目標百貨 (TGT) 2022 Q3 法說會逐字稿

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Target Corporation's Third Quarter Earnings Release Conference Call. (Operator Instructions)

女士們，先生們，謝謝你們的支持。歡迎參加 Target Corporation 第三季度收益發布電話會議。 （操作員說明）

As a reminder, this conference is being recorded Wednesday, November 16, 2022. I would now like to turn the conference over to Mr. John Hulbert, Vice President, Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

提醒一下，本次會議將於 2022 年 11 月 16 日星期三進行錄製。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 third quarter 2022 earnings conference call. 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 moments, Brian, Christina, John and Michael will provide their perspective on our third quarter performance and our outlook and priorities for the fourth quarter and beyond. Following their remarks, we'll open the phone lines for a question-and-answer session.

大家早上好，感謝您加入我們的 2022 年第三季度收益電話會議。今天和我在線的是董事長兼首席執行官布賴恩·康奈爾 (Brian Cornell)；首席增長官 Christina Hennington；首席運營官 John Mulligan；和首席財務官 Michael Fiddelke。稍後，Brian、Christina、John 和 Michael 將就我們第三季度的業績以及我們對第四季度及以後的前景和優先事項發表看法。在他們發言後，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.

今天上午，投資者和其他通過網絡廣播收聽我們評論的人加入了我們的電話會議。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, including those described in this morning's earnings press release and 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，我們今天早上所做的任何前瞻性陳述都受到風險和不確定性的影響，包括今天早上的收益新聞稿和我們最近提交的 10-K 中描述的那些。在這些評論中，我們還提到了非 GAAP 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 third quarter and his perspective on the upcoming holiday season. Brian?

有了這個，我將把它交給布賴恩，聽取他對第三季度的看法以及他對即將到來的假期的看法。布萊恩？

Thanks, John. As I begin the call today, I want to highlight the proactive leadership position we will continue to take as the operating environment changes. Just as we took decisive action in the second quarter to rightsize our inventory, we're moving proactively in a period of rapidly softening demand and elevated uncertainty to successfully navigate near-term challenges alongside our team and in step with our guests.

謝謝，約翰。在我開始今天的電話會議時，我想強調隨著運營環境的變化，我們將繼續保持積極主動的領導地位。正如我們在第二季度採取果斷行動調整庫存規模一樣，我們在需求迅速疲軟和不確定性增加的時期積極行動，與我們的團隊並與我們的客人一起成功應對近期挑戰。

As we look specifically at third quarter results, they demonstrate how our business continues to serve our guests even in the face of an increasingly challenging backdrop. Because of the deepening level of trust we've established with our guests over the last several years, our top line continues to benefit from growth in guest traffic and unit share gains across all of our core categories. This is particularly notable as consumers are showing increasing signs of stress and pulling back from discretionary purchases, and it reinforces the value of having a balanced multi-category portfolio, which allows us to satisfy our guests' ever-changing needs.

當我們特別關注第三季度的業績時，它們展示了我們的業務如何在面臨越來越具有挑戰性的背景下繼續為我們的客人提供服務。由於過去幾年我們與客人建立的信任度不斷加深，我們的收入繼續受益於客人流量的增長和我們所有核心類別的單位份額增長。這一點尤其值得注意，因為消費者壓力越來越大，不再隨意購買，這加強了擁有平衡的多類別產品組合的價值，這使我們能夠滿足客人不斷變化的需求。

In today's environment, that means we continue to benefit from strong growth and market share gains in the categories our guests are leaning into most right now, including Food & Beverage, Beauty and Household Essentials. Q3 comparable sales grew 2.7% on top of 12.7% a year ago and 20.7% in the third quarter of 2020.

在今天的環境下，這意味著我們將繼續受益於我們的客人目前最喜歡的類別的強勁增長和市場份額增長，包括食品和飲料、美容和家庭必需品。第三季度可比銷售額增長 2.7%，高於一年前的 12.7% 和 2020 年第三季度的 20.7%。

As you recall, early in the second quarter, we announced we would be taking decisive inventory actions based on the rapid change in consumer buying patterns that emerged near the end of the first quarter. These actions were designed to ensure we could continue to provide what our guests know and love about Target. More specifically, the effort was designed to free up space in our stores and hours for our team to continue offering fresh inventory and a reliable, uncluttered shopping experience for our guests, setting up our business to deliver strong growth in Q3.

您還記得，在第二季度初，我們宣布將根據第一季度末消費者購買模式的快速變化採取果斷的庫存行動。這些行動旨在確保我們能夠繼續提供客人對 Target 的了解和喜愛。更具體地說，這項努力旨在為我們的團隊騰出商店空間和時間，以繼續為我們的客人提供新鮮庫存和可靠、整潔的購物體驗，從而使我們的業務在第三季度實現強勁增長。

Among the drivers of our comparable sales, third quarter traffic expanded 1.4% on top of 12.9% growth a year ago. In addition to traffic growth, we saw a 1.3% increase in average ticket as guests continue to rely on Target for convenient, reliable one-stop shop. Across our merchandise categories and similar to the second quarter, we saw a very strong growth in our frequency businesses, led by double-digit growth in both Beauty and Food & Beverage. That strength offset persistent softness in our discretionary categories, which worsened at the end of the quarter. Christina will provide more detail in a few minutes.

在我們可比銷售額的驅動因素中，第三季度客流量在去年同期增長 12.9% 的基礎上增長了 1.4%。除了流量增長外，由於客人繼續依賴 Target 提供方便、可靠的一站式服務，我們發現平均票價增長了 1.3%。在我們的商品類別中，與第二季度類似，我們的頻率業務增長非常強勁，這主要得益於美容和食品飲料的兩位數增長。這種優勢抵消了我們可自由支配類別的持續疲軟，這種疲軟在本季度末惡化。 Christina 將在幾分鐘後提供更多詳細信息。

While overall Q3 comp growth was nearly identical to our second quarter performance, we experienced dramatically different trends within the quarter. More specifically, through the first 2 months of the quarter, we had seen comp growth of well over 3%, and then saw a deceleration to just under 1% in October.

雖然第三季度的總體收入增長與我們第二季度的表現幾乎相同，但我們在本季度經歷了截然不同的趨勢。更具體地說，在本季度的前兩個月，我們看到 comp 增長率遠高於 3%，然後在 10 月份減速至略低於 1%。

Even within the month of October results in the back half of the month were much softer than in the first half and the mix of our sales tilted much more heavily towards promotions. This rapid change in trend is consistent with what we're seeing in syndicated data on broader industry trends and the feedback we're hearing from our guests. More specifically, consumers are feeling increasing levels of stress, driven by persistently high inflation, rapidly rising interest rates and an elevated sense of uncertainty about their economic prospects.

即使在 10 月份，下半月的業績也比上半年要疲軟得多，我們的銷售組合更傾向於促銷。這種趨勢的快速變化與我們在更廣泛的行業趨勢的聯合數據中看到的以及我們從客人那裡聽到的反饋是一致的。更具體地說，在持續高通脹、快速上升的利率和對經濟前景的不確定性加劇的推動下，消費者感到壓力越來越大。

With high rates of inflation contouring the road, their purchasing power, many consumers this year have relied on borrowing or dipping into their savings to manage their weekly budgets. But for many consumers, those options are starting to run out. As a result, our guests are exhibiting increasing price sensitivity, becoming more focused on and responsive to promotions and more hesitant to purchase at full price.

由於高通貨膨脹率影響了他們的購買力，今年許多消費者依靠借貸或動用儲蓄來管理他們的每週預算。但對於許多消費者來說，這些選擇已經開始用完了。因此，我們的客人對價格的敏感度越來越高，對促銷活動的關注度和響應度越來越高，並且對全價購買更加猶豫不決。

On the profit line, we saw an expected improvement in the third quarter as we move beyond the bulk of those costs from our second quarter inventory actions. However, Q3 profitability came in well below our expectations, driven by several factors. First and foremost, we faced an unexpected gross margin rate headwind from a higher-than-expected mix of promotional sales as guests moved away from full price purchases.

在利潤線上，我們看到了第三季度的預期改善，因為我們從第二季度的庫存行動中擺脫了大部分成本。然而，受多種因素驅動，第三季度的盈利能力遠低於我們的預期。首先也是最重要的是，由於客人不再購買全價商品，我們面臨著高於預期的促銷組合帶來的意外毛利率逆風。

In addition, like the rest of the industry, we're facing a growing financial headwind from shortage, which is running hundreds of millions of dollars higher than a year ago. Along with other retailers, we've seen a significant increase in theft and organized retail crime across our business. As a result, we're making significant investments in training and technology that can deter that and keep our guests and store team members safe.

此外，與其他行業一樣，我們正面臨著短缺帶來的日益增長的財務逆風，短缺比一年前高出數億美元。與其他零售商一樣，我們發現整個企業的盜竊和有組織的零售犯罪活動顯著增加。因此，我們在培訓和技術方面進行了大量投資，以阻止這種情況發生並確保我們的客人和商店團隊成員的安全。

Looking ahead and taking recent trends into account, our team is making adjustments in real time with agility and flexibility in light of the revised expectations for both the top and bottom lines in the fourth quarter. It's in tough environments like these that we're most fortunate to have a durable business model and a strong balance sheet, allowing us to maintain our focus on long-term investments and market share opportunities at a time when many others will be forced to pull back. And to create additional capacity for us to continue investing in long-term growth and market share while also delivering strong bottom line performance, we are undertaking an enterprise-wide effort to identify opportunities to simplify and enhance the efficiencies of our business.

展望未來並考慮到近期趨勢，我們的團隊正在根據對第四季度收入和利潤的修訂預期，靈活而靈活地進行實時調整。正是在這樣的艱難環境中，我們最幸運的是擁有持久的商業模式和強大的資產負債表，使我們能夠在許多其他公司被迫撤資的時候繼續專注於長期投資和市場份額機會背部。為了讓我們有更多的能力繼續投資於長期增長和市場份額，同時提供強勁的底線業績，我們正在全公司範圍內努力尋找機會來簡化和提高我們的業務效率。

I want to make it clear. This effort is not about slashing resources. Instead, it's about optimizing our operations to match the scale of our business. This effort is particularly important today because of the rapid and unanticipated level of scale our business is added since 2019 as total revenues have grown from less than $80 billion in 2019 to a projection of well over $100 billion this year.

我想說清楚。這項工作不是為了削減資源。相反，它是關於優化我們的運營以匹配我們的業務規模。這項努力在今天尤為重要，因為自 2019 年以來，我們的業務規模迅速且出乎意料地增加，總收入已從 2019 年的不到 800 億美元增長到今年預計的 1000 億美元以上。

While our team has done an excellent job of staying agile and quickly accommodating all that growth. We now have an opportunity to look from top to bottom across all of our operations to ensure they are fully optimized for the size of our business. We're still in the process of fully scoping out this effort, but we believe it presents an opportunity to save a total of $2 billion to $3 billion over the next 3 years in support of our investments in long-term growth, along with our profit goals.

雖然我們的團隊在保持敏捷和快速適應所有這些增長方面做得非常出色。我們現在有機會從上到下審視我們所有的業務，以確保它們針對我們的業務規模進行了全面優化。我們仍在全面確定這項工作的範圍，但我們相信它提供了一個機會，可以在未來 3 年內節省 20 億至 30 億美元，以支持我們對長期增長的投資，以及我們的利潤目標。

In the near term, our team is energized and laser-focused on bringing the best of Target to our guests throughout the holiday season, knowing it's critically important for Target to be there for them during the busiest time of the year. Our team is committed to offering value across our entire assortment through great everyday prices, unbeatable value on our owned brands and accessible opening price points in every category.

在短期內，我們的團隊充滿活力並專注於在整個假期期間為我們的客人帶來最好的 Target，因為他們知道 Target 在一年中最繁忙的時間為他們提供服務至關重要。我們的團隊致力於通過超值的日常價格、無與倫比的自有品牌價值以及每個品類的開放價點，為我們的整個產品系列提供價值。

In addition, we'll highlight our compelling and simple promotions, free services like Drive-Up and in-store pickup and new accessible payment options. And of course, we'll provide additional savings opportunities through our RedCard and Target Circle programs, neither of which has a membership fee.

