Ulta Beauty Inc (ULTA) 2024 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good afternoon and welcome to Ulta Beauty's conference call to discuss results for the Ulta Beauty fourth-quarter 2024 earnings results. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference is being recorded.

下午好，歡迎參加 Ulta Beauty 電話會議，討論 Ulta Beauty 2024 年第四季收益結果。（操作員指示）提醒一下，本次會議正在錄音。

It is now my pleasure to introduce Ms. Kiley Rawlins, Vice President of Investor Relations. Ms. Rawlins, please proceed.

現在我很高興介紹投資者關係副總裁 Kiley Rawlins 女士。羅林斯女士，請繼續。

Thank you, Alicia, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining us for a discussion of Ulta Beauty's fourth-quarter and fiscal '24 results. Hosting our call today are Kecia Steelman, Chief Executive Officer; and Paula Oyibo, Chief Financial Officer.

謝謝你，艾莉西亞，大家下午好。感謝您加入我們討論 Ulta Beauty 第四季和 24 財年的表現。今天主持我們電話會議的是執行長 Kecia Steelman；以及財務長 Paula Oyibo。

Before we begin, I'd like to remind you of the company's Safe Harbor language. Many of our remarks today will contain forward-looking statements, which speak only as of today, March 13, 2025. We refer you to our earnings release and SEC filings, where you will find a number of factors which could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward-looking statements.

在我們開始之前，我想提醒您注意公司的安全港語言。我們今天的許多評論都包含前瞻性陳述，這些陳述僅截至今天（2025 年 3 月 13 日）有效。請您參閱我們的收益報告和美國證券交易委員會 (SEC) 文件，您會發現許多因素可能導致實際結果與這些前瞻性陳述有重大差異。

Kecia will begin our call with key highlights from our fiscal '24 results and share our priorities for fiscal '25. Then Paula will review our fourth-quarter results in more detail and discuss our outlook for fiscal '25. Following our prepared remarks, we will open the call for questions. (Event Instructions) And as always, the IR team will be available for any follow-up questions after the call.

Kecia 將在電話會議上首先介紹我們 24 財年業績的重點，並分享我們 25 財年的優先事項。然後，Paula 將更詳細地回顧我們的第四季度業績，並討論我們對 25 財年的展望。在我們準備好發言之後，我們將開始提問。（活動說明）與往常一樣，IR 團隊將在通話後解答任何後續問題。

Before I call the -- turn the call over to Kecia, I want to share that both Paula and Kecia are fighting seasonal colds, and you may notice that their voices are a bit raspy this afternoon. And with that, I'll turn the call over to Kecia. Kecia?

在我把電話轉給凱西亞 (Kecia) 之前，我想告訴大家，保拉 (Paula) 和凱西亞 (Kecia) 都在與季節性感冒作鬥爭，您可能會注意到今天下午他們的聲音有點沙啞。說完這些，我將把電話轉給 Kecia。凱西亞？

Thank you, Kiley, and good afternoon, everyone. I've had the pleasure of participating in these calls over the last few years as COO, and I'm excited to host my first call as CEO today. I appreciate your continued interest in Ulta Beauty and look forward to engaging with each of you. Today, I'll provide my perspective on the strength of our business, highlight where I focused my first 60 days as CEO, and share some of our 2024 achievements, and discuss how I'm thinking about our long-term growth opportunities and prioritizing our actions.

謝謝你，凱莉，大家下午好。過去幾年，我很榮幸能以營運長的身份參加這些電話會議，今天我很高興以執行長的身份主持我的第一次電話會議。感謝您對 Ulta Beauty 的持續關注，並期待與您每個人的合作。今天，我將闡述我對我們業務優勢的看法，強調我擔任執行長後的前 60 天的工作重點，分享我們在 2024 年取得的一些成就，並討論我如何看待我們的長期成長機會並確定行動的優先順序。

It all starts with our mission. Simply put, there's magic in our mission. Every day, we seek to use the power of beauty to bring to life the possibilities that lie within each of us. We have a unique opportunity to serve beauty enthusiasts at nearly every stage of life and in so many milestone moments, from their first date to their first job interview, to their wedding day, and so many moments in between. It's a mission uniquely suited for Ulta Beauty, one I feel very privileged to steward. And I know that no one can bring this mission to life the way we can.

一切都始於我們的使命。簡而言之，我們的使命充滿魔力。每天，我們都在尋求利用美的力量來激發每個人內心的可能性。我們擁有獨特的機會，為幾乎每個人生階段和許多里程碑時刻的美容愛好者提供服務，從他們的第一次約會到第一次工作面試，再到他們的婚禮，以及其間的許多時刻。這是一項特別適合 Ulta Beauty 的使命，我很榮幸能夠承擔這項使命。我知道沒有人能夠像我們一樣完成這項使命。

While I've been at Ulta Beauty for more than a decade, in my first 60 days as CEO, I made it a priority to spend meaningful time with our brand partners, guests, leadership team, and store associates to assess the state of our business, including where we're winning and where we have opportunities. I've made organizational changes to streamline decision-making and align our teams around guest-centric goals, and I've leaned in where we have immediate opportunities to improve our execution, all through the lens of protecting and nurturing the culture that we believe makes us so special.

雖然我在 Ulta Beauty 工作了十多年，但在擔任執行長的頭 60 天裡，我優先考慮與我們的品牌合作夥伴、嘉賓、領導團隊和店員共度有意義的時光，以評估我們的業務狀況，包括我們的成功之處和我們有機會的地方。我對組織進行了改革，以簡化決策流程，並讓我們的團隊圍繞以客人為中心的目標進行協調，並且我傾向於在我們有機會立即改善執行力的地方，所有這些都是為了保護和培育我們認為讓我們如此特別的文化。

I step into this role with incredible optimism, because it's evident to me that the foundational advantages of our business model are strong and more relevant than ever. We have an unmatched breadth of assortment. We provide convenient and engaging omnichannel accessibility. We've built meaningful brand equity and a leading loyalty program. We have a strong financial foundation with stable operating cash flow, and we have more than 58,000 talented associates who are the heart of our company and represent our brand to our guests every day.

我懷著無比樂觀的態度擔任這一職務，因為在我看來，我們的商業模式的基礎優勢比以往任何時候都更加強大且更具相關性。我們擁有無與倫比的豐富產品種類。我們提供便利且引人入勝的全通路無障礙服務。我們建立了有意義的品牌資產和領先的忠誠度計劃。我們擁有強大的財務基礎和穩定的經營現金流，並擁有超過 58,000 名才華橫溢的員工，他們是我們公司的核心，每天向客人展示我們的品牌。

The beauty landscape has fundamentally changed. Guest expectations continue to rise, and the pace of change is accelerating. The competitive environment in beauty has never been more intense. For the first time, we lost market share in the beauty category in 2024.

美麗的風景已經發生了根本性的變化。客人的期望不斷提高，變化的步伐也正在加快。美容領域的競爭環境從未如此激烈。2024年，我們首次在美容領域失去了市場份額。

I am aware of the challenges that we face. Some of them are external, while others we own. Our business is bigger, and we've managed unprecedented category growth. And it is more complex as we've expanded our assortment and added new fulfillment choices like buy online, pick up in store, ship from store, and same-day delivery. These capabilities are driving guest engagement and enhanced accessibility that have also resulted in execution challenges, particularly in product transitions and launches as we leverage new tools and processes.

我知道我們面臨的挑戰。其中一些是外部的，而另一些是我們自己的。我們的業務規模更大，並且實現了前所未有的產品類別成長。隨著我們擴大產品種類並增加新的履行選擇（如線上購買、店內取貨、店內發貨和當日送達），情況變得更加複雜。這些功能正在推動客人參與度和增強可訪問性，同時也帶來了執行方面的挑戰，特別是在我們利用新工具和流程時的產品轉型和發布方面。

As a result, our in-store presentation and guest experience today are not as strong as we would like. These are opportunities well within our control. We've identified specific gaps, and we're working quickly to address. And I'm leaning in with our teams and brand partners to improve in-store presentation and inventory levels to deliver a better guest experience.

因此，我們今天的店內展示和顧客體驗並不像我們所希望的那樣好。這些都是我們可以掌控的機會。我們已經發現了具體的差距，並且正在迅速努力解決。我正在與我們的團隊和品牌合作夥伴一起努力改善店內展示和庫存水平，以提供更好的客戶體驗。

It's clear to me that how we've operated must change to ensure that we capture the opportunities in front of us. We are focusing to ensure the guest is at the center of everything we do. And we intend to move faster, invest strategically, and optimize our business to achieve our long-term goals to drive profitable growth and market share. I'll dive into our long-term plan to achieve these objectives shortly. But first, let's review the progress made in 2024.

我很清楚，我們必須改變運作方式，以確保我們抓住眼前的機會。我們致力於確保客人是我們所做的一切的中心。我們打算加快步伐，進行策略性投資，優化業務，以實現推動獲利成長和市場份額的長期目標。我很快就會深入探討實現這些目標的長期計劃。但首先，讓我們回顧一下 2024 年的進展。

We're proud to have finished the year ahead of our expectations. Paula will share more about our financial performance in a few minutes, but I want to highlight just a few of our key 2024 achievements, including enhancing our assortment through the relaunch of our Ulta Beauty Collection; and the launch of 40 new brands, including exclusive brands like XO Khloé, Noyz, WYN BEAUTY, and guest favorites like Charlotte Tilbury, ILIA, and TATCHA''; expanding accessibility through the opening of 60 net new stores, 100 new Ulta Beauty at Target shop-in-shop locations; and improved digital functionality. We also initiated plans to launch in Mexico and most recently announced our expansion into the Middle East in 2025; relaunching and growing our loyalty program 3% to a record high of 44.6 million members, driving significant gains in brand love and social engagement through compelling marketing and advertising efforts; and completing several transformational infrastructure investments, including the upgrade of our ERP system, digital store, and data ecosystem.

