目標百貨 (TGT) 2022 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Target Corporation's second quarter earnings release conference call. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded, Wednesday, August 17, 2022.

女士們，先生們，謝謝你們的支持。歡迎參加 Target Corporation 第二季度財報電話會議。 （操作員說明）提醒一下，本次會議正在錄製，時間為 2022 年 8 月 17 日，星期三。

I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. John Hulbert, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

我現在想將會議轉交給投資者關係副總裁 John Hulbert 先生。請繼續，先生。

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us on our second quarter 2022 earnings conference call.

大家早上好，感謝您參加我們的 2022 年第二季度收益電話會議。

On the line with me today are Brian Cornell, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; Christina Hennington, Chief Growth Officer; John Mulligan, Chief Operating Officer; and Michael Fiddelke, Chief Financial Officer. In a few minutes, Brian Christina, John and Michael will provide their perspective on our second quarter performance and our outlook and priorities for the remainder of the year. Following their remarks, we'll open the phone lines for a question-and-answer session.

今天與我聯繫的是董事長兼首席執行官布萊恩康奈爾；克里斯蒂娜·亨寧頓，首席增長官；約翰·穆里根，首席運營官；和首席財務官 Michael Fiddelke。幾分鐘後，Brian Christina、John 和 Michael 將就我們第二季度的業績以及我們今年剩餘時間的前景和優先事項發表他們的看法。在他們的發言之後，我們將打開電話線進行問答環節。

This morning, we're joined on this conference call by investors and others who are listening to our comments via webcast. Following the call, Michael and I will be available to answer your follow-up questions.

今天早上，投資者和其他通過網絡直播收聽我們評論的人參加了這次電話會議。通話結束後，邁克爾和我將可以回答您的後續問題。

And finally, as a reminder, any forward-looking statements that we make this morning are subject to risks and uncertainties, the most important of which are described in our most recently filed 10-K. Also in these remarks, we refer to non-GAAP financial measures, including adjusted earnings per share. Reconciliations of all non-GAAP numbers to the most directly comparable GAAP number are included in this morning's press release, which is posted on our Investor Relations website.

最後，提醒一下，我們今天早上做出的任何前瞻性陳述都存在風險和不確定性，其中最重要的在我們最近提交的 10-K 中有所描述。同樣在這些評論中，我們提到了非公認會計準則財務指標，包括調整後的每股收益。所有非 GAAP 數字與最直接可比的 GAAP 數字的對賬都包含在今天上午的新聞稿中，該新聞稿發佈在我們的投資者關係網站上。

With that, I'll turn it over to Brian for his thoughts on the quarter and his perspective on the back half of the year. Brian?

有了這個，我將把它交給布賴恩，了解他對本季度的看法以及他對下半年的看法。布賴恩？

Thanks, John, and good morning, everyone. Back in June, we announced that our team would be undertaking a bold effort to rightsize our inventory position in the categories through which demand patterns have rapidly changed.

謝謝，約翰，大家早上好。早在 6 月，我們就宣布我們的團隊將大膽努力調整我們在需求模式迅速變化的類別中的庫存頭寸。

While this decision had a meaningful short-term impact on our financial results, we strongly believe it was the best path forward. Consider the alternative: we could have held on to excess inventory and attempted to deal with it slowly, over multiple quarters or even years. While that might have reduced the near-term financial impact, it would have held back our business over time. Of course, this decision would have driven incremental costs to store and manage the excess inventory over a longer period. But much more importantly, it would have degraded the guest experience. It would have cluttered our sales force and hampered our ability to present new, fresh and fashionable items, the ones our guests expect from Target.

雖然這一決定對我們的財務業績產生了有意義的短期影響，但我們堅信這是前進的最佳途徑。考慮另一種選擇：我們本可以保留過多的庫存，並嘗試在多個季度甚至幾年內緩慢地處理它。雖然這可能會減少近期的財務影響，但隨著時間的推移，它會阻礙我們的業務。當然，這一決定會增加在較長時期內存儲和管理多餘庫存的成本。但更重要的是，它會降低客人的體驗。這會使我們的銷售隊伍變得混亂，並妨礙我們展示新的、新鮮的和時尚的產品，而這些產品是我們的客人期望從 Target 那裡得到的。

Just as importantly, the extra inventory would have presented an ongoing burden to our supply chain and store teams, as they face the distraction of working around it day after day. Instead of taking that passive position, our team chose a more decisive path, aggressively reducing the inventory we already owned and cutting back on receipts for the back half of the year. And today, with those decisions behind us, we're in a much better position as we head into the fall season.

同樣重要的是，額外的庫存會給我們的供應鍊和商店團隊帶來持續的負擔，因為他們日復一日地面臨著圍繞它工作的分心。我們的團隊沒有採取那種被動的立場，而是選擇了一條更果斷的道路，積極減少我們已經擁有的庫存，並減少下半年的收入。而今天，在我們做出這些決定後，我們在進入秋季時處於更好的位置。

As you'll hear in more detail, we've meaningfully reduced our ownership and commitments in categories where we've seen softening demand. This has allowed us to strengthen our inventory position and in-stock position in the categories that are driving our growth, most notably in Food & Beverage, Beauty and Essentials.

正如您將更詳細地聽到的那樣，我們已經有意義地減少了我們在需求疲軟的類別中的所有權和承諾。這使我們能夠在推動我們增長的類別中加強我們的庫存狀況和庫存狀況，尤其是在食品和飲料、美容和必需品方面。

Regarding the financial impact of those decisions, Michael will provide more details in a few minutes. But the high-level story is, the vast majority of the financial impact of these inventory actions is now behind us. This positions our business to deliver a meaningful improvement in operating margin rates in the fall season. However, beyond financial and operational outcomes, I'm focused on how our inventory actions will benefit our guests and our team. Regarding our guests, we're now positioned to continue driving engagement and growing traffic with a clean, safe and uncluttered store experience and an assortment that highlights newness and supports growth. For our team, this quarter's inventory actions will enable them to focus on doing what they do best: providing a great guest experience while reducing the strengths and distraction from overly crowded store backrooms and distribution facilities.

關於這些決定的財務影響，邁克爾將在幾分鐘內提供更多細節。但高層次的故事是，這些庫存行動的絕大多數財務影響現在已經過去了。這使我們的業務能夠在秋季期間顯著提高營業利潤率。然而，除了財務和運營成果之外，我還關注我們的庫存行動將如何使我們的客人和我們的團隊受益。關於我們的客人，我們現在的定位是通過乾淨、安全和整潔的商店體驗以及突出新穎性和支持增長的品種來繼續推動參與度和增加客流量。對於我們的團隊來說，本季度的庫存行動將使他們能夠專注於做他們最擅長的事情：提供出色的客戶體驗，同時減少過度擁擠的商店後台和配送設施的優勢和乾擾。

After we announced the rightsizing effort at the beginning of June, I have heard from countless leaders across the company, who wanted to relay their gratitude for the decision to move quickly and face the issue head-on.

在我們於 6 月初宣布調整規模後，我收到了公司無數領導的反饋，他們想表達他們對迅速採取行動並直面問題的決定的感激之情。

In the same spirit, I want to pause and acknowledge the incredible effort of the entire Target team during a very challenging time for the economy, for our industry and our business. Our success in reducing inventory was a result of unprecedented effort, coordination and collaboration across multiple teams, from our U.S. headquarters to our Target India headquarters, to our stores, distribution centers, transportation team and sourcing offices around the world. And today, in the face of a very challenging backdrop, I'm proud of how our team and business model continue to serve our guests' evolving needs. Everything we do, from the design of our operating model to the way we train our team, is done with a focus on better serving our guests.

本著同樣的精神，我想暫停一下，感謝整個 Target 團隊在經濟、我們的行業和業務非常具有挑戰性的時期所做的令人難以置信的努力。我們在減少庫存方面的成功是多個團隊前所未有的努力、協調和協作的結果，從我們的美國總部到我們的目標印度總部，再到我們在世界各地的商店、配送中心、運輸團隊和採購辦事處。今天，面對充滿挑戰的背景，我為我們的團隊和商業模式如何繼續滿足客人不斷變化的需求而感到自豪。我們所做的一切，從運營模式的設計到我們培訓團隊的方式，都是為了更好地為客人服務。

It's reflected in how we choose our assortment, where we curate a broad range of items, both in-store and online, from the stylish to the functional, incorporating quality and value throughout. It's also evident in how we design our store and the digital shopping experience that make them easy, convenient and inspirational, inviting guests to choose the right option every time they shop. All of these decisions make our business model more durable, allowing us to drive deeper guest engagement and grow traffic in every environment.

這反映在我們如何選擇我們的品類上，我們在店內和網上策劃範圍廣泛的商品，從時尚到實用，始終融合質量和價值。我們如何設計我們的商店和數字購物體驗也很明顯，這使他們變得簡單、方便和鼓舞人心，邀請客人在每次購物時選擇正確的選擇。所有這些決策使我們的商業模式更加持久，使我們能夠推動更深入的客人參與並在每個環境中增加流量。

Consistent with the shopping trends we've seen for more than a year, our second quarter comp increase of 2.6% was driven entirely by traffic, which expanded 2.7% this year, on top of double-digit growth a year ago. With this increase, second quarter traffic has expanded by well over 20% since 2019. In raw numbers, that means in the second quarter alone, we've added more than 90 million guest visits over the last 3 years.

與我們一年多以來所看到的購物趨勢一致，我們第二季度 2.6% 的收入增長完全是由客流量推動的，今年客流量增長了 2.7%，而一年前則實現了兩位數的增長。隨著這一增長，自 2019 年以來，第二季度的客流量增長了 20% 以上。在原始數據中，這意味著僅在第二季度，我們在過去 3 年中就增加了超過 9000 萬的訪客訪問量。

These visits are a vivid demonstration of a deepening level of guest engagement resulting from multiple investments throughout our business. These investments include dozens of new stores and hundreds of remodels every year. They also include investments in our industry-leading same-day services, which have transformed our business in a short time. More specifically, 3 years ago, in the second quarter of 2019, digital fulfillment accounted for just over 7% of total sales. In contrast, by the second quarter of this year, the same-day portion of our digital sales accounted for more than 10% of our total sales. This drove our total digital penetration up to almost 18%, more than doubling in only 3 years.

這些訪問生動地展示了我們在整個業務中的多項投資導致客戶參與度不斷加深。這些投資包括每年數十家新店和數百家改造。其中還包括對我們行業領先的當日服務的投資，這些服務在短時間內改變了我們的業務。更具體地說，3 年前，也就是 2019 年第二季度，數字化履行僅佔總銷售額的 7% 以上。相比之下，到今年第二季度，我們數字銷售額的當日部分占我們總銷售額的 10% 以上。這推動我們的總數字滲透率高達近 18%，僅在 3 年內翻了一番還多。

Beyond our stores and fulfillment services, guests continue to respond to our investments in our own brand portfolio. This portfolio delivers more than $30 billion in annual sales, and includes 12 brands that generate more than $1 billion each. At the same time, we're investing in new spaces and presentation for key national brand partners like Apple, Disney and Levi's. And of course, we've been rapidly expanding the number of stores that feature an Ulta Beauty at Target given the incremental traffic and sales they deliver. But nothing has been more important than the investments we made in our team. These investments include the move to a starting hourly wage range of $15 to $24 across the country, enhanced health care and wellness benefits for a larger percentage of our team, the rollout of an industry-leading debt-free college educational plan and our work to enhance the growth and development opportunities available to all of our team members, and the team members of color in particular.

除了我們的商店和履行服務之外，客人還繼續對我們對自有品牌組合的投資做出回應。該產品組合的年銷售額超過 300 億美元，包括 12 個品牌，每個品牌的銷售額都超過 10 億美元。與此同時，我們正在為蘋果、迪士尼和李維斯等重要的國家品牌合作夥伴投資新的空間和展示方式。當然，鑑於他們提供的增量流量和銷售額，我們一直在迅速擴大在 Target 設有 Ulta Beauty 的商店的數量。但沒有什麼比我們對團隊的投資更重要的了。這些投資包括在全國范圍內將起始小時工資範圍提高到 15 美元到 24 美元，為我們團隊中更大比例的成員提高醫療保健和健康福利，推出行業領先的無債務大學教育計劃以及我們致力於增加我們所有團隊成員，尤其是有色人種團隊成員的成長和發展機會。

As we look ahead to the back half of the year, the team is laser-focused on delivering convenience, value and joy at a time when our guests are facing multiple challenges. And while we've taken a cautious stance on our inventory commitments, we'll continue to lean into frequency categories where guest demand has been strong and where the markdown risks are very low.

展望下半年，在我們的客人面臨多重挑戰的時候，團隊專注於提供便利、價值和快樂。雖然我們對庫存承諾採取了謹慎的立場，但我們將繼續傾向於客戶需求強勁且降價風險非常低的頻率類別。

In addition, given the ongoing pressure our guests are facing from inflation, we're leaning into value. This means we're focused on providing great everyday pricing and strong opening price points across every category, including in our own brands. At the same time, we hear from our guests that they're focused on celebrating the seasonal moments they missed over the last 2 years. As a result, we'll lean into those seasonal moments, helping our guests find ways to come together and celebrate with family and friends.

此外，鑑於我們的客人面臨通貨膨脹帶來的持續壓力，我們傾向於價值。這意味著我們專注於為每個類別（包括我們自己的品牌）提供出色的日常定價和強勁的開盤價。同時，我們從客人那裡得知，他們專注於慶祝過去 2 年錯過的季節性時刻。因此，我們將利用這些季節性時刻，幫助我們的客人找到與家人和朋友聚在一起慶祝的方式。

So we still have a lot of business ahead of us. We've seen an encouraging start to the back-to-school and back-to-college season, and our teams are already deep into their planning for the upcoming Halloween season, a time when we expect our guests will fully embrace trick-or-treating and scheduling parties to celebrate with family, friends and neighbors.

所以我們還有很多事情要做。我們已經看到返校和返校季的開端令人鼓舞，我們的團隊已經在為即將到來的萬聖節季節進行深入的規劃，屆時我們希望我們的客人將完全接受不給糖就搗蛋的遊戲- 招待和安排聚會，與家人、朋友和鄰居一起慶祝。

Given continued volatility in the external environment, we built our fall plans with a priority on flexibility and agility, and that's where our business model shines. More specifically, our multi-category portfolio stays relevant and drive strips across a wide range of wants and needs.