此外，我們將重點介紹引人注目且簡單的促銷活動、免下車和店內取貨等免費服務以及新的可用支付選項。當然，我們將通過我們的 RedCard 和 Target Circle 計劃提供額外的儲蓄機會，這兩個計劃都不收取會員費。

So as I get ready to turn the call over to Christina, I want to thank the entire Target team for your energy, your spirit, your care for each other and your passion for our guests and our brand. You're the reason that Target has such a positive impact on the communities where we live and work and the reason we're known as a welcoming and inclusive brand.

因此，當我準備好將電話轉給克里斯蒂娜時，我要感謝整個 Target 團隊的活力、精神、對彼此的關心以及對我們的客人和我們品牌的熱情。您是 Target 對我們生活和工作的社區產生如此積極影響的原因，也是我們被稱為熱情好客和包容性品牌的原因。

Thank you, and happy holidays to all of you. With that, I'll turn the call over to Christina.

謝謝大家，祝大家節日快樂。有了這個，我會把電話轉給克里斯蒂娜。

Thanks, Brian, and good morning, everyone. The current retail environment requires tremendous levels of flexibility, resilience, stamina and focus, a balance our team continues to carry out at every guest interaction. Consumers are strained as they work to support their families' day-to-day needs while looking for the occasional affordable luxury, prepping for the changing seasons and planning for the holidays.

謝謝，布萊恩，大家早上好。當前的零售環境需要高度的靈活性、彈性、耐力和專注力，我們的團隊在每次與客人互動時都會繼續保持平衡。消費者在努力滿足家庭的日常需求、偶爾尋找負擔得起的奢侈品、為季節變化做準備和假期計劃時感到壓力很大。

It's a difficult balance to strike in getting increasingly difficult each week as more and more of their household budget goes towards the needs of the family, which limits the amount available for discretionary purchases. So it follows that of the many considerations that our guests are currently juggling, we consistently hear that value remains at the top of the list. We see our guests holding out for and expecting promotions more than ever, spending less on regularly priced items.

隨著越來越多的家庭預算用於家庭需求，這限制了可自由支配的購買量，每週變得越來越困難，很難取得平衡。因此，在我們的客人目前正在考慮的許多因素中，我們一直聽說價值仍然排在首位。我們看到我們的客人比以往任何時候都更加堅持和期待促銷活動，減少在正價商品上的花費。

When they shop our frequency categories, some guests are trading into smaller pack sizes, opening price point options or owned brands to reduce their spending on a single trip. Others are opting for larger pack sizes or stocking up when items are on promotion, knowing they will receive greater per unit value. And these trends only became more pronounced towards the end of the third quarter when spending patterns change dramatically.

當他們購買我們的頻率類別時，一些客人正在交易更小的包裝尺寸、開放價格點選項或自有品牌，以減少他們在單程旅行中的支出。其他人則選擇更大的包裝尺寸或在商品促銷時囤積，因為他們知道它們將獲得更高的單位價值。這些趨勢只會在第三季度末變得更加明顯，當時支出模式發生了巨大變化。

With inflationary food prices absorbing more of their spending, those costs are crowding out other categories, including spending on discretionary items, and in some cases, even household essentials. However, we also know both from our recent performance and from guest surveys that despite the pressures they're facing, our guests want to celebrate the holidays in person with loved ones, and they're looking for Target to provide them safety, ease and joy as they prepare for every celebration.

隨著通貨膨脹的食品價格吸收了他們更多的支出，這些成本正在擠占其他類別，包括在可自由支配的項目上的支出，在某些情況下甚至是家庭必需品。然而，我們也從我們最近的表現和客戶調查中了解到，儘管他們面臨壓力，但我們的客人希望與親人一起慶祝節日，他們正在尋找 Target 為他們提供安全、輕鬆和他們為每一次慶祝活動做準備時的喜悅。

These themes played out in the third quarter as guests responded increasingly to promotions, even as they celebrated key seasonal moments like back-to-school, college and Halloween. Among our frequency categories, Beauty continues to drive strong performance, delivering sales growth in the mid-teens. Skin care, hair care and cosmetics, all performed very well and our Ulta Beauty at Target offerings nearly tripled their total sales volume when compared to this period a year ago.

隨著客人對促銷活動的反應越來越強烈，這些主題在第三季度得到體現，即使他們慶祝返校、大學和萬聖節等重要的季節性時刻。在我們的頻率類別中，美妝繼續推動強勁的業績，實現了十幾歲中期的銷售增長。護膚、護髮和化妝品都表現出色，我們的 Ulta Beauty at Target 產品的總銷量與去年同期相比幾乎翻了三倍。

Food & Beverage continues to outperform the market with low double-digit growth and strength across the portfolio, gaining both dollar and unit share every week throughout the quarter. Comparable sales in Essentials categories grew in the low single digits, reflecting particular strength in pets and health.

食品和飲料繼續以低兩位數的增長和整個投資組合的實力跑贏市場，在整個季度中每週都獲得美元和單位份額。 Essentials 類別的可比銷售額以較低的個位數增長，反映了寵物和健康領域的特別優勢。

While already soft, sales trends in our discretionary categories softened even more in the last few weeks of the quarter, a trend that's persisted into the first few weeks of November. But importantly, despite this challenging environment, we still saw unit share gains in all 5 of our core merchandising categories in the quarter, a sign that when guests are looking for convenience and value on both wants and needs, they're increasingly turning to Target.

雖然已經疲軟，但我們的非必需品類別的銷售趨勢在本季度的最後幾週更加疲軟，這種趨勢一直持續到 11 月的前幾週。但重要的是，儘管環境充滿挑戰，我們在本季度的所有 5 個核心商品類別中仍然看到單位份額增長，這表明當客人在需求和需求上尋找便利和價值時，他們越來越多地轉向 Target .

Apparel comps were down only slightly in Q3, driven by growth in kids, men's, seasonal and new fashion forward assortments, offset by softness in swim, women's accessories and basics. In Home, sales declined in the mid-single digits despite strong performance in seasonal areas. Hardlines sales were also down mid-single digits reflecting continued softness in home electronics and sporting goods. Additionally, we saw a meaningful deceleration in toys this quarter, most notably in October. This is a trend we will continue to monitor closely as we move throughout the holiday season.

受童裝、男裝、季節性和新時尚前衛產品組合增長的推動，服裝類產品在第三季度僅略有下降，但被游泳、女裝配飾和基本款的柔軟度所抵消。在國內，儘管季節性區域表現強勁，但銷售額仍以中等個位數下降。耐用品銷售額也下降了中個位數，反映出家用電子產品和體育用品的持續疲軟。此外，本季度我們看到玩具銷售明顯放緩，尤其是在 10 月份。我們將在整個假期期間繼續密切關注這一趨勢。

Across the portfolio, owned brands continue to outperform their national brand counterparts, growing at double the rate of the total enterprise in the third quarter. Because of our unique industry-leading, in-house design and sourcing capabilities, Target's exclusive owned brands provide tremendous quality at incredibly competitive prices, a great combination anytime but never more so than in an inflationary environment.

在整個產品組合中，自有品牌的表現繼續優於國內品牌，第三季度的增長率是整個企業的兩倍。由於我們獨特的行業領先的內部設計和採購能力，Target 的獨家自有品牌以極具競爭力的價格提供卓越的品質，任何時候都可以完美結合，但在通貨膨脹的環境中更是如此。

So as we turn our focus to Q4, we'll do what we always do, work tirelessly to deliver value and solutions to our guests while also delivering affordable joy at a time when they need it most. As we've outlined this morning, we're taking a prudent approach to our inventory planning and sales expectations for the fourth quarter in light of the concerning industry trends we've seen over the past several weeks. But even with this cautious stance, we're focused on providing our guests with affordability and ease at every interaction with the Target brand.

因此，當我們將注意力轉向第四季度時，我們將一如既往地工作，不懈努力，為我們的客人提供價值和解決方案，同時在他們最需要的時候提供負擔得起的快樂。正如我們今天上午概述的那樣，鑑於我們在過去幾週看到的相關行業趨勢，我們對第四季度的庫存計劃和銷售預期採取審慎的方法。但即使採取這種謹慎的態度，我們仍專注於為我們的客人提供負擔得起的服務，讓他們在與 Target 品牌的每次互動中都能輕鬆自如。

One of the signature ways we plan to stand out this holiday season is through our focus on the combination of newness and value, which cut across all our core categories. Given that the gift-giving season is underway and our guests are turning to Target more and more for their Food & Beverage needs, it's an ideal time for our recently announced partnership with British retailer, Marks & Spencer, who has collaborated with us to offer a limited time assortment of gourmet, premium food and chocolates, that's sure to be a perfect gifting solution this holiday season.

我們計劃在這個假期脫穎而出的標誌性方式之一是通過我們關注新穎性和價值的結合，這貫穿我們所有的核心類別。鑑於送禮季正在進行中，我們的客人越來越多地轉向 Target 來滿足他們的食品和飲料需求，這是我們最近宣布與英國零售商 Marks & Spencer 合作的理想時機，後者與我們合作提供限時供應各種美食、高級食品和巧克力，這肯定是這個假期的完美送禮之選。

Despite recent trends in toys, we know they will play a critical role for our guests over the holiday season, and we have all the top toys and exclusives this year at incredible prices. Back by popular demand, our exclusive assortment from FAO Schwartz features more than 120 toys. And for all the Marvel fans out there, the first of its kind collaboration between Target and Disney will feature exclusive Black Panther merchandise and experiences, including the only-at-Target, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever War on the Water LEGO set.

儘管最近玩具流行趨勢，但我們知道它們將在假期期間為我們的客人發揮關鍵作用，我們今年以令人難以置信的價格提供所有頂級玩具和獨家產品。應大眾需求，我們從 FAO Schwartz 獨家收集了超過 120 種玩具。對於那裡的所有漫威粉絲來說，Target 和迪士尼之間的首次此類合作將以獨家黑豹商品和體驗為特色，包括唯一在 Target 的黑豹：水上樂高套裝上的瓦坎達永远战爭。

And the power of these partnerships doesn't stop there. We've added nearly 50 Disney shop-in-shop experiences this year, bringing the total to well over 200 of these shops across the country. In partnership with Apple, we've more than tripled the number of shop-in-shops since last year, and our Target Circle members have access to free trials of some incredible Apple services, including a free 4-month trial of Apple Fitness+. And with Ulta Beauty at Target, we'll have opened another 250 locations this year and now have more than 350 locations open across the chain.

這些夥伴關係的力量並不止於此。今年我們增加了近 50 家迪士尼店中店體驗，使全國的店中店總數超過 200 家。自去年以來，我們與 Apple 合作，店中店的數量增加了兩倍多，我們的 Target Circle 會員可以免費試用一些令人難以置信的 Apple 服務，包括 Apple Fitness+ 的 4 個月免費試用。憑藉 Target 的 Ulta Beauty，我們今年將再開設 250 家門店，現在整個連鎖店已開設超過 350 家門店。

Through all our new tried-and-true and exclusive holiday offerings, we'll remain laser-focused on supporting our value proposition with key deals starting earlier than ever. Week-long Black Friday deals and our guest-favorite Deal of the Day offers are available now and feature our best plan prices for the season, with prices up to 50% off across toys and games, electronics, kitchen appliances and more. Besides industry-leading promotions, we are offering compelling, easy to shop, everyday price points on key items like $3 Christmas ornaments, $5 holiday Wondershop and candle assortments, and $10 gifting assortments across categories like Beauty, Apparel and Home.