我們很自豪能夠提前完成今年的預期目標。保拉將在幾分鐘內分享更多有關我們財務業績的信息，但我只想強調一下我們 2024 年的一些關鍵成就，包括通過重新推出 Ulta 美容系列來增強我們的產品組合；以及 40 個新品牌的推出，包括 XO Khloé、Noyz、WYN BEAUTY 等獨家品牌，以及 Charlotte Target、B&IL 擁有 Target、W*IL 到 Target 7家新店、100 家新的 Ulta Beauty 來擴大可及性；並改進了數位功能。我們還啟動了在墨西哥開展業務的計劃，最近宣布將於 2025 年擴展到中東地區；重新啟動我們的忠誠度計劃，並將其增長 3%，達到創紀錄的 4460 萬會員，透過引人注目的營銷和廣告努力，顯著提高品牌喜愛度和社會參與度；並完成了幾項基礎設施投資，包括我們的 ERP 系統、升級和數據生態系統的生態系統。

Looking forward, we remain optimistic about the strength and resilience of the beauty category. We are mindful that consumers are navigating a dynamic macroenvironment, but we continue to expect healthy consumer engagement in beauty. While the category has normalized, we believe in the positive dynamics within the categories, including a strong and growing connection between beauty and wellness, increased digital usage, a strong innovation pipeline and consumer engagement. And we expect these dynamics will support continued category growth in the low- to mid-single-digit range over the next few years.

展望未來，我們仍對美容類別的實力和韌性持樂觀態度。我們注意到消費者正在動態的宏觀環境中前進，但我們仍然期待消費者對美容的健康參與。雖然該類別已經正常化，但我們相信該類別內部存在著積極的動態，包括美麗與健康之間日益緊密的聯繫、數位使用量的增加、強大的創新管道和消費者參與度。我們預計，這些動態將支持未來幾年內該類別繼續保持低至中等個位數的成長。

Now I want to share how we're prioritizing our actions as we look to deliver a stronger guest experience and value to our stakeholders. The long-term strategies and financial targets that we outlined in our October Investor Day will continue to guide our path forward.

現在，我想分享我們如何確定行動的優先順序，以便為利害關係人提供更強大的客戶體驗和價值。我們在十月投資者日概述的長期策略和財務目標將繼續指導我們前進的道路。

To bring further focus to our efforts, we've aligned our plan around three main priorities: first, drive core business growth; second, scale new accretive businesses; and third, realign our foundation for the future. We're calling our plan Ulta Beauty Unleashed. We recognize the need to move quickly, and we will be deliberate about pacing and prioritization to ensure that we can execute well and manage the short-term financial impact.

為了進一步集中我們的努力，我們圍繞三個主要優先事項調整了計劃：首先，推動核心業務成長；第二，拓展新的增值業務；第三，重新調整我們未來的基礎。我們將我們的計劃稱為「Ulta Beauty Unleashed」。我們認識到需要迅速採取行動，我們將謹慎考慮節奏和優先順序，以確保我們能夠良好執行並管理短期財務影響。

Turning to our first priority, driving core business growth. We have a strong model and have identified significant opportunities to unlock further advantages. This means continuing to push for excellence in all areas of our operations and strengthening our go-to-market approach with the guests always at the center of everything we do. As I shared earlier, our teams are focused on opportunities to sharpen our execution and get back to the basics of running excellent stores that are easy to navigate, fully stocked, appropriately staffed, clean and inviting.

談到我們的首要任務，推動核心業務成長。我們擁有強大的模型，並已發現釋放更多優勢的重大機會。這意味著我們將繼續在營運的所有領域追求卓越，並加強我們的行銷方式，始終將客人放在我們所做的一切的中心。正如我之前分享的，我們的團隊專注於尋找機會來提高我們的執行力，並回歸經營優秀商店的基礎，這些商店易於導航、庫存齊全、人員配備適當、乾淨且吸引人。

Beyond the return to best-in-class execution, in 2025, we will focus primarily on three initiatives to drive core growth: brand building, personalization and digital acceleration. We will enhance our assortment through further investments in brand building with a particular focus on exclusive, emerging, and established brands.

除了恢復一流的執行力之外，到2025年，我們將主要關註三大措施來推動核心成長：品牌建立、個人化和數位化加速。我們將透過進一步投資品牌建立來增強我們的產品組合，特別關注獨家、新興和成熟品牌。

We've kicked off 2025 with an exciting start with the announcement of several notable brand launches. These include fan favorite Milk Makeup and the innovative K-Beauty skincare brand ANUA, exclusive to Ulta Beauty. And we're thrilled about the upcoming retail debut of Beyonce's haircare brand, Cécred, also exclusive to Ulta Beauty, which we will bring to life in unique ways through our salons.

隨著多個著名品牌的發布，我們以激動人心的開局拉開了 2025 年的序幕。其中包括粉絲最愛的 Milk Makeup 和 Ulta Beauty 獨家推出的創新韓國美容護膚品牌 ANUA。我們對碧昂絲的護髮品牌 Cécred 即將在零售店首次亮相感到非常興奮，該品牌也是 Ulta Beauty 的獨家產品，我們將透過我們的沙龍以獨特的方式將其帶入生活。

We'll continue to build this momentum throughout the year and into 2026. We will deepen guest engagement through accelerated personalization, increasing automation, and real-time content across digital channels. We will accelerate our digital efforts, delivering new enhanced features on our app and website aimed at elevating the guest experience.

我們將在今年全年乃至 2026 年繼續保持這一勢頭。我們將透過加速個人化、提高自動化程度以及跨數位管道的即時內容來加深客人的參與度。我們將加快數位化進程，在我們的應用程式和網站上提供新的增強功能，旨在提升客戶體驗。

Second, we intend to scale new and accretive businesses to capitalize on key growth opportunities and ensure that we remain resilient in a rapidly changing world. In 2025, we'll focus on four initiatives: accelerating our focus on wellness; launching a new marketplace, which will expand our e-commerce presence and allow us to offer a broader array of beauty and wellness products to our guests; build upon our international presence; and we also plan to introduce several key enhancements to our Ulta Beauty Media offering, including new product innovation that provides brands with new ways to reach consumers, along with enhanced closed-loop measurements.

其次，我們打算擴大新的和增值業務，以利用關鍵的成長機會，並確保我們在快速變化的世界中保持韌性。2025年，我們將專注於四項措施：加速關注健康；推出一個新的市場，這將擴大我們的電子商務影響力，並使我們能夠為客人提供更廣泛的美容和保健產品；鞏固我們的國際地位；我們還計劃對 Ulta Beauty Media 產品推出幾項關鍵增強功能，包括為品牌提供接觸消費者新方式的新產品創新，以及增強的閉環測量。

Finally, turning to our third objective, realigning our foundation for the future. To successfully achieve our long-term growth ambitions, reassert our leadership position, and deliver value to our stakeholders, we must optimize ways of working and streamline our cost structure.

最後，談談我們的第三個目標，重新調整我們未來的基礎。為了成功實現我們的長期成長目標、重申我們的領導地位並為我們的利害關係人創造價值，我們必須優化工作方式並精簡我們的成本結構。

It starts by focusing on the heart of our company: our teams and our culture. At our core, I believe that we have the very best talent and culture in retail, and we're taking steps to reenergize this critical competitive advantage by optimizing the ways of working and positioning our leadership team to meet the needs of our evolving business. We've made several organizational changes to accelerate decision-making, remove friction, and align teams and resources around guest-centric goals. This includes incepts to optimize our corporate and field support staff, reducing management layers and shifting resources to higher-growth driving areas.

首先專注於我們公司的核心：我們的團隊和我們的文化。從本質上講，我相信我們擁有零售業最優秀的人才和文化，我們正在採取措施，透過優化工作方式和定位我們的領導團隊來重振這一關鍵的競爭優勢，以滿足我們不斷發展的業務的需求。我們進行了幾項組織變革，以加快決策速度、消除摩擦並圍繞以客人為中心的目標協調團隊和資源。這包括優化我們的公司和現場支援人員、減少管理層級並將資源轉移到更高成長驅動領域的措施。

Additionally, I've made several changes to our executive leadership team to better focus on our key priorities. To support a stronger guest experience in stores, we've centralized all store functions under Amiee Bayer-Thomas, an Ulta Beauty veteran, who will serve in the newly created role of Chief Retail Officer. With this change, Amy will add real estate and store design to our existing scope, which includes leadership of our store teams and the loss prevention organization.

此外，我對我們的執行領導團隊做了一些調整，以便更好地專注於我們的關鍵優先事項。為了支持更強大的店內顧客體驗，我們將所有店內職能集中在 Ulta Beauty 資深員工 Amiee Bayer-Thomas 的領導下，他將擔任新設立的首席零售官一職。透過這項變化，艾米將把房地產和商店設計添加到我們現有的範圍中，其中包括我們商店團隊和防損組織的領導。

To align our transformation efforts with our cost optimization initiatives, Mike Maresca, who joined our team in 2023, will add enterprise-wide responsibilities to his scope and will now serve as Chief Technology and Transformation Officer. Amiee and Mike are transformational leaders who are guest- and associate-centric and results-driven, and they will continue to impact our organization with broader scope that result our strategic focus and vision for the future.

為了使我們的轉型工作與成本優化計劃保持一致，2023 年加入我們團隊的 Mike Maresca 將在其職責範圍內增加企業範圍的職責，並將擔任首席技術和轉型官。Amiee 和 Mike 是以客人和同事為中心、以結果為導向的變革型領導者，他們將繼續以更廣泛的範圍影響我們的組織，從而形成我們的策略重點和未來願景。

To facilitate a stronger omnichannel assortment of all things beauty and wellness, we've brought our digital and e-commerce teams together with our merchandising and planning teams under Monica Arnaudo, who now serves as Chief Merchandising and Digital Officer. As you may know, Monica announced her plans to retire later this spring. Monica has been a great partner to me, and her vision has elevated our assortment, enhanced our brand partnerships, and driven meaningful market share growth. I look forward to sharing an update on her successor very soon.

為了促進美容和健康產品全通路的更強大分類，我們將數位和電子商務團隊與行銷和規劃團隊整合在一起，由現任首席行銷和數位長的 Monica Arnaudo 領導。您可能知道，莫妮卡於今年春天晚些時候宣布了她退休的計劃。莫妮卡是我的一位優秀合作夥伴，她的遠見卓識提升了我們的產品組合，增強了我們的品牌合作夥伴關係，並推動了市場份額的顯著增長。我期待著很快分享有關她的繼任者的最新消息。

We've also promoted Kelly Mahoney to Chief Marketing Officer to advance our brand, personalization, and loyalty efforts. Kelly is uniquely qualified for this role. Her understanding of the beauty enthusiasts is unmatched. And in her 10 years with Ulta Beauty, she has played a pivotal role in evolving and expanding Ulta Beauty Rewards loyalty program to more than 44 million members.