鑑於外部環境的持續波動，我們制定秋季計劃時優先考慮靈活性和敏捷性，這就是我們的商業模式的亮點。更具體地說，我們的多類別產品組合保持相關性，並滿足廣泛的需求和需求。

In today's environment, that means our Food & Beverage category is front and center, having grown more than 50%, or $1.8 billion since the second quarter of 2019. But regardless of whether a Target Run begins with a need for an item in food and beverage or household essentials, to see what's new in our beauty assortment, the pick of a toy for a birthday party or a piece of luggage for an upcoming trip, our safe one-stop shopping experience provides an opportunity to sell items in every one of our categories on every guest visit.

在當今的環境中，這意味著我們的食品和飲料類別處於領先地位，自 2019 年第二季度以來增長了 50% 以上，即 18 億美元。但無論目標運行是否始於對食品和飲料項目的需求飲料或家居必需品，看看我們的美容品類中的新品，為生日派對挑選玩具或為即將到來的旅行挑選一件行李，我們安全的一站式購物體驗提供了銷售每件商品的機會我們對每位客人的訪問進行分類。

Beyond our assortment, our unique stores-as-hubs operating model offers unmatched flexibility in how we can fulfill guest demand. Whether a guest wants to make a conventional in-store shopping trip, place a drive-up order, arrange a Shipt delivery or simply have a box delivered to their front door, stores can fulfill every one of those needs quickly and reliably, allowing our guests to choose what works best for them in that moment.

除了我們的產品種類之外，我們獨特的以商店為中心的運營模式在我們如何滿足客人需求方面提供了無與倫比的靈活性。無論客人是想進行傳統的店內購物之旅、下訂單、安排 Shipt 送貨還是只是將一個盒子送到他們的前門，商店都可以快速可靠地滿足其中的每一個需求，讓我們的客人選擇在那一刻最適合他們的東西。

And as Michael will outline in more detail, our strong balance sheet and robust cash generation support continued investments during tough times like these, investments in our long-term growth and market share.

正如邁克爾將更詳細地概述的那樣，我們強大的資產負債表和強勁的現金產生支持在這樣的艱難時期持續投資，投資於我們的長期增長和市場份額。

At a time when many others will be struggling just to survive, the ability to play offense and focus on the long term makes us well positioned to emerge from the current downturn even stronger than before.

在許多其他人為生存而苦苦掙扎的時候，進攻和長期關注的能力使我們能夠比以前更強大地擺脫當前的低迷。

So as I get ready to turn the call over to Christina, I want to thank our team for their continued passion for serving our guests and each other. While the environment remains challenging, I'm inspired by the new and unique merchandise, seasonal offerings and partnerships our team has planned for the back half of the year. And as I've traveled across the country to visit our stores and distribution centers, I've been inspired to hear how our team is energized and eager to serve our guests with energy, empathy and care, bringing some daily joy at a time when our guests are dealing with multiple headwinds. This unshakable guest focus is one of the many reasons our unique team makes Target a great company, and I am privileged and grateful to serve with them.

因此，當我準備好將電話轉給克里斯蒂娜時，我要感謝我們的團隊，感謝他們一直以來為我們的客人和彼此提供服務的熱情。儘管環境仍然充滿挑戰，但我們團隊為下半年計劃的全新獨特商品、季節性產品和合作夥伴關係給我帶來了啟發。當我走遍全國參觀我們的商店和配送中心時，我受到鼓舞，聽到我們的團隊充滿活力，渴望以精力、同理心和關懷服務我們的客人，在這個時刻帶來一些日常快樂我們的客人正面臨多重不利因素。這種不可動搖的客戶關注是我們獨特的團隊使 Target 成為一家偉大公司的眾多原因之一，我很榮幸和感激能與他們一起服務。

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

有了這個，我會把電話轉給克里斯蒂娜。

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. Despite the tough environment we are facing today, I continue to be pleased with both our top line performance and the underlying market share we're seeing across our business: namely, across all 5 of our core merchandising categories. We saw unit share gains in the second quarter, providing clear evidence that our guests are finding more and more ways to satisfy their wants and needs with every Target Run.

謝謝，布賴恩，大家早上好。儘管我們今天面臨艱難的環境，但我仍然對我們的頂線表現和我們在整個業務中看到的潛在市場份額感到滿意：即，在我們所有 5 個核心商品類別中。我們在第二季度看到了單位份額的增長，這清楚地表明我們的客人正在尋找越來越多的方法來滿足他們每次 Target Run 的需求。

As Brian mentioned earlier, the inventory actions we announced in June involved incredible collaboration across teams at headquarters, stores and throughout our supply chain network. And I'm proud to say that together as one team, we accomplished what we set out to do. By moving through excess units, we were able to realign our broader inventory portfolio to those categories our guests are most focused on, including frequency categories like Food & Beverage, Everyday Essentials and Beauty as well as all things new, seasonal and fashion-forward.

正如布賴恩之前提到的，我們在 6 月宣布的庫存行動涉及總部、商店和整個供應鍊網絡的團隊之間的難以置信的協作。我很自豪地說，作為一個團隊，我們完成了我們打算做的事情。通過處理多餘的單位，我們能夠將我們更廣泛的庫存組合重新調整到我們的客人最關注的類別，包括食品和飲料、日常必需品和美容等頻率類別，以及所有新的、季節性的和時尚前衛的東西。

To accomplish that goal, teams analyzed and built action plans to aggressively work through excess inventory at every point along the product journey, from vendor to guests. This included rigorously reforecasting expectations for the balance of the year and beyond and determining where to reduce future receipts and orders. In some cases, they meant working with vendor partners to reduce our fall receipts in light of our updated expectations. It also meant quickly building compelling promotional plans to drive unit velocity for product we already owned, all with a focus on providing great value and generating excitement for our guests. And throughout the execution of these action plans, our teams remain steadfast in their guests-first focus, refusing to compromise the shopping experience in our stores or online.

為了實現這一目標，團隊分析並製定了行動計劃，以便在從供應商到客人的產品旅程中的每個階段積極處理過剩庫存。這包括嚴格重新預測對今年及以後的餘額的預期，並確定在何處減少未來的收貨和訂單。在某些情況下，他們意味著與供應商合作夥伴合作，根據我們更新的預期減少我們的秋季收據。這也意味著迅速制定引人注目的促銷計劃，以推動我們已經擁有的產品的單位速度，所有這些都專注於為我們的客人提供巨大的價值和激發興奮。在執行這些行動計劃的整個過程中，我們的團隊始終堅持以客人為中心，拒絕損害我們商店或網上的購物體驗。

As you heard from Brian, the short-term profit implications of these decisions were meaningful, but we're confident they're the right long-term decisions for our business, for our teams and for our guests. As we formed and revisited our plans for the third quarter and beyond, we spent a lot of time listening to the wants, needs, hopes and concerns of our guests. What we're seeing in our results and hearing from our guests is that they still have spending power, but they're increasingly feeling the impact of inflation. And while the recent reduction in prices at the gas pump has been encouraging, guest confidence in their personal finances continues to wane.

正如您從 Brian 那裡聽到的那樣，這些決定對短期利潤的影響是有意義的，但我們相信，對於我們的業務、我們的團隊和我們的客人來說，它們是正確的長期決定。在我們制定並重新審視第三季度及以後的計劃時，我們花了很多時間傾聽客人的需求、需求、希望和擔憂。我們從結果中看到並從客人那裡聽到的是，他們仍然有購買力，但他們越來越感受到通貨膨脹的影響。儘管最近加油站的降價令人鼓舞，但客人對其個人財務狀況的信心繼續減弱。

Against that backdrop, we've seen our guests shop our owned brands in bigger ways and more frequently, knowing they are choosing great quality products with incredible value. We've also seen guest behavior evolve as they focus on optimizing their personal budgets through a heightened response to promotions as well as greater trip consolidation.

在這種背景下，我們看到我們的客人以更大的方式和更頻繁地購買我們的自有品牌，因為他們知道他們選擇的是物超所值的優質產品。我們還看到客人的行為發生了變化，因為他們專注於通過加強對促銷活動的響應以及更大程度的旅行整合來優化個人預算。

At the same time, guests continue to experience difficult news headlines, COVID surges and continued political volatility, leading them to seek more ways to celebrate, connect and find opportunities to bring joy to their families. This is one of the reasons we continue to see such strength in our seasonal categories, which we expect will continue in the back half of the year.

與此同時，客人繼續經歷艱難的新聞頭條、COVID 激增和持續的政治動盪，導致他們尋求更多方式來慶祝、聯繫並尋找機會為家人帶來歡樂。這是我們繼續看到我們的季節性類別如此強勁的原因之一，我們預計這將在今年下半年繼續。

Now let me turn to some of the category highlights from the second quarter, in which overall comparable sales grew 2.6%, on top of 8.9% a year ago, reflecting continued strength in Food & Beverage, Beauty and Household Essentials.

現在讓我談談第二季度的一些類別亮點，其中整體可比銷售額增長了 2.6%，高於一年前的 8.9%，反映了食品和飲料、美容和家庭必需品的持續強勁。

Food & Beverage led the way in the quarter with growth in the low double digits, reflecting broad strength across multiple subcategories. Beauty grew in the high single digits, reflecting notable strength in Ulta Beauty at Target, along with the skincare and bath categories. Essentials grew in the mid-single digits with performance led by pets and health care. Overall, across our discretionary categories, sales were softer than a year ago, but remained nearly $3.5 billion or more than 35% higher than the second quarter of 2019.

食品和飲料在本季度以兩位數的低增長位居榜首，反映了多個子類別的廣泛實力。美妝產品以高個位數增長，反映了 Target 的 Ulta Beauty 以及護膚品和沐浴品類的顯著實力。 Essentials 以中個位數增長，表現由寵物和醫療保健引領。總體而言，在我們的非必需品類別中，銷售額比一年前疲軟，但仍比 2019 年第二季度高出近 35 億美元或 35% 以上。

In Hardlines, overall comp sales were down slightly to last year. Within Hardlines, softness in electronics was partially offset by strength in entertainment, which grew in the high single digits, along with high single-digit comp growth in toys, an encouraging sign as we plan for the fourth quarter holiday season.

在 Hardlines 中，整體 comp 銷售額與去年相比略有下降。在 Hardlines 中，電子產品的疲軟被娛樂業的強勁增長部分抵消，娛樂業以高個位數增長，以及玩具的高個位數增長，這是我們計劃第四季度假日季的一個令人鼓舞的跡象。

Overall, the Home category saw a low single-digit decline compared to last year despite affinity for our seasonal assortments and encouraging early results in back-to-school and back-to-college.

總體而言，與去年相比，家庭類別出現了較低的個位數下降，儘管我們對季節性產品很感興趣，並且在返校和返校方面取得了令人鼓舞的早期成果。

Apparel also saw a low single-digit decline in the second quarter but saw meaningful growth in women's fashion-forward categories, along with performance apparel, on top of strong sales growth in the category over the past 2 years.

服裝在第二季度也出現了低個位數的下降，但除了過去兩年該類別的強勁銷售增長之外，女性時尚前衛類別以及性能服裝也出現了顯著增長。

As I mentioned earlier, while overall sales growth is one key indicator of the health of our business, market share is an equally important measure that we use to understand how we're performing. And notably, during inflationary times like these, we heavily focus on unit share, specifically to better understand our relevance as compared to our competitive set, given that growth in both traffic and units is a strong proxy for the guests' overall engagement with Target. Time and time again, these metrics have proven to be a better barometer for lasting success as compared to growth solely through average retail prices. That's why I'm so encouraged that across all 5 of our core merchandising categories, we grew unit share in the second quarter.

正如我之前提到的，雖然整體銷售增長是衡量我們業務健康狀況的一個關鍵指標，但市場份額是我們用來了解我們的表現如何的一個同樣重要的衡量標準。值得注意的是，在這樣的通貨膨脹時期，我們非常關注單位份額，特別是為了更好地了解我們與競爭對手相比的相關性，因為流量和單位的增長是客人與 Target 的整體互動的有力代表。與僅通過平均零售價格的增長相比，這些指標一次又一次地被證明是持久成功的更好晴雨表。這就是為什麼我很受鼓舞，在我們所有 5 個核心商品類別中，我們在第二季度的單位份額都有所增長。

So now let's turn our sights to all that is to come for the balance of the fiscal year. Having celebrated holidays in a big way in the second quarter, guests already have their sights set on upcoming holidays and seasonal moments in Q3 and beyond. Preparing for the upcoming school year is top of mind for families right now. And to help with the transition, we're providing budget-friendly options for students, parents and teachers alike. Beyond our assortment of value-priced owned brands and leading national brands, we're offering a onetime 20% off Target Circle deal for college students to get those dorm rooms prepped and ready. And we've also extended our teacher prep event to nearly 8 weeks of discounts on supplies and more.

所以現在讓我們把目光投向本財年餘下的所有事情。在第二季度大肆慶祝假期之後，客人們已經將目光投向了即將到來的假期和第三季度及以後的季節性時刻。為即將到來的學年做準備是現在家庭的頭等大事。為了幫助過渡，我們為學生、家長和教師等提供預算友好的選擇。除了我們的各種超值自有品牌和領先的國家品牌之外，我們還為大學生提供一次性 20% 的 Target Circle 優惠，讓這些宿舍房間做好準備。我們還將教師準備活動延長至近 8 週的用品折扣等。

And today, while we still have several weeks of the season left to go, we've been encouraged by early results in both our back-to-school and back-to-college programs. Shortly after school begins, we'll turn our attention to celebrating Latino Heritage Month, which begins in the middle of September. We're excited to help celebrate this important cultural moment with our guests through the presentation of a compelling assortment, 99% of which was created by members of the Hispanic/Latino community. Then before we know it, Halloween celebrations will be underway, with all the tricks and treats the season has to offer. Our guest research indicates that more families plan to participate in Halloween festivities compared with last year, and we're ready with a wide array of gender and size inclusive costumes, new owned brand trick-or-treating candy and accessories, haunted house cookie building sets and so much more.

