1.4 million through merchandising and marketing initiatives and enhance our e-commerce technology to allow unlock the full potential of that channel.

正如艾米所概述的，透過我們的定價和促銷策略，我們開始看到銷售和商品利潤率的提高。我們的長期銷售目標是透過推銷和行銷計劃將商店盈利能力或生產力恢復到 140 萬美元的歷史水平，並增強我們的電子商務技術以釋放該管道的全部潛力。

On the cost side, we have already taken steps to improve supply chain efficiencies and remove fixed costs from our distribution facilities. We are addressing additional ways to streamline our operating cost structure. Significant reductions have been achieved over the last several years, but we believe there are additional areas to address and redeploy in the coming quarters. We will provide updates on our progress in each one of these areas.

在成本方面，我們已經採取措施提高供應鏈效率並消除分銷設施的固定成本。我們正在尋找其他方法來簡化我們的營運成本結構。過去幾年已經實現了大幅削減，但我們相信未來幾季還有其他領域需要解決和重新部署。我們將提供有關我們在每個領域的進展的最新資訊。

And lastly, I'd like to reiterate our priorities for capital allocation our number one priority for the business right now is returning to positive cash flow as we make progress toward that end, we continued to focus on reducing borrowings and reestablishing a level of liquidity that allows us to operate the business with more flexibility. The expanded credit facility we closed in January was crucial in providing additional capacity as we execute our strategy as we do so we are also focused on reinvesting in the business, e-commerce technology enhancements and targeted store openings and relocations are the priorities for the near term as we continue to execute our repositioning.

最後，我想重申我們的資本配置優先事項，目前我們業務的首要任務是隨著我們朝著這一目標取得進展，恢復正現金流，我們繼續專注於減少借款和重建流動性水平這使我們能夠更靈活地經營業務。我們在一月份關閉的擴大信貸額度對於提供額外產能至關重要，因為我們執行我們的策略，因此我們也專注於對業務的再投資，電子商務技術的增強以及有針對性的商店開業和搬遷是近期的優先事項我們將繼續執行重新定位。

That concludes our prepared remarks. Danielle are now ready for some Q&A.

我們準備好的演講到此結束。丹妮爾現在準備好進行一些問答。

Thank you, sir. We will now begin the question and answer session. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝你，先生。我們現在開始問答環節。（操作員說明）

Jeremy Hamblin, Craig-Hallum.

傑里米·漢布林，克雷格·哈勒姆。

Thanks and congrats on the strong results and momentum in the business. I wanted to come back to the commentary around near term our results. So it sounds like, you know, slightly positive comps in February you noted that March was a bit softer, which I'm assuming means maybe flat or slightly down year-over-year.

感謝並祝賀業務的強勁業績和勢頭。我想回到關於我們近期結果的評論。所以聽起來，你知道，二月份的業績略有積極，你注意到三月份有點疲軟，我認為這意味著可能與去年同期持平或略有下降。

Can you just remind us on when we look at the comparisons that you have year over year, how April shaped up? And then have a follow-on. You noted that you expect some nice improvement on gross margin and in Q1 I wanted to see if you could give us a sense of the magnitude on that you might be expecting that.

您能否提醒我們，當我們查看與去年同期的比較時，四月的情況如何？然後有後續。您指出，您預計毛利率會出現一些不錯的改善，在第一季度，我想看看您是否能讓我們了解您可能期望的改善幅度。

Yes, Jeremy, let me get a little contact, Dan, on sort of March, April. And then Mike can give you some specifics. And just as a reminder for this period that we're in right now, we're lapping pretty high furniture sales and specifically in March, we had a really robust all furniture event last year in 2023.

是的，傑瑞米，丹，讓我在三月、四月的時候稍微聯絡一下。然後麥克可以給你一些細節。正如我們現在所處的這個時期的提醒，我們的家具銷量相當高，特別是在 3 月份，我們去年在 2023 年舉辦了一場非常強勁的全家具活動。

So I think some of our softness year over year is really in still that consistent sort of pressure to the decline in that furniture category. We're still seeing positive momentum in the go forward categories of growth for us and but lapping some of that higher AUR pressure that we're up against last year, I think is really a big part of March as well as the calendar shifts that we're in this year. And we really, as Mike said, I expect that to come back around as we get closer to Easter, which is a key period for us. And then I'll let Mike comment on.