我們也提升凱利·馬奧尼 (Kelly Mahoney) 為首席行銷官，以推動我們的品牌、個人化和忠誠度工作。凱利 (Kelly) 非常適合擔任這一角色。她對美容愛好者的了解無人能及。在 Ulta Beauty 工作的 10 年裡，她在 Ulta Beauty Rewards 忠誠度計劃的發展和擴展中發揮了關鍵作用，會員人數超過 4400 萬。

Additionally, Jodi Caro, our General Counsel, Chief Risk and Compliance Officer, has shared her intention to retire later this spring after more than 10 years of service to Ulta Beauty. An energetic and passionate leader, Jodi has been a true business partner, and I want to thank her for her contribution.

此外，我們的總法律顧問、首席風險與合規官 Jodi Caro 表示，她計劃在為 Ulta Beauty 服務十多年後於今年春季晚些時候退休。喬迪是一位充滿活力和熱情的領導者，也是一位真正的商業夥伴，我要感謝她所做的貢獻。

After conducting a nationwide search, I'm pleased to announce that Rene Casares, previously Chief Legal Officer for Academy Sports, will be joining our team next month as Chief Legal Officer. Rene and Jodi will work together to ensure a seamless transition.

在全國範圍內進行搜索後，我很高興地宣布，前 Academy Sports 首席法律官 Rene Casares 將於下個月加入我們的團隊，擔任首席法律官。Rene 和 Jodi 將共同努力，確保順利過渡。

Today, I've shared our plan to make important guest-facing investments, which are necessary to improve our competitiveness and reaccelerate long-term share growth. These investments will pressure profitability in 2025, but we believe they are critical to driving long-term sustainable growth in a competitive, innovative category.

今天，我分享了我們為客人進行重要投資的計劃，這對於提高我們的競爭力和重新加速長期份額成長是必要的。這些投資將對 2025 年的獲利能力造成壓力，但我們相信，它們對於推動競爭性創新類別的長期永續成長至關重要。

However, we cannot sustain this level of annual expense growth and achieve our long-term profitability goals. Disciplined management of our cost structure is an ongoing area of focus. As we've shared at our Investor Day in October, we are targeting cost optimization of $200 million to $250 million over the next three years. Since 2019, we've delivered $550 million in cost savings from optimization efforts across merchandising, real estate, and operational process improvements, and I am confident that we can deliver our cost future-saving target. We're in the early stages of these efforts, and we'll provide regular updates on our progress.

然而，我們無法維持這種年度費用成長水準並實現我們的長期獲利目標。我們成本結構的嚴格管理是我們持續關注的重點。正如我們在十月的投資者日上所分享的那樣，我們的目標是在未來三年內將成本優化到 2 億至 2.5 億美元。自 2019 年以來，我們透過商品銷售、房地產和營運流程改善的最佳化工作節省了 5.5 億美元的成本，我相信我們能夠實現未來的成本節約目標。我們正處於這些努力的早期階段，我們將定期更新我們的進度。

Our Ultra Beauty Unleashed plan positions us to reassert our leadership position, building on our strengths by fueling growth of our core business, scaling new accretive businesses that further our differentiation and realigning our foundation for the future. While sales growth is the ultimate performance indicator, we are closely tracking a series of KPIs for each of our focus areas, including in-store conversion, member growth and retention, and app engagement. Over the coming quarters, we'll provide more details of our plan and updates on our progress.

我們的「Ultra Beauty Unleashed」計劃使我們能夠重新確立我們的領導地位，透過推動核心業務的成長、擴大新的增值業務以進一步實現我們的差異化以及重新調整我們未來的基礎來鞏固我們的優勢。雖然銷售成長是最終的績效指標，但我們正在密切追蹤每個重點領域的一系列 KPI，包括店內轉換率、會員成長和保留率以及應用程式參與度。在接下來的幾個季度中，我們將提供有關我們計劃的更多細節以及進展的最新情況。

In closing, I'm incredibly optimistic of the future of Ulta Beauty. 2025 will be an important year as we improve our execution and lay the groundwork to deliver on our long-term financial targets, including net revenue growth of 4% to 6%, mid-single-digit operating profit growth, and low double-digit EPS growth. It will take time for us to fully see the impact of our efforts, but with our exceptionally talented team leading the charge, I believe we are taking the right steps to drive profitable growth and market share leadership in beauty and wellness over the long term.

最後，我對 Ulta Beauty 的未來非常樂觀。 2025 年將是重要的一年，因為我們將提高執行力並為實現長期財務目標奠定基礎，包括淨收入增長 4% 至 6%、中等個位數營業利潤增長和低兩位數每股收益增長。我們需要時間才能充分看到我們努力的效果，但在我們才華橫溢的團隊的帶領下，我相信我們正在採取正確的步驟，以長期推動美容和健康領域的盈利增長和市場份額領先地位。

And with that, I'll turn it over to Paula for some specific quarter results and our financial outlook before we take some questions. Paula?

在我們回答一些問題之前，我會將具體季度業績和財務前景交給 Paula。保拉？

Thanks, Kecia, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I will start with a discussion of our fourth-quarter and full-year financial results and then provide color on our expectations for fiscal 2025.

謝謝，Kecia，大家下午好。今天，我將首先討論我們的第四季和全年財務業績，然後闡述我們對 2025 財年的預期。

Starting with the fourth quarter. We delivered better-than-expected performance across the P&L, reflecting stronger revenue growth, lower inventory shrink, better merchandise margin and continued financial discipline and expense management. Net sales for the 13-week quarter decreased 1.9% to $3.5 billion compared to $3.6 billion in the 14-week period last year.

從第四季開始。我們的損益表現優於預期，反映出更強勁的收入成長、更低的庫存縮水、更好的商品利潤率以及持續的財務紀律和費用管理。本季淨銷售額為 35 億美元，較去年同期的 36 億美元下降 1.9%。

During the quarter, we opened 9 new stores, closed 1 store and remodeled 5 stores. Comparable net sales -- comparable sales for the 13-week period increased 1.5% driven by a 3% increase in average ticket, partially offset by a 1.4% decrease in transactions. Other revenue declined $6 million to $71 million primarily due to lower income from our credit card program.

本季度，我們開設了 9 家新店，關閉了 1 家店，並改造了 5 家店。可比淨銷售額——13 週期間可比銷售額增長 1.5%，受平均票價增長 3% 的推動，但交易量下降 1.4% 部分抵消了這一增長。其他收入下降 600 萬美元至 7,100 萬美元，主要原因是我們的信用卡計畫收入減少。

Now looking at the cadence of sales through the quarter, comp sales decreased in November and accelerated in December, reflecting the shift of Thanksgiving and a compressed holiday season. Growth moderated in January, primarily reflecting adverse winter weather.

現在來看整個季度的銷售節奏，11 月同店銷售額下降，12 月銷售加速，這反映了感恩節的轉變和假期的壓縮。一月成長放緩，主要原因是冬季天氣惡劣。

Sharing more detail on our holiday performance. Comp sales for the combined November and December period increased in the low single-digit range, reflecting the cross-functional efforts of our team to deliver for our guests this holiday season.

分享有關我們假期表現的更多細節。11 月和 12 月合併後的銷售額成長了較低的個位數，反映了我們團隊為這個假期季節的客人所做的跨職能努力。

Our marketing and social strategies drove strong omnichannel traffic. Our enhanced fulfillment options provided increased convenience and accessibility for guests. And our curated assortment of new and exclusive core products, balanced with value-focused holiday kits, drove strong engagement. With additional staffing, new tools and unique events, our store teams delivered great guest experiences, and our DC teams flexed up to ensure our stores recovered quickly post-holiday.

我們的行銷和社交策略推動了強大的全通路流量。我們增強的履行選項為客人提供了更大的便利性和可近性。我們精心挑選的全新獨家核心產品，搭配以價值為中心的假日套裝，吸引了大量顧客。透過增加人員、使用新工具和進行獨特的活動，我們的商店團隊為顧客提供了出色的體驗，我們的 DC 團隊也靈活應對，確保我們的商店在假期後迅速恢復。

From a channel perspective, we saw growth across both store and digital channels. E-commerce sales for the quarter increased in the mid-single-digit range, and comp store sales were modestly positive, an improvement from the third quarter trend.

從通路角度來看，我們看到商店和數位管道均實現了成長。本季電子商務銷售額成長了中等個位數，同店銷售額則略有成長，較第三季的趨勢有所改善。

Turning to sales performance by category. Fragrance was our strongest category, delivering double-digit comp growth primarily driven by newness, men's fragrance, and multi-branded gift sets. Comp sales in the skincare category increased in the mid-single-digit range as strong growth in body care was partially offset by decreases in prestige and mass skincare.

轉向按類別劃分的銷售業績。香水是我們最強勁的類別，實現了兩位數的年增長，主要得益於新品、男士香水和多品牌禮品套裝。由於身體護理產品的強勁成長被高端護膚品和大眾護膚品的下滑部分抵消，護膚品類別的同店銷售額實現了中等個位數增長。

New brands, including Sol de Janeiro, Naturium, and TATCHA delivered strong growth for the quarter. But this strength was partially offset by lower sales from brands, which have experienced increased distribution or lapped strong social engagement last year.

Sol de Janeiro、Naturium 和 TATCHA 等新品牌在本季實現了強勁成長。但這優勢被品牌銷售額的下降部分抵消，因為去年這些品牌的分銷量增加或社會參與度增強。

Comp sales in the hair category increased in the low-single-digit range primarily due to newness and product exclusives in hair tools as well as healthy guest engagement with key promotional events. The makeup category experienced a mid-single-digit decrease largely driven by mass makeup, reflecting softness in brands, which lapped strong newness and social engagement last year. Finally, services delivered low single-digit comp growth driven by increases in salon and specialty services, including ear piercing and makeup services.