今天，雖然我們還有幾週的賽季要走，但我們對返校和返校計劃的早期成果感到鼓舞。開學後不久，我們將把注意力轉向慶祝 9 月中旬開始的拉丁裔傳統月。我們很高興通過展示引人注目的品種來與我們的客人一起慶祝這一重要的文化時刻，其中 99% 是由西班牙裔/拉丁裔社區的成員創造的。然後在我們知道之前，萬聖節慶祝活動將開始，這個季節必須提供的所有技巧和款待。我們的客人研究表明，與去年相比，更多的家庭計劃參加萬聖節慶祝活動，我們準備好了各種性別和尺碼服裝、新品牌不給糖就搗蛋的糖果和配飾、鬼屋餅乾建築集等等。

And for those that want to celebrate the broader fall and harvest season in general, rest assured that there will be no shortage of new offerings from Good & Gather to create perfect meal, snacking and entertaining solutions, including delicious new flavors of the season like maple, cinnamon, apple and, of course, all things pumpkin spice.

對於那些想要慶祝更廣泛的秋季和收穫季節的人，請放心，Good & Gather 不會缺少新產品，以創造完美的膳食、零食和娛樂解決方案，包括楓葉等當季的美味新口味、肉桂、蘋果，當然還有南瓜香料。

Outside of specific holidays, we are focused on helping our guests experience Everyday Joy, and our ability to cut across brands and categories is part of what makes us uniquely Target. For an example, look no further than our upcoming collaboration this fall with Marvel to bring a unique assortment to our guests across the Avengers and Spider-Man franchises. One standout will be lots of Marvel Studios' Black Panther: Wakanda Forever and Black Panther Legacy exclusives within toys, Apparel, Home and more. We'll have more details to share in the coming months.

在特定假期之外，我們專注於幫助我們的客人體驗 Everyday Joy，而我們跨越品牌和類別的能力是我們獨特的 Target 的一部分。例如，今年秋天我們即將與漫威合作，為複仇者聯盟和蜘蛛俠系列的客人帶來獨特的分類。其中一個引人注目的將是 Marvel Studios 的《Black Panther: Wakanda Forever》和《Black Panther Legacy》在玩具、服裝、家居等領域的獨家產品。在接下來的幾個月裡，我們將分享更多細節。

And in an exciting collaboration with long-time partner, The LEGO Group, we are bringing their popular LEGO Ideas contest to Target, in which LEGO superfans submit ideas for a themed LEGO building set. After a public submission phase, a handful of finalists will be selected for guests and fans to choose their favorite idea to be produced as an exclusive set at Target and LEGO brand retail stores.

在與長期合作夥伴樂高集團的激動人心的合作中，我們將他們廣受歡迎的樂高創意競賽帶到了 Target，樂高超級粉絲在其中提交了主題樂高拼搭套裝的創意。在公開提交階段後，將為客人和粉絲挑選幾名決賽選手，讓他們選擇他們最喜歡的創意，作為獨家套裝在 Target 和 LEGO 品牌零售店製作。

But Target Joy goes well beyond key holidays or exclusive launches. It's about how we continue to iterate and improve upon what our guests already know and love from their regular Target Run. This next quarter, you'll see us elevate our fashion assortment with several new collections and updated brands. We'll introduce new well-known national brands in cookware and kitchen. We'll also continue to expand our leading national brand partnerships, including opening more Disney stores and, of course, Ulta Beauty at Target.

但 Target Joy 遠遠超出了重要的假期或獨家發布。這是關於我們如何繼續迭代和改進我們的客人從他們的常規 Target Run 中已經知道和喜愛的內容。下個季度，您將看到我們通過幾個新系列和更新品牌提升我們的時尚品類。我們將在炊具和廚房方面引入新的民族知名品牌。我們還將繼續擴大我們領先的國家品牌合作夥伴關係，包括開設更多迪士尼商店，當然還有在 Target 開設 Ulta Beauty。

In fact, we're only a year into this new partnership, and there's plenty of room to grow ahead. With the introduction of new designer fragrance brands, including Coach, Clinique, Kate Spade and more as well as additional skin and hair care products, we continue to evolve the assortment to bring more joy to our Beauty guests. We remain on track to open at least 250 of these unique spaces this year. Plus, we've already seen more than 1.5 million guests link their Target Circle and Ultamate Rewards accounts, a number that's sure to continue to grow in the months and years ahead.

事實上，我們建立這種新的伙伴關係只有一年的時間，而且還有很大的發展空間。隨著新設計師香水品牌的推出，包括蔻馳、倩碧、凱特絲蓓等，以及更多的護膚和護髮產品，我們不斷改進產品系列，為我們的美容客人帶來更多快樂。今年，我們仍有望開設至少 250 個此類獨特空間。此外，我們已經看到超過 150 萬客人將他們的 Target Circle 和 Ultamate Rewards 帳戶關聯起來，這個數字肯定會在未來幾個月和幾年內繼續增長。

So now before I pass things over to John, I'd like to take a moment and echo Brian's gratitude for the team. While we have demonstrated time and time again that our durable, flexible model can quickly pivot with changing consumer demands and a host of retail and economic conditions, none of that can happen without an incredible team. Their talent, dedication, passion and expertise allows us to continue putting the Target guests at the center of every decision we make. As a result, we continue to benefit from deeper guest loyalty and preference for our brand.

所以現在在我把事情交給 John 之前，我想花一點時間來回應 Brian 對團隊的感激之情。雖然我們一次又一次地證明，我們的耐用、靈活的模式可以迅速適應不斷變化的消費者需求以及一系列零售和經濟條件，但如果沒有一支令人難以置信的團隊，這一切都不會發生。他們的才華、奉獻精神、熱情和專業知識使我們能夠繼續將目標客人置於我們做出的每一個決定的中心。因此，我們繼續受益於更深層次的客戶忠誠度和對我們品牌的偏好。

I have been at Target 19 years, and I continue to be inspired every day by the talent around me. Thank you for your commitment and care to all our stakeholders.

我在 Target 工作了 19 年，我每天都繼續受到周圍人才的啟發。感謝您對我們所有利益相關者的承諾和關心。

With that, I'll pass things over to John.

有了這個，我會把事情交給約翰。

Thanks, Christina. In past calls, I've described how our operations team is always focused on two things at the same time. Of course, they're always focused on short-term execution and problem-solving to ensure we provide a convenient, consistent and inspiring experience for our guests. In addition, our team works every day to deliver on our long-term vision and aspirations, ensuring our operations are ready to support our future plans. While this dual focus on both near-term and long-term priorities has always been present, it's been especially notable this year, given that we've been operating in a very unique environment.

謝謝，克里斯蒂娜。在過去的電話會議中，我描述了我們的運營團隊如何始終同時專注於兩件事。當然，他們始終專注於短期執行和解決問題，以確保我們為客人提供方便、一致和鼓舞人心的體驗。此外，我們的團隊每天都在努力實現我們的長期願景和願望，確保我們的運營準備好支持我們的未來計劃。雖然這種對近期和長期優先事項的雙重關註一直存在，但今年尤其值得注意，因為我們一直在一個非常獨特的環境中運營。

In terms of the short term, and as Brian and Christina mentioned earlier, our work to quickly rightsize inventory require determination, commitment and coordination between multiple teams across the company. And given the need to protect the guest experience, there was no higher priority than delivering against this near-term plan. At the same time, our team remains passionately focused on the long-term investments we're making in our future. These investments include our work to modernize and expand our store footprint, increase upstream capacity in our supply chain, automate distribution center processes to reduce store workload and enhance our last-mile fulfillment capabilities by opening sortation centers and integrating them into our Shipt network. And fortunately, as Brian highlighted, the strength of our business allows us to continue funding these long-term investments even in the face of the challenging external backdrop we're facing today.

就短期而言，正如布賴恩和克里斯蒂娜之前提到的，我們快速調整庫存規模的工作需要公司多個團隊之間的決心、承諾和協調。鑑於需要保護客戶體驗，沒有比根據這個近期計劃交付更高的優先級了。與此同時，我們的團隊仍然熱情地專注於我們對未來所做的長期投資。這些投資包括我們的工作，以現代化和擴大我們的商店足跡，增加我們供應鏈的上游產能，自動化配送中心流程以減少商店工作量，並通過開設分揀中心並將其整合到我們的 Shipt 網絡來增強我們的最後一英里履行能力。幸運的是，正如布賴恩所強調的那樣，即使面對我們今天面臨的具有挑戰性的外部背景，我們的業務實力也使我們能夠繼續為這些長期投資提供資金。

I want to first turn to our work on inventory. And I'm happy to report that our team has made remarkable progress over the last few months, causing conditions in our supply chain to improve significantly. More specifically, and to provide some helpful context, over time, we want to keep our DC network operating at or below 85% of its maximum capacity, given that operational difficulties and costs rise significantly when we move beyond that level. So it's important to note that back in June, inventory in our DC network peaked at well over 90% of our capacity. Also notable, by the end of the second quarter, less than 2 months later, our team had quickly reduced DC capacity utilization to below 80%.

我想先談談我們在庫存方面的工作。我很高興地報告，我們的團隊在過去幾個月中取得了顯著進展，導致我們的供應鏈狀況顯著改善。更具體地說，為了提供一些有用的背景信息，隨著時間的推移，我們希望將我們的 DC 網絡保持在其最大容量的 85% 或以下，因為當我們超過該水平時，運營困難和成本會顯著增加。因此，重要的是要注意，早在 6 月，我們 DC 網絡中的庫存就達到了超過我們產能 90% 的峰值。同樣值得注意的是，到第二季度末，不到兩個月後，我們的團隊迅速將 DC 產能利用率降至 80% 以下。

Put another way, by the end of the second quarter, the physical space occupied by our distribution center inventory was more than 20% lower than the peak we reached in June. So today, while we still have some individual sites where we need to make more progress, the team has accomplished a remarkable improvement in a very short time, which will allow our end-to-end operations to function more efficiently and effectively in the back half of the year.

換句話說，到第二季度末，我們的配送中心庫存佔用的物理空間比我們在 6 月份達到的峰值低 20% 以上。所以今天，雖然我們還有一些個別站點需要取得更多進展，但團隊在很短的時間內就取得了顯著的進步，這將使我們的端到端運營在後台更高效、更有效地運作半年。

As Christina mentioned, beyond addressing the inventory we already owned, the team also took a hard look at sales trends and determined ideal inventory levels across every category for the remainder of the year. As a result, we've meaningfully reduced our fall season receipt commitments in many discretionary categories. With these reductions, we're projecting our DCs will remain at or below 85% capacity through the remainder of the year, even after the seasonal increase in holiday inventory that is set to occur over the next 2 months. In other words, for the first time I am aware of, our fall season inventory is projected to peak at a lower level than in spring, providing another vivid illustration of the unique dynamics we've encountered so far this year.

正如克里斯蒂娜所說，除了解決我們已經擁有的庫存之外，該團隊還認真研究了銷售趨勢，並確定了今年剩餘時間每個類別的理想庫存水平。因此，我們在許多可自由支配的類別中有意義地減少了秋季收據承諾。通過這些減少，我們預計我們的配送中心將在今年剩餘時間內保持或低於 85% 的產能，即使在接下來的 2 個月假期庫存將出現季節性增長之後也是如此。換句話說，我第一次意識到，我們秋季庫存的峰值預計將低於春季，這為我們今年迄今為止所遇到的獨特動態提供了另一個生動的例證。

While this inventory rightsizing process hasn't been easy and our teams have devoted an amazing amount of effort in a small amount of time, this work has allowed our teams to strengthen ongoing communication mechanisms and build new processes. Going forward, these improvements will enable our merchandising and supply chain teams to maintain enhanced real-time communication, particularly with respect to categories where we face the highest inventory risk, allowing us to respond to changes with more speed and agility.

雖然這個庫存調整過程並不容易，而且我們的團隊在很短的時間內投入了大量的精力，但這項工作使我們的團隊能夠加強持續的溝通機制並建立新的流程。展望未來，這些改進將使我們的銷售和供應鏈團隊能夠保持增強的實時溝通，特別是在我們面臨最高庫存風險的類別方面，使我們能夠更快、更敏捷地應對變化。

While pressure from excess inventory has presented the biggest challenge to our team this year, dealing with high costs and volatility in the external supply chain has run a close second. And today, while conditions remain far from what we would have considered normal in the years before the pandemic, there are early signs that both costs and volatility may have peaked. More specifically, lead times in global shipping have begun to decline. Spot rates to move shipping containers have fallen somewhat. And in light of the reduction in petroleum prices we've all seen recently, fuel surcharges have been easing somewhat compared with the peak rates we saw earlier in the second quarter.

雖然庫存過剩的壓力是今年我們團隊面臨的最大挑戰，但應對外部供應鏈的高成本和波動性緊隨其後。今天，儘管情況仍遠未達到大流行前幾年我們認為的正常水平，但有早期跡象表明，成本和波動性可能已經達到頂峰。更具體地說，全球航運的交貨時間已經開始下降。運輸集裝箱的即期費率有所下降。鑑於我們最近都看到了石油價格的下跌，與我們在第二季度早些時候看到的峰值費率相比，燃油附加費已經有所緩解。

That said, conditions remain highly unfavorable when compared to the years before the pandemic, and we're mindful of the continued risks in the months ahead, including potential slowdowns at the West Coast ports, a reversal of the recent decline in energy costs and the possibility of additional COVID lockdowns in China.

儘管如此，與大流行前幾年相比，情況仍然非常不利，我們注意到未來幾個月的持續風險，包括西海岸港口的潛在放緩、近期能源成本下降的逆轉以及在中國進行額外的 COVID 封鎖的可能性。

In addition, we continue to encounter far too many delays affecting overseas shipping which require us to pay spot rates to move containers, rates that are well above our prenegotiated shipping rates. As such, we're maintaining our practice of moving receipt dates earlier than we would have in the past, which allows us to mitigate the business risk from receiving shipments later than expected.