通過我們所有新的久經考驗的獨家假期產品，我們將繼續專注於通過比以往更早開始的關鍵交易來支持我們的價值主張。為期一周的黑色星期五特賣和我們客人最喜歡的每日特賣現已推出，並提供我們當季最優惠的計劃價格，玩具和遊戲、電子產品、廚房用具等產品的價格最高可享受 50% 的折扣。除了行業領先的促銷活動外，我們還在關鍵商品上提供引人注目、易於購物的日常價格點，例如 3 美元的聖誕裝飾品、5 美元的假日 Wondershop 和蠟燭組合，以及 10 美元的美容、服裝和家居等類別的禮品組合。

And to reinforce our commitment to value, we'll be offering free and easy payment and fulfillment options, including our recently launched reloadable RedCard, which provides all the benefits of our RedCard debit and credit programs, including free shipping and 5% off every purchase, all without the need for a credit check or an existing bank account. Combine this with our easy, convenient and free same-day service options like Drive-Up and order pickup, all with no membership fees and our free-to-join loyalty program, Target Circle, we have an unmatched combination of value-added and affordable shopping experiences to help our guests celebrate and amplify the joy of the holidays.

為了加強我們對價值的承諾，我們將提供免費、便捷的支付和履行選項，包括我們最近推出的可充值 RedCard，它提供我們 RedCard 借記卡和信用卡計劃的所有好處，包括免費送貨和每次購買 5% 的折扣，所有這些都不需要信用檢查或現有的銀行賬戶。將其與我們簡單、方便和免費的當日服務選項相結合，例如 Drive-Up 和訂單取件，所有這些都無需支付會員費和我們免費加入的忠誠度計劃 Target Circle，我們擁有無與倫比的增值和服務組合物美價廉的購物體驗，幫助我們的客人慶祝和擴大假期的歡樂。

Throughout the season, we will remain nimble and respond to changes in consumer promotional and macro trends, always in service of optimizing current and long-term performance. And despite the challenges facing our business and our guests, we have a not-so-secret-weapon to help us provide joy and value for our guests, a world-class team. Like Brian, I want to pause and add my sincere gratitude for the Target team. No matter what is thrown your way, you execute with grace compassion and consistency, a combination that leads our guests to return to our stores and website time and time again.

在整個賽季中，我們將保持敏捷並響應消費者促銷和宏觀趨勢的變化，始終致力於優化當前和長期業績。儘管我們的業務和客人面臨挑戰，但我們有一個不那麼秘密的武器來幫助我們為客人提供快樂和價值，這是一個世界級的團隊。和 Brian 一樣，我想停下來對 Target 團隊表示由衷的感謝。無論遇到什麼困難，您都會以優雅的同情心和始終如一的態度執行，這種結合使我們的客人一次又一次地回到我們的商店和網站。

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

有了這個，我會把電話轉給約翰。

Thanks, Christina. Across the operations team, we focus every day on delivering strong execution, even as we continue to keep our eyes on and invest in projects that will support Target's long-term profitable growth. As you know, throughout the year, our supply chain and transportation teams have been continuously navigating through an unpredictable environment, and these volatile conditions continued in the third quarter. The good news is that the lead times in global shipping has started to move in the right direction. More specifically, compared with the second quarter, lead times improved by about 15% in Q3, and we're more than 3 weeks shorter than a year ago.

謝謝，克里斯蒂娜。在整個運營團隊中，我們每天都專注於提供強有力的執行，即使我們繼續關注並投資於將支持 Target 長期盈利增長的項目。如您所知，全年，我們的供應鍊和運輸團隊一直在不可預測的環境中前行，這些不穩定的情況在第三季度繼續存在。好消息是全球航運的交貨期已經開始朝著正確的方向發展。更具體地說，與第二季度相比，第三季度的交貨時間縮短了約 15%，比一年前縮短了 3 週多。

While we were really pleased to see this improvement, the acceleration was faster than we expected, causing many overseas orders to arrive earlier than needed. As a result, the team has been reducing lead times on our future orders just as they extended them during the pandemic.

雖然我們很高興看到這種改善，但速度比我們預期的要快，導致許多海外訂單比需要的時間提前到達。因此，該團隊一直在減少我們未來訂單的交貨時間，就像他們在大流行期間延長交貨時間一樣。

In addition, to prevent early arrivals from entering our distribution and store network before they are needed, the team has implemented multiple strategies and tactics, including new processes to efficiently segment shipping containers as they arrive at domestic ports, allowing early arriving containers to age before sending them downstream into our regional distribution centers.

此外，為了防止提前到達的貨物在需要之前進入我們的分銷和商店網絡，該團隊實施了多種戰略和策略，包括在集裝箱到達國內港口時有效分割集裝箱的新流程，讓提前到達的集裝箱提前老化將它們送到下游到我們的區域配送中心。

So today, even as we continue to look heavy on the balance sheet, our inventory is in a much healthier position than earlier in the year. Because the heaviness you're seeing today is due to the early arrival of fresh inventory, we are planning to sell. For example, by early November of this year, nearly 90% of our key Q4 programs had already moved into our distribution centers and stores. In contrast, last year, just over half our key programs were in the network as of the same time frame.

因此，今天，即使我們繼續看重資產負債表，我們的庫存也比今年早些時候健康得多。因為您今天看到的重量是由於新庫存提前到貨，我們計劃出售。例如，到今年 11 月初，我們近 90% 的關鍵 Q4 項目已經進入我們的配送中心和商店。相比之下，去年，我們一半以上的關鍵項目在同一時間段內出現在網絡中。

Similar to our experience with lead times, we saw improvement across multiple dimensions of our transportation costs in the quarter, even as those costs remain above pre-pandemic levels. Container rates in global shipping have come down by about 1/3 in recent months, and we'll realize that benefit in 2023 as we renegotiate our staggered contracts with shipping partners. And importantly, we expect to see further reductions in those rates going forward as they remain about 3x higher than we were paying in 2019.

與我們在交貨時間方面的經驗類似，我們看到本季度運輸成本的多個方面都有所改善，即使這些成本仍高於大流行前的水平。最近幾個月，全球航運的集裝箱運價下降了約 1/3，隨著我們與航運合作夥伴重新談判交錯合同，我們將在 2023 年意識到這一好處。重要的是，我們預計未來這些利率會進一步降低，因為它們仍比我們 2019 年支付的利率高出約 3 倍。

Similarly, domestic transportation rates have come down since the beginning of the year, but remain higher than a year ago and double the rates we were facing in 2019. And of course, fuel costs, which are a major driver of our domestic transportation expense are still running more than double the amount we were paying in 2019 despite having moderated in recent months.

同樣，國內運輸費率自年初以來有所下降，但仍高於一年前，是我們 2019 年面臨的費率的兩倍。當然，燃料成本是我們國內運輸費用的主要驅動因素儘管最近幾個月有所緩和，但仍然是我們 2019 年支付金額的兩倍多。

Now I'll turn to the work of our properties team, where we're still wrapping up some projects but close to completing our supply chain and store projects for the year. On the distribution side, we're continuing our work to build replenishment capacity across the country, given the amount of growth we've delivered over the last few years.

現在我將談談我們的物業團隊的工作，我們仍在完成一些項目，但接近完成今年的供應鍊和商店項目。在分銷方面，考慮到我們在過去幾年中實現的增長量，我們正在繼續努力在全國范圍內建立補貨能力。

The other big addition to our distribution infrastructure is the build-out of our sortation center strategy. A year ago, we were operating a single sort center here in the Minneapolis market. And this year, we've opened 5 more with several more on track to open in 2023. These centers, which are typically a little bigger than a single store, increase our speed and meaningfully reduce our last-mile delivery costs in the markets where they operate. They also create backroom fulfillment capacity in the stores they serve, as they eliminate the need for each individual store to sort the boxes they've packed for delivery.

我們配送基礎設施的另一大補充是分揀中心戰略的擴建。一年前，我們在明尼阿波利斯市場運營著一個分揀中心。今年，我們又開了 5 家，還有幾家有望在 2023 年開業。這些中心通常比一家商店大一點，它們提高了我們的速度，並顯著降低了我們在市場上的最後一英里交付成本他們運作。他們還在他們所服務的商店中創造了後台履行能力，因為他們消除了每個商店對他們為交付包裝的箱子進行分類的需要。

On the store side, we are on track to complete about 200 full remodel projects this year in which we update every part of the store to reflect our latest thinking and offer a modern and inspirational shopping experience for our guests. Beyond full remodels, we're also on track to complete about 200 fulfillment retrofits this year in which we optimize their capacity and efficiency in supporting our same-day services.

在商店方面，我們今年有望完成約 200 個全面改造項目，我們更新商店的每個部分以反映我們的最新想法，並為我們的客人提供現代和鼓舞人心的購物體驗。除了全面改造之外，我們今年還有望完成約 200 項履約改造，我們將優化他們的能力和效率，以支持我們的當日服務。

And finally, the team is on track to complete our new store program for 2022, in which we plan to add 23 new locations to the chain. The size of these new stores ranges widely from 19,000 to 145,000 square feet as we continue to open the right size store for the neighborhood we're serving. And as we've mentioned in recent calls, based on evolving conditions in the commercial real estate market, we've been finding more and more opportunities to open larger locations that can offer the full range of our assortment, along with a full suite of fulfillment options to serve our guests.

最後，該團隊有望完成 2022 年的新店計劃，我們計劃在該計劃中增加 23 個新門店。這些新店的面積從 19,000 平方英尺到 145,000 平方英尺不等，因為我們將繼續為我們所服務的社區開設合適規模的商店。正如我們在最近的電話會議中提到的那樣，根據商業房地產市場不斷變化的情況，我們一直在尋找越來越多的機會來開設更大的地點，這些地點可以提供我們的全部品種，以及全套為我們的客人提供服務的履行選項。

In light of that opportunity, just over a week ago, we opened the first example of a new larger store prototype in the Houston, Texas market. At nearly 150,000 square feet, this new format incorporates our latest thinking in store design, featuring a more open layout, localized elements to inspire and serve our guests, 5x more space to support our digital fulfillment services and sustainable features in support of our Target-forward goals. While we'll continue to open new stores of all sizes in the next few years, we plan to lean into this new layout when appropriate and incorporate its features into other projects, including remodels.

鑑於這個機會，就在一周前，我們在得克薩斯州休斯頓市場開設了第一個新的大型商店原型示例。這種新格式佔地近 150,000 平方英尺，融合了我們在商店設計方面的最新理念，具有更開放的佈局、本地化元素以激發和服務我們的客人、5 倍以上的空間來支持我們的數字履行服務和可持續功能以支持我們的目標-前進的目標。雖然我們將在未來幾年繼續開設各種規模的新店，但我們計劃在適當的時候採用這種新佈局，並將其功能融入其他項目，包括改造。

Among the many innovations we've incorporated into this new location in Houston, we've added 2 new Drive-Up services. The first is the ability for a guest to order a beverage from Starbucks on their way to pick up their Drive-Up order. We started testing this new service in the second quarter with a limited menu in a small number of stores, allowing us to collect feedback and fine-tune operations before expanding it more broadly. Based on the success of that pilot, earlier this month, we rolled it out to more than 200 additional stores across the country, just in time for the holidays.

在我們為休斯頓的這個新地點整合的眾多創新中，我們增加了 2 項新的免下車服務。首先是客人可以在去取免下車訂單的途中從星巴克訂購飲料。我們在第二季度開始在少數商店使用有限的菜單測試這項新服務，使我們能夠在更廣泛地擴展之前收集反饋和微調運營。基於該試點的成功，本月早些時候，我們將其推廣到全國 200 多家額外的商店，正好趕上假期。

The other emerging capability is the ability for a guest to return a purchase through our Drive-Up service. We began testing this service only a month ago with our team members in a small number of stores, consistent with our test-and-iterate approach. Based on the operational success of that initial test, in early November, we expanded the service to our guests in that same small set of stores, and we'll look to apply any learnings from that guest-facing test before rolling out the service more broadly next year.

另一個新興功能是客人可以通過我們的 Drive-Up 服務退貨。我們僅在一個月前開始在少數商店中與我們的團隊成員一起測試這項服務，這與我們的測試和迭代方法一致。基於初始測試的運營成功，我們在 11 月初將這項服務擴展到同一小部分商店中的客人，我們將在更多地推出該服務之前應用從面向客人的測試中學到的任何知識大致明年。

So now before I turn the call over to Michael, I want to pause and thank our teams across the country who have worked tirelessly to ensure we are staffed and ready to serve our guests during the upcoming holiday season, our busiest time of the year. Consistent with prior years, before determining our seasonal hiring goals, we focused first on providing opportunities to our existing team to support their desired hours and backup training interests.