美髮產品類別的同店銷售額實現了低個位數成長，這主要得益於美髮工具的新穎性和獨家產品，以及顧客對主要促銷活動的積極參與。化妝品類別經歷了中等個位數的下降，主要是由於大眾化妝品的推動，反映出品牌在去年受到強勁的新鮮感和社會參與度的影響而表現疲軟。最後，由於美容院和專業服務（包括耳洞和化妝服務）的成長，服務業實現了低個位數的複合成長。

For the quarter, gross margin increased 50 basis points to 38.2% primarily due to lower inventory shrink. Our investments in protective fixtures, training and labor, combined with enhanced inventory management processes, are delivering results. For the full year, shrink as a percentage of sales was 20 basis points lower than fiscal 2023.

本季毛利率增加 50 個基點至 38.2%，主要由於庫存減少。我們對防護裝置、培訓和勞動力的投資，加上增強的庫存管理流程，正在產生成效。就全年而言，銷售額縮水率比 2023 財年低 20 個基點。

Additionally, gross margin in the quarter benefited from favorable channel mix due to lower e-commerce shipping costs and a higher merchandise margins, mostly offset by higher supply chain costs, lower other revenue and deleverage of store fixed.

此外，本季毛利率受益於有利的通路組合，這歸因於電子商務運輸成本降低和商品利潤率提高，但大部分被供應鏈成本提高、其他收入降低和門市固定資產去槓桿所抵消。

Moving to expenses. SG&A was $816 million, $5 million lower than last year largely due to lower corporate overhead, partially offset by higher store payroll and benefits. Corporate overhead was lower for the quarter driven primarily by lower consulting expense as we anniversaried implementation costs associated with key infrastructure investments. The increase in store payroll and benefits was driven by higher healthcare costs, increased payroll hours per store to support the guest experience during holiday, and higher average wage rates.

轉向開支。銷售、一般及行政費用為 8.16 億美元，比去年減少 500 萬美元，主要原因是公司管理費用減少，但被門市薪資和福利增加部分抵銷。本季公司管理費用較低，主要原因是我們紀念了與關鍵基礎設施投資相關的實施成本，因此諮詢費用較低。商店工資和福利的增加是由於醫療保健成本的增加、為支持假期期間的客人體驗而增加的每家商店的工資小時數以及平均工資率的提高。

As a percentage of sales, SG&A increased 30 basis points to 23.4%. Depreciation increased 12% to $70 million for the quarter compared to $63 million last year, primarily reflecting new store and supply chain investments.

作為銷售額的百分比，銷售、一般及行政費用增加了 30 個基點，達到 23.4%。本季折舊額為 7,000 萬美元，較去年同期的 6,300 萬美元增加 12%，主要反映了新店和供應鏈的投資。

Operating profit was $516 million, approximately flat with last year. As a percentage of sales, operating margin increased 30 basis points to 14.8% of sales, and diluted earnings per share increased 4.7% to $8.46.

營業利潤為5.16億美元，與去年基本持平。以銷售額的百分比計算，營業利潤率增加了 30 個基點，達到銷售額的 14.8%，每股稀釋收益增加了 4.7%，達到 8.46 美元。

I am proud of how our teams persevered in quarter and -- Q4 to deliver these results, positioning us to close out the year better than expected. And I want to express my sincere appreciation to all our Ulta Beauty associates for their continued commitment and focus on serving our guests while continuing to manage our business thoughtfully.

我為我們的團隊在本季和第四季堅持不懈地取得這些成果而感到自豪，這使我們能夠以比預期更好的成績結束今年的年度。我要向所有 Ulta Beauty 員工表達最誠摯的感謝，感謝他們持續致力於服務我們的客人，同時繼續周到地管理我們的業務。

To recap full year, net sales increased 0.8% to $11.3 billion. Comp sales increased 0.7% driven by a 1.1% increase in average ticket and a 0.4% decrease in transactions. We opened 60 net new stores, relocated 2 stores, and remodeled 41 stores.

回顧全年，淨銷售額成長 0.8%，達到 113 億美元。由於平均票價上漲 1.1% 且交易量下降 0.4%，同店銷售額成長 0.7%。我們淨開設了 60 家新店，搬遷了 2 家店，並改造了 41 家店。

Gross margin deleveraged 30 basis points to 38.8%. SG&A expense increased 4.2% to $2.8 billion. Operating profit was 13.9% of sales compared to 15% of sales in fiscal 2023, and diluted EPS decreased 2.7% to $25.34 per share.

毛利率下降30個基點至38.8%。銷售、一般及行政開支增加 4.2% 至 28 億美元。營業利潤佔銷售額的 13.9%，而 2023 財年為 15%，稀釋每股收益下降 2.7% 至每股 25.34 美元。

Moving to the balance sheet and our capital allocation priorities. We ended the quarter with $703 million in cash and cash equivalents. Total inventory increased 13% to $2 billion, primarily reflecting additional inventory to support new plan launches, the impact of 60 net new stores, and investments to improve merchandise in stocks post-holiday. From a category perspective, most of the inventory growth is attributable to investments made to support fragrance and body care, which are key growth categories.

轉向資產負債表和我們的資本配置優先事項。本季末，我們的現金和現金等價物為 7.03 億美元。總庫存增加 13% 至 20 億美元，主要反映了為支持新計劃推出而增加的庫存、60 家新店的影響以及假期後改善庫存商品的投資。從類別角度來看，大部分庫存成長歸因於對香水和身體護理的投資，這兩個類別是關鍵的成長類別。

Turning to capital allocation, our healthy business model generated more than $1.3 billion in cash from operations, enabling us to reinvest $374 million to support future growth and return $1 billion in capital to shareholders through our stock buyback program. Since launching our share repurchase program in 2014, we've effectively returned $6.8 billion to shareholders while continuing to invest in strategic growth drivers.

談到資本配置，我們健康的商業模式從營運中產生了超過 13 億美元的現金，使我們能夠再投資 3.74 億美元來支持未來的成長，並透過股票回購計畫向股東返還 10 億美元的資本。自 2014 年啟動股票回購計畫以來，我們已有效地向股東返還了 68 億美元，同時繼續投資於策略成長動力。

Turning now to our outlook for 2025, the operating environment continues to be dynamic. And as we navigate ongoing consumer uncertainty, we believe it is prudent to take a cautious approach to our guidance for fiscal 2025. Additionally, as we shared at our Investor Meeting in October, we are planning fiscal 2025 to be a transition year, and our view has not changed.

現在展望 2025 年，經營環境將持續保持動態。隨著我們應對持續存在的消費者不確定性，我們認為對 2025 財年的指導採取謹慎的態度是明智之舉。此外，正如我們在 10 月的投資者會議上所分享的那樣，我們計劃將 2025 財年作為過渡年，我們的觀點並沒有改變。

For the year, we expect net sales will be between $11.5 billion and $11.6 billion with comp sales growth in the range of flat to up 1%. We expect operating profit will decrease in the low-double-digit range as we began to implement our Ulta Beauty Unleashed plan and continue to manage inflationary headwinds and lap one-time expense benefits in 2024.

我們預計今年的淨銷售額將在 115 億美元至 116 億美元之間，同店銷售額成長率將在持平至成長 1% 之間。我們預計，隨著我們開始實施 Ulta Beauty Unleashed 計劃並繼續管理通膨逆風並在 2024 年獲得一次性費用收益，營業利潤將在低兩位數範圍內下降。

Reflecting our expectations for revenue growth, we expect operating margin will be between 11.7% and 11.8% of net sales. To share more color into the primary drivers of the expected operating margin pressure, the largest driver of the deleverage is expected inflationary pressure on wages, healthcare, and transportation rates as well as impact of investments we've made over the last few years, including greater utilization of software as a service and higher depreciation.

反映我們對營收成長的預期，我們預期營業利潤率將在淨銷售額的 11.7% 至 11.8% 之間。為了更詳細地說明預期營業利潤率壓力的主要驅動因素，去槓桿的最大驅動因素是預期工資、醫療保健和運輸費率的通膨壓力，以及我們過去幾年所做投資的影響，包括軟體即服務的利用率更高和折舊率更高。

The second largest driver is pressure from the investments Kecia discussed earlier, including brand building, personalization, digital acceleration, wellness and marketplace. Incentive comp will also be a headwind as we lap lower incentive compensation in 2024.

第二大驅動力是 Kecia 先前討論的投資壓力，包括品牌建立、個人化、數位加速、健康和市場。激勵薪酬也將是一個阻力，因為我們將在 2024 年降低激勵薪酬。

We expect these pressures will be partially mitigated by lower inventory shrink, supply chain optimization, benefits from UB Media, and targeted cost savings. We are confident the investments we plan to make this year are critical to strengthening our long-term market position, and we are tracking our spend and returns closely to ensure we deliver expected benefits. We also recognize the operating environment will evolve, and we will continue to be thoughtful about pacing and prioritization.

我們預計，庫存減少、供應鏈優化、UB Media 帶來的好處以及有針對性的成本節約將部分緩解這些壓力。我們相信，我們今年計劃的投資對於加強我們的長期市場地位至關重要，我們正在密切追蹤我們的支出和回報，以確保我們實現預期的收益。我們也認識到營運環境將會發生變化，我們將繼續認真考慮節奏和優先順序。

For modeling purposes, we expect gross margin for the year will deleverage primarily driven by store occupancy costs and supply chain costs, partially offset by lower shrink. We expect SG&A will increase approximately 10% for the year driven primarily by our strategic investments and advertising as we -- as well as increased store payroll and benefits. Reflecting these assumptions, we anticipate diluted EPS for the year will be between $22.50 and $22.90 per share.

為了建模的目的，我們預計今年的毛利率將下降，這主要受到店面佔用成本和供應鏈成本的推動，但部分被較低的損耗所抵消。我們預計今年銷售、一般及行政開支將增加約 10%，這主要得益於我們的策略投資和廣告，以及門市薪資和福利的增加。反映這些假設，我們預計今年的稀釋每股盈餘將在每股 22.50 美元至 22.90 美元之間。

Finally, we plan to spend between $425 million and $500 million in CapEx, including approximately $250 million to $275 million for new stores, remodels and merchandise fixtures; $125 million to $165 million for supply chain and IT; and $50 million to $60 million for store maintenance and other. We expect depreciation for the year will be between $290 million and $300 million.