此外，我們繼續遇到太多影響海外航運的延誤，這要求我們支付即期運費來運送集裝箱，運費遠高於我們預先協商的運費。因此，我們將保持比過去更早移動收貨日期的做法，這使我們能夠減輕因接收貨物晚於預期而帶來的業務風險。

You'll recall that at this time a year ago, when the external supply chain began slowing down and shipments were arriving late, we began relying on air freight much more than usual to ensure we receive key seasonal merchandise on time for the holiday season. While that was the right decision at the time given the circumstances we were facing, this year, we expect to meaningfully reduce our reliance on air freight by moving to early receipt dates for seasonal inventory. To accommodate these early receipts without adding further color to our supply chain in stores, we secured temporary capacity to store and stage shipping containers near the ports where we receive them. When needed, this allows us to quickly clear the containers from the port area and hold them until the ideal time to begin moving inventory into our supply chain network. While we don't expect to need this additional capacity over the long term, we believe it's clearly the most efficient approach in today's environment, given the volatility we continue to face.

您會記得一年前的這個時候，當外部供應鏈開始放緩並且貨物到達延遲時，我們開始比平時更多地依賴空運來確保我們在假期期間按時收到關鍵的季節性商品。雖然考慮到我們所面臨的情況，這在當時是正確的決定，但今年，我們希望通過提前接收季節性庫存來顯著減少對空運的依賴。為了容納這些早期收據而不為我們的商店供應鏈增添更多色彩，我們確保了在我們接收它們的港口附近存儲和暫存集裝箱的臨時能力。需要時，這使我們能夠快速清除港口區域的集裝箱並保留它們，直到開始將庫存轉移到我們的供應鍊網絡的理想時間。雖然我們預計長期不需要這種額外的容量，但鑑於我們繼續面臨的波動性，我們認為這顯然是當今環境中最有效的方法。

I also want to highlight the critical role that our stores have played in our work to improve conditions in our supply chain. During the second quarter, our store teams engaged in a host of activities to support the effort, including the execution of countless promotions and markdown programs to move the excess merchandise quickly and the development of innovative presentation strategies to highlight the deals we were offering our guests. This included repurposing the seasonal presentation space in our stores to highlight deals and create meaningful statements, including key item promotions. It also included the early wind down of our outdoor living assortment, which allowed us to bring in our back-to-school set earlier than usual, ensuring we are back in stock and reliable on key items parents needed to fill their back-to-school shopping list.

我還想強調我們的商店在改善供應鏈條件的工作中發揮的關鍵作用。在第二季度，我們的門店團隊開展了一系列活動來支持這項工作，包括執行無數的促銷和降價計劃以快速轉移多餘的商品，以及製定創新的展示策略以突出我們為客人提供的優惠.這包括重新利用我們商店的季節性展示空間，以突出交易並創建有意義的聲明，包括關鍵商品促銷。它還包括我們的戶外生活品類的提前結束，這使我們能夠比平時更早地帶回我們的返校套裝，確保我們有庫存和可靠的關鍵物品父母需要填寫他們的返校-學校購物清單。

More specifically, at the end of the second quarter, about 3/4 of our back-to-school and back-to-college receipts were already downstream in our stores, a number that was closer to 50% at the end of Q2 a year ago.

更具體地說，在第二季度末，我們大約 3/4 的返校和返校收據已經在我們的商店下游，這一數字在第二季度末接近 50% a一年前。

So now before I turn the call over to Michael, I want to turn my focus to our longer-term priorities and the multiple ways we're investing in our future growth. As you know, the majority of our CapEx is going into our store network, both to extend our footprint and invest in existing locations. These store investments fall into 3 major buckets. The first and largest investment is in our store remodel program, where we completely transform the space in an existing location, modernizing the shopping experience while enhancing the productivity of our team. At this point in the year, well over 100 remodels are currently in flight across the country, keeping us on track to complete nearly 200 remodels this year.

所以現在在我把電話轉給邁克爾之前，我想把注意力轉向我們的長期優先事項以及我們投資於未來增長的多種方式。如您所知，我們的大部分資本支出都將進入我們的商店網絡，以擴大我們的足跡並投資於現有地點。這些商店投資分為三大類。第一項也是最大的投資是我們的商店改造計劃，我們在該計劃中徹底改造現有位置的空間，使購物體驗現代化，同時提高我們團隊的生產力。在這一年的這個時候，目前全國有超過 100 台改型正在進行中，這使我們有望在今年完成近 200 台改型。

In addition to these complete transformations, we're also making smaller investments in hundreds of other locations. This includes the hundreds of fulfillment remodels we'll accomplish this year, in which we reconfigure portions of the store to enhance the efficiency, safety and capacity of our drive-up, in-store pickup and ship-from-store services. In addition, this year, we're investing in several hundred locations to add an Ulta Beauty at Target, a co-branded Apple shopping space or a Disney store presentation to the sales floor. And finally, we're on track to add about 24 new store locations in 2022. So far this year, we've opened 12 new locations across the country, in neighborhoods as diverse as SoHo in New York and Jackson Hole in Wyoming.

除了這些完整的轉型之外，我們還在數百個其他地點進行了較小的投資。這包括我們今年將完成的數百次履約改造，其中我們重新配置了部分商店，以提高我們的開車、店內取貨和店內發貨服務的效率、安全性和容量。此外，今年，我們將投資數百個地點，在銷售樓層增加一個 Ulta Beauty at Target、一個聯合品牌的 Apple 購物空間或一個迪士尼商店展示。最後，我們有望在 2022 年增加約 24 家新店。今年到目前為止，我們已經在全國開設了 12 家新店，分佈在紐約蘇豪區和懷俄明州傑克遜霍爾等多元化社區。

Beyond this work in stores, we're also making significant investments in our supply chain focused on 3 main priorities. The first is to build additional upstream capacity to our network, given that we continue to grow sales on top of the $27 billion we added in 2020 and 2021. In support of this goal, we opened 2 upstream DCs near the end of 2021 and plan to open 6 new upstream facilities over the next several years, including 2 on track to open in 2023.

除了在商店開展這項工作外，我們還在供應鏈上進行了大量投資，重點關註三個主要優先事項。首先是為我們的網絡建立額外的上游容量，因為我們在 2020 年和 2021 年增加的 270 億美元的基礎上繼續增長銷售額。為了支持這一目標，我們在 2021 年底附近開設了 2 個上游數據中心併計劃在未來幾年內開設 6 個新的上游設施，其中 2 個有望在 2023 年啟用。

In addition to the space we're adding to the network, we're continuing to modernize how our existing distribution centers serve our stores by developing and automating processes that reduce the amount of store workload devoted to receiving inventory and restocking store sales floors. And finally, we're rapidly expanding the number of sortation centers operating around the country. We have 6 of these facilities operating today, including 3 that have opened in the last few months, and we have plans to add 5 more by early next year. These small facilities expand ship-from-store capacity in the locations they serve while significantly reducing last-mile delivery costs, particularly as we integrate our Shipt drivers into the process.

除了我們在網絡中增加的空間外，我們還通過開發和自動化流程來繼續現代化我們現有的配送中心為我們的商店服務的方式，以減少專門用於接收庫存和補充商店銷售樓層的商店工作量。最後，我們正在迅速擴大在全國運營的分揀中心的數量。我們今天有 6 家這樣的設施在運營，其中 3 家在過去幾個月內開業，我們計劃在明年初再增加 5 家。這些小型設施在他們服務的地點擴大了從商店發貨的能力，同時顯著降低了最後一英里的交付成本，特別是當我們將我們的 Shipt 司機整合到流程中時。

Given the package delivery density we've achieved across many markets over the last few years, we see continued opportunities to add more sortation centers over the next few years, which adds speed and significantly reduce last-mile costs in markets where they operate.

鑑於過去幾年我們在許多市場實現的包裹遞送密度，我們看到未來幾年增加更多分揀中心的機會持續存在，這將提高速度並顯著降低其運營所在市場的最後一英里成本。

As I mentioned last quarter, this year's capital projects are being impacted by the cost increases, material shortages and supply chain pressures that are affecting other parts of our business. And I'm really proud of how our construction team is managing through these headwinds. More specifically, while cost increases are raising the cost of many of these projects, the team has done an excellent job in keeping the vast majority of projects on track and on time despite the significant headwinds they are facing.

正如我上個季度提到的，今年的資本項目正受到成本增加、材料短缺和供應鏈壓力的影響，這些壓力影響了我們業務的其他部分。我為我們的施工團隊如何應對這些逆風而感到自豪。更具體地說，雖然成本增加正在提高其中許多項目的成本，但該團隊在保持絕大多數項目按時按時完成了出色的工作，儘管他們面臨著巨大的逆風。

So as I conclude my remarks, I have to pause and add my thanks to the entire team for their resilience and perseverance during a period of incredibly rapid change, which caused this quarter to be as challenging as any I've seen in my career. In the face of that challenge, what's been amazing is how our team members have stayed positive, how they've worked to find collaborative solutions across multiple teams and never strayed from their commitment to our guests and our company purpose. With the progress they have made, our operations are now in much better shape, and the team is energized and ready to play offense in the back half of the year.

因此，當我結束我的發言時，我必須暫停並感謝整個團隊在這個令人難以置信的快速變化期間所表現出的堅韌和毅力，這使得本季度與我在職業生涯中看到的任何一個季度一樣具有挑戰性。面對這一挑戰，令人驚嘆的是我們的團隊成員如何保持積極態度，他們如何努力在多個團隊之間尋找協作解決方案，並且從未偏離他們對客人和公司宗旨的承諾。隨著他們取得的進步，我們的運營現在狀況要好得多，球隊精力充沛，準備在下半年進行進攻。

While we are all mindful of the near-term volatility in the environment, it's times like these that often present the biggest opportunity to gain long-term market share as others face the distraction of trying to stay afloat while we continue to invest and improve our operations. That's one of many reasons that I've never been more optimistic about our prospects in the years ahead.

雖然我們都注意到環境的近期波動，但在這樣的時刻，往往是獲得長期市場份額的最大機會，因為在我們繼續投資和改善我們的同時，其他人面臨著試圖維持生計的分心操作。這是我對未來幾年的前景從未如此樂觀的眾多原因之一。

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

有了這個，我會把電話轉給邁克爾。

Thanks, John. As John mentioned, we often ask our team to be mindful of both short-term and long-term considerations when making decisions. And given the unique circumstances we've been facing, this quarter, we faced a decision with meaningful implications for both. As Brian outlined earlier, if we had decided not to deal with our excess inventory head-on, we could have avoided some short-term pain on the profit line, but that would have hampered our longer-term potential. Instead, because of the path we took, our quarterly profit took a meaningful step-down, but our future path is brighter. Our operations are healthy, our store and DC teams have more flexibility to maneuver and we're ready to feature both the fresh assortment and uncluttered shopping experience our guests expect and deserve. That passionate commitment to the guest experience is one of the many reasons we've now seen 21 consecutive quarters of comparable sales growth.

謝謝，約翰。正如 John 所提到的，我們經常要求我們的團隊在做決定時要注意短期和長期的考慮。鑑於我們一直面臨的獨特情況，本季度，我們面臨一個對雙方都具有意義的決定。正如布賴恩之前概述的那樣，如果我們決定不正面處理過剩的庫存，我們本可以避免利潤線上的一些短期痛苦，但這會阻礙我們的長期潛力。相反，由於我們所走的道路，我們的季度利潤大幅下降，但我們未來的道路更加光明。我們的運營是健康的，我們的商店和 DC 團隊有更大的機動靈活度，我們已準備好提供顧客期望和應得的新鮮商品和整潔的購物體驗。對客戶體驗的熱情承諾是我們現在連續 21 個季度實現可比銷售額增長的眾多原因之一。

While normally our income statement gets the most attention, I want to start my remarks today with the balance sheet and specifically, our inventory position. And as I dig into the detail, I want to acknowledge upfront that this kind of analysis is a relatively complex exercise because of the growth and volatility we've experienced over the last couple of years, because of the broad and diverse assortment that we sell and the fact that our business is seasonal from quarter-to-quarter.

雖然通常我們的損益表最受關注，但我今天想從資產負債表開始我的評論，特別是我們的庫存狀況。當我深入研究細節時，我想提前承認這種分析是一項相對複雜的工作，因為我們在過去幾年中經歷了增長和波動，因為我們銷售的產品種類繁多以及我們的業務每個季度都是季節性的這一事實。

More specifically, given that our inventory position throughout the pandemic was far from optimal, focusing on year-over-year growth numbers isn't very helpful right now. As a result, we often base our inventory analysis on growth trends compared with 2019, a pre-pandemic year when our inventory and sales trends were much more in sync.

更具體地說，鑑於我們在整個大流行期間的庫存狀況遠非最佳，目前關注同比增長數據並不是很有幫助。因此，我們的庫存分析通常基於與 2019 年相比的增長趨勢，2019 年是大流行前的一年，當時我們的庫存和銷售趨勢更加同步。

With that as context, I want to zero in on one of the questions I'm sure you have, which is why our inventory on the balance sheet remained roughly constant at around $15 billion between the first and second quarters. The simple answer is that while that single number didn't change much, we accomplished exactly what we intended to do during the quarter, which helped change conditions significantly below the surface.

以此為背景，我想對我確信你有的一個問題進行歸零，這就是為什麼我們的資產負債表上的庫存在第一季度和第二季度之間大致保持在 150 億美元左右。簡單的答案是，雖然這個數字沒有太大變化，但我們在本季度完成了我們打算做的事情，這有助於顯著改變表面之下的情況。

More specifically, because of the inventory actions we executed, unit growth compared with 2019 in our discretionary categories decelerated by more than 15 percentage points between the first and second quarter, a change we estimate would have reduced our inventory position by more than $1 billion if taken in isolation.

更具體地說，由於我們執行的庫存操作，與 2019 年相比，我們的可自由支配類別的單位增長在第一季度和第二季度之間下降了 15 個百分點以上，我們估計如果發生這種變化，我們的庫存頭寸將減少超過 10 億美元孤立地採取。

However, a couple of offsetting changes moved our quarter-end inventory in the other direction. First among them, we leaned into our frequency categories during the quarter, accelerating 3-year unit growth versus Q1 at a double-digit rate, resulting in stronger in-stock metrics compared with 90 days ago. Another factor that drove inventory dollars higher is the continued increase in unit costs we've been seeing across all of our categories, which caused the dollar value of our inventory to grow faster than unit growth in the second quarter.