因此，我認為我們逐年的疲軟實際上仍然是家具類別下降的持續壓力。我們仍然看到我們未來成長類別的積極勢頭，但我們去年面臨的一些較高的 AUR 壓力，我認為這確實是 3 月份的一個重要部分，以及日曆的變化我們今年。正如麥克所說，我們確實希望隨著復活節的臨近，這種情況會回來，這對我們來說是一個關鍵時期。然後我會讓麥克發表評論。

And just to add to that. I think if you look at the comps like you're asking, Jeremy, and I think it's a little difficult because of the calendar shifts. You have a not only a calendar shift with Easter. You've got a retail calendar shift that we're dealing with and have been talking about on paper.

只是為了補充這一點。我想，如果你像你問的那樣看比賽，傑里米，我認為由於日曆的變化，這有點困難。復活節不僅僅是日曆上的轉變。我們正在處理並一直在紙上討論零售日曆的變化。

Actually, April was the stronger month last year in the first quarter. But just looking at our promotional calendar and what we have planned, I wouldn't lay too much into that in terms of evaluating as we progress what we're up against just because the calendar is quite different. So I'll just make that point.

事實上，四月是去年第一季表現最強勁的月份。但只要看看我們的促銷日曆和我們的計劃，我就不會因為日曆完全不同而在評估我們所面臨的進展方面投入太多。所以我就強調這一點。

And then on your question about the margin, we continue to see positive trends in each component of the margin, which is encouraging. We're doing a lot of work on the merchandise margin. Amy went through a lot of that in her remarks. That's a key component to driving continued merchandise margin improvement for the rest of the year.

關於你關於利潤率的問題，我們繼續看到利潤率的每個組成部分都呈現出正面的趨勢，這是令人鼓舞的。我們在商品利潤方面做了很多工作。艾米在她的演講中經歷了很多這樣的事。這是推動今年剩餘時間商品利潤率持續改善的關鍵因素。

But if you kind of dig in on that, that's our merchandise margin improvement and we expect that to continue and this year, but also on the supply chain side, which is included in our gross profit margin. We've eliminated a lot of fixed costs closing two hubs last year, closing a lot of off sites we've revised our parcel contract. So that's helping us on the e-commerce side.

但如果你深入研究這一點，那就是我們的商品利潤率的改善，我們預計今年這種情況將持續下去，而且在供應鏈方面也是如此，這包括在我們的毛利率中。去年，我們取消了關閉兩個樞紐的大量固定成本，關閉了許多場外地點，我們也修改了包裹合約。這對我們在電子商務方面有幫助。

And we're doing a really good job of managing routes to our stores and kind of cutting them back where we needed to reduce the costs there and our labor efficiencies getting better along with lower inventory levels. We expect all of that to really be in play for the for the year. So I think last year we had a gross profit margin of [26.7%] on we've got ample improvement in our ability to improve on that for Q1. I don't think it will be to the level of Q4 just because of it the amount of sales that flow through during that timeframe. But I do expect that we'll see significant improvement.

我們在管理通往商店的路線方面做得非常好，並在我們需要的地方削減了路線，以降低成本，並且我們的勞動力效率隨著庫存水平的降低而提高。我們預計所有這些都將在今年真正發揮作用。因此，我認為去年我們的毛利率為 [26.7%]，因為我們在第一季提高毛利率的能力有了很大的提高。我認為它不會達到第四季度的水平，僅僅因為該時間段內的銷售量。但我確實希望我們會看到顯著的改善。

That's great.

那太棒了。

And let me just transition here on to the comments around your e-commerce platform, which it sounds like you don't great improvement on store traffic and e-commerce is struggling a bit more. And I wanted to get into a little bit more detail about the relaunch our plan for 2025. So is the relaunch around e-com more just about fitting the assortment on to better meet the needs of what the online shopper is.

讓我在這裡談談有關您的電子商務平台的評論，聽起來您的商店流量沒有很大改善，而且電子商務也更加困難。我想更詳細地了解 2025 年重新啟動的計劃。因此，圍繞電子商務的重新推出是否更多是為了調整商品種類，以更好地滿足線上購物者的需求。

And is that when you talk about our relaunch of that platform is would it be what portion of the assortment might be different for your e-commerce channel as opposed to what our customers are going to see in stores? And then secondly, do you have from like a technology investments and needed to do that relaunch. Can you can you talk about anything that you think you might need help support that as you move forward, sir?