最後，我們計劃花費 4.25 億至 5 億美元的資本支出，其中約 2.5 億至 2.75 億美元用於新店、改造和商品固定裝置； 1.25億至1.65億美元用於供應鏈和IT；以及 5000 萬至 6000 萬美元用於商店維護和其他費用。我們預計今年的折舊額將在 2.9 億美元至 3 億美元之間。

In closing, we operate in an innovative and expanding category. We intend to continue to invest to strengthen our competitive position and drive growth while simultaneously looking for opportunities to reduce costs and increase efficiency. While we view 2025 as a transitional year, we are confident the actions we are taking will enable us to deliver our long-term financial goals and drive value creation.

最後，我們處於一個創新且不斷擴張的領域。我們打算繼續投資以加強我們的競爭地位並推動成長，同時尋找降低成本和提高效率的機會。雖然我們將 2025 年視為過渡年，但我們相信，我們正在採取的行動將使我們能夠實現長期財務目標並推動價值創造。

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

現在我將把電話轉給我們的接線生來主持問答環節。

Thank you. We will now be conducting a question-and-answer session. (Operator Instructions)

謝謝。我們現在將進行問答環節。（操作員指示）

Dana Telsey, Telsey Advisory Group.

達娜‧特爾西 (Dana Telsey)，特爾西顧問集團 (Telsey Advisory Group)。

Good afternoon, everyone, and congratulations, Kecia, on your new role. With the Unleashed plan that you discussed today with -- almost it seems like a greater sense of urgency to address and re-excite the core store base. How are you thinking about the in-store experience and guest presentation and what needs to change? And as that target of 4% to 6% sales growth that's out there on the long term, how do you think about getting back there?

大家下午好，恭喜 Kecia 獲得新的職位。透過您今天討論的 Unleashed 計劃——幾乎看起來似乎有一種更大的緊迫感來解決和重新激發核心商店基礎。您如何看待店內體驗和顧客呈現以及需要做出哪些改變？對於長期銷售額成長 4% 至 6% 的目標，您認為如何實現這一目標？

With the Investor Day targets, which is a transitional year in '25, given the Unleased plan and what you need to do, should we expect a transitional year in 2026? Or how do you frame it? And Paula, is there any cadence to -- or shaping to '25 that we should be mindful of? Thank you.

根據投資者日的目標，即 25 年是過渡年，考慮到 Unleased 計劃以及您需要做的事情，我們是否應該預期 2026 年是過渡年？或者你如何建構它？保拉，我們應該注意 25 年的節奏或塑造嗎？謝謝。

Well, thank you, Dana, for the question. Yeah, we're very excited about the Ulta Beauty Unleashed plan. And really, what we did was we took the long-term strategies from our financial targets that we outlined at our Investor Day, and we developed this plan to really simplify our focus for our internal teams so we can help them really prioritize and drive around the three areas of our business: driving core business growth, building new accretive businesses, and realigning the foundation. It's not necessarily new information since we had our Investor Day. It's really how we're approaching it internally.

好吧，謝謝你，達娜，提出這個問題。是的，我們對 Ulta Beauty Unleashed 計劃感到非常興奮。實際上，我們所做的是從投資者日概述的財務目標中製定長期戰略，並製定了這個計劃，以真正簡化我們內部團隊的關注點，以便我們可以幫助他們真正優先考慮並推動我們業務的三個領域：推動核心業務增長、建立新的增值業務和重新調整基礎。自從我們舉辦投資者日以來，這並不一定是新資訊。這實際上是我們內部處理這個問題的方式。

What we found is when the teams clearly understand their objectives and their mission, the execution level continues to raise. And then I would say the other nuance is the change that we've made with the transformation office now reporting it to Mike Maresca. Having full visibility end-to-end and stage-gating our investments so we can see and track how the investments are performing and also holding our teams internally accountable give us great confidence and that we can continue to drive the execution in 2025 and continue to move the business forward. And then, Paula, you want to --

我們發現，當團隊清楚地了解他們的目標和使命時，執行程度就會不斷提高。然後我想說的另一個細微差別是我們與轉型辦公室所做的改變現在向邁克·馬雷斯卡 (Mike Maresca) 匯報。擁有端到端的全面可視性和階段性投資管控，使我們能夠查看和追蹤投資的表現，同時讓我們的團隊承擔內部責任，這給了我們很大的信心，我們可以繼續推動 2025 年的執行，並繼續推動業務向前發展。然後，保拉，你想--

Sure. Hi, Dana. What I would say is we continue to expect, as I said, 2025 to be the transition year. And so we are not anticipating anything beyond that to be considered transitional period.

當然。你好，達娜。我想說的是，正如我所說，我們繼續期待 2025 年成為過渡之年。因此，我們並不期望此後的任何事情被視為過渡期。

And regarding your questions regarding comps, so expecting comp from flat to up 1. What I would say is we're not planning any wide variation in comp quarter to quarter. The environment continues to be dynamic with ongoing kind of consumer uncertainty and such. And so we've set this level at a comp level that we're confident we'll be able to achieve.

關於您關於 comps 的問題，預計 comp 將從持平變為上漲 1。我想說的是，我們不打算在季度與季度之間做出任何重大的變動。環境持續處於動態之中，消費者的不確定性等等仍然存在。因此，我們將這個水平設定在我們有信心能夠實現的水平。

We do recognize, though, that given Q1 and Q4 were our strongest quarters in 2024 that Q2 and Q3 likely has the greatest opportunity from a comp perspective. Hope that helps.

不過，我們確實意識到，鑑於第一季和第四季是我們 2024 年表現最強勁的季度，從比較角度來看，第二季和第三季可能擁有最大的機會。希望有幫助。

Lorraine Hutchinson, Bank of America.

美國銀行的洛林‧哈欽森 (Lorraine Hutchinson)。

Thank you. I was just hoping for an update on how you're thinking about the fleet. I saw the 60 new openings this year. I know have a goal for 200 over the next three. Can you talk about the locations of these stores, the sizes, and then expectations for performance of those new stores that you roll out?

謝謝。我只是希望了解您對艦隊的看法。我看到了今年 60 個新開幕的餐廳。我知道未來三年的目標是 200。能談談這些商店的位置、規模以及對新開店的業績預期嗎？

Well, I would say that we have a very robust process around our real estate site selection. And the rich member data that we have, we can see opportunities where there's infill opportunities, and there's also opportunities in where we can continue to expand in the areas that we already have stores, because there's additional market share opportunities.

嗯，我想說我們在房地產選址方面有一個非常嚴格的流程。我們擁有豐富的會員數據，我們可以看到有填補機會的地方，也可以看到在已有門市的地區繼續擴張的機會，因為那裡有額外的市場份額機會。

We see this being a mix of formats going forward. Very balanced in our approach. We don't really see that we're leaning one way or another on any of the formats in terms of size. So I'd say it's more of our traditional plan of new store launches and rollouts for the future.

我們認為未來這將會是一種混合格式。我們的方法非常平衡。我們確實沒有發現我們在尺寸方面傾向於哪種格式。所以我想說這更像是我們未來開設新店和新店推廣的傳統計劃。

And the additional point I'd add is that we continue to see strong new store performance in our 2024 class and so anticipating similar results with our 2025 class.

我想補充的另外一點是，我們繼續看到 2024 年新店表現強勁，因此預計 2025 屆新店也將取得類似的業績。

Michael Binetti, Evercore ISI.

邁克爾·比內蒂，Evercore ISI。

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking our question. So Kecia, you've been in Ulta a long time and you've developed a unique knowledge of what's made it successful in the past, but the industry dynamics that led to a lot of those successes have obviously changed. And you take over at a point in time with a lot of crosscurrents in what's a very resilient category historically.

嘿，大家好。感謝您回答我們的問題。所以 Kecia，你在 Ulta 工作了很長時間，並且對它過去的成功原因有了獨特的認識，但導致許多成功的行業動態顯然已經發生了變化。你接手這個職位的時候正值許多逆流湧動之時，從歷史上看，這是一個極具彈性的類別。

Also, I guess, Ulta's experience through that period of slower sales and perhaps some share losses that you mentioned earlier on, you've been a part of the early innings resetting the strategy with the Analyst Day plan that you referenced. And the company has reset the near-term margins lower to allow for some investment. \

另外，我想，根據您之前提到的 Ulta 經歷的銷售放緩和一些市場份額損失的時期，您已經參與了早期階段的戰略調整，並採用了您提到的分析師日計劃。該公司已調低近期利潤率，以便進行一些投資。\

What do you see as the most important things to rebuild your moat around the business given the competitive dynamics today? Is it through assessment -- or sorry, through assortment? Or do you need to make meaningful changes to loyalty, serious changes to the supply chain? What are the critical pieces to get right today that are different in the past?

鑑於當今的競爭態勢，您認為重建企業護城河最重要的事情是什麼？是透過評估──或者抱歉，是透過分類嗎？還是您需要對忠誠度做出有意義的改變，對供應鏈做出重大改變？與過去相比，今天需要做對的關鍵事情有哪些？

Well, thank you, Michael, for the question. I would say that the retail environment, especially in beauty, has always been competitive, but the competitive intensity is continuing to accelerate. So there's not just one area, I believe, of the business that you can lean on. And you have to really be balanced in your approach, which is why we've called our Ulta Beauty Unleashed plan, really focusing on all of the parts of the business that make us not only uniquely special at Ulta Beauty but are also the drivers of leveraging our strengths in supercharging them.

好吧，邁克爾，謝謝你提出這個問題。我想說的是，零售環境，尤其是美容產業，一直競爭激烈，但競爭強度持續加速。因此，我相信，你可以依賴的業務領域不只限於一個。而且你必須真正在方法上保持平衡，這就是我們將 Ulta Beauty Unleashed 計劃稱為的原因，該計劃真正關注業務的所有部分，這些部分不僅使我們在 Ulta Beauty 獨一無二，而且也是利用我們的優勢來增強它們的驅動力。

For example, brand building. We know how to build brands, but leaning into building brands in a different and unique way, in a 360 approach in partnership with those brands. Marketplace, allowing us to have an even broader assortment in a lower-risk way to offer broader assortments to our guests. Personalization -- I could go on and on because they all really matter.