因此，在我將電話轉給邁克爾之前，我想停下來感謝我們在全國各地的團隊，他們不知疲倦地工作，以確保我們在即將到來的假日季節（一年中最繁忙的時間）有足夠的員工並準備好為我們的客人提供服務。與往年一樣，在確定我們的季節性招聘目標之前，我們首先專注於為我們現有的團隊提供機會，以支持他們所需的工作時間和後備培訓興趣。

And today, based on all that hard work in preparation, I'm happy to report that we're entering the holiday season in a very healthy staffing position, reflecting our success in hiring throughout the year, the significant wage investments we've made throughout the country, an increase in the number of team members who are looking to pick up extra hours and an 18% increase in applicants for seasonal positions compared with a year ago.

今天，基於所有艱苦的準備工作，我很高興地向大家報告，我們正以非常健康的人員配置狀態進入假期，這反映了我們全年在招聘方面取得的成功，以及我們在工資方面做出的重大投資在全國范圍內，與一年前相比，希望加班的團隊成員數量有所增加，季節性職位的申請者增加了 18%。

As Brian mentioned, it's in times like these that we feel most fortunate to have a durable business model, which can sustain us through an ever more challenging economic and consumer backdrop and allow us to emerge with additional profitable growth and market share opportunities over time. That's why we're ensuring our teams are staying focused on our guests and taking the right actions to continue deepening our relationship with them. If we maintain that guest focus, I'm confident we'll find ourselves in an even stronger competitive position over time.

正如 Brian 所提到的，正是在這樣的時代，我們感到最幸運的是擁有一個持久的商業模式，它可以在更具挑戰性的經濟和消費者背景下支撐我們，並讓我們隨著時間的推移實現額外的盈利增長和市場份額機會。這就是為什麼我們要確保我們的團隊始終專注於我們的客人，並採取正確的行動來繼續深化我們與他們的關係。如果我們保持以客人為中心，我相信隨著時間的推移，我們會發現自己處於更強大的競爭地位。

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. I want to start where John just ended and reiterate how closely we're listening to our guests, ensuring we understand how they're feeling and how that is affecting their shopping behavior and moving quickly to serve their rapidly-changing needs. Obviously, if recent softening consumer trends continue through the fourth quarter, that will put some pressure on our near-term financial performance. But with a durable model and an agile team, we can navigate those challenges and emerge even stronger in the long term while continuing to deepen our relationship with guests and build long-term preference for Target.

謝謝，約翰。我想從 John 剛剛結束的地方開始，重申我們正在密切傾聽客人的意見，確保我們了解他們的感受以及這如何影響他們的購物行為，並迅速採取行動以滿足他們瞬息萬變的需求。顯然，如果最近疲軟的消費趨勢持續到第四季度，那將給我們的近期財務業績帶來一些壓力。但是，憑藉持久的模式和敏捷的團隊，我們可以應對這些挑戰並從長遠來看變得更加強大，同時繼續加深與客人的關係並建立對 Target 的長期偏好。

Once again, this quarter, I'm going to begin my remarks by covering our inventory position, given that it continues to be an important area of focus. And like last quarter, I'm going to base my discussion on comparisons to 2019, given the highly volatile conditions that have affected inventory since the onset of the pandemic.

再次，本季度，我將首先介紹我們的庫存狀況，因為它仍然是一個重要的關注領域。和上個季度一樣，考慮到自大流行開始以來影響庫存的高度動蕩的情況，我將把我的討論與 2019 年進行比較。

As you saw on our balance sheet this morning, we owned $17.1 billion of inventory at the end of the third quarter, which is $5.7 billion higher than the end of Q3 2019. In percentage terms, this year's number represents an approximate 50% increase from 3 years ago, a deceleration from 3-year growth of 68% as of the end of the second quarter.

正如您今天早上在我們的資產負債表上看到的那樣，我們在第三季度末擁有 171 億美元的庫存，比 2019 年第三季度末高出 57 億美元。按百分比計算，今年的數字比 2019 年增加了約 50% 3 年前，截至第二季度末，與 68% 的 3 年增長率相比有所放緩。

Of the dollar increase in our inventory since 2019, about 2/3 or $3.9 billion is aligned with our sales growth over that same 3-year period. The remaining 1/3 or about $1.8 billion is new inventory that's arrived early relative to when it would have been received in pre-pandemic years.

自 2019 年以來我們庫存的美元增長中，約 2/3 或 39 億美元與我們在同一 3 年期間的銷售增長一致。剩餘的 1/3 或約 18 億美元是新庫存，相對於大流行前年份收到的時間而言，這些庫存提前到達。

This early inventory is being driven by 2 related factors. The first is our explicit decision to add cushion to our lead times this year in order to mitigate the risk we were facing a year ago when the bulk of our global shipments were arriving late. The second factor is the unexpectedly rapid acceleration in the global supply chain that we saw in Q3, which caused us to receive shipments even earlier than scheduled.

這種早期庫存是由兩個相關因素驅動的。首先是我們明確決定增加今年的交貨時間緩衝，以減輕一年前我們面臨的大部分全球貨運延遲到達的風險。第二個因素是我們在第三季度看到的全球供應鏈出乎意料的快速加速，這導致我們甚至比預定時間更早收到貨物。

It's also important to note that the composition of our inventory continues to evolve as we've leaned into frequency categories where we're seeing robust growth and taken an increasingly cautious position in discretionary categories. More specifically, the percent of our inventory units in discretionary categories was 8 percentage points lower than at the end of Q2 and lower than in 2019 as well.

同樣重要的是要注意，我們的庫存構成在不斷發展，因為我們已經傾向於我們看到強勁增長的頻率類別，並在可自由支配的類別中採取越來越謹慎的立場。更具體地說，我們在可自由支配類別中的庫存單位百分比比第二季度末低 8 個百分點，也低於 2019 年。

With that context, I'll turn to our third quarter financial performance, beginning with the top line. Total sales grew 3.3% in the third quarter, the same as in Q2, driven by a 2.7% increase in comparable sales, combined with the benefit of new stores. Total revenue grew 3.4% in Q3, reflecting a 9.5% increase in other revenue, which was driven by the growth in our Roundel ad business. Traffic continues to be an important driver of our growth, having expanded 1.4% in Q3 on top of nearly 13% growth a year ago. In addition, this quarter, we benefited from a 1.3% increase in average ticket.

在這種情況下，我將轉向我們第三季度的財務業績，從頂線開始。第三季度總銷售額增長 3.3%，與第二季度持平，主要受可比銷售額增長 2.7% 以及新店開張的推動。第三季度總收入增長 3.4%，反映出其他收入增長 9.5%，這是由我們的 Roundel 廣告業務增長推動的。流量仍然是我們增長的重要驅動力，在一年前增長近 13% 的基礎上，第三季度增長了 1.4%。此外，本季度，我們受益於平均票價增長 1.3%。

Among our sales channels, stores continue to drive our growth as we saw a 3.2% increase in store comparable sales in Q3 on top of nearly 10% growth a year ago. Comparable sales in our digital channel grew 0.3% in the quarter on top of nearly 30% last year. Same-day services led our digital growth, most notably through our Drive-Up service, which delivered high single-digit growth on top of more than 80% growth last year.

在我們的銷售渠道中，商店繼續推動我們的增長，因為我們看到第三季度商店可比銷售額在一年前增長近 10% 的基礎上增長了 3.2%。我們數字渠道的可比銷售額在本季度增長了 0.3%，高於去年的近 30%。當天服務引領了我們的數字增長，最顯著的是我們的免下車服務，該服務在去年超過 80% 的增長基礎上實現了高單位數增長。

As Brian mentioned, while our overall Q3 comp increase was consistent with Q2, we saw a dramatic change in the pace and composition of our business toward the end of the third quarter. More specifically, within the quarter, comparable sales grew 2.8% in August, rose to 4% in September and decelerated to 0.9% in October. Also notable, even within the October period, there was a dramatic change in the pace of our sales.

正如 Brian 所提到的，雖然我們第三季度的整體薪酬增長與第二季度一致，但我們看到第三季度末我們業務的步伐和構成發生了巨大變化。更具體地說，在本季度內，8 月份可比銷售額增長 2.8%，9 月份增至 4%，10 月份降至 0.9%。同樣值得注意的是，即使在 10 月期間，我們的銷售速度也發生了巨大變化。

As you'll recall, the month began with an initial round of holiday promotions from Target and some of our competitors, and in that week, we saw a high single-digit increase in comp sales compared with last year. However, for the remainder of the month, we saw a low single-digit decline in comp sales over those last 3 weeks.

正如您所記得的那樣，本月開始時 Target 和我們的一些競爭對手進行了第一輪假日促銷，在那一周，我們看到與去年相比，comp 銷售額出現了個位數的高增長。然而，在本月的剩餘時間裡，我們看到過去 3 週的 comp 銷售額出現了較低的個位數下降。

Nearly all of the slowdown was driven by our discretionary categories, Apparel, Home and Hardlines, as our guests became increasingly cautious in their spending in those categories at both Target and throughout the industry more broadly. So far in the month of November, trends have been largely consistent with what we were seeing at the end of October, in terms of our comp trends, the mix of sales between frequency and discretionary businesses and the focus on promotions by our guests.

幾乎所有的放緩都是由我們的非必需品類別（服裝、家居和耐用品）推動的，因為我們的客人在 Target 和更廣泛的整個行業中對這些類別的支出變得越來越謹慎。到目前為止，在 11 月份，趨勢與我們在 10 月底看到的基本一致，包括我們的競爭趨勢、頻率和非必需業務之間的銷售組合以及我們客人對促銷的關注。

While our Q3 gross margin rate of 24.7% was more than 3 percentage points higher than in Q2, it came in far short of our expectations, driven by 3 factors. The primary driver was a higher-than-expected markdown impact from promotions as our guests became increasingly price-sensitive and concentrated their discretionary spending on items on promotion, most notably in the latter weeks of the quarter. While we anticipated a highly promotional environment this fall, given the excess inventory we had been seeing across retail, this enhanced focus on promotions reflects an increasing level of stress on consumers as they navigate through multiple headwinds, including persistent inflation and rapidly rising interest rates.

雖然我們第三季度的毛利率為 24.7%，比第二季度高出 3 個百分點以上，但在三個因素的推動下，它遠低於我們的預期。主要驅動因素是促銷活動的降價影響高於預期，因為我們的客人對價格越來越敏感，並將可自由支配的支出集中在促銷項目上，尤其是在本季度的後幾週。雖然我們預計今年秋天會有一個高度促銷的環境，但考慮到我們在整個零售業看到的庫存過剩，這種對促銷的更多關注反映了消費者在應對多重不利因素（包括持續的通貨膨脹和快速上升的利率）時承受的壓力越來越大。

A second factor that's impacting our gross margin is inventory shortage, or shrink, which is a growing problem facing all retailers. At Target year-to-date, incremental shortage has already reduced our gross margin by more than $400 million versus last year, and we expect it will reduce our gross margin by more than $600 million for the full year.

影響我們毛利率的第二個因素是庫存短缺或庫存減少，這是所有零售商面臨的一個日益嚴重的問題。在 Target 年初至今，增量短缺已經使我們的毛利率與去年相比減少了 4 億美元以上，我們預計全年毛利率將減少 6 億美元以上。

As Brian mentioned, this is an industry-wide problem that is often driven by criminal networks, and we are collaborating with multiple stakeholders to find industry-wide solutions. For example, because stolen goods are often sold online, Target strongly supports the passage of legislation to increase accountability and prevent criminals from selling stolen goods through online marketplaces.