當您談到我們重新推出該平台時，您的電子商務管道的產品分類中的哪一部分可能與我們的客戶在商店中看到的產品有所不同？其次，您是否有技術投資並需要重新啟動。先生，您能談談您認為在前進過程中可能需要幫助支持的任何事情嗎？

So at sort of the highest level we need to go through and really define the channel strategy for e-commerce. I made a comment in my remarks that e-commerce historically at Kirkland's has been more of just an extension of the brick and mortar strategy. And we recognize that the customer shopping behavior is different online. And as I shared those higher ticket categories like furniture and wall decor have historically been a much more significant part of that business.

因此，在最高層面上，我們需要仔細研究並真正定義電子商務的通路策略。我在發言中指出，從歷史上看，柯克蘭的電子商務更只是實體策略的延伸。我們認識到客戶的線上購物行為有所不同。正如我所分享的那樣，家具和牆壁裝飾等高票價類別歷來是該業務中更重要的一部分。

And that predates even our prior strategy. It's always been a little heavier in those categories and so I think we've got to do a better job at ensuring that we are adequately supporting the assortment mix needs and some of the planning and allocation health checks that we're doing right now is going to help give our merchant team better visibility to demand forecasting online and how that differs from store.

這甚至早於我們之前的策略。在這些類別中，它總是有點重，所以我認為我們必須做得更好，以確保我們充分支持分類組合需求，並且我們現在正在做的一些規劃和分配健康檢查是將幫助我們的商家團隊更好地了解線上需求預測以及它與商店的不同之處。

So it certainly starts with having some adjustments to the assortment strategy to ensure that we're giving that online customer, what she needs in terms of how it would compare to a brick and mortar assortment. We definitely want the overall brand experience, aesthetic design to still be very much one brand, but we believe there's opportunity online, obviously to have some whitespace opportunities test into some new businesses and in the future. Our drop-ship business is a good place to do that. And so that's really sort of the assortment mix part of it.

因此，首先要對分類策略進行一些調整，以確保我們能夠為線上客戶提供她所需要的東西，與實體分類相比如何。我們絕對希望整體品牌體驗、美學設計仍然是一個品牌，但我們相信網路有機會，顯然有一些空白機會測試一些新業務和未來。我們的直運業務是實現這一目標的好地方。這確實是其中的分類混合部分。

And then on the technology side, our current platform is 12 years old. And so most folks, you know, go and upgrade technology every four or five years. And so we are we are really at that point where we're behind the game, in my opinion on really the baseline expectations of what our current customer experience should be online. We have a little more significant depth and conversion. We have some issues on our cart abandonment that continue to hinder us.

然後在技術方面，我們目前的平台已經有 12 年歷史了。因此，大多數人每四、五年就會升級一次技術。因此，我們確實處於遊戲落後的階段，在我看來，我們目前線上客戶體驗的基本預期。我們有更重要的深度和轉換。我們在放棄購物車方面遇到了一些問題，這些問題繼續阻礙著我們。

And so it's time and probably past due time for us to make an investment in a more modernized technology to support our future business. The good news on that, and I won't get into too many specifics unless Mike wants to add some color on it is the cost of maintaining a 12-year old platform is very expensive.

因此，現在是我們投資更現代化的技術來支援我們未來業務的時候了，而且可能已經過去了。好消息是，維護一個已有 12 年歷史的平台的成本非常昂貴，除非 Mike 想對此添加一些色彩，否則我不會透露太多細節。

So as we move forward, where we haven't fully identified which partner we're going to go with, but we're getting near that decision and it will actually be beyond the implementation year, we would see flat to slightly slight savings on a new platform because of how much it's requiring us to sort of Band-Aid our existing ones together.

因此，當我們向前邁進時，我們尚未完全確定將與哪個合作夥伴合作，但我們正在接近做出決定，而且實際上將超出實施年，我們將看到持平或略有節省一個新的平台，因為它需要我們對現有的平台進行創可貼。

So implementation, obviously would be a little bit of a capital outlay and make sure that we're protecting that on our capital budget for whenever that kicks off, whether it's the end of this year, early next year. But it's definitely something that I think will not only improve conversion and ultimately sales, but also will give us probably an expense savings for several years to come just based on being able to walk away from some of these older expenses and these contracts that we have of people helping us manage a really dated website.