比如品牌建立。我們知道如何打造品牌，但傾向於以不同且獨特的方式打造品牌，與這些品牌合作，採用 360 度全方位的方式。市場，使我們能夠以更低風險的方式提供更廣泛的商品種類，為我們的客人提供更廣泛的商品種類。個人化——我可以繼續說下去，因為它們都非常重要。

And the beauty of this business is when we hit on all cylinders, it's like magic. And you're right; when I go back to my early days, we were hitting on all of those cylinders. I do truly believe that by focusing on these parts of the business, along with getting back to basics and the everyday running of the business in an exceptional way, is what's going to really take us to the next level. And I mentioned in my comments, too, of really keeping the guests at the center of everything we do.

這項事業的美妙之處在於，當我們全力以赴時，一切就像變魔術一樣。你是對的；當我回想起早年時光時，我們正全力以赴。我確實相信，透過專注於業務的這些部分，同時回歸基礎並以特殊的方式開展日常業務，才真正能讓我們更上一層樓。我也在評論中提到，我們所做的一切都以客人為中心。

And that's really what this Ulta Beauty Unleashed plan is. It's about keeping the guests at the center of everything we do, along with closely aligning our associates at the same time because our associates are the best representation of our brand, because they're the ones who are interacting every single day with the guests that are coming in our stores.

這就是 Ulta Beauty Unleashed 計劃的真正意義所在。我們所做的一切都以客人為中心，同時密切協調我們的員工，因為我們的員工是我們品牌的最佳代表，因為他們每天都與來到我們商店的客人互動。

Adrienne Yih, Barclays.

巴克萊銀行的 Adrienne Yih。

Good afternoon. Congratulations, Kecia. I wanted to go to -- my one question is going to be on the new categories that you've talked about kind of to spur growth over the long haul. Can you talk about where you're underpenetrated? I think when we were at the Analyst Day, you and I talked about kind health and wellness as an emerging secular trend on top of beauty. If you could talk about some of the opportunities you see in the near term and then over the longer-term horizon. Thank you very much.

午安.恭喜你，凱西亞。我想問的是——我的一個問題是關於您所談到的能夠刺激長期成長的新類別。能談談哪些方面你還未充分了解嗎？我想，當我們在分析師日的時候，你和我談到健康和保健是除美麗之外的一種新興的長期趨勢。您可以談談您看到的一些近期和長期的機會嗎？非常感謝。

You cut out a little bit in the beginning, but I think you were asking about wellness. Wellness is a category that's largely growing, and we see consumer engagement and product innovation just continuing to expand.

您一開始就稍微刪減了一些，但我認為您問的是健康狀況。健康是一個正在快速成長的類別，我們看到消費者參與度和產品創新不斷擴大。

Today, we have dedicated space, but it's limited in our stores. It's about 8 feet in most of our store locations. There's new categories that we really feel like we can lean into like nutrition, mindfulness, every day care, and sleep. It's all really, really important.

今天，我們有專門的空間，但我們商店的空間有限。在我們大多數商店中，這個高度大約是 8 英尺。我們確實覺得我們可以依賴一些新的類別，例如營養、正念、日常護理和睡眠。這一切都非常非常重要。

In 2025, where we're going to be looking at leaning into is really -- it starts with our leadership. We've created a new dedicated commercial leader and team that they're committed to just driving wellness at Ulta Beauty. We're also looking at expanding our wellness assortment to at least 20 new brands in short order and then looking at designing and implementing an expanded in-store presentation in select stores.

到 2025 年，我們真正要關注的是——從我們的領導力開始。我們創造了新的專門的商業領導者和團隊，他們致力於推動 Ulta Beauty 的健康事業。我們還計劃在短期內將我們的健康產品系列擴大到至少 20 個新品牌，然後考慮在精選商店設計和實施擴展的店內展示。

We're continuing to lean in on this. We do think that there's just this mergence between beauty and wellness, and we'll be able to share more in the coming months. But we've got the plan and the team, and we're ready to now start moving in the right direction to bring this to life. And I appreciate the question.

我們將繼續致力於此。我們確實認為美麗與健康之間存在著融合，我們將在接下來的幾個月分享更多資訊。但是我們已經有了計劃和團隊，我們現在準備好朝著正確的方向前進，實現這一目標。我很感謝你提出這個問題。

Simeon Gutman, Morgan Stanley.

摩根士丹利的西蒙古特曼。

Hi, Kecia. It's Simeon. My question is back at Analyst Day, I was a little surprised that there was more focus on new store growth as opposed to looking back at the fleet and enhancing the current fleet. So I wanted to get your take on it.

你好，Kecia。是西緬。我的問題是，在分析師日，我有點驚訝的是，人們更關注新店的成長，而不是回顧車隊並增強現有車隊。所以我想聽聽你的看法。

What can you do with the fleet? I'm surprised there isn't more of a refresh. Do you agree with that perspective? And then can the focus of the business tilt in '25 or '26 to focus more on remodels? Thanks.

您能用艦隊做什麼？我很驚訝沒有更多的刷新。您同意這個觀點嗎？那麼，25 年或 26 年的業務重點是否可以轉向重塑？謝謝。

Yeah. I'll maybe take the start of it, and I'll ask Paula to weigh in on some remodels. What I shared earlier is that we do have such great data around where there's opportunities for us to continue to take share in the United States. And that's where we're leaning in in additional new stores.

是的。我可能會開始做這件事，然後我會請 Paula 來考慮一些改造。我之前分享的是，我們確實擁有如此豐富的數據，可以告訴我們在哪裡有機會繼續在美國佔據份額。這就是我們開設更多新店的重點。

We don't want to overbuild our store fleet. I've -- we've seen that before in retail. And I don't want to be a part of that by any means at Ulta Beauty.

我們不想過度擴張我們的門市隊伍。我——我們以前在零售業見過這種情況。我絕對不想在 Ulta Beauty 參與其中。

So when we're looking at new stores, we're very confident that we can continue to take share and open those new stores in a very profitable way. In fact, one of the largest assets that we have are our stores in and of itself.

因此，當我們尋找新店時，我們非常有信心能夠繼續佔據市場份額，並以非常有利可圖的方式開設這些新店。事實上，我們最大的資產之一就是我們的商店本身。

I appreciate your question around, can you make the stores that you have currently in place even more profitable? And I would say, yes; we're continuing to lean in and look at ways in which we can continue to drive even more profitability out of our existing store fleet. Wellness is one of those areas that we're leaning into, where you look at can we trade out categories that are less productive and give this space to a new and emerging-type category. Also looking at assortment and are there opportunities for us to continue to refine assortment to make sure we're looking at the tail. It's something that is really, really important.

我很感謝您提出這個問題，您能讓您現有的商店更加獲利嗎？我會說，是的；我們將繼續努力尋找方法，以便從現有門市中繼續獲取更多利潤。健康是我們傾向的領域之一，我們可以在其中考慮淘汰效率較低的類別，並將這一空間留給新興的類別。也要考慮分類，我們是否有機會繼續改進分類，以確保我們專注於尾部。這是一件非常非常重要的事情。

And then keeping the guest experience front and center. Our stores are just so important for us to be able to continue to refresh our brands and the brands that we're bringing in. The one thing that's changed even in my 10 years here at Ulta Beauty is that beauty is becoming a little bit more fashionable and in and out. And you've got to be on the cutting edge and the trend. And you've got to be really flexible with the space that you have dedicated to brands in the store.

然後將客人的體驗放在首位。我們的商店對於我們能夠繼續更新我們的品牌和我們引進的品牌非常重要。我在 Ulta Beauty 工作了 10 年，但有一件事發生了變化，那就是美容變得越來越時尚，越來越流行。你必須站在前沿，跟上潮流。您必須非常靈活地分配商店中專門用於品牌的空間。

And that's one of the things that we've really been leaning into with our renovations is having more universal-type fixtures, so we aren't locked into bigger boutiques, et cetera. So it gives us a lot of flexibility to bring brands in and out. And then Paula, did you want to add anything about renovations?

我們在裝修過程中真正傾向於採用更通用的設備，這樣我們就不會被鎖定在更大的精品店等等。因此，這為我們引入和退出品牌提供了很大的靈活性。那麼 Paula，您還有什麼關於裝潢的補充嗎？

The only thing that I would add is just a reminder, we're expecting to remodel 40 to 45 stores this year. But the other thing to keep in mind is that we actually touch our fleet quite often with our -- as we are bringing in newness into our stores and launching brands and lifting certain categories. And so actually, we do a really good job of keeping our fleet up and -- updated and fresh.

我唯一要補充的是，我們預計今年將改造 40 至 45 家商店。但要記住的另一件事是，我們實際上經常與我們的車隊接觸——因為我們將新事物帶入我們的商店，推出品牌並提升某些類別。因此，實際上，我們在保持車隊更新和新鮮方面做得非常好。

And then also, as we shared at our Analyst Day, I mean, our fleet profitability is very, very high. And we watch it very closely to continue to maintain that level of profitability.

而且，正如我們在分析師日上分享的那樣，我們的船隊盈利能力非常非常高。我們密切關注，以繼續保持這一盈利水平。

Steven Forbes, Guggenheim Securities.

古根漢證券公司的史蒂文福布斯。

Good evening, Kecia, Paula. I wanted to follow-up on the market share and certainly appreciate the optimism around the Unleashed plan. But curious if you could maybe frame or reframe how you guys are thinking about planning for some of the factors that may be out of your control, right, cannibalization and distribution, point expansion. And then specific to cannibalization impacts, now that we've sort of had more time pass here, can you maybe renew -- give us your new thoughts around how long it takes a cannibalized store to recover and return to company average comp profiles?

晚上好，Kecia，Paula。我想追蹤市場份額，當然也很欣賞人們對 Unleashed 計畫的樂觀態度。但我很好奇，你是否可以建造或重新建構你們如何考慮規劃一些可能無法控制的因素，對吧，蠶食和分銷，點擴展。然後具體到蠶食的影響，現在我們已經過了更多的時間，您能否更新一下 - 給我們講講您的新想法，即被蠶食的商店需要多長時間才能恢復並恢復到公司的平均水平？

Maybe, Steve, I'll start and, Kecia, if there's more, you add. As we've talked about, this has been a unprecedented period over the last several years with the increased points of distribution, particularly for prestige beauty. We expect competitive pressure will continue to impact our fleet, but we expect the impact will be lower than what we experienced in 2024.