正如 Brian 所提到的，這是一個全行業的問題，通常是由犯罪網絡驅動的，我們正在與多個利益相關者合作，以尋找全行業的解決方案。例如，由於贓物通常在網上銷售，Target 強烈支持通過立法來加強問責制並防止犯罪分子通過在線市場銷售贓物。

A third factor that affected our Q3 gross margin was the incremental cost of managing early inventory. In the near term, these pressures should begin to recede as we move through the fourth quarter and into next year as receipt flow naturally moderates following the holiday season and we'll begin to benefit from the reduction in order lead times John mentioned earlier.

影響我們第三季度毛利率的第三個因素是管理早期庫存的增量成本。在短期內，隨著我們進入第四季度和明年，這些壓力應該會開始消退，因為假期過後收貨流量自然會放緩，我們將開始受益於約翰前面提到的訂單提前期的縮短。

And finally, regarding gross margin, category mix moved from being a slight headwind in Q2 to a small tailwind in Q3, contributing about 20 basis points of gross margin benefit in the quarter. This change in mix impact might seem counterintuitive given some of the category trends I highlighted earlier. However, underneath the surface of discretionary comps when compared to our second quarter results, comp sales in Apparel, a high-margin discretionary category got stronger in Q3, while comps in Hardlines, a lower-margin discretionary category saw a deceleration in the third quarter.

最後，關於毛利率，類別組合從第二季度的輕微逆風轉變為第三季度的小順風，為本季度的毛利率貢獻了約 20 個基點。考慮到我之前強調的一些品類趨勢，這種組合影響的變化似乎有悖常理。然而，與我們第二季度的業績相比，在非必需品的表層之下，第三季度高利潤非必需品類服裝的銷售額變得強勁，而利潤率較低的非必需品類 Hardlines 的銷售額在第三季度出現減速.

Moving down to the SG&A expense line. We saw a small amount of deleverage in Q3, even as we continue to benefit from disciplined cost management across the organization. In spite of that discipline, we're facing inflationary cost pressures across multiple expense lines in the P&L. Within compensation, expenses reflect ongoing investments in hourly team member pay and benefits, partially offset by a year-over-year rate benefit from lower incentive compensation expense.

向下移動到 SG&A 費用線。儘管我們繼續受益於整個組織嚴格的成本管理，但我們在第三季度看到了少量的去槓桿化。儘管有這樣的紀律，我們在損益表的多個費用項目中仍面臨通脹成本壓力。在薪酬方面，費用反映了對團隊成員小時工資和福利的持續投資，部分被較低的激勵薪酬費用帶來的同比收益所抵消。

Altogether, on the operating income line, on both a dollar and rate basis, we saw a year-over-year decline of about 50% in the third quarter. I want to emphasize that we're not happy with this performance and expect to deliver much stronger dollar and rate performance over time.

總的來說，在營業收入線上，以美元和利率計算，我們看到第三季度同比下降約 50%。我想強調的是，我們對這種表現並不滿意，並希望隨著時間的推移提供更強勁的美元和利率表現。

Now I want to turn to capital deployment. And as always, I'll start by reiterating our priorities, which have been consistent for decades. We first look to fully invest in our business in projects that meet our strategic and financial criteria. Then we look to support our dividend and build on our 50-year record of annual dividend increases. And finally, we devote any excess cash beyond these first 2 uses to repurchase our shares over time within the limits of our middle A credit ratings.

現在我想談談資本配置。和往常一樣，我將首先重申我們的優先事項，這些優先事項幾十年來一直保持一致。我們首先希望在符合我們戰略和財務標準的項目中充分投資我們的業務。然後我們希望支持我們的股息，並在我們 50 年的年度股息增長記錄的基礎上再接再厲。最後，我們將在前兩個用途之外的任何多餘現金用於在我們的中 A 信用評級範圍內隨著時間的推移回購我們的股票。

Beginning with our first priority, capital expenditures have come in at about $4.3 billion through the first 3 quarters of the year, and we're now expecting our full year CapEx will come in around $5.5 billion in light of continued inflationary pressures affecting the cost of this year's projects. We paid just under $500 million in dividends in the third quarter, up from $440 million a year ago, reflecting a 20% increase in the per share dividend, partially offset by a decline in our average share count.

從我們的首要任務開始，今年前三個季度的資本支出約為 43 億美元，鑑於持續的通脹壓力影響成本，我們現在預計全年資本支出將達到 55 億美元左右今年的項目。我們在第三季度支付了近 5 億美元的股息，高於一年前的 4.4 億美元，反映出每股股息增長 20%，部分被我們平均股數的下降所抵消。

And finally, we didn't repurchase any shares in the third quarter, given current financial performance and the working capital investments we've made to support in-stocks and early receipts. In the near term, we will continue to take a very cautious approach to share repurchase in light of the volatility of the environment and our commitment to maintaining our middle A credit ratings.

最後，考慮到當前的財務業績以及我們為支持庫存和早期收貨而進行的營運資本投資，我們在第三季度沒有回購任何股票。在短期內，鑑於環境的波動以及我們維持中等 A 信用評級的承諾，我們將繼續對股票回購採取非常謹慎的態度。

So now I want to close my Q3 review with a discussion of our after-tax return on invested capital. For the trailing 12 months of the third quarter of this year, our after-tax ROIC was 14.6% compared with 31.3% a year ago. While this is a disappointing decline, a mid-teens after-tax return on capital is still very healthy in absolute terms and a testament to the durability of our business. Importantly, we expect to see a significant recovery from this number over time as we move beyond the unusual headwinds that have been affecting our business this year.

所以現在我想通過討論我們的投資資本稅後回報來結束我的第三季度審查。在今年第三季度的過去 12 個月中，我們的稅後 ROIC 為 14.6%，而一年前為 31.3%。雖然這是一個令人失望的下降，但十幾歲的稅後資本回報率在絕對值上仍然非常健康，這證明了我們業務的持久性。重要的是，隨著我們擺脫今年影響我們業務的異常逆風，我們預計隨著時間的推移，這一數字將出現顯著復甦。

Now let me turn briefly to our expectations for the fourth quarter. In the current environment, we're facing an even higher degree of uncertainty than a quarter ago given the volatility we've been seeing recently. And in light of the dramatic changes in shopping patterns we've seen both at Target and across the industry, we believe it's prudent to plan for a wide range of comparable sales outcomes in the fourth quarter that's centered around a low single-digit comp decline, consistent with recent trends.

現在讓我簡要談談我們對第四季度的預期。在當前環境下，鑑於我們最近看到的波動性，我們面臨著比一個季度前更高程度的不確定性。鑑於我們在 Target 和整個行業看到的購物模式發生的巨大變化，我們認為謹慎的做法是在第四季度以低個位數的低個位數下降為中心規劃廣泛的可比銷售結果, 符合最近的趨勢。

Underlying the sales expectation, we're planning for softer discretionary category comps than we've seen in the last 2 quarters, partially offset by the benefit of continued strong growth in our frequency businesses. If these sales trends persist, we'd see far less of a benefit from leverage on fixed expenses than we've seen so far this year.

在銷售預期的基礎上，我們計劃比過去兩個季度看到的更軟的可自由支配類別補償，部分被我們頻率業務持續強勁增長的好處所抵消。如果這些銷售趨勢持續下去，我們看到固定費用槓桿帶來的好處將遠低於我們今年迄今為止所看到的。

In addition, we'd expect greater markdown pressure from Q4 promotions given the increase in price sensitivity our guests have shown recently and our commitments to end the year with a clean inventory position, especially in those categories where trends have softened. And as I mentioned, we're planning for additional pressure from inventory shrink, given the worsening trends that have emerged so far this year.

此外，我們預計第四季度促銷活動會帶來更大的降價壓力，因為我們的客人最近表現出對價格的敏感度增加，而且我們承諾在今年年底保持乾淨的庫存狀況，尤其是在那些趨勢疲軟的類別中。正如我所提到的，鑑於今年迄今出現的惡化趨勢，我們正計劃應對庫存縮減帶來的額外壓力。

Altogether, these expectations lead to a wide range for our expected Q4 operating margin rate centered around 3%. The single-most sensitive input to this profit projection is the level of demand for our discretionary businesses. If that demand improves from recent trends, we would expect fewer markdowns and would likely outperform our updated profit expectations; while if demand softened further, profit could see additional pressure.

總而言之，這些預期導致我們預期的第四季度營業利潤率範圍很廣，集中在 3% 左右。對這一利潤預測最敏感的輸入是對我們全權委託業務的需求水平。如果這種需求從最近的趨勢中有所改善，我們預計降價幅度會減少，並且可能會超過我們更新後的利潤預期；而如果需求進一步疲軟，利潤可能會面臨額外壓力。

As we look beyond the holiday season, we're planning for a continued challenging environment as we move into next year. And as John and Brian already pointed out, we are fortunate to have a durable model that is well positioned to continue serving our guests even in the toughest of times. In addition, we have a significant opportunity to harness efficiencies in support of our long-term growth and profit goals.

當我們放眼假期之後，我們正計劃在進入明年時應對持續充滿挑戰的環境。正如 John 和 Brian 已經指出的那樣，我們很幸運擁有一個經久耐用的模型，即使在最艱難的時期也能繼續為我們的客人提供服務。此外，我們還有很大的機會利用效率來支持我們的長期增長和利潤目標。

At the end of 2019, our operations had been built to support a business that delivered $77 billion in sales that year. And our long-term algorithm at the time was anticipating low single-digit top line growth in the years ahead. If things had played out that way, we might be looking at a total sales number in the low to mid-$80 billion range this year. Instead, even in the midst of a very challenging environment, we're positioned to deliver total sales of well over $100 million this year.

到 2019 年底，我們的運營旨在支持當年實現 770 億美元銷售額的業務。我們當時的長期算法預計未來幾年的收入將實現低個位數增長。如果事情是這樣發展的，我們今年的總銷售額可能在 800 億美元左右。相反，即使在極具挑戰性的環境中，我們也有能力在今年實現超過 1 億美元的總銷售額。

So today, we have a compelling opportunity to look across our operations with an eye to simplifying and optimizing those operations for a more than $100 billion business. And today, as we look at the operations we have and where we think they can be, we believe there's a $2 billion to $3 billion savings opportunity over the next 3 years.

因此，今天，我們有一個極好的機會來審視我們的運營，著眼於簡化和優化價值超過 1000 億美元的業務的這些運營。今天，當我們審視我們擁有的業務以及我們認為它們可以在哪裡時，我們相信在未來 3 年內有 20 億至 30 億美元的節省機會。

To be clear, this isn't about slashing resources. And in particular, we're focused on continuing to invest in our team, which is our most valuable asset. As Brian said, we are in the initial stages of scoping this opportunity, and we expect to share detail on our progress at our 2023 Financial Community Meeting. In the meantime, I want to join Brian and wishing all of you a happy holiday season, and I want to pause and thank the entire Target team for making Target a great place to work and a store that's ready to bring joy to millions of our guests throughout this season and beyond.

需要明確的是，這與削減資源無關。特別是，我們專注於繼續投資於我們的團隊，這是我們最寶貴的資產。正如布賴恩所說，我們正處於確定這一機會範圍的初始階段，我們希望在 2023 年金融社區會議上分享我們進展的詳細信息。與此同時，我想和 Brian 一起祝大家節日快樂，我想停下來感謝整個 Target 團隊讓 Target 成為一個工作的好地方和一家準備為我們數百萬人帶來歡樂的商店整個季節及以後的客人。

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。

Before we turn to your questions, I want to relay a few thoughts that I shared with our Target team earlier today. While the circumstances we're facing are difficult and certainly not what anyone would wish for, we need to embrace the moment, focus on what we can control and lean into our strengths. Because even as we face multiple challenges, all at the same time, we have an even longer list of strengths on our side. And there are quite a few headwinds, but we've shown time and time again that our strengths can overcome any challenge we face.

在我們回答您的問題之前，我想轉達一下我今天早些時候與我們的 Target 團隊分享的一些想法。雖然我們面臨的情況很困難，而且肯定不是任何人所希望的，但我們需要擁抱當下，專注於我們可以控制的事情並發揮我們的優勢。因為即使我們同時面臨多重挑戰，我們也有更多的優勢。雖然有不少不利因素，但我們一次又一次地表明，我們的優勢可以克服我們面臨的任何挑戰。

We have nearly 2,000 well-located, well-maintained store locations. We have a rapidly growing set of owned brands that are already generating more than $30 billion in annual sales. And we have a unique and growing list of national brand partners, including Starbucks, CVS Health, Levi's, Apple, Disney and Ulta Beauty.