因此，實施顯然需要一點資本支出，並確保無論何時開始，無論是今年年底還是明年初，我們都會在資本預算中保護這筆支出。但我認為這絕對不僅會提高轉換率和最終銷售額，而且還可能會在未來幾年為我們節省費用，因為我們能夠擺脫一些舊費用和我們擁有的合約幫助我們管理一個非常過時的網站的人。

Got it.

知道了。

Helpful color.

有用的顏色。

And then just the last two for me and I'll hop out of the queue. What is your CapEx expectation for 2024? And then on the balance sheet side, you know what, Mike do you think would be kind of the peak on need based on your current outlook in terms of what you might draw down on your credit facility?

然後只有最後兩個對我來說，我會跳出隊列。您對 2024 年的資本支出預期是多少？然後在資產負債表方面，你知道嗎，麥克，根據你目前的前景，就你可能提取信貸額度的情況而言，你認為需求達到頂峰嗎？

Yes. So looking at the CapEx on last year, I think we're 4.7 times or so 4.8 times. I think it will be a little bit less than that this year. And we've got some projects that we are doing, but it's very much a maintenance CapEx budget year. So I expect that will be some could be $3 million, $4 million range. I mentioned we're trying to be and play a little offense. I mean, we talked about the e-commerce platform.

是的。所以看看去年的資本支出，我認為我們是 4.7 倍左右，大約是 4.8 倍。我認為今年會比今年少。我們正在做一些項目，但這在很大程度上是維護資本支出預算年。所以我預計這可能是 300 萬美元、400 萬美元的範圍。我提到我們正在努力表現出一點進攻。我的意思是，我們討論了電子商務平台。

We also talked about some real estate. I mean we're trying to it won't be a big program, but we're at least going through an evaluation to really target where we might be able to fill out some markets or enter some new tried-and-true areas that we know will really work for us.

我們也討論了一些房地產。我的意思是，我們正在努力，這不會是一個大計劃，但我們至少正在進行一次評估，以真正確定我們可能能夠填補一些市場或進入一些新的經過驗證的領域，這些領域我們知道這對我們確實有用。

So we're trying to hold back some capability that on the balance sheet side, obviously, our seasonality dictates how borrowings occur in our inventory flow, and we expect a normal buildup in inventory. I think we will peak out higher than last year on the borrowing simply because we're starting higher we do have more capacity and that capacity expands as we get deeper into the season. But on how much and the timing will really have a lot to do with that but it's going to be more than last year, but we do have additional capacity to cover that this year.

因此，我們試圖抑制資產負債表方面的一些能力，顯然，我們的季節性決定了庫存流中藉款的方式，並且我們預計庫存會正常增加。我認為我們的借貸高峰將高於去年，因為我們的起點更高，我們確實擁有更多的產能，隨著季節的深入，產能會擴大。但具體數量和時間確實與此有很大關係，但會比去年更多，但今年我們確實有額外的能力來滿足這項要求。

Got it.

知道了。

Thanks so much and good luck this year.

非常感謝，祝今年好運。

Thanks, Jeremy.

謝謝，傑里米。

It's Jeremy.

是傑里米。

John Lawrence, The Benchmark Company.

約翰·勞倫斯，基準公司。

Great, thanks and congrats, guys. On a great fourth quarter.

太好了，謝謝並恭喜你們。第四季表現出色。

Can you, Amy, can you talk a little bit about when you went into holiday and just looking at the whiteboard across the categories, what would you say you give the grades to what you expected to be really good and how it turned out from sort of the planning and allocation standpoint and presentation and maybe what surprised you or what disappointed you In short, sir,

艾米，你能談談當你去度假時，只是看著白板上的各個類別，你會怎麼說你給你期望的真正好的成績以及結果如何？規劃和分配的立場和演示，也許是什麼讓您感到驚訝或失望簡而言之，先生，

I would say obviously, just from a volume perspective and another win for this category is that holiday continues, as we all know, to be really a hero category for this brand. And so we have a really strong result. I think the merchants have that team did a really great job of rightsizing the value and buying into depth of key items on we had a handful of items in our floral category on that really had a viral reaction out in the consumer marketplace. So that was a huge win for us.