也許，史蒂夫，我會開始，而凱西亞，如果還有更多，你再添加。正如我們所討論的，這是過去幾年中前所未有的時期，分銷點不斷增加，特別是高端美容產品。我們預計競爭壓力將繼續影響我們的船隊，但我們預計其影響將低於 2024 年所經歷的影響。

At the end of 2024, more than 90% of our stores have been impacted by one or more competitive openings in recent years and then two-thirds of them impacted by multiple competitive openings. The good news is that we are seeing an improving trend in performance of the stores that were impacted by physical points of distribution the last several years.

截至 2024 年底，我們 90% 以上的門市近年來受到一次或多次競爭性開幕的影響，其中三分之二的門市受到多次競爭性開幕的影響。好消息是，我們看到過去幾年受到實體分銷點影響的商店的業績呈現改善趨勢。

And we believe both the lapping of the new openings and the impact of our operational efforts are contributing to the improving trend. And then layer on top of that the actions we're taking as a part of the Ulta Beauty Unleashed plan, we feel confident that it will still take some time, but things are moving in the right direction.

我們相信，新開張店舖的不斷增加以及我們營運努力的影響都對這一改善趨勢做出了貢獻。然後，我們將採取行動作為 Ulta Beauty Unleashed 計劃的一部分，我們相信這仍然需要一些時間，但事情正在朝著正確的方向發展。

Mark Altschwager, Baird.

馬克·阿爾特施瓦格，貝爾德。

Good evening. Thanks for taking my question. And Kecia, congratulations. With respect to the revenue guidance, up 2% to 3%, how did that compare to your underlying assumptions for the beauty category in 2025?

晚安.感謝您回答我的問題。還有 Kecia，恭喜你。關於收入預期，成長 2% 至 3%，這與您對 2025 年美容類別的基本假設相比如何？

And then Ulta did lose a bit of share in 2024. In the prepared remarks, you talked about spending more on marketing. What's baked into the margin guidance in terms of promotions and other actions to defend or recapture market share in 2025? Thank you.

然後 Ulta 確實在 2024 年失去了一些市場份額。在準備好的發言中，您談到了在行銷上增加支出。在利潤率指導中，公司將採取哪些促銷和其他措施來捍衛或重新奪回 2025 年的市場份額？謝謝。

All right. Well, I'll start with talking a little bit about the category trends. Yes, the consumers are navigating a dynamic macroenvironment, but we continue to expect the healthy consumer engagement with beauty. While the category did slow in '24, it continued to grow in the low- to mid-single-digit range. Part of that growth was driven by the growing connection between beauty and wellness, which is where we're leaning into. There was a healthy innovation pipeline, and we feel good about our innovation pipeline also for 2025 and also just having strong overall engagement within the category.

好的。好吧，我先來談談類別趨勢。是的，消費者正在探索動態的宏觀環境，但我們仍然期待消費者對美容的健康參與。儘管該類別在 24 年確實有所放緩，但仍繼續以低至中等個位數的幅度增長。這種成長的部分原因是美麗與健康之間的連結日益緊密，而這正是我們所傾向的。我們擁有健康的創新管道，並且對 2025 年的創新管道以及在該類別內強大的整體參與感到滿意。

Others have commented -- and there's a lot going on, clearly out there in the world today -- January and February were impacted by a combination of some weather and fires in LA and heightened economic and geopolitical volatility. So I'd say, it's too early for us to know if this is really structural or a reflection of some of the weather disruptions or some of the things that were happening, because we are lapping some strong growth also from last year.

其他人則評論說——顯然，當今世界發生了很多事情——一月和二月受到洛杉磯惡劣天氣和火災以及經濟和地緣政治動盪加劇的影響。所以我想說，現在我們還無法判斷這是否真的是結構性問題，還是天氣幹擾或某些正在發生的事情的反映，因為我們也從去年開始就實現了強勁增長。

And then Paula, do you want to lean into the second part of the question?

那麼 Paula，你想了解一下問題的第二部分嗎？

Sure. Specific to promotions and how we're thinking about promotions as it relates to our sales and our comp guide, what I would say is that underpinning our expectation is that the promotional environment will continue to be rational. And so what we saw last year in 2024 is the promotional environment increased. It still, in our opinion, was rational. And so we're planning 2025 to be rational as well.

當然。具體到促銷以及我們如何看待促銷與我們的銷售和比較指南的關係，我想說的是，我們預期促銷環境將繼續保持理性。因此，我們去年在 2024 年看到的是促銷環境有所改善。我們認為這仍然是合理的。因此，我們對 2025 年的規劃也是合理的。

Now we do understand that things could change. Well, if the consumer demand deteriorates, requiring or needing and having others to be more -- leaning in more heavily with promotions, then that is something that we would contend to. But we'll continue to evolve based on the environment and consumer demand.

現在我們確實明白事情可能會改變。好吧，如果消費者需求惡化，要求或需要其他人更傾向於促銷，那麼這就是我們會應對的事情。但我們會根據環境和消費者需求不斷進步。

One thing that I will say is that we continue to lean into our capabilities to optimize both the timing and execution of our promotional offers. We will, of course, balance discounts with value messaging and quality and leverage our member insights to really focus on executing productive targeted offers and continue to optimize our promotional effectiveness.

我想說的是，我們將繼續利用我們的能力來優化促銷活動的時間和執行情況。當然，我們將在折扣與價值資訊和品質之間取得平衡，並利用我們的會員洞察真正專注於執行有效的定向優惠，並繼續優化我們的促銷效果。

I would just maybe add, in this environment, we're really focused on controlling what we can control.

我可能還想補充一點，在這種環境下，我們真正關注的是控制我們能夠控制的事情。

Michael Lasser, UBS.

瑞銀集團的麥可拉瑟。

Good evening. Thank you so much for taking my question. Kecia, in your remarks, you noted that the competitive intensity of the category continues to increase. So was that in reference to both online as well as offline competitors? And does that mean that the cost of doing business within the beauty category increases, which should diminish the potential that Ulta will be able to scale its margins over time as it goes through this transition period this year? Thank you very much.

晚安.非常感謝您回答我的問題。Kecia，在您的評論中，您指出該類別的競爭強度持續增加。那麼這是指線上、線下的競爭對手嗎？這是否意味著美容類別的經營成本會增加，從而削弱 Ulta 在今年經歷過渡期時提高利潤率的潛力？非常感謝。

Well, thank you for the question, Michael. I will say, like -- as I mentioned earlier, it's always been a competitive category. There were more players that are continuing to lean in. And I do believe that our Ulta Beauty Unleashed plan is really designed to accelerate and amplify our differentiation and what makes us unique. So we're really refocusing to ensure that the guest is at the center of all of our decisions.

好吧，謝謝你的提問，邁克爾。我想說的是——正如我之前提到的，它一直是一個競爭激烈的類別。有更多的球員正在繼續努力。我確實相信，我們的 Ulta Beauty Unleashed 計劃確實旨在加速和擴大我們的差異化以及我們的獨特之處。因此，我們確實重新調整了重點，以確保客人是我們所有決策的中心。

We intend to move faster and invest with purpose, and we're really looking to optimize our business. And it's really in those go-to-market areas -- it's about brand building, digital acceleration, personalization, marketplace and wellness. And this is what we do. A lot of players are playing in the world of beauty, but this is what Ulta Beauty does.

我們打算加快步伐，有目的地進行投資，我們真心希望優化我們的業務。它實際上存在於那些進入市場的領域——涉及品牌建立、數位加速、個人化、市場和健康。這就是我們所做的。很多玩家都在涉足美容領域，但這就是 Ulta Beauty 所做的事情。

And the fact that we have everything from mass to prestige, to luxury and everything in between, and we just need to continue to focus on our strengths and lean into them, it will help us continue to build that moat. And then, Paula, if you want to talk about the margin.

事實上，我們擁有從大眾到高端、從豪華到介於兩者之間的一切產品，我們只需要繼續專注於我們的優勢並依靠它們，這將幫助我們繼續建造護城河。然後，Paula，如果你想談談利潤。

Yes. Michael, as we think about some of the commentary we shared in October at Investor Day, we talked about -- that this continues to be a competitive category and in order to be, a market should have growth and be a market share gainer in this competitive, innovative category that we think it's important to continue to reinvest in the business to fuel growth. And that is why we shared the guidance that we gave, 4% to 6% of top-line growth, and that we expected from a margin perspective to be able to maintain margins around 12%. And so that reflects the current environment from our lens.

是的。邁克爾，當我們思考我們在十月份投資者日分享的一些評論時，我們談到——這仍然是一個競爭激烈的類別，為了成為一個競爭激烈的類別，市場應該實現增長，並在這個競爭激烈、創新的類別中贏得市場份額，我們認為繼續對業務進行再投資以推動增長非常重要。這就是我們分享指導的原因，即 4% 至 6% 的營收成長，以及我們預計從利潤率角度能夠維持 12% 左右的利潤率。從我們的角度來看，這反映了當前的環境。

Michael Baker, D.A. Davidson.

麥可貝克，地方檢察官戴維森。

Thanks. I guess I'll ask about tariffs. Remind us your exposure now to Europe potentially seeing 200% tariffs, and presumably, they'll retaliate. So if you could sort of break down your exposure by different parts of the world.

謝謝。我想我會詢問關稅。提醒我們，您現在面臨的歐洲風險是可能面臨 200% 的關稅，而且他們可能會採取報復措施。因此，如果您可以按世界不同地區細分您的曝光情況。

And then there were definitely some price increases, as I recall, in 2017 and '18, but the timing was a little skewed. I think you took price before you even saw the margin. So it was a -- before you saw the price increases, so it was a margin enhancer early on. Can you remind us that price versus cost dynamic played out last time and what you expect this time? Thank you.

我記得，2017 年和 2018 年價格確實有所上漲，但時間有點偏差。我認為你在看到利潤之前就確定了價格。因此，在您看到價格上漲之前，它早期就是一種利潤增強劑。您能否提醒我們上次價格與成本的動態以及您對這次的預期是什麼？謝謝。

Yeah. Thank you, Michael, for the question. What I would say, like everyone, we are monitoring the ever-changing landscape as it relates to tariffs. We don't believe the exposure -- while we don't know the exact exposure our brand partners have upstream, only about 1% of our shipments over the last 12 months were direct imports. And so our exposure is relatively limited.