但是，一些抵消性變化使我們的季度末庫存向另一個方向移動。首先，我們在本季度傾向於我們的頻率類別，與第一季度相比以兩位數的速度加速了 3 年的單位增長，導致與 90 天前相比更強勁的庫存指標。推動庫存美元上漲的另一個因素是我們在所有類別中看到的單位成本持續增加，這導致我們庫存的美元價值增長速度快於第二季度的單位增長。

So where do we stand today? At the end of the second quarter, inventory on the balance sheet was about $6 billion higher than we reported 3 years ago. Of that dollar growth, about $3 billion or approximately half of that total growth is the result of higher unit costs across our assortment. Of the remaining $3 billion, our analysis indicates another $1 billion to $2 billion is related to our decision to move receipt timing earlier, given the volatility we continue to expect in the supply chain. And also importantly, beyond reshaping the inventory we already have, our Q2 inventory actions also included the removal of more than $1.5 billion of fall receipts in our discretionary categories, reflecting our continued focus on reducing risk in the current environment. That's why we feel good about our inventory position as we head into the back half of the year.

那麼我們今天的立場是什麼？在第二季度末，資產負債表上的庫存比我們 3 年前報告的高出約 60 億美元。在這一美元增長中，大約 30 億美元或大約一半的總增長是由於我們的產品組合中更高的單位成本造成的。在剩餘的 30 億美元中，我們的分析表明，鑑於我們繼續預期供應鏈中的波動性，另外 10 億至 20 億美元與我們決定提前收貨時間有關。同樣重要的是，除了重塑我們已經擁有的庫存之外，我們的第二季度庫存行動還包括在我們的可自由支配類別中取消超過 15 億美元的秋季收據，這反映了我們在當前環境下繼續專注於降低風險。這就是為什麼我們在進入下半年時對我們的庫存狀況感覺良好的原因。

So now I'll turn to a review of our second quarter financial results. Total sales increased 3.3% in the quarter, driven by a 2.6% increase in comparable sales, combined with the impact of new stores. Total revenue increased 3.5%, reflecting sales growth along with the benefit of nearly 15% growth on the other revenue line, driven by continued strength in our Roundel ad business.

因此，現在我將回顧一下我們第二季度的財務業績。本季度總銷售額增長 3.3%，受可比銷售額增長 2.6% 的推動，以及新店的影響。總收入增長 3.5%，反映了銷售額增長以及其他收入增長近 15% 的好處，這得益於我們 Roundel 廣告業務的持續增長。

Just as Christina pointed out, that unit share is a key measure of Target's relevance versus competitors, traffic growth is another important indicator of the relevance of our brand. Our continued traffic growth in the second quarter clearly demonstrates the ability of our balanced multi-category assortment to deliver continued relevance in a rapidly changing environment like we're seeing today. So that even as our guests' preference for individual categories has been changing dramatically so far this year, that hasn't affected their preference for Target. As a result, traffic accounted for 100% of our comparable sales growth in the second quarter, increasing 2.7%, on top of 12.7% a year ago. Average ticket remained essentially flat in the quarter, as low single-digit increase in average retail was offset by a similar reduction in the number of items per transaction.

正如克里斯蒂娜所指出的，單位份額是衡量 Target 與競爭對手相關性的關鍵指標，流量增長是衡量我們品牌相關性的另一個重要指標。我們第二季度的持續流量增長清楚地表明了我們平衡的多類別分類在我們今天看到的快速變化的環境中提供持續相關性的能力。因此，儘管今年到目前為止，我們的客人對個別類別的偏好發生了巨大變化，但這並沒有影響他們對 Target 的偏好。因此，客流量占我們第二季度可比銷售額增長的 100%，增長 2.7%，高於一年前的 12.7%。本季度平均票價基本持平，因為平均零售額的低個位數增長被每筆交易商品數量的類似減少所抵消。

Across our sales channels, store comps grew 1.3%, on top of 8.7% a year ago, while digital comps grew 9%, on top of 9.9% last year. Digital growth continues to be led by our same-day services, which saw double-digit growth overall and mid-teens growth in drive-up.

在我們的銷售渠道中，店面銷售額增長 1.3%，高於一年前的 8.7%，而數字銷售額增長 9%，高於去年的 9.9%。數字化增長繼續由我們的當日服務引領，整體增長達到兩位數，推動增長達到十幾歲。

On the gross margin line, we saw a nearly 9 percentage point decline compared with last year. Merchandising accounted for more than 7 points of this pressure, driven primarily by our inventory reduction efforts, along with the impact of higher fuel and transportation costs, product cost increases and higher shrink, partially offset by the benefit of retail price increases.

在毛利率線上，我們看到與去年相比下降了近 9 個百分點。商品銷售佔這一壓力的 7 個多點，主要受我們減少庫存的努力推動，以及燃料和運輸成本增加、產品成本增加和收縮幅度增加的影響，部分被零售價格上漲的好處所抵消。

In addition, digital fulfillment and supply chain drove about 1.5 points of pressure, reflecting increased compensation and headcount in our distribution centers, combined with the cost of managing excess inventory and higher last-mile shipping costs. Consistent with the first quarter, mix accounted for approximately 10 basis points of pressure. The softness in higher-margin categories like Apparel and Home was largely offset by softness in lower-margin discretionary categories, most notably electronics.

此外，數字化履行和供應鏈帶來了約 1.5 個百分點的壓力，這反映了我們配送中心的薪酬和員工人數增加，以及管理過剩庫存的成本和更高的最後一英里運輸成本。與第一季度一致，混合構成了大約 10 個基點的壓力。服裝和家居等利潤率較高的類別的疲軟在很大程度上被利潤率較低的非必需品類別（尤其是電子產品）的疲軟所抵消。

On the SG&A line, we continue to benefit from fixed cost leverage and efficiency gains across our operations, which helped to offset the impact of cost inflation across multiple expense lines. Within overall compensation, lower incentive compensation more than offset continued investments in pay and benefits for our hourly team members.

在 SG&A 方面，我們繼續受益於整個運營的固定成本槓桿和效率提升，這有助於抵消多個費用項目成本膨脹的影響。在整體薪酬中，較低的激勵薪酬抵消了對我們每小時團隊成員薪酬和福利的持續投資。

Altogether, our second quarter operating margin rate was 1.2%, down from an unusually high 9.8% a year ago, driven entirely by the decline in our gross margin rate. This operating margin performance was below the midpoint of our most recent guidance, as the cost of our inventory actions was somewhat higher than expected.

總體而言，我們第二季度的營業利潤率為 1.2%，低於一年前異常高的 9.8%，這完全是由於我們的毛利率下降所致。這一營業利潤率表現低於我們最近指引的中點，因為我們的庫存行動成本略高於預期。

While an operating margin rate of just over 1% is well below anything I've seen in my career and something I never expect to see again, I have no doubt that it was the right outcome given the unusual circumstances we've been facing this year. Our focus throughout the second quarter was to ensure that we took care of the excess inventory of our network and adjust future receipts to reflect the rapid change in sales trends we've seen so far this year. We accomplished this goal to the benefit of our operations, our team and our guests.

雖然略高於 1% 的營業利潤率遠低於我在職業生涯中見過的任何情況，而且我從未期望再次看到這種情況，但鑑於我們一直面臨的不尋常情況，我毫不懷疑這是正確的結果年。我們整個第二季度的重點是確保我們處理網絡的過剩庫存並調整未來的收據以反映我們今年迄今為止看到的銷售趨勢的快速變化。我們實現了這一目標，以造福我們的運營、團隊和客人。

Finally, one note on our tax rate. In a period like this year, when our operating profit is unusually low, tax benefits have a larger-than-normal impact on our tax rate, which helps to explain why our year-to-date tax rate has been lower than expected. Looking forward, given that we anticipate a meaningful improvement in our operating performance in the back half of the year, we continue to expect our full year effective tax rate will be in a range around 21%.

最後，請注意我們的稅率。在像今年這樣的時期，當我們的營業利潤異常低時，稅收優惠對我們的稅率影響大於正常，這有助於解釋為什麼我們的年初至今稅率低於預期。展望未來，鑑於我們預計下半年的經營業績將顯著改善，我們繼續預計全年有效稅率將在 21% 左右。

Now I'm going to turn to capital deployment and begin where I always do by articulating our priorities, which we've supported consistently for decades. Our first priority is always to invest fully in our business, in projects that support our strategic and financial criteria. Once we've met this first priority, we support our dividend and look to extend our 50-year record of annual increases. And finally, once we've supported the first 2 priorities, we return any remaining excess cash by repurchasing our shares over time, within the limits of our middle A credit ratings.

現在，我將轉向資本部署，並從我一直做的事情開始，明確我們幾十年來一直支持的優先事項。我們的首要任務始終是全面投資於我們的業務，投資於支持我們的戰略和財務標準的項目。一旦我們滿足了這一首要任務，我們就會支持我們的股息，並希望延長我們 50 年的年度增長記錄。最後，一旦我們支持了前兩個優先事項，我們將通過在我們的中等 A 信用評級範圍內隨著時間的推移回購我們的股票來返還任何剩餘的超額現金。

Regarding the first priority, second quarter CapEx was approximately $1.5 billion, bringing our year-to-date total to just over $2.5 billion. As you'll recall, at the beginning of the year, we guided to an expected full year CapEx range of $4 billion to $5 billion. And at the time, I indicated my hope that we'd reach the high end of that range, with the outcome depending on how many capital projects could stay on schedule.

關於首要任務，第二季度的資本支出約為 15 億美元，使我們年初至今的總額略高於 25 億美元。您會記得，在今年年初，我們將預期的全年資本支出範圍設定為 40 億至 50 億美元。當時，我表示希望我們能夠達到該範圍的高端，其結果取決於有多少資本項目可以按計劃進行。

So I'm happy that, as John mentioned, the team is doing a great job of keeping projects on track despite facing multiple headwinds, all while inflation in the cost of equipment, materials and labor is driving project spending above initial projections. As such, we now expect our full year CapEx will be $5 billion or more for the year, reflecting both the number of projects that remain on track and the expected impact of cost inflation.

所以我很高興，正如約翰所提到的，儘管面臨多重不利因素，團隊在保持項目正常進行方面做得很好，同時設備、材料和勞動力成本的通脹正在推動項目支出高於最初的預測。因此，我們現在預計全年資本支出將達到 50 億美元或更多，這既反映了仍處於正常軌道上的項目數量，也反映了成本通脹的預期影響。

Of course, while we prefer not to face the cost pressure on these projects, I'm encouraged that so many value-creating projects remain on track to be completed this year, projects that will benefit our operations and our P&L for years to come.

當然，雖然我們不想面對這些項目的成本壓力，但令我感到鼓舞的是，今年仍有許多創造價值的項目有望完成，這些項目將有利於我們的運營和未來幾年的損益。

Turning to our second capital deployment priority. We returned $417 million in dividends to our shareholders in the second quarter, up from $336 million a year ago, driven by a 32% increase in the per share dividend, partially offset by a decline in average share count.

轉向我們的第二個資本部署優先事項。我們在第二季度向股東返還了 4.17 億美元的股息，高於一年前的 3.36 億美元，原因是每股股息增長了 32%，但部分被平均股票數量的下降所抵消。

And finally, in June, we reached the final settlement for the accelerated share repurchase agreement we initiated last March. Under this ASR, we invested $2.6 billion to retire 12.5 million shares of our stock. Looking forward, just as our inventory commitments reflect continued caution for the remainder of the year, we're taking a similar cautious stance in terms of our share repurchase activity. And of course, any repurchase activity will be consistent with our long-term goal to maintain our middle A credit ratings.

最後，在 6 月，我們就去年 3 月啟動的加速股票回購協議達成了最終和解。根據本 ASR，我們投資了 26 億美元來退市 1250 萬股股票。展望未來，正如我們的庫存承諾反映了今年剩餘時間的持續謹慎，我們在股票回購活動方面也採取了類似的謹慎立場。當然，任何回購活動都將符合我們維持中等 A 信用評級的長期目標。

So now I want to close my commentary on the quarter by covering our after-tax return on invested capital, which measures both our near-term profitability and the efficiency of our CapEx decisions over time. In the second quarter, our trailing 12-month after-tax ROIC was 18.4% compared with 31.7% a year ago. And it's notable, while the current number is well below where we expect to operate over time, an after-tax number in the high teens would have been considered aspirational for our business only a few years ago. So for us to temporarily move down to this level in an environment as challenging as we're facing is a vivid confirmation of the underlying strength and resilience of our business model, and the reason we continue to be incredibly optimistic about our future prospects.

因此，現在我想通過介紹我們的投資資本稅後回報率來結束我對本季度的評論，該回報率衡量我們的近期盈利能力和我們資本支出決策的效率。在第二季度，我們過去 12 個月的稅後投資回報率為 18.4%，而一年前為 31.7%。值得注意的是，雖然目前的數字遠低於我們預計隨著時間的推移而運營的數字，但僅在幾年前，高青少年的稅後數字才會被認為是我們業務的理想之選。因此，對於我們來說，在我們所面臨的充滿挑戰的環境中暫時降到這個水平，是對我們商業模式的潛在實力和彈性的生動確認，也是我們繼續對未來前景感到難以置信的樂觀的原因。

And that confidence starts and ends with our team, so I want to pause and express my gratitude to the best team in retail. Without your efforts, we couldn't have achieved the remarkable growth in traffic and sales that we've seen over the last few years and why even in a tough year, our business remains strong.

這種信心始於我們的團隊，也始於我們的團隊，所以我想停下來對零售業最好的團隊表示感謝。沒有您的努力，我們不可能實現過去幾年所見的流量和銷售顯著增長，以及為什麼即使在艱難的一年，我們的業務仍然強勁。

Now let's turn to our guidance. And based on the hard work of our team in the second quarter, we feel really good about how we're positioned going into the back half of the year. At the same time, given that we've been experiencing volatile economic conditions so far this year and that volatility appears likely to continue in the months ahead, we're maintaining a cautious stance as we plan our business given the potential macro and consumer risks that might emerge. That's why, as you've heard throughout our remarks today, our second quarter inventory actions were specifically designed to reduce our level of risk in discretionary categories. And in terms of our operations, the team has focused on building flexibility into our plans, placing a premium on staying nimble and adjusting quickly in the face of any potential change in macro trends.