我們擁有近 2,000 家位置優越、維護良好的門店。我們擁有一系列快速增長的自有品牌，年銷售額已超過 300 億美元。我們擁有獨特且不斷增長的全國品牌合作夥伴名單，包括星巴克、CVS Health、Levi's、蘋果、迪士尼和 Ulta Beauty。

Our unmatched product design, development and sourcing capabilities allow us to offer an unbeatable combination of price, quality, design and fashion throughout our own brand portfolio. We have a durable operating model and a balanced portfolio of merchandise categories, which allow us to pivot quickly in a rapidly changing environment.

我們無與倫比的產品設計、開發和採購能力使我們能夠在我們自己的品牌組合中提供無與倫比的價格、質量、設計和時尚組合。我們擁有持久的運營模式和均衡的商品類別組合，這使我們能夠在瞬息萬變的環境中快速調整。

Our operations are profitable, generate robust cash flow and are backed by a strong balance sheet that enables continued investment during lean times. And of course, we have a unique, amazing, passionate team that has only grown stronger over the last few years. So this morning, I've asked our team to focus on what they do best, moving with agility and responding to the environment in real time, delivering outstanding execution throughout the holiday season and beyond and doing it all as one team, aligned in support of our guests and each other.

我們的業務盈利，產生強勁的現金流，並有強大的資產負債表支持，可以在經濟不景氣時繼續投資。當然，我們擁有一支獨特、令人驚嘆、充滿激情的團隊，該團隊在過去幾年中變得更加強大。所以今天早上，我要求我們的團隊專注於他們最擅長的事情，靈活行動並實時響應環境，在整個假期及以後提供出色的執行力，並作為一個團隊來完成所有工作，並提供支持我們的客人和彼此。

While we'd all prefer to be operating in a more robust environment, today, we have the opportunity and all the resources we need to continue playing offense while many others cannot. By harnessing the strength of our assets and our amazing team I'm confident we'll continue to grow guest engagement and deliver compelling growth on both the top and bottom line over time.

雖然我們都希望在一個更穩健的環境中運作，但今天，我們有機會和我們需要的所有資源來繼續進攻，而其他許多人則不能。通過利用我們的資產和我們出色的團隊的力量，我相信我們將繼續提高客人的參與度，並隨著時間的推移在頂線和底線實現引人注目的增長。

With that, we can move to Q&A. Now Christina, John, Michael and I will be happy to take your questions.

這樣，我們就可以進入問答環節了。現在克里斯蒂娜、約翰、邁克爾和我很樂意回答您的問題。

(Operator Instructions) Our first question is from Christopher Horvers with JPMorgan.

（操作員說明）我們的第一個問題來自摩根大通的克里斯托弗霍弗斯。

Can you talk about how you're -- so 2 questions. So my first question is, can you talk about how you're looking at your business from a planning perspective and how far the down-low single-digit quarter-to-date trend is relative to your internal plan?

你能談談你的情況嗎——所以有 2 個問題。所以我的第一個問題是，你能談談你是如何從規劃的角度看待你的業務的，以及相對於你的內部計劃，季度至今的低個位數趨勢有多遠？

Said another way, we knew that holiday was pulled forward last year, given early sort of panic buying. As you think about the past month, is this 3-year trend also deteriorating? And do you think the perhaps the election exacerbated the trend? It seems like you're planning on a 1-year basis, on a 3-year basis, given comparisons into the balance of the quarter.

換句話說，考慮到早期的恐慌性購買，我們知道去年假期被提前了。回想過去一個月，這 3 年的趨勢是否也在惡化？你認為選舉是否加劇了這一趨勢？考慮到季度餘額的比較，您似乎計劃以 1 年為基礎，以 3 年為基礎。

Sure, Chris. This is Michael. I can take that one. We did see deceleration in the 3-year CAGR in the back part of October as well, and so we're factoring that into our extrapolated trends going forward. And you've heard me say, I think, other times on this call, Q4 is always its own animal, and so extrapolating trends into Q4 is tricky business in a normal year. But we think it's important to focus on the consumer changes that we saw in October and plan the business prudently and cautiously against those trends. It gives us the best position to be able to meet the consumer where we're at and continue to drive that unit share performance that we were pleased to see in the third quarter.

當然，克里斯。這是邁克爾。我可以拿那個。我們也確實在 10 月下旬看到 3 年 CAGR 減速，因此我們將其納入我們推斷的未來趨勢中。你聽過我說，我想，在這次電話會議的其他時候，第四季度總是它自己的動物，所以在正常的一年裡，將趨勢推斷到第四季度是一件棘手的事情。但我們認為，重要的是要關注我們在 10 月份看到的消費者變化，並針對這些趨勢審慎謹慎地規劃業務。它為我們提供了最佳位置，能夠滿足我們所處的消費者，並繼續推動我們在第三季度很高興看到的單位份額表現。

Chris, did you have a second question?

克里斯，你還有第二個問題嗎？

Yes. The second question is really your views about structural margins and how it's changing. You did a 6% operating margin in '19, and you've just added $30 billion in sales. You did a $7 billion in '20 and $8 billion in '21. I guess, what's changing? How do you think about the puts and takes? There's more inflation, it seems like on the SG&A side. And yes, in the near term, there is more inventory moving costs and promotion. But I guess how do you think about the long term, especially in light of the $2 billion to $3 billion cost target?

是的。第二個問題實際上是您對結構利潤率及其變化的看法。您在 19 年實現了 6% 的營業利潤率，並且剛剛增加了 300 億美元的銷售額。你在 20 年賺了 70 億美元，在 21 年賺了 80 億美元。我想，有什麼變化？你如何看待 puts 和 takes？通貨膨脹率更高，似乎是在 SG&A 方面。是的，在短期內，會有更多的庫存移動成本和促銷活動。但我猜你如何看待長期，特別是考慮到 20 億至 30 億美元的成本目標？

Yes, Chris, I'll take that one, too. We're definitely not operating at a profit level we expect to over time. And the onetime impacts we've seen this year from the volatility and the change in trend has led us to more markdowns salvage action on inventory than we've seen historically by a wide margin. And so we would expect to get a lot of that margin and that improved markdown performance back. And so that's the factor I'd start with first.

是的，克里斯，我也要那個。隨著時間的推移，我們絕對不會達到預期的利潤水平。我們今年從波動性和趨勢變化中看到的一次性影響導致我們對庫存採取了比歷史上看到的更多的降價打撈行動。因此，我們希望獲得大量利潤並改善降價表現。這就是我首先要考慮的因素。

And the second thing I'd call out is what you heard us describe in terms of the efficiency opportunities we have in the business. To your exact point, we've generated incredible scale quickly. That opens up a lot of opportunities for us to rethink process technology and create efficiencies throughout the business by taking that scale that came on us quickly, stepping back and optimizing the business against that scale. So we're excited about the efficiencies that should come with the growth that we've seen over time.

我要說的第二件事是你聽到我們描述的關於我們在業務中擁有的效率機會。確切地說，我們已經迅速產生了令人難以置信的規模。這為我們提供了很多機會來重新思考流程技術，並通過迅速擴大我們的規模，退後一步並根據該規模優化業務來提高整個企業的效率。因此，我們對隨著時間的推移所看到的增長帶來的效率感到興奮。

The next question is from Michael Lasser with UBS.

下一個問題來自瑞銀的 Michael Lasser。

Obviously, Target performance this year has been volatile. And Michael Fiddelke, you just mentioned that you do believe you can get the margin that you lost this year to transition your inventory back. But now you're also saying that you need to cut $2 billion to $3 billion in cost to support your profitability over the next few years, which, in a way, undermines the idea that you can get the margin back that you lost.

顯然，塔吉特今年的業績一直不穩定。 Michael Fiddelke，你剛才提到你確實相信你可以得到今年損失的利潤來轉移你的庫存。但是現在你還說你需要削減 20 億到 30 億美元的成本來支持你在未來幾年的盈利能力，這在某種程度上破壞了你可以收回你失去的利潤的想法。

So, a, can you size in aggregate how much you think is recapturable? Is it $2 billion to $3 billion and you add another $2 billion to $3 billion on that. You're playing with a pool of savings that's really $4 billion to $6 billion over the next couple of years. So, a, is that right? And then I have a follow-up question.

所以，a，你能估計一下你認為有多少是可以奪回的嗎？是 20 億到 30 億美元，然後再增加 20 億到 30 億美元。在接下來的幾年裡，你正在玩弄一個真正的 40 億到 60 億美元的儲蓄池。那麼，是這樣嗎？然後我有一個後續問題。

Michael, thanks for joining us today. And obviously, we're going to spend a lot more time at our investor conference talking about the efficiency initiative. But it might be helpful for us to share a couple of examples of the work that we think is in front of us. And I might ask John to start first and talk about some of the learning we've seen from a fulfillment standpoint and have Christina talked about some opportunities that we're already looking at from a merchandising standpoint.

邁克爾，感謝您今天加入我們。顯然，我們將在投資者會議上花更多時間討論效率倡議。但是，分享我們認為擺在我們面前的工作的幾個例子可能對我們有所幫助。我可能會請約翰先開始，談談我們從實現的角度所看到的一些學習，讓克里斯蒂娜談談我們已經從商品銷售的角度來看的一些機會。

Yes, Michael, I think this is -- I think, Michael Fiddelke characterized it well. This is work we always do. We've always done this. And when we look back at fulfillment, this is something we've done year after year. And I remember back in 2017, taking lots of questions about, will you guys have enough capacity in your stores to do all this fulfillment, and taking that question in 2018 and 2019. And here we are with a digital business that's 20% of our business now and 95%, 96% of our fulfillment is done in stores.

是的，Michael，我認為這是——我認為，Michael Fiddelke 很好地描述了它。這是我們一直在做的工作。我們一直這樣做。當我們回顧成就時，這是我們年復一年所做的事情。我記得在 2017 年問了很多問題，你們的商店是否有足夠的容量來完成所有這些實現，並在 2018 年和 2019 年回答了這個問題。我們的數字業務占我們的 20%現在和 95% 的業務，我們 96% 的履行是在商店完成的。

And so when you look at what we've done there, it is essentially what Michael is talking about, continually going back, looking at the process, modifying the process, reinventing the process, investing some capital in some cases to support things like Drive-Up or extra-pack stations and consistently over that time, increasing our unit productivity as it relates to fulfillment in double digits every year since then. And that's created capacity for us to continue to drive our digital business and improved our economic performance in the digital business along the way.

因此，當您查看我們在那裡所做的事情時，這基本上就是邁克爾所說的，不斷回顧，研究流程，修改流程，重塑流程，在某些情況下投資一些資金來支持諸如 Drive 之類的東西-Up 或 extra-pack 站，並在這段時間裡始終如一地提高我們的單位生產率，因為它與從那時起每年以兩位數的速度實現相關。這為我們創造了繼續推動數字業務的能力，並在此過程中提高了我們在數字業務中的經濟績效。

And so when we step back and look at all the scale we've gained, just like that scale we gained in the digital business that allowed us to continually improve fulfillment, we've gained all the scale now in our existing business, the broader business, and that allows us to take a step back look, at what we've been kind of doing in the last couple of years to meet our guest demand as we grew quickly and say, there's a lot of places for us to go back, reinvent process, add additional technology and improve the way we deliver for our guests.

因此，當我們退後一步，看看我們獲得的所有規模時，就像我們在數字業務中獲得的規模一樣，使我們能夠不斷提高履行能力，我們現在已經在現有業務中獲得了所有規模，更廣泛的業務，這讓我們可以回顧一下過去幾年我們為滿足客人需求所做的工作，因為我們發展迅速，並說，我們有很多地方可以回顧，重塑流程，添加更多技術並改進我們為客人提供服務的方式。

And I would add on a similar note, we think that there is opportunity to do that same step back on how we create, make, buy, move and sell our Apparel business. You think about the exceptional growth that we've had in our business across the board, but certainly in a big category like Apparel and the volatility we've seen in import transportation lead times and ups and downs in the market. For us to take a step back and say, is there process flow, technology, planning decisions, sourcing decisions and opportunities to flow inventory with more efficiency is at the heart of this exercise. We actually have started it a while ago, and we'll really be able to accelerate the investment in that process work and reimagine the opportunity around our Apparel line.