我想說，顯然，僅從銷售角度來看，該類別的另一個勝利是，眾所周知，假期繼續成為該品牌的真正英雄類別。所以我們得到了非常好的結果。我認為商家團隊在調整價值和深入購買關鍵商品方面做得非常出色，因為我們的花卉類別中有一些商品在消費者市場上確實引起了病毒式反應。所以這對我們來說是一個巨大的勝利。

And strategically, we reimplemented the gift category, which you've been with us long enough to know that has historically been a really strong part of the business faster, turning really high margins. And we were very pleased I'm not shocked because I think we all had really high expectations of the category, but it did exceptionally well.

從策略上講，我們重新實施了禮品類別，您已經和我們在一起很長時間了，知道它在歷史上一直是業務的一個非常強大的部分，速度更快，利潤率非常高。我們很高興我沒有感到震驚，因為我認為我們都對該類別抱有很高的期望，但它表現得非常好。

And to the point of there were weeks in the peak holiday season where one individual guest item was the top item in the company. And so we really feel good about the fact that we have gotten back into that business.

甚至在假期旺季的幾周里，單獨的客用產品成為公司的首要產品。因此，我們對重返該業務感到非常高興。

And we're going to maximize that all four quarters of the year, even if you think about the first half of the year, we have a Mother's Day period that we think we really walked away from over recent years, and that could give us some real upside in the first half of the year, largely driven by that gift assortment.

我們將最大限度地利用一年中的所有四個季度，即使你考慮一下今年上半年，我們也有一個母親節時期，我們認為我們近年來確實已經擺脫了這一時期，這可能會給我們帶來今年上半年出現了一些真正的上漲，這主要是由禮品種類推動的。

And then I would say my biggest surprise probably is just the ongoing turnaround of that decorative accessories category. And if you look back at sort of historical years at Kirkland's, that has been a category that's really been a driver in the front half of the year and tends to fall off a little bit in holiday because of holiday decorating.

然後我想說，我最大的驚喜可能就是裝飾配件類別的持續轉變。如果你回顧一下柯克蘭的歷史年份，你會發現這個類別在今年上半年確實是一個推動因素，但由於假期裝飾的原因，在假期期間往往會略有下降。

But as I shared in my commentary, it had just immense growth and continues to be a really strong driver for us.

但正如我在評論中分享的那樣，它取得了巨大的成長，並且仍然是我們真正強大的驅動力。

And then I guess I would say in terms of sort of disappointment than obviously the furniture and wall categories continue to turn a little slower than we would like them to categories that we are down-trending as well. So nothing that I don't think we can't manage through on that. We were very pleased that between the in-store traffic, the improvements in conversion that we were able to overcome those that process and in Q4 with the categories that really drove fast-turning sales.

然後我想我會說，令人失望的是，顯然家具和牆壁類別的成長速度比我們希望的下降趨勢的類別要慢一些。所以我認為我們沒有什麼不能解決的。我們非常高興的是，在店內客流量和轉換率的提高之間，我們能夠克服那些在第四季度真正推動銷售快速成長的類別的過程。

Great, thanks. And just to go through January a little bit, obviously cost your point point-and-a-half on I assume that stores here in the mid-South were US and closed several days. Our real impact us and not only customers couldn't get to the store, but I need to have good employees, correct?

萬分感謝。光是為了度過一月一點點，顯然你的觀點就花了一點半，我假設中南部的商店是美國的，並且關門了幾天。我們真正的影響是，不僅顧客無法到達商店，而且我需要有好的員工，對嗎？

Yes, John, that was Truman. I think we just the way the way our store footprint is laid out. We took the brunt of that. So it was about $2 million. We mentioned that and Andy's remarks about would have been a little bit closer to three on the comp had had it been kind of a normal month. I mean, we know whether gives and takes, and we'll be up against this next year. Hopefully, that will help January and data at the end of this fiscal year.

是的，約翰，那是杜魯門。我認為我們只是按照商店佈局的方式進行佈局。我們首當其衝。所以大約是200萬美元。我們提到過這一點，如果這是一個正常的月份，安迪的評論會在比較中接近三。我的意思是，我們知道是否給予和索取，明年我們將面對這一點。希望這將對一月份和本財年末的數據有所幫助。

But yes, so last question for me is when you look at the store fleet in all the 9 or 10 stores you closed during the quarter as you look at that and Amy, as you as when you it took the top spot and you looked across the fleet of stores other some of those I assume with these changes over the last six months, an improvement there, some of those stores are staying open that would have been closed. Is that fair?