現在讓我們轉向我們的指導。基於我們團隊在第二季度的辛勤工作，我們對下半年的定位感到非常滿意。與此同時，鑑於今年迄今為止我們一直在經歷動蕩的經濟狀況，而且未來幾個月似乎還會繼續波動，鑑於潛在的宏觀和消費者風險，我們在規劃業務時保持謹慎態度可能會出現。這就是為什麼，正如您在我們今天的講話中所聽到的那樣，我們第二季度的庫存行動是專門為降低我們在可自由支配類別中的風險水平而設計的。在我們的運營方面，團隊專注於在我們的計劃中建立靈活性，在面對宏觀趨勢的任何潛在變化時保持敏捷和快速調整。

Regarding the top line, our expectations have remained consistent so far this year, with guidance for full year total revenue growth in the low to mid-single-digit range. With the front half of the year behind us, both our Q1 and Q2 results have put us squarely in the middle of that range. And today, based on our current performance and plans for the back half of the year, we remain positioned to deliver full year revenue growth in the low to mid-single-digit range.

關於收入，我們對今年迄今為止的預期保持一致，全年總收入增長在中低個位數範圍內。今年上半年已經過去，我們的第一季度和第二季度業績都使我們處於該範圍的中間。而今天，根據我們目前的業績和下半年的計劃，我們仍然有能力實現中低個位數的全年收入增長。

On the operating margin line, our most recent guidance anticipated a fall season operating margin rate and a range centered around 6%. This expectation is nearly double our spring result. And notably, if we hit that rate in the fall, it would exceed the fall season rates we were delivering prior to the pandemic. And today, similar to my commentary on the top line, based on the success of our Q2 inventory actions and our current performance, we remain positioned to deliver an operating margin rate in a range around 6% in the fall season.

在營業利潤率線上，我們最近的指導預計秋季營業利潤率將在 6% 左右。這個預期幾乎是我們春季結果的兩倍。值得注意的是，如果我們在秋季達到這個速度，它將超過我們在大流行之前交付的秋季速度。今天，與我對頂線的評論類似，基於我們第二季度庫存行動的成功和我們目前的表現，我們仍然有能力在秋季實現 6% 左右的營業利潤率。

Between the last 2 quarters of the year, we expect our third quarter rate will be well below our Q3 performance over the last couple of years, while our fourth quarter rate should be much more in line with our recent Q4 experience. Most notably, in the third quarter, we'll continue to experience some spillover impact from our inventory actions in the range of $200 million. In contrast, in Q4, we'll be annualizing meaningful cost headwinds that surfaced a year ago, which will make the year-over-year comparison more favorable despite the current headwinds we're facing.

在今年最後兩個季度之間，我們預計我們的第三季度利率將遠低於過去幾年第三季度的表現，而我們的第四季度利率應該更符合我們最近的第四季度經驗。最值得注意的是，在第三季度，我們將繼續受到 2 億美元庫存行動的一些溢出影響。相比之下，在第四季度，我們將對一年前出現的有意義的成本不利因素進行年度化，儘管我們目前面臨不利因素，但這將使同比比較更加有利。

All that said, while we typically anticipate something closer to a balance of upside and downside potential when we make any forecast, the macro and consumer risks in the back half of this year feel skewed to the downside. That's why even in the face of consistent business trends in recent months, we've undertaken the significant cost and effort to remove risk from our inventory commitments. It's why we're stubbornly focused on real-time monitoring and communication of evolving conditions, and why we've asked our team to build flexibility and agility into their plans. With that mindset, if trends move away from what we're seeing today, we're ready to quickly adjust.

綜上所述，雖然我們在做出任何預測時通常預計會接近上行和下行潛力的平衡，但今年下半年的宏觀和消費者風險感覺偏向下行。這就是為什麼即使在近幾個月來始終如一的業務趨勢面前，我們也付出了巨大的成本和努力來消除我們的庫存承諾中的風險。這就是為什麼我們頑固地專注於實時監控和溝通不斷變化的條件，以及為什麼我們要求我們的團隊在他們的計劃中建立靈活性和敏捷性。有了這種心態，如果趨勢偏離我們今天所看到的，我們就準備好快速調整。

So now before I turn the call back over to Brian, I want to emphasize why we're so confident in our long-term potential, even as we navigate a very challenging environment in a year of multiple challenges, including rapidly changing consumer preferences, inflation at 40-year highs, volatile supply chain conditions and rising fuel and transportation rates that are expected to add well over $1 billion of cost this year. Our business continues to generate historically strong traffic increases, low to mid-single-digit revenue growth and unit share gains across all of our core merchandising categories.

所以現在在我把電話轉回布賴恩之前，我想強調為什麼我們對我們的長期潛力如此有信心，即使我們在一年中面臨著多重挑戰，包括快速變化的消費者偏好，通脹處於 40 年高位、供應鏈狀況不穩定以及燃料和運輸費率上升，預計今年將增加超過 10 億美元的成本。我們的業務繼續在我們所有的核心商品類別中產生歷史上強勁的客流量增長、中低個位數的收入增長和單位份額增長。

And even in the face of unprecedented profit rate pressure driven by the host of factors I just listed, we remain profitable with an after-tax ROIC in the mid-teens. In fact, if our performance in the fall is consistent with the revenue growth and operating margin rates I outlined earlier, we remain positioned in 2022 to generate higher operating margin dollars than we did in 2019. That's what we mean when we say we have built a durable model.

即使面對我剛剛列出的一系列因素所帶來的前所未有的利潤率壓力，我們仍然保持盈利，稅後投資回報率在十幾歲左右。事實上，如果我們在秋季的表現與我之前概述的收入增長和營業利潤率一致，那麼我們在 2022 年仍將產生比 2019 年更高的營業利潤率美元。這就是我們所說的我們已經建立的意思一個耐用的模型。

And today, while we expect conditions to remain challenging in the near term, the operating margin rate improvement we're projecting in the back half of the year should serve as an early indicator of the continued rate improvement we should deliver in the years ahead. With the potential for additional rate expansion and continued growth in traffic and revenue in the years ahead, we're facing a compelling financial picture as the economy and consumer eventually recover. That's why I've never been more confident in our long-term prospects than I am today.

今天，雖然我們預計短期內情況仍將充滿挑戰，但我們預計下半年的營業利潤率提高應該可以作為我們在未來幾年應該繼續提高利率的早期指標。由於未來幾年可能進一步擴大費率以及流量和收入的持續增長，隨著經濟和消費者最終復甦，我們面臨著令人信服的財務狀況。這就是為什麼我從來沒有像今天這樣對我們的長期前景充滿信心。

With that, I'll turn the call back over to Brian.

有了這個，我會把電話轉回給布賴恩。

Thanks, Michael. I often tell my team that leadership and performance are tightly linked over time, but that leadership often appears first. That's why I'm extremely proud of the leadership our team showed in the second quarter. After they took a hard look at our owned inventory position and the amount that was building up across our industry, they opted to make the hard choice: get in front of the problem and address it head-on.

謝謝，邁克爾。我經常告訴我的團隊，隨著時間的推移，領導力和績效密切相關，但領導力往往首先出現。這就是為什麼我對我們團隊在第二季度表現出的領導能力感到非常自豪。在仔細研究了我們擁有的庫存狀況以及整個行業的庫存量之後，他們選擇做出艱難的選擇：直面問題並正面解決。

They made that decision with the full knowledge it would have a profound impact on our near-term profitability. They also knew there was another path. We could have avoided attacking the problem and avoid some of the pain in the short run. But instead, our team chose to lead. They knew the best path for our guests and for our teams in our stores and distribution centers was to take action and improve the condition of our inventory and operations quickly. That path would allow the entire Target team to move ahead without facing the ongoing burden of excess inventory holding us back.

他們在充分了解這將對我們的近期盈利能力產生深遠影響的情況下做出了這一決定。他們也知道還有另一條路。我們本可以避免解決問題並在短期內避免一些痛苦。但相反，我們的團隊選擇了帶頭。他們知道，對於我們的客人以及我們在商店和配送中心的團隊來說，最佳途徑是迅速採取行動並改善我們的庫存和運營狀況。這條道路將允許整個 Target 團隊繼續前進，而不會面臨持續的庫存過剩負擔阻礙我們前進。

So the team quickly developed the [bolder] plan, which we announced in early June, just over 2 months ago. And in the intervening weeks, teams across the company worked tirelessly to take the plan and make it a reality. That's the reason we're positioned to deliver a strong improvement in our profitability this fall despite an environment that's far from ideal. Because of our team's leadership, our business today is much better positioned to perform, and I couldn't be more proud and grateful for the courage they have shown.

因此，團隊迅速制定了 [更大膽的] 計劃，我們在兩個多月前的 6 月初宣布了該計劃。在隨後的幾周里，整個公司的團隊不知疲倦地工作，將計劃變為現實。這就是我們準備在今年秋天大幅提高盈利能力的原因，儘管環境遠非理想。由於我們團隊的領導，我們今天的業務表現得更好，我為他們表現出的勇氣感到無比自豪和感激。

So with that, I want to thank you for listening into our call today. And now Christina, John, Michael and I will be happy to take your questions.

因此，我要感謝您今天收聽我們的電話。現在克里斯蒂娜、約翰、邁克爾和我很樂意回答你的問題。

(Operator Instructions) We're now ready with our first question from Christopher Horvers with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）我們現在準備好回答摩根大通的 Christopher Horvers 提出的第一個問題。

You talked about an encouraging start to back-to-school. Can you talk about what you've seen in July and August? A lot of retailers like you have talked about improving trends. So what does that mean for how you're thinking about the back half comps? And does that reflect the current trend in the business, as you said in the guidance? Because I guess the question we have is, is the risk -- how did you incorporate the risk that the bounce in trend that you're seeing now is just that episodic event-type spending that you've been highlighting all year?

你談到了一個令人鼓舞的返校開始。您能談談您在 7 月和 8 月看到的情況嗎？許多像您這樣的零售商都談到了改善趨勢。那麼這對你如何看待後半場比賽意味著什麼？正如您在指南中所說，這是否反映了當前的業務趨勢？因為我想我們面臨的問題是風險——您如何將您現在看到的趨勢反彈只是您全年強調的偶發事件型支出的風險納入考慮範圍？

Chris, thanks for joining us this morning. I'll let Christina talk about some of the back-to-school and back-to-college trends and Michael to build on guidance. But before we start, based on the length of our prepared comments, we are going to ask for some additional time for Q&A. So operator, we're going to extend the time for this call to make sure we cover as many questions as possible.

克里斯，感謝您今天早上加入我們。我將讓克里斯蒂娜談論一些返校和返校趨勢，並讓邁克爾在指導的基礎上再接再厲。但在我們開始之前，根據我們準備好的評論的長度，我們將要求額外的時間進行問答。所以接線員，我們將延長這次電話會議的時間，以確保我們涵蓋盡可能多的問題。

Christina, do you want to start by talking about some of the back-to-school and back-to-college trends we're seeing?

克里斯蒂娜，你想先談談我們看到的一些返校和返校趨勢嗎？

Yes. As I shared earlier in my prepared remarks, we're optimistic about what back-to-school and back-to-college mean. This -- during seasonal times is when Target really shines, the reason being that our multi-category portfolio makes us even more relevant, the opportunity to buy kids uniform, backpacks, the school -- the lunch kit and everything that goes in it and, of course, all the supplies. And so they've always -- seasonal moments have always been a good proxy for the strength of the total portfolio. And so as we're seeing good early trends, albeit there's a lot of business left to be done, we believe that, that is a good indicator of the strength of the potential for the fall. The other thing to look at, of course, is how we have performed to date, and our traffic and unit share growth that we've seen across the portfolio holistically gives us confidence in the guest choice of Target as their retailer of preference.

是的。正如我之前在準備好的發言中所分享的，我們對返校和返校意味著什麼持樂觀態度。這 - 在季節性時期是 Target 真正閃耀的時候，原因是我們的多類別產品組合使我們更加相關，有機會購買兒童制服、背包、學校 - 午餐包以及其中的所有物品和，當然，所有的用品。所以他們一直 - 季節性時刻一直是總投資組合實力的良好代表。因此，當我們看到良好的早期趨勢時，儘管還有很多事情要做，但我們認為，這是秋季潛力強度的一個很好的指標。當然，要關注的另一件事是我們迄今為止的表現，以及我們在整個投資組合中看到的客流量和單位份額增長，這讓我們對客戶選擇 Target 作為他們的首選零售商充滿信心。

Chris, I'll let Michael talk about guidance. But one of the things that really stands out for me as I look at our position today, is that continued strength in traffic and the growth we're seeing in units across our entire portfolio. I'd also recognize, based on the actions we've taken with our inventory position, if you walk our stores today, it is clear that we are prepared for back-to-school and back-to-college, and we're really standing tall in those categories.

克里斯，我會讓邁克爾談談指導。但是，當我今天查看我們的位置時，對我來說真正突出的一件事是，流量的持續強勁以及我們在整個投資組合中看到的單位增長。我還認識到，根據我們對庫存狀況採取的行動，如果您今天走訪我們的商店，很明顯我們已為返校和返校做好準備，而且我們正在在這些類別中真的很高。

Mike, do we want to talk about the guidance?

邁克，我們想談談指導嗎？

Yes. And I'll build off the comment you just made, Brian. When we look at the quarter, Chris, a lot of the trends we see in Q2 are informing our view of the back half of the year. And I think Q2 is a pretty good proxy for some of those top line assumptions that we have in the back part of the year. The consistency of traffic for the year across the months of the quarter, I think that's the thing that we look at really closely that gives us a lot of evidence that even as shopping habits have changed and category trends have changed, we've seen a consistent draw to more and more shoppers shop in our stores and shopping us online. And that consistency of traffic is the thing that gives me lot of optimism as I look to the back half of the year even if we can't sit here today and predict every twist and turn.