我要補充一個類似的說明，我們認為有機會在我們如何創造、製造、購買、移動和銷售我們的服裝業務方面做同樣的事情。你想想我們的業務在各個方面都取得了非凡的增長，但肯定是在像服裝這樣的大類別中，以及我們在進口運輸交貨時間和市場起伏中看到的波動。讓我們退後一步來說，是否有流程、技術、規劃決策、採購決策和更高效地流動庫存的機會是這項工作的核心。事實上，我們很久以前就開始了，我們真的能夠加快對該流程工作的投資，並重新構想我們服裝系列的機會。

Michael, I want to make sure we're really clear. We see significant opportunities over the next 3 years, two, buying cost savings in the neighborhood of $2 billion to $3 billion as we improve process and simplify our operations. At the same time, we'll continue to be focused on growth and taking market share and meeting our guests and continue to enhance our business position. So it's not an either/or, it's an and. We'll continue to be focused on being a growth company, continuing to build market share, driving traffic to our stores and visit store sites and become a much more efficient organization that leverages the scale we've gained over the last 3 years.

邁克爾，我想確保我們真的很清楚。我們看到未來 3 年內的重大機遇，兩年，隨著我們改進流程和簡化我們的運營，購買成本將節省 20 億至 30 億美元。與此同時，我們將繼續專注於增長、搶占市場份額和接待客人，並繼續提升我們的業務地位。所以這不是非此即彼，而是和。我們將繼續專注於成為一家成長型公司，繼續建立市場份額，推動我們商店的客流量和訪問商店網站，並成為一個效率更高的組織，利用我們在過去 3 年中獲得的規模。

That's super helpful. Let me just clarify that and ask 1 follow-up question. Is the $2 billion to $3 billion on top of what you'll get from recouping the inventory write-downs, the cancellation fees that you paid to cancel orders this year? Or is that -- is $2 billion to $3 billion inclusive of that recapture opportunity?

這非常有幫助。讓我澄清一下並提出 1 個後續問題。這 20 億到 30 億美元是否超出了您從收回庫存減記中獲得的收益，即您今年為取消訂單支付的取消費？或者是 - 20 億到 30 億美元是否包括重新奪回的機會？

My second question is, do you need to make price investments in the business to improve the perception amongst customers during this difficult economic time, that is taking more front-stage discussion now that your big competitor talked about a good start to its fourth quarter? So there's discussion around whether Target might be losing share to its competitor that's perceived to be more value oriented.

我的第二個問題是，在這個經濟困難時期，您是否需要對業務進行價格投資以改善客戶的看法，既然您的主要競爭對手談到其第四季度開局良好，那就需要更多的前台討論？因此，圍繞 Target 是否可能將市場份額輸給被認為更注重價值的競爭對手展開了討論。

So Michael, there are a couple of questions there. One, we see the savings as being incremental for an operating plan; two, we do expect that the holiday season is going to be very promotional. We're seeing that as we move into the month of November. But as we've mentioned many times, one of the things that really stands out in our quarter is our ability to continue to hold and gain unit market share across all 5 of our merchandising categories.

邁克爾，這裡有幾個問題。第一，我們將節省的資金視為運營計劃的增量；第二，我們確實希望假期會非常促銷。當我們進入 11 月份時，我們看到了這一點。但正如我們多次提到的那樣，本季度真正突出的一件事是我們有能力在所有 5 個商品類別中繼續保持並獲得單位市場份額。

So we're continuing to build share. We're going to continue to see traffic driving our business, and we think it's going to be a promotional holiday season, and we're prepared to compete in this environment.

因此，我們將繼續擴大份額。我們將繼續看到流量推動我們的業務，我們認為這將是一個促銷假期，我們準備在這種環境中競爭。

Our next question is from Ed Yruma with Piper Sandler.

我們的下一個問題來自 Ed Yruma 和 Piper Sandler。

I guess first, you called out shrink a number of times and I know it's been a persistent issue, but it seems like it's intensifying. Is this something you think you can remediate kind of tactically or process? Or is this kind of endemic of other structural issues, namely maybe the location of some of your newer stores and jurisdictions where maybe shrink is just more endemic?

我想首先，你多次呼籲縮小，我知道這是一個長期存在的問題，但它似乎正在加劇。這是你認為你可以在戰術上或過程中補救的東西嗎？還是這種其他結構性問題的地方性問題，也就是說，也許你的一些新商店和司法管轄區的位置可能收縮更普遍？

And then as a bigger picture question, as you look to '23, with the consumer being volatile, how quickly can you bend the merchandise offering to focus more on those entry price point or those value-seeking items that the consumer is demanding today?

然後作為一個更大的問題，當你展望 23 世紀時，隨著消費者的波動，你能多快改變商品供應以更多地關注那些入門價格點或消費者今天要求的那些尋求價值的商品？

Ed, this is John. I'll take the shrink question. I think, first, I'd say it started probably in some localized geographies originally, but we see those circles expanding and expanding and the impact continuing to grow. I think from a solutions perspective, we see 2 things. One, this is a nationwide problem that we need to address nationwide with other retailers. This is primarily driven by organized crime. And so there is a role for us to work as a retail group with law enforcement with the government to help find solutions.

埃德，這是約翰。我會接受收縮問題。我想，首先，我會說它最初可能是在一些本地化的地區開始的，但我們看到這些圈子在不斷擴大，影響也在不斷擴大。我認為從解決方案的角度來看，我們看到兩件事。第一，這是一個全國性的問題，我們需要在全國范圍內與其他零售商一起解決。這主要是由有組織犯罪驅動的。因此，作為一個零售集團，我們有責任與政府一起執法，以幫助找到解決方案。

More specific to Target, there are things that we can do from a remediation standpoint. We have put those in place in a number of stores, and we see the impact of that. It's obviously not something we like to do. It's far less convenient for guests as they shop our stores, but we think we can manage that from a service perspective.

更具體到 Target，從補救的角度來看，我們可以做一些事情。我們已經在許多商店實施了這些措施，我們看到了它的影響。這顯然不是我們喜歡做的事情。客人在我們的商店購物時遠沒有那麼方便，但我們認為我們可以從服務的角度來解決這個問題。

And you can see us continue to do that. As we see stores that are more impacted, we'll continue to provide additional remediation factors. The biggest focus for us is keeping our team and our guests safe. And so we start there. And so that drives a lot of our behavior, and that's the goal.

你可以看到我們繼續這樣做。當我們看到受影響更大的商店時，我們將繼續提供額外的補救措施。我們最關注的是確保我們的團隊和客人的安全。所以我們從那裡開始。因此，這推動了我們的很多行為，這就是目標。

And then the third thing is to prevent theft. But we really start in a place where it is about keeping our team and our guests safe as they're in our stores.

然後第三件事是防止盜竊。但我們真正的出發點是確保我們的團隊和客人在我們店內的安全。

And on your second question, Ed, on value, price perception and our offerings. I would tell you that we've had a concerted effort to make sure that we demonstrate the balanced value across our assortment for a long period of time. In fact, last quarter, I called it a maniacal focus on opening price points because we need to make sure that we appeal to the range of consumers that shop Target. And as I said in my prepared remarks, some of that is going to be opening price point value options that we can engineer into, especially in our strong owned brand offering. But some of it is actually larger sizes where people are seeking value through the per-unit equation that comes with bigger pack sizes.

關於你的第二個問題，埃德，關於價值、價格認知和我們的產品。我會告訴你，我們一直在齊心協力，以確保我們在很長一段時間內展示我們產品系列的平衡價值。事實上，上個季度，我稱其為對開價點的瘋狂關注，因為我們需要確保吸引在 Target 購物的一系列消費者。正如我在準備好的發言中所說，其中一些將是我們可以設計的開放價格點價值選項，特別是在我們強大的自有品牌產品中。但其中一些實際上是更大的尺寸，人們通過更大的包裝尺寸帶來的每單位等式來尋求價值。

So we are absolutely focused on it. It comes through in everyday price, it comes through in our own brand assortment, it comes through in our promotions, and it comes to our accessibility with our great RedCard, our free loyalty programs and the solutions in aggregate. And that's part of the Target equation. It's all also relevant with the assortment that's fresh, seasonal and on trend. It doesn't matter what your priced at if the assortment is relevant. And that's why we need to always stay on-Target.

所以我們絕對專注於它。它體現在日常價格中，體現在我們自己的品牌分類中，體現在我們的促銷活動中，體現在我們偉大的 RedCard、我們的免費忠誠度計劃和整體解決方案中。這是目標等式的一部分。這一切也與新鮮、季節性和流行的分類有關。如果分類相關，那麼您的定價並不重要。這就是為什麼我們需要始終保持在目標上。

The next question is from Scott Mushkin with R5 Capital.

下一個問題來自 R5 Capital 的 Scott Mushkin。

And you guys got into some good detail about the cost savings you have planned. I was wondering, is there any thought that 2023, we may have an extension of the challenges and thinking about CapEx, thinking about labor hours and how you might attack that in 2023 as the Fed is successful here and engineers a recession?

你們詳細介紹了您計劃的成本節約。我想知道，有沒有人認為到 2023 年，我們可能會面臨更多挑戰，並考慮資本支出，考慮勞動時間，以及隨著美聯儲在這裡取得成功並引發經濟衰退，你可能如何在 2023 年應對這些挑戰？

Scott, as you might imagine, right now, we are laser focused on the holiday season and making sure we end 2022 in a position where we continue to hold and grow share and meet the needs of our guests. For the very early stages of looking at 2023, we'll be back after the first of the year with more details about our overall plans, including CapEx spending and our outlook for the overall consumer environment.

斯科特，正如您想像的那樣，現在，我們非常專注於假期，並確保我們在 2022 年結束時能夠繼續保持和增長份額並滿足客人的需求。對於展望 2023 年的早期階段，我們將在年初之後回來提供有關我們總體計劃的更多詳細信息，包括資本支出和我們對整體消費者環境的展望。

So give us a few weeks, we'll be back to you after the first of the year, but obviously, we're going to spend a lot of time right now focused on executing our plan, getting through the holiday season and then assessing the consumer and the overall retail landscape as we look to 2023.

所以給我們幾個星期，我們會在今年第一天之後回复你，但顯然，我們現在將花費大量時間專注於執行我們的計劃，度過假期，然後評估我們展望 2023 年的消費者和整體零售格局。

So then another extension of the question, but I wanted to get a second view on this. Imitation is the best form of flattery. And one of the competitors, especially in Apparel and Home, has been copying you guys pretty readily and partnering with other brands. I mean how much do you think that could impact your sales or maybe is impacting your sales in those categories? Or do you think it's really not a factor?

那麼問題的另一個擴展，但我想對此有另一種看法。模仿是最好的奉承。其中一個競爭對手，尤其是在服裝和家居領域，一直很容易模仿你們並與其他品牌合作。我的意思是，您認為這會對您的銷售產生多大影響，或者可能會影響您在這些類別中的銷售？或者你認為這真的不是一個因素？

Scott, it's why we spend so much time looking at unit market share performance. And as we continue to perform well across our entire portfolio, we feel like we've got the right mix of great national brand partners that strengthen our own brands. We have a fabulous in-store experience and the ease and simplicity of our digital channels. So we think we're well positioned to continue to hold and grow share across our entire portfolio, not just in the holiday season but for years to come.