但是，是的，所以對我來說最後一個問題是，當你看看你在本季度關閉的所有9 或10 家商店中的商店隊伍時，你會看到它，艾米，就像你在它佔據榜首時看到的那樣我認為其他一些商店在過去六個月中發生了這些變化，有所改善，其中一些本來會關閉的商店仍在營業。這樣公平嗎？

Certainly, I mean, we've seen an improvement definitely in some of our former top volume stores have sort of returned to their top spot, and that's really also kind of driving force behind that wish list of stores that we're targeting for potential new openings to if you go back and look at the store closures over the past, you know, three to four years that Kirkland's on an old strategy, it made sense at the time perhaps to close some of those stores because of the market they were and but as we reposition and we were able to use some customer data to sort of overlay on our old real estate map and our new real estate map and some very obvious opportunities where there's a dense population of our current core customer or we could go back into those and really stimulate sales. So on both then seeing some positivity in our sort of historic real estate strategy really resonating with the changes that we've made.

當然，我的意思是，我們已經看到一些以前銷量最高的商店確實有所改善，已經回到了榜首位置，這實際上也是我們瞄準的潛在商店願望清單背後的推動力如果你回頭看看過去關閉的商店，你知道，柯克蘭採用舊策略三到四年了，當時關閉其中一些商店也許是有意義的，因為它們所處的市場但當我們重新定位時，我們能夠使用一些客戶數據來覆蓋我們的舊房地產地圖和新房地產地圖，以及一些非常明顯的機會，我們當前的核心客戶人口密集，或者我們可以回去投入這些並真正刺激銷售。因此，我們的歷史性房地產策略中的一些積極性確實與我們所做的改變產生了共鳴。

Great. And just the idea that can you give us a sense of how many stores are close to that 1.2, 1.4 and gaining on those numbers as we speak. And I know there's work to be done there, but a sense of some of those have got to be approaching those numbers?

偉大的。這個想法可以讓我們了解有多少商店接近 1.2、1.4，並且在我們發言時正在增加這些數字。我知道還有很多工作要做，但感覺其中一些工作必須接近這些數字？

Yes. I mean, that's an average sell it. We're currently at like a one between a million, a million -- , say, and I'm really talking about stores. We're not allocating any e-com necessarily to that other than focus on. So but I think to Amy's point what we've seen, I think the takeaway for now on the what the merchandise strategy and how that is feeding into our stores. What we're seeing is some of the historical strong market areas that we've been in are picking up faster than maybe some of the more recent ones that we did in say the last five years or so.

是的。我的意思是，這是平均售價。我們目前的數量大約在一百萬、一百萬之間——比如說，我說的是商店。除了重點關注之外，我們不一定會分配任何電子商務。所以，但我認為艾米的觀點是，我們所看到的，我認為目前的要點是商品策略是什麼以及如何將其納入我們的商店。我們看到的是，我們曾經涉足的一些歷史性強勁市場領域的復甦速度可能比我們過去五年左右所做的一些較新的市場領域要快。

So I think that speaks to an our customer base that knows us that has been with us over these years and is seeing the changes that we've implemented over the last 12 months starting to show up in, and that's drawn around. And I think that's part of the traffic increase we're seeing in the stores right now. So more to come on that.

因此，我認為這說明了我們的客戶群了解我們，這些年來一直與我們在一起，並且看到我們在過去 12 個月中實施的變化開始顯現出來，並且這些變化已經發生。我認為這是我們現在在商店看到的客流量增加的一部分。所以還有更多的事情要做。

But I think that's why we think if we look at like we have built a wish list and we don't know how many opportunities really present themselves so quickly, but we want to be there and ready to go because we feel strongly that if we fill back into some of these areas, we'll be successful.

但我認為這就是為什麼我們認為，如果我們看起來已經建立了一個願望清單，我們不知道有多少機會真正如此迅速地出現，但我們希望在那裡並準備好出發，因為我們強烈地感覺到，如果我們重新填補其中一些領域，我們就會成功。

At this time, this completes our question and answer session and concludes today's teleconference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect your lines.

至此，我們的問答環節就結束了，今天的電話會議也結束了。感謝您的參與。現在您可以斷開線路。