是的。布賴恩，我會根據你剛剛發表的評論來補充。克里斯，當我們看這個季度時，我們在第二季度看到的很多趨勢都在影響我們對下半年的看法。我認為第二季度是我們在今年下半年所做的一些頂級假設的一個很好的代表。本季度各月份全年流量的一致性，我認為這是我們真正密切關注的事情，它為我們提供了很多證據，即使購物習慣發生了變化，品類趨勢也發生了變化，我們已經看到了不斷吸引越來越多的購物者在我們的商店購物和在線購物。即使我們今天不能坐在這裡預測每一個曲折，當我展望下半年時，這種交通的一致性給了我很多樂觀。

Chris, I'll add one final point. As we talk to our guests, when we talk to consumers, while there's certainly a cautionary environment in front of us, but one thing that seems to be very consistent is a guest and consumer who says they want to celebrate the holiday seasons. So we certainly expect that they are going to be celebrating Halloween this year and actively trick-or-treating and hosting parties with friends and family. We know they're looking forward to Thanksgiving, and they're going to look forward to celebrating the Christmas holidays. And that comes out each and every week as we survey consumers and talk to our guests. So that gives us great optimism for our ability to perform during these key holiday seasons.

克里斯，我要補充一點。當我們與客人交談時，當我們與消費者交談時，雖然我們面前肯定有一個警示環境，但似乎非常一致的一件事是客人和消費者都說他們想慶祝節日。因此，我們當然希望他們今年將慶祝萬聖節，並積極與朋友和家人進行搗蛋和舉辦派對。我們知道他們期待著感恩節，他們期待著慶祝聖誕假期。當我們調查消費者並與我們的客人交談時，每週都會出現這種情況。因此，這讓我們對我們在這些關鍵假期期間的表現感到非常樂觀。

Got it. And so my follow-up is just, Michael, you talked about the phasing of the operating margin. So the interpretation is that the fourth quarter is going to look a lot more consistent with what you did last year, maybe a little bit below. So the third quarter comes in well below that 6% -- around 6%.

知道了。所以我的後續行動只是，邁克爾，你談到了營業利潤率的分階段。所以解釋是第四季度看起來會與你去年的表現更加一致，可能會略低於去年。所以第三季度遠低於 6%——大約 6%。

Yes. You -- as I said in my remarks, I expect to -- we sit here today, expecting a fourth quarter, it looks more like the fourth quarter we've seen in the last couple of years. And so I think that's a 6.8% last year and a 6.5% the year before that. That's the right range around which we set our expectations for the fourth quarter. And obviously, to get to a 6% in total, that implies a lower number in the third quarter. And the driver there is, like I talked about in remarks, some of the costs of our inventory actions do spill over into the third quarter. And we'll continue to manage the elevated fuel and freight costs and kind of how those net against pricing action and things like that over the balance of the year. But we feel good about that range, around 6%, and we'll continue to watch the macro environment really closely.

是的。你——正如我在講話中所說，我希望——我們今天坐在這裡，期待第四季度，它看起來更像我們在過去幾年看到的第四季度。所以我認為去年是 6.8%，前一年是 6.5%。這是我們設定第四季度預期的正確範圍。顯然，要達到 6% 的總數，這意味著第三季度的數字會更低。就像我在評論中談到的那樣，驅動因素是我們庫存行動的一些成本確實會溢出到第三季度。我們將繼續管理高漲的燃料和貨運成本，以及在今年餘下時間裡這些成本如何抵消定價行為以及類似的事情。但我們對這個範圍感覺很好，大約 6%，我們將繼續密切關注宏觀環境。

The next question is from Edward Yruma with Piper Sandler.

下一個問題來自 Edward Yruma 和 Piper Sandler。

Two from me. I guess first, on the variance relative to your previous expectations in terms of the inventory actions, were there specific areas where you had to cut deeper or cost more to get out of inventory positions? And then as a broader question, one of your peers talked about some changes they're seeing in their customer base. I guess are there any noteworthy changes that you're seeing? Are there customers trading down or trading into Target?

兩個我。首先，我想，相對於您之前在庫存行動方面的預期的差異，是否存在您必須更深入地削減或花費更多成本才能擺脫庫存頭寸的特定領域？然後作為一個更廣泛的問題，您的一位同行談到了他們在客戶群中看到的一些變化。我想您是否看到了任何值得注意的變化？是否有客戶降價交易或交易到 Target？

And I'll start, and then I'll turn it over to John to talk about some of the inventory actions, but I really want to start by recognizing our team. I think as we sit here today, over the last few weeks since our announcement in June, this has been a collaborative effort, and the team has accomplished so much to put us in the right place as we get ready for the back half of the year. So based on the work that the teams have done across our supply chain system, in merchandising, in finance and supply chain, in stores, the team has accomplished more than we expected in a short period of time and put us in a better position from an inventory standpoint than we might have expected back in June.

我會開始，然後我會把它交給約翰來談談一些庫存行動，但我真的想從認識我們的團隊開始。我認為，當我們今天坐在這裡時，在我們 6 月宣布後的最後幾週內，這是一項協作努力，團隊已經完成了很多工作，讓我們處於正確的位置，因為我們已經為後半段做好了準備。年。因此，基於團隊在我們的供應鏈系統、銷售、財務和供應鏈、商店中所做的工作，團隊在短時間內完成了超出我們預期的工作，並使我們處於更好的位置從庫存的角度來看，我們可能在 6 月份就已經預料到了。

Yes. Ed, I'll just add on it. I think largely, we're on track with what we thought at the -- when we came out with the announcement earlier in Q2. A little bit of it cost us a little bit more in promos or clearance to move some inventory. But I think the work the team did in a very short amount of time to size what we needed to take care of is largely in line with where we are today, and we feel really good about where we're at.

是的。埃德，我只是補充一下。我認為在很大程度上，當我們在第二季度早些時候發佈公告時，我們的想法已經步入正軌。其中一點點我們在促銷或清倉中花費了更多的成本來移動一些庫存。但我認為團隊在很短的時間內完成了我們需要處理的工作，這在很大程度上與我們今天的情況一致，我們對自己所處的位置感覺非常好。

As Michael said, a little bit spilled over into Q3, and that's really just timing more than anything else. We just didn't get to it. But the work that's been done, we're really proud of. And I would say, from my position, we did exactly what we set out to do. We got rid of the inventory we needed to, the operations are in a much better place. There's a little bit more to do here in Q3 that will clean up.

正如邁克爾所說，有一點點溢出到第三季度，這實際上只是時機比其他任何事情都重要。我們只是沒有達到它。但是已經完成的工作，我們真的很自豪。我想說，從我的立場來看，我們確實做了我們打算做的事情。我們擺脫了我們需要的庫存，運營狀況要好得多。在第三季度還有一些事情要做，這將清理乾淨。

And I think the one thing I'd add on that I don't want to get lost is the amount of receipts that were cut from discretionary categories in Q3 and Q4, and that is just huge for us, again, because of the uncertainty in those particular categories. And if sales end up a little bit higher, we'll have a little bit higher sell-through, and that will be a great day. But that really derisks those categories going forward. So we feel great about the work that's been done over the past few months.

而且我認為我不想迷失的一件事是第三季度和第四季度從可自由支配類別中削減的收入數量，這對我們來說又是巨大的，因為不確定性在那些特定的類別中。如果銷售額最終更高一點，我們的銷售量就會更高一點，那將是美好的一天。但這確實使這些類別繼續前進。因此，我們對過去幾個月所做的工作感到非常滿意。

And Ed, maybe I can add a little bit to the question about the customer. As I shared in my prepared remarks, our guest is still demonstrating that they have spending power. The choices that they're making to balance their budget is what we're watching. And so obviously, we're moderating our investment in some of those discretionary businesses, and we're leaning very much into Food & Beverage, Essentials, Beauty, but also select portions of the portfolio and discretionary that have stayed resilient, whether it's toys, luggage, seasonal moments, fashion-forward apparel. And so it's really about reading the guests listening to them and continuing to support a level of agility in the business model. And in terms of other choices that they're making, I think traffic and unit share are the best barometer for their investment in Target. We're still growing traffic, and we're growing unit share in every major category, which to me says that our relevance is high with the guests right now and they're managing their budgets as best fit and they're finding options at Target.

Ed，也許我可以在關於客戶的問題上補充一點。正如我在準備好的講話中所分享的那樣，我們的客人仍在證明他們有消費能力。他們為平衡預算而做出的選擇正是我們所關注的。很明顯，我們正在減少對一些非必需品業務的投資，我們非常傾向於食品和飲料、必需品、美容，但也選擇了部分投資組合和非必需品保持彈性，無論是玩具、箱包、季節性時刻、時尚前衛的服裝。因此，這實際上是關於閱讀客人傾聽他們的聲音，並繼續支持商業模式中的一定程度的敏捷性。就他們所做的其他選擇而言，我認為流量和單位份額是他們投資 Target 的最佳晴雨表。我們的流量仍在增長，我們在每個主要類別中的單位份額都在增長，這對我來說，這表明我們現在與客人的相關性很高，他們正在以最合適的方式管理他們的預算，他們正在尋找選擇目標。

Our next question is from Steph Wissink with Jefferies.

我們的下一個問題來自 Jefferies 的 Steph Wissink。

Just wanted to ask a follow-up question on pricing for the back half. Just give us some sense of how you're thinking about promotionality. I think you've mentioned in your prepared remarks that consumers were responding to some of the promotions you were putting out. So just give us a sense of what you factored into the guidance in terms of heightened levels of promotions.

只是想問一個關於後半部分定價的後續問題。讓我們了解一下您對促銷的看法。我認為你在準備好的評論中提到消費者正在回應你推出的一些促銷活動。因此，請讓我們了解您在提高促銷水平方面將哪些因素納入指導。

Thanks for the question, Steph. I mean we always know as we get to the back half of the year, it's a promotional environment. The holidays always are, and so we factored that in accordingly. And we see a consumer in the current inflationary environment that's focused on value. And like we've said many times in these calls, we think about pricing first through the lens of our guests. We want to make sure the guests can find great value on shelf, online and the way that we're priced and we feel good about where we've struck that value equation. And I think the traffic we're seeing speaks to the fact that guests see it, too.

謝謝你的問題，斯蒂芬。我的意思是，當我們進入下半年時，我們總是知道，這是一個促銷環境。假期總是如此，所以我們相應地考慮了這一點。在當前的通脹環境中，我們看到了一個專注於價值的消費者。就像我們在這些電話會議中多次說過的那樣，我們首先從客人的角度考慮定價。我們希望確保客人可以在貨架、在線和我們的定價方式上找到巨大的價值，並且我們對我們在哪里達到這個價值等式感到滿意。而且我認為我們看到的流量說明了客人也看到了這一事實。

And Steph, I'd only add that Christina and her team have done a wonderful job as we plan for the back half of the year, of ensuring that we have great value for our guests but also that we have exciting newness. And I think that combination is a winning formula for us as we think about the back half of the year.

斯蒂芬，我只想補充一點，克里斯蒂娜和她的團隊在我們計劃下半年的工作中做得非常好，確保我們為客人提供巨大的價值，同時也確保我們有令人興奮的新事物。當我們考慮下半年時，我認為這種組合對我們來說是一個成功的公式。

Our next question is from Michael Lasser with UBS.

我們的下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Michael Lasser。

My first question is how much did the clearance and promotional activity contribute to the C-store sales growth in the first -- in the second quarter? And if you do see more downside than upside risk to the guidance for the back half of the year, why didn't you just moderate the guidance a little lower for the back half?

我的第一個問題是清倉和促銷活動對第一季度——第二季度的 C 店銷售增長貢獻了多少？如果你確實看到今年下半年指引的下行風險大於上行風險，你為什麼不把下半年的指引調低一點呢？

Sure, Michael. Thanks for the question. While the kind of counterfactual with every elasticity of where Q2 would have landed, it is a little bit of more art than science. We think that the net dollar impact of our markdowns is probably negligible all in, in the second quarter. And of course, we took some markdowns to move through some product, but we think that probably net-net, that didn't move our top line comp a lot.

當然，邁克爾。謝謝你的問題。雖然第二季度的每一個彈性都會出現這種反事實，但它更像是藝術而不是科學。我們認為，在第二季度，我們的降價對美元的淨影響可能完全可以忽略不計。當然，我們採取了一些降價措施來推廣某些產品，但我們認為可能是 net-net，這並沒有對我們的頂級產品產生太大影響。

As we think about the back half of the year, we're informing the back half based on the trends that we're seeing now in the business. And as we've talked about, some of those trends that we saw change at the end of Q1, we've seen persist into Q2, and we factored that in to our thinking for the back half of the year. We'll continue to be mindful of what's clearly in an uncertain environment for the economy and the consumer. And to the point Christina made earlier in Q&A, we'll stay close to those trends, and we'll adjust accordingly. And that's why taking the inventory actions we did to give us some room to operate and to give us some flexibility in the system will be important in an uncertain environment.

當我們考慮今年下半年時，我們會根據我們現在在業務中看到的趨勢通知下半年。正如我們所談到的，我們在第一季度末看到的一些趨勢發生了變化，我們已經看到持續到第二季度，我們在下半年的思考中考慮了這一點。我們將繼續關注經濟和消費者在不確定環境中的明顯情況。就克里斯蒂娜早些時候在問答中提出的觀點而言，我們將緊貼這些趨勢，並進行相應的調整。這就是為什麼在不確定的環境中採取我們為給我們一些操作空間和給我們一些系統靈活性而採取的庫存行動將很重要。

Okay. My follow-up question is there's obviously a lot of moving pieces with what's happening at Target right now. But isn't a lot of this just transitional and setting the set stage to grow better 2023 really somewhat independent of the macro environment? So with that being said, could you size the impact to your margins from all the inventory actions that you're taking this quarter, next quarter that are temporary and will be isolated to this year and won't repeat next year? Can you give us a better sense of what the ongoing profitability of the business is?