斯科特，這就是我們花這麼多時間研究單位市場份額表現的原因。隨著我們在整個產品組合中繼續表現良好，我們覺得我們擁有優秀的全國品牌合作夥伴的正確組合，可以加強我們自己的品牌。我們擁有出色的店內體驗以及我們數字渠道的便捷性。因此，我們認為我們有能力繼續在我們的整個投資組合中保持和增加份額，不僅是在假期，而且是在未來幾年。

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

下一個問題來自美國銀行的 Robby Ohmes。

Maybe for Christina and maybe Brian can chime in here. I know it's early, but with the kind of shift in trends you're seeing, is there any more you can tell us maybe about the income demographic dissecting of your guests? Has there been any changes in patterns amongst that? So for example, Walmart obviously called out yesterday that they're seeing more of these $100,000-plus people trading into Walmart. Is there anything that you can tell us about your lower-income guests versus your middle or higher income that helps us understand what's going on?

也許克里斯蒂娜和布賴恩可以在這裡插話。我知道現在還早，但是隨著您所看到的趨勢的轉變，您是否可以告訴我們更多有關客人收入人口統計的信息？這其中有什麼模式變化嗎？因此，例如，沃爾瑪昨天顯然大聲疾呼，他們看到更多這些 100,000 美元以上的人進入沃爾瑪進行交易。關於您的低收入客人與您的中等收入或高收入客人，您有什麼可以告訴我們的，可以幫助我們了解發生了什麼嗎？

Yes. Our first proof point about how we're performing is obviously the strength of our traffic as well as our market share gains. And those are broad, span across all of our categories. As we look at the guest and where the growth is coming from, it's coming from a deepening engagement with our current guests. And so they are coming more often, and they are spending across more categories.

是的。我們關於我們表現如何的第一個證據顯然是我們的流量強度以及我們的市場份額增長。這些範圍很廣，涵蓋了我們所有的類別。當我們審視客人以及增長的來源時，它來自與我們現有客人的深入互動。因此，他們來得更頻繁，而且他們在更多類別中消費。

And there are a couple of inflection points in behavior with our Target guests that are really meaningful: One is when they become an omnichannel guests; the second is how much they use our fulfillment capabilities; and the third is the amount that they buy Food & Beverage. And all those 3 are growing at a faster rate than total Target. That gives us confidence that going forward, we'll continue to deepen the engagement with the guests that are most meaningful for our long-term business.

我們的 Target 客人的行為有幾個真正有意義的轉折點：一個是當他們成為全渠道客人時；第二個是他們使用我們的履行能力的程度；第三是他們購買食品和飲料的金額。所有這 3 家公司的增長速度都快於 Target 的總和。這讓我們相信，在未來，我們將繼續深化與對我們的長期業務最有意義的客人的互動。

And then just maybe a quick follow-up. Anything on the digital side? Any new initiatives you guys would be thinking about maybe doing more with marketplace or things to get your digital growth a little higher again?

然後可能只是快速跟進。數字方面有什麼嗎？你們會考慮任何新舉措，也許會在市場上做更多的事情，或者做更多的事情來讓你們的數字增長再次提高一點？

Well, I think there's a couple of things there. One, the digital team is doing a great job. And there -- to Brian's point, right now, they're very focused on delivering a great Q4 for our guests. I think a couple of things we are excited about is first, bringing -- and these are the top 2 requests from our guests, always being led by our guests as it relates to what we're going to provide from a digital perspective.

好吧，我認為那裡有幾件事。第一，數字團隊做得很好。就 Brian 的觀點而言，他們現在非常專注於為我們的客人提供出色的第四季度。我認為我們首先感到興奮的幾件事是——這些是我們客人的前 2 大要求，總是由我們的客人領導，因為它與我們從數字角度提供的內容有關。

Number one is adding Starbucks to Drive-Up. And we have seen that in the test stores, very, very popular. This has been a request for a long time from guests. "I'm getting milk, I'm getting diapers, why can't I get my latte to go as well?"

第一是將星巴克添加到 Drive-Up。我們已經在測試商店中看到它非常非常受歡迎。這是客人長期以來的要求。 “我要喝牛奶，要買尿布，為什麼我不能把拿鐵咖啡也帶走？”

I think the second one under the heading of continuing to create ease, and this is also a request from our guests, is being able to do returns through Drive-Up. That one's a little bit further behind Starbucks. We're testing that in a small number of stores. It just went guest-facing recently. And so we'll continue to test that through the fourth quarter here and look to hopefully expand that next year.

我認為第二個在繼續創造便利的標題下，這也是我們客人的要求，能夠通過 Drive-Up 進行退貨。那個落後於星巴克一點點。我們正在少數商店中進行測試。它最近才面向客人。因此，我們將在第四季度繼續對此進行測試，並有望在明年擴大這一範圍。

But I think the example there -- the examples there are more important than what we're doing, that is the guest leading us to what they want us to provide from a digital perspective, whether that be on the site or in how we fulfill their services.

但我認為那裡的例子——那裡的例子比我們正在做的更重要，那就是客人引導我們從數字角度來看他們希望我們提供的東西，無論是在網站上還是我們如何實現他們的服務。

The next question is from Simeon Gutman with Morgan Stanley.

下一個問題來自摩根士丹利的 Simeon Gutman。

I wanted to ask on the sales backdrop for a minute. You took a lot of markdowns and some inventory was released to the market. Walmart had the same, and they've been discounting. Why couldn't this environment just be off-price having a lot of inventory and the market is just stuffed and that could be part of this weakness, and it's going to take some time for that to clear as opposed to the consumer really weakening in fundamentals? I just wanted to throw it out there.

我想問一下銷售背景。你採取了很多降價措施，一些庫存被釋放到市場上。沃爾瑪也有，而且他們一直在打折。為什麼這種環境不能只是低價，有大量庫存，市場只是被塞滿，這可能是這種疲軟的一部分，而且需要一些時間才能清除，而不是消費者真正疲軟基本面？我只是想把它扔出去。

Simeon, I'll go back to some of the syndicated data that we've been looking at. And clearly, across all of retail, we saw a change in shopping behavior in the back half of October leading into November. The most recent information we've seen from NPD would indicate during the first week of November, general merchandise categories contracted by 14%. So a very significant change in shopping behavior.

Simeon，我將回到我們一直在研究的一些聯合數據。很明顯，在所有零售業中，我們看到 10 月下半月到 11 月的購物行為發生了變化。我們從 NPD 看到的最新信息表明，在 11 月的第一周，一般商品類別收縮了 14%。因此，購物行為發生了非常顯著的變化。

So I think, as Christina pointed out a number of times, we've had a consumer who has been dealing with very stubborn inflation for quarter after quarter now. They're certainly starting to look at higher prices in Food & Beverage, in many cases, prices that are up double digits. They're shopping very carefully on a budget. And I think they're looking at discretionary categories and saying, "All right, if I'm going to buy, I'm looking for a great deal and a great value."

所以我認為，正如克里斯蒂娜多次指出的那樣，我們有一個消費者現在每個季度都在應對非常頑固的通貨膨脹。他們當然開始關注食品和飲料的更高價格，在許多情況下，價格上漲了兩位數。他們在預算內非常謹慎地購物。而且我認為他們正在尋找可自由支配的類別並說，“好吧，如果我要購買，我正在尋找一個很大的交易和一個很大的價值。”

So what we've seen overall is a change in consumer behavior over the last few weeks. We're going to watch it carefully throughout the holiday season, but I think it is a byproduct of a consumer who has been facing higher costs throughout the year, is working with their budget, shopping very carefully, looking for value and recognize they've got to start with core staples before they spend dollars in discretionary categories.

因此，我們總體上看到的是過去幾週消費者行為的變化。我們將在整個假期期間仔細觀察它，但我認為這是消費者全年面臨更高成本的副產品，正在處理他們的預算，非常謹慎地購物，尋找價值並認識到他們'在他們將錢花在可自由支配的類別上之前，他們必須先從核心主食開始。

Yes. That makes sense. And my follow-up is the $2 billion to $3 billion, it sounds like it's process oriented. But some of the things you mentioned in terms of flowing inventory, it seems like that will require CapEx. And again, I don't want to put words in your mouth, but to be able to drive these efficiencies, is it pure process? Or does CapEx need to step up to make investments in order to realize the savings?

是的。那講得通。我的後續行動是 20 億美元到 30 億美元，聽起來像是面向流程的。但是你在流動庫存方面提到的一些事情，似乎需要資本支出。再說一次，我不想把話說到你嘴裡，但為了能夠提高這些效率，它是純粹的過程嗎？或者資本支出是否需要加緊進行投資以實現節省？

Yes. It's a fair question, Simeon. And sometimes it involves CapEx, and we're happy to invest that CapEx when the return is there. And so if we can put capital into the business that can drive efficiency for the team, I think you've seen us do that with technology in stores and supply chain, so that's a path we've been on, and we certainly aren't shy about making that investment when the return is there. But it won't all require capital. There's a lot of process reengineering and optimization that we can do that shouldn't have a capital price tag associated with it.

是的。這是一個公平的問題，西蒙。有時它涉及資本支出，我們很樂意在有回報時投資資本支出。因此，如果我們能夠將資金投入到可以提高團隊效率的業務中，我想你已經看到我們在商店和供應鏈中使用技術來做到這一點，所以這是我們一直在走的路，我們當然不會'當有回報時，不要羞於進行投資。但這並不都需要資金。我們可以做很多流程再造和優化，不應該有與之相關的資本價格標籤。

And again, back to the examples John and Christina provided, so much of that is about the scale we've gained. There's a path of simplifying and taking costs out of the business when you don't have growth. We've got the fortunate position to be looking at the business on the heels of just exceptional growth and that creates a lot of opportunity for us to rebuild process against the business that's substantially bigger than it was a few years ago.

再一次，回到約翰和克里斯蒂娜提供的例子，其中很多是關於我們已經獲得的規模。當您沒有增長時，有一種簡化和降低業務成本的方法。我們有幸在業務出現異常增長之後審視業務，這為我們創造了很多機會，可以針對比幾年前大得多的業務重建流程。

Operator, we got time for one last question today.

接線員，我們今天有時間回答最後一個問題。

Our last question comes from Kate McShane with Goldman Sachs.

我們的最後一個問題來自高盛的 Kate McShane。

We just wanted to ask a couple of follow-up questions on the inventory position, just if there was any inventory left over from the issues that you experienced in the spring. And now that it sounds like maybe Q4 is going to be a little bit weaker, but I think the inventories you probably bought was for more of a low single-digit comp scenario, is the goal to be clean with regards to holiday inventory coming out of Q4 and into 2023?

我們只是想問幾個關於庫存狀況的後續問題，如果您在春季遇到的問題中有任何庫存遺留的話。現在聽起來第四季度可能會有點疲軟，但我認為你購買的庫存可能更多的是用於低個位數的補償方案，目標是在即將到來的假期庫存方面保持清潔第四季度到 2023 年？

I will answer that with where you ended your question, Kate, and that is we are committed to being clean at the end of the holiday season. And you're also right in the first half of your question. We accomplished what we wanted to in the first half of the year. We feel good about that work. And you heard me quote some versus 2019 benchmarks. If you were to just look versus last year, you'll see that Q2, out inventory was up 36% year-on-year; in Q3, it's about 14%. And so we made good progress on the plans we had in place. Obviously, we're looking at the change in the trends closely. If that trend we see persists, it will come with more markdowns to make sure we accomplish exactly that goal of ending the season clean.

凱特，我會用你結束問題的地方來回答這個問題，那就是我們致力於在假期結束時保持清潔。而且您在問題的前半部分也是正確的。我們在上半年完成了我們想要的。我們對這項工作感覺良好。你聽到我引用了一些與 2019 年基準的對比。如果你只看與去年相比，你會看到第二季度，庫存同比增長 36%；在第三季度，這一比例約為 14%。因此，我們在製定的計劃上取得了良好進展。顯然，我們正在密切關注趨勢的變化。如果我們看到的這種趨勢持續存在，將會有更多的降價促銷，以確保我們準確地完成以乾淨利落的方式結束本賽季的目標。

Operator, that concludes our third quarter call. We wish everyone a safe and happy holiday season and look forward to seeing you in person in 2023. So thank you.

接線員，我們的第三季度電話會議到此結束。我們祝大家度過一個安全快樂的假期，並期待在 2023 年與您見面。謝謝。