是的。謝謝邁克爾提出的問題。我想說的是，像所有人一樣，我們也在關注與關稅相關的不斷變化的情況。我們不相信這種曝光度——雖然我們不知道我們的品牌合作夥伴在上游的具體曝光度，但在過去 12 個月中，我們的出貨量中只有約 1% 是直接進口的。因此我們的曝光度相對有限。

I would say beyond merchandise, we have some exposures with areas like fixtures and lighting and supplies from a store perspective. And then largely from a merchandising perspective is our ULTA Beauty Collection brand. But again, like I said, relatively limited and similar to how we successfully navigated in the 2018-2019 period, our teams are staying very close to the evolving situations, and we're continuing to navigate it and scenario plan both for our business as well as with our brand partners.

我想說，除了商品之外，從商店的角度來看，我們還涉及固定裝置、照明和用品等領域。然後從行銷角度來看，主要是我們的 ULTA 美容系列品牌。但正如我所說，相對有限，與我們在 2018-2019 年期間成功應對的方式類似，我們的團隊一直密切關注不斷變化的形勢，我們將繼續應對形勢變化，並為我們的業務以及我們的品牌合作夥伴制定情景計劃。

Ike Boruchow, Wells Fargo.

富國銀行的艾克·博魯喬（Ike Boruchow）。

Hey. Good afternoon. Thanks for taking the question. I think, Paula, can I have two clarifications? So first, on the promo or I'll call it the merch margin line for this year. You said rational similar to '24. But the merch margin trend in the first quarter -- I'm sorry -- in the first half of last year was very different than the back half. You were much more stable. I think you were flat to up; you were down decently in the first half.

嘿。午安.感謝您回答這個問題。我認為，Paula，我可以澄清兩點嗎？首先，關於促銷，或是我稱之為今年的商品利潤線。您說的合理性與‘24’類似。但第一季的商品利潤趨勢——抱歉——去年上半年與下半年有很大不同。你變得更加穩定了。我認為你是平的；上半場你表現相當落後。

So just to compare it to '24 is tough. Like would you compare it to the back half of '24? Just some clarity on how to think about merch for the year would be helpful.

因此，將它與《24》進行比較是困難的。你會將它與《24》的後半部做比較嗎？只要弄清楚如何考慮今年的商品就會有所幫助。

And then I'm sorry, just a clarification on the comp outlook, zero to 1. And I think you said similar every quarter, but Q4 and Q1, I guess, the low end of the zero to 1? Just trying to make sure I understand how to think about the first-quarter comp relative to your commentary. Thanks.

然後很抱歉，我只是想澄清一下公司前景，從零到 1。我認為您說每個季度都類似，但我猜第四季度和第一季是 0 到 1 的低端？只是想確保我理解如何根據您的評論來考慮第一季的業績。謝謝。

Okay. Ike, I'm going to answer the last question around the comps. And then I might need you to give me what you're asking for on promo and merch margin if you were speaking of 2024 or 2025. On the comp for 2025, so what I shared is, yes, flat to 1% for the year. And we are not planning a wide variation in comp quarter to quarter. And then additional color I would give is that because Q1 and Q4 were our strongest quarters in 2024, then I would expect Q2 and Q3 to have the greatest opportunity from a comp perspective.

好的。艾克，我將回答有關補償的最後一個問題。然後，如果您說的是 2024 年或 2025 年，我可能需要您提供關於促銷和商品利潤的要求。對於 2025 年的比較，我所分享的是，是的，今年的成長率將持平至 1%。我們不打算在季度與季度之間做出大的變動。然後我要補充的是，由於第一季和第四季是我們 2024 年表現最強勁的季度，因此我預計從比較角度來看，第二季和第三季將擁有最大的機會。

Got it. Just to go -- yeah, thank you. And then basically what I was asking on the merch margin for '25, you said similar rational promo pricing in '25, which is what you said you saw in '24. I was just saying your merch margins were down in the first half and flat to up in the back half. So are you saying similar to what you saw in the back half of '24, just because it was very volatile through the year? A similar way to ask is just, are your merchandise margins planned flat to up, or should they decline again based on (multiple speakers)?

知道了。只是去——是的，謝謝。然後基本上我問的是 25 年的商品利潤率，您說 25 年的促銷定價類似合理，這就是您說的您在 24 年看到的。我只是說你們的商品利潤率在上半年下降了，在下半年持平或上升了。那麼，您是說這與 24 年下半年看到的情況類似，只是因為這一年的情況非常不穩定？類似的問題是，你的商品利潤率計劃是持平還是上升，還是應該再次下降，取決於（多位發言者）？

No, I appreciate the question. I'm probably not going to get into specific expectations around merch margin for the year. But the point that I was making about promotionality is that we expect promotions to be rational this year, and that is assumed within our guidance.

不，我很感謝你提出這個問題。我可能不會對今年的商品利潤做出具體的預期。但我對促銷的觀點是，我們預期今年的促銷將是合理的，這也是我們指導範圍內的假設。

If I go back to gross margin for '25, we expect gross margin will deleverage primarily driven by store occupancy costs and supply chain costs, partially offset by lower shrink. And obviously, gross margin is impacted by the comp of zero to 1, which is causing us to deleverage on many of our fixed costs.

如果我回顧 25 年的毛利率，我們預計毛利率將下降，主要原因是門市佔用成本和供應鏈成本，但部分抵消了收縮的影響。顯然，毛利率受到 0 到 1 的比較的影響，這導致我們在許多固定成本上去槓桿。

I think Alicia, we have time for one more question.

我想艾莉西亞，我們還有時間再問一個問題。

Ashley Helgans, Jefferies.

傑富瑞 (Jefferies) 的阿什利·赫爾甘斯 (Ashley Helgans)。

Hi. Thanks so much for squeezing me in. Any more color you can share on the new marketplace and just how it differs from your current online platform? And then, Paula, you called out that brands -- the brands that have increased distribution have been drags. Just curious how you combat -- how you're planning to combat that headwind? Thanks.

你好。非常感謝您邀請我加入。您能否分享更多關於新市場的詳細資訊以及它與您目前的線上平台有何不同？然後，保拉，您說那些分銷量增加的品牌已經變成了拖累。只是好奇您如何應對—您計劃如何應對這種逆風？謝謝。

Thanks, Ashley, for the question. I'll start. So yes, what we're seeing is that our beauty guest needs, they are continuing to evolve. And we want to be able to expand our offerings in a lower-risk way. And this really enables us to do that with marketplace.

謝謝 Ashley 提出這個問題。我先開始。是的，我們看到的是，我們的美容客人的需求正在不斷發展。我們希望能夠以較低風險的方式擴大我們的產品範圍。這確實使我們能夠透過市場做到這一點。

We have thousands of brands that want to come work with us. And what we're doing is we're opening a closed marketplace -- so it's invitation-only -- to enable like a curation site. And that actually went up live today. So brands can actually start signing up officially today. We were expecting a mix of new and established, and emerging brands that are really focused around beauty and wellness.

有數千個品牌希望與我們合作。我們正在做的是開設一個封閉的市場——因此它只接受邀請——以形成一個類似於策展網站的功能。今天這實際上已上線。因此品牌實際上今天就可以開始正式註冊。我們期待看到真正專注於美容和健康的新興品牌和成熟品牌的融合。

And the other thing is that -- we're really focused on is that our members will be able to earn points on their marketplace purchases and that the guests will be able to return their marketplace purchases to our stores. So we're trying to make this as seamless as possible for our guests.

另一件事是——我們真正關注的是我們的會員能夠透過他們的市場購物賺取積分，並且客人能夠將他們的市場購物退回到我們的商店。因此，我們正在努力為客人提供盡可能無縫的體驗。

The plan is to launch this in the back half of '25. And we've got a dedicated team that we're building around selling and operations to operate this model. We don't expect it to be material in '25, and we're going to continue to share more details as they become available. Paula?

計劃是在 2025 年下半年推出。我們已經組建了一支專門的團隊來負責銷售和營運這種模式。我們預計它不會在 25 年成為現實，我們將在獲得更多細節後繼續分享。保拉？

Sure. Hi, Ashley. On your question about what we're doing to combat potentially some specific brands, the declines, generally, I guess I would zoom out and say, really, when we think about where there's opportunity for us from a business newness, we continue to work with our existing brands and new brands to bring newness into our assortment. And even for brands who've had expanded distribution, our merchant teams do a wonderful job with finding and launching specific and exclusive newness that's unique to Ulta, and so that helps.

當然。你好，阿什利。關於你提到的我們正在採取什麼措施來對抗某些特定品牌的下滑，總的來說，我想我會放大來看，當我們思考從業務新性方面給我們帶來什麼機會時，我們會繼續與我們現有的品牌和新品牌合作，為我們的商品組合帶來新鮮感。即使對於已經擴大分銷的品牌，我們的商家團隊也能出色地找到並推出 Ulta 獨有的特定新品，這很有幫助。

And then one of the key priorities within our Ulta Beauty Unleashed plan is brand building, which is focused on building and growing brands and increasing the level of brands that are exclusive in our assortment. And so those are the key strategies that we have that will help with that.

然後，我們的 Ulta Beauty Unleashed 計劃中的一項關鍵優先事項是品牌建設，該計劃專注於建立和發展品牌並提高我們產品系列中獨家品牌的水平。這些就是我們能夠幫助實現這一目標的關鍵策略。

Great. And I would like to just thank everyone for joining us today. To wrap up, I'd also like to thank our loyal guests, our trusted brand partners, and dedicated associates for their engagement and support. I'm confident in the team's ability to reignite our momentum while making wise investments to set the business up for long-term performance. Thanks to you all for your interest in Ulta Beauty, and I look forward to meeting and connecting with you in person in the coming months. Thank you and have a good evening.

偉大的。我謹感謝大家今天的出席。最後，我還要感謝我們忠實的客人、值得信賴的品牌合作夥伴以及敬業的同事的參與和支持。我相信團隊有能力重新點燃我們的發展勢頭，同時進行明智的投資，為企業的長期發展奠定基礎。感謝大家對 Ulta Beauty 的關注，我期待在接下來的幾個月與你們見面並進行交流。謝謝您，祝您晚上愉快。

This concludes today's teleconference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

今天的電話會議到此結束。現在您可以斷開線路。感謝您的參與。