好的。我的後續問題是，Target 現在正在發生的事情顯然有很多動人的部分。但是，這難道不是很多只是過渡性的，並設定了在 2023 年更好發展的設定階段，真的在某種程度上獨立於宏觀環境嗎？因此，話雖如此，您能否確定本季度、下季度採取的所有庫存措施對利潤率的影響，這些措施是暫時的，將被隔離到今年，明年不會重複？您能否讓我們更好地了解業務的持續盈利能力是什麼？

Michael, I'll start by saying, I think your summary really captures the actions we've been taking today really to make sure that we continue to build on the traffic we're seeing in our stores and the visits to our site, the strength we're seeing in unit market share gains; but importantly, the investments we made to ensure we have a great guest experience in the back half of the year and going into 2023. So the bold, decisive actions were really to make sure we continue to build on our current momentum, the great relationship we have with our guests, the momentum we're building from a market share standpoint and providing our guests with a great Target experience every time they shop. That will continue and set us up well for 2023.

邁克爾，我首先要說，我認為您的總結確實反映了我們今天採取的行動，以確保我們繼續在我們的商店看到的流量和對我們網站的訪問量的基礎上，我們在單位市場份額增長中看到的實力；但重要的是，我們所做的投資是為了確保我們在下半年和 2023 年擁有出色的賓客體驗。因此，大膽、果斷的行動確實是為了確保我們繼續鞏固目前的勢頭，建立良好的關係我們與我們的客人一起，從市場份額的角度來看，我們正在建立的勢頭，並在每次購物時為我們的客人提供出色的 Target 體驗。這將繼續下去，並為 2023 年做好準備。

As far as sizing it, we'll certainly come back to all of you as we think about guidance for next year, but we certainly expect to see a more normalized environment from an operating profit standpoint as we move into 2023 and continue to build on the momentum and the investments we've been making in our business for years.

就規模而言，當我們考慮明年的指導時，我們肯定會回到大家身邊，但隨著我們進入 2023 年並繼續發展，我們當然希望從營業利潤的角度看到一個更加正常化的環境多年來我們在業務中的發展勢頭和投資。

The next question is from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的西蒙·古特曼。

Following up on actually Michael's question, is there any way you can quantify some of the structurally higher costs in labor in the DC? Just as a way to back out, that might be the one driver that stays in gross margin. But then in theory, you should recapture most of what's happened this year.

跟進邁克爾的實際問題，您有什麼方法可以量化華盛頓特區勞動力結構性較高的一些成本？作為一種退出方式，這可能是保持毛利率不變的一個驅動因素。但從理論上講，你應該重新掌握今年發生的大部分事情。

Yes. I mean there's probably a piece in each bucket, Simeon. As we've grown the business, obviously, we invest more labor in moving the product to support that growth, and that's a piece of some of that growth there. And then it also costs us more when we're full. And our supply chain was full in the second quarter. And so there's a piece of that, that will result in improved productivity over time as we get some of that inventory out of the system. To Brian's point, we'll come back and unpack next year when the time is right to do that. But I expect to see both of those drivers present as we do so.

是的。我的意思是每個桶裡可能都有一塊，西蒙。顯然，隨著我們業務的發展，我們會投入更多的勞動力來移動產品以支持這種增長，而這是其中的一部分增長。然後，當我們吃飽時，它也會花費我們更多。我們的供應鏈在第二季度是滿的。因此，當我們從系統中取出一些庫存時，其中有一部分將隨著時間的推移提高生產力。就布賴恩而言，我們會在明年合適的時候回來拆包。但我希望在我們這樣做時看到這兩個司機都在場。

And maybe just a quick follow-up. You mentioned Q4 profitability should look more Target-esque. Does that mean -- like what's the assumption for mix in that fourth quarter relative to where we are today?

也許只是一個快速的跟進。你提到第四季度的盈利能力應該看起來更像目標。這是否意味著——比如相對於我們今天的情況，第四季度的混合假設是什麼？

Yes. We aren't breaking out a specific assumption for mix. But I think if you look over the last couple of quarters, you see mix isn't a big driver of our margin results. And so I wouldn't think about it markedly any differently as we project ahead.

是的。我們沒有打破混合的具體假設。但我認為，如果你回顧過去幾個季度，你會發現混合併不是我們利潤率結果的主要驅動力。因此，當我們提前計劃時，我不會有明顯不同的想法。

Our next question is from Kelly Bania with BMO Capital.

我們的下一個問題來自 BMO Capital 的 Kelly Bania。

Curious if you could just help us dissect the gross margin a little bit between the promotional activity, the inventory impairment versus the cost of storing and moving this excess inventory. Because I think it would just be a little helpful for investors to interpret that comp and traffic number and just how you're thinking about that traffic and comp as the promotions moderate into Q3. And it sounds like Q4, you're planning for very little promotional activity. So I was just wondering if you could kind of parse some of that out to help us think about that.

好奇您是否可以幫助我們在促銷活動、庫存減值與存儲和移動這些多餘庫存的成本之間稍微分析一下毛利率。因為我認為，在促銷活動進入第三季度時，解釋該補償和流量數字以及您如何看待該流量和補償對於投資者來說會有點幫助。聽起來像第四季度，您計劃進行的促銷活動很少。所以我只是想知道你是否可以解析其中的一些內容來幫助我們思考這個問題。

I'll maybe start at the end of your question. We expect Q4 to be promotional. It always is. And our plans plan for promotions that will provide great value to our guests and those seasonal moments that matter. That's been true in every Q4 in my 18 years here, and I expect it not to be any different this time around.

我可能會在你的問題結束時開始。我們預計第四季度將是促銷活動。它總是如此。我們的促銷計劃計劃將為我們的客人和重要的季節性時刻提供巨大的價值。在我在這里工作的 18 年中，每個第四季度都是如此，我希望這一次不會有任何不同。

With respect to unpacking the margin, I'll go back to some of what I said in my comments. And we were, year-over-year, 9 percentage points down, 7 of that is mostly driven by inventory actions and you see incremental markdowns as a piece of that. You also see the cost of some of those receipt cancellations that John talked about earlier. And then you see about 1.5 points of pressure from supply chain and digital. And a piece of that is related to us being heavier in the system and that drives some costs. A piece of that is the elevated freight and transportation rates that we've talked about previously, that will continue to kind of maybe move up and move down based on the day, are definitely elevated versus any historical measure. And you can see over that -- see that is a piece of that year-over-year pressure, too.

關於打開邊距，我將回到我在評論中所說的一些內容。我們同比下降了 9 個百分點，其中 7 個主要是由庫存活動驅動的，你認為增量降價是其中的一部分。您還可以看到約翰之前談到的一些收據取消的成本。然後你會看到大約 1.5 個來自供應鍊和數字化的壓力。其中一部分與我們在系統中的重量增加有關，這會增加一些成本。其中一部分是我們之前談到的運費和運輸費率的上漲，這可能會繼續上升和下降，這與任何歷史指標相比肯定是上升的。你可以看到這一點 - 看到這也是同比壓力的一部分。

Our next question is from Robby Ohmes with Bank of America.

我們的下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Robby Ohmes。

My question was on inflation in food and consumables. And can you give us any number on how much inflation you guys saw in the second quarter, but also the 2 half guide you guys have given us. What's the inflation tailwind you guys are expecting in food and consumables? And also related to that, you guys talked about the focus on everyday pricing. Is there any incremental margin pressure from the frequency items or the focus on everyday pricing being sharp?

我的問題是關於食品和消費品的通貨膨脹。你能給我們任何關於你們在第二季度看到多少通貨膨脹的數字，還有你們給我們的 2 half 指南。你們對食品和消費品的通脹順風是什麼？與此相關的是，你們談到了對日常定價的關注。頻率項目或對日常定價的關注是否會增加利潤？

Yes. I mean we've seen persistent cost inflation in food. And I think across the industry, you've seen price move with that. That's been no different here at Target. We are really mindful of making sure that we feel good about our price gaps, definitely do today in food.

是的。我的意思是我們已經看到食品成本持續上漲。我認為在整個行業中，您已經看到價格隨之波動。在 Target 也不例外。我們真的很注意確保我們對我們的價格差距感覺良好，今天絕對是在食品方面。

And if you zoom out from the food-specific piece of that, again, I'll come back to traffic. If you look at what drove our growth in the second quarter, there were some puts and takes within basket between ASP and units. But the story was traffic. And so again, that gives us evidence that we're getting that value equation right for our guests.

如果你從食物特定的部分縮小，我會再次回到交通上。如果你看看是什麼推動了我們第二季度的增長，在平均售價和單位之間存在一些看跌期權。但故事是交通。因此，這再次證明了我們正在為我們的客人找到正確的價值等式。

And is the inflation component within same-store sales in food and consumables? Is that similar to sort of the numbers we're seeing in the CPI for food at home?

食品和消費品的同店銷售中是否存在通貨膨脹成分？這是否類似於我們在家庭食品 CPI 中看到的數字？

I think that's generally in the right ballpark. Obviously, there's some mix implications there if you're comparing retailer to retailer. But we've seen persistently high inflation in food. And I think that's a trend that's been with us for a while, and we don't expect it to change anytime soon.

我認為這通常是正確的。顯然，如果您將零售商與零售商進行比較，則會產生一些混合影響。但我們已經看到食品的持續高通脹。我認為這種趨勢已經存在了一段時間，我們預計它不會很快改變。

And sorry, just to clarify, the pricing, folks, are you -- would you say you guys are investing in price in food and consumables? So maybe taking a lower margin in the grocery part of your business than maybe historically you would have.

抱歉，只是為了澄清一下定價，伙計們，你會說你們是在食品和消耗品的價格上投資嗎？因此，您業務的雜貨部分的利潤率可能低於歷史上的水平。

No. Maybe I'll add a little context here. We're consistently evaluating our complete value proposition to the consumer. And so part of that is price. And in the consumables categories, we've had a little bit more flexibility to move with the market because it's domestically replenished and bought every single day. And so we have absolutely moved up in some retail. But the way we counterbalance total value proposition is by looking at, of course, what else produces value, compelling promotion, an incredible owned brand portfolio that allows the guests to opt-in to whatever price point is right for them and a maniacal focus on balancing our good, better, best and opening price point options. And that, the combination of those things, are yielding more unit share growth at Target, which means the guest is actively engaged in the offering that we're providing and, of course, that traffic that Michael pointed to.

不，也許我會在這裡添加一些上下文。我們一直在評估我們對消費者的完整價值主張。所以其中一部分是價格。在消耗品類別中，我們有更多的靈活性來適應市場，因為它每天都在國內補充和購買。因此，我們在一些零售方面絕對上升了。但是，我們平衡總價值主張的方式當然是看其他能產生價值的東西、引人注目的促銷活動、令人難以置信的自有品牌組合，讓客人可以選擇適合他們的任何價格點，以及瘋狂地關注平衡我們的好、更好、最好和開盤價選項。而且，這些因素的結合，在 Target 產生了更多的單位份額增長，這意味著客人正在積極參與我們提供的產品，當然還有邁克爾指出的流量。

And Robby, as Christina noted, the strength of our owned brand portfolio in this environment is a really important element of how we deliver value to our guests each and every day. And in Food & Beverage, our Good & Gather brand now is a $2 billion brand that continues to see very strong growth. So that's just one way we deliver value to our guests each and every day at Target.

正如克里斯蒂娜（Christina）所指出的，羅比（Robby）指出，在這種環境下，我們自有品牌組合的實力是我們每天如何為客人創造價值的一個非常重要的因素。在食品和飲料領域，我們的 Good & Gather 品牌現在是一個價值 20 億美元的品牌，並且繼續保持非常強勁的增長。因此，這只是我們在 Target 每天為客人提供價值的一種方式。

Our final question is from Oliver Chen with Cowen.

我們的最後一個問題來自 Oliver Chen 和 Cowen。

On the topic of back-to-school, what would you speak to as factors that are most different this year versus last year as you get ready for that? And secondly, on the inventory actions, as they relate to third quarter, what's left to do there? And might you have to take deeper promotions than you thought previously? The consumer is requiring a lot of discounts to respond to promotions more than other retailers thought in many cases. Would love any thoughts there.

關於返校這個話題，當你為此做好準備時，你會談到今年與去年最不同的因素是什麼？其次，關於庫存行動，因為它們與第三季度有關，還有什麼要做？你可能不得不採取比你以前想像的更深入的促銷活動嗎？在許多情況下，消費者需要大量折扣來響應促銷活動，這比其他零售商認為的要多。會喜歡那裡的任何想法。

Oliver, I'll start, and I'll let Michael finish up, but I think the one big difference today, as we sit here today and think about back-to-school and back-to-college is certainty. I think we know across the country, children are going back to school. They'll be in classrooms. They're going to be back on campus. So I think that element of certainty is very different from what we've faced over the last couple of years. And again, we expect to see a very solid back-to-school and back-to-college season because we know children are going to be in classrooms and will be back in campus, and Target's a place they go during this important back-to-school and back-to-college season.

奧利弗，我會開始，我會讓邁克爾結束，但我認為今天最大的不同是，當我們今天坐在這裡思考返校和返校時，這是確定無疑的。我想我們知道在全國范圍內，孩子們正在重返學校。他們會在教室裡。他們將回到校園。所以我認為確定性因素與我們過去幾年所面臨的情況非常不同。再一次，我們希望看到一個非常穩固的返校和返校季，因為我們知道孩子們將在教室裡，並將回到校園，而 Target 是他們在這個重要的返校期間去的地方-上學和返校季。

And then, Oliver, kind of what's in some of the Q4 actions we still have to take, just to provide kind of an example there. If there's seasonal product, it's a natural time to leave our store within Q3, and we'll continue to work through some of that inventory then. And so that's an example of some of the work still to be done. But kind of in where we started, we feel really good about our inventory position as we exit the second quarter. And we accomplished what we set out to do from an inventory perspective.

然後，奧利弗，我們仍然必須採取的一些第四季度行動中的內容，只是為了提供一個例子。如果有季節性產品，那麼在第三季度離開我們的商店是很自然的時間，屆時我們將繼續處理部分庫存。這就是一些仍有待完成的工作的示例。但是在我們開始的地方，當我們退出第二季度時，我們對我們的庫存狀況感覺非常好。我們從庫存的角度完成了我們打算做的事情。

So operator, that concludes our second quarter call. We look forward to talking to many of you over the next few weeks and seeing you later this year, so thank you.

所以接線員，我們第二季度的電話會議結束了。我們期待在接下來的幾週內與你們中的許多人交談，並在今年晚些時候見到你們，所以謝謝